A Walk In The (Petco) Park Applesauce: Baxter Walks Five Times In Victory, Good To See Moneyball Is Alive And Well

Meet the Mets

The Mets defeated the Padres 6-2 as Edinson Volquez did his "Edinson Volquez walks the ballpark" routine. MIke Baxter had a game for the record books but he didn't even have a single at bat. That's because he walked five times in five plate appearances. Daniel Murphy also added four hits and Jeremy Hefner pitched six solid innings to help propel the Mets to victory.

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Matt Harvey throws for the Mets this afternoon as the Mets look to take the rubber game of the series from the Padres. He'll take on perennial future Met Jason Marquis. Hey, did you know he's from Staten Island?! Oh, of course you did. Game time is at 4:05 PM.

Frank Francisco's side is still bothering him but he managed to close out Saturday's game. The test will be how he recovers after pitching.

Phenom Matt Harvey's Citi Field debut is scheduled for Friday against the Braves. Coincidentally, that's the night of that Mercy Me postgame concert that they've been plugging for a few weeks now. I'll go out on a limb and guess that Harvey is the bigger draw.

Jeremy Hefner has done a fine job in place of Johan Santana but it looks like he'll head to the bullpen once the Johan returns.

2012 first round pick SS Gavin Cecchini fractured the tip of his middle finger down in Kingsport on Wednesday when he was hit by a pitch and it looks as if he may miss some time.

Zack Wheeler is set to make his first AAA start today and ESPN has a nice writeup on the righthander's journey from San Francisco to New York.

39 year old former big league lefty C.J. Nitkowski is giving it one more try with the Binghamton Mets.

Around the NL East

The Nationals scored six times in the eighth inning as they held off the Marlins 10-7. The Braves fell to the Astros 3-2 in Paul Maholm's debut, though he pitched well. The Phillies shut out the Diamondbacks 3-0.

Around the Majors

Baltimore designated OF/folk hero Endy Chavez for assignment in the midst of a brutal season for the veteran outfielder. As Lloyd Christmas once said, "pick 'em up!" Chavez will be replaced by the ghost of Nate McLouth. Also, Brian Roberts underwent successful hip surgery.

Phillies' GM Ruben Amaro Jr. says that Cliff Lee "isn't going anywhere". Well, okay then. Unfortunately, Carlos Ruiz is going to the DL with plantar fasciitis in his left foot. He'll be out 4-6 weeks.

Looks like yesterday's news that Emilio Bonifacio would miss the rest of the season with a thumb injury was premature, as he could return in 2-3 weeks.

The Rockies' 2012 pitcher apocalypse continued, as 25-year old lefty Christian Friedrich is done for the season with a stress fracture in his back.

The Giants signed one time Met OF Xavier Nady to a minor league deal, likely because he felt the Giants just don't have enough aging, washed up veterans on the roster.