Mike Attack: Sept. 1, 2008

By Mike McGann
Posted Monday, September 1, 2008

We continue to hold our breath and watch Gustav pound New Orleans and Louisiana — and hope the damage and loss of life is minimal — but as of Monday morning, it doesn’t look very good.

Losses:

Cubs 52
Brewers 56
Mets 61
Phillies 62
Cardinals 63

But baseball goes on — and the pennant race continues. As seems to be the pattern, the Mets follow up a disappointing loss with a solid, strong win — seemingly preventing the cascade effect of losses we saw at this time last fall. Are the Mets mentally tougher this season? The jury remains out on that — but we may have a better answer after a three-game set, starting today against the Brewers and a three-game set against the Phillies at Shea next weekend.

But with Rookie Jon Niese pitching tomorrow night in place of the injured John Maine, fans could take some comfort in the performance of Pedro Martinez. After surrendering two runs in the first inning, Martinez settled down and held the Marlins at bay. With each outing, he seems to get a better handle on what he has — and what he doesn't — and seems to have discovered that he has more movement and control when he doesn't throw as hard as he can. He's also been spotting his fastball — using full velocity only a couple of times a game, where he can touch 91, more often throwing 88-87. That's setting up his change up effectively — which kept the Marlins off balance all day.

At the end of the day, Martinez may hold the key as to whether the Mets play in October.

Either way, by next weekend, the Mets may be the last team in the organization in playoff contention. Binghamton was officially eliminated last night — and it’s taken Brooklyn an eight-game winning streak to close within ½ game of the Wild Card spot in the New York-Penn League. Still, the Cyclones are facing an uphill battle to make the postseason.

 

Binghamton
The New Britain Rock Cats scored in four different innings and held off a Binghamton Mets comeback, winning 9-6 at New Britain Stadium Sunday. Binghamton’s loss clinches the EL Northern Division’s final playoff spot for the Portland Sea Dogs.

New Britain (63-77) didn’t trail after Danny Valencia’s inside-the-park, two-run homer off Dylan Owen in the first.

The B-Mets (73-68) rallied to tie in the third. Salvador Paniagua led off with a double off Yohan Pino (1-1) before scoring on Emmanuel Garcia’s single. After Jose Coronado bunted his way on, Fernando Martinez singled in Garcia to tie the game 2-2.

Toby Gardenhire drove in a run on a fielder’s choice in the fourth before Owen (1-1) served up a three-run homer to Valencia in the fifth. Brian Dinkelman doubled in two before scoring on Dustin Martin’s double in the sixth, upping New Britain’s lead to 9-2.

Garcia began the top of the eighth by reaching on an error before Coronado singled him to second. Both scored on Martinez’s double to right-center. Mike Carp then doubled to score Martinez before Shawn Bowman singled in Carp to pull Binghamton within three.

New Britain closer Ben Julianel tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances.

Monday, the Binghamton Mets play their final regular-season game, against the New Britain Rock Cats. Lefty Mike Antonini (1-2, 3.86) will start for Binghamton against fellow southpaw Kyle Aselton (7-6, 4.44) of New Britain. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. at New Britain Stadium with the radio broadcast beginning at 1:20 on ESPN 1360 WNBF.

Notes: Martinez is 10 for 25 (.400) on the first six games of the seven-game road trip...Ambiorix Concepcion crashed into the rightfield fence chasing after Valencia’s inside-the-park homer in the first, leaving the game.

St. Lucie
St. Lucie beat Brevard County 4-0, with the pitching staff posting a second straight shut out. Lucas Duda drove in two runs and homered for the Mets. Nicholas Carr (2-10) pitched sixth shutout innings — arguably his best performance of the season — to pick up the win.

Gnats
The Charleston RiverDogs scored 10 runs after the fourth inning and Ryan Zink threw six shutout innings as Charleston rolled to a 10-2 win before 2,440 at Historic Grayson Stadium on Sunday night.

Jesus Montero went 2-for-5 with a double and 3 RBI and Austin Romine went 3-for-4 with 2 runs to lead the Charleston attack. The ‘Dogs took the lead in the fifth when Romine knocked in a run with a double before Montero plated him with an RBI single.

Charleston (35-33, 80-58) didn’t stop after fifth, scoring three in the sixth and seventh before capping the scoring with two runs in the eighth.

Zink (3-2) was superb, allowing just 4 hits and no walks while striking out 5.

The Gnats (27-39, 60-76) broke the shutout in the seventh. Joaquin Rodriguez knocked in Nick Giarraputo with a single to center. Rodriguez went 3-for-4 as the only Gnat with more than one hit.

The Gnats added a run in the ninth when Giarraputo scored on an error by Charleston short stop Carmen Angelini.

Charleston’s Brandon Laird hit his 23rd home run of the season as part of a 2-for-4 night.

Savannah starter Phillips Orta (0-1) allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 4.0 innings.

Monday afternoon is the season finale with the Gnats and ‘Dogs squaring off for a special 2 p.m. Labor Day start time. RHP Lance Pendleton (7-8, 3.44) starts for Charleston while lefty Mark Cohoon (1-2, 4.33) takes the hill for Savannah. For tickets and more information, visit www.sandgnats.com or call 912.351.9150.

Clones
The Cyclones stretched their winning streak to eight games with a 3-1 win against Hudson Valley on Sunday night. A crowd of 8,016 fans at KeySpan Park saw Brooklyn (42-28) move to within a half-game of Jamestown (42-27) for the NYPL Wild Card.

C Jordan Abruzzo got the Cyclones on the board in the bottom of the fourth with an opposite-field home run to left field. Abruzzo then added his second home run of the game and sixth of the season in the eighth inning from the right side. It marked the first time in club history a member of the Cyclones homered from both sides of the plate in the same game. 1B Ike Davis extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2-for-4 effort, and 2B Josh Satin went 2-for-3, including a double in the fifth inning. 3B Juan Lagares played stellar defense and added a double, while DH Dock Doyle got his first hit of the season for the Cyclones.

In his 14th appearance and 13th start for Brooklyn, RHP Scott Shaw scattered 10 hits in 5.1 innings, allowing a run and a walk with four strikeouts. Shaw has now given up two runs or less in his last five starts. LHP Jimmy Johnson, who is tied for second among Cyclones' relievers with 22 games, closed out the game with 3.2 innings of shutout relief allowing just one hit with three strikeouts to earn his fifth win of the season.

Brooklyn is now three games behind Staten Island in the McNamara Division, with six games left to play. The Cyclones travel to Aberdeen before returning home on September 4th at 7 pm to face the Renegades again. On Thursday, fans will receive a Cyclones' Team Photo.

This day in Mets’ history
1970 - Mets trade Rod Gaspar to the San Diego Padres for Ron Herbel.
1975 - Tom Seaver strikes out Pirates’ Manny Sanguillen to become the first to strike out at least two-hundred batters in eight consecutive seasons.
2001 - Mets deal Kyle Kessel to the Detroit Tigers for C. J. Nitkowski.
2004 - New York Mets sign free agent Alay Soler.