Mets Daily Farm System Report - 6/29: Buffalo Buffaloed

New York Mets Daily Farm System Report - Results from the afternoon/night of Monday, June 28 2010

The Usual Suspects

AAA - Buffalo (39-39)

AA - Binghamton (40-36)

• LF-RF Sean Ratliff: 1-3, HR(5), 3 RBI, 2 R, BB (.250/.265/.479) Batting just .209 over his last ten games yet he's slugging .581 in that span.
• CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 0-4, BB, 3 K (.277/ ) So he had a bad night, I'm just glad to see the Captain back
• 3B-1B Nick Evans: 0-4, 3 K (.290/.359/.527) Played some more third tonight
• 2B Josh Satin: 1-3, 2B, BB, K (.327/.396/.511) Hit streak at 5
• SP Josh Stinson: 5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 2 K, HB, WP (4-1, 3.04, 71 IP, 55 H, 28 BB, 46 K, 4 HR) Can't get too upset with Stinson, that's just his first start allowing more than two runs
• That's right, the promotion we've all be waiting for is finally here:  Tonight is Twilight Saga Tribute Night in B-town.  Watch the weirdly hilarious preview here; the glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth giveaway is a nice touch.

Hi-A - St. Lucie (36-37)

• SS Wilmer Flores: 3-5, R (.250/.308/.250) Looks like he's starting to feel more comfortable
• 1B Stefan Welch: 0-5, R, K (.300/.369/.463) Strangely struggling now that's he got more support in the lineup (3 for his last 17)
• C Kai Gronauer: 2-3, R, BB (.467/.417/.750)
• SP Robert Carson: 7.2 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 4 K (6-4, 4.54, 73.1 IP, 86 H, 31 BB, 57 K, 4 HR) His line doesn't tell the story of his excellent game last night; he was only a couple of bloop singles away from eight scoreless
• REHAB ALERT: Carlos Beltran was back in center last night and had one hit (batting righty) in five ab's with a run and a strikeout.  He played all nine innings in the field and had two fly outs hit to him.  He's batting .429 in fourteen rehab at-bats.
• Binghamton, you call that a Twilight promotion?  Wednesday will also be Twilight Night at Digital Domain Field but there, anyone dressed in character gets a discount, anyone named Edward or Bella gets in free, they will run the movie on the scoreboard after the game and in a stroke of genius, they're running a blood drive that very same night.

Lo-A Savannah (1-4)

Game 1
• 3B Jefry Marte: 1-4, K
• CF Pedro Zapata: 1-4, 2B, K (.285/.349/.375)
• SS Wilfredo Tovar: 3-3 (.429/.500/.429)
• SP Darin Gorski: 3 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 0 HR (2-3, 3.12, 52 IP, 48 H, 19 BB, 45 K, 3 HR)
Game 2 (7 innings)
• 3B Jefry Marte: 0-3, 2 K (.242/.321/.350)
• RF Cesar Puello: 0-3 K (.247/.333/.305)
• 2B Alonzo Harris: 0-2 (.230/.265/.355)
• SP Taylor Whitenton: 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K, WP (3-3, 3.58, 55.1 IP, 43 H, 34 BB, 58 K, 3 HR)

SS-A Brooklyn (7-4)

• CF Darrell Ceciliani: 3-4, 2 R (.409/.409/.614)  Keeps on hitting but I'd love to see that first walk of 2010 
• RF Cory Vaughn: 2-4, 3B, HR(3), 3 RBI, R (.250/.362/.575) Leads the NYPL in homers
• 1B Jeff Flagg: 2-3, HR(1) 2 RBI, R, BB (.341/.370/.545)
• SP Yohan Almonte: 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K (2-1, 4.32, 12 IP, 10 H, 4 BB, 10 K, 0 HR)
• The Cyclones "Jersday Thursday" promotion series starts this Thursday.  First up: This AWESOME '86 Backman Cyclones Jersey.

RK Kingsport (2-3)

• Rained Out

RK GCL Mets (5-2)

• DH Robbie Shields: 1-4 (.182/.188/.143)
• C Jeff Glenn: 1-3, HR(1), BB, K (.357/.438/.643) That was the first professional HR for the 2009 9th rounder from Florida
• SS Randoll Santana: 0-4, R, 2 K, 2 SB(4) (.240/.348/.250) Reached on a HBP and an error
• SP Juan Urbina: 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K (1-0, 0.93, 9.2 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 9 K)
• RP Nick Carr: 1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K, HB; Nothing like a HB with the bases loaded to blow the game
• REHAB ALERT:  CF Jason Pridie went 1-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout while again playing all nine in CF.  RHP Carlos Muniz pitched an inning of scoreless relief, allowing one hit with one strikeout.  Technically Carr belongs down here too.

