AAA: @ Rochester Red Wings (MIN) 5, Buffalo Bisons 2

Jose Sanchez’s Bisons debut did not go well: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR.

AA: @ Akron Aeros 13, Binghamton Mets 3

C Josh Thole and SS Ruben Tejada were each 2-4 and Tejada added a walk.

Dylan Owen (4-10, 5.93) got bombed: 4 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.

A+: St. Lucie Mets 4, @ Palm Beach Cardinals 2

RF Carlos Guzman was 3-4 with a double to lead the Mets past the Cardinals Sunday.  Reese Havens, hitting .276/.386/.448 in August hit his 13th HR of the season.  His .276 average is his highest of any month.

A: @ Savannah Sand Gnats 6, Rome Braves 2

In absolutely the performance of the night in the Mets system, Kyle Allen (9-6, 3.59)shutout Rome until the seventh inning.  He went 6.2 innings, giving up just one run on three hits while striking out a season-high nine batters with just one walk.  Allen has put it all together in a 2-0, 2.28 August in which he’s struck out 27 and walked just 11 in 27.2 innings, while giving up just 19 hits.

3B Eric Campbell gave Jefry Marte the night off and was 2-4 with two doubles.

SSA: Brooklyn @ Oneonta – Ppd

Rookie (APP): Kingsport Mets 6, @ Elizabethton Twins 1

Yohan Almonte tossed six-one run innings with seven strikeouts against just one walk.  In his last four starts, he is 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA (5 ER/23 IP) with 23 strikeouts against six walks.

3B Joe Bonfe was 3-5.  DH Jeffrey Flagg was 2-5 with a three run HR, his tenth, and 5 RBI.

Rookie (GCL): GCL Mets 5, @ GCL Cardinals 2

3B Aderlin Rodriguez (.298/.403/.404) was 4-5.

AAA: Buffalo Bisons 8, @ Rochester Red Wings 7

The Bisons scored seven times in the second for an 8-1 lead, but had to survive a late Rochester rally as the Red Wings scored four runs in their final three turns at bat.

AA: Binghamton Mets 3, @ Akron Aeros 1 (7 innings, rain)

Eric Niesen (3-6, 5.24) got the cheap complete game by going six innings, allowing just one run on a one hit and three walks with five strikeouts.  He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his last six starts.  One of these things is not like the others; Niesen’s ERA by month at AA: 7.64, 6.38, 2.67.  In August, he’s 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA and 35 K against 12 BB in 27 innings.  It’s the first time in AA he’s had a K/BB above two in a month, or a go/ao ratio above 1 (1.14).  Hector Berrios, take a bow.

C Josh Thole was 2-3, while 1B Ike Davis doubled and SS Ruben Tejada tripled for their only hits.

A+: St. Lucie Mets 16, Palm Beach Cardinals 6

CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis was 4-6 with two doubles and three RBI to lead the FSL in a rout of Palm Beach in which the Mets banged out 22 hits.  Nieuwenhuis is up to .355/.415/.673 in August with 12 doubles and six HR.

LF Brahiam Maldonado reached base four times via two doubles, a single and a walk.  Stefan Welch (.293/.362/.440) hit the only St. Lucie HR in a 3-6 night.  He’s homered in back-to-back games.  In 184 AB in the FSL this year, Welch has equaled his HR total from Kingsport and Savannah a year ago in 272 AB: five.

Tim Stronach didn’t pitch all that well: 5.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, but with all that support, didn’t really need to.

A: Rome Braves 5, @ Savannah Sand Gnats 2

Eric Beaulac was sharp over six innings, fanning 11 and giving up just two runs on eight hits and a walk.  According to Mike Newman of scoutingthesally.com, Beaulac’s slider “was solid average to plus the entire evening leading to 11 strikeouts by Rome hitters. The pitch simply continues to be too much for Sally leaguers.”

SS Wilmer Flores was 2-4 with a walk and a deep flyout, and impressed Newman as well: “With twenty more pounds on his frame, the ball would have been out. Flores ripped both Teheran’s fastball and curve in an impressive showing of bat control and pitch recognition.”

So I’ve been trying to spend a bunch of time prepping for my major fantasy football draft on Saturday at 7 PM.  I own the fourth pick in the draft.

It’s a 12-team keeper league, where any player drafted after the fourth round in the previous year is keeper-eligible and keepers can be held for two years.  My keeper is Chris Johnson, who I picked in the ninth round last year, so I will forfeit my 9th rounder this year.  The following players are being kept by other teams: RB: Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner, Matt Forte, DeAngelo Williams & Ryan Grant; QB: Matt Ryan & Matt Cassel, WR: Roddy White.

I’d like to pick Larry Fitzgerald at #4 (or if you include the nine kept players, #14).  The teams picking in front of me have kept Matt Cassell, Ryan Grant and Matt Ryan.  Someone will pop Jones-Drew.  I’d rather have Fitz than Steven Jackson, LT or Frank Gore, but would be tempted to take Gore if he fell to me.  For me, Andre Johnson is the second WR over Calvin Johnson, because well, AJ has a real QB (Schaub) and plays in a functional offense, while CJ will play with either a washed up  (Dante) or rookie QB (Stafford). Thoughts about the first or second round?  Overall strategies?  Sleepers you love?  Guys you would avoid?

