Frayed Knot

C'mon Hefner, do hurt 'em.

That kind of nose-dive is almost inexplicable and it's earned Hamilton some grief from both owner Nolan and some of the Texas fans.. Here's a suggestion: put a breathalyzer on him. The thing about Hamilton is, given his history, being slightly over the line is not likely to be the source of his hitting woes. He's definitely more of the feast or famine type. He's either going to be stone cold sober, or lying in a gutter somewhere.

A quick look around the league now that we have a bit of time to kill prior to the late game tonight from the west coast - OK, which of you had Cincy winning their last 10 straight and 17 of their last 19 (that's losing twice since before the AS break) and all coming after losing Joey Votto to injury? ... None of you, that's who. Part of it's been a soft-ish spot in the schedule and that continues tonight as SD visits the Queen City. But they now sit tied with Washington (and ahead of the MFYs) for the best record in baseball to this point (61-40). Aroldis Chapman has saved 12 of those 17 recent wins - giving up 0 runs on 5 hits with 2 BBs and 28 Ks over that time - Josh Hamilton April + May: .368/.422/.764; 21 HRs; 39 Ks June + July: .189/.278/.357; 7 HRs; 56 Ks That kind of nose-dive is almost inexplicable and it's earned Hamilton some grief from both owner Nolan and some of the Texas fans. Not the kind of stretch drive you want with free-agency coming up this year- especially with his age (31) and history working against him.

Ceetar wrote: back in '08 and '09 when Luis Castillo was out-OBP'ing Reyes as a singles hitter, it always seemed to me that it'd make more sense to let him get his walks leading off and then have Reyes be able to drive him to third/in. Castillo was still above average speed wise, swiped some bags, could go first-third and more often than not allow Reyes to steal (or double steal) if that was the play. Jerry's answer at the time was always that 'Luis doesn't like hitting leadoff' (I believe he even said that directly to someone here - GWreck? - at ST one spring) - as if that alone was enough to scotch the idea. But even if that weren't sufficient, it all got tangled up with the fact that Reyes obviously did like hitting first, that the team had some skin in the image of Reyes as the 'exciting leadoff guy', and that a large segment of the fans and mediots were mentally wedded (if not physically welded) to the pre-ordained thought that Reyes could only and would only succeed at the top of the order that they were just laying in wait for Jose's first 0-fer-4 so they could pronounce the grand experiment a monumental disaster and demand an immediate return to their idea of normalcy. No one, least of all Jerry, had the stones or the backing to buck all those horses pulling against him even assuming he was ever really committed to it in the first place.

Huston Street - long a target of trade speculation - instead just signed at 2-year extension with the Padres.

Yeah, the good news/bad news on him so far is that he's walking a ton, but also K-ing a bit too. And a decent amount of doubles, which is a good sign as two-baggers from teenagers tend to morph into HRs later on. Except when they don't of course.

