Chris "The Animal" Carter has arrived in Queens. The Moose is Loose!!!! The Beaver has got the Fever!!!! The Antelope likes Cantelopes!!!! Chris Carter, the once obscure piece and PTBNL in the Billy Wagner trade, has made his way to New York and rightfully so. Carter had been on an 11 game hitting streak in Buffalo prior to the call up 
and like a boxing kangaroo he's fought his way to the top of the boxing kangaroo rankings. In 29 games, Carter was batting .336 with 6 homeruns and 22 RBIs. He also had 9 doubles, 2 triples and had only struck out 8 times. It was just a matter of when the Met's brass would make the no brainer call and re-assign him to New York, not if. Carter's promotion to the bigs was the main but not only wheeling and dealing this week in the minors as players have been transferred all over the place between the teams. Josh Thole spent the week in New York, while Igarashi began his rehab in St. Lucie. 2B, Reese Havens was promoted to Binghamton and a duo of Single A Catchers made the move to Buffalo. All in all it was a busy week and we've got all the latest in this week's Around the Minors.
BUFFALO BISONS
(Triple A, International League)
RECORD: Overall – (21-16) 3rd place in Northern Div. (1.5 games back) — Week 4 – (4-3)
BATTING RANK: 4th out of 14 teams (.277 Team BA) – up .002
PITCHING RANK: 9th out of 14 teams (4.29 Team ERA) - down 0.04
Buffalo had a so-so week, but only lost 1/2 a game in the standings to Scranton. Buffy started the week with a couple of tough losses after losing Carter, but rebounded nicely winning four in a row before dropping the finale to Norfolk on Sunday. With the promotion of the Animal to New York, the Bisons called upon an old friend, Val Pascucci to give a boost to the lineup. Val recorded only two hits in his most recent stint with the Met's Affiliate, but both of those hits were homeruns. Josh Thole spent a week with the Mets while Hank White was on bereavement leave but did not record an at bat. While away, young catchers Blaquiere and Maccini filled in nicely, both being called up from Single A ball. With Thole back, the two catchers were sent back to their former mates in St. Lucie. In other catching news, Shawn Riggins was released from the Mets organization. Jesus Feliciano continues to hit a scorching bat as he mashed to the tune of a .458 batting average this week with 11 hits in 24 at bats. Amazingly each of the 11 hits went as singles so he was only able to produce 2 RBIs on the week. He is now first in batting average in the IL at .357. Russ Adams had a nice week hitting .353 with 2 runs, 2 doubles and 3 RBIs while Mike Jacobs hit two more homeruns and knocked in 4. In today's predicatable story of the week, F-Mart was placed on the DL. Well, color me shocked, who'd a thunk it. Seriously, this is getting a little out of hand with this guy. I am dying to see what this kid could do with at least 400 at bats in a season, but it's not gonna happen if can't stay on the field. Here's hoping you get healthy soon buddy. Stop listening to Ray Ramirez.
Week 6 produced some fine pitching performances as well, all during the Bison's four game winning streak of course. RA Dickey may have pitched his final game with Buffalo after Oliver Perez was eaten by a llama who hates bad pitchers with stupid skinny mustaches (oh my bad, i was dream typing for a second there). Although the announcement has not been made official, it is presumed that Dickey will get Perez' start after he was demoted to the pen. Dickey performed well again this week, pitching another 8 innings while giving up 3 runs on 8 hits. He has now pitched at least 8 innings in 4 of his last 5 starts. He could be the exact prescription the Mets bullpen needs besides more cowbell. Tobi Stoner turned in another fine start getting his second win of the season giving up 1 earned run over 7 innings while striking out 5. Dillon Gee and Bobby Livingston had two rough outings and will need to step it up if and when Dickey is summoned to the bigs. Kiko Calero was mercifully released this week as his just under 16 ERA wasn't really cutting it in Buffalo.
MVP of the Week: Feliciano made a run at it this week with his .450 batting average, but once again the honors go to former IL MVP, Mike Hessman. Hessman batted .360 for the week with 3 doubles, 3 HR and 8 RBI. He leads the league in slugging, HR and RBI and is the early front runner as repeat MVP. This guy is a monster. I wish there was a spot for him in NY but I can't see it happening. Hopefully he'll be able to bring a championship home to Buffalo.
Pitcher of the Week: Pat Misch may have been the Met's mop up starter last year, but he's starting to make a name for himself down at Triple A, and I would not at all be surprised to see him sneak on the squad at some point during the Year. Misch pitched 15 1/3 strong innings this week to a 1.72 ERA including a complete game 4 hit shut out against the Louisville Bats. Misch only allowed 3 ER on the week while accumulating 7 K's and 2 walks.
