Mack Attack: May 28, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Mets News

After banging his head on Yunel Escobar's knee on a slide during last week's debacle of a series against the Braves, Ryan Church felt fine the next day. But then he had to fly. And right now, flying doesn't agree with Church, as he's still getting headaches and feeling dizzy ... and it got worse as he flew from Denver back to New York. He's too dizzy to play the outfield, and there's another flight coming up to the west coast at the end of this week. So Church is going to do the smart thing and see a neurologist and get to the bottom of his injury, and what he should do about it. Church has gotta take as long as he needs, even if it means a DL stint – fanhouse

According to Marty Noble at Mets.com, Pedro Martinez will make his return to the majors on June 3 in San Francisco

Matt Wise went back on the DL, replaced by Carlos Muniz.

“A third move might be to work toward swapping Mets starter Mike Pelfrey with reliever Aaron Heilman. Since a good first start against Philadelphia, Pelfrey has given little reason to think he's going to develop into a decent starter - his three decent starts came against Washington and Cincinnati, two teams that can't hit - while his big fastball and durability seem as good a fit for a multiple-inning bullpen role as they did at the beginning of the year. A fourth Mets move could be to sign free agent left fielder Kenny Lofton as Moises Alou insurance. (The better move would be to sign Barry Bonds - is this team really in any position to fret about off-field circuses? - but that's not going to happen.) The well-traveled and ancient mercenary carries a reputation for being a me-first player, but who cares? Lofton can get on base, catch the ball, steal a base, and take the field every day, and for someone without a reputation as a winning player, he certainly does play in October a lot. -- NY Sun

Mack’s Facts:

Mets Top 10 Draft Picks:

1995:

# 1 SS Ryan Jaroncyk - played 3 yrs in Mets org. – then 3 yrs LAD - poof

# 2 RHP Brett Herbison - 6 yrs in Mets org. – rose to AA - poof

# 3 C Ryan Bowers - 1 yr for GCL Mets – then, poof

# 4 SS Corey Erickson - 5 yrs in Mets org. – 10 yrs in minors, then poof

# 5 SS Jeff Parsons - 4 yrs in Mets org. – then, poof

# 6 LHP Todd Cutchins - 4 yrs in Mets org. – then, poof

# 7 1B Ryan Minor - how do you draft someone 7th without assurances to sign?

# 8 RHP A.J. Burnett - 3 yrs in Mets org. – traded for Al Leiter – now, a star

# 9 OF Tydus Meadows - - same same as round 7 – unsigned – eventually went poof

#10 RHP Dan Murray - 5 yrs Mets org. – traded for P Glendon Rusch – poof

Observation: just another really bad Mets draft… not one of the top 1o draft picks became a Met, only one became a major league and the Mets traded him… it’s criminal that 2 of the top 10 picks were never signed. There is no excuse for that.

Zephyrs

The New Orleans Zephyrs ran their winning streak to five on Tuesday, defeating the visiting Round Rock Express 4-3. Zephyrs starting pitcher Nelson Figueroa (1-0) got the win in his first start for the Zephyrs. Figueroa was in New Orleans after Spring Training but was called up to the New York Mets before the Zephyrs played their first game. Tuesday was Figueroa's first start since being sent back to the Zephyrs. Reliever Nate Field picked up his fifth save of the year after retiring the final three batters of the game. All four runs for New Orleans were driven in by a different player, as second baseman Argenis Reyes, left fielder Chris Aguila, catcher Gustavo Molina and Figueroa all drove in a run. Reyes and Aguila each had two hits to lead the way offensively. Round Rock starting pitcher Jared Gothreaux (1-5) recorded the loss after giving up two runs on five hits in six innings.

 

B-Mets:

Eric Reed reached base three times and scored twice, but the Binghamton Mets fell to the Portland Sea Dogs 6-2 at Hadlock Field Tuesday. The loss is Binghamton’s third in a row. The B-Mets (24-26) went ahead in the top of the first when Dustin Richardson walked Reed, who moved to third on Daniel Murphy’s single and scored on Caleb Stewart’s fielder’s choice. However, Portland (31-19) erased Binghamton’s lead on Jose Sanchez’s third pitch, which Bubba Bell hit for a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. Mark Wagner put the Sea Dogs ahead with an RBI double before Andrew Pinckney’s groundout put Portland ahead 3-1. Binghamton got to Richardson (4-4) again in the third. Reed led off with a bunt single and moved to second on an error before Jose Coronado bunted him to third. Murphy hit a grounder that Andrew Pinckney fielded at third, but his throw home was too late to get Reed, who scored and got the B-Mets within 3-2. Portland put the game away with three unearned, two-out runs off Sanchez (4-4) in the fourth, with Bell picking up a two-run triple before scoring on Tony Granadillo’s double to left-center.

 

Lucy:

Roster moves: sent C Salvador Paniagua to Brooklyn and added C Robinson Cancel to roster

The St. Lucie Mets announced that three time Cy Young Award winner, Pedro Martinez will make a rehab start tonight against the Vero Beach Devil Rays at Tradition Field. The start will be Martinez’s first official start since straining his left hamstring in his first start of the 2008 season with the New York Mets. Martinez will be going against highly touted Tampa Bay Rays prospect David Price. In Price’s only start this season, he got the win, going five innings without allowing a run while giving up only three hits.

