Frayed Knot

It's a judgement call, no replay is going to fix that even though it's a very BAD judgement call. No way that should have been an IFR

Braves' Andrelton Simmons gets flagged for running inside the baseline on a bunt negating two Atlanta runs. The throw caromed off his helmet right after he suddenly veered about 3 feet inside the line making it the most obvious post-season interference call since Reggie hip-checked a throw to 1st (oh wait, that one didn't get called) or the Jeffery Maier HR play (oops, not that one either).

StL @ Atlanta Lohse v Medlen 2 Ks each in the 1st inning. Heyward robs Yadier F. Molina of a HR to lead off 2nd.

I don't get into announcer bashing nearly as much as other Met/baseball/sports-in-general fans seem to, but the two I'd vote to NOT hear do a baseball game currently working are Rick Sutcliffe (color) and Chris Berman (p-b-p) Poor Gary. Being good only gets you so far in this business.

seawolf17 wrote: WAS-OAK: Matt Stairs? Last winter's Gio Gonzalez trade Gio from Oak to Wash .... Tommy Milone + Derek Norris (plus minor leaguers) to Oak Plus this summer's deal sending Kurt Suzuki to Wash [262 ABs w/Oak, 146 w/Wash]

I honestly think the Nats are best team I've seen all year - and since Willets asked for cold, hard analysis (as opposed to preference) that's my NL choice. Then I'll go totally the other way with the AL and go with Oakland (even though I barely know who's on the team) based on them being hot and having pitching even though the pitchers are all rookies and are all 16 years old. on edit: actually Willets asked for cold, hard analysis in the other thread but I got them mixed up. Oh well. Preference? Well ... you know.

TEAMMANAGERSTATUSUPDATESBRAVESFredi GonzalezSigned thru 2013 + 2014 optionMARLINSOzzie GuillenSigned thru 2015 METSTerry CollinsSigned thru 2012 + 2013 optionOption picked up for 2013PHILLIESCharlie ManuelSigned thru 2013NATIONALSDavey JohnsonSigned thru 2013CUBSDale SveumSigned thru 2014REDSDusty BakerSigned thru 2012BREWERSRon RoenickeSigned thru 2014 + 2015 optionPIRATESClint HurdleSigned thru 2013CARDINALSMike MathenySigned thru 2013 + 2014 optionDIAMONDBACKSKirk GibsonSigned thru 2014 + �15 & �16 optionsROCKIESJim TracySigned thru 2013DODGERSDon MattinglySigned thru 2013PADRESBud BlackSigned thru 2013 + options for �14 + �15GIANTSBruce BochySigned thru 2013 + option for �14ORIOLESBuck ShowalterSigned thru 2013RED SOXBobby ValentineSigned thru 2013 - Fired Oct 2012YANKEESJoe GirardiSigned thru 2013RAYSJoe MaddonSigned thru 2015BLUE JAYSJohn FarrellSigned thru 2013WHITE SOXRobin VenturaSigned thru 2014INDIANSManny Acta=#FF0000]Fired Sept 2012TIGERSJim LeylandSigned thru 2012ROYALSNed YostClub option for 2013TWINSRon GardernhireSigned thru 2013ANGELSMike SciosciaSigned thru 2018ATHLETICSBob MelvinSigned thru 2014MARINERSEric WedgeSigned thru 2013RANGERSRon WashingtonSigned thru 2014ASTROSBrad Mills=#FF0000]Fired in AugustBo Porter hired for 2013 - ??

Omar Vizquel was given the honor in the final game in Toronto of throwing out the first pitch. He went 1 for 3 including hitting a single in his final AB. The 45 year-old 3-time All-Star and 11 time -Gold-Glove winner says he intends to retire.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: bmfc1 wrote: Mets � Willets Point wrote: Great so the 87-win Cardinals have a coin-flip chance of getting in the playoffs against a team seven wins their superior from a tougher division. Thanks Bud. This is so much fairer. Yes to this. I agree. I don't like this new system. I like that it makes the division title meaningful, but the one-game playoff leaves us open to more travesties like we'll have if the Cardinals unseat the Braves tomorrow. I'd prefer it if this one-game playoff was instead a best-of-three. I guess I just don't see it as a "travesty" if the lower WC team advances. Again, if the Braves don't like that situation then they need to win a division. And if the Cards advance then they're doing so in a weakened state having burned their (theoretical anyway) best pitcher and so the WC survivor now has less of a chance to win it all. Plus I like the drama of the one-and-out death-match and stacking an extra round (the 2-of-3 idea) while the other teams sit and wait is not what I think baseball needs as their post-season marches further into November.

People over-rate the hell out of home-field advantage. Sure you'd rather have it then not (particularly if you're the owner) but the edge is small (the home team in baseball traditionally wins less than 55% of the time) and in a 3-of-5 or 4-of-7 series the edge in games played home-v-road for the higher rated team is small as well (55%-60%). It's hardly do or die and was a concept rarely even discussed as baseball somehow went about eight decades being perfectly happy with it being an alternating year thing in the WS and LCS. It wasn't until the introduction of the wild card system that it even came up as those who claimed how necessary it was to include wild card teams almost immediately set about starting to think of ways to prevent those teams from actually winning. The concept of awarding home field to the better team, largely borrowed from other sports, became the only logical "remedy" even though it wasn't comparable to those sports where the home field is an all-or-nothing concept (football) or a huge statistical edge (basketball). Plus in other sports - particularly hoops and hockey - they hold out the home court/ice advantage thing as a must-have holy grail because without it the leagues (and the networks promoting them) would have to admit that most of their regular season is a meaningless march to nowhere where the best teams clinch a playoff spot by Thanksgiving and the >50% inclusion set-up means the mediocre ones are all going to make it anyway. Selling the idea that each rung moved up is absolutely crucial allows them to tag every mid-week game in February as "meaningful" even if at most it means that you get a potential 15 home games out of 28 instead of 14. BFD! In baseball's case, the 2-3 (starting on the road) system in a best of 5 still gives the better team the HF edge and I don't see where having the edge requires that you must have it at every single point during the whole series. Again, BFD! If you want to win and advance you're going to have to win games on the road too and what order the home/road games come up shouldn't matter. In the meantime, the 2-3 apparently fits into the calendar better and it cuts down on off/travel days. THAT travesty (see the entire 2009 playoffs) was a bigger crime than which game is played where could ever be.

