Frayed Knot

Jeff Wilpon speaks! Or is asked to by the Times and doesn't say much. No he doesn't say much. But what he does say is almost at complete odds to what previous claims said he said. Suddenly the man who "was livid" according to - and this one is always my favorite source of bullshit - "a person familiar with the mood in the front office" is leaving this as an in-clubhouse matter while saying; "It wasn't mandatory. You can't get that upset" Not that any of that stops the article from labeling an event where twice as many showed as usual "a public relations disaster" but, hey, once you call it that in print I guess it becomes one whether it deserves to or not.

Get Green out of there and bring in someone with better control ... like Ollie.

The Second Spitter wrote: Dee-eee Aaaaa-annnnd Missus, Missus Gee (Missus Gee Missus Gee Missus Gee) They got a thiiiiiinnng going on. They both know that it's wrong But it's much too strong to let it cool down now

NYY - TBR -2.5 Bost -9.0 This looks like it should be a fun pennant race but it really won't seeing as how the loser is almost certain to be the WC winner. The Red Sox are the closest competition at this point (ChiSox trail them by one game) so there's almost now way the WC comes out of any other division. So we're reduced to waiting out 'home field advantage' (one of my least favorite topics for discussion) and mundane speculation about things like the specific match-ups such as pondering whether there's an advantage in playing Texas first rather than Minnesota or the other way around. Yanx & Rays have seven head-to-head remaining (3 in Tampa starting Monday, then 4 in NY the following week). If nothing else, six straight vs Texas & Tampa could knock the Yanx around a bit this week. Tampa has won 6 of the 11 games played to date. Other than that the MFY starting rotation bears watching as it's been more than a bit raggedy lately and Pettitte, who is due back soon, is desperately needed to regain his early season form and right the ship. The post-season sked supposedly (I haven't seen anything yet) doesn't have as many built-in off-days as that disaster they gave us last season, the one that had a scheduled November finish by giving teams (read: TV) more off-days than game-days and allowed a team to not only use just three starters but do so without fear of using any on short rest.

Dickey - 4.8 Dessens - 0.5 Takahashi - 0.5 PFeliciano - 0.3 Parnell - 0.1 Pagan - 0.5 Hernandez - 1.2 Beltran - 1.0 Evans - 1.0 Tejeda - 0.1

'Spring' is kind of a broad term. Early February is 'Spring Training'. But mid-June is also still 'Spring'

batmagadanleadoff wrote: More data. How average is K-Rod? What are the best rates? Is K-Rod average in the sense that every single reliever is at 82%, including the best and worst? How much better are the better relievers? Did I miss some other posts that I can't find? Thank you. I did a thread in mid-August -- viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14551&hilit=perfect -- based on wanting to know what pct of one-inning type saves were converted and what pct were 'perfect' 1-2-3 innings. So I looked at a month's worth of MLB box-scores, finding just over 200 games that fit the category, and found that approx 82% of those games got saved (or 18% blown) while just under 1/3 (32.5%) were saved without the closer allowing a base-runner. So, in that sense anyway, K-Rod as a NYMet is right around the middle of the bell curve as compared to other current closers. I did NOT delve into pcts for each individual closer (although I did look at Mariano Rivera this year as a comparison at the end of that thread) nor make any distinction based on how large a lead the closer started with. And, as I said up top, this doesn't necessarily imply that we could stick anyone (say Takahashi or Parnell) in there and get the same results (either over time could be better but could also be worse) only that Frankie's results since he's been here are about average as compared to the group who already have been dubbed 'closer worthy' for the majority of ML games.

Here's the dope on Rodriguez as a Met - at least as far as the on-field stuff goes. From the beginning of '09 thru his pappy beatdown night, he was 47 of 57 in those "normal" save opps that I defined in that closer thread a did a while back: 1 inning saves where the pitcher starts the final inning clean (no outs/no runners) w/a 1, 2, or 3 run lead. btw, those breakdown as 16 of 21 in one-run saves, 14 of 19 in two-run games, and a perfect 17 of 17 when handed a three-run lead. 17 of those 47 saves were "perfect" saves where the closer throws a one-two-three inning. In all, that translates to an 82.4% Save pct where just about 30% of them were of the no-fuss/no-muss variety - or right about in the middle of the curve as compared to what I found among all ML closers for the time that I looked (82%/32%) Which isn't necessarily the same thing as saying we could take anyone off the roster and get the same results, only that he's been about average as compared to the set of others who are being used as ML closers these days.

