Frayed Knot

The week-off idea has been mentioned several times in discussions surrounding the ASG this week. Can't remember if it was Smoltz or Tony Clark (maybe both!) who was adamant that it's something the players would approve in a heartbeat (NBA players fought for and received a full week starting this past year). The biggest snag, as mentioned, would be the time it would add to the season. Manfred has claimed he's open to anything including scaling back to 154 which would allow that to happen but of course that brings in a whole 'nother set o' problems (not the least of which will be 5% revenue AND pay cuts). My worry is that any shaving of the reg season would result in trying to fill the vacuum (and rediscover lost $$$) with expanded post-season stuff and I think they're already at a saturation point with that now. The CBA is, I believe, up after 2016 so trial balloons like these will pick up in frequency over the next year and a half. I'll either get hired or killed. Either one would bring a change of pace to an otherwise routine week.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I know who Madison Bumgarner is, and Clayton Kershaw, and Max Scherzer, but if you showed me three mugshots, with them not wearing their caps, I wouldn't be able to tell you which one was which. [fimg=500]https://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/c06-v3-scherzer-16-1024x657.jpg?w=1000&h=600&crop=1[/fimg] The eyes would give Scherzer away.

Call it Baseball Week ... etc. Hey, if nothing else so far, Manfred has made it quite clear that he's willing to listen to and talk about just about anything. Write up these suggestions and send them to him.

Ceetar wrote: Gwreck wrote: The only thing that matters to ESPN is ratings and money. If Berman is costing them viewers, he'll go away. Best bet is to turn off your TV. This was the first home run derby I've missed in quite some time; I just can't take his buffoonery anymore. How exactly would they know Berman is costing them viewers? Can they measure who's muted the broadcast? They ask about the broadcast in MLB's FanAtBat surveys, and I presume the reviews are pretty bad. ESPN, as the biggest promoter if not the outright inventor of the 'non-event' sporting event (see my last post) LOVES the HR Derby and so I'm sure the bosses in Bristol see it and Berman as a perfect match, a contrived and hyped non-game lorded over by the king of hype and contrivance. I also suspect that Berman has enough pull that he can pretty much assign himself to the broadcast without fear of being shot down in his "request". The only event that I know he'd like to do but doesn't is The Masters (ESPN has the Thursday & Friday rights before CBS takes over on the weekend) and that's not because the honchos at Bristol say no but rather because the ones at Augusta do and they've always had enough guts and are willing to take less money in exchange for retaining the right to call all the shots.

Edgy MD wrote: Started in 1985 at the Metrodome. Ken Griffey is the only three-time champ. More history from the Wikipedia. Although they didn't televise them from the beginning so, outside of attending the thing, it was a few years after that before you could view one from your living room. That it wasn't televised I'm sure sounds strange to many folks to hear today but there certainly was a time when the idea of 'non-event' sports events -- drafts, 'Selection Sunday', bowl game assignments, 'National Signing Day', pre-game shows that last longer than the games themselves, etc. -- being worthwhile as stand-alone TV shows was considered the much odder thought.

And speaking of ex-Mets, this list is Alou-less.

Other assorted weekend stuff: - Houston got swept by the Rays and have now lost 8 of 9 and dropped behind Anaheim and out of 1st place for the first time since mid-April. - Tigers lost 3 of 4 to the Twins, are now at .500, are 9 games out of 1st, 4.5 out of 2nd, and just 2 games out of last. Oh yeah, and Miggy's out for a while. Two things I found out are NOT reviewable calls. 1) foul tips at the plate. Mark Reynolds for the Cards swung at a 2-strike pitch which he missed by maybe 8 inches. But the home ump ruled it a foul so the AB continued. Reynolds hit the next pitch over the fence causing Pirate catcher Cervelli to go off and get ejected I think before Reynolds had even reached 1st base. Clint Hurdle was following him to the showers about 30 seconds later. But while the HP ump could ask his colleagues if they had a better view, they weren't permitted to go to the replay. Same thing happened to the Pirates later in that same game only with a less clear cut answer as to whether it was a foul tip or not and with just a single resulting from the extended AB. 2) A throw hitting a runner. Presumably because hits on the infield are categorized as non-reviewable, the thrown ball which banked off Chase Headley helmet wasn't reviewable either. Headley hit a swinging bunt and the pitcher's throw went off his helmet and into RF. Problem was that Headley was about 3 feet inside the baseline and should have been called out. How the umps missed it in the first place is baffling. That it couldn't be overturned is even more so. That it happened to the Yanx is completely predictable.

