Frayed Knot

metirish wrote: Not sharing 62's view that this couldn't happen to a nicer team, not good for the game this. Reading in the Snooze that Selig blocked the proposed FOX TV deal that was worth 3billion over 17 years......."not in the best interest of the Dodgers franchise, the game of baseball and the millions of loyal fans of this historic club". Why did he really block that deal? Bud's feeling is that the McCourts are going to misuse the TV money (for divorce lawyers, for relatives on payroll in no-show jobs, etc.) something he's basing on the fact that they've been misusing Dodger money all along so there's no reason to think they'll stop now. And, yeah, mainly he wants them out. They were over-leveraged in the first place to the point where they probably never should have been approved, and so now that their messy divorce - coupled with some, let's say, less than astute money management - has brought a flagship franchise to the brink of bankruptcy he sees his chance. The McCourt(s) (one or both since they're arguing over whether just he owns the team or if she still has half) need the money from TV so they cut a deal with FOX (perhaps not coincidentally the previous owners) which Bud claims was a bad deal born of desperation and one that isn't in the best interests of the team. Without that deal they can't make the June 30th payroll giving MLB the right/duty to step in. With the deal they could stay afloat but that might just delay the inevitable at which point the team would be further in the muck and even harder to rescue.

Even before you get to the results, the next few weeks are going to kind of suck baseball-wise. Off-day today -- Ugh More uninteresting, un-asked-for, and un-needed inter-league play -- Ugh-Ugh MFYs Series -- Triple Ugh Week-plus of late-night games from the west coast -- Yawn [u:ml8jtkb8]Four-Day[/u:ml8jtkb8] AS break -- Arrrrrgh!

I've got a spring training worn Rick Trlicek practice jersey. same era as the Rojas. This is the home version. Might be too obscure. Nothing would be too obscure for Howie

fwiw, the IL scoreboard currently sits at 88-80 in favor of the AL And from the 'You don't see this everyday' file, the Mariners playing their "home" game in the furthest ML city from south Florida wasn't the strangest part of the game. With the game tied in the 10th and a runner on 3rd w/one out, Jack McKeon calls for an intentional walk. Problem was that Marlins' pitcher Steven Chisek (yeah, I don't know him either) threw the second pitch of the IW to the backstop allowing the tie-breaking run to score. Seeing as how Seattle was the road team the Marlins did still have the opportunity to bat again and re-tie the score (they failed) so it was the eventual winning run. In fact, once the WP was thrown the strategy changed and Cishek went on to strike-out the guy he was trying to walk and then got out of the inning. Not quite as dramatic as had it been a walk-off/wild-pitch during an IW, but fun anyway. It's also ammo against those who want to shorten the game by 20 seconds by making IWs "automatic" (just wave him to 1st base) because, as Jauquin Andujar used to say when asked to sum up baseball in one word ... juneberno.

13 games to go until the All-Star Break, all on the road: 3 @ Detroit 3 @ MFY 4 @ LA 3 @ SF. Predict the Mets record in these 13 games. Let's see now: - we're going to face a team who plays in a city that's financially bankrupt, - and then to facing a team that's morally bankrupt, - from there we go to a city where the team has just filed for bankruptcy protection, - and finally wind up going against a club who has a completely bankrupt offense. Suddenly we look like the solvent ones. 13-0

Yeah, and the designated (by the opposition no less) ejectee stuff sounds like hooey to me.

Harrelson fielding totals as a SS 11,510 Innings played: 2,387 Put-outs 3,975 Assists 203 Errors Reyes: 8,385 Innings Played 1,299 Put-outs 2,592 Assists 105 Errors About 750 or so of those Harrelson innings were NOT as a NYM but, with even a full season consisting of about 1,400 innings, Reyes is still a ways away from matching Bud for longevity. And if you're really looking for a comparison you'd want to account for Reyes playing in a more offense-oriented era but at the same time in a higher strike-out (fewer balls-in-play) era.

Gee - 2.0 Beato - 0.3 Reyes - 3.0 Murphy - 1.8 Beltran - 1.3 Paulino - 1.6

It's still going to happen at times although it's not practiced nearly as often as in years back and certainly not as many things are on the list of those deserving some sort of "payback". At one time simply being hot at the plate was enough of an excuse for some. I suspect if you polled most fans they'd claim that their team is constantly on the short end of the hitter/hittee ratio and that their pitchers need to do more of it. That's certainly the basis of the (fan invented) MFY/Ortiz squabble. In this case, I doubt the Turner HBP was retaliation in the first place and if it was I bet Turner's attitude was along the lines of; 'hey, if you want to put runners on open the 1st inning after losing a crusher from the night before go right ahead!' And even if he thought it was intentional, as long as they're not near the head most guys just write it off as part of the cost of doing business.

btw, the NY Times version of this story has Jeff "playfully" telling a few of the pitchers that they should have retaliated and that he would cover fines and buy dinners for those who did. The Times does credit ESPN/NY as the original source of the story but also cites "several people present at the time" as the basis for their take on it.

So do you suppose any team has ever scored 21 runs over a game and a half at that park and somehow managed to NOT hit a HR in the process?

Tejada's error gives the stRangers a shot but then a nice-pla-all-around GiDP [Turner/Tejada/Murphy] shuts the inning down.

Yeah, it's half that the calls have been going for us (one blatant, several borderline) and half that the Mets have immediately jumped on every edge they've been given. Washington was, I'm sure, frustrated by the cumulative effect of them all.

Edgy DC wrote: So did Kinsler miss that tag or did blue seriously blow that call? Jose's spikes hit Kinsler right in the glove, he was out by at least two feet. Good thing we got that call because he shouldn't have been going in the first place.

So far they're hitting better, we're fielding better.

Whatever happened to that rule where an OFer supposedly has to take the ball cleanly out of his glove before it was considered a catch? (IOW, NOT what Cruz just did). It's a stupid rule and is rarely called but I do remember the Mets (Mike Cameron maybe?) getting burned by that one time.

If former umpire Dutch Rennert were still active and was behind the plate for a game involving Texas pitcher Derek Holland, could that be considered a conflict of interest?

The NY Post's Kevin Kernan tracks down the roots of (as yet unsigned) top draft pick Brandon Nimmo -- http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/inside_barn_wyoming_prospects_mets_TtBDYqPiKHhLPvZoeGOPCK

"Isn't it the manager's job to vent on matters of this sort?" -- Yes "Jeff W. should have said something to Terry ("why didn't you order someone to retaliate?") rather than going around him to the players." -- Or, better yet, said nothing at all.

Niese - 2.0 Duda - 2.5 Beltran - 2.5 Harris - 0.8 Reyes - 0.8 Thole - 0.7 Tejada - 0.7

Bay - 2.5 Tejada - 1.0 Paulino - 1.0

Capuano - 2.9 Beato - 0.4 Rodriguez - 0.3 Reyes - 2.0 Murphy - 2.0 Thole - 1.4 Bay - 0.5 Duda - 0.5

Nobody knows what it's like to be the tat man to be the bad bat behind blue eyes

Ceetar wrote: leadoff hit for the Rangers. Jerry, errr.. Ron, has the 2 hitter bunt in the first. Washington played a ton of small-ball in the post-season last year too, so it's not like this is anything new. I'd just like to personally thank him for continuing it today. Aside from a GiDP, nothing is better when you give up a leadoff hit right after taking a 3-run lead than knowing that their next batter is going to intentionally make an out.

I think Alexi is going to be O-gone-do soon.