Mets Daily Farm System Report - 7/26

New York Mets Daily Farm System Report - Results from the afternoon of Sunday July 25, 2010

The Usual Suspects

AAA - Buffalo (51-50)

• CF Jesus Feliciano: 1-2, 2 BB (.353/.394/.439)
• 1B Mike Hessman: 1-4, 2B, 2 K (.279/.358/.583) First game back in the field since the hand injury
• RF Fernando Martinez: 1-4, 2 K (.244/.303/.446)
• SS Ruben Tejada: 0-4, 1 K (.296/.347/.363)
• LF Lucas Duda: 0-4, 2 K (.301/.365/.659)
• SP Ramon Ortiz: 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 K, HB (1-3, 4.62, 39 IP, 41 H, 8 BB, 29 K, 1 HR) That's two earned in his last 20 innings
• RP Jose De La Torre: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K (1-1, 2.86, 28.1 IP, 24 H, 10 BB, 32 K, 3 HR) Diminutive righty looking like an interesting bullpen arm

AA - Binghamton (52-50)

• CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 1-4, 2B, R, 2 K, CS(6) (.298/.344/.532)
• LF Sean Ratliff: 0-4, 2 K (.340/.372/.614)
• 1B Nick Evans: 1-4, 2B (.292/.367/.523) Back at first
• SP Michael Antonini: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 7 K (6-9, 4.07, 121.2 IP, 120 H, 23 BB, 98 K, 14 HR) Deserved better in this one
• RP Eric Niesen: 1.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 HR (4-4, 4.13, 56.2 IP, 50 H, 47 BB, 43 K, 5 HR) He's allowed at least one earned run in eight of his last ten appearances
• RP Manny Alvarez: 1.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K (3-0, 2.36, 26.2 IP, 21 H, 3 BB, 33 K, 0 HR)
• Tonight is 'Moustache Monday' in Bingo where any mustachioed fan gets in absolutely free.  Watch the always entertaining video preview here. 

Hi-A - St. Lucie (50-49)

• SS Wilmer Flores: 1-4 (.351/.360/.470)
• CF Juan Lagares: 2-4, K (.238/.254/.325)
• RF Pedro Zapata: 1-4, K (.250/.250/.375)
• SP Brandon Moore: 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K (2-3, 2.75, 36 IP, 32 H, 14 BB, 29 K, 1 HR) Already has more walks than he did at Savannah in about half the innings
• REHAB ALERT - 3B Zack Lutz: 0-4, 2 K; First game at St. Lucie after five in the GCL

Lo-A Savannah (54-46)

• 3B Jefry Marte: DNP (.264/.333/.401) Third straight day off, looking for any updates
• DH Cesar Puello: 3-4, 2 2B, 2 R, CS(8) (.278/.361/.335) 
• SS Robbie Shields: 0-4, E(3)
• SS Wilfredo Tovar: DNP (.302/.362/.375) Like Marte that's three straight, keeping my ear to the ground
• 3B Jet Butler: 1-3, HR(1), 3 RBI, R, BB (.310/.348/.300) After getting crowded out of the Brooklyn infield, the 2010 26th rounder out of Miss. St. has certainly performed so far in Savannah; also how did he miss out on 'Minors Moniker Madness?'  Don't forget to vote for Dock Doyle!
• SP Jim Fuller: 6 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 6 K (8-3, 1.93, 102.1 IP, 86 H, 28 BB, 95 K, 1 HR) 

SS-A Brooklyn (24-13)

• CF Darrell Ceciliani: 3-3, 3B, BB, SB(14) (.378/.441/.555)
• RF Cory Vaughn: 0-5, 2 K (.310/.409/.614)
• SS Rylan Sandoval: 1-5, 3 K (.315/.395/.569)
• 3B Brian Harrison: 3-5, 2 HR(4), 4 RBI, 3 R, K (.309/.361/.636) As if the 'Clones needed another offensive weapon to emerge
• C Blake Forsythe: 1-5, R
• SP Chris Hilliard: 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, WP (5-1, 4.85, 42.2 IP, 51 H, 7 BB, 25 K, 1 HR) After a 2.04 June ERA, Hilliard has had a 6.84 July

RK Kingsport (16-17)

• LF ZeErika McQueen: 1-4, RBI, 2 R, BB (.298/.348/.402) Don't forget to vote for Ze'Erika too!
• 3B Aderlin Rodriguez: 2-5, RBI, 2 R (.310/.360/.605)
• RF Javier Rodriguez: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, K (.307/.331/.480)
• 2B Ray Van Gurp: 2-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI, BB, K (.276/.367/.408) Nice game that included the eighth inning bases-clearing triple that would win it for the kid from Curacao

RK GCL Mets (13-15)

