Frayed Knot

Two more weak-ass ground-outs and a sky-high pop. I count [u:1zejl7gf]One[/u:1zejl7gf] hard out all night - Torres's liner to LF which was, ironically enough, too hard to score the runner from 3rd.

The legacy of these last two Houdini acts will be to make this a 1-0 loss rather than a blowout.

And walking two guys right after that would be a perfect topping.

Oh good, let's put another fucking leadoff guy on. And if you could make it a .145 hitter with an 0-2 count, Bobby, that would be just real peachy. And while we're at it, just when was Parnell's last 1-2-3 inning anyway? I'm guessing it was some time in 2010

I would have PH'd Murphy there rather than Ike (needing one or two runs rather than four) but I also don't think it would have made the slightest bit of difference. Muffy just would have found a different way to make an out. And we still have only had one hitter move another one up with a hit. Wright had to move himself up twice w/steals.

Not often that you get out of an inning where your pitchers start six straight hitters off with a 2-0 count.

And another RBI chance is met with yet another wet noodle of a ground ball.

Good thing we missed Strasburg otherwise we might be getting shut-out thru 4 or something.

Frayed Knot wrote: This is what the Nats have been doing for like the last month or so - living off HRs like they're the first-half season Yanx. And, as if on cue, Homer - Single - Homer up in Fenway and the Yanx lead 3-0

This is what the Nats have been doing for like the last month or so - living off HRs like they're the first-half season Yanx. Meanwhile, we've had six different ABs with a runner on 1st and [u:34m5vk87]one[/u:34m5vk87] managed to move the up (Shoppach's single). The others have been Ks, force-outs, and pop/fly-outs. And then there was the dope who got himself out all on his own.

But, I forgot, we're not allowed to score.

Are we allowed to have 3 hits prior to the 7th inning?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think his know-it-all tendencies are most apparent during Sweeny's reports, a lot of them lately are just Mike interrupting then lecturing the poor guy. True, but the differences are mostly just a matter of degrees. The funny thing in that clip is that when MF does snap out of it he appears to be pissed at the behind-the-scenes guys for allowing him to nod off in the first place.

Lousy? - Well if that were the deciding factor then I don't think teams would be running towards Baltimore six years back or Toronto now unless proximity and/or integration were also involved. Unprofitable? - Yeah, although I don't know how that affects the minor league club since those are independently owned. If nothing else the lack of FA cash at the top level would lead a team in the Mets situation to concentrate more on the draft No fun to be around? - I don't really know what that means. Attendance sucks here because the ML team 200/400/1,000 miles away isn't exciting enough? Like I said, there may be something here that NYM mgmt aren't doing right, although if there is I haven't seen it spelled out yet. Or it may be something that we're blaming Jeff Wilpon for simply because blaming Jeff Wilpon makes us feel better whether whatever is going on is actually his fault or not.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That's great. Usually when Sweeney's on, Francessa never lets him get a word in because Mike can't stand to look as though he can possibly be informed of anything regarding the MFYs, since he already knows it, particularly better than some wet-behind-the-ears beat jockey. Francesa does that with everyone concerning every sport; his interviews don't ask questions, they make statements in order to see if the interviewee agrees with him. Just because Sweeny has been doing this for 10 years or so doesn't get him off the hook.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Vic, it's not the loss of Buffalo as a place that causes me angst, or even a comparison of Buffalo and Vegas as places, it's the idea of the Mets once again losing the game of musical chairs because of every team in baseball, none has a reputation for giving less of a shit for their partners than the Mets. The organization ought to be embarrassed but I'm sure its not. The thing is though, the NYM-Binghamton relationship is one of the longest running in not just the Eastern League but in all of the minors as was the one with Tidewater/Norfolk one by the time it ended, so it's not like two-year-and-out minor league relations has been a long-standing problem with the team. Now has something changed recently that makes AAA teams in the eastern half of this country not want us? I dunno. There were vague stories that the Norfolk group felt un-loved by NYM brass, but I also read that had nothing to do with it, that it was a case of that ownership group buying up several teams in the mid-atlantic area which were all Baltimore affiliates and so switching to the Birds gave them a whole vertical alignment of minor league teams and just one organization to deal with. Now is this Buffalo switch some kind of anti-Wilpon move? Or was hooking up with much-closer Toronto simply a more attractive offer, especially seeing as how those two cities have been practically sharing an NFL team lately? I agree that the musical chairs thing is far from ideal, but I don't know that it's anything more than bad timing that's causing it.

HahnSolo wrote: How many of the voters, do you suppose, base their vote more on the 'traditional' stats as opposed to the "sabermetric" stats as posted by BML? I still think most guys just look at wins, era, Ks, and the eye test. I can't imagine Bill Madden casting his vote with Base-Out Runs Saved being the deciding factor, but I could be wrong. I actually think many of the baseball writers have altered their views enough to where they're no longer hanging onto narrow views of just W/L/ERA -- and that it's two active (and revolving) writers per city then fresh views are constantly introduced as opposed to the everyone who's ever written gets to hang onto their vote like the HoF. The non-baseball pundits plus a handful of old baseball fogies are still likely to scream and yell if the "wrong" guy gets it like they did when Felix Hernandez won with, what was it, 13 wins a couple years back? ... but those guys don't vote and fuck them anyway. I think they're going to look at pitchers who are on teams that are going to the postseason and that will eliminate Dickey before any other considerations. I do think this will be a factor with some voters. Not that they'll eliminate him from the get-go kind of thing but that enough will use the non-competing team as a kind of tie-breaker to make this a tough get for Dickey. Cueto, Gio Gonzalez, Kershaw, plus relievers Chapman & Kimbrel are all going to have the team-in-contention thing on their side and RA clearly will not.

Philly wins -- Dodgers lose -- Cardinals lose -- Pirates lose aka: the cheese-steak version of quadruple happiness this September Brewers also won to keep pace with the Phils and make this a double-improbable run for the WC Both teams have identical 71-71 records and sit 4 games out of the #2 WC

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Maybe a barge? Let's try a barge. It's not home, it's not away, and if this team ends up the same way next year, you just set the thing on fire and start again. With the team still on it of course.

Yanquis lose, Thuuuuuuuu Yanquis lose!! Walk-off RBI single by Ellsbury in bottom 9 Baltimore beat Tampa so there's a tie back in the East. Tampa stays 2 games back, only behind two teams instead of one

Then there's the old joke about your team only having three problems 1) They can't win at home 2) They can't win on the road 3) They can't figure out where else to play

We're wasting a very nice season from Hairston. Now if only we hadn't gone hitless with about 8 Ks since the 5th inning his HR there may have actually meant something.

Yeah, I don't know who Rick is or what that has to do with complaints about his defense -- but whatever.

Back to the CitiField thing - every team in the NL East has a winning record at CitiField except for ... the New York Mets Phils = 17-16 Braves = 22-16 Marlins = 17-16 Nats = 20-15 Mets = 152-161 That right there is a big part of the problem. Now we just have to figure out how to solve it.

The Second Spitter wrote: Bay earning his pay in defense! C'mon, he was supposed to catch that! Can we at least limit ourselves to blaming him for things that are actually his fault? Lord knows that list is long enough by itself.