Frayed Knot

Ceetar wrote: She actually stayed the whole game, which was surprising given the weather. I'd be willing to bet that Snooki couldn't tell you if a baseball was made by being blown up with air or stuffed with feathers and, at this point, I don't think she goes anywhere without being paid to do so - although the thought of the 'Pons spending money for that just boggles the mind. It's not like the publicity from her presence is going to increase attendance ... is it?

Murph hitting 2nd with Harris down below beats the hell out of the other way around. Jerry would have no doubt hung onto Harris hitting #2.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'd be mildly surprised if the MFYs don't try and get Pedro. Why not, they've signed every other aging player with a once-good resume so far this spring. The addition of Carlos Silva from the Cubs scrap heap added to the likes of Eric Chavez, Andruw Jones, Mark Prior, Kevin Millwood, Bartolo Colon, and Freddie Garcia (not all yet on the ML roster) I think brings the average age of that team to ... deceased.

Brief write-up from BP today: Every team has a guy like Jeurys Familia: young and athletic, with excellent size and stuff, yet the results just aren't there. Familia is repeating the Florida State League after putting up a 5.58 ERA there last year, but at this rate, his return engagement won't last long. Sitting at 90-97 mph with his fastball and showing a much-improved power breaking ball, Familia faced the minimum 21 batters in his seven innings on Friday, allowing just one hit and striking out seven. Six-foot-three and long-armed, the 21-year-old Dominican has a history of control problems and still needs to improve his changeup to avoid a trip to the bullpen, but with 2010 first-round pick Matt Harvey and top prospect Jenrry Mejia both impressing in their season debuts, the Mets suddenly have a trio of power arms to make many organizations jealous.

With 13 pitchers now on the staff and Jason Bay being as cloudy in the future as Hudson Bay was 400 years ago, I certainly hope Beltran is going to be available if not every day than at least something close to it. This can't be a two days on / one day off scenario.

But here's the thing-- [Duda] was doing jack offensively, too. (0-3 with one semi-loud out... in the first.) And if you're bringing in Carrasco, you're shifting into lead protection mode, essentially (and bringing in a guy who gives up his share of flies). Why aren't you making the accompanying move-- shoring up defense-- there? Duda's bat forcing your hand? Really? If Duda's bat isn't worth one inning of his defense (keeping in mind that on average you get 2+ innings of defense for every AB) then he shouldn't be in the lineup in the first place. Arguing for him being pulled in the 7th before his AB rather than afterward can be turned into one advocating for the 6th rather than the 8th or 5th rat ... you get the idea, especially with Young being as big a fly-ball pitcher as anyone in the league much less this team. Bottom line is we can't lobby all winter for the likes of Duda & Murphy to make the team and then get on the manager if/when he runs out of players twice a week because we want him to pre-emptively yank each following their 2nd AB or complain that he has to burn two players each time either is used as a PH because we're fraidy-scared to operate with them on defense without at least a six run lead. If I'm going to hang this game on Collins it's going to be for "fixing" a pitching problem which wasn't broke and for going the ultra-conservative route with the whole Reyes/Harris/Wright business. And even before that I'm going to blame the relievers who sucked and the bats who took the day off after the 1st inning.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah, we need a guy who can hit it over the fence coming up more often. Another reason not to try and sit on a slim lead by pre-emptively replacing sticks like Duda and Murphy.

This one is on Terry: not replacing Duda with Hairston or Beltran in the 8th; staying too long with Corrasco; keeping Murphy at 2B in the 11th; not running Jose in the 10th; putting on the hit and run with Jose on 1st and Wright up--why not a straight steal? As it turned out, Wright swung at a bad pitch to protect Jose and gave up an out. OK, so can any of these be defended? - not replacing Duda with Hairston or Beltran in the 8th -- Well he was scheduled to hit 3rd in that inning. I had no problem with getting him an extra AB before going for a defensive replacement. If he's so bad defensively that we're going to complain about not pre-switching him out then he probably shouldn't be out there in the first place. If he didn't replace him after his 8th inning AB I would have had a problem with this one. - staying too long with Corrasco -- At what point do you replace him? After the double Duda we think a better RF should have had? He then got an out before walking Stairs. Could have pulled him then I suppose although the result was a bloop single, not something to really kill Carrasco about. He then got the RBI groundout from Ankiel before Terry made the move. - keeping Murphy at 2B in the 11th -- is having him out there worse than having Hu hit instead of Murph (not to mention burning a player before it was necessary) because that's the trade-off? - not running Jose in the 10th; putting on the hit and run with Jose on 1st and Wright up--why not a straight steal? As it turned out, Wright swung at a bad pitch to protect Jose and gave up an out. -- This one I agree with. If you're going to H&R then do so with Harris not with Wright. And this doesn't even bring up the other point about bunting with Harris in the first place. The biggest question of all, of course, was pulling Young. I suspect any answer is going to revolve around 108 pitches, early in the season, by a pitcher with an injury history, yadda, yadda. But unless CY is telling Terry between innings that he's spent I would have left him in at least until they got a baserunner. Every out the starter gets (the one who retired 18 of the previous 19 btw) is one fewer the pen has to get. This one was my biggest problem because it suggests the kind of one-size-fits-all mentality that's more interested in not being questioned than it is about reading the players or the game. And before we hang this all on Collins, how about some responsibility for the offense which scored exactly one run from inning 2 thru 11?

