Frayed Knot

Jerry knew that R.A. needed help in the Swannie award list.

One thing that does remain to be seen is his hitting against LHP. Well under .200 to date (.167/.211/.222 - although 36 ABs isn't much of a sample size so far) while over .300 vs RHPs. Not sure if his minor league splits were as stark.

My only question in the Sherman piece is this: " ... When asked that day for his strategy, Minaya did a lot of hemming and hawing, a quite familiar sound over the past six years. Finally, he said: �My plan here is to continue with the plan that�s in place. If I�m not mistaken, the plan that�s in place is based on pitching, defense and athleticism.� My recollection is that Minaya talked not about continuing with the old plan but about getting back to a strategy of "pitching, defense and athleticism", specifically saying that that had been part of the Mets' history when at their best but something they had gotten away from in their recent past. I remember that because some fans jumped all over the 'athletic' label citing it as one more piece of evidence in Omar's evil plan to rid the team of as many white players in favor of more Hispanics.

Why do fans wearing a jersey from the home team celebrate so much when they catch a HR from an opposing player (as that guy in the Reyes jersey just did after the ball from the Morse HR basically fell at his feet)? It's not like you're making the highlight reel tonight dude. I realize this isn't exactly a make or break game for either club but I've seen the same thing in much more important situations as if the ball is more important to them than the game.

You're starting to lose me here. Ceetar wrote: I find it hard to distinguish what's a "leak" and what's a cleverly disguised "assumption" by a writer. A writer runs with a story when he gets info that he believes to be solid. He's not just going to assume for himself that Jerry & Omar are gone and write a story saying based on his feelings. What ever Heyman said, it was enough to prompt other writers to ask Omar and Jerry directly if they'd been talked to by ownership. What was it today about the way he said it that made virtually everyone run with the story that it'd been decided, when similar such assertions had been mentioned for weeks? Final weekend of the season jitters/story wrapups? Of course everyone is going to ask about it! Once Heyman printed (tweeted, IM'd whatever) what he did the idea that a decision has been made is now out in the public so everyone else who writes, blogs, talks, or just wants to know is going to ask if it is true. Also, another source repeating it doesn't make it twice as true because most of them are merely saying that Jon Heyman via SI.com (or via some other avenue) is saying so. Or is this just a back and forth between writers without much else to write about trying to get the first/best/most interesting story and leaving those of us that just want the cold hard facts with a mess of noise to filter through to try to figure out what's actually going on? It's not fact until it happens or until someone with the power to make it happen goes on record that it's definitely on. So until then it IS all writer speculation and/or back-channel info through un-attributed sources. None of that makes is UN-true, just not true YET.

Misch - 5.0 Takahashi - 1.2 Davis - 1.8 Thole - 2.0

today he declared it official. That could just mean that (according to his sources) a decision has been made (in fact, that's what I think it does mean) but that's not the same thing as declaring that all parties have been told that directly. If there's one thing we know for sure it's that this NYM front office leaks worse that a Senate sub-committee.

I should also mention that in the case of tied records the division title goes to the Rays on the basis of season-long head-to-head. ... and it looks like they may need that seeing as how they're getting 2-hit thru 7 by Bruce Freakin' Chen and it's 7-0 Royals. One of the things seldom mentioned about the Rays is that their offense isn't very good most of the time and even more so now that Evan Longoria is out. He should be back for the post-season although who knows. And why does it always seem that the Yanx are disgustingly healthy every October while their potential opponents have one or more stars ailing: Morneau (def out of the 1st round at this point) Mauer, Hamilton in Texas (playing tonight for the 1st time in a month), and now Longoria? I know why it seems that way ... because it's always the case, that's why. Yanx v Boston still not underway and still being listed as 'Delayed', not postponed. If postponed they'd have to play two tomorrow and that would fuck with FOX's schedule.

Thole Shit !!!!

Dead tie going into the last weekend thanks to the Rays losing to KC last night (at least it was a Greinke start so they get a partial pass). Yanx are in Boston while the Rays finish up with the Royals so it sounds like advantage TB. Minnesota is one game behind the record of both of them as they host Toronto for three more. Two more HRs for Bautista in last night's Minny game (54).

