Mack Attack: June 1, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Sunday, June 1, 2008

Saturday’s game was the kind you have to win if you want to go to the World Series. Pelfrey through a good game, but so did Billingslea… the Mets trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of the 8th, and a great team turns it on at home and pulls these kind of games out of the fire. Carlos Beltran and Fernando Tatis did, and should be commended. If fact, Tatis is becoming quite the local hero and may never see New Orleans again this year.

Pedro Martinez vocalized Friday afternoon what many Mets fans have felt since September’s historic collapse. “We’re due to win. We owe something to the fans and to the people of New York,” the 36-year-old righthander said before Friday night’s game against the Dodgers. “We owe it. We built the team that’s supposed to win it. And I think the talent’s here. We’re due to do something great here and I hope we do soon.” Manager Willie Randolph announced before the game that Martinez, out since hearing his left hamstring “pop” April 1 at Florida, will start Tuesday in San Francisco - BBTF

Jose Reyes has a 15-game hitting streak. He has reached base in 30 straight games, shy only of Albert Pujols’ 41 straight games reaching base from April 1-May 15 in MLB this season

David Wright is the only MLB player to participate in every inning this season.

 

Mets Top 10 Draft Picks: - 1999:

#2 LHP Neal Musser - 7 seasons in Mets org. – still banking around, now with KC

#2s RHP Jake Joseph - 7 seasons in Mets org. – busted out after 2005

#3 RHP Jeremy Griffiths - 5 ½ seasons in Mets org. – traded for Richard Hidalgo – out of baseball after 2005

#4 OF Angel Pagan - currently on the New York Mets

#5 RHP Nicholas James - pitched 1 inning for K-Port… then disappeared

#6 C Tyler Parker - never signed – busted out in St.L org. in 2005

#7 3B Rodney Nye - 7 yrs in Mets org. – career ended after 2006

#8 OF Forrest Lawson - 6 yrs. In Mets org. – career ended after 2004 – run, Forrest, run

#9 OF Wayne Lydon - 7 yrs. In Mets org. – playing 2008 for Toronto in AAA

#10 OF Prentice Redman - 7 yrs. In Mets org. – playing 2008 for Seattle in AAA

(38th round – Mike Jacobs)

 

Zephyrs:

ZEPHYRS (Mets) 6 ROUND ROCK (Astros) 7

Game Keys – Mark Saccomanno and Ray Sadler drilled back to back home runs in the tenth inning to lift the Round Rock Express to a 7-6 victory over the Zephyrs on Saturday night. The Zephyrs dropped its 5th consecutive game and its 13th in its last 14 road contests. The Zephyr offense had scored 5 runs combined in the last four games awoke from its slumber scoring six times on Saturday night but fell short. The Z’s were led by Chris Agulia’s two home run and three hit performance to drive in three runs. Robinson Cancel also drilled a solo home run. The Zephyrs scored a run in the top of tenth on a RBI single by Jesus Feliciano to give New Orleans a 6-5 lead.

Nate Field entered to close the game and retired the first two batters in the bottom of the tenth. Saccomanno drilled a solo home run to left to tie
the game and three pitches later Sadler drilled the walk off shot to deliver
the Express’ 5th consecutive win. Nick Regilio earned the win in relief and
Field gets his third blown save of the season and the loss.

Game Notes: The Z’s dropped its 5th consecutive game and have the league’s worst road record at 7-17. The Z’s finish the month of May with a 10-20 record, the 20 losses matches the franchise record for most losses in a
month. The Z’s have accomplished it four times and most recently in 1999.
The Zephyrs added catcher Robinson Cancel from Class A St Lucie.

 

B-Mets:

The Binghamton Mets scored eight of their 10 runs in their final at-bat, sweeping a doubleheader from the Connecticut Defenders with 3-0 and 7-4 wins at Dodd Stadium Saturday. Binghamton has won four straight.

In Game One, Jonathon Niese (4-4) tossed six shutout innings, striking out five, but the game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh. Caleb Stewart and Mike Carp both reached on errors, putting two men on with no outs. Josh Petersen then lined a Joey Martinez (2-5) pitch to left, scoring Stewart. After Emmanuel Garcia reached on a fielder’s choice and Jonathan Malo walked to load the bases, Eric Reed singled to center to score Petersen and Garcia with the game’s final runs.

Eddie Kunz tossed a 1-2-3 seventh for his 12th save in 13 chances.

In the nightcap, Binghamton (28-27) got a pair of runs in the first inning. Reed and Malo began the game with back-to-back singles before Reed scored on an error and Malo came in on Stewart’s sacrifice fly. However, Connecticut (25-29) knotted the score in the bottom of the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Travis Ishikawa and Adam Witter.

After Robert Paulk (1-0) tossed a scoreless fifth and sixth, the B-Mets offense again broke through in the seventh. Connecticut reliever Sergio Romo (1-3) walked Petersen with one out before Reed picked up a bunt-single and Malo reached on an error, loading the bases. Daniel Murphy followed with a line-drive single to left-center that brought in Petersen and Reed before Stewart tripled in Malo and Murphy. Ambiorix Concepcion capped off the frame with a base hit to right that plated in Stewart.

