Good morning, Mets fans and Happy Independence Day.

The New York Mets will take on the Washington Nationals in game two of their series at 11:05 a.m. this morning. Seth Lugo will take the mound for New York and will be opposed by Joe Ross.

Last night, The Mets lost 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Steven Matz and Stephen Strasburg both threw seven scoreless innings.

Jerry Blevins served up a two-run homer to righty Michael Taylor. With two outs and one on in the ninth, Curtis Granderson hit a heroic two-run home run to tie the game.

However in what has become a theme this season, the Mets were not able to carry that momentum to a victory. Fernando Salas served up a walk-off single to Ryan Raburn and Yoenis Cespedes came up limping to make matters worse.

Latest Mets News:

Terry Collins said after the game that Cespedes hurt his hamstring on the final play of the game. The severity should be clearer today. Terry Collins hopes it is just a cramp and with Michael Conforto already out, I do too.

Awful news for righty Logan Taylor and the Las Vegas 51s. Logan was struck in the head by a homeless man with a tire iron on Monday in Salt Lake City.

Taylor had to get stitches and was concussed from the incident. Betsy Helfand of the Review Journal reported the story on him. Obviously best wishes to Logan who was emerging as the next man up for the Mets bullpen.

Latest NL East News:

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes about top pitching prospect, Erick Fedde.

Mark Bowman of MLB.com answers questions from Braves fans.

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald discusses the Marlins at the midpoint of the season.

Matt Gelb of Philly.com writes about the Phillies middle of the order struggles from 2015-2017.

Latest on MMO:

Logan Barer shares his optimism on the Mets.

Rob Piersall sits down with David Peterson.

This Day in Mets History:

1985: The infamous Independence Day game. The Mets won 16-13 against the Braves in 19 innings. Keith Hernandez recorded a cycle and Ron Darling picked up the win in the 19th inning. The game ended at 3:55 a.m. and the post game firework show ensued.

Birthdays: Jose Oquendo turns 54.

Let’s Go Mets and Happy Fourth from all of us here at MMO!