Dropped Double Dip Applesauce: Giants Easily Sweep Doubleheader, Cedeno Gets DL'd, You're Now Entering The Valdespin Zone

Meet the Mets

Poor pitching and no offense makes the Mets lose a lot of games. Sometimes it even costs them two games in a single day! Monday was that day, as the Giants easily swept the boys from Flushing, defeating them 6-1 in the opener and 7-2 in the nightcap. Miguel Batista got the start in game one and pitched just like you'd expect a 41-year old Miguel Batista to pitch: he allowed lots of baserunners, featured little command and served up a pair of home runs in just 3.2 innings. Meanwhile, the offense was mostly dreadful, scoring just a single run on a Mike Baxter RBI double. In some better news, righty Jeremy Hefner made his big league debut, tossing three scoreless innings in relief. Hefner was recalled when Ronny Cedeno hit the DL and then promptly sent back to Buffalo in exchange for infielder Jordany Valdespin prior to game two. In that second game, Dillon Gee started and did his best Batista impression, though he swapped out of command issues for extra hits allowed. In total, Gee allowed 12 hits and 7 runs to a poor offensive Giants team and that is unacceptable, quite frankly. The Mets offense was just as listless in this one, scratching out 6 hits and 2 runs. Ike Davis had a rough day, stranding the bases loaded three times over the two games. Oof.

Choose Your Recap: MLB.com (Game 1, Game 2), ESPN NY (Game 1, Game 2), Star Ledger, Bergen Record, NY Daily News, NY Times, Associated Press

The multi-colored Miami Marlins, led by their dynamic shortstop Jose Reyes, come into town for the first time tonight. This pitching matchup should be a good one, as the Mets send Johan Santana to the hill to face off against Josh Johnson for the Fish. First pitch is at 7:10 PM and as always, you can catch all of the action on SNY and WFAN 660.

The return of Reyes is certainly going to be a huge story today in the media. Jorge Arangure of ESPN The Magazine has a piece on Reyes, who says he's "going crazy thinking about going (to New York)". Reyes' former infieldmate David Wright is expecting a warm welcome for Jose tonight. I initially wasn't sure how I'd feel about this day a few months back but personally, I think this is a night to appreciate what Reyes did for this franchise for 9 seasons. There will be plenty of time for booing and jeering tomorrow and beyond but I plan on remembering the good times this evening.

As was written up above, Ronny Cedeno was placed on the 15 day DL with a strained intercostal muscle. Cedeno's roster spot was taken by Jeremy Hefner, who threw 3 innings in game one, and then Jordany Valdespin after Hefner was demoted. These transactions forced a trickle down on the minor leagues. For all of you Josh Edgin fans, you got some good news: the Mets promoted the lefty reliever to AAA Buffalo and he even threw a scoreless inning and a third, allowing just a hit, while striking out 3 batters. Certainly a nice debut.

Jason Bay is banged up, as he bruised his ribcage in Game 2 while laying out for a fly ball that he ultimately whiffed on. X-Rays were negative but it'll be interesting to see what the team does with Bay, considering the fact that Andres Torres started a rehab assignment last night with the St. Lucie Mets. Torres went 3-4 with a pair of stolen bases in his first game. In considerably less exciting news, D.J. Carrasco also joined the FSL team for a rehab assignment. At least he was better than Miguel Batista kind of recently, though that's really not saying much since that was like two years ago. Carrasco tossed a perfect inning with a strikeout last night.

Patrick Flood is trying to make Zack Wheeler Face a thing. The Church of Dickey loves Zack Wheeler but this seems to be nothing short of sacrilege. There is but one pitch face.

Sandy Alderson candidly spoke with Bruce Beck on WNBC Sunday night regarding the status of David Wright:

"We've said, 'Look, let's play out at least part of this season and see where we are.' But I, honestly, at this point cannot foresee David playing elsewhere,’.

Get it done, @MetsGM!

Around the NL East

Anytime you lose a pitcher the caliber of Cliff Lee, you're likely to see a large drop-off in quality. Triple that drop-off when the replacement is Kyle Kendrick. The Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks 9-5 in Arizona as Kendrick got rocked for 7 runs and the Phillies managed to scratch across all 5 runs in the 9th inning, long after this was an actual contest. As bad as the Philly offense has been, it received another blow on Monday when their best hitter Hunter Pence sat out with a shoulder injury.

Jair Jurrjens has not been himself on the mound since the second half of last season and his struggles continued on Monday, as the Braves dropped a game to the red-hot Dodgers 7-2 in Los Angeles. Things were so bad for Jurrjens that Juan Uribe somehow managed to go 4-4! To make matters worse, the Braves announced that they had demoted Jurrjens down to AAA Gwinett after the game. Ouch.

The Nationals and Marlins had Monday off, easily making them the big winners in the NL East on this day. Just a brutal day all around the division.

Around the Majors

It looks like the arbitrator in the Ryan Braun steroids case will not publicly explain the decision to overturn the outfielder's positive test. It had been expected that Shyam Das would release his findings.

The losing streak is over, everybody! Cody Ross ripped two home runs and the Red Sox beat the Twins 6-5 on Monday. That doesn't mean the Bobby V blame doesn't continue to leak, though. Now there's a story about an ugly scene in spring training and a near player revolt.

Jake Peavy couldn't duplicate what teammate Phil Humber did on Saturday but he came pretty close, spinning a three hit complete game shutout as the White Sox defeated the A's 4-0.

Pudge Rodriguez officially announced his retirement from baseball after 21 years on Monday.

According to agent Scott Boras, lefty reliever "Rocking" Mike Gonzalez is getting close to signing with a team and should agree to a deal within the next 10 days.

Dontrelle Willis, who signed a minor league deal recently with the Orioles, has gone AWOL and the team placed him on the restricted list. Wills apparently would prefer to work as a starter, while the O's want him to work as a LOOGY.