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Last place was theirs for the first time this season on Sunday, but the Mets finally showed up against their chief NL East tormentor and promptly relinquished it.

The embarrassment stopped, at least for a day. 

The Mets received a solid pitching performance from Kodai Senga and  in a flashback to last season grinded at-bats in a fruitful sixth inning that sparked a 7-6 victory over the Braves at Citi Field.

In losing the first three games of this series the Mets had been outscored 34-3, but on this night contributions throughout the lineup —  No. 9 hitter Rafael Ortega went 3-for-4 with two RBIs — added even the smallest semblance of decency to the weekend; the Braves had never swept a four-game series in Queens.

The Mets (53-65) were a percentage point below the Nationals for last place in the NL East as the night began, but clawed back to fourth. 

The team’s mission for the final 44 games of their season might be summed up as such: find rest for the veterans, get experience for the rookies and avoid the NL East cellar.

The Boston Beer Company and PepsiCo announced plans to create alcoholic Mountain Dew.

The collaboration called Hard Mtn Dew is expected to hit shelves in 2023. Boston Beer will develop and produce the drink while Pepsi creates a new entity to sell, deliver and market the beverage.

Adults of legal drinking age can enjoy the bold flavors of original Mountain Dew, black cherry and watermelon Mountain Dew with an alcoholic twist and zero sugar. The new flavored malt beverage will contain 5% alcohol by volume.

Pepsi has been trying to move Mountain Dew out of the confines of the soda category and into new markets.

The Yankees’ pitching staff tossed a gem and the offense delivered with nine hits, including two home runs, to beat the Houston Astros on Saturday afternoon, 3-1.

The Yankees took a risk bringing Nestor Cortes back from the injured list. Sure, Cortes looked great in his two rehab starts with minor league affiliates, working back from a serious rotator cuff strain, but the left-hander hadn’t pitched against big-league hitters since May 30.

Cortes didn’t just smother Houston’s offense over four innings, setting the tone in a 3-1 win. He delivered his best start of the season.

The left-hander was in total control, striking out a season-high eight batters. Astros hitters whiffed 17 times against Cortes, coming up empty on exactly half of their swings. The only hit that Cortes allowed was his lone mistake, a two-strike cutter that leaked over the heart of the plate to leadoff man Jose Altuve — Altuve made him pay, crushing a solo home run 403 feet to left.

Cortes ended up throwing 64 pitches, handing the ball over to the best  bullpen in baseball in the fifth. Yankees relievers lived up to that reputation the rest of the way as Ian Hamilton, Tommy Kahnle, Michael King and closer Clay Holmes barely broke a sweat over five spotless innings, allowing just one base hit in that span.

If the Mets aren’t going to get to the playoffs, they can at least make it more difficult for teams still in the race.

That’s what they did against the Cubs, who had won five of six after the trade deadline before they arrived Monday at Citi Field. The Mets beat them Wednesday night, 4-3, to win the series after they came in having lost six straight games.

And as long as the Mets have Pete Alonso in the lineup, they have a chance to make waves. Alonso homered for the fourth time in three games against the Cubs with a fourth-inning, two-run blast that tied the score at 2-2.

Jeff McNeil then hit a go-ahead homer to lead off the sixth after Alonso’s 35th blast of the season put some life into what had been another quiet night at Citi Field.

Alonso could make a run at 50 homers for the second time in his career, despite what has been an inconsistent season.

“You look at numbers and they don’t necessarily tell the whole journey of a season,” Alonso said. “That’s how people look to define a season, but the process of how I found success this year is definitely different than in years past.”

Luis Severino had another disastrous outing, giving up six runs before recording an out and never giving the Yankees a chance as they fell to the Orioles, 9-3, to drop the series on Sunday night at Camden Yards.

“Right now, I feel like I am the worst pitcher in the game, no doubt about it,” said Severino, who gave up a career-high nine earned runs  across 4 innings and now owns a 7.49 ERA through 12 starts.

