Category Archives: Game Recaps - Page 2

16 May 2014 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Rain for Matthew Bowman, pain for Kevin Plawecki

The Binghamton Mets started their final series of 2014 in Manchester on a rainy Friday night with Matthew Bowman making his first start at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. The weather produced the bulk of the offense for New Hampshire, helping the Fisher Cats score 6 runs in the 3rd inning. It took a team effort, but the Mets were able to overcome a two-run deficit to take the first game of the series 8-6.

Box Score

Baseballs 3, Plawecki 3

The last time we saw Kevin Plawecki here, he was not a happy camper after a called third strike ended the series with a loss. Maybe it was karma or maybe it was lingering bad feelings, but Plawecki took a beating in his return to Manchester. He took the first pitch he saw for a called strike, which drew comments from the dugout where they could see that the pitch was just a few inches off the ground. The umpire shrugged off the criticism of a call that was ultimately inconsequential as Plawecki took first base after being hit by a pitch. The message to Plawecki was clear: you’d better swing at anything that doesn’t hit you.

Plawecki’s next time up came with one out in the top of the 3rd. Matt Clark had just driven in his second run of the game to put the B-Mets up 2-0. With the Matts in scoring position (Clark on 2B and Reynolds on 3B), Plawecki sent them home on a single to center. 4-0 seemed like a comfortable lead at the time, but then the weather started getting rough.

Special bonus commentary for lip readers

That was Kenny Wilson tripling to center and driving in Jon Berti to put the Fisher Cats on the board. The rain continued to pick up, clearly giving Bowman trouble with his grip. With the wetness came wildness as Bowman hit the next batter, somehow struck out the next one, and then threw one past Plawecki to allow Wilson to score from third.

Seems like it’s hard to hold on to a baseball in the rain…

It got even worse from there. With the rain coming down in buckets, Bowman walked the next two batters to load the bases. That brought up Andy Fermin, who tripled… His RBI total for the season with a grand slam. Bowman got out of the inning with a strikeout as the monsoon let up, but the Mets’ 4-run lead had evaporated in a deluge of Fisher Cats runs.

Things started getting weird in the 5th when Matt Reynolds reached on a throwing error for the second time and Plawecki, after fouling a pitch off himself and hobbling around in pain for a while, got his second HBP of the night. Cory Vaughn and Dustin Lawley would strike out to strand them, but Lawley’s strikeout was delayed because the catcher was slow to catch on when the umpire never called “Out!” at the end of the at-bat. After some confusion, the catcher tagged Lawley and we were on to the bottom half.

Moving on to the top of the 8th, Lawley singled to lead things off, but was out stretching for two. A Jayce Boyd walk and singles by Wilfredo Tovar and Kyle Johnson loaded the bases for Brian Burgamy, who sent a pitch to the left field warning track for an out his first time up. This time he got a better cut and sent the ball into the left field corner, glancing off Jon Berti’s glove to fall in for a 3-RBI double and give the B-Mets the lead. Kevin Plawecki would drive Burgamy in with his third hit of the night before Cory Vaughn ended his second inning in a row to conclude his 0-4 night.

As for New Hampshire, they didn’t have much fight in them after they dried off. They went down in order in the 5th, 6th, and 7th and had one runner in the 8th when Wilfredo Tovar misplayed a pop fly to the right of the pitcher’s mound. Adam Kolarek was brought in with two outs and somehow managed to induce a double play. Everyone was a bit confused on that one… A single in the 9th was the last of the Fisher Cats offense and Chase Bradford struck out Kenny Wilson to end the game.

Final Score: Bingamton 8, New Hampshire 6

6 May 2014 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

This one’s gonna sting

Coming off a shutout loss here the night before, the Binghamton Mets were looking to even the series behind Hansel Robles, who pitched five shutout innings here last month.  The Binghamton offense would need to produce more than ground balls to make that happen though.  Robles had everything working for the first couple of innings and the offense came back to life for a few more, but it didn’t add up to a win as the Fisher Cats took this one 6-4 with Kevin Plawecki getting the final word (which is best not said in polite company).