The structure of our league encourages me to draft a WR as well.  We have a 7 point bonus for TD runs, passes or throws longer than 50 yards, 3 starting WR and 6 points for a throwing TD.

Oh yeah, there are some Mets affiliates playing tonight.  Eric Beaulac is throwing in Savannah.  Box

USA Baseball has selected 1B Ike Davis to the US roster for the 2009 International Baseball Federation Baseball World Cup.  This will be the third time on the US National team for Davis, who also represented the country on the U-18 and U-16 teams.

Davis told Brian Moritz in the Press & Sun-Bulletin that it was an honor to play for the US and pointed out how different it is from minor league baseball where development is a priority:
“It’s totally different, but it’s great,” Davis said of playing in international competition. “All you’re concerned about is winning. If you go 0-for-4 but you win, it doesn’t bother you that much. It’s like a throwback to when you’d go out there and nothing mattered but winning. It’s always a privilege.”

The tournament will begin on September 10th in Regensburg, Germany for Davis and his US teammates who find themselves in a pool with China, Germany and Venezuela. Davis’s final game as a B-Met will be Monday in Akron after which he will depart for a week of practice with the national team in North Carolina.

Keith Law answered two questions Thursday in his chat at ESPN.com about  Davis.

SSA: Brooklyn Cyclones 4, @ Oneonta Tigers 3

2B Jordany Valdespin was 2-4 with a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and a stolen base to help the Cyclones win the first game of their road trip.  Valdespin is hitting .324/.359/.459 with the Cyclones and sits at .308/.359/.454 for the year.  I’ll bet good money that that the 21-year Valdespin will begin 2010 as a 22-year-old in the FSL.

LHP Chris Hilliard (pictured), just promoted from Kingsport made his NYP debut and earned the win in exchange for tossing six, one-run innings.  The 21-year old walked two and fanned two.  In the Appy League, Hilliard fanned 27 and walked just seven in 41.1 IP.   Hilliard was the Mets 38th round draft pick a year ago.

Rookie (APP): @ Elizabethton Twins 10, Kingsport Mets 9

Poor K-Mets.  On a night when two of their most dependable starters threw for Savannah and Brooklyn, the team twice built multi-run cushions only to see the Twins bounce back twice.  The K-Mets scored four times in the first, and after the Twins tied it in the fifth, regained a 7-4 lead with runs in the sixth and seventh innings when the Twins exploded for six runs in the bottom of the seventh.

1B Jeffrey Flagg and DH RJ Harris hit back-to-back jacks in the K-Mets four-run first. 2B Alonzo Harris drilled his HR, his 10th of the year, with two outs in the ninth to bring Kingsport back within a run.  The 19-year old Harris (.268/.320/.447) was 2-4 with a triple, his fourth.  18-year old Cesar Puello (.285/.366/.408) was 2-3 with a walk, his 10th in 45 games.

Rookie (GCL): @ GCL Astros 3, GCL Mets 1

Mets pitching walked nine in the game while Oliver Perez served as the Pitching Coach for the day.

AAA: @ Pawtucket Red Sox 7, Buffalo Bisons 1

Lets move on.

AA: Portland Sea Dogs 8, @ Binghamton Mets 7

Jenrry Mejia showed glimpses of his potential, threw 94-97, but couldn’t put it together in a four inning outing in which he was touched for four runs, six hits and three walks while fanning two.  Brian Moritz in the Press & Sun Bulletin called one of his curveballs, “brilliant.”

On the other hand, Mejia did not handle adversity well.  As reader MWash1983 tweeted to me, “Mejia completely stopped using his curve and changeup after two runners got on base in the 3rd. He lost his composure tonight.” B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras, as quoted by Moritz, was a little gentler, but said essentially the same thing, “”He struggled with is command, especially when they had men on base,” Oliveras said. “That’s the first time I’ve seem him do that this year.”

By the way, my twitter handle, is oddly enough @tobyhyde.

SS Ruben Tejada (.283/.345/.365) was 2-5 with a double.  Tejada is currently hitting .296/.330/.378 in August.  If he has 10 more AB, he’d need four hits to complete his first .300 month in AA.  Oh, he’s struck out just times in his last 150 AB, below 10%.  That’s simply awesome.

3B Shawn Bowman’s three-run HR tied the game in the bottom of the eighth, but Portland scored the winning run in the ninth against Edgar Alfonzo and Jose De La Cruz.

A+: Off

A: @ Savannah Sand Gnats 5, Augusta Green Jackets 1

21-year-old Armando Rodriguez’s SAL debut went very well.  He limited Augusta to one run on one hit in 5.2 innings.  He fanned nine, but walked four.  Rodriguez was 3-1 in the Appy League witha 2.96 ERA and 36 K against 20 walks in 45.2 innings.

Jenrry Mejia is throwing for Binghamton.  Everything else is secondary.  Scoreboard.