Frayed Knot

metirish wrote: I'm confused, Cal and Ron are wondering about a tag???? Well, if you look at it closely there was never actually any glove-to-body contact. The sliding Ellis and Molina really just hit shoulder to shoulder - that's all they're saying.

I was saying "Send Him" as the play was developing so I can't complain about the outcome. Just a damn good throw is all.

Vic Sage wrote: Who are the best current candidates for: Nationals - Reds - Cubs - Mariners - Royals - Astros - Padres - Matt Williams, currently on the DBacks staff, seems to be getting the most buzz. Could interview and/or fit anywhere I suppose but probably won't take a "bad" job (Houston, Seattle) on the theory that he'll get a good one eventually even if he has to wait a year. Jayson Werth was recently quoted as wanting Cal Ripken to manage the Nats. Not that anyone asked him but it threw the idea out there and now Cal himself isn't batting the idea down. Sure he hasn't managed or even coached anywhere before but he's Cal Fucking Ripken. Is he feuding with Orioles owner Angelos? (is anyone NOT feuding with him?) Will the Nats hire him just to stick it to Angelos? Will GM Mike Rizzo be willing to share the headlines with such a strong local presence as Ripken?

I don't see where Choo's defense would be a concern. I'd rate him above average as far as speed, glove, and arm at a corner and at least passable in CF but he's not likely to see CF here except as a fill-in. The splits, the contract (money & years), the age (32 in July), and just the overall thought that they'd be 'buying high' - yeah, those are all questions.

So the Cardinals let Pujols go and an 8th round draft pick in Alan Craig comes in and comes pretty darn close to matching over two seasons what Pujols has done since leaving [.311/.364/.488] while setting records for RiSP figures and all for a fraction of the price. And then he goes down in mid-season and gets replaced by a 23rd round rookie (Adams) who swats 17 HRs in less than 300 ABs [.284/.335/.503] And all while we're trying to get Davis OR Duda going for more than a few weeks here or there.

I thought that was the correct call. And if it wasn't it was by a hair and could have gone either way. And even if he was safe it shouldn't have been that close. The earlier one where Byrd was doubled off was more understandable because of the shift. This one was right in front of Walker. And now none of it is going to matter.

And now there's more late-90s MFY-type shit; having the opponent give away stupid outs.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Friggin Cardinals get lucky even when they get unlucky. Carpenter's throw to first misses the mark by 8 feet but rolls directly to the catcher instead of into a dugout or something. That was almost like late-90s-2000 MFY shit, where they got several post-season outs not despite missed cut-offs and overthrows but because of them.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ball hits bag. Ball flies over Adams. Alvarez hits bag. Morneau hits plate. Mass hysteria. The real nutty part was that Carpenter's errant throw to 1st almost wound up getting Morneau at home. Do you suppose the AL clubs aware that you're allowed to get 7 complete innings in in under 2:10 ?

Good thing this thread isn't a prize fight cuz they'd a-called it right there.

And then there was the scene with Rusty, Mays, and maybe one or two others, walking out to LF pleading with the crowd to calm down so they could finish the game. The other thing about the fight (going back to game 3 for a moment) is that no one got tossed despite there being two separate fairly rough scuffles. No way that would happen today even though I wish it would (as long as things don't involve bats or head-hunting).

October 9th, 1973 And on the day after the fight, the most hated man in New York comes back to haunt them. George Stone & Fred Norman get the starts. Mets tag Norman for a run in the 3rd on a Millan single. Stone is near perfect through 6 but gives up a one-out HR to Tony Perez and finishes his days with one run on 3 hits in 7 IP. McGraw relieves Stone and winds up with 4.1 scoreless but somewhat shaky innings which included 4 hits, 3 walks plus an error (his own). But Tug left the bases full of Reds in the 9th, then again in the 10th, then left 2 on in the 11th. Met bats, meanwhile, got just 2 hits after Millan�s single off of Norman (5 innings) and 7 innings from 3 different relievers. Funny how Sparky Anderson was known as �Captain Hook� for his quick removal of pitchers. Joe Maddon would shirley call him an amateur for using �only� 4 pitchers through 12. And speaking of the 12th inning, Harry Parker relieved Tug and gave up a HR to the 2nd batter he�d face: Pete Rose Staub, Jones & Milner went down quitely in order in the bottom half and the series was tied.