Box Score

Hansel Robles was leaning on his fastball early and was holding steady at 92mph for the first two innings, touching 93.  Robles started getting into trouble when he lost velocity on his fastball.  At only 90mph, it just wasn’t enough to keep the Fisher Cats offense in check, resulting in a flurry of ground balls.

Round and round they go…

Wilfredo Tovar was able to get to three of them, but four ground balls plus a line drive and a fly ball made it into the outfield for hits before Robles was pulled in the 6th.  The final straw was a grounder that shot into the Binghamton bullpen where Cory Vaughn, playing in left field for a change, had trouble getting to it.  Cody Satterwhite was warming up at the time and entered the game to face the next batter.  His first order of business though was to pick off the runner Robles left behind.

Robles only gave up one run in the 6th, but it was enough to earn him the loss after Jayce Boyd had just tied the game in the top half for the final Binghamton run (Boyd’s HR was followed by six ground outs as the bats went cold).  The B-Mets offense got off to a shaky start, stranding four runners in the first two innings, but they scored four runs for Robles on home runs by Matt Clark and Jayce Boyd and a Wilfredo Tovar line drive.  Boyd went 4-for-4 on the night with a home run and two doubles (one aided by the setting sun) while Tovar went 2-for-3 with a walk.  Boyd had the stat line night (just a triple shy of the cycle with two runs scored), while Tovar impressed at the plate, on the basepaths, and in the field.

For his effort though, Tovar would not make it past third base, getting stranded there twice and watching the end of the game at second base after walking on a full count to lead off the 9th and advancing on a ground out that might have been a double play if he hadn’t been running on the pitch.  Kevin Plawecki came up with two outs representing the tying run.  We’ve seen this one before.  Plawecki drew a full count before taking a pitch and preparing to take his base.  The umpire had other ideas though and Plawecki had words with him before walking back to the losing dugout in an exact repeat of the game two years ago.  This time though, the dugout was silent except for a single exclamation as Plawecki packed up his gear.

Those who do not learn from history…

Final score: New Hampshire 6, Binghamton 4

5 May 2014 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Binghamton’s bats go cold and Brian Burgamy gets burned by the hot corner

It sure seemed like all of Binghamton’s bats were broken last night…

Last month, the Binghamton Mets scored 26 runs over their four-game series in Manchester, leaving with three wins and one loss.  That one loss was the game started by Monday’s starter, Tyler Pill.  With Pill up against the league’s worst offense, the Mets put on a show of inadequacy at the plate and in the infield that allowed the Fisher Cats to take the game with a 5-0 shutout.

Box Score

The last time he was here, Tyler Pill couldn’t make it through the 5th inning and was charged with 7 runs, all earned.  I guess you could call this an improvement then.  The Fisher Cats were batting a league-worst .225 coming into this series, but Pill’s fastball was sitting at only 87mph.  What happens when you attack a weak offense with a slow fastball?

And that was only a double…

Yeah, that.  Pill made it through the first seven batters without allowing a baserunner, but number 8 sent Pill’s offering high above the right field foul pole to give New Hampshire a 1-0 lead.  That would remain their only baserunner until it all fell apart in the bottom of the 5th.

Brian Burgamy fell flat on defense last night. He had trouble in the field too.

It isn’t easy being the oldest player on a minor league team, but Brian Burgamy held his own in last month’s series in Manchester.  Last night, not so much.  In addition to going 0-4 at the plate, Burgamy was charged with two errors and had several other missed plays in the field.  It all started going wrong with one out and a runner on second in the bottom of the 5th inning.  A foul pop dropped a baseball into the second row and Burgamy into the first.  The next ball put in play went to Burgamy, who swiped at the runner but couldn’t make the tag.  The throw to first was late and off, leaving runners on first and third on what should have been the second out and could have been an inning-ending double play.  A walk and a failed double play later, Burgamy got another chance to end the inning on a bunt down the third base line.  Unfortunately, he was slow to get to the ball and rushed the throw, missing the mark completely and putting runners on second and third with another run scoring.  The inning would end with the Fisher Cats padding their lead to 3-0, but fate wasn’t done with Burgamy just yet.

