Your Monday morning dose of New York Mets and Major League Baseball news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
The Mets had the pleasure of eliminating the Braves from playoff contention yesterday, defeating their rivals 10-2 to complete a three-game sweep. Jacob deGrom was his usual awesome self and appears to be the favorite to win National League Rookie of the Year. Also, New York is now just one game behind Atlanta in the loss column for second place in the division.
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deGrom was fast out of the gate again, striking out the first four batters he faced and refusing to allow a Brave to reach base until the fifth.
Terry Collins isn't sure if deGrom will get another chance to pitch this season.
With Dilson Herrera on the shelf for the last week of the season, infielder Wilfredo Tovar will be making a big league cameo for the second year in a row.
The Mets' rookies dressed as female superheroes for the team's trip to Washington on Sunday evening. The team Twitter account did its best to make it seem like this was not hazing.
Around the NL East
The Nationals appear primed for the postseason with a sweep of the Marlins that was completed yesterday thanks to a stellar Stephen Strasburg start.
Talking Chop polled their readers and a majority want both manager Fredi Gonzalez and general manager Frank Wren gone before 2015.
Around the Majors
Josh Donaldson kept the Athletics in front of the American League Wild Card race with a walk-off home run to beat the Phillies.
The Cardinals may have lost 7-2 to the Reds on Sunday, but they did manage to clinch a playoff berth when the Pirates defeated the Brewers 1-0.
The Boston Globe has a story on the long history of racial intolerance within the Boston Red Sox organization.
Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon, considered one of the smartest managers in baseball, says it's going to take "a lot of creative thinking" to turn around the lack of offense that the majors have seen lately.
Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka looked pretty good in his first start back from a partially torn UCL.
Corey Kluber continued to prove himself as one of baseball's best pitchers with his second straight 14-strikeout game in a win over the Twins yesterday.
Yesterday at AA
On this date in 1962, the legendary Ed Kranepool recorded his first hit as a Met. Also, today is Wally Backman's birthday!