While hanging out in the Dodger Stadium parking lot Monday night my buddy Ben and I ran into Carlos Muniz’s childhood crew celebrating Cinco de Mayo.  Muniz pitched two scoreless innings in the Zephyrs 5-4 loss extending his scoreless innings streak to 14.1 between the Mets and Zephyrs to start the year. 

            In case you missed it, here’s the New Orleans Zephyrs press release announcing that the Mets released Ben Johnson Monday.  Johnson had spent this season where he ended 2007: on the disabled list trying to heal his ankle.  His release closes the Mets book on the very ill-fated Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins for Heath Bell and Royce Ring trade with the Padres, consummated on November 15, 2006.  Since that time, if you’re keeping score at home, Bell has blossomed into a premier reliever, while the other three gentlemen struggled to stay healthy (Johnson) or be effective (Ring and Adkins).  In 2007 and 2008, since the trade, Heath Bell has appeared in 97 games for San Diego, thrown 111.1 innings, yielded 75 hits, 26 runs, 3 HR, walked 35, and struck out a ridiculous 113 batters for an ERA of 2.10.  In July of last year, the Padres traded Royce Ring, who had been completely unremarkable (1-0, 3.60, 15 IP) to the Braves for Wilfredo Ledezma and Will Startup.   Jon Adkins is hard at work for the Cincinnati Reds triple-A affiliate, the Louisville Bats, where he is 0-1 with a 0.95 ERA in 19 IP this year.  He’s fanned only nine, walking two and giving up 12 hits.  With that relatively low K/IP rate, expect his ERA to rise. 

 

Stars of the Day:

AAA: Valentino Pascucci/Carlos Muniz

AA: -

A+: Ramon Castro/Tobi Stoner

A: Michael Antonini/Michael Parker

 

New Orleans (AAA – Pacific Coast League)

@ Portland Beavers (15-14) 5, New Orleans Zephyrs (16-15, -3.5) 4 (12 innings)

 

            RF Jody Gerut singled home the game winner in the bottom of the 12th delivering a fifth straight win for the Beavers.  LHP Adam Bostick pitched the first half of the game, allowing four runs on eight hits, two of which left the yard.  Willie Collazo followed Bostick with three scoreless frames, working around five baserunners.  Muniz struck out two hitters in his two innings.

            Recently acquired 1B Valentino Pascucci was 2-4 with a two run homer, a sac fly and three RBI.  The Beavers left 16 men on base compared to the Zephyrs’ four while outhitting New Orleans 15-6. 

            With the loss, New Orleans slipped 3.5 games out of first, into third place in the PCL American South. 

 

 

Binghamton (AA - Eastern League)

@ Reading Phillies (15-15) 11, Binghamton Mets (11-20, -8.5) 0

 

            Jon Niese faced the minimum nine batters through three innings, but ran into trouble in a four-run Phillies fourth which gave way to a five-run fifth.  All told, Niese was responsible for the first seven Reading runs in just 4.1.  Joe Hietpas (8.27 ERA) and Robert Paulk (28.93 ERA) each allowed a pair. 

            Binghamton’s offense consisted of singles from Dan Murphy, Mike Carp and Jon Niese.  Fernando Martinez was 0-4 from the three-hole. 

            Binghamton lost for the ninth time in ten games. 

 

St. Lucie (A+ - Florida State League)

Lakeland Flying Tigers (16-15) 9, @ St. Lucie Mets (7-24, -13.0) 2

 

            New Jersey native Rick Porcello shut out the Mets for six innings while the Tigers offense snarled late with nine runs in its final three at bats.  Tobi Stoner threw well, matching Porcello zero for zero through five innings, before giving up a couple of runs in the sixth.  Stoner’s nine strikeouts were one off a career high set last August. 

            St. Lucie’s scoring came from one swing of the bat on a two-run home run by Ramon Castro, his second in 17 rehab AB.  Castro played the whole game defensively for the first time. 

 

Savannah (A – South Atlantic League)

@ Asheville Tourists (22-10) 5, Savannah Sand Gnats (12-19, -11.0) 4

 

            Brian Rike’s solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off Josh Stinso broke a 4-4 tie, snapping Savannah’s three-game winning streak.  The Tourists scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth, helped by SS Matthew Bouchard error to even the score.  For Bouchard, who was 2-4 at the plate, it was already his 13th error of the year.  Twenty-two year old southpaw Michael Antonini (2-1, 3.22) tossed six good innings, yielding two runs on six hits, walking one and fanning four. 

            Twenty-three year old LF Michael Parker doubled, homered and drove home two in his best game as a Gnat.  Casey Craig, also 23, was 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. 

 

Toby Hyde has written Toby’s Mets Minor League Report since 2004.  Please pass this along to friends, family, co-workers, and Mets fans of all types.  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.