80's Night Applesauce: Mets Fall Despite Awesome Throwback Jerseys And Another Strong Dickey Start, Byrdak To The DL

Meet the Mets

On Friday night, the Mets fell to the Padres 3-1 in the series opener in San Diego. R.A. Dickey pitched well but the Mets' offense was flat and could only manage just a single run despite nine hits. Tied at one, the damage came in the seventh inning when after a Carlos Quentin single, Yonder Alonso hit a catchable ball to right center field that Scott Hairston slid for and ultimately missed. Andres Torres tossed the ball in and they got the ball to the plate in time but with the gigantic Quentin bearing down on home plate, Josh Thole lost control of the ball in the collision. After allowing one more run, the Mets were turned away by San Diego's bullpen.

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Game two of the Mets' series with the Padres begins at 8:35 PM and will feature former Padre farmhand Jeremy Hefner facing off against righty Edinson Volquez.

Frank Francisco is back his DL stint but he isn't 100% healthy, as he says has some right lat soreness. While Frank is active again, the Mets placed Tim Byrdak on the 15-day DL with a shoulder injury.

In other injury news, Johan Santana is scheduled to throw three innings of rehab with the Brooklyn Cyclones on Sunday. Daniel Murphy sat out Friday's game, as he's nursing a minor wrist injury. And down at AAA, Kirk Nieuwenhuis left Buffalo's game in the first inning with what is being called a tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot, which he suffered running to first base.

R.A. Dickey will not pitch on short rest yet but the Mets are targeting a period between August 14-26 to give it a try.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting profile on lefty Josh Edgin, about his journey from small town farmer and 30th-round draft pick to big league reliever.

Is David Wright really awesome? Why yes he is, as Howard Megdal points out.

Around the NL East

The Phillies fell to the Diamondbacks 4-2, while they dealt Joe Blanton to the Dodgers and also had Cliff Lee claimed off waivers by the Dodgers. But you know...not buying that Phillies are dead, you guys. Meanwhile, the Nats and Marlins split a doubleheader with the Nationals winning game one 7-4 and the Marlins taking game two 5-2. More bad news for the Fish, though, as they lost Emilio Bonifacio for the rest of the year after he re-aggravated his thumb injury. Finally, the Braves beat the Astros 4-1 as Tim Hudson picked up his 100th career victory.

Around the Majors

The Athletics won in walk-off fashion yet again last night. IT'S JUST LIKE MONEYBALL! Meanwhile, the Nationals acquired A's catcher Kurt Suzuki in exchange for minor league catcher David Freitas.

The Indians sent Johnny Damon packing yesterday, potentially ending his career as well. Can we call him Johnny DFAmon now?

Josh Hamilton had been alluding to a mystery issue for about a week and according to Jon Heyman, that issue is that he can't give up chewing tobacco.

This is pretty cool: B.J. and Justin Upton were both sitting on 99 career home runs before they each cracked their 100th on Friday.

At ESPN's Sweetspot blog, Dave Schoenfield examines the importance of free talent to winning teams. Free talent are those guys you acquire for little, such as waiver wire pickups, Rule 5 draftees, minor league free agents, players on loan from the Mexican League, etc.

Jose Canseco is back again, everybody! With the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings of the North American Baseball League! That's kind of, almost...okay, not really at all close to the Major Leagues.