Crawdads 10 - Gnats 1

Historic Grayson Stadium gives up very few home runs, but it could not hold Travis Demeritte, who homered twice to lead the Hickory Crawdads to a 10-1 win over the Savannah Sand Gnats Thursday night at Historic Grayson Stadium.  Demeritte leads the SAL with 23 homers. 

The Crawdads (24-16/65-44) scored twice in the first, using an RBI double from centerfielder Zach Cone and a single from rightfielder Jairo Beras to grab a 2-0 lead before the Gnats came to bat. 

Demeritte drilled a long homerun down the leftfield line off starter Logan Taylor in the second to put the Crawdads up 3-0. He added his second longball off reliever Hunter Carnevale in the ninth to finish the game's scoring. 

The Gnats (23-16/67-38) scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the third. Shortstop Yeixon Ruiz singled, stole second and scored on center fielder Champ Stuart's single into center. 

Hickory also scored on a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning and three times in an eighth inning that was marred by three Savannah errors.

The Gnats will send RHP Ricky Knapp (4-6, 4.21) to the mound Friday against RHP David Ledbetter (4-4, 7.27).

SUSPENDED - Darrell Cecilliani

July 31:

• OF Darrell Ceciliani placed on suspended list (1 game, on-field behavior)

2015 Draft Profile - RHP - Kyle Molnar - Aliso Niguel (CA) HS - updated 7-18-14

6-11-14 – Kevin Askeland/MaxPreps – Top 10 High School Players To Watch for 2015 Draft – Kyle Molnar, Aliso Niguel (Aliso Viejo, Calif.), RHP - Had a strong year at the plate and on the mound for Aliso Niguel, which reached the Southern Section Division II championship game. Posted a 10-2 record with 81 strikeouts and a 1.81 ERA in 81 innings pitched. His best outing was an 8-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 1-0 win over Los Alamitos. Also batted .320 with seven doubles and three home runs. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/RE_IkTleBU-vFF_g8YCOQg/top-10-high-school-players-to-watch-for-2015-mlb-draft.htm

6-10-14 - Kyle Molnar, LHP, Aliso Niguel High School, CA

An athletic lefthander, Molnar could rise towards the top of draft boards this year.  The UCLA commit has a chance for 3 above average pitches.  is fastball has touched 93 and both his breaking ball and change show potential.

The Los Angles Times said that Aliso Niquel (CA) High School's RHP, 6-3, 200 pound Kyle Molnar, is going to be the next best pitcher in baseball.

Arsenal includes - 89-92, 94 fastball,,, 80-82 deceiving change-up... and work-in-progress curve.

Over 60 inning period.... 63/K, 12/BB

MaxiPrep ranks Molnar as the top 2015 sophomore... 

2014 - 1.80-ERA, 10-wins, 74-IP, 78-K, .172-OBA

Binghamton Mets 2014 Game Notes

Binghamton Mets (64-46) vs.

Bowie Baysox (56-56)

(Double-A Affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles)

RHP Matt Bowman (6-6, 3.48) vs. RHP Matt Bischoff (2-4, 4.59)

Thursday, July 31, 2014 • Game #111 • Home Game #57

NYSEG Stadium•  Binghamton, NY • 6:35 PM

LAST GAME: The Binghamton Mets gave up four runs in the first inning and never recovered in a 7-2 loss to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, on Wednesday night at NYSEG Stadium. The B-Mets committed four errors and went1-for-12 with RISP. Dustin Lawley and Brandon Nimmo each tallied two hits. T.J. Rivera went 1-for-4 to extend his season-high hit streak to eight games. Greg Peavey allowed four runs on five hits in the first, but shutout the Fisher Cats on three hits over his final four frames. Hansel Robles and Jack Leathersich tossed the final free innings and allowed just three unearned runs.

BINGHAMTON STARTER: RHP Matt Bowman makes his 16^th start of the season and his second against Bowie. The righty is back with the B-Mets after making one appearance with Las Vegas (AAA). He tossed seven innings and allowed three runs (two earned) and took the loss in a 5-2 51’s defeat to the Salt Lake Bees on Saturday, July 26. In his one other start against the Baysox, the Chevy Chase, Maryland native gave up two runs in seven innings. Binghamton lost the game 2-0 on June 22. The 23-year-old has gone at least seven innings five times in 2014. Bowman was taken by the Mets in the 13^th round of the 2012 draft out of Princeton.