Coming off the kind of game they believed they were capable of playing more of on Saturday night, an 8-3 win, the Yankees (55-50) returned to playing the kind of game that has left them in last place in  the AL East. 

The first-place Orioles (64-41), meanwhile, continued to look the part and dealt the Yankees a series loss on a weekend when Aaron Judge returned from the injured list in encouraging fashion but was given a breather for Sunday’s finale to properly build up his workload.

With the Blue Jays losing earlier in the day, the Yankees missed a chance to make up ground in the AL wild-card standings, remaining 3 games back of the final playoff spot.

Justin Verlander earned his 250th career victory as the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Sunday after trading Max Scherzer to Texas.

Francisco Lindor homered and had three hits for the fourth-place Mets (50-55), who took three of four from last-place Washington. Pete Alonso drove in two runs.

Verlander (6-5) allowed one run in 6 innings to become the 49th major league pitcher to reach 250 wins.

Alonso had an RBI single and lifted one of New York’s two sacrifice flies in a three-run third against former teammate Trevor Williams (5-6).

Lindor homered in consecutive games for the fourth time this year. He reached base four times. Jeff McNeil hit a go-ahead triple and Omar Narváez also had a sacrifice fly in the third.

Making his 498th career start, Verlander gave up five hits in his third straight win. He walked off the mound to a nice ovation and tipped his cap to the crowd of 33,861 before accepting handshakes from teammates in the dugout.

Lionel Messi arrived at Inter Miami with the promise of big moments. He produced a magical one for his debut Friday night.

Messi’s dazzling last-ditch, free-kick goal provided a dramatic winner, giving Inter Miami a 2-1 Leagues Cup victory over Mexican league side Cruz Azul.

And his winner inspired an immortal moment when, after he was mobbed by teammates, Messi exhorted the sellout crowd at DRV PNK Stadium into a frenzy, and ran over to his family in the stands for an emotional embrace.

“What I saw was the goal. I saw the goal, I knew that I had to score,” Messi said. “It was the last play of the game and I wanted to score so we didn’t go to penalties. So it was very important for us to get this win. Because it’s a new tournament, this is going to give us confidence moving forward.”

After three brutal starts to begin his Yankees career, going 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA, Carlos Rodon, the $162 million left-hander set out on Wednesday to do better.

Rodon accomplished his goal and finally giving the Yankees the kind of start he craved on the way to a 3-1 win over the Mets in The Bronx.

In his first start since being booed by Yankees fans in Anaheim last week, Rodon walked off the mound after 6 innings of one-run ball to an ovation from the sellout crowd of 46,761.

Rodon out-pitched another left-hander whose season was delayed by injury, the Mets’ Jose Quintana, to secure a split of the Subway Series in this two-game set and the overall four-game season series.

The Yankees (54-48) manufactured just enough offense to make sure Rodon’s improved outing was not all for naught. Harrison Bader went 3-for-4 with two runs, helping to ensure the Yankees remained 2 games back of the Blue Jays for the final playoff spot.

“A really big outing for Rodon and for us,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The Mets (47-54) fell for the fourth time in their last six games.

Say goodbye to overpriced food and drinks at New York area airports! 

The Port Authority, which is the agency responsible for LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airport just released a new policy for vendors to stop over-pricing items. In the 35-page report it is made a rule that concession prices can’t be more than 10% higher than ‘street prices’ for the same or similar product. Vendors will also have to now offer lower priced menu items and they can let their customers know that they can complain about a possible over-charge on social media! 

“All airport customers should rightly expect that policies which limit the pricing of food and beverages at concessions will be followed and enforced,” said Kevin O’Toole, the chairman of the Port Authority, in an official statement. 

“And all airport customers and concessionaires should expect tough pro-active enforcement going forward now that these revised standards are in place.”

People have always complained about the prices inside airports, and a specific social media post went viral last year with a photo showing a list of beers around $28 each. The tweet led to the Office of the Inspector General to investigate.