Minors Stuff

New York Mets

In all of New York baseball, starting with the day in 1846 when Alexander Cartwright's Knickerbockers and the New York Nine crossed the Hudson to Hoboken to play the first recorded baseball game anywhere, there has never been anything like it ... not the Bobby Thomson home run, a spear aimed at the heart of all that was Brooklyn ... not the perfect World Series game by the Yankees' Don Larsen ... not the World Series catches by Willie Mays and Sandy Amoros and Al Gionfriddo.

They were all part of the magnificent cadence to which the only Megalopolis to ever have three major-league teams marched decade after decade ... a non-stop highlight show that stamped baseball as our culture.

But they all pale when measured against the unimaginable World Series sequence 40 years ago when Alice crashed through the looking glass, Gotham City became the Magic Kingdom and the meek inherited Baseball's throne room. In 1969 the Mets rose from their perennial coma like Lazarus in spikes and beat the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles four games to one in the kind of fabulous reversal of fortune that could only have been authored by Hans Christian Andersen.

http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2009/10/izenberg_there_was_no_bigger_n.html

Who could that be? Top-flight center fielders are a lot harder to find than left fielders, although what happens in contract talks with Jason Bay (or potential alternatives) this offseason may or may not prove that out.

One situation that bears close monitoring is Carlos Beltran with the New York Mets.

The Big Apple’s other team has descended back into the depths of mediocrity the past two years. There has not been a word about the team going into rebuilding mode, but Beltran, arguably the best defensive center fielder in the game the last few years, has $18.5 million left on each of his remaining two years in 2010 and ’11. He also has a full no-trade clause.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/other_mlb/view.bg?articleid=1207132&format=&page=2&listingType=mlb#articleFull



VSL Mets:

New York Mets minor league pitcher Rafael Castro has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 18.Castro died Friday at the Mets' academy in Carabobo, Venezuela. The Mets announced his death Saturday.Castro had spent two years with the Mets' team in the Venezuelan Summer League. The right-handed pitcher was from Colombia.

http://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/article_external/Mets_minor_league_pitcher_Rafael_Castro_dead_at_18/1429552


Winter Leagues:

Solar Sox 4, Rafters 3 (10 innings)

Blue Jays prospect David Cooper homered with two outs in the 10th inning as Mesa halted a two-game slide. Surprise rallied in the ninth on back-to-back homers by former first-round pick Ike Davis (Mets) and red-hot Yankees prospect Brandon Laird. Hank Conger (Angels) drilled a two-run blast and Steve Singleton (Twins) had a sacrifice fly for the Solar Sox, who got five strong innings from Red Sox farmhand Randor Bierd. Jarrod Dyson (Royals) collected three hits, including a run-scoring triple, for the Rafters

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091025&content_id=7542950&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Caracas 9, Magallanes 0

Cubs farmhand J.R. Mathes scattered eight hits over five innings as the first-place Leones rolled to their fourth straight win. Brewers prospect Adam Heether hit a two-run homer and Mets catcher Josh Thole added two hits, three runs scored and an RBI for Caracas. Blue Jays prospect Brian Dopirak went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .333 for Magallanes

Escogido 6, Gigantes 2

Outfielder Conor Jackson (Diamondbacks) went 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and three RBIs to lead Escogido past the visiting Gigantes. Mets farmhand Tobi Stoner improved to 2-0 for the Leones, allowing one run on five hits over six frames. Leadoff man Luis Durango (Padres) went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs for the Gigantes, who fell to 0-4 on the road.

http://www.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091024&content_id=7541666&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb



International:

Making probably one of the toughest choices of his career high school pitcher Yusei Kikuchi chose to play in Japan rather than trail blaze and play in the United States. You have to wonder how much pressure some of the old guard in Japanese baseball were placing on him not to go to the United States. One of the risks he takes is that there is no guarantee that you will be successful in the majors, and it would take at least four years of hard work to reach that goal. Mac Suzuki is a prime example of that. Yusei chose to begin that hard work in Japan. He can still pursue his dreams of playing in the major leagues, but it may be as a 28 year old veteran as opposed to a 22 year old rookie.

http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?m=200910



R.I.P.

Bill "The Big Whistle" Chadwick, the first U.S.-born official in NHL history who was later a popular broadcaster for the New York Rangers, died Saturday. He was 94.His death was announced by son Bill and confirmed by John Halligan, a family friend and hockey historian. Chadwick had been in declining health for a number of years and died while in hospice care.For 16 seasons, from 1939 to 1955, and despite being blind in one eye, Chadwick was one of the best officials the NHL. He invented and perfected the system of hand signals to signify penalties, and the system is now used throughout the world.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/sns-ap-hkn-obit-chadwick,0,5251424.story