Tag Archives: Cesar Puello

The Essentials: 2014 Mets Autographs

Posted by on 2 February 2015 1 comment

The Prospect Boom Goes Bust

With all of the cards released across dozens of products in 2014, it can be hard to figure out what is worth collecting and what might as well be forgotten. What makes something essential? It’s a mix of collectibility, notability, and attainability. Popular brands/inserts and player debuts will dominate here, not big money low-numbered parallels or big stars. Just about everything mentioned here should still be fairly easy to find on the secondary market at reasonable prices.

2014 continued the Mets prospect autograph explosion that started in late 2013, but that fizzled out late in the year. While that meant lots of autographs for many top Mets prospects who had previously been overlooked, it was bad news for the Mets’ 2014 draft class, which is still waiting for its first autograph card from Topps.

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2 June 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Posted by on 3 June 2013 Comments Off on 2 June 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Pesky Puello steals the show (and second base)

It was Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium on a hot and sunny June afternoon.  The day started off with a Pesky Pole bobblehead giveaway, police dog demonstrations, a pipeband, and police motorcycles circling the field.  When the police left the field, the theft began.  Cesar Puello stole second base in the first inning and the B-Mets stole the game on a five-run 5th inning to take the series with a 7-2 win.  Their reward was a 7-hour bus ride back to Binghamton with a 2-game lead in their division.

Box score

The first three innings followed a pretty standard script for both teams.  Somebody strikes out, somebody gets on base, and the runner usually advances to second somehow.  Back and forth we went until the bottom of the 4th, when the Fisher Cats started things off with their first extra base hit of the game, a double by Clint Robinson.  A bunt moved Robinson to third and a fly ball that Darrell Ceciliani couldn’t get to drove him in to give the Fisher Cats the lead.  Jacob deGrom shut down the Fisher Cats offense from there with an infield fly and a strikeout.  His 92mph fastball didn’t miss many bats, but deGrom still managed 6 strikeouts, mostly with what appeared to be a trick pitch that set the ball on an invisible 4-inch tee on the plate.  Or maybe that’s just a camera trick.

Darrell Ceciliani turning an intentional walk into a run

The B-Mets answered back in the 5th with the type of offensive explosion typically reserved for Deck McGuire starts.  Alonzo Harris, in his second game back from a finger injury, finally got his bunting dialed in and set down his second hard bunt of the day, dropping it right down the first base line, drawing the first baseman in to field it, and getting to the bag before anyone could cover first.  Harris advanced to second on a single and was forced out at third when Wilfredo Tovar’s bunt attempt didn’t quite go as planned.  Daniel Muno singled and Cesar Puello doubled to give the B-Mets the lead and put runners on second and third with two outs for Cory Vaughn, who had struck out twice already and would finish the day with 4 Ks.  Vaughn was intentionally walked to load the bases for Darrell Ceciliani.  Ceciliani took advantage of the extra baserunner with a fly ball that got past a diving Brian Van Kirk for a triple, putting the B-Mets up 5-1.

Neither team did much of anything over the next inning.  Cesar Puello caught another fly ball, deGrom got two more strikeouts, and Harris abandoned the nothing-but-bunts plan and struck out.  DeGrom’s luck finally ran out in the bottom of the 6th when Clint Robinson sent one over the 400ft wall in center for a solo home run.  When the next batter resulted in deGrom’s third walk of the game, Adam Kolarek was called in to take over.  Kolarek retired all five batters he faced, Jack Leathersich pitched another perfect 8th inning (only one strikeout this time though), and Jeff Walters came in to finish the game.  More on that later.

Ceciliani drove Puello in with a triple, then Puello did it himself with a home run

Cesar Puello added a solo home run in the 7th to leave him a triple shy of the cycle.  He wouldn’t get it, though teammates Ceciliani and Richard Lucas would both triple in the game, Ceciliani earlier in the 5th inning and Lucas in the 8th.  Lucas would go on to score on a wild pitch that bounced out in front of the catcher, putting the B-Mets up 7-2.  Puello would pop out with the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the 9th and the B-Mets would strand all three runners, leaving it up to Walters to wrap things up.

