BUFFALO – ROCHESTER –: Postponed/rain.

BINGHAMTON 6, PORTLAND 5: The B-Mets made it two wins in a row after they defeated Portland, 6-5, Monday night. Binghamton (4-6) got 4.1 innings out of starter Brandon Moore, who struck out four batters but allowed six hits and four earned runs. Ricky Brooks, Eric Niesen and Erik Turgeon combined to pitch 3.2 scoreless innings in relief. John Lujan picked up his third save despite allowing one run in the top of the ninth inning. Joshua Satin went 2-for-3 and had a three-run home run in the bottom of the third inning to begin the scoring with runners on first and second. Jesus Feliciano added two hits and two RBIs. BOX SCORE

FORT MYERS 6, ST. LUCIE 4: St. Lucie (10-2) lost for the first time in 10 days after losing to Fort Myers, 6-4, Monday night. Jeurys Familia started for St. Lucie, lasting 5.1 innings, giving up four hits and one unearned run. Familia struck out four batters and walked two. Michael Powers came in relief and allowed four unearned runs behind a string of errors. Matt Den Dekker went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Jefry Marte also went 2-for-4 with one RBI. Wilmer Flores was hitless in four at-bats. BOX SCORE

Compiled from team reports.

Email Andrew O’Brien at aobrien7@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter: @aobrien7

Today the Mets announced that they have signed 3 players to minor league deals.

Jesus Feliciano (who played with the Mets in 2010), Chris Shelton (has played for Tigers, Mariners, Rangers) and Japanese League player Kent Tsujimoto (had 2.88 era, 12/6 k/9 in 32 relief appearances last season in the Golden Baseball League.

I like the signings. Can’t hurt to ink new players to minor league deals. You never know when you will need the depth. Jesus Feliciano could provide a bat off the bench if say Scott Hairston were to get injured. Tsujimoto has some upside potential as a reliever this season. And Shelton, like Feliciano, could provide depth on the bench if an injury occurs.

Source(s) – (Adam Rubin of ESPNNEWYORK.com Tweet), (MLBtraderumors.com)

@KBurkhardtSNY Barajas claimed by the Dodgers. Jesus Feliciano will replace him.

Barajas, 34, was hitting .255 with the Mets this season with 12 homeruns and 34 RBIs. He was hitting well during the first half of the season before falling into a slump and going on the DL.

Feliciano, 31, with the Mets is hitting .292 with two RBIs, a stolen base, four doubles and one triple.

Game Summary

Hisanori Takahashi had an amazing start tonight with his best start yet. The Mets didn’t go out and get a starter in the trade deadline that would have moved Takahashi to the bullpen. Maybe that was a good thing, at least for tonight. Takahashi has always been good the first two times through the opponents’ lineup but later falls apart by the fifth inning but tonight he didn’t. He was able to go 6 innings despite throwing 112 pitches, he gave up only one run on 7 hits, struck out 10 batters and walked two. Takahashi had a career high ten strikeouts and became the first Mets pitcher with 10 Ks in a start this season. Most strikeouts for a Mets pitcher since Figueroa had ten strikeouts in late August of last year. Takahashi is now in second for most Mets strikeouts with 91 Ks. Only three behind Johan Santana. Takahashi walks away with the no decision as the bullpen gave up the lead.

Bobby Parnell came into the game to pitch the seventh inning. He has usually pitched well for the Mets out of the bullpen this season but did not have his stuff tonight. He faced four batters, not retiring any of them, and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk.

Pedro Feliciano and Manny Acosta combine for the seventh inning, not giving up a hit or a run. Acosta would stay in the game to pitch the eighth inning and was able to keep the Diamondbacks from scoring.

Frankie Rodriguez had a shutout ninth inning. Striking out two batters as well.

Mets offense was led by their 1-2-3 hitters, Reyes-Pagan-Wright in the win. Combined they had 6 of the Mets 7 hits on the night.

Reyes had a hit, a walk, a run, and an RBI. Pagan had three hits, a walk, and scored two runs. David Wright had two hits, a walk, and three RBIs. Wright has driven in 8 of the Mets 11 runs this series. He also hit his 250th career double in the game.

Jesus Feliciano had the biggest hit in the ninth inning with a triple that would be the winning run later on. Since being called up twice this season, he has really helped the Mets win.

Mets 4-8 starting hitters combined for 0-16 on the night.

Turning Point

The two run double for Wright in the seventh tied the game for the Mets, while Beltran’s walk-off sac fly gave the Mets the win.

Game Ball

Takahashi had a great start and Jesus Feliciano had the biggest hit for the Mets. They split the game ball.

Up Next

Jon Niese will pitch for the Mets in the rubber game of this series against the Diamondbacks. Arizona will have Rodrigo Lopez on the mound for them. Game time is 1:10 PM.

