Baseball Equipment and More

BY ADAM RONIS | adam.ronis@newsday.com
July 13, 2008

Most New York baseball teams seem to come up empty when they play in the Cooperstown Dreams Park Tournament for youth baseball teams. No New York team had won a championship in the 12-year-old division in the 14-year history of the tournament.

In the first three weeks of the tournament this summer, Florida was represented by four teams in finals and won two championships.

The New York Outlaws of Commack competed in the tournament the week of June 28 and coach Phil Sparacino’s goal was to get to the final day, which meant a top 16 finish.

The Outlaws (51-4 on the season) went 12-0 and outscored opponents 159-15 to become the first New York team to win a championship in the 12-year-old group. The only other New York team to win a division in the Cooperstown Dreams Park Tournament was the North Shore Royals in 1997 in the 10-year-old division.

For 12 weeks, top youth teams from around the country compete and a new champion is crowned each week, alternating between 10- and 12-year-old divisions. At total of 98 teams participated from 27 states.

“We were underestimated a lot,” pitcher Justin Dunn said. “Once teams saw how good we were, they dropped their judgment about us being from New York.”

After the teams play seven games, they are seeded based on wins and runs allowed. The Outlaws went 7-0 and allowed one run per game to get the top seed. That enabled them to get three byes in the single-elimination portion of the tournament.

“It’s a very competitive tournament and very difficult for Northeast teams to compete with warm weather states that get to play all year round,” Sparacino said. “Most New York teams get knocked off early. I’m still shocked myself. I still have goose bumps going down my spine. I still can’t believe it. This is probably the most prestigious baseball tournament in the country for youth baseball.”

The Outlaws defeated No. 2 East Cobb (Georgia), 3-0, in the championship game. It was scoreless in the fourth when Matt Vogel singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Vogel was stealing third as Jonathan Tenaglia put down a sacrifice bunt and Vogel scored on the throw to first to give the Outlaws a 1-0 lead. Pat Madigan hit a two-run homer in the fifth. Dunn pitched the first 3 2/3 innings and Matt Vogel pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, striking out six to get the win.

“As long as we got one or two runs, we were fine,” Madigan said. “Matt was almost unhittable in the tournament. Our team was really good.”

Vogel hit .774 with 32 RBIs, Madigan hit .677 with 19 RBIs and Joe Sparacino hit .607 with 13 RBIs.

The Outlaws, who are ranked No. 21 in the country by travelballselect.com, have won nine tournaments in two seasons, including the Baseball Heaven World Series Qualifier, Triple Crown Memorial Blast (North Branford, Conn.) and Cal Ripken Father’s Day Classic (Aberdeen, Md.) this year.

Not there’s any pressure, but if Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla fails to make the National League All-Star team, he’s going to hear it from his father, John.

“One of his dreams is to see me play in Yankee Stadium,” Dan says. “That’s where he always used to watch games as a kid. He’s been ragging me all year about trying to make this All-Star team.”

Uggla, who leads the majors with 23 homers, should have no problem fulfilling his father’s wishes. Phillies second baseman Chase Utley leads all NL vote-getters, but an investigation will be warranted if Uggla is not chosen as a reserve.

The only NL players who have a higher OPS than Uggla are Lance Berkman, Chipper Jones and Albert Pujols. Not bad, considering that Uggla was batting .188 on April 19, looking nothing at all like an All-Star.

“It was over on the 15th of April,” John says. “I thought, ‘There goes the Yankee Stadium trip.’ But he never says die. He’s been like that his whole career. Something clicks. He gets the competitive juices going. And he finds a way to get it done.”

John Uggla, 61, lives in Columbia, Tenn., but grew up in Schenectady, N.Y., 145 miles north of New York City. His grandfather, John Ryder, was a huge Yankees fan. From about 1952 to ‘58, when the Ugglas moved to Indiana, the family would take a three-hour-plus train ride to Grand Central Station, then hop on the No. 4 train to Yankee Stadium at least twice a year.

A half-century later, the memories remain indelible.

“When you’re 6-, 7-. 8-years old, you’re just in awe, as we all are of these guys,” John says. “Just sitting there — Mickey Mantle, Bill Skowron, Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, Billy Martin . . . those are the guys you think about. I had a gazillion Mickey Mantle cards. That was the team.”

