Minors Stuff

The Herd:


The Buffalo Bisons, Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, dropped their series opener with the Gwinnett Braves Tuesday, falling 5-4.

The G-Braves got on the board first, plating two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Barbaro Canizares continues his tormenting of the Bisons. With Reid Gorecki and Wes Timmons on base and one out, Canizares doubled down the third base line. The hit plated two runs for a 2-0 advantage.

Buffalo responded with a run in the fourth. Jesus Feliciano fell behind Jonny Venters 0-2 before drawing a walk to lead off. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Emil Brown then singled to score Feliciano to make it a 2-1 game.

The Herd got on the horse again in the sixth inning. Lance Broadway walked to begin the frame. That was followed by an Argenis Reyes single. Feliciano then drove a triple to the outfield wall for a 3-2 lead. A groundout from Michel Abreu scored the final run of the inning. Buffalo led 4-2.

http://buffalo.bisons.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090623&content_id=5489312&vkey=news_t422&fext=.jsp&sid=t422


B-Mets:


Wednesday, June 24 Bowie 7:05 pm TBA vs. RHP Tim Bascom (1-0, 0.64)

Thursday, June 25 Bowie 7:05 pm LHP Eric Niesen (0-2, 11.00) vs. LHP Bobby Livingston (5-2, 3.97)

Friday, June 26 at Akron 7:05 pm RHP Eric Brown (4-6, 5.72) vs. TBA

Saturday, June 267 at Akron 7:05 pm TBA vs. TBA

Ike Davis went 2-2 with two walks in his AA debut but Binghamton fell 7-3 to Bowie Tuesday night at NYSEG Stadium for their seventh-straight loss. Five B-Mets batters had two hits in the contest.

Jose Coronado put the B-Mets in front early when he drove in Shawn Bowman with a sacrifice fly off Tim Bascom in the second inning.

Bowie took the lead in the top of the third scoring two runs. Tucker reached on a Jenrry Mejia walk and Robert Valido followed with a single advancing Tucker to third. Eric Crozier then hit a high chopper to the right of Mejia who wheeled and threw the ball past Ike Davis at first base. Tucker scored and Valido came all the way around from first to score as well to make it 2-1.

Binghamton (26-43) immediately responded to retake the lead in the bottom of the third. Emmanuel Garcia and Josh Thole hit back-to-back triples with one out to get things started. Garcia scored on Thole’s triple and then Thole scored on a base knock by Davis to give the B-Mets a 3-2 lead.


Lucy:


The Charlotte Stone Crabs defeated the St. Lucie Mets 7-3 Tuesday afternoon at Tradition Field. It was the Stone Crabs that scored first by putting three runs on the board in the third inning. The inning started by St. Lucie walking the first three batters of the inning. Emeel Salem drew the first walk but was thrown out stealing second. Shawn O’Malley followed but was successful in stealing second. Then it was Shawn Williams drawing the third walk. Williams and O’Malley pulled off a double steal to give the Stone Crabs runners at second and third for Cody Cipriano. Cipriano followed through with an RBI single to center to score O’Malley. Henry Wrigley drove home Williams with a single to left which also advance Cipriano to second. Cipriano then moved over to third on a wild pitch by Scott Shawn and came home on a sac fly by Reid Fronk to give the Stone Crabs a 3-0 lead.The Stone Crabs struck with three more runs in the top of the fifth. Shawn O’Malley reached first after being hit by a pitch. Shawn Williams followed with a walk. They both advance ninety feet when Francisco Pena threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt. Cody Cipriano picked up his second RBI on the day with a single that scored O’Malley. Henry Wrigley followed with an RBI single to score Williams. John Matulia drove in the final run of the inning with a sac fly that scored Cody Cipriano and put the Stone Crabs ahead 6-0.St. Lucie final crossed the plate in the fifth inning as Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a single to center that score Brahiam Maldonado. The Stone Crabs countered with a run of their own in the sixth when Cody Cipriano singled home Shawn Williams to give the Stone Crabs a 7-1 lead.Then in the bottom of the ninth the Mets did something that everyone in the Florida State League have been trying to do all season, score off Matt Gorgen. And they did it twice. Hector Pellot singled to right allowing Brahiam Maldonado to score. Then Pellot scored off a single by Greg Veloz. But Gorgen got it together and struck out Kirk Nieuwenhuis to end the game and give the Stone Crabs a 7-3 win. Alex Cobb improved to 4-4 with the victory, pitching 5 1/3 innings and allowing 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 6. Kevin Boggan pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings and allowed 2 hits and struck out 2. Matt Gorgen surrendered 2 runs on 3 hits and recording 2 strike outs. With the 2 runs allowed tonight, Gorgen still holds a 0.78 ERA. Scott Shaw was the losing pitcher for St. Lucie.



