Frayed Knot

Also writer John Feinstein. Claims he's always been one.

Let's face it our job this weekend is merely to delay the clinch, hopefully until after we're out of town.

A little slugging now and then helps a bit too even if saying so in certain circles makes one sound like a cro-magnon. I mean look at the 'Isolated Slugging' numbers for that Seattle lineup (keeping in mind that .150 is around league avg) C - .090 1B - .119 (that's from a slugger's position) 2B - .043 (positively Castillo-esque SS - .061 3B - .099 LF - .155 CF - .125 RF - .082 DH - .268 (a real slugger although only 200 ABs)

And remember how the M's were a sexy pre-season pick in a lot of circles? Pitching, defense, and Chone Figgins !!!! One of the NY scribes even wrote about how embarrassing it would be for the Mets when Seattle did win seeing as how their GM - Jack Zduriencik - was once part of the Met system and they had, once again, let the wrong guy get away. Well, at least the Pirates are worse even if they're the only ones.

The other good thing about Prince (who I heard a few times although never, to my knowledge, saw) is that he wasn't shy about occasionally sampling the sponsor's products while working a game.

* Nice to see Tampa come up with a 7-run 6th and follow that with a 2-run 7th after being down 2-0 and 3-1 early and get a split of the 4-game series where they lost the first 2. CC got mugged in the 6th (and may have put a damper in his CY hopes), Joba allowed the mess to get worse, and then Javy Vazquez threw grease on the fire in the form of [u:23voytnt]3 consecutive HBPs[/u:23voytnt]. I don't think even Aaron Heilman ever did that. * Speaking of the AL CY race, Seattle's Felix Hernandez saw his record drop to 12-12 despite throwing an 8-inning 2-hitter which dropped his ERA to a league-low 2.31 and upped his IP and K to league-highs of 241 & 227 And yet there will be those who will make the argument that 'he doesn't win' or that his main competition (Sabathia & Price) could have their ERAs that low too except that they choose not to because they're 'pitching to the score' * In that same Seattle/Toronto game, the only run of the game came on Jose Bautista's 50th HR. Pretty amazing from a guy who never hit more than 16 before and in the testing era. #2 in MLB is Pujols who hit 2 yesterday to get to 41 On the other side, Ichiro got hits number 199 & 200 - making it 10 years in MLB with 10 200-hit seasons. Only Rose has 10 seasons of 200+ and he needed 20 seasons to do it. * SF Jose Uribe hit 2 HRs ... in the 2nd inning. 2nd one was even a GS although not off the same pitcher as #1. It was the Giants' 17th straight game holding the opposition to 3 runs or less (total of 24 runs allowed) a streak not seen since 1917

Pelfrey - 2.5 PFeliciano - 0.3 Wright - 2.0 Duda - 1.6 Davis - 0.8 Tejada - 0.8 Reyes - 0.4

Niese - 1.0 Beltran - 2.0 Wright - 0.6 Davis - 1.0 Duda - 0.6 Pagan - 0.4

If MLBN doesn't lay their hands on that they have no reason for existing. Mel Allen & Bob Prince alone would be worth the price of admission. A game with 19 runs scored completed in 2 hours 36 minutes. What's that game run today? Four hours minimum and if it involves either the Yanx or Sawx we're at 4:30. If BOTH the Yanx & Sawx are involved then we're talking 4:50 and if Papelbon pitches there no way it's under five.

"I'm a Washington Nationals fan but I like the Yankees" -- Nats #1 draft pick Bryce Harper. The Las Vegas raised Harper went on to explain (in a radio interview) that his other favorites include the Cowboys, Lakers, and Duke. No word on whether he also pulls for the mechanical rabbit in Greyhound races, the Harlem Globetrotters during their games, or whether the Kims of North Korea are his favorite dynasty dictatorship. I'm also guessing that his Duke "fanship" extends to their basketball team but not so much during football season.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think I read somewhere that his contract is for GM duties, and if the Mets remove him from that position he's not obligated to continue working for them. I don't know if that's true or not, though. I think most GM contracts would be like that. Duquette's wasn't (to his surprise as it turned out) but he was also promoted from within by folks who clearly weren't ready to take off his training wheels. I would be surprised if Omar, having come from outside and in a position to negotiate, was allowed to have his job description changed without his agreement. As for the Mets future, at least they seem to be going about with some kind of a plan, if what we've been reading is accurate. First they're going to hire a baseball overlord, who will determine who the GM will be. I don't know why the GM and the Baseball Overlord are two different positions, nor do I know which of the two would select the manager. But at least it seems that the Wilpons know an overhaul is necessary and that they're planning on conducting a methodical search. (Rather than just appointing Harriet Miers as the GM, for example.) Stan Kasten, currently Prez of the Nats and previously held similar jobs with the Braves and also in other sports, is rumored to be fed-up with low budgets in DC and may part company with them at the end of the season. Just sayin'.

Not only that but they were up 4-0 in last night's game in the 1st inning but lost 8-4 -- who do the Rox think they are with that scoring early then never again act, the 2007 Mets? Giants got shut-out by the Cubs 2-0. SF has kept the opposition to 3 runs or less in [u:7sr7lrmn]16 straight games[/u:7sr7lrmn] now but is a less than inspiring 9-7 over that time. Pads beat the cashed-it-in-already Dodgers to re-take 1st place SD SF -0.5 Rox -3.0

dgwphotography wrote: It still beats no Mets baseball, which we will get in 11 days... That's pretty much where I'm at too. There's still stuff to see and (as anyone who read my comments in Tuesday's IGT can see) I still care if they win.

