Category Archives: Baseball

Binghamton stuff

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Some notes from a swift trip to the 607:

– Wilmer Flores’ double to deep right-center had to be the highlight of the B-Mets’ 1-0 win over the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. I’m (for the millionth time) no scout, but I enjoy watching Flores hit the ball. By aesthetics, at least, he has a really nice swing, and he hits the ball harder than you’d expect from a guy who looks young even by 21-year-old standards.

Flores played second base on Tuesday night. He looked OK there but didn’t get a ton of chances. Flores says he feels most comfortable at third base, but everything I heard from people who have been watching him suggested he’s been at least passable at second and first this year in his first season off shortstop. If he can hang at second, he should at least have a Major League career. He just turned 21 a couple of weeks ago, so there’s plenty of time for him.

– B-Mets’ pitching coach Glenn Abbott is a great talker. Abbott, a veteran of 11 Major League seasons and an Arkansan with a bouncy twang, shared some stories from his 40-plus year career in baseball. Among the highlights: Abbott was the pitching coach for the Huntsville Stars in the Southern League in 1994 when Michael Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons.

Abbott intimated that Jordan was known as something of an easy out (he hit .202 with a .289 OBP, after all) but a tireless worker. Jordan apparently showed up early every day — including on the road — to work on base running and playing the outfield. Michael Jordan, the best athlete of his generation, just started playing baseball one year and was good enough to be a bad but not inconceivably bad hitter at Double-A — a level at which baseball players are impossibly good by normal human standards. That on its own is impressive. But it’s somehow both incredible and not at all surprising to learn that Jordan brought his remarkable competitiveness to the sport. Jordan, with three NBA MVP awards on his mantel, left basketball to essentially become Rudy for a year.

– Greg Peavey threw seven shutout innings to earn the win for the B-Mets. I don’t know from Peavey, but his fastball sat around 93 on the stadium gun and he didn’t seem to have much trouble throwing his breaking ball to both sides of the plate for strikes. His stats say he hasn’t struck out many hitters above low-A ball, but he did fan six in the game. And Peavey’s shown great control in his first two Minor League seasons. He has a 5.13 ERA for the year, but he’s only 23 and I wonder if he’s the type of guy who could dial up his fastball a bit (and tally more strikeouts) and prove effective in a relief role down the road.

– Before the game, we stopped at Lupo’s Char-Pit — as we did last year — on Catsmeat’s advice. I got a chicken spiedie, which looked like this:

A spiedie is just chunks of marinated, char-grilled meat on a soft, split-top white roll. It tastes like a summer barbecue: Hot and fresh, simple and delicious. There’s some barbecue sauce and hot sauce on the counter f you want it — and I do. But the meat’s the focus here, as it should be.

– My hotel room had a Speakman Anystream shower head. It is the best type of shower head. They come in a few different shapes and sizes, but in my experience they’re consistently great across the board. At my first apartment in Brooklyn we had terrible water pressure, so I went into a local hardware store and asked the dude if there was anything I could do about it. He took me to a back room — no joke — and sold me a Speakman Anystream with its flow restrictor removed. Thing was like a tsunami. I brought it home and put it on our shower without telling my roommate about it, so when he turned on the water later the blast nearly took his arm off.

I know no one asked, but I really can’t say enough about how great this thing is. I’m not a paid Speakman spokesman or anything; it’s just incontrovertible fact. Look at all the glowing reviews on Amazon. This is what the Speakman Anystream in my hotel room looked like:

Vegas, baby?

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If the Bisons decide to cast their lot with another major league team – the Blue Jays are the obvious choice – based on the cities’ geographic proximity and the Jays strong farm system, the Mets will be forced into an affiliation in the Pacific Coast League. The Blue Jays have been affiliated with the Las Vegas 51s, so Vegas will be open. Vegas is just an awful place to develop pitching. The ball flies and the infield baked into a hard surface. Las Vegas as a team this year, is hitting .304/.371/.456 in a PCL that averages .279/.346/.432. At home, the 51s have hit .313/.386/.487. Yikes.

