I’m a little late today, but strangely enough, in the upset of the summer, there’s good sushi in Victorville, CA.    

Stars of the Day:

AAA: Anderson Hernandez

AA: Michel Abreu

A+: Jose Sanchez/Caleb Stewart

A: Jon Niese/Nick Evans

SSA: Dustin Martin/Scott Hunter

R (APP): Greg Mullens
R (GCL): Juan Montero/Joseph Leaper

Norfolk (AAA - International League)

@ Indianapolis 5, Norfolk 4

            The Tides wasted a 4-5 day for Anderson Hernandez in grounding into five double plays.  After Hernandez singled in the ninth, Rueben Gotay doubled him home as part of a 2-4 afternoon, but Norfolk couldn’t find the game-tying hit.

            The Indians tagged Evan MacLane (8-8, 4.09) with five runs, four earned in five innings.  He fanned two and walked one. 

Binghamton (AA - Eastern League)

Bowie 3, @ Binghamton 0

            Philip Humber’s solid start couldn’t halt Binghamton’s losing streak which now sits at seven games.  In 5.2 IP, Humber allowed two runs on two hits and two walks, but punched out nine.  It was the most strikeouts of any of his three AA starts.

            Michel Abreu had two of the B-Mets three hits in a 2-4 performance. 

            The B-Mets playoff chances took another hit this week, as they lost four pitchers to their country’s Olympic Qualifying teams: Henry Owens (USA), Miguel Pinago (VZ) Willie Collazo (PR) and Ivan Maldonado (PR).

St. Lucie (A+ - Florida State League)

@ St. Lucie 7, Clearwater 2

            Jose Sanchez allowed just one earned run in his seven innings, as the Florida Mets broke it open late. 

            Mike Carp and Fernando Martinez hit solo HR in the sixth and seventh innings while Caleb Stewart drilled a two run shot in the eighth.  Stewart finished 2-4 with a triple, HR and 4 RBI. 

Hagerstown (A – South Atlantic League)

@ Lakewood 3, Hagerstown 1

            The Mets, in a conservative move with Jon Niese, held him to three shutout innings.  Niese allowed just one hit while striking out four.  Ryan Myers (2-10) took the loss in relieve for allowing three runs over the next four innings. 

            Nick Evans had two hits in the loss. 

Brooklyn (SSA – New York Penn League)

AL All-Stars 4, NL All-Stars 1 (@ Aberdeen)

            Dustin Martin was 2-5 with a very nice opposite field double, but was also the butt of a sweet practical joke from Cyclones Hitting Coach Scott Hunter who put a baseball sized bubble on Martin’s helmet.  Earlier in the day, Hunter taped a hot dog to Martin’s bat and then later, stuck a hot dog in his glove, so Martin was pulling frank bits out of his glove while standing in the outfield.  See the double, and hear about the pranks here.

            Jacob Ruckle and Jeremy Mizeli each threw scoreless innings.   

Kingsport Mets (R – Appalachian League)

@ Danville 5, Kingsport 1

            Greg Mullens was strong again for the K-Mets.  He allowed just one run in five innings while punching out five.  However, Danville got to the bullpen for four runs in the bottom of the eighth for the win.

GCL Mets (R – Gulf Coast League)

GCL Mets 5, GCL Dodgers 2

            Juan Montero drilled his second HR of the year in the sixth inning to put the Mets up 4-0.  Montero finished 2-4.  Richard Pena added three this and scored two runs. 

            Joseph Leaper struck out seven in five shutout innings for the W.