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B-Mets:


THE SEASON SO FAR: The Mets are 18-23 and in last place in the Northern Division, five games behind Connecticut.
WHO'S HOT: OF D.J. Wabick ranked second among league batting leaders last week, hitting .462 (12-for-26) with four runs scored and three RBIs. In 35 games this season, he's batting .302 (38-for-126) with 11 doubles, a home run, 22 RBIs and nine runs scored.
WHO'S NOT: RHP John Madden is 0-0 with an 8.49 ERA in 12 appearances. In 11 2/3 innings, he has served up 12 runs (11 earned) on 16 hits and eight walks and has struck out just five batters. Opponents are batting .340 against him.
MORE ON WABICK: Wabick has proven to be a steadying influence in the B-Mets lineup in May, hitting .354 with eight doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs. He also owns a 10-game hitting streak over which he's batting .405 (15-for-37) with four multi-hit games and at least one hit in 22 of his 25 games overall.
DID YOU KNOW?: Binghamton set a season high with 17 hits in Saturday's 7-5 loss to New Britain. The total bested the B-Mets' 14-hit attack earlier in the season at Portland April 28 in a game they also lost, 9-8, to the Sea Dogs. ... Through 40 games, the B-Mets have pounded out 10 or more hits in 18 games, but have managed to win just half of those games. For the year, Binghamton is batting .267 -- third-best in the Eastern League -- but is also hitting just .232 with runners in scoring position.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090525&content_id=4954842&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp



Gnats:


FOLLOWING THE SAND GNATS

The Sand Gnats' third consecutive home loss, 2-1 on Monday to the Lexington Legends, did not sit well with Savannah's Eric Campbell.

"I cost us the game," said Campbell, who scored the Sand Gnats' lone run, had one of their four hits, walked twice and even stole a base while playing a flawless left field after starting 38 of 42 games at first base.

His contention: That he wasn't aggressive enough at the plate in the eighth inning. Trailing 2-1, the Sand Gnats had runners at first and third with two outs.

"They made a mistake," Campbell said of Lexington and left-handed relief pitcher Michael Hacker. "I shouldn't have taken on a 1-0 fastball, a pitch I usually drive pretty well."

What did Campbell do instead? He walked on five pitches to load the bases. It was Lexington manager Tom Lawless' tactic to neutralize the right-handed Campbell, perhaps Savannah's hottest hitter.

Lawless knew that on deck for Savannah was left-hander Sean Ratliff, once the hottest hitter in the entire South Atlantic League, who practically had carried the Gnats some games but currently is mired in an 0-for-20 skid six games into the homestand. Lawless preferred the lefty Hacker challenge lefty Ratliff.

"That would be baseball," Lawless said. "If (Campbell) hit a pitch, he would have to hit a ball out of the zone."

Hacker struck out Ratliff to strand three runners and keep the Legends ahead.

Ratliff, hitting .349 on the season when the homestand started, is now at a still solid .308 and among the league leaders in several offensive categories. Manager Edgar Alfonzo is confident the outfielder and the rest of his players can find the right mental approach to the game, and soon.

"I want them to have fun and try to play the game, but not put too much pressure on themselves. They try to do too much, and then they do less," Alfonzo said.

"This is a team," he continued. "Everyone has to contribute to win and play better. If Ratliff is cold, somebody else has to hit. That's going to happen in a season. You're going to go up and down, up and down."

As is his custom, Alfonzo closed the clubhouse after the game for a team meeting, but the one Monday was long, at least 20 minutes, as he and his staff addressed issues that are differences between winning and losing.

http://www.savannahnow.com/node/728402


Mets Alumni:

Craig Brazell agreed to a deal with the Hanshin Tigers, according to reports gathered by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker. Brazell had been playing for the St. Paul Saints after nothing materialized from an Orioles spring training invite.


Fantasy:


While it may not look like it by just using the stats, here is a list of players who deserve more playing time based on more than just this year's limited playing time, whether it's because of a level of talent (Delmon Young or Mat Gamel) or success in past starting roles (Jeff Keppinger, Marlon Byrd, Ty Wigginton). Some of these players fall more into the category of being useful rather than that of a hidden star—here again, think Keppinger or Byrd—but others, like Ben Zobrist or Ian Stewart, could turn into legitimate fantasy options that you and other owners fight over.


Player R RBI AVG/ OBP/ SLG MLVr
Rocco Baldelli 4 4 .205/.244/.333 -.351
Ben Zobrist 17 23 .277/.376/.614 .337
Ty Wigginton 8 15 .215/.254/.326 .344
Matt LaPorta 10 4 .211/.311/.316 -.241
Delmon Young 10 14 .264/.309/.310 -.212
Marlon Byrd 16 19 .290/.310/.442 -.017
Fernando Tatis 14 9 .278/.333/.444 .078
Josh Willingham 12 9 .215/.248/.473 .064
Mat Gamel 1 5 .250/.368/.563 .271
Micah Hoffpauir 9 14 .280/.333/.488 .121
Eric Hinske 10 17 .254/.342/.388 .001
Jeff Keppinger 6 3 .279/.362/.426 .085
J.R. Towles 2 1 .182/.250/.182 -.501
Ian Stewart 15 20 .190/.271/.429 -.145
Ryan Raburn 8 10 .222/.317/.500 .007
Jeff Larish 12 6 .239/.379/.543 .192

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8945