Frayed Knot

From Martino's piece: "Though they are fighting a perception that ownership is overly meddlesome in baseball operations, team brass would be far less inclined to intervene if it felt the organization were running smoothly." This is, of course, key. 'Hands-off' ownership is easy when things are going well. Not just easy but in most cases almost stupid to do anything else. But when things start going south often the first question to pop up is; 'why doesn't the owner do something?' The early years of Steinbrenner featured success but also resentment because he didn't know how NOT to stir things even during good times both because of his massive ego but also his total lack of grasp at the difference between what was good and his unobtainable version of perfect. When they were crashing and burning in the early '90s, his meddling style had grown so thin of fans that the in-game announcement of his banishment from baseball was met by a standing ovation of Yanqui fans in the stadium that day. Later, after their string of championships in the late '90s devolved into a string of 1st round exits and Steinbrenner's health started fading, cries of 'if George was still George this never would be allowed to happen' were heard from all corners; IOW, fans now wanted (and media demanded) a more activist ownership!

"I am curious,� [about potential interest from the Mets about their managing job]. �When the season is over, I hope the phone will be ringing.� -- So said Joe Torre to Mike Francesa on yesterday's radio show. Didn't take long for his not-quite final statements about not returning to the dugout to turn into "hope" that he'll get offers, or at least draw interest.

Dickey - 2.0 Misch - 0.2 Wright - 2.0 Beltran - 1.0 Davis - 1.0 Evans - 0.3 PFeclicano - 0.2

seawolf17 wrote: little known fact: it was a wacky combination of a collapsed lung, youthful exuberance, and, surely, morphine that's responsible for my running career. He's not just making this up - he told me that story a full week ago. So how do we know he wasn't making the story up then too. Huh? HUH? Yeah, exactly. I mean we know the kinds of things that some of us (coughcoughCFcoughcough) have told the Pool over the years (coughcoughLatviacoughcough). Nah, I whole-heartedly believe the CF/Latvia stuff.

themetfairy wrote: little known fact: it was a wacky combination of a collapsed lung, youthful exuberance, and, surely, morphine that's responsible for my running career. He's not just making this up - he told me that story a full week ago. So how do we know he wasn't making the story up then too. Huh? HUH?

... although maybe it was bound to happen at some point. MLB.com -- Cubs outfielder Tyler Colvin is not expected to play again this season. He'll spend at least the next several days at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center undergoing testing while doctors seek to prevent him from having a collapsed lung. Doctors are using a pneumothorax procedure to prevent a collapsed lung, since air entered Colvin's chest wall after a broken bat punctured his chest on the left side near his collarbone in Sunday's 13-3 win over the Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. The procedure involves having a tube in the chest opening to keep air from harming the lung. The freak accident happened as Colvin was running the bases in the second inning. Catcher Welington Castillo's bat broke as he was hitting a double to left field. Colvin looked around from near third base to see where the ball was going and Castillo took off running. Neither one of them realized what was about to happen. When Colvin saw the ball was going to be a hit, he turned just in time to feel the sharp edge of a bat piercing his chest. He still scored and apparently tried to shrug it off. "I thought he was fine," pitcher Jeff Samardzija said. "We were kind of joking around; I saw a little something on his shirt. I said, 'Hey, man, maybe you better get inside.'" A team spokesman said Colvin suffered minimal external bleeding, though the depth of the wound was not immediately clear. The incident left some Cubs pretty upset with the maple bat that was used by Castillo and is popular among players. "That's the danger of a maple bat," Jeff Baker said. "I saw an umpire get slashed on the neck in Kansas City. It's just not worth it to me to use that kind of bat. I don't want that on my conscience." Manager Mike Quade, who didn't realize Colvin was hurt until well after the incident, was just as outspoken. "I'm amazed it doesn't happen more often," Quade said. "Over the last 10 years, I've seen a lot of projectiles out there. Sometimes I've seen it happen three or four times a night where bats get snapped in half. Years ago, I don't remember that happening that often." Castillo said he has used maple bats "my whole life." But the catcher felt terrible for Colvin, who was his teammate in the Minors for three years. "I just hope he comes out of this OK," Castillo said. Quade speculated that Colvin's physique could play a role in overcoming this bizarre injury. "He's such a strong guy in the upper body," the manager said. "Maybe that helped him."

