Minors Stuff

The Herd:

Triple-A Buffalo LHP Jonathon Niese (Mets) seems to have emerged from an early funk that saw him begin 0-5, 8.05 through eight starts. He sandwiched that showing around a pair of big league muggings, but he's been golden in his four starts since June 7. In that span, the 22-year-old Niese has allowed three runs in 26 1/3 innings, while striking out 25, walking seven and not allowing a single home run. He went a clean 2-0, 0.69 this week, giving up 12 hits to go with a sterling 14-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2009/268445.html


B-Mets:

Josh Petersen raised his average to the .300-mark with a two-hit performance, unfortunately the B-Mets only had three other hits in their 3-1 loss at Akron’s Canal Park. Aeros’ starter Hector Rondon baffled Binghamton with 5.2 innings of scoreless work to pick up his seventh win.

Akron (49-23) got onto the board first in the fourth when Carlos Santana doubled to the gap in right-center to open the frame against starter Eric Brown. After Beau Mills moved him up to third with a groundball to the right side, Matt McBride struck out and the inning appeared to be heading in the B-Mets favor. However, with Carlos Rivero at the plate Brown delivered a pitch to the backstop that brought home Santana, making it 1-0.

In the fifth, Brown walked Jared Goedert to get the inning started for the Aeros. He was sacrificed up by Jose Constanza and would later score on a Santana RBI single to put Akron in front 2-0.

After the Aeros scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Nick Weglarz double, Binghamton (27-45) responded with their only run on the night. Emmanuel Garcia reached on a fielder’s choice with one out and proceeded to steal second base. Josh Thole then walked setting the stage for Ike Davis, who delivered an RBI single to right to score Garcia getting the B-Mets within two at 3-1.

The B-Mets had the tying run on base in the eighth, but the rally was squelched by Akron closer Vinnie Pestano who induced an infield pop-up from Petersen to end the threat.

Pestano threw 1.1 innings scoreless to notch his league-leading 21st save.

Brown gave Binghamton 5.1 innings of two-run work, but did not get much run support and as result, took the loss.



Saturday, June 27 at Akron 7:05 pm TBA vs. RHP Josh Tomlin (7-4, 4.14)

Sunday, June 28 at Akron 1:35 pm RHP Jenrry Mejia (0-3, 3.74) vs. LHP Aaron Laffey (0-0, 0.00)

Monday, June 29 at Akron 7:05 pm RHP Dylan Owen (0-5, 6.83) vs. RHP Jeanmar Gomez (6-2, 3.06)

Tuesday, June 30 New Hampshire 7:05 pm RHP Eric Niesen (0-3, 7.20) vs. TBA


Gnats:

A three-run second inning was all Robert Carson needed to dispose of the Charleston RiverDogs as he pitched seven shutout innings in the Savannah Sand Gnats, 5-0, win over the RiverDogs in front of 2,076 at Historic Grayson Stadium Friday night. The Gnats have now won three games in a row and 11 of their last 14 contests.

Carson (5-5) allowed just five hits with three walks and three strikeouts to get his second straight win over Charleston and get his record back to the .500 mark. Rhiner Cruz threw two scoreless innings and stranded the bases loaded in the ninth to earn his team-leading 11th save.

Savannah loaded the bases to lead off the second inning after Josh Satin was hit by a pitch, Raul Reyes walked and Kai Gronauer singled. Stefan Welch grounded into a double play to score Satin and put Savannah on the board, 1-0. Evan LeBlanc singled in his first Savannah at-bat to record his first RBI and later scored on a Rafael Fernandez double to make it, 3-0, Gnats.

LeBlanc added to his impressive Sand Gnats debut in the eighth with a two-out, two-run double to pad the advantage. He reached base three times with a run scored, a walk and three RBI in his first game with Savannah.

Wilmer Flores had a pair of singles and a third-inning double for his third three-hit game and second in his last three contests. Fernandez had two hits for his second straight night with his RBI double and a first-inning single. Gronauer added a pair of singles to extend his season-long hitting streak to seven games.



K-Port:

The Southern Illinois Miners have sold the contract of shortstop Gered Mochizuki to the New York Mets organization. Mochizuki will report to the Mets Appalachian League affiliate in Kingsport, Tenn. later this week.

Mochizuki, 23, is hitting .269 with 12 RBIs and seven stolen bases in 25 games with Southern Illinois this season. Last season he hit .314, ninth best in the Frontier League.

“We are very excited for Gered and the tremendous opportunity he has ahead of him,” Miners Manager Mike Pinto said. “He is a great guy, was great in our clubhouse and works very hard. I know that our entire coaching staff is pulling for him and wishing the best for his future.”

Mochizuki is the first player from the Miners active roster to join a Major League organization this season. Earlier this month, former Miner Griffin Bailey joined the New York Yankees organization after he was traded to Sioux City of the American Association. Since the beginning of spring training 2008, nine former Miners players have signed with Major League organization.

http://thesouthern.com/minersblog/?p=387



Queens:

Knee Deep: A 4-9 skid goes from bad to worse when the Mets lose Carlos Beltran to the disabled list due to a bone bruise in his knee. He's hitting .336/.425/.527 and ranking in the top five of those first two categories as well as EqA; his .340 edges teammate David Wright's .338. Also suffering from knee troubles is Gary Sheffield, who gets a cortisone shot to alleviate some chronic pain. The 40-year-old has shown he's still got life in his bat, hitting .276/.389/.487; his eight homers are tied with Beltran for the team lead, with his four at Citi Field the most of any player thus far.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9129

In order to hit a homer at Citi Field, you have to hit the ball a country mile.

Or at least that's what David Wright's fantasy owners might have you believe. A 33-homer hitter as recently as last season, the slugging No. 3 fantasy pick overall finds himself on pace for nine home runs in 2009.

But incredibly, in spite of his season-long power drought, Wright enters Friday's play ranked the fifth-best player in all of fantasy baseball. He might not be the bopper the big spenders were expecting at the draft table, but he's getting the job done in other ways, and it's a product of his making adjustments to his game necessitated by his new home ballpark.

That's because, like Mets fans and their Shake Shack burgers, Citi Field is gobbling up home runs at an alarming rate. At least, that's what Greg Rybarczyk reports, thanks to data culled from his hittrackeronline.com Web site.

http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?id=4284640



Mets Alumni:

Left-hander Ryan Cullen has signed a deal to continue his 2009 season in Taiwan, it was announced today by the Barnstormers. Cullen, 29, had appeared in 22 games for Lancaster during the current season, posting a 4-3 record with seven saves and a 2.08 ERA He had gone 12 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run prior to dropping a 2-1 decision to the Long Island Ducks.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3850351

The Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Triple-A Mexican League released P Orber Moreno. He made four relief appearances and allowing five hits, one earned run, two walks, and striking out three over 3.2 innings (2.45 ERA). Moreno pitched for Diablos Rojos del Mexico earlier in the season.

http://cardinalsbestnews.blogspot.com/2009/06/ex-cardinals-watch-6-26-09-chris-farley.html