Frayed Knot

Friday, September 19 - Shea Stadium: Mets 2 - Pirates 8 (Game 1 of DH) -- Nolan Ryan vs Bob Veale Ryan is pulled with just 2 outs in the 2nd inning after Matty Alou�s bases-loaded single makes it 3-0 Pittsburgh. Hodges calls on the back of the pen that hadn�t seen action in two weeks or more: DiLauro, Koonce, Les Rohr and Bob Johnson. They mostly fare well except for former #1 pick Rohr who gets hit up for 4 Pirate runs in 1.1 innings. It was Johnson's ML debut:2 hitters faced, 2 ground-outs Veale goes all the way holding the Mets to RBI singles by Otis in the 7th and Boswell in the 9th. Game Time = 2:47 Friday, September 19 - Shea Stadium: Mets 0 - Pirates 8 (Game 2 of DH) -- Jim McAndrew vs Luke Walker Has too much success gone to the Mets� heads? McAndrew leaves after 5 innings after giving up 7 runs on 11 hits. Ron Taylor settles down the next two innings and then Jesse Hudson finishes up the game with his only 2 innings of his NYM and MLB career: 2 IP, 1 ER, 2 hits, 2 walks, 3 Ks Luke Walker pitches a complete game, 6-hit shutout Game Time = 2:25 91 - 60; 1st Place; 4.0 Games Ahead -- Cubs split a pair in StL

Also, Texas's shot at a sweep against LAA disappeared early as they get shut-out for the 4th time in 5 games. Now 7.5 games out. Boston wins/Yanx lose to close the East race to within 6 games. Not like that puts the division in any danger, but it does give me the opportunity to talk about the Yanqui game. Yanx lead 2-1 in the 9th; Rivera gets the first two outs but then gives up a double and then a walk-off 2R HR to Ichiro. To be fair, Ichiro was only trying to make up for being picked off 1st base [u:2h8j93a9]twice[/u:2h8j93a9] during in the game.

I know we suck. I really, truly am not trying to dispute that current fact. But can just one break, one bounce, or one twist of good fortune go our way sometime before this year is out? Because I get the feeling that the next time this happens will be the first.

And from the 'it probably won't matter but WTF anyway' file, why Sheffield PHing to lead off an inning when you're down by 3? It made sense to have him on-deck when the line-drive DP ended the previous frame because there were men on. But it makes little sense to just trot him out there again the next inning when the bases are empty. I can picture us getting guys on towards the end of the game needing an extra-base hit and seeing Andy Handy swinging a bat in the circle.

2002 was also the no home-win month: 0-13 at home; 6-8 on the road

Desmond was one of those "toolsy" prospects who was on the brink of falling off a lot of radar screens when he suddenly put it all together in the minors this year (jumped from .256/.321/.408 in 2008 to .330/.401/.477) and then had a smashing debut with the Nats just recently: 2-fer-4 incl a 3R HR -- and is 10 for 20 so far. The Nats have talked to Christian Guzman about moving to 2nd next year to make room for Desmond but he's reportedly not too happy about the idea. Pulling rank to stay at SS even if it hurts the team ... who does he think he is? - Jeter!?! * Ian Desmond was a 3rd round pick in 2004 - an Omar pick!

Wasn't there a winless-at-home month of August one of the years earlier in this decade?

Yeah, those things make an even bigger difference.

A .523 winning pct is averaging almost 85 wins/year. Not bad for an overall average and more than 3 wins/year better than this decade's .503 (81.6 wins/yr) "If all 15 remaining games get played, the Mets will have played a total of 1,618 games in the 2000's, topping the 1,614 played in the 1970's." MLB definitely makes more of an effort to play just about every game scheduled these days than they used to, so I'm not surprised that our total number of games played (and I bet that of many teams) is higher this decade.

The best thing form a NYM standpoint of the whole Appier/Vaughn swap was that the Mets inherited the insurance policy that the Angels purchased for Mo's contract which made that final year he sat out here about 80% free. Meanwhile LAA wound up cutting Appier with more than year left and had to eat some huge amount of money.

2001 draft: - Mets obtain the 18th overall pick from the Rockies in compensation for the signing of FA Mike Hampton and choose Aaron Heilman - they also got the 38th overall pick as a supplemental choice and chose David Wright - the Mets lost their own 1st round pick, #26 overall for the signing of Kevin Appier - A's use the pick to select Jeremy Bonderman - A's also get the 37th pick (the one right before Wright) as the supplemental choice for losing Appier and selected John Rheinecker (Whew!)