Week in Preview: Buffalo continues their homestand with the finale against the Norfolk Tides in search of a 3-1 series win on Monday night. Next, the Charlotte Knights come to Coca Cola Field for a 4 games series before they hit the road with a 3 game set against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (the dirty Philly affiliates)
Take'em down BUFFY!
BINGHAMTON METS: 
(Double A, Eastern League)
RECORD: Overall – (19-18) 4th in Eastern Div (5 games back) — (Week 4) - (1-6)
BATTING RANK: 1st out of 12 teams (.267 Team BA) – down .006
PITCHING RANK: Tied 11th out of 12 teams (4.91 Team ERA) – up 0.33
Things got ugly quickly in Binghamton this week and it wasn't because that fugly chick who wants to be in the Supreme Court attended a game. The pitchers got lit up and the offense never got cooking. To make matters worse, the Eastern League's homerun leader, Lucas Duda was placed on the disabled list with a right hamstring pull. Reese Havens was promoted from St. Lucie and had a stellar 3-5 opening performance but that wasn't enough to get the B-Mets rolling. Evans had a rough week, batting only .181 but it did include 1 homerun and 4 RBIs (which led the team this week if that's any indication of how bad it was). There were a few bright spots in the lineup including catcher, Mike Nickeas who batted .294 for the week and Jose Coronado who drove in 3 RBIs and drew 6 walks. All in all it was a week to forget for the offense. During their current six game losing streak, they've scored a total of 15 runs (7 of which came in their 13-7 loss on Sunday night against Trenton). YUCK!!!
And now on to the pitching, actually let's skip the pitching and go straight to St. Lucie. Alright we won't skip it but I'd rather not talk about it too much. It was bloody awful this week aside from a another solid start from Dylan Owen. Starting pitchers, Scott Shaw and Clint Everts got bitch slapped around by opposing pitchers. Shaw gave up 14 ER in 8.2 innings pitched, only to be outdone by Everts who gave up 12 ER in 4 innings pitched. Mike Antonini had a rough start giving up 5 runs in 6 innings, but he has pitched well as of late, so I can bypass that one for the time being. Eddie Kunz is showing more promise with 5 innings on 2 run ball, but we need to start seeing him stretched out a bit. Get me into the 6 or 7th Eddie and I'll start buying into it. Two of the top performances of the week came from relievers Jose De La Torre and Edgar Ramirez who each pitched 3 2/3 innings of shut out ball. They now have season ERAs of 2.05 and 3.04 respectively.
MVP of the Week: As mentioned earlier it was ugly this week all over Binghamton so the top batter and pitcher are given by default for sucking the least. Not to say this week's winner, Brahaim Maldonado sucked because he didn't, but he had limited at bats. In 14 opportunities, Maldonado hit .500 for the week including 1 double, a run and 2 RBIs. Way to suck the least Brahaim.
Pitcher of the Week: Dylan Owen gave his best performance of the year this week, going six shut out innings while allowing only 1 hit. Unfortunately, this was not enough to give him the victory as Binghamton fell 3-0 in Trenton, NJ.
Week in Preview: Monday is a merciful league-wide off day and it couldn't come at a better time for the B-Mets. On Tuesday, the Bowie Bay Sox come to NY for a 3 game series, before they hit the road for 3 against the New Britain Rock Cats. What the hell is a Rock Cat?
ST. LUCIE METS: 
(High A, Florida State League)
RECORD: Overall – (18-18) Tied 3rd in the FSL South Div (3 games back) — (Week 4) – (6-1)
BATTING RANK: 1st out of 12 teams (.271) – up .013
PITCHING RANK: 12th out of 12 teams (4.84) – down 0.36
Okay, read what I wrote about Binghamton's week above and then travel to Bizarro world where everything is the exact opposite and you'll find the beloved St. Lucie Mets waiting for you on a rainbow mushroom smoking PCP. St. Lucie dominated this week after dropping to last place over the past two weeks and have climbed back to .500 after a dreadful start. The pitching is starting to look like the staff that I have been preaching about and the offense has climbed up to # 1 in the league sitting at .271 batting average. It was truly an all-around team effort this week as five of the lineup's regulars (with at least 24 at bats this week) batted .357 and higher. Numbers 3 through 6 in the lineup (Eric Campbell, Sean Ratliff, Josh Satin and Stefan Welch) hit for a combined batting average of .420 for the week. Each recorded double digit hits, at least 3 doubles and 6 RBIs a piece. An absolutely incredible performance from the heart of the order. Shortstop, Wilfredo Tovar contributed to the onslaught going 10 for 24 for a .417 average including 3 runs scored, a double and 2 RBI.
