IGT - 05/07 - White Sox(13-17) @ Mets (12-16)

[Edgy MD]

You call these guys up from AAA where they've been batting third-fourth-fifth in the lineup, and ask them to bunt, sometimes you get indifferent results. --- Ron Darling.

Good job, anyhuck.

[Fman99]

PUT THAT SHIT IN YOUR BOOKS!

[Edgy MD]

[bigpurple:9dwynk58]OUR BENCH RAWKS!![/bigpurple:9dwynk58]

[ashie62]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: Wow! I'd go with a LHP v Baxter

Thank you Sir Robin

[Zvon]

[Edgy MD]

Don't know why Ventura didn't play Baxter to pull. If Rios cuts that off, I imagine, Davis is on third.

[Edgy MD]

Funny to hear them openly discuss Buck's assault on Valdespin.

[Frayed Knot]

Also nothing wrong with a 10 inning game clocking in at 2 hours 30 minutes

[Zvon]

Great game for Harvey. Lil pissed we didn't score til the end, but how mad can you be with a win? Shudda been bloody Harveys win.
"The Almost Perfect Extra Inning Bloody Nose Game That We Won In Ten Innings"

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: Don't know why Ventura didn't play Baxter to pull. If Rios cuts that off, I imagine, Davis is on third.

It was somewhat odd even to have pitched to Baxter, with a lefty in the pen ready.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

#BloodyAmazin

[Guest vtmet]

Zvon wrote: "Well, how did I look mates?" "You looked bloody fantastic !"

he kind of looks like Nicholas Cage (Coppola) in that picture...

[Guest vtmet]

Edgy MD wrote: You call these guys up from AAA where they've been batting third-fourth-fifth in the lineup, and ask them to bunt, sometimes you get indifferent results. --- Ron Darling. Good job, anyhuck.

My memory is a little clouded...but if I remember correctly in the 1988 playoffs...Gregg Jefferies was lauded as some sort of infallible hit-machine that could even hit homeruns while swinging a bat underwater as a minor leaguer...and then in one of the few times that I can remember Davey Johnson stooping to sacrifice bunting, he had Jefferies trying to bunt in a situation that he probably never bunted in his life...and Jefferies looked more pathetic bunting at the ball than even Al Leiter ever looked with a bat (and Leiter was one of the most awkward hitters that I've ever seen in my life)...

[Guest Swan Swan H]

I'd like to thank Mother Nature for raining out Saturday's game and pushing my friend Harvey to a game we were attending. Lots of buzzing in the stairwells after the game.

[dinosaur jesus]

Swan Swan H wrote: I'd like to thank Mother Nature for raining out Saturday's game and pushing my friend Harvey to a game we were attending. Lots of buzzing in the stairwells after the game.

Do they still have those paper wasps in the stairwells? Those things are nasty.

[Edgy MD]

Also nothing wrong with a 10 inning game clocking in at 2 hours 30 minutes

Edgywife: "Is this a bad time to interrupt?"

EMD: "Well, it's the ninth inning of a scoreless tie."

Edgywife: "I thought it was, like, the fourth."

[Edgy MD]

The Office of Rules that Make Sense has handed down a ruling on my appeal and awarded the victory to Harvey.

How about the slumpiest guy in the game being the only one from either team to make his way around the bases?

[Frayed Knot]

And the Rox closing out the Yanx at Coors (2-0 is your final thankyouverymuch) makes this a Mets - Islanders - Knicks - non-Yanx QH night.
Throw in the Braves losing via 2 9th inning HRs off Kimbrel and it goes from QH to ... well, still QH, but now it's QUINTuple Happiness.

[Edgy MD]

Fuck yeah.

Despite the Braves' quick start, the Nats still feel like the team to beat in the division. Even the Phils seem more worthy of setting my sites on.

Good thing a fan of a fourth-place club has no shortage of choices among teams ahead to root against.

[Ceetar]

Swan Swan H wrote: I'd like to thank Mother Nature for raining out Saturday's game and pushing my friend Harvey to a game we were attending. Lots of buzzing in the stairwells after the game.

seconded. AND it was quick enough that I was actually milling around waiting for my train instead of missing it like last time!

[Zvon]

[Ceetar]

Zvon wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Harvey Haddix = Hard Luck Nah, that was kool. Okay, we still got a game to win here. I thought Rubin hesitated in mid air, and thats impossible. He seemed to slow down there and I think he had more time to set and throw. But thats a bang bang decision for him. He went with the showy-er move.

from the naked eye looked like he did all he could. throw wasn't even bad, it just wasn't a plus-arm throw.

