Mack Attack: August 13, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wednesday pitching: RHP John Maine (9-7, 4.13 ERA) vs. RHP Jason Bergmann (2-8, 4.13

Thursday pitching: LHP Oliver Perez (8-7, 3.90) vs. RHP Collin Balester (2-4, 4.66)

 

The Mets currently have 6 rookies on their staff, which is tied for third in the NL.

David Wright is moving up quickly in the 3 top all-time hitting categories:

Most Mets Home Runs: Darryl Strawberry 252 - Mike Piazza 220 - Howard Johnson 192 - Dave Kingman 154 - Todd Hundley 124 - Kevin McReynolds 122 - David Wright 120 - Edgardo Alfonzo 120

Most Mets Doubles: Ed Kranepool 225 - Howard Johnson 214 - Edgardo Alfonzo 212 - Mike Piazza 193 - Darryl Strawberry 187 - Cleon Jones 182 - David Wright 173

Most Mets RBIs: Darryl Strawberry 733 - Mike Piazza 655 - Howard Johnson 629 - Ed Kranepool 614 - Edgardo Alfonzo 538 - Clean Jones 521 - Keith Hernandez 468 - David Wright 458

The Mets are 22-14 in the last 36 games.

Luis Castillo, rehabbing with St. Lucie, was given Sunday and Monday off to attend to a “personal situation,” Mets officials said. Jerry Manuel has revised his estimate for Castillo’s return, now suggesting he won’t be back during the upcoming three-game series in Washington. That defers a tough decision on Argenis Reyes, - NYDN

So following a 7-5 loss to Pittsburgh, Manuel said this about who will provide the key outs late in games the rest of this season: “Everything from here on out is a possibility.” Manuel shared some options at a post-game news conference, but The Post has learned all three main scenarios the organization is now mulling:

1. Have Eddie Kunz, who has all of three major league appearances, reprise his Double-A closing role, at least until Billy Wagner returns, which is currently scheduled for Monday. This is the most likely choice.

2. Keep Brian Stokes in the rotation and call upon either John Maine or Oliver Perez to serve as a multi-inning fireman. For now the Mets don’t want to mess with Mike Pelfrey by requesting a rotation-to-pen change.

3. Summon top pitching prospect Jon Niese for the rotation and use Stokes plus either Maine or Perez to serve as the main late-inning relievers.

The last thing I want from a manager of the team I root for is panic… this kind of ‘off-the-top’ observation publicly is reason enough to look for someone else next year

Jose Reyes now has the record for the most Mets triples (63), passing Mookie Wilson.

Dan Murphy is 11-23 (.478) since joining the club. He also has reached safely in all 9 games he has played. Only 4 Mets lifetime hitters batted .500 in a comparable amount of hits the first time they became Mets… Gregg Jefferies (24 abs), Ty Wigginton (22), Mike Vail (20), and Alex Ochoa (20)… which sort of confirms that Murphy has a long way to go before proving he’s a long term keeper.

Zephyrs:

Prospect #2 Bobby Parnell had a very successful first AAA outing Monday night, going 6.0 innings, giving up 2 ER, and striking out 5 (3.00). You would have to think that he will get the call to Queens soon to help out in the struggling bullpen. It’s very exciting to see the team’s top 2 pitching prospects in AAA.

The Iowa Cubs batted around for 12 runs in the eighth inning to defeat the New Orleans Zephyrs 15-6 at Principal Park Tuesday night.

In a game that including four different lead changes, Iowa took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Matt Craig laced a one-out double to left field
and came around to score two batters later on an RBI single by Andres Blanco.

Iowa built up a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning when Luis Figueroa kicked off the frame with a lead-off double. Figueroa scored when Casey McGehee reached base on a ground ball that went through the legs of New Orleans first baseman Valentino Pascucci.

Iowa starter Randy Wells did not factor in the decision, throwing six shutout innings. The right-hander allowed just four base runners throughout
the night, including three hits while striking out five.

New Orleans took advantage of the Wells' departure in the seventh and greeted three different Iowa pitchers. Raul Casanova connected on a one-out
single off Iowa's first reliever Justin Berg. John Rodriguez coaxed a walk off Carmen Pignatiello, the I-Cubs second hurler in the inning. Anderson
Hernandez followed with a single to load the bases. Ramon Martinez got the Zephyrs on the board by working a bases loaded walk off reliever Jesse
Estrada to make it a 2-1 game. Pinch hitter Abraham Nunez drove in Rodriguez and Hernandez with a single to give New Orleans a 3-2 lead. Estrada and the I-Cubs tiptoed out of future damage by inducing Jesus Feliciano to ground into an inning-ending double play.

The Zephyrs bullpen had just as much trouble holding a lead as Iowa took advantage of reliever Eddie Camacho, who entered the game in the seventh. Iowa welcomed the left-hander with back-to-back singles by Andres Blanco and Micah Hoffpauir. Camacho would retire just two batters in his outing, with one of them coming when Felix Pie grounded into a force out with runners on the corner, scoring Blanco from third to tie the game at three.

The Zephyrs continued their rally off Estrada in the eighth with three straight hits off the right-hander. Andy Green opened the inning with a
single. Chris Aguila followed with his second hit of the night and Pascucci drove in both runners with a double to left field to give New Orleans a 5-3
lead.

Iowa answered with an eighth-inning rally when Josh Kroeger doubled and Andres Torres singled to lead off the inning. Kroeger scored one batter
later on an RBI single by Blanco. Iowa tied the game 5-5 when Torres scored on an RBI single by Hoffpauir. Pie broke the tie by welcoming Zephyrs
reliever Tim McNab by driving in Blanco for a 6-5 Iowa lead. McGehee added an RBI single in the inning. Catcher Koyie Hill drove in a pair with a
double. In the inning, Iowa scored 12 runs on nine hits. The 12 runs in a single-inning match the franchise best, set twice before (August 24, 2001
and June 30, 2000).

