A- ROD GETS ALL- STAR SHAFT
BETA TANCES & TEIXEIRA SELECTED; deGROM TO REPRESENT METS IN CINCY
SANFRANCISCO— Jacob deGrom is headed to Cincinnati for the All Star Game, but Jeurys Familia will have towait and see.
Pitchers and reserves, as chosen by the players and All Star managers, were unveiled Monday and to nobody’s surprise deGrom, who is 86 with a 2.30 ERA, became the second Mets starting pitcher in three years selected to the game. Matt Harvey was picked in 2013 and started for the NL team.
The Mets did not have a position player elected or selected to the game.
Despite pitching to a 1.16 ERA with 22 saves in 24 chances, Familia was caught in a numbers crunch. His fate will now be decided in a “Final 5” election that runs through Friday. The final NL roster spot will either go to Familia, Johnny Cueto, Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Martinez or Troy Tulowitzki.
NL manager Bruce Bochy indicated the fact the Brewers and Phillies each needed a representative and that closers Francisco Rodriguez and Jonathan Papelbon were the selections hurt Familia’s chances.
“I knowall about [ Familia],” Bochy said. “He has great stuff. He had a great first half and that is why he’s on the fan voting.”
➤ Lucas Duda was given a night off from the starting lineup to clear his mind but struck out in a pinchhitting appearance. The slumping first baseman entered play in a 9for65 (. 138) slump over his past 17 games.
“He’s swinging at balls out of the zone,” manager Terry Collins said. “And you look at the games in Los Angeles, the balls he could drive, he fouled them off.”
➤ Michael Cuddyer has no answers for his struggles.
The veteran outfielder, who went 2for4 on Monday night, entered play in a 6for56 (. 107) skid with 16 strikeouts over his previous 18 games, said he has been through everything in his career.
“[ But] this is the toughest stretch, noquestion about it,” Cuddyer said. “You grind through it. I’m not going to give up. I will just grind through it and keep battling.”
➤ The Mets selected Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ contract from Triple A Las Vegas and demoted Darrell Ceciliani.
Nieuwenhuis, who delivered a key double in the ninth inning in the Mets’ 30 win over the Giants, was designated for assignment by the Mets earlier this season and traded to the Angels, who later released him. Nieuwenhuis was claimed by the Mets and has spent the past three weeks at Las Vegas, where he was batting .293 with seven homers and 20 RBIs.