2004 Retrospective

When the well runs dry, rip off someone else and copy down their information. Bill James' Handbook has a really interesting section in which he keeps track of leaders in terms of fastest average fastball, highest percentage of curveballs, etc. There are plenty of Mets and ex-Mets all over and I found it pretty interesting to see how soft tossing the Mets rotation was amongst other things.

Slowest Average Fastball    Pitches Less Than 80 MPH
------------------------    ------------------------
   (minimum 162 IP)             (minimum 162 IP)
Lawrence, Brian SD 83.2     Sparks, Steve Ari   1033
Reuter, Kirk SF    84.2     Ishii, Kaz LA        873
Maddux, Greg ChC   84.9     Weaver, Jeff         835
Glavine, Tom NYM   85.6     Morris, Matt         716
Ishii, Kaz LA      85.6     Lidle, Cory Cin-Phi  629
Leiter, Al MYM     86.8     Oswalt, Roy Hou      619
Hernandez, L Mon   87.0     Hernandez, L Mon     610
Webb, Brandon Ari  87.2     Seo, Jae NYM         587
Trachsel, S NYM    87.2     Lawrence, Brian SD   564
Davis, Doug Mil    87.2     Rueter, Kirk SF      550

 Lowest % of Fastballs       Highest % of Changeups
------------------------    ------------------------
   (minimum 162 IP)              (minimum 162 IP)
Fogg, Josh Pit      39.8    Glavine, Tom NYM    37.4
Perez, Od LA        40.9    Lima, Jose LA       31.6
Johnson, Ra Ari     41.3    Perez, Od LA        28.2
Glavine, Tom NYM    44.9    Maddux, Greg ChC    24.9
Hernandez, L Mon    46.4    Schmidt, Jason SF   23.7
Lima, Jose Mon      47.2    Fogg, Josh Pit      19.9
Leiter, Al NYM      47.4    Hampton, Mike Atl   18.6
Lawrence, Brian SD  48.2    Suppan, Jeff StL    17.9
Lidle, Cory NYM     49.2    Reuter, Kirk SF     17.3
Weaver, Jeff LA     49.5    Wilson, Pa Cin      16.2

Highest % of Curveballs       Highest % of Sliders
------------------------    ------------------------
    (minimum 162 IP)            (minimum 162 IP)
Sheets, Ben Mil     28.4    Johnson, Ra Ari     41.1
Morris, Matt StL    27.2    Clement, Matt ChC   33.5
Ishii, Kaz LA       26.1    Lawrence, Brian SD  24.7
Myers, Brett Phi    25.4    Perez, Ol Pit       21.6
Carpenter, C StL    20.9    Hernandez, L Mon    20.1
Oswalt, Roy Hou     20.4    Peavy, Jake SD      17.9
Weaver, Jeff LA     20.2    Jennings, Jason Col 17.7
Wells, David SD     20.0    Benson, Kr Pit-NYM  17.5
Valdez, I SD-Fla    19.5    Weaver, Jeff LA     17.4
Williams, Woody StL 18.8    Pavano, Carl Fla    16.6

Other quick notes:

Kyle Farnsworth led the Majors and threw more pitches over 100 MPH than all other pitchers combined in 2004 in the AL. He threw thirty, Wagner threw eight, Burnett threw four, and Edwin Jackson threw two to round out the NL leaders.

Roy Oswalt had the fastest average fastball out of all starters that three at least 162 innings at 94 mph and threw the most pitches over 95 mph with 733. Also, as you can see from above, he was in the top ten for most pitches under 80 mph. That stat right there illustrates why this guy is one of the best and so dominating.

Al Leiter had the lowest Opp BA w/ RISP at .173 (minimum 125 BF). Can any guess who lead the AL? Not hard, huh? Victor Zambrano had a .157 Opp BA w/ RISP. Victor has improved this year in not getting into those situations as much and Leiter has not cut down in getting himself into those situations and has not fared well in keeping that number as low this year.

Pedro Martinez was ninth in the AL in % of changeups thrown with 15.8.% He also came in eighth for highest % of curveballs thrown with 14.4%.

Jamie Moyer had the lowest average fastball (non-knuckler) at 81.6 MPH. Why couldn't I be born a lefty?

Rich Harden lead the Major Leagues in the highest average fastball with at least 162 innings pitched and had and average fastball of 94.3. He also lead the Majors in pitches thrown over 95 mph with 746.

CC Sabathia edged out Randy Johnson as the hardest throwing lefty that threw at least 162 innings with a 93.8 mph average fastball compared to Randy's 93.6 mph fastball.

* * *

Baseball America has their mid-season top 25 for minor league prospects. Here is the low down for all Mets related content for you cheap bastards who are not subscribers.

Only rookie-eligible players currently in the minor leagues were eligible for BA’s midseason Top 25 Prospects, which really seems unfair for Braves fans. Andy Marte and Jeff Francoeur also would have made the top 25 had they been sent down before the Futures Game in Detroit, and lefties Zach Duke (Pirates) and Scott Olsen (Marlins) could say the same. But the goal isn’t to be a top prospect, after all; it’s to be a big leaguer. B.J. Upton reached that goal last year with 159 at-bats, making him ineligible for a prospect list, but the Devil Rays have left him in Triple-A this season to work on his defense. His struggles with the glove at Durham would put him behind fellow Rays farmhand Delmon Young and Mariners flamethrower Felix Hernandez. Young’s precocious power and complete offensive package make him the game’s top prospect.

Player, Pos., Organization Skinny
1. Delmon Young, of, Devil Rays
2. Felix Hernandez, rhp, Mariners
3. Ian Stewart, 3b, Rockies
4. Jeremy Hermida, of, Marlins
5. Stephen Drew, ss, D-backs
6. Joel Guzman, ss, Dodgers
7. Chad Billingsley, rhp, Dodgers
8. Justin Verlander, rhp, Tigers
9. Prince Fielder, 1b, Brewers
10. Hanley Ramirez, ss, Angels
11. Brandon Wood, ss, Angels
12. Andy LaRoche, 3b, Dodgers
13. Matt Cain, rhp, Giants
14. Daric Barton, 1b, Athletics
15. Lastings Milledge, of, Mets
16. Adam Miller, rhp, Indians
17. Felix Pie, of, Cubs
18. Francisco Liriano, lhp, Twins
19. Carlos Quentin, of, Diamondbacks
20. Conor Jackson, 1b, Diamondbacks
21. Billy Butler, 3b/of, Royals
22. Joel Zumaya, rhp, Tigers
23. Kendry Morales, 1b/of, Angels
24. Nick Markakis, of, Orioles
25. Cole Hamels, lhp, Phillies

Second-Half Surge
Expect these prospects to improve their numbers over the season’s remaining games. Matt Cain might have been in the majors already in a different organization, but the Giants still think they can win in 2005. Fellow hard throwers Homer Bailey (Reds) and Mark Rogers (Brewers), adjusting to their first year in pro ball, have shown flashes of brilliance—Rogers has hit 100 mph this season—but are still learning what they can and can’t do against pros rather than preps. A pedestrian first half by Eric Duncan (Yankees), who was still adjusting to Double-A pitching, might have dampened his trade value.

