Frayed Knot

Walking guys in front of Albert isn't part of the plan

Now we need one good one out of Parnell cuz we're winning this next inning if we get it. Someone just needs to tell Tony that he's losing this game anyway so he may as well stop stalling so he can get his nap before tomorrow's early start. And Tony, not behind the wheel of the car this time, huh!

And, unlike last night, these StL hits weren't a bunch of cheapies (a couple were but not exclusively).

Hasn't had a swing-and-miss pitch yet.

Victorino to the DL - Phils call up prize prospect Domonic Brown, the guy who'll supposedly make Jayson Werth expendable if you believe certain sources. Halladay goes tonight for the Phightins Lots of guys got injured last night, most notably Strasburg but also Rox closer Huston Street who took a BP liner in the gut. Checked out at a hospital and is "day to day" with an "abdominal contusion".

Meche & Ollie both have this year plus one more to go on contracts at just about the same terms, but Meche looks like he's done for this season. So a hypothetical Q: If it were a straight up deal of just OP for GM do you still do it anyway?

That previous winter the Pirates had been raped during the Rule 5 draft, losing like 4 or 5 players out of the first 10 drafted or something crazy like that. Bautista was one of the ones they lost and they wanted to find a way to get him back so they made getting him a condition of the Benson trade and the Mets were only too happy to oblige. -- it's at this point where you can throw in comments about how this is what happens when you decide beforehand that certain players or certain trades are 'must-haves' and never consider that there may be a price at which you should walk away So anyway, the Mets sent catching prospect Justin Huber to the Royals to get Bautista in order to then package him as the cherry on top of the Wigginton & Matt Peterson cake that was the Kris Benson deal. * Peterson was a decent - though not great - pitching prospect at the time who never worked out * Huber, the Australian catching prospect, was a good bat whose prospect status dropped when he was seen as unable to handle the defensive part of the game. He put up decent offensive numbers in the KC system for years and I'm surprised he never caught on as a bench player but he never seemed to get much of a chance. * Bautista, as usual for Pirate luck over the last decade or two, kicked around their team until they gave up on him at which point he suddenly 'found it' and is now leading MLB in HRs

- Braves get shutout by the Strasburg-less Nats Washington is probably just being overly cautious but they pulled SS when he "couldn't get loose" while warming up. Suxx for those (maybe thousands of) peeps who bought tickets just for him but whatchagonnado? - Yanx lose to a Cleveland pitcher - Josh Tomlin - making his ML debut. ARod still stuck on 599, including making the last out of the game as the tying run, and on his birthday (35). Phils winning in 8th although Victorino had to leave the game Marlins in SF just getting started.

Zvon trots out a 'Laugh In' pic while Gary C. sneaks in a 'Steely Dan' reference.

Reyes takes solace in hitting the new pitcher. Just like Hale and Castillo supremely judged that the Cardinal CF had a weak arm a couple innings ago.

They showed the clip of Jerry's cap/bill touching the umps cap/bill as they jawed, and it was obviously unintentional. Ron said two things: 1) The rule is the rule. 2) Interesting that managers cannot appeal, as players can. 1) The rule is a zero-tolerance rule to prevent arguers from even coming close to umpires. That way, even if it's accidental, you pay the price because you knew that going in. That's why it's different from the HBP rules 2) It's known as not having a union.

Pujols was on Letterman last night hitting rubber balls on 53rd street with Dennis Leary pitching. Maybe it screwed up his swing & timing.

Yeah, the Reyes sample size out of the #1 slot is so small and the most recent part comes from a time when he was still rusty from a lengthy lay-off that the only thing I think it "proved" was to those who went in pre-convinced that he's born to be a leadoff hitter and nothing else.

I'd hardly be the first person to say this, but Farnsworth always seemed like a guy who does less with more compared to just about anyone in MLB. Good "stuff", but over 12 years now there have only been a few seasons or partial seasons with anything other than mediocre to lousy results.

John Sickels chimes in with some thoughts on Ratliff: [A] reader asks me about New York Mets outfield prospect Sean Ratliff, currently hitting .340/.372/.614 in 37 games for Double-A Binghamton. He'd hit .275/.331/.432 in 57 games for Class A St. Lucie before his promotion in June, and the reader wonders if his superior performance at Binghamton is a breakout. Ratliff was a fourth round pick in 2008 out of Stanford. The book on him in college and the low minors: excellent power potential from the left side, but hyper-aggressive at the plate and unable to handle good breaking stuff. He fanned 141 times in 496 at-bats last year in A-ball, with just 31 walks, stats which fit the scouting report perfectly. Despite the .340 mark in Double-A this year, his BB/K remains unimpressive at 7/33 at Binghamton, 24/99 overall on the season in 375 at-bats. On paper at least, it looks to me like he's getting lucky right now with the BABIP. That said, Ratliff has solid tools, including a plus throwing arm and decent running speed. He doesn't have to become a walk machine, but even a marginal improvement in his pitch selection could go a long way towards making him successful.

Haren had to leave his first game as an Angel last night after taking a Kevin Youkilis liner off his pitching arm in the 5th inning. Nothing broken apparently.

As was mentioned in the first post, the Tigers also had a no-no into the 6th - until that little 'ol grand slam thing messed it up - and the Rays only finished with 3 hits. What wasn't so obvious is that it was the 2nd Detroit no-hitter this season broken up by someone named Joyce: Matt Joyce with last night's Granny, and umpire Jim Joyce with the call at 1B earlier in the year that scuttled Galarraga's perfecto. Maybe they need to have Joyce Randolph throw at the first pitch on their next homestand or something just to break the jinx.

This game actually had a double-no-hit thing going on for a while. In bottom 6, Tampa had a runner reach via catcher's interference, then the Tigger's Max Scherzer walked two in a row to load 'em. First hit of the game for either side was Matt Joyce's GS that followed. Good night if you're on the Rays and you name is Matt. It also reduces the number of franchises w/o a no-no. TB was on that list. Just us and SD now I think.

Matt Garza - in Tampa Bay - against the Tigers