That's the 'Get Smart' one I was thinking of but now that I see it I realize that it's a Jack Davis (Mad Mag) not Bruce Stark. In looking up the Stark stuff earlier I read how he had done posters for various TV shows and I assumed that the one I had was his. Nope.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Beth Harris, Associated Press wrote: Torre said if he was looking for a job, and he�s not, he wouldn�t have gone to New York. �I think people tend to forget that I spent 12 years with the Yankees and formed too good of a relationship with their fans to move across the water and all of a sudden make them mad at me,� he said. �I�m closing the door on managing the Mets, and probably everybody else. I don�t want to mislead anybody.� What a weenie. Yeah really. Not to mention how what he's essentially saying is; 'today I'm telling you the truth and I was lying yesterday'. You're already in a hole Joe. Stop digging and STFU. And while we're on the subject -- a Tim Kurkjian radio interview praised the Mattingly hire saying he was a really smart player in his day and is a lot tougher than his calm demeanor lets on. "I'll tell you what" Tim added [paraphrasing], "guys like Matt Kemp and others won't get away with the loafing they've been getting away with this year" Ummm, isn't that a pretty strong indictment of Torre?

SF SD -0.5 Col -2.5 * A combined 2-hitter and a Buster Posey 8th inning HR gives the Giants a 1-0 win in a rain-delayed game in Chicago. Matt Cain got pulled (PH'd for to lead off an inning) after 6 despite working on a 2-hit shutout. That's the 2nd time Bochy's done that in the last week. He pulled Lincecum after 5 innings and 62 pitches for the same reason on Saturday (down 2-1 at the time) which apparently got young Timmy steamed. * SD blanks the Dodgers to keep pace but the Rox lost their 2nd straight (and now 4 of 7 since their 10-game win streak) to fall to 2.5 back.

Twins clinch Central becoming the first team to sew up a division this year. It's their 6th AL Central title in the last 9 years. Now all they have to concentrate on is AL's best record (they're 1 game behind NYY) and keeping their guys on the field. Morneau still hasn't played and now Mauer is out for "4-to-5 days" (knee inflammation) while the words 'cortisone shot' get tossed around.

As mentioned on tonight's telecast, Parnell is claiming he's NOT done for the season, that this is nothing more than minor stiffness which the MRI confirmed. He claims to feel better already and wants to have a few more outings. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.

Although I could see Jerry getting roasted for leaving in Pedro to face the RH hitting Hanley when a poke would beat you. My point being not to rescue Jerry so much but at some point the players have to be blamed too - in this case it's ANOTHER 2-out/none-on situation turned into a game-killer. I noted the other night that 8 of the 12 Slams this year came with 2 outs and also that I noticed a ton of 3R HRs that came w/2 outs too. It's like even in the game that they could win the team manages to take 3 or 4 key situations and muck up the entire game with them. Tonight's line shows: - 2 straight errors - 5 base-runners erased - 2-out/none-on into 3 opponent runs

All this reminds me about hearing recently that Georgia Frontierre (StL Rams - late '90s) was the first woman to own a franchise that won a championship. The fact that this was some ESPN outfit means it didn't surprise me. The guys passing along this "info" were all geeked out by the fact that the two clubs in the recent WNBA finals were both owned by women and therefore the U.S. sports world was assured one way or the other of having its second female-owned title team. I wonder if they merely forgot about the likes of Payson or Marge Schott or if (more likely) that, under questioning, they wouldn't be able to place either name.

And that's where I think Sherman makes his best point, that total autonomy* is something a 'top level' GM is going to want and something that Wilpon's rep (whether real or imagined) might limit. * realizing, of course, that no GM has absolute total autonomy - but that even if ownership wants its voice heard in player personnel matters that the GM needs to retain final say in trades/signings, etc. as long as things fit into the assigned budget. You get the opinion that here, even if they don't go as far as ordering a trade of 'Smith for Jones', they do tend to decide that 'X' needs fixing first and hamstring the GM by forcing him to start there before moving on.

Scott Proctor probably. Paul Quantrill also was a cog on the Torre abuse-train for a season or two.

Edgy DC wrote: I may be wrong, but he seemed a responsible bullpen user as Yankee manager. But Jerry's blown my perspective shot and everybody else looks responsible right now. Torre the Yank usually had almost a two-tiered caste system with his pen in most years. He had his "good guys" - most notably the Rivera, Stanton, Nelson trio in the dominant years with the set-up men changing slightly later on - and then the fill-in types. The good ones rarely worked except in close games while the others were used almost strictly in mop up roles. Now sometimes that kind of usage is determined more by personnel than the other way around and so the fact that his 'big three' were so good for a while at the same time that ownership used to pick the oddest places (often the back of the pen) to make a show of "cutting" payroll probably forced him into that kind of usage where in a different scenario he would operate differently. Yanqui fans used to get upset that he was 'giving up' when, after not going to his horses down by a couple in the middle innings, the game would blow up on him but of course that meant that they were not just available but also fresh when the next game was closer and his teams not only scored more and gave up fewer than just about anyone else in those days but they also beat their 'pythagorean projections' more often than not. Later on, when the set-up crew wasn't nearly as good, Torre would stand accused of totally over-working the likes of Tanyon Sturtze and others who were not as good as Stanton/Nelson at their best but were the best Joe had leading up to Rivera and so the two-tiered system was suddenly not as effective. Funny how that works sometimes.

Not sure where Kim Ng is today. She's been both an exec with the Yanx and later with the Dodgers on the player personnel side of things and has been, at least at one point in the past, a candidate for a GM position.