Send In The LOLpen Applesauce: Bullpen Wastes Solid Gee Start, Schwinden Demoted To Buffalo, Batista Moves Into Rotation

Meet the Mets

Through the seventh inning, the Mets held a comfortable 4-2 lead over the Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, the bullpen quickly made the two-run advantage evaporate and the Mets' offense couldn't get another run across the plate, as they fell to Arizona 5-4. Ike Davis had a rough day at bat and in the field, the worst moment being a crucial error on a ball that went through his legs to lead off that 8th inning. After Tim Byrdak walked a batter, Jon Rauch came on and allowed a two-run double to Paul Goldschmidt on the first pitch he threw. That was followed up by a Cody Ransom single to plate the go-ahead run. Lost in the bullpen's struggles, Dillon Gee made a nice start, allowing just 2 runs over 6 innings, while striking out 6 and walking 3. While he's been a little too hittable, Gee's off to a nice start in the strikeout department, punching out a healthy 29 batters in the 32 innings he's thrown this season. Offensively, Andres Torres had a nice day, going 3-4 with a double that just missed clearing the left-center field fence and Daniel Murphy added a pair of hits.

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Game two of this series begins this afternoon at 4:05 PM. Johan Santana toes the rubber and he'll face off against rookie lefthander Patrick Corbin for the D-Backs. You can catch this game nationally on FOX (maybe, if you're in the right viewing region) and locally on WFAN 660.

The big news on Friday was that the Mets demoted Chris Schwinden back to AAA Buffalo and called up utility man Vinny Rottino. With that, the team also announced that they will turn to Miguel Batista to make Tuesday's start in Philadelphia. Certainly, this is not ideal considering how awful Batista has been this season (and for a while). Let's hope it's just a temporary move.

Darryl Strawberry was at Citi Field last night to honor David Wright for passing him as the Mets' all-time RBI leader and Straw had some nice things to say about Wright.

After his rough game, Ike Davis says to put the blame on him. Okay...#BlameIke

The Mets used Beastie Boys' music for their walk-up songs yesterday in honor of Adam Yauch, who passed away after a fight with cancer. Nice move by the team, especially Scott Hairston and Justin Turner, who spearheaded the tribute.

Logic wins again: Sandy Alderson says that the Mets will not call up Matt Harvey or Jeurys Familia until they are absolutely ready and he called their development "independent" of the big league team's fortunes.

Around the NL East

In our nation's capital, Natitude took over the ballpark and it helped the Nationals beat the Phillies 4-3 in 11 innings. Or something like that.

Eric Hinske hit a two-run home run in the 11th inning, as the Braves defeated the Rockies 9-8 in a Coors Field slugfest.

The Marlins took on the Padres in San Diego, where Heath Bell blew yet another save for the Fish. That contract is looking really great so far.

Around the Majors

No Evan Longoria, no problem for the Rays. David Price tossed 8 solid innings, striking out 12, as they defeated the A's 7-2 in Tampa Bay.

Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff left the team during the series against the Mets a few weeks ago with what was termed as "family issues" at the time. It turns out that the truth was that Huff actually had a couple of panic attacks, which he has sought help for since returning home. Huff shared his story with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jhonny Peralta's first name may be spelled weirdly but the man can hit. And hit he did, as he cracked a walk-off home run off of Matt Thornton last night, leading the Tigers to a 5-4 victory over the White Sox. The best part of this game? Hawk Harrelson's reaction (or non-reaction) to the walk-off bomb.

In closer news, the Cubs demoted Carlos Marmol from the 9th inning and his replacement Rafael Dolis pitched a scoreless ninth to save his first game.

With Mariano Rivera out for the season, the Yankees will use both David Robertson and Rafael Soriano in a closer timeshare for now. Speaking of Rivera, he's planning on trying to come back in 2013.

The White Sox announced that they will move lefty Chris Sale back to the bullpen. The former first rounder Sale made five excellent starts in the rotation but the team is worried about his arm health down the road. Kind of strange that they'd make this decision right now and not last offseason.

Finally, Chone Figgins is now going to be a utilityman, a move that should've probably happened about 2 years ago.