7-27-11: - I always thought John Church would be better off as a starter. He was last year for a few months in Savannah and I thought he did fine. Then 2011 brings a promotion to Lucy and back to the pen. Well, for reasons undefined, he started tonight and turned in a great outing: 5.0-IP, 1-ER, 5-H, 0-K (?)… not sure what the rotation is going to be here for the rest of the year now that Zack Wheeler is heading their way.
Chris Schwinden:
7-27-11: - Schwinny pitched a gem Wednesday afternoon, with stats of 7.0-IP, 2-R, 6-K, 1-BB. He now has 101 strikeouts for the Bisons and has become the 16th pitcher in modern-era with 100+ strikeouts for the Bisons (Dillon Gee holds the record with 165, set last year).
Brett Mitchell:
7-27-11: - http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110727&content_id=22354404&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&partnerId=rss_nym - The only thing that could stop Brett Mitchell on Tuesday was his pitch count. The Mets prospect allowed one hit and recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings as Rookie-level Kingsport blanked the Bristol White Sox to complete a doubleheader sweep. Mitchell (4-1) did not allow a hit until Michael Johnson singled with one out in the sixth. He walked three, including Collin Kuhn with one out in the seventh, then fanned Michael Schwartz before reaching his limit of 90 pitches. "Everything was really working," said Mitchell, who throws a fastball, changeup, slider and curveball. "I was pounding the zone with my off-speed pitches. I mixed them in there all the time. I think they are all pretty solid."
Matt Harvey:
7-26-11: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/7/26/2287253/mets-mid-term-farm-system-review-2011-binghamton#storyjump - RHP Matt Harvey - STOCK UP - The first rounder from New London had quite a bit of hype surrounding him coming into his pro debut and he had no problem living up to every bit of it. He didn't allow an earned run through his first 22 IP and soon after he won the FSL's Pitcher of the Week award and it was clear to all that Harvey was the goods. Though he eventually did allow a run, Harvey looked dominant throughout his stay in Hi-A to the tune of a 10.89 K/9 and a .238 average against. However -- not surprisingly -- Double-A has a much tougher test for Harvey. Suddenly we are seeing first-hand evidence of the raw secondary stuff and sometimes shaky command that we heard about back when he was drafted. Though he's actually striking out more batters than before, his biggest problem has been consistently falling behind batters. As a result he's serving up more meatballs (.338 AVG against) as well as racking up big pitch counts early. Despite the struggles, this isn't alarming or uncommon for a Double-A debut. Really all it tells us is that perhaps Harvey is not the Gooden-esque phenom people hoped when he first busted out of the gates...but he can still be very good.
Mets Urinals:
For all the debate about the dimensions of the Mets ballpark, there is another topic that has drawn heated criticism from visitors to the home of the Mets. I'm speaking of course, about the lack of dividers in between the state of the art flushless urinals in the restrooms at Citi Field. But now, after much silence from the Mets on the issue, one Mets executive is finally speaking out on the issue. "We've all heard the jokes.", said Mets VP Dave Howard. "One blogger named Shannon or something even asked me once why the bathroom is the only place at Citi without an obstructed view. To be honest we've had discussions about the whole urinal situation before but it wasn't until the incident that we actually knew we had to do something." - http://www.readtheapple.com/2011/07/mets-vp-dave-howard-finally-adresses.html