[Edgy MD]

I think infield instructors (specifically Metly ones) need to have a long and analytical talk about infielders jumping to throw after backhand plays. It's hard to see the general advantages relative to the alternatives.

Philosophical differences aside, Tejade made a hell of an effort against a fleetfooted runner, and played some solid defense all night.

[metsmarathon]

versus plant-and-throw, the jump throw looks to take an extra step longer, while making the throw itself longer, all while taking the fielder's momentum away from the throw, resulting in an expected lower throw velocity.

about the only good thing the jump throw does is keep the ball in the air longer so that a weaker throw has a more favorable terminal ballistic profile. easier to catch and less likely to skip under a glove if it does come short.

i'd love to see a real kinematics/biomechanics study on it.

[Edgy MD]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Don't know why Ventura didn't play Baxter to pull. If Rios cuts that off, I imagine, Davis is on third. It was somewhat odd even to have pitched to Baxter, with a lefty in the pen ready.

Thinking about this one this AM, and I'm guessing that the pitcher was under instructions to pitch around Baxter. If he walks, no biggie, as his run doesn't matter, and the team won't have burned a pitcher, and if he chases a pitcher or two and makes an out, bonus. The pitcher just left one a little up.

[Edgy MD]

metsmarathon wrote: versus plant-and-throw, the jump throw looks to take an extra step longer, while making the throw itself longer, all while taking the fielder's momentum away from the throw, resulting in an expected lower throw velocity. about the only good thing the jump throw does is keep the ball in the air longer so that a weaker throw has a more favorable terminal ballistic profile. easier to catch and less likely to skip under a glove if it does come short. i'd love to see a real kinematics/bio-mechanics study on it.

Well, talking speculatively, as kinematics/bio-mechanics is merely my hobby and not my profession, I think an advantage to the jump throw is that if the infielder plants his right/push-off leg, but fails to completely arrest his momentum, he has to turn his left/pointing leg toward the direction of his momentum to keep his body from collapsing. This necessitates yet another right/plant step in order to return to an executable throwing position. Jumping allows you to rotate your hips toward first, while your momentum is continuing to take you away toward the leftfield foul line, without having to negotiate that paradox on the ground until after your release.

Acknowledging that, the disadvantages are obvious --- a lack of leg thrust and too much loft and air-resistance on your throw.

But I know a still more excellent way, and that's the slide plant.

[Frayed Knot]

I think it's going to vary among infielders as to which is better.
I always thought that while the slide-plant worked great for the 5' 9"-ish gymnastically-athletic Ordonez, the jump-throw tends to favor the taller types with more leverage who most likely can't get up and down as quickly. There's no doubt in my mind that Rey would have thrown out Rios there, probably Reyes as well although he would have done neither the jump nor the slide but would have just planted and made up the time with his quicker release and stronger arm.

Ruben seemed to make up his mind to do the jump-throw ahead of time probably for lack of confidence in any other move but almost had to slow up in order to get the timing right first and lost fractions in doing so.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, certainly the strategy is dependent on what the particular players skillz are, but I think Tejada is more Ord��ez than Reyes, build-wise, and it would perhaps (and I'm just speculating), be a good thing for the team instructors to experiment with him on his technique there, before he habituates the Jeter imitation which may perhaps not be his best move. Or at least get his confidence behind whatever is his best move.

(I think that if Reyes makes that play, it's in part because he just gets to the ball faster and a even has a moment to circle forward a few degees into better throwing position. But I'm not certain that he, Tejada, or even Ord��ez were a better-than-50% chance to make the play. It was simply a tough chance. A shortstop is going to play a righty spray hitter like Rios shaded toward the middle every time with a hard thrower like Harvey on the mound.

[Ceetar]

I think Reyes and Rey both make it. (I think it squirts through for a double on Jeter)

I'm just shooting from the hip here, but the jump through presumably deadens some of your momentum, especially in your upper body where you need to throw. Screeching to a stop slows your lower half more than your throwing half. The rotating of the hips helps to drive your arm strength towards your target (certainly how golfers generate power right?)

The problem with the slide stop is that you have to be fast enough to have overrun the ball a little in order to slide, and you still risk your momentum going away when you pop up.

There's a lot a strong arm can make up for. Reyes wasn't always great with the first step/range stuff, but he made up for it on plays like this. With Tejada being neither quick, nor strong-armed, if he ever wants to be better than average he's going to have to get great jumps, something that's not always easy.

It was a bang-bang play, so I think a stronger throw certainly beats Rios.