Bad News: Ben Johnson’s done for the year with a broken ankle.  Good news: Brett Harper named the Eastern League’s Player of the Week.  What is it about Mets OF getting injured this year?

            Pedro is scheduled to start Wednesday night in St. Lucie.

            Entering Monday, the Savannah Sand Gnats 34-78 record was the worst among all full-season minor league and all major league teams.  The Gnats lost Monday too. 

            Reliever Brant Rustich was promoted from Kingsport to Brooklyn. 

            Every year, I listen to my tapes from this time of year, and I hear myself fighting a cold.  Thus, in the interest of some pre-emptive sleep, I didn’t stay up late to write Sunday night following Glavine’s masterful 300th. 

 

Stars of the Day:

AAA: Anderson Hernandez & Fernando Tatis/Eddie Camacho

AA: Off

A+: Sean Henry & Emmanuel Garcia

A: Darren Clark/Waner Mateo

SSA: Brant Rustich/Chris Fournier

R-App: Daniel Stegall & Tyler Vaughn/Angel Calero

R-GCL: Gabriel Zavala

 

AAA – New Orleans (Pacific Coast League)

@ Fresno Grizzlies (60-57) 6, Zephyrs (62-54) 4

 

            I hate writing this, but there’s little positive to say about the following line from Philip Humber Monday at Chukchanski Park in downtown Fresno: 4 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.  He fell to 10-7 with a 4.38 ERA.  On the plus side, the bullpen of Eddie Camacho, Willie Collazo and Joe Smith combined for four scoreless relief innings, although only Camacho struck out a batter.

            In better news, Anderson Hernandez (.282/.324/.371) had two more hits.  His average has risen in every month up to .405/.444/.514 in July.  Fernando Tatis was 2-5 with a double. 

 

 

AA – Binghamton (Eastern League)

Mets

 

Off Monday

 

A+ -- St. Lucie (Florida State League)

@ Mets (24-17/51-61) 7, Lakeland Tigers (17-24/46-65) 4

 

            The Mets rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to extend their winning streak to six straight games.  Sean Henry (.298/.360/.464) extended his hitting streak to six straight game with his second straight 3-5 hit game.  Sunday, he rapped out three doubles.  Emmanuel Garcia was 3-5 as well. 

 

A – Savannah (South Atlantic League)

Hickory Crawdads (28-17/55-57) 7, @ Sand Gnats (14-29/34-79) 2

 

            Savannah didn’t score until the bottom of the ninth, on a two run home run by Darren Clark, but by then it was too late to prevent starter Julio Polanco from falling to 2-8.  It was the first home run in the SAL for the 23 year-old Clark who launched five in the Appalachian League.  Hector Pellot and DJ Wabick each tossed in two hits. 

            Waner Mateo put together three scoreless innings of relief, striking out two without walking a batter. 

 

SSA – Brooklyn (New York-Penn League)

Aberdeen Ironbirds (24-22) 11, @ Cyclones (31-15) 5

 

             Dylan Gee was charged with four runs in the first four and a third innings, but he left two aboard for the bullpen, which did not have a great night.  Later, Tim Stronach gave up four more runs in the seventh.  Eddie Kunz, the first rounder this year, was touched for three runs on a this and two walks in .2 of an inning, in his second professional outing after emerging unscathed from his pro debut Saturday.  Brant Rustich’s scoreless inning with two strikeouts was one of the few bright spots out of the Cyclones ‘pen. 

            Chris Fournier, age 23, was 2-4 with a double and a home run and Jason Jacobs added a solo jack as well. 

 

SSA – Kingsport (Appalachian League)

Mets (25-18) 8, Johnson City Cardinals (19-24) 2

 

            The Mets used 11 hits and three Cardinals’ errors to blow out Johnson City Monday.  Centerfielder Daniel Stegall (.238/.337/.344) was 3-5 from the top of the order with a double and triple.  Tyler Vaughn, drafted this year out of UC Irvine, the darlings of the CWS, was 2-4 with his first professional extra base hits, a pair of doubles and three RBI.  Yasmil Bucce added a couple of knocks.

            Angel Calero (4-1, 3.12) tossed six shutout-two hit innings.  The 20-year old fanned two and walked one.  In 40.1 IP this year, he’s whiffed 31 and walked 14. 

 

R – St. Lucie (Gulf Coast League)

Mets 11, @ GCL Cardinals 6 (Suspended on July 27)

@ GCL Cardinals 6, GCL Mets 4 (7 innings)

 

 

Is that really a rehabbing Ambiorix Burgos throwing in the suspended game? Yes, but was that a week ago or Monday? 

Gabriel Zavala, (.246/.310/.447) a 20 year old from Venezuela had three hits to lift his average in his last ten games to .379.  Nicholas Abbott put together his second straight scoreless outing and his third in four games without an earned furn. 

Remember that suspended game a few weeks ago where vs. the GCL Nats that the Mets trailed 11-0?  After falling behind 13-0, Sunday, the Mets railed to close within 17-11!

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.