Good morning Mets fans! The New York Mets (35-40) dropped their series opener against the Chicago Cubs (41-33) by a score of 7-4 on Thursday night at Wrigley Field. They will continue their four-game series with the Cubs with an afternoon game in the Windy City.

Latest Mets News

Jason Vargas (3-3, 3.74 ERA) is set to start against the Cubs after cramping up in his last start against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 16. If all goes as planned, he will go up against Yu Darvish (2-3, 4.65 ERA). The game will start at 2:20 p.m. EDT and can be followed on SNY, WCBS 880 and ESPN Deportes 1050.

The Mets fired pitching coach Dave Eiland and bullpen coach Chuck Hernandez. Phil Regan and Ricky Bones were named as their replacements, respectively. Bones returns to the bullpen coach position after holding it from 2012-2018.

Additionally, the Mets added a new position to their coaching staff called “pitching strategist.” They promoted minor league pitching coordinator Jeremy Accardo to the newly-created position.

After hitting his 25th home run in the third inning of Thursday’s game, Pete Alonso tied Cody Bellinger‘s NL record for most home runs hit before the All-Star break. The homer also makes the 24-year-old the first NL rookie to have hit at least 25 home runs in their team’s first 75 games of the season.

Alonso now only trails Darryl Strawberry‘s Mets rookie home run record by one.

Latest MLB News

MLB gave the Tampa Bay Rays permission to explore the possibility of splitting home games between Tampa Bay and Montreal sometime in the future, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. However, the Rays are still required to play all home games at Tropicana Field as in their current agreement with the city of St. Petersburg. Furthermore, John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times reported that St. Petersburg mayor, Rick Kriseman, told the team that he would not grant permission for talks with Montreal.

Matt Eddy of Baseball America provided a midseason update on minor league park factors.

The Cincinnati Reds are open to being buyers and adding a hitter before the trade deadline according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network.

John Sickels of The Athletic released an updated version of his Top 100 Prospects list.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic analyzed possible explanations to the dramatic increase in home runs throughout MLB.

The Toronto Blue Jays hired former MLB pitchers Zach Stewart and Scott Rolen to pitch a more competitive form of batting practice to the players.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic delved into the friendship of Mike Trout and Albert Pujols.

Latest NL East News

The Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 and the Miami Marlins beat the Cardinals 7-6. The Atlanta Braves had the day off.

The Braves (44-31) remain in first place followed by the Phillies (39-35; 4.5 games back), Nationals (36-38; 7.5 games back), Mets (35-40; 9.0 games back) and Marlins (27-46; 16.0 games back).

Garrett Cooper left the Marlins game against the Cardinals after aggravating a left triceps injury. He originally sustained the injury after crashing into the tarp while catching a foul ball on Tuesday.

Latest on MMO/MMN

Mathew Brownstein interviewed 1969 World Series champion Ron Swoboda.

Brian Greenzang broke down Steven Matz‘s start from Wednesday.

John Sheridan continued his “3 Up, 3 Down” series following the Mets’ three-game set with the Braves.

Michael Mayer analyzed Chris Flexen‘s improved velocity since being converted to a reliever.

Jack Ramsey wrote a scouting report for Mets’ 2019 second-round pick Josh Wolf.

This Day in Mets History

1964: Jim Bunning of the Phillies pitched a perfect game against the Mets. In doing so, Bunning became the first modern pitcher to throw a no-hitter in both leagues.

2006: Jose Reyes became the ninth Met to hit for the cycle.

Birthday(s): Jeff Musselman turns 56.