Mack Attack: July 11, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Friday, July 11, 2008

Phils: 43 losses - Mets: 44 – Marlins: 44 - Braves: 49 – Nats: 57

Thoughts on Thursday’s day game… it was nice to see RP Carlos Muniz come in and pitch 1.1 innings of excellent relief… he hasn’t had too much success in the Bigs and needs to settle down for the remainder of the year… Muniz could easily be a full time member of the 2009 Mets pen… boy,do ya think the Mets fans are falling in love with OF Fernando Tatis? What a great time for this to be happening after all the Church and Alou mess… that’s 4 HRs and 18 RBIs the team never expected out of him this year… even LF Nick Evans got a hit…

We already know that Manuel is far more adept at handling the media than Randolph. He is relaxed and given to detailed explanations about his tactics. The clubhouse and dugout are now practically SNY's own private television studios. Starting pitchers are interviewed soon after being removed from games. Manuel informs the press when he lectures his players, often revealing the subject of his sermons. Manuel Wednesday spoke about a couple of things he has changed since ascending to the throne. He is making an effort to keep his players' heads late in games by being more aggressive, looking for the extra run instead of sitting on three-run leads. Manuel said he was simply following the example of managers such as Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa. – NYDN

-Rumor has it that the Mets are renaming the DL list, the ‘Alou List”… no confirmation yet…

Zephyrs

The New Orleans Zephyrs defeated the visiting Memphis Redbirds 5-4 on Thursday to take their second-straight victory and even the four-game series at 2-2.

Right fielder Valentino Pascucci hit his 17th homer of the year, a two-run shot in the fifth inning to lead the way offensively. Pascucci also drove in a run with a single.

Zephyrs starting pitcher Brandon Knight (4-1) picked up the victory after allowing two runs on six hits in seven innings of play. Reliever Nate Field got his sixth save of the season after allowing no runs and two hits in the final inning.

Memphis starter Mike Parisi (6-2) got the loss after giving up five runs (four earned) on six hits in four innings.

B-Mets:

2b Dan Murphy has 3 errors in the 7 games he has played 2B in July…

Ambiorix Concepcion hit two of the Binghamton Mets’ three homers in a 7-4 win over the Connecticut Defenders at Dodd Stadium Thursday. The victory gives Binghamton a split of the four-game series. Connecticut (47-46) went ahead in the fourth. Bobby Parnell (9-4) uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Ryan Rohlinger to score before Ben Copeland added an RBI single for a 2-0 Defenders lead. Binghamton (50-43) got a run back in the fifth, thanks to Concepcion’s solo homer off Dave McKae. Fernando Martinez led off the top of the sixth with a single off Jason Waddell (0-3) before Jose Coronado reached on a fielder’s choice. Daniel Murphy followed with a three-run homer that put the B-Mets up for good. Two batters later, Mike Carp walked and Concepcion followed with his second longball of the game, a two-run shot, for a 6-2 B-Mets advantage. After back-to-back RBI singles by Copeland and Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the sixth cut Binghamton’s lead to 6-4, the B-Mets tacked on another in the seventh. Martinez drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on Coronado’s base hit to right. B-Mets closer Eddie Kunz tossed a scoreless ninth for his 24th save in 27 chances.

Lucy:

Lucy won a doubleheader against Tampa on Thursday… the first game (3-1) featured a 2-run homer by Ruben Tejada (.246) and 2 innings of scoreless relief by Elvys Quezada (2-0, 2.92)… the 2nd game (6-3) featured another great outing by Mike Antonini (3-0, 195). Combining his stats from both Lucy and the Gnats, Mike comes in at 7-4, 2.45.

Gnats:

The Power scored three runs in the first and held of the Sand Gnats the rest of the way to defeat Savannah, 5-4, and earn a series sweep on Thursday at Historic Grayson Stadium. The loss is the eighth one-run home defeat of the second half.

In the first, Steffan Wilson roped a two-run triple to the center field wall. He scored on the same play when Greg Veloz threw errantly to third, giving West Virginia a 3-0 lead.

Savannah responded in the bottom of the first, as Sean McCraw doubled to left field, scoring Veloz and Juan Lagares to pull Savannah within a run.

Savannah rallied in the third, with Veloz leading off with a single before Casey Craig doubled to left field. A thunderstorm began with Juan Lagares batting, and the game was delayed 40 minutes due to the rain. The Gnats were thwarted after the delay, scoring just one run on McCraw’s groundout, cutting the deficit to 5-3.

B.J. Hubbert pulled the Gnats closer in the eighth when he led off the seventh with a pinch-hit homer to left-center, his first home run as a Sand Gnat. With one out, Carlos Guzman doubled to center, but he was left stranded, and Savannah still trailed, 5-4.

Maikel Cleto (3-7) took the loss in his shortest start of the season. He went 3.0 innings, permitting 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits. Julio Polanco pitched well in relief, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings and allowing 2 hits while recording a season-high 7 strikeouts.

