Mike Attack: August 28, 2008

By Mike McGann
Posted Thursday, August 28, 2008

Yes, here I am still, filling in for the retired Mack. I’m hoping for some help — and have had at least one volunteer to do so — so expect to see some other names here in the coming days — especially now that I’ve been targeted by Neo Con death squads for my little, uh, humorous attempt at a political commercial.

Losses:

Cubs 50
Brewers 56
Phillies 60
Mets 60
Cardinals 60

Good win last night, again showing the resiliency so badly missing last season. And while the Carlos Delgado feel-good story is hard to ignore — since the All-Star break, he’s hit like he’s back in his peak offensive years — maybe the play of Daniel Murphy has to get Mets’ fans excited. Murphy looks to be a professional, polished hitter — and seems to be unfazed by pressure situations.

Still, though, it’s not all good news. Ramon Castro’s move to the DL hurts the offense down the stretch, even with Brian Schneider hitting better of late. With a lineup already dominated by lefties, losing Castro is not good news.

The news on Billy Wagner is either encouraging, or not so, depending on which New York media outlet you read. Pretty clearly, though the arm hurts, and it’s looking more and more like the Mets are going to shut Wagner down for the season. Now you have to ask whether the Mets will be in a position to deal for Rockies closer Brian Fuentes.

The short answer is no. Fuentes won’t, very likely clear enough teams for the Mets to put in a claim on him, let alone come up with a package to deal for him. The Dodgers, although cash poor right now, might claim him. And you have to assume the Phillies would, if only to keep Fuentes from getting dealt to New York. And then there’s the issue of what the Rox would demand — if they keep Fuentes, they’ll get two first-round picks in the June draft, although it will cost them about $1 million in salary. So, understandably, Colorado wants two first-round quality prospects for the closer — which for a month of rental is kind of hard to justify, as in the Mets’ case, would be Jon Niese. Since the Mets need Niese to start next month — and frankly, next season — such a deal would be a colossal mistake, although the New York tabloids (among other publications of a dubious nature) will probably get their pom pons out demanding such a stupid deal.

Bottom line, though, is that Luis Ayala will remain the Mets closer. Expect to see Al Reyes added to the roster before Sept. 1, so he will be playoff eligible, to give the team a second option at closer, as it’s pretty clear that neither Aaron Heilman or Scott Schoeneweis is up to the task.

Rant: For reasons that elude me, many of the Mets’ affiliates suddenly have new, non-functional Websites designed by Infinity Pro Sports. The timing — to be kind of blunt — is insane. Typically in Website development, one tends to roll out new sites during the offseason — which is the plan here at FU, as we’ll be refreshing our look and adopting some new technologies this offseason. Why any team would do it with two weeks remaining in the season makes no sense to me.

New Orleans
The Omaha Royals scored three runs with two outs in the second inning and defeated the Zephyrs 4-2 in front of 3,042 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Z’s struck first as Valentino Pascucci drilled a solo home run to lead off the second inning. The Royals pounded out three consecutive doubles and a single all coming with two outs to score three runs in the bottom of the inning. New Orleans added a second run in the fourth inning with a solo home run from Michel Abreu. Chris Lubanski smoked a solo home run to lead off the seventh for his second RBI of the game to give Omaha a 4-2 lead. The Royals used four pitchers in the game with Jimmy Gobble earning the win. Dusty Hughes pitched five innings and allowed one run in the game. Zephyr lefty Willie Collazo pitched six innings allowing three runs suffering the defeat.

Game Notes: The Z’s drop to 2-6 on the trip and 4-11 against Omaha this season. The home run from Pasucci snapped a 19 game drought for the Zephyr slugger. The home run was his 26th of the season and gives him 76 RBI to put him 11th all time RBI in a single season. The quality start for the Zephyrs is 71st of the season. The Mets recalled pitcher Nelson Figueroa and catcher Robinson Cancel. The Z’s added lefty pitcher Ricardo Rincon from the Mexico City Reds.

Coming Up: The Zephyrs will wrap up the final road game of the season on Thursday evening at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. The Z’s will start LH Eude Brito against Omaha LH Tyler Lumsden at 7:05. RADIO: AM 690 WIST.

Binghamton
Shawn Bowman had a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth, helping the Binghamton Mets to a 6-3 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at MerchantsAuto.com Stadium Wednesday. The victory evens the series at a game apiece.

