Mets Morning News: The Mets lost (again) by one run (again)

Meet the Mets

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the Mets lost in a one-run game and squandered an opportunity to gain ground against a National League rival, losing to the Phillies 4-3 in the series opener last night. Former Met and Cy Young contender Zack Wheeler got the win by outdueling Taijuan Walker, who is still looking for his first win of the second half of the season.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue short and long, Daily News, North Jersey, Newsday, MLB.com, NY Post, Faith and Fear in Flushing

For his part, Walker was a bit upset at the early hook that Luis Rojas gave to him yesterday.

One piece of good news from yesterday: Brandon Nimmo made his return from the injured list.

A few different scouts and executives offered their perspective on what kind of deal Javier Báez might sign for this offseason.

After missing a significant chunk of the 2021 season, Jacob deGrom’s health outlook will be one of many questions facing the Mets’ rotation heading into next year.

The Mets have still not given up hope, however, that deGrom might be able to make it back on the mound this season.

Despite the injuries and instability, the Mets rotation on the whole has been largely solid in 2021.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic opined that the Mets should try to snatch both Billy Beane and Bob Melvin away from the A’s this offseason.

Jon Heyman also noted some buzz that the Mets may indeed be interested in pursuing Beane this offseason.

Mike Puma of the New York Post offered a few suggestions for who the Mets could potentially pursue for their new president of baseball operations.

Around the National League East

Travis d’Arnaud hit a clutch go-ahead three-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Braves a one-run lead against the Giants, but then Will Smith gave up a solo homer in the bottom of the frame to send it to extra innings, and San Francisco won it in the eleventh on a walk-off sac fly by pinch hitter Kevin Gausman (yes, the pitcher).

The Nationals and Rockies traded leads back and forth throughout the ninth, but Brandon Finnegan blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning to doom Washington to a 9-8 loss.

An RBI single off the bat of Eddy Alvarez was the only run the Marlins managed to score against the Pirates, as the Fish fell to the Bucs 2-1.

The Good Phight made the case for Bryce Harper to win the NL MVP after putting the Phillies on his back with his monstrous season.

Around Major League Baseball

Beginning with the playoffs, the league will be requiring all non-playing personnel (including managers and coaches) to be vaccinated for COVID-19 in order to access the field.

The Mets are just one of several teams whose second-half collapse has shaken up the wild card race in both leagues.

Who is the more deserving AL MVP winner: Shohei Ohtani or Vlad Guerrero Jr.?

The Low-A West League has noticeably shortened the time of their games by implementing a new pitch clock rule.

Despite being a third baseman, Manny Machado has gotten pretty familiar with right field thanks to the shift.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Robert Wolff reminisced about the career of 1986 villain and former Met Mike Scott in the latest episode UnforMETable.

Vasilis Drimalitis previewed the weekend series against the Phillies and predicted the Mets would drop two of three to their division rivals.

Grace Carbone reviewed “Once Upon a Time in Queens,” the recent episode of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series focusing on the 1986 Mets.

Joe Sokolowski compiled this past week’s most interesting Mets-related quotes.

This Date in Mets History

After dominating the National League all season, the Mets finally clinched the NL East on this date in 2006.