Murphy 2.2 Stoner - 0.8 Tatis - 1.0 Valdez - 1.0

Thursday, September 18 - Parc Jarry: Mets 2 - Expos 0 -- Tom Seaver vs Bill Stoneman Seaver�s turn at shutting out the now 48-103 Expos. A complete game 5 hit (all singles) 3 BB, 9 K performance Bill Stoneman also pitched well for Montreal, striking out 11 in 7-1/3 -- but you can�t stop Eddie Kranepool you can only hope to contain him. Krane�s two-out single in the 1st knocks in Agee (who batted 2nd behind Garrett this day) and then his 6th inning solo HR closes out the night�s scoring. In the 8th Eddie ... grabbed some bench while Clendenon pinch-hit for him against the lefty reliever Dan McGinn Game Time = 2:23 91 - 58; 1st Place; 5.0 Games Ahead -- Cubs lose 5-3 to Philly

Yeah, the Tiggers go to Twin-land this weekend for a 3-gamer that could make that race interesting if Minny takes at least 2. Problem is, the Twins are as bad off the Detroit these days. Both are missing pitchers and Morneau is now out for the season. Besides (and normally I hate using this sort of logic but it's too true in this case to ignore) the Twinkies NEVER beat the Yanx; not in reg season, not in post-season, not in spring training, not in the whack-a-mole contests on the boardwalk, not in trivial pursuit, or Scrabble, or anything!! ... and the Central winner is almost certain to be the Yanx first-round opponent. Angels scored a 9th inning run to avoid a Boston sweep. That one also is a kind of playoff preview since those two are likely to tangle in the 1st round as well. Texas is not only sinking quickly but is doing so in an unfamiliar way: decent pitching but ZERO hitting. They've lost 4 straight while scoring [u:296wlm3c]a total[/u:296wlm3c] of one run. No Hamilton, no Young, no Saltalamacchia They have a weekend series w/the Angels so a sweep is necessary and even then probably not enough

Rain delayed again

People of mlb.com, here's what I'm thinking: It makes as much sense to ask Joe Maddon about the death of Farrah Fawcett as it does to ask Jaclyn Smith about the death of Nick Adenhart.

Colorado avoided the sweep by the Giants Wed night. But the overall WC race tightened up this week as the Gints and the east teams pulled up on the Rox SF - 3.5 Marlins - 4.5 Braves - 5.0 Dodgers swept the Pirates and are up by 5.0 in the West

John Sickels (during a review of corner IFers taken in the 2008 draft): The 22nd overall pick out of Arizona State, Ike Davis was supposed to be less polished than college teammate Wallace, but more athletic and with better physical projection. Mets fans were frightened when Davis hit just .256/.326/.316 with zero homers in his 58-game pro debut in the New York-Penn League, but he erased those doubts in 2009 with a strong campaign. He hit .288/.376/.486 in 59 games for St. Lucie in the Florida State League, then .309/.386/.565 in 55 games for Binghamton in the Double-A Eastern League, combining for a .298/.381/.524 mark with 20 homers, 31 doubles, 57 walks, and 112 strikeouts in 429 at-bats. He has work to do against lefties, hitting just .242/.301/.371 against them this year compared to .323/.414/.586 against right-handers. Other than that, his season was very strong and he should be ready to help sometime next year.

