What About the Little Guy?

Most people just say "screw the little guy", but not me. I actually care.

Here is a quick look at where the minor league teams stand and their respective leaders.

Norfolk Tides - AAA:
41-47 .466%
4th place (last) and six games out

This team is not exactly loaded with future stars outside of David Wright, but certainly will have some studs next year. Six games back for the rotation they have been throwing out there is actually not that bad.

* Batting leaders must have played in a minimum of 40 games and pitching leaders must have 10 starts or 20 relief appearances.

Pitching Leaders
K's - Aaron Heilman : 82
Wins - Pat Strange / Jeremy Griffiths : 5
Saves - Jose Parra : 16
ERA (starter) - Jeremy Griffiths : 3.47
ERA (reliever) - Jose Parra : 1.63
IP - Aaron Heilman - 97.1

Batting Leaders
Average - Gerald Williams : .291
OBP - Jeff Duncan : .330
Home Runs - Craig Brazell : 19
RBIs - Craig Brazell / Victor Diaz : 52
BB - Jeff Duncan : 23
SB - Esix Snead: 19
H - Victor Diaz : 96
2B - Victor Diaz : 21
3B - Wilson Delgao : 3


* * *

Binghamton Mets - AA
52-38 .578%
1st Place - 1 game ahead

This team currently has the Mets top two pitching prospects and had the top position prospect for most of the year which contributes to the team standing tall in first place at this point. It was largely the same roster that won everything for St. Lucie last year so it was no surprise that they would do well.

Pitching Leaders
K's - Matt Peterson : 83
Wins - Neal Musser : 9
Saves - Jeremy Hill : 10
ERA (starter) - Jason Scobie : 2.98
ERA (reliever) - Jeremy Hill : 2.23
IP - Matt Peterson : 95.2

Batting Leaders
Average - David Wright : .363
OBP - David Wright : .467
Home Runs - Prentice Redman : 13
RBIs - Prentice Redman : 49
BB - David Wright : 40
SB - Wayne Lydon : 49
H - Angel Pagan : 97
2B - Prentice Redman : 29
3B - Wayne Lydon/Angel Pagan : 6

* * *

St. Lucie Mets - High A
11-10 .524% (not sure why this was not updated on minorleaguebaseball.com!)
4th place - 3 games out

This team currently has on the two most promising stars under 20 years old in the organization on the team. It has the recently promoted Lastings Milledge and the semi-recently promoted Yusmeiro Petit.

Pitching Leaders
K's - Brian Bannister : 85
Wins - Robert Paulk: 6
Saves - Joey Cole : 9
ERA (starter) - Kevin Deaton : 2.80
ERA (reliever) - Bryan Edwards : 2.65
IP - Brian Bannister : 94.1

Batting Leaders
Average - Brett Harper : .351
OBP - Brett Harper : .445
Home Runs - Jay Caligiuri : 14
RBIs - Jay Caligiuri : 52
BB - Aaron Baldiris : 40
SB - Johnathan Slack: 26
H - Aaron Baldiris : 92
2B - Bobby Malek: 19
3B - Bobby Malek : 5

* * *

Capital City - Low A
10-7 .588% (not sure why this was not updated either!)
3rd place - 1 1/2 games out

Capital City at one point was oozing top tier talent with Lastings Milledge, Yusmeiro Petit, and Ian Bladergroen. Then Ian got injured and the other two were promoted. Petit was the ace of the team, but since he moved on it seems that torch was passed to the power arm Matt Lindstrom.

Pitching Leaders
K's - Yusmeiro Petit : 122
Wins - Yusmerio Petit : 9
Saves - Shane Hawk : 8
ERA (starter) - Yusmeiro Petit / Evan MacLane : 2.39
ERA (reliever) - Greg Ramirez : 1.68
IP - Tanner Osberg : 84.2

Batting Leaders
Average - Ryan Harvey : .345
OBP - Yunir Garcia : .428
Home Runs - Ian Bladergroen : 13
RBIs - Ian Bladergroen : 74
BB - William Batista : 36
SB - William Batista : 24
H - Ian Bladergroen : 92
2B - Ryan Harvey : 24
3B - Ian Bladergroen : 3

*The short season ball has not been going on long enough to get too excited, so we'll get to that later this season.

