Frayed Knot

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Come on guys, this is pretty good work. Not suggesting that they're bad. Just that Stark was among the best in the biz.

Those aren't Bruce Stark caricatures, that's for sure.

Edgy DC wrote: Are we set on the O's's pitcher? Yes, an exclusive CPF investigation has revealed that they will definitely have one. Tomorrow too. Wednesday though is still up in the air.

G-Fafif wrote: Centerfield wrote: Just as there is no doubt that Benitez will ever win any sort of poll involving Mets fans. Ever. Probably not, but this vote was from a panel consisting of Howie, Gary, Marty Noble, Mike Vaccaro, John Harper and Mike Lupica. Always got the impression that Gary was never a Benitez supporter. He buys into the whole "never came through when you needed it" mantra as much as many of the fans do. Not surprising perhaps considering that he's also heavily into the Jeter/clutch connection.

Valadius wrote: Verdict imminent. He's an asshole, that's my verdict.

3-for-4, 1 run scored, 3 RBIs, 1 BB and MVP honors in the Fla St Lg ASG over the weekend.

Q: So Bryce, now that you're off to a good start in the majors, do you expect to win the batting title? A: That's a crown question bro! Q: And do you think that your 0-for-7 w/5 strike-outs day on Saturday will hurt your chances? A: That's a frown question bro!

G-Fafif wrote: Changes from 40th (fan vote) to 50th (panel): SS -- Buddy to Jose 3B -- HoJo to David OF -- Mookie and Lenny out, Cleon and Carlos in LHRP -- Franco to Tug MGR -- Gil to Davey All worthy updates IMO which reflects increased knowledge via the passage of time and/or a better voting process.

Edgy DC wrote: Nice to see Cleon get his day. Folks typically forget about Cle' when doing these things. Was it the 40th anniversary fan-vote team that had Dykstra out in LF rather then Jones? Clearly favorites play largely into these things.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: "The history of bobbleheads"? Or words to that effect.

So how do they actually shut down Strasborg? Send him to the minors? Put him on the disabled list? Keep him on 25-man roster but not use him? It'll essentially be September before they shut him down (assuming they actually do) so there's no need to pull any roster gymnastics. Just stop using him. I still think they'll find a way --longer rests between starts most likely-- to use him for the whole season and still adhere to their self-imposed innings limit. Meanwhile in Nats land: Brad Lidge has been DFA'd Facing ten Yanqui batters over the weekend and retiring four of them certainly didn't help his cause.

As Howie & Josh were saying on the radio the other night, this bobblehead actually looks like its subject. Howie, in particular, was being quite emphatic. 'I defy ANYONE to name a single bobblehead in the HISTORY OF BOBBLEHEADS that looks as good as this one!!'

Brandon Beachy - that would be NL ERA leader Brandon Beachy - on the DL due to elbow pain. MRI to check out whether bone chips or something much worse. Also, Livan Hernandez = DFA

PHIGroup ProjectWASHbmfc1/Edgy DCMIAGWreckATLFrayed KnotCINEdgyDCPITTEdgy DCCHICattgigStLMFS'62HOUMGiMMILWTransMonkLADG-FaFiFSFGFrayed KnotSDPABN-SeoCOLLWFSARZLWFS=#0000FF]NYY=#0000FF]FMan99=#FF0000]BAL=#FF0000]JCLTORJCLTBRLWFS =#BF0000]At Bat =#0000FF]On Deck In the Hole

Got somewhat lucky in that the entire NL East lost today and the other clubs went something like 2-10 this weekend while we were pulling an 0-3 so the ground lost (in the division race anyway) was limited. Reds are pitching better than we've come to expect them in recent years --not that our (lack of) bats didn't help-- but, in the end, when Wilson Valdez knocks in as many runs in a series than your team scores (he had at least five) then you haven't played a good series. - Friday's game started sucking early with the Bay play (which both turned an opposite field fly into a HR and lost us a RH bat to a team with a lefty-heavy bullpen) and never really got better. - Saturday essentially turned on a bad 0-2/2-out 1st inning pitch to Jay Bruce - And today can mostly be chalked up to the hits we didn't get noted earlier in the thread. Tough enough to win when all you're getting is singles and when few if any of them are timely it's even worse. Hell, even in the inning when they got three straight hits they still needed a 2-out gift walk to the pitcher in order to score what turned out to be their only run. In the end, these past few series reveal us a virtually the definition of a mediocre ballclub; capable of beating good teams when they're playing well but also of looking like shit against anyone.

Haven't gotten a hit when we've needed it the whole weekend. Biggest offenders today were Nieuwenhuis w/the bags loaded in the 2nd; Wright's GiDP; Hairston's PH AB w/2-on The call I'd like to "appeal" is the strike-three call Young did NOT get early in the game that eventually led to the 2nd & 3rd runs the Reds notched.

bmfc1 wrote: I know that Duda is slow, but shouldn't he have been on 2d on the ball that went to the RF wall? If he went he would have been out by 15 feet. That play turned out to kill the whole inning too after Ike's ball became a DP. But if you want to talk about Duda being slow (or at least not aggressive enough) where the hell was he on the one that Murph caught over his shoulder? No harm done as it turned out, but he's got to call the infielder off on plays like that.

There's one over-riding reason to win this game: You can't call yourself a major league baseball team if you lose a game to a team with Miguel Cairo and Wilson Valdez and Willie Harris all in the starting lineup at the same time.

It wasn't that I refrained from watching it - I was just doing other things along the way so only caught it here and there - it's just that I can't bring myself to pull for the Yanx even when it's in our best interest. The only thing that changes when they're playing an NL East team is that I feel less pissed-off if they do win.

I saw just a few innings here and there of this game ... but I'm just constitutionally incapable of rooting for the Yanx. Maybe next year when there'll be season-long inter-league and the Yanx get one of our division foes during September as we're fighting for the title down the stretch, I'll manage. But until then ...

Justin Turner en route from Buffalo to Queens and will be activated if/when the expected move of Jason Bay to the DL happens.

This game was typical MFY. Davey walked PHer Cano (not sure why he didn't start) to load the base and get to Jeter with the Yanx up by 1. Jeter hit the desired grounder but, in a fashion we saw all too much of last week, hit it too shitty to be turned into a DP and then when SS Desmond overthrew 1st trying to get the only out that was possible all hell broke loose.

Dickey - 6.0 Wright - 0.4 Rottino 0.4 Davis - 0.8 Torres - 0.8 Nickeas - 0.8 Murphy - 0.8

Nymr83 wrote: Hairston really needs to be starting most days at this point. Torres needs to sit the bench so Duda-Hairston-Kirk can play unless Ike starts looking bad enough to get sent down (he's had the mild beginnings of a rebound but he's not there yet at all.) Keep in mind also that a regular rotation of Duda-Hairston-Nieuwenhuis means more ABs for Kirk against LHPs where he's hitting .200 with 1 XBH, and also more ABs for Hairston against RHPs where he's hitting under .200 with one (now two) of his nine HRs The old 'addition by subtraction' theory is rarely as advantageous as it might seem at first glance.

Entire NL East loses 'cept Braves who leap-frog us into 2nd.