Mets Morning News: Gee ends up on the losing side of rhyming matchup with Lee

Meet the Mets

Dillon Gee struggled against the Phillies lineup, allowing seven runs including a trio of home runs in just three innings, as the Mets lost 8-3 last night. Most of the Mets' offense on this evening came from John Buck's two-run home run, his fourth of the early season. Struggling Ike Davis took a seat on the bench, giving way to Justin Turner at first base. For more, check out the recaps below:

Choose Your Recap: Amazin' Avenue Short, Long, MLB.com, ESPN NY, Daily News, New York Times, Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, NY Post, Newsday

Jeremy Hefner heads to the mound this evening and he'll face off against Kyle Kendrick as the Mets look to take the series from the Phillies. Game time is at 7:05 PM.

In rehab news, Frank Francisco is working his way back, as he was expected to throw from a mound yesterday. Meanwhile, there's less news on Shaun Marcum at the moment.

Harvey Avenue? Harvey Avenue. Howard Megdal writes that Matt Harvey sure looks like the real thing. But of course, let's not forget TINSTAAPP (There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect, for the uninitiated). I'm planning to not think of things like this ever.

With his hot start, the acquisition of John Buck has really worked out well for the Mets so far and a team executive said that Buck's inclusion in last offseason's R.A. Dickey trade was something the team wanted from the beginning of negotiations.

Yesterday At AA

Stephen Schmidt has yesterday's Daily Farm Report, in which he's hailing Satin. #HAILSATIN

David Moseder looks back at April 9th in Mets history.

Around the NL East

The Nationals beat the White Sox 8-7 as they got home runs from Ian Desmond, Jayson Werth, and Adam LaRoche.

Kris Medlen and the Braves defeated the Marlins 3-2, as there were under 15,000 fans at Marlins Park a day after the team's home opener. No word on the number of protesting fans who were kicked out of the stadium, though.

Around the Majors

International Bonus Pools have been released, with the Mets having the 10th highest total at $2,664,600 to spend on International Free Agents this year.

In a guest post for Baseball Prospectus, our own Matthew Callan writes about the lineage of the "crazy closer" and the Closer Mentality.

Jered Weaver is going to miss 4-6 weeks with a broken non-pitching elbow. A weird looking play all around.

The Rangers designated center fielder Julio Borbon for assignment yesterday. With his speed and ability to play a strong center field, he'd be a nice player for the Mets to look into.

Carlos Marmol walks lots and lots of guys but was somehow a closer up until yesterday.

MLB is still working to test the bullpen cell phone technology that was promised over the offseason.

The Blue Jays have signed Miguel Batista to a minor league contract because, well, I'm not really sure why.