Gnats:


Somehow, that mentality of there's always tomorrow's game helped the Sand Gnats navigate through this tsunami. Through the leadership of manager Edgar Alfonzo and his staff, the players didn't lose confidence, telling themselves that a few plays here and there were the differences between winning and losing.

Then they won nine of their last 12, generating momentum into the all-star break and a fresh slate of 70 games.

While there were some significant roster changes, as is the nature of the minor leagues, basically the same team suited up for the first half.

The promotions of all-star selections Jeff Kaplan (the team's most consistent starter) and Jimmy Johnson (ditto as the reliever) hurt but were expected, and other pitchers stepped up.

Rhiner Cruz, for example, tied for seventh in the league with 10 saves, and tied for fifth in appearances (26). Robert Carson, the lone lefty starter, sports a 2.63 ERA, eighth-best in the SAL. Starting pitchers Jeurys Familia and Kyle Allen, each 19, notched their fifth wins over the weekend.

More debilitating than promotions were injuries to first baseman Campbell and second baseman Jordany Valdespin - both could return soon - and the season-ending wrist injury to converted outfielder Juan Lagares, who was making a nice transition from a rocky history at shortstop.

http://www.savannahnow.com/node/742999


Clones:

The Baracklyn Cyclones (3-1) stayed undefeated at home with a 7-3 win on Tuesday night over the Hudson Valley Renegades (2-2). The game featured the promotion of the year, with Brooklyn transforming into Baracklyn for one night. Pre-game festivities included ceremonial pitches by Obama Girl the president himself (sort of). The first 2,500 fans also received a collector's item Baracklyn bobblehead.When the game began, the Cyclones hit the ground running, scoring three runs in the first two innings to take a lead they would never relinquish. In the bottom of the first, Baracklyn loaded the bases for Ralph Henriquez, who took a walk on four straight pitches to take the early lead. Hudson Valley's pitching surrendered five walks in the first two innings of play. Luis Rivera added an RBI single in the first, as well. Juan Centeno continued his impressive play to start the season, going 2-for-4 with one RBI. Alex Gregory chipped in with a two-run double with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth. The Cyclones were in control the whole night; at one point leading the Renegades 7-0. Brandon Moore pitched a spectacular game, going 7.0 shutout innings, giving up just four hits and notching four strikeouts.


K-Port:

The Kingsport Mets had a couple of frantic days to become acclimated to their new surroundings before the Appalachian League season began.

Luckily for the K-Mets, they brought their mental toughness with them from extended spring training in Florida.

Kingsport rallied from a 4-0 hole to defeat the Johnson City Cardinals 7-5 on Tuesday night at Hunter Wright Stadium in their mutual Appy League opener.

The K-Mets took the lead for good with a five-run second inning — keyed by Joseph Bonfe’s homer — and starter Guillaume Leduc recovered after a very shaky beginning.

Johnson City threatened late, scoring one run in the bottom of the ninth and bringing the potential tying run to the plate, but Samuel Taveras induced a game-ending pop fly.

“Play a hard, nine-inning baseball game and you never know what’s going to happen,” Kingsport manager Mike DiFelice said

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9014749