AAA: Buffalo Bisons 4, @ Gwinnett Braves 1 

This was Jeurys Familia’s best start in triple-A. His line: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. This was his first six-inning outing of 2012, and the first in which he walked fewer than three batters. He threw 69% of his pitches for strikes, easily his best in any start in 2012, and his first over 64%. Of his non-strikeouts, he picked up six ground ball outs, and just two fly outs, although that does not seem to count a nice diving catch from Matt Tuiasosopo that ended the bottom of the sixth.

I watched nearly every pitch Familia threw, but for some I missed while the stream from Gwinnett hiccuped, or I was focused on the Knicks or Mets. He got off to a rocky start, running full counts on the first two batters of the game, and yielding a run three batters in on a walk, a stolen base and an RBI single. He was clearly throwing hard, sitting 94-96 mph and hitting 97, and then maintaining that most of the night. Braves batters had trouble squaring him up as of the four hits he allowed, only two were really hard-hit line drives (the others were a flare to right, and bunt single). On a night like Wednesday, it was not just the velocity on the fastball that gave Gwinnett hitters fits, but the movement on the pitch.

Familia’s off-speed stuff was effective. The Gwinnett broadcast repeatedly called his breaking ball a slider. On Wednesday, it sure looked a lot more like a curveball to me. There was just more depth to the pitch than horizontal action. In my notes, I started using cb instead of slider. I know I missed a few, but I counted at least seven first pitch curves over the course of his six innings of work. When he did throw it first pitch, the Braves’ batters were forced to take, and he had himself a free strike one. By the fourth inning, he was comfortable enough to double up with the pitch twice to get ahead in the count. He showed the Braves enough curves for strikes that he kept them off his fastball. Without gun readings, and in a small window on my computer, I had a little trouble identifying his change-up on some of the pitches that were taken, but it seemed like he threw about two per inning, and did not throw more than one per AB. Some missed down, and I recall one awkward swing and miss, and I thought one induced a groundout to second.

While the consensus among prospect watchers is that Familia will end up in the bullpen, the guy who was pitching Wednesday in Gwinnett has a chance to start. He still must tighten his command as he was able to get away with some mistakes on velocity and movement and gave away a few pitches that were not close to the zone when he lost his release point.

Elvin Ramirez retired all five of the batters he faced, with two strikeouts. That’s 19 strikeouts in 15.2 innings between AA and AAA so far. If he stays healthy, he should see Queens in 2012.

Zach Lutz (.321/.418/.500) lined up at first base while Josh Satin got the night off and was 2-for-5.

AAA: Buffalo Bisons 3, @ Gwinnett Braves 0

Matt Harvey and two relievers combined on a seven-hit shutout. Harvey’s line: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 96 pitches, 56 strikes. He threw 58% of his pitches for strikes. He walked two batters in the first inning and one in the third. He did not have a single clean inning, and had a runner to second in five of six innings.

Harvey’s last four starts: 3-0, 23 IP, 16 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 23 K, 3 WP and 61% strikes (214  strikes/349 pitches). That’s a .195 opponents’ batting average (16 H/82 AB) and a K/BB of 3.25. He’s fine. Not quite ready yet, but fine.

3B Zach Lutz started his first game since last Wednesday and was 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

AA: New Britain Rock Cats (MIN) 4, @ Binghamton Mets 3 

The New Britain Rock Cats scored three unearned runs off reliever Robert Carson in the top of the ninth to steal a win. The runs were all unearned thanks to a Jefry Marte throwing error with one out. And yet, the unearned runs absolve Carson of too much responsibility. He was not good. He walked the leadoff man, gave up a single and a walk and did not strikeout a batter.

LHP Mark Cohoon was really good: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.

CF Matt den Dekker (.282/.351/.479 – 29 gms) was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his fourth in nine tries.

RF Juan Lagares was 2-for-3 with a double and a strikeout. The 23-year old Lagares is sitting at .248/.327/.347 in 28 games this year.

AAA: Buffalo Bisons 4, @ Gwinnett Braves 3

Chris Schwinden: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. I suspect Mets fans are less interested in Schwinden than they were a few weeks ago.

AAA is hard. Josh Edgin’s seventh inning: bunt single, double, two groundouts, and two walks. Edgin has issued six walks and been touched for 11 hits in 7.1 innings with the Bisons. Sure, it’s a small sample size and all, but it’s not a good sample.

Elvin Ramirez ended the seventh for Edgin with a strikeout. Ramirez, between AA and AAA this year has a 2.4 K/BB ratio.

The Bisons managed just one unearned run against Julio Teheran in his six innings of work, but broke through for three in the top of the eighth. C Rob Johnson’s RBI single delivered the go-ahead runs.

AA: Rained Out

They’ll play two on August 7.

AA: @ Binghamton Mets 2, Harrisburg Senators 1 

With two outs in the bottom of  the ninth, SS Josh Rodriguez drove a single into right field to bring home LF Pedro Zapata from second with the winning run to give the B-Mets their first walk-off win of 2012. Rodriguez, an Eastern League veteran at age 27, has been a nice pickup for the Mets as he’s hit .280/.404/.387 in his first 26 games.

After starting off his 2012 campaign with a home run in his first at-bat, 2B Reese Havens has gone four games without a hit and is hitting .227/.346/.364 (five-for-22 with four walks) after seven games.

