Frayed Knot

Olbermann had similar remembrances to Kepler and did a terrific piece Monday night as well.

Pena always took such viscous hacks anyway -- he used to wear a pad on his back to cushion himself from the follow-through. One can only imagine that having to dial it up in order to catch Gooden's fastball or, maybe even worse, looking for the fastball but getting the curve, just added to the comedy.

Clearly the pitcher hitting 8th experiment is a predictable and colossal failure; just another example of [crossout:3t5bwdz8]Bobby[/crossout:3t5bwdz8] Terry trying to reinvent a 150 year old game and somehow prove that he's smarter than everyone else.

So much for them being an even worse offensive team than the Mets. deGrom had some favorable BABiP numbers early on and now it looks like the law of averages are coming back to bite him. Not that he's pitching well tonight or anything but everything off a StL bat in this game, whether well hit or not, has found grass.

If this is 2nd & 3rd / no-outs -- it must be a pop-out More dependable than clockwork

Lengthy analysis on the Ike Davis haul (I think I saw the Ike Davis Haul open for Government Mule while on a trip down south a couple years ago) from BA's weekly Q&A Excerpts: Even though we are years from seeing the final results of this trade�Taylor will spend this season in short-season ball�this does look like a solid haul for the Mets. Trades like this are all about probabilities. There was a small chance that Davis would figure out a way to regain the power he showed in 2012 (32 home runs) combined with the on-base skills he showed in flashes. If that happened, this would be a bad trade for the Mets, but the likelihood of that happening was small. ... Thornton is a potential seventh-inning option whose value will largely be tied to inexpensive contracts and roster flexibility. ... Taylor was the Pirates� No. 18 prospect coming into the season ... He�ll likely join the Mets� New York-Penn League club in Brooklyn, although as of Monday morning he�s yet to be added to either Brooklyn or Kingsport�s roster. Taylor was an extremely young draftee last year and will pitch most of this season as an 18-year-old. His success will depend on adding velocity to the 89-91 mph fastball he�s shown, sharpening his curveball and improving his control. He�s so far away that there�s a pretty good shot that he will never even make the majors, but there is also a chance he could develop into a solid middle-of-the-rotation starter as he has a good frame, athleticism and the makings of three pitches. The further away from the big leagues you go when acquiring a player in a trade, the bigger upside you can get for less cost. In this case, the Mets decided they�d rather take a chance at making this deal a major win for them rather than getting lesser return with more certainty.

KEWL!!!!!!!!

Nolan is never a bad guess in these situations, even though their careers only partially overlapped.

I had known for a while that he wasn't in good health, hadn't realized it was quite this bad. Hearing about HoF-ers younger than you dying is never a good thing. Gwynn and Kirby Puckett - born just two months apart.

Reading stuff on Taylor (BA, BP, K. Law) I'm finding the predictable stuff for that age pitcher: talented ... projectable ... work in progress, etc. Mostly what they say is: - fastball in the 89-92 MPH range with good movement. He has touched mid-90s with the pitch in the past, and could eventually get to the point where he is sitting low-to-mid 90s as a starter. - lacks consistent command - strong curve, one that could be his out pitch as he advances - sub par change up, work in progress - small sample size but dominated the GCL - was "good pick" at #51 overall, had talent enough to go higher - years away from majors but highly projectable IOW, he's an 18 year old pitcher The one thing I didn't find in any of these reviews was the phrase - "not a bad haul for a 40-year-old slumping redundant alcoholic in a 28-year-old's body" -- but I bet that's just because they didn't think of it.

Closer side walls seem to be a trend, that might be upping the number - we saw a few of those kind in NYM games this week. On the other hand, one would think the switch away from astroturf has reduced the odds of balls hopping the OF fences.

