Batted Balls And Strange Calls Applesauce: Bullpen Blows The Lead Late, Bay Is On The Way, Is Harvey Or Wheeler?

Meet the Mets

R.A. Dickey didn't seem to have it on Saturday. Neither did the umpires or Bobby Parnell, for that matter. The Mets fell 8-7 to the Braves, a heartbreaking loss in a game where they actually managed to hold the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. Dickey was hit around early, allowing three runs in the second after a Daniel Murphy non-error error. The Mets came back to tie it in the fourth before the Braves scored two in the fifth to take the lead again. Those two runs were scored immediately after the umpires turned a Jordany Valdespin inning ending double play into first and second with one out. To be fair, Valdespin clearly did trap the ball in left field but going from out of the inning to Tomahawk Chop in an instant is not fun. Terry Collins got himself run from the game on that play, while the umpire weighed in on it afterward. Despite all of that, the Mets managed three more runs in the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead and they scratched out a 7th run in the eighth. It wasn't enough, though, as the Braves came roaring back for 3 runs in the bottom of the eighth with Bobby Parnell letting all three inherited runners score. And that was that. Craig Kimbrel is good, after all.

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Johan Santana looks to stop the bleeding for the Mets, as he'll take the mound against former Brewers' ace Ben Sheets. The 33-year old Sheets is making his first big league start since 2010, when he made 20 starts with the Athletics. Game time is at 1:35 PM and you can catch all of the action on SNY.

Jason Bay took his rehab up to Buffalo and contributed his first hit on this most recent comeback trail. Meanwhile, it looks like Mike Baxter will begin a rehab stint in Port St. Lucie today.

Lucas Duda was on the bench for most of Saturday with a hamstring issue. Duda pinch hit with two outs in the ninth and was completely overmatched by Kimbrel, who whiffed him on four pitches.

Matt Harvey's start with Buffalo on Monday looks like it'll be an audition for a spot in the Mets' rotation later in the week. Luckily for all of the amateur scouts in the world, that game will be televised on SNY due to the big league club's off day. It's either Harvey or more Miguel Batista and I know how much everybody loves the prospect of more Battingpractista!

In more surprising news, Terry Collins told the media not to rule out some Zack Wheeler big league starts later this season. Wheeler threw on Saturday and tossed a complete game, six hit shutout with six strikeouts in a 1-0 Binghamton victory.

Toby Hyde gave his thoughts on the Mets' non-signing of second round pick Teddy Stankiewicz. Very confusing as to why the two sides were unable to work out a deal.

22-year old Luis Mateo continues to dominate for the Cyclones, as he allowed just a single hit over 7 shutout innings. Mateo sits at #21 on Rob's Midseason Prospect list. Brandon Nimmo also added a pair of hits including a triple.

Around the NL East

Mark Buehrle out-dueled Gio Gonzalez, as the Marlins defeated the Nationals 2-1. In Colorado, Charlie Manuel tried what the Mets did by turning to his closer Jonathan Papelbon with one out in the eighth. Luckily for them, it worked and the Phillies defeated the Rockies 8-5.

Around the Majors

Grantland has a really cool oral history of the start of WFAN, featuring some of the original personalities from the early days of the station. Howie Rose is involved, so that's good enough for me.

The Braves, down a pair of shortstops, acquired Paul Janish from the Reds in exchange for minor league pitcher Todd Redmond.

Roy Halladay will make his return to the majors on Tuesday. Can his presence save that sinking ship in Philly or is he just a band-aid on a bullet wound at this point?

Dr. Frank Jobe, the man who performed the first Tommy John surgery, says that the procedure could've easily been named Sandy Koufax surgery. Apparently, Koufax had nearly the exact same procedure performed on his elbow.

Juan Pierre hilariously called the analysis of advanced baseball statistics "Cybergenics" instead of Sabermetrics during an interview. I wonder if he's trolling.

Speaking of the study of advanced baseball statistics, Bill James had some silly things to say while coming to the defense of Joe Paterno. Maybe he should stick to sabermetrics or cybergenics or whatever.