Game Summary

Hisanori Takahashi started for the Mets and got roughed up by the Tigers early in his worst start of the season. Takahashi, who has had a great string of great starts, had trouble getting outs against Detroit. Some noticeable tactics that he was going for in the game that could have cost him are that he was trying too hard to pitch backwards and was trying to get his fastball up to 97 instead of hitting his spots like he normally does. Takahashi only recorded enough outs for 4 innings pitched, giving up six earned runs on eight hits and two homeruns. He walked four and struck out four as well. The lefty imported arm needs to bounce back in his next start or it could be back to the bullpen for him. Takahashi receives his third loss of the season.

Elmer Dessens enter the game in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. He starts it off immediately by walking in a run. He would allow two runs to cross the plate (both charged to Takahashi) before getting out of the fifth inning. He would stay in to pitch another inning only giving up one hit, one walk and struck out one batter in his two innings of work.

Parnell and Igarashi, both throwing some high heat, combined for two shutout innings. They had one hit, five strikeouts and one walk between them. Nice work boys! Nieve and Feliciano rounded out the ninth inning with two hits combined and one walk. This could have been a night the Mets would have used Valdes, if he hadn’t been sent down and replaced by Josh Thole who has yet to make an appearance in a game despite being called up twice already this season.

The offense started off slowly but fought their hardest to get back in the game. Mets were down 3-0 before getting anything going. This is not like the Mets of late. They usually score first in the early innings. The Mets did make a nice run for the lead in the sixth inning, scoring three runs and then another run in the seventh.

Angel Pagan was out of the game and his fill in for the night, Jesus Feliciano, had a nice three hit game. Two singles, a double, and two runs scored. Also made some nice plays in center that would make it on the Top 10 Plays list tomorrow.

David Wright would be the only other player to get a multi-hit night, but not where it counted most. He had many opportunities to either make the game closer or to tie the game up. He ended the night with two hits, a double, one RBI, one run scored to go with his two big strikeouts.

Reyes, Bay, Blanco, Tejada, and Carter all contributed with one hit each. Blanco started tonight with Barajas having woken up to a sore back.

Francoeur and Davis both had 0-fers along with a pair of pinch hitters, Cora & Tatis, both going 0-1.

Turning Point

Takahashi did not have his A-game tonight and the two homeruns really proved that.

Game Ball

Jesus Feliciano did a great job filling in center with Pagan healing. I still think Feliciano missed out on a big scoring opportunity, but can’t complain with a three hit night.

Up Next

Mike Pelfrey takes the mound for the Mets as he looks to be the first Met pitcher with ten wins. Mets will match up with the Twins who throw out Kevin Slowey who has recorded seven wins, but has a tendency to give up a lot of runs. Game time is 7:10 PM. Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets need another pitcher for the starting rotation; there is no doubt about that.  It looks like if/when John Maine returns from the DL he’s going to be placed in the pen. Oliver Perez has lost his locker as he is now on the DL and who knows when we’ll see him again.  Takahashi did a great job but it looks like the league is starting to catch up to him, especially the 3^rd time facing the lineup.  That’s not a knock on him; if you look at his numbers the opposing team hit him better after the 5^th inning.  He excelled when he was in the pen as the long man and if you really think about it the bullpen has suffered a bit since he went into the rotation.

There are 3 pitchers that will be available: Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee and Kevin Millwood.  If you paid attention closely this season you can see the Mets have been busy building trade chips.  Once Daniel Murphy got injured and Ike Davis became the 1^st baseman the Mets decided they were going to make him a jack of all trades.  Murphy is a natural 3^rd baseman and he played a decent 1^st base last year.  The Mets also were going to have Murphy work on playing both the outfield and 2^nd base in the minors.  Unfortunately for the Mets Murphy was the victim of a cheap slide last week in Triple A and is out for the season.

The Mets over the weekend cut ties with Garry Matthews Jr.  They also put 2^nd baseman Luis Castillo on the DL.  They called up Ruben Tejada from Triple A and the plan is for Tejada to get most of the playing time while in the majors.  Just to remind you guys Tejada made the team out of camp and was very impressive in the field but his bat needed work.  Tejada went down, worked hard and improved his offense.  He had some good hits over the weekend.  What some may not know is that the Mets have another 2^nd baseman in the minors who is tearing it up and is projected to be the future 2^nd baseman of the team, Reese Havens.  I’ve read online over the last few weeks that he could be ready for 2011.  The Mets don’t need 2 futures at 2^nd base and I think that the Mets are showcasing Tejada to trade him at the deadline.

