The Mack Report - July 25, 2022

 

I didn’t have the greatest childhood. Mother dead at six, father out drinking, brother at girlfriend’s house. 

I spent a lot of time around my 95^th Avenue Ozone Park home (seven house’s up from Cyndi Lauper’s) coming up with ways of entertaining myself. 

My house was one of those typical Queens homes that had a front brick stoop attached to it. Mine was four levels high and, behind that, was a screen door that was very loud if you banged something into it. We were renters that lived upstairs and it was important to be as quiet as we could when we came and went. 

This came into play when I began to have my daily stoop ball game. 

It worked like this… you throw your Spalding or Pensy Pinkie into the bricks and, the return of that ball was like a batter hitting a ball back to you. Throw it just right on the point and you had either a fly ball or a home run over your head. Throw it a little too high on the point and it crashed back into the screen door and Mr. Owens would start to steam. 

Anyway, I pitched for both teams. The enemy was always the Yankees. I was always the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Somehow, the Dodgers always won, Mickey Mantle never had a hit, and Gil Hodges (my favorite player) would hit the game winner. Funny how this worked this way. 

I’ve told this story before but I thought I would once again. 

Hope you had a day yesterday, Mr. Hodges, even it if did come 20+ years too late. 

 

 BPJ  - 2023 MLB Draft: 10 College Players to Know 

Drew Bowser, 3B, Stanford 

Bowser was a top prep prospect in the 2020 draft but had a strong commitment to Stanford. In his first two years, Bowser served as a consistent offensive producer. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-handed hitter uses a compact swing to drive the ball to all fields with massive power. His aggressive approach sometimes leads to strikeouts, however. 

Bowser has the athleticism and arm strength to play well defensively at third base. 

 

Yesterday’s Tweets -

 

Michael Mayer @mikemayer22 

The Mets have a set a team record with 13 straight games with two or fewer runs allowed by the starting pitchers. 

Starters have a 1.67 ERA with 95 strikeouts and only 17 walks in that span.

 

Ernest Dove @ernestdove 

Mets P prospect Dominic Hamel so far in July through 4 starts -

14 inn

12 H

5 ER (3.21)

8 BB

22 K

 

Ernest Dove @ernestdove 

Florida State League stolen base leaders

(Mets) Omar de los Santos  48

2nd highest: 29

 

D. J. Short @djshort 

Since 2019, Daniel Vogelbach has a higher OPS against right-handed pitching (.833) than the following hitters: 

Nelson Cruz

Josh Donaldson

Joc Pederson

Jose Abreu

Mark Canha

Manny Machado

Marcell Ozuna

 

Max @maximusprime693 

Edwin Diaz has a -0.17 fip in his last 25 outings, that’s flat out absurd, 

 

Minor League Press Releases -

 

Worcester, MA – The Syracuse Mets faltered late in Sunday afternoon’s game, losing 10-8 after scoring the game’s first six runs. Despite the loss, the Mets still took two out of three games in the series. Syracuse has also won seven out of its last 11 games, and the Mets own one of the best records in the International League since June 2nd, posting a 27-18 record during that time span.     

Early on, it looked like Syracuse (42-51) was destined for a series sweep, taking a commanding 6-0 lead entering the bottom of the second inning. The Mets scored four times in the top of the first on the strength of two separate two-run singles. Nick Plummer and Deven Marrero had the pair of two-run base knocks to give the Mets a 4-0 edge.    

In the second, the Mets tacked on two more runs. A one-out Nic Gaddis double started the effort. Gaddis moved up to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI groundout from Plummer for a 5-0 Mets lead. Gaddis had an outstanding Triple-A debut on Sunday, going 2-for-2 at the plate with two doubles, three walks, and two runs scored. Later in the second, Syracuse struck again when Mark Vientos pounded a home run over the center-field wall to make it 6-0. Vientos is now tied for the team lead with 17 round-trippers this season. He also went a combined 4-for-10 in the weekend series at Worcester.      

From there, the game slipped away as Worcester (48-45) rallied all the way back to win. The comeback effort began slowly, first with a lone run in the bottom of the second when Cam Cannon singled home Christin Stewart, who had doubled earlier in the frame. Cannon was making his Triple-A debut on Sunday afternoon.    

In the fourth, the WooSox plated another lone run to make it 6-2. Johan Mieses walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a Nick Sogard single, went to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Grant Williams.   

In the fifth, the Red Sox got within one run of a tie with three tallies on three hits. Ronaldo Hernández doubled home Connor Wong and Tristan Casas, who had both singled to begin the frame. Later in the inning, Hernández himself scored when Sogard produced a sacrifice fly to make it a 6-5 ballgame. 

In the top of the sixth, the Mets got a little breathing room again when Kramer Robertson brought home two runs on a one-out single. Deven Marrero singled to start the inning, followed by Jose Colina being plunked by a pitch that put two on base with nobody out. Tzu-Wei Lin dropped down an excellent sacrifice bunt that advanced Marrero to third and Colina to second, followed by Robertson’s single right back up the middle that made it a three-run advantage for the road team again, 8-5. 

