Frayed Knot

Ceetar wrote: I'm gonna say Cardinals under, as I suspect even Vegas is gonna, or has, lowered that number. Yeah, I saw some estimate that knocked the Cards O/U down like 5 wins after Wainwright went down. We'll stick with the posted numbers at the top of this thread since it's the same for everyone.

---BOSNYYTBRTORBALMINCHWDETCLEKCRTEXLAAOAKSEA---PHIATLFLANYMWASStLCINMILCHCHOUPITSFGCOLLADSDPARZ---96918675.574.58784.583.5717088.58582.570---9788.581.578.57287.58784.58273.565.588.587.58273.572GWreckUOUOOUCeetarOUUOUUOOOBGrimmUOOOEdgyDCOLWFSOUUOMetIrishUOOAshie62OUUOValadiusUOldMoleOTransMonkUUOOOUNymr83OUUHanSoloUOUUOObmfc1OOUOUUP.TomatoesOUUO Frayed KnotUOOOUOUUO 1) If you've already submitted O/U re-check the chart to make sure I've gotten them right 2) We'll leave this open for additions, changes, etc until about a week before opening day 3) We'll drag this up at the end of the season so we can mock all the wrong guesses 4) Winner receives nothing whatsoever Updated 2/26 10:55

fwiw on the Charlie Sheen front, now that he's added call-in radio rants against the writers and producers of 'Two and a Half Men' to his usual staples of drinking and drugging and whoring, CBS has pulled the plug on T+1/2M for the remainder of this season and who knows about its future at this point. For a network to go that route with the highest rated sit-com in the country is no small measure.

Confirmed, btw, by second opinion -- TJ surgery, out for season. That pretty much suxx when it's the result of first batting practice.

Fman99 wrote: I wonder if he'd be the all time most hung MLB'er. You'd think 7' earns you a big rig. A couple friends of mine used to insist - based on some observations of an older Willie on the coaching lines where he apparently felt the need for neither protective cups nor supporters - that that title belongs(ed) to the late Mr. W. Stargell. I wasn't with them at the stadium that day to confirm or deny such claims.

I like how Wesley Snipes who, by the time the sequel came out, was "too big" to reprise his role in a dopey comedy has no apparent problems signing up for this one. Amazing what tax penalties and jail time will do to career decisions. What'll you think the insurance rates will be casting Sheen in anything right now?

article wrote: But Beato fits within the mold of Collins� prototypical bullpen. Collins emphasizes pitchers with weapons over pitchers who fit certain roles. Be still my heart. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Can't recall where I read this but there was some speculation the Mets might try and engineer a trade with Baltimore so as to keep Beato in their pipeline rather than give him up. Nick Evans (out of options, no clear role) could be considered fair bait. Makes sense -- both the possibility of looking to trade something so as to get around the 'Rule 5' requirements and that someone like Evans could be the bait.

They're virtually without fail multi-lingual That's because even they agree that their own language is really silly-sounding. OK, it may have more to do with the fact that they're surrounded by and/or within radio/TV reach of much larger countries with more dominant languages (French, German, English), but many wouldn't mind if their own language simply disappeared. Who would care more than the folks in the motherland are the Dutch-speaking minorities in various countries, particularly those in Belgium and South Africa. - I also remember hearing/reading someplace that the Dutch are the tallest people in Europe - although it seems odd to me that there'd be much of a difference, particularly from a small country in the midst of a heavily populated continent with traditionally porous borders. - Saw some films recently of a pitcher in college who stands 7'2", although he's in some small school I never heard of and probably a long shot at best to ever be a pro much less in MLB.

Haven't updated this list in a while - haven't had to really. But since D-Wright broke into the top ten this year (drop-kicking Howard Johnson just like Sandy Alderson just did) we have our first change in the top 10 in a number of years. 20101stTom Seaver2ndDwight Gooden3rdJerry Koosman4thDarryl Strawberry5thMike Piazza6thJohn Franco7thDavid Wright8thEdgardo Alfonzo9thCleon Jones10thSid Fernandez The total list now consists of 605 players

G-Fafif wrote: Edgy DC wrote: The 1997 series was awful. Weather and Fox kept every game lasting nine hours. That 11th inning ending was a mercy killing. It was an NBC series. What I remember most from NBC's WS coverage that year was that, in true Dick Ebersol style, they chose Jim Leyland as their 'let's make it all about him' personality. Even with the numbers of stars on both squads (although some were still stars-in-the-making) their whole focus was on Leyland the middle-class (and often lower) baseball lifer who had his chances with the early '90s Pirates but kept falling just short.

Seen that one often enough that I could probably recite the entire script. I remember posting the final quote from the movie right after the D'Backs knocked off the Yanx in 2001 "For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting."

Ashie62 wrote: Playing cards But also limits on playing cards.

