Frayed Knot

�I have no idea how I made that catch� -- Lagares on the 4/22 grab

Look at old man Pierzynski, oldest catcher in MLB, playing a day game after a night game.

Joe Nathan joins this year's list after just 1/3 of an inning pitched for Detroit. You'd have to think at age 40 that this is probably it for Seawolf Joe.

And Keith wasn't criticizing Juan's penchant for playing shallow, he was merely saying that there's sometimes a trade-off for it and that particular play was one of those times. I think EYJ makes it 99+% of the time on that depth of fly ball so I'm certainly not blame JL for not getting him only that the throw was neither strong nor on line and so it immediately removed any chance at nailing him. It was on the earlier play where I was disappointed. I'd rate that one as a *Should Have* more often than not but Plawecki had to move in front of the plate in order to grab it before it bounce a second time and that made the difference between out and safe. From where he threw it that throw should have been better.

Must be a pet name from another place, not familiar with it. "... and that's how things look from here in the bleachers ... [back to you] Guys"

I personally could have gone without that title for another couple days if it meant the Tigers weren't shitting the bed vs the Yanx two nights in a row. For some reason David Price turns into Fischer Price whenever he sees the 'Interlocking NY' cuz the Yanqui hitters play with him like they were children. Last night: 8 runs, all earned, on 10 hits + 3 BBs + 1 HBP in 2.1 innings - and the previous time the Yanx saw Price they pinata'd him for 8 runs over 2 IP. btw, how'd you like to be a Tiger fan who paid for tickets last night? Price coughs up 6 in the top of the 1st AND IT'S FUCKING SNOWING!! Tigers came back with 4 in the bottom half but Price gave up 2 more in top 2 (including back-to-back triples at one point). At this point the game was essentially over (final score 13-4) but it's only the 2nd inning and the game's already more than an hour old. In fact we reached the 2nd inning in the Mets game before they did in Detroit even though that one had more than 1/2 hour head start. Did I mention that it was cold and snowing?

Wasn't thrilled with either of his throws last night though. The one of what wound up being the challenge play [simmons' single scoring 82 y/o AJ Pierzynski] was an OK throw but, considering how shallow he was when he let it go, it's not a throw that should be two-hopped and certainly could have been better. Then there was the second one, the Sac Fly one where Keith pointed out how he didn't have the time to get behind it. Yeah it was EYJ tagging there so he's going to score 90+% of the time but, still, Juan's heave there was neither all that strong nor anywhere close to being on line. I'm going to commit heresy here and state that his arm is being almost universally over-rated. He's a G-R-E-A-T CF but it's generally his aggressiveness, his routes, his speed in charging the ball, and his positioning that's making his *Good* arm look better than it is. Too many -- both within Met-dom and outside -- are looking at the assist totals or are ignoring how short his throws often are (re: the aggressive/charging thing) and letting themselves be deceived. He's also not always all that accurate. Everything else he does out there is totally top-notch, but I'd rate his arm as merely 'above average' - maybe a 60 on the scouting 20-80 scale.

Frayed Knot wrote: 4.0 games up on the Nationals which will be the biggest concern all season despite their injuries and slow start. They're now at .500 with Werth back, Span back, and Rendon starting rehab. Only their bullpen is a real concern to them right now. Nationals game last night was frustrating. First good out of division team Washington faces and the Cardinals get 12 hits + 4 walks + another Nats error (tho not Desmond) + 2 Wild Pitches ... and score exactly once. It was a 9th inning run off closer Storen to force extras but the Nats won it via walk-off HR in bottom 10. Tigers did essentially the same thing vs Yanx: out-hit them 10-8 but hit/ran into FIVE DPs [three on the ground, one liner, one K/CS] and lost 5-2 for just their 3rd loss of the season. Didn't help that Detroit pitchers walked NINE!!

Niese - 3.2 ATorres - 0.5 CTorres - 0.4 Gilmartin - 0.3 Granderson - 1.8 Plawecki - 1.4 Lagares - 1.0 Flores - 1.4

Oh if I were a betting man (am not) and even remotely objective (am not) I'd still put serious money on the Nats for the division.

