Frayed Knot

Cosart & Singleton are good (from what I hear ... what do I know?) prospects but they're also in low A meaning still a ways away and therefore a bit more iffy. I guess Pence means, for now, less playing time for rookies Brown & Mayberry in RF plus maybe some R/L platooning with Ibanez in LF. Then he essentially replaces Ibanez in 2012. Sounds like a good move for both sides given their specific needs. Pence is like the anti-Beltran in that he usually gets the job done but looks like an untamed colt out there, all arms & legs & effort in total contrast to Carlos's smoothness and efficiency.

Maybe it was because the IGT got started late, but I'm surprised no one mentioned the AWFUL base-running early on. 1st inning: - Reyes walks and is WP'd to 2nd ... then doesn't break on Turner's single even though the ball is up the middle and behind him. As a result he should have scored but doesn't. - Murphy singles Reyes in anyway but then Wright drives one off the wall and Turner is standing on 2nd tagging up!?!?!? As a result it's a very long single and not only does no one score but we were lucky no one got caught off base or was called for passing other runners. - Then Pagan singles with the sacks loaded and yet Murphy on 2nd is holding up thinking it would be caught (it wasn't close) and only one run scores. - Then Duda's Sac Fly is going to easily score Wright but Pagan tags from 2nd (on a fly to LF!!) just to make sure ... and winds up making sure that the inning ends early by getting caught between 2nd & 3rd Then in inning 4 Bay - on 2nd after a single & error - holds up on a clear single and can't score ... and then the ball is bobbled so he starts again after already stopping and is gunned down. A hit and Sac Fly follow but again the inning ends prematurely and with fewer runs than we should have had. And then there's the defense. The Reyes error and the Duda not quite error essentially turn a possible four outs into two. Oh well, I look at it this way: we haven't pitched that well over the last few days and the pen has been particularly shaky, plus we've gotten little from Reyes and of course nothing from Beltran while the fundies have been a bit lacking ... and yet we've scored almost 20 runs in 36 hours and have won both games so what's the use in complaining. And, btw, Jason Bay has bailed our asses out a couple of times this week.

No Mets on this week's 'Hot Prospects' list in BA, but Puello does merit the honorable mention section - Mets RF Cesar Puello might finally be starting to get on track after going 10-for-25 this past week with a double, two triples and two home runs (.400/.423/.840). The 20-year-old Dominican outfielder entered the season with high expectations after a strong 2010 campaign in the Sally league, but Puello's strikeouts ticked up (85) while his efficiency in stealing bases (14-for-22) ticked down.

Boras can seek anything he wants but he can't make it happen unless some GM/owner agrees to his figures - and if/when that happens then his numbers were the 'correct' figures all along. But, yeah, lots of the stuff he 'floats' out there don't ever happen, some never even come close.

Other Nat-facts to consider: - now in last place after getting swept by the Fishies, losing 5 straight overall, and 8 of their last 10 - they're now 9-17 under Davey, after Jim Riggleman famously left while the team was one game over .500 Not quite the boost they were looking for. - it would be one thing if Jayson Werth were going through an adjustment phase on account of the new team and trying too hard to impress, etc., but he's actually getting worse as the year goes along -- hitting a whopping .170 since June 1 with 3 HRs - this'll be CM Wang's first ML start since July 4th 2009. To find his last good start you have to go back to 2008 - Zimmermann's numbers look good overall but he's been thumped in his last two starts: 12 ER on 15 hits in 11.2 IPs - they released Matt Stairs to make room for the trade of Johnny Gomes

Gwreck wrote: This is why replay is the red herring. The problem is, and remains, umpire quality control. I agree. Now all we have to do is convince those who see the solution to every missed call as: - more replay is needed (but apparently more thought is not) - MLB not putting in more replay like yesterday proves how stupid and backwards they are I think much of the problem comes from the fact that those missed calls the pundits are crying about is the only baseball many of them ever see.

This thread is childish, disgusting, and beneath the dignity of this fine website ... and I vote that FMan take the next five KTEs.

As Phil Mushnick pointed out in this morning's column (and as others, including me, have said many times in the past) IF replay does reverse that call, then what? As noted: - Proctor laid down the bunt then fell about two steps out of the box. - Pittsburgh catcher makes the (he thought) tag but then stopped when he heard the safe call because the call effectively ends the game. Was the catcher even going to throw to 1st? If so would it have been in time and on target? ... or rushed and heaved into RF? Do the umps then assume a DP? ... do they weigh the probability of it occurring vs the probability of the ball hitting the runner or missing the target entirely? -- something which could end the game all over again as there's a new runner now on 2nd. The point being that the call, as it's being made, affects what does (or doesn't) happen next and so it's not as simple as pretending that correcting the call puts the situation where it should have been in the first place. And, of course, this is all assuming that the replay would have reversed the call in the first place, that there was some "discernible proof" that glove hit leg.

