Frayed Knot

IL games from this year. All games at YSIII: Friday May 22 -- Phils 7 - Yanx 3 The Phils jump out to an early 5-0 lead en route to smacking AJ Burnett and CM Wang around for 14 hits. HRs for Werth, Rollins, Ruiz (all off Burnett) & Ibanez (Wang). Starter Brett Myers gives up 3 runs late before giving way to Ryan Madson who pitched a perfect 9th. Game Time = 2:33 Saturday May 23 -- Yanx 5 - Phils 4 (Happ vs Pettitte) John Mayberry Jr - playing in his MLB debut - hits a 3R HR off Pettitte in the 5th to break a 1-1 tie (and while FOX was in the process of misidentifying JM Sr. in the stands). It�s 4-2 heading for the 9th but Lidge coughs up 3 runs while getting only 1 out for the walk-off win: Walk - SB - K - 2R HR (ARod) - 1B - SB - RBI 1B (Cabrera) HRs: Jeter, Rodriguez, Mayberry, Ibanez Game time = 2:33 Sunday May 24 -- Phils 4 - Yanx 3 (12 innings) Hamels vs Sabathia - Sabathia goes 8 allowing 3 runs on 9 hits - Hamels goes 6 allowing 2 runs before three middle relievers piece together a scoreless 7th & 8th. Again this leads to Lidge in the 9th and again he fumbles the lead, again giving up an RBI 1B to Melky to drive in Cano and tie the game, although he does manage to then get the next three outs and send it into extras. - In the 11th, Brent Tomko issues Utley a 2-out walk followed by an RBI 2B by Carlos Ruiz. Clay Condrey, who had danced through trouble in the bottom of the 10th, pitches a 1-2-3 bottom 11 for the save. Game time = 3:58

He added that answering questions about his past won�t be part of his job description That doesn't mean he won't be asked about it

First a pop quiz: Examine the career post-season stats below for two active players and pick out which one belongs to the guy who always raises his game in October and which belongs to the no-good choking pig-dog. A) .307/.408/.570 - 13.9 RBIs/100 ABs .308/.381/.477 - 8.8 RBIs/100 ABs The answers - as you have likely already figured out - are: A = Alex Rodriguez; B = Derek Jeter -- something which proves without a doubt that Jeter is the better October hitter as long as we don't figure in the parts about making outs more often, hitting for less power, and driving in fewer runs. The kicker is that none of this should be an October surprise and wouldn't be if not for the constant flogging from people too stupid to look beyond small sample sizes. ARod's numbers obviously took a nice boost over the last two series which makes the overall look better than it recently did, but it's not like he was always incompetent leading up to that point except to those who decide to only count from the point where his really, really lousy 50+ AB stretch begins (8 for 56 w/2 XBHs) and act as if that represents his entire body of work. But AR was actually quite good in his post-season appearances prior to being a Yanqui (including while playing in series against the Yanx) and was also quite good during the first 7 post-season games as a Yanqui - both stretches that should have made him at least partially immune to the idea that not only was he incapable of succeeding in October but that he was failing because it was the post-season or because he was on the Yanquis.

In the immortal words of Spiro T. Agnew: No Lo Contendere

And not that it turned out to matter because he later scored anyway - but what is Figgins doing going back to 2nd on that squirter up the middle than Cano wound up fielding in top 8th? He had to be able to see that there was no chance that ball was going to be caught in the air and, even though it was slightly to the SS side of 2nd, it was still 6 feet behind him which is the kind of ball you cross over on every time. Just one more for the files -- they try to cross on balls they shouldn't and don't on ones they should.

The diff between Cameron and Francoeur is that Cammy always takes his walks. His BA is never very high but his OBA will be 90 - 100 points above that. Frenchie's will be around 25 - 30 (lg avg usually hangs around 65 - 70) Most 'Runs Created' stats and similar metrics suggest that making a large pct of your outs via Ks just barely limits offensive output (all other things being equal).

Jeez, make 'em hit the fucking ball will ya? Plus, I don't think Cano has two leadoff walks this whole season and these dorks walk him twice in a row to start an inning.

Would it be too much to ask for a bounce to go against them?!? Two of the last three outs against the Angels have been deflected balls where the carom has gone exactly right for the Yanx.

I mean if they want to talk about conflicts of interest marring the ability to do a job they can start with a sizable number of their on-air personnel doing commercial work and off-field appearances with half the big-name athletes active today even though they're supposed to then continue to cover them objectively (assuming they ever did in the first place).

ESPN Spokesdweeb: Chris Berman has become an attention whore who has demonstrated a willingness to sell himself out to any endorsement deal that will have him (including, at the present moment, both Applebee's burgers and fries AND Weight-Watchers) to the point where it's often tough to tell where the announcer in him leaves off and the carnival barker takes over and, as a result, his ability to be an effective representative for ESPN has been ... ENHANCED BEYOND FUCKIN' BELIEF so we have no plans to part ways with him until the goddam sun burns out!! Ya gotta pick your vices carefully around there.

You could smell that one coming (Damon's 2-RBI single). Saunders has gotten burned by a couple of cheesy hits but he's mostly made his own bed by both getting behind and walking guys he shouldn't. You can't walk Cano to start an inning!!

Not really. The first three innings took over an hour (well over a 3-hour pace) and that was with just one run scored. Wait until all the pitching changes start coming - those late innings always take longer than the early ones. What I was hoping for tonight but no dice so far is a good Pettitte ass-kicking. He's due for one and I was counting on a replay of Pettitte Game 6 circa 2001.

