Minutes before the August 16th midnight deadline for MLB teams to sign their 2011 draft picks, the Mets signed their 1st round, 13th overall pick Brandon Nimmo, a high school outfielder from Wyoming, to a minor league contract worth
The Mets promoted heralded prospect Matt Harvey to Binghamton a few days ago, though his first AA start was inauspicious. Still, he has a bright future ahead of him, and depending on how he transitions to AA, that future could be coming sooner rather than later.
That said, read this quick profile of Harvey — written by Josh Burton — so you can familiarize yourself with Matt Harvey.
The 7th pick in the 2010 MLB draft out of the University of North Carolina, Matt Harvey was
NOTE: this is a post by another new contributor to MetsToday, Josh Burton. You may remember Josh filled in for me a few weeks back while I was traveling. — Joe
If the Mets and their new administration want to succeed in the the future, they will have to build the team through the draft and consequently, the minor leagues. In each post, I will highlight one up-and-coming player in the Mets farm system at each level that might have a part in the rebuilding of our beloved Amazin’s.
Chris Schwinden
Chris Schwinden, starting pitcher for the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons, has definitely not reached AAA the conventional way. Schwinden was
Yankees 9 Mets 3
The Mets lost the rubber game and series to their crosstown rival Yankees behind another inconsistent and bad start from “ace” (I used the term loosely) Mike Pelfrey. Through 6 innings Pelfrey looked great and the Mets were winning 3-1, but in the 7th Pelf gave up 4 runs and was promptly taken out. The Yankees went on to score 4 more runs on the Met bullpen making it an 8-run 7th inning and extending the Yankees lead to 9-3.
Mets Game Notes
Mike Pelfrey started the game well but all hell broke loose in the 7th and he just fell apart. Over 6+ innings, Pelf gave up 5 earned runs increasing his era to 5.37. Previous to today’s start, all 3 of Mike’s starts in May were quality starts and it looked like maybe he figured the whole pitching thing out but he took a huge step back today. It looks like the mental problems that have plagued him for most of his career are back again.
The Mets hit well off of Ivan Nova, collecting 11 hits in his 6 2/3 innings, but the clutch RBI hits were absent again today as they scored only 3 runs. And like the previous game, the Mets left a ton of guys on base (16 to be exact). If you want to win, you simply can’t leave that many guys on base.
Justin Turner broke his consecutive games with a RBI streak with an oh-fer (0-4) and he left 5 men on base. The streak was snapped at 7 games in a row. You knew that Turner had to come down to earth eventually but you hoped that when he did, someone else on the team would step up and lead the team to victory with a breakout multiple-RBI game, but that didn’t happen.
Pedro Beato gave up his first 2 earned runs of the year in the 8-run 7th inning. By that point, the Mets were already down by 3 runs and the game was basically decided so at least he didn’t give up crucial runs in a close game. Beato’s ERA jumped from 0.00 to 0.95 on the year.
Some good things that did happen in this game from the Mets’ perspective were the multiple-hit games of fill-in third baseman Willie Harris and leftfielder Jason Bay. Harris has been in a slump since the first series of the season so it is nice to see him show some promise and the Mets need as many hitters as they possibly can get at this point. Bay hasn’t really hit much since he was signed by the Mets after a monster season with the Boston Red Sox 2 years ago. He still hasn’t produced many runs this year but you have to start somewhere. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Next Mets Game
The Mets have a day off tomorrow and they head to Chicago on Tuesday to face the Cubs at Wrigley Field at 8:05 pm on SNY. Jonathan Niese will go for the Mets against Ryan Dempster of the Cubs.
Yankees 7 Mets 3
Chris Capuano gave up 4 home runs to 4 different Yankee batters in 5 1/3 innings pitched as the Mets got blasted out of Yankee Stadium in the second game of the series with their crosstown-rival Yankees. A.J. Burnett held the Met lineup in check for 6 1/3 innings to get the win.
Mets Game Notes
Justin Turner continued his consecutive games with a rbi streak to 7 but he remained basically the only Met to get a hit with runners in scoring position. The team left 14 men on base (ouch) throughout the game and as they have done the whole season, barely got any clutch hits with 2 outs in an inning. The other 2 runs were scored on a Jason Bay sacrifice fly in a 2-run 1st and on a Carlos Beltran single in the 5th.
The normally reliable Chris Capuano was blitzed by the Yankee hitters and suffered from the incredibly close fences at the new Yankee Stadium. Russell Martin, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodriguez all hit home runs off of the Met lefty as all 6 of the runs he gave up in his start came off of home runs. Capuano dropped to 3-5 on the season.
A.J. Burnett wasn’t dominating by any sense of the word but after a bases-loaded rally in the first which plated two Met runs, he held the injury-depleted Mets in check for 5+ more innings. Burnett improved to 5-3 on the year.
Pedro Beato made his first appearance since May 1st and threw 1 2/3 perfect innings of relief to keep his season era at 0.00. He just came off of the 15-day DL a couple of days ago. In the 8th, Taylor Buchholz gave up a run increasing his era on the year to 1.99. I guess he is human after all.
Josh Thole continued to show Terry Collins why Ronny Paulino should be starting over him behind the plate everyday with another 0-4 night. That effort dropped his batting average to .205 on the season, just mere percentage points above the dreaded Mendoza line.
