Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, Mets fans!

The Mets dropped the second of their three-game series with the Giants on Tuesday night. It’s their fifth loss in a row, and it’s their first time below .500 since April. They’ll look to avoid a sweep and get back to .500 with a matinee (3:45 p.m. start time) in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Tylor Megill (1-2, 3.42 ERA) will pitch for the Mets, and righty Anthony DeSclafani (11-5, 3.29 ERA) will toe the mound for the Giants.

Now let’s get into the morning briefing.

Latest Mets News

Noah Syndergaard threw to live batters for the first time since suffering a setback in May from his Tommy John surgery. Francisco Lindor and Luis Guillorme were the two batters he faced. It was Lindor’s first time facing live pitching since his oblique injury.

A circle of Mets partners joined together with City Harvest to help feed families in New York City. Led by Alex Cohen, Michael Conforto‘s fiancée, Cabernet Burns; Trevor May‘s wife, Kate May; and Dave Jauss’s wife, Billie Jauss packed produce and canned goods that will then be sent to families across the city, according to QNS.

Shakeia Taylor took a fun deep dive into Marcus Stroman‘s durag choices when he pitches, and how well he pitches while wearing them for FiveThirtyEight.

Ever want a baseball card with Bobby Valentine in disguise? Well, Topps made one.

Latest MLB News

The Yankees swept the Red Sox in a doubleheader Tuesday, and now they’re tied in the standings. The Sox were 10 games ahead of the Yankees just last month. They have one more game in their series Wednesday.

Following the success of last week’s Field of Dreams game between the Yankees and White Sox (nearly six million people watched Tim Anderson walk it off), NBC Chicago reports the Cubs and Reds will play the next iteration in August 2022.

Reliever Shane Greene signed with the Dodgers, according to Mark Feinsand, after a rough season with the Atlanta Braves.

Former Pirates reliever Felipe Vazquez was sentenced to two to four years in prison for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl, Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate reports. He has already been in jail for close to two years, so he’s eligible for parole as early as September. The article highlighted the charges Vazquez was found guilty and not guilty on:

A Westmoreland County jury found him guilty on 10 counts of sexual abuse of children, two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, one count of statutory sexual assault, one count of corruption of a minor and one count of indecent assault of someone under 16 years old. He was found not guilty on 10 counts of unlawful contact or communication with a minor.

He’ll be on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life.

Diamondbacks No. 2 prospect Kristian Robinson (according to MLB Pipeline) was convicted of felony assault of a police officer during a “mental breakdown” in April 2020, according to The Athletic‘s Zach Buchanan. He reports that puts the playing career of Robinson–a native of the Bahamas–in jeopardy because of visa issues.

“He must return to the Bahamas soon to renew his visa,” Buchanan said on Twitter. “But because he has a felony conviction now, he’s unlikely to be issued another visa to return to the U.S.,” following that “he can get a new visa if he completes probation and the charge lowered to a misdemeanor, but he can’t complete probation unless he is issued a new visa.” Buchanan also points out that he has an American girlfriend and child, and he may not be able to see them in the states.

Latest on MMO

Thomas Hall wrote about how Carlos Carrasco will be a key to the Mets’ final 45 games, and how they miss Zack Wheeler now more than ever.

John Flanigan dubbed Michael Conforto and Taijuan Walker as the Mets’ Players of the Week from last week. He also covered the latest injury updates on Jacob deGrom, Javier Báez and others.

After Jake Reed‘s three scoreless innings Sunday, James Villani wrote about how Reed might be able to stick around.

John Jackson covered Rich Hill‘s Monday start that fell apart in its fourth inning.

This Day in Mets History

Former Met relievers Justin Wilson (34) and Pat Misch (40) celebrate birthdays today, as does Terry Blocker (62), a former first-round pick for the Mets in 1981.

The Mets posthumously inducted Tommie Agee into the team’s Hall of Fame on August 18, 2002. He was one of the most important members of the Mets’ 1969 World Series team and compiled 82 homers and a Gold Glove in five seasons with the team.