The accolades keep coming for the B-Mets, who have assembled the most successful team in franchise history for the 2013 season. Prior to their 6-2 victory last night against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Eastern League awarded both Allan Dykstra and Pedro Lopez with big awards. Dykstra has been named the League Most Valuable Player, while his skipper has been named the manager of the year.
These are great honors for both of these men, who have had fantastic seasons. For Dykstra, this is his third season with Binghamton, and after coming over in a trade between the Mets and Padres, he’s finally put himself back on the map at age 26. Here’s part of the press release off the B-Mets official site:
Dykstra, 26, represented the B-Mets as both a Mid-Season and Postseason Eastern League All-Star in his third year with the team. Through 139 games, he has set career-highs with 20 home runs and 80 RBI. A native of San Diego, California, he leads the league with a .436 on-base percentage and ranks third with a .497 slugging percentage. His 101 walks are the most by any Eastern Leaguer since 2003.
Despite a recent slump during the summer that has lowered his triple slash to .274/.436/.504 heading into this afternoon’s regular season finale against the Fisher Cats, he’s still had a career year. He hit a home run, drove in two runs, and collected another walk in last night’s win, increasing his new career highs in each of those categories. He does strike out a lot (121 Ks in 121 games), but his performance this year will allow him to get another look, whether it’s with the Mets, or someone else.
Meanwhile, Lopez is busy managing the best team in franchise history, who currently have an 86-54 record heading into today’s final game. He will be entering the postseason with a team he’s managed for the fourth time, as he’s been at the helm for playoff runs with the Cyclones (2009), Sand Gnats (2010), and St. Lucie (2011). Our own John Bernhardt wrote an article this weekend on Lopez and his desire to bring home an Eastern League Championship. You can read the article here, but below is a small piece of what John had to say:
Even so, one has to wonder what’s next for the B-Met skipper. Polite and approachable, Pedro Lopez loves to talk baseball. He’s one of those people who makes you feel you bring something important to the table even when you’re interrupting him looking for a comment or two about his baseball team. Pedro Lopez was a catcher for seven seasons in the minor leagues. Historically, catchers many times make great managers and more major league skippers rise the ranks to the manager’s office from that position than any other. Consider some of the names: Joe Torre, Joe Girardi, Bruce Bochy, Mike Scioscia, Clint Hurdle, Gene Lamont, Tony Pena, Jim Leyland, Connie Mack, Ned Yost, Yogi Berra. The list could go on and on.
Congratulations to both of these guys on earning these well-deserved honors. Let’s hope the B-Mets can close out the regular season with a victory, and prepare to storm through the Eastern League playoffs! They’ll have Noah Syndergaard on the hill to get things started on Wednesday against Trenton, so I would say that’s a pretty good start.
(photo credit: Gordon Donovan)