Tag Archives: Tyler Pill

The 2014 Binghamton Mets in GIFs

The Manchester experience in 16 moving pictures

Less than two months into the 2014 season, the B-Mets already have played their last regular season game of the year in Manchester, NH.  They leave New Hampshire with a 7-3 record at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium after shutouts, blown leads, big hits, occasional downpours, and a 14-inning finale.  Through all of it, the Binghamton roster has remained almost completely unchanged.  Only backup catchers changed places, with Blake Forsythe (on the DL for his entire 2014 B-Mets stint) dealt to Oakland and Nelfi Zapata (who did not appear in a game in Manchester) replacing Xorge Carrillo after the latter’s call-up to Las Vegas.  That’s effectively a stable 25-man roster to work with.

While I try to cover minor league games with as much useful information as possible, I have my limits.  When it comes to giving an illustrated first-hand account that goes beyond what the box score will tell you, I can at least fake competence.  But when people start asking about mechanics, I’ve got nothing.  I don’t like watching games from behind home plate and I can’t tell a curve from a slider.  I can juggle multiple electronic devices and capture photos and video while live-tweeting a game though.  So I added a video camera to my usual game pack and quickly realized that getting sharp video at night games just wasn’t happening.  Oh well.  What does it all add up to?  Damned if I know.

Let’s kick things off with Wilfredo Tovar enthusiastically grounding into a double play.  Is this something he learned during his stint in the big leagues last year?  Wherever he got it from, that’s a heck of a follow-through.

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18 May 2014 – Binghamton Mets at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

20 innings or bust!  Fine, bust it is…

Brian Burgamy breaks a bat grounding out

Three hit batters, two broken bats, two blown leads…  So much was busted for the B-Mets on Sunday that everyone was going to need a day off after this 14-inning marathon.  What’s that, they had a doubleheader on Monday?  No rest for the winners, I guess.  The B-Mets salvaged a win after blowing a 7-run lead and making the kids wait until after 6pm to run the bases, sweeping the Fisher Cats in their final trip to New Hampshire in 2014.

Box Score

Tyler Pill was coming off two losses in Manchester and the B-Mets were coming off two narrow victories in which they held comfortable leads, so I had low expectations for Sunday’s game.  In a surprise twist, Pill pitched effectively, going five scoreless innings before giving up two runs in the 6th and getting pulled after recording two outs.  His stuff wasn’t overpowering, topping off at about 89mph, but it was the slow stuff in the high-70s that was keeping the Fisher Cats at bay.  When Pill went with mostly high-80s fastballs in the 6th, the Fisher Cats pounced on him and got on the board.  T.J. Chism came in and got the B-Mets out of the inning without further damage.

Kevin Plawecki drives in a run in the 3rd inning

The B-Mets offense did enough damage of their own early in the game to make those two runs largely insignificant.  Cory Vaughn followed up his double on Saturday with another double his first time up on Sunday.  He would come around to score on a Wilfredo Tovar single.  The next run came an inning later on a Matt Reynolds triple and a Kevin Plawecki single.  Jayce Boyd singled to put runners at the corners for Cory Vaughn.

Cory Vaughn hits a sacrifice fly in the 3rd inning

This time, Vaughn flying out was productive, driving in a run as a sac fly.  That would be it for Vaughn’s offense for the foreseeable future; he would finish the night 1-for-5 with a sac fly and a HBP before going 0-for-7 with a walk over his next two games.  That streak of two doubles over the weekend was it for Vaughn’s hot streak and his trouble at the plate in 2014 continues.

Darrell Ceciliani begins a home run swing

Darrell Ceciliani followed Vaughn’s sac fly with the game’s only home run.  The Mets scored two more runs over the next three innings, putting them up 7-0 before Pill started having trouble.  Trouble was also getting started with Wilfredo Tovar.

Wilfredo Tovar fouls one off himself and doubles over in pain

We’ve seen a lot of Mets taking a beating over the course of this series.  Kevin Plawecki took two pitches and a foul ball on Friday, then Matt Clark left Saturday’s game after being hit by a pitch.  Sunday was Tovar’s day, which started when he fouled one off himself in the top of the 7th.  Tovar has been getting a bit frustrated at the plate lately and this certainly didn’t help.  But this was just the beginning.

