Frayed Knot

Santana - 3.5 Parnell - 0.3 Byrdak - 0.1 Baxter - 1.3 Duda - 1.5 Davis - 1.2 Nickeas - 0.7 Wright - 0.4

Edgy DC wrote: Jamie Moyer is... ... the only 200-game winner in baseball (now at 269), a club that he's going to have to keep occupied until at least mid-season if it's going to stay alive, as Roy Halladay is stuck at 191 and can't buy a win. You forget that 'Andy the Rat-Faced Boy' (240) is now active -- at least when he's not busy [crossout]lying[/crossout] err, testifying in federal court. Jamie does remain, at the moment, the only 200+ game winner who actually has a win in the last 18 months.

Steve Rushin: Current SI writer. Didn't realize he had gone back. Shows how much I've lost touch with SI.

It seems that Niese was also suffering from the old catch-all "flu-like symptoms", something which may have been a factor in the whole PH-vs-not discussion. Former SI writer Steve Rushin once did an entire piece based around sports and its use of the phrase 'flu-like symptoms'.

Oh joy, inter-league is right around the corner. PHIOld MoleWASHbmfc1/Edgy DCMIAGWreckATLFrayed KnotCINEdgyDCPITTEdgy DCCHICattgigStLMFS'62HOUMGiM=#FF0000]MILW=#FF0000]TransMonkLADG-FaFiFSFGFrayed KnotSDPSeoCOLLWFSARZLWFSNYYFMan99BALJCL=#40BF00]TOR=#40BF00]JCLTBRLWFS =#BF0000]At Bat On Deck =#008000]In the Hole

-- I don�t want to say that Josh Hamilton is hot or anything but, coming into tonight�s game, he was 12 for his last 24 with 9 HRs. He�s also got huge leads in all three triple crown categories. A 26 point lead in BA; an 18-11 (63%) lead over the next best in the AL in HRs; and a 41-29 lead (41%) in RBIs He�s also out-homering the entire Padres team Hadn't yet HR'd tonight last time I checked but there's still a few innings to go. -- It's bad enough for the Angels that Pujols is sucking, but the guy they bumped to make room for him - Mark Trumbo, aka Last year's #2 RoY - is hitting .300 with six HRs to Albert�s one losing 50-some ABs over this. The move also slid him over to 3B (when not DH-ing) where he hurts the defense. -- Not that it�s been the fault of these guys necessarily, but the Phils have lost Roy Halladay�s last five starts and all four that Cliff Lee has started this year. Bet they weren�t figuring on that. -- You know how some fans & writers see a small sample (like say a season�s worth) of improved performance and automatically declare it to be �proof� of steroid use (particularly when it involves a player at an advanced age)? Well I wonder where that crowd stands on Jeter? mid-2010 thru mid-2011: 587 ABs w/34 XBHs; .267 BA; .348 Slg mid-2011 thru May-2012: 394 ABs w/31 XBHs; .348 BA; .470 Slg I�m just sayin�. -- Just my opinion, but the highlight performance during the recent RnR HoF inductions was Sara Bareilles�s version of Laura Nyro�s �Stoney End� - and I had never heard of her before that. -- Division records coming into Sunday AL East = +20 (20 games above .500 cumulatively) AL Cent = -23 AL West = +3 NL East = +19 NL Cent = -9 NL West = -10 * All The News That Matters To Me

There's a difference between doing it constantly and doing it just to do it ('Oh look it's the 7th inning, my watch says it's time to replace the starter') and doing it for a legit, even if arguable, reason. Too many of the former will eventually burn you because you are, by definition, venturing into the unknown. But the starter's future is also unknown and there will be times where one inning more is one inning too many.

I didn't have a problem with using a PH there - one hit and a precarious-no-matter-who's-in-there two run lead becomes a three or a four or even a five and more than makes up for whatever you give up in a pitching change if it's even known that you're giving up anything. Taking out the starter and handing things to the pen does NOT always burn you, sometimes the opposite does. An argument could be made that maybe Baxter there would have been the better choice than Ike but that just meant he was available later and Terry's later batting moves all paid off. The gutsy move, I thought, was bringing Turner in in a spot where you were going to have to use Nickeas anyway so the temptation was to save a player and PH him instead. Terry gambled there at being in a tied game with only Hairston left on the roster and, for a time anyway, seemed to hit the jackpot. Either way, I certainly don't see it as cut-n-dried that it was the wrong move and I don't want to NOT make moves due to the assumed failure of the replacements.

