Frayed Knot

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Bases loaded with no outs, top of the order and the best we can do is a run on a fielder's choice to the pitcher. That's horrible. Hey, that RBI shot went at least 65 feet! Or at least it did once the roll was included.

Once again there are runners on and the middle of the lineup up with two shots at it. And do we get the ball out of the infield? -- No we do not.

My faith in our hitting into GiDPs just when they're the most killer is surpassed only by my lack of faith in our ability to turn one when it most matters.

Now Nats bull-penners, specifically Henry Rodriguez, are going to make sure that Byrdak's barf does matter in the outcome. Two lead-off walks would be a lot scarier if this were still a two-run game.

It's simply a matter of whose turn it is to suck that day. On the other hand, when you're getting four-hit, whatever goes on pitching-wise is unlikely to matter much today.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Dickey as trade bait makes a whole lotta sense, especially if the Mets could pull off another Beltran for Wheeler type deal. Except that there's a difference here. - Dickey shows every sign of being able to being a winning pitcher past this year (plus has a reasonable contract to make it possible) so, before dealing him, you want to get someone who'll have a good chance at giving you something above and beyond that. - With Beltran, we knew at mid-year last year that he wasn't going to contribute past September so whatever we got for him was, by definition, a net plus. Wheeler, for as good as he looks so far, is still two jumps below the majors and needs to be consider nothing more than potential at this point. The progress he's made since the deal is what's making it look good right now but let's not pretend that he couldn't just as easily gone the other way. IOW, Dickey is in a position where simply getting something for him doesn't automatically make it worth dealing him. I'd want somebody, or several bodies, that are a lot more ML ready than some promising Single-A pitcher.

I think the Nats have reached the upper deck in CitiField more often in this series alone than the Mets have since the place opened.

I wouldn't mind sending a message - although buzzing one behind a guys head isn't the way you want to see it.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Wait, Carlos Lee is on the Marlins? How did that happen? That's the nutty thing about what they're doing here. Four months ago they were adding FAs seemingly every week. Two months ago they were dealing away prospects to get established veterans. And now they're dumping established players in an attempt to get younger and cheaper.

Some mix of Eric Chavez & Jayson Nix will play there for now. Eduard Nunez, who played a bunch while ARod was sidelined last season, was demoted earlier this year and is now hurt. Nunez is a typical MFY hitter (high Ks, lots of HRs) so he'd fit right in, but he's also hoping that one day he can be as good a fielder as Daniel Murphy or Dan Uggla.

Ashie62 wrote: Travis Hafner is pitching? Who did we trade. We traded Mike Pelfrey, Dillon Gee, and Johan Santana to the DL for several players to be named earlier.

Your math lesson for the day kiddies King Felix + baseball + ARod's hand = DL x 6 weeks

metirish wrote: And for whatever reason fans are not showing up to a brand new stadium. Hope the city didn't stick one of those clauses in where they'd guarantee to make-up any short-fall in anticipated revenue if the projected attendance boost didn't materialize. Hell, they gave them everything else. Did they get good pieces for Ramirez? Doesn't seem like much, does it, for a guy with that talent under control for 2-1/2 more seasons? Guess he gets to move back to SS now. I guess I am wondering if they shopped around and if they could have gotten more, hefty salary though. I know Boston was at least kicking the tires - which would be interesting because that's where he originally came from. Those rumors involved a whole expansive thing that, if true, made it a whole lot less likely to happen. Stuff like Bell & Hanley going in exchange for Crawford and someone else.

That photo is so good I think I have to go change my shorts.

While they shouldn't be afraid to talk any team about anyone, the dumbest thing fans and often teams do in this type of situation is decide ahead of time that someone MUST be traded. It's not an either/or thing. So if someone knocks you over with an offer, sure. But RA is currently signed, is very affordable, is not faltering, is unique enough to where his age may not be the same factor as it is for most pitchers, and is really, really good. You don't trade that just to trade it in hope that the guy you get back might be good some day.

While many media types in the pre-season were touting the Marlins based on their new park-induced spending spree, I remained on the wary side of the fence being skeptical of the team trying to spend their way not merely to get from good to over-the-top but in an attempt to leap directly from the bottom up to contending status. It rarely works and I didn't think it would this time either. So while I'm not going to claim that I saw this specific action coming, I'm not all that surprised except maybe at the speed in which it happened. You rarely see a team change course so quickly, going from big FA spending spurts to fire sale status in barely half a year.

Niese - 3.0 Parnell - 1.0 Murphy - 2.5 Wright - 1.6 Davis - 0.5 Nieuwenhuis - 0.8 Valdespin - 0.8

Edgin - 0.8 Byrdak - 0.5 Cedeno - 1.5 Murphy - 1.0 Hairston - 1.0 Nieuwenhuis - 1.0 Bay - 1.0

Somebody get that chick a chesseburger.

Beato - 0.8 Byrdak - 0.5 Rauch - 0.5 Murphy - 2.5 Valdespin - 2.0 Tejada - 0.5 Bay - 0.5 Hairston - 0.5

Wandy Rodriguez to the Pirates You'd think Pitt needs hitting more than pitching but everybody's going for hurlers right now.

Figures that tonight's the night we get near-flawless relief pitching.

That dude's a freak! I'm still not sure how good he is, but he's a definite freak.

Kong76 wrote: (I can sing the whole song word for word still) You mean there are people who can't? (aside from these freakin' kids I mean) Wikipedia claims she was just 16 y/o when filming started on that show.

Until about 2-3 weeks ago I would have felt reasonably confident of the bats fighting back to make this a game and maybe even tie it or go ahead*. Not anymore. * Only to have the pen blow it later of course but at least it would be interesting for a while