BOWIE STARTER: RHP Matt Bischoff toes the rubber for the 15^th time this season and his tenth start. The Fort Wayne, Indiana native took the loss in his last appearance. He went 2.1 innings and gave up seven runs on eight hits against the Altoona Curve on Saturday, July 26. The Baysox lost the game 11-0. The righty has started his last two outings after making three straight appearances out of the bull pen. He’s been held to less than five innings in his last three starts and hasn’t picked up a win since May 14. The Purdue product was signed by Baltimore as a minor league free agent on January, 28 2012

WELL, THAT’S NOT WHAT I WANTED: Binghamton committed four errors on Wednesday to bring their season total to 86. The team’s committed 29 infractions in July alone. That’s seven more than any other month. It was the B-Mets sixth multi-error game since July 11. Three of those outings have had four or more fielding blunders. That includes a season-high five error game on July 13 at Erie. The team still ranks fourth in the league in errors committed. They’ve tallied 14 more than first-place Akron.

WE’RE GOING STREAKING: T.J. Rivera and Brandon Nimmo are each riding season-high hitting streaks. Nimmo has had a base knock in his last six games, while Rivera has a hit in his last eight. The pair is a combined 20-for-55 (.364) during their respective streaks.

DON’T SAY IT’S OVER: Binghamton INF Jayce Boyd has had his best month of the season in July. He’s hit .333 so far in the month with two home runs, three doubles and 17 RBI.  He’s slugging .474 in July after putting up a .277 mark in June. He had his second five-game hitting streak of the season end on Wednesday

BESTING THE BAYSOX: Binghamton INF Dilson Herrera was 5-for-11 (.455) in the only other series of the season between these squads. The 20-year-old scored twice and knocked in two runs in the three games.

INTO THE WEST:  Wednesday starts Binghamton’s first series against a Western Division foe since before the All-Star break. The B-Mets are 30-17 against those teams in 2014 and 15-8 in the Southern Tier. They have a 2-1 mark against Bowie. The Baysox are the only team in the league that has not played at NYSEG Stadium.

Baseball America - Success of Top Prospects

Brian Mangan - The Ruben Tejada Experiment is Over, It’s Time to #FreeWilmer: Part III

The Ruben Tejada Experiment is Over, It’s Time to #FreeWilmer: Part III

By: Brian Mangan

This is the third and final installment of my #FreeWilmer series.  I hope you have enjoyed it so far.

• In Part I, we explained that Ruben Tejada has been a huge liability at the plate this year (161st out of 162 major leaguers in slugging %) and ranked 22nd out of 28 shortstops in wins above replacement (WAR).
• In Part II, we explained that Wilmer Flores is a former Top 100 prospect who has nothing left to prove in Triple-A (batting .321/.360/.543 with 28 HR and 143 RBI in 162 games) and that his offensive contribution would outweigh any of his defensive problems.

http://thereadzone.com/2014/07/30/the-ruben-tejada-experiment-is-over-its-time-to-freewilmer-part-iii/ 

D-Whit - It Was 45 Years Ago Today...Thursday July 31st

July 31^st

 

Tom Seaver took the mound in hopes of stopping the three game Met slide. "The Franchise” did his part scattering 5 hits and 1 ER over 7 but the anemic Met offense mustered just 4 hits against Houston starter Tom Griffin. New York threatened in the 4^th after a Wayne Garrett lead off double and Ed Kranepool walk but Ron Swoboda hit into a twin-killing to snuff the only real Met threat of the night.

Meanwhile in Chicago, the Cubs trounced San Fran 12-2 and increased their lead to 6 ½ over the suddenly struggling Mets. After this sweep by the Astros next up in their tour of the NL West was was a weekend set hosting the division-leading Braves.  

 

The Mets wrap up July with a 15-12 record for the month.

Morning Report – July 31st – Zack Wheeler, Bartolo Colon, After Dark Chat, Wild Card

Yes, SP Zack Wheeler has improved this season and, yes, he is implanting himself into the SP2 slot; however, he continues to have difficulty going past the first five innings, not because of the runs he gives up but due to the number of pitches he throws. I’m written this a number of times.

