Frayed Knot

They'll be the ones wearing red. That's all I got.

Look at twinkle-toes Lucas running wild.

Zvon wrote: Watching some replay highlights. That throw by Recker. He's killin it when he plays. Not the ball but just his catching duties. How long do we give 'lil d' to start running with the big boys? Terry has indicated maybe getting decker into the mix a little more often. He didn't put a specific on it but maybe one game in three or one in four instead of the usual one in six. I'd be for that.

Edgy MD wrote: Mix of sun and shadows is krazy out there. And in sunshine and in shadow, Danny boy will lead off in bottom 11

Zvon wrote: GAH. And did I read right? Grandy also dropped a fly and threw one into the Braves dugout for a run? Threw one away, yes. Didn't drop one though.

Something good has to come from Grandyman at some point ... doesn't it?

Lots of free baseball today. Brewers & Pirates are in the 12th in Pittsburgh (following another near brawl involving Carlos Gomez - pitchers don't seem to like that dude) and the Yanx & Rays are heading to the 11th Nationals got a 9th inning GW Sac Fly to avoid extras with the Cardinals.

He;s the guy you'd figure is most capable of going multiple innings. Of course if we don't score until the second week of May or so (and our next run may not even come that quick) none of this is going to matter.

Nice inning Farnsworth. Not only got Freddie but then got Chris Johnson w/a runner on 3rd, and he's been almost as big a PITA as Freddie lately. Now the middle of OUR order to win this one: Wright - Murphy - CYoung - Duda

Only natural to figure that Lagares pockets that one We're seen too much to think otherwise

Fransworth gets the heavy-lifting part of the lineup here

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Simmons is frustratingly good, isn't he? Especially since the Braves probably found him on some sugar field somewhere and signed him based on the way his swung his machete and threw rocks at the over-bearing foreman. Six weeks later he was in the major leagues. or something like that

C'mon Brownie, end this shit!

In the meantime, 41 y/o LaTroy Hawkins is being used exclusively in 9th innings so far this season w/Colorado - and in 7 outings (6.2 IP) he's given up just 1 run on 4 hits (all singles) and 1 BB 5 saves, none blown

Edgy MD wrote: Ronnnie raving about how hard Simmons is to strike out and then he goes lunging at a two-strike curve in the dirt, and he still puts it in play by hitting it on a bounce. That's how you go 55 plate appearances and only rack up 1 K & 2 BBs All last season he had all of 40 &55 while coming to bat nearly 700 times

We gotta quit walking Gerald Laird.

Yeah, I think Uggla has all the NYM RBIs so far today.

And as a follow-up to the above, Cabral was DFA'd the next day. And now it appears that Yanx hurler Ivan Nova has a torn elbow ligament that will likely end his season. The Rays had come into this current series with the Yanx having scored a total of just 14 runs over their previous nine games. They scored 11 & 16 in the last two games (the 16 was against Nova) so it's not like their pitching was in great shape to start with.

This comparison has been making the rounds lately so you may have already heard something about it, but it's still kind of cool to see it laid out. Miguel Cabrera turned 31 y/o on Friday, Below are his stats through that day as compared to Aaron's through his 31st (he turned that age during the '64/'65 off-season). PAABH2B3BHRRBIBAOBASLGMiguel Cabrera7,1826,2702,007416143661,267.320.398.566Hank Aaron7,2166,5102,085351793661,216.320.376.567 Aaron had a few more PAs & ABs at the same point due mainly to his mostly full season at age 20 as compared to the partial one for Cabrera; each played virtually every day once they were called up. Cabrera walked more often [1,402 to 804] and has used his lack of speed to turn most of Aaron's triples into more doubles, but other than that the two career-to-date lines are remarkably similar. Now Aaron had one of the better late careers from among MLB's great hitters (more HRs in the back half of his 30s than in the first half) so it's still a bit early to start projecting Miggy's final stats, but check out the HRs, BA, & SLG.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: 41% of respondents in this poll taken after Ike's rookie 2010 season thought that Ike's career would mostly resemble Keith Hernandez's among the choices given 99 percent* of respondents to polls like this one have a tendency to link players based on largely superficial traits (the more similarities the better: in this case white, LHB, 1B, Mets) and therefore reach the conclusion that B is destined to be the next A, whereas a more logical exam wouldn't see all that many similarities between Ike and Mex. It's like in the NBA where white players can only be compared to other white ones and black to black. Or where Domincan short stops are rarely said to resemble a white American one. Which isn't to say that I'm claiming to have foreseen how Ike's career arc would develop, it's just that I wouldn't for a minute have compared him to Hernandez. * unofficial statistic

Y'know what really suxx (aside from the Met offense and their bullpen I mean)? Getting two runs off of Kimbrel (and potentially more had he not been pulled) during what was probably the only time we'll ever see him with a four run lead. A closer facing seven hitters while retiring just two is rare enough (particularly with him) and is almost always sufficient to hang a 'Blown Save' on his ass. But because this was a sort of rehab appearance for Kimbrel he was in with the extra cushion on the one night he actually needed it.

If it helps any the Yanx just lost 16-1 in Tampa

I think Walden should be called for three straight balks on account of that silly jump-move and we'll win the game that way.

And that'll be all for Mr. Kimbrel

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Memories of Jose Valverde... I think if Parnell weren't out he'd already have been released. As it is it's still just a matter of time, but the replacements just aren't there right now.