Mack Attack: June 22, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Sunday, June 22, 2008

Rotoworld:

Pedro Martinez was roughed up by the Rockies on Saturday, allowing six runs in 4 1/3 innings to take a loss. Martinez faced one batter over the minimum through four innings, but the roof caved in during the fourth. Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe started the inning with back-to-back homers, and Martinez allowed five more hits before finally coming out with six runs home. As well as he pitched early on, it probably shouldn't be taken as a significant setback.

The Real Race:

Phillies: 34 losses
Marlins: 34
Mets: 37
Braves: 39
Nats: 46

Jerry Manuel on the status of:

Moises Alou- he probably won’t be back anytime soon. His left calf muscle is still giving him some pain, and he’s only been doing some light jogging.

Ryan Church- He’s feeling much better from the effects of his second concussion this season. He’s been working out and will most likely play a game or two with the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones as he prepares to return to the Mets.

From Rotoword via Bill Metsiac:

Jose Valentin told the Mets Friday night that he's taking the rest of the season off. Valentin has been dealing with nagging pain in his elbow and neck this whole year and the Mets don't have much of a need for him. The 38-year-old didn't officially announce his retirement, but that could be coming within the next few days.

Draft News:

Braunstein on: # 2 Javier Rodriguez OF Puerto Rico Baseball Academy

They say he is the best pure hitter in PR. Has good bat speed good athletic body. 6.7 in 60. Saw his video and he has impressive bat speed. At least 6, maybe 6-6.5 and pencil him for 20 HR once he fills out his thin frame. His arm is strong, can throw form mid-CF and hit HP on the fly. Didn’t see much speed down the basepaths but feel he is faster. That he dogs it down the line is one thing I didn’t like. He could be the catch of the draft.

B-Mets:

Fernando Martinez is scheduled to begin playing/rehabbing in the Gulf Coast League tonight… Mike Carp was back to DHing Saturday night… ex-SP Eric Brown was used again Saturday night as a long man… hmm…

Caleb Stewart homered and Eric Brown provided four strong innings of long relief, but the Binghamton Mets fell to the Trenton Thunder 3-2 at Waterfront Park Saturday. The loss evens the series at a game apiece.

Trenton (44-29) got to B-Mets starter Jose Sanchez in the first, when Cody Ehlers singled in a run. Sanchez was pulled after two innings in favor of Brown.

The B-Mets (41-32) rallied against Trenton starter George Kontos in the top of the sixth. Nick Evans led off the frame with a triple and scored on Mike Carp’s groundout. Stewart followed with a longball to left-center, putting the B-Mets ahead 2-1.

However, the Thunder reclaimed the lead for good in the sixth on back-to-back RBI hits off Brown (4-6) by P.J. Pilittere and Chris Malec.

Lucy:

Prospect SS Ruben Tejada (he turns 19 on Sept 1st) is starting to heat up in June. Tejada has batted .317 in the last 10 games and had hits the first 2 times he got up on Saturday night (both of which were off the league’s top pitching prospect, former #1 pick David Price)… SP Eric Niesen continues to have difficulty getting out of the box, giving up 4 ERs in 4IP (4.66). I had the pleasure of spending time with his father at ST and watching Eric goes through the drills, and let’s hope things get a little easier for him the remainder of the season… Lucy did eventually lose Saturday night, 5-3, to Vero Beach (I still can’t believe there won’t be a Dodgertown next season)… RP Steve Clyne has only given up 1 ER in his last 8.1 IP.

Gnats:

Rotoworld:

Brant Rustich made his first start Friday for low Single-A Savannah and allowed seven runs -- five earned -- in 2 1/3 innings. The Mets planned to use Rustich, a 2007 second-round pick, as a starter right from the beginning of the season, but a sore arm that got him shut down in spring training changed that. He had a 5.40 ERA in 15 innings as a reliever since returning six weeks ago. The former UCLA closer has quality stuff, but he's a long way from mastering the art of pitching.

-look… I’ve sat behind home plate all season and I can tell you first hand that Rustich is a long way from controlling what talent he has. He’s been extremely wild, including almost hitting the home plate umpire while he was warming up in the bullpen. So far, it’s hard to tell why the Mets drafted him, but we’ll give it some time.

The Savannah Sand Gnats defeated the Rome Braves 3-2 Saturday evening at State Mutual Stadium in front of 4,064 fans. Savannah got on the scoreboard in the third inning when Richard Pena singled and stole second. BJ Hubbert then reached on a walk and Greg Veloz doubled to score both R. Pena and Hubbert giving Savannah the 2-0 lead. Rome tied the game in the second when both Adam Coe reached on a base hit and advanced to second on a Samuel Sime single. Coe later scored while Sime advanced on a throwing error by Greg Veloz. Sime crossed the plate after Jason Heyward singled, tying the game 2-2.