Speaking of HRs - or the lack thereof - the Mets have had 7.6% of their hits go for HRs this season. Only the Cubs (7.2%) and Padres (5.3% and are being out-homered overall by Josh Hamilton) have lower, plus the Twins (7.4%) if you count both leagues. And while I know it seems like the Yanx have about 75% of theirs go over the fence, but it's actually "only" 16.9%. Only Baltimore at 18.6% is higher Milwaukee, despite the loss of Fielder, tops the NL at 14.7% Of our "power" hitters: - Murph has gone 148 PAs this year without one. Emilio Bonafacio (who had just ONE XBH coming into this series prior to his two triples today) plus Reyes & Rollins are the only hitters to have more PAs with a goose egg still in that column. - Duda has gone 36 PAs since his last one and he has just 2 since the 3rd game of the year - Nieuwenhuis has gone 89 PAs since his last one These two-out run-scoring singles are nice, but it's tough to keep counting on them.

If he's a catcher with a good arm let's turn him into a reliever!

Oh wow! More 2R HRs and more multiple run HRs. Whoda thunk it?!? But, hey, we did have 2 solos this week!!!!!!!!! So after a stretch where we actually hit a few w/men on and narrowed the sizable gap a shade, it goes right back to kablooey. I'm not going to even bother to track it anymore. But Stanton's GS (and who didn't smell that coming!) has pushed our GS hit to given up ratio since the beginning of 2010 to a stunning 3-to-18. That shouldn't even be possible if you were trying to to see how bad it could get.

If they're going to lose these things anyway I wish they'd do it in two and a half hours instead of three and a half - I got other shit to do. It's like these relievers take turns deciding who's turn it is to suck that particular day. Today we obviously had two of them. Frankie was right about those pitches he wasn't getting from the ump on the Buck AB but it doesn't matter. Until you can actually get a major league hitter out you're best off just shutting the fuck up!

Everyone has to wear a badge in order to get past the "moat" in the stands that separates the elite from the mere mortals who only pay like one or two hundred dollars for their seats.

bmfc1 wrote: Wilson Ramos out with a torn ACL. Wow! He was just chasing a passed ball. Jesus Flores into action now. On the other hand, it's not like it can hurt their offense THAT much. They won another 2-1 game last night (1 of the runs via a Ramos HR before the injury)

Mets � Willets Point wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: A couple more this weekend and Wright can catch Reyes while playing in Jose's house. OK, so maybe that's pushing it. I would love to see a 12-hit game. Now all he needs is a 7-hit game. Hey, it's happened before.

Isn't that the one he hit in Washington? The one which almost certainly did not go 565 feet.

I could have done without seeing the Marlins knock out 13 hits - although holding them to three runs while doing so is certainly OK (even if probably not repeatable). But we issued fewer walks, fewer HBPs, ran the bases better, played better 'D', and had 16 hits of our own - so there!

Mike Baxter: Pinch-hitting doubles machine

Starting pitchers have to taken out with one shot

A couple more this weekend and Wright can catch Reyes while playing in Jose's house. OK, so maybe that's pushing it.

Finally a big hit! I was thinking this game was destined to see about 2.3 LOBs/inning. Now we just have to make sure that Dickey's hand isn't broken and we're OK.

Santana - 1.8 Ramirez - 0.4 Byrdak - 0.3 Wright - 2.0 Duda - 1.0 Davis - 1.0 Nieuwenhuis - 1.1 Nickeas - 1.2 Baxter - 1.2

Acosta - 1.0 Wright - 1.5 Davis - 2.0 Torres - 1.5 Hairston - 1.5 Murphy - 1.5 Turner - 0.7 Johson - 0.3

Dinner at Tipitina's? ... Check

Had tack-on runs there for the taking w/2-on and just 1 out but didn't get them. Both Ike errors this year have cost us.