Frayed Knot

OK Terry, I think this is over-managing. Beato can pitch to the switch-hitting Chipper but can't face LHBs McCann and Hinske with a 5-run lead?!?

I wanna see Beato out there for the 9th.

6 or 7 more runs this inning and I just might start to feel OK here.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ah, but Elster was only a #2 for one year. So Elster only gets #2 credit... for one year. Then forget everything I just said.

I was just about to ask about how with LHBs Murphy, Pagan (Sw) & Thole coming up why wouldn't Freddi Gonzalez leave Venters in to pitch the 9th. The answer, of course, is that he's not "the closer" - although now the answer is that it doesn't matter who he brings in.

That "ups" our run scoring deficit in the 7th & 8th innings this season to 79-36

A multitude of screwups that half-inning: - ump at 3rd calling Reyes safe - Beltran not reading Muffy's single until too late - he broke late and should have been out - bad throw by Prado both too high for cut-off and past the catcher - Muffy not trying to advance until too late ... but it's three runs and I'll take it

Baseball America projects Round 1 1. PIRATES: Danny Hultzen, lhp, Virginia. 2. MARINERS: Anthony Rendon, 3b, Rice. 3. DIAMONDBACKS: Dylan Bundy, rhp, Owasso (Okla.) HS. 4. ORIOLES: Trevor Bauer, rhp, UCLA. 5. ROYALS: Gerrit Cole, rhp, UCLA. 6. NATIONALS: Bubba Starling, of, Gardner-Edgerton HS, Gardner, Kan. 7. DIAMONDBACKS: Sonny Gray, rhp, Vanderbilt. 8. INDIANS: Jed Bradley, lhp, Georgia Tech. 9. CUBS: Archie Bradley, rhp, Broken Arrow (Okla.) HS. 10. PADRES: Matt Barnes, rhp, Connecticut. 11. ASTROS: Taylor Jungmann, rhp, Texas. 12. BREWERS: Javier Baez, ss, Arlington Country Day School, Jacksonville, Fla. 13. METS: Mikie Mahtook, of, Louisiana State. 14. MARLINS: Cory Spangenberg, 3b, Indian River (Fla.) JC. 15. BREWERS: Taylor Guerrieri, rhp, Spring Valley HS, Columbia, S.C. 16. DODGERS: Tyler Anderson, lhp, Oregon. 17. ANGELS: Francisco Lindor, ss, Monteverde (Fla.) Academy. 18. ATHLETICS: George Springer, of, Connecticut. 19. RED SOX: Josh Bell, of, Dallas Jesuit HS. 20. ROCKIES: C.J. Cron, 1b, Utah. 21. BLUE JAYS: Levi Michael, ss, North Carolina. 22. CARDINALS: Jose Fernandez, rhp, Alonso HS, Tampa. 23. NATIONALS: Alex Meyer, rhp, Kentucky. 24. RAYS: Kolten Wong, 2b, Hawaii. 25. PADRES: Dillon Howard, rhp, Searcy (Ark.) HS. 26. RED SOX: Austin Hedges, c, JSerra HS, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. 27. REDS: Robert Stephenson, rhp, Alhambra HS, Martinez, Calif. 28. BRAVES: Daniel Norris, lhp, Science Hill HS, Johnson City, Tenn. 29. GIANTS: Joe Ross, rhp, Bishop O'Dowd HS, Oakland. 30. TWINS: Sean Gilmartin, lhp, Florida State. 31. RAYS: Brian Goodwin, of, Miami-Dade JC. 32. RAYS: Henry Owens, lhp, Edison HS, Huntington Beach, Calif. 33. RANGERS: Blake Swihart, c, Cleveland HS, Rio Rancho, N.M.

Gwreck wrote: Any idea where Heyward is? Heyward is wayward.

Nick Lowe outwardly told us that "all men are liars / their words ain't worth no more than worn out tires / and that's the truth" ... so, no, I don't think you can trust Nick Lowe either.

I'm giving Elster a vote. A decent SS gets it over an erratic catcher, and while I understand the Marv love but it's almost entirely symbolic and a bit before my time to boot. I always thought the Elster shoulder injury and the subsequent parade of low-rent SS brought in to replace him was one of the under-reported factors of the post-'80s NYM collapse. He may not have developed into an All-Star, but a solid glove-man at that spot who could put up even average numbers is not so easy to find and s having one usually puts you a leg ahead of your competition. The Jeter article in the other thread, while fucking ridiculous in its steered-to conclusion, makes some of those same points.