3B Jefry Marte (.315/.380/.404 – 25 games) was 1-for-3 with a walk. He had a 1.031 OPS  as part of a .405/.463/.568 line after April 21, but has cooled off considerably since. The 20-year old is hitting .250/.341/.278 in his last 10.

Greg Peavey’s up and down season continued with an “up” in his longest outing to date: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. All told, over six starts, the Eastern League is hitting .300 against Peavey (2-1, 4.85) with 36 hits in 29.2 innings. He’s fanned 21 and walked five. Sure the K/BB over four is nice, but he’s working with a 6.4 K/9.

Pettitte and the Bisons

The Bisons were off, but traveled to Atlanta to to begin a four-game series against Gwinnett Monday. Originally, the Bisons were scheduled to play the Rochester Red Wings Sunday in Rochester. Meanwhile, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees were supposed to the play the Pawtucket Red Sox Sunday at the home of the Batavia MuckDogs, a New York Penn League team. For the last few years, the Rochester franchise has subsidedized the Muckdogs operations. Also, Sunday, Andy Pettite was scheduled to rehab.
So, with the permission of the Bisons and the Mets, the Red Wings moved their game against the Bisons Sunday into a double-header Saturday. They then packed in 13,584 people for Sunday’s Andy Pettitte rehab start, making money hand over fist in the process.

And it all worked.

AAA: @ Rochester Red Wings (MIN) 2, Buffalo Bisons 1 (7 innings) 
@ Rochester Red Wings 5, Buffalo Bisons 0 (7 innings)

One run over 14 innings is not going to win a lot of doubleheaders.

I’ve heard Garrett Olson’s name mentioned as a candidate for a big league look in the last week. I’m not sure why, other than that he’s healthy and was in big league camp for a while. His line Saturday in game two: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.

LHP Josh Edgin in game two: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. In 6.2 innings in AAA, he’s given up five runs on nine hits and four walks while striking out nine. There’s a good reason players do not jump from a-ball to the big leagues. This is it.

RHP Elvin Ramirez made his AAA debut in game one, inducing a fly ball to end the bottom of the sixth. Edgin was in big league camp, but Ramirez has been the more effective reliever during the regular season. He’s throwing hard, and fans should start paying attention.

AA: Harrisburg Senators (WAS) 2, @ Binghamton Mets 1
The B-Mets could not do anything against LHP Daniel Rosenbaum (9 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), but to be fair, the Eastern League as a whole has done painfully little against the lefty. Rosenbaum (4-0, 0.81) has given up just six runs on 28 hits in 44.2 innings while running a K/BB ratio of NINE (27 K, 3 BB). Rosenbaum is a finess lefty, who Baseball America ranked #23 in the Nationals’ system coming into the year.

Darin Gorksi (2-1, 2.27) was solid himself: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

AAA: @ Buffalo Bisons 9, Syracuse Chiefs 0

Jeremy Hefner is insulted that the Mets will go with Miguel Batista as the team’s fifth starter apparently. He did not allow a hit between the first and seventh innings. His final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. He threw 67% of his pitches (52 of 78) for strikes.

The Mets’ desire to get DJ Carrasco two innings of work in relief was the only reason Hefner left the game. Carrasco was solid: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.

3B Matt Tuiasosopo had a day: 4-4 with two homers.  He’ll turn 26 next week is hitting .286/.356/.444 in 24 games for the Bisons. Heading into Friday night, he had just two extra-base hits all year.

After going 2-for-4, 1B Josh Satin is hitting .290/.313/.419 in 26 games with four walks against 27 strikeouts. From first base, at age 27, that has no value.

AA: Harrisburg Senators 7, @ Binghamton Mets 4

Gonzalez Germen’s first AA start was rocky: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 9 K. All five runs scored in the second when he threw three wild pitches all of which scored runs. He threw a lot of strikes – 78% for the game (67 of 85).

Reese Havens appeared as a pinch-hitter after starting Wednesday and Thursday night’s games.

CF Matt den Dekker: 1-for-4, BB, 2K. That’s 31 strikeouts in 27 games for the 24 year old as part of a .278/.347/.481 line.

AAA: @ Buffalo Bisons 6, Syracuse Chiefs 5

Jeurys Familia still is not throwing enough strikes. Thursday: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, WP. He threw 56% of his pitches (53 of 94) for strikes. That’s in line with what he’s done all year when he has thrown strikes with 56% of his pitches. In 26.2 innings this year, he has fanned 29 and walked 25.

LHP Josh Edgin faced four batters, three of whom hit from the left side: .2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Wally Backman did not let him finish his inning with runners at first and second with the Bisons up a run, calling on Jack Egbert to face a righty.

DJ Carrasco made his first rehab assignment in Buffalo and gave up a home run to Syracuse catcher Carlos Maldonado.

AA: Binghamton Mets 7, @ Akron Aeros 3 

Collin McHugh through seven innings: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – 58 strikes/83 pitches (70%)

Two doubles sandwiched around a single in the eighth, and a runner bequeather to Erik Turgeon turned into three runs in the inning. His final line: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – 68 strikes/99 pitches.

Raul Reyes picked up his first AA hit of the year, a three-run homer in the top of the first, to stake McHugh to an early lead.