46. Yusmeiro Petit, rhp, Mets
50. Philip Humber, rhp, Mets

As Expected
Living up to expectations isn’t easy, and it also isn’t the same for every player. If Felix Hernandez (Mariners) and Delmon Young (Devil Rays) had not dominated, it would have been a disappointment, but both teenagers have lived up to their hype. Others, such as Joel Guzman (Dodgers) and Brian Anderson (White Sox), have merely consolidated gains they have made previously in their careers. Ezequiel Astacio has pitched well in the minors and is being groomed to help the Astros in middle relief, but he flopped in a big league trial. Anthony Reyes (Cardinals) has pitched well when healthy but can’t keep from missing a start.

11. Lastings Milledge, of, Mets

Jumping In
Stephen Drew (Diamondbacks) and Jered Weaver (Angels) held out until the last minute but finally signed with the clubs that drafted them in 2004. Drew’s debut has been spectacular in the California League (including an .865 slugging percentage in 74 at-bats), while Weaver (2-1, 5.85 but 28-4 K-BB ratio) has been uneven after his layoff. Several other 2004 draft picks also have catapulted themselves into top prospects with strong 2005 seasons, including young pitchers such as Gio Gonzalez (White Sox) and Troy Patton (Astros. No one has come as far as fast as Justin Verlander (Tigers), though. The No. 2 pick last year had some doubters but has responded to mechanical tinkering to have the best year by any pitcher in the minors, and he earned a one-game cameo in Detroit. These players are listed alphabetically.

Gaby Hernandez, rhp, Mets

Jose Reyes saw eight pitches in the first at bat of yesterday's game. That is a perfect way to set the tone and get everyone behind him a few pitches to see and what he needs to do. Now if he can just swing a bit more level.

In the pre-game of last night's game, they said that Piazza's opposite field homerun on Thursday was his first opposite field homerun of the year. That means he went 88 games into the season without an opposite field shot. If that stat alone is not indicative of Mike Piazza's decline, I do not know what is.

Watching Reyes and Furcal play short last night and gun runners down was absolutely amazing. Their arms are the two best in the game at that position and their talent never ceases to amaze me when I watch them play.

The Yankees two new acquisitions in Tim Redding and Darrel May are not exactly working out too well. They combined to give up twelve runs in 3.2 innings.

" I could die today a happy man putting the Yankee uniform on for the first time."
-Tim Redding

Anyone think he'll get another chance to put that uniform on again?

Minor update:

• Norfolk had a double header against Syracuse. In game one, Chase Lambin was the star and went deep three times with three solo homers in a 3 for 3 night. Between AA and AAA he now has seventeen homeruns on the year. His previous high in professional baseball was ten last year with Binghamton. Angel Pagan went 1 for 3 with a double and a run scored, Anderson Hernandez went 1 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and Victor Diaz went 1 for 4 with a double. Eric Junge went a strong six innings, giving up five hits, one earned run, no walks, and struck out nine. In game two, Neal Musser got roughed up and the Tides lost 7-6. Angel Pagan, Victor Diaz, Chase Lambin, and Ron Calloway went 2 for 4 and Anderson Hernandez went 0 for 3 to drop his average to .347.
  
• Binghamton beat Reading 6-4. Lastings recovered nicely from his rocky AA start by going 4 for 5 with one run scored and two doubles. Brett Harper went 4 for 4 with a run scored, two doubles, and two RBIs. Mike Jacobs went 2 for 4 with two runs scored, two doubles, and one RBI.
  
• St. Lucie beat Clearwater 11-4. Wilson Batista went 2 for 5 with two runs scored, a double, and his tenth homer on the year, Jonathan Slack went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and his third homer on the year, Andy Wilson went 3 for 5 with two runs scored, two RBIs and his twentieth homer of the year, and Shawn Bowman went 3 for 4 with two runs scored a double, his seventeenth homer of the year, and four RBIs. Dante Brinkley went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. He is batting .347 on the year in St. Lucie and batted .364 in Hagerstown. I think Brinkley may turn out to be a steal in the 23rd round. Gaby had a rough first start in high A ball going five innings giving up six hits, four earned runs, two walks, and struck out two.
  
• Lake County beat Hagerstown 7-2. Ambiorix Concepcion went 2 for 3 with an RBI.
  
• Williamsport beat Brooklyn 7-3. Kingsport beat Bluefield 13-5. Joshua Wyrick went 2 for 5 with three runs scored, a double, a homer, and four RBIs.
  
• The GCL Mets dropped a double header to the GCL Dodgers. They lost the first game 2-1 and dropped the second game 5-4. Brahiam Maldonado went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, a double and an RBI in game #2.

The Orioles are looking to acquire AJ Burnett, Mike Lowell, and minor leaguer Eric Reed for Jorge Julio, Larry Bigbie, and Hayden Penn. There are six teams in discussions for AJ Burnett and those teams include the Blue Jays, Tigers, and White Sox amongst them. Screw you Delgado. Your team is officially a seller.

Though the Angels have expressed interest as well, the Yankees are eyeing up Al Leiter to start on Sunday in Boston. In case you missed it, things are looking pretty bad in Bronx in the starting pitching arena. This move could end any shot the Mets had in getting Al Leiter to be a commentator for the Mets new network as Steinbrenner would LOVE to steal him from the Mets and have him for the YES channel to try and make their absolutely atrocious color commentary better.

Mark Cuban said he would think about buying the Pirates should the chance arise and can anyone think of a better thing to happen for that franchise? It would great for baseball to have him in there and great for the team.

"If they ever decided to sell, I'd definitely be interested in taking a look," Cuban said. "But I'm certainly not the type to be proactive about it because that's not fair to Kevin.

"They've done their best with the Pirates, getting the stadium built. I think the Pirates have a great young nucleus for the future."