From John Sickels' notes: -- New York Mets lefty Darin Gorski has had two excellent starts in a row for High-A St. Lucie, fanning 13 in seven innings and allowing three hits and a walk on May 26th, then throwing seven shutout innings with three strikeouts on June 1st. Overall, the southpaw has a 1.85 ERA with a 66/13 K/BB in 49 innings with 43 hits allowed. Gorski was a seventh round draft pick in 2009 from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Although he's a big guy at 6-4, 215, his velocity was mediocre until this year, usually in the 85-87 range. This year he's hitting 88-91 MPH, and the increase in fastball oomph combined with his already-solid secondary pitches has led to big success. Let's see if he can maintain it in Double-A.

CPF Rankings has Sasser at 146th on the list just nudging out Elster at 150 No one else after that is particularly close Turner almost certainly could not catch either just via this season alone, but could put a sizable dent in their lead.

That's gotta be Mahtook on the bottom but only because I can read his 'Tigers' (LSU) jersey. From BP's Kevin Goldstein on those two: - George Springer - UConn OF (who he has ranked 10th) Pros: It's rare to find college players with Springer's kind of tools and athleticism. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, he grabs your attention the second he walks off the bus, and his power, speed, and arm strength all earn 60-plus grades on the scouting scale. Cons: Springer has plenty of holes in his swing, and there are questions about just how much he'll hit. He has reduced his strikeout rate significantly this spring, but he's still prone to chasing and often gets beat inside. - Mikie Mahtook, OF, LSU (17th) Pros: Mahtook is one of the few college hitters with a breakout season despite the new bats*. Good swing mechanics and a patient approach have him hitting .371/.482/.691 in 52 games for the Tigers, and his 13 home runs represent more than 40 percent of his team's total. He has average-to-plus power to all fields, but he's not just a slugger; he's a 50-55 runner who is playing center field and has a good arm. Cons: Few think he can play an up-the-middle position in the big leagues, so Mahtook's bat will have to develop to profile as a corner outfielder. He's more of a guy with no real weaknesses than one with star-level tools. * New regs on metal bats have offense significantly down in college as compared to recent years.

Byrdak - 0.8 Isringhausen - 0.9 Parnell - 0.8 Rodriguez - 0.3 Beltran - 3.5 Tejada - 1.8 Reyes - 0.6 Turner - 0.6 Murphy - 0.7

Capuano 2.5 Thayer - 0.6 Tejada - 2.0 Murphy - 0.7 Turner - 1.0 Beltran - 0.7

Summary: He's aging, is clearly on the downside, is below average in BA, OBA, SLG, and costs his team runs with his defense ... but his Jeter-ness makes him still a top ten SS. Yeah, got it.

Bunting -- I haven't found Terry's over-bunting tendencies to be anywhere close to those of Willie - who did so seemingly on auto-pilot, or of Jerry - who bunted in insane situations and seemed to get worse at it as time went on. A couple of disagreements but very minor on my radar so far. Bullpen? -- I dunno. When the relievers get guys out the manager looks like a genius and when they don't (or when the left-in starter gives it up) he looks like a dope. Terry isn't trying to shoe-horn someone into specific roles the way Jerry did and then toss them aside for another attempt. Yeah, he's too by the book with the closer but that puts him in with the other 29 skippers currently drawing paychecks and most of the questions I've had about who was brought in and when falls more in the 'reasonable people can disagree' category than in 'WTF?!?!' territory. The Frankie stuff is driving fans nuts mainly because of of the vesting clause although that part really shouldn't concern him. Management -- Jerry's light-hearted Q&A's sounded, at first anyway, like a breath of fresh air compared to Willie's dour "I'm a winner" insistence, and now Terry's bluntness comes as a welcome change from the 'everything's fine' metronome of his predecessors. We like that he got mad last night because we did, but is he truly better at people mgmt or is the style just fresher? ... probably too soon to tell. In all, I'm somewhat north of 'Meh' but probably a bit below 'Like'. Let's go with a B- even though 1/3 of one season is too quick to cling too tightly to a specific grade on anyone.

Bay made the last out (surprise!!) so he would have been the logical one to double-switch. There was speculation in the booth about a tight hammy on Beltran as the reason why him.

TransMonk wrote: Biggest comeback victory since 2000 says Howie. Yup, since the famous 8-run 8th vs the Braves capped off by the Piazza 3B PH HR

Good thing we didn't need those tack-on runs from Bay

He did airmail that throw allowing Thole to get to 2nd, but I suspect that's more a combination of a tough day to catch flies and also a tough day to throw. He normally he has good arm.

Ashie62 wrote: Edgy DC wrote: What terrible excution by the Buccaneers there. Yup, McCutcheon couldn't possibly give a shit. McCutcheon always seems (to me anyway) to be a heads-up player. One thing about the weather today is that I think the wind might be playing havoc with OFers throws, another reason why Hale's aggressive sending has been correct today.

- Good news: we've erased a 7-0 deficit - Bad news: It's now the 7th inning. Murph stays in at 1st. Parnell pitching and hitting in Evans' spot.

Yeah, bloop THIS Pittsburgh.