Although Lastings Milledge was listed by the Zephyrs as day-to-day, he flew to New York to have his bruised foot examined Tuesday. In doing so, he missed out on a historic evening for his Zephyrs teammates. If there’s anything serious, I’d be surprised if the Daily News’ Adam Rubin doesn’t get the scoop at his blog.
Thanks to Don Kilpatrick for sending me this Michael Salfino column at SNY.tv which discusses the Mets philosophy of aggressively promoting their toolsy young players, which has led to the Mets having:
“by all accounts, the youngest player in Class A in catcher Francisco Pena (who turns 18 in October), High A in pitcher Deolis Guerra (who turned 18 last week), Double-A in center fielder Fernando Martinez (who turned 18 in January) and the second youngest in the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) in center fielder Carlos Gomez (who turned 21 last December).”
Yesterday, in a tangent, I wrote about Danny Putnam and his Major League Debut. Tuesday, for the second day in a row, a member of my 2005 Stockton Ports team made his first MLB appearance with the A’s when Dallas Braden shut down the Orioles for his first big league win. Braden’s a soft tossing lefty-screwballer with a screw loose, and I say that completely affectionately. He’s doesn’t light up radar guns, but finds a way to be effective. As his pitching coach always pointed out to me, Braden pitches “with big stones.”
Stars of the Day:
AAA: Ricky Ledee & Andy Tracy & Ruben Gotay
AA: Caleb Stewart
A+: Jamar Hill
A: Matt Durkin
AAA – New Orleans (Pacific Coast League)
Zephyrs 17, @ Albuquerque 8
The Zephyrs pounded out a franchise record 23 hits Tuesday night, breaking the club record of 22 set twice in 2006. Ruben Gotay was 4-7 with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI. Andy Tracy (.309/.418/.655) was 5-6 with 4 runs scored, a HR and 3 RBI. Still the most eyepopping line belonged to Ricky Ledee who was 4-5 with a grand slam and 7 RBI. This game was actually tied 6-6 heading to the sixth inning when the Zephyrs scored six times.
Chan Ho Park (3-1, 7.29) lucked into (earned doesn’t seem right) his third win of the year for allowing six runs on eight hits in five innings. He fanned seven, walked three and gave up two jacks of his own. Clint Nageotte yielded a pair of runs after the Mets offensive onslaught.
AA –
@New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3, B-Mets 1
The B-Mets dropped their fifth in a row, and Kevin Mulvey dropped to 1-3, but didn’t get much help from his defense which committed a season high four errors, including one from Mulvey himself. Mulvey allowed three runs, but just one was earned in five innings on four hits. Encouragingly, for the second time in three starts, he didn’t walk a batter. Leaving aside that delayed opening night disaster, he’s fanned eight, while walking just one hitter in his last 15 IP. Carlos Muniz, St. Lucie’s closer last year, threw a couple scoreless innings in relief.
Monday night it was David Purcey, Tuesday it was Jesse Litsch, Toronto’s #8 prospect according to Baseball America, who shut down the B-Mets. Litsch allowed just one hit in his 6.1 innings of work, while fanning six. Caleb Stewart who finished 2-3, had half of the B-Mets four hits. The B-Mets are hitting just .235/.313/.344 as a team.
Mark Hale had the following note about Fernando Martinez in Tuesday’s Post: “Fernando Martinez, the Mets' 18-year-old marvel, was pulled from Sunday's Double-A Binghamton game because he was "not running as hard to first base," according to Mets VP of Player Development Tony Bernazard.
"It's a policy of the organization no matter who it is," said Bernazard, who said he spoke with the outfielder on Sunday.”
A+ -- St. Lucie (
@ Jupiter Hammerheads 7, Mets 0
The Hammerheads scored six times against Jon Niese in the second to salt this one away early although only three of the runs were earned as St. Lucie committed three errors, one shy of the number of hits the bats produced. Nick Abel, now 24, out of SUNY Stony-Brook fired off 2.1 scoreless innings in relief. German Marte threw a perfect eighth.
Jamar Hill made his 2007 debut with a 2-3 evening from the bottom of the order. Hill, originally a 48th round draft pick out of Santa Ana JC, will enjoy the sites and sounds of St. Lucie for the third straight year. These Mets are hitting .246/.306/.352.
A –
@ Charleston River Dogs 2, Sand Gnats 1
The Gnats have lost 6 in a row and 7 of eight to drop to 4-15. However, there was very good news for the Gnats and the Mets Tuesday: Matt Durkin. The hard throwing righty from San Jose State allowed just one unearned run in 5.2 IP while striking out four without issuing a walk. Could this be the beginning of a big turnaround and one of the feel-good stories in the Mets system this year? He’s thrown well in each of his last two appearances after getting knocked around on April 11.
The Gnats only run came on in the fifth, when Josh Thole, who doubled as a pinch-hitter scored on an RBI single from Daniel Stegall. No Gnat had more than one hit in a 6-hit effort by the club. Kudos to Hector Pellot and Francisco Pena. Although both were hitless, they each drew two walks.
The Gnats are hitting .241/.301/.334.
Toby Hyde has written Toby’s Mets Minor League Report since 2004. Please pass this along to friends, family, co-workers, enemies and most importantly Mets fans. To subscribe to the email newsletter, sign up here: http://groups.google.com/group/mets-minors?hl=en. Archives are available at http://metsminors.metsblog.com.