DateTeamKTE AuthorAug 1-3FloridaSeawolfAug 5-7Atlanta---Aug 8-11San DiegoEdgy DCAug 12-14at ArizonaFrayed KnotAug 15-17at San DiegoEdgy DCAug 19-21MilwaukeeTransMonkAug 22-24at PhiladelphiaLWFSAug 26-28AtlantaFMan99Aug 29-Sep 1FloridaSeawolfSep 2-4at Washingtonbmfc1Sep 5-7at FloridaSeawolfSep 9-11ChicagoLWFSSep 12-15WashingtonFrayed KnotSep 16-18at AtlantaSep 20-22at St. LouisSep 23-25PhiladelphiaSep 26-28Cincinnati

Parnell - 0.8 Isringhausen - 0.2 Bay - 2.0 Pagan - 2.0 Wright - 2.0 Duda - 2.0 Murphy - 0.5 Thole - 0.5

Beato - 0.6 Byrdak - 0.3 Acosta - 0.2 Igarashi - 0.3 Murphy - 2.5 Pridie - 1.1 Pagan - 0.7 Wright - 1.5 Turner - 1.5 Beltran - 1.3

Pelfrey - 4.2 Murphy - 2.0 Wright - 1.8 Pagan - 0.8 Duda - 0.8 Reyes - 0.4

Vic Sage wrote: still to come -- COWBOYS & ALIENS ADVENTURES OF TINTIN Any chance of Olivia Wilde getting nekkid in this one?

At least when he was here he could always look forward to those kind words that great humanitarian George Steinbrenner would have for him.

Ashie62 wrote: Apparently trading one switch hitter for another. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2009/reports.jsp?content=wheeler Who is the last switch hitter to win the AL MVP award? Vida Blue

"... During the effluvium period" Was that before or after the Jurassic?

Farmer Ted wrote: Would it be easier to convert Murph to RF? Easier than what ... - bench-pressing a Humvee? - electing Sarah Palin to national office? - herding Senator Schumer away from TV cameras? ... yeah, probably. But not a whole lot easier than anything else.

Mercy sakes! Met Survivors of Brutal Head-to-head Outfield Collisions: Hahn Theodore Mazzilli Norman Cameron Beltran I believe wilson & dykstra had a horrible head to head collision in left center. Face-to-Face even.

attgig wrote: fukudome to the indians. i guess since beltran didn't want to go there, fukudome was the best rental they could get (sucks for them :-/) Last one out of Wrigley please turn off the lights.

BA's take on Wheeler - who they ranked 35th in their mid-season Top-50 list The sixth overall pick in 2009, Wheeler logged just 59 innings last season as he dealt with a cracked fingernail on his pitching hand�though he used the down time to iron out his pitching mechanics. A full recovery is evident in Wheeler's performance this season. He ranks among the California League leaders in strikeout rate (10.0 per nine innings, fifth) and opponent average (.224, fourth). But while he's given up just seven homers in 16 starts, he's been too liberal with walks, handing out 4.8 per nine innings. Wheeler sits in the low- to mid-90s and can dial his plus fastball up to 96 mph with a quick, easy arm action. His curveball doesn't always feature power or shape at this stage, and his changeup sometimes lacks finish, but he's flashed plus with both pitches at various points. If Wheeler sharpens at least one of them to above-average status, he's got front-of-the-rotation potential. In the end this was a good deal. Even if draft picks were a possibility by holding onto him until the end of the year, those picks couldn't have been any higher than #16 and could both have been 35th and higher making it unlikely that you'd ever get a prospect as good as Wheeler, a guy who was not only a #6 overall pick but also has 150 or so successful professional innings under his belt.

Somebody needs to monitor the real estate ads in the Sands Point area to see if he puts his house up for sale.

TransMonk wrote: Reyes SS Turner 2B Murphy 1B Wright 3B Pagan CF Bay LF Duda RF Thole C Capuano P "I'm Daniel Murphy and I hit third!" Game to be carried on MLBN for the otherwise unconnected and unencumbered.

Nah, you gotta walk the bases loaded there to get the possible force play w/1 out and hope for the GiDP. The now last-place Nats lose another one to Florida. Were down 7-1 heading into the 9th, then scored 4 runs before the tying run flew out to the fence w/1 on to end the game 7-5.

Braves win legitimately tonight, and in a mere 10 innings.

And I just saw a replay of the 1st inning error in the LAA-Cleve game today ... could easily have been scored a hit. Obviously since it was so early (first batter of bottom 1) there was no chicanery to make it an error, but it turned out to be one of just two base-runners (a later inning walk) in Santana's no-hitter.