In the fifth, the Sand Gants scored the go ahead run when Carlos Guzman doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Edgar Osuna. Guzman later scored on another wild pitch by Osuna, resulting in the 3-2 final.

Scott Moviel (7-7) gets the win for the Sand Gnats while Edgar Osuna (3-3) is tagged with the loss for the Braves. Josh Stinson earns the save (3).

K-Port:

Manager Nick Leyva has left the team to join the Toronto Blue Jays, He has been replaced by Pedro Lopez, who was a coach for the Sand Gnats… K-Port continues with pitching woes… early season ERAs include Guillaume Leduc (19.29), John Holdzkom (18.00), Thomas Parades (16.20), and Zachary Rosenbaum (21.60); well, Saturday night’s starter, draftee Mark Cohoon, gave up 5ER in 2.0 IP for a 22.50 ERA…

Clones:

From TheBrooklynBaseballBlog:

I've been playing or watching baseball for just about all of my 32-plus years, and I can honestly say I've never seen anything like this. Staten Island pitcher Pat Venditte is a "switch pitcher," meaning he can pitch with both arms, righty and lefty. The ambidextrous (or amphibious) feat is such a rarity that no one really knows what the rules are surrounding the situation. Can he switch mid-inning? Mid-batter? Mid-pitch? And everyone's favorite question...what if he faces a switch hitter? Well, we found out the hard way on Thursday night when Brooklyn's Ralph Henriquez, a switch-hitting catcher, stepped to the plate. Venditte was throwing righty, so Henriquez was hitting lefty. But then Venditte switched to lefty, so Henriquez switched to righty. So Venditte switched back to righty, and Henriquez switched back to lefty. On and on it went until finally the umpires had to stop them both before they got too dizzy. After much discussion, it was determined that each player is allowed to switch once per at-bat, but the hitter switches first, and the pitcher switches last. So after all that, poor Ralph had to bat righty against the righty anyway, something he later told me he hadn't done in years. He struck out, unfortunately, but the at-bat became an instant classic and a part of Cyclones lore.

Despite another stellar outing by the Brooklyn bullpen, the Cyclones fell short on Saturday, losing 3-1, to even up the standings in the McNamara Division.

RHP Brad Holt (0-1) made his season debut, and allowed two runs in 2.1 innings. Holt also allowed two hits, and one walk and struck out four. Roy Merritt, Brandon Moore, and James Fuller all followed Holt. The Cyclones bullpen allowed only one run on seven hits and Brooklyn struck out 14 'Birds for the second night in a row.

The Cyclones bats managed just four hits, two of which came from RF John Servidio. SS Matt Bouchard and CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis had Brooklyn's other hits

GCL Mets:

The Mets have announced that they have signed their 2nd round draft pick, OF Javier Rodriquez, and will assign him to the GCL Mets squad. Rodriquez turned 18 in April and is considered the premier player to come out of Puerto Rico this past season… additionally, Bobby Floyd was named the manager of the team. This is his 23rd season in the Mets organization… the team lost, 3-2 to the GCL Cardinals, after draftee, Jacob Goldberg, gave up 2 ERs, blew the save, and lost the game… fellow draftee, OF Mark McGonigle, played in his 1st pro game, going 2-4.

VSL Mets:

VSL Mets beat the VSL Phillies 5-1. Jhonathan Torres gave up 1 run over 6 innings to improve his record to 5-0. 4 hits, 1 walk, 5 Ks. Jhoan Burgos (0.00) pitched 3 scoreless frames for the save and now has pitched 19.1 scoreless innings this season. Offensively, Adrian Pirela had 3 hits and an RBI… Torres (1.82), joins Orlando Tovar (1.53), waiting for a phone call from Kingsport…

Minor League Bios:

Steve Cheney P R R 6’5” 200 7-3-86 Florida Gulf Coast University

Steve Cheney attended college at the Florida Gulf Coast Community College. Cheney was chosen by the Mets in the 25th round of the 2006 draft. He was immediately assigned to Kingsport, where he pitched 17 games in 2006, going 4-1 with a 2.73 ERA. He only walked six batters in 29 2.3 innings for Kingsport. Cheney finished the 2006 season with 2 appearances (3 innings) for Hagerstown (A), going 0-1, 0.00 (no earned runs), 1.33.

In 2007, Cheney pitched for Brooklyn (4-4, 2.70, 1.13, in 18 appearances).
Observation: Cheney had a good year in Brooklyn, but got a little lost because of all the pitching talent around him. He is pitching in Savannah in 2008.

Ex-Mets:

In his first start since May, Orioles right-hander prospect Pedro Beato pitched five scoreless innings for the Rookie GCL Orioles. Baltimore's ninth-ranked prospect according to Baseball America had been suffering from a sore right shoulder