Frayed Knot

Jerry's going to pick tonight to use Parnell?!?

Now throw in a 'non tag' on a ball where they had McCutcheon out by a few yards. Not often that happens. Let's face it, between the lack of hitting, a bunch of plays not made, at least two errors that prevented GiDPs, and a Gi[u:3fgnw0fx]T[/u:3fgnw0fx]P that he hit into, if Castillo were doing even half the stuff Tejada is Met fans would be skewering him for it.

Would give new meaning to the phrase "throw him the hook"

Well, that call at 1st on Reyes wound up costing us a run with Pagan's follow-up double. Guess the 1B gets the call as long as he's within a foot or so. That's all right, three is our quota of runs per game anyway. Just a question now of whether Pelf and the pen can hold them to two or less.

As Phil Mushnick points out in his Friday column, the YES crew somehow couldn't find time during their usual 3+ hour telecast on Thursday afternoon to mention, much less discuss, the just handed-down Clemens indictment. He didn't mention if WABC radio involved any version of Suzyn saying; "of all the dramatic things, Roger Clemens has just been serv ..." I somehow doubt it. I tend to wonder if the word 'Steroids' has ever been uttered on Yank-jazeera

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: The lessons here being that the NFL keeps its product a lot purer than MLB, and refuses to be corrupted by corporate dollars... unless the league is in direct control of those agreements. Yeah exactly. They didn't mind that players were striking poses for hard liquor (liquor? ... I hardly know her) they just don't like it going on when they're not getting a piece of the pie.

No wonder Morneau is out with a concussion

McCutchen CF -- an exciting player who may actually turn into something for them Tabata LF -- toolsy prospect w/MFY taint and questionable power who they took in a trade when they should have been getting more sure things Walker 2B -- Rookie, 1st round pick from 6 years ago. Playing pretty well Alvarez 3B -- NY native and 2nd overall pick from 2 years back having an OK rookie campaign in the face of predicted future stardom Doumit RF -- catcher turned OFer Clement 1B -- catcher turned 1Bman Snyder C -- Arizona catcher turned Pittsburgh catcher Cedeno SS -- young, slappy, low-OBP, Spanish SS of the type Pitt has seemed to have for about 5 decades now Karstens P -- former MFY scum who came in the same deal (D. Marte & X. Nady) as Tabata

I bet EVEN YOU didn't dislike that trade at the time!

In particular, the McReynolds/Mitchell trade - which has been entered as evidence of one of the destructive or at least meddling acts of the newly empowered Sir Fred of Wilponia - wasn't anything of the sort. Joe McIlvane, long-time ML scout, head NYM scout since 1981, and asst GM by 1985, told the story more than once about how he LOVED Kevin McReynolds, thought he was the best amateur player he ever scouted (JMc joined the Mets right after Strawberry did) was sorry he never got the chance to draft him and wasn't about to miss out on a chance to trade for him if available. So with him in the #2 chair of player personnel decisions and Cashen not only still ensconced as #1 but also having all the power of a WS-winning GM who turned the club around inside 5 years to the most dominant team the NL has seen since the Big Red Machine of the mid-'70s and hasn't seen since, does anyone really think that the reason this trade was made was strictly because Fred was fraidy-scared of having Kevin Mitchell in the locker room? btw, that trade was almost universally lauded at the time (a case of the rich getting richer was the main take) and, while I know McReynolds has his detractors among NYM fans, I liked the deal then and still like it now. The larger point being that if this is what's being used to show that Wilpon's more hands-on approach was the key to the downfall of the mid-'80s dominance I think it's being done by those who are starting with their conclusion and then attempting to retro-fit whatever evidence they find into their "proof".

If any NYM employee mentions even the existence of KRod's option clause in public he should be fired instantly -so, yeah, they should stick strictly to the 'we did this while he was pitching well therefore it's all about the crime' strategy. But the union is going to cling to the 'sanctity of the contract' story and I don't seem as confident as a lot of y'all that this is going to turn out in the club's favor - especially considering the clubs' batting average in legal matters.