So, as Dan progressed from Columbia Central H.S. to the University of Memphis to the Arizona Diamondbacks as an 11th round draft pick — and then to the Marlins as a steal in the Rule 5 draft—John began to imagine him playing at Yankee Stadium.

John thought the moment would happen in 2006, Dan’s rookie season with the Marlins. But Dan suffered a right hamstring strain in Baltimore at the start of that trip and missed the entire series in New York. The Marlins have not returned to the Bronx since.

The All-Star Game, then, represents Dan’s last chance to play in “The House that Ruth Built” — unless, of course, the Marlins play the Yankees in the World Series, reprising their matchup from 2003.

“For him to play, to get on the field, play an inning at Yankee Stadium . . . I get all teared up thinking about it now,” John says.

“Even if he someday ends up with the Yankees, he’s not going to play in Yankee Stadium. He still has a shot at playing at Fenway. Of course he has played at Wrigley. But this is it. Either he makes it, or it’s never going to happen.”

Uggla, 28, currently ranks fourth among NL second basemen in the fan balloting, behind Utley, the Cubs’ Mark DeRosa and the Astros’ Kaz Matsui. DeRosa, though, is more of a super-utility player than a regular second baseman. Matsui, meanwhile, went on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained right hamstring.

Neither compares with Uggla, who is third in the NL with 24 doubles and on pace to hit 48 homers, a total that would break Davey Johnson’s record of 42 by a second baseman in 1973 (Johnson also had one home run as a pinch-hitter that season).

Uggla says the chances of the record falling are “pretty realistic” — for Utley, whose 22 homers also put him on pace to surpass Johnson.

“He’s a way more consistent hitter than I am,” Uggla says. “Chase when he gets on one of those runs, he can pop off five, six or seven in five days. He’s already halfway there. I’ll put my money on him.”

Uggla’s own chances?

“I don’t know,” he says. “I’m so damn streaky, who knows?”

For now, the All-Star Game is a more reasonable goal. Uggla’s family would fly in from all over the country. His parents are divorced and re-married. His brother, Mike, 31, lives in Chicago. His sister Jane, 24, lives in Benicia, Calif.

John Uggla, who worked 30 years as a technical instructor for General Electric and still teaches as a part-time contractor, keeps telling Dan, “Hang in there. Let’s go now. You’re on track. This is our chance, this is it.”

Not that there’s any pressure, Dan …

“It’s on the top of my mind,” John Uggla says. “If you didn’t grow up in that era, you may not understand.

“It would be the ultimate . . . the pinnacle.”

NEW YORK (AP) - Carlos Delgado and the New York Mets kept piling up hits, delaying their trip home for the second half of a rare two-stadium Subway Series doubleheader. They didn’t seem to mind spending a little extra time in the Bronx.

Delgado set a Mets record with nine RBIs and Luis Castillo scored a career-best five runs in a 15-6 rout over the New York Yankees on Friday.

“I got lucky,” Delgado said. “Every time I came up it seems like they had a lot of guys on base so I got some good pitches to hit and I was able to drive them.”

Delgado hit a two-run double off Edwar Ramirez in the fifth inning and his 12th career grand slam in the sixth, a drive against Ross Ohlendorf that landed in one of the last rows of bleachers in right-center. Delgado added a three-run homer in the eighth off LaTroy Hawkins, a drive into a corridor beyond the right-field wall.

“To have this type of game on this type of stage is very impressive,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said.

Delgado’s nine RBIs were one better than Dave Kingman’s total for the Mets in an 11-0 victory at the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 4, 1976. Delgado’s 44th multihomer game gave him 444 home runs for his career, breaking a tie with Kingman for 34th on the major league career list.

Delgado, who turned 36 on Wednesday, entered with just 11 homers and 35 RBIs this season. He hit a drive off the bottom of the left-field foul pole in the second of the Mets’ two victories in the Bronx last month, but it was mistakenly ruled a foul ball by umpires.

There were no such problems with either of his drives Friday, and the Mets are hoping the big game was enough to get the aging slugger back on track.