Cesar Puello, with the glove, in right field

Actually, the game was in Cesar Puello’s hands in the bottom of the 9th, quite literally.  Puello was all over this game like any number of offensive stereotypes of people who are all over things.  Already 3 for 5 with a double, home run, stolen base, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored, you would think that he would be satisfied.  You obviously don’t know Puello.  He made the first out by beating out Muno and Lucas to a fly ball next to the Fisher Cats bullpen and then just missed getting to a line drive in time to make the third out.  That put runners on first and second for Walters, but Puello bailed him out by grabbing a routine fly ball to end the game.  Puello caught five outs to go with his exploits at the plate and on the basepaths, ranging from the foul line to center and making everyone else get out of his way.  It was a solid game all around following an 0-4, 3K night on Friday and a night off on Saturday.  It looks like there just might be some decent outfield prospects in the Mets system after all, though Puello still has a ways to go before he’s ready for the majors.

31 May 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Posted by on 1 June 2013 Comments Off on 31 May 2013 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Deck McGuire and Logan Verrett in: The Battle of Who Could Suck Less

The B-Mets made their second trip of the season to New Hampshire, this time in sole posession of first place in their division.  Their dominance would be short-lived as they would find themselves in a three-way tie for first after falling 8-7 to the Fisher Cats.

Box Score

Darrell Ceciliani puts runners in scoring position in Binghamton’s 5-run 2nd inning

When last we saw Deck McGuire, he gave up five runs in 1/3 of an inning and got an early hook at the start of an 11-4 B-Mets rout.  This time around, McGuire waited until the second inning to give up five runs.  In an inning when anything hit in play would go down as a hit, McGuire’s only way out was an inning-ending strikeout.

Vaughn and Ceciliani preparing to begin today’s scoring

I put down my camera to get out a tweet about the first run and several more came through before I could get through 140 characters.  McGuire looked lost, the Fisher Cats looked inept, and the Mets looked unstoppable.

One of my few pictures of Logan Verrett without a runner on first in the background

Things started turning around in the next inning.  The entire Mets infield got caught napping on a leadoff base hit up the middle, but no damage was done.  The scene repeated itself in the 4th with not one but two infielders trying, and failing, to corral a hard-hit ground ball, with shortstop Wilfredo Tovar in the middle of both plays.  He made no effort to go after a ball that rolled to his left in the 3rd and in the 4th he got in front of a ball to his right that got past a diving Josh Rodriguez, but was unable to hold on to it.  To his credit, Tovar started a slick double play in the 3rd, but the bobble in the 4th was costly.  That runner would score and one more run would come through with two outs.

The Mets’ lead would be cut to 5-4 in the 5th after a double and a home run with two outs.  Trying to get some breathing room, the Mets went for a bunt to lead off the 6th.  That was the only Mets batter to leave the batter’s box in the inning.  With Verrett getting hit hard, you would have to think that the bullpen would be coming into play soon.  You would be wrong.

Verrett came out to start the 6th and put the first two batters on base.  Verrett then fielded a soft bunt and didn’t even attempt to make a throw, seeming to realize that, with his luck tonight, any throw he made would probably end up in the outfield and three runs would score.  Instead, he took his chances with former Mets farmhand Adam Loewen, who decided to give the ball the rest of the night off in the Sam Adams Bar and Grill on the other side of the left field wall.  With that, the Fisher Cats took an 8-5 lead and Logan Verrett made his exit.  One pitch from Ryan Fraser turned into one out and the Fisher Cats went down easy from that point on.

The Mets struck back in the top of the 7th with back-to-back line drives to shallow center to lead off the inning.  Right into the glove of a charging Kevin Pillar.  Both times.  Fraser gave up one hit in the bottom half but got through the inning without incident and turned things over to Jack Leathersich.

This is what a Jack Leathersich strikeout looks like

Leathersich struck out the side in the 8th, much to the amazement of anyone who had never heard of Jack Leathersich.  To anyone else, it was business as usual.

Productive outs, but not productive enough

Down to their last three outs, it was time for the B-Mets to work their late-inning magic and salvage this game.  Darrell Ceciliani started the inning off with a base hit and scored on Blake Forsythe’s double.  Forsythe advanced to third on a groundout by Richard Lucas and scored on a Wilfredo Tovar groundout.  That left the Mets down by one run with two outs and Daniel Muno at the plate.  One groundout later and it was time to see some fireworks before our feature presentation, Escape From Manchester (runtime 40 minutes, rated !*@$#& for people in minivans almost crashing into you as you try to get a few inches closer to the exit).  Mets lose 8-7.

This is what a Cesar Puello strikeout looks like

Notes: Cesar Puello went 0-4 with three strikeouts.  The first four batters in the B-Mets lineup went 1 for 14 with six strikeouts and two walks.  The bottom four in the order went 6 for 16 with two strikeouts and six RBIs.