Frayed Knot

I had an inkling Wacha's bubble was going to burst tonight. Not that I expected him to get trashed or anything, just that his near-perfect stretch was due to come to an end.

Can I ask a question? Where are the Red Sox wives or sweetie pies in all this? Have none of them spoken up�privately or in the Globe or in a thousand tweets�to protest this office fad? They think about protesting but then see the paychecks their guys bring home and quickly change their minds.

Final installment here deals with one-inning saves in NYM games Mets had 42 one-inning save opps and converted 37 of them (88%) including 19 of 23 one-run saves (82.5%); 9 of 10 two-run saves; and 9 of 9 three run saves 11 of the 42 opps (24%) were 'perfect' saves Aardsma = 0 saves / 1 opportunity Black = 1/1 Familia = 1/1 Francisco = 1/1 Hawkins = 13/14 Parnell = 21/24 On the other side, NYM batters had an opposing closer come in to try and shut down a game 48 times with Met bats spoiling 11 of those (77% save rate), including 7 of 18 one-run saves; 2 of 15 two-run saves; and 2 of 15 three-run opps. So the bottom line is, that no matter how much we complain about our closers never being good enough or 'making us nervous' even when they are, NYM closers, despite losing their main guy and replacing him with a 40 y/o, survived those one-inning close-out situations at a rate just about even with the majors as a whole. That doesn't mean the bullpen as a whole was great (although it certainly got better as the year rolled on) but that in one inning duels they were just fine. Also that Met bats got to other closers more often then opponents got to ours, even to the point where there were only 10 three-run saves blown all season in MLB and Met bats were responsible for two of those. Mets busted up saves by: Apr 7 - Marlins - Steve Cishek -- Byrd�s 2-RBI single scores Tejada & Nieuwenhuis http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201304070.shtml Apr 24 - Dodgers - Brandon League -- Wright�s 2-out single ties the game. Later won in the 10th on Valdespin�s GS http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201304240.shtml May 3 - Braves - Craig Kimbrel -- Wright�s HR ties the game with one out. Mets win in the 10th http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL201305030.shtml May 28 - Yanx - Marinao Rivera -- Murphy�s Double, Wright�s Single, Duda�s Single all with no outs http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201305280.shtml Jun 16 - Cubs - Carlos Marmol (3 Run Lead) -- Byrd�s leadoff HR then Nieuwenhuis�s 3R HR http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201306160.shtml Jun 22 - Phillies - Jonathan Papelbon (2 Run Lead) -- Valdespin HR and latera Murphy RBI Single ties the game. Mets lose in bottom 9 on Frandsen�s HR off Torres http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI201306220.shtml Jun 25 - White Sox - Addison Reed -- Wright scores on a 2-out dropped pop-up to tie the game. Mets lose in the bottom half (Hawkins) http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA201306250.shtml Jul 1 - DBAcks - JJ Putz -- Byrd�s leadoff double + Satiin�s single ties the game in the 9th. Mets win in the 13th http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201307010.shtml Jul 4 - DBacks - Heath Bell & Chaz Roe -- Arizona scores in the top of the 13th, Recker�s HR off Bell w/2 outs ties it. Arizona agains scores in the 14th, Niewenhuis�s HR ties it. Mets lose in the 15th as finally the Snakes (Brad Ziegler) convert their 3rd save chance of the day. Zeigler pretty much becomes their regular closer after this game. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201307040.shtml Sep 18 - Giants - Casilla/Romo (3 run lead) -- Santiago Casilla, then Sergio Romo, can�t hold a 3-run lead and Satin�s 2-RBI single wins in a walk-off. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201309180.shtml Blown NYM one-inning saves: Apr 29 - Parnell (vs Marlins) -- Double, Single, Sac Fly ties the game Mets go on to lose in the 15th http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIA/MIA201304290.shtml Jun 4 - Parnell (Nationals) -- Three hits and a Sac Fly http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS201306040.shtml Jul 22 - Parnell (Braves) -- Mets take a 1-0 lead into the 9th but Parnell gives up 3 singles and a passed ball. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201307220.shtml Aug 2 - Aardsma (Royals) - In the first NYM save attempt after Parnell goes down, Aardsma gives up a leadoff double and eventually a game-tying Sac Fly in a game the Mets eventually won on Young�s HR in the 11th. It was Aardsma's last save opportunity. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201308020.shtml Aug 14 - Hawkins (2-run lead - Dodgers) - Andre Etheir�s 2R HR in the 9th tied the game in LA. Mets go on to lose in the 14th http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN201308140.shtml

Mike Zaun ... Dred from Scottsville ... That's gold Jerry, GOLD!

