Mack Attack: Castro Setback?

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Thursday, May 1, 2008

May 1, 2008

Mets News

C Roman Castro pulled up lame Wednesday night during a rehab game in St. Lucie. No details on the extent of the injury.

Brian Schneider is out of the hospital

The Mets have signed OF Casey Craig, who was playing for The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks in the Northern (Indy) league:

Craig, 23, split time last season between the High Desert Mavericks of the California League (A) and the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx of the Southern League (AA), both affilates of the Seattle Mariners. He batted .304 with 23 doubles, four triples, 11 home runs, 49 RBIs and 83 runs scored in 93 games with High Desert. Craig also appeared in 30 games for West Tenn, batting .216 with three doubles, two triples, seven RBIs and ten runs scored. Craig was originally selected by the Mariners in the 21st round of the 2003 draft out of Granite Hills High School in La Mesa, CA. He is a career .284 hitter in five professional seasons.

The Mets always seem ready to be beaten, not a team that is ready to win. The moment of defeat may come swiftly as it did on Yadier Molina’s home run in the 2006 NLCS or it may take the agonizing path of last year’s Great Collapse, but somehow, the way the Mets approach the game leaves them vulnerable for that fatal blow. Until they correct that flaw, they are doomed for ultimate failure. “We had the opportunity to tack on earlier in the game and a lot of that is my fault,” said Wright, who is never afraid to take the heat. “We didn’t do that, but this is definitely one of those games that is good for later in the season because when the race starts tightening up, you can look back and say, ‘Hey we win these close games, we’re used to winning these close games.’ It gives you more confidence.” That is a most valuable lesson because this is a team that has not learned to rise to the occasion. The Mets had their new ace on the mound, Johan Santana, but the Pirates battled him and he could not make it through the sixth inning. Santana is a winner, but he has a challenge ahead of him, teaching the Mets how to win. – NY Post

Mets Contracts

Joe Smith rhp - 1 year/$0.398M (2008) - re-signed 3/4/08 - 1 year/$0.38M (2007) - contract purchased 3/07 - drafted 2006 (3-94) (Wright St.), $0.41M signing bonus - ML service: 0.132

Fantasy:

CrookedPitch.com listed their top 5 closers so far this season:

1. Mariano Rivera | New York Yankees
2. Joe Nathan | Minnesota
3. Joakim Soria | Kansas City Royals
4. Jonathan Papelbon | Boston Red Sox
5. Billy Wagner | New York Mets - Wagner has six saves and a 0.00 ERA with a 0.42 WHIP. He did just blow a save last night but his ERA didn’t suffer due to a Jose Reyes throwing error. He has a 12:2 strikeout to walk ratio in 12.0 innings of work.

ProjectProspect’s Top 10 Draft Possibilities:

1 Pedro Alvarez 3B
The best combination of polish and upside among hitters in this draft class

2 Aaron Crow RHP
Best FB/SL combo in college, FB touched 98 MPH over summer, low BB%

3 Tim Beckham SS Some think he's an Upton-esque talent; were not quite ready to go that far

4 Brian Matusz LHP Proven lefty who has the polish and arsenal to be a dominant pro pitcher

5 Justin Smoak 1B Powerful switch hitter who draws walks; good athlete for first baseman

6 Eric Hosmer 1B Perhaps the best all-around power-hitting prepster this class has to offer

7 Tanner Scheppers RHP Mid 90's FB w/ good SL; has a great K-rate, but his walk rate is mediocre

8 Yonder Alonso 1B Polished hitter with great zone judgment, could be a great OBP guy in MLB

9 Buster Posey C Former shortstop with a great arm; having an amazing season at the plate

10 Kyle Skipworth C 6-foot-3, 190-pounder; great contact hitter with potential to hit for power

 

Mets Minors:

Zephyrs
SP Jason Vargas is currently pitching in extended games and is expected to be reinstated to the New Orleans roster by the end of this week.
Outfielder/first baseman Valentino Pascucci, who played 32 games for the Expos in 2004, has been signed as well and will play for New Orleans.

B-Mets

The B-Mets lead the Eastern League in hitting, but going into Wednesday’s game they have hit only .189 over the last 5 game. They have also scored only 2 runs in the last 30 innings.

B-Met starting pitching has only one win in the last 15 outings.
Lucy:

Roster moves - send P Claudio Vargas to New Orleans and added P– Tim Stronach to roster from Brooklyn.

