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In a disappointing but silver-lined conclusion to the first half of the season, the Mets failed to sweep the Kansas City Royals, getting walked off 3-2. 

The Mets offense was up to its old tricks, going 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position for the first eight innings of the game. Lefty Noah Cameron, making his 12th career start, was outstanding against them, shutting the Mets down whenever they had a chance to do damage. Mark Vientos’ triple to right was wasted in the first inning. Ronny Mauricio was left stranded on second in the second frame. With one out and Brandon Nimmo on second in the top of the fourth, Luis Torrens and Luisangel Acuña struck out. The Mets hit potential rally-killing double plays in both the sixth and seventh. 

Meanwhile, Clay Holmes gave up two runs in the bottom of the second. Maikel Garcia hit a lead-off double. Holmes hit Salvador Perez with a pitch. After a nice play by Acuña at second on a Jac Caglianone grounder got Holmes the first out, John Rave doubled both of the runners in. Otherwise, Holmes was…fine. He threw 81 pitches in five innings, allowing five hits, walking one and striking out two. He finished the first half throwing a career-high 103 innings and sporting a 3.31 ERA. I’d take that any day.

The bigger Met pitching story was Sean Manaea, who made his 2025 major league debut when he replaced Holmes in the sixth. After serving up a single to Bobby Witt Jr., Manaea was seemingly unhittable, at one point striking out five batters in a row. It was an incredibly welcome sight. 

With the score still 2-0 in the ninth, the Mets caught a break - the Royals brought in their personal punching bag Carlos Estévez in to pitch. Ronny Mauricio greeted him with a double. Then pinch-hitter Jeff McNeil tripled to right center, scoring Mauricio. After Brett Baty grounded out, pinch-hitter Jared Young in his first appearance since getting called back up slugged a sacrifice fly to center, tying the game. 

Manaea stayed in for the bottom of the ninth - the plan going in was to give the exhausted Mets bullpen their All-Star break vacation a day early, and Manaea hadn’t thrown that many pitches and he was stretched out. After Perez became Manaea’s 7th strikeout victim in three and a third innings, the southpaw permitted a Tyler Tolbert single. The ridiculously speedy Tolbert easily stole second, then easily scored on a Nick Loftin single, ending the game. Dang.

Obviously, you’d rather, you know, win baseball games. But seeing Sean Manaea back out there, at times dominant, and watching Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio having multi-hit days should give Met fans hope that the second half will bring better days and better health luck.

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To make room for Manaea on the roster, Austin Warren was sent back down to Triple-A Syracuse.

Fantastic Max Kranick (right elbow strain) was examined by a doctor on Thursday. He is seeking another medical opinion. Tommy John surgery is on the table. Damn.

Jose Buttó (undisclosed illness) will pitch in Port St. Lucie tomorrow. 

The Phillies won yesterday, so at the All-Star Break the Mets are a half game out of first place. Fair enough.

With the 38th overall pick in the MLB Draft, the Mets selected 20-year-old Mitch Voit, from the University of Michigan. He was announced by Rob Manfred as a “two-way player”, but he did not pitch this season. He did however slash .346/.471/.668 in 56 games for the Wolverines. He also pretended to snort a line of chalk after an RBI hit. "I'm a winner. Plainly put,” Voit said in a Zoom interview. “I'll do anything that it takes for the team to win. And I just go out there and love the game, enjoy the game and play to win." Damn right kid.

With their other selection on Day 1 of the draft, the Mets took shortstop Antonio Jimenez from the University of Central Florida.

Another of the “5-6” Mets that spoke in the players-only meeting two weeks ago has been identified, and it’s kind of a surprising name considering his lack of MLB experience: Ronny Mauricio. In an article in The Athletic, it was also revealed that Mauricio is working under the tutelage of Juan Soto in trying to be better in laying off pitches out of the strike zone. There’s literally no better teacher to have in this discipline. (Fun fact: the 26-year-old Soto is only two years older than Mauricio.)

Jonah Tong revealed he grew up an Atlanta fan. Yuck. 

Steve Cohen concerned Twitter users when he was caught tweeting (since deleted) the AI engine Grok, “You are a world class spine doctor doing a fusion. What meds would you prescribe to minimize post op pain”. He then tweeted to everyone, “Just asking Grok question as I’m having back discomfort , my mistake.” Feel better, Uncle Steve.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (44-49) shut out the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs (Phillies affiliate) in a weather-shortened six-inning game by a score of 4-0. Francisco Alvarez homered again. He now has a 1.005 OPS in Triple-A. Blade Tidwell got the dub. He tossed five and one third shutout innings, permitting just four hits and a walk while striking out six. 

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (57-28) fell to the Altoona Curve (Pirates) 7-5. Center fielder D’Andre Smith went 3 for 5 with a home run, a run scored, and two RBI. Joander Suarez started and pitched pretty well - just one earned run allowed in six innings. He permitted just three hits, walked nobody, and struck out six. 

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (57-30) were defeated by the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 4-1. They were held to just four hits. Will Watson got the L. In four and one third innings he allowed three earned runs on four hits, walked one and punched out three.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (48-37) one-hit the Bradenton Marauders (Pirates), winning by a score of 2-0. All the scoring came from a two-run homer by Simon Juan in the seventh inning. Frank Elissalt, Ernesto Mercedes, Gregori Louis, and Alfred Vega combined on the shutout. 

Robin Ventura turns 58 today. 58!

Today is the start of the All-Star Break. The Home Run Derby is tonight, as is Day 2 of the MLB Draft. 

It always seems like rookie pitchers Like Noah Cameron give the Mets trouble since time immemorial , but that ignores that All-Star [eye roll] Jacob Misiorowski’s lone clunker was against the Mets.