Frayed Knot

Girardi apparently pissed at Papi's bat-flip following his HR last night. Hijinx (and over-wrought ESPN analysis) to follow. Nats lose this afternoon in late innings to Cain in SF Their (Washington's) bullpen which carried them for a while is faltering recently. They tied it at 1-1 on an Ankiel 2B in the 8th but then gave that run plus one more right back.

I'd not be surprised if the Wilpon's had given thought to Reyes having a crap season and getting him on the cheap. I think that whole Wilponian rant in 'The New Yorker' was merely him just trying to impress writer Toobin that he wasn't just some doddering owner, but rather an ex-player who knows baseball. 'Look, just because we hire a GM for this kind of evaluation stuff that doesn't mean I'm incapable of reaching such decisions myself, he seems to be saying; 'I know the difference between good players and superstars and also between those who deserve top-shelf contracts and not ... ' In short, I don't think what he said really has any bearing on what eventually happens. The outside stories of why the Mets are going to deal Reyes are mostly based on several assumptions: 1) the team doesn't have the money -- logical, though largely speculative even if it does get passed off as hard fact by those who have no hard facts 2) the Alderson crew are strict 'Moneyball' adherents who are going to look at Reyes's (usually) pedestrian OBA and run for the hills -- stupidly and hopelessly uninformed 3) this team can't and won't be good for at least the next decade so blowing it up is the only choice -- Absurd. "Experts" read teams incorrectly (both ways) all the time even within the season that's currently going on, so this notion that they know what's going to occur even in the relatively short future is simply arrogant.

Correction: He makes ALL the plays on balls hit to him. So whenever you see a SS bobble or just plain miss a grounder the legend of Jeter grows in your eyes but you KNOW FOR A FACT that he would have had that one. Hasn't missed one yet from what I've been told.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Well, he has to be wrong because Derek Jeter fans would disagree. Jeter, you see, wouldn't have to dive for that ball because he would have been standing right there. He's always in perfect position to get it don't you know ... nevermind about those pesky facts showing that he gets to fewer balls than any other SS each year, if you'd see him every game you'd know that he's always in the right place at the right time and therefore range stats are irrelevant.

As I noted in another thread yesterday, the post-1930 record for triples in a season is Curtis Granderson's 23 in 2007 I actually think Jose's defense has been better this year also (the error v Atlanta the other night notwithstanding). Where he was never impressive before was when he had to leave his feet. It's like he's too tall to be a good diving (Ozzie, Vizquel) kind of SS but he seems more comfortable doing so lately (last night an example).

Trevor Gretzky listed at 6' 4" - 190, fairly large considering his father was possibly the least physically impressive looking sports superstar ever.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I was mightily impressed with Justin Turner's first inning walk. With two strikes, Turner fouled off four pitches, and appeared to eventually wear down the opposing pitcher. It seemed to me that Turner purposely softened his swing with the express intention of fouling off pitcher's pitches that weren't hittable with the good part of the bat, yet too close too take with two strikes. Def a nice AB after Reyes had popped out on the first pitch (time to trade the mental midget obviously). That AB (and a few others like it) plus Marcum's aforementioned passive aversion to hits helped drive him out after six innings despite pitching 2-hit ball at the time. That got us into their bullpen which in turn got us to the win.

Dickey - 4.2 Reyes - 1.7 Murphy - 1.3 Beltran - 1.0 Pagan - 1.1 Tejada - 0.7

Gee - 4.5 Reyes - 2.6 Thole - 1.0 Murphy - 0.5 Pridie - 1.0 Beato - 0.3 Byrdak - 0.1

Niese - 4.0 Reyes - 1.0 Murphy - 1.5 Pagan - 1.5 Beltran - 1.0

I always got good vibes from Tejada too -- I'm just unsure if he'll ever hit enough to become a full-timer but even that's looking a bit more promising this year.

An actual no-muss/no-fuss inning from KRod (and from Izzy & Beato too).

Oh well, it's not like failing to pad a lead has come back to bite us anytime in the recent past or anything. Oh wait

The post-1930 record is Curtis Granderson's 23 in 2007

I think we found the two spots where shots of that distance were NOT HRs in that park. I think those two shots missed by a combined distance of less than a foot.

Dodgers beat Phils 6-2 Braves get two-hit by some Marlins pitcher named Hand (Spicoli's friend?) but win 1-0 behind Tommy Hansen and 3 relievers. BoSox 6-3 over the Yanx in a quick (for them) 3:23 That's 7 of 8 for the Bostonians this season. Nationals in SF scoreless in the 2nd.

This game has been (until just now anyway) both devoid of offense and slow of pace. Not the greatest combo.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Teixera helped off the field, Kay just said. Anyone see what happened? MFYs down 3-1 after 1 Took a Lester pitch off the kneecap. Now 4-1 both in the Bronx and in Philly Jeter with a cheap hit. Now needs 13 to reach 3K and do you supposed there's any type of mandate to get him there on this 10-game homestand?

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I'd say that the draft's been a crapshhot from the get-go. Depends on your definition of 'crap-shoot'. If by that you mean that even a first-round pick is hardly a guarantee of success, well then you're correct. But a 1st round pick is MUCH more likely to succeed than a 2nd, a 2nd more likely than a 3rd, and by the time you reach the 4th round the odds are a small fraction of where they were when you started. Also throw in the idea that if this draft is as talented as they claim then a mid-round pick this year has even better odds than a mid-round pick in others. Besides, there were some nice names on that 13's list even if there were a lot of misses in between. Plus I'd like to think teams are getting better at this as the draft era has evolved although I don't know if facts would back me up there.

The other thing to remember about Thursday's pitcher Gallardo ... dude can hit!! "Only" a .213 career hitter but [u:zgq3woei]Nine[/u:zgq3woei] HRs in just 202 ABs

Pill was drafted by the Rockies in the 25th round in 2008 but did not sign. Older brother Brett - also via Cal St Fullerton - is an infielder at AAA Fresno in the SFG system.

Mets take a chill pill with their 4th round pick -- actually a Tyler Pill, RHP, Cal State Fullerton

metirish wrote: Are we doing good here or what? You'd have to ask someone who actually knows what they're talking about ... and even they don't know. #101 - Logan Verrett - RHP - Baylor U.

Sox are in the Bronx tonight for the start of a series ... they should bring him in and ask Jeter to bend over so the kid can sign his contract on Jeter's back. Then they should suit him up and let him play. Couple of the more highly regarded catchers just disappeared. Next NYM pick at #101, then #132, then every 30 picks after that.

That Williams Jerez kid from NYC goes at #81 to ... the Red Sox.