MFS62 wrote: In the post game interview, Terry said that Wright was resuming baseball activities, but gave no specifics. X-Box

Ue4PCI0NamI This one's not out yet -- sked for October release (hope the release date doesn't conflict with any NYM playoff games) -- but I've been cautiously looking forward this since I read the book a year or two ago. Trailer looks good but, let's be honest, a slick looking trailer can be made out of just about anything. I'm hoping the translation to screen doesn't lose the humor that's more present in a sci-fi rescue attempt story than one would normally suspect. Not sure if anyone has an opinion about whether this is the type of movie Ridley Scott is likely to do well with or if it's something he'll just special-effect the shit out of it (to paraphrase a line from the trailer) and forego the story entirely. Matt Damon Jessica Chastain Kristen Wiig Jeff Daniels Chiwetel Ejiofor

Best All-Around Performance in 'Futures Game' (sez Baseball America): Michael Conforto, of, Mets Conforto’s first and likely only Futures Game went about as well as he could have hoped. In BP, Conforto showed a good setup with an easy, fluid swing from the left side and plus power, putting several balls into the seats between center and right field. It’s easy to see why Conforto, 22, has hit .295/.369/.468 between high Class A and Double-A this season, with a mature hitting approach that carried over into the game. He finished 2-for-2. In Conforto’s first plate appearance, Marlins lefthander Jarlin Garcia threw a 93-mph fastball up on the inner half. He kept his hands short and quick to the ball, driving the ball back up the middle for a single. Conforto’s next time up, Mariners righthander Edwin Diaz pitched aggressively and got ahead of him 1-2, but Conforto worked his way back to a full count before pulling a 92-mph fastball to right field for another single. Conforto’s value is driven by what he does at the plate, but today he showed he’s not strictly one-dimensional. In the third inning, Braves shortstop Ozzie Albies pulled a single to left field. With Mariners shortstop Ketel Marte trying to score from second base on the play, Conforto fired a perfect strike to the plate, showing a strong, accurate arm to end the inning. That kind of arm could play in left or right field (although he admitted after the game that that was one of his best throws) but obviously what’s most important here is the bat, which should soon be plugged into the middle of the Mets lineup.

What a wild series in Pittsburgh!! Pirates win 3 of 4 vs StL this week. Tonight they scored 3 in bottom 10th to overcome the 2 runs the Cards scored in top 10. All this comes one day after the Bucs scored 2 in the 8th, 1 in the 10th, then 2 in the 14th to win on Saturday. Pitt now just 2.5 games back in NL Central. Were 9 games back on June 28th. I think that in the interest of exciting pennant races that we owe it to MLB, no, to AMERICA, to kick the Cardinals butts next week. Pirates are now 41-25 since May 1st vs StL's 41-27

Gwreck wrote: The Mets' Misfortune? It's Not All About Bad Luck. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mets-misfortune-its-not-all-about-bad-luck-1436553430 See here's the problem with all the 'they couldn't survive the injuries cuz they didn't have a backup plan' stuff: it's that it's easy to say after the backup plan that they did have suxx to high heavens. I mean if it was somehow knowable that Mayberry, Nieuwenhuis (at least before today), Campbell, Herrera, Recker (and Monell for that matter) were all destined to hit under .200 and have an OPS right around 100 or so points below their career levels then, yeah, you're not going to be able to overcome injuries so easily. Now take the Nats -- who that piece implies were better prepared despite being less injured and just 2 games ahead 90+ games into the season. They're getting by the injuries to Zimmerman & Rendon with Danny Espinosa and 30 y/o rookie Clint Robinson. Espinosa was a sub-.200 hitter for the last two seasons (over 500 PAs) but is hitting .258 this year with an OPS 200 points above 2013-14. And Robinson, a 30 y/o in his 4th organization w/just 14 ML ABs prior to this season since getting drafted in the 25th round 8 years ago, is hitting a lot better than Zimmerman was when he went out. All of which is good for Washington but, given the odds of those two working out as well as they did, was that really better planning or just better luck?