Rollins pulled up with a sore hammy the other day and had to leave the game. Not sure if/how often he'll see action this weekend.

Ceetar wrote: Reminds me of the old Houston Colt .45s promotion. Or Imus when he used to advertise when it was 'Handgun Day at Yankee Stadium'. All patrons, 15 years old and under, would receive a free handgun but only if accompanied by their parole officer

Not really much exciting going on here (there rarely is out there ... I think the smaller division creates fewer possibilities) with Texas holding a 7.5 game lead and it's not even over LAA. It's Oakland in 2nd while the below .500 Angels sit in 3rd a full 10 games back. About the only fun part is that the Rangers host the Yanx for three starting tonight. It's obviously a possible 1st or 2nd round playoff match-up and while the Rangers might have an even worse record than the Twins for shitting their pants in October whenever they see pinstriped pajamas this is a different Texas team than those mid/late-'90s ones and I don't believe that sort of stuff has any carry-over even though I'm sure that will be the dominant theme if/when these two do face off. Josh Hamilton is 'day to day' after smashing into the wall last week, but Cliff Lee is expected to make his first start in over two weeks (back problems) on Sunday.

- Giants knock out 13 hits and 4 HRs to take game 1 with SD and reduce the lead to just 1 game - Rox, down 5-0 after 2, come all the way back to win 6-5 and so they're just 3.5 back. Tulowitski's HR leading off the 8th tied it, then pinch-runner Chris Nelson stole home later in the same inning for the winning run. Cool thing about it was that it was a straight steal, off a Right-hander (can't sneak behind his back) and with a runner also on 1st so the pitcher is still working out of the stretch. Dude just took off somehow without the pitcher seeing him. Someone on the Reds must have barked 'He's going' but the pitcher assumed it was the guy off 1st so turned his attention towards 2B. By the time he realized WHO was going it was too late and the runner easily beat the throw. That's got to be a ridiculously low pct move but it worked like a charm. oe: Buster Olney saying that the whole steal thing was apparently a messed-up squeeze play.

Lupica now chimes in on this topic, saying that it's time for 'the gang of three' to go because the fact that they didn't go on the hospital trip means they obviously want no part of being on the team. Don't bother beyond the first paragraph, it doesn't get any better.

SD SF -2.0 Col -4.5 LA -11.0 San Diego briefly had the best record in the NL and pushed their lead up to 6 full games before going on a teensy-weensy little ten game losing streak and watching most of it wash away. They've temporarily righted the ship by taking three straight from LA (the Dodgers is dead) but they're in a real race now particularly seeing as how they host SF for a four-game series starting tonight. Right after this series they then go to Colorado for three and also finish up the season with three at SF. Game 1 -- Cain vs Garland Game 2 -- Sanchez vs Richard Game 3 -- Bumgarner vs Latos Game 4 -- Lincecum vs Correia Giants are not only somehow hanging around despite a losing August (13-15) but could be in 1st before the weekend's out. Have three remaining with the Rox in addition to the seven with Sandy Eggo. Rockies - winners of 6 in a row and 13 of their last 17 - are putting on their seemingly annual late-season push, were 11 games out less than three weeks back. They get Arizona then SD after finishing up this afternoon with Cincy. Their H/R record is its usual lop-sided self [46-22 vs 29-42] and they play 13 of their final 23 at home.