Are you ready for a 4-gamer in San Fran starting with 3 late night starts and wrapping up with a daytime affair? No? Well let�s hope the team is. - Monday 10:15 PM EDT -- Hefner vs Bumgarner [11-6; 3.10 ERA; 1.04 WHiP] - Tuesday 10:15 -- Harvey vs Lincecum [4-11; 5.88; 1.51] - Wednesday 10:15 -- Niese vs Cain [10-3; 2.80; 0.97] - Thursday 3:45 -- Young vs Zito [8-7; 3.89; 1.35] Our seemingly standard assortment of seeing half our opponents go with LH starters - Bumgarner & Zito in this case We last saw the Giants for a 4-gamer in just the 5th series of the year back in Apirl at Citi. Mets came away with a 1-3 record from that, losing the opener when Frank-Frank gave up 1 in the 10th; overcoming a combined Frank-Frank + Rauch meltdown in game 2 and winning on a rare walk-off; they then proceeded to get skunked in the 3rd & 4th ones by Bumgarner and, in one of his few good games this whole season, Lincecum. SF greets us at 55-46 with a virtually even RS/RA ratio and a mediocre 11-11 record during July. They just got swept at home by LA (shut-out twice) which dropped them into a virtual 1st place tie in the NL West with those very same Dodgers and right in the middle of the WC(s) hunt for whoever falls behind in that battle. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes: Almost NONE since we saw them in April. This tam has, with the use of some platooning at 1B, 2B & RF, started virtually the same players all year long and needed just one game start outside their five regulars. Man I wonder what that�s like? It�s like maybe that kooky city government they have out there declared the China Basin region of the city where the ballpark sits to be some kind of �Transaction Free Zone�. I wouldn�t put it past them. The few changes they have had to make recently include: - Just traded for Marco Scutaro, mostly to fill in at 3B at this point although he can play SS & 2B also - Just reactivated 1B/OF Aubrey Huff from DL where he�s spent most of the year - And just added ersatz AS starter Pedro Sandaval to the DL for the 2nd time this year, this time for a yanked hammy. Panda had been playing a little 1B for a few games and did a full split while receiving a throw, reminding me of when I saw the similarly built Harmon Killebrew do the same during an ASG like a million years ago ... except that Killebrew�s was even uglier. It was like you could hear the hammy rip on TV and that wasn�t even with high-def. Lineup? Sure they have one. 1B - Brandon Belt Just sort of shuffling along in this his second ML season despite his minor league promise. I mean yeah he�s in a pitchers� park, but only 4 HRs from a 6' 5" IB-man?!?! If he were an Olympian the long and lean Belt would be on the volleyball squad but, as a native Texan, it would be the indoor variety since he would have learned the game in the HS and college gyms not on the beaches. 2B - Ryan Theriot Ryan the Riot has virtually no power (0 HRs and only 11 doubles) but with his decent speed and French name we�re going to stick him on the cycling team SS - Brandon Crawford Eh hitter with a good glove.{.236/.290/.340] Now this 6� 2� Californian would be their guy on the beach VB scene 3B - Marco Scutaro An arrival via a Saturday night trade to replace the injured Panda, whatever he gives them is going to beat the hell out of whatever they'd get from brief NYM Joquin Arias who now gets knocked back to the bench. Not sure where the Italian/Venezuelan Scutaro would wind up, but I could see Panda, between his bulk and surprising athleticism, on the Judo team but only because Sumo isn�t yet an Olympic sport. LF - Melky Carbrera The real surprise of the season [.356/.397/.526 + an NL-leading 139 hits] their AS and now #3 hitter has been their best acquisition this season even though he�s on his 4th team in 4 years. Melky strikes me as the Dominican Republic�s lone wrestling representative. Sure he�s a bit too chunky which would force him into competing in a too-high weight class causing him to get his ass kicked by some lean/mean Turk or Bulgarian in the first round, but he�d be celebrated at a homecoming anyway just for the effort. CF - Angel Pagan Is having the same mix of good, bad, and ugly that we all knew him for around here. [.277/.322/.397] Would make a good decathlete although would probably lose some points in the strength events and lord knows where his shot-put and discus throws would wind up. Plus he might run the wrong way in the sprints or decide to go under the hurdles. RF - Gregor Blanco He gets conflated in my mind with Omar Infante and Geraldo Parra to the point where I�m not convinced that they�re different people, although if they are we should just enter them all as a relay team. And when he�s not playing Nate Schierholtz fills in whenever he gets free time from the German Team Handball squad. C - Buster Posey Hitting great and playing near every day following his lost 2011 season although is seeing more and more time at 1B lately (like one game out of three). He�s no longer blocking the plate these days but, really, how often is that going to matter? And if Buster were an Olympian he�d just quit and go right back to good ol� American football cuz that�s just what all 6� 2�-220 lb guys named Buster who grow up in Georgia and go to college at Florida State do. Pen: Santiago Casilla is their designated closer in the absence of media whore Brian Wilson But Sergio Romo seems to be the best reliever with his 1.17 ERA and 0.82 WHiP Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt are their LH relievers although with Duda & Nieuwenhuis disappearing by the day the emphasis for opposing managers to keep their LHPs on constant �Code Red� has been lessened lately. This series, plus the one in Sandy Eggo which follows it, represent our last west coast swing of the year (and there was much rejoicing ... Yay!) and there will be only two series outside the eastern time zone (3 games each in StL & Mil) for the remainder of the year.