George King of the NY Post reporting the same. 4 years at $4 mil per. Suggests that the Cubs interest spurred the Yanx to add one year to the deal. TEAM MANAGERSIGNED THRUSTATUSMETSTerry Collins2013New two-year deal thru 2015 + optionBRAVESFredi Gonzalez2013Has 2014 OptionPHILLIESRyne SandbergInterimGiven permanent job thru 2016NATIONALSDavey Johnson2013Will not returnMARLINSMike Redmond2015CARDINALSMike Matheny2013Has option for 2014PIRATESClint Hurdle2014 CUBSDale Sveum2014Fired - Sept '13REDSDusty Baker2014Fired one year into a two-year extensionBREWERSRon Roenicke2014DODGERS Don Mattingly2013Has option for 2014GIANTS Bruce Bochy2016PADRES Bud Black2013Has options for 2014 & 15DBACKSKirk Gibson2014ROCKIESWalt Weiss2013RED SOXJohn Farrell2016YANKEESJoe Girardi2013Re-signed thru 2017ORIOLESBuck Showalter2018BLUE JAYSJohn Gibbons2014RAYSJoe Maddon2015TIGERSJim Leyland2013INDIANSTerry Francona2016ROYALSNed Yost2013TWINSRon Gardenhire2013Extended thru 2015WHITE SOXRobin Ventura2014ANGELSMike Scioscia2018RANGERSRon Washington2014MARINERSEric Wedge2013Will not returnASTROSBo Porter2013ATHLETICSBob Melvin2016

Didn't stay up for the end of the late game last night, but I'm guess that with a line of: WALK - K - WILD PITCH - WALK - HBP, Fernando Rodney didn't go shooting off any arrows upon being yanked in mid-inning.

Edgy MD wrote: Maybe not Maron. I mean, you get to keep two catchers on your roster. I doubt anybody is going to be too into using one of those slots to carry a guy who went .235 / .327 / .295 // .622 in the Florida State League last year. As a comparison, Jesus Flores was a year younger and hit .266/.335/.487 in the Fla St Lg the year he was plucked from the Mets roster via the Rule 5 draft. And that NYM mgmt that year was quite surprised that he was taken. Turned out to be a nice pick for the Nationals ... for a while anyway. After two years he got hurt and missed an entire season. After returning he hit .212/.249/.325 across two seasons (2011-12) and 400 PAs, then spent 2013 as a part-timer in two different AAA orgs hitting even worse [.174/.213/.241].

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Josh Reddick looked like he was going to cry. The cruelty of baseball has really visited him this game. Did you catch Reddick's look with the slick-backed hair to go along with the thick beard? He could have had one of those goofy cartoons on the back of his baseball card saying: Josh participates in Civil War reenactments during the off-season

I find myself with no real "enemies" among the remaining teams on the AL side. I'm kind of pulling for Oakland but aren't specifically 'against' any team. In the NL it's definitely Pitt up top and the Cards on the bottom. I probably would have stuck Atlanta 2nd (ahead of LA) if I thought about it prior to them getting knocked out, but sometimes I just start watching a series and find myself rooting one way or the other before I even consciously realize it.

Zvon wrote: I think there was a real possibility that he could have caught that. Real possibility - as in a real small possibility. Plus, unlike the Jeffrey Maier situation, these fans were NOT reaching beyond what is designated as HR territory. Maybe they did steal it from him but, in that area, it's his job to steal it from them. I would have called interference and we'd be watching a riot now. Well that would have been fun too.

I don't think you can overturn that one.

