Frayed Knot

Zvon wrote: DAMN! Morse's glove finds ball. We've had enough good plays made against us by more lousy outfielders in the last week to fill our quota for the next year or so.

No scores yet today, but some comings and goings around both leagues. Bad night overall last night for some top performers. - Joey Votto to the DL with torn knee meniscus. Probably out 3-4 weeks - Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays did something or other to his wrist while hitting a long foul ball last night against the Yanx. Couldn't finish the AB and has already been DL'd (I know it only seems like the Yanx miss every team's star). You usually don't see that kind of thing when someone swings and connects. Prospect Anthony Gose called up to replace him. He was part of the haul the Jays got from the Phils in the Halladay deal - Big Papi also pulled from his game Monday night. No DL yet but an MRI for his achilles - Speaking of Roy Halladay, he's back and will face the Dodgers tonight. - CC Sabathia also back following that devastating injury which kept him out the entire length of the AS break Braves hosting Giants this week Marlins in Chicago

My guess on the combative attitude from Nats fans is that it stems from their distaste for being overwhelmed by all things (not just sports) from NYC and Philly. DC, once you got past that whole seat of government thing (and even that makes it as much the butt of jokes as a bragging point), has really been a sleepy southern-(ish) kind of town for much of its history. The city as a whole seems to be building out of that recently but I think there remains a sense of little brotherism when compared to those two relative monster cities up north. Beating teams from one or both of those cities (who are, not coincidentally, rivals in football as well) is a particular point of pride for these new kids on the block.

After being offensively challenged most of the first half of 2012, I recently saw a stat showing the Nats as the [u:1bhzcww7]2nd highest scoring team[/u:1bhzcww7] since some date in late June (behind only the Pirates of all teams). Part of that was the result of the always stat-inflating trip to Colorado but they also thumped SF pitching to the tune of 24 runs over 3 games during that stretch and they certainly hit the Braves a whole lot better than we just did (or didn't). But, more recently, they're coming off an unimpressive 2-2 split in their wrap-around series in Miami where they scored a more normal for them 5, 1, 4, & 3 runs (gave up just 8 runs total)

Edgy DC wrote: Listen, the Nats have people going a little nuts. (A) The Washington Post is putting the �controversy� over Steven Strasburg�s innings limit on page fucking one. Too esteemed a publication to engage in such nonsense? Well, ( no less than The Atlantic is wondering out lout if they have the most obnoxious fans in baseball. (C) Shortstop Ian Desmond really thought he was in the right sitting out the Major League Baseball All Star Game. Hey, at least the Wash Post (Tom Boswell aside) is actually covering the Nats. That's better than the usual definition of summer in Washington being defined as when the sports section cuts back to only 80% Redskins news. Of course training camp starts in the next week or two so all bets are off at that point as what 'RGIII' eats for lunch with probably be written up on 'A1-above the fold' as newspaper people say. I wonder if the author of that Atlantic piece is doing a comparison of Nats fans to other fans or if he's just a Washintonian doing a typical Washington-centric piece on the occasion of just attending (via gift tickets of course) his first baseball game and has no real basis for comparison. - Over the past few years I've been betting on Danny Espinosa as the better up-and-coming infielder despite Desmond being the more hyped ... and I'm currently being proven wrong. Desmond, despite his free-swinging ways (or partially because of them), has really been their offensive MVP this year. On defense he has great range and will make the spectacular play but is equally capable of botching easy ones; he's kind of like the anti-Jeter in that respect. Desmond has actually sat out the past few games after playing every one prior to his ASG no-show. Could be back tonight or tomorrow though. - Zimmerman's spent most of the year hurt and/or sucking ... until about two weeks ago when he got a "cortisone" shot and has hit about .900 with 45 HRs since. His defense is good but not as good as its reputation. - The biggest thing about this team is obviously their pitching. 'Quality Starts' is a much abused stat because, for some reason, folks tend to analyze it only in single-game terms as if any stat is meaningful that way. But barely half (52% currently in 2012) of all starts qualify as a QS and when a team gets a QS they usually win. The Nats staff is sitting at an MLB-best* 66% (including 16-of-18 for Zimmermannnnn and 13/18 for Gonzalez; Detwiler brings down the avg at 4/12) and I'd be willing to bet if there were some 'sort of 'Super-Quality Start' stat (like 2 runs or fewer over X innings) that the gap between the Nats and the mean would be higher still. * Miami, Dodgers and Mets follow - in fact the top 8 QS teams are NL - Who's happier that we're missing Strasburg, our hitters or our pitchers? He's 10-for-26 this season with 4 doubles and 1 HR [.385/.448/.654] I dream of stats like that for Nieuwenhuis some day.