– Toby Hyde, MetsMinorLeagueBlog.com.

So I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, a move to Vegas — with its awful environment for pitchers and wonky offensive stats — seems like it could be bad for the Mets’ Minor League player development, which is absolutely paramount to the team’s eventual return to contention. On the other, a move to Vegas seems like it would be very, very good for Mets- and sandwich-bloggers who visit the organization’s Triple-A team once a year for work.

It makes perfect sense for both the Blue Jays and Buffalo Bisons to affiliate, so that seems pretty likely to happen. Toby also presents the possibility of a return to New Orleans. That would presumably be better than Las Vegas for player development since it’s a more or less neutral park, and even better yet for the Mets- and sandwich-bloggers visiting the Triple-A team once a year for work.

Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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During one of his first years in the majors, with Kansas City, Beltran had a dream about a little monkey picking at his hair. So, he looked to buy a monkey, driving from KC three hours toward St. Louis to pick one up. (“No research, nothing,” he says now. “Straight to the monkey.”) The first weeks included cutting holes in diapers for the monkey’s tail. Mikaela lived with him for several years until a ransacked apartment convinced him the monkey needed a new home; it now has one.

Mets organizational all-name team

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For no reason at all. With thanks to Toby Hyde, whose daily Minor League recaps constantly remind me of all the great names in the Mets’ system. I originally intended to put out only a starting lineup, but once I started plumbing the system’s depths I grew indecisive and decided to go with a full 25-man roster.

Starting pitchers

R.A. Dickey: Every team needs an ace. Dickey would probably crack the roster for the entendres alone, but adding that a) his first name is a set of initials that doesn’t include a J, which is somewhat rare; b) the initials in question are commonly used to refer to the guy confiscating your toaster oven in your freshman-year dorm; and c) his initials are RAD makes him a front-of-the-rotation guy.

Dillon Gee: Probably underrated. Obviously there’s the West Coast rap connection, but also a slew of easy headline puns — GEE WILLIKERS! Also, did you know that Dillon Gee is the only Major Leaguer ever with the first name Dillon? It’s true. Casey Stengel’s middle name was Dillon, but every other Major League instance of Dillondom has been a surname. There have been 15 Minor Leaguers to date named Dillon, including a Dillon Thomas in the Rockies’ system.

Jeurys Familia: Jeurys Familia is the only person ever named “Jeurys” to play affiliated baseball and, based on quick Googling, by far the most notable “Jeurys” in the world. As such, it seems like no one has any idea how to pronounce it. I’ve heard HAY-your-is, but the Buffalo broadcasters say “JAY-or-EES.” I tried to settle the matter myself when I interviewed him this year by introducing myself. “I’m Ted,” I said, extending my hand. “Familia,” he said as he shook.

Hansel Robles: When I see “Hansel Robles” on the organizational depth chart, I think, “Oh, that’s right — the Mets signed a couple of dutch dudes a few years back.” But no, Hansel Robles was born in the Dominican Republic in 1990. Also, that Hansel is so hot right now: He’s got a 1.34 ERA in 60 2/3 innings at Brooklyn and has walked only seven guys all season.

Rainy Lara: Another Dominican pitching in Brooklyn with impeccable control, Rainy Lara’s first name is an adjective describing a weather pattern marked by droplets of water condensing in the sky and falling to Earth. The possibilities for warmup music are almost endless, but I’d probably pick “Purple Rain.” I haven’t seen Lara pitch yet; it would help if he’s purple.

Relief pitchers

Frank Francisco: We get so caught up in wondering why he’s still the Mets’ closer that we forget how great his name is. But it is. He’s the Los Angeles Angels of pitching, at least in terms of redundant names.

Taylor Whitenton: Fun fact: Taylor Whitenton is the name of a character from Caddyshack played by William Zabka that was lost to the cutting-room floor.