The Mets activated Doug Mientkiewicz and called up Juan Padilla while sending Royce Ring back down to AAA. With Koo the only lefty and Kaz Ishii not cutting it as a starter, the writing is on the wall. Ishii's days as a starter should be over. Here comes the Ishii to the bullpen experiment.

Things are looking bad for Phil Humber.

There's been no official determination on the severity of Philip Humber's right elbow injury, but the New York Mets' 2004 first-round draft choice is considering going for a second opinion.

Humber may see Dr. James Andrews, the renowned orthopedic surgeon, in Birmingham, Ala., after being examined earlier this week by Mets medical director David Altchek and physician Answorth Allen at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

Second opinions and seeing Dr. James Andrews means bad things. Very bad things. See you in 2007 Mr. Humber.

The Mets lose last night was a tough one, but can you really complain when you only score one run? That will not cut it, but the Mets are primed to take the next two in the series.

If There is a Ship, Randolph Has Not Righted It

In response to Marty Noble's fictional story about Willie Randolph, reader Matt decided to try and find out just what in the hell big Marty was thinking when he wrote this article.

Dear Mr. Noble,

I may not be a professional sports reporter, but I am a professional writer, for what that's worth, so I would hope you will take the time to at least read my correspondence. I'm writing to express my deep disappointment in your article published on MLB.com declaring, "Randolph has righted Mets' ship." You may find Mr. Randolph to be an admirable person, one who treats you and other journalists with great respect, but in no way should that translate into the kind of glossed-over assessment your article delivers.

By any measure, you cannot make the argument Mr. Randolph has "righted the Mets' ship." In fact, a compelling case could be made that his stubborn refusal to accept even the most conventional baseball strategy has cost the Mets several games already. A rapport with veterans is in no way a testament to having turned the team around, rather it is merely good will between decent people. Nothing more.

Let's look at the realities of Mr. Randolph and the Mets in the first half. His in-game management has been atrocious, his insistence at burying Wright in the lineup an outrage, and his failure to eliminate fundamental fielding and base running mistakes egregious. If the oft-maligned Art Howe were still in charge, the Mets would be at least a few games over .500, and I was never a fan of Art Howe.

Honestly I am baffled that respected reporters such as yourself have given Mr. Randolph a free pass on the job he's done. Don't you and the other beat reporters watch the games? I realize it is your job and you must tread lightly with public figures you rely on for stories, but please, tell it like it is.
The fans deserve at least that much.

Sincerely,

Matt

Good stuff. Take that Marty.

* * *

Nauseous? You will be now.

Jack Lind hadn't seen Philip Humber pitch since spring training, but judging by his velocity in his Double-A debut Monday night, something was definitely wrong.

"He was throwing 87 to 91 (mph)," said Lind, the Binghamton Mets' manager, "so that's a sign."

Humber, the New York Mets' first-round pick and the third overall selection in 2004, complained of right elbow soreness and was removed from the game in Norwich, Conn., before his at-bat in the fifth inning.

Now, there's some question about when he'll pitch again.

Of course, as with any Met, they come to Queens and have no injury history only to succumb to some sort of an injury. Hopefully it is nothing and he just needs to take a start or two off.

Last night was the David Wright show. Wright hit two homers, scored another run, and made a spectacular catch on an attempted suicide squeeze to get it in the air and walk back to third base to complete the double play. Definitely one of the plays of the year. Sure he made a costly error, but the kid simply took over.

Piazza's big homer was tremendous to watch and I officially can never say anything bad about Jose Offerman again. After I sold my soul to the devil saying I would be a big fan of Offerman if he could drive in Carlos Beltran to tie game, he did. So I have officially started the Jose Offerman fan club. Benson was a stud again last night in a huge game and Carlos Beltran raised his average from .266 to .275 with his 4 for 4 game.

Wang is down and possibly out for the season with the Yankees turn to the possiblity of trading for Al Leiter. Also, the Yankees are looking at Shawn Chacon and are rumored to be giving up Scott Proctor and Sean Henn should the deal go through and it looks likely. Is that all though? Really, can't the Mets top that? Chacon has a great arm and would be great pickup in my opinion. Henn may be a good prospect, but the Rockies are not cashing in enough for Chacon if that is the case.

From the NYPost:

If the Mets end up getting rid of major leaguers, there are a few intriguing players who have value. One could be reliever Roberto Hernandez, of whom the NL GM said, "To me, he is sort of the perfect two-month rental." Braden Looper, Mike Cameron and Cliff Floyd could all draw interest, and so might Royce Ring, Miguel Cairo and Aaron Heilman and even perhaps Tom Glavine and Mike Piazza.

and

The Mets signed reliever Lino Urdaneta from the Mexican League. Urdaneta will head to Triple-A Norfolk.

He was 4-3 with a 4.31 ERA with eleven walks and seventeen strikeouts in 31.1 innings for the Aguascalientes Railroadmen and had a 0.00 ERA with six K's and one walk in 7.1 innings for the Cancun Lobsterman.

For anyone looking to laugh at someone else's misery, I had Mark Prior and Kris Benson on the bench yesterday and they went a combined fifteen innings, 1.80 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, and 10.20 K/9.

Minor update:

• Norfolk vs. Syracuse was postponed due to power.
  
• Reading beat Binghamton 4-1. Lastings Milledge went 0 for 4 with three K's in his AA debut and Aarom Baldiris went 1 for 4. Cole Hamels pitched for Reading and went seven innings with three hits surrendered, one earned run, four walks, and eight strikeouts.
  
• St. Lucie beat Lakeland 11-7. Andy Wilson went 1 for 4 with two runs scored, a homer, two RBIs, and walked twice, Dante Brinkley went 2 for 4 with walk, and Shawn Bowman went 3 for 5 with a double, a run scored, and two RBIs.
  
• Hagerstown beat Lake County 2-1. Mike Carp went 1 for 3 and Jesus Flores went 1 for 3 with a run scored.
  
• Williamsport beat Brooklyn 9-3. Joseph Holden went 4 for 4 with a run scored, two triples, and one RBI.
  
• The GCL Mets lost to the GCL Nationals 5-4 in fifteen innings. Doug Mientkiewicz went 1 for 3 with one homer, two RBIs, and one walk.
  
• Danville beat Kingsport 1-0.

The Mets registered 43,319 fans to a non-Pedro start during the week which is very impressive. Imagine, when the Mets have a 45,000 seat new baseball stadium, they may actually sell out a non-Yankee during the season and during the week no less.

