Frayed Knot

How is it that these extra umpires never get the freakin' call right?@?@?#?$?!? Dude couldn't see Jeffrey Maier's arm from 10 feet away and now this dork screws up a ball that was fair TWICE (hit glove and hit 6 inches or more inside the line)

Brett Gardener's turn to be the base-running dork.

Gardener in to pinch-run ... who catches if the game continues? I guess they kept that Cervelli guy on their roster for this round.

Hate to say it but I had no faith in Nathan at all. The next time I see him retire the Yanx in a save situation will be the first.

Baseball teams (and other sports) were long a staple of the armed services before Vietnam. Dimaggio and others did baseball-playing tours during WWII as part of 'morale boosting' efforts. Not everyone got off so easy as you usually had to be pretty darn good to get onto one of those teams (high minors of better) - although I believe 'only' two active MLers were killed in combat during that war. As far as those Met teams, since the draft was in effect during the Vietnam era joining the reserves was a way to get in your service time another way. There were definitely cases of strings pulled now and then - there was a story about how Charlie Finley got one of his stars pulled back state-side after being shipped to SE Asia - but losing guys for a few weeks here and a few there on account of military obligations was somewhat common place at that time. The only Met I remember who actually saw time in Vietnam was Dave Schneck but that was before he was a major leaguer.

Carlos Gomez - early game baserunning dork - makes up for things by starting a 2-out 8th inning rally that has put the Twins up by 2.

The weather for Sat night in Colorado (I think it's 5:30 start - local time) is expected to be around 30-degrees and maybe snowing. There's a good chance the game doesn't get played at which point a whole different set of pitching possibilities open up. Sunday, in typical Denver - if you don't like the weather just wait a few hours - fashion, it's expected to be back in the 60s

Heard a few minutes of Michael Kay yesterday who insisted that Burnett was NOT the one requesting that he not pitch to Posada - essentially throwing the decision all on Girardi. Well of course it's always the manager's decision but I like how Kay absolves Burnett of even bringing up the topic while Francesa's version has him virtually marching into the manager's office and saying, 'I can't throw to this big-eared oaf'. So tonight it's Yanx/Twins at 6:07 and Sox/Angels at 9:37 -- which leads to the question: What inning in the 1st game in when it becomes 1st pitch time for game 2? ... because you KNOW there's no way a MFY post-season game will get done in under 3-1/2 hours.

Wow, that one was a killer. Newspaper headline suggestion: 'Deft takes a Holliday' Holliday never was a good fielder although that play was bad even for him. I know he's going to be on the Xmas lists of every team looking for a hitting LFer (hmmmmm) but those doing the drooling just have to realize they're not getting an all-around complete player. He's not a particularly good base-runner either. Of course Ryan Franklin deserves a few lumps here too. He faces three more batters after that and got NONE out. I blame the beard. At least this game was a much more crisply played game than the 1st one. Game one went just shy of 4 hours even though only a 5-3 score and 8-1/2 innings. The two teams combining for [u:whsfv1ls]30 LOBs[/u:whsfv1ls] didn't help to speed things along any.

it's a novel concept but they could always play multiple games at the same time. They do it all spring and summer! But all spring and summer long those games aren't being televised by the same network. Nor do I think that Selig wants to go into the next owner meeting and tell the assembled masses that he's just figured out a way to cut the playoff rights fees in half! Plus, I also remember when they briefly tried 'regionalizing' the coverage of the early rounds only to be mocked by virtually every media outlet in the country with cries of 'only baseball would be so stupid as to schedule playoff games against each other'.

Early 1-0 lead for the Rox courtesy of some less-than-crisp defense from the normally reliable Phils infield gloves Single - steal (on a botched pickoff) - sac bunt - then a dribbler where Hamels attempted to get the runner coming home but was too late Tulowitski then GiDP'd so there was no further damage

There will be as many as 20 first-round games each year in MLB which need to take place in approximately one week's time, a condition which dictates that SEVERAL of those will need to be played in mid-week daytimes. That it might happen to your team should come as no surprise to fans. And as for those "fans" who buy tickets specifically in anticipation of re-selling them for a profit I have no sympathy when/if the market doesn't fall in your favor.

I don't know that there's any 'official' moratorium on deals at this time of year. But with existing player contracts not expiring until the WS is over, and the FA and non-tender dates following shortly thereafter (not to mention that more than 1/4 of the teams in the league have other things on their minds right now) very little goes on at this time of year as teams want to wait and see who'll be available on the open market prior to dealing away live bodies. There was that edict issued by whoever the commish was at the time when Steinbrenner - pouting because his team wasn't in the series - decided to steal the back-page headlines in NYC by hiring (or was it firing? ... or both?) a manager on the eve of a WS Game 7. Since then teams are "encouraged" not to make major announcements during post-season play or to schedule such things for off days.

