Minors Stuff - April 27, 2009

The Herd:

879-year old Ken Takahashi was called up to the Mets Sunday afternoon. At the same time, the Mets DFA’s Casey Fossum, who we assume will pass through waivers and be back in Buffalo this week. I just can’t seem to understand these “call up for one game then DFA the pitcher” antics that have gone on with Figgy and Fossum. For now, the Herd is operating with 6 relief pitchers.

Connor and David Robertson have known each other for a pretty long time. They're both professional pitchers who have made it to the major leagues. They're both from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. They both played for Coach John Cameron in high school. And, oh yeah, they're brothers. April 13th at Coca-Cola Field was unique for the Robertsons. With David already in the game for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Connor trotted out from the Bisons bullpen in the seventh inning. The brothers were pitching against each other...for the first time. "He's been with three different teams and he finally just got into the league I was in," David said. "He's always been a lot of years ahead of me. I haven't really seen him play really in probably four years. To run into him here is kind of a coincidence." The duo combined to throw four and two thirds shutout innings that day, all the while Bisons batters asked Connor how to attack his brother's pitching. "He throws a fastball, curveball and changeup," Robertson told his teammates. "I don't know which one he's going to throw to you." Connor is more than three years older than David. The elder brother was born in September 1981. David was born in April of 1985. When the Bisons hurler was a freshman in college, his brother was a freshman in high school. When Connor was being drafted to the pros, David was heading to play at the University of Alabama. But they did have plans of facing one another all along.

http://buffalo.bisons.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090426&content_id=570858&vkey=news_t422&fext=.jsp&sid=t422

B-Mets:

Ruben Tejada’s three-run double with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh provided the punch needed to overcome a 3-1 deficit and propel the B-Mets to a series split with New Hampshire, 4-3. Mike Antonini was the benefactor of the three-run seventh recording his third straight win. In a tie game, 1-1, in the last of the sixth, New Hampshire (11-6) finally got to Antonini. With two outs and a man at third, the B-Mets’ starter hung a 3-2 curveball that Adam Calderone laced over the right field wall for a home run, giving the Fisher Cats a 3-1 lead. Binghamton (9-6) was quick to respond, however, loading the bases in the top of the seventh when Shawn Bowman was hit by reliever Celson Polanco to open the inning, which was followed by a Carl Loadenthal single and a Caleb Stewart walk. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Polanco proceeded to strikeout Matt Bouchard and Emmanuel Garcia. The next hitter was Tejada, who got behind in the count 0-2 before working it back full. With a full count, Tejada hammered the game-winning double over the head of Fisher Cat leftfielder Jonathan Diaz to clear the bases and give the B-Mets the lead, 4-3. Relievers Tim McNab, Edgar Alfonzo, John Madden and Roy Merritt made the slim lead stand with three scoreless innings of relief. Merritt threw the final 1.1 innings to notch his eighth save in as many chances, which leads the Eastern League. In his fourth start of the season, Antonini went a season-high six innings and picked up his third win giving up three runs to record a quality start. Polanco took the loss throwing 1.2 innings surrendering three runs. Shawn Bowman had a terrific day at the plate going 2-3 with a solo home run and a single, scoring two runs. Tejada added a single to his three-run double for a 2-5 day with 3 RBI.


Lucy:
-by this time of the year someone usually leaves a post asking me why my coverage on Lucy is so piss poor… sadly, is the same reason year after year. For whatever reasons I’ve never got anyone to explain to me, the people at Tradition Field simply don’t send out many press releases. I do get them when players are on the move, but they do not update their website very often with results from the game, nor do they send out a recap press release or a pre-game “notes”. They simply don’t do it.

Keeping in line with the way things are done down there, the local newspaper, TC Palm, competes heavily with the team on who handles the team more sucky. Their daily blurbs are usually a a paragraph long, if that. Occasionally you get a feature story on a player, but that’s about it.

Reese Havens made the BA Hot List this week:

No. 7 REESE HAVENS, SS - Why He's Here: .333/.462/.714 (7-for-21), 2 2B, 2 HR, 2 RBIs, 7 R, 5 BB, 0 SO - The Scoop: The second of two Mets' first-round picks last year (22nd overall), Havens has been one of the FSL's most productive hitters thus far. A lefthanded batter with a grinder mentality, he leads the league with seven extra-base hits as part of a .320/.407/.600 start as St. Lucie's shortstop. The fact that he's playing the field again is just as encouraging as his hitting, after he spent his time DHing with short-season Brooklyn in his debut last season. Havens lacks classic shortstop actions, though, and already has committed five miscues in 13 games

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2009/268006.html

Gnats:

SS Wilmer Flores didn’t play either Friday or Saturday, but no worry, he’s just resting.

Savannah scored first but Charleston answered with a six-run third inning that propelled them to an, 8-4, win over the Sand Gnats Sunday evening at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston. D.J. Mitchell (3-0) worked six innings for the win while Elvin Ramirez (2-1) lasted just 2.2 innings and suffered his first loss. Jordany Valdespin hit a weak fly ball to the outfield grass just behind second on a drawn in infield that fell for a base hit in the third to score Juan Lagares and give Savannah a short-lived, 1-0, lead. In the bottom of the inning, Charleston sent 11 men to the plate and scored six runs to open up a, 6-1, advantage. Charleston’s offensive output chased the starter Ramirez, who gave up six runs on five hits along with four walks. The Sand Gnats were able to cut the lead to three when Eric Campbell hit a three-run home run off Mitchell in the sixth to make it, 7-4. Charleston’s bullpen entered in the seventh and did not allow a Gnats base runner the rest of the game. Campbell led the offense with his home run and three RBI as six of nine Savannah starters registered hits. Jimmy Johnson pitched two scoreless innings of relief


Clones:

Joaquin Rodriguez’s first two games with the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2006 were two games he’d like to forget, especially considering the fact that he fell while covering a bunt and went hitless in two plate appearances. In 2007 however, J-Rod was a solid contributor to the team, hitting .273 with 11 RBI in 28 games, while playing first base for the first time in his career. In this interview done in September 2007, Rodriguez talks about the transition to first base and the interesting way he planned to improve his footwork at the position. As always, you can listen to the interview here @

http://media.switchpod.com/users/dembrooklynbums/TheLostInterviewsJoaquinRodriguez.mp3


Draft:
It is becoming like a broken record, but Stephen Strasburg improved his record to 9-0 in leading the 19th ranked Aztecs to an opening 4-3 win over number 16 ranked TCU. Strasburg lasted 7 innings, walking one and striking out 14. He only gave up four hits. TCU scored all three runs in the seventh on a 3-run homer by Bryan Holaday to close a 4-0 gap to 4-3. Brandon Decker drove in three runs to lead the offense, contributing a 2-run single in the second and then an RBI single in the sixth. Addison Reed came in with two outs in the eighth with the bases loaded and struck out Jimmie Pharr looking to end the inning. He retired the side in order in the ninth, two via the strikeout to pick up his 14th save. Addison leads the country in saves and his 0.52 ERA will have scouts paying attention to not only Strasburg.

http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/?m=200904