* * *

Does anyone else think this game is must win tonight? The Mets are one game under .500 with Traschel on the mound and Seo going tomorrow. The last thing the Mets want to do at this point is go backwards and end up four games out and one game under .500 on Saturday. They need to step up big.

Jimmy Williams did end up getting the axe.

In Baseball America's latest AskBA Jason Phillips chimed in to find out about one of his prospective teammates.

What's the book on Cuban defector Alain Soler? The Mets apparently are signing him a deal worth a guaranteed $3 million, and he already is being touted as the answer to their rotation problems. Is there any realistic chance he'll be able to help this year?

Jason Phillips
New Canaan, Conn.

Anyone else find this funny?

My friend got some spam yesterday, the subject line was "Romantic Single Christians Want to Meet You ". Even spam is not as good as it used to be. A poor excuse for junk mail.

In non-baseball news, Carlos Boozer wins the dirt bag of the year award. For anyone not up on this story, Boozer was under contract to the Cleveland Caviliers for $695,000 dollars for the upcoming season. Boozer then approached the team and asked to be let out of the contract and the Cavs worked out a deal with Boozer for six years $40,000,000 (which is the maximum contract they could have awarded him). Everyone is happy right? Boozer gets a huge raise this year and the Cavs get him long term for good deal. Then Boozer screws the Cavs for letting him out of his contract on good faith and signs a $68,000,000, six year deal with the Utah Jazz. Yeah the $28,000,000 was a big difference and no one probably expected a deal that large to come his way, but it still is slimy. He could have re-signed to the Cavs and finished his last year out and signed to a huge contract the following season. Yeah, he risks injury, but he sticks to his word somewhat. Right after this happens, his agent drops him because the guy instantly loses credibility after this deal and it may affect his future deals, although not likely. He also is the agent for Kobe Bryant. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe everyone would have done it if they had the choice and maybe the Cavs GM should be fired for such a dumb move, but it sure does not look that way. Boozer is most likely going to get booed everywhere outside of Utah and he deserves it.

Shaq to Miami? This NBA off-season is like a soap opera. The Lakers better hope they get Kobe back or else the West will eat them alive.

The Nets are set to lose Kenyon Martin via a sign and trade to the Nuggets in return for three first round draft picks. Bad move for the Nets, I guess they think Jefferson is more valuable, but they could not draw with Kenyon, Jefferson, and Kidd. Now the Continental Arena should be a ghost town unless Shaq is in town with the Heat.

Finally a game that is actually realistic. Oh, and the site is in all German. You should figure it out quickly, use your mouse to control the guy.

I was at the food store last night. While I was waiting on line I could not help but notice the new Star Magazine.



This issue focuses on celebrity flaws. The bottom middle picture is of Uma Thurman and the caption read "huge hands". The picture on the left is of Julia Roberts and the caption read "hairy armpits". The bottom left picture is of Courtney Love and the caption reads "two colored teeth". The picture on the right is of Britney Spears and the caption says "tummy flab". I have to give them credit for making this stuff up, it’s priceless and I found the "huge hands" caption extremely funny for some reason. Uma looks like man hands from Seinfeld in that picture. If you happen to be in supermarket in the next week, check it out, funny shit.

Screw Stuff Magazine. In their latest issue they knock the Mets not once, but twice!! The first one has a caption about the Staten Island landfill:

The Staten Island landfill, whose stench if rivaled by the Mets infield's

The second one was on the Olympic article about what was a can't miss event or an event to skip. But instead of keeping it to the Olympics, they listed the Mets vs. Padres on August 25th as an event to skip.

SKIP Padres at Mets. You've had enough amature baseball for one day.

When will the Mets actually get some respect? I know they write this magazines way before they actually are printed, but c'mon already. People just love to make fun of the Mets.