Gulf Coast League
- Rain cut short the GCL Mets game Tuesday afternoon after 7 1/2 innings, and the GCL Cardinals got the short end of the stick, losing 7-1. 2009 draftees Travis Ozga, Nelfi Zapata and Kurt Steinhauer saw action. 3B Ozga batted eighth and was 1 for 4 with a 7th inning RBI single. The catcher Zapata went 1 for 2 with a triple and a run scored from the fifth spot in the order. Steinhauer played RF and batted third. He finished the game 3 for 3 including a double and a 3rd inning RBI single. Currently the GCL Mets are 5-2, in first place in the East division. For more info check out the recap and box score.
Appalachian League
- Happy news from Danville, Virginia. The Kingsport Mets stopped a six game losing streak with an 8-5 win over the Danville Braves. 5 members of the 2009 draft class took part. Darrell Ceciliani played CF and batted lead off, finishing 0 for 4 with a walk. 2B Ryan Mollica came into the game in the 4th inning and wound up 0 for 2. Ronald Harris batted third and played LF. With 2 outs in the 1st inning he tripled and scored. Later he walked and stole his 2nd base of the season, going 1 for 4 overall. 3B Joseph Bonfe finished 1 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Rounding out the class of ’09 was DH John Semel, who was 1 for 3 with a 7th inning RBI single and 2 walks. See the box score and recap for more.
New York-Penn League
- Break out the brooms in Brooklyn. The Cyclones completed the 3 game sweep of the Hudson Valley Renegades, winning 3-1. 1B Sam Honeck batted third and was 1 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI on a 5th inning sacrifice fly. LF Alex Gregory went 1 for 4 from the sixth spot in the order. Nick Santomauro played RF and batted seventh, demonstrating a good eye by going 0 for 1 with 3 walks. That sums up the 2009 draftees. For the rest, see the box score, recap and game story (where this pic of Honeck came from).
Sam Honeck (courtesy brooklyncyclones.com)
46 comments
CaseStreet
7/1/2009-11:14am at 11:14 am (UTC -4)
If things continue this way, i say let the Cyclones play @ Citi and the Mets @ Keyspan Park.
CaseStreet
7/1/2009-11:49am at 11:49 am (UTC -4)
BTW, F-Mart has been hitting the ball pretty nicely.
fongy2
7/1/2009-11:51am at 11:51 am (UTC -4)
Yeah BUT he belongs in Buffalo
right now along with Murphy
and Evans.
GravediggerHebner
7/1/2009-11:54am at 11:54 am (UTC -4)
I agree with FMart and Murphy in Buffalo, but I think Evans might need to stick around and play 1B. Fulltime.
fongy2
7/1/2009-11:57am at 11:57 am (UTC -4)
Yeah now since
theres no other
options. Oh,
and thanks for that Omar!
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-12:06pm at 12:06 pm (UTC -4)
Did you expect Omar to have Nick Johnson stashed away on his bench this season after Carlos Delgado played 159 games last season?
The plan, which was reasonable, was to have Fernando tatis as his backup but now Tatis has been required to play elsewhere too.
fongy2
7/1/2009-12:10pm at 12:10 pm (UTC -4)
No wanny
BUT I expected
as the 08 season
ended to
have more than
Murphy,
Church&
Tatis
as our
corner
OFers.
Plus,why
waste time&$
on the likes of
Sullivan&Mackowiak? When
another
bat(or2)
was needed?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-12:16pm at 12:16 pm (UTC -4)
Sullivan and Mackowiak were brought in as organizational depth.
And I don’t understand what a new corner outfielder has to do with your complaint that there’s no one other than Nick Evans or Dan Murphy to play 1B. That wouldn’t have changed the 1B options from among Tatis, Evans and Murphy.
And in the meantime, Sheffield has been pretty adequate in LF. Dunn would have brought more power but Abreu wouldn’t have.
fongy2
7/1/2009-12:22pm at 12:22 pm (UTC -4)
Depth IS the point!
Where are Sullivan,Mackowiak&Kiety now?
Murp shouldnt have been handed the job and FMart needs to prove he can handle the minors let alone MLB Pitching.Also,Dunn and Abreu weren’t the only options.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-12:28pm at 12:28 pm (UTC -4)
Please tell me what you would have done in terms of having a backup firstbaseman (mind you behind a guy who hit 38Hrs and played 159 games last season).
Afterall, your latest complaint about Omar is that there is no one to play 1B right now.
I’m dying to hear this.
stickguy
7/1/2009-12:55pm at 12:55 pm (UTC -4)
a bunch of us harped on the need (the last 2 off seasons) to get a good RH bat as a 4th OF/BU 1B. Wiggington and IIRC gabe kapler were both mentioned at times, plus a bunch of others.
