9
2011
St. Lucie Mets Win FSL Southern Division Crown
An article by 
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ST. LUCIE METS!
2011 FLORIDA STATE LEAGUE SOUTHERN DIVISION CHAMPIONS
With two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and the score knotted at 3-3, St. Lucie had runners on first and second when Jefry Marte singled to CF to drive home Travis Ozga with the winning run. The victory made Florida State League Southern Division Champions of the St. Lucie Mets tonite, as they defeated Bradenton by a score of 4-3.
Starting pitcher Greg Peavey delivered for the Mets tonight by going 7 innings, while giving up 6 hits, 2 ER’s, 3 walks and striking out 6. Jeff Kaplan got the win by getting the last out in the 8th, and then setting the Marauders down in the 9th and 10th to salt away the victory. For Kaplan the line reads: 2.1 IP 1 hit, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K’s.
The game see-sawed back and forth, with the Mets scoring first. Stefan Welch led off the bottom of the 3rd with a single to RF. With one out, Cesar Puello reached first on a throwing error by the pitcher, Nathan Baker, enabling Welch to go to third. With Puello attempting to steal second, the catcher Carlos Paulino threw the ball into CF for an error allowing Welch to score with the first run.
Bradenton scored the tying run in the top of the 4th, with one out LF Adalberto Santos doubled to left, DH Ramon Cabrera walked. After a strikeout, CF Evan Chambers doubled to left scoring Santos, but it could have been worse if not for a solid Pedro Zapata to Wilmer Flores, to Francisco Pena relay which cut down Cabrera at home for the third out of the inning.
Bradenton went ahead 2-1 in the 5th when Paulino led off with a single, and moved to second on a ground out. With two outs, SS Benji Gonzalez singled to CF to drive in Paulino. But St. Lucie came back to tie the score again in the 6th when LF Pedro Zapata homered over the LF wall, making it 2-2.
In the top of the 8th Bradenton took the lead again, off reliever Josh Edgin. Edgin gave up a lead-off single to Benji Gonzalez, followed by a walk to RF Robbie Grossman. The next batter hit into a force at second setting up first and third with one out. Cabrera then singled to score Gonzalez with the go-ahead run. After a strikeout Edgin was replaced by Jeff Kaplan, who walked the first batter he faced before retiring the side on a Paulino force-out.
Not to be out-done, the Mets came right back in the bottom half of the inning. Pedro Zapata singled with one out. With Travis Ozga batting for Gilbert Gomez, Zapata stole second, Ozga then grounded out sending Zapata over to third. That set the stage for Wilmer Flores to drive in the run with a single, tying the score once again 3-3.
The score remained tied until the 10th which set the stage for Marte’s heroics. Zachary Foster came on and took the loss giving up the winning run even though he only pitched two-thirds of an inning, and walked one batter. Unfortunately for him, he was followed by Tyler Cox who pitched to one batter and walked him and then, Victor Black was summoned but all he could do was give up the game-winning hit.
The hitting star of the game was Pedro Zapata who went 3 for 5, with 2 runs, 1 RBI, 1 HR, and 1 SB.
The Mets now move on to the best-of-five FSL Championship Series against the Daytona Cubs, with Game One set for Friday in Daytona. The probable starter for the Mets will be Armando Rodriguez, while lefty Casey Harman toes the bump for the Cubbies.
About the Author: Peter Shapiro
The first time I went to Shea was not for a Mets game, it was for the Beatles concert there in August of '66. My first Met game was '67, a guy named Salty Parker was the interim-manager then. My first pennant race was 1969. As a 12 year-old that summer and fall, I managed to get to the park for 3 games. The first was the beginning of the Miracle which actually started on Tuesday July 8, 1969 with a day game against the Cubs. I was there a lot in '73. I saw games 3 & 5 of the 1973 NL Playoffs against the "Big Red Machine", from the upper deck behind home plate. It was from there that I witnessed the fight between Bud Harrelson and Pete Rose, and the mayhem that ensued. And that sweet victory in game 5! I saw a couple of WS games at Shea that year against that legendary Oakland A's club. I was there in 1985 for every single game Dr. K pitched including his two 16 strikeout performances, and the day he one-hit the Cubs on an infield single and the Mets won 1-0. I loved being a Met fan in those days. Hopefully we are once again preparing to emerge from the darkness.
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allright.. LET’s go St Lucie METS!!!!!
can we please get news on what the MAJOR league team is doing?? they lost both games yesterday.. can we please…
Yeah, St. Lucie makes the playoffs for just the 4th time in 25 years and the writer who covers the minors (and does an awesome job of it) should ignore that and write about the Major League team.
Good idea.