Final line: 6.2IP; 3H; 1R; 4BB; 4K 11/4 GB/FO

Glad I missed Sunday's MFY game otherwise I probably would have been throwing things around the room in frustration. Yanx, down 10-5 heading into the 9th, sent nine to the plate and scored three all while getting just one ball out of the infield (a HR of course). WALK HR (2 RBI) WALK IF SINGLE (fuckin' 40 y/o Ibanez beating out a dribbler) K GO (again a weak grounder, this time too slowly to be turned into a game-ending DP) WALK WALK (RBI) Fortunately ARod was there to pop-out with the bases loaded and tying + winning runs on base to end the game. Yanx hit four HRs but lost. Also gave up four. Ahhh, American League baseball. POP-OUT

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Ashie62 wrote: I fear we have seen Nieuwenhuis' ceiling. He's 24 years old. And just three days older than Dekker. But maybe that means we've seen Dekker's ceiling too. Nimmo next year.

No, GMs go to see prospects all the time and for all kinds of reasons.

Joel Sherman this morning's NY Post -- The Mets are sending a contingent of executives to Buffalo tomorrow to watch Matt Harvey�s Triple-A start against a horrible Toledo team. If they like what they see, Harvey could start Saturday at Citi Field against the Dodgers.

I don't want to say that our season is on the line over the next three series ... but it kind of is. Fortunately we have a day off for the first time in .... well, three days. I think we need it and it sure looks like the team does too. PHIGroup ProjectWA=#00BF00]SH=#00BF00]bmfc1/Edgy DCMIAGWreckATLFrayed KnotCINEdgyDCPITTEdgy DCCHICattgigStLMFS'62HOUMGiMMILWTransMonk=#0000FF]LAD=#0000FF]G-FaFiFSFGFrayed KnotSDPABN-SeoCOLLWFSARZLWFSNYYFMan99BALJCLTORJCLTBRLWFS =#BF0000]At Bat =#0000FF]On Deck =#008000]In the Hole

Not giving up 17 consecutive two-out hits would have been a help also.

Fixed

When Matt Freakin' Diaz is making back-to-back good plays against you to end games, you know you ticked off the baseball gods somewhere.

Edgy DC wrote: I meant pride for the Mets. Showing about as much as the Marlins just did. Down 4-0 to the Nats, they loaded the bases in the 9th w/no outs ... then went K, Foul-out, Foul-out - those last two outs took 3 pitches total.

Ashie62 wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: Does it matter? The starters ALL suck right now for whatever reason. But, beyond that, the hitters suck, the defense sucks, and the relievers have always sucked. At one point yesterday four different pen guys managed to start 11 straight Brave hitters off with ball one. Santana walking not only Janish but also Sheets (who hits like sheet) is merely continuing the tradition. Water finds its level Pythagoreus. That pythagorean imbalance straightened itself out weeks ago. It has nothing to do with what's going on now.

Sheets, btw, pitched twice in AA (total of 10 innings) and gave up 7 runs on 12 hits.

Does it matter? The starters ALL suck right now for whatever reason. But, beyond that, the hitters suck, the defense sucks, and the relievers have always sucked. At one point yesterday four different pen guys managed to start 11 straight Brave hitters off with ball one. Santana walking not only Janish but also Sheets (who hits like sheet) is merely continuing the tradition.

And then of course the best way to answer a big inning is to have the top of your order go out 1-2-3 without getting a ball out of the infield.

We can blame the umps and/or Sandy all we want, but this pitching staff has spent the last ten games or so as if in some sort of contest to see how many two-out RBI hits they can give up. And if that weren't enough, the bats are getting two-hit by a guy who hasn't pitched in the majors since George Bush was in the White House and I'm not even sure which one.

Yes, most AL games are a chore to watch. I didn't see this particular one but Freddie Garcia is mostly a 'nibbler' these days which likely made this one worse than most.

bmfc1 wrote: Over-managing by Shorty costs the Mets a run. Is every steal attempt "over-managing"? Or was there something about this particular one that made it so? Or are we just going to wait until we don't like the outcome and blame it on Terry when it happens?

McCann got back pretty quickly from his paternity leave thing - getting the wife preggers in the first place probably took longer. I thought that was supposed to be a 3-day deal - maybe they put him on it during the ASB

So Stankiewicz becomes the only one of the top 15 NYM picks not to sign and, at 75th overall, the 2nd highest drafted player to delay a pro career -- Mark Appel, the 8th overall pick by the Pirates is returning to Stanford for his senior year. If Stanky goes on to JuCo it would make him eligible for anyone to pick again next year. I believe this gives the Mets a extra pick in a similar spot in next year's draft.

Dickey vs Hanson Let's see if we can Ba-steal a win from these guys on their turf.