The Herd:
Mike Lamb wasn't expecting perfection when he started his career with the Buffalo Bisons, but he wasn't expecting 3 for 38, either. Those are the numbers he put up in his first 11 games, however, burying the veteran third baseman in a hole he's just now digging himself out of.
"I didn't have timing. I had gone a month without seeing live pitching," said Lamb, who was released April 1 by the Milwaukee Brewers and signed a minor-league contract with the New York Mets on April 25. "You've got to give yourself a little bit of leeway in that situation, but it was a fine line between giving myself that leeway and saying to myself, "OK, enough's enough. Let's get going here.'"
That's exactly what Lamb has done the past week, going 11 for 25 during a seven-game hitting streak that has raised his batting average 35 points, to .219. He's hit .306 (15 for 49) in June after batting just .186 in May.
Lamb didn't have a chance to extend his hit streak Wednesday, as rain postponed Buffalo's scheduled home game with the Syracuse Chiefs. The two teams will make the game up as part of a doubleheader Aug. 20.
Thursday, June 18 at Harrisburg 7:00 pm LHP Mike Antonini (4-2, 4.95) vs. LHP Cory VanAllen (1-4, 5.52)
Friday, June 19 Trenton 7:05 pm LHP Eric Niesen (0-1, 9.00) vs. TBA
Saturday, June 20 Trenton G1 5:05 pm TBA vs. TBA
Saturday, June 20 Trenton G2 TBD TBA vs. TBA
Jenrry Mejia struck out a season-best eight men in five rainy frames but lost his second straight start to Harrisburg 8-1 Wednesday night at Metro Bank Park. Jose Coronado slapped three hits and drove in the lone run for Binghamton lead the way offensively.
The Senators tallied first in the second inning after getting doubles from Joel Guzman and a single from Marvin Lowrance. With runners at the corners, Luke Montz brought in Guzman on a fielder’s choice to third to put Harrisburg (24-38) on top 1-0.
Binghamton (26-38) broke back even in the fourth. Shawn Bowman dropped a broken-bat single into shallow left and then proceeded to advance two bases to third on a wild pitch with Coronado at the plate. Later in the at-bat, Coronado singled up the middle of Senators’ starter Carlos Martinez to tie the score at one.
Unfortunately, Harrisburg would rattle off seven unanswered runs the rest of the way. They struck for two in the bottom of the fourth when Ricardo Nanita doubled into the left field corner to score Lowrance. A poor throw from B-Mets’ catcher Josh Thole allowed Nanita, who was attempting to advance to third on the relay to the plate, to score putting Harrisburg in front 3-1.
The Senators big inning came in the sixth as they plated five runs off reliever Edgar Ramirez, who allowed the first four to reach in the frame before Ian Desmond homered to right to clear the bases, making it 8-1. The grand slam was Desmond’s second long ball of the series and only hit of Wednesday’s contest.
Mejia went five innings allowing three runs, two of which were earned, to take his second loss.
Martinez won his third straight start with 6.1 innings of one-run work. He scattered nine hits and managed to walk twice at the plate in three plate appearances.
Lucy:
THE WEEK THAT WAS: The Mets won three of eight games. St. Lucie is now eight games behind Fort Myers and in third place in the South.
WHO'S HOT, WHO'S NOT: 3B Matt Bouchard has been a particularly tough out. He has 13 hits in his last 38 plate appearances for a .342 clip. ... CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis has just six hits in his last 10 games covering 38 at-bats for a .158 average.
PLAYER TO WATCH: RHP Jose De La Torre has been lights-out coming out of the Mets' bullpen. The native of Puerto Rico hasn't given up an earned run in his past eight innings over three games, striking out nine and walking two.
PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK: RHP Scott Shaw was solid in a 3-2 home win over Dunedin. The University of Illinois product fanned eight in seven innings while giving up three hits, two earned runs and two walks.
Gnats:
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Sand Gnats are 30-34 after a 4-3 week. They are seventh in the Southern Division, eight games behind Charleston.
WHO'S HOT: OF Josh Satin is hitting well at .303 (66-for-218). ... RHP Rhiner Cruz (1-2, 2.61) has recorded seven saves in as many opportunities. ... OF Wilmer Flores' 11-for-35 run boosted his average to .256 (53-for-207).
WHO'S NOT: C Jean-Luc Blaquiere is battling at .194 (21-for-108) after a 2-for-17 week. ... 3B Jefry Marte is mired at .215 (54-for-251) with 63 strikeouts.
NEWS & NOTES: The Savannah roster was shuffled again as 2B Matt Gaski, C Ralph Henriquez, RHP Samuel Martinez and RHP Michael Powers were transferred to extended spring training, while RHP Phillips Orta and IF Imbewer Alvarez were added to the roster. Orta, 23, begins his third stint with the Gnats. He was 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA in two starts last season. Alvarez, 23, is in his fourth year in the Mets organization and hit .189 (18-for-95) in 29 games with Rookie-level Kingsport in 2008. This is his first appearance in a full-season league. Gaski hit in all nine games that he started with Savannah and was batting .389 (14-for-36).
DID YOU KNOW?: Flores had his best stretch of the season and remains the Savannah prospect most asked about further up the system. The Venezuelan is playing well in the field, committing eight errors in 53 starts at shortstop. If he can get his bat going, like he did a year ago in Kingsport (.310, eight homers, 41 RBIs), there is opportunity for him to jump on the fast track in the Mets' somewhat depleted system. Remember that Flores does not turn 18 until July 6.
I don’t think sending Murphy down makes any sense - as there’s no indication that he is overmatched at this level (at the plate). While he may not be an optimum long term solution at first because of his lack of power - I think that Murphy will be a legitimate .300 hitter in the major leagues. Dave Magadan is a very good comparison to Murphy at this stage in his career. But remember - Murphy is neither as slow a foot as Mags was - and he’s only 24 years old - potentially he has room to improve - and even add a power aspect (hopefully in a legitimate fashion) to his game in the next few years.
*(a small aside - but let’s say you were Danny Murphy in the steroid era - would you take them? It’d be extremely tempting as 30 HR power would make Murphy a star - whereas his hitting ability only rates him as a potentially good player. Just goes to show you the quandary/paradox
- I think we need to think about this kind of difficult question and how we ourselves would answer before we get too critical of the players that used…)
As in all (most?) things - patience is a virtue. If Met fans and more importantly management can ride out some of Danny Murphy’s 2009 struggles - we will be rewarded. Perhaps not as quickly as we would like - but make no mistake about it - Danny Murphy can and will hit.
http://metsmerizedonline.com/2009/06/fantasy-focus-daniel-murphy-first-baseman-of-the-future.html
International:
Here's some detail on the international signing period, which begins in just a couple weeks:
Most international players aren't eligible to be drafted; they're signed as free agents instead.
The signing period begins July 2nd.
The youngest players eligible to sign this year were born on August 31st, 1993.
They can sign with any major league team.
Players can sign after August 31st if they don't do so immediately.
Some players older than 16 will sign as well.
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