No-no Caps Sweep

Miguel Pinango put an exclamation point on Binghamton's four-game weekend sweep of the Sea Dogs with a seven-inning no-hitter in the nightcap of Sunday's double header. The Mets right hander didn't appear to be overpowering, however he changed speeds, hit his locations and kept the Portland batters off balance all afternoon. Pinango came within two outs of a perfect game before Matt Van der Bosch reached on a questionable error charged to shortstop Corey Ragsdale. Apparently the ball throw drew the first baseman off the bag, allowing the speedy VDB to reach, however I've seen much more egregious misplays be scored as a hit. Nonetheless, Pinango was masterful, allowing just one hard hit ball (a liner to center by Chad Spann in the 7th) and striking out seven. Center fielder Carlos Gomez, the BMets' top prospect, preserved the no-hitter with a diving catch of a flare off the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury leading off the 7th, the only real threat by the Sea Dogs other than the error.

Pinango warms up.

Pinango apparently was once a bit of a prospect for the Mets, but had Tommy John surgery and is on the road to recovery. Following yesterday’s game, his stats this year are in line with his pre-injury numbers (ERA in the mid-3.00’s, WHIP around 1.25, very low walk rate), except for his strikeouts. Pinango is striking out about 1 batter every two innings, whereas his rate was greater than 7 per 9 innings pre-injury. He’s still only 23 years old, so he may be re-establishing his stock for the future.

Portland pitching was pretty good in the game, considering that they lost 7-0. Save for a six-batter burst in the third inning, capped by Jay Caligiuri’s grand slam that made the score 6-0, the Bingamton bats were pretty quiet throughout the nightcap.

The opening game featured a theme that has become all too familiar of late for the Sea Dogs, and particularly starting pitcher Chris Smith. Smith allowed a long home run to Michel Abreu in the first, then settled down while the Sea Dogs took a 4-2 lead after four innings. Smith struggled a bit in the fifth and the Mets closed it to one run. It looked for all the world like Smith should probably come out of the game, but he had only thrown 77 pitches to that point and came out for the sixth. He responded with a walk, a single, and back-to-back homers over the left field wall by Ragsdale and 37-year-old veteran Mike DiFelice. Li'l Papi brought the game back to one run, but Abreu hit an identical blast over the center field wall in the 7th to preserve the three run victory.

Notes:

• Abreu had a big day, also coming up with two hits, including an RBI double, in the nightcap.
• According to the scoreboard, Ragsdale is the #28 prospect in the Mets system. Well, too bad for the Mets, I guess. Ragsdale has some pop, but he's hitting .195 with 136 strikeouts in 93 games. Guys who can't make contact in AA don't make the majors. Oh, I recall Russell Branyan striking out at prodigious rates when he played for Akron way back when. Looking at his minor league stats, however, reveals the difference: Branyan struck out 114 times in 84 games in the EL over two seasons. He also hit 28 home runs and drew 63 walks in that time. Ragsdale barely has 28 walks (29 total) and has hit but six home runs. Co-scorers Nick and Rob dubbed Ragsdale "Corey with a K" earlier in the series.
  
• Gomez reminds one of Hanley Ramirez. He's an athletic 20 year old, tall and skinny, who swings hard at everything and doesn't take a lot of walks. Ramirez' discipline numbers were a little better than Gomez', but the kid has a chance to be an exciting player like the Florida shortstop.