MFS62 wrote: So far today, he is 2 for 2 and has thrown out a runner at the plate. Bring him up NOW!!!! Eh never mind. Now that Kirk has turned the corner towards superstardom we don't need any LH-hitting OFs so they should just deal Conforto off for 70 games worth of Justin Upton. And if SD won't take that then throw that injury-prone Matz guy into the deal. Get it done, Sandy!

Frayed Knot wrote: Centerfield wrote: Maybe? Gotta win the game first. NOW it's officially the Kirk Nieuwenhuis game!

Between Rubby De La Rosa starting for the DBacks and now Jenrry Mejia coming in for the Mets, it's extra consonant day at CitiField.

Centerfield wrote: Maybe? Gotta win the game first.

Jason Grilli - Braves closer - ruptured achilles tendon - done for year.

Our good pitching/weak hitting in general, and the scores from the last two games in particular, are making this season the 'Summer of 4-to-2' -- OK, I'll stop with the bad puns now

A couple of more Ks and GiDPs in this series and he's going to have to change his name to Pyriteschmidt ... see what I did there?, cuz he hasn't exactly been gold

Zvon wrote: I've been sitting on that Mattman kaBOOM for 3 yrs or so. The 'IN COLOR' part is the best - even if no one under the age of 45 will get it.

Certainly didn't look for most of the afternoon that Harvey was going to out-last Corbin ... but he did. And right after I was insulting Harvey's hitting.

Syndergaard - 5.4 Duda - 2.2 Cuddyer - 1.4 Flores - 1.0

So Mets win while the rest of the NL East all lose (Yeah!) Yanx win as do O's & Rays but not the Jays or Sox Pirates beat Cards But, in one of the non-hi-lighted games of the night, the Tigers get the first good start of the year out of Verlander (his 5th game): 7.2 IP, 1 run on 5 hits. He leaves with a 6-1 lead. Tigers start the top of the 9th Single-Double but don't score. OK, no big deal, they've got a 5-run cushion. Except that the Twins SCORE SEVEN in the bottom half -- off Bruce Rondon & Joakim Soria -- to win it 8-6!! Mauer - Infield Single Sano - GR Double Plouffe - K Rosario - RBI Single -----Out goes Rondon, in comes Soria Rosario - SB Hicks - Walk Suzuki - RBI HBP Santana - 2 RBI Single Dozier - First pitch 3R HR It took five pitches to go from 2-6 to 8-6

I can't wait for the answer, don't click on this if they haven't answered yet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_to_hit_for_the_cycle Ah, it was Hickman. Wasn't watching when they revealed the answer. Not sure what that little factoid was doing hanging around in my brain, nor what piece of actual important life information was bumped out in order to keep that one around.

Edgy MD wrote: It's nice to go from the "Harvey's gotta save us" culture at the start of the year to Harvey suddenly being the third-best pitcher in the rotation � mostly in a good way. And who'd have thunk -- especially after our pitching staff's record-setting ineptness from a couple years back when they started the season, what was it?, like 0-fer-60-ish -- that Harvey would wind up as maybe the 4th best hitter on the staff? He's certainly behind deGrom and Syndergaard, no better than Niese, and likely just sample size away from being passed by Matz. Then toss on the fact that, for this season anyway, he's beneath Colon (which is not a good thing to be no matter how you wind up parsing that statement). Back in his 2012 rookie season Harvey's hitting was a revelation to the point of being a novelty for this team. Since that first year however he's a sub-.100 hitter with a 45% K-rate who can't bunt on a staff full of guys who actually look like they know what they're doing even when they don't get hits.