Frayed Knot

I'm with Ronnie boy here, unless Lewis tells his manager he's gassed he starts the 9th. As far as I'm concerned, the closer doesn't even get up until the first guy gets on base.

Man that Derek Jeter always comes through when you need him .. except, y'know, when he doesn't.

And just in case you're not keeping track, Colby Freakin' Lewis is tossing a 3-hitter here. Granted all three of the hits were for XBs (2B, 2B, 3B) but I'll take it anyway. And his two walks were both erased on the basepaths (CS & GiCP)

Someone should tell Swisher that having more quotes than hits in a post-season series is not exactly what you want - and that if he wants to kick Cliff Lee's ass looks that he's going to have to wait until next spring sometime.

Damn, didn't want a quick inning from Wood because now he can come back for the 7th. If he struggled they'd really be up a creek for the rest of the game.

Is it my imagination or has Jeter grounded out on 3 straight first pitches tonight? I know he has at least twice.

Game 6 of this series is sked for 3:30 Sat afternoon on FOX with the AL game at night ... but if this AL series ends tonight, are they going to pull one of those deals were they switch this to the night-time slot instead? Just trying to plan my busy life.

And here's to you Mr. Robertson ...

2-out/2-strike RBIs will get you to heaven

Thru 2015 ?!?! That's pretty long term for a GM, especially considering that that's only the remainder of his deal.

Thames hit alright this year and has some power which makes him kind of a run-of-the-mill DH. And, for the most part, that's pretty much what DHs are these days. Except for Papi and maybe one or two others, the days of the really high-priced slugger in that position are gone. Even vets like Thome & Vlad are on contracts that are way down from their peaks. Of course Thames is really just one of about four MFY DHs. They started with Nick Johnson but he got hurt (surprise!!). Then they went to Thames whenever Posada wasn't hurt or ARod wasn't getting a day off. But that wasn't enough so they traded for both Austin Kearns (who has suddenly disappeared - is he even on the playoff roster?) & Berkman at the trade deadline. Berkman was doing the DHing against RHPs but is now pressed into service at 1B with Teixeira's injury.

[u:2pm3mn1q]Game 6[/u:2pm3mn1q] Jeter - SS Granderson - CF Cano - 2B Rodriguez - 3B Berkman - 1B Swisher - RF Posada - C Thames - DH Gardner - LF Hughes - P Andrus - SS Young - 3B Hamilton - CF Guerrero - DH Cruz - RF Kinsler - 2B Murphy - LF Molina - C Moreland - 1B Lewis - P

Where is it written that a reliever, even an effective reliever, must finish the game? In my opinion, the team would have to walk into the hearing and admit that they acted in bad faith in order to lose this hypothetical grievance that we're discussing. Either that, or the Union would need to get a hold of some internal memo documenting the Mets bad intent vis-a-vis K-Rod. Nowhere. But I also think that a sudden departure from an established 8-year pattern (3 with this particular team) that has no other apparent cause except for coinciding with the nearing of the threshold would give the union a helluvalotta ammo to the point where they'd likely be pretty confident of their case even absent incriminating memos or outright admissions. If I'm the union I'm arguing that the signing of the player, from his track record leading up to the contract, to the reason & timing they did so (Wagner injury), to the money they paid (clearly not set-up cash) was with the idea that he'd be the closer and that the inclusion of that option and the clauses that triggered them (health & frequency) were to insure the team against him no longer being effective or sound enough four years out. I'd then say that the non-inclusion of such an option would have been a deal-breaker at the time and to simply yank it away from him via whim or buyer's regret would show that bad faith on the club's half for including in the first place.

Oakland's budget situation was very different too.

Here's the thing, though... legally, shouldn't teams have the right to deliberately and baldfacedly avoid triggering the option? I realize he had less juice, but isn't that exactly what releasing Alex Cora was about? Lawyers get lots of money arguing about terms like "good faith" and the like. Cora, it could be argued, was among the last guys on the roster and well past his sell-by date when the Mets decided to go with Tejada in his spot. Tougher to make that claim if/when a 29 y/o reliever who has finished more than 80% of the games he's ever appeared in over an eight year career suddenly is denied finishing opportunities at a time which coincides with him being on the verge of reaching a high-paying threshold in a freely bargained contract.

Things I only recently learned about Bobby Cox: He wore metal spikes with his uniform during the game for his entire managerial tenure. In an age where at least some managers are increasingly forgoing the regulation uniform tops in favor of logo-ed sweatshirts and other pullovers or jackets (Maddon, Showalter, Scoscia et al) and I'm sure all are opting for comfy shoes, Bobby went out still kicking it old skool.

I'm not sure that it's money that GM Alderson objects to when it comes to managers (maybe the Wilpons would) so much as it is having one who sets his own philosophy or agenda for game time decisions that conflict with those he feels are correct. Maybe their personalities would clash (I have no idea) but I don't see mgr Bobby being the type that would make him a non-starter in the eyes of Alderson.

... player usage is a discretionary team function and it shouldn't be up to an arbitrator to determine how a team utilizes its players. So long as the team can demonstrate any colorable or remotely plausible (emphasis should be on "remotely") explanation to justify player usage, the complaining player shouldn't have a strong case. But there's a slippery slope. If a team showed a pattern over 2+ seasons of using a reliever almost exclusively in 9th or extra inning, game-leading situations and then all of a sudden stopped doing so for reasons that couldn't be explained by injury or effectiveness but could be explained by not wanting an option clause to kick in I think the union would have a pretty good case on its hands.

HahnSolo wrote: Can't you wear a non-golf looking outfit at home? I suspect most golfers don't even have any clothing that they didn't either buy specifically for playing golf or get for free via some sponsor or some tourney somewhere. It probably helps explain the paucity of them on best-dressed lists. And, btw, I had heard of Joey Sindelar prior to this. Mike Nickeas' dad Mark, meanwhile, plays regional tournaments. Isn't he the one who played professional soccer for a time?

As long as it's Lee vs somebody, somewhere I'm OK with it.

I'm not as invested in this one - rooting wise anyway - as I am in the AL series so the Philly win tonight just guarantees us NL playoff baseball into the weekend and I'm OK with that. The AL series, on the other hand, needs to end ASAP. I want a Texas lead so big by the 2nd inning that the Yanx forfeit rather than sustain the embarrassment.

Pretty sloppy game so far with neither pitcher all that sharp. 3-1 Phils thru 2-1/2

Willets Point wrote: So this says that one of those people is the next GM of the Mets, correct? Unless a write-in or Tea Party candidate emerges.

The only snag in the 'yesterday was Oswalt's throw day' logic is that he had already done his throwing earlier. Usually if you're going to use a pitcher in those circumstances you delay his throwing so as to keep him fresher. That said, some writers were trying to hang Cholly with the logic that his willingness to use Oswalt clashed with his earlier decision to NOT go with Halladay (and by extension everyone else) on short rest and skip Blanton all together - I guess based on the assumption that if he's going to act desperate he should have done so earlier. I don't buy that.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Yanking Bumgartner after 4 2/3 IP/80-something pitches? Yeah, I thought that was a bit premature also. He was having some trouble there in the 5th, but I would have trusted him to get one more out and his replacement only made it worse. This might have been the type of game where you could go to Zito for a few innings. But the Giants fought back and are in the lead in the 7th.