7/25/09

Minors Stuff




The Herd:

The Buffalo Bisons, Triple-A affiliate of the New York Mets, fell 3-1 in the opener of a four game series with the Indianapolis Indians Friday night.


The I-tribe got on the board in the third and fourth innings. Brian Bixler started the scoring with a homerun to right field, his fifth of the season. The blast came with one out in the third. Neil Walker then hit his second triple of the season, but was stranded aboard.

Buffalo scored its only run in the eighth inning. Catcher Rene Rivera continued his hot streak, singling in Argenis Reyes with two outs.


The Herd got fine pitching from a bullpen-by-committee. Adam Bostick got the start in place of the scratched Jonathon Niese. The lefty allowed a run on four hits over his three innings of work. The former starter struck out five without issuing a walk. Arturo Lopez and Eddie Kunz finished off the game without allowing an earned run. The only runner against Kunz was an eighth inning walk to Hector Gimenez


B-Mets:

Saturday, July 25 at Erie 7:05 pm RHP Jake Ruckle (1-1, 4.64) vs. RHP Luis Marte (5-8, 3.92)

Sunday, July 26 at Erie 1:05 pm RHP Dylan Owen (3-6, 5.55) vs. LHP Jon Kibler (6-5, 3.71)

Monday, July 27 at Altoona 7:05 pm LHP Eric Niesen (1-5, 7.36) vs. RHP Michael Crotta (4-6, 5.12)

Tuesday, July 27 at Altoona 7:05 pm RHP Brad Holt (2-3, 5.45) vs. RHP Derek Hankins (2-3, 4.50)


Ike Davis - Why He's Here: .385/.467/.692 (10-for-26), 2 HR, 2 2B, 6 RBIs, 6 R, 4 BB, 4 SO - The Scoop: Davis has clubbed more home runs this season (12) and compiled a higher slugging percentage (.486) than any of the other four first-round first basemen from the '08 draft. That's a group that includes Yonder Alonso, Justin Smoak, David Cooper and Allan Dykstra. To be fair, Smoak began the year in Double-A and has moved up to Triple-A, unlike Davis who started in high Class A, but then Smoak has enjoyed much friendlier hitting environments along the way.


Lucy:

Scouting Report – Nick Carr is big bulky relief pitcher who relies on low-mid 90s heat to miss bats and consistently generate groundballs. Actually a few months younger than Eric Beaulac, Carr has also been moved to the bullpen this year. In many respects, he's similar to Beaulac, in that he works mostly off his fastball and uses a slider as his primary second pitch, and the knock on him is command troubles. However he's shorter and thicker around the middle than Beaulac, and when he's right generates more natural "run" on his fastball, though his slider lags behind a bit and his command has been a more problematic. He also features a hard changeup that flashes average and should be a fine third pitch for a relief prospect. His progress has been a bit on the slow side, but it's also been quite steady, and most of the last big hurdles for Carr to cross mechanical ones. Oddly enough, he's been MIA since mid-June, though I can't find a specific report of injury.

Gnats:

You won't find low Class A Savannah SS Wilmer Flores' (Mets) names among the South Atlantic League leaders, not with the way he started. But the 17-year-old Venezuelan batted .391/.444/.565 (9-for-23) on the week, with a home run, a double, six runs scored and five RBIs. His season has been trending up, as he's now hit .300 or better in both July and August—a combined 53-for-173 (.306)—and has raised his season line to .286/.325/.368 through 85 games. While Flores possesses very little speed and hasn't hit for a ton of game power, his bat control remains impressive. He's got just 42 whiffs on the year, and since July he's fanned in just 10 percent of his at-bats


SEEING STARS: Center fielder Sean Ratliff and catcher Kai Gronauer both had three hits for the Sand Gnats. Gronauer drove in the team's only run.

DECISION MAKING: Starter Kyle Allen (7-6) took the loss for Savannah. He pitched six and two thirds innings and gave up four runs, two of them earned. He struck out three. Casey Erickson (6-4) got the win for West Virginia. He went five and a third innings, giving up one run. Diego Moreno (3) had a two-inning save for West Virginia.

GNATS GNOTES: Friday was Erickson's first opportunity to face the Sand Gnats as a member of the Power. He faced the Sand Gnats as a Charleston RiverDog before being traded to the Pirates organization from the Yankees June 30.

Mark Cohoon is 5-1 in six starts this season. Opponents are hitting just .233 off him. In 40 innings pitched, he also surrendered just seven walks.
James Fuller has a 3-3 record, but has a sparkling 1.75 ERA in six starts. He’s also pitched six innings in five of his appearances and has 40 Ks.

Brandon Moore has administered just three walks in 41 innings pitched. Hitters are batting just .190 against him.

Michael Powers has six saves in 10 appearances and has given up just nine hits in 12.1 innings


K-Port:

Once again, the Appalachian League’s West Division leader arrived at Hunter Wright Stadium to face the last-place Kingsport Mets.

Once again, the result was an entertaining baseball game for the fans.

A solo homer in the eighth inning by Michael Gonzales lifted the Elizabethton Twins to a 7-6 win over the K-Mets on Friday night.

“Every time we come here, crazy stuff happens. Sometimes we benefit from the crazy stuff and a lot of times we get snake-bit by the crazy stuff,” said Elizabethton manager Ray Smith, who also got a critical grand slam from Jonathan Goncalves.

Kingsport (10-20) managed to win two out of three the last time the Twins (23-8) were in town. A recurrence of that is still far from unthinkable.

“I’m proud of my guys. Good or bad, we’re in it to the end ,” said K-Mets manager Mike DiFelice

Deolis Guerra: - Why He's Here: 2-0, 2.03, 13 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 15 SO - The Scoop: After spending parts of four long, tumultuous seasons in the high Class A Florida State League, Guerra was finally given a shot at Double-A in early July. It feels like he's been around forever, yet he's still young for Double-A at age 20, and he's gone 3-0, 3.52 in his first four starts with New Britain. Guerra has regained some his velocity, which had declined last year as he battled inconsistencies with his delivery after coming over from the Mets in the Johan Santana trade. He struck out 12 over seven shutout innings against Portland Thursday night, and has fanned 23 in 23 innings for the Rock Cats.

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