Mike Attack: Sept. 3, 2008

By Mike McGann
Posted Wednesday, September 3, 2008

We’re entering the final weeks of the attack — only Brooklyn remains alive and need to win the final New York-Penn League playoff spot for this daily update to continue past this coming weekend — and with the likely coming of Hurricana Hanna to the Northeast, who knows what games will and will not end up getting played.

Losses:

Cubs 54
Brewers 58
Mets 61
Phillies 63
Cardinals 64

While there’s a lot to say about the starting pitching staff — the quiet story is that in the wake of Billy Wagner’s injury — more on that in a minute — the Mets are beginning to find something resembling an effective bullpen. Brian Stokes and Luis Ayala (five saves in nine appearances) have suddenly emerged as options for the seventh and eighth innings and even Duaner Sanchez is starting to show both more velocity and movement. Joe Smith is pitching quite well now and Pedro Feliciano is excelling as a lefty specialist. It will be interesting to see whether Al Reyes becomes part of the mix in the coming days — and whether manager Jerry Manuel continues to try to get both Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis going.

As for Wagner, he had no ill effects from throwing off a mound and will pitch a simulated game this weekend — not pitch for Brooklyn, as originally suggested. Weather will be a factor, but Wagner should be back for the series against the Nationals next week. With Ayala and Stokes as his primary set up guys and Smith and Feliciano as specialists, the Mets pen — a disaster for long stretches this season — could fall nicely into place the final weeks of the season, and be well set up for the postseason.

But the concerns with the health of the starting staff continue. With John Maine done for the year, now the worry turns to Pedro Martinez, who was unable to get his shoulder loose in his last start (a start he did manage to win) and found himself down on velocity. Martinez came back to New York to work with his persona trainer — recently hired by the Mets — to work on better loosening his shoulder up. His start against the Phillies — already in danger because of weather — could be put on hold.

With Hurricana Hanna en route for this weekend — by Saturday it should be little more than a tropical depression — the Mets’ starting pitching could get tested, with the likes of Nelson Figueroa, Brandon Knight and Jon Niese, who was expected to get another shot to start for at least two weeks (and maybe not at all, after struggling last night — and suffering through a clear case of nerves), may need to be pressed into service.

If Pedro goes down again, things could get dicey, quick.

Clones
The Cyclones had their nine-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night, dropping a 5-1 decision to Aberdeen. The nine-game streak was the longest of the season and helped Brooklyn get back into the NYPL playoff race. The Cyclones (43-29) remain a half-game ahead of Jamestown (42-29) for the wild card and three games back of Staten Island (46-26) for the division lead with four games to play. All three teams lost on Tuesday.

Brooklyn managed just four hits in the contest, with 2B Josh Satin registering the lone extra-base hit with a line drive double to right field in the eighth inning. 3B Juan Lagares now has hits in nine of his last ten games, while DH Jose Jimenez and CF Sean Ratliff singled in the first and third inning, respectively.

In his 11th start of the season for the Cyclones, RHP Jenry Mejia worked seven innings and gave up four runs on four hits with seven strikeouts. Mejia (pictured, by George Napolitano) now has at least six strikeouts in four of his last five starts. RHP Erik Turgeon entered in the eighth inning and allowed an unearned run and a hit with two strikeouts.

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.