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          New York Mets

          Morning Briefing: Earning home-field advantage now on Mets' agenda

          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterSep 29, 2015, 10:30 AM
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          NEW YORK --

          FIRST PITCH: After enjoying their final day off of the regular season, the New York Mets get back to business on Tuesday in the City of Brotherly Love.

          Bartolo Colon (14-12, 4.15 ERA) opposes right-hander David Buchanan (2-9, 7.96) in Tuesday’s 7:05 p.m. ET series opener at Citizens Bank Park.

          The Mets are 14-2 against the Phillies this season.

          Read the Mets-Phillies series preview here.

          TUESDAY’S NEWS REPORTS:

          • The Mets-Phillies series will reunite Travis d'Arnaud with his brother, who was signed by Philadelphia to a minor league deal last offseason. Chase d'Arnaud, a 28-year-old infielder, has appeared in six games as a September call-up. "It's going to be real emotional for me and him and my mom and dad as well," Travis d'Arnaud told Marc Carig in Newsday. “… When we were six and eight, we were watching baseball, talking about how cool that would be if we played with each other or against each other in the big leagues.” Carig notes that the brothers will be staying at the same hotel.

          • When Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax called Terry Collins during the weekend to congratulate the Mets manager on clinching the NL East, Koufax told Collins: "I'll see you on the ninth -- somewhere." The “somewhere” was a reference to the Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers being neck and neck for home-field advantage in their Division Series, which opens Oct. 9. After the Dodgers’ 12-inning loss on Monday night at San Francisco, the Amazin’s opened a two-game lead over Los Angeles and have the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the season series between the teams. Read more on the pursuit of home-field advantage in the Post and Newsday.

          • Columnist Joel Sherman in the Post labels the Washington Nationals “the greatest team that never was.” Sherman suggests there should be more winning for the Mets in future seasons thanks to the division’s dysfunction.

          • Anthony DiComo at MLB.com looks at five events that defined the Mets’ season. (The Nats’ acquisition of Jonathan Papelbon from the Phillies is not one of them, but perhaps ought to be.)

          • Michael Powell in the Times catches up with SNY analyst Keith Hernandez for the newspaper’s Men’s Style section. “I am paid handsomely, with six months off, and it’s baseball,” Hernandez tells Powell. “Not bad, right?”

          • Joe Belock in the Daily News looks at where the current Mets were in 2006, the last time the Amazin’s won the National League East.

          • Nicholas Parco in the Daily News catches up with the same fan who was featured on the tabloid’s cover in agony after the Mets’ 2008 collapse.

          • Andrew Wyrich in the Record interviews jubilant Mets fans from New Jersey.

          • The Nats essentially have suspended Papelbon for the remainder of the season after he confronted teammate Bryce Harper.

          • From the bloggers ... Faith and Fear is clued in to a forgotten piece of early Mets history. ... Mets Report suggests home-field advantage in the Division Series is important.

          BIRTHDAYS: Brooklyn Cyclones outfielder Enmanuel Zabala turns 21.

          TWEET OF THE DAY:

          YOU’RE UP: Does home-field advantage matter?