Equally impressive was the job that the Starting rotation did this week. I've been saying all season, that these are the guys to watch for and they've made me look like quite the fool, but there are some serious signs of them turning the corner. As a team, the staff dropped 0.36 points in their ERA and although they still rank last in the league, it's an improvement. The big righty, Eric Beaulac won his first 2 games of the year pitching 12.2 innings over 2 starts giving up 4 earned runs while striking out 6. Chris Schwinden met Beaulac's challenge going 11.2 innings with 3 ERs and 4 K's. He did not walk any batters in his two starts. Robert Carson earned his first victory of the season topping the Manatees on Wednesday night while Kyle Allen recieved a no decision after 6 innings of 1 run ball. Manuel Alvarez blew his first save of the season, but the runs were not earned keeping his 0.00 ERA intact. He pitched another solid 4.1 innings this week yielding only the one hit that blew the save. In Met news, Igarashi made his first re-hab stint in St. Lucie but did not fair well, giving up 2 runs in 0.2 innings. I'm not worried about how he does pitching to these guys, just that his hammy feels okay. Jeurys Familia also returned from the disabled list and pitched 3 innings of one run ball.
MVP of the Week: St. Lucie was hot all week, but no one in the lineup was hotter than second baseman, Josh Satin. Satin hit a mild, .560 for the week (14-25) with 6 runs, 3 doubles, 2 HR and 8 RBI. Satin upped his average to .339 which is good for 8th in the FSL.
Pitcher of the Week: Amidst all of the terrific starting pitching the Mets have received this week, it was reliever Emery Frederick who impressed me the most. For the week, Frederick pitched 4.1 innings of shut out ball allowing only 1 hit, striking out 8 and walking none. Over his past ten games, he has pitched 13.2 innings and only allowed 1 run. His ERA now sits at 0.60 for the season.
Week in Preview: On Sunday, the Mets started out an 8 game road trip on the right foot with a 5-3 victory over the Daytona Cubs. St. Lucie plays the second of a 4 game series on Monday night before heading to Lakeland to take on the Flying Tigers for a 4 game set as well.
SAVANNAH SAND GNATS: 
(Low A, South Atlantic League)
RECORD: Overall – (24-13) 1st in the South SAL div (2 games ahead). — (Week 4) – (5-1)
BATTING RANK: 8th out of 14 teams (.251 Team BA) up .004
PITCHING RANK: 1st out of 14 teams (2.42 Team ERA) down 0.31
If there is one team that is matching and perhaps even outshining the Mets in St. Lucie, it is surely the first place Savannah Sand Gnats. Prior to their Sunday night 18 inning 0-1 marathon loss to rivals Augusta, the Gnats had been on a 5 game winning streak. Over the course of the 6 game week, the Gnats never allowed more than 3 runs in any game, which is obviously a nice recipe for success. They actually were able to drop their already league leading team ERA down 0.31 points to 2.42 on the season. Of the 13 pitchers that saw action this week, eight of them did not allow a run and pitched at least 2 innings a piece. Most impressive of all of them was younger hurler, Armando Rodriguez, but we'll discuss him later in the Pitcher of the week section (spoiler alert, A-Rod wins it). James Fuller earned his league leading 5th win of the year with a productive 6 inning, 2 ER, 7 hit start. Mark Cohoon had a 9 strikeout, 7 inning performance allowing two runs, but came away with a no-decision against the Rome Braves. Righty Brandon Moore gave his best effort of the season, earning a victory against Rome going 7 innings with 5 hits and 1 run.
The top of the order continues to be the most productive part of the lineup and will only get stronger once Marte gets going. The 1-2-3 batters in the lineup (Zapata, Lagaras and Flores) went a combined (35 for 84) for a .417 average. They produced 12 of the 21 RBIs for the team this week and continue to baffle opposing pitchers. CF, Zapata struggled to begin the week but came through scoring 6 runs with a .300 average overall including a double and a triple. He did strikeout 8 times though which is a little high for a lead off batter. Lagaras was spraying the ball all over the place this week batting at .429 in 28 at bats. He had 5 RBI for the week with 2 double and a triple and most impressively, only struck out twice. LF, Alex Gregory had a nice week as well with 3 runs and 2 doubles batting .316.
MVP of the Week: Wilmer Flores, Wilmer Flores, Wilmer Flores. I'm just going to keep him here so I don't have to re-type it next week. Although he did not have any homeruns this week, all Wilmer was able to put up was a .539 batting average including 3 doubles and 5 RBI. Flores now has the top batting average in the mets systems ahead of Buffalo's, Feliciano as well as tops in the SALLY at .361.
Pitcher of the Week: As spoiled above, this week's honor goes to Armando Rodriguez. A-Rod pitched 11 innings of 4 hit ball, allowing 1 run which was unearned. After a rough start to the season, he has seen his ERA plummet to 2.55 over his last three starts. He allowed 4 walks during the week but struck out 7 in the process.
Week in Preview: Sunday's 18 inning loss to Augusta was a brutal way to start out an 8 game road trip. Monday night will be game 2 of 4 against the Green Jackets where they will then travel to Charleston for a 4 game series against the Riverdogs.
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HOJO