Caught and tied Detroit & KC for best record in majors. 1-1/2 games clear of anyone in NL. Closest = Dodgers at 9-4 & SD at 10-5 4.0 games up on the Nationals which will be the biggest concern all season despite their injuries and slow start. They're now at .500 with Werth back, Span back, and Rendon starting rehab. Only their bullpen is a real concern to them right now.

Harvey - 2.2 Blevins - 0.3 Familia - 0.7 d'Arnaud - 1.6 Tejada - 2.0 Granderson - 1.0 Murphy - 1.0 Lagares - 1.2

ATorres - 0.6 Carlyle - 0.6 deGrom - 3.7 Cuddyer - 1.1 Lagares - 0.6 Flores - 1.4 d'Arnaud - 1.0 Campbell - 1.0

Blevins - 0.75 Familia - 0.75 CTorres - 0.5 Flores - 2.5 Duda - 2.5 Cuddyer - 1.5 Campbell - 1.0 Lagares - 0.5

Torres (Version: A) vs Freeman WAS huge. In the category of: You're never as good as you look when you're going right and you're never ...', our pen has employed the timely trick of being near-perfect in most of the opening week games where everything was close and then "saving" their bad outings for the games when they had a cushion. The result was some tense moments but no losses. FFF (Fucking Freddie Freeman acc to ZVon) had the ability to put the Braves right back in the game yesterday but essentially ended it instead. Yes Granderson is looking better -- the lack of Ks alone is a vast improvement and he's been as unfortunate so far as Cuddyer has been fortunate. You wonder though whether the cost of all this will be the lack of ANY power. One of my pre-season questions would be whether CG would lead the team in HRs (just a fleeting thought in my head at the time). Right now I might instead make that question into an Over/Under with 10 as the figure. This from a guy who recently went 40+ in back to back seasons (I know - YSIII) I was all for Tuefel sending Flores on that shortish fly to LF. As an OF Gomes is a DH. And, yeah, having the lead helped. As far as the Braves overall OF, the late ST trade for Maybin was essentially a necessity as they were ready to go with Eric Young Jr in Center. EY's a nice spare part but is ideally neither an everyday player nor a CF

"He knows he's good" -- Dillon Gee (about Plawecki) Several ways to interpret that statement.

We've been quite fortunate with muffed potential GiDP balls so far this season. At least 3 that I can think of (maybe more) and not even all of them courtesy of Ian Desmond. And how about that stat they gave earlier: Braves = 1 error coming into tonight. Desmond alone has I think 8

Edgy MD wrote: The Vorkunov Profile I didn't read that particular Robert Ludlum book.

Howie Kussoy (?) in the NY Post tackles our soon to be (temporary?) starting catcher. He starts by quoting some scouts - �Plawecki is extremely talented, and I think he could be even better than d�Arnaud,� - �He�s not as ready right now, but with the right nurturing he is going to be really, really good. Without a doubt, he�s a frontline catcher.� - �I think he�s going to be fine. He�s always done the job. He�ll hit enough for a catcher. He makes contact. He may be just a bit of an upgrade defensively over d�Arnaud. Guys like to pitch to him.� A Cubs (and Sammy Sosa) far while growing up as the older of two brothers from Carmel, Indiana He has the "It" factor says his HS coach. �We rode his bat through the state tournament. He�s got a flair for the dramatic. He�s a guy you want up in big situations.� And a guy you want in the locker room. �He�s just kind of a silly guy, he�s someone that everyone gets along with,� said childhood friend Brett Andrzejewski, who played with Plawecki from Little League through college. �It doesn�t matter if you�re his best friend or someone else in the lineup, there�s not a whole lot not to like about him. He likes to keep things light and fun." Undrafted out of HS, he went on to Perdue and was Big Ten player of the year as a Junior. Drafted as Jose Reyes compensation (35th overall pick) in 2012