 

Lucy:

The Florida State League office in Daytona Beach released the 2008 Florida State League All-Star teams for this year’s game to be played in Viera, FL on Saturday, June 14th at Space Coast Stadium, the home of the Brevard County Manatees, game time is 7:30 PM. Florida State League managers, official scorers and media representatives from around the league voted two St. Lucie Mets to the mid-season classic. The Mets will send starting pitcher Dillon Gee and catcher Josh Thole to Space Coast Stadium to represent the Mets at the 2008 Florida State League All-Star Game. Thole, out of Breese, IL, is in his fourth season of professional baseball. Thole was the Mets’ 13th round pick in 2005 and will be making his first all-star game appearance. The 21 year old lefty is hitting .277 with two home runs and 23 runs batted in and has scored 18 runs on the season. In 2007, Thole was fourth on the Savannah Sand Gnats in both batting average and RBI. Pitcher Gee is also making his first all star game appearance. Gee was the Mets’ 21st round pick in the 2007 draft. The 22 year old righty out of Cleburne, TX is 3-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 11 starts this year. Gee’s 48 strikeouts is second best on the Mets’ pitching staff. In 2007, Gee was sixth in the New York-Penn League with a 2.47 ERA.

Gnats:

Jose Jimenez launched a three-run homer off T.J. Brewer and Angel Calero tossed 5.2 scoreless innings as the Sand Gnats recorded a 4-0 triumph over the GreenJackets in front of 2,044 at Historic Grayson Stadium on Saturday night. The fourth inning began with singles from Richard Pena and Casey Craig to set the stage for Jimenez. The first baseman hammered Brewer’s offering over the wall in left for his seventh homer of the season. The 3-0 lead appeared to be in jeopardy in the sixth, when Calero walked Angel Villalona to load the bases with two outs. Nick Waechter entered from the bullpen and coaxed a high grounder to second that was well handled by Greg Veloz to escape the jam. Augusta didn’t mount a serious threat the rest of the way as Brant Rustich relieved Waechter for the ninth and closed the game in emphatic fashion by striking out the side. The shutout was the sixth of the season for Savannah, the first five coming on the road. Calero (2-5) yielded just 4 hits in 5.2 innings. The left-hander walked 1 and struck out 5 to win his second game in a row after losing his first five decisions. Craig led Savannah with 3 hits, including a run-scoring single in the eighth.

 

V-Mets:

The VSL Mets lost to the Rays 5-4. Orlando Tovar pitched 5 scoreless innings and Hector Alvarez had 3 runs batted in.

 

Minor Mets Bios:

Sal Aguilar P R R 6-0 190 1-9-82 Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)

Aguilar played College ball at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, where he was tied for 1st in team wins in his senior year (8), struck out 55 and compiled a 2.92 ERA. He also was 9th all time in strikeouts per 9 innings (minimum 40 IP), with 10.10.

Aguilar was drafted by the Mets in the 29th round of the 2005 draft and was immediately signed and assigned to Brooklyn, where he went 5-0 2.24 ERA. He was used as a reliever in Brooklyn except for 2 games which he started… and posted a 0.00 ERA. Guess what? In 2006, he was turned into a starting pitcher at Hagerstown, where he had no decisions in 5 starts; however, he was then promoted to St. Lucie (A+) and started 19 games, going 7-5/3.25/1.37. His 2 year minor league stats on 3 teams total to 12-5/2.87/1.26. A true pleasant surprise in 2006.

In 2007, Aguilar pitched the entire season for Binghamton, going 7-9, 5.81, 1.72 in 20 appearances, 2 starts.

 

This Day In Mets History:

1975 - Angels' fireballer Nolan Ryan's 100th career victory is a memorable one as he beats the Orioles ,1-0 and ties Sandy Koufax's big league mark by notching his fourth no-hitter.

 

And lastly:

In a startling development, Willie Randolph, having received a reprieve from his bosses concerning his immanent firing, turned the tables on Mets management and fans by accepting a job in the independent Golden Baseball league. Sources say Randolph will take over the manager position of the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League, a post formerly occupied by Gary Carter ex-Met catcher and Hall of Fame member. This is latest development in a month long controversy surrounding Randolph's job status which has spawned managerial meetings, media firestorms, and jokey novelty columns by paid sportswriters. Sources are pointing to Randolph's openly defiant use of his bullpen to lose a close game to the LA Dodgers last night. Randolph's last official move as Met manager was seen by many as a poke in the eye for Sterling Enterprises, the ownership group of the Mets. Seemingly defying all common sense, Randolph brought known total disaster Aaron Heilman into a tight game. A tight game was precisely the type of game that Heilman had consistently failed in, prompting discussions that he'd be traded or sent to the minors. After Randolph's insertion, Heilman displayed the form that has prompted his career to go into the shitter. It was not until Randolph announced his resignation was it apparent that Randolph was sending a message in going to the goat of the Mets bullpen, not just mismanaging. He clarified this message to our source after the game: "I figured why wait til I get s---canned...? I think true fans will realize it wasn't just a blown call by the umps that lost that game, it was my insertion of Heilman. And why would I do such a thing? I'm not stupid. I figured, let's get down there [to Orange County], meet my new players, and get into a nice little rhythm. Let Carter have this f--- job. I've been hearing it for weeks, took all the blame for this crappy team, heard all the talk of replacing me-- Gary Carter, Bobby Valentine, Morgan &%$# Freeman. Well that's it. I'm out of here. The fans, media and ownership can kiss my black ass. That Yankee job will be opening up soon anyhow." - ItsMetsForMe