Currently Cincy in a 6.0 games lead over StL with everyone else as an also-ran and Houston, after that horrid start, is now in 3rd (albeit 13 games back) Weird kind of race. The Cards took 5 of the last 6 from Cincy head-to-head but can't seem to beat anyone else. Other than the 2 of 3 they took from Cincy last week, they're 7-15 since sweeping the Reds Aug 9-11 with most of those games coming against the likes of Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Chicago & the Nats. Also, LaRussa is apparently feuding with CF Corey Rasmus who may or may not have asked the front office to be traded on account of it (not often you hear that from a 2nd year player). I have no idea what the feud's about, but Rasmus is a 23 y/o CF with an .850 OPS and it seems stupid to sit guys like that out of spite. LaGenius has also been tossed out of two games recently not for mere arguing but as the result of on-field brawls/near-brawls. Sounds like someone has been REAL cranky lately. He's also without a contract beyond this season and rumors are that he might step away. Could the NL (and MLB as a whole) see Piniella, Cox, LaRussa & Torre all walk away for good basically at the same time? Those four gotta be the leading active winners right now and all towards the top of the all-time list. Cincy, meanwhile, was doing pretty much the opposite of StL - beating everyone else except the rival - until losing three straight (one more game today) to the usual late-streaking Rox train this week. Magic number for division = 19

MFS62 wrote: TheOldMole wrote: Not much of a trivia question, but Chuck Bednarik, subject of the article above Ralph's, is most famous for what? He put such a hit on Jint pretty-boy Frank Gifford that it made Frank go out and marry Kathie Lee Here, I fixed it for you.

Niese - 1.5 Davis - 3.0 Hernandez - 1.0 Pagan - 1.5 Thole - 1.0 Tejada - 1.5 Carter - 0.5

Parnell - 0.5 Beltran - 1.5 Davis - 1.5 Tejada - 0.5 Castillo - 0.8

Chad Ochoseis wrote: I want to see if Beltran can play right field. Even if his days as a competent CF aren't over, his days of being a better CF than Angel Pagan most likely are. At this point we're going to have to wait and see how Beltran looks next Spring. There's not much he can prove one way or the other over the final few weeks and he c/would probably argue that whatever drawbacks he has now are due to rust and it'll all be better come March. If he still looks slow then then you tell him he's no longer the CF (although it's probably in his contract that they have to file any such request in writing 30 days in advance of any pending move).

To me, the Phils, with all that pitching and their lineup now healthy at the same time, are the better bet to outlast the Braves who have to rely on the likes of Infante & Prado to not wake up and realize that they're not this good,. And Heyward's had his slumps. And Chipper's out for the season. And Lowe is shaky as is Tommy Hanson. And if the Phils (with Madson pitching the 9th) can get three more outs they'll have the half-game lead. Braves have been in 1st every day of June, July, August, and the first week of September. Now two outs .... now one.

The Redskins stink. Not just on the field but in every other way you can imagine. The owner is a megalomaniacal idiot. The media whores itself out to the Redskins. Their fans are�ready for this?�dumber than MFY fans (they know nothing about football, don�t think about the racism of the team name and logo, and go crazy when they win even one game). My hatred for them is so great, I once had a discussion with another New York transplant: we wondered if it would be better for the Redskins to go 0-16 or 2-14 with the two wins at the beginning of the year, thereby building up their hopes only to see them shatter over the rest of the season. I love the Jets. My 2nd favorite team is whoever is playing the Redskins. Not just a racist team name but a racist history as well - albeit one which stays conveniently buried most of the time by those aforementioned media whores. But they were an all-white team into the 1960s (hell, the Red Sox weren't that slow) with an ownership that condoned it and at least a portion of a fan-base which wasn't shy about wanting it to continue, even to the point where marches were held with signs reading: KEEP THE REDSKINS WHITE. I wonder if any of them ever saw the irony.

I read the subject heading and thought the outcome of the Civil War had been reversed.

metirish wrote: Harper is only 17?....jwow Yeah, you gotta remember that he left HS after his sophomore year, got hisself a GED and enrolled in a local JuCo all for the purpose of entering the draft a year earlier than he normally would have. So he was the age of someone who just finished his junior year of HS at the time of the draft and would just be starting his Sr year now. There are numerous Int'l players who are that young when they sign but rarely if ever for his kind of money and I'm sure he's the youngest ever #1 overall pick. Strasburg, by comparison, and Rendon if he remains the choice next June, were/will be college Jrs at the time of their selections and therefore a full four years older.