Edgy MD wrote: 4) Brandon Nimmo With a .214 / .306 / .381 // .687 start in Bingo, it's not a quick job out of the gate, but it definitely shows him as the three-true-outcome species that he is. Has got two homers in his first 50 appearances, so there's that. 1) he must have had some good games since you took those stats cuz he's now up to .261/.340/.435 Early season stats will do that. 2) 'Three True Outcomes' has always implied to me a high pct of ABs that end in Ks, BBs, or HRs (often with a low BA). But, except for the ultra-high walk-rates, I don't see that in Nimmo. His Ks were high in 2013 (27%) his first year in full season ball, but fell to under 19% in 2014 even as he rose through two levels. And his HRs so far have peaked at just 10 with a .278 BA, hardly the stereotyped hit or miss swinger.

KTE Update: Tuesday - 7:10 � Trevor Cahill vs Niese Wednesday - 7:10 � Eric Stults vs Gee Thursday - 1:10 � Julio Teheran vs Colon Previous Series Review We didn�t hit a lot in the first series either off the starters (Stults, Teheran, Alex Wood) or off their revamped, mostly no-name bullpen � losing 5-3 & 5-3 before winning the finale 4-3 on an 8th inning Murphy Sac Fly Braves managed to miss both Harvey & deGrom the first time around and are going to do the same in this series. We saw both Teheran (1 ER over 6+) and Stults (Wright & Mayberry b-t-b HRs but not a lot else) last week but will be seeing Cahill for the first time since he relieved in a game for the DBacks last season and for the first time as a starter since he lost a game to RA Dickey in May of 2012. He was sent packing early in his one Atlanta start so far this year (they used off-days as an excuse to skip him) lasting just 2-1/3 vs Miami (4 runs on 5 hits + 3 BBs) Minor roster shuffling since the earlier series: - Lost LHP Andrew McKirahan to a PED suspension (see above). Haven't seen a replacement named yet. - Released Carlos Quentin, the former All-Star who they received as part of the massive Kimbrel/Upton deal from SD just before opening day. But he hadn�t appeared in a game this year and it appears that they never had any intention of keeping him, he was merely the price for SD taking Melvin Upton�s contract. - Designated RHP Juan Jamie (who we saw briefly last week) in favor of the even-better named Sugar Ray Marimon. �Sugar Ray� � and that�s apparently his given name, not a nickname � is a 26 y/o Colombian who spent eight seasons in the KC minor league system before making his ML debut Apr 14.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Injury news not so bad: Travis 3 weeks in a splint then if healed can begin bb activities. Blevins 6 weeks in a splint. So realistically guesstimating: Td'A = June 1st; JB = July 1st

d'Kong76 wrote: I thought George's nickname was Buck Naked! That was his porn name. T-Bone was just for business purposes.

Looper in the 9th: First pitch single to Austin Kearns, HR to Adam Dunn (2-1 count), HR to Joe Randa* on a full count. 'Original jb's' comment in the IGT after the game was simply: "Looper", which went on to be somewhat of a catch-phrase around the CPF after that. The thing about Looper (originally a #3 overall pick by StL) is that he had a decent year as NYM closer in 2004. But that 2005 OD performance marked the beginning of a season which was markedly worse all around [hr and BB-rates essentially doubled while K-rates fell, etc.] which led to him being treated around this town as if he was, and always had been, a total waste of a uniform. I remember there was an after-the-fact revelation about an injury of some kind to help explain things although there were no gaps in his 2005 season and he was signed to a 3-year FA deal by StL that winter so whatever it was couldn't have been too serious. He pitched regularly over the next four seasons -- including three as a starter which he hadn't been since his first year in the minors -- until leading the league in both earned runs and HRs (39!!) allowed in 2009 for Milwaukee became his swan song in the majors after 12 seasons. Overall I think his biggest problem was that his middle name is LaVern. * professional hitter

I'd let 'em have Backman ... and all it'll cost them is Jose Fernandez.