Frayed Knot

And now the A's release Manny before ever promoting him, supposedly at Manny's request.

On the bright side, it was twenty years ago today plus nine when they dumped Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey off for some guy from St Louis - a move which Keith claimed sent him into the shower crying before calling his agent to see if he had enough money to retire rather than subject himself to New York. Silly boy.

Nymr83 wrote: bmfc1 wrote: "Possible concussion" for Bay--if so, does that end his season? Do the Mets have injury insurance on his contract? (Is that not standard in mlb? I know in the nba it was a big deal that the knicks couldn't insure stoudemire bc of his back) Certainly not standard and, like Grimm said, often prohibitively expensive. If there is a policy there's a good chance that it's limited to things like career-ending injuries (too soon to know whether this will be that) and often it doesn't even cover the final year because clubs are most concerned with being on the hook for multiple years of an unusable player and so it's easier to simply save the premium for that last year.

What was surprising to me was that article I read that said the Mets were assholes for putting in the protest. Wha? Of course they should go through the motions? Why not?! Well, the 'Why Not' is because, even if successful, it serves to boost the interests of one player but at the expense of another. And all of it for the purpose of creating a somewhat artificially contrived 'moment' that the team can celebrate. Or, to put it another was, it's like on 'Scrubs' when Dr. Cox said to Elliot right after losing a patient just before his shift ended and she wanted to delay recording it until just after midnight: "There's nothing wrong with a one-hitter, there, Barbie. In fact, it's miraculous. And I won't have you of all people cheapen what should be an endless pursuit of perfection just because you want the world to laugh with you tonight."

bmfc1 wrote: This weekend, we have to root for the MFYs. (Sigh.) Either Bryce Harper's favorite team will win ... or the Nats will.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Appeal denied. It remains a one-hitter. Not even slightly surprising. Unless Torre et al found that the scorer made some kind of ruling that went against whatever guidelines scorers are supposed to use there was no way this was happening. That call of H-or-E was never anything more than a subjective matter of opinion.

New York Mets 1) Kirk Nieuwenhuis CF 2) Daniel Murphy 2B 3) David Wright 3B 4) Lucas Duda RF 5) Ike Davis 1B 6) Jason Bay LF 7) Josh Thole C 8) Omar Quintanilla SS 9) Dillon Gee RHP Cincinnati Reds 1) Zack Cozart SS 2) Wilson Valdez CF 3) Joey Votto 1B 4) Brandon Phillips 2B 5) Jay Bruce RF 6) Todd Frazier 3B 7) Ryan Ludwick LF 8) Ryan Hanigan C 9) Bronson Arroyo RHP

Swan Swan H wrote: Bill O'Reilly with the first pitch. [insert jokes about the pitch being wide right here]

Chapman's been showing a crack or two right? Let's see if we can't burst that dam. Yeah, I guess you could call it that, small sample size and all: - first 24 outings: 29 IP; 0 ER*; 7 Hits (1 XBH); 52 K; 9 BB - last 3 outings: 3 IP; 4 ER; 5 Hits (4 XBHs); 4 K 1 BB -- including a PH HR by Cleveland middle infielder Jose Lopez * the only run he had given up all year prior to this past week had been an unearned one to the Mets: [Wright walked -- Duda singled (one of two hits he gave up in the month of May) -- Murph looped one off the CF's glove for an error to load the bases -- Turner his a Sac Fly for the un-earned run. Cedeno then K'd -- Hairston walked to re-load the bases but then Baxter K'd] Still not the guy I want to see come out to face our lefty-heavy line-up. LHBs have 4 singles in 38 ABs this year plus 3 BBs and a HBP

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/amazin_prospect_wheel_deals_MN4LfT9hsurn9yfrxBi0xL

PHIGroup ProjectWASHbmfc1/Edgy DCMIAGWreckATLFrayed KnotCINEdgyDCPITTEdgy DCCHICattgigStLMFS'62HOUMGiMMILWTransMonkLADG-FaFiFSFGFrayed KnotSDPABN-SeoCOLLWFSARZLWFS=#008000]NYY=#008000]FMan99=#0000FF]BALJ=#0000FF]CLTORJCLTBRLWFS =#BF0000]At Bat =#0000FF]On Deck =#008000]In the Hole

Zvon wrote: Old days Id say that's a check swing. These days, he went around. No debate. It was a called strike anyway. Win or no win, the bullpen makes me ill. Pen was actually fine today (and all series) until Batista to start the 9th ... but that's kinda been the problem, they seem to take turns as to who is going to suck that day. Even Frank-Frank, who along with Rauch was in for most of the drama, went: K - Easy (but screwed up) grounder - BB - K, all with two inherited runners.

Piece o' cake

Don't want to go all full count here and give the pr/tying run on 1st a running start

Do NOT groove a first pitch to Godzilla!!

Geez guys, the idea here is to keep the tying run from coming to the plate, not to get the lead runner.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Three hits for David Wright today. When does Ed Kranepool get Tonya Harding on the phone? Probably when he orders a pizza from whatever joint I'm sure she's working at these days.