Of course having a Top-6 draft pick is no guarantee it'll bring you a franchise player Here's ten years of Top-6 picks (ending with 2005 so as to gain some perspective) and a thumbnail sketch of each. Of the 59 different players (one was picked twice) I count a lot more who either never reached the majors (14) or were/are marginal players than ones who reached the level of a star* (16) Two were NYM picks: Getz in 1997, Humber in 2004 1996: 1 - Kris Benson (Coll RHP) 69-74. 4.41 over 11 injury racked seasons 2 - Travis Lee (Coll 1B) Career ended in 2006. 115 HRs, .256 3 - Braden Looper (Coll RHP) 70-64 + 103 saves over 12 ML seasons 4 - Billy Koch (Coll RHP) Career ended in 2004. 4 seasons as regular closer (163 saves) 5 - John Patterson (Coll RHP) 18-25, 4.32 over 5 seasons 6 - Seth Greisinger (Coll RHP) 10-16, 5.51 over parts of 4 ML seasons. 1997: 1 - Matt Anderson (College - RHP) Pitched in the majors between 1998-2005 (15-7; 5.19) and in the minors thru 2008 2 - JD Drew (College - OF) Did not sign 3 - * Troy Glaus - (College SS) 4-time All Star 4 - Jason Grilli (College RHP) Reached ML in 2000, Mostly situational reliever since 5 - * Vernon Wells (HS - OF) 9-year ML and counting. 2-time All Star 6 - Geoff Getz (HS - LHP) 7 years in minors plus 2 independent. Highest = AA 1998: 1 - * Pat Burrell (College - 3B) 2 - * Mark Mulder (College - LHP) 3 - Cory Patterson (HS - OF) Raced thru the minors but then stalled. 10 ML seasons - 5 as regular 4 - Jeff Austin (HS -RHP) Pitched in pieces of 3 ML seasons. Out of baseball by �06 5 - * JD Drew - Redrafted after not signing in �97 6 - Ryan Mills (College - RHP) 7 minor league seasons. Peaked at AAA Out of baseball in 2005 1999: 1 - * Josh Hamilton - A star eventually, although not for the team that picked him and not without drama in between 2 - * Josh Beckett - All Star 3 - Eric Munson - a college catcher, got 1,000 ABs in the majors and hit .214 Spent 2008 & 2009 in AAA 4 - Corey Myers - HS infielder never made MLB. Stayed in the minors thru 2007 getting as high as AAA 5 - BJ Garbe (HS OF) never made MLB. Reached AA and left baseball after 2006 6 - Josh Girdley (HS LHP) Stayed in minors thru 2004, never rose above A-ball 2000: 1 - * Adrian Gonzalez (HS) Became a regular and then a star 6 years and 4 organizations after the draft 2 - Adam Johnson (College RHP) - Pitched in 9 games in MLB. Last seen in independent ball in 2008 3 - Luiz Montanez (HS SS) Utility player in 2008-9 4 - Mike Stodolka (HS - LHP) Never played MLB. Reached AAA in 2008 5 - Justin Wayne (College RHP) Pitched parts of 3 seasons with a 5-8 career record. Out of baseball 6 - Rocco Baldelli (HS - OF) #3 ROY. Looked like solid player/possible star, then illness & injury (or maybe lack of plate discipline) caught up 2001: 1 - * Joe Mauer (HS - C) Star 2 - Mark Prior (Coll RHP) Injury-jinxed career 3 - Dewon Brazelton - (Coll RHP) Pitched pieces of 5 seasons n ML (8-25, 5.38). Out of baseball 4 - Gavin Floyd (HS - RHP) Reached ML in �04. Regular starter in 2008-09. (36-28, 4.65) 5 - * Mark Teixeira (Coll 3B) Star 6 - Josh Karp (Coll RHP) Never reached ML - topped out at AAA. Out of baseball after 5 minor lg seasons 2002: 1 - Bryan Bullington (Coll RHP) 13 games & 5 starts in ML for 3 orgs 2 - * BJ Upton (HS SS) ML by age 19. Starter/potential star. 3 - Christopher Gruler (HS RHP) Topped out in A-ball. Out of baseball by �06 4 - Adam Loewen (HS LHP) 3 partial years in ML before injuries ended pitching career. In A-ball trying to come back as OF 5 - Clint Everts (HS RHP) 7 seasons of minor leagues. Now reliever in AAA 6 - * Zack Greinke (HS RHP) Reached ML in 2004. Turned corner by �08 2003: 1 - Delmon Young (HS OF) Part-time player in 4th ML season 2 - Rickie Weeks (Coll 2B) Mostly regular starter in 6th season 3 - Kyle Sleeth (Coll RHP) Pitched 3 years in minors, topping out in AA. Out of baseball 4 - Tim Stauffer (Coll RHP) 8-13, 5.12 over parts of 4 seasons 5 - Christopher Lubanski (HS OF) In 3rd AAA season 6 - Ryan Harvey (HS RHP) 7th minor lg season. Reached AA 2004: 1 -Matt Bush (HS SS) Failed as both SS & pitcher. Out of baseball 2 - * Justin Verlander (HS RHP) 2-time All Star 3 - Philip Humber (Coll RHP) 30 ML innings pitched 4 - Jeff Neimanm (Coll RHP) 1st ML season in 2009 5 - Mark Rogers (HS RHP) Attempting comeback after 2 missed injury seasons. Hasn�t advanced beyond A-ball 6 - Jeremy Sowers (Coll LHP) Part-time starter over 4 seasons. 18-28, 4.95 2005: 1 - * Justin Upton (HS SS) Becoming a star 2 - Alex Gordon (Coll 3B) Mediocre starter over parts of 3 seasons 3 - Jeff Clement (Coll C) In AAA after parts of 2 ML seasons 4 - * Ryan Zimmerman (Coll 3B) Four years as starter. All Star in 2009 5 - * Ryan Braun (Coll 3B) 3-year ML starter. Twice All-Star 6 - Rickey Romero (Coll LHP) Reached ML in 2009