:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/7524792/20120620_ajl_aw8_176.jpg)
The first game of a series seems to be make or break lately. If the Metsies win the opener, they seem to cap off the sweep every time lately. R.A. Dickey pitched the opener against the Orioles, so last night's result seemed to be a foregone conclusion. Franky Frank made it interesting, but in the end the Mets finished the sweep with a 4-3 victory. The box can be found here, the recap here.
The Mets have now done the Yankees a pair of major favors in sweeping two key divisional rivals, hopefully they'll knock the Yankees back a bit when they square off at a respectably sized stadium.
Everyone seems to be riding the Dickey train lately. I was still a little surprised to see businessweek throwing their hat into the ring.
Around MLB:
The Braves enjoyed the happy confines of Yankee Stadium yesterday as fans of the longball rejoiced. In the end the Braves came out on top, but suffered a major blow as Brandon Beachey was lost for the season.
The Phillies also came out of yesterday with a victory, a 7-6 win over the Rockies. To make matters worse in Colorado, Troy Tulowitzki will be undergoing surgery as well.
Stephen Strasburg kept right on rolling with another 10 strikeout game as the Nats won again. It will be a big loss when he reaches his innings limit for the season.
Miami managed to lose ground on the entire division last night, getting absolutely hammered by the Red Sox. Poor Fishies.
The Rockies announced the other day that they'll be going forward with a 4 man rotation for the foreseeable future. Fangraphs took a look at it yesterday, and it's certainly going to be fun to watch.
The Yankees made a pricey international signing yesterday, a move that will be a lot less common after the new rules take effect on July 2nd. It will be interesting to see how the international FA landscape changes now.
Finally for today, Baseball Nation took a look at possibly the worst missed strike call of the season. It's funny that this just happened, as I sat right next to the guy updating MILB's gamecast the other night and got to see the process first hand.