Blanco finished the night 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBI.

Iowa reliever Kevin Hart picked up the win (4-2), with one and two-third innings of relief.

B-Mets:

The B-Mets remain in the thick of the playoff hunt with a little more than two weeks left in the regular season. The B-Mets are one game behind Portland for second-place in the Northern Division, and one game ahead of fourth-place Connecticut. The B-Mets remain the second-best hitting team in the league with a.271 batting average. Who's hot: Jonathan Malo is on a nine-game hitting streak and is 12 for his last 34. Who's not: Ambiorix Concepcion is 5 for his last 37. – pressconnects.

Added 2B Peeter Ramos from High-A St. Lucie

Dillon Gee tossed seven strong innings in his Double-A debut, but the Reading Phillies picked up a 3-2 win over the Binghamton Mets at NYSEG Stadium Tuesday. Binghamton’s lost four in a row.

The B-Mets (63-61) led for the most of the game. In the second, singles by Ambiorix Concepcion, Shawn Bowman and Salvador Paniagua loaded the bases against Andrew Carpenter with no one out. Jose Coronado followed with a double-play groundout, scoring Concepcion for a 1-0 lead.

Binghamton increased their lead to 2-0, thanks to Caleb Stewart’s homer off Carpenter (5-7) in the sixth.

Reading (49-73) cut Binghamton’s lead in half in the seventh on Jeremy Slayden’s homer off Gee. The righthander scattered four hits and walked one, striking out five.

Elvys Quezada (2-1) relieved Gee in the eighth and served up a two-run homer to Brad Harman.

Lucy:

OF Brahiam Maldonado has hit .351 in the past 10 games… RP Emary Frederick had a 5 game, scoreless streak going 7/25-8/7) in which he threw 8.1 almost perfect innings… then came a participation in a brawl, a suspension, and Monday’s game which he gave up 4 ER in 2.0 IP… the Lucy game was rained out Tuesday…

Gnats:

The Savannah Sand Gnats travelled to New Jersey to play Lakewood, which was the closest Brooklyn-born OF Carlos Guzman was going to get to home. Guzman went 2-for-4 in his “homecoming”, with 3 RBIs, and drove in his first run of the game with a single through the left side to make it 2-0 Savannah.

Clones:

The rumor at the ballpark last night was that Billy Wagner would throw a rehab game in Brooklyn this weekend.

On Sunday, August 17th, Brooklyn Dodgers legend Carl Erskine will return to the borough, and visit KeySpan Park. That night, Erskine will perform the National Anthem on his harmonica, and will be signing copies of his book, Tales from the Dodgers Dugout, In addition, the first 2,000 adults in attendance will receive a Carl Erskine bobblehead. Erskine -- known to the Dodgers faithful as "Oisk" -- played his entire career for the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers from 1948 through 1959. He was a pitching mainstay on Dodger teams which won five National League pennants, peaking with a 1953 season in which he won 20 games and set a World Series record with 14 strikeouts. He pitched two of the NL's seven no-hitters during the 1950s, and was a member of the world champion 1955 team.

K-Port:

Prospect #54 OF Pedro Zapata is starting to show a little life down at K-Port. Zapata went 3-4 Monday night, raising his batting average to .220. The 21-year old has played the entire season in Tennessee and has struggled in his first stateside assignment. Last year, he excelled with the DSL Mets, going .325/.382/.425 for the season. Zapata is not a power outfielder; in fact, he didn’t have one home run all of last year, as well as 2008. But he’s lightning fast and represents a leadoff threat for some team some day. I expect him to make his way to Savannah in the spring of 2009.

Minor League Bios:

Ivan Maldonado P R R 6' 3" 210 06-07-1980 Indian Hills C.C.-Centerville

Maldonado was born in New York and went to some school at somewhere named Indian Hills Community College-Centerville (Long Island). The Mets selected Maldonado with their 18th round pick in the 2002 draft, signed, and immediately assigned to Kingport. In 2003, Maldonado went 5-2 for Brooklyn, posting a 4.06 ERA. 2004 was spent in the GCL Mets, Brooklyn, and Cap Cities.

2004 was interesting for Maldonado. His ERA’s were: GCL Mets (20.25), Brooklyn (10.97), and Cap Cities (12.63). It’s hard to believe, but he was bumped up to St. Lucie in 2005 (9.40) and finished that year in Binghamton (8.53).

Guess what happened in 2005? He was baaaaack… this time backwith the B-Mets, and had 48 appearances, a 2-3 record, a 2.51 ERA. Go figure.
Maldonado pitched for Puerto Rico in the 2006 WBC (1 IP, 2 R). He also pitched 2006 winter ball for Carolina of the Puerto Rico League.
In 2007, Maldonado played the entire season for New Orleans (2-1, 3.80, 1.31 in 39 relief appearances, 45 Ks in 42.2 IP).

This Day in Mets History:

1964 - In a battle of teenagers, 19-year old Met first baseman Ed Kranepool homers twice off 18-year old Phillie hurler Rick Wise

2003 - After missing nearly three months with a groin injury, Mike Piazza makes a dramatic return to the New York lineup as he homers and drives in five runs on Italian Night at Shea Stadium. The backstop's 3-for-5 performance, including a home run in the third inning, RBI single in the fourth and a two-run single in the seventh, contributes to the Mets 9-2 victory over the Giants.