Star of the Night

Hard not to go with Buffalo's 2B Russ Adams tonight off a nice two-homer performance.  The guy hasn't really had a very good year and chances are his major league days are behind him but hey, today he's our star.

The trend for Goats recently has been pitchers blowing games late and last night will be no different as RHP Nick Carr blew a win for the GCL Mets (and Juan Urbina) by loading the bases and then promptly drilling the next batter.  You can't get too upset with Carr though as this was only his third appearance back since hurting himself last June as part of the St. Lucie bullpen.  Also, the entire Sand Gnat offense deserves at least a mention here as they are looking just putrid right now.  I know they lost a lot of talent to St. Lucie but even they aren't this bad.

System Roundup

• All you need to know about this one is that the Bisons scored seven times in the final three innings and lost.  That's right, it was a good old fashioned slugfest at Coca-Cola Field last night as the Knights managed to outlast the Bisons, 13-12.  Before we get into individual performances, let's just have some fun with these numbers:  The two teams combined for 36 hits in this game and 61 total bases (compared to 26 the night before), not a single one of the 18 regulars went hitless and only one of the eight pitchers who appeared in this game did not allow any runs, the Herd swatted five bombs while the Charlotte batters amazingly hit none, surprisingly the amount of strikeouts (11) nearly doubled the amount of walks (6) and at least one run was scored in 13 of the 18 offensive frames.  Buffalo 2B Russ Adams had a big one going 3-for-6 with a couple of bombs while DH Lucas Duda, RF Val Pascucci & SS Andy Green all homered once.  But ultimately it was RHP Ramon Ortiz's nine runs in three innings that put the Bisons on the ropes and LHP Bobby Livingston who dealt the knockout blow with three more in the late stages.   Boxscore
• The B-Mets walked off in this exciting 7-6 come from behind victory, notching their fifth in as many games.  Coming into the bottom of the ninth down 6-1, the B-Mets staged an incredible 6-run rally in the driving rain to pull this one out.  Huge credit to SS Luis Hernandez who started the rally with a walk and ended it with a two out, two run, game-winning double.  The slick-fielding infielder is quietly having a pretty decent season.  The suddenly streaking B-Mets have now won nine of their last eleven games. Boxscore
• St. Lucie won this one handily, 7-4 over the Jupiter Hammerheads.  LHP Robert Carson was in full control for most of this one and was only a few pitches away from finishing the 8th when a couple of singles, a wild pitch and some shoddy relief work spoiled his line.  However, despite the late 4-run rally, the Mets were never in much trouble thanks in large part to the light-hitting IF Hector Pellot's first home run of the year, a Grand Slam in the 4th. Boxscore
• Completion of Game 1:  Savannah didn't really show a great effort here with no runs in the final six make-up innings, including just four hits and only one walk, as they dropped this one to Asheville 9-0.  Boxscore  Game 2:  They offense may as well not have shown up as they managed only two more hits and again, no runs in this 2-0 defeat.  RHP Taylor Whitenton deserved better than an L for his solid first outing as a full-time starter.  That marks three straight shut outs for the Sand Gnats offense and four of their last five.  And with a suddenly much less talented rotation, things might get ugly in Savannah this summer.  Boxscore
• The winning formula for the Cyclones thus far has been solid starting pitching and timely power and last night was no different in their 5-2 victory over the Hudson Valley Renegades.  Last night it was the slender righty Yohan Almonte that provided five innings of one-run ball, allowing 2-3-4 hitters CF Darrell Ceciliani, RF Cory Vaughn & 1B Jeff Flagg to do their thing.  Brooklyn is now 5-0 at home.  Boxscore
• The GCL Mets lost 3-2 to the GCL Cardinals yesterday afternoon.  The good news was that LHP Juan Urbina was strong again in his second career start.  Unfortunately the bats were quiet in this one and heading into the ninth with a 2-1 lead, the rehabbing RHP Nick Carr allowed two runs to give the game away.  Boxscore