Frayed Knot

Takahashi - 4.5 Dessens - 0.2 Feliciano - 0.1 Carter - 0.4 Francoeur - 0.7 Reyes - 0.3 Wright - 0.3

Niese - 2.4 Valdes - 1.0 Parnell - 0.3 Feliciano - 0.5 Perez - 0.2 Dessens - 0.5 Pagan - 2.5 Barajas - 1.0 Beltran - 0.5

Dickey - 3.0 Parnell - 0.4 Thole - 1.2 Pagan - 1.5 Reyes - 0.7

I'm glad Cora's in the clubhouse yellin at people for laughing after they lost.... wonderin why nobody else did that...cuz if someone would do that... we wouldn't really need Cora, right? Can we bring in a clubhouse bench guy to replace cora that can actually hit? No, you don't really need Cora as long as you find a different backup capable of playing SS who can actually hit. Do that and I don't think anyone would care if he was a deaf/mute in the clubhouse. Problem is that backup middle IFers who can hit have a unique title in baseball, it's called starting middle infielder. The Yanx do have several they'd probably be willing to give up and I bet we wouldn't even have to give up that much for either: Ramiro Pena: .193/.236/.205 - or Kevin Russo: .188/.250/.289 -- who have combined for 145 PAs this year, or about 30 less than Cora

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Do you adore a minuet... the Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette? Or would you rather rock-and-roll? Does a hot dog make you lose control? I'm embarrassed to say I know the origin of this.

The only problem I had with Tatis's use was late last year when Nick Evans went un-used vs LHPs in a Murph platoon in favor of Fernando although I think that said more of Jerry's apparent dislike of Evans than I think it did about over-reliance on Tatis - and, even then, that was maybe a few dozen ABs out of the 700-ish he logged since early '08. Aside from that, the myriad of injuries to both the starters and the younger more attractive replacements (Milledge, Martinez) forced his use and FT absolutely bailed that team's collective ass out during the injury rash in '08 until his own injury helped scuttle the team in September. As far as Cora/Castillo, look, I know that when a player gets injured everyone wants the medical staff to issue an assurance that it'll be all nice and healed on the 18th around noon but life doesn't work that way. And whether they should have DL'd Castillo immediately instead of taking the wait-n-see approach, the fact is they tried taking the workload off him in hopes of avoiding the DL which means the manager has to turn to Cora. And then when Castillo was finally DL'd the 20 y/o replacement brought up in his place got most of the starts.

The problem with Cora playing "too often" is that the other middle IFers keep getting hurt. I mean it's not like he plays instead of a healthy Reyes and only occasionally is inserted instead of a gimpy Castillo and, despite fears to the contrary, started about 1/4 as often as the similarly bat-challenged Tejada. Tatis was/is in the same boat w/Met fans - the U.S.S. Hate. Don't hate on these guys because they're not good enough to play everyday - they were never designed to. Instead, blame the circumstances that forced them into ~ 700 & 500 PAs over the last couple seasons.

Ceetar wrote: The solution to that is really easy. Don't play Cora. ever. I agree. He should be immediately replaced with one of those high average backup infielders with power and the ability to play SS.

Manny's on the DL Also, I think our strategy in this series should be to somehow get Torre and his bench coach ejected so they'll be forced to resort to Mattingly again.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: There's one blogger, a former Expos beat writer, who's speculating that Francouer and Mejia might go to Houston for Oswalt. But it didn't seem like anything more than pure speculation. Everything I've heard/read over the last month has Houston asking for a lot in return for Oswalt - like several top prospects - and now Oswalt apparently wants his 2012 option picked up before he'll agree to waive his NT clause. IOW, I think this blogger is doing nothing more than just matching up names that are "out there" even as it's starting to look less and less likely that Oswalt is even going to be dealt.

so, who are our back up if'ers and of'ers? because we have 3 catchers, we have 1) one backup OF'er, that we're apparently trying to trade away. (Frenchy) 2) one guy backing up 1b, 2b, 3b, and ss. (Cora) 3) one guy we only use as our DH and PH, but never let him take the field (Carter) 4) two guys backing up ONE position. This is not a good roster/depth chart. I was also 1/2 expecting Cora to hurt his hand again yesterday on that tag @ 2nd base when he ran on the wild pitch... we need a better backup infielder and we shouldn't have 3 catchers with only Cora backing up 4 positions... As Gary & Ron discussed briefly during yesterday's game, that while it's a very poor and non-versatile defensive bench, there also aren't any regulars who need defensive replacement so PHers are pretty much just going to be PHers. Other than that: - the OF is fine, - the middle IF backup doesn't hit enough but virtually no backup IFer does and if Cora does get hurt he'll be replaced by a nearly identical model from the Tejada/Turner factory, - the catching in more than fine, - and at 1st & 3rd ... well, we're pretty much up a creek. All of which means that neither David nor Ike get a day off until Sept 1, or until a catcher is swapped out for something on the order of Nick Evans. It also means that the Met fans who spent the last 2-1/2 years ragging on Tatis when he didn't deserve it, or gloating their ' I told ya so's ' this year when he did, got their wish and are now going to have to live with it.

Edgy DC wrote: The Mets and Bisons have announced that they've extended their agreement through 2012. Saves having to risk participating in the gigantic game of musical chairs towards the end of this year.