“When he gets hot, he gets kind of stupid hot where he can put a team on his shoulders and carry them for a week or two at a time,” said David Wright, who tied a career high with four hits. “He’s got the ability to be one of the best run producers, RBI machines, in the league when he swings the bat the way he’s capable of.”

Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer and scored four runs as the Mets completed their first three-game winning streak and series sweep at Yankee Stadium.

The Mets and Yankees were rained out May 16, leading to the two-borough commute in the last year of both ballparks. The Mets got ready at Shea Stadium and their bus got a police escort to the Bronx. Both teams got the same treatment for the trip back to Queens.

The Mets arrived back at home just over an hour before the night game, with most players still in their gray road uniforms and carrying equipment as they made their way to their clubhouse. The Yankees arrived a little later, dressed in street clothes.

“It’s wonderful for fans,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, whose team got back to New York after midnight following a rainout at Pittsburgh. “Two games in one day, and one at each stadium, you know it’s very enjoyable for them.”

The Yankees placed Hideki Matsui on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Monday, after the loss and activated right-hander Sidney Ponson, who was scheduled to start the second game. Matsui has been bothered by a sore left knee.

The sellout crowd of 54,978 was split pretty evenly in the opener, with chants of “Let’s Go Mets!” followed by rounds of boos from Yankees fans. There was nothing but cheers when a security guard tackled a fan who ran on the field in the sixth.

Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a long home run for the Yankees, who swept the previous three doubleheaders between the two teams. Rodriguez’s 15th homer of the season landed in Monument Park in the sixth.

Derek Jeter led off the Yankees’ three-run third with his 400th double, extending his season-best hitting streak to 14 games. Dan Giese (1-3) allowed six runs and five hits in four-plus innings.

“Some days you throw it and it goes where you want,” Giese said. “Some days it goes over the plate.”

Manuel improved to 5-4 since he was promoted from bench coach to manager, replacing Willie Randolph, a former Yankees star.

Mike Pelfrey (5-6) struggled through five innings but managed to get the win. He gave up four runs and eight hits.

Notes

Andy Phillips joined the Mets before the game and flied out to right as a pinch hitter in the ninth. The Mets claimed the former Yankees infielder off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. … Knicks first-round draft pick Danilo Gallinari is scheduled to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before Saturday’s game at Shea Stadium. … A squirrel ran through foul territory behind the plate and into the Mets dugout in the fifth inning, drawing some cheers from the fans sitting along the first-base line. … Mets 1B Fernando Tatis made two nice plays in the field - and two errors trying to throw to pitchers covering first.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Willie Randolph, fired as manager of the Mets in the early hours of the morning Tuesday, said he was “stunned” by the decision to let him go nearly three months into another disappointing season.

It was just 17 months ago that Randolph received a new multi-million dollar contract as a reward for invigorating the franchise and guiding the Mets to their first division title in 18 years, coming one win away from the World Series.

But he has since presided over one of the greatest collapses in baseball history, from which this year’s team has yet to recover.

“To the fans, I’m really sorry that I wasn’t able to fulfill what I really said I wanted to do here and get this team to a world championship,” Randolph said to reporters in the lobby of his hotel in Costa Mesa, Calif., where the team was staying during its series against the Los Angeles Angels. “That’s what I’ve been about. It’s just very difficult right now but I’m ready to move on.”

Randolph, the first African-American to manage a baseball team in New York, was replaced by the bench coach Jerry Manuel, who Randolph hired to serve as his first-base coach, but promoted him to bench coach before the 2006 season. Manuel, 54, managed the Chicago White Sox from 1998-2003, leading them to a 95-67 record in 2000, when he was selected as the manager of the year by The Associated Press.

The Mets also gutted their coaching staff, firing the pitching coach Rick Peterson and the first-base coach Tom Nieto, while promoting three coaches from the minor leagues.

Peterson told reporters Tuesday that he appreciated the opportunity the Mets’s owner, Fred Wilpon, and his son, Jeff, the team’s chief operating officer, gave him to come to New York five years ago. “I appreciated the opportunity and they welcomed me into their home, and homes go through renovations,” Peterson said. “I’m the hardwood floor that’s getting ripped off and they’re going to bring in the Tuscany tile.”

Peterson, saying he will “walk out in peace,” added: “hopefully, the Tuscany tile will do a lot better than the hardwood floor.”

