Rainout Applesauce: 4/23/12

Not much in the way of recaps to give you today. It was rainy yesterday, and the Metsies ended up getting a day off because of that rain. The game will be made up today as part of a single admission double header. Starting the first game will be Miguel Batista, who made the Mets to fill this exact role should it be required. He'll be squaring off against Tim Lincecum. Game 2 will feature Dillon Gee facing off against Madison Bumgarner. Johan Santana will have his next start pushed to tomorrow, where he'll presumably have first crack at former Met Jose Reyes. Ugh. I hate that sentence.

Batista aside, the Mets seem to be winning over the MSM with the work of their starting rotation. I think most of us here understood that we had a quality front three (when healthy), but it's certainly nice to see the media take note. With the pitching depth coming through the minors, this could soon be viewed as a real strength of the team. There was some word yesterday on additional starting pitching depth, Adam Rubin had the update in his lobby.

It was a pretty slow news day for the Mets, but someone did manage to track down Mike Pelfrey and ask him about the Phil Humber perfect game. Maybe it's the glass half empty side of me (you know, the Mets fan side), but I have a feeling Pelf is right and we'll eventually get the no-no, just on a day I wasn't able to be watching.

Not Mets-related specifically, but voting for the MLB All Star game is now underway. I'm sure some of the Mets will appreciate everyone voting for them.

Around Baseball

The suddenly red hot Braves were cooled down a bit yesterday. The Diamondbacks managed to avoid getting swept, winning 6-4 against Larry's crew.

The Phillies also lost yesterday, but I'm starting to expect that. They're really showing every sign possible of impending decline, and their payroll situation should make it unavoidable. Cliff Lee is also on the shelf now, so things could go from not rosy to positively bleak in a heartbeat. I love it.

The Nats and Fishes were rained out yesterday, but there was still a lot to talk about in Nats land. Most prominently was the home run Bryce Harper hit off of Jeurys Familia.

There was a traid yesterday in beantown. Marlon Byrd was shipped off to Boston for pitcher Michael Bowden. It's no surprise the Epstein still likes Bowden, I'm just surprised he couldn't get a larger return for his center fielder.

Finally for today, we'll link you to a career profile of perfect game throwing Phil Humber. Good for him.