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Yes, after David Wright returned to the line-up with a broken finger and hit a home run on the first pitch he saw, we all had a good chuckle suggesting that the Mets all break one of their fingers. Well, Jason Bay did his best to do so, came back and did this. So eff it, get Ray Ramirez some ball pein hammers and have him go to town. I always imagined that was his usual Rx anyway.
Meet the Mets
Why can't they just play the Braves every game? The Metropolitans improved to 4-0 against Atlanta with a 6-1 victory last night. Ike Davis struck the big blow of the game, a three-run homer, off the fifth consecutive curveball from Tommy Hanson. That last one got a wee bit too much plate there. This came after the Braves elected to intentionally walk David Wright to face Davis, though that is totally a defensible decision right now. Dillon Gee added seven strong innings of work despite his facial hair, which continues to be...well...
Anywho, Ike Davis dog is, you know. The Mets continue their series with the Braves tonight, as Johan Santana faces off with Braves' pitching prospect, Randall Delgado. Here's a helpful scouting report on the Panamanian righty.
Since Chipper was back in uniform last night, of course the Mets reporters had to crowd around him like 14 year old girls crowd around, well whatever 14 year old girls crowd around these days. Is it still Justin Bieber?
Over at SNY.tv, Ted Berg has nothing but praise for David Wright. Wright's been worth 0.7 fWAR for 7 games. Logically then, he will be worth around 16 fWAR this season. Awesome! The Mets should really sign him to a long term extenstion. Wait, what's that you say? Meanwhile, Toby Hyde thinks Matt Harvey is just fine, you guys. I'm going to take a look at Harvey and Familia's first three starts later this week, but it's certainly way too early to be blindly slamming your fist on the panic button.
Mike Pelfrey has a plan, and we like his plan. However, Terry Collins' plan to give Tejada a day off and bat Ronny Cedeno lead off? Not so much. No reason not to bat Thole or Kirk lead-off and Cedeno eighth.
Former Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels was sentenced to probation for tax fraud. Hopefully I never have to aggregate anything about this story ever again.
Greg Prince thinks you can write the Phillies off this year. The reason? Ty Wigginton.
Around the NL East
The NL East continues to be successful against every team other than the Mets. The Nationals rode Stephen Strasburg to victory over the hapless Astros. Seriously, when do the Mets get to play the Astros? It seems like every other NL East team has got to pad their record against Houston.
The Phillies smacked the suddenly mortal looking Tim Lincecum for four in the first, and Roy Halladay took it from there.
The Marlins had the day off, probably to let everyone recover from this.
Also looks like everyone forgot about Strasmas yesterday. You're a mean one, Mr. Washington Capitals
Around MLB
The big story continues to be Bobby V putting his foot in his mouth and then shooting it, or something like that. Valentine apologized to Kevin Youklis for his comments, but Rob Neyer thinks Bobby may be on his way to losing the clubhouse. Didn't help that he probably left Daniel Bard in a bit too long as the Rays beat the Sox on Patriot's Day. On the plus side, though, the Bard to the rotation move seems to be working okay so far.
The other big story of the day was the Giants locking up Madison Bumgarner to a deal that could keep him in the Bay area through 2019. That gives the Giants Cain and Bumgarner for the forseeable future. Now they just need to figure out what's eating Tim Lincecum. These pre-arb deals are almost always great for the team, but Dave Cameron breaks down the numbers for you anyway. #27frontoffice!
A few commenters took me to task yesterday for blaming the Pads for the bunt triple play, and it seems MLB agrees with you. So mea culpa, Padres, but you still shouldn't bunt with your clean-up hitter.
A couple of Yankees are on the trail back to the majors. Andy Pettite tossed four innings in the Florida State League for the Tampa Yanks, while Michael Pineda threw his first bullpen session since being diagnosed with shoulder tendonitis.
In news I am probably obligated to relay, but could not care less about, jury selection has begun in the Roger Clemens retrial.
In actual on-field action, Justin Verlander outdueled Danny Duffy for his first win of the season. Verlander went the distance, striking out Alex Gordon with the bases loaded to seal the victory.
Carl Pavano continues to only be good against the Yankees, leading the Twins to a 7-3 victory with an assist from Mauer and Morneau.
And finally, the anonymous scout has apparently gone round the bend. Or maybe he drafted Matt Weiters in fantasy baseball based on that wonky PECOTA projection a few years back and never forgave him. Either way, that is just an odd quote to give.