And now we have a nice little rally started that will ultimately mean shit.

Ankiel might want to re-think wearing his velcro uniform as it didn't do him any favors on that would-be triple. That said, Dickey's not going to get away with these leadoff hits/walks forever. He's dodged a bunch of bullets so far.

Gee - 2.0 PFeliciano - 0.3 Takahashi - 0.2 Reyes - 1.5 Hernandez - 1.2 Pagan - 1.0 Duda - 0.5 Thole - 0.3

Troy Tulowitski in September -- 26 for 70 with 19 of those hits going for XB including 14 HRs: .371/.421/.1.057 or an OPS of 1.478 IOW, yeah, he's kind of hot. Not surprisingly, Colorado is 13-4 during that time. They sit 1 game behind SD and 1/2 game in back of SF in the NL West. And 2-1/2 behind Atlanta in the Wild Card

Tim McC: 'if Bobby Cox were a football coach about 98% of his players would graduate' Hey Tim, if 98% of Cox's players were on track to graduate he'd be losing a shit-load of games to the point where he'd never make it to 32 years as a coaching

I think Luis's time around the bases still beat ARod's time from last night - of course Luis didn't immediately pause and look towards the dugout for his standard 'check me out' smirk.

I DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW

Green - 1.0 Dessens - 0.5 PFelciano - 0.5 Acosta - 0.5 Reyes - 0.5 Duda - 1.5 Thole - 0.5 Evans - 0.5 Niese - 0.5

Lucas hit his first home-run Du-Da ... Du-Da

For the Braves, 31-41 on the road, tonight starts a 9-game road trip that takes them to NYC, Philly & Wash DC. They've already tumbled from 3 games up at the beginning of the month (after taking the first three of a 4-gamer from the Mets) to 3 games down now. Crucial series for them? Ummmm, I'd say so yeah. Bring the fucking daggers.

Of course if this were about the Yanquis and detailing mandates on hair length, facial hair, pretending tattoos don't exist (until last year), where/how to stand during thrice-daily demonstrations of patriotism, or any one of a number of other examples of company policy, such stuff is offered as being crucial to leading to a professional and winning franchise.

Not at all surprised that Torre is stepping aside. His decision might not have been about money (he is 70 and has a young-ish wife/kid) but the financial clusterfuck that is the Dodger ownership situation right now almost certainly means no high-priced mgrs in the near future which probably helped push Joe in that direction (as it did in NY) Semi-surprised that they went to Mattingly and that they did so so quickly (do they get banged for not having a silly minority search?). Recent rumors cited AAA mgr (and former LAD player) Tim Wallach as a candidate.

Also tonight's (Friday) game is on MLB.TV

Yup! They called him up on Aug 31 just for that reason.

Must be nice to go 5-9 over the last two+ weeks and still be 7 games up. Helps the Reds that StL has lost 21 of their last 31. Where was that kind of help when we needed it in '07 + 08 ? Dusty still clinging to the idea of using the shaky Francisco Cordero (4.11 ERA, 1.5 WHiP) as his closer while resisting the temptation that is Aroldis Chapman

A sweep for the Twins over the ChiSox puts this 'race' into the dead letter office as the Twinkies are now up by 9 full games. - Twins now have the best record in the majors since the ASG: 42-16 vs their first half of 46-42. They're also tied with the Yanx and half-game behind Tampa for the AL's best record. Mmmmmm, home games in Minneapolis in November. - Carl Pavano won his 17th last night - Manny is hitting .293 (12 for 41) since going to the Sox with a .463 OBA. But in those hits is Not One XBH and Not One RBI $4mil for a partial season rent-a-player just doesn't buy as much as it used to. Morneau and Nathan are good players, but both are over-rated. Indeed, most top closers are. I'm just disappionted they went to Jon Rauch as a full-time closer instead of throwing some glory work to the excellent support staffers like Guerrrier and Duensing. Morneau -- I know replacing 1st basemen is easier than just about anywhere else, but take 350 PAs of .345/.437/.618 out of any lineup and that's going to be a downer on your run production Nathan -- He hasn't just been good over the last few years, he's been tops in the league good (65-70 appearances, sub-2.00 ERAs, sub-1.00 WHiPs) or at least until he fell apart each October when facing the Yanx