Richard Ruff: Stop! Drop! Shut ’em down, open up shop! Oh! No! That’s how Single-A pitchers with 1 1/3 innings above Rookie Ball roll!

Flabio Ortega: The only Flabio to play affiliated ball (this will be a trend on the all-name team). Flabio sounds like a mean tabloid headline that’ll run whenever Fabio lets himself go.

Jack Leathersich: The only lefty in the All-Name Team bullpen, Jack Leathersich was Clint Eastwood’s arch-nemesis in the Man with No Name Trilogy.

Robert Gsellman: If I were Gsellman’s teammate in Kingsport I’d try to get the nickname “Typo” to catch on.

Nabil Crismatt: I’ve got nothing. The only Nabil and the only Crismatt to ever play affiliated ball.

Catchers

Jean Luc Blaquiere: I studied art in grad school. The main thing you learn when you’re studying art in grad school is how to b.s. your way through art museums. If I saw a little tag next to an impressionist painting that said “Jean Luc Blaquiere,” I’d be all, “I find Blaquiere’s work a little contrived, but he really knows how to use paint.” Then you’d be like, “No, that’s just a stray leftover name tag from the Binghamton Mets’ field trip to the art museum; this is a Renoir.” And I’d say, “Oh, of course — haha, I was kidding.” But I wasn’t.

Nelfi Zapata: The only Nelfi to ever play affiliated ball. Also, should team up with Binghamton outfielder Pedro Zapata and call themselves the Zapatistas, obviously.

Xorge Carrillo: The only Xorge to play affiliated ball. Hard to think of a more badass first name.

Infielders

Valentino Pascucci: I assume you realized this was coming. It’s impossible to say “Valentino Pascucci” without using your hands at least a little bit. Before I ever spoke to Pascucci, when he was but a series of impressive Triple-A statlines, Matt Cerrone and I used to fantasize that I’d get him on the phone and he’d have a hilariously stereotypical Italian voice, like, “Hey! I just-ah hit-ah the homers!” He doesn’t, but he does hit-ah the homers.

Merqui Marmolejos: The only Merqui to play affiliated ball. Another good headline name. If he’s really good at defense, maybe “Merqui De Sod!” If he turns into a talented but in some way flawed prospect, maybe, “Merqui Future.” Stuff like that.

Yucarybert De La Cruz: For the first couple days of his life, Yucarybert De La Cruz’s parents intended to call him “Burt.” But it so happened that when the guy with the birth certificate came into the hospital room, they were in a little tiff over who’d hold him on the way home. So the guy said, “Hey, what are you going to call this little fella?” And his mom, who wasn’t paying attention, was like, “You carry Burt,” and the dad said, “You carry Burt!” So the guy with the form was like, “OK, Yucarybert it is,” and by the time anyone realized what had happened he had written it down in ink, and 18 years later baseball’s professional ranks got their first ever Yucarybert. At least that’s how it plays out in my head.

Dimas Ponce: Famed conquistador of the Brooklyn infield. Also: Born on my 10th birthday.

Ismael Tijerina: Maybe not quite up to the standards of the rest of the all-name infield, but we need a shortstop.

Outfielders

Lucas Duda: I think sometimes we sleep on how great a name “Lucas Duda” is. Sounds like he could be a character in Point Break, which happens to be his favorite movie. Also, when he hits home runs, I like shouting out nonsensical combinations of words or sounds that vaguely rhyme with Lucas Duda like “Buddhist Luda!” or “Mucus Tupa!”

ZeErika McQueen: Runaway winner of the system’s Best Name honors since he changed from ZeErika Hall. May be the world’s only ZeErika. Also may have retired, but there’s no all-name team without him.

Vicente Lupo: Vinny the Wolf leads the Dominican Summer League in OBP and OPS.

Hengelbert Rojas: Affiliated baseball’s only Hengelbert ever, obviously. Not its first Rojas, unfortunately. Cookie Rojas is still cool though.

Gregory Pron: Another one for the headlines. WRATH OF PRON! etc. Also possibly from the future.