At this point it would be surprising if they played smart. Also, it would be one thing if the Yanquis were being required to make amazing, or even clever, plays to erase these runners. But through 9 games now and two different teams they're just being handed gifts by some absolutely moronic plays you usually either have to watch 100-loss teams to witness or at least go an entire season to see. Instead, we've now seen about 8 different blunders against the same team in less than a week and a half's worth of games played.

And 'Be Stupid' is part of the NYY opponent's game plan once again!! (Vlad gets doubled off on a short fly right in front of him)

So,Game 6 gets an 8:20 (or thereabouts) first pitch. Anyone want to take the 'under' on the finish by midnight poll?

Carlos Beltran thinks re-acquiring Cameron is a smashing idea!! Carl Crawford has a $10mil club option for 2010 -- so unless that's already been declined/bought out he is NOT a FA at this moment and would still require a trade. P.S. Some of those questions in the Marty Noble column may have just permanently broken the dumbpth-o-meter

Mike Vaccaro in Sunday's NY Post: "Tim McClelland is considered by many to be the best umpire in the world."

They must have some lousy weather in the forecast because Francesa was at the stadium when they decided on the cancelation and says it wasn't raining at all at the time. So now - thanks to misguided planning and a little bit of bad (though common) luck - instead of having some momentum this series will have had one game played between Tuesday & Sunday ... and that's only if it clears up by this time tomorrow.

So Steve Phillips is not an idiot? , not buying it Well I certainly didn't say I was FOR that deal; it's a trade that would have been idiotic in retrospect but of course you don't know that Wright is going to be WRIGHT at the time so I don't know that I'd use the work 'idiot'. What I said - or at least tried to imply - was that it was a proposal of typical Stevie Phillips recklessness, one where he tries to patch up the near-term by lusting after whatever "name player" he thinks could be available without regard to the long-term cost or even to whether he's not just being dazzled by someone else's shiny bauble that's not going to solve his team's problems even he he can manage to overpay and get his hands on it.

While I'm sure we could probably trash every GM who ever lived if we wanted to scrutinize them for each trade they ever thought about making, to me this is an example of the typical Steve Phillips philosophy: going for the short-term gain at each and every opportunity no matter what the current condition of the club while costs be damned. The first part of that method has to be measured against the second and third parts but with SP it seems like it never was. In this case, Jose Cruz Jr was a good - though hardly great - corner OFer in the final year of a contract in 2002, the Mets were coming off a .500 season probably needing a lot more than JCzJ to get back to the top, and Wright was a 1st round pick less than a year earlier and off to a good start.

Link: Cracks Appear in Yankee Stadium concrete The concrete pedestrian ramps at the brand-new $1.5 billion city-subsidized Yankee Stadium have been troubled by cracks, and the team is seeking to determine whether the problems were caused by the installation, the design, the concrete or other factors, according to several people briefed on the problems. The ramps were built by a company accused of having links to the mob, and the concrete mix was designed and tested by a company under indictment on charges that it failed to perform some tests and falsified the results of others.

Adam Rubin: The Mets are expected to have face-to-face dialogue with 21-year-old lefthander Aroldis Chapman and agent Edwin Mejia today [Friday]. Chapman, who defected from Cuba and established residency in Andorra to avoid the draft, arrived in New York this week. He reportedly throws 100 mph. A Mets scout already has watched Chapman work out when the pitcher was in Barcelona, Spain. It was not a private workout for them, but the scout managed to find out where he was working out and when he would be there and showed up. Still, the buzz is that the Mets have not been one of the more aggressive teams in pursuing Chapman. Here's the detailed bio Chapman's reps prepared about him ... Albertin Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz Bats: Left Throws: Left Height: 6' 4" Weight: 185 lb. Born: February, 28, 1988 in Cayo Mamb�, Frank Pa�s, Holgu�n, Cuba * Has a wife and young daughter as well as parents and two sisters still living in Cuba * Holds the Cuban National Series record for fastest pitch thrown in a game at 102 mph. * Has a fastball (two seam or four seam), sinking fastball, curveball, slider, changeup and a forkball * Led the Cuban National Series twice in strikeouts in 2006-2007 and 2008-2009. * Was recognized as the top left handed pitcher in Baseball World Cup in 2007. * Defected from the Cuban National Team on July 1, 2009 while participating in the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands * Signed a representation agreement with Athletes Premier International (API) for contract negotiation and marketing on July 13, 2009 * Obtained provisional passive residency status in the country of Andorra on September 21, 2009 * On September 25, 2009 was declared a free agent by Major League Baseball following their investigation and the United States Department of the Treasury licensed Chapman as an unblocked National of Cuba Last two seasons: [table:34knff23][tr:34knff23][td:34knff23]G[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]GS[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]W[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]L[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]SHO[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]IP[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]H[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]AVG[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]R[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]ER[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]ERA[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]SO[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]BB[/td:34knff23][/tr:34knff23] [tr:34knff23][td:34knff23]16[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]16[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]6[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]7[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]1[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]74[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]55[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23].200[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]36[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]32[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]3.89[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]79[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]37[/td:34knff23][/tr:34knff23][tr:34knff23][td:34knff23]22[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]20[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]11[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]4[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]0[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]118.1[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]109[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23].252[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]56[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]53[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]4.03[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]130[/td:34knff23][td:34knff23]62[/td:34knff23][/tr:34knff23][/table:34knff23]