Daniel Murphy picked up three hits and had a hand in both of the Binghamton Mets’ runs in their 11-2 loss to the New Britain Rock Cats at NYSEG Stadium Wednesday. The B-Mets have lost a season-high five straight. The B-Mets (10-16) went ahead against Yohan Pino in the fourth when Murphy led off the inning with a single, moved to third on a Salomon Manriquez base hit and scored on a ground ball single through the right side by Ambiorix Concepcion for a 1-0 lead. However, New Britain (12-12) answered with a four-run fifth. Jonathon Niese loaded the bases on a double and two walks before walking Steve Tolleson to force in the tying run. Two batters later, David Winfree put the Rock Cats up 4-1 with a three-run double off the left-centerfield fence. Niese (2-2) finished with six walks in 4 1/3 innings. Binghamton tallied another run in the bottom of the fifth. Jonathan Malo began the inning by doubling off Pino (1-1) before moving to third on a groundout and scoring on Murphy’s base hit to center, cutting New Britain’s lead to 4-2. New Britain scored three more off Salvador Aguilar in the seventh on Winfree’s RBI fielder’s choice and Toby Gardenhire’s two-run single. German Marte allowed a three-run triple to Luke Hughes and an RBI double to Tolleson during a four-run ninth.

 

Gnats:

Word is there will be ‘wholesale changes’ in the Gnats roster over the next couple of weeks. Watch for some of the guys that played here last year to return from a bad start at Lucy.

C Francisco Pena hit a solo-homer Tuesday night to extend his hitting streak to eight games.

Michael Antonini shut down the Hickory Crawdads for 6.2 innings and the Sand Gnats used timely hitting to win 4-2 over the Hickory Crawdads. Antonini (2-1) retired the first 17 hitters he faced and allowed just one hit and one run in 6.2 innings for his second win. With the Gnats ahead 3-0, Jose Bierd relieved Antonini after he walked Miles Durham with two out in the seventh. Erik Huber promptly hit a two-run shot to left to pull the Crawdads with a run. Andrew Walker followed with a single and reached second on a wild pitch from Bierd. With the tying run in scoring position with two outs, Marcus Davis grounded out to end the inning. Savannah began the scoring in the fourth when Joaquin Rodriguez doubled to left to score Michael Hernandez. Savannah added two in the fifth on a run-scoring triple off the bat of Greg Veloz that scored Daniel Stegall. Michael Parker hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Veloz to make it 3-0. Francisco Pena added an insurance run in the eighth when he doubled home Hernandez to make it 4-2. With the base knock, he extended his hitting streak to a team-leading nine games. Hernandez led the Gnats with three hits and a pair of runs scored. Bierd threw 2.1 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits to earn his fourth save.

Minor League Bios

Manuelysis Peralta 1B R R 6-3 205 Santiago, D.R.

Peralta played the 2006 season for the DSL Mets, batting .185/.268/.215 in 200 at bats. He played again for the DSL Mets in 2007 and faired much better: .253/.353/.301 in 166 at bats.

Andes Perez 17 yrs. Old OF Dominican Republic

Perez signed with the Mets in October 2007 during the International signing period.

Carlos Perez 16 years old SS Dominican Republic

Perez signed with the Mets in October 2007 during the International signing period.

Ex-Mets:

Tom Glavine pitched 6 strong innings but did not figure in the decision

Mike Cameron had 3 hits and drove in 2 runs as the Brewers slugged out a 10-7 win over the Cubs

Paul Lo Duca (hand) went 0-for-3 in the first game of his rehab assignment with Single-A Potomac on Tuesday

This Day in Mets History:

1974 - Tom Seaver strikes out 16 Dodgers and gives up only three hits in over twelve innings, but Mets lose in the 14th, 2-1.

1984 - Dwight Gooden becomes the first teenager to strike out a least ten players since Bert Blyleven accomplished the feat in 1970. The Mets 19-year old phenom, who will set rookie record with 276 Ks, will have a total 15 double-digit strikeout games this year.

1991 - Ranger right-hander Nolan Ryan pitches the seventh no-hitter of his career, striking out 16 Blue Jays as the Texas defeats Toronto, 3-0.

1991 - With his 939th career steal, A's outfielder Rickey Henderson passes Lou Brock as baseball's all-time stolen base leader.

And lastly:

"It is on the radio and in the newspapers every day, the only game you can follow on that basis, from whatever arm's length you choose. It is always there " Tom Seaver, Hall of Fame pitcher (1968-86).