Edgy DC wrote: If so, I guess it can help the Mets that Rodriguez wasn't pitching particularly poorly. They want out of the deal because he's been behaving like a blazing hot asshole. And some will ask if they would still want him out on blazing hot assaholic principles if he didn't have a huge salary and an even huger option year left.

And now Cameron himself is out *AGAIN* with season-ending abdominal surgery.

ESPN put one of their legal beagles on the air who had seen the indictment and he was using phrases like: 'extremely impressive legal document', and 'masterful work', and 'guaranteed jail time if they can make it stick'.

I surprised that Elaine buying up all the 'Sponge-Tech' inventory didn't keep the company afloat longer.

I either don't remember - or, more likely, missed the subtlety of - the Mays play too. Looking back over the box score, Willie only came in via the switches that took place on account of the Hahn/Stork collision.

Yeah, I suppose the next step would be to see what the NYM bases-loaded LD% / FO% / PO% / GB% stats look like compared to the overall. Claiming bad luck because your BABiP stats suck would be one thing - but if you're killing most of your ABs hitting infield pops during that time that argument loses ground.

2012 option becomes guaranteed with: 55 games finished in 2011, and 100 games finished in 2010-11, and doctors declare Rodriguez healthy after 2011 He finished 46 games this season so the injury/fight and his truncated year didn't do anything (pending legal wrangling of course) to make the option less reachable. 55 games finished in 2011 would make it 101 over the two years and if a NYM doctor declares him 'unhealthy' after that this current union grievance will seem like small potatoes compared to the one they'll bring down then.

Leaving aside the idea that the Mets ... could get a manager and team next year that wouldn't be married to the closer idea. Tough to go looking for a critter that probably doesn't exist. I mean we can blame Jerry all we want (and there certainly are things to blame him for) but, when it comes to closers, every manager in the majors uses one in virtually the same way. As far as how Parnell is used for the remainder of the season ... I don't care. He's still got work to do as no one lives off heat alone and until he can refine that slider and throw it for strikes every once in a while he's going to get smacked around on occasion - especially by LHBs (.316 BAA this season). I'm of the opinion that any reliever who can pitch effectively can be used to close (as opposed to the "but the ninth inning is different!!!!" crowd) so as long as he's used sensibly I'd prefer he not be locked into some role that tries to define him. Maybe the best thing about last night wasn't the lit-up radar gun but that he went two solid innings which could help ease the doubts he brought from Buffalo about him falling apart after one.

I brought up the team's total ineptness with the bags full briefly in last night's IGT. Taking a closer look at it, they're up to 114 plate appearances with the sacks drunk this year (99 ABs) with a totally pitiful slash line of .202/.219/.273 That's 15 singles, 3 doubles, 2 triples, and (famously by this point) 0 grand slams. Also 10 Sac Flies plus 4 BBs and 1 HBP Even if they were merely matching the usual level of sub-par NYM-2010 noffense - which is down to a paltry .248/.312./381 at this point - the totals would be more like 17 singles (2 higher than now), 5 doubles (+2), 1 triple (we lose one there), plus 2 actual GS and 5 extra walks. That gain alone might be worth 15-20 runs and maybe 2 games in the standings even if the extra hits weren't selectively applied to games where they were most needed. The fact that teams normally hit better in bases-loaded situations because the pitcher is at a disadvantage there (NL as a whole bats 19 points higher) would jack those numbers up even more.

Niese - 4.6 Taakahashi - 0.7 Beltran - 1.7 Wright - 1.7 Francoeur - 1.3

Closer? .... CLOSER? .... We don' need no stinkin' closer !!

Hessman looks big and gawky out there but he hasn't made a bad play since he's been up.

No official ABs yet this inning. All walks, IWs, Sac bunts, and Sac Flys .... well NOW there's one.