Chad ochoseis

The tough thing about the Nats losing, of course, is that it probably means the Phils are winning. If the Phils go on a tear, with two more games to play than us, they can be a factor.

In a bit of brilliant scheduling, the allegedly ready for prime time Browns were moved to Sunday night, making the Indians an easy StubHub ticket this evening. So I'll be biking downtown to watch the Tribe beat the Phillies, helping both themselves and the Mets. A continued National collapse would boost our slim hopes, but they have five upcoming games against the Phils, so we also need the Phils to lose a few against other teams.

Tonight's ass-eaters: McNeil LF Alonso 1B Conforto RF Ramos C Canó 2B Rosario SS Nimmo CF Frazier 3B Matz LHP (9-8, 4.04)

Lefty Specialist wrote: So what to do with Familia? Ignore him for the last month like Terry did to Ollie Perez? Yep. Also Diaz, Zamora, Bashlor, Mazza, and Sewald.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.beyondtheboxscore.com/platform/amp/2009/3/17/795946/optimizing-your-lineup-byThis article says that second is about as good as fourth.

I think one of the counterintuitive ideas the statheads push is that your big power guy should bat first or second rather than the traditional third through fifth spots. The thought is that the extra at-bats that come from batting earlier are more valuable than the marginal increase in RBI opportunities.

Sluggin' Todd Pratt

=LWFS post_id=19899 time=1566698385 user_id=84] A suspension, as soon as they get me to pee in a sanctioned receptacle

Edgy MD wrote: I have no problem with seeing a naked Aaron Alltherr tonight. He's German. I'm not sure I want to know what that means.

Chad ochoseis wrote: Making myself an espresso and settling in for the long haul. Trying to decide whether to go with the one inning decaf or the six inning caffeinated. Decaf is looking like the right decision.

Newcombe is paniking.

Making myself an espresso and settling in for the long haul. Trying to decide whether to go with the one inning decaf or the six inning caffeinated.

Fugly swing.

Ramos using his speed as a weapon on the basepaths. Nice heads up move.

It must be nice to get Hamilton on your side.

I'll take that. Be the hero, Mike.

8 Ks in a row. And his uni nickname is deGrom. There is absolutely no bullshit about the man.

Fernando Tatís, Jr. is likely out for the season with lower back issues. Sucks for many reasons, among which is the fact that the Padres have four games remaining against SF and nine against the DBacks. So we're big Padres fans for the next six weeks. It does make Pete something close to a lock for ROY.

Frayed Knot wrote: The pen is still lagging behind but at least some of that was runs allowed in blowouts which, while making things uncomfortable, didn't outright blow games. True for all teams, I think. How bad is the Mets bullpen, really? I'm too lazy to do the research, but bad bullpens seem to be all the rage in 2019. The Nats have one. The Phillies have one. All the cool kids this year have middle relievers with 5ish ERAs and closers who do little. Is the Mets bullpen that much worse than the league's?

I owe youse a KTE on my adopted hometown's team, but I've been swamped lately. With work and family travel and occasional vacation bits, I haven't spent a whole lot of time in Cleveland this baseball season. I root for the Tribe more often than not. But, for the next three days, fuck these guys. They're good. They got better when they fleeced the Reds and Padres for Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes for the overrated Trevor Bauer and one or two middling prospects. They've got just the kind of strong pitching + power hitting combination that will give them a good shot at upsetting the better teams in the postseason if they can hold on for at least a WC spot. José Ramirez seems to have found whatever he lost last year. Ollie Perez is somehow in his eighteenth major league season and has turned into an effective LOOGY. Kevin Plawecki continues to plaweck along as Roberto Perez's backup. He somehow has developed a reputation as a good defensive catcher, which reinforces my belief that no casual observer has any idea how to assess a catcher's defensive skills. Carlos Santana is back on the team and though I always think of him as an on-basey line drive guy, he's something like seventh in the AL in home runs. Gary Apple can tell you more about him. Corey Kluber is rehabbing a broken forearm in Akron. We won't see him this week. Carlos Carrasco has been undergoing leukemia treatments. The rotation is stocked with guys from Columbus who somehow have been doing a great job. Lindor remains Lindor. That's all I've got.

I like pitcher's parks in principle, but Kaufmann Stadium has cost us some runs this series.

From here on in, Rosario and Conforto switch LF and RF depending on the hitter?

Awesome. What has Lagares been eating this week?

And like clockwork, he gives a shout-out to the Mets fans who have come to Atlanta for the game. Though, credit where due, he corrected himself.

You could if this game to death. If DeGrom hadn't loaded the bases in the first place. If Alonso's throw had been a little better. If DeGrom had been quicker to the bag. If Ramos hadn't dropped the throw. If Rosario hadn't grounded out. If Conforto had gotten a hit instead of a sac fly. If the ump hadn't blown the strike call on Davis. If Davis had swung at something that close with 2 strikes. If we didn't have three defensive specialists on the bench when we needed a pinch hitter. If Diaz hadn't served up another fat pitch. It's a loss. No one player caused it, just like most losses. It's just that we haven't seen many losses lately, so we've forgotten what they're like.