No matter what damage Omar done, it cannot be worse than what the Marlins have just done by cutting Al Leiter. I'm convinced Al will return to the Mets for their network launch in 2006.

Rick Carpiniello thinks that next year is not now and has a pretty good read for today.

Carlos Rising

When you put everything into perspective and look at the rash of injuries, players not playing up to expectations, and the growing pains of a new manager learning how to actually manage and not having a great time succeeding, .500, eight games out of first, and five and a half games off the Wild Card lead does not look so bad. The Mets will presumably be healthier in the second half with Doug Mientkiewcz and Carlos Beltran being two notables who have had healthy careers and should not have lingering effects of their injuries and should be able to be physically able to contribute for the rest of the year. They also represent two players who are primed to have a large improvement in the second half but the entire season and where the Mets go is tied heavily to Carlos Beltran.

Carlos Beltran was the new hundred million dollar man on the block this year and while he has not exactly stunk, he is not playing like baseball's elite. We have all heard what it could with Carlos whether is be he is just a slow starter, Shea Stadium, his injury, or adjusting to the New York limelight, but nothing is really concrete. Is Carlos' start as a result of him being a slow starter more than anything?

                    2002           2003           2004
Pre All-Star  .254/.327/.459 .296/.391/.469 .276/.365/.548
Post All-Star .294/.366/.454 .320/.386/.582 .257/.370/.547

Not so much. Carlos has been pretty consistent in his first halves and though he was bad in 2002, he has been pretty good in his next two. His home and away splits are somewhat of a concern being he has hit two homers in Shea and eight homeruns on the road, but Shea Stadium is not exactly impossible for lefties to be successful in and even in Minute Made and Kauffman stadium, which are favorable for hitters, he hit a whopping .225/.316/.458 compared to a .305/.412/.628 on the road in 2005. We all know that right handed hitters have a hard time at Shea, but Shea Stadium is just as good, and possibly better for batters on the left handed side of the dish the Carlos' previous two homes. Beltran has batted as a left handed hitter 72% of the time since 2002. So while Carlos may be have suppressed numbers from the right side of the plate at Shea, as a lefty, which is how he bats almost 75% of the time, he has a good enough haven to do it in to put up big numbers. If no one believes me, just as Cliffy.

Park Factors

                 04 HR  04 Avg  02-04 HR  02-04 Avg
Shea Stadium      105     91       104       115
Kauffman Stadium   96     75       111       112
Minute Mate Park   93     80       100        84

The Mets said they did their research and found out that left handed hitters have and easier time at being successful at Shea rather than right handed batters and that is why they were fixated on bringing Carlos Delgado in to bolster their lineup. The reason Beltran is putting up less than desirable home numbers can not be attributed to the Stadium at this point. Just being in the New York City has seemingly not been tough on him just yet and he has largely gotten a free pass because Met fans are smart enough to realize that his guy has talent. and is the real deal. The only thing left to do is to point to his injury as being the main reason Carlos has ugly numbers to this point and the splits back it up.

Month by Month numbers:

           Avg   OBP   SLG
April     .284  .349  .421
May       .304  .333  .494
June      .198  .268  .376
July      .317  .364  .488

Now that I feel 100 percent," Beltran said, "I can play the game like I want to." June was the month his injury really came to the forefront and became a problem to Carlos. His lack of stolen bases was indicative of a problem, but he was putting up just enough numbers, though nothing close to what people expected, in April and May for people to be satisfied enough at the time being. In June, it really came apart and killed whatever decent looking numbers he had and the early returns in July seem to back up Carlos' statement that he his ready to try and help the team win. He is hitting the ball harder and stealing bases while flat looking like a better ball player.

While I have nothing scientific to contribute to backing up Carlos claim that he is ready outside of the fact that he can succeed and put up big numbers at Shea at least about 72% of the time, Calros is primed for a big second half. His wheels are no longer a problem and that excuse is out of the way. The only thing left for Carlos to do is produce. Whatever adjust he may have needed to the National League should be done now that he has been here for a complete season's worth of games between 2004 and 2005 and New York has been more than welcome Carlos with open arms. It is time to reward everyone's patience and the team by him starting carrying the lineup. The Mets are one bat short of putting together a solid streak of games and if Carlos can play like we all know he can, he can be that big bat. Doug Mientkiewcz started heating up a bit and the rest of the lineup has seemingly settled, so it is time the Mets to go after it and put their best foot forward. The Mets have a shot, but they need Carlos and they need to eradicate the mental gaffes and you have a team that could make a second half push.

* * *

Definitely an awesome and rare find for a collector.

Huh?

Randolph has righted Mets' ship

How so? The Mets were 45-43 at this time last year.

When baseball paused to take its annual All-Star break, the Mets had played 88 games. The players didn't consider it a half season. They regarded it as 88 games of renaissance, 88 games of Randolph-induced improvement that had completely altered the perception of the Mets throughout the game.

Randolph-induced improvement? Are we talking about the same Mets? I'm all for optimism, but this is the wrong way to spin it.

Minor update:

• The North All-Stars beat the South All-Stars in the Eastern League All-Star game. Mike Jacobs went 0-3, David Bacani went 1 for 2 with a run scored, and Brian Bannister went one inning, gave up two hits, one earned run, and struck out three.
  
• St. Lucie swept a doubleheader with Lakeland by winning the first game 6-3 and winning the second game 5-3. In the first game, Dante Brinkley went 2 for 3 with a run scored, a double, a walk, and an RBI while Jamar Hill went 1 for 4 and hit his ninth homer of the year. In the second game, Andy Wilson went 2 for 4 with a run scored and Wilson Batista and Jonathan Hack went 3 for 4 with a homer and an RBI.
  
• Williamsport beat Brooklyn 3-0. Jonathan Malo went 0 for 2 with two walks and Nick Evans went 1 for 3. Andrew Butera continues to struggle went 0 for 2 dropping his average to .100 in thirty at bats.
  
• Kingsport vs. Danville was cancelled due to rain.
  
• The GCL Mets beat the GCL Nationals 8-4 behind a big night by Doug Mientkiewcz. Doug went 2 for 3 with a run scored and three RBIs while Brahiam Maldonado went 2 for 5 with an RBI and Jose Castro went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

I have two notes from the PCL vs. International League All-Star game. The first and obvious not is that Conor Jackson can play. He flashed the leather and looked great at the plate and he looks like the real deal. The second thing is Kevin Jarvis is a 36 year old journey man who is two years removed from surgery in the St. Louis Cardinals system. He throws 94 and has a good sinker and looked really, really solid. His numbers are good at AAA, and who knows if he will get a chance to start in the Major Leagues again, but he looked sharp and looked like he would be a great option out of the bullpen. If he is a minor league free agent after the year, he may warrant a look.

