Tony Bernazard and a Sore Back

Some crazy stuff in Binghamton within the last month. Tony Bernazard, the scrappy ex-big leaguer and personal puppet of Omar Minaya, apparently acted like a jerk one time too many, taking his shirt off and challenging some number of Binghamton Mets to a fistfight. He previously had very negative interactions with others on the staff and team. The New York Daily News Mets beat reporter got this scoop and ran with it, and in responding to these events, Minaya personally attacked the credibility of the reporter by accusing him of lobbying for Bernazard's job, for which Minaya was roundly criticized, most vehemently by the Mets TV announcers (Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling). Minaya ultimately fired his good friend Bernazard anyways, a move every Met except for Beltran and Alex Cora (also friends of Bernazard?) seemed to agree with.

I don't (and will likely never) know the extent of Brad Holt's involvement with these events, but it (nor anything else) has not helped him pitch better.

Brad followed up back-to-back non-quality starts with a 6 walk, 2 strikeout "quality" start. Three mediocre starts in a row, he's now at 2-5, 5.36, with a 39:17 K:BB ratio. Those numbers, my friends, will keep him in AA through the end of the month, and will likely keep him out of a Mets uniform in September. It's not so much that they're indicative of a lack of talent, but they may indicate a weariness that could presage an injury. If I'm Minaya, I shut him down at the end of the season.

The good news: Nate Hall reached .840 OPS, and is sitting at .328/.396/.443, with a very low error rate over the last month. The bad news: he left Windy City's July 26 home win against Evansville in the middle of the game, and has played in only one game in the last 10 days, a 16-0 win at Gateway where he again left in the middle of the game. The SouthTown star indicated that he is nursing a sore back which is making it difficult for him to play.

Wilson Matos has been playing in his place, and hitting adequately, but is OPSing only .681, so presumably the job is still Nate's when he is feeling better.

Nate did have a nice interview with the SouthTown Star:

By Steve Millar Correspondent
Nate Hall is in his second professional season and his first with the T-Bolts

after being acquired in a trade before the season. He went into last week's All-Star break surging, going 13-for-25 (.520 average) over the final10 days of the first half. He entered Sunday hitting .309 for the year.

What's been the biggest difference for you during this hot streak lately?

It's just been going out and getting a pitch to hit, and waiting for a pitch up in the zone that I can drive. I feel locked in, but it's not really anything I've done differently.

Everyone around the league has been impressed with your defense at third base. Is that something you take a lot of pride in?

I've always taken pride in my defense. I've worked really hard at it all my life. That's one thing I like to do for the pitchers. They like to have people working hard behind them.

What can you tell us about your hometown of Coalfield, Tenn.?

Tiny. There's no stop lights, no grocery store, one gas station and one restaurant. There's a lot of great people down there, though.

I'm going to take (outfielder Vinnie Scarduzio) back home with me (over the All-Star break) and spend four days down there with him. I'm going show him the strip in Knoxville and I'm going to show him the hills. He's never been to a redneck place like Tennessee before.

There are a few small-town guys on this team and most of them say they haven't gotten used to living here in the Chicago area. What do you think about it?

I like it. I'm always going to like home better, but I've been so many places the last four or five years; I know how to adjust to places. But Chicago is awesome, I definitely like it. Me and a couple of teammates went down to see the White Sox play and we loved that. That was a really good time.

You spent last year playing in Ottawa in the Can-Am League. Are you happy to be back in the States?

I am so glad to be back in the states. The bus trips g oing to and from Canada were the worst; you'd get to the border at like three in the morning and have to get off the bus so they could check everything. It was a good experience, because I can always say I lived in another country, but I'm definitely glad to be back home.

Who were your favorite team and player growing up in Tennessee?

Atlanta was my favorite team. My favorite player is definitely Manny Ramirez. I know people are going to give me a hard time about that and say he's on steroids, but I still love him. I still wear his jersey, and I'm not going to stop.

Do you have any hidden talents?

I'm incredible at the guitar. If anyone wants to sit down with me, I will wow them. I'll play any rock - Metallica, Tool, Led Zeppelin.

So if anyone wants to form a band--?

Yeah, if anyone wants to form a band, they need to get a hold of me.

Apparently, his defense is much, much better than I thought. A very good sign. Perhaps some of the moving over to play first base earlier in the season was due to an injury.

In UNCW news, there is no news from Daniel Cropper about signing with the Nationals, and at this late point in the minor league season, it looks like he'll return to the Seahawks for his senior year.