This stadium has a way of evening out luck in a very short amount of time.  One day you win by 11 runs, the next you lose by 11 runs.  And so it stood to reason that Brian Burgamy would get a shot at redemption sooner rather than later.  That would come in the 8th inning with the score still 3-0 Fisher Cats.  With one out, Jon Berti sent a line drive just over Burgamy, almost close enough to grab.  Almost.  The ball glanced off the tip of Burgamy’s glove to give Berti a single, which he quickly followed with a stolen base that had him on third base when Kevin Plawecki threw the ball away.  A double brought in another run and, with two outs, a ground ball was hit straight at Burgamy.  And got past him on a nasty hop, bringing in another run.  Burgamy’s redemption would have to wait for another day.

For Binghamton’s offense, luck was on autocorrect all night.  The B-Mets took full advantage of New Hampshire’s fielding deficiencies to put runners on base several times.  Three double plays quickly erased most of those.  After putting runners on second and third in the first inning, no Binghamton runner would reach third base for the rest of the night.  The top of the 5th is a typical example.  With one out, Dustin Lawley hits an infield single to third, making up for his broken bat groundout to third in the 2nd inning:

And then Wilfredo Tovar does this:

Bat flippin’ at a major league level – call him up!

Despite the epic bat flip, that’s an inning-ending double play.  Tovar would get retribution in the form of a HBP in the 8th, which, of course, was negated by a double play.  It’s a vicious cycle…

The top of the 9th left lady luck with a few loose ends to tie up.  Matt Reynolds, who started the failed double play in the 5th, would go on to break up a double play in the 9th with a takeout slide.  That put Kevin Plawecki on first base with two outs, which quickly became Plawecki on second base with two outs when New Hampshire gave back the base they took on his error in the previous inning.  That also gave the B-Mets their first runner in scoring position since the first inning.  Cory Vaughn then put the ball in the air for only the fourth time of the night for the entire Binghamton lineup, but this was the result:

The Fisher Cats win points for style. Also, the game.

Final score: New Hampshire 5, Binghamton 0

13 April 2014 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

He’s the walking man, born to walk, walk on walking man

Matt Clark watches one of 20 balls he saw on Sunday

Matt Clark is not the fastest runner on this team.  Twice this series, Clark grounded out on plays with less than stellar fielding.  He also had two home runs, so that brisk jog is working rather well for him.  In the series finale though, Clark proved that the eye is mightier than the leg with five straight walks, two of which eventually brought him around to score.  All that walking pushed the game time past the three hour mark despite a lack of offense on the opposing side as the Mets finished off the series with a 6-0 win over the Fisher Cats.

Box Score

Hansel Robles hasn’t seen his prospect status rise since his playoff run two years ago on the all-star Brooklyn Cyclones rotation.  He hasn’t gone bust either, but this outing illustrated why he’s in prospect limbo.  At times, he was lights out, with six strikeouts over five shutout innings, two of which saw the Fisher Cats go down in order.  It took him 81 pitches to get through those five innings though, two of which ended with the bases loaded.  It was a mixed bag of an outing that left the B-Mets bullpen on the hook for another four innings.

Travis Taijeron frequently looked lost on the basepaths

New Hampshire pitcher Aaron Sanchez had a few problems of his own, but fastball speed sure wasn’t one of them.  At 92-95, Sanchez’s fastball was easily the fastest of the series.  Speed alone wasn’t enough though; the Mets put runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings but failed to score because of double plays and baserunning blunders like Travis Taijeron getting a late read on the stop sign after rounding second and getting caught with nowhere to go.  Taijeron would find himself in a similar situation later in the game when he rounded second on a fly ball that was caught and couldn’t get all the way back to first base in time.  The lane from second to third claimed another victim in the 8th when Wilfredo Tovar saw the runner ahead of him hold up at third and turned around to see second base occupied.  Tovar held perfectly still between second and third and went unnoticed for a short time before someone realized that the count of runners vs. bases was off.  Looks like Binghamton will be working on some baserunning drills…

Dustin Lawley follows Matt Clark’s walk with a HBP

After going down in order in the third, the B-Mets got on the board in the fourth inning without putting a ball in play.  After Matt Clark took his customary walk, Aaron Sanchez hit the next two batters to load the bases and then used a 95mph fastball to walk in the game’s first run.  After giving up a sac fly and an RBI single, Sanchez struck out Darrell Ceciliani to end his outing on a high note.

