Frayed Knot

Zvon wrote: Adams should have NEVER come off the bag. He doesn't come off the bag he doesn't catch the ball. Nothing he could have done. Better throw would have had him but that's a tough play. Tough call for the scorer too.

And Matheny pulls the kid. About 115 pitches for the night.

Ryan Zimmerman -- Infield Hit!!!!!!

Denard Span -- Called Strike, Foul Ball, Foul Ball, Ball One, Ball Two, Foul Ball, Ball Three, Call Strike Three This win, if it comes, wouldn't quite clinch the division for the Cards, but would come close. Only Mike Scott (as far as I know) has clinched a division for his team with a no-hitter. Against SF IIRC in 1986 of course.

Lombardozzi to lead it off -- Ball 1, Ball 2, Fouled Off, Ground out to SS

Black trumps the Reds and Dusty is feeling blue.

Cards pitcher (and rookie) Michael Wacha has got the Nats no-hit thru 8 (2 walks). This is his 9th ML start.

If they do wind up getting eliminated before that date you're planning on going you may wind up having your choice of seats when you get there.

Edgy MD wrote: Choo is a bit thick in the frame, I think. And maybe a guy who'd be carrying extra weight by the back end of a long-term (or possibly a medium-term) contract. Also got hisself seriously schooled by the younger CFer on how to throw to home. Lagares got rid of his faster and was considerably more accurate.

Judging by how this game has gone so far, I half expect to see the foreman from 'ON THE WATERFRONT' to come out and say: "OK, everybody [crossout]works[/crossout] hits today"

Niese - 3.5 Atchison - 0.5 Hawkins - 0.5 Satin - 1.0 Murphy - 1.0

Atchison - 0.4 Aardsma - 0.6 Murphy - 1.2 Flores - 1.2 Duda - 0.8 den Dekker - 1.0 Satin - 1.2

Harang - 2.5 Germen - 0.3 Feliciano - 0.1 Francisco - 0.5 Aardsma - 0.6 Young - 1.2 Duda - 2.0

Well, shit, if you're going to celebrate clinching the pennant in the outfield pool of an opponent, particularly when that pool belongs to the team you just eliminated, you might as well pee in while you're in there.

After last night's games: Tampa over Baltimore; Royals hanging on the beat the Mariners in the 12th; Texas over Houston; every team is down to six remaining. TBR +1.0 CLE --- TEX -1.0 KCR -3.0 MFY -4.0 BAL -5.0 Now even if we were to be generous and give the Yanx 2 out of 3 against Tampa and then a sweep vs Houston,[u:38rzxj1u] the Yanx could only qualify for the 2nd Wild Card spot TIE[/u:38rzxj1u] if ALL of the following happened ... - the Indians were to go no better than 1-5 against the Twins & ChiSox (3 games each) - the Rangers were to go no better than 2-4 (Astros x 2; Angels x 4) - the Royals play 4-2 or worse (Mariners x 2; White Sox x 4) In addition an Oriole sweep of their six games (3 each w/Toronto & Boston) would plop them into a tie with this theoretical 5-1 MFY finish. Oh yeah, and Sabathia is out for the remainder of the season (hamstring). Realistically it's looking like three teams for two spots. If it winds up being Tampa & Cleveland they, along with already in Oakland, would mean that the AL playoff teams would include those who are 15th (aka: last) in attendance (Tampa), 14th (Cleveland), and 9th (Oakland). And I'm surprised that Oakland is as high as it is.

Reds win on a walk-off Pirates win on a 9th inning run then a play at the plate for the final out Cards leading by one in the 9th and employing a closer by committee* to try and close it ... and they do. Nats eliminated from post-season. So the NL teams are set as far as who. The only question remains in what order. * Edward Mujica, after a real good season, has apparently been shaky lately and has at least temporarily lost his job. With a one run lead in the 9th tonight vs the middle of the National's lineup, Matheny went to two different pitchers neither one of which was Mujica. And the result was a 1-2-3 inning. Be interesting to see if Matheny sticks with the mix and match stuff, especially seeing how it seems almost universal among media types that a closer by committee strategy is destined to failure.

One-Two, we pitch to Choo Three-Four, the pitch is poor Five-Six, he takes his licks Seven-Eight, it's over the plate Nine-Ten, a loss for Henn

Henn in from the pen to see if he can shoo Choo.

Satin on 2nd. Now all we need is a triple to score him. ... and now he's NOT on 2nd.

Annnnnd, we're gotten rid of both Chapman and Hamilton.

And DOWN GOES FRAIZER! DOWN GOES FRAIZER! DOWN GOES FRAIZER!

Zvon wrote: Harangs line doesn't look bad but yet I feel like he's been pitching like shit. Still chuggin along in the 5th, looking for a groove. I'd settle for him finding the plate. Yeah, a 1-to-6 K/BB ratio isn't exactly what you're looking for.

If these two pitchers stay in the game for the next few innings there's no way this game will end before midnight. It's like a remake of 'Slow and Slower'

UGH!

September 23rd, 1973 -- 2nd of the two-game series vs the Cards at Shea Tommie Agee* hits a 1st inning 2R HR against Geroge Stone. Those would be the last runs the Cards would get in this game although it wouldn�t be due to Stone. After allowing five hits over the first two innings and only being saved from further damage by two StL GiDPs, Yogi chose not to wait around for more and Stone was gone for a PH-er in the bottom of the 2nd even though there were two outs and nobody on at the time. The PH move didn't pay off (Lute Barnes struck out) but the relief did as the Mets got four innings of 1-hit ball from Harry Parker and zeroes over the final three from McGraw On the offensive side, the Mets loaded the bases in the 3rd on three straight walks but netted only one via a Cleon Jones Sac Fly Staub�s single knocked in Garrett (who had led off with a single) in the 5th to tie the game before Garrett�s (there�s that name again!) 2-RBI Triple in the 6th put them ahead to stay. Cleon�s 7th inning HR ended the scoring. Pitt won a DH from the Expos this day so the Mets� lead actually shrunk to just 1/2 game. But it dropped St Looie to 3 full games out and the Expos & Cubs to 3.5 * Agee had been picked up by the Cards from Houston about five weeks earlier. This HR would be the final one of his career and his second to last hit. He would try hooking on with the Dodgers the in �74 but was released during spring training and would never play again.