Would like to have seen a run or two there just to remove any notion the Rays might have about coming back in this game. Four runs is nice, but still to close to hoping. Particularly with this pen.

Every Rays hitter that inning came down with a bad case of Rauch.

This one's a long way from over - both outs-wise and time-wise.

Lefty Specialist wrote: metirish wrote: I do not believe what I just saw. Bay homers It's the end of the world, I tells ya. But I feel fine about it.

Cain's 14 Ks tied Sandy Koufax for the most Ks during a perfect game. Combine that with the three foul-outs and you are left with just 10 Astros who hit a fair ball last night. The odd thing about Cain is that he's received such bad run support over the years out in San Fran that last night's win pushed his career mark only to 77-75 despite a 3.28 ERA and 1.17 WHiP The list of eleven pitchers draft ahead of Cain (25th overall out of HS in Tennessee) in the 2002 draft Three are currently ML starters 1st overall pick) Pirates: Bryan Bullington, RHP, Ball State University -- 1 career win, none for Pittsburgh. Now pitching in Japan. 3) Reds: Chris Gruler, RHP, California HS -- never advanced beyond A Ball. Out of the game since 2006 4) Orioles: Adam Loewen, LHP, British Columbia HS -- Went 8-8 before injury problems forced him to try and remake himself as a position player. Currently injured up in Buffalo 5) Reds: Clint Everts, RHP, Texas HS -- Never reached the majors although still battling in AAA for the Blue Jays org. 6) Royals: Zack Greinke, RHP, Florida HS -- RoY, All-Star & CY winner. 83-75 for his career 9) Rockies: Jeff Francis, LHP, University of British Columbia -- 61-67 overall. Had several good seasons before missing more than a year w/injuries. Now back with his second stint in Colorado 12) Angels: Joe Saunders, LHP, Virginia Tech -- 8th year in ML, 5th as a regular starter. 54-32 with his original team then 19-24 since being traded. 15) Mets: Scott Kazmir, LHP, Texas HS -- Last we heard he was looking to latch on to a minor league deal 17) Phillies: Cole Hamels, LHP, California HS -- I'm sure they have no regrets 18) White Sox: Royce Ring, LHP, San Diego State University -- Probably the first reliever drafted so high, pitched 86 ML innings for 4 clubs spread over 5 years. Still slinging it with the AAA Rox 21) Cubs: Bobby Brownlee, RHP, Rutgers -- Reached AAA but never made the jump. Won 50 minor league games for four different orgs. Finished after 2009

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: There were a whole bunch of stricken no-nos from the record books ... - the famous one where Babe Ruth (pitching) opened the game with a walk, then proceeded to argue ball four and got tossed. His replacement came on, picked off Ruth's runner, and then retired the next twenty-six straight. That one used to be counted, isn't any more because the reliever didn't face 27 hitters. I'm surprised that this game was ever counted as a no-hitter. I thought that one of the elements of a no-no is that the pitcher throw a complete game. Well, viewed from one angle you could call it complete in that he got all 27 outs - he just did it without being the starter and without facing 27 batters. And that's what the "clean-up" campaign was designed to do, more clearly define what was and what wasn't a No-hitter by getting rid of all those grey-area deals. Call it the anti-asterisk crusade.

There were a whole bunch of stricken no-nos from the record books when they more narrowly defined the criteria, but giving up runs wasn't one of them. Unless you're Ralph Kiner that is who always uses the phrase "No-Run, No-Hit games" as if his standards are higher than just a plain "No-hit" games. What was mainly knocked out were oddities where pitchers had no-hitters but of less than nine innings, or where they didn't finish the game, including: - rain-shortened affairs* - games where a road pitcher had a no-hitter but also gave up run(s) while his team was getting shut-out so he never pitched the bottom of the 9th - no hitters that were tied thru nine where the pitcher gave up a hit or hits in extra innings. Jim Maloney of the Reds had one of these against the Mets where they beat him in the 10th - the famous one where Babe Ruth (pitching) opened the game with a walk, then proceeded to argue ball four and got tossed. His replacement came on, picked off Ruth's runner, and then retired the next twenty-six straight. That one used to be counted, isn't any more because the reliever didn't face 27 hitters. - and other assorted oddities * I had a rain-shortened affair once. Her husband went jogging but then came home early when it started to rain

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: He's definitely MFY material but the word is he's all but tried on a Dodgers jersey. Until the winter, of course, he has no say in the matter (unless he finagled a no-trade deal along the way but that would be unusual for a pre-FA guy). But in the long run, yeah, it's tough to see the Sillies signing the west-coast wannabe when they're already on the hook for so many expensive (and all older) parts. On the overall question, I doubt the Phils throw in the towel before they see what they look like when (if?) Utley, Howard & Halladay come back. If nothing else they've got approx six weeks to decide where they at. And on the Wheeler angle - Hell No! Not for a rental and not when the Mets are in a position where they're more likely to be dealing established players for prospects than the other way around. Maybe circumstances change in the near future but not now.