Brad Glenn strikes out to end the 5th inning

Robles got into his biggest jam in the 5th when Mike Crouse hit a ground ball down the right field line that veered into the New Hampshire bullpen and settled under a tarp.  Crouse reached third by the time Travis Taijeron was able to dig the ball out from under the tarp but the ball was never ruled dead.  Binghamton Manager Pedro Lopez came out to argue, to no avail.  Robles, clearly flustered by the situation, got the next batter to ground out and then hit Kenny Wilson with a pitch, drawing words from the home plate umpire.  A strikeout, stolen base, and walk loaded the bases with two outs, but Robles struck Brad Glenn out to end the inning with a smile.

Cody Satterwhite took over to pitch the 6th and 7th innings, giving up just one hit in that span.  John Church struck out the side in the 8th and Jon Velasquez pitched a perfect 9th to secure the shutout victory.  That side of the game went quickly, but the top half of each inning slowed the pace considerably.

Dustin Lawley finds a less painful way to get on base

While the Fisher Cats only managed a lone single over the final third of the game, the B-Mets put runners on second and third in three straight innings.  Darrell Ceciliani scored on a passed ball in the 7th, but that was the only Mets run in the final third until Dustin Lawley doubled in a run with nobody out in the 9th.  Cory Vaughn drove in the game’s final run with a pop fly before the B-Mets stranded Lawley at third.

This lopsided story left me nothing to say about Jon Velasquez.  So here he is, presented without comment.

Mike Crouse strikes out to end the game

10 April 2014 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

The B-Mets go balls to the (center field) wall

The last time I saw Darin Gorski, the Fisher Cats jumped all over him for 9 runs in 4+ innings.  Two years later, Gorski is back in control despite a fastball that tops out around 88mph.  Like the pitcher in Big Windup though, He was able to use what he had effectively enough to strike out 10 while only giving up one unearned run in 6 innings of work.  That one run wasn’t enough to beat a B-Mets offense that seemed to have it out for the 400ft deep center field fence and produced 9 runs to give the Mets an easy win.

Box Score

The last time I saw Kevin Plawecki, he struck out looking (and swearing) to end the game in a Cyclones loss.  Plawecki was swinging away on Thursday night, though his first attempts weren’t pretty.  He then grounded out to third three times in a row before finally reaching base on an error in the 9th to cap an 0-5 night.  Defensively, he didn’t fare much better, producing the lone run for the Fisher Cats.

Binghamton started the center field assault in the top of the second when Jayce Boyd bounced one off the wall for a double.  Fisher Cats center fielder Kenny Wilson jumped into the wall after it but was unable to make the grab.  Dustin Lawley then put one over the left field wall to give the B-Mets a 2-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Darin Gorski was dealing, ending both the second and third innings on swinging strikeouts.  The only runner he allowed in the first three innings was on a ball that Darrell Ceciliani misplayed off the center field wall and very well could have turned into an inside-the-park home run.  The runner held up at third and then got to spend the next two at-bats watching Gorski do his thing.

The Fisher Cats offense came alive in the 4th when Jon Berti reached on a bunt single and then stole second on a strikeout.  Plawecki’s throw was on target but late, about what you would expect from a catcher known more for his bat than his arm.  Berti then quickly stole third on an inside pitch to the right-handed Brad Glenn.  The pitch pushed everyone into the worst possible position for Plawecki to make a throw, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to see the ball fly into left field, scoring Berti.  Gorski then issued two walks, putting runners on first and second with one out in what was now a 2-1 game before a double play ended the threat.

Binghamton resumed their assault on the center field wall in the 5th, but their attempts were weak and off target.  After giving Fisher Cats left fielder Mike Crouse a good workout, the B-Mets claimed victory when Brian Burgamy crushed one over the wall in the deepest part of the park.  With the wall slain and a healthy 5-1 lead, it was up to Gorski to return to form and keep the Fisher Cats in check.

Which he did, ending the next two innings on swinging strikeouts while allowing just a pair of singles before what would be his 10th and final strikeout of the night.  With his fastball sitting at 88, Gorski was getting a lot more contact putting balls in play instead of the foul balls that had been setting up his earlier strikeouts.  Still, it was a solid outing.

