Church Homers off Lefty; The Duffy Scoop

CHURCH BOOMS FIRST HOME RUN

RYAN CHURCH went 3-for-5 Wednesday with his first home run as the Mets slugged the Marlins 13-0. Churchie drove in three runs and is now batting .385 after three games. He also contributed an assist by throwing out Hanley Ramirez at second base.

Understandably, Church’s coaches and the press were abuzz. Here’s what MLB.com reported:

The Mets scored three runs in the second, two on a home run down the right-field line by Church, and produced runs in the third and fifth, but blew the game open with a five-run sixth.

The game allowed Church to show he can hit a left-hander, which was Andrew Miller, the touted acquisition from Detroit in the trade for third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Church realized from watching video that Miller had control issues and made mistakes.

"So I just had to stay with him," Church said.

He hit a hanging slider for the homer. That was a particularly rewarding moment for Mets coach Howard Johnson, who regularly talks with Church between at-bats and has helped him make adjustments to his swing.

"He's good -- much better a hitter than anybody thought, including himself," Johnson said. "He gets it on how to make adjustments."

Church “Gets it.” We could have told you that Hojo.

The Mets take Thursday off then spend the weekend in Atlanta.

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DUFFY TO WAIT FOR IDAHO FALLS

The latest on DANNY DUFFY is this note from his dad (with our emphasis):

You are correct that Danny is in line for extended Spring Training. He is off this week and will return to Surprise for an unknown time period.

It appears that none of the HS pitchers from last years draft will be assigned to a roster anytime soon with the exception of one guy Matt Mitchell out of Barstow High who is going to Burlington Iowa. It appears that the club has plans for the pitchers to throw a prescribed number of innings only slightly above what they threw last year.

Danny threw 57 HS and 37 pro innings total of 94. They will probably look to extend him a little over that this year. Rather than having to shut them down 2/3 of the way through the season, they just put them on rosters a little later in the season. I think that most of the HS drafted arms will be going to Idaho Falls but depending on performances or injuries some of those in extended could be assigned earlier.

It is refreshing for us to know that they have his long term health as a priority. Danny felt good during Spring Training and threw well. In approximately 17 innings of work, intrasquad and minor league games included, he didn't give up a single run earned or unearned.

One of the highlights of his Spring Training was to meet (and get the autograph of) Wayne Gretzky who was a guest of the Royals that day. Gretzky then threw out the first pitch that night at the Royals-Dodgers Spring Training game.

Danny is very eager to play in a GAME but is going to use this extended time to continue to tap into the knowledge of Mark Davis. He was his pitching coach at AZL Rookie ball and has already learned a lot from him.
Dan Duffy