Frayed Knot

Chase Headley, who was the Padres best hitter (kind of like being the best ice hockey player in Peru) is injured (broken finger) and will probably miss the remainder of the year Rumor has it that he was replaced on the roster by former SI-for-Kids star Hedley Kase simply for name similarity reasons (plus I think they look alike) but I've yet to confirm that.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Bend your cap brim, son. Keith chided the subset of non-brim-benders this past weekend. I think it was one of the Braves pitchers who set him off.

Willets Point wrote: Satire of the typical reactionary Yankees fan? Or the real thing? Is there a difference?

Except that the AL results were like that even before this recent six year stretch where the AL was winning the majority of IL contests. I'm not sure if the smaller number of teams enters into it or not, but there's definitely been a long trend of the AL final standings being a lot more spread out than the NL.

The AL has seemed to have their teams more spread out as compared to the NL over the last 20 years or so. Frequently they'd have one or two teams way up there in the Wins column (lately the Yanx & Sawx but others before that) at the same time as they had more bottom feeders. The NL, on the other hand, usually had their teams more accordian-ed together; fewer 95+ win teams but also fewer 95+ loss clubs as well*. The complaint from some about the proposed double-WC system is that it would pit the better WC team (currently the Yanx) up against some club which could be 10 or more games behind them in a real short (maybe one game) series. In my mind though that's not a drawback but rather a great incentive to win the division in the first place and it would put tons of added importance to a series like the one this weekend. * Just as an example, no NL team in the last quarter century has come close to the .667 record of the '86 Mets (Atlanta '93 with 104 wins is next I think). But in less than a 10-year span, three separate AL clubs crushed that that mark: '95 Indians, 98 Yanx, '01 Mariners

4 hours 15 minutes was the final running time for a 10-inning game featuring the not exactly stunning total of 5 runs, 19 hits, and 9 walks. I only caught a few innings here and there but it definitely wasn't a game that only slowed up at the end, they were moving at a snails pace from the very beginning. It was like some pre-game arrangement was made where everyone conspired to move in slow motion. And Posada wasn't even catching so you can't blame it on him and his standard 6 trips/inning to the mound. The Sox comeback last night salvaged the weekend for them after they failed to take advantage of facing both Bartolo Colon and Freddie Garcia and then basically did shit against most of the Yanqui pen. Turns out the only guys they really hit all weekend were Sabathia & Rivera (plus one inning of some guy whose name is apparently Hector Noesi)

Sox just tied it up in bottom 9 against Mariano: 2B (Scutaro) - Sac Bunt - Sac Fly But here's the problem: It's a 2-2 game just entering the 10th ... and it's taken them [u:2h316xrg]A Full Four Hours[/u:2h316xrg] to get to this point. If they want to contract a couple of team I'd start with these two.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I had to "Wayne" this game and don't want to see a replay. But did this Costanza shithead do anything that might considered dirty? I wouldn't mind seeing this guy eat one anyway. The foot was up just a bit but I'd call it more of a sloppy slide than a vicious one. Problem was that Muffy kind of knelt down in front of the base bringing the knee towards the foot as much as the other way around turning what might have been a spiked foot into one where he took the force of the slide to the outside of the knee which in turn bent the joint inward. He hobbled away immediately but what you at first assumed was just a spike job looked a whole lot worse upon seeing the replay.

There was nothing to see. Just grounded out in first AB and didn't show for the second.

Frayed Knot wrote: So I guess this means we'll see Ruben Tejada called up for tomorrow, all of which probably means ... goodbye again Nick Evans! (boy can't seem to buy a break). Either him or Pridie. Now Murph's injury almost certainly gives Evans a reprieve - along with anyone else above A-ball in this organization who can walk upright for more than twenty paces.

