Good morning, Mets fans!

Mets legend Dwight Gooden was announced to be a part of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum’s 2023 Hall of Game class. The class includes the late Vida Blue, Al Downing, Mike Norris and Dontrelle Willis, who will all be celebrated on Saturday, September 9.  The Hall of Game honors MLB greats who played the game in the spirit and signature style that made Negro League baseball a fan favorite, making the two-time World Series champion a worthy inductee.

The Mets ended their nine-game homestand with a series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates, by a score of 8-3.  D.J. Stewart opened up the scoring with a solo shot in part of a three-run second inning, which gave the Mets an early lead. Tylor Megill put together his best start in quite some time as he went five innings while holding the Pirates to only two runs. Stewart put another one over the fence later on to secure a Mets win. 

New York will be in St. Louis today as they open up a four-game series against the Cardinals, with Jose Quintana (0-4, 3.03 ERA) on the mound for the Mets who will be taking on Adam Wainwright (3-7, 8.78 ERA)

Latest Mets News

Pete Alonso earned sole possession of 10th place on the Mets all-time RBI leaderboard as he knocked in his 469th career RBI with a seventh-inning home run. That RBI put Alonso ahead of another great Mets first baseman, Keith Hernandez, and is now 52 RBIs behind both Cleon Jones and José Reyes for eighth place on the list. 

Mark Vientos had an MRI on his left wrist which revealed inflammation, leaving him out of Wednesday’s lineup. He is now day-to-day, per Laura Albanese of Newsday. Vientos was pinch hit for in Tuesday’s game, but appears to have avoided an IL stint as the Mets will look to get him back into the lineup in the near future.

The Mets’ 2022 first-round pick, Kevin Parada, started his rehab assignment with the St. Lucie Mets, according to Michael Mayer of Metsmerized Online. Parada went on the seven-day IL with a right ankle sprain in late July and will now try to have a strong end to his season after posting a .269 BA and .796 OPS in his 82 games with the Brooklyn Cyclones. 

Latest MLB News

Cubs starting pitcher and former Met, Marcus Stroman, has a right rib cartilage fracture and there is no timeline on his return, per Andy Martínez of Marquee Sports Network. Stroman, who was an early Cy Young contender, had a horrid 9 ERA and 1.93 WHIP in his last seven starts prior to being put on the IL with a hip injury. He was supposed to make his first start in the month of August on Wednesday, but he will now be out for the foreseeable future. 

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Rays shortstop Wander Franco is being investigated by Dominican authorities and is being handled by a division which specializes in minors and gender violence in the province of Peravia. On Monday, the Rays placed Franco on the restricted list, meaning he will not travel or play with the team while MLB investigates social media posts that questioned his relationship with an underage woman. 

Christopher Morel sent “the friendly confines” into a frenzy last night as he launched a walk-off three-run homer over the right-center field wall against the crosstown rival Chicago White Sox. Down 3-1 going into the ninth, Cody Bellinger doubled and Dansby Swanson drew a walk off of White Sox reliever Gregory Santos, which brought up Morel. The Cubs’ rising star sent a 1-2 fastball out of the park, and he euphorically sprinted around the bases as he threw his helmet and jersey into the Chicago night sky prior to jumping on home plate. 

Latest on MMO

MMO’s Twitter account is running a giveaway where you can win three rookie cards of the Mets newest prospect Drew Gilbert!

Michael Mayer wrote about Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert cracking ESPN’s top 50 prospects.

Ross Bentley looked at an ESPN article which said Shohei Ohtani‘s “true value” is near $800 million. 

On This Date in Mets History

1967: Bud Harrelson collected his first major league home run as he gave the Mets a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning with an inside-the-park home run. 

1973: Willie Mays launched the final home run of his career, he currently stands at sixth on the all time home run list with 660 home runs and only trailed Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron at the time of his retirement. 

Birthdays: Mike O’Connor (43), Skip Lockwood (77)