Mack Attack: July 29, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Pennant: Mets: 48 losses - Phils: 49 – Marlins: 50 - Braves: 56

Wild Card: Milw: 45 losses - St. Louis: 49 - Phils: 49 - Marlins: 50

John Maine left Monday's night game with a neck/shoulder injury.

Pedro Martinez is scheduled to pitch Friday.

Jerry Manuel has named Fernando Tatis as his starting LFer, even if Ryan Church returns.

Aaron Heilman was cleared today to be a starter, if needed.

The club's reluctance to deal one of its few prospects underscores the unlikelihood of a trade for any big-name player. Fernando Martinez still has a chance to be the Opening Day left fielder next season. Eddie Kunz could become the successor to closer Billy Wagner or, more likely, one of the club's late-inning setup relievers. And Jonathon Niese is New York's primary starting pitching prospect now. The Mets seem more enamored of him now than they were in Spring Training; that, or they're trying to make him more appealing to other clubs in the winter by making him unavailable now. – Mlb.com

InsideEdge/ESPN ‘report card’ on:

David Wright Total at Bats: 389

Category………….. Grade……………. MLB Avg………….. Grade

Overall Effectiveness A- Well Hit Avg. of At-Bats .278 .234 B+
Slugging % .512 .441 A
On Base Average .395 .338 A-
Quality At-Bat % (WH outs + 7p. outs + H + BB + HBP + SAC / PA) 49 % 44 % A-
Location Performance B Well Hit Avg. of Swings: Location INSIDE .116 .078 B+
Well Hit Avg. of Swings: Location MIDDLE (vertical) .220 .179 B+
Well Hit Avg. of Swings: Location OUTSIDE .109 .114 C+
Well Hit Avg. of Swings: Location UP .176 .111 A
Well Hit Avg. of Swings: Location MIDDLE (horizontal) .178 .156. B
Well Hit Avg. of Swings: Location DOWN .090 .102 C+
Fastball Performance C Batting Avg. on Fastballs .289 .294 C+
Well-Hit Avg. of Fastball Strikes .103 .096 B-
% of Fastball Swings Put in Play 41 % 45 % C-
Offspeed Performance B Batting Avg. on Offspeed Pitches .286 .240 B+
Well-Hit Avg. of Offspeed Strikes .100 .078 B
% of Offspeed Swings Put in Play 41 % 41 % B-
Plate Discipline A Chase % Early in Count (Before 2 Strikes)* 16 % 19 % B+
Chase % with 2 Strikes* 25 % 38 % A+
Chase % of Non-Competitive Pitches (not near strike zone)* 11 % 20 % A+
Clutch Tendency B+ Quality AB % in Close/Late Games 49 % 43 % A-
Quality AB % with Runners in Scoring Position 49 % 46 % B
2 Strike Tendency A- Strikeout % of PA's that reach 2 Strikes* 33 % 35 % 89.78
On Base Average with 2 Strikes .359 .271 A+
2 Strike Miss % of Swings* 18 % 2,000 % B+

Overall Grade………………………………… B+

Zephyrs:

Lefthander Jon Niese has been promoted to Triple-A New Orleans

B-Mets:

LHP Eude Brito assigned to AAA New Orleans. 2B Emmanuel Garcia placed on Temporary Inactive List. Added RHP Casey Hoorelbeke, RHP Elvys Quezada and 3B Shawn Bowman from High-A St. Lucie.

Binghamton Mets infielder Emmanuel Garcia has been given the opportunity to represent his country in the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China as a member of Canada’s baseball team.

Garcia was added to the team to replace Pete Orr, who was called up to the Major Leagues by the Washington Nationals. The Montreal, Quebec native departed early this morning to join his teammates in Toronto, where they will be honored before a Toronto Blue Jays home game on Wednesday. Thursday, the squad will head to Durham, North Carolina where they will play four exhibition games against Team USA before departing for Beijing on Wednesday, August 6th. Canada’s first Olympic contest will be against host nation China on Wednesday, August 13th.

Garcia’s teammates include former Major League pitchers Chris Reitsma and Rheal Cormier. Fellow Eastern League players T.J. Burton (Akron), Brooks McNiven (Connecticut) and Matt Rogelstad (Harrisburg) will also be on the squad.

An infielder, the 22-year-old Garcia is hitting .250 with 4 homers and 38 RBIs in 96 games for the B-Mets. He missed part of spring training this season to play for Canada in an Olympic Qualifying tournament in Taiwan.