As of this writing there is speculation that the Mets are going to call up 31 year old outfielder Jesus Feliciano.  Feliciano is a career minor leaguer who has never really gotten a chance.  As he has gotten older he has dominated Triple A pitching.  He has been hitting close to .400 this year in Buffalo.  The Mets do plan on Carlos Beltran coming back and Angel Pagan has more than earned his spot on this roster, so once Beltran comes back they won’t need an outfielder.  If I had to guess I’m guessing that like Tejada Feliciano is trade bait.

The Mets need pitching and if these guys are packaged in a trade for a pitcher then so be it.  Now I would guess F-Mart and perhaps another minor leaguer will have to be part of a package for Cliff Lee.  Lee would be great to have on this team.  This guy wants to stick it to the Phillies.  If it wasn’t for him it’s a good chance the Phillies would have been swept by the Yankees in the World Series.  He has proved that he can pitch in New York and think of a front 3 with Santana, Pelfrey and Lee.  Add Dickey and Niese into the equation and you have a pretty formidable rotation.  I know that he will be a one year rental and that’s why the Mets cannot trade Mejia for him.  If the Mets cannot sign him next year then they can get the draft picks from the team that signs him and rebuild what they lost in the trade.

I don’t want Oswalt on this team.  He’s had back injuries and he’s owed a lot of money.  I would rather the Mets go after Millwood.  I think Millwood on a good team can help a rotation.  He might not be in Lee’s league but I believe that he would be more beneficial than Oswalt.

Overall the Mets are in a good position.  The Mariners wouldn’t mind cutting salary as I’m sure the same can be said about Baltimore.  Barring injury, the Mets can add a good to great pitcher at the trade deadline and they won’t have to sell the farm to get him.

The Mets are expected to callup outfielder Jesus Feliciano from Class-AAA Buffalo in time for tomorrow’s game against the San Diego Padres. After toiling for 13 seasons in the minors, Feliciano will finally get his first taste of big league action. Coincidentally, the promotion and realization of his Major League dream may even be announced officially tonight, his birthday, when he turns 31 years old.

Feliciano will be fresh off of his big five hit game on Saturday, the second time he has accomplished the feat this season. He currently leads the International League in batting with an eye-popping .392 mark going into yesterday’s action. The next player behind him is batting .328 - almost seventy points behind him. 

Some believe that a promotion was long overdue, and even expected Feliciano to win a job as a 5th outfielder out of Spring Training, especially after he won the Mets player of the year award last season when he batted .311 with a .382 on-base percentage. This season, Feliciano has been far more impressive:

About the only thing missing from Feliciano’s game is power, but he can be useful for a team like the Mets who have been woeful off the bench. The Mets decided to part ways with the worst of the lot in Gary Matthews Jr., thus creating a spot for the lefthanded hitting Feliciano. His agent had this this to say regarding him before the weekend,

“With the season that he’s having in Triple-A and with the form he has played the last three years batting over .300 in the minors, finally, in the next few days, Feliciano would have the opportunity to see his dream realized. Minaya has said he knows it will be this week when he gives him the opportunity.”

He was signed by the Mets as a free agent on February 1, 2007, and was initially drafted by the Dodgers in the 36th round in 1997.

“I had a great winter-league year, including the Caribbean Series. I won the batting title there,” Feliciano said. “I prepared myself to have a good year. You don’t think it’s going to be a year like the year I’m having right now, but I was expecting to have a good year.”

Feliciano hit .315 in 2007, .308 in ’08 and last year with Buffalo, he hit .311. He has been a model of consistency at the plate over these last four seasons and I believe he will be a nice addition for the team.

The Mets have already made some vast improvements from their minor leagues this season, and have added some key players to their current makeup in Ike Davis, Elmer Dessens, Ruben Tejada and Chris Carter. For a system that has been considered barren by many, the Mets continue to pull rabbits out of their hats, and Feliciano is going to be their next trick.

Mets infielder Alex Cora knows Feliciano well and believes Feliciano could be successful in the majors if he got a break. Cora, who like Feliciano also hails from Puerto Rico, played with Feliciano during the World Baseball Classic where he impressed on-lookers by batting .375 in six games in the ’09 WBC.

“He’s one of these guys, you’ve got to see him play every day to really appreciate what he does,” Cora said. “He’s not the fastest guy. He doesn’t have power. Whatever. But day in and day out he’ll do something to help the team win. I’ve seen it firsthand. I saw it in winter ball and then I saw it in the WBC. Since three or four years ago, he hasn’t stopped hitting. He gets the barrel to the ball.”

Feliciano has played mostly centerfield and rightfield this season and last, and could prove to be far more greater in a reserve role than GMJ was. He could spell Francoeur against tough right-handers, get some time in at centerfield to keep Pagan fresh, but most of all, he now gives the Mets a viable option as a pinch hitter off the bench.

I’m looking forward to seeing him get some action in the series against the Padres, maybe even picking up a start for one of the games..