I know it’s not the same thing, but I enjoy reading these minor league updates more than the major league ones lately. While the regular Mets news is just a constant reminder of how bad this season sucked, these minor league updates remind me that help is on the way. Thanks for doing these for us. Lets Go Mets!
kevin, now remember this kids are in SINGLE A.. by help on the way you mean 3 or 4 more years of futility???? then pray and hope they do become good in the majors, rememeber, you can be a superstar in the minors and completetly be garbage in the majors, is a completely different world and you know this…
Hey your welcome kevin, and thank you for the kind words. I enjoy doing these pieces as much as you like to read them, it’s news that needs to get out to the Mets fans everywhere. as for the nay-sayers that pooh-pooh the achievements of our young players in the minors, let me just say, everyone was young once. roberto clemente was young once, hank aaron was young once, ron darling and mookie wilson were young once. they all grew up to be very good players. on the high A ball St. Lucie Mets, 2011 FSL Southern Division Champions there were positive contributions made this week by Wilmer Flores – 20 years old, Jefry Marte – 20 years old, Cesar Puello – 20 years old, Francisco Pena – 21 years old and Gilbert Gomez – 19 years old. These kids are playing in a league with an average age of 23, and succeeding. I like the future, whenever it comes.
petey, you know the CORE salutes you for your help with the info on the minor leaguers.. remember i have my eye out for GILBERT GOMEZ…
Way to go St. Lucie!!!!!
Great to see the prospects not only playing well but winning things (Savannah too) down in the minors. That bodes very well for us down the road. Even Binghamton started playing well the last 1/4 of the season when some of the graduates from Pt. St. Lucie arrived.
Got a question for you Pete. Do you see any similarity in Lagares 2010 at Savannah and Zapata’s 2011 in St. Lucie as a precursor to a real breakout for Pedro next year?
Zapata’s a year older and a step below but wasn’t signed until 19 (like Valdespin) and looks a lot like he’s starting to come into his own.
He’s rule 5 eligable but I highly doubt anyone would snag him on us but I will say this. I’ll bet he has a breakout 2012 in Binghamton and is added to the 40 in the off season before 2013 and that Puello has a big first half in St. Lucie and gets a mid season bump and from there…….
“Even Binghamton started playing well the last 1/4 of the season when some of the graduates from Pt. St. Lucie arrived.”
True but the last half, especially the last quarter, was when Havens’ got past the rib surgery and the scar tissue.
Havens AVG
May .214
June .257
July .273
Aug .333
Havens Aug numbers includes an
OBP .424
SLG .564
Does somebody on this site not like Havens’ progress?
I’m thinking Havens could be a real player this spring to make the team, especially if Reyes goes. But assuming he re-signs, I’m guessing Tejada wins 2B, Murph on the Bench, not sure on Turner and Havens sitting in AAA knocking on the door.
These are good problems to have!
If Havens is really over his rib issue, look for him to be the Mets starting guy at 2B by July 2012. I don’t think he’ll make it out of spring training, but he likely will after 45 games or so. He was very rusty.
If he puts up big numbers (and stays on the field!) in the AFL, hell yeah he can win the job out of ST.
He has to stay on the field. He says he’s past his problems but time will be the ultimate judge.
Havens competition, excluding Daniel Murphy who may be tried in the outfield, hasn’t put up numbers that are really impressive. So Havens has to have a competitive AVG with some power and he’ll be tough to keep off the field.
Backman recently had commented that had the Eastern League schedule been split in halves like in the F.S.L. and S.A.L. they would of made the playoffs as well.
“They would’ve won the second half (if the league schedule was divided into halves)…”
The article goes on to say, “They were 40-31 in the second half of the season, including winning 20 of 27 games in August and eight straight series.”
pressconnects.com/article/20110905/SPORTS/109050362/0/SPORTS02/Binghamton-Mets-bow-one-last-time
Hey agee how are you man, I think that is a very interesting comparison you make with Lagares and Zapata, at this point in their respective careers. Physically and as players they are very different, but as for the stage they are each at in their development, they are very close. And where Lagares will start making noise to get a call-up to Queens sometime this coming season, for Zapata it will take a year longer. Lagares is 5’11″, a middle of the order type, 3rd, 5th-7th, he had a 4.94 SLG at St. Lucie in the first half this year. He’s fast but doesn’t steal a lot of bases anymore. Zapata is 6’4″ but despite his height, can steal bases with the best of them, 36 this year, and his .389 SLG are best suited for a top-of-the-order type guy. They both have good OF throwing arms, speed and pop, and their styles will translate very well to Citifield.
Baseball reference has Lagares listed as 6’1″. MLB.com as well.
oops your right, my bad Omar
Zapata has improved, but losing non-power hitters who strike out a lot doesn’t concern me much. He’s a tall kid, but he has not shown us the ability to crank it over the wall in the minors. Don’t know about him getting to the point where he’s a serious prospect.