Peterson will be replaced by Dan Warthen, the Class AAA New Orleans pitching coach, who worked in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization with Peterson in the 1980s. He said he considers Peterson and Randolph friends.

“I’ve been fired before and I’ve had somebody else take the same spot that I’ve been in,” Warthen said. “It’s tough. It’ll happen again somewhere down the line, guaranteed.”

As far as the Mets’ pitchers are concerned, Warthen said he knows Aaron Heilman and is familiar with Mike Pelfrey. “What can you do with Pedro and what can you do with Santana,” he asked rhetorically about veteran Pedro Martinez and ace Johan Santana.

“I’m probably going to work with Santana with his changeup tonight,” Warthen joked. “I’ll work with him before the game and let you know how he does afterwards.”

Ken Oberkfell, the New Orleans manager, and Luis Aguayo, the organization’s field coordinator, will also join the major league staff in roles to be determined.

General Manager Omar Minaya is to meet with the media at 2 p.m. Pacific time (5 p.m. Eastern) on Tuesday afternoon at Angel Stadium, and Manuel is scheduled to speak afterward.

The announcement was released to the media at 12:12 a.m. local time — 3:12 a.m. in New York — slightly less than two hours after the Mets defeated the Angels, 9-6. That victory, the Mets’ third in four games, improved their record to 34-35 but had no bearing on Minaya’s decision. The organization plotted the firing on Monday morning, and Minaya arrived here Monday night but did not attend the game.

As Randolph managed the game, answered postgame questions and drove back to the hotel separately from the team bus, Minaya waited. He fired Randolph, Nieto and Peterson when they returned.

Minaya had been Randolph’s strongest ally within the organization, but his patience, and that of the owners, had worn thin. They were tired of watching their team, loaded with All-Stars such as Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran, underachieve.

Randolph’s fate may have been sealed last October, when the Mets kept him dangling for 48 hours before taking the odd step of holding a press conference to announce that they were retaining him.

It was an awkward and uncomfortable tableau, Randolph standing beside Minaya, and it was duplicated on May 26, after Randolph met with the team’s owners for two and a half hours to explain and apologize for comments he made to The Record of Hackensack, N.J. suggesting that SportsNet New York had portrayed him differently on its television broadcasts because of his race.

The Mets won seven of their next 10 games, taking some of the pressure off him, but their maddening inconsistency revealed itself yet again in last weekend’s series in San Diego. The Mets were swept in four games, losing the first three by the same 2-1 score, and then lost two of three to Arizona at Shea Stadium.

On Friday, when speculation that Randolph’s job was in danger again began to intensify, Minaya refused to guarantee that Randolph would remain as manager, saying only that he had his support and the support of the team’s owners. By the end of the weekend, Minaya would not say that. During his three-minute interview with reporters after Sunday’s doubleheader, Minaya did not use the word “support” once and was more noncommittal about Randolph’s future and that of the coaching staff than he had been at any time.

By Danielle Sessa

June 23 (Bloomberg) — Omar Minaya is doing a “great job” of running the New York Mets, team owner Fred Wilpon said less than a week after approving the general manager’s decision to fire manager Willie Randolph.

Wilpon, in his first public comments since Randolph and two coaches were dismissed June 17, said he was satisfied with the switch to interim manager Jerry Manuel. The Mets are 3-2 under Manuel, a former American League Manager of the Year with the Chicago White Sox.

“I think Omar has done a great job,” Wilpon told reporters at a news conference announcing a Major League Baseball fundraising campaign for U.S. military veterans. “Anybody who makes decisions is not going to make all right decisions, but he’s made some great decisions.”

The Mets, whose $138 million payroll is the second-highest in baseball, are 37-37 and trail the first-place Philadelphia Phillies by 3 1/2 games in the National League East.

Wilpon said Minaya informed him of the decision to fire Randolph during the club’s doubleheader against the Texas Rangers on June 15. Minaya thought about the move overnight and confirmed the change with Wilpon on a conference call at 9 a.m. the following day.

Minaya then flew to California where the Mets were starting a series with the Los Angeles Angels. After the game he dismissed Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto. The changes were announced at 3 a.m. New York time, leading to criticism from fans and the media for the club’s handling of the situation. Wilpon backed Minaya’s methods.