• 2B Randoll Santana: 1-3, 2 R, BB, SB(11) (.253/.340/.330)
• LF Julio Concepcion: 1-4, K (.316/.350/.516)
• RF Gilbert Gomez: 2-3, 2 2B, RBI, K, SB(4) (.228/.284/.337)
• SP Edigliolis Villasmil: 4.1 IP, 1 ER (2 unearned), 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K (1-2, 3.14, 28.2 IP, 32 H, 10 BB, 9 K, 2 HR) That K-rate just won't cut it
• REHAB ALERT - RHP Brant Rustich: 2 IP, 0 ER (1 unearned), 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K (0-0, 5.79, 9.1 IP, 8 H, 5 BB, 6 K, 0 HR)

Star of the Night

On a night when so many Mets affiliates were shut down by quality pitching, Brooklyn 3B Brian Harrison wins in a landslide based on his two-homer, 4 RBI performance.  We've already gone over his 'undervalued 13th round pick thanks to injuries in college' story here and each day it looks more and more legitimate.  Harrison sports a strong arm, good defense and good overall offensive mix of power, contact and speed and what's more, he's a tremendous athlete.  Around draft time there were some who felt that he could handle a move to CF to increase his positional value; who knows if the Mets will do that in the future.  At this point, they just want to keep him healthy as he has been hurt just about every season since he started at Furman U.  However, currently Harrison is staying healthy and is absolutely emerging as yet another serious offensive threat in a lineup that is already crushing the rest of the NYPL.

Goat of the Night was Bingo's LHP Eric Niesen.  Discussed as a possible option for the 2nd lefty out of the 'pen before Raul Valdes emerged this spring, Niesen is now spiraling downward nearly as fast as fellow 2010 disappointment Brad Holt.  Moved to the 'pen a couple weeks back due to command issues, he's been as bad if not worse in relief.  The one silver lining is his .203 BAA versus lefties in 2010 but if he can't throw more strikes that won't matter.

System Roundup

• The Herd dropped this one to the Mudhens 2-0 on Sunday in a masterful effort by Toledo pitching.  Three Mudhen starters combined to throw a 5-hit shutout in this one as no Bison baserunner ever got past second base.  RHP Ramon Ortiz was the hard luck loser as he allowed just a run over seven strong innings.  That makes five straight in the loss column for the Bisons  Boxscore
• Like the Bisons, Binghamton was bested by virtue of tremendous pitching in this 4-1 loss to the SeaWolves.  B-Mets batters managed just four hits and went 1-for-10 with RISP.  Also like Buffalo's game, the starter (lefty Michael Antonini) deserved a batter fate as he took the L after six very strong innings.  Although a bigger concern is the suddenly reeling LHP Eric Niesen who has only been worse since his move to the 'pen.   Boxscore
• In keeping with last night's trend, the St. Lucie Mets were bested by nearly flawless pitching in their 6-1 loss to Daytona, completing the dreaded four-game series sweep and extending their losing streak to six.  The offense managed (you guessed it) just five hits, four of which came from the Savannah crew (Flores, Lagares & Zapata).  Unfortunately fellow former Sand Gnat RHP Brandon Moore also followed Sunday's trend of pitching well but taking the loss as he was strong over six innings.  Boxscore
• The Gnats bucked two trends yesterday:  First, they didn't need extras for the first time in four games.  Second, they were the ones doing the fantastic pitching and shutting out the Legends in their 3-0 victory.  It all started with the always strong LHP Jim Fuller who is really just awaiting a spot to open up in the St. Lucie rotation at this point.  At the plate, all three runs were driven in by 2010 26th round selection 3B Jet Butler who struggled in his brief stay at Brooklyn but has flourished as a member of the Sand Gnats.  Boxscore
• The Yankees jumped out to an early five run lead and despite a valiant effort, Brooklyn's comeback fell short as they lost 8-7.  Despite outhitting the Yankees 14-9, the Cyclones killed themselves in the clutch last night, going 3-for-14 with RISP.  What's more, LHP Chris Hilliard continued his downward spiral after such a nice start to the season, allowing six runs in just three innings.  Boxscore
• Bit of a slugfest in Kingsport on Saturday as the two teams combined for 38 hits and 21 runs but eventually it was the Mets that came back to topple Greeneville, 11-10.  This was a boxing match-type game where the Astros gave the Mets their best shot and the Mets climbed up off the mat and kept on fighting.  It started off with the Kingsport pitching (no one of note) putting them in a 5-0 hole early and that lead only grew as the game continued.  However, the K-Mets lineup staged the always fun 7-run rally to take the lead for good in the eighth inning, an inning where Kingsport had two separate sequences of four consecutive hits.  Boxscore
• Thanks to an 0-for-10 with RISP, the GCL Mets were edged by the GCL Astros 4-3 yesterday.  Not only did they have two upper level catchers in their lineup (Montz & Abruzzo), their opponents committed a couple of errors so there really isn't an excuse in this one other than the fact that the Mets lineup has absolutely no punch.  Boxscore