HahnSolo wrote: I saw Bochy talking about it on SportsCenter. I think they took it from the Giants postgame show. He said, and I am paraphrasing, that "I brought to the umpires attention, and none of them had seen it, and I told them I was going to protest the game. Then they made the call, but none of that would have mattered if we hadn't gotten the hits, blah, blah, blah." The bold is my emphasis. Bochy said none of them had seen it, which I find hard to believe. All four umps would make a call based on a manager saying so? More likely, one of them saw it, was fuzzy on the rule, and relayed what he saw to another ump who had not seen it, but was clear on the rule. As someone mentioned up above, I always thought the foul line was the cut-off point. If the umps took Bochy's word for it and made the call based on that then it's bad on them, not him. After reading about this, I have a vague recollection of seeing this same thing called before - but it's been so long that I might have gotten the mound/line thing wrong too if asked about it before today.

I'm all mixed up here. I don't understand the nature of our disagreement. I don't have a problem with what Cora did or said simply because he's a backup infielder who hits like a backup infielder. You clearly do. Cora can say whatever the hell he wants to say. But it seems to me that it takes a lot of balls for a crappy sub .250 below league average for his entire crappy career crappy hitter to criticize Pelfrey for joking with a reporter. And once again (5th time) with the on-field stats having a say in determining who can say what after you claim they don't. Whether or not the article specifically said so or not, Cora's clearly questioning Pelfrey's heart or desire. Not his heart desire but the way he goes about his business and reacts to bad days - or at least as to how he was doing so at that moment. But this is the only way that Cora's ever gonna get favorable press: by feeding into the old wive's tale about how Cora's character should override the fact that he sucks. Of course, he'll get that occasional clutch game-winning extra base hit too, but for every one of those, Cora's making like 30 or 45 outs. The fact that you created this whole back-story where the reasons behind why he said what he said are all disruptive and self-aggrandizing doesn't make it true, nor does linking it - not even for the sixth time now - to his pecking order in the offense. If you think that certain members of the press are spinning this in a way where it must be true and accurate because it came from none other than Alex the Great THEN BLAME THEM! I'm done here.

Yeah I get it, especially seeing as how this is the fourth time in four posts you've inserted Cora's stats as part of the argument while trying to claim in between that you don't actually mean it. And questioning how someone acts in certain situations surrounding the team's wins and losses isn't the same as saying they don't care about winning, it's merely questioning how they go about it or how they accept the results. I have no problem with a player doing that and I'm not going to means-test* the participants in order to decide whose side I'm on. Accept that argument or reject it, but to choose sides based on the BA of which guy is on which side is stupid, and if that's not what you're doing then maybe ceasing to bring it up each time would be a real good start. * Plus, if we apply the means test based on results from the last few weeks then Pelfrey needs to sit in his corner quietly until maybe Labor Day.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: I don't think Cora - or anyone for that matter - needs to check the stat sheets before deciding whether or not he's allowed to say something. I agree with you. But Cora hitting .280 correlates stronger with the Mets winning than whether or not Pelfrey's joking with a reporter. Therefore, if Cora wants to win, maybe he should hold up his end of the deal by figuring out how to hit .280 instead of worrying whether Pelfrey prefers sausage or pepperoni on his pizza. Right, because the acts of what to say in a locker room and hitting better are like choices one merely has to decide to make in order to carry them out.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: I don't think Cora - or anyone for that matter - needs to check the stat sheets before deciding whether or not he's allowed to say something. Oh I wasn't being literal. There's 25 players in the locker room and the idea that they should all behave like Cora would is, to me, self-centered and narcissistic. I also question Cora's motive for his reaction and wonder if perhaps, it was all contrived and calculated just to get favorable ink for his, ya know, Want To Win More Than The Other Mets personality that is supposed to be the essence of Alex Cora. Because he's not gonna remind us of Chase Utley. Considering that you went from 'he should STFU until he gets his BA up' to 'he's a selfish phony because he's not exactly the next Chase Utley', the part in the middle about not being literal about him needing to check the stat sheet in order to speak up doesn't quite jive with all that.

I had a feeling about Cordero as soon as I heard he refused the demotion and became a FA last week. That he was originally an Omar draft pick was no small part in feeding into that.

I don't think Cora - or anyone for that matter - needs to check the stat sheets before deciding whether or not he's allowed to say something.

If the Mets end up trading Josh Thole for a mid-tier pitcher, it'll be Kazmir-Zambrano all over again. No it won't

The Second Spitter wrote: Were the MFY fans actually booing Matsui? Not that I saw. I caught the player intros and at least one AB. Maybe they were booing whichever piece of bullpen fodder served up the HR to him or Girardi when he went to fetch him but I didn't see/hear that part.

Two half-innings sucked: - top 1 when they started the inning with two straight hits (and three straight line-drives) plus a walk but couldn't score and - bottom 4 when, facing 7-8-9 after getting the first two outs, Dickey went walk - triple - single. And, yeah, the single was a swinging bunt and a less rusty Beltran probably runs down the blast, but it was still sucky timing. Games turn on stuff like that. Of course going down in the 2nd thru 7th innings on like 5 pitches per didn't help either. (actually 14, 9, 11, 10, 7, 12 -- it just seemed like 5 each) Also Ike picked a bad day to have a bad day. Not only was he the main culprit in the 1st inning but, in all, K'd on 3 pitches, 4 pitches, and 6 pitches - in addition to rolling a single up the middle on an 0-2 pitch. You've heard of batters trying to hit it where it's pitched? Well Ike was trying to hit it *IF* it was pitched.

Edgy DC wrote: Well, we don't really control him, do we? 4 years + 41 days of ML service coming into this year. That means barely 5 years at the end of this season and therefore under NYM control - via arbitration - for one season.