Kevin Davidoff thinks the Mets need to throttle back their expectations for 2005 and focus on maintaining their dignity and not look stupid in the second half rather than focusing on the playoffs.

I'm not sure if I want to laugh or cry at this one.

The pitching coach Rick Peterson was standing on the mound in the eighth inning of a game against the Yankees at Shea Stadium, trying to tell reliever Dae Sung Koo whether to throw a fastball or a curve, inside or out. When it became apparent that Koo could not understand the difference, Peterson looked away for a moment.

He caught the different faces of baseball staring back at him: a Dominican shortstop, a Venezuelan second baseman, an Italian-American catcher, a Polish-American first baseman and an all-American third baseman, every one of whom had descended on the mound and surrounded their South Korean pitcher. Desperate for assistance, Peterson said to the infielders, "Don't any of you guys speak Korean?"

In the midst of a one-run game before a sellout crowd against their intra-city rivals, the Mets' infield busted up laughing, as did Koo. When the home-plate umpire came out to ask Peterson why he was taking so long, the infielders said almost in unison, "Do you speak Korean?"

Al Leiter may get released by the Marlins.

"That could happen soon," said a National League source.

Insightful. The Marlins could turn to Jason Vargas, which would be their second AA call up to start for their team in the rotation, instead of going with Al Leiter in his next scheduled start. How's your choice looking now Delgado?

The Orioles may be buyers and I still think the Mets need to look at the bigger picture and part with Mike Cameron for the right deal.

Peter Abraham has the five steps to the playoffs.

1. Beltran becomes Beltran.

2. Take the fifth: Kaz Ishii has been a disaster at the back end of the rotation whether Willie Randolph admits it or not.

3. Less stinky Minky.

4. Martinez's health.

5. Second-guess: If there is an exit strategy for Kaz Matsui, now is the time to hit the button.

Nomar is pretty set on trying to return to the Cubs in 2006.

Baseball Prospectus has a tremendous look at where the Braves got their talent from during their dominance of the Mets and the rest of the National League. As much as I hate the bastards, they have done a ridiculous job over there.

Thanks to Mikey H. for pointing out this great site called Wilpon Hell. It's a good site and the pictures are great. This little pic of Willie Randolph is so good on so many levels and this one is an instant classic.

Amazing Feats and Anomalies

Baseball is an amazing game and some amazing things happen as well as some confounding things. Here are some things that happened this year:

Jeff Francis is a promising left-handed pitcher who had the unfortunate thing happen of having the Colorado Rockies draft him. He can only hope that his arm lasts through his six year service with the Rockies. Even so, he has inexplicably pitched better at home than on the road. At home, hitters have a .277/.338/.415 line against him and he has a 6-2 record and a 4.09 ERA with only five homers allowed. Away, hitters have a .303/.376/.467 line and he has a 2-4 record and a 6.34 ERA with five homers allowed. In Denver, pitchers have to try a bit harder to make their pitches work and maybe he is trying to hard on the road when he does not need to. Whatever the case, it's weird.

At this moment, the Washington Nationals are on pace for 95 wins.

The Yankees are on pace for 86 wins and they are sitting in third place while their starting pitching has a collective ERA of 4.82 with a rookie being their ace. Randy Johnson is 9-6 with a 4.16 ERA, 8.25 K/9, and is on pace to give up 35 homeruns. He has only given up 30 homers once and is on pace to give up a career high in homers.

Carlos Beltran is on pace for eighteen homers, eighty one RBIs, seven stolen bases, and a .266/.321/.434 line. Sure his quad contributed to his woes, but this is not what anyone has expected. I will have more on this one tomorrow.

I could not have expected Kaz Matsui's disappearing act after showing so much promise after a strong showing in 2004.

Jose Reyes and Cliff Floyd played in a combined 167 games and Jose Reyes only missed one game while Cliff Floyd only missed eight games.

Brian Roberts has been perhaps the biggest surprise in baseball. In his career, he has twelve homers in 384 games and has hit fifteen in 80 games so far this year. But more impressive is his complete dominance of right handed pitchers. He has destroyed righties to the tune of .389/.448/.653 with eleven homers and thirty one RBIs in 216 at-bats. He has also hit safely sixty-nine of eighty games this year and gotten at least a walk or a hit in seventy-three of eighty games and one of those games he did not get hit or a walk was pinch hitting performance.

Manny Ramirez is only three grand slams behind Lou Gehrig's all time record of 23.

Mark Teixiera is hitting .247/.319/.329 with no homers and five RBIs in eighty five at-bats while hitting .303/.376/.644 with twenty five homers and sixty eight RBIs in 267 at-bats.

Alex Rodriguez likes playing at Yankee Stadium. He has hit .375/.476/.716 at home with sixteen homers and forty seven RBIs compared to his .248/.343/.423 line with seven homers and twenty five RBIs when he is not in the Bronx. If anyone has him on their fantasy team, maybe you should think about starting a platoon.

Eric Milton was a fly ball pitcher who has a propensity to give up a few homers who was signed to pitch half his games in a hitters park. He was armed with a new sinker to try and cut down on some of the long balls, but that bad new is, it did not really work. He is on pace to give up a ridiculous 53 homers beating his own mind boggling personal best of 43.

Hitting over .400 for a month is hard enough, but Derek Lee managed to do that not once, but twice so far. In April he hit .419/.490/.767 in eight six at-bats. He followed that up with a .313/.424/.646 May and people thought he was coming down to earth. Ummm...no. In June, he hit .407/.458/.713 in 108 at-bats. He is also on pace for fifty homers and 134 RBIs.

Mike Lowell is on pace for eight homers in 149 games and 543 at-bats. He is batting .226/.282/.351. Also, all his homers were hit at home and twenty seven of his thirty six RBIs have come at home as well.

There are tons more that's happened, but it’s getting late and I need to get this post done.

* * *

Minor update:

• St. Lucie vs. Lakeland was rained out.
  
• Hagerstown beat Lake County 6-5. Carlos Gomez went 1 for 5 and Ryan Coultas went 2 for 3.
  
• Kingsport lost to Danville 10-5.
  
• The GCL Mets beat the GCL Marlins 3-2. They faced one of the Marlins first round picks Chris Volstad and he went four innings, gave up one hit, which was a homer, one walk, and six strikeouts.

