Mets Daily Farm System Report - 8/28: Strong Pitching Abound

New York Mets Daily Farm System Report - Results from the night of Friday August 27, 2010

The Usual Suspects

AAA - Buffalo (71-61)

• CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 1-5, RBI, 2B, 3 K (.197/.274/.342)
• LF Lucas Duda: 2-4, R, BB, K (.315/.389/.621)
• 1B Nick Evans: 2-5, 2 R, 2 K (.318/.392/.570)
• SP Josh Stinson: 7 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 9 K (1-1, 2.08, 13 IP, 13 H, 3 BB, 13 K, 2 HR) Heck of a performance in Stinson's second Triple-A start
• RP Chad Cordero: 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K (1-1, 2.19, 12.1 IP, 11 H, 5 BB, 11 K, 0 HR)
• RP Michael O'Connor: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K (4-1, 2.38, 64.1 IP, 59 H, 16 BB, 64 K, 5 HR) Sixteen inning scoreless streak and a sub-1 ERA in August for the deceptive lefty journeyman
• RP Yhency Brazoban: 0.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K (0-0, 9.00, 6 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR) Suddenly we're seeing why Brazoban was pitching in Mexico

AA - Binghamton (62-68)

• CF Sean Ratliff: 0-4, 2 K (.332/.379/.614) Continues to do damage to that BB:K ratio
• 1B Josh Satin: 1-2, RBI, BB (.327/.414/.500)
• LF Eric Campbell: 1-4, 3 K (.278/.329/.444) Batting .200 over his last ten games
• 3B Zach Lutz: 1-4, K, E(7) (.286/.393/.583)
• 2B Jordany Valdespin: 0-4, K (.258/.269/.333)
• SP Dylan Owen: 5 IP, 6 ER (1 unearned), 8 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 3 HR (4-4, 4.38, 75 IP, 68 H, 32 BB, 58 K, 10 HR) Thirteen earned runs over his last fourteen innings pitched

Hi-A - St. Lucie (56-71)

• SS Wilmer Flores: 1-4, RBI, K (.297/.322/.416)
• RF Rafael Fernandez: 0-4, 3 K (.298/.335/.439) Ouch
• C Kai Gronauer: 1-4, RBI, K (.324/.381/.430) Extends his hit streak to eleven games
• DH Francisco Pena: 1-4, K
• SP Jeurys Familia: 5.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 10 K, 1 HR, WP, 2 HBP (5-8, 5.28, 116 IP, 110 H, 71 BB, 129 K, 6 HR) Struck out 28 batters over his last three starts

Lo-A Savannah (68-62)

Game One

• CF Matt den Dekker: 1-2, BB, K
• SS Robbie Shields: 1-3, HR(3), 2 RBI, R, K; Hitting much better of late
• SP Collin McHugh: 5 IP, 1 ER (1 unearned), 4 H, 3 BB, 4 K, WP (5-8, 3.63, 121.1 IP, 135 H, 37 BB, 119 K, 7 HR)
• It took place last night but I would be remiss if I didn't mention Savannah's first annual Cornhole Tournament at William Grayson Stadium.  Awesome idea.

• CF Matt den Dekker: 0-3, K (.397/.472/.538)
• SS Robbie Shields: 0-2, R, BB (.262/.289/.419)
• DH Jordan Abruzzo: 2-2, BB (.269/.269/.250) Catcher/DH the only two Savannah hits in this game
• SP Gonzalez Germen: 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 K, 1 HR; Tremendous in his Lo-A debut; after a slow start to the season Germen is, at the very least, garnering some attention
• By the way, good news in Savannah where the Mets recently announced that the two clubs would extend their partnership through the 2012 season.

SS-A Brooklyn (43-21)

• CF Darrell Ceciliani: 1-3 (.350/.404/.521)
• RF Cory Vaughn: 0-3, K (.302/.394/.539)
• SS Wilfredo Tovar: 1-3, K (.290/.333/.323)
• C Blake Forsythe: DNP (.213/.283/.348)
• SP Chris Hilliard: 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K (9-1, 3.77, 74 IP, 75 H, 12 BB, 48 K, 2 HR) Can't say I love the low strikeout, high flyball approach (13:6 FB-to-GB) but hey, who am I to argue with just two hits over eight scoreless?
• RP Ryan Fraser: 1 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K (2-2, 1.26, 12 S, 28.2 IP, 15 H, 17 BB, 36 K, 0 HR)

RK Kingsport (27-35)

