August 31, 2009 - 6:30 PM | Comment
The final Bisons homestand of the season begins at 7:05 tonight against Rochester.
The Herd is coming off a 3-6 road trip and is 5-9 against the Red Wings this season.
Tobi Stoner is the scheduled starter. He has won his last two decisions and had a 1.50 earned run average in his last three starts.
Tonight's lineup:
Argenis Reyes -- SS
Andy Green -- 2B
Jesus Feliciano -- CF
Mike Lamb -- 1B
Chip Ambres -- RF
Jason Dubois -- LF
Javier Castillo -- 3B
Robinson Cancel -- C
Josh Petersen -- DH
--- Amy Moritz
August 28, 2009 - 4:06 PM | Comment
Wonder if there was a fly in the soup in the restaurant at PNC Field in Scranton last night. According to this story in the Scranton Times, a man walked into the office of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees during Thursday's game against Syracuse and smashed the Governors' Cup the team won last season because he was upset about a catering issue at the ballpark.
Michael Cortezar, 40, was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal mischief. Dude was waiting for police to arrest him after the incident. Imagine if he had a real problem -- like being a Mets fan.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 26, 2009 - 6:19 PM | Comment
It's still early to really forecast but Tropical Storm Danny could be impacting the East Coast this weekend and that could mean weather trouble for three key series -- the White Sox at the Yankees, the Blue Jays at the Red Sox and the Braves at the Phillies.
Keep an eye on the weather to see if the division races are affected. And I know you fantasy folks could get major impact from this too.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 25, 2009 - 5:44 PM | Comment
Scorecards ready please for the latest episode:
---Johan Santana needs elbow surgery but it's minor and he should be ready by spring training. No Tommy John. You know it's a bad, bad year when your ace has season-ending surgery and it's considered good news. GM Omar Minaya, in another display that shows why he should be fired, says in a conference it was "so long ago" that he doesn't remember Santana having elbow trouble during spring training that nearly cost him the Opening Day start. Of course, all the beat writers and bloggers do. You'd think the GM would know everything about his top pitcher. Disgraceful.
---Billy Wagner accepts his trade to Boston for two players to be named. Several outlets are now reporting one of them is Pawtucket outfielder Chris Carter, a 26-year-old who was an IL all-star last year for the Pawsox (.300-24-81 in 121 games). He's averaged 19 home runs and 80 RBIs the last four years in Triple-A with Pawtucket and Tucson.
---Oliver Perez back to New York to have his injured knee checked. J.J. Putz shut down from rehab at Class A Brooklyn, probably for the season.
---P Pat Misch and IF Nick Evans up from the Bisons in time for tonight's game in Florida. Misch likely to start in Perez's place later in the week. Evans finishes his Buffalo season at .211 with a team-high 10 homers and 30 RBIs in 66 games. But he did a good job recovering from his 7-for-75 disaster to open the year. His August numbers for the Herd were .289-5-16 in 26 games.
---IF Andy Green clears waivers and reports to the Bisons in time for tonight's game in Scranton. He was 16 for 36 and on a nine-game hitting streak when he was called up Aug. 16. Misch was supposed to be the starter but he's been replaced by 25-year-old right-hander Chris Mason, called up from Double-A Binghamton.
Mason, 25, joined the Mets organization as a free agent on July 24, 2009. He made four appearances (three starts) with the B-Mets and was 1-1 with a 2.87ERA with nine strikeouts in 15.2 innings of work. He also pitched in three games with St. Lucie (A) after joining the organization (10.0IP, 11H, 5R, 5ER, 3BB, 6K).
Mason is a former top Tampa Bay prospect. He was the Southern League's Most Outstanding Pitcher and was named Double-A Pitcher of the Year by MILB.com in 2007 after going 15-4, 2.57 at Montgomery. But he has not been the same since, going 3-10 last year at Durham and 3-5, 6.24 this year at Montgomery. Hmmm. Damaged goods? Crack Mets medical staff will get right on that case.
Other than that, nothing much going on with the Mets today.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 25, 2009 - 10:00 AM | Comment
A big high-five and thanks to all of you: Inside Pitch has earned a third-place finish in blogging in the 2008-09 New York State Associated Press Association awards competition. In fact, The News took two of the top three awards as Jim Heaney's Outrages and Insights finished second (The Democrat & Chronicle's While Rochester Slept finished first).
A big honor for us. You can go here to check out our winning entry of posts from last October. Outrages and Insights and Inside Pitch were honored in the top circulation category, beating all blogs from the New York City papers. (The must-read Hardball blog by the New York Post's venerable Joel Sherman took second place in last year's contest and be sure to read Sherman's column today on good times for the Yankees).
So thanks again. A better year for us than the Bisons and Mets. And please keep reading and commenting!
On the field, it's turn back the clock to 2007 for the Rockies. While most of you probably slept, they took a four-game lead in the NL wild-card race shortly after midnight this morning with a wacky 6-4 win over the Giants secured on Ryan Spilborghs' walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 14th. San Francisco had snapped a 1-1 tie with three runs in the top of the inning before Colorado rallied yet again.
The Rockies open a three-game set at home tonight against the Dodgers and could tie the NL West leaders if they sweep it. In early June, the Rockies were 15 1/2 games out of first and just 20-32. They're 51-22 since (the Dodgers are just 37-33 in that span). Guess midseason replacement Jim Tracy is going to get a lot of NL Manager of the Year votes.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 24, 2009 - 5:00 PM | Comment
Ya gotta be ... kidding me! After Monday's 6-2 loss to the Phillies, word has leaked that Johan Santana is not starting Tuesday and is going to get his elbow checked out. Now that might be the ultimate gut shot to any Mets fan. Imagine if it was something long term and he wasn't available for 2010. He could become the 20th Met on the disabled list this year. Yes, the 20th.