Jason Bay continues to look out of place at the plate this season as he still didn’t get a hit tonight and his average dropped to .222 this year. When watching the games, it looks like Bay is extremely far off of the plate when getting ready to swing which is why he seemingly can’t extend his bat to hit pitches on the outside corner.
Next Mets Game
The Mets’ Mike Pelfrey takes on Yankees’ Ivan Nova tomorrow at 1:05 pm at the new Yankee Stadium in the rubber match of this installment of the subway series. A win in this series would give the Mets 5 series wins in their last 6 series a far cry from the 5-13 start of the season.
Mets 2 Nationals 1
Behind 6 strong innings from R.A. Dickey and 3 shutout ones from the Mets bullpen including Michael O’Connor, Jason Isringhausen, and K-Rod for the save, the Mets shutdown the Yankees and won the first game of a three game weekend set with their crosstown rivals.
Mets Games Notes
As mentioned before, The Mets’ pitching was the real story tonight with R.A. Dickey pitching well for the first time in a couple of starts to get the win. The bullpen has also been shutting-down all other teams as of late and tonight they compiled 5 strikeouts in 3 perfect innings. Mike O’Connor still hasn’t given up a run in his current stint with the Mets.
With his 1-2-3 9th inning tonight, Francisco Rodriguez earned his 15th straight save of the season and it was also his 19th scoreless inning in a row.
The Mets’ bats didn’t do much against Freddy Garcia but surprise surprise, their first run was scored on a double, hit by no other than Justin Turner in the 4th which plated Fernando Martinez from second to tie up the game at 1-1. This means that Turner has driven in 11 of the Mets’ last 17 runs. Pretty good for a guy who started off the year in Buffalo, right?
The winning run of the game came on a Daniel Murphy solo home run to right field of Yankee Stadium in the 6th. This shot hopefully broke Murphy out of his extended slump because the Mets need him to continue to hit if they want to keep winning with this patchwork lineup.
The only run Dickey and the team gave up today to the Yankees was a Mark Teixeira solo home run in the 3rd. His high pop-up managed to just scrape over the right field fence a mere 314 ft from home plate. At Citi Field his home run would’ve been an easy can of corn fly-out. Definitely why Curtis Granderson has 14 home runs this year.
This win gets the Mets to 22 and 22 on the year. Getting to .500 seemed like an impossibility back in April when the team started off the 2011 season with a 5-13 record. This comeback is something to say for Terry Collins idea of changing the losing culture that has surrounded the Mets seemingly since the collapse of 2007. It’s a long way from making the playoffs, but you always have to start somewhere.
Next Mets Game
Lefty Chris Capuano goes for the Mets on Saturday night against Yankees’ right-hander A.J. Burnett at 7:10 pm on FOX.
Mets 3 Nationals 0
The Mets compiled their first shutout win of the year as Jon Niese shut down the Nationals for 7 innings and Justin Turner drove in 2 runs with a big double in the 6th off of Tom Gorzelanny. I don’t really know or understand how the Mets are doing this with such a injury-depleted lineup, but they keep managing to win games.
Mets Game Notes
Justin Turner continued to hit well with runners in scoring position with a 2-run double in the 6th off Tom Gorzelanny extending the Mets lead to 3-0. Turner now has 9 RBIs in his last 4 games.
Jonathan Niese pitched very well for 6 plus innings but when the rains started to come back in the 7th, Jon started to lose some of his control presumably due to poor mound conditions. The Mets have handled the last 2 days very poorly concerning the inclement weather. Yesterday, it hadn’t even started to rain again when the home-team Mets who have the call in rainouts, called the game. Today it was raining cats and dogs out on the field even before the game started but it was still played.
Niese hunkered down and with the bases loaded in the 7th and Nats’ outfielder Roger Bernadina at the plate, Jon came back from 3-0, got the count to 3-2, and then got Bernadina to ground out to (temporary) first baseman Daniel Murphy to end the potential rally. He ended up pitching 7 very effective scoreless innings only giving up 1 walk and compiling 7 strikeouts.
The Metsies bullpen continued to shut opposing teams down with scoreless innings by Jason Isringhausen and Francisco Rodriguez to close out the game and get a save. Of course it wouldn’t be a K-Rod save if he didn’t throw 18 pitches and give up a walk and a hit but we will take that if his ERA stays below 1.00 and he keeps saving games.
Nick Evans pinch-hit in the 8th inning and walked . With his call-up, there are now 9 players on the Mets roster who started this season with the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. Evans, Dillon Gee, Mike O’Connor, Justin “Clutch” Turner, Fernando Martinez, Jason Pridie, Pat Misch, Ronny Paulino (for a rehab assignment), and Ruben Tejada all played for Buffalo before being called up to the big league club. This shows just how dire the situation is for the Mets injury-wise and they are making do with it. Whenever 36% of your roster started the year in the minors, you can’t possibly have high expectations or most likely, high returns.
Next Mets Game
The Mets try to sweep the short 2-game series with the Nats at Citi Field tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 pm. Dillon Gee goes for the Mets and former Met Livan Hernandez goes for Washington.
The series finale of the Mets 2-game series against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field was postponed until July 18th at 7:10 pm. This effectively ends the shortened series and gives the Marlins the pseudo-series sweep.
The Washington Nationals come into town tomorrow night as Jonathan (pinch-hit triple) Niese faces Nationals lefty Tom Gorzelanny at Citi Field at 7:10 pm. In Mets injury news, David Wright was officially placed on the 15-day DL and young shortstop Ruben Tejada was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to take his roster spot.
