Mike Attack: Sept. 2, 2008

By Mike McGann
Posted Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The news out of the Gulf Coast was as good as possible when a Category 2 hurricane slams onto shore and it looks like New Orleans avoided the kind of damage it saw during Katrina. However, many others to the west and north were not as lucky. If you can please help by donating to the American Red Cross

Losses:

Cubs 53
Brewers 57
Mets 61
Phillies 63
Cardinals 64

Aside from yesterday’s big win there was more good news: Billy Wagner threw off a mound without serious discomfort. he is not expected to make one rehab appearance for Brooklyn this weekend and could return to the Mets as soon as next week. Wagner’s return could reset a Mets’ pen that has struggled since the All-Star break —

Contrary to reports, the Mets called up a passel of players on Sept. 1 to bolster the roster and vastly deepen the bullpen: P Jon Niese (who starts tonight), P Carlos Muniz, P Bobby Parnell, P Ricardo Rincon, P Brandon Knight, INF Argenis Reyes, INF Ramon Martinez and C Gustavo Molina were brought up from New Orleans. P Al Reyes is expected to be called up today, along with any other Binghamton players to be added to the roster.

Mild surprises not to get the call: OF Fernando Martinez, who has struggled in AA since returning from a hand injury and 1B Mike Carp, who tore up AA, but is widely seen as a DH type and likely offseason trade bait, in part because of the current depth at 1B in the organization. Although both could be added today, I’m told they won’t be and the organization would like to shut Martinez down for a bit, in part to make sure he’s totally healthy.

Here’s a couple of players to watch carefully to see what management thinks about them: Luis Castillo and Ryan Church. How the next month plays out with both of them will shape the player moves during the offseason.

Interim manager Jerry Manuel, who by the way seems to be looking more and more likely to shed the “interim” title — maybe before the end of the season — is showing little confidence in Castillo. The veteran switch hitter is 5 for 18 with four strikeouts since returning and his range, never great since joining the Mets, seems particularly limited to his right. Already, whispers suggest that Daniel Murphy is expected to take over at 2B in 2009, with Castillo getting dealt.

Church, while not going anywhere in 2009, has the Mets a little worried. He’s not the player he was before his second concussion — in particular bailing out against left-handed pitching (Manuel has taken to sitting him down against tough lefties now) and he seems to lack the spark he brought to the lineup earlier. Team officials hope it’s just part of the natural course of recovery — but admit that they may need to look for a veteran righty bat (although Nick Evans may be an option, too) to platoon with Church in 2009.

Binghamton
Emmanuel Garcia drove in a run, but the Binghamton Mets fell to the New Britain Rock Cats 3-1 at New Britain Stadium Monday in the final game of the 2008 season. The B-Mets end the year with three straight losses.

B-Mets (73-64) starter Mike Antonini no-hit New Britain (64-77) for the first four innings before two singles and a Brandon Roberts RBI fielder’s choice in the fifth got the Rock Cats on the board. Daniel Berg’s sixth-inning RBI single off Antonini (1-3) made it 2-0.

Binghamton scored in the seventh. Jonathan Malo began the rally with a one-out single before Salomon Manriquez walked. Two batters later, Garcia singled to right, scoring Malo.

Matt Tolbert singled in a run in the seventh to put New Britain up by two.

Kyle Aselton (8-6) tossed five scoreless innings for the win. Robert Delaney got the final three outs for his fifth save in seven chances.

Binghamton opens the 2009 season on Wednesday, April 8th at Trenton. The home opener is Thursday, April 16th against the Portland Sea Dogs at 6:35 p.m.

Notes: Binghamton left 11 men on base and struck out 14 times…Antonini lasted six innings in five of his last six starts…Binghamton picked up their first winning season since 2004…the B-Mets finished 40-31 on the road.

Gnats
Mark Cohoon tossed six strong innings as the Sand Gnats earned a 4-2 win over the Charleston RiverDogs before 705 fans in the final game of the season at Historic Grayson Stadium and what may prove to be the final game as a Mets’ affiliate. The Gnats drew 105,537 fans to Historic Grayson Stadium this season, a 47,158 improvement over 2004 when 58,379 came through the gates.

Cohoon (2-2) limited the ‘Dogs to 1 run on 5 hits in 6.0 innings. He walked 1 and struck out 3 in his longest outing of the season.

Charleston took a 1-0 lead on an RBI triple from Dave Williams in the fourth.

Savannah answered back with three runs in the bottom half. Stefan Welch drew a lead off walk, before Ralph Henriquez, who was 2-for-4, followed with a single to right. After a wild pitch moved Welch and Henriquez to second and third, Nick Giarraputo struck out.

Darren Clark followed to deliver the key hit of the game, a two-run single to center. After Clark took third on an error and a wild pitch, he scored on Tony Maccani’s RBI fielder’s choice.

Savannah added a run in the fifth when Giarraputo knocked in Carlos Guzman with a single to right.

Charleston shrunk the deficit to 4-2 before Michael Powers worked a perfect ninth for his first save.

Lance Pendleton (7-9) went five frames in the loss, allowing 4 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits.

The Sand Gnats finish the season 61-76, a 20-win improvement over their 41-94 mark in 2007. For 2009 season ticket information visit www.sandgnats.com or call 912-351-9150.

Clones
Brooklyn took the lead in the race for the Wild Card with its ninth straight win, beating Aberdeen on Monday, 5-2. The win moves the Cyclones (43-28) a half-game ahead of Jamestown (42-28), who lost on Monday, with six games to play.

Brad Holt (5-3) gave Brooklyn another outstanding outing on Labor Day, allowing two runs on two hits, while striking out 12 in just 5.2 innings, to increase his league-leading strikeout total to 96. Holt's K total also sets a new individual single-season record for the Cyclones, topping the previous mark of 93, set by Kevin Deaton in 2002. Holt now has a 1.87 ERA in his first professional season.

Holt was relieved by Matias Carrillo and Yury Santana, who held the IronBirds scoreless over the final 3.1 innings. Santana picked up his team-high 13th save of the season by striking out four batters in one inning, when his third victim of the ninth inning reached base due to a wild pitch.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis led the Brooklyn offense, with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. Nieuwenhuis -- who leads the team in virtually every offensive category -- belted a home run, scored twice, and drove in three runs in the winning effort.

After trailing 1-0 in the first inning, the Cyclones plated four runs in the top of the second and never looked back. Sean Ratliff put Brooklyn on the board with an RBI single before Nieuwenhuis' three-run blast. In the fifth inning, the Cyclones tacked on another run when Nieuwenhuis singled, stole second, and was driven in by Juan Lagares.

Brooklyn remains three games behind Staten Island in the McNamara Division, with five games left to play, but now leads the race for the Wild Card by a half-game. The Cyclones return home on September 4th at 7 pm to face the Hudson Valley Renegades. On Thursday, fans will receive a Cyclones' Team Photo.