Daily Archives: May 30, 2006
…for those unhappy with Kaz Matsui, and lack confidence in Jose Valentin…
It appears the Angels are finally looking to trade 2B Adam Kennedy, according to the Toronto Star…
In 155 at-bats this season for the Angels, Kennedy is batting .277 with two HR and 21 RBI, along with 30 strikeouts, five stolen bases and 14 walks, batting mostly from the ninth spot in the batting order. He has made three errors this season…
According to the Star, Toronto had a deal in place for Kennedy, in exchange for Shea Hillenbrand, which appears to have fallen through…
Over at the Mets Minor League Report, Toby recaps the night in Mets minor league action…
Among other comments, Toby writes of strong performances by Tides LHP Evan MacLane, who allowed one run on four hits while striking out four; RHP Mike Pelfrey, who allowed one run over six innings after missing a start on Saturday with a stomach ache; and RHP Mayque Quintero, who struck out nine in six innings in a win for St. Lucie…
…toby provides a mets minor league report after each night’s action…thanks, toby…
MacLane, 23, is 4–0 in five starts for Norfolk with a 1.93 ERA. He has tossed at least seven innings in three of his five starts…
Since joining Double-A Binghamton, Pelfey is 0–1 in six starts with 3.49 ERA sporting 30 strike outs in 28.1 innings pitched…
Quintero, 28, has started two games and appeared in relief once for St. Lucie and is 1–0 with 0.82 ERA in 11 innings with 13 strike outs…
Braves RHP John Smoltz has told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he intends to make his next start, on Friday, despite tweaking his hamstring in a start against the Cubs over the weekend…
Also, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Phillies RHP Jon Lieber has been put on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left groin…
Meanwhile, Phillies RHP Cole Hamels is scheduled to make a rehab start Thursday in single-A Lakewood, in an effort to rehab a sore shoulder. He is eligible to be activated from the DL on Saturday, which is Lieber’s next turn in the rotation…
…since craziness happens in threes, i’m thinking the mets should invest in a private security detail for Pedro Martinez…
At Mets-Walkoffs, Mark gives a run down of stats followinig David Wright’s fourth walk-off hit 
this season…
Most notable, Wright now holds the team record for walk-off hits in a single season, and is half-way to Kevin McReynold’s team record of eight…
Though his 15 home runs and 34 RBI lead the team, 1B Carlos Delgado has just two hits in his last 25 at-bats, including an 0–5 during last night’s win over the D’Backs…
In the Bergen Record, Tara Sullivan puts forth an excellent profile of Delgado…
David Wright, on Delgado, as quoted by Sullivan…
“He allows everyone else in the lineup to see better pitches because pitchers are always aware and cognizant of where he is. And off the field, he’s always open for teaching. He’s probably one of the most approachable superstars I’ve been around.”
Meanwhile, Cliff Floyd, who was batting .198 on May 17, is now 15-for-45 in his last 14 games, with five doubles, a triple and two homers…
The Mets were unable to negotiate a deal with RHP Pedro Beato…
Last year, the Mets drafted Beato in the 17th round as a draft-and-follow, which for reasons that are quite complicated, allows a team to draft a player while maintaining exclusive signing rights for a week before the following draft…
This year’s draft is June 6, which means the deadline has officially passed…
Beato, who went to Brooklyn’s Xaverian High, was born in Queens, NY, on the same day the Mets won the World Series in 1986…
At 20–years-old, Beato features a mid-90s fastball with good movement, a tight delivery and a good array of pitches, while checking in at 6’ 5” and 210 pounds…
…this is surprising…the buzz last week was that the two sides would reach an agreement…it sounded like the mets were still fishing as to whether he was worth the $1 million-plus he was seeking, though…i guess the price went up and they passed…or, the kid figures he’ll go high enough in the first round to make waiting this all out worth his while…
In a tie game with one out and Jose Reyes on third in the bottom of the ninth, David Wright drove in the game’s winning run with a deep fly ball to center field…
Wright, on last night’s win, as quoted by the Journal News…
“For us to continue to claw and scratch our way back into games and find ways to win, it’s pretty special.”…
…i’m torn, actually…i love the drama…i do…however, there is a part of me that would like to see a nice stretch of games where this team just controls its fate, where they can just dominate a little, and not have to exhaust themselves to ‘claw and scratch’ their ‘way back.’…a win is a win…i get that…and this team knows now that it can come from behind, that’s not a secret…it clearly believes in itself…so, now that that is out of the way, it’d be nice to put it in cruise control every now and then…that’s good for the psyche, as well…
In the New York Post, Kevin Kernan quotes Pedro Martinez as referring to Wright as having, “an aura for the clutch,” which Wright appears quite flattered by…
Mets 2B Jose Valentin started his second consecutive game at second base during the team’s 8–7 win over the D’Backs last night at Shea Stadium…
Valentin, as quoted by the Journal News…
“It’s on me to go out there and perform and do my job so I can be there and open his mind and say, ‘This guy can play second base. We better put him in every day.’ I bet you if I start playing well and do my job and we’re winning, my chances to be there pretty much every day are going to be good.”…
In eight starts this season, Valentin is hitting .344 with three HR and 13 RBI…
Meanwhile, Kaz Matsui has just three hits in his last 39 at-bats, spanning 15 games. With runners in scoring position, he is 6–for-38…
Willie Randolph, on Matsui, as quoted by the New York Post…
“It’s just the way I feel at the time of the day. We’re going to try to get Kaz going again. It’s not like he’s lost his job. That’s not the case. We want to get him going and he’s struggled a little bit…Kaz is still going to play for me.”…
In the Daily News, Julian Garcia puts forth a write-up on Valentin with a variety of quotes, as well…