Carter was only blocked from being announced at the time because a team (the Yanx as it turned out) put in a waiver claim on him preventing him from being part of any trade at that time. Now that the waiver period has expired the Sox were free to announce him as the completion of a deal which had not only already happened but did so with the guy everyone knew was part of it all along.

Who ever said that obscenity = BOCA exclusion?

Jeter goes 2R HR -- tie game in bottom 3 I don't know anything about this Minny pitcher - Brian Duensing, a 26 y/o rookie who has made 9 ML starts

I've actually had the September entries for the CPF 'Bullet of Cool' awards on tap for a while but kept forgetting to post them. Oh well, better late than never. Or maybe you're of the opinion that they'd be better off if they were never. The September BOCAs were all about comebacks: Valad: I am REALLY missing John Madden right now KC: Those late nights cuddling in The Cruiser? Met Irish: Irish soccer star�s Stephen Ireland has a novel way of making sure no one would want to steal his [pink trimmed] Range Rover Edgy DC: Apparently trying to avoid any potential pesky dates also. Centerfield: The ones with girls anyway. Cooby: But we lost Troy (Polamalu) for a while Swan Swan H: Did he sprain his hair? G-FaFiF: [Jeter} grabbing that microphone and telling the whole stadium, "Now I'm The Captain and Lou Gehrig has been irrevocably reduced to Tennille"...really, I thought it was uncalled for. "Adebayor gets a three match ban for stomping on an ex-teammate's head. He also faces a further ban for running the length of the pitch to celebrate a goal in front Arsenal's visiting fans." Triple Dee: Sic semper ****is. Thread title from Old Mole: Mole Update FMan99: I thought this was a Beltran thread from the title. Johnny Lunchbucket: Red Hot Chili Peppers: The band for straight homos who like white black music Frayed Knot: When we got more runs than they got, is that what's called 'a lead'? Swan Swan H: It's called a 'temporary condition.' Hahn Solo: Shouldn't Murphy have been hazed last year? Edgy DC: He was, but --- son of a bitch --- he really liked it. Those are his regular street clothes now. GWreck: Free pair for Friday, 10/2 JCL: I was going to take you up on this but then I realized this thread was about Mets tickets, not underpants.

Twins draw first blood w/2 outs in the top of the 3rd. I was just coming on here to wonder how it's taken them a full hour to go through 2-1/2 innings of a scoreless game And now they score again on a Jorge Posada PB. Maybe we're beginning to see why Burnett wants him outta there for game 2

"Many latin players are scouted at the ages of 9, 10, and signed as soon as possible. At these young ages the best athletes are going to standout amongst their peers because the are bigger, faster,stronger and more athletic than the others kids." No one scouts as early as 9 or 10 - at least no one from the ML clubs. They can't be signed until 16 which, although still ~2 years younger than American players, still puts them closer to being their adult-sized/skilled self than boys among smaller boys. "When they are matched professionally with players of the same age and comparable athletic ability we see then who's baseball tools come naturely and evolve." As is true with any draft pick or signee. No one expects them to be finished products fresh out of the box. "I believe Martinez has hit the wall professionally. I don't like his swing and I question his fundamentals." I believe it's far too early to make that determination. He has succeeded (in limited quantities) at professional levels that were several ranks above his age group. He's younger than maybe half the players drafted just 4 months ago and yet spent his year in AA, AAA & ML (and DL) "Hope I'm wrong, but prospects can become suspects pretty quickly." They also mature at different rates. Steven Strasburg went undrafted out of HS only to be not just the 1st overall pick 3 years later but the most heralded one in at least a decade. To give up on Martinez now, or even to treat this upcoming season as some sort of make or break campaign, is far too rash.

In addition to all the comebacks in yesterday's game, and all the ground made up on Detroit over the last 2-3 weeks, the Twins had to overcome two of the worst 'beats' you'll see in one season. - The 'Worst. Call. Ever.' game First they manage to blow a 12-2 lead, then they apparently re-tie the game only to be screwed by a game-ending horrid call. * CPF discussion * Boxscore - and the Joe Nathan meltdown of a few weeks back where, with a 2-run lead, he gets the first two outs of the 9th inning before giving up back-to-back HRs followed by two walks He was then yanked and his replacement allowed the inherited runs to score -- Boxscore Both of those were the type of game where you said at the time that if they lose the division by 1 game THIS is going to be the one that haunts them

"We'll see with Jeff, but the Mets have him under control for another year under any circumstances." Two actually, if they so choose.