Binghamton (71-66) took the lead in the first. Jose Coronado and Fernando Martinez began the rally with back-to-back singles off Robert Ray. Mike Carp followed with a base hit to score Coronado for a 1-0 B-Mets advantage.

New Hampshire (59-78) tied the score on Erik Kratz’s leadoff homer in the third off Mike Antonini.

The top of the fourth began with Ray (7-6) hitting Carp with a pitch. Caleb Stewart and Bowman then singled, the latter scoring Carp, before Ambiorix Concepcion’s two-run double brought in Stewart and Bowman. Concepcion scored on an error that allowed Emmanuel Garcia to reach. Garcia would later come in on Fernando Martinez’s base hit to right that put the B-Mets ahead 6-1.

Antonini (1-2) gave up back-to-back, solo homers to Brian Dopirak and David Smith in the sixth. Eric Brown and Brian Rogers followed the lefthander with three scoreless innings of relief. Rogers got the game’s final out for his first save in as many chances.

Thursday, the Binghamton Mets play the rubber game of a three-game series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Tobi Stoner (4-6, 4.62) will start for Binghamton against Marty McLeary (0-0, 5.21) of New Hampshire. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Merchantsauto.com Stadium with the radio broadcast beginning at 6:50 on Newsradio 1290 WNBF.

Notes: Antonini has allowed seven of his 10 homers to the Fisher Cats…Antonini won for the first time since 7/19 when he was with High-A St. Lucie…Rogers has tossed 17 1/3 scoreless innings in the EL this season between Binghamton and Altoona.

St. Lucie
St. Lucie split a doubleheader with Palm Beach, losing the opener 9-1, and then grabbing a 2-1 win in the nightcap. Josh Stinson had his first really solid outing in the Florida State League, allowing just two hits and one run in four innings of work for the Mets to get the win. Brahain Maldonado drove in both runs for St. Lucie.

Gnats
Savannah got pounded by Charleston, 9-3, as the Sand Gnats’ bullpen struggled late again. Rhiner Cruz took the loss in relief.

Also: Right-handed pitchers Scott Moviel and Maikel Cleto have been promoted to High-A St. Lucie, the New York Mets announced today. LHP Mitch Houck and RHP Samuel Martinez have been called up from the Gulf Coast Mets while shortstop Wilmer Flores, infielder Stefan Welch and RHP Michael Powers have been promoted from Rookie-level Kingsport to join the Sand Gnats.

Moviel, 20, went 9-8 with a 4.43 ERA in 24 starts with the Sand Gnats. The Berea, Ohio native won six consecutive decisions from June 3 to July 13 and went 3-1 with a 3.23 ERA in the second half.

Cleto, from Santo Domingo, D.R., went 5-11 with a 4.25 ERA in 25 appearances (22 starts). The 19-year-old threw a complete game shutout on May 22 at Augusta. He leads the Savannah pitching staff with 135.2 innings pitched.

Houck, 21, was selected by the Mets in the 17th round of the 2008 draft. The Weston, Fla. native went 2-2 with a 1.08 ERA in six relief appearances with the GCL Mets.

Martinez, a converted catcher from Monte Plata, D.R., went 3-2 with 3 saves and a 3.28 ERA in 17 relief appearances out of the bullpen with the GCL Mets. The 21-year-old signed with the Mets as a non-drafted free agent catcher in 2006 and began pitching this season.

Flores, 17, had a strong year with Kingsport in his first professional season, hitting .310 with 8 home runs and 41 RBI in 59 games. The Valencia, Ven. native clubbed 76 hits, the fourth most in the Appalachian League. Flores signed with the Mets as a non-drafted free agent on his 16th birthday in 2007.

Welch, from Alice Springs, Australia, hit .281 with 4 home runs and 34 RBI in 63 games with the K-Mets. The 20-year-old signed with the Mets as a non-drafted free agent in 2005.

Powers, 22, was selected by the Mets in the 31st round of the 2008 draft. The St. Clair Shores, Mich. native went 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 7 saves in 15 relief appearances with the K-Mets.

Clones
Brooklyn defeated Oenonta, 3-1, as Bradley Holt had another strong outing for Cyclones. Sean Ratliff homered for Brooklyn.

This day in Mets History:

1984: Mets deal Gerald Young, Manny Lee and Mitch Cook to Houston for Ray Knight.
1991: Mets deal P Alejandro Pena to the Braves for Tony Castillo and Joe Roa.