Whacking Day Applesauce: Mets smack snakes, Dickey gets help to finish

Meet the Mets

After a horrible trip to Houston, and a bullpen implosion in the first game back home, the Mets made it back to back wins against the Dbacks, righting the proverbial ship. The fluttering knuckleball of one Robert Allan Dickey baffled the Arizona line-up, at least until the ninth inning. Of course, as Mets fans we are well aware that the ninth inning can never be easy. #Thatsnotbaseball.

Dickey was not happy about getting pulled, but the Mets pen turned in the best case scenario for the Mets pen-- warning track flyout, K, warning track flyout-- to seal the win. The game was a brisk two hours and fifteen minutes whch kept your Applesauce author from getting too sunburnt in the left field stands. #PraiseDickey.

The Mets couldn't get out of town without at least one injury, though, as Ruben Tejada tripped while trying to leg out a bunt single and took a scary fall into first base. The good news is it is only a right quad strain, but it does look like it will keep him out a week, which probably means a DL trip so they can get something resembling a real shortstop on the roster.

The Metropolitans head to Philadelphia next for a set with the Phillies, and then to Miami to face the Marlins and the horrendous visage of Mount Fishmore (h/t Mostly Mets Podcast). This is a big road trip for the Mets, facing two surging division rivals. Hopefully Jon Niese can set the tone for the trip tonight as he faces off with some guy named Halladay.

Ike Davis continues to struggle at the plate, something he is well aware of, Mr. Heyman. From my vantage point in the bleachers it looked like everything was starting early in his swing, like he doesn't think he can catch up to stuff.

Before we head off to Phily, Patrick Flood wraps up the Diamondbacks series and says nice things about Bryce Harper (more on that...oh, right now)

Around the NL East

Oh lordie, things got a little frisky in the Nats/Phillies game last night. First, noted carousel enthusiast Cole Hamels hit Bryce Harper on purpose. No really, it didn't even 'just get away from him.' Then, after going first to third on a base hit, Harper said 'fuck it, I'm stealing home.' And then he did. For all the talk about Harper being a jerk, he took the HBP without incident and then made the pitcher pay for it on the field. That's baseball. Hamels, meanwhile, can probably expect a letter in the mail from the commisioner. Still, expect plenty of hand-wringing for the next news cycle or so.

Oh, the Phillies won, by the way. And it looks like the Nationals are going to be without Jayson Werth for a while, which means Harper is probably up for good now.

The Braves completed a three-game sweep of the Rockies behind a strong start from Brandon Beachy. Oh, and in case you thought the whole Chipper/Moyer thing was going away. Probably not.

The Marlins stayed hot as well, finally getting back to .500 with a win over the Padres. Ricky Nolasco is now tied for the franchise lead in wins, which tells you all you need to know about the rich tapestry that is Miami Marlins history. And in case you haven't been keeping close track, their shortstop went 2-5 to raise his batting average to .234.

Around MLB

Weird baseball at Fenway! The O's and Sox went 17 innings, which would be noteworthy in and of itself, but it also featured position players pitching the last three half innings. Chris Davis of the Orioles outdueled Darnell McDonald of the Sox, and flashed 90 mph heat and whatever this nasty thing was as the Orioles completed a sweep in Fenway. Almost makes upn for Davis going 0-8 with 5 strikeouts at the dish. Meanwhile, Clay Buchholz continues to be confounding.

Our long national nightmare is over! Albert Pujols finally hit a home run, so sportscasters can all stop making jokes about who has more home runs than Pujols. He is still hitting .196 though, must be that big contract supressing his BABIP. They always do that.

Andy Pettitte made what will likely be his last minor league start in Rochester yesterday. Unless, you know, it's not. Regardless, somehow I don't think he is going to be the magic bullet that solves all the Yankees pitching woes. The Bombers did manage a split with the Royals behind a solid start from likely rotation casualty Phil Hughes.

Matt Moore is struggling in his rookie season in Tampa Bay. This is surprising to me, and not so good for my fantasy baseball team that you don't care about. Though I should have known this was going to happen, because he was facing Tommy Milone, who just knows how to win.

We'll wrap up with a quick survey of yesterday's action: The Cubs and the Giants both walked off to victory. Tyler Greene hit two home runs to lead the Cardinals over the Astros. And Mat Latos dominated the Pirates line-up, striking out 11 over 6 innings of work.