Frayed Knot

Don't forget to mock the offense here for leaving so many chances un-cashed. - Nats win tonight despite only getting three hits and none after the 1st inning. - Braves beat Yanx this afternoon. Nine HRs hit in YSIII - five by Braves including two by Heyward. - Phils just won vs Colorado in the 9th walk-off style on consecutive two-out infield singles - Marlins getting crushed by the BoSox and will end the night just a game ahead of the Phils for last place. Streaky freakin' team.

And they win the damn thing ...

Frayed Knot wrote: I don't hate that walk so much. I will hate another one however.

I don't hate that walk so much.

I don't like this tying run at the plate shit. Plus I don't want Betemit up again. If I diss the guy anymore he'll wind up in the HoF

Fman99 wrote: Iced coffee is the cure for intercity rivalry baseball and ham-fisted acting. Particularly when shot from an angle that makes Girardi look about a foot taller than Terry. I mean, I know Terry is short, but Girardi's not making it in the NBA either.

Zvon wrote: themetfairy wrote: Not a bad call. If you hit the ball with your bat twice, you're out. Thought he had to be out of the batters box. But then again I thought it hit him, not the bat. I like how we have had so many more good breaks as opposed to bad breaks so far this season. At least it feels that way. The batter was still in the box but the ball was in fair territory when it connected with the bat - I believe that's what determines foul vs out.

I consider five or more runs to be out of bullpen blowup range. Seven or more to get beyond nail-biting territory. If we get to the 9th inning you can knock those totals down by one each.

Betemit's a really useful utility-infielder-with-pop guy, though. He's on his seventh team and will likely hit four or five more before he's done. He often starts a season on the bench but ends up playing every day for half of it, as soon as they figure out where they need him. A lot of one-year deals ahead for him. Oh yeah, he's certainly not a waste. Took longer to get going than originally hoped and sometimes it's hard to shoe-horn him into a position. Just tough to think of him as a one-time SS prospect much less a top-notch one. oe: and at least he's fared better than the guy who was neck-and-neck with Wright for the top 3B prospect once upon a time -- Andy Marte

We've 'bounced' ourselves out of a couple of runs tonight. We should also have a bigger lead at this point.

I remember Hardy as a good defensive player when he had those couple good years with Milwaukee - and he seems to still be. Not flashy, but fundamentally sound and can make all the plays. Betemit, on the other hand, was a hot-shot SS prospect around the same time Reyes was. Betemit was often ranked as high or higher because scouts liked his power better. But Reyes had him in speed obviously as well as the greater likelihood of staying and thriving at SS. In the long run, not only did Betemit not turn into the hitter some thought but clearly is barely a competent corner infielder much less a SS.

TransMonk wrote: Rubin on Twitter: When you see Daniel Murphy tonight in a dugout camera shot -- no, he did not lose a bet. I wonder what that is all about. Usually a comment like that implies a bad (or at least unusual) haircut. I haven't seen a shot yet.

Our thoughts at the time of the signing Basically 18 of the 32 of us who voted (there are 32 of us?!?) were, to varying degrees, of the opinion that Sandy should have matched the deal that Florida gave him. 7 more were on the fence. 7 others wanted no part of it.

That's about as close to an all RH hitting line-up as this crew can come. Matusz was a top prospect at one point and certainly isn't past his sell-by date in that category. Just slower than expected in getting there which is common with pitchers, but he's certainly capable of throwing a good one on occasion.

metirish wrote: I have a vague memory of Peterson saying that Kazmir's mechanics were an elbow injury waiting to happen..........this may have been said a few years later though. I think it was commonly said that Peterson said that, but that's different from him actually saying that. And, yes, Kazmir was part of a whole contingent of NYM pitchers who were tested in Andrews bio-mechanics lab or whatever it was called. I recall Peterson saying (well after the fact) that no red flags were raised at that time and that he rarely if ever saw Kaz pitch after that. Of course, if red flags were raised it wouldn't be the sort of thing a team would announce. And, again, Peterson was the major league pitching coach at the time while Kazmir was mostly in A-ball. Peterson's main complaint, or suggestion if you will, was that very few pitchers had succeeded in the majors without at least 500 minor league innings and certainly not those from out of high school. Kazmir had around 200 minor league innings under his belt and just 4 starts above A-ball at the time of the trade. Whether his promotion by Tampa at age 20 and after just an additional 25 or so innings of minor league ball contributed to him not reaching his hoped-for potential and, in effect, being done as a useful pitcher by the age of 25 is conjecture, although I think most would agree that the track he was put on pretty neatly fits the description of being rushed unnecessarily. The Rays certainly weren't going anywhere in a hurry in 2004.

Ceetar wrote: In the end Peterson was right about Kazmir's long term viability, but he did get some good years in and it would've been nice to have him in '06-'08. Peterson never said a word - at least not that has become public knowledge - about Kazmir and his long term viability. The only way Peterson was ever tied to that deal (despite repeated attempts by Joe Badabingo to act as if Rick himself was solely responsible) was to say that he didn't think someone with that slim a minor league track record was nearly ready to contribute at that point in the majors. Met mgmt, mainly the "wise old men" that the Wilpons installed to watch over Duquette's shoulder, wanted someone who could contribute NOW!!! hence the trades. Peterson never predicted future injuries for Kaz and claimed to have only seen him throw once or twice since he was mainly assigned to the minor league camps during ST. Besides, we all know it was Al Leiter who ordered the deal since he was pissed at Kazmir for changing radio stations in the clubhouse. It's funny, because that was the first year the Mets had a stats guy, so you'd think they wouldn't have been as high on Zambrano who was a low-K high-BB guy. They seemed to like the win % on a bad team instead. He was an innings type guy, but those aren't the guys that put you over the top in pennant races. Once of the 'Wise Ol Men' (Livesay maybe) was reportedly in love with Zambrano from way back and apparently never altered his opinion despite a mediocre at best track record in the majors.

He was the scout portrayed (though I don't believe named) talking to young Billy Beane and parents in 'Moneyball'

Santana - 3.3 Parnell - 0.4 Batista - 0.3 Rauch - 0.3 Duda - 2.6 Valdespin - 1.6 Murphy - 0.6 Wright - 0.3 Quintanilla - 0.3 Thole - 0.3

Young - 3.3 Rauch - 0.3 Francisco - 0.3 Thole - 1.0

My point wasn't to pick apart his punctuation or syntax, but it's that flowery language of his when describing baseball fields and games which entrances some while it absolutely infuriates non-baseball fans.

Niese - 1.0 Batista - 0.5 Murphy - 1.0 Wright - 1.0 Duda - 0.4 Davis - 0.4 Hairston - 0.4

Gee - 0.75 Nieuwenhuis - 1.5 Hairston - 1.5 Davis - 0.25

Rauch - 0.7 Parnell - 0.3 Byrdak - 0.3 Francisco - 0.4 Nieuwenhuis - 3.0 Duda - 1.3 Wright - 1.5 Bay - 1.0 Davis - 1.0 Thole - 0.5

That's two Baltimore vs NY games that totaled right around 4-1/2 hours ... a fact which has Orioles fans thinking; that's usually ONE game when we play that other New York team

That sentence perfectly illustrates why some folks love, while others hate, the writing of Roger Angell.