Friday Q&A, pt. 2: Food stuff

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Well, as mentioned, I’d definitely want some time alone in the Taco Bell test kitchen before I did anything. But I’ve long hungered for something I’d call the Magma Gordita Crunch. It’s basically a Cheesy Gordita Crunch and Volcano Taco hybrid.

The issue is, Taco Bell doesn’t often put multiple sauces on the same taco-sized item, so you’d have to get creative to get the Lava Sauce and the Zesty Pepper Jack Sauce — both of which are crucial to my enjoyment of this item — into the same thing. The way I figure it, you start with the Gordita shell, but instead of using the yellow-and-white MexiMelt cheese to attach it to the inner taco, you use the Lava Sauce. Then you stick the red taco shell inside, with ground beef, cheese, lettuce and Zesty Pepper Jack Sauce. So it’s not as simple as a Volcano Taco inside a Cheesy Gordita Crunch.

Again, to reiterate in case Taco Bell is listening: Gordita shell, then Lava Sauce, then red crunchy taco shell, then seasoned beef, cheese, lettuce and Zesty Pepper Jack Sauce. No need to credit me or anything if you want to pretend it’s your own idea, but a shoutout on Twitter would be cool. And I have experience in fast-food commercials.

https://twitter.com/eliwerc/status/236473730077978625

Are we talking about sandwiches from Kosher delis or just sandwiches featuring a combination of ingredients that are Kosher? If it’s the latter, it almost has to be some sort of barbecue brisket sandwich. Brisket, when prepared correctly, is amazing and moist and delicious and requires no cheese. The best brisket I know of in New York City is at Hill Country, but I’m anxiously awaiting the coming of BrisketTown.

If we’re talking about sandwiches from Kosher delis, I’m not sure. I tend to find the traditional, New York City-style overstuffed pastrami sandwiches a bit overrated and usually way overpriced — especially at touristy mainstays like Katz’s and the Carnegie Deli. I’ve heard great things about the Second Ave. Deli and I’ve been meaning to try it but I haven’t yet.

Are we counting those hot dogs inside knishes from Ben’s Kosher Deli as a sandwich? Hush Puppies I think. If so, it’s that. What a concept.

Good question. I can’t answer this with much confidence because typically when I travel I try to eat the best available local delicacies in every city, and it’s rare that those are at the ballpark. So the only places where I feel like I know the food inside and out are Citi Field and Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie. Off the top of my head, I’m going to put it like this:

5. Chicken-fried Steak sandwich at the Ballpark in Arlington: I don’t even remember if it was good, but I remember that it was a chicken-fried steak sandwich.

4. Pretzel at Digital Domain Park in Port St. Lucie: I think about these whenever I see hot pretzels sold elsewhere. Specifically, I think: “That hot pretzel is not going to be nearly as good as the one at Digital Domain Park.” It’s not the pretzel itself, it’s the way it’s prepared: Grilled over charcoal, served piping hot, salted to order. So good. Now I’m thinking about them again.

3. Chili Half Smoke from Ben’s Chili Bowl, Nats Park: I haven’t actually been to the Ben’s location at the ballpark, but I love Ben’s half smokes so much that I assume they’re awesome everywhere.

2. Single Shackburger, Citi Field and elsewhere: I practically never get it anymore due to the lines, the availability of Shake Shack near my home, and the array of other options at Citi Field. They’re so good though.

1. Corn on the Cob, Peoria: I’ve written about this before. In the midst of a three-week, 5,000-mile baseball road trip during one of the worst heatwaves the Midwest had ever seen, my friends and I went to a Peoria Chiefs game. We had all eaten a ton of fast food and ballpark fare on the road and my insides felt like they were revolting against me. Out in the right field corner of the stands, they were roasting fresh corn. It was the first non-processed, non-fried food I ate in weeks, and it was absolutely amazing.

No, because sandwiches don’t have mouths or stomachs or consciousness. But otherwise, probably. I’d make a delicious sandwich. I suspect I’m not Kosher though.