Teams really need that kind of flex guy in case of an injury like this.
No, I don’t expect to have an all-start on the bench, but they should have a better guy on hand.
Basically the role in Omars vision Tatis was supposed to handle, and If I had to guess, Evans was the fall back plan if Delgado went down.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-1:00pm at 1:00 pm (UTC -4)
Are Wigginton or Kapler better options than Tatis, though? I don’t think Kapler has ever played 1B. And Wigginton makes a lot of money and has produced very little.
fongy2
7/1/2009-1:01pm at 1:01 pm (UTC -4)
No you’re right Wanny!
a Kevin Millar or a Ty Wiggington
(just to 2 of about 20)
Acquired on the cheap,to add MAJOR
LEAGUE depth and to shake things up
in the room a liitle wouldn’t have
helped.OK!, No you’re right!
Things have worked out real well.
And shame on me for complaining about
our great and good GM!
Oh! He!, The man with the Midas Touch,
Pen in hand, all ready to do what he
does best. Yeah, things have gone
just as planned.
How, oh how could I question Don Omar?
His Managerial and Coaching Moves,
His other hiring decisions including
Training/Medical staff and obviously
his record of player decisions.
Whats wrong with me after 35yrs following this team day to day?
I really should know better!
What was I expecting?
A Championship? C’mon! Dopey me.
Yeah Wanny,You’re right.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-1:24pm at 1:24 pm (UTC -4)
Sheffield was brought in for that role and has been better than both of your suggestions.
Ty Wigginton has a two-year $6m deal and has a sub .700 OPS this season. He surely would have made all the difference in the world. “Yeah, [Fong], You’re right.”
Kevin Millar also has a sub .700 OPS, is coming off a season in which he hit .234. Most importantly, he hasn’t played the outfield in 3 years. So you would have brought him in as a guy who can play 1B only behind a guy who played 159 games there last season?? And he would have come, no less? “Yeah, [Fong], You’re right.” And he would have helped how?
And how are either of these guys any different than Fernando Tatis? How many of these guys do you need on the opening day roster?
And whom would they have made the roster instead of? Murphy, who was scheduled to be their starting LFer? Would you have been happier with one of them as a starting LFer?
Sheffield has been better than both of these guys in the shake things up/veteran right handed power hitting department.
Honestly, your complaint that Omar didn’t have someone to back up Delgado at 1B is nitpicking and tiresome. And your last post sounsd like the rantings of a lunatic.
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:02pm at 2:02 pm (UTC -4)
As usual Wanny you stray so far of original point it honestly gets tiring
trying to go and forth
with you.Pls show me where I complained about having a backup
@1b to DelG.I also never stated any of the
Veteran Baseball players and gamers
noted or even thought
of by me should have
been given LF instead
of Murphy.Those are your words,projected.
Which you then use to
argue against.And I
sound like a lunatic?
I’ll go Real slow—
After what happened the
last two seasons, it
was obvious we needed
one or two add’l bats.
Banking on a combo of
Murphy/Tatis/Church to
produce every day in
LF&RF was a huge risk.
Even if any of them
were above average fielders theyd have to
produce @Max and we’d
have to hope the big 4
did what they did last
yr just to be about what we were last season.Now,we can all
agree something needed
to be shaken up not just with the lineup BUT in the Clubhouse
after the nightmare
of ’07&’08. No?
Omar brought in no one
who can make a diff until by chance Sheff
became available at
the very start of the
season.What Omar needed
to do was at very least
bring in 2 or 3 more
Veteran,gamer types
who know how to play
baseball,have something
to say and aren’t often
overmatched. And thats
giving him the fact he
was gonna go with Murphy&Church which as
I said all winter AND
have been proven out
correct,was a mistake.
You just dont seem to
understand that there
are guys in the everyday lineup who
either aren’t ready with the Bat and/or
haven’t yet learned
the fundamentals of
the game yet.Some b/c
of their youth,others
b/c of having to change
positions.Instead of
wasting time and $ on
guys who filled out
the Bisons roster and
are a notch or two below a bunch of the
guys mentioned.
Look, results are
what they are BUT
If you don’t think
having 2 or 3 other
vet,grinder types
in the lineup the
past few weeks instead
of some of these kids
who are mostly overmatched both in
the field and at the
plate would have been
tremendously helpful
and won us a few more
games, well then I’m
sorry but you know less
about the game than I
think you do.
No offense.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:04pm at 2:04 pm (UTC -4)
Hello?