Gary Sheffield on the Baseball World Cup.

"My season is when I get paid," Sheffield told the New York Daily News. "I'm not doing that. ... I'm not sacrificing my body or taking a chance on an injury for something that's made up."

Some people would be honored to play for their country. Gary Sheffield? Not so much.

Stephen Drew is sitting atop BA's Prospect Hot Sheet. Gaby Hernandez is still firmly planted in the top twenty with Brian Bannister as an honorable mention. Carlos Gomez makes his first ever appearance on the hot sheet with his solid hitting of late. Gomez played in fifty seven games and stole seventeen bases. This year he has stolen forty four bases and got caught only twelve times in seventy three games. He is only thirteen short of Jose Reyes' minor league high of fifty eight stolen bases. The kid has wheels.

TCPalm.com has a good look at Eddie Camacho and Scott Lauber has a great article on Brian Bannister.

Adam Rubin has given out a whole lot of A's and B's for a .500 team that has struggled.

New York Hype

Talk about high expectations for the newest Met Fernando Martinez.

“Fernando is amazing. He has power, he makes contact, he has a great arm, speed and he can field. He possesses the five tools to become a great star,” said Ezequiel Sepulveda, a scout from the Dodgers who followed Martinez for months.

A scout from the Boston Red Sox said that Martinez looks like a young Ted Williams.

Wow. Just compare him to arguably the best hitter of all time. That ESPN Desportes article makes the kid sounds the second coming. For once, someone other the Mets or the New York media did the hyping. Nothing like comparing a prospect in New York to Ted Williams to really get the fan base foaming at the mouth for their next superstar. Fair or not, it is already out there that this kid seems to be a special talent though Baseball America has a much more tempered look at that kid that brings everything into a bit more perspective. While they said he was the best hitting prospect out of the Dominican Republic, they said he is described as an average athlete and has an average arm, which is contrary to other reports saying he has a cannon for an arm.

ESPN said that the sixteen year old cannot play in the states until he turns eighteen years old. Back in 1994, the Dodgers were penalized when they signed Adrian Beltre from the Dominican Republic because he was only fifteen and the minimum signing age is sixteen. In his first season he was sixteen and played in the Dominican Summer League before playing in the States in the SAL League at a ridiculous seventeen years old. When he was eighteen, he hit .317/.411/.561 with 26 homers and 104 RBIs in the FSL. The word is from that ESPN article that Fernando is more line with American prospects in that he owns a refined approach to hitting as opposed to many free swinging prospects out of Latin American countries that do not command the strike zone as well and need some more development time because of it in some cases. According to that ESPN Desportes article, Martinez may be good enough to start off in A-ball when he comes to the States.

Omar seems to have kept his promise to focus on international scouting after missing out on second and third round picks in this past draft. Whether or not Fernando pans out is another issue, but he sounds like a pretty solid prospect. You have to give it to Wilpon though, he shelled out a lot of money for a very young kid. Also, Martinez plans on attending college while the Mets have also added in $100,000 for his education costs according to the Associated Press.

Behind all of this though, you have to wonder what affect Pedro Martinez's signing had on all of this. In a past post, I talked about Baseball Prospectus and their ridicule of Omar Minaya placing too much importance on Pedro within the Latin community and it would be quite ironic to have the exact same situation they said would not happen actually happen.

"That kid that we don't know about, that Pedro Martinez that you don't know about, I don't know about, okay, that might be in the marketplace down in the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. That kid's father, or that kid, you know what he wants to be today? He wants to be a Met."

Yes, I know the Mets shelled out a lot of money, but there were some other teams scouting him that are heavy hitters as well in terms of being a big market team. Money does talk, but if Pedro helped get the Mets foot in the door, then Omar was right. Benny sent them a letter and they had the following to say:

Not being Dominican, I might well have underestimated the status of Pedro Martinez there, and there are probably a lot of Mets caps being sold right now in the DR.

The realities of baseball recruiting there, though, are different, and while plenty of non-prospects who are taking small contracts will decide based on their favorite team, the very good players are represented by agents and draw a lot of attention, and they still decide based on money. There's nothing wrong with this--I would too!--but Pedro's signing doesn't change that equation.

Or does it?

“My dream is to be able to play on the same team as Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran and I’m going to try to reach the big leagues as soon as possible so I can join them,” said Martinez.

There is no doubt in my mind that Fernando Martinez signed with the Mets not out of good will, but because he was paid $1.4 million. However, to say that Pedro Martinez did not influence the signing in some form would be a bit presumptuous and short sighted. As Benny said in his email, Pedro is a huge influence in his country and more of an iconic status than just about any Dominican player. It stands to reason that he may help sway some young players in the Mets direction for them to at least put them in the driver's seat for some top prospects and make them the Mets to lose.

* * *

In addition to signing Fernando Martinez, the Mets inked right-hander Deolis Guerra from Venzuela for $700,000. According to Baseball America, the consensus best talent, right-hander Rolando Pascual, is still available. Wilpon just missed out on the trifecta of free agents this past off season, can he pull off a trifecta of sorts in the international arena? I'd say no way Wilpon spends what would end up being more money than he spent on Fernando after shelling out some serious cash already. It does not hurt to dream right?

While on the topic of international scouting, Alay Soler is still stuck in the Dominican Republic. Is there anyway to give up on him and use the $3,000,000 that was supposed to go to him elsewhere in the international arena?

Braden Looper is not untouchable.

Bobby Abreu put on a ridiculous show in the first round of the homerun derby and basically all night en route to his first home run derby title. He shattered the previous record and swung the bat 34 times and hit 24 of them out in the first round. No human being should be able to do that. The other thing that stood out so much was the fact that he was swinging effortlessly. Carlos Lee came up third and hit some bombs, but looked like he was swinging out of his shoes. You have to wonder how many homers Bobby Abreu could hit if he went up to every at bat trying to swing for the fences like all too many players do these days.

I felt for Jason Bay's goose egg. As a former Met farmhand, I was pulling for the kid to put at least one over the fence. If Bay was looking for an ace in the hole batting practice pitcher, he should have employed the homer friendly services of Eric Milton. He could of at least penciled himself in for the second round with Eric on the mound. Abreu broke his bat and actually almost was going to use Jason Bay's bat, but he ended up using another one. He probably had a pretty good idea there were no homeruns in it.

Jason Varitek joined the broadcasting group for a bit and nearly put an entire home audience to sleep. He just kept talking and I just kept falling in and out of consciousness. Then just when you think no one could get you in a more catatonic state, Bud Selig joined the broadcasting team. Who needs Xanax and Valium when you could record those two and play them every night. All in all though, Bobby Abreu and Pudge, who only had six homeruns heading into the All-Star break, made the 2005 homerun derby a great one.