Even one of the nightly news programs (forget which one) picked up on this story, although the weekend-subbing bubble-headed bleach-blond didn't help her credibility much by pronouncing his name: TOO-full

TheOldMole wrote: Yeah, the same thing I said about Wilmer Flores goes for Tejada as well: whether the Mets re-sign Reyes is going to be determined by what they think of Reyes exclusively and almost certainly NOT be affected by potential SSs already in the system. Disagree -- I think one of the main reasons for deciding to let a popular and proven veteran go is thinking you've got a better choice coming along. Right, I just don't think either one of them are better choices. Flores, even if the bat dreams come true, is almost certain to NEVER be a SS and I'm not convinced Tejada is going to be anything other than a good utility/lesser starter type.

Yeah, the same thing I said about Wilmer Flores goes for Tejada as well: whether the Mets re-sign Reyes is going to be determined by what they think of Reyes exclusively and almost certainly NOT be affected by potential SSs already in the system.

Probably didn't help him get a high profile when much of his coaching/managerial career occurred at a time when if his name came up during a sports discussion you always had to say, "no, the other one".

Edgy DC wrote: Entering the player representation bidness. What a great recommendation, hire a guy to represent you that fired his own agent in order to represent himself in contract negotiations (the FA deal he signed with the Yanx) only to later complain that he was hoodwinked into accepting a bad contract!!

Dallas Green speaks

The Mattingly comments are no doubt a response to numerous Met fans who, in late-'08/early-'09, were flooding WFAN with "Murphy is the next Mattingly" calls. That may have been Martino's first impression of what NYM fans thought of Muffy. The front office was playing him up pretty big in those days too.

It wasn't so much about snark than incidental Twitter groupthink that my blog partner wrote about in one of his other gigs. Reporters racing to post the lineup first are wasting their time for a couple of reasons. Not so long ago, �first� meant your competitors had to endure an agonizing day in which you had an exclusive. But the window of exclusivity has gone from a day in print to minutes on the web and seconds on Twitter and Facebook. More fundamentally, reporters playing by these rules are behaving like we still live in what I call The Or World � the vanished era in which I�d pause at the newsstand, scrutinize two front pages and buy one paper or the other. Today we live in The And World, in which I inhale all the news that interests me from as many sources as I want. [...] When it comes to basic information everybody�s going to have, all I care about is that it gets to me. Which individual source put that information into the combined news flow? The question is so unimportant that I�m unlikely to remember the answer five minutes later. Maybe not even five seconds later. When I think of the beat writers and Twitter, I think of the Sunday in L.A. last July when Anson Williams sang the national anthem and every damn one of them Tweeted the same Potsie reference at the same time. That's when I most severely questioned the value of following more than one of them. But if I had to follow just one, it would be Rubin, probably. He's on top of everything and he doesn't annoy me in the process. [thread hijack] I used to get a kick out of the times one of the networks would brag about calling the election or a particular state within an election at 9:32 while the competition didn't do so until 9:37 or whatever, as if that represented some sort of huge gap in journalistic excellence. Of course Florida in 2000 made them not so quick to go that route anymore. OK, back to tracksuit.

Sabathia has reportedly lost about 30 pounds ... sounds like Joba found them.

�We�re not selling controlling interest of the team,� [Jeff] Wilpon said Wednesday at the Mets� spring training complex. �It�s not on the table. ... There�s a lot of interest and good interest from real people that you haven�t read about,� Wilpon said. �Most of what you�ve read about is not real.�

Well the only reason this is an "issue" [u:7bhe4c3v]right now[/u:7bhe4c3v] (aside from the small detail about him being the best hitter in baseball) is that Albert has laid down a deadline. But it's also a totally artificial date so it's not like his agent still can't talk to the Cards after tomorrow. He claims he won't listen but he will if the numbers are right. Whether the Yanx even go after him (assuming he gets to FA status in November) might depend on whether Cashman sticks around. Left to his own devices I don't think HE will want to go for a decade-long deal for a 32 y/o player but I suspect the Steiny boys might want to over-rule him a la ARod & Raphael Soriano. Cashman probably doesn't have the loyalty to the boys the way he did with the old man and I think he'll have the ball to demand full control before he agrees to re-up and will be willing to walk if he doesn't get it.

Edgy DC wrote: And who is LaRussa carrying water for? Himself naturally. He obviously doesn't want Pujols to go (even though HE isn't signed beyond this year either) and the thinking is that if Albert heeds the advice of the union and goes strictly for the highest offer that probably won't come from St Louee.

LaRussa claims the Player's Union is trying "to beat up" Pujols in an attempt to pressure him into setting the goal of the most money in his next contract as the highest priority. While the idea that the union puts pressure on players, particularly high profile ones, to push the envelope on new contracts so as to up the base-line for whoever is next is hardly a new one, the fact that a high-profile manager would go public with such a charge (however self-serving it might be) is more than a bit out of the ordinary.