Sawx finally win it with a run in the 9th but not before getting the short end of several calls -- Bobby got hisself tossed after the worst of them.

We're definitely slicing some cheapies down the line. Hairston, Murph & now Thole all have one of those today and all three have knocked in a run.

Dickey has another three-runner inning. And Bay ends another inning.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Hot damn. Just turned the game on...timely hitting and only one hit off Dickey so far? Looks like old times. Yeah, the only antsy part is that Dickey's one hit allowed and his one walk allowed and his one HBP all came in the same inning. Fortunately the pitcher was up next and he got a harmless two-out pop-out. He's been 1-2-3 every inning otherwise.

This is starting to remind me of the trivia question/joke that was used frequently with Ordonez back in the day: Q - Who bats after Jason Bay? A - The other team

bmfc1 wrote: ... and how about Bay getting on base! Unfortunately I think that fills his quota for the rest of the week.

Rox deal (one-time NYM) Marco Scutaro to SF for an infield prospect.

Mets actually out-hit the Snakes tonight ... but they bunched their hits and we didn't, and they got hits with men on and we didn't.

Tying run at the plate. Wright gets up unless there's a DP One more batter needs to get on to get Ike up again.

OK, let's hit this Putz

As soon as you saw the catcher call for the pitch up high you knew Nieuwenhuis was toast.

Ike's losing it.

Tonight is really only his second lousy start of the 10 he's made. The rest have been a combination of good and mediocre. The biggest problem is that we're not getting much length out of him. Sometimes that's been his fault, sometimes not so much.

bmfc1 wrote: Other than "because someone has to start" and "they have nobody else", why is Young still on the team? Maybe because he's given up 3 runs or less in 8 of his 9 starts prior to tonight? Look, I think it's safe to say that he won't be in the CY race but let's not act like he's been awful either.

We need to go at least four batters over the minimum in order to get Ike up twice more in this game. The double bonus is that, if they actually do that, hoping that Ike hits his fourth might not be the only thing worthwhile over the final three innings of this game.

1) Ruben Tejada SS 2) Jordany Valdespin RF 3) David Wright 3B 4) Ike Davis 1B 5) Daniel Murphy 2B 6) Jason Bay LF 7) Kirk Nieuwenhuis CF 8) Josh Thole C 9) Chris Young RHP Arizona Diamondbacks 1) Gerardo Parra CF 2) Aaron Hill 2B 3) Jason Kubel LF 4) Paul Goldschmidt 1B 5) Justin Upton RF 6) Miguel Montero C 7) Stephen Drew SS 8) Ryan Wheeler 3B 9) Ian Kennedy RHP

Acosta - 0.4 Wright - 2.5 Davis - 1.1 Murphy - 0.6 Torres - 0.6 Tejada - 0.4 Valdespin - 0.4

Between the two early HRs, the hitters' park environment, and the 'eh' pitcher the Snakes were throwing out there, I though this was going to be one of those nights where we'd hit enough to at least be in it at the end despite any early deficit. Instead, following Wright's 3rd inning/still no outs HR, NYM bats got all of two balls out of the infield for the rest of the game as 10 ground-outs, 7 strike-outs, and an infield liner made up the rest of the game interrupted only by Tejada's infield single, two walks, and two fly-outs. As some basketball player said one time; "Whoop-de-damn-do"