Both sides went to the bullpen in the 7th, which didn’t work out well for the Fisher Cats.  After a single, stolen base, single, and walk, the B-Mets had the bases loaded with no outs in the top of the 7th.  Brian Burgamy, not one to follow suit with this whole “everyone gets on base” thing, grounded into a double play to drive in a run.  Kevin Plawecki then grounded out to third for the third time to end the inning.

First up from the B-Mets pen was Jon Velasquez, who exited without incident after a 1-2-3 inning.  Adam Kolarek came in to finish things out, as he always seems to do around here when a big lead is involved.  Not closer material, I guess.  Brian Burgamy once again broke pattern when the Fisher Cats were helping the B-Mets with some fielding drills.  After ground outs to third and short, Burgamy bobbled the ground ball to second.  This guy really does not like patterns.

Kevin Plawecki doesn’t always ground out to third. Sometimes he reaches on error after grounding to second.

The Manchester air turned chilly by the 9th inning, so you would expect the Mets, already weary from an overnight bus trip and now 6 trips around the bases, to want to wrap things up quickly.  Cory Vaughn started things off right by sending the first pitch into Kenny Wilson’s glove (via a slick sliding catch), but the next three batters resumed the assault on center field with three consecutive doubles.  That brought up pattern-buster Brian Burgamy.  Burgamy walked.  After a pitching change, Kevin Plawecki changed up his pattern, grounding out to second instead of third.  Or at least he would have if the second baseman hadn’t thrown the ball away going for the force out at second and, likely, an inning-ending double play.  Plawecki ended the night karma-neutral on throwing errors and the run that scored on the play was the final one in this 9-1 B-Mets victory.

29 September 2013 – Milwaukee Brewers at New York Mets

Unlikely heroes bunt out a win as the Mets celebrate Mike Piazza

This time last year, R.A. Dickey set out to earn his 20th win in front of an enthusiastic crowd.  This year, the big milestone on the line was Eric Young Jr’s pursuit of the NL stolen base lead as the Mets attempted to equal last year’s record of 74-88.  Backing them up was a sellout crowd that came to see Mike Piazza inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame and stayed to see the Mets close out the season with a 3-2 win.

Mike Piazza evokes memories of home runs, playoff appearances, and black uniforms.  There would be none of those for the Mets from here on out, but it’s fun to look back at better days.  Denied entrance to Cooperstown this year, the Mets made Piazza the newest member of the Mets Hall of Fame surrounded by his family and the family of Mets greats from years past.

And a whole lot of cameras.  Absent were Al Leiter, whose job with MLB Network was keeping him busy as the Indians, Rangers, and Rays fought for the last two playoff spots, and Tom Seaver, who was all but ignored aside from a brief first-name mention from Piazza.

This wasn’t the time to look back at the Mets’ lone representative in Cooperstown as Piazza looks poised to join him whenever the writers get their act together.  Piazza graciously accepted the award, spoke highly of his former teammates, and let the fans know how much their support has meant to him over the years.  It was a true class act from a Mets great who hasn’t had much to do with the team lately, so this could be a changing of the guard.  Next up: Cooperstown and the Citi Field wall of retired numbers.

Terry Collins, not especially beloved by the fans but respected by the players and the front office, entered the game with a two-year contract extension all but finalized.  A progression of injuries and a team straight out of Las Vegas certainly didn’t help his case, but it does give some context to three losing seasons with the Mets.  Collins does know how to work with people, in stark contrast to his previous managerial roles.  In this regard, it makes sense that he made a special trip to the outfield before the game to thank the fans for their support.  It was a simple gesture, but it shows that someone in charge of something understands that the team needs the support of the fans.  Now let’s see what he can do with some better players.

Eric Young Jr. has proven that the Mets’ lack of a leadoff hitter is a significant deficiency.  While I wouldn’t say that he’s proven that he deserves to be a starter in 2014, he should be a safe bet to make the team.  Tied for the NL lead in stolen bases, Young put himself in position to get the top spot for himself with a leadoff single in the bottom of the first.  To the surprise of nobody, he was off in advance of the first pitch and easily took second for his 45th steal of the season.

