The Mets
and Royals swapped AAA second baseman with the Mets sending Jeff Keppinger to
the Royals in exchange for Rueben Gotay.
The 23 year old Gotay was hitting .264/.322/.404 with 16 doubles, 2 3B,
and 9 HR in 87 games for
If you’re
feeling down about the big Mets, let a terrific day in the minor league system brighten
your morning. In AA, Carlos Gomez
extended his hit streak to 12. In St.
Lucie, Philip Humber was dominant as was the Suns’ Jon Niese in
Why I love
my job, part 318: I interviewed Gerry
Hunsicker, Senior VP of Baseball Operations for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, today
for my pre-game show. He was more than
generous with his time. After we were
done with the interview, we sat in the dugout in
Stars of the Day:
AAA: Chris Basak
AA: *Carlos Gomez
& Michel Abreu
A+: ***Philip
A: **Jon Niese/*Fernando
Martinez
SSA: -
R (APP): Brahiam
Maldonado/Emmanuel Garcia
R (GCL): -
@
The Bats scored four times in the bottom of the eighth against the Mets bullpen of Steve Schmoll and Royce Ring. Ring scooped up his second blown save.
Jeff Keppinger was 1-2 in his final game as a Mets farmhand. Chris Basak, who took over for Kepp was 2-2, wit ha solo HR so the second base position was responsible for 3 of the Tides 5 hits.
@
Carlos Gomez doubled twice and has now hit safely in 12 straight games to improve his season line to .261/.325/.390. Over his streak he’s raised his batting average from .225 to .261 and has doubled six times. Michel Abreu was 3-3 with a double and a pair of walks while Ambio Concepcion and Jorge Padilla added a pair of hits each. The Mets left 11 men on.
On the hill, the Thunder rattled Michael Devaney for three runs on six hits in four innings. He walked three, but struck out five. Returned to AA by the Mets, Henry Owens returned to his AA ways with two strikeouts in a scoreless eighth.
St. Lucie (A+ -
@ St. Lucie 4,
Yes, yes,
yes. Philip Humber dealt five shutout innings while allowing four hits
and striking out nine without issuing a walk.
I’ve heard nothing but glowing reports on Humber from scouts I’ve talked
to and apparently, the same is true for Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus,
who wrote this on Wednesday morning, before
Righthander Philip
Humber has returned from Tommy John surgery and earned some rave
reviews. "He has two big power pitches with the fastball, which is 90-94
mph, and that curve which is just a hammer and a real out pitch," said one
National League scout about the third overall pick in the 2004 draft. "He
also has a power changeup--and I love those--it's not a touch/feel pitch; its
velocity is in the 80s so it gets there with some speed and just bottoms
out." Having just returned after missing nearly a year,
Jesus Flores led St. Lucie’s offense with a 2-3 that included a solo HR in the first inning.
Fernando Martinez returned to the Suns lineup for the first time since June 10th, after a six week stay on the DL, and picked up where he left off going 3-4 with a 3 run HR in the third that began the Suns’ onslaught. Will Vogl added a 2-5 as well.
Jon Niese dealt a three-hit complete game
with nine strikeouts to lower his ERA to 3.51.
The southpaw faced just four batters over the minimum in a commanding
performance. It’s a very nice rebound
from a tough start his last time out against
Brooklyn (SSA –
Oneonta 6, @
The Tigers touched Nelson Portillo for three runs in six innings. He struck out three cats.
The
@
Brahiam Maldonado (.284/.365/.568 in 22
G) tripled and homered. Emmanuel Garcia (.317/.404/.390), Baseball
Duane Privett allowed one run in five innings for his first win. He struck out six.
GCL Mets (R –
@ GCL Dodgers 10, GCL
Mets 8
The Mets scored 8 runs on five hits? The news was not good for any of the Mets pitchers. John Holdzkom took the loss in exchange for allowing three runs on three walks and two hits in 0.2 IP.