Homerun Derby quote of the night:

"I'm still on my first shirt. That is a minor miracle."
-Chris Berman

Monday's Daily Dish by Baseball America was chock full of 2005 draft pick coverage.

Minor update:

• Norwich beat Binghamton 3-2. Phil Humber went four innings giving up four hits, three earned runs, two walks, and struck out two. He is now 0-1 with a 6.75 in his first stint at AA.
  
  "It's another step toward the big leagues, and any time you get that call it's exciting," Humber said. "I wanted to go out there and have a good first outing. But that's how things go sometimes."
  
  
• Lakeland beat St. Lucie 4-2. Dante Brinkley continues to have no problem with any league and went 3 for 4 with a run scored and a walk.
  
• Hagerstown beat Lake County 4-2. Carlos Gomez went 2 for 5 with a run scored and a two strikeouts to bring his average up to .281. Ryan Coultas went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI and James Burt went 3 for 4 with a run scored and two RBIs.
  
• Brooklyn beat Hudson Valley 9-8. Caleb Stewart continues his hot hitting and went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a homer, two RBIs, and a walk.
  
• The GCL Mets beat the GCL Marlins 5-3. Leivi Ventura had a huge night and went 4 for 5 with four RBIs while hitting no extra base hits.

Terry Francona on his lineup for the All-Star game.

"That should be a lineup even I can't screw up," Francona said. "We have Brian Roberts hitting ninth. He's probably going to be an MVP candidate."

It is even a lineup Willie couldn't screw up.

The Marlins are now targeting Mark Redman to bolster than staff since Al Leiter has not contributed to the team in the way they were looking for him too.

Very, very interesting.

Negotiations are ''moving along" between the Red Sox and first-round pick Craig Hansen, and a deal could be struck within the next couple of weeks, according to a source involved in the talks. The Sox chose the St. John's fireballing closer with the 26th pick in the June draft.

The sides are believed to be talking about a four-year major league deal that would pay Hansen somewhere between $4 million and $4.5 million.

Hansen could offer the Sox bullpen help this season, but the source said his long-term future is as a starter.

From the New York Post:

Scott Boras said the Mets would be meeting with first-round pick Mike Pelfrey, a Wichita State righty, next month.

But a high-ranking Met official said the club had no plans as of now to meet with Pelfrey.

Piazza is the greatest air guitar player in possibly all of the world. Anyone happen to miss his performance before the homerun derby? At least let the guy play something, unless of course he cannot play anything, then he should not have been on the stage.

NJ.com has some good minor league talk and a great look at Ryan Coultas. Some notable tidbits:

Aarom Baldiris is hitting .404 with four home runs, five doubles, a triple and 12 RBI over his past 12 games. and Matt Lindstrom is 1-1 with a 1.56 ERA in 10 relief appearances and as a starter, Lindstrom was 0-4 with a 8.18 ERA in 10 starts.

Movin' On Up.....

Lasting Milledge moving up to AA? Check.
Phil Humber moving up to AA? Check.
Brian Bannister moving to AAA? Check.
Gaby Hernandez moving to high A? Check.
Yusmeiro Petit moving to AAA? Not yet.

On Milledge:
"We feel he's ready for the next challenge," said Gary LaRocque, New York's vice president for player development and scouting. "He's been steady in St. Lucie for the majority of the season, and he's ready for that next step. We're pleased with him. He did well in St. Lucie and made the kind of strides he needed to make in order to be moved. It's a great opportunity for him, and he deserves the chance to take the next step."

All good stuff. His power was a bit disappointing, but he was playing in a pitcher’s league and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to moving up to Eastern League, which is a great hitter’s league.

"For me, personally, I usually like to see a guy tear up a league before he gets promoted. But sometimes an organization will promote a guy just to say they are promoting a guy and show ownership the players are moving up. But is it good for the player? But he's a talented kid who has all the ingredients to be a solid big league player. For me, he's not a top-of-the-order guy or a middle-of-the-order guy; he's more like a six hitter. I think he'll hit for more power than people will expect and run less than they expect."

I guess it could be debatable whether or not Lastings actually earned a promotion just yet. You could make the argument that he really did not special enough numbers to move up to AA, but he has been doing great after a bad first month. As of May 8th, he was batting .175/.224/.418 with two doubles, one homer, six RBIs, and nine runs scored in 63 at-bats. Since May 9th, Lastings has hit .349/.402/.479 with 39 runs scored, thirteen doubles, three homers, sixteen RBIs, and fifteen walks (OBP was calculated without the HBPs and he was plunked thirteen times). It's safe to say he had pretty solid command of that league and needed to be moved up. He has improved his ability to take a walk and has made strides in improving a big hole in his game.

As for the pitchers you kind of knew there would be promotions done in tandem to backfill the open positions at each level, but it was surprising not to see Petit slid up into AAA as well. My guess is there just is not much room in AAA for another starter and Bannister may be primed for trade bait with a couple successful starts in AAA to look more Major League ready. Petit will probably be moved up in August by way of a trade or promotion opening up a spot for him in AAA.

* * *

Bobby Cox's Lineup Card Secrets:
Not really secrets I guess, more so common sense. For those of you without ESPN Insider, here are the highlights.

Our guy, Furcal, has a really low on-base percentage this year [.300], but he's still our best guy. Because if he's hot, we win. If he's on base, we score. And he's starting to get hot.

In the No. 2 hole, I've used Kelly Johnson and Giles. They flip-flop a lot. Kelly's on-base percentage is going to be huge. And when you get a guy like Furcal on base, the second-place hitter is going to see a lot of fastballs.

“ Making out a lineup isn't overrated, but guys fall into place automatically. They put themselves in the lineup positions. The players do it by the way they perform. ”
— Bobby Cox

I've always felt like you can move good hitters anywhere. It doesn't matter where they hit. A guy will get locked in his mind, "I'm a third-place hitter. I'm not a cleanup hitter," for whatever reason, and I just don't get it. In the players' minds, I think the best hitter in your lineup is supposed to be third. I've always heard that. But Roger Maris hit third and Mickey Mantle hit fourth, and Mantle was the perfect third-place hitter.

You know what I think? You ought to be happy to have a uniform on, and if you're in the lineup, you should be thrilled and you shouldn't worry about where the manager hits you. That's my philosophy. Because we're not trying to lose the game. We're trying to put a lineup out that wins.