GravediggerHebner says:
Wednesday, July 1 2009 at 11:54 am
I agree with FMart and Murphy in Buffalo, but I think Evans might need to stick around and play 1B. Fulltime.
Reply
fongy2 says:
Wednesday, July 1 2009 at 11:57 am
Yeah now since
theres no other
options. Oh,
and thanks for that Omar!
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:07pm at 2:07 pm (UTC -4)
And you still haven’t told me where you’d expect to put all these “veteran grinders” on the roster. Instead of the backup catcher? No capable defensive outfielder? No backup middle infielder?
Tatis and Sheffield already occupy as many spaces on the roster as you can have for those types of guys. How may more would you like?
You think Wiggy would have waited aroun in AAA and hoped for injuries?
You keep faulting him for not having guys like that — but he already has Sheff and Tatis.
And the two guys you want stink.
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:15pm at 2:15 pm (UTC -4)
I didnt/dont”want”
any of them.
But something should have been changed
about the lineup/clubhouse
after the last 2yrs,No?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:27pm at 2:27 pm (UTC -4)
oh, so you don’t want them either. then which wonderful backup 1B should Omar have signed to have transformed the culture of the team?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:09pm at 2:09 pm (UTC -4)
You can’t have Sheff, Tatis, Wiggy and Millar all on the same opening day roster. That would have meant 2 of Cora, Castro and Reed would have had to go.
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:17pm at 2:17 pm (UTC -4)
Reed?
C’mon!
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:26pm at 2:26 pm (UTC -4)
Yeah, you’re right. No need to have a guy who can catch the ball in the outfield. Would have been better off with Kevin Millar out there for the first time in three years. Afterall, he’s a gamer.
And Reed has been pretty good.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
And I love to know how either of these “veteran gamers” would help a team missing its leadoff hitting SS and best all around player and defensive whiz in CF.
Your roster would have corner infielders at every position.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-1:26pm at 1:26 pm (UTC -4)
It’s an absolute joke to suggest that Ty Wigginton or Kevin Millar would have made a difference for this team right now or would have even had a logical place to fit on the opening day roster.
There's Always '09
7/1/2009-2:07pm at 2:07 pm (UTC -4)
I agree. The only guy that would have made a difference, really wouldn’t have because he would have been suspended the last 50 games. He’d be coming back just in time to play the Dodgers. Need I elaborate?
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:19pm at 2:19 pm (UTC -4)
Mute point.
Was never gonna happen
just like Hudson
Both partly thanks to
Castillo.Another great
Omar move.
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:13pm at 2:13 pm (UTC -4)
Ask anyone associated with
the Blue Jays in any way OR
just read a Toronto area paper
about how much of an impact
Kevin Millar has had on them.
And about how loose and together the clubhouse is there AND about how thats translated out and onto the
field. C’mon Wanny,I know you’re frustrated(from the
name calling),we all are BUT
Are we watching professional
baseball right now?
Does look like it to me.
And having 2 or 3 Professional
Baseball players wouldn’t have
helped? Not at all? Wow!
You really are stuck looking
through a narrow lense.
Just like with Poo-pooing the
WBC thing out of hand.
Theres no chance it contributed to this unbelievable rash of injuries.
None?! Not one? Wow!!
Talk about forming an opinion
and not allowing for the fact
that you might be a little,
maybe,just,a little wrong.
But I sound like a lunatic?
Okay, then.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:24pm at 2:24 pm (UTC -4)
Where in God’s name would you have put these two sub .700 OPS “professionals” on this roster?
Instead of whom?
You don’t get to store away guys like squirrels and nuts.
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:36pm at 2:36 pm (UTC -4)
Like I said Wanny,you’re
right.Good.
Happy? Diff b/t
you and me is that you actually liked
this group coming out of S.T. While I saw them as an
86/87Win team
which would finish 2nd but
atleast compete
for the WildCard.
And that was IF
we stayed healthy b/c there simply was no depth in
that event and
really not enough to make
a significant
move if injuries/flops
(Murphy/Church)
Occured. But I
guess I was/am
wrong.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:42pm at 2:42 pm (UTC -4)
I’ll ask until you answer: where would you have put these “veteran depth gamers” on the roster?
Would you rather them instead of Sheffield?
No backup catcher?
Is it possible that no team has the depth to withstand the injuries the Mets have sustained to 3 of its 4 best hitters, the backups to the backups, etc.?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:27pm at 2:27 pm (UTC -4)
“Talk about forming an opinion
and not allowing for the fact
that you might be a little,
maybe,just,a little wrong.”
