Mack Attack: August 10, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Sunday, August 10, 2008

Mets News:

Pennant/Wild Car Race:

Cubs: 46
Milwaukee 51
Philly: 53
St. Louis 54
Mets 54
Marlins 56

The Mets now have a yearly attendance of 2,785,241, which ranks them 2nd in the league to the Yankees (3,275,162). It works out to an average daily attendance of 50,640.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya stated on Friday that Brian Stokes was given the call for Saturday's spot start instead of prospect Jon Niese because Niese isn't on the 40-man roster. Yet players like Willie Collazo and Anderson Hernandez remain on the 40-man. The difference between Stokes and a rookie like Niese probably isn't a big difference, but the Mets are in a tight playoff race and every little advantage matters. Since Niese would also be a candidate for some time with the big club in September, it was a little more surprising he wasn't the choice. Source: Newsday

Pitcher John Maine pitched a simulated game yesterday attempting to recover from a strained rotator cuff injury. He declared himself ready to pitch to the media assembled to track his every pitch. He threw three innings and plan to pitch a bullpen session today. The plan is for him to come off the disabled list and pitch against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday. Luis Castillo has been playing rehab games in Port St. Lucie preparing to return from the disabled list from various hip/leg/knee injuries. To make room on the roster for Castillo, the Mets may put Ramon Castro on the disabled list to give him time to recover from an ankle injury. The Mets thought he’d be okay to play by now but the ankle is still bothering him. – MetsReport

Evans and, especially, Murphy have indicated they will provide legitimate at-bats. Murphy has just 22 plate appearances, but gives the whiff of being a lefty-swinging Kevin Youkilis - a hitter who treats each pitch as a holy war, is fearless of deep counts and will drive the ball to all fields. He had two more hits yesterday, but more impressive was that against tough southpaw Reynel Pinto, Murphy battled from a 1-2 count to draw a walk. He has a .571 on-base percentage. It is not inconceivable - at least to me - that Murphy could do a lot of what the Mets would have received had they obtained Seattle’s Raul Ibanez before the deadline. Ibanez had the track record that Minaya craves so much. Murphy, like many current Mets, does not. Can the Mets win the NL East this way? - BTF

Zephyrs:

it really doesn't matter who won this game... what does matter is how SP Jon Niese did: 6.0 IP 5 H 2 ER 5 K 1 BB 2.37 - looking good!

B-Mets:

Salvador Paniagua went 3-for-3 for the B-Mets, but had a rough night on the base paths. He was picked off first base following a third inning single and then was thrown out in the fifth and eighth innings trying to stretch singles into doubles. "We keep preaching about good base running," Oliveras said. "It's one of the most important parts of the game. Hitting-wise he was OK, base running-wise, he wasn't too good." ... Pitcher Bobby Parnell was called up to Triple-A Norfolk on Friday. Replacing him on the B-Mets roster was right-handed pitcher Dillon Gee, who was promoted from Single-A St. Lucie. Gee was 8-6 with a 3.25 ERA for St. Lucie - PressConnects

OF Fernando Martinez hit his 7th home run of the season in the 3rd inning Saturday night... SP Mike Antonini (6.0 IP 3 ER 4.70) continues to struggle at this level...

Lucy:

OF Ryan Church will be added to the roster this weekend, as a rehab assignment, and will begin to play for Lucy sometime next week… the success SP Julio Polanco had in Savannah is not translating to A+ ball yet. Polanco got drilled (4.2 IP, 4 ER, 6.17) Saturday night… Luis Castillo is now batting .067 in rehab...

Gnats:

Another bad start for SP John Holdzkom... he walked the first 3 batters, followed by a sac fly, and then 3 singles... 5 runs in the top of the 1st... maybe they should shut the touted propsect down for the year because this is one year he'd like to forget...

Clones:

After a week in Brooklyn, Jason Jacobs was headed back to last Friday St. Lucie a different player. Subbing for injured first baseman Ike Davis who injured his foot a few days earlier, Jacobs was brought to Brooklyn to provide a jolt to an offense in desperate need of one and the leadership that comes with being a two-time New York Penn-League All Star. Hitting just .176 with three hits in four games with his former team, Jacobs’ time in Brooklyn didn’t go exactly as planned, but it did serve a purpose. Alone in the Cyclones clubhouse after a 9-4 loss against Staten Island on Sept. 4, the shaggy haired catcher packed his bags and talked about his season with the same reporters that watched him slug 12 home runs and 46 RBI last season. – DemBrooklynBums

Reece Havens returned to the lineup, once again as DH… SP Bradley Holt didn’t have it Saturday night, but even his worst is respectable… Holt’s stats: 4.0 IP, 1ER, 3K, 3 BB, 2.08…

Brooklyn had its three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday, losing to the Batavia Muckdogs, 2-0. The Cyclones got another outstanding pitching performance, but the bats were quiet, and managed just three hits in the game. The loss drops Brooklyn’s record to 27-24. RHP Brad Holt (3-3) made his 10th start of the year. Holt (pictured, by George Napolitano) pitched four innings, allowed one run and struck out three batters. LHP Matias Carrillo and RHP Jeff Kaplan followed Holt and only allowed a lone run in the final five innings. Brooklyn, however, could not mount a comeback, and notched just three hits, with one each from Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Eric Campbell and Ralph Henriquez.