Mike Antonini figured he would settle into St. Lucie for the rest of the season after receiving a promotion from Savannah in mid-June. Seven starts later, after posting a 4-0 record and 1.84 ERA, the lefthander instead continued his rapid ascent through the Mets’ minor-league system. Antonini, the organization’s 18th-round pick in ‘07 out of Georgia College and State University, made his Double-A Binghamton debut Friday at Akron. He was charged with four runs on six hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings, and immediately noticed the improved selectivity of the more advanced hitters, which puts a premium on getting ahead in the count. Regardless, his combined ERA at three levels: 2.57, the organization’s best among farmhands assigned to full-season teams. – AdamRubin

Shawn Bowman, a one-time teenage defensive whiz at third base who has been beset by back troubles that limited him to 38 games over the ‘06 and ‘07 seasons, has been promoted to Binghamton to replace Garcia. Now 23, Bowman was originally signed out of British Columbia after being drafted in the 12th round six years ago. Bowman won’t be immediately eligible to play. He’ll finish serving a three-game suspension with the B-Mets, which stemmed from a bench-clearing brawl last week with St. Lucie against Fort Myers. He’ll be eligible to play Tuesday - AdamRubin

Lucy:

Roster changes: Send IF Shawn Bowman, P Casey Hoorelbeke and P Elvys Quezada to Binghamton… added P Nick Abel from Savannah and IF Jake Eigsti from Brooklyn.

Gnats:

After a stellar stint with the Sand Gnats, right-handed reliever Nick Abel has been promoted to High-A St. Lucie, the New York Mets announced earlier today. In return, the Sand Gnats will get Stephen Puhl, a pitcher who started the year at Kingsport.

In 14 games with Savannah, the 25-year-old Abel sported a 3-1 record with a commanding 1.16 ERA. He also earned five saves in seven opportunities. Abel was sent to Savannah after starting the season with Double-A Binghamton and High-A St. Lucie.

Puhl, 24, started his professional career as a catcher but was converted after the 2006 season to a pitcher. In six games last season with the GCL Mets, Puhl was 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA. This season with the K-Mets, Puhl was 3-0 with 2.40 ERA in eight appearances. He had 20 strikeouts to seven walks. He is the son of former Major League outfielder Terry Puhl, who spent a majority of his professional career with the Houston Astros.

Clones:

1B Ike Davis left the game in the 1st inning due to an injured foot/ankle.

VSL Mets

The VSL Mets beat the Tigers, Tres-Dos

Ray Van Gurp (.280) went 2-4 and Jose Brito (1-1) pitched well ( 7.2 IP, 1 ER)...

Minor League Bios:

Casey P. Hoorelbeke P R R 6-8 245 4-4-80 North Idaho Junior College

Hoorelbeke was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 29th round of the 2000 draft; however, he chose college instead. He was then signed as an undrafted free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who he pitched 4 years for (A-AAA level). His minor league stats are 21-14, 3.66 in 178 games

Ex-Mets:

P Juan Padilla signed with York in the independent Atlantic League

This Day in Mets History:

2000 - Recently acquired Mets make good first impressions as Mike Bordick goes 2-for-3, including a homer on the first pitch he sees as a Met, and Rick White pitches a scoreless inning to get the win; the other newcomer, Bubba Trammell, will homer in his first at-bat in his Met debut tomorrow.

2002 - After playing the annual Hall of Fame exhibition game in Cooperstown, the White Sox and Rockies announce a trade which sends veteran catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. to Colorado, for right-hander class A minor-league pitcher, Enemencio Pacheco going to Chicago.

2004 - In a 10-1 victory over the Expos, Eric Valent becomes the eighth player in franchise history to hit for the cycle. After singling in the second, doubling in the third, homering in the fifth, the Met reserve triples in the seventh to join Phillies David Bell, Pirates Daryle Ward, and Chad Moeller of the Brewers to accomplish the feat this season.

And lastly:

The change-up is never thrown purposefully inside. Never. If the change does what it's designed to do and gets the hitter off stride, about all he can do with the pitch over the outside part of the plate is to hit it weakly toward the end of the bat. But even if he is off stride he can still get the head of the bat on the inside change-up and pull it with power, sometimes with one arm. The pitcher who throws an inside change-up runs a major risk that he will soon be, in the immortal words of George Hendrick, "rubbing up a new one". - hardballtimes