From BaseballAmerica:

Prospect Of The Day - With Nick Evans making noise in New York for the Mets, Evans’ former teammate Danny Murphy reciprocated down in Binghamton. Murphy slugged three home runs, going 3-for-4 with a walk, four runs scored and five RBIs. With eight home runs on the season, the 23-year-old third baseman is batting .332/.379/.518 in 193 at-bats. It wasn’t all gravy for the Mets though; righthander Eddie Kunz blew the save, allowing three runs in the final 1 1/3 innings as Reading (Phillies) stole an 8-7 victory

Gnats:

In the previous seven games the offense and pitching were not in sync. If the Drive (27-26) was hitting, they lacked pitching and vice versa. That all changed Wednesday night as the Drive ended their eight-game home stand with a 8-2 victory over the Savannah Sand Gnats (22-30). Arambarris collected his first of four RBIs on the evening with a run-scoring double off Savannah starter Maikel Cleto (1-4). Two innings later the Drive collected three more runs as they sent eight batters to the dish. Vazquez laced a double down the right-field line which scored two, and Arambarris added an RBI-single. In the bottom of the seventh, things did not fair any better for Sand Gnats reliever Josh Stinson. Once again the Drive sent eight batters to the plate as they registered their final four runs, all with two outs in the inning. Exposito and Oscar Tejeda each knocked in a run with singles, and Arambarris culminated his evening wit a two-run single.

 

Brooklyn:

2008 roster starting to be built:

Pitchers: - Grady Hinchman - J.J. Leaper - Daniel McDonald - Michael Olmsted

Catchers: - Cesar Cordido- Jefferies Tatford

Infielders: - Micah Schilling

Outfielders: - Darren Clark

DSL:

2008 roster starting to post up…

Pitchers: Julio Bello Alan Cabrera Jose Feliz Pedro E. Martinez Jenrry Mejia Ismael Mendez Thomas Paredes Jhoan Paulino Armando Rodriguez Samuel Taveras Jose Valentin

Infielders: Jairo Castillo Jeyckol De Leon Ramon Eusebio Edward Guzman Wily Hiraldo Jefry Marte Jordany Valdespin

Outfielders: Julio Concepcion Ruben Martinez Pedro Zapata

VSL:

Postponed due to lluvia.

Minor Mets Bios:

Nick Waechter P R R 6-3 200 11-30-84 West Oregon State College

Waechter was drafted by the Mets in the 23rd round of the 2006 draft. In 2007, Waechter pitched part of the season with St. Lucie (0-0, 15.00, in 1 start), then was sent back to Brooklyn (5-4, 3.89, 1.14 in 15 appearances, 1 start. He also had 60 Ks in 69.1 IP.

Stefan Welsh IF L R 6-3 175 8-12-88 Adelaide, Australia

Welsh played the entire 2007 season for the GCL Mets (.288/.346/.353 in 139 at bats, only 3 errors).

Pedro Zapata OF R R 6-4 185 10-3-87 Nizao, D.R.

Zapata’s 2007 pro debut with the DSL Mets was an impressive one… .325/.382/.425 in 160 at bats. He also had 23 stolen bases and an OPS of .807. Zapata was named the winner of the Sterling Award for the Mets MVP for the DSL Mets in 2007. Expect to see him stateside in 2008.

[b]Gabriel Zavala OF R R 6-2 180 5-14-87[/B

]Zavala captured the Sterling Award as the best Mets prospect in 2006 with the Venezuelan Summer League. He batted .263/.318/.484 with 8 HRs and 42 RBIs in 57 games. Zavala played 2006 winter ball in Venezuela. In 2007, Zavala played for the GCL Mets (.285/.364/.479 in 165 at bats).

Ex-Mets:

It looks like Scott Kazmir has regained his ’07 form after an early setback due to elbow soreness. The Rays ace was simply dominating on Monday, allowing 3 hits and no walks in 7 innings. The final result was sensational, as Kazmir struck out 10 batters, while allowing just one run to score. On the season, Kazmir is 4-1 with a 1.50 ERA. The hurler who struck out 239 batters a season ago has now walked just 1 batter in his past 2 starts. – rotofeed

Mike Jacobs doubled, walked twice, and scored 2 runs

This Day In Mets History:

2000 - The Angels, for the first time in franchise history, hit four home runs in one inning. Anaheim goes yard four times in the fifth inning with Darin Erstad, Mo Vaughn, Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson supplying the fireworks in the 11-4 victory.

2001 - Marlin skipper John Boles (22-26, 8.5 GB) is fired a day after reliever Dan Miceli blasts the skipper and his coaching staff for their lack of major league playing experience. Tony Perez, an Hall of Farmer, is named to take Bowles place on an interim basis.

2001 - Collecting five singles and a three-run homer, Dodger backstop Paul Lo Duca goes 6-for-6 in against the Rockies to tie a National League record for hits in an extra-inning game.