T.J. Chism runs into trouble in the 7th inning

The rest of the team felt the pain in the bottom half when T.J. Chism started things off with three consecutive hits to left field.  With the pressure on, Chism walked the next batter to bring up Ryan Schimpf, who was so feared on Saturday that he was given an intentional walk.  That wasn’t an option with the bases loaded, so he had to settle for a hit by pitch.  After allowing the first five batters of the inning to reach base without recording an out, that was it for Chism.  He would go on the disabled list the next day, so something was clearly wrong.

Jon Velasquez was handed the unenviable task of getting three outs with three runners already on base.  Those runners wouldn’t be a problem for long.  Velasquez gave up a double that cleared the bases to the first batter he saw but settled in and got through the inning, wrapping things up on a 95mph fastball with runners on second and third.

The B-Mets would get their lead back in the top of the 8th, but it was short-lived.  Jack Leathersich gave the run back in the bottom half but kept the game tied until the end of the 9th.

Chase Bradford and Adam Kolarek would each pitch two scoreless innings to give the B-Mets another four chances to score a run.

Oh, for the love of god, enough with the bunting!

Which they tried to do by bunting.  For three straight innings, the Mets bunted when they got a runner on base (twice that was by HBP).  In the 10th and the 11th, we got the scene above: out at second, just barely safe at first.  We’re in extra innings and the Mets are giving away outs.  Things went differently in the 12th, for better and worse.

Wilfredo Tovar leaves the game in the 12th inning after being hit by a pitch

Wilfredo Tovar started things off by getting hit by a pitch that had him on the ground in pain.  He would leave the game after being helped off the field but would be back in the lineup on Monday.  With Dustin Lawley running for Tovar, Kyle Johnson got a sacrifice bunt down successfully and moved Lawley to second.  Lawley took third on a ground out, but he would be stranded 90 feet from home.  The Fisher Cats answered back in the bottom half with speedy pinch hitter Kenny Wilson walking, stealing second, and stealing third with one out.  Wilson wouldn’t make it any closer to scoring than Lawley had.  Both teams would then strand runners on second in the 13th as this game looked like it would never end.

Matt Reynolds singles to drive in Kyle Johnson for the winning run

Kyle Johnson wouldn’t be bunting when he came up with the bases empty in the top of the 14th.  Instead, he hit a double.  A single from Brian Burgamy moved him to third and another single from Matt Reynolds brought him home for the first run in six innings.  That would be it, leaving it up to a depleted bullpen with only Saturday’s relievers left unused.

John Church would get a one-run Binghamton lead in the bottom of the 14th, leaving only Cody Satterwhite in the bullpen.  Church got things started with a pair of strikeouts and then got an easy ground ball to end the game and finally let the kids, if there were any left in the stadium, run the bases.

The 42nd out…

Final Score: Bingamton 9, New Hampshire 8

That’s it for the B-Mets at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in 2014.  See you next year…

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

18 April 2013, Mets at Fisher Cats

Solid contact and a few breaks put the B-Mets over the Fisher Cats 4-3

Yeah, it was that kind of night for Wilfredo Tovar

Box Score

Some games are blowouts, some games are pitchers’ duels, and some games are tight back-and-forth affairs between two tough teams.  This was not one of those games.  With a chilly breeze blowing on fleece blanket night and Air National Guard KC-135 tankers flying overhead on their way into Manchester Boston Regional Airport, the action on the field was less than stellar.  Deep fly balls that only Matt den Dekker would have gotten to, baserunning blunders, and fielding faux pas were the order of the day for both teams, but the Mets prevailed with more of everything, good and bad.

Starting pitcher Tyler Pill signed autographs before the game as the 2013 B-Mets made themselves much more available for autos than the 2012 crew ever did.  Cory Mazzoni was among the notable pregame signers, though he didn’t have any injury updates (clearly the arm is still attached and functional though).  After a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, the game was underway with a quick and uneventful first inning.

Pill vs. Pillar, Round One: Pill by a mile. Well, a good foot and a half at least.

Call Me Maybe made its debut as Cory Vaughn came to bat in the second and got the first hit of the night.  A strikeout, double, and walk loaded the bases for Wilfredo Tovar, who grounded into a force out at second to end the inning.