DateTeamKTE AuthorApr 11-14ColoradoGwreckApr 15-17at AtlantaLWFSApr 19-21HoustonFman99Apr 22-24ArizonaG-FaFiFApr 26-28at Washingtonbmfc1Apr 29-May 1at PhiladelphiaFrayed KnotMay 3-5San FranciscoSecond SpitterMay 6-8LA DodgersJC LunchbucketMay 9-11at ColoradoFrayed KnotMay 13-15at HoustonMay 16-17FloridaSeawolfMay 18-19WashingtonMay 20-22at YankeesMGiMMay 24-26at ChicagoLWFSMay 27-29PhiladelphiaFman99May 30-Jun 2PittsburghJC LunchbucketJun 3-5AtlantaLWFSJun 7-9at MilwaukeeTransMonkJun 10-13at PittsburghMetIrishJun 14-16at AtlantaFrayed KnotJun 17-19LA AngelsG-FaFiFJun 21-23OaklandSecond SpitterJun 24-26at TexasEdgy DCJun 28-30at DetroitGwreckJul 1-3YankeesSecond SpitterJul 4-7at LA DodgersJul 8-10at San FranciscosharipeJul 11-14All Star BreakJul 15-17PhiladelphiaJul 19-21St. LouisGWreckJul 22-24at FloridaSeawolfJul 25-28at CincinnatiMFS62Jul 29-31at WashingtonFman99Aug 1-3FloridaSeawolfAug 5-7AtlantaFman99Aug 8-11San DiegoEdgy DCAug 12-14at ArizonaAug 15-17at San DiegoEdgy DCAug 19-21MilwaukeeTransMonkAug 22-24at PhiladelphiaLWFSAug 26-28AtlantaAug 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

2-1 count ... do it NOW!!!!

Gotta send Jose here!!

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: OE: It's the eighth of a close game, and he's not due up next inning-- why IS Duda still in the game, anyway? He is due up this inning. You can still make an argument for pulling him anyway but I suspect the plan was to have him hit in bottom 8 and then make a switch.

Buchholz is going to strike out a lot of hombres this year. OE: He should start some o' that now. At least the ones he doesn't walk.

Capuano - 2.0 Buchholz - 0.6 Rodriguez - 0.6 Beltran - 2.8 Davis - 1.7 Reyes - 1.3 Murphy - 1.0

Carrasco - 1.6 Boyer - 0.2 Wright - 1.0 Thole - 1.0 Duda - 1.4 Davis - 0.5 Reyes - 1.0

Reyes - 1.0 Wright - 0.5

Director of, among others, 'Twelve Angry Men', 'Network', 'Serpico' and 'Dog Day Afternoon'

- Sam Fuld sounds like a guy who played like 70 years ago - Fat White Sox guy: "You lucky sunnafabitch" - That 12-6 curve was supposed to be Humber's meal ticket coming out of college. Maybe he's not too old yet to still carve out a decent career for himself.

Just think about how much worse that inning would have been without the tack-on runs.

Yeah, let's walk a few more guys in front of the middle of the order.

Gwreck wrote: I believe Rodriguez remains eligible for a save as he came in when it was still a save situation. Yes. It was a SS when he came in so it can't become NOT a SS for him.

Oooooh, it's the 2011 debut of Creepy Sun Baby

We don' need no steekin' interference calls

That's a two-run call there ... but it's also the correct one.

Tampa scored 5 in the 9th on Friday night (the final 3 on a Dan Johnson HR) to get their first win 9-7. They then lost to the ChiSox this afternoon to drop their record to 1-7 The Rangers, rained out Friday night, just got shut-out in Baltimore to end the last undefeated season in 2011.