Maybe he did have a thing for the Mets - even though there was that piece in his earlier auto-biography about him swearing to root against them forever on account of the draft day 'snub'. And then the excepts from this book have him pining for a Dodgers uniform, and then somebody else's uniform (always teams that happened to be at or near the top at the time). So we're left with deciding whether to believe that he truly wanted to be apart of the blue and orange (despite earlier claims) or that he's engaging in opportunistic bullshit that just happens to place himself at the center of the action. Tough choice but I'm going with option B

I'm cherry-picking, obviously. But no more so than those who cherry-pick good outings and cite those as proof of Reggie's magical abilities in crucial spots. Or of Jeter's (just to pick one name off the top of my head)

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I remember reading a magazine article from 1969 featuring Reggie Jackson. 1969 was Reggie's breakout superstar season. Reggie seemed very humble with his relatively new fame and wanted to deflect the attention he was attracting towards Cleon Jones, who, said Reggie, was baseball's real new black superstar. False humility has long been one of Reggie's go-to moves. Maybe back then there was some actual humility in whatever he was saying, although I tend to doubt it.

Monday, October 8th, 1973 The series shifted to Shea Stadium for game 3 and, amazingly, both teams managed to make it there and were ready to go despite having played in southern Ohio the previous day. It�s a shame that baseball teams have lost the technology over the last four decades to be able to do that in October. But ready to go they were in Queens on Monday (afternoon, of course) after the weekend in Cincinnati and the Mets jumped on Reds starter Ross Grimsley early. In games 1 & 2 six of the eight runs had been scored in the 8th inning or later, but here a Staub solo HR in the 1st was followed by a Garrett Sac Fly, a Millan RBI single in the 2nd. That was enough for Sparky Anderson who saw Staub coming up again and quickly pulled Grimsley w/2 outs and 2 on in favor of lefty specialist Tom �The Blade�* Hall. But the strategy backfired as Rusty promptly hit a 3R HR giving the Mets an early 6-0 lead to Koosman before he went out for the 3rd frame. Kooz actually ran into trouble in the 3rd, giving up a leadoff HR to Dennis Menke and then 3 straight one-out singles for a second run. But he buckled down to get both Tony Perez & Johnny Bench with 2 on to end the inning. The Mets completed the scoring by tacking on a run in the 3rd (a Koosman RBI) and two more in the 4th as Koosman coasted to a complete game 8-hitter. Final score: Mets 9 - Reds 2 Mets lead series 2-1. * The nickname had to do with his thin build as Hall was listed at 6� 0�/150 Holy Shit, my high school self was thicker than that!

The Mets, always full of surprises, ... You wonder what aspect of the Mets the "always full of surprises" line was aimed at? The draft? -- There had been all of ONE draft up to that point so it wasn't like there was an established track record of surprise picks. Their standings? -- No, they were consistently UNsurprising in their finishes from 1962-66 The part about it being just the 2nd draft ever probably factored into things as well. College baseball at the time was a lesser deal than it is today and I suspect there was more of a thought that the REAL good players were found in HS where you could get them early and mold them properly. Had that choice happened a bit later on I think more of the insider opinion would have swung towards Jackson as both the safer pick and one much more likely to contribute than a HS catcher. Of course the Twins were told the same thing years later when they were accused of being both cheap and overly pr-conscious when they opted for the local kid Mauer rather than the "correct" #1 overall choice of Mark Prior.

I was starting to take the over on 'Sometime Wednesday' for when that Tampa/Boston game was going to end .. IF it ended. It was an interesting game with a bunch of strategy going on but the Fischer-Spasky match had less down time between action. In the meantime, the Braves seemed to have pitching all year and now suddenly they're down to starting Freddie Garcia in the 4th game of the playoffs. I know part of that was caused by Eric Young going all WWF on Tim Hudson's ankle, but Paul Maholm went south late in the year and they decided that some of their young pitchers (like Alex Wood) would be better off in the pen. On the other hand they just tied it up 2-2 although much of that was courtesy of bad LA defense. Carl Crawford has two solo HRs for the Dodgers. Mattingly went with Kershaw on short rest rather than start a slumping Ricky Nolasco.