Binghamton Ballers

How can I dare write an entry about two B-Mets players when one is hitting just .273 and the other has an ERA of 8.40? Because Ike Davis and Brad Holt have been beasts thus far.

The B-Mets lost to the Portland Sea Dogs last night. The Sea Dogs are the AA affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and boast a solid team with players like Josh Reddick and Lars Anderson. In yesterday's game, Binghamton had to face Japanese phenom Junichi Tazawa, he of the 2.79 ERA and .224 BAA. 

Tazawa was on his game, going 5 innings and giving up just 2 hits, 1 run, striking out two and walking none. However, the one run he gave up came on a solo blast by Ike Davis, his third in the last four games. Davis, who went 1-3 on the game and 1-4 in the other set of the double-header (another B-Mets loss), has shown great plate discipline and good power thus far, leaving him with a nice .273/.394/.509 line. Davis, who struggled mightily in his pro debut with Brooklyn last season, led the league in total bases with St. Lucie in A+ to start the year before he was called up to Binghamton a few weeks back. The only real knock on Davis has been his splits, as he struggles against lefties (.508 OPS vs southpaws in a small AA sample size). Davis could be a legitimate candidate to replace Carlos Delgado in the Mets lineup for next year, but most likely will have an ETA of 2011.

The other story in last night's game was Brad Holt. Sure, 5 innings and 3 runs isn't flashy, and neither is his 8.40 ERA, but in following Sam Page's advice, we need to look at the process just as much as we look at the results (actually, even more). Holt gave up just 3 hits, and the runs he gave up weren't exactly rockets. Here's how BMets.com described it:

The first run of the frame came across when Mike Nickeas’ throw down to second attempting to nab Reid Engel stealing went into centerfield, allowing Ryan Khoury to score, tying the game at one. With two outs, Ryan Kalish doubled down the first base line to score Engel and Jorge Jimenez followed with an RBI single to score Kalish, making it 3-1.

Overall, just some pretty crummy luck. What's more important is the fact that in those 5 innings, Holt struck out 10 (!) batters, including Josh Reddick twice and Lars Anderson once. Here's how Holt ended his fifth inning:

• Ryan Khoury called out on strikes.
• Reid Engel called out on strikes.
• Juan Apodaca strikes out swinging.

As Borat would say, wawaweewa! Holt also walked only one batter, which is good considering he had walked 7 men in ten innings entering the night. However, walks weren't an issue for Holt in the lower tiers of the minors, so hopefully his BB/9 will fall. 

Something special is stirring in Binghamton. Be excited about these two guys.