However, the Mets offense would go silent from there. After Syracuse scored six runs on six hits in the first two innings, the Mets produced just two runs on two hits in the game’s final seven innings. The Red Sox took advantage of the lack of Syracuse offense down the stretch, scoring the game’s final five runs to take down the Mets by a 10-8 final.   

In the seventh, Worcester scored twice to make it 8-7. Hernández led off with his second double of the game and scored on a one-out single from Mieses. Later in inning, Mieses came home to score on an RBI hit from Grant Williams. Williams, the nine hitter in the WooSox lineup, finished the game with two runs driven in.    

In the eighth, the Red Sox completed their furious rally. Connor Wong and Triston Casas began the inning with consecutive singles, putting runners on first and third with nobody out. A Hernández sacrifice fly plated Wong and kept Casas on first with one out as the Red Sox tied the game, 8-8. Christin Stewart then walked, putting runners on first and second with one out. Johan Mieses followed with a hard chopper to third that glanced off Tzu-Wei Lin’s glove, rolling softly into left field and allowing Stewart to sprint all the way home and give the WooSox a 9-8 lead they would never give up. The Red Sox extended their lead later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Sogard, putting the finishing touches on a 10-8 victory. By the end of the game, Worcester had scored ten runs on 13 hits.   

While Worcester’s hitters took the headlines in their furious comeback win, their bullpen should take a bulk of the credit. After the Red Sox starter, Chris Murphy, recorded just one out, the bullpen held the fort. Relievers Geoff Hartlieb, A.J. Politi, Matt Barnes, Chase Shugart, and Frank German combined to toss eight and two-thirds innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with six strikeouts.    

 

BINGHAMTON, NY – The Binghamton Rumble Ponies (5-15, 33-56) jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three innings and led 5-2 after six, but eight combined Hartford runs in the seventh and eighth propelled the Yard Goats to a 10-6 win on Sunday afternoon at Mirabito Stadium. 

Hartford (13-7, 56-33) did all of its damage with two outs in the seventh as the first run came across on a Hunter Stovall RBI groundout to make it 5-3. Eight Yard Goats followed in the order as the exclamation point came on a two-run single to right field from Niko Decolati which put Hartford ahead 7-5. Decolati had a three-hit afternoon. 

The Yard Goats pushed three more across in the eighth on RBI singles from Michael Toglia and Aaron Schunk while Willie MacIver picked up a sacrifice fly. 

Wyatt Young’s three-run double down the left field line in the second got the Ponies on the board first scoring Carlos Cortes, Nick Meyer and Matt Winaker as Young finished the game with two hits. Zach Ashford tacked on a run with a single in the third scoring Brett Baty. Ashford finished 2-4 with a home run in the ninth and two RBI. 

Riley Pint (2-1) picked up the win for Hartford pitching a scoreless inning of relief and Yeizo Campos (4-2) was tabbed with the loss. New York Mets reliever Trevor May pitched a scoreless fifth inning in his first MLB rehab appearance giving up a hit and striking out one. 

POSTGAME NOTES: Jeremy Vasquez extended his hit streak to 10 games after a single in the fourth… Young, Baty, Ashford and Meyer each had multi-hit games… Hartford’s Brenton Doyle went 4-4… Every hitter in the Binghamton and Hartford orders reached base at least once. 

 

JUPITER, Fla. (July 24, 2022) – The St. Lucie Mets broke out of their offensive slump in a big way on Sunday, blasting the Jupiter Hammerheads 8-3 at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. 

After being held to one run and eight hits in the previous two games against Jupiter, the Mets put up eight runs on 12 hits Sunday. 

Justin Guerrera got the offense going, hitting a pinch hit three-run homer off Juan Reynoso in the fourth inning to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. 

Raul Beracierta smashed a RBI double in the sixth inning and Brady Smith poked a two-out RBI single later in the inning to make it 5-0. 

Jupiter’s Javier Sanoja gave the Mets a brief scare by hitting a three-run homer against Keyshawn Askew in the bottom of the sixth that cut the Mets lead to 5-3. 

However, the Mets put the game away with a three-run eighth inning. MiLB rehabber JT Riddle crushed a two-out, two-run double and Omar De Los Santos blooped in a RBI single to plate Riddle for an 8-3 lead. 

Eight of the nine starters recorded a hit for the Mets. Eduardo Salazar, the starting DH, was the only player without a hit but he was plunked in his first at-bat and departed the game. Guerrera subbed in and hit the key three-run homer. 

Warren Saunders went 3 for 5 with a double and two runs. 

Beracierta went 2 for 4 with a double and three runs. 

Mets starter Tony Dibrell, on a MiLB rehab assignment, pitched two scoreless innings with one hit and three strikeouts. 

Askew (3-0) pitched the next three innings to get the win. He allowed three runs, all on the homer by Sanoja. 

Relievers Daniel Juarez, Trey McLoughlin, Joshua Cornielly and Reyson Santos each pitched one scoreless inning. Santos struck out two batters in a perfect ninth to close out the game in a non-save situation. 

The Mets snapped a five-game losing streak, which was their second longest of the season. The Mets also snapped a nine-game losing streak at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Sunday was the last of the Mets 27 regular season games at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, although it is a likelihood they will return to the stadium in mid September to face Jupiter or Palm Beach in game 1 of the Florida State League East Division playoff series.