Frayed Knot

Now that Recker has PH'd, Mrs. Buck really needs to keep her legs crossed for the next hour or two.

Frayed Knot wrote: And other than the fact that we haven't scored since the 1st inning, can't buy a clutch hit for shit, are out of bench players ('cept for Recker) and out of pitchers while KC has all of their good ones still in store, I think things are really looking up here. And other than the fact that AL pitchers have been out-hitting our pitchers and out-bunting our pitchers this year.

And other than the fact that we haven't scored since the 1st inning, can't buy a clutch hit for shit, are out of bench players ('cept for Recker) and out of pitchers while KC has all of their good ones still in store, I think things are really looking up here.

Murph not breaking on the ball in the dirt turns out to matter.

Edgy MD wrote: Can't bunt Murphy. Too many strikeouts for Buck. Now I'm worried about too many GiDPs from Buck.

NO BUNTS!!!!!

Zach Lutz, there's a phone call for you.

Alright, this chump looks like the guy we can get to. The Royals still have most of their good guys in the pen.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: D'Amico? Or is it Appier? I am.

So who's pitching now, Recker?

I sense another 'outs in the wrong order' situation again.

OK, time to get Pedro the win. It'll be a far better story then Jeter's HR on [Not] his first AB of the season.

Y'know, one way to handle a short bullpen is to NOT pull an effective Hawkins after, what?, about 10 pitches. The other way to handle a short bullpen is to NOT go hitless after the 3rd inning.* * oe: Ike's 4th inning single was actually their last hit

Haven't seen a 'back heel' that good outside of the Premier League

Royals have a Yanqui rally: a walk, a HBP, and then two grounders hit too shitty to turn a DP

Ashie62 wrote: Not Exactly bullish on #1's Nimmo and Cecchini.... At the moment there's no reason for him to be. But remember that they are 20 & 19 years old; that he does have some good things to say about Nimmo; that they both play in pitchers parks (Nimmo is hitting nearly 100 pts higher on the road); and that their roads have many journeys yet to go.

I saw the film of last night's reliever snafu and the manager (interim mgr actually) raised his left arm for barely a second before immediately realizing his error and switching to the right. For the umps to hold him to that "choice" based solely on that brief gesture seems pretty ridiculous in my mind. All the umps should be trying to do at that point is make sure the switch goes as quickly as possible and to prevent some intentionally misleading move by the defensive team that causes the other side to act on it while the defense pulls a switcheroo. The umps always go out to the mound anyway in those cases so there's no reason not to wait for the mgr to say "I'm bringing in Smith" before considering the change to be official.

What I know of the Royals: - the catcher Salvador Perez looks huge. Listed at 6' 3"/255 he looks even bigger. - the bullpen lefty Tim Collins is UNhuge. Listed at just 5' 7" (in a league where 6-footers on the mound are considered undersized) but he packs some heat. Watching Perez & Collins stand next to each other on the mound looks pretty funny. - Eric Hosmer has been doing better lately. 10 of his 11 HRs are since June 1st and he's one of those who is said to have benefitted from George Brett's stint as batting coach (George has since kicked himself back upstairs) - I've heard comments about the Royals maybe being the best defensive team around. I know I saw CF Lorenzo Cain made a ridonculous HR-saving play on the highlights recently. - Their nine straight win hotness hasn't gotten them too far as the teams ahead of them in the AL Central; the Tigers (won 9 of last 10) & Indians (winners of eight straight) have been nearly as hot. - They're just one game behind the Yanx in the whole WC chase. It would be nice if they stayed hot and got to the post-season ... starting Monday

John Sickels does his Prospects in Review for the Mets. This is not a new list or even a new order, it's his pre-season list with progress/updates noted with a half+ season's worth of new info.

Originally signed by the Braves [u:2x2yn01z]20 years ago[/u:2x2yn01z], Chen was at one time (1999) Baseball America's #4 overall prospect and had been #27 the year before that so there were some high hopes in the early years. Since then there's been a lot of ups and downs - not only 15 years, 373 games, 206 starts, and 1,400+ innings in the major leagues, but also parts of 14 seasons (1994 - 2011) in the minors with 174 games, 160 starts, and 887 innings there. He didn't pitch at all in 2008 That's a lot of mileage and still just turned 36 years old.

Now, I had no idea that the manager tapping on his arm was an official announcement of a pitching change. I thought that was merely a signal to the bullpen coach, and the guy wasn't in the game until he entered the field from the bullpen. I guess it's like when the ump signals to the booth that a switch is in effect as soon as a PH-er starts his walk-up to the plate. The RP coming through the gate could be considered the same thing (not clear from the above exactly where Ollie was when Thompson realized his mistake). Funny part about this whole thing was that the "unwanted" Perez was the closest thing the Ms had to an effective pitcher that inning. Pulling him might have been the bigger sin. What if you have two guys warming up who throw with the same* arm? You do what Ozzie Guillen did during the 2005 WS when making it clear that he wanted the 6' 4"/255 Bobby Jenks rather than the other right-hander who was warming: he signaled for the righty and then held his hands far apart both vertically and horizontally so as to say; 'I want the HUGE guy', not the other one'.

I don't know that closer contracts are any worse as a whole than others--especially in this era with the ARod, Pujols & Josh Hamilton deals staring teams in the face--they just seem to go from one extreme to the other faster than anyone else to where even relatively short-term deals (2-3 years) can get pear-shaped in a hurry. Papelbon's been good in Philly just like he was in Boston. It's just that I think teams tend to exaggerate the gap between good closers, or at least "proven" closers, and others not yet proven. Then, if the closer goes south he becomes what should be the lowest paid guy on your team: a replacement level reliever (Jose Valverde, Frank-Frank). Or if the team goes south (Philly) you're stuck with a luxury that's not really doing you much good. Papelbon's other problem is that he's got a big mouth but that would be true no matter where he was or how he was pitching.

Mejia - 2.6 Rice - 0.6 Torres - 0.6 Byrd - 1.0 Davis - 1.0 Young - 1.0 Wright - 0.5

Harvey - 2.3 Atchison - 0.3 Germen - 0.9 Turner - 1.3 Lagares - 1.3 Wright - 0.4

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Jonathan "I Didn't Come Here For This" Papelbon on to save a 1-0 Cole Hamels lead in the 9th gives up 4 straight singles to lead off the inning and walk, Phils down 2-1 now in the bottoim of the 9th and the local natives are gonna drown him in the Schuykill. After Papelbon blew the top of the 9th close-out, SF closer Sergio Romo then came in to try and close the bottom of the 9th He promptly loaded the bases with no outs (E-5, Bunt Single, HBP) He then got out of it and the Giants won 2-1: Nix - Pop-out; Ruiz - Short Fly; Kratz - Ground Out