It took 14 years, but Jesus Feliciano is finally going to the big leagues. The now former Bisons outfielder had his contract selected by the New York Mets tonight and will join the club as a 30-year-old rookie.
“All the hard work that I have put in the past years has finally paid off and I am really excited,” said Feliciano with a huge grin on his face.

Feliciano was originally selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 36th round of the 1997 First Year Player Draft. In his first year of professional action, he hit .305 with the Single-A Yakima Bears. From that year on, he has not skipped a beat.

The Mets inked Feliciano to a minor league deal prior to the 2007 season and he has been with the organization’s Triple-A affiliate ever since. He has hit at an unbelievable pace, with his average over .300 in all three years with the club coming into 2010 with the Bisons.

However, this year he was having by far his best season in baseball. Coming into Sunday, Feliciano was hitting an International League best .385, which was 57 points higher than any other batter in the league. He was also tops in the IL with 72 hits.

This came following a 2009 campaign that saw him win the Sterling Award for Buffalo after hitting .311, appearing in 130 games, and leading the IL with 154 hits. He was also the Bisons team MVP, but Feliciano knows his work is not quite finished now that he is in ‘the show.’

“Now it is almost like I am starting a new career,” said the native of Puerto Rico. “This is just the beginning; I cannot stop working now because I got there. Now I have to work even harder, because I would like to stay there for the rest of my career.”

Feliciano grew up in a baseball family. His father, also Jesus, is a baseball legend in his homeland of Puerto Rico. He played for the Puerto Rican National Team for 16 years, including representing the country in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. He even was the Puerto Rican flag bearer for the 1988 Opening Ceremonies in Seoul, Korea.

While the younger Jesus is quite enthused to go on to play Major League Baseball, he knows he will miss his teammates in Buffalo.

“I am a little bit sad I am leaving, because I had fun with the guys here, but it is part of the business,” stated Feliciano.

Not yet sure what role he will play for the Mets, Feliciano is prepared for whatever responsibilities New York manager Jerry Manuel has to throw at him.

“I’ll be ready if they need me to play every day, if they need me off the bench, I’ll be ready to go off the bench, so I’ll be ready for whatever Jerry needs me to do,” gladly said the newest member of the New York Mets.

Either way, Feliciano has finally reached the pinnacle of baseball, and there may be no player in the sport more deserving of the call than him.

“It is a dream come true!” exclaimed Feliciano.

The Herd fell short of its first four-game sweep in over three years as Buffalo fell to Norfolk, 6-0, on Monday afternoon from Coca-Cola Field.

The Bisons had won the first three games of the set in their favorite home away from home, Harbor Park. The Herd scored 31 runs on 45 hits in slugging their way to a 3-0 series lead.

But Buffalo was held to just three hits on Monday afternoon. Tides’ starter Troy Patton worked seven shutout innings and struck out three batters. The Bisons never really threatened as Norfolk prevented them from reaching third base at any point in the game.

The last time the Bisons earned a four-game sweep was April 13-16, 2007 at Columbus.

Norfolk took control of the game in the third inning. Matt Angle singled home the game’s first run and then scored on Robert Andino’s second triple of the season. Jeff Salazar made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly to score Andino.

Salazar teamed up with Rhyne Hughes to put the game out of reach with home runs in the sixth inning. Both blasts came off of Buffalo’s starter Bobby Livingston, who had allowed just two home runs in his first 56.0 innings of work this season.

Livingston (2-6) took the loss, allowing five runs in seven innings of work.

BISONS NOTES: The Bisons are now just 1-8 on Mondays this season…Justin Turner had a hit in all four-games of the series. The infielder was designated for assignment by Norfolk’s parent club, the Baltimore Orioles, on May 21…Activated just prior to the game, Salomon Manriquez finished the game 1-2 with a double and a walk.

he Buffalo Bisons today announced that INF MARSHALL HUBBARD and C SALOMON MANRIQUEZ have been promoted to the Herd from Double-A Binghamton. Both players are active for this afternoon’s 12:15 p.m. game against the Norfolk Tides.

To make roster room, C JUAN CENTENO has been transferred to Single-A Brooklyn.

Hubbard, 28, has spent all of 2010 with the Binghamton Mets and hit .269 (35-130) with nine doubles, five home runs and 20RBI in 38 games. The infielder is in his first season with the Mets organization, having been selected by New York in the 2009 Rule V Draft from the Seattle Mariners.

Manriquez, 27, has spent all of 2010 playing for the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Independent Atlantic League. In eight games, he has hit .333 (9-27) one home run and four RBI. Last season, Manriquez was an Independent League All-Star with the Newark Bears after hitting .311 (110-354) with seven home runs and 51RBI in 106 games.

Centeno was promoted to the Bisons on June 4 and did not appear in a game for the Herd

BISONS:
Emmanuel Garcia, CF
Justin Turner, SS
Mike Jacobs, DH
Val Pascucci, RF
Mike Cervenak, LF
Russ Adams, 2B
Andy Green, LF
Saloman Manriguez, 1B
JR House, C

LHP: Bobby Livingston

TIDES:
Matt Angle, CF
Robert Andino, SS
Jeff Salazar, LF
Josh Bell, DH
Rhyne Hughes, RF
Brandon Snyder, 1B
Paco Figueroa, 3B
Adam Donachie, C
Blake Davis, 2B

LHP: Troy Patton

The Bisons won their third straight over the Tides, 8-6, on Sunday afternoon. J.R. House and Russ Adams both went deep to put Buffalo in position for a four-game sweep on Monday afternoon.

The Bisons success on the road in Norfolk has truly been amazing. With the three wins this weekend, the Herd is now 35-16 all time at Harbor Park -good for a ******** .686 winning percentage.

To win on Sunday, Buffalo received some help as the Tides made four fielding errors. No miscue was bigger than the ball that got through Norfolk shortstop Robert Andino with the bases loaded in the eighth inning.

The Tides had just scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 6-5 lead. Valentino Pascucci and Andy Green singled to lead off the eighth and Jesus Feliciano reached on a one-out error, a throwing error by third baseman, Brandon Snyder. Former Tides infielder Justin Turner then chopped a tailor-made double play to Andino. Instead of an inning-ending twin-killing, Pacucci and Green scored the go-ahead runs as the ball went into centerfield.

Adams added insurance with a home run in the ninth inning. That gave Buffalo 10 runs in the ninth innings of the series’ first three games.

Adam Pettyjohn nailed down the win with two innings of hitless relief work. For the veteran southpaw, the save was the third of his career and first since 2007.

The Bisons had leads of 2-1 and 5-2 earlier in the game. Feliciano drove in a pair in the third inning on his lone hit of the game. House blasted his first home run as a Bison, a three-run shot, in the sixth.

Pat Misch started for Buffalo and allowed six runs on 13 hits in 6.2 innings of work. John Lujan (2-1) earned the victory.

BISONS NOTES: Justin Turner finished the game 1-4 and has hit in all nine games he’s played with the Bisons…Buffalo has scored 31 runs in the first three games of the series…The Bisons are now 7-2 in their last nine road games and 14-13 away from Coca-Cola Field this season.