IGT 8/18/12 -- Mets @ Washington

[Frayed Knot]

7:05 PM - available via various ways depending on where you live and what TV-delivery system you use with good old-fashion "Free" TV apparently the hardest one to get for some. Irony can be so ironic sometimes.

We have a rare situation here where we actually have a pitching match-up where our pitcher is younger, has a better record, AND has lower ERA & WHiP numbers.
OK the stats are just barely better but, hey, I'll take it.

Niese [25 y/o; 9-6; 3.67; 1.175] vs Edwin Jackson [28 y/o*; 7-7; 3.74; 1.212]

Now all we need is a few hitters who don't consider bloop doubles to be their ultimate offensive contribution.



* Why did I think he was older than that? Probably because his ML debut was on his 20th birthday (he beat Randy Johnson), is now in his 10th ML season, and has spent those years being part of 7 different organizations already - actually 8 considering that he was a paper Blue Jay for part of one day last year.

[G-Fafif]

Well, I wanna tell ya we got this kid leading off who's playing short and he's kinda short but he goes inta the hole like nobody's business and he's all business and he's Ruben Tejada - SS

Our second batter's a fella who's been back some time and he went back t'the wall and he made a splendid catch and saved the franchise's first no-hitter and ya need t'have one'a those unless ya wanna give up hits all yer life and he's Mike Baxter - RF

We got a fella who's in the third hole and that's the base he plays and the corner could get mighty hot when I was in the employ of the organization and we tried all kindsa fellas but this one's a clean liver and ya might even say he's got a clean liver and when he gets a few more hits he's gonna have more hits than anybody the organization ever had from any corner and he's David Wright - 3B

My cleanup hitter's been known to clean up a few messes on the bases though sometimes he does his best cleaning when nobody's on like that night in the desert when it was hot but it was a dry heat and this fella dried off the bases three times though nobody was on and he scored three times all around the bases though we lost ya couldn't blame him and he's Ike Davis - 1B

This next fella's Irish and I played with some of their finest people and go back to Cornelius McGillicuddy before he was either a stadium or an institution which is a good thing to be if ya want job security and McGillicuddy had it because he owned a piece of the Ath-a-letics until he owned the whole pie and when ya got the pie they can't tell ya yer services are no longer required as I was told my previous employer in this here city despite my having some sort of success with them but this feller's had some success too and he plays deep but he makes the plays and there isn't a finer Irish lad you'd rather have with a man on base who you want'a be driven home and he's Daniel Murphy - 2B

Well, this next feller we're playing him in left though we could put him in center or sometimes in right and we've seen him all over the infield yet we think his future might be in left field but not left out because he never fails to inject himself into the action though sometimes he waits until it gets late and yer not expecting it and when you have a man come off the bench and deliver you a blow yer gonna find yerself in the starting lineup more often than not and you need a man who can give the ball a spin and he's Jordany Valdespin - LF

My center fielder is a fellow who sometimes don't concentrate too good which is easy to do is this business of baseball, the greatest business there ever been in sports and I speak only as a baseball man and not representin' any other sports business at the present time and you can make a good living in baseball and you can put a little something away as annuity for a rainy day and in my time we had plenty of rain and we usually had a rainout because they had yet to invent the tarpaulin and you'd find yourself back on the train and headed out west to St. Louie and there'd be a doubleheader later in September and they'd charge two separate admissions if they could but ya couldn't get away with that the way you can now because people don't concentrate so good for a full nine innings and maybe nine more and you'd clear the place out and I oughta know because I been cleared out from some fine establishments in my day and maybe this will be the day for Andres Torres - CF

Behind the plate I'm playin' my man who played most of the year even though his catching comes up a little short of what ya want it to be and his hitting ain't so long either but he comes out early and he puts on his shinguards and he puts on his special mask and he puts on his special bird cage that keeps him from getting socked in the jaw every time a runner comes at him which is frequently in the late stages of our games because my bullpen is full'a men who can't seem to keep the ball in the infield and there's always a play at the plate and my man stands in there and sometime he gets runned over and sometimes he drops the ball but he's back there the next day with the shinguards and the mask and he protects his chest which is a good thing if you want'a have a career in this here game and he's Josh Thole - C

My number nine batter is one of my number one pitchers though we have at least three number one pitchers and I like to say every man has to pitch like a number one when he has the ball and he has to keep the strikes ahead of the balls and this feller does that most of the time and this one time we use him to pinch-hit when we got nobody else and he comes up with a triple and we lose the game anyway but ya can't blame him because he's a pitcher and sometimes he loses the game that way which is something my coaches and me need to correct because if we don't we don't got much of a future and I'm not sure anyone does at my advanced age but he's young and he has a disposition that's nice and that's his name, Jonathon Niese - LHP

[MFS62]

Loved it. I can hear Casey's voice, especially where he rambled on until he said something that reminded him of the player's name (Valdespin and Niese).

Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Fantastic stuff, I tell ya.

I'm hoping tonight's effort comes close to G-Fafif's.

[Methead]

Didn't realize WPIX was blacked out on Cablevision until just now. I guess I should be thankful that not all Mets games are on channel 11.

[Frayed Knot]

Do I even need to mention that we surrounded a one-out triple in the 1st inning with .... [say it with me folks] two weak ground balls and a lazy fly?

Since then, the following six outs -- oops, now seven -- haven't left the infield.
Maybe they're trying not to bruise the ball.

[bmfc1]

Mets batters act like they're double parked.

[MFS62]

The only team I root for that can score is the Nets ... sometimes.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Hey, nice shot Jeter .... oh wait, that was Espinosa!
Understandable error.

[Frayed Knot]

Michael Morse is rapidly becoming one of my least favorite players.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Nice rip from Ike. You'll have to take my word for it but I predicted that.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm sure you predicted an oppo-fielder, too, no less.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

10 pitches, three up, three down. THAT'S the way you follow up a scoring inning.

[Frayed Knot]

That Terry sat down Parnell and had Rauch warming up throughout the top of the 8th scares me a bit.
I'm foreseeing him letting Niese face Harper leading off, then going to Rauch for the RHBs and that means .... dum-de-dum, Frank-Frank for the 9th.

[Ceetar]

come on, if you're only giving Niese 1 batter why have him bat?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I'm sure you predicted an oppo-fielder, too, no less.

oh sure

[Frayed Knot]

@*#&$!!!!!
Just what I was afraid of.

I could see the move if Harper got on (although still wouldn't like it) but not after he retired him, and fairly easily too.

[Frayed Knot]

Frank-Frank has retired 2 of the last 10 batters he's faced, and just 8 of his last 20
I'd chain him to the bench tonight.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Then... Bobby in the ninth?

[Frayed Knot]

Let's just get like 8 or 9 more runs and make this all academic.
I'll still question Terry once it's all over, but at least I won't be as mad about it.

[Ceetar]

I wonder if Terry is somewhat shellshocked by the no-hitter and thinking he ruined Santana.

[Frayed Knot]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Then... Bobby in the ninth?

I would have left Niese in at least until he put a runner on or got through the 8th.
At that point you'd go into the 9th with Rauch, Edgin & Parnell all on tap and ready to go.


* although Edgin has retired just 2 of the last 6 hitters he's faced and 4 of the last 8 - so I'd just bag the whole lefty-lefty idea for now.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

You guys think Frank Frank is coming in?

[Ceetar]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: You guys think Frank Frank is coming in?

he's warming. so yeah.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Frayed Knot wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Then... Bobby in the ninth? I would have left Niese in at least until he put a runner on or got through the 8th. At that point you'd go into the 9th with Rauch, Edgin & Parnell all on tap and ready to go. * although Edgin has retired just 2 of the last 6 hitters he's faced and 4 of the last 8 - so I'd just bag the whole lefty-lefty idea for now.

Well, same here. I just meant... does he go with Bobby?

And the answer, to my stomach's dislike, is "no."

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Ceetar wrote: metsguyinmichigan wrote: You guys think Frank Frank is coming in? he's warming. so yeah.

Need some more insurance runs, then. Like, a dozen of them.

[G-Fafif]

To be perfectly frank, don't be imperfectly Frank.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

This'll be Double Frank's final shot at closer, if I'm Terrying this ship.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm REALLY pissed about this.
Rauch has been **BY FAR** the best reliever on this team for the last six weeks or so, threw just 12 pitches in the 8th and didn't get PH'd for.



Oh yeah, and he walks guys.

Edited August 18, 2012 by Guest

[Ceetar]

I can't watch. It's almost like i have cablevision.