Minors Stuff

The Herd:

Ken Oberkfell has been in professional baseball for 35 years and has never seen a team struggle at the plate like this.

The Buffalo Bisons' manager has pushed the power of positive thinking at his club day after day during the worst stretch of the franchise's modern era but even Oberkfell has limits.
Sunday's pathetic 3-1 loss to the Norfolk Tides in mostly empty Coca-Cola Field seemed to push him over the edge.

The punchless Herd fell to 6-22 as it was held to four hits, was an out away from yet another shutout and went 1 for 11 with men in scoring position.

"Those guys need to step up, get some hits," Oberkfell said. "I don't know what to say."
Oh, but Oberkfell figured it out. And he said plenty as he grabbed a nearby stat sheet and poked at it to prove his point.

"You want to know why we're 6-22? Right here. I'll tell you right now. That's why we're 6-22. Ain't our pitchers. [The hitters] better look in the mirror. They're professional athletes. I try to be as positive as I can be but ... Right here, it's black and white.

"It's depressing. It's sad. Our pitchers are pitching their [butt] off and our offense stinks."
Nelson Figueroa (0-3) gave up two runs in seven innings but saw his team held to one run or less for the fourth time in his five starts. At least no one else saw it. There were maybe 300 folks in the stands on a cold, wind-swept day (4,551 tickets were sold).

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bisons/story/667369.html


B-Mets:


For the second day in a row, the Binghamton Mets' relief pitchers spoiled a quality outing by a starter, the result a 4-3 loss to the Trenton Thunder in an Eastern League game on Sunday.

Jose Gil's walk-off solo home run off of Binghamton closer Roy Merritt in the ninth inning enabled the Thunder to complete a three-game sweep of the B-Mets.

B-Mets' starter Ryan Coultas pitched six innings, allowing seven hits and two runs with a strikeout. He left with a 3-2 lead.

Reliever Stephen Clyne cruised through the seventh but gave up a game-tying solo home run to Jorge Vazquez in the eighth inning.

The B-Mets (13-15) scored first in the second inning when Emmanuel Garcia beat out a double play to allow Josh Patterson to score.

They increased the lead to 2-0 when Shawn Bowman, who had tripled, scored on D.J. Wabick's RBI single in the third inning.

Trenton (14-13) rallied in the bottom of the fourth when Colin Curtis hit a triple to score Reegie Corona, who led off with a single. Vaquez singled to bring home Curtis to tie the game at 2-2.
Binghamton led 3-2 after Bowman, who had his fifth multi-hit day, led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run.
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090511/SPORTS02/905110402/1118/Sports


Monday, May 11 at N. Hampshire 6:35 pm TBA vs. Rei Gonzalez (1-0, 1.70)

Tuesday, May 12 at N. Hampshire 6:35 pm LHP Mike Antonini (4-1, 4.88) vs. LHP Luis Perez (2-3, 3.69)

Wednesday, May 13 at N. Hampshire 6:35 pm RHP Dylan Owen (0-3, 5.34) vs. RHP Brandon Magee (1-0, 3.00)

Thursday, May 14 Trenton 6:35 pm RHP Jose Sanchez (1-3, 6.53) vs. RHP Zach McAllister (1-1, 2.67)



SP Ryan Coultas:


2008: In first full season as a reliever, Coultas appeared in 47 games with St. Lucie (High-A)...His best month was July, surrendering just 2 runs over 11.1 innings in 8 appearances (1.59 ERA)...He finished the season with three straight scoreless outings.

2007: Saw limited time with St. Lucie (High-A) and Binghamton (AA) as a utility player playing every infield position, with exception of catcher, and the outfield...Hit .257 with 3 HR and 27 RBI for St. Lucie.

2006: Split year between St. Lucie (High-A) and Hagerstown (Low-A) as a second baseman primarily...Hit .146 in 50 games for St. Lucie and .232 in 26 contests with Hagerstown.
2005: Played in a career-high 89 games for Hagerstown (Low-A) as a middle infielder...Batted a career-high .289 with 22 2B, 6 HR and 36 RBI.

2004: Spent season with Brooklyn (SS-A) batting .252 in 44 G with Cyclones.

Personal: Drafted in the sixth round by the Mets in 2004 out of UCDavis... Rated as Baseball America’s No.1 Division II prospect in 2002 hitting .379 as a redshirt freshman...Played in the prestigious Cape Cod League for Yarmouth-Dennis in 2002.


Gnats:


Every Sand Gnats fan has his or her favorite new frill at Grayson Stadium.

For me, it's the addition most overdue: Good baseball.

The Gnats sit a half-game out of first place in the South Atlantic League's Southern Division as they open an eight-game road trip today in Kentucky. Their record is 16-13 and they are competitive when they lose - four of their last five losses have been by a run, and the other was by two runs.

The roster includes three of the league's top-eight hitters, two of the top-six starting pitchers and a 17-year-old shortstop with the shiniest glove outside Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

We must temper our excitement, of course. The Gnats' parent club, the New York Mets, could promote any or all of those stars today. The Mets drafted both top hitters and one of the pitchers out of college, so their days in Savannah are as numbered as a tourist's. And once those players are gone, the Gnats could go from competitive to sedative overnight.

Yet it is fun to think that after eight straight losing seasons the Gnats look like winners. Even the players, who should be more interested in the box score than the standings, appreciate the team success.

"We know we're here to develop and move on up in the system, but we might as well win while we're here," said pitcher Josh Stinson, who spent part of last season and all of 2007 with the Gnats. "We figure why not give the fans something to cheer about other than cheap beer.

http://www.savannahnow.com/node/720857


Mets Alumni:


While the majority of the Mariners will spend Monday on a golf course deep in the heart of Texas, taking a break from a tough road trip, left-hander Jason Vargas has most of his focus on the task at hand -- making his first big league start in more than a year. He'll be on the mound at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Tuesday night when Seattle begins the final leg of a three-city road trip with a 5:10 p.m. PT game against the Rangers in the opener of a three-game series. The 26-year-old Vargas makes his third appearance for the Mariners since being promoted from Triple-A Tacoma last week. He replaces the injured Carlos Silva (right shoulder inflammation) in the rotation and comes into the opener working on a scoreless streak. Vargas brought a scoreless-innings streak of 11 2/3 with him from Tacoma and has tacked on 3 1/3 more scoreless frames during two relief outings for the Mariners. The time between starts

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090510&content_id=4665866&vkey=news_sea&fext=.jsp&c_id=sea&partnerId=rss_sea