Clones:

From The Hardball Times:

Brad Holt – RHP - Holt does a really good job loading his arm horizontally toward first base. By loading his arm this way, Holt is "scap loading." I've talked about scap loading before, but if you haven't heard the term, here is a semi-detailed definition: Scap loading is the horizontal loading of the arm. By loading the arm horizontally, the pitcher almost seems as if he is trying to touch his throwing elbow to the mid-point of his back. By carrying out this action, the pitcher creates tension in all the elastic muscles and tendons of the shoulder, and if done efficiently, the shoulder unloads aggressively toward home plate due to these elastic muscles being stretched and then released like a rubber band you let go after stretching. The end product is a high-velocity fastball, which is exactly what Holt possesses. Holt's fastball is very lively, reaching up to 95, and it gets on the batter quick. It seems to pick up an extra gear just before it reaches home plate. My opinion is that he even has some velocity left in the tank, which could be tapped either through mechanics (like getting his hips moving a little earlier toward home plate) or by filling out his projectable frame.

From Baseball Analysts:

Ike Davis - Davis is off to a modest start in the New York Penn League with a line of .283/.283/.396 through 12 games and 53 at-bats. He has yet to hit a homer, but six of his 15 hits have been doubles. Davis has struck out 10 times and has yet to take a walk. So far, he has played all his games at first base.

Reese Havens - Havens is off to a faster start offensively than teammate Davis. The former college shortstop is currently hitting .281/.410/.531 in 32 at-bats. He also has two homers and has walked six times, while striking out in nine at-bats. Havens has spent his time at designated hitter and could be headed behind the plate towards the end of the year.

K-Port:

Rained out.

GCL Mets:

The GCL Mets lost, 3-1, to the Marlins… SP Robert Carlson pitched 6 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts… OF Angel Pagan went 2-3…

VSL Mets:

The VSL Mets lost again, 3-1, to the Mariners… hard luck SP Angel Cuan (4.08) fell to 0-8…

Minor League Bios:

Emmanuel Garcia 3B L R 6' 2" 180 20 03-04-1986

Garcia was a member of the 2004 Baseball Canada Junior National Team. He made his minor league debut (Garcia went undrafted in 2004 because of baseball’s shortage of work visas) with the GCL Mets in 2005 (.339, 17SB, 43 R) and won the Sterling Award, given out by the Mets organization for best player at each level.

In 2005, Baseball America ranked Garcia as the 20th top prospect in the Gulf Coast league. Garcia was once again naed the recipient of the Sterling Award, this time for the Kingsport team, where he batted .291 in 206 at bats and was 3rd in the league in stolen bases.

OnDeck ranked him the 14th top Mets prospect in 2006. OnDeck also updated their ratings at the end of the 2006 season and ranked Garcia as the 9th best batter in the Appalachian League (146.50 rating) and 15th overall prospect in the league. Baseball America said “Garcia's above-average speed might be his best tool, as he finished third in the league with 19 stolen bases, with his bat is a close second. Managers were uniformly impressed with his actions, range and body control at shortstop…”

In February 2007, Scout.com ranked Garcia as the 21st top Mets prospect.

In 2007, Garcia played for St. Lucie (.256/.339/.301 in 488 at bats, 34 SBs).
In September 2007, Garcia was assigned to play in the Hawaiian Winter League (which is always a sign that the organization wants to invest more time and money in you).

In December 2007, Jonathan Mayo/MLB-com, said:

Garcia spent the year in St. Lucie, and while he hit just .256, he stole 34 bases (good for second in the organization) and has shown the ability to play second and short. Following the season, he hit .348 in 17 games in the Hawaiian Winter League and went 8-for-9 in stolen-base attempts.

In late January 2007, Baseball America ranked Garcia as the 24th overall (do you notice that the ranking keeps going down?) Mets prospect.

Ex-Mets

Long Island Ducks team officials today announced the signing of former Major League All-Star Edgardo Alfonzo. The longtime New York Mets fan favorite returns after spending the first months of the 2008 season with Quintana Roo (AAA) of the Mexican League, where he hit .280 with 12 doubles and 17 RBI in 55 games. In 2007 with the Ducks, Alfonzo hit .266 with five home runs and 56 RBI in 105 games.

Long Island Ducks team officials today announced the signing of former Major League outfielder Richard Hidalgo. The Venezuela native is a veteran of nine big league seasons with the Houston Astros, New York Mets and Texas Rangers.

This Day in Mets History:

1985 - Astros' fireballer Nolan Ryan fans Met Danny Heep for his 4000th career strikeout. The 'Ryan Express' doesn't get a decision but Houston beats New York, 4-3.

2002 - The Marlins are busy on the trading block making separate deals with the Expos and the Reds. Florida deals Ryan Dempster to Cincinnati for Juan Encarnacion and get four players, Carl Pavano, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai and prospect Justin Wayne from Montreal in exchange for Cliff Floyd, Wilton Guerrero and prospect Claudio Vargas.

2004 - Carlos Beltran, selected to be an American League All-Star, will now have an opportunity patrol the NL outfield instead. The former Royals' flycatcher, traded to the Astros last month, was invited by Senior Circuit skipper Jack McKeon to replace Ken Griffey, Jr., on the star-studded roster.