0.829 for his MLB career - and 0.71 if you take away his 1st season as a starter, the only season where his WHiP was over 1.00 As a reliever he's given up 128 hits in 219 regular season innings with 284 Ks vs 26 walks (almost an 11/1 ratio) all while barely breaking 90-mph BB-Ref lists the cut-off for such all-time records at 1,000 innings. The leaders, not surprisingly, are a couple of dead-ball era guys, a few modern relievers, ... and some guy named Pedro 1) Addie Joss - 0.9678 2) Ed Walsh - 0.9996 3) Mariano Rivera - 1.0003* 4) Monte Ward 5) Pedro Martinez 6) Christy Mathewson 7) Trevor Hoffman Uehara, with just 286 IPs under his belt and about to turn 39 on opening day 2014, is almost certain never to get there; making your MLB debut at age 34 will do that to you. HIs WHiP in Japan over 1,500+ IPs was a more pedestrian 1.007 * Rivera finished with 998 hits against + 286 walks [1,284 W+H] in 1,283-2/3 innings pitched. IOW, [u:2l0061n9]exactly ONE MORE[/u:2l0061n9] base-runners than IP. I like to think of the three consecutive hits that Murphy, Wright, and then Duda's game winner laid on him back in May as the ones responsible for him being unable to finish below a 1.000 career WHiP, but the judges will also accept: David Wright's game-winning double or Matt Franco's delirious single as legitimate answers.

metirish wrote: What's his history? Five seasons over here, starting with Baltimore in 2009 where he was a starter. Most recently he was cut by the Rangers at the end of last season and signed by Boston for a one year deal, then was famously their 4th choice for closer this year. Only been closing since July.

Funniest part about these interviews: in the pre-game how much shorter Ken Rosenthal is than whoever he interviews, and then Erin Andrews towering over Pedroia.

Uehara is fun to watch too: works fast, throws strikes, and a ton of emotion. Looks like the happiest guy on the field.

This game actually has a shot at coming in in under three hours!!

Edgy MD wrote: Doves have never been safe around Hawks. There was a time when this meant construction workers beating up hippies.

It's tags like that that make me fear increased replay rules. I really don't want to see baseball get into the micro-managing that the NFL does where they're examining stuff that looks like a catch to every human on earth but the refs are looking at the super slo-mo as the announcers are saying: yeah the ball is in his arms but I think I see it wiggling slightly so maybe he doesn't have control ...

metirish wrote: You run Ross there? 3-1 Sox I was thinking NO as the play was developing, mainly because it was Pedroia and Papi coming up and Ross isn't fast. He did get a good jump though and the play was reasonably close despite a strong even if slightly off-line throw, so it's tough to second guess the call too much.

Does this add to Hawk's 2013 save total?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Best MFY book, I think, is BRONX ZOO. I gave Buster's LAST NIGHT a try but it didn;t do much for me. I don't think I ever got around to BRONX ZOO I rather liked Olney's "Last Night ...'. He was covering the team at the time so it was a reporter's look at a real interesting series even though I didn't buy his overall premise; the one where the 2001 WS Game 7, and the 9th inning culminating with Luis Gonzalez's hit in particular, changed the course of how the Yanx went about building their team.

I imagine the Mariano auto-bio as so tame to the point of being totally uninteresting. ... and through the strength given to me by my hard-working and loving family, my faith in God, and the support of my teammates and the Yanqui organization, I was able to succeed. The 'Core Four' one might actually be good if it were a true in depth, warts and all look at the relationships between such long-standing teammates. But one authored by the combination fan-boy/hagiographer/pulp mill that is Phil Pepe means there's little chance of that. I can't see how the 'Facing Mariano' thing wouldn't just be totally repetitive by like page 13 if not sooner. Is it even possible for different and often barely articulate players to say; "yeah, his cutter was really good" that would even make things remotely revealing? And I simply assume that every word that comes out of Jackson's mouth is either mostly bullshit or total bullshit.

Reggie's been making various media stops to promote this book. While on HBO's 'Real Sports' he told host-interviewer Bryant Gumbel about how he won't deal with ESPN because he didn't like the way he was portrayed in their in-house production of 'The Bronx is Burning' The following day he was on ESPN's 'Mike & Mike'

So I wonder if any ESPN talking heads have credited Uehara with "a walk-off pick-off" yet. Maybe 'How many' is a better question.

Mets � Willets Point wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Show's on, Best Fans in Baseball! Whoa! I've long found Cardinal fans to be MUCH MORE negative than their constantly-sunny image suggests.

Looking at that on the replay, it was really a bit of luck for Uehara; he started his pickoff move exactly as Wong took an extra step to lengthen his lead and, as a result, got caught leaning the wrong way on a play where he almost certainly wasn't planning on going anywhere. Good luck for the closer, bad luck for the rookie. But whatever the case, we've got ourselves a series here. Tied 2-2, we're guaranteed at least six games and a trip back to Boston.

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!

For once the Cards DON'T take advantage of Boston miscues - multiple ones in this case.

Drew is a much better defensive SS than I realized. I guess I hadn't seen enough of his career to date to really form much of an opinion on his glove/arm/feet, etc. prior to this post-season, but he really is much closer to the elite class of defenders than I ever suspected.

I like to think that that HR was payback karma for the Cards using far too many mound visits. I know, of course, that it wasn't, but I'm going to believe it was anyway because it makes me feel better.

What's that, five mound visits by Molina this inning alone? Only 12 more and he'll tie Jorge Posada's mark.

No Timmy, he went back to 2nd because the throw was low enough to be cut off by Freese at 3rd, not because he was afraid of Molina coming up with it. Had Gomes gone further off the base as you suggest Freese would have (or at least could have) made the cut and had Gomes hung up. If I'm the Cards I'll trade a run for two outs on that play.