“He took a lot of time listening and thinking about it,” Wilpon said. “He wanted to respect Willie and that’s what he did.”

Welcome Back Veterans

Wilpon and Mets third baseman David Wright appeared at baseball’s New York headquarters to release details of Welcome Back Veterans, a charity that aims to provide jobs and counseling for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Players will wear caps with a stars-and-stripes themed logo during games over the July 4 holiday weekend and on Sept. 11.

Wilpon, who created the campaign, said the organization has secured almost 50,000 jobs, and plans to raise $100 million and offer free mental-health care to veterans and their families.

Shortstop swipes two bases in loss to Orioles

By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

ORIOLES 4, METS 3
at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Friday, March 28Mets at the plate: Shortstop Jose Reyes had two hits, stole two bases and scored two runs. Third baseman David Wright singled once, drew a walk and drove in a run on a fielder’s choice. First baseman Carlos Delgado walked once and drove in a run. Second baseman Luis Castillo walked once and grounded into a bases-loaded double play.

Orioles at the plate: Left fielder Luke Scott singled and center fielder Adam Jones doubled in the third inning, but Jones got doubled off on a popup. Second baseman Brian Roberts drove Scott home with a two-out double. Scott doubled in the ninth and scored the tying run on Jay Payton’s single. Payton scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Mets on the mound: Orlando Hernandez fired five effective innings, allowing four hits and one earned run. The right-hander had only made one spring start prior to that outing but appears to be ready for the season. Mike Pelfrey coaxed a double-play grounder to escape a threat in the sixth inning and pitched effectively in the seventh.

Orioles on the mound: Daniel Cabrera had another enigmatic outing, pitching five innings and walking five batters. Cabrera gave up three hits and two earned runs and left with his team trailing by one run. Matt Albers, who was named a swingman on Friday, pitched one scoreless inning and gave up a run in his second inning of work.

Grapefruit League records: Mets 18-11-1; Orioles 10-16-2.

Up next for Mets: New York will pack up and leave Florida on Friday, but only temporarily. The Mets are slated to play the White Sox on Saturday in Memphis, Tenn., for the Civil Rights Game, a matchup that pits John Maine against Chicago’s Jose Contreras. After that, the Mets will return to Florida and will open up their season Monday against the Marlins.

Up next for Orioles: The O’s will wake up at home in Baltimore on Saturday, and they’ll have an eventful day in front of them. The club will have its FanFest at Camden Yards in the morning and the Orioles will play the Nationals in Washington D.C. that night. Baltimore has a workout on Sunday and will kick off its season Monday against Tampa Bay.

Spencer Fordin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

NEW YORK — The Yankees activated left-hander Andy Pettitte from the 15-day disabled list on Saturday, permitting him to start against the Rays at Yankee Stadium.Pettitte was placed on the disabled list retroactively to March 21 with lower back spasms that forced him to miss his final two starts of Spring Training.

The 36-year-old last pitched on Sunday in a Minor League intrasquad game, throwing six scoreless innings and 77 pitches against the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees. Because of the injury, the Yankees rearranged their rotation and slotted Pettitte, originally envisioned as New York’s No. 2 starter, as the No. 5 starter.

“I’m just ready to pitch, more than anything,” Pettitte said. “I’m definitely used to pitching a lot sooner than Game 5. I’m looking forward to getting out there and getting my season under way and get three or four starts under my belt.

To make room on the Yankees’ 25-man roster, right-hander Jonathan Albaladejo was optioned to Triple-A. Albaladejo made his Yankees debut on Friday against Tampa Bay, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings and allowing one hit while striking out four.

In other news, Jorge Posada was back behind the plate on Saturday, catching Pettitte. The 36-year-old had been held out of the lineup for two games and served as New York’s designated hitter on Friday due to right shoulder stiffness.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Righty allows four runs in four innings; Pagan drives in a pair.

ATLANTA — As much as the Mets want to put 2007 behind, they can not do so — not readily, not yet, not if their bullpen performs as it did on Saturday in a rather ugly loss to the Braves. Losing to the Braves wasn’t particularly reminiscent of what the Mets endured late last season. But parallels were easily drawn between the method of losing then and how they lost, 11-5, on Saturday.