• LF ZeErika McQueen: 2-4 (.271/.320/.356)
• CF Chase Greene: 1-4, BB, 2 K (.220/.286/.283)
• 3B Aderlin Rodriguez: 2-3, 2 RBI (.304/.337/.536)
• DH Albert Cordero: 0-3, BB (.281/.305/.484) Broke his seven-game hit streak
• Congrats to CF Javier Rodriguez who, despite missing the last week of games, was named to the All-Appy Team; Aderlin was edged out at third by the league's leading home run hitter Ramon Moria 

RK GCL Mets (30-25)

• LF Julio Concepcion: 1-4 (.284/.331/.479)
• SP Edioglis Villasmil: 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 WP, HB (2-3, 3.11, 55 IP, 56 H, 27 BB, 28 K, 2HR)
• REHAB ALERT - DH Jason Pridie: 0-1, R, BB, K; Lost season for Pridie who absolutely would have seen a decent amount of major league time if not for the hamstring injury

Star of the Night

We've had two co-Stars before but three?  Well today we're going to reward three starters who all had excellent performances last night and I don't really want to exclude any of them as they were all equally impressive.  First was Buffalo starter RHP Josh Stinson for his dominant seven inning performance where he didn't allow a run and struck out nine batters in this must-win game for the Bisons.  Next was RHP Gonzalez Germen who was sensational in his Savannah debut, giving up just three hits over seven stellar innings as the Gnats try to get back to their winning ways with the playoffs around the corner.  And finally, Brooklyn's LHP Chris Hilliard who went eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and carrying his team to victory on a night where the offense didn't have much punch.

The Goat of the Night is going to be St. Lucie's RF Rafael Fernandez who, despite a strong season thus far, was 0-for-4 with the dreaded Silver Sombrero.

System Roundup

• Buffalo snapped their three-game skid with a 4-2 win in their opener with Syracuse last night.  Starter RHP Josh Stinson was dominant in this one, striking out nine Chiefs in seven scoreless innings; never mind that Syracuse is one of the IL's worst offensive teams.  On the offensive side, the Herd hitters went just 3-for-15 with RISP but still managed to beat Cuban defector Yuneski Maya in his Triple-A debut.  Boxscore
• Binghamton jumped out to an early 1-0 lead but Reading followed with nine unanswered runs to take this game 9-1.  Starter RHP Dylan Owen was awful, surrendering three homers and seven runs over his six innings of work; he's looking less and less like a prospect, even as a Stoner-esque longman/reliever.  And after three hits in the first, the B-Mets hitters managed just four more baserunners as Drew Naylor dominated over seven very strong innings.  Oddity of the game: Timo Perez played RF for Reading in this one.  Boxscore
• St. Lucie won their game over Fort Myers 5-3 lead last night on the strength of one big five-run inning.  No Met batter had more than one hit and they only had six total but walks, hit batsmen and errors always help.  RHP Jeurys Familia once again showed that he is not a finished product but that the stuff is there, striking out ten Miracle batters but also allowing four runs and throwing a ton of pitches through five innings.  This game was also called after eight thanks to a lengthy rain delay  Boxscore
• In Game One of their twin bill, Savannah topped Charleston 5-3.  SS Robbie Shields drove in a couple of those runs with his third bomb of the year.  Shields has looked far better of late, both at the plate and in the field. And big surprise, CF Matt den Dekker got another hit.  Boxscore  In Game Two, the Gnats edged the RiverDogs 2-1 in a seven inning affair.  Starter RHP Gonzalez Germen followed up his Appy League Pitcher of the Week with a sterling SAL debut, a one-run, three-hit complete game effort.  The Gnats managed just two hits in this one and neither drove in a run.  Instead, in the top of the seventh the Charleston pitching staffed walked the bases loaded then followed with two straight wild pitches, allowing both runs to score.  In a one run game you've got to take whatever you can get.  Boxscore
• The Cyclones continued their home-field dominance last night with a 2-0 victory over the IronBirds.  Uncharacteristically quiet game for the Brooklyn hitters but fortunately for them starter LHP Chris Hilliard was flat-out dominant over the first eight innings and handed it over to Brooklyn's equally dominant closer, RHP Ryan Fraser to seal the deal.  The Cyclones' magic number stands at 2.  Boxscore  
• Kingsport fell behind early in this one and despite clawing their way back couldn't quite even it up in this 4-3 loss to Burlington.  Not too much to mention here, starter RHP Jhonathan Torres was not good and aside from multi-hit games from 3B Aderlin Rodriguez and LF ZeErika McQueen, the K-Mets offense was mostly quiet.  Boxscore
• In a game that saw the second rehab debut of OF Jason Pridie, the GCL Mets edged the GCL Cardinals 2-1 Friday night.  Starter RHP Edioglis Villasmil was typically solid while the Mets lineup somehow managed to score just two runs on nine hits (and a walk)  Boxscore