I think it's more just a 'let's beat the big city boys' kind of thing more than it has anything to do with NYM personnel in particular. That kind of stuff counts as progress for a young and struggling team.

Sandy Eggo lost 3 of 4 to the Cubs and are just about dead. Losing 3 of 4 to the Cubs should just about automatically make you dead and scoring 5 runs over 4 games will do that to you. It was Heath Bell, btw, who coughed up a late run yesterday in a 1-0 loss, their second 1-0 loss in the series. Pads now need to sweep the Giants in San Fran just to force an NL West tie **AND/OR** need to play this weekend at two games better than Atlanta to force a WC tie or three games better to take it outright. Gary pointed out last night how this is a similar position that the '99 Mets were in going into their last weekend, but the advantage those Mets had is that they were two games behind BOTH Cincy & Houston who were themselves fighting for the NL Central lead. IOW it's harder hoping that the Braves will fall on their faces this week in Philly than it is hoping that one team out of two will play poorly. Those Mets still had to sweep the Buccos, but while the Astros won two of three that weekend to keep themselves ahead of the sweeping Mets it was the Reds who stumbled against the awful Brewers (amid a lot of rain IIRC) which in turn forced game #163 (aka the Al & Edgardo show). Padres held that NL West lead for so long and look like they're going home on Sunday anyway.

That Clippard, a reliever, is at or near the top in team wins and Ks says a lot about the Nats pitching overall. That Livan is fighting him for those leads says even more. Strasburg - called up late, then hurt Zimmermann - recovering all season, just called up recently CM Wang - was going to start contributing in May, then June, then ... well probably never. Marquis - FA acquisition who wasn't good, then got hurt, now is back ... sort of. Big bullet dodged by Mets last winter Lannan - ehh

I think part of what makes ChiSox fans (or at least some of them) easily steamed is that they see themselves as suffering a kind of double bias: a) they're not part of the east coast and therefore ignored by 'Big Media' even in their own part of the world they're overshadowed in the minds of 'Big Media' by the Cubs And while their WS win over Houston might have been 4-0 they were all, IIRC, 1-run games and it wasn't a bad series at all. Mike Barnicle is a longtime Boston Globe writer - politics mostly - and is certainly a member of the east coast media's inner circle.

DocTee wrote: I've not seen a single minute of this, but my colleague, a ChiSox fan, is livid over the attention the Red Sox have gotten while his team gets short-changed. He's writing a letter to PBS, even. But they didn't have a long drought like the Bost ... oh wait, they did! Well, they didn't have as long a drought AND have hordes of east coast intellectuals pulling for them, SO THERE!! In all seriousness it might have been a nice idea to mention that there were eight different champions over a nine season span (including first-timers like the Angels and the long-time suffering ChiSoxers) in the midst of the supposed non-parity era, but I guess that didn't fit so neatly into the narrative.

Gee - 2.7 Igarashi - 0.5 Duda - 1.0 Thole - 1.0 Tejada - 0.5

My next guess was going to be Kiick and Czonka

And yet another inning that goes from 2-out/none-on to runs for the opposition. That these came via a dropped pop makes it even worse.

Psycho / NXNW / Dial M could all take my top spot. I'll have to think about this one.

Edgy DC wrote: That's amazing. Montreal, among other things, was the team most damaged by the strike. Sacre bleu! They did deal with Les Expos' spot in the standings and the talent of their roster at the time of the strike and how it killed their season, but then didn't seem to think that the long-term affects needed saying. On a related note they probably should have dealt with (I saw about 3/4 of it) MLB's inability to deal with the growth in revenue disparity beyond just a throw-away line about the owners being 'unable to keep their own house in order'.

Too bad he didn't describe a Rene Lachman HR that way. He could set it to music and make a fortune.

Dickey - 4.1 Valdes - 0.4 Reyes - 1.0 Pagan - 1.0