3 UP

1. Three All-Stars

Before Sunday’s game Pete Alonso, Jacob deGrom, and Jeff McNeil were named All-Stars. It’s the first time in three years the Mets had multiple All-Stars, and it’s the first time since 2010 the Mets had two position players going.

Alonso is the fourth Mets rookie and first position player to make the All-Star game as a rookie. DeGrom became the third Mets starter to make three All-Star Games. McNeil is now the leading hitter in the league with a .348 batting average.

On Sunday, the newly minted All-Stars had an impact with McNeil delivering the go-ahead hit and Alonso delivering insurance runs.

Not bad for a player who allegedly couldn’t play good defense at first (Alonso) a collegiate shortstop (deGrom), and an unheralded prospect who wasn’t thought of as an outfielder (McNeil).

2. Cano Lives

The first year of Robinson Cano‘s tenure as the Mets second baseman has been a disaster leading to fans begging for him to be dropped in (or from) the lineup.

The Mets have stuck with him and were rewarded in this series with three consecutive multi-hit games. It’s a sign he can still hit which is a sign the Mets desperately needed because even if they’re not competing this year, there’s four more years of Cano.

3. Mazza’s Debut

At 29 years old, Chris Mazza was past the point where he could reasonably expect to ever make it to the majors. Despite that, Mazza stuck with it, and he was impressing in Syracuse leading to multiple Player of the Week awards.

It also led to Mazza getting called up to the majors. Due to a mixture of the rain and Steven Matz‘s struggles, he’d make his MLB debut against the potent Braves lineup.

He’d be greeted with a single by Ronald Acuna and a double by Dansby Swanson. Mazza got out of that inning unscathed, and he’d pitch four scoreless putting himself and the Mets in line for the win. He would also stick on the roster when Noah Syndergaard was activated from the IL.

This is as good a story as there will be in all of baseball this year.

3 DOWN

1. Can’t Get Out of Their Own Way

By all accounts, the 1969 World Series celebration was very well done by the team. There was a lot of emotion during Bud Harrelson‘s introduction and Ed Kranepool‘s speech.

With this being the Mets, we’re not talking about this. Instead, we are talking about how the Mets paid tribute to Jim Gosger and Jesse Hudson in the in memorium video despite both former players being very much alive.

The Mets compounded this by misspelling Hudson’s first name in the scoreboard apology the next day. This is completely inexcusable, and you really wonder how a team could get this so wrong.

2. Lugo Now Struggling

As of June 21, Seth Lugo had a 2.23 ERA. Since that time, he’s fallen apart allowing three homers and seven earned over last three appearances.

This isn’t the same Lugo who has been the saving grace to this Mets bullpen. As such, an already bad bullpen has fallen completely apart. Hopefully, this is just a blip for Lugo. If it isn’t an already ugly season and uglier bullpen will get much worse.

3. Season Worse Than Many Imagined

With the Mets nine games under .500 and just 3.5 games ahead of the Marlins for last place, it means the team should have no delusions they can contend.

This means the team will be trading Zack Wheeler, a pitcher who had once been obtained to provide hope for the future. For that matter, he was once almost traded to get a big piece to win.

Now, he’s going to be traded because the Mets are bad. At a time like this, fans are owed answers, but they’re not forthcoming, not even when ownership or the GM is in front of the press.