All the Mets RBI this afternoon have come with two down. So did theirs ... until the last one (which was with 1 out). In a way NYM pitchers were lucky to get away with giving up as few runs as they did seeing as all the leadoff and/or 1-out hitters they let on - although in a way the Braves were lucky that they kept getting those runners on as they were, for the most part, via gifts and/or pieces of shit - 1st inning: leadoff walk - 2nd inning: leadoff Heyward HR (OK, they earned that one) - 3rd inning: 1-out HBP - 4th inning: leadoff infield single (Gee should have had it) - 5th inning - 6th inning: leadoff ground single (actually reached the OF ... barely) - 7th inning: 1 out walk + SB - 8th inning: 1 out walk - 9th inning: leadoff bloop single in front of Pagan and then followed that with a walk. The Chipper single was another seeing-eye hit (Gary & Ron questioned the slider instead of a fastball) which could just as easily been a GiDP but, again, the real problem was the bloop (seemed to take Pagan forever just to get in the picture) and then walk to Hinske which brought him up in the first place. Oddly, the 5th was the one inning the Mets got the first two batters which is when Gee decided to go the 2-out walk-HR-HR route.

And for the third day in a row we're just trying to hand Atlanta the game even as their bats are showing no ability to take it on their own. - Two errors which cost three outs, two HBPs, two balls Gee failed to field, a wild pitch, several walks (including the pitcher after 0-2) The Braves' only run (so far) has come on their only solid hit. Every other threat they've had has been handed to them.

So I guess this means we'll see Ruben Tejada called up for tomorrow, all of which probably means ... goodbye again Nick Evans! (boy can't seem to buy a break). Either him or Pridie.

Pagan's the biggest problem there (although has two hits tonight) - low BA, few walks, little power Reyes is a small sample size and the rest of his year more than cancels that out. Bay is at least improving and has a larger MLB track record of success than Angel. In the meantime, we need to kick the soft part of the Atlanta pen around and build a bigger lead NOW!!!!

And yet more shitty hits/defense!! (and almost another infield hit)

Well this is all unexpected!!!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: So, yeah... I'm thinking I'd like to maybe revisit that SP-reliability vote, maybe. Not that it's been a good game for Niese, but he's also had to deal with an error, a bloop, a broken bat bloop, and two infield singles. And I was just about to bitch about how we'd probably go the rest of the game without another hit but Bay shuts me up before I get there.

An now, without a ball even slightly hard hit, the Braves have not only tied up the game but are on the verge of blowing it open.

Same hard hits as in the start of last night's game. Now we just have to not forget how to do it for the rest of the contest.

The more annoying part was Omar Infante going on the DL yesterday right after he got 27 hits against us (or something like that) during the shortened Florida series.

And it's actually Tommy Hansen tonight, not Jurrjens. So, 'big deal' you say, we'll still get Jurrjens tomorrow. Not so fast there Peachtree breath. Seems like there's been a Minor change in the Braves' rotation: Jair Jurrjens will have to wait a couple more weeks before attempting to halt the struggles he has experienced since the All-Star break. The Braves have placed him on the 15-day disabled list with a right knee strain. Mike Minor has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to start in Jurrjens' place Sunday afternoon against the Mets. Jurrjens entered the All-Star break with a National League-best 1.87 ERA. The 25-year-old right-hander has posted a 6.26 ERA and allowed opponents to hit .281 against him in his four starts since the All-Star break. Jurrjens missed the final two weeks of the 2010 season because of a torn meniscus in his right knee. He underwent arthroscopic surgery in October and had never previously indicated his knee has bothered him this year.

Game tonight is on MLBN for those out of the area - and tomorrow's game is also a national telecast, via TBS. But, regardless of who's showing it, we gotta score some fucking runs tonight. I mean, yeah, Izzy, plus various other portions of the pen, have jumped on the suck train lately, but after a string of games where they plated: 8, 8, 10, and 8, they then shifted to 0, 2, 3, 3, 1 That just ain't gonna get it done no matter who's pitching and how.

Rooftop urban party gets their music drowned out by neighboring rooftop party - but are apparently too drunk to care.

Tonight's version of the Igarashomon outcome was not in our favor.

Ten best months so far this year (acc to PotG scores): 10th best = Reyes's April 9 = Wright's April 8 = Beltran's July 7 = Beltran's May 6 = Murphy's July 5 = Turner's May 4 = Beltran's June 3 = Davis's April 2 = Reyes's May 1st = Reyes's June