Gee sees where he went wrong in 2015 debut

ATLANTA -- Most years, Dillon Gee finishes his New York City apartment search sometime around mid-March, giving him time to finalize all the details before heading home. Not this year. With trade rumors swirling all offseason and even into April, Gee waited until the season was almost upon him to cut his realtor a check.

"I put it off a lot longer this time just to see what was going to happen," Gee said. "Those things are expensive."

Gee did end up with the Mets and signed a lease, and for now seems secure. Five innings of five-run ball against the Braves on Saturday night is not going to change that, even if the Mets are bursting with young pitchers -- Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Rafael Montero most prominent among them -- eager to take his rotation spot this summer. For now, Gee will hope that his consistency -- he leads the Majors with 47 consecutive starts of five innings or more -- and track record will be enough to help him quickly right what went wrong in his debut.

"Sometimes it's just going to happen," said Gee, who was cruising until five of the first seven batters to face him in the fifth inning reached base, four of them on extra-base hits.

"But I look back on it, and there are some things I wish I would have done differently. I only threw one or two curveballs all night. In the middle of it, you're not thinking about that and it kind of slips your mind. Looking back, I wish I would have done more of that, and just mixed a little better."

"I thought he pitched a pretty good ballgame other than the big inning," manager Terry Collins said.

As for the apartment, Gee will begin calling it home when the Mets fly back to New York City following Sunday's series finale. As it turns out, Gee was not the only Mets player to procrastinate; outfielder John Mayberry Jr., who was assured a roster spot heading into Spring Training, also waited until the turn of the month to find some new digs. By the time he did, Gee had eyes on the same exact apartment, slipping his check to their realtor before Mayberry could.

From his locker near Gee's in the visiting clubhouse, Mayberry overheard his teammate retelling the story.

"Sore subject," he said, shaking his head.