The Herd:
Forget about the Buffalo Bisons starting the second half of their woeful season on a more positive note.
The Herd, which is 15-33 at home, started the post-All-Star break portion of the slate off with a 6-2 loss to the Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday night at Coca-Cola Field.
The announced paid crowd of 8,928, which included several group outings, didn't have much to cheer about as usual. The Bisons have had nine homestands of various lengths so far this season. They are 1-8 in the opening game of those stands. Box score
"It's puzzling," Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell said with a shrug. "It seems like we're a different team on the road. Our fans are passionate and it's frustrating not to play better for them."
Friday, July 16 Erie 7:05 pm LHP Eric Niesen (0-4, 6.75) vs. RHP Pat Stanley (4-2, 3.74)
Saturday, July 17 Erie 7:05 pm RHP Brad Holt (1-3, 5.73) vs. RHP Jonah Nickerson (7-6, 4.93)
Sunday, July 18 Erie 1:05 pm RHP Eric Brown (4-10, 5.87) vs. RHP Thad Weber (2-2, 4.28)
Monday, July 19 Connecticut 7:05 pm RHP Jake Ruckle (0-1, 3.31) vs. TBA
As Binghamton's first game out of the All-Star break moved into the later innings Thursday night at NYSEG Stadium, the lone drama surrounded the No. 9 hitter in the opposing lineup.
With a runner on first and no out in the top of the eighth inning, Erie third baseman Santo De Leon came to the plate with a chance to come through with a single and thus hit for the cycle.
And while he fell short, grounding into a double play, the SeaWolves still sped away with a 10-5 victory.
"He's been killing us," B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras said. "Since last year, this kid's shown me that he's a good player. Very good defense. Very good arm. He's been killing us. You know, everything that we throw - breaking balls or fastballs - he's making contact with it."
De Leon's big night highlighted a key difference in the hit column, where despite the lopsided win for Erie, the B-Mets held a 15-14 advantage.
The game of baseball starts with nine: Nine innings, nine players in the field, like the "Mudville Nine" in the poem "Casey at the Bat." In that spirit, here are exactly nine questions for Sand Gnats catcher Jean Luc Blaquiere.
1. How many languages do you speak?
Jean Luc Blaquiere: "Three languages. I'm working on my English. I was born and raised in French Canada, Quebec. When I got here, I didn't know anything about Spanish and pretty much anything about English. I have to obviously learn English and Spanish to get around.
2. Is there an international language in baseball that everyone knows?
JLB: Yes. "Balls." "Strikes." "Baseball." "Home run." "Stretch." "I got it." They've got problems with "double play." They say, "Two play! Two play!" It's kind of funny.
3. What happened with your injury and missing all of the 2007 season?
JLB: I was actually in Triple A spring training. I knew I wasn't probably going to play there, but it was good experience. I really liked it. Right at the end of spring training, I was running the bases. I was on first base and a guy hit one up the line. There were two strikes and I was gone on contact. I got to second base and was going to third. The (third base coach) was like, "Blacky, no, no, no!" I hit the brakes real hard. I hit a hole. Everything rolled over. Ligaments were torn, and tendons, and cartilage exploded. All of that in one foot.
4. Did you make it safely back to second base, or were you tagged out?
JLB: They got me. I think it was a guy from big league camp from the Dodgers. He got the ball from the cutoff man. He asked the umpire, "What am I doing?" I was grabbing my leg. The umpire was like, "Well, you have to tag him because he's not out. (The infielder) came to me. "I hope you're doing well. Take care of yourself."
5. How long were you a pitcher?
JLB: All my life. The first thing I did with my dad when I picked up a ball at 4 or 5 years old, I was pitching.
Queens:
The Mets’ last Banner Day was staged years ago but it was revived by The New York Times over the past week and produced some pretty clever results.
Close to 100 people used words and images to comment on the 2009 season, which, for the Mets, has been a succession of minor calamities. Contributors took note of the team’s medical mayhem, the overly large dimensions of Citi Field, the game-ending popup that Luis Castillo famously dropped and the team’s overall failure to play winning baseball. The team’s unhappy connection to Wall Street scandal didn’t escape scrutiny, nor did the ongoing absence of Bobby Valentine.
Even the memory of Casey Stengel was evoked, along with the “Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?’’ team that he managed in the early 1960’s
New York Mets: The best move they can make is to curtail Omar Minaya’s freedom to make any trades overly focused on the short term. On the last day of May, the Mets were in second place, just a half-game out; they've have gone 14-24 since, allowing 5.4 runs a game while batting .255/.319/.362 and averaging 3.7 runs scored. At the season’s outset, the Mets lacked the depth to survive a hangnail, let alone fix their problems with sweeping trades. Due to the fecklessness of the Phillies, the Mets haven’t been completely blown out of the race while their stars convalesce; they can only hope that this is still the case when Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and the rest finally come limping back. In the meantime, perhaps they succeed where the Braves failed with Francoeur, but even then they still have to survive a weak pitching staff that ranks 14th in the NL in strikeouts.
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that five Minor League players have received 50-game suspensions after each tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
- Pitcher Alexis Juma of the Oakland Athletics organization (Dominican Summer League) has been suspended after testing positive for a metabolite of Boldenone. - Pitcher Renedin Mesa of the Los Angeles Angels organization (Dominican Summer League) has been suspended after testing positive for a metabolite of Boldenone. - Pitcher Alex Nolasco of the Athletics organization (Dominican Summer League) has been suspended after testing positive for a metabolite of Boldenone. - Pitcher Joan Pascual of the Philadelphia Phillies organization (Dominican Summer League) has been suspended after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol. - Outfielder Jose Trinidad of the Phillies organization (Dominican Summer League) has been suspended after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol
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