Frayed Knot

Fman99 wrote: By the way, I conflate Rex Brothers with the Avett Brothers. Oddly, I conflate him with Dr. Joyce Brothers.

Ryan Zimmerman to go on the 15-day DL with (non-serious it's thought) shoulder woes. And to replace him on the roster the Nats have - despite his rather pedestrian AAA numbers (.250/.333/.375, 6 XBHs) - purchased the contract of one Bryce Harper. Harper, who will not turn 20 y/o until after the season is complete, is expected in the lineup for Saturday's game in LA I guess scoring over 3 runs just twice in the last 8 games can make you a bit panicky even when your pitching has been as good as it has. I believe it's also just past the date that will delay Harper's FA eligibility for an extra year.

Helton, as noted on the NYM broadcast the other day, is the only active player in addition to Wright to hold his team's career RBI record. They also mentioned Tulowitski having some odd scatter-arm syndrome that's messing up his normally stellar defense. The Jamie Moyer paragraph was gold Jerry, GOLD!

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Moose Skowron, five-time world champ. That USA Today piece mentions Moose's great nickname but doesn't mention its origin. The standard guess of getting it by being a big burly guy a la the dude in Archie Comics is not correct in this case. Guesses? Old Mole gets the right answer (in another thread) -- Moose Skowron was not nicknamed for his resemblance to a moose, but for his resemblance to Mussolini.

MFS62 wrote: Flores has been en fuego. He's now playing third base and is hitting .323/.355/.523 Gets an 'honorable mention' in BA's 'Hot Prospect' watch this week. -- For as long as he's been around, it's easy to forget that Wilmer Flores is still just a 20-year-old in the high Class A Florida State League. Now playing third base for the Mets, Flores is off to a .323/.355/.523 start through 19 games, including an 11-game hitting streak. With international prospects, it pays to be patient.

Harvey gets hisself some BA's 'Hot Sheet' love for his 2-0 week. But they're still not high on any promotions for him in the near future. Team: Triple-A Buffalo (International) Age: 23 Why He's Here: 2-0, 2.08, 13 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 HBP, 3 BB, 15 SO The Scoop: Harvey hasn't dominated the upper levels of the minors yet, as his ERA sits at 4.85 through five Triple-A starts this year after posting a 4.53 ERA in 12 Double-A starts last year. At times, like this past week, he shows flashes of frontline starter potential, with a plus fastball and a plus slider. Harvey is one step away from the big leagues, but there's still work to be done with his command and his changeup to be able to master Triple-A and be big league ready, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he spent the majority of the season in the International League.

Edgy DC wrote: Hardly unique. Baseball has had many Meese. Unique?, no. But the origin of his particular one may be.

Vic Sage wrote: i hate being in line for something behind people who, when they get up to the window/cash machine/clerk/etc, act as if they didn't expect it, or are too busy texting/phoning/etc to notice, and so don't have their card/cash/item/etc ready to use/purchase/etc, and have to dig through their bags/wallet/pockets/etc looking for the thing THEY SHOULD HAVE OUT AND WAITING SINCE THEY HAD SO MUCH GODDAMN TIME WAITING ON THE GODDAMN LINE ALREADY! Along those lines, mine is the women (and, yes, it's ALWAYS women) who, upon hearing the total at the supermarket check-out line when paying cash, suddenly declare to the checker; "oh wait, I have the three pennies" before proceeding to rummage through the overnight bag-sized purse for the three cents - AS IF THE FACT THAT THE TOTAL OF NINE RANDOM ITEMS NOT COMING OUT TO AN EXACT ROUND DOLLAR AMOUNT COMES AS A COMPLETE SHOCK TO THEM!!! If dumping off the three pennies rather than gaining two is so fuckin' important to you then have four pennies at the ready BEFORE YOU GET THERE so that you can dish off however many it takes to round to the nearest nickel.

Edgy DC wrote: Moose Skowron, five-time world champ. That USA Today piece mentions Moose's great nickname but doesn't mention its origin. The standard guess of getting it by being a big burly guy a la the dude in Archie Comics is not correct in this case. Guesses?