-Pot calling the kettle black.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:31pm at 2:31 pm (UTC -4)
http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/rosters/index.jsp?roster=final&team=usa&season=2009
The USA’s WBC roster. Hardly any of these players have suffered extended or uncharacteristic injuries other than Putz.
McCann’s injury was a fluke. Peavy always finds a way to get hurt — but I don’t even think his injury is an arm injury.
Pretty solid theory.
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:42pm at 2:42 pm (UTC -4)
Strayed
again!
What does
the USA
roster have to do?
Do we have any
Americans on the Mets?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:43pm at 2:43 pm (UTC -4)
JJ Putz and David Wright?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:44pm at 2:44 pm (UTC -4)
And I’m not straying from the point… you’re avoiding it.
This roster does not reflect the widespread injury damage you allege has been caused by the World Baseball Classic. And this roster, unlike many others, is comprised completely of MLB players.
fongy2
7/1/2009-3:10pm at 3:10 pm (UTC -4)
Man! Do you do ALOT of assuming and reading into things.
You seem to think that b/c I feel the WBC may have had something to do with some of these injuries That I’m actually saying
anyone who played in the WBC will get/is hurt.
Again,too much XBox or Playstation for you.
These all each individuals,at diff ages,in diff types of condition.
Of course everyone who plays in the WBC isnt automaticly gonna get injured
BUT AGAIN,
Theres No connection b/t how many Mets went and the numbers of guys we’ve had on the DL?NONE???
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:40pm at 2:40 pm (UTC -4)
Dont know about that my friend.I’m pretty well known for having strong opinions BUT
never forgetting I
might well be
wrong.Which b/t/w I might
here. You on the other hand
state a strong
opinion and then do all you
can to defend
that opinion
never once it seems thinking
you might be either just a little wrong or
even that both
opinions might
be valid.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-2:46pm at 2:46 pm (UTC -4)
Whatever. Just once maybe you can actually respond to the point of the conversation.
And I’ve admitted several times that I’m wrong about things. Don’t hate me because I like to look at facts before forming my opinion and not relying on speculative generalizations like “the WBC is at fault for the Mets injuries” and “the GM failed to provide depth.”
fongy2
7/1/2009-2:59pm at 2:59 pm (UTC -4)
Dude,I never said “The WBC was afault” you just made that quote up.Isaid it may have contributed and for what?
How would even the risk show any reward for the Mets?
I’ll let others judge this back and forth.
fongy2
7/1/2009-3:01pm at 3:01 pm (UTC -4)
b/t/w,You have “fact”
that The WBC
contributed NOTHING to ANY of these injuries?
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-3:11pm at 3:11 pm (UTC -4)
No. And I never said that. And while you say now that you never said the the WBC was at fault, you said earlier today:
” fongy2 says:
Wednesday, July 1 2009 at 10:34 am
Sending over half your team to the
WBC for 3 weeks during spring training
EQUALS no time for fundamentals during
camp and no time to properly get in
shape EQUALS sloppy play and a team
full of injured players.
Benefit to the NY Met baseball team
NONE.”
I guess our misunderstanding is based on your capitalized use of the word “EQUALS.” I guess when someone says that the WBC “equals” injuries I should know better than to think they are placing blame.
There's Always '09
7/1/2009-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
WOW!!!
L. Castillo grounded into fielder’s choice, A. Cora out at second
There's Always '09
7/1/2009-2:15pm at 2:15 pm (UTC -4)
Looks like the Phils got it right when they let Burrell go. Pat “The Bat” is hitting .230 with 3 HR. Would have fit in perfectly in Flushing.
fongy2
7/1/2009-3:25pm at 3:25 pm (UTC -4)
I was being facetious in response
to all the bellyaching about the
teams lack of fundamentals and sloppy
play.You obviously lack wit and since
your stance appears to be the WBC
can’t be held responsible for any
injured player AND Omar can’t be
held responsible for building this
team,management,coaching and training
staff,we’ll pretty much leave it at
that.Especially since I feel that as
the GM with full power to do whatever
he wants,Omar has done a below average
job.You on the other hand seem to be
O.K. with this mess. So,God Bless!
See ya later, I’m real behind in my work. Still love ya Wanny.
wannybackstra
7/1/2009-3:43pm at 3:43 pm (UTC -4)
You’ve done a great job summarizing all sorts of things I haven’t said. It’s a good thing you have such sharp wit because your reading comprehension is pretty dull and you can’t even keep track of your own statements.
fongy2
7/1/2009-3:54pm at 3:54 pm (UTC -4)
Dude,read them all again and tell me–
Whos all over the place?
Just as your screen name indicates, you
can be a nasty little
mother.