Frayed Knot

Of course two innings earlier we were knocking him for being too quick on the Lefty/Righty switches.

Swan Swan H wrote: Swap Brown for Valdespin and it might be the among the lineups with the shortest cumulative names ever. Reminiscent of the one-syllable Pittsburgh pitching staffs of the 1960s: Vern Law, Steve Blass, Bob Veale, Bob Friend, Roy Face, Bob Moose, Ron Kline, Tommie Sisk

Swan Swan H wrote: Postponed due to rain. No make-up date set yet. Lousy momentum-stealing rain storms. Looks like a sloppy day at Churchill Downs too.

Hawkins - 0.7 Rice - 0.1 Parnell - 0.8 Familia - 0.8 Duda - 1.0 Buck - 1.4 Wright - 1.6 Byrd - 1.3 Valdespin - 0.5 Tejada - 1.2 Murphy - 0.6

And even the downside to it all wasn't all that down. You figure normally that stealing with the pitcher up is a pretty dumb move seeing as how the pitcher's spot leads off the next inning if the runner is out. But in this case Terry was already on his fifth reliever, Parnell had just bailed them out of a one-out/winning-run-on-3rd situation on a not-too-tough total of 14 pitches and was certainly your best shot to shut down the Braves in the bottom half or else there wouldn't even be a next inning. Then figure that the odds of scoring with a runner on 1st & 2-outs aren't all that good no matter who's up so "wasting" an AB there is arguably worth getting another inning out of supposedly your best reliever (and I'm arguing that it is). So you try the steal and if it doesn't work then at least you get Bobby Pee for one more inning at which point you'd PH for him anyway but you'd be spending that PH-er to start an inning rather than (probably) end it. But then once the steal works the calculus changes. btw, add the above scenario and all its permutations as reason # 35,487 as to why the DH rule suxxx.

With the Mets winning, the Islanders winning (also come from behind), the Knicks winning, and the Yanx losing ... I'm officially declaring this a [u:2rev0i9u]Quadruple Happiness Day[/u:2rev0i9u]

Jeurys Familia = Saver Craig Kimbrel = Save Blower

Biggest spot in young Familia's MLB career.

Zvon wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Look to you like Bax didn't do anything to avoid that pitch? Yep. He knew that was gonna hit him and had time. He takes one for all of us. Except that the runner can't move up on a HBP; it would have been better had that missed him. Turns out we didn't need it, but you don't know that at the time.

Wasn't Luis Avilan the guy from that Jose Feliciano song? ... Luis Avilan from the bottom of my heart

Edgy MD wrote: Loverly. Good job taking third by Baxter, too. Let's plate him also. Yeah, except that I was worried about him getting tagged out prior to Valdy crossing the plate.

Frayed Knot wrote: This would be a nice time for US to get one of those piece o' shit dunkers over 1st base Or a liner to left-center, either way.

This would be a nice time for US to get one of those piece o' shit dunkers over 1st base

We should try mixing in some, you know, HITS in and amongst our HRs

Not for nuthin', but how many piece o' shit hits over 1st base do the Braves have tonight?

"KIMBREL"

Damn, I often forget that Atlanta games don't start until 7:35

Yeah, I sometimes think we shortchange closers in this type of rating as fans in general tend to praise set-up men who pitch a clean inning but then dismiss a closer who does the same on the idea that 'it's what he's supposed to do'. On the other hand, as I've incorporated these cumulative PotY votes into our individual ballots for our year-end rankings project, I've been on the lookout to see whether the PotG results show any kind of trend towards over or under crediting starters, relievers, subs, etc., but have yet to detect a pattern.

metsmarathon wrote: crazy low total for parnell, imo. His problem is that his good outings have mostly come in more non-crucial situations while his bad ones have come during higher-leverage innings.

Goodbye Cowgill from the stands

It's a nice concept, so long as NBC doesn't opt to sue them of course.

Braves held to just one run (Uggla HR) on five hits tonight facing the previously shaky Dan Haren (plus Soriano for the 9th), one day after getting blanked on two hits vs Zimmermann & Soriano. So they're not exactly coming into this series with their hitting shoes on either. Of course they were going up against Nats pitchers while we were fishing out against the Marlins crew, but you take your positive signs where you can get them.

What Atlanta's doing mostly is pitching their brains out. Fewest RA/G in the NL (by a lot) and at or near the top in many other categories as well, although oddly not in strike-outs. The hitting is more erratic. Heyward wasn't hitting even before he was DL'd; and even the Upton who IS hitting, Justin, is doing lighter damage than one might think on account of there being few guys on base. Despite carrying a .300 BA and 12 HRs he has all of 19 RBIs as 11 of those 12 HRs were solo projects. Why do I think only the Braves could be in a pinch by losing someone like McCann but then reach into a scrap heap and come up with a 26 y/o rookie/project/charity case like Gattis? Even though most of his damage came in the opening two weeks of the season and has calmed down since, his offense looks like it'll tend towards Buck-like with massive power but a low BA: 12 of his 19 hits have been for XBs (6 2Bs + 6 HRs) We'll miss Paul Maholm, but has a substitute trade ever worked out better for a team than this one? Remember that Los Bravos tried to deal for Ryan Dempster last July but he spent so much time dragging his feet about an approval for it that Atlanta said the hell with it and made a different deal with those very same Cubs for Maholm instead; and it's been Maholm who has turned out to be a better (and younger and cheaper) pitcher since. Hudson's last win--the one where he also HR'd and 2B'd--was the 200th of his career. Few with that many wins have as good a winning pct as Hudson's .656 (200-105) and among all active pitchers only Halladay (201 wins) and Jered Weaver (102) have better pcts. Dude is 52-27 since the start of the 2010 season and will turn 38 y/o next month.

Parnell - 0.8 Valdespin - 3.0 Wright - 3.0 Buck - 1.5 Byrd - 1.0 Murphy - 0.3 Davis - 0.2 Rice - 0.2

Harvey - 1.5 Hawkins - 0.8 Lyon - 0.8 Familia - 1.0 Rice - 0.8 Atchison - 0.1 Carson - 0.1 Tejada - 1.3 Duda - 1.2 Buck - 1.0 Turner - 1.3