[Questdog]

Friday, June 8, 2001

New York Mets (26-34 .433 15.5 GB in 6th place in the NL East) at
Portland Beavers (23-36 .390 14 GB in 7th place in the NL West)

Bryan Upchurch, NYN (28 R 2-4 2.77 8.2-1.2-1.7-5.1 H/9-HR/9-BB/9-K/9) vs Edmondo Buenaventura, Por (31 R 1-7 5.71 9.9-0.7-3.6-5.9)

Upchurch is 5th in the NL in fewest BB/9.

This is Buenaventura's first start in a month. If he has a bad outing, he will be looking for employment elsewhere.

Lineups: Pos Name (Age Bats BA-HR-RBI-OPS)
NEW YORK (N)
1: SS Jesus Ramirez (22 S .294-3-20-.831 in 211 AB)
2: 2B Guillermo Valenzuela (24 S .275-2-15-.676 in 204 AB)
3: LF Larry Brown (28 R .264-5-24-.788 in 201 AB)
4: RF Howard Ammons (24 L .261-6-16-.798 in 111 AB)
5: 3B Virgil Northcutt (34 R .202-13-31-.688 in 218 AB)
6: C Bobby Pina (31 L .249-4-19-.715 in 177 AB)
7: 1B Manny Esquivel (28 L .310-9-32-.872 in 197 AB)
8: CF Bob Blair (26 L .324-3-10-.786 in 108 AB)
9: P Bryan Upchurch (28 R .040-0-2-.117 in 25 AB)

PORTLAND
1: RF Jerry Alston (28 L .364-0-3-.864 in 55 AB)
2: LF Frank Wiginton (30 S .289-3-22-.830 in 166 AB)
3: CF Rich Babbin (36 L .283-6-25-.816 in 159 AB)
4: 2B Fred Pariseau (31 R .236-5-22-.653 in 212 AB)
5: C Ron Charles (30 R .350-1-4-.967 in 20 AB)
6: 1B George Hopkins (29 S .222-2-10-.625 in 126 AB)
7: SS Rick Ferrell (25 R .237-1-7-.562 in 76 AB)
8: 3B Tim DePriest (26 R .136-0-3-.345 in 22 AB)
9: P Edmondo Buenaventura (31 R .067-0-1-.192 in 15 AB)

Game Start: 7:05 PM
Weather: 58 deg. Partly Cloudy with a 9 MPH wind blowing right to left.

Jesus Ramirez grounds out to 3rd. Guillermo Valenzuela grounds a hit up the middle and then steals 2nd. Larry Brown grounds out to short. Howard Ammons lines a hit to right and Valenzuela scores. 1 to 0, Mets. Full count to Virgil Northcutt and he takes ball four. Bobby Pina grounds out to 2nd.

Bottom of the 1st: Jerry Alston lines a hit to left. Frank Wiginton beats out an infield hit. Rich Babbin hits a rocket to the gap in right center and it bounces to the wall for a triple! 2 runs score! 2 to 1, Beavers! Fred Pariseau strikes out looking. Ron Charles up. Passed Ball! Babbin scores! 3 to 1, Beavers! Charles grounds out to 1st. 2 outs. George Hopkins grounds out to 1st.

Top of the 2nd: Manny Esquivel leads off with a double to right center, goes to 3rd on a hit by Bob Blair and scores on a fly ball by Jesus Ramirez. 3 to 2, Beavers.

Top of the 3rd: Larry Brown leads off with a double, but gets thrown out trying to steal 3rd.

Bottom of the 3rd: Frank Wiginton draws a 1-out walk and Rich Babbin erases him on a fielder's choice at 2nd. With 2 outs, Fred Pariseau drives one to center. Bob Blair gets there to catch it in plenty of time, but does NOT catch it for a 2-base error putting the runners at 2nd and 3rd. Ron Charles knocks a hit to left and Babbin scores. 4 to 2, Beavers!

Top of the 5th: Larry Brown knocks a 2-out hit, steals 2nd and goes to 3rd on C Ron Charles bad throws (E-2) and then scores on a wild pitch.... 4 to 3, Beavers.

Top of the 6th: Bobby Pina, their catcher, leads off with a triple to center. The lead-off hitters of their innings are now 4 for 6 with 2 doubles and a triple.... The only player to make outs leading off is their lead-off hitter, Jesus Ramirez. The Bullpen is alerted. Manny Esquivel knocks a 1-0 pitch into the right field seats for a home run.... 5 to 4, Mets.

Top of the 7th: New Pitcher: RHP Greg Richey. 2B Cary Gilreath, who came in last inning when Guillermo Valenzuela was injured, leads off with a home run to left. 6 to 4, Mets. Both Richey and Buenaventura have worn out their welcomes..... Larry Brown follows with another homer, this one to center for 422 ft. 7 to 4, Mets. After the next batter flies out to the warning track in center and then Virgil Northcutt singles, Richey is relieved and I am going to try hard to make this both he and Edmondo's final appearances as Beavers....

Bottom of the 7th: With 2 outs, Frank Wiginton singles and then Rich Babbin hits his 2nd triple of the game! 7 to 5, Mets. That sends P Bryan Upchurch to the showers. New pitcher: RHP Mario Gomez. Fred Pariseau pops out to 3rd to end the inning. I would not mind it if Pariseau hit the bricks, too, but his contract is going to make him hard to move. $6.6 million for this year and then he is a free agent. I have asked around before on him and the other GMs say they do not want an overpriced veteran....

Lost - 7 to 5

We had 10 hits and made 1 error.
The Mets had 14 hits and made 1 error.

Edmondo Buenaventura (L 1-8) went 6 innings, allowed 5 runs, 10 hits, 1 home run, 1 walk and struck out 5. He threw a run-scoring WP.
RHP Greg Richey went 1/3 of an inning, allowed 2 runs, 3 hits and 2 home runs.
LHP Pedro Huerta went 1.2 innings and retired all 5 batters he faced, striking out 3 of them!
RHP Neville Carter went 1 inning, allowed a hit, an intentional walk and struck out 2.

Bryan Upchurch (W 3-4) went 6.2 innings, gave us 5 runs (4 earned), 8 hits, 1 walk and struck out 3.
RHP Jack Ivy (SV 10) went 1 inning and gave us a hit.

RF Jerry Alston had 2 hits and scored a run. He has 12 hits in his last 6 games. LF Frank Wiginton had 3 hits and a walk and scored 2 runs. CF Rich Babbin hit 2 triples, scored 2 runs and had 3 RBIs. 1B George Hopkins had 2 hits.

For the Mets, LF Larry Brown had 3 hits with a double and his 6th home run of the season, stole a base and scored 2 runs. 1B Manny Esquivel had 2 hits with his 10th home run of the year, scored 2 runs and had 2 RBIs. 2B Cary Gilreath went 2 for 2 with his 1st home run and stole a base.

Down on the Farm: In his 1st start for us and his first after moving up from AA to AAA, Angel Rodriguez (23 R) pitched a 2-hit shutout for Indianapolis. He did not walk anyone and struck out 8. At bat, he had 2 hits and a home run, his 2nd this year! Okay, I think I know who will take Edmondo Buenaventura's spot in the rotation....