Yahoo Sports 
Mets hold breath after Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes leave game
If the New York Mets could hit the restart button on Friday, they’d do it in a heartbeat.
Hours before their game against the Washington Nationals, the team learned that right-hander Matt Harvey would undergo season-ending surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome. That’s a pretty tough blow for a team with World Series aspirations, and certainly the last thing they needed after hearing that news was another injury.
Unfortunately, they were hit with two more scares immediately on Friday night, as All-Stars Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes were forced from the with injury concerns of their own.
Syndergaard, who has been pitching with a bone spur in his right elbow, exited the game with two outs in the fifth and a 2-2 count on Jayson Werth. Obviously, there was immediate fear that his exit may be related to bone spur, but the Mets are simply calling it “arm fatigue.”
Noah Syndergaard left the game with "arm fatigue — not elbow related," the Mets say.
— Adam Rubin (@AdamRubinESPN) July 9, 2016
That sounds good, but it’s not likely to soothe every Mets fans concerns. Just the sight of Syndergaard being escorted off the field by manager Terry Collins and the team’s head athletic trainers raises more red flags than the Mets may be comfortable acknowledging. But for now, we should at least trust they’ve dodged a real crisis.
[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]
The situation with Cespedes seems to be more cut and dried, though that’s not necessarily a good thing. The Mets say he was pulled after three innings with a strained right quadriceps. Cespedes appeared to suffer the injury on a sliding catch in the soggy Citi Field outfield. His status is unclear, though any type of muscle strain can be problematic and unpredictable.
Collins didn’t provide much additional information after Friday’s game, other than to say it was unlikely either player would perform in the All-Star game.
Terry Collins says it's "a pretty good assumption" that neither Noah Syndergaard nor Yoenis Cespedes will play in the All-Star Game. #Mets
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 9, 2016
Beyond that, it’s not clear what potential near-term and long-term impact these setbacks will have. All Mets fans can do is hope for the best as perhaps the two most important players on their roster are clearly less than one-hundred percent.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