ABC News included this "story" as part of their national "news" broadcast last night.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: For whatever reason I never knew Muffy was such a relatively high draft pick. That's because he wasn't. A typo meant that 13th round got keyed in as 3th Will fix.

Fun with odds Using the generic odds of winning stats that BB-Ref (and other places) attach to each AB during the course of a game, let's follow along with the bottom of the 9th. Heading into that half inning the Mets had an 18% chance of winning. Remember that this is a generic figure that would get assigned to any team down by a run based on scoring trends of the current era and not specific to Mets/Fish or to those due up vs fat Heath. * Wright walks and the odds go up to 31% * Duda grounds out moving Wright to 2nd and the odds drop slightly to 26% -- Sac Bunt proponents take note, the outcome you were hoping for just decreased your odds of winning (and yeah I know Lucas didn't bunt, but the result was the same) * Davis walks and the odds tick up 6 points to 32% -- so the winning run is now on base yet the odds are essentially the same as when just the tying run was on, again showing the negative value of handing away outs when you're down to your last few. * Thole walks and now we're up to 52% -- winning run now in scoring position, tying run can score on a non-hit * Turner walks and we jump to 83% -- the fact that it's now tied means even a GiDP here sends it to extra innings and would only drop the win pct to 50% * Hairston grounds into force at home, odds drop 18 points to 65% -- obviously there's no scoring on an out now but the odds still in our favor because we still have one AB that can prevent them from ever getting up * Nieuwenhuis singles -- 100% + dog pile on the infield

Niese - 4.2 Ramirez - 0.8 Nieuwenhuis - 2.8 Wright - 0.7 Thole - 0.4 Turner - 0.7 Tejada - 0.4

Benjamin Grimm wrote: That's a helluva home grown lineup that the Pirates put together there. Except that Clemente came via the Dodgers system, so he doesn't really qualify under the strict standards of 'home grown'.

As mentioned during today's game and in another thread somewhere, this was the first time since 1971 and only the 3rd time ever (first two were just days apart) that the Mets fielded a nine-man line-up featuring players who were all initially drafted/signed by the team and had never played for any other organization. A quick look at where they all came from: Kirk Nieuwenhuis - Age 24; 3rd Round draft pick in 2008 - Azusa Pacific Univ Debut = April 7, 2012 Ruben Tejada - Age 22 Signed as Int�l Free Agent from Panama in 2006 (age 16) ML Debut = April 7, 2010 Daniel Murphy - Age 27 13th Round Draft Pick in 2006 - Jacksonville Univ ML Debut = August 2, 2008 David Wright - Age 29 1st Round Supp Draft Pick (38th overall) 2001 - HS in Chesapeke, VA ML Debut = July 21, 2004 Lucas Duda - Age 26 7th Round Draft Pick 2007 - Univ So California ML Debut = September 1, 2010 Ike Davis - Age 25 1st Round draft pick (18th overall) 2008 - Ariz St Univ ML Debut = April 19, 2010 Josh Thole - Age 25 13th Round Draft Pick 2005 - HS in Breese, Ill ML Debut = September 3, 2009 Jordany Valdespin - Age 24 Signed as Int�l Free from Dom Republic in 2007 ?? ML Debut = April 23, 2012 Jonathon Niese - Age 25 7th Round Draft Pick 2005 - HS in Defiance, OH ML Debut = September 2, 2008

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Centerfield wrote: What happened? My GameCast is screwy. Nieuwenhuis one-hopped the wall over RF [fill in blank] Stanton's head We are hitless w/bases loaded no more

TAKE THAT FATSO!!!!

Don't think Bell's thrown a swing-and-miss pitch all inning

Heath Bell falling apart: Step Three is complete Our master plan is working here.

Remember when Heath Bell got trim(ish) roller-blading? Ummmm, that was a while ago.

Bell falling apart: step one is complete.

Oh wow, Ike is in an 0-2 count! ... but then he manages a single (weakly).

Benjamin Grimm wrote: First triple of the season for the Mets! That should complete the 2012 Mets "First" quiz, no?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: This only makes that REO Speedwagon show a hotter ticket. NOTHING could make REO Speedwagon a hot ticket.