The New York Mets build up a lead blow it and then hold on to defeat the San Diego Padres

The New York Mets defeated the San Diego Padres on Friday night.  The game took place at Petco Park in San Diego, California and the final score was 5-4.  Bartolo Colon started and he wasn't that goood, the bullpen was very good.  Curtis Granderson had two hits and Travis d'Arnaud had three hits. 

Colon pitched five innings giving up five hits and four runs with a walk and six strikeouts.  Dana Eveland pitched two innings giving up a hit, Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect inning and picked up his second win of the season and Jennry Mejia saved his 11th game of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit and striking out one. 

Ian Kennedy pitched five innings giving up six hits and four runs with three walks and four strikeouts.  Dale Thayer pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a walk and striking out one, Alex Torres pitched 2/3 of an inning and Kevin Quackenbush pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out one and Joaquin Benoit pitched an inning giving up a hit and a run with two walks and a strikeout.  He lost his second game of the season. 

Granderson had two hits and drew a walk, David Wright drew a walk and Lucas Duda had a hit and drew a walk.  d'Arnaud had three hits and two RBI, Kirk Nieuwenhuis had an RBI and drew a walk and Juan Lagares had a hit and two RBI.  Ruben Tejada had a hit and drew two walks, Duda and Tejada each hit a double and the Mets were 4-12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.  Granderson had a stolen base and Colon committed an error and Nieuwenhuis had an outfield assist. 

Chase Headley had a hit and two RBI, Will Venable had a hit and Jake Goebbert drew a walk.  Chris Nelson had two hits and an RBI, Alexi Amarista had three hits and an RBI and the Padres were 3-6 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.  Venable and Goebbert each had a stolen base.

In the first d'Arnaud hit an RBI single and Lagares hit a two run single to make it 3-0 Mets.  In the third Nieuwenhuis hit an RBI groundout to push the lead to 4-0.  In the fifth Nelson hit an RBI single, Amarista hit an RBI single and Headley hit a two run single to tie the game at four.  d'Arnaud hit an RBI single in the ninth to give the Mets a 5-4 lead.  The final score was 5-4 Mets. 

The Mets lose in the desert despite Ike Davis hitting three homeruns

The New York Mets were defeated by the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 6-3 on Saturday night. The game took place at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. Chris Young started for the Mets and wasn’t very good. The Mets bullpen did a good job in this game to keep the game close. Davis was the Mets offense though. Ian Kennedy started for the Diamondbacks and pitched pretty well and their bullpen pitched very well. Gerardo Parra was the offensive star for the Diamondbacks.

Young pitched four innings giving up seven hits and six runs with two walks and two strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez pitched two innings giving up a walk and a strikeout, Manny Acosta pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with three strikeouts. Josh Edgin struck out the only two batters that he faced. Young suffered his fifth loss of the season. Kennedy picked up his ninth win of the season pitching 6 1/3 innings giving up seven hits and three runs. He walked one and struck out nine. Saito pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one, David Hernandez pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk and struck out two and J.J. Putz saved his 19^th game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and striking out three.

Ruben Tejada had two hits and drew a walk, David Wright drew a walk and Davis had four hits and three RBI. Daniel Murphy had a hit, Josh Thole had a hit and Andres Torres had a hit. Thole had a double, Davis hit three homeruns becoming the Mets eighth player to accomplish the feat. The Mets were 0-9 with runners in scoring position and they left nine men on base. Torres had a stolen base and Valdespin had an outfield assist.

Parra had three hits and two RBI, Aaron Hill had a hit and an RBI and Jason Kubel drew a walk. Justin Upton had a hit, Miguel Montero had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk and Stephen Drew drew a walk. Ryan Wheeler had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk, Willy Bloomquist had a hit. Hill and Wheeler each hit a double and Montero hit a homerun. The Diamondbacks were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.

Hill hit an RBI double in the first to give Arizona a 1-0 lead. Davis hit a solo homerun in the second to tie the game at one. In the second Wheeler hit an RBI double and Parra hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 Diamondbacks. In the fourth Davis hit a solo homerun to make it a 3-2 game. In the bottom of the fourth Montero hit a two run homerun and Parra hit an RBI single to make it a 6-2 game. Davis hit a solo homerun in the sixth to make it 6-3 and that was how the game would end.

The Mets have lost the first two games of the series to Arizona. The two teams will play game three of their four game series on Sunday afternoon. The Mets record dropped to 48-53 and the Diamondbacks improved their record to 51-50.

Yankees Minor League Titles

The New York Yankees minor league system once again has been outstanding this season. The A-Tampa Yankees won the Florida State League title last night and the short season Staten Island Yankees won the NY/Penn League title. The Staten Island Yankees were represented by a lot of the recent draft picks. You can check out the stories about the games on www.milb.com the official minor league baseball site. The AAA Scranton Yankees are down 0-2 in their championship series but they have lost a lot of players to the big club such as Shelly Duncan, Ramiro Pena and Francisco Cervelli and a few relievers. They still have a shot though with 3 straight home games, of course they have to win every one of them. The big news out of AAA though is that Ian Kennedy you remember him pitched 3 hitless innings last night with 6 strikeouts. This is great news, he is a good kid who was thrust onto the scene maybe too quickly in NY and didn't do too well and then had surgery this year for a aneurysm in his arm. He now has pitched 5 scoreless innings in the minor league playoffs and will head to the instructional league and Arizona Fall league to build up his innings. Ian should be in AAA next year ready to go but he doesn't have much more to prove there as he has dominated the level. If Andy Pettitte comes back and Phil Hughes does become the 5th starter then there doesn't seem to be a spot for him but maybe he becomes a long reliever/spot starter or stays in AAA as a extra guy. Another scenario is the Yankees leaving Hughes where he is and Ian Kennedy being the 5th starter. This is all a ways off but interesting to think about, hopefully first the Yankees secure their 27th title then they can worry about this kind of stuff.

Yankees minor leagues AAA

I was doing this everyday but stopped because it is too much to keep up with. I have decided to do a once a week post about the minor leagues. I am going to go through each minor league team and post some stats from certain players who are doing well or are big prospects or whatever. If anyone has any suggestions on what else I can do with the minor leagues please let me know. AAA-Scranton- They have started off on fire as a team going 14-1. I will post Dave Robertson, Mark Melancon, Angel Berroa and Phil Hughes stats but they are all with the Yankees now. Phil Hughes- 3-0 1.86 era, 19.1 ip, 17 hits, 3 walks and 19 strikeouts. Ian Kennedy- 1-0, 2.00 era, 18 ip, 11 hits, 5 walks and 21 strikeouts. Dave Robertson- 0-0, 0.00 era, 8 ip, 4 hits, 2 walks and 14 strikeouts. Mark Melancon- 2-0, 0.00 era, 10.1 ip, 4 hits, 3 walks and 17 strikeouts. The offense has been led by Shelly Duncan who is batting 368 with 5 homeruns and 20 RBI. Eric Duncan no relation but was the first round selection out of Seton Hall Prep in 2003 and hasn't lived up to his potential yet is batting 385 with 7 RBI. Austin Jackson who is the Yankees top position prospect is batting 386 with 10 RBI. He has a 462 OBP. If you want all the latest news and stats check out Chad Jennings blog at http://community.thetimes-tribune.com/blogs/yankees/.