The Fisher Cats went down in order again in the second inning, but Ricardo Nanita opened the bottom of the third with a deep fly ball that Alonzo Harris got a glove on but couldn’t get under control, sending Nanita to second.  Nanita advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a single, putting New Hampshire on the board.  Kenny Wilson then dropped a bunt down the third base line that Josh Rodriguez chased down, except his foot got to the ball before his glove.  Rodriguez then chased the ball behind the plate in a scene that was so comical that I forgot to take a picture.  That put runners at second and third for Kevin Pillar, who singled in another run.  A walk loaded the bases, but Pill worked a pair of strikeouts to limit the damage to two runs.

Binghamton answered back in the 4th with Cesar Puello one-upping Nanita with a triple to center and scoring on a Daniel Muno single.  That would be all for the Mets, now trailing 2-1.

Ricardo Nanita would not be outdone, hitting a solo home run to extend New Hampshire’s lead to 3-1.  Tyler Pill settled in from that point on, only allowing a single before exiting the game after the 6th inning.

The Mets on the other hand were just getting started.  Darrell Ceciliani singled in the 5th, advanced to second on a single, and stole third to get within 90 feet of making it a one-run game.  Actually, he got a bit closer than that, too close to get back to third in time after Rhyne Hughes lined one straight back to the pitcher and into a double play to end the Mets’ rally.

The 6th started off with Kenny Wilson chasing another deep fly ball that dropped in on the warning track giving Cory Vaughn a double.  Cesar Puello missed his chance to top Nanita’s solo home run when he was pinch hit for by Allan Dykstra, who took a pitch to the ankle to join Vaughn on the basepaths.  Francisco Pena advanced the runners on a sac bunt and, after a pitching change, Daniel Muno doubled in two runs to even the score at three.

Muno advanced to third on a groundout by Tovar and then Alonzo Harris made Kenny Wilson run the other way on a shallow fly ball that made it past the tumbling New Hampshire center fielder.  Muno scored and Harris had Binghamton’s third double of the inning, giving the Mets a 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish.

Hughes may have been out, but he refused to vacate third base until the field was empty, for whatever that’s worth

Pill wrapped up his night with three quick outs in the bottom of the 6th.  Rhyne Hughes continued the doubles parade in the top of the 7th but misjudged a Vaughn fly ball and was tagged out at third to end the Mets’ offense for the night.  Call Me Maybe did not turn out to be lucky for Cory Vaughn the second time around.

Will someone get these guys a bullpen phone?

John Church and Chase Hutchingson each pitched a scoreless inning for the Mets and Jeff Walters was called in for the save as the Harlem Shake took over the stadium.  New Hampshire had a chance to start something with one out in the bottom of the 9th when Ricardo Nanita (of course) dropped a shallow pop fly just inside the line in left for a single.

Nobody’s got it. Well, except for Daniel Muno when you try for second.

Unfortunately for Nanita, he thought he had a double and did not count on Wilfredo Tovar making the throw to second in time.  Tovar sent the next ball hit his way over to first base for the final out and the B-Mets won their first game in New Hampshire this year 4-3.

The official scorer was being generous, it sure looked like a lot more than one error out there…

2011 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Jack Leathersich joins the club, has anyone seen Tyler Pill?

Full list of 2011 Mets draft picks

With a new front office in place and a woefully bare farm system to replenish, the Mets were more aggressive in the 2011 draft than they have been in years. Less than a year later, seven members of the 2011 draft class have appeared on certified autograph cards. Christian Montgomery appeared in a Team USA autograph in 2010 Bowman Chrome prior to his 11th round selection. Top picks Brandon Nimmo and Michael Fulmer made their debuts in 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks and Prospects at the end of 2011. They were followed by Cory Mazzoni (2nd round), Logan Verrett (3rd round), and Phillip Evans (15th round) in January’s Donruss Elite Extra Edition. Jack Leathersich (5th round) made his autograph debut six weeks later in 2011 Playoff Contenders, skipping over Tyler Pill (4th round). I’ll update the board as more players (hopefully) join the certified autograph ranks in future products.

1 Brandon Nimmo 1s Michael Fulmer 2 Cory Mazzoni 3 Logan Verrett
4 Tyler Pill 5 Jack Leathersich 6 Joe Tuschak 7 Cole Frenzel
8 Daniel Muno 11 Christian Montgomery 13 Robert Gsellman 15 Phillip Evans
18 Travis Taijeron 21 John Gant 34 Seth Lugo 35 Chasen Bradford