GCL Mets:

A pitchers duel… GCL Marlins beat the Mets, 12-11… 2B Alonzo Harris (.328) had 3 hits, including 2 home runs… Jefry Marte (.326) went 2-4… only pitcher worth talking about was Ambiorix Burgos, who went 1.0, 0 ER, 1H, 1K…

DSL Mets:

The DSL Mets beat the Rays, 6-2… SP Gonzalez German continues to rack up the wins (5-0, 6.2IP, 2 ER, 1.25)… CL Samuel Tavares (0.36) had his 8th save… SS Wily Hiraldo (.269), went 2-5…

1983 Lynchberg Mets:

Starting pitcher: Jay Tibbs, Dwight Gooden, Jeff Bettendorf, Reginald Jackson, Bill Latham, DeWayne Vaughn, Calvin Schiraldi

Half the pitching staff reached the big leagues in some capacity. Two of these guys played prominent roles in the '86 World Series, albeit on opposite sides. Tibbs, Gooden and Bettendorf combined for 46 wins. By most standards, the 21-year-old Tibbs, a second-round pick of the Mets in 1980, had a fine season (14-8, 2.92 ERA, 170 K); this year, however, he played a barely audible second fiddle to a kid three years his junior. Tibbs never made it with the Mets, being traded in June 1984 for right-hander Bruce Berenyi. Still, Tibbs did have a career (not as good as I'd remembered—for some reason, I always confused him with Bob Sebra); over parts of seven big-league campaigns, Tibbs went 39-54 with a 4.20 ERA. The kid? That would be Gooden, of course. He struck out 300 batters in 1986. That works out to 14.14 K/9, or about 3-1/2 more per inning than Nolan Ryan fanned when he set the single-season strikeout mark in 1973. Oh yeah, Gooden was 18 years old.

I'm going to sound like a geezer here, but it's difficult to describe just how great Gooden was when he first arrived. He won NL ROY in 1984 (yeah, he jumped straight from the Carolina League) and then the Cy Young Award in 1985 (at age 21, with a 24-4 record and 1.53 ERA). Gooden won 17 games for the '86 Mets, though he got torched in the World Series, losing both games he started. Bettendorf, Latham and Vaughn all had cups of coffee, which brings us to Mr. Schiraldi. The Mets' first-round pick in '83 made six starts at Lynchburg (4-1, 4.45 ERA) before being promoted to Double-A Jackson. After the season, New York traded Schiraldi and others to the Boston Red Sox for left-hander Bob Ojeda and change. Schiraldi is famous for two reasons. First, he was a college teammate of Roger Clemens. And second, he was hung with the loss in Games 6 and 7 of the 1986 World Series. Prior to his October confrontation with the team that drafted him, Schiraldi had been lights-out for the Red Sox, allowing just nine earned runs in 57 regular-season and ALCS innings. But nobody will remember that. - HardballTimes

Minor League Bios:

Brahaim (BRY-um) Maldonado OF R R 6-0 185 9-18-85 St. Francis,Puerto Rico

Maldonado was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and came out of St. Francis, in Puerto Rico (the same school that produced OF Luis Lopez for Tampa Bay).
Maldonado was drafted by the Mets in the 10th round of the 2004 draft. He played all of 2004 with the GCL Mets, where he hit only .185/.272/.238 in 151 at bats. 2005 brought a better return to the GCL level (.256/.355/.359 in 117 Abs) and he was bumped up to finish the season with St. Lucie (.313/.421/.375 in 16 at bats.

2006 brought a year assignment to rookie team Kingsport, where he batted .281/.363/.530 in 185 at bats. Good pop in Maldy’s bat too. He led the team in home runs and RBIs, finished 2nd in the Appalachian League in slugging percentage, and was tied for 2nd place with 28 extra base hits, before joining the Brooklyn Cyclones for the playoffs.

2007 brought an assignment to Savannah, which started out slowly in April; however, Maldonado caught fire in May and continued to pour it on the rest of the year. He was named player of the week in the 2nd week of July for the league and went down with a broken finger in early August. “El Toro’s” season stats were all-star like: .310/.349/.500/.849 in 306 Abs (10 HRs 39 RBIs, 11 SBs).

In September 2007, Maldonado was named the winner of the Sterling Award, given to the MVP of the Savannah Sand Gnats. Also in September 2007, ‘BA’ ranked Maldonado as the 23rd highest SAL lesgue player in extra-base hits, adding: “Maldonado, a 10th-round pick in 2004 from Puerto Rico, has hit for power two years in a row now—and he was one of the few bright spots for a Savannah team that was probably the minors’ worst.”

This Day in Mets History:

2000 - Winning for the first time in 16 starts, David Cone ends the worst slump of his career as the Yankees beat the A's, 12-6. Newly acquired Jose Canseco hits a three-run homer into the upper deck to help Cone stop the skid.

2004 - Taking a cab to Shea Stadium from nearby LaGuardia Airport , Mets starting pitcher Tom Glavine is injured as the taxi collides with an SUV. The 38-year old two-time Cy Young Award winner loses his front two teeth and needs over 40 stitches to close facial lacerations.