Going into yesterday’s day game, Wheeler put up these kind of numbers in his last five starts: 6-30: 6.1-IP, 113-pitches… 7-6: 6.2-IP, 111-pitches… 7-11: 6.2-IP, 114-pitches… 7-20: 6.0-IP, 106-pitches… 7-25: 6.2-IP, 108-pitches.

Is there good news here? Sure, he only gave up five earned runs over the 32 innings pitched, but he has to find a way to ‘get things done earlier’.

Well, yesterday he threw 98 pitches in the first six innings, once again giving up only one run. Improved pitch control through six, but the Mets left him in once again for the 7^th inning and he gave up a Jimmy Rollins home run.

So, let me ask you…  in a ‘non-playoff’ season, what’s more important here… taking him out and getting the win, or letting him work his way out of this and try to get through the 8^th (especially since you let him hit in the last inning)?

The Mets decoded to take him out.

Mail Box –

            Michael Brandt –

                        Hey Mack, do we say goodbye to Bart today?

                                    Mack – Hey Michael.

No, I think he's a goner, but probably in the off-season.

I read something that Sandy Alderson said about him the other day to a gaggle and it made a lot of sense. This is just not the time that Colon stands out as being something special, but take this same guy and move the talks to the off season when bunches of agents are trying to sell all the GM’s their high priced $40, $50, and $60mil packaged starters.

Then, standing over in the corner is ‘little Bart’ who led the Mets in wins, gave up something like three walks, and has a one year contract for a measly $11mil.

This is every General Manager’s dream… a quality starter on a one year deal. They will be all over Sandy for this one… not now when only half the team want to deal off selective pieces… no, at the end of the year when you can pick and choose from their entire roster.

This is how you get that SS of LFer you want.

Michael Scannell –

I'm looking at major moves as offseason activity, nothing for right now.  It seems the Mets and the Cards are the two teams that match up with the Rox for a deal. Let's kill two birds with one stone.  The Cards are contending this year and the Mets are not.  They need help at 2B and could use a veteran pitcher.  Send them Colon and Murphy for whatever young talent we can preferably players the Rox would want.  This way we grab the tradable young talent we need AND eliminate our only competition for Tulo.

Mack – Well, whatever you are going to do, it better be today.

I think the better the Mets play through this list 25 game period, the more Sandy and Company will hold their ground regarding their young pitching.

Michael, this team should do nothing in 2014 to jepordize 2015. And, we’ve run out of time to put together a 3-way.

What I worry about now is how Murphy is starting to really stink up the middle infield. No teams wants a SS or 2Bman that can’t field.

After Dark Chat –

Comment From Steve - Do you think the Mets should trade from their pitching depth, and for who?

Paul Swydan: Yes. Trading pitching depth for hitters is always the right play. Not all those guys are going to pop, and even if they do, the Mets won’t have places for them.

Comment From Steve - Do you like the prognosis for the Mets future considering their enviable pitching depth?

Paul Swydan: No, not really. They don’t have enough good hitters, and haven’t shown the willingness and/or aptitude to make the correct moves in free agency that they need to make up for their talent gap. 

Wild Card –

            The Mets win another series. They are now 15-8 in the last 23 games… 105 win pace.

            The Mets were swept by the Braves on June 30 – July 2.  Since then, they have gone 5-1-1 in series.

(look… you can be as critical as you want about this team, the manager’s decisions, and who plays shortstop, but they’ve done just about everything they could in the past 23 games to get back into this thing… give them the credit due…)

The Reds have just been dismal, going 2-10 in the last 12 games. They are now tied with Miami with 54 loses, just two away from the Mets.

This was  big day for the Mets efforts. There are nine teams currently with better win-loss records that are either competing for a divisional title of a wild car slot. ALL SIX TEAMS currently ranked as wild cards lost last night.

Let's look at the Mets growth in another way... there have been 17 loses in the past four days by those nine teams I mentioned above.. The Mets have lost once once over the same fur days.

As of right now, the Mets are 7.5 out of the division lead and 6 out of a wild card slot.

Love it,

 Minor Moves –

St. Lucie SP Michael Fulmer has not allowed a run at home in his last 19 innings…