Current Cards: 37-32; +21 (RS/RA); 2nd place NLC 3.5 games behind Milwaukee Are coming off a 3-game sweep of the Nationals in which they allowed just 3 runs [1-0, 4-1, 5-2] More offense-deprived than the Mets, their 3.72 RS/G is 4th from the NL bottom (Mets = 3.90, Lg Avg = 4.02) On the other hand their pitching is the best in the circuit - 3.42 RA/G What�s new? - 1B Matt (don�t call him Sam) Adams is back off the DL and hitting � had HRs in all three games vs Nats and knocked in 4 of the 10 runs they scored. - Oscar Tavares. The Dominican born LH OF who won�t turn 22 until later this week and has been a top of the heap prospect for the last two seasons, was called up on May 31st and promptly HR�d in his 2nd AB. Problem is he has just six hits since then and was sent back down to Memphis upon the return of Adams which shoved Allen Craig back to the OF. - They seem to be in a quandary about CF, swapping the hitting challenged Peter Bourjos and the defensively shaky Jon Jay. When Jay is in, the defensive lineup of Holliday, Jay, & Craig can�t be good for the stomachs of the pitching staff. - they just called up LH reliever named Nick Greenwood. I have no idea how good a pitcher he is but I think we'll definitely see him in this series as Terry stacks the lineup with LHBs against the all-RH StL rotation, plus he's almost a sure bet to get his first ML hit sometime in the next few days because ... well because that's just what opposing pitchers with zero ML hits (in this case zero ML ABs) do these days when facing NYM hurlers. Monday - 8:10 -- deGrom vs Carlos Martinez. This will be an ESPN game, coming right out of the US-Ghana soccer match Martinez is coming out of the bullpen to replace the temporarily injured (or so they hope) Adam Wainwright. The 22 y/o RHP made his ML debut in May 2013, this will be his 2nd start among 50 trips out of the pen. 4.67 ERA, 1.3 WHiP. 28 K, 14 BB in 34 IP in 2014 Tuesday - 8:15 � Niese vs Michael Wacha [4-5, 2.88, 1.12 WHiP] Both pitchers here deserve better records and better run support ... but both are on the wrong teams to get it. Wacha is also 22 who made his ML debut 13 months ago and was a strong cog in the Cards� run to the WS. Wednesday - 1:45 � Colon vs Lynn [7-4; 3.16; 1.30] The 27 y/o RHP is another strong starter who StL started out in the bullpen. Funny how few other orgs seem willing or able to even attempt that.

Will be a three-way tie for the top of the division if LAA holds on to their current lead (although it's slipping away as I type).

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Third baseman was a guy I never heard of, Jhoan Urena, who had two hits. He's only 19 too. Something I read recently named he and Rosario as "the players to watch" at Brooklyn this year. Urena hit .300 (without much power) over 150-some ABs in the GCL last year as an 18 y/o

Ceetar wrote: Solution: don't read the Times sports section. Go to The Post's or News' website and print out the Mets stuff. They write about us every day. I'm pretty sure Saturday's Times coverage was more factually accurate and fair than the Post or News. Well sure. In the Post recap they listed Hillary Clinton as the losing pitcher, while in the Daily News the loss was blamed on an influx of money to the Padres from the Koch brothers.

I suppose these days you'd have to include a replay review that results in either a game-ending reversal (has happened) or even a game-result-changing one (don't believe it has yet).

Am I the only one who thinks of Elton John whenever I hear the announcers mention SD player Alexi Amarista? [youtube:3ovc8jy7]XKXDYMrIqTI[/youtube:3ovc8jy7]

(just shy of) three hours to play seven innings of a 3-1 game. Mr Selig's successor is going to have some work to do on this issue because whatever steps are being taken now are having a reverse effect.

They're going to have to keep the sharp objects away from David.

Nymr83 wrote: Vic black is a disaster right now.. And then he looks great going: Pop-up, Pop-up, K

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't know how you get a guy to start throwing fewer pitches. Throwing the ball over the plate more often would be a nice start. And it's not just the walks*, it's the deep counts to too many hitters that drives him towards or above the 15/IP you'd like to stay below even for those frames where he throws to just 3 or 4 batters. In the 1st inning on Saturday he got the first two outs on 8 pitches and looked like he was headed for a short one - but then needed 22 more to get out of the inning in part because he threw six pitches to four different hitters. In all he walked 'just' three yesterday but went to a 3-ball count on six others. * although those are high enough - 3 in 7 IP yesterday / 80 in 178 IP for his career (which is essentially one full year at this point as he made his ML debut a year ago this Wednesday)

Hasn't pitched at all this season ... what's up with that? Extended ST I assume? LHP 6' 3" / 220 8 games, 7 starts, 21 innings in 2013. Only 7 hits, 13 Ks but 9 BBs. Small sample stuff all around 51st overall draft pick in 2013 out of a California HS. Doesn't turn 19 until August He may be promising but he's a long way away.

Does anything exemplify this season better than that 1st inning? - With early runs in and an almost certain chance to tack on more (2nd + 3rd - no one out) the following three hitters fail to even hit a fair ball. - and then by the following half inning half both the starting pitcher and half the lead are gone

'Oblique Strain' No mention yet about if or how long concerning the DL

Another day, another leadoff hitter. Not that this choice is any worse necessarily than any of the others. At least Grandy's been taking his walks even when the hitting's been erratic or just plain lousy.