I get tickled when I hear a manager say, "I have to drop this guy to seventh." My attitude is, just do it. I know it bothers a lot of guys, because everybody has a little pride. But if a player is hurting you in a certain spot, you bring him in and tell him. I always talk to a guy first before I drop him down in the order.

I don't believe in doing things to take pressure off young players. We brought up Johnson from Triple-A and I hit him third right away. The kid has always hit, and he walks. He has a great eye. He went 1-for-30 and even some of our people wanted to send him back. But he hit about seven balls good and he walked about seven times during that stretch. I wouldn't take him out of there for anything.

I think balance is definitely important in a lineup, and there's merit to the idea of protecting guys. For years, the Giants never had a lefty to go behind Barry Bonds. And I thought, "Damn, if you had a Jim Edmonds or a Jim Thome behind him -- just to throw a couple of names out there -- there's no telling what he would have done." The guy might have hit 100 home runs.

Four things stood out for me the most. One was his determination to stick with Furcal. Reyes is all to similar to him and if Reyes is on base making noise, the Mets typically do win. They are the most logical options for both teams, but they also are the source of their scoring woes which is what is so frustrating. Cox said if he's hot, we win. If, if, if, if, if. A little more consistency would be nice, and that is what the opponents to these two players in the leadoff spot focus on. The second thing was about dropping players in the order and why managers are reluctant to do so. Cox seems to be blessed with the Midas touch because all his decisions just seem to work out well, but if something is not going the way he would he like it, you can be sure he would act on it an change it. Cox is not a guy who cares about what other people think. The third thing was about not doing things to protect younger players. If the kid ripped in the minors, Bobby expects him to hit in the Majors and he has not hesitated to put a rookie in the third spot in the order because it seemed like the best fit for the team. The final thing, was about having a balanced lineup that adds protection to certain players. I think Willie needs to take a struggling Piazza and give him more protection if he is going to keep him in his present slot and decide he is his #5 guy. While it is true that he did not particularly excel with Floyd behind him, he certainly will not excel knowing that the guy that may pitch around him for is a singles hitter. Cox had mentioned was that regardless of where a player bats, a good hitter should be able to hit anywhere in the lineup. I do agree with Bobby when he says that a good hitter should be able to hit anywhere, but when you do not have a team full of good hitters, their placement and use is of utmost importance. You can tell Bobby Cox is definitely and old school kind of thinker and things are pretty black and white the way he approaches managing his team. You have to love his style and approach to managing the game. His quote above stated a lot of the obvious things, but it was cool to see his thought process on some things.

Women's sports are useless. I usually do not really care because they really did not affect me or invade my life until now. Women's golf ran over into a playoff and I missed the first three innings of the Futures Game after recording it. I missed Yusmeiro Petit's nine pitch third inning for the sake of women's golf. It was great to see Justin Huber to good and it looks like he is the real deal.

Thank you, Happy Hour heroes... If you have few minutes, it is a pretty funny read for anyone in corporate America and has gone out after work and completed inebriated by eight o'clock.

Minor update:

• Norfolk beat Richmond 5-4. Angel Pagan went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, a double, one RBI, and a walk. Anderson Hernandez went 0 for 4 with an RBI, Victor Diaz went 2 for 5 with an RBI, and Eric Valent went 2 for 5 with a run scored.
  
• Binghamton played a double header vs. Norwich. In game one, the B-Mets lost 2-1. In the second game, the B-Mets fell 4-1. Wayne Lydon went 2 for 4 with a double and Aarom Baldiris went 1 for 3 with his fourth homer of the year.
  
• West Virginia beat Hagerstown 2-1. They managed only two hits and Carlos Gomez and Ryan Coultas notched the only two hits.
  
• Brooklyn beat Hudson Valley 3-2. Jonathan Malo went 0 for 2 with three walks. Nick Evans is struggling a bit and is now batting .083 and has only one hit in twelve at bats.
  
• Princeton beat Kingsport 4-2.

There is some sadness," Piazza said. "In the past, I've always been able to put the team on my back and carry the team. This year and last year, I've only shown glimpses of that. I wouldn't say it's frustration or anything like that. It's kind of like a sigh. Whatever's gone on, I've always been able to do that.

"Now I'm not leading the charge, but I'm still charging, you know? I'm just not out front with the sword slashing and hacking."

The Yankees are still in the market for a defensively minded centerfielder despite bringing up Melky Cabrera.

Dunn to the Dodgers? They have tons of prospects to deal from and they would still own one of the best farm systems after giving up a few blue chippers for Dunn.

Newsday has a nice article on Yusmeiro Petit. The article mentioned that he touched 91 on the gun during the game.

"He kind of pushes the ball out of his uniform, and it's on top of it [the plate] before you know it," said Dan Warthen, the pitching coach for the Mets' Triple-A Norfolk affiliate, who has worked extensively with Petit in spring training and worked for the World team yesterday. "So that 91 looks like 94 or 95."

After completing his first half season as a Met, Pedro is on pace for an 18-5 record, 2.72 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, .185 BAA, 235 innings, 251 strikeouts, and a 5.70 K/BB.

Better Late Than Never

Never got around to finishing the post I actually had, but why waste all this typing?

Minor update:

Norfolk beat Richmond 8-7. Anderson Hernandez went 2 for 5 with a triple and an RBI. Victor Diaz went 1 for 3 with three runs scored and two base on balls and Angel Pagan went 1 for 3 with his eight triple of the year, on RBI and two walks. Jae Seo got roughed up and went six innings, gave up eight hits, six earned runs, three homers, and struck out three. He picked up the win despite that and is now 7-3 with a 3.19 ERA.

• Norwich beat Binghamton 7-2. Merkin Valez vs. Brian Bannister did not turn into the pitching match-up it was heralded as and Bannister went four innings, giving up five hits, five earned run, two walks, two homers, and struck out three.
  
• St. Lucie vs. Fort Myers was cancelled due to rain.
  
• Hagerstown beat West Virginia 6-0. Carlos Gomez went 2 for 4 with a run scored and a walk and Sean Coultas went 2 for 3 with a run scored, a double and a walk.
  
• Brooklyn beat Hudson Valley 7-3. Caleb Stewart went 3 for 5 with THREE homers and six RBIs. Nick Evans picked up his first hit in short season A-ball and went 1 for 3 with two walks.
  
• Princeton beat Kingsport 12-2.
  
• The GCL Mets vs. the GCL Dodgers was postponed due to rain.