Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Good morning, Mets fans!
What a wild 2021 season it has been! On Thursday the Mets swept the Miami Marlins out of Citi Field with a 4-3 win. The winning hit came off the bat of Dominic Smith, who had a two-out pinch-hit RBI single to score the go-ahead run in the seventh inning.
Carlos Carrasco started the game for the Mets and went 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on four hits. The Mets bullpen threw 4.2 innings and held the Marlins scoreless. The Marlins tied the game in the 6th inning after Aaron Loup walked in a run. However, Jeurys Familia, Trevor May and Edwin Diaz shut down the Marlins to help earn the victory. Diaz earned his 28th save.
The win brings the Mets record to 66-67. They now trail the Atlanta Braves by five games in the National League East.
On Friday the New York Mets head to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Nationals to start a three-game series at Nationals Park. Lefty Rich Hill (6-6 4.11) will pitch for the Mets and he will be opposed by left-hander Sean Nolin (0-2 6.57) for the Nationals. Washington comes into the game with a 55-77 record and are currently on a five game losing streak.
Latest Mets News
On Thursday, the New York Mets claimed left-handed pitcher Brad Hand off of waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News reported on the news. Hand signed a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals during the off-season. He pitched in 41 games for the Nats before being traded on July 29 to the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays released Hand after just 11 games in which he had a 7.27 ERA in just 8.2 innings pitched. He also had a WHIP of 1.84 in Toronto. It should be noted that Hand will not be eligible for the post-season as only players on a team’s roster on August 31 are eligible for the playoffs. He will join the Mets in Washington on Friday.
Because of the addition of Hand, the Mets designated relief pitcher Geoff Hartlieb for assignment. Hartlieb pitched in three games for the Mets and threw 4.1 innings, giving up seven hits and seven runs. He was selected off waivers by the Mets from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 7. Hartlieb will have to pass through waivers again if he wants to remain a part of the Mets organization.
Anthony Rieber of Newsday.com reported that the New York Mets have demoted outfielder Kahlil Lee to Triple-A Syracuse just a day after recalling him. Lee and outfielder Albert Almora Jr were called up to the Mets when the rosters expanded to 28 on September 1. He did not play a game while he was up and was shipped back on Thursday. The club recalled right-handed pitcher Yennsy Diaz to take his place on the roster.
Mets starter Jordan Yamamoto pitched a game in Port St. Lucie, the Mets Single-A affiliate on Thursday. Yamamoto threw four innings, gave up three hits and a run while striking out five while on a rehab assignment. He’s been on the IL since late May due to a sore right shoulder. There is no word on when Yamamoto will be ready for regular work.
Yamamoto wasn’t the only Met to have play a game in a rehab assignment on Thursday. Infielder Jose Peraza played seven innings at Triple-A Syracuse and went 1-3 with a walk and an RBI double. Peraza fractured his right middle finger in July.
New York Mets acting general manager Zack Scott appeared in White Plains City Court on Thursday morning stemming from his August 31 arrest. Scott pleaded not guilty to four charges including, driving while intoxicated, stopped/standing/parked on a highway, failure to obey traffic device, and failure to notify DMV of address change. Tim Healey of Newsday.com broke the story. The next court date for Scott is October 7.
The Mets also announced that Scott was placed on administrative leave until further notice effective Thursday. Sandy Alderson will absorb the position for general manager in addition to his team president duties. There are reports that Alderson’s son Bryn will also be helping his father with GM related duties.
The Mets signed right-handed pitcher Justin Courtney to a minor league deal on Thursday. Courtney, a University of Maine product, pitched in 22 games for the Single-A Inland Empire 66ers, an affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. The Bangor, Maine product recently turned 25 years old. Michael Mayer of Metzmerizedonline.com had the news.
Jeff Passan and Buster Olney discussed the Mets front office situation on the latest Baseball Tonight podcast. In it, the gentlemen agreed that former Redsox and Cubs GM Theo Epstein is unlikely to take the job and the duo gave a couple of names of folks they think are good fits for the role, should the role be open this off-season.
Latest MLB News
The Boston Red Sox claimed infielder Taylor Motter off of waivers from the Colorado Rockies on Thursday. Motter played in 13 games for Colorado and hit .151 with the Rockies. Motter has played 154 big league games since 2016 with the Rays, Mariners, Twins and Rockies.
Matt Cuso of the Baseball Cloud blog discusses the science of spin rate and how it can be used to elevate a pitchers arsenal.
T.D. Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey won’t be seeing baseball anytime soon. The park, which is home to the Somerset Patriots the Double-A affiliates of the New York Yankees, is completely under water thanks to the remnants of hurricane Ida. The team is currently on the road and is not scheduled to host a game at the field until Tuesday, September 7. No word if any games will be affected due to the flooding.
Former Major League catcher Chris Iannetta discusses the first time he interacted with Angels outfielder Mike Trout in this week’s MLBPA.com article written by Jerry Crasnick. Iannetta claims he knew Trout was going to be a star from his first three or four games in the major leagues. There were several other stories about Trout as well, shared by several other significant baseball figures in and around the Angels organization.
Latest NL East News
The Washington Nationals have released infielder Starlin Castro following the completion of a 30-game suspension that the league instituted against Castro following an alleged domestic violence incident. The team had previous said that they have a no-tolerance towards domestic violence and released Castro as soon as they were able. Brit Ghiroli of The Athletic had the story.
Latest on MMO
The month of August wasn’t a great one for the Mets but there were a few players who did their jobs. Alex Horowitz takes a look at some of those players.
Is the Mets offense really that bad this year? Matt Musico takes a dive into the numbers to see if that is just a myth or if there is relevance behind it.
On September 2, 1972 the Mets had a historic day. Rich Sparago goes back in time and talks about the Mets biggest comeback in club history.
On This Date in Mets History
Jim Hickman becomes the first Met ever to hit three home runs in a game on this date in 1965. Hickman hit his homers in the 2nd, 4th and 6th innings all off of Cardinals left-hander Ray Sadecki. Hickman also drove in four runs in the game helping the Mets to a 6-3 victory.
Lee Mazzilli homers from both sides of the plate in the Mets 8-5 win over the Dodgers on this date in 1978. Maz, as he is referred to by many Met fans, was batting from the right side when hit a lead-off first pitch home run off of Dodgers lefty Tommy John in the first inning. Batting left handed versus Dodgers righty Charlie Hough, Mazzilli hit his second home run in the seventh inning to give the Mets an 8-3 lead.
George Foster hits a three-run walk-off home run off of Al Holland to beat the Phillies 6-5 at Shea Stadium on this date in 1983. The Mets scored three runs in the second to go ahead early, but the Phillies came storming back, tying the game in the fifth. They took the lead in the top of the 9th scoring two runs off Jesse Orosco. Al Holland came on for the save, but gave up a single to Mookie Wilson, and a single to Keith Hernandez. With one out, Foster blasted the homer to win the game.
Birthdays: David Peterson (26), Corey Oswalt (28), Ced Landrum (58)
Let’s go Mets!
