Niese Gets Snakebitten, Baby Applesauce: Can Matt Harvey And R.A. Dickey Pitch Every Game?

Meet the Mets

In back to back days, the difference between Matt Harvey's performance and Jon Niese's performance probably could not have been any larger. After Harvey masterfully dominated the Diamondbacks on Thursday evening, Niese decided to go all #LOLMets on us. With the Mets ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second, he allowed six runs to cross the plate in this fashion:

-A Henry Blanco (old, no-hit catcher the Mets had in 2010) bases loaded walk (2-1 Mets Yay!).

-A Josh Collmenter (THE PITCHER) RBI single up the middle. Bases still loaded (2-2 uh oh).

-A Willie Bloomquist (Gritty but mostly awful utility guy) tapper up the third base line that Niese inexplicably threw away, three runs score (5-2 DBacks BOOOOOO TRAID).

-Aaron Hill (actual good hitter) sacrifice fly (6-2 DBacks LOLMets).

David Wright momentarily got the Mets back in this thing with one swing of his rippling arms, a three run bomb to make it 6-5 but Niese and Elvin Ramirez conspired to put things firmly out of reach. Niese gave up two more runs and then Ramirez tacked on three in the seventh because it's a rule that somebody in the Mets' bullpen has to give up some runs. It was Elvin's turn last night.

Choose Your Recap: MLB.com, ESPN NY, Daily News, New York Times, Associated Press, Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, New York Post

Chris Young faces off against Ian Kennedy in game three of this series, an 8:10 PM EST time. You can catch the action locally on WPIX 11.

Two injured Mets look like they could make their way back to the big club in San Francisco: Frank Francisco and Mike Baxter are both nearing the ends of their rehab assignments.

We're just three days away from the trade deadline and it looks like there could be some movement from the Mets. The Giants, Braves and Tigers supposedly all have interest in Scott Hairston. The Mets are said to be targeting controlled players in deals, as in players who will be around to help them in 2013 and beyond.

Want some more Matt Harvey MANIA? Of course you do. Here's Fangraphs' take on Harvey's first start. If you've got ESPN Insider (does anybody have ESPN Insider?), you can check out Keith Law's scouting report. I don't know how I missed this but Terry Collins compared Harvey to Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander. Finally, Howard Megdal writes a little about "potential".

The Mets will once again weigh whether to throw R.A. Dickey on short rest, though likely after the trade deadline.

Josh Edgin continues to throw well following his promotion to the big leagues and as a result, his role is becoming more prominent.

In the minors, the team made a number of promotions over the last few days and you can read all about them at Toby Hyde's site. The lefty Adam Kolarek, who was promoted to Binghamton, has had a strong year for St. Lucie and could turn into additional pen help next season. The big question of late has been "when does Zack Wheeler get pushed up?" and the answer to that is very soon, as they're debating whether he should start on Monday in Indianapolis or in Buffalo next weekend.

Even the obituaries of their own fans are taking shots at the Mets these days.

Around the NL East

The Ben Sheets renaissance tour (Benaissance?) took on the Phillies but they were no match, as the Braves won 6-1. In good news, the Braves have signed former Met Miguel Batista for some reason. The rebuilding Miami Marlins fell to the Padres 7-2, as Carlos Zambrano's struggles continued. And the first place Nationals got shut out by Brewers' rookie Mike Fiers by a tally of 6-0.

Around the Majors

There were a couple of trades yesterday. The big one saw Zack Greinke get shipped off to the Angels in exchange for three prospects: SS Jean Segura and RHP's Johnny Hellweg and Ariel Pena. So to recap: the Angels' rotation features Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson and now Zack Greinke at the front? Wow.

The other deal saw former Met Marco Scutaro moved to the Giants. In exchange, the Rockies receive 2B prospect Charlie Culberson.

Dustin Pedroia used some bad words to describe the Red Sox' first 100 games of the season. Meanwhile, one strange story yesterday had the costume of Sox' mascot Wally The Green Monster disappear. The ordeal went on for 45 minutes before the costume was found. Apparently, an employee who was scheduled to play Wally this weekend took the costume.

In the midst of an awful season and a bad losing streak, things are looking bleak for the Astros.

Want to read about Oliver Perez? No? Well, he's suddenly a good pitcher again. Looks like it wasn't marriage that made him mature but instead, the birth of his daughter.