Would he stop there?  Of course not.  A few pitches later, he took third when Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy couldn’t get a good grip on the ball and threw far too late to catch Young.  With one out, David Wright popped out to shallow right field, too shallow for a runner to tag up at third and score.

Or so you would think.  This should have been an out.  Even with Young’s speed, the ball got to Lucroy in plenty of time.  Lucroy on the other hand couldn’t get to Young in time to make the tag, catching the ball well into the infield and needing to spin around 180 degrees for any chance at getting Young.  Young did his job as a leadoff hitter and put the Mets on the board first.  That should have been enough, but this wouldn’t be a Mets game if it were that easy.

Jon Niese, who cruised through the first three innings, started the fourth with three singles.  Jeff Bianchi tried to score on the third, but Eric Young Jr. didn’t want anyone else to take away his spotlight, so he fired a throw to Juan Centeno, who made the tag for the inning’s first out.  Niese walked Yuniesky Betancourt to load the bases, but he looked like he would escape the inning without incident when Sean Halton hit an easy double play ball.  Umpire CB Bucknor thought otherwise and a run scored on the blown call, tying the game at 1.

Terry Collins did his part by arguing the call, but nothing he could say would change the call or, apparently, get him ejected.  Logan Schafer followed with a dribbler that nobody could get to, driving in a run to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.  Scooter Gennett hit the fifth single of the inning, but someone didn’t get the memo about not running on Juan Lagares.  Centeno tagged Halton to end the inning, for real this time.  With the Mets’ bats silent since Young’s leadoff single, that blown call could decide the game.

Vic Black is a contender for high leverage relief appearances next year, so it’s good to see how he reacts under pressure.  After an out and a four-pitch walk to Norichika Aoki, Black was determined to undo his mistake via pickoff.  A little too determined.  On the third consecutive pickoff attempt, Josh Satin couldn’t get a glove on the ball and Aoki took second.  With the pressure on (largely due to his own efforts), Black got the next two batters to fly out to end the inning.

Juan Lagares gunned down Sean Halton to end the Brewers’ scoring in the 4th and Lagares came out on top again when their roles were reversed leading off the bottom of the 8th.  On a ground ball to short, Lagares reached first safely when Halton couldn’t keep his foot on the bag and made no attempt at a tag.  Juan Centeno followed with a perfectly dropped bunt that he was able to turn into an infield single.  Milwaukee second baseman Scooter Gennett was caught off guard despite this being Centeno’s second bunt attempt and, after bumping into Bucknor, couldn’t get into a stable position to field the throw.  That opened the door for Lagares to score and tie the game at 2.

Juan Centeno, not David Wright or Daniel Murphy as had been rumored, would be the only Met to lifted for a pinch runner, though it wasn’t to give him an ovation.  Matt den Dekker took over as the runner at second, which apparently Lucroy didn’t pick up on when he fielded Wilfredo Tovar’s bunt and threw to third instead of first.  With the lead run on third and nobody out, most fans would expect a run here.  Between the Brewers’ inept defense and the Mets’ absent offense though, nothing was certain.  Josh Satin popped out for the first successfully recorded out of the inning, bringing the offense full circle to the player who started the day’s scoring and now had a chance to end it.

Eric Young Jr. didn’t need to do much.  A base hit or a deep fly ball would bring den Dekker home.  Instead, he smashed the ball into the ground just in front of home plate for a groundout that the Brewers executed without an error.  As den Dekker slid across home plate.  With the lead secured, Justin Turner and his beard came in to put the Mets’ offense to bed for the year.

Frank Francisco was brought in to be the Mets’ closer, but things didn’t exactly go as planned.  After a disappointing 2012, Francisco missed most of 2013 while rehabbing from injury.  With the Mets up 3-2 going into the 9th, Francisco was handed his first save opportunity of the year and an opportunity to end his Mets career back on track.  His first test would be former Met Carlos Gomez, who popped out to start the inning.  A strikeout brought in Aramis Ramirez as a pinch hitter and Milwaukee’s last chance.  Ramirez watched as Francisco sent strike three over the plate to end the game.  If you picked Frank Francisco to save Game 162 for the Mets, well, you must not follow baseball.  Still, that’s the way it happened as we say goodbye to Citi Field for 2013.