Most of the current Oakland players are so new to their roster (over 100 of their games were started by rookie pitchers) and DePodesta's time with them far enough in the past that I doubt any one of the players there now can trace their Oakland bloodlines to him. In fact I'd bet that Omar has more fingerprints on the Nationals roster. Starting SS Ian Desmond I know was his draft pick and I believe 4th OFer Roger Bernandina was an international signing under him as well.

I agree with you MWP--but I also think that this system is better than the system that preceded it. Would you support more divisions and no WCs? More - and, as a result, smaller - divisions would really suck IMO. A 8x4 system for instance (8 divisions with 4 teams each after a two-team expansion) is often suggested but I see two main problems: 1) How many "good" teams are there in an average season? Six? Eight? Ten? Well split those elite squads up among more and more divisions means that the odds of getting more than one in any division at the same time goes down substantially resulting in races being largely a thing of the past. The splitting into and later further subdividing of the leagues (from a single 10 team group - to two 2x6s - to the current 3x5s) is essentially what made the WC necessary. Look at the NFL since they switched to a 8x4 system. Even with their 1/10 that of MLB sized-sked, their divisions are sometimes virtually decided if not outright clinched with 1/4 of the season still to play. That's mid-August in baseball terms. 2) What's the schedule going to look like? If totally balanced then the odds of a weak division producing a "winner" with a near or even sub-.500 record increases as there are smaller pct of intra-division games to produce automatic wins. And even with an unbalanced sked there's only so unbalanced you can get with just 3 in-division opponents (vs 12? ... 18? ... 29? out-of-division) to where you're still looking at most of your games out of division (as opposed to the current approx 50/50) which, again, is more likely to produce a bad playoff team from whichever group is weak that year - the tallest midget in that year's circus so to speak. Bottom line is that any system that chooses more than one playoff contender runs the risk of matching two or more clubs with mis-matched records - witness the 1973 NLCS for instance or various pre-division World Series - and that if you want only winners contending in a post-season tourney with as few as possible mediocrities among them you have to either opt for: a) a smaller league or fewer and larger divisions

bmfc1 wrote: Mets � Willets Point wrote: Great so the 87-win Cardinals have a coin-flip chance of getting in the playoffs against a team seven wins their superior from a tougher division. Thanks Bud. This is so much fairer. Yes to this. Hey, you want to avoid being put in that situation then win your division. I strongly favor this system to the one it's replacing.

Valentine is an avid cyclist. He said he was wearing a helmet. He never was during that film of him managing in Japan.

Ike picks the final day of the season to start going opposite field. His double kicked up chalk on the LF line and the HR just snuck in inside the LF foul pole. That's either a nice fluke or a nice sign.

Ashie62 wrote: The Oakland sun claims another victim wtg Josh.... Don't it make Josh's blue eyes bluer? HIs was actually one of three dropped pops (three that I know of anyway) so far in that game.

And Josh Hamilton drops a fly ball and it's 7-5 Oakland who are still batting in the 4th.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Bobby V wrecked his bike in Central Park, will spend last night as Boston mgr in bandages. Will his arm be in a sling to match the one on his ass?

And Oakland has tied it back up 5-5 in the 4th!!

Edgy DC wrote: Mets fans, MLB [crossout]hears you[/crossout] realizes they couldn't sell this game even if they sprinkled a combination of crack cocaine and chocolate frosting on it, and has therefore elected to make today's game free through mlb.tv. Fixed it for you

Ben Sheets, who hadn't pitched in thee majors since 2010 and before that in 2008 when he made his comeback vs the Mets with six 2-hit innings and a 3-0 record with just 1 earned run over his first 18 innings pitched, started for the Braves today and pitched one scoreless inning vs the Pirates and will now walk off into retirement.

Pittsburgh gets shut out on 4 hits by 8 Braves pitchers in their final game of the season to finish at 79-83

A corner OFer in the 21st century looking to match the BA from the backup SS set during the most hitting-depleted season since the dead-ball era is a rather low bar indeed.

I always used to get a kick out of the old days at the MoFo when Steve Phillips would be scheduled to go on FAN and everyone would tune in only to act like they'd been duped each and every time because "He didn't say anything" -- as if they were expecting him to lay out some menu of specifics: - "Why, yes, Mike & Dog, in early November we be trading ______ and ______ over to the ______ in exchange for _______. Then, even though it's too early to even talk to FAs yet, we'll be signing _____ _______ to a $___ million deal over ____ years. And then during the winter meetings we'll be ..."

Wow, great in-depth Savannah coverage we did this year! But anyways, the above mentioned Michael Fullmer winds up 13th in BA's year-end Top-20 prospects of the Sally league list RHP Domingo Tapia also on the list at 19th http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/10/3/3449352/bas-top-20-sally-league-prospects