It wasn’t merely the pinch-hit grand slam Kelly Johnson hit against Jorge Sosa — Sosa playing the role of discarded Guillermo Mota — in the seventh inning, or the two runs the Braves scored in the eighth against Nelson Figueroa, though those runs seemed to be pieces of unwanted nostalgia. But the bullpen let down the Mets even before Sosa was summoned. The Braves, having scored four times against losing pitcher John Maine, added a run to their lead in the sixth inning against Joe Smith and Scott Schoeneweis. So the Mets trailed 5-3 before the slam.

The Mets scored twice against the Braves’ already suspect bullpen in the eighth inning, but they couldn’t offset the damage. Maine, arguably the best pitcher in Florida last month, lasted merely four innings in his 2008 debut, allowing runs in three of them. He surrendered eight hits, three walks and four runs. He needed 96 pitches to achieve 12 outs, an unhealthy ratio.

The Mets scored once in the second inning and twice in the fifth, when the reversal of an incorrect call on a line drive struck by Jose Reyes changed an inning-ending double play into a run-scoring single. But even that assist was insufficient.

Smith retired the Braves in order in the fifth, But a leadoff single by Ruben Gotay, waived by the Mets in the final days of Spring Training, and an RBI single by Mark Kotsay against Schoeneweis doubled the Mets’ deficit.

The Mets managed six hits in six innings against Tim Hudson (1-0), the winning pitcher. David Wright was hitless in four at-bats; his hitting streak, carried over from last season, ended at 20 games.

Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Friday’s rainout pushes game against rivals back to May 20.

ATLANTA — Any advantage for the Mets created by the rainout Friday night is likely to be of the time-release quality. After amassing 17 hits and scoring 13 runs on Wednesday night, the Mets didn’t embrace the day off on Thursday, much less the postponement in Atlanta on Friday. The rainout will be played as part of a day-night doubleheader on May 20, and therein lies the advantage, subtle as it may be.

Come May 20, the Mets may be at full strength when they play a four-game series in Atlanta, following three games in the Bronx and a trip to Denver. Indeed, the Mets may have all their broken pieces back together again by then.

Some updates of the wounded follow:

• Manager Willie Randolph said on Saturday that Moises Alou had resumed swinging a bat. The manager wasn’t sure whether Alou was swinging at pitches or balls on tee, but either way, swinging constitutes progress for the disabled left fielder who underwent surgery to repair a hernia early last month.

• The Mets are wont to say velocity is not the end all and be all of all aspects of pitching. And Orlando Hernandez, in what little he does say for public consumption, dismisses velocity as an issue in his on-going effort to return to the big leagues. But the club has concerns that his velocity isn’t increasing, even though his pitch count and stamina have increased in the past three weeks and the precision of his pitches has improved as well. El Duque, assigned to the disabled list, threw 64 pitches in a Class A game on Thursday; most were in the 80-84-mph range.

The Mets believe he will need at least two more starts, no matter what his velocity is.

• As disappointed as Pedro Martinez is by the right hamstring strain that has interrupted his comeback season, he was buoyed by what he was told by the Mets’ medical staff, that the injury was not so severe — the club announced it as a “mild” strain. But the fickle nature of hamstring injuries is a well-recognized variable, particularly for pitchers. Randolph said the prognosis — four to six weeks before Martinez will return to pitching — seemed “conservative.” And knowing how conservative the club is with recovering players, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if Martinez were to miss eight weeks.

• Still assigned to the disabled list, Duaner Sanchez made his first appearance in a Minor League game on Friday night. And it wasn’t a good one. He allowed two home runs and a single in one inning, pitching for the Mets’ Class A St. Lucie affiliate against the Vero Beach Devil Rays. The Mets were pleased by his velocity and how he threw, and they attributed the homers to strong winds and the smallish park at Vero Beach.

Randolph says Sanchez needs to pitch on successive days without after-effects — probably next week — before the reliever will be added to the big league roster.

• Ramon Castro, assigned to the DL because of a strained right hamstring, still hasn’t played in a Minor League game. The club is unsure when he will.

Marty Noble is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.