The Mets haven't decided what they're going to do. 5:15 update: The Mets have decided to start Nelson Figueroa in Santana's place Tuesday against the Marlins. No word on a callup yet. They just used Pat Misch for four innings Sunday and Ken Takahashi in relief today and both had been starting off and on in Buffalo. I suppose they could call up Kyle Snyder or Adam Pettyjohn and plug them into the rotation.
But if there's any question at all about Santana's health, he should be shut down immediately. See you in Port St. Lucie in February. Jerry Manuel seemed to indicate that might happen in his postgame words with the media today.
What an Amazin' disaster.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 24, 2009 - 2:25 PM | Comment
Think things were goofy in the Mets' new home yesterday, when the game ended on Eric Bruntlett's unassisted triple play?
The weirdness continued today as Angel Pagan led off with an inside-the-park home run for the second straight day. Well, this one wasn't scored that way. It was a double error by Phillies second baseman Chase Utley, who dropped Pagan's pop-up and then chucked the ball into left field trying to get a hustling Pagan going into second.
Meanwhile, Ryan Howard has two home runs and five RBIs in the first three innings and the Phils lead, 5-2, in a game that's already seen five errors. Jeez.
Pat Misch back to the Bisons after pitching four solid innings yesterday. Ken Takahashi up from Buffalo to give the Mets some help in the pen.
3:05 update: Takahashi just struck out Howard with the bases loaded to end the Philly sixth and keep the Mets in range at 5-2.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 23, 2009 - 5:57 PM | Comment
Here's your early Inside Pitches heading into the ESPN tilt tonight at 8 in Fenway between the Yankees and Red Sox:
---Sabathia vs. Beckett? Must-see TV for sure. Too bad ol' CC couldn't have won that matchup in Game 5 of the '07 ALCS for the Indians.
---How times change. Big Papi sitting this one out for the Sox against the big lefty.
---Derek Jeter at 2,699 career hits. The Iron Horse holds Yankee record at 2,721. Until going 0 for 3 Saturday, Jeter had six straight multi-hit games and was 16 for 27, a Little League-like .593 batting average.
---Please tell me you didn't miss the end of today's Mets-Phillies game. Phils second baseman Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play for the final outs of a 9-7 victory, just the second time in history a game ended on such a play (Johnny Neun did it for the Tigers in 1927).
Bruntlett, who made an error earlier in the inning, took Jeff Francouer's liner near the bag, stepped on second for the second out and tagged Daniel Murphy for the final out. No chance for the runners, who were off on Brad Lidge's 2-2 pitch.
Here's the video of the play.
Just the 15th unassisted TP in history. Oddly enough, there were just three between 1928-1999 but there have been five in this decade and one for three straight seasons. Here's the complete list.
---Mets owner Fred Wilpon told the Post yesterday that GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel would be back next year. That information was confirmed today. Yeesh.
---This organization is Madoff-poor. Post columnist Mike Vaccaro wishes the Wilpons would just fess up. Here here.
Jeff Wilpon was less than honest with me Monday in Coca-Cola Field as he told me the Mets would spend on development -- when it turns out they were last in the majors in bonuses paid to draft picks from rounds 2-10.
---Mike Harrington
August 23, 2009 - 12:20 PM | Comment
As I discussed in today's Inside Baseball column, I really think there might be some light at the end of the tunnel for long-suffering Pirates fans. GM Neal Huntington did a great job developing talent when he ran the Cleveland farm system (think Buffalo playoff teams from 2000-2002), and is stocking draft picks now.
New Buffalo Baseball Hall of Famer Carlos Garcia is back with his old team and is effusive in his praise of Huntington. The Pirates are spening on the picks and making choices over which players are going to be their core. At some point, they're going to have to pay big bucks but Huntington has clearly decided it's going to be on players he develops, not longtimers like Jack Wilson who haven't won anything in Pittsburgh.
It's been 17 years since the Bucs had a winning season, 30 years since they were in the World Series. In fact, the reunion of "The Family" -- the 1979 champions who beat Baltimore in Game Seven -- was held Saturday night in PNC Park. Check out the AP picture above. That's 80-year manager Chuck Tanner to the left of the World Series trophy and Willie Stargell's widow, Margaret (No. 8) to the right.
Someday, Pittsburgh fans can dream about the Pirates rejoining the Steelers and Penguins. Steel Town is four hours south but you have to envy all the titles it's won. Huntington's dream is to relive those days again.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
August 21, 2009 - 5:12 PM | Comment
Another day, another doubleheader at Coca-Cola Field as the Bisons and Syracuse Chiefs completed the four-games in two-days marathon tonight.
Left-handed pitcher Derrick Ellison was promoted to the Bisons today from Double-A Binghamton and will be active for tonight's game.
Ellison, 29, signed with the Mets on Aug. 14 and in three games with Binghamton did not allow a run in 6.2 innings of work, going 1-0.
The lineup for Game 1:
Argenis Reyes -- SS
Jesus Feliciano -- CF
Nick Evans -- 1B
Mike Lamb -- 3B
Chip Ambres -- RF
Jason Dubois -- LF
Robinson Cancel -- C
Luis Rivera -- 2B
Tobi Stoner -- P
The lineup for Game 2:
Argenis Reyes -- SS
Jesus Feliciano -- CF
Nick Evans -- 1B
Rene Rivera -- C
Jason Dubois -- LF
Javier Castillo -- 3B
Josh Petersen -- RF
Luis Rivera -- 2B
Tim McNab -- P
--- Amy Moritz
