Frayed Knot

Pelfrey - 5.0 Reyes - 0.8 Beltran - 2.0 Bay - 0.8 Pagan - 0.7 Turner - 0.7

Capuano - 2.9 Murphy - 1.0 Pagan - 1.5 Beltran - 0.7 Bay - 0.6 Paulino - 1.0 Acosta - 0.4 Parnell - 0.4

Hairston - 2.2 Reyes - 2.0 Beltran - 1.2 Bay - 1.0 Turner - 1.0 Byrdak - 0.8 Isringhausen - 0.5 Beato - 0.6 Acosta - 0.7

Never faced more than 4 batters in any inning.

Things I didn't know about this year's Angels prior to this series: - well, aside from Takahashi, their entire bullpen - that Hank Conger is Asian. I mean he's from the Seattle/Tacoma area and grew up in California, but he's obviously of at least partial east-Asian ancestry. I'd seen his name plenty of times but I don't think I ever saw him before tonight.

Welcome to the house, Haren.

I was so disgusted with last night's game that I didn't even look at the rest of the scores until like right now. The Nats managed to gain a game on the entire East (and tie us in the process) as they're the only ones who won. In fact most of the NL lost last night - Cubs, DBacks & Rox joined the Nats - as the AL went 10-4. Phils have to deal with King Felix in Seattle tonight.

Too many mistakes: Capuano not getting the bunt down; Reyes not handling two balls even though neither scored an error; Turner's error. Angels got a bunch of bleeders and bloops but we made them all worse with the play in the field.

Ceetar wrote: BrianCostaWSJ wrote: Amid a downpour at Citi Field, Mets show some gamesmanship of their own. They've put down some sort of canvas to keep infield dry for Reyes. Does he mean this to separate the Mets from those teams who don't put down a covering during downpours?

- Cubs leading Yanx 3-0 end of 5th I don't want to say that the TV folks are excited about this series, but this game is on MLBN today, FOX tomorrow, and ESPN on Sunday - Florida is in Tampa for the weekend - Philly is renewing their traditional rival with the Mariners out on the left coast. Oswalt vs. Pineda tonight - Atlanta hosts Texas. Hopefully the Rangers remember how to hit because they sure forgot while facing a bunch of no-names in the Yanx staff - Washington plays host to the Orioles Elsewhere: SF & Oak renew the Bay series; KC @ StL for Missouri bragging rights also Pitt at Cleveland; Milwaukee @ Boston (are they still pretending this is a rivalry because the Braves only left Mass six decades ago?); Padres @ Minn; Jays @ Cincy; Tigers in Colorado; ChiSox @ Arizona Astros and Dodgers play the lone NL series.

Valdespin makes BA's 'Prospect Watch' (#7) for the week Why He's Here: .423/.464/.846 (11-for-26), 3 HR, 2 2B, 6 R, 6 RBIs, 2 BB, 3 SO, 4-for-4 SB The Scoop: Scouts never questioned Valdespin's raw tools, but they cautioned that the young middle infielder's game required a lot of refinement. Playing shortstop every day at Double-A may have afforded Valdespin that extra incentive he needed to mature. He's swiped 16 bases in 19 tries on the year, and in June he's turned on the power (five homers, .733 slugging) and tuned down the strikeouts (11 percent of at-bats). His performance may prove to be a statistical blip, but the Mets have to be happy with what they've seen lately.

You know what I know about the Angels? ... that they've got a lot of really bad contracts. - they paid the just released Scott Kazmir $8mil last season, $11 mil this year, and have to buy out for $2.5 or they'll owe him another $13.5 for next year. In all they paid him around $25 million to win 11 games. Talk about buying high and selling low(est). - Torii Hunter (both names legal in SCRABBLE) was a nice player when he was roaming CF, but he isn't even doing that anymore (RF these days) and his bubbly personality always made him somewhat over-rated in my mind. At his best he was a slightly better Mike Cameron. For that Arte Moreno coughed up a 5/yr $90mil contract which has two years to run (this and next) at $18mil/per. He's hitting .225 - and the Torii Humter deal was in response to the Gary Mathews Jr. deal which worked out even worse. At 32 y/o and coming off his one full season of hitting over .275 and a tops of 19 HRs, the Angels shelled out $50 million over 5 years ... and are still paying it! (well, minus the million the Mets are paying). - Vernon Wells. I think most people suspected he was overpaid once he signed his "Beltran" deal with the Blue Jays soon after Carlos's NYM FA contract. But as soon as he started to go south the Angels traded for him and assumed that onerous and extremely back-loaded deal. Dude's now hitting .193/.235/.327 and for this they'll pay him $23, $21, $21 & $21 over the next four seasons (at which point he'll be 36). Holy shit what a debacle!

btw, in case you hadn't heard ... THE YANKEES ARE PLAYING IN WRIGLEY THIS WEEKEND!!!! But, monumental as this event is, shouldn't this series be postponed until Jeter gets healthy? I mean it's not really a series worth having if he's not going to be there as the entire purpose of the visit will lose all sense of history and importance.

soupcan wrote: Woefully undermanned Mets team that does not give up. But do give up late leads, otherwise we'd have swept both those guys in their parks. Not a bad week, just a frustrating one in many respects. One game each in Milw, Pitt & Atl were not just coulda won games but were shoulda won.

metsmarathon wrote: the duda murphy wasn't the biggest play of the game, and it certainly wasn't the reason they lost. No, it was just the most easily preventable thing that contributed to the loss.

Amazing to read someone usually so totally clued-in as Marty be so completely tone-deaf on this issue.

You just know someone on ESPN is referring to this as a balk-off win for Atlanta.

I blame Duda more than Carrasco; that wasn't within two touchdowns of a smart play. As Gary said, he wasn't Murphy but he pulled a Murphy, and did so even worse than Murphy usually does.

If the Braves keep taking their regulars out of the lineup we don't stand a chance.

These games are always so tough on the road. Whenever you don't score you know you've got to hold them, then score, then hold them again in order to win. It's all in Carrasco's hands now, probably through the end of the game.

Reyes on in a gots-to-steal situation.

That's now 9 innings of 4-hit/shut-out ball from the pen over the last two nights. Now we just need one more of those.

George Sherril might have thicker thighs than Heath Bell

Manny Acosta's 8-pitch 1-2-3 inning continues the momentum shifting theme.

Duda's answer to whether he got teased in school will probably be similar to what JJ Putz said when asked the same question: "Dude, I'm 6' 6" 240, what do you think?"