Frayed Knot

I gave him a token for stranding all those runners and dancing between the raindrops as long as he did.

Figueroa - 1.1 Takahashi - 0.4 Feliciano - 0.3 Francoeur - 2.0 Castillo - 0.5 Valdez - 0.5 Sullivan - 0.5 Santos - 0.8 Reed - 0.4

It was kind of odd watching brief clips of the press conference he did yesterday (and also after the game where he tied it) because just seeing him do it emphasized how few of those he's done over the years. As visible as he's been on the field (and in commercials) he's almost invisible otherwise. To his credit he doesn't duck reporters during the obligated post-game time but he usually gets through it with the bare minimum required; he'll spout a handful of cliches and then get outta Dodge. On the radio he'll do the basic Spring Training interview and then rarely if ever be heard from again for the entire year. FAN talkies have said that attempts to get Jeter on the radio for a 10-minute chat in-season are usually met (via a MFY spokes-lackey) with a "Derek's preparing for the game" brush-off. It could be a Tuesday night in June against KC with the Yanx up by 7 in the division but Jeter is too immersed in his pre-game routine to come to the phone. And on the few occasions he will speak beyond the contractually obligated ones, there's a kind of practiced boring-ness to him: give them what they want without really saying anything of substance so they'll get trained not to expect much.

Another famous day in 1969 Met pennant race lore -- not to mention the 2nd DH in 3 days and the 3rd in 8 !! Friday, September 12 - Forbes Field: Mets 1 - Pirates 0 (Game 1 of DH) -- Jerry Koosman vs Bob Moose Mets ride Koosman�s complete game shutout in game 1 as he holds the Bucs to 3 singles (2 of which are erased on DPs) plus 3 walks and 4 Ks Pittsburgh�s Bob Moose, meanwhile, Ks 10 through 8 innings and holds the Mets to 5 singles, but 3 of those are in a row w/one out in the 5th as Koosman follows singles by the powerhouse of Pfeil & Dyer with a RBI one of his own. Pirates go hitless (1 walk + one error) after the 4th. Game Time = 2:19 Friday, September 12 - Forbes Field: Mets 1 - Pirates 0 (Game 2 of DH) -- Don Cardwell vs Dock Ellis A 2-out, 2nd inning Bud Harrleson double followed by a Don Cardwell RBI single both opens and finishes the scoring for the nightcap as the Mets complete the oddest of DH sweeps: two 1-0 games where the pitcher drove in both runs. At least Cardwell, unlike Kooz, was actually known as a hitter. Cardwell also went 8 innings allowing only 4 singles and a walk. McGraw pitched the 9th, surrendering a bunt single to Matty Alou to lead off the inning but he never advances. Mets actually had a bunch of base runners (7 hits + 3 walks) but just the one run. Only twice did the Pirates get a runner past 1st. Game Time = 2:02 87 - 57; 1st Place; 2.5 Games Ahead -- Cubs break their losing streak with a 5-1 win over the now 4th place Cardinals btw, Pythagorean calculations show the Mets should still be ~4 games behind the Cubs at this point

btw, Google "Creepy Sun Baby" and the CPF is the top return

Nah, it was fairly well hit. Hard grounder to the right side - a very typical Jeter hit for the guy who long ago had the NYY [u:3n5b82hd]singles[/u:3n5b82hd] record. That he gets (and deserves) praise from his teammates and the MFY crowd was never my problem; I just objected to what I saw as an attempt to make this into a record worthy of national celebration as if Yanqui records are more worthy than other team marks. Overall, I'm not a big one for in-game and on-field celebrations, although this one was reasonably short and unobjectionable.

Looks like the Phils will try to go Myers to Madson.

I'd be more interested in the individual particulars that caused the win streak then I would spending my time wondering what it meant. Were the returning vets back in form?; certain young'uns stepping up?; etc. Other than that I tend to be from the church that believes terms like "heart" and "soul" and "clutch" are most often retroactively-assigned to good teams. IOW, winning causes the labels more often than the traits cause the winning. So if the team gets that hot I'll take it to mean that they're simply hitting, pitching & playing better rather than think they suddenly had some kind of blood transfusion or change in attitude.

Edgy DC wrote: That strikeout rate still makes me dubious about throwing him in the Mets lineup in 2010. Yeah. He's a guy with barely 200 ABs above A-ball and only 1+ season overall as a pro. I'd say mid-season next year is borderline realistic/optimistic.

And from their on-line Q & A: Q: Does Ike Davis have a chance to be a everyday 1b or even a allstar? A: Definitely. I watched him take BP for Team USA before they left for the World Cup (I believe they're on MLB Network right now) and he showed more raw power than anyone else there, including Justin Smoak and Pedro Alvarez. It's not a simple swing, but he's produced this year and there's plenty of raw power there.

And Kirk Nieuenhuis gets on the year-end 'Hot Sheet' list as part of their fast-risers entry: 'The Helium Watch' Age: 22 Why He's Here: .282/.364/.479 (145-for-514), 17 HR, 38 2B, 6 3B, 73 RBIs, 99 R, 57 BB, 127 SO, 17-for-22 SB The Scoop: After hitting a combined three home runs in June and July, Nieuwenhuis began pulling the ball for power in August. The results: he batted .345/.406/.647 with six homers and 13 doubles in 27 games, earning a promotion to Double-A for the final week. Had it not been for this offensive explosion, Nieuwenhuis would likely still be regarded as an obscure '08 third-rounder with a hard-to-pronounce name. (Kirk's father assures us it's NEW-en-hice.) But that assault on Florida State League pitching catapulted him to a No. 1 ranking among league batters in doubles (35), slugging (.467), extra-base hits (56) and runs scored (91). He finished third with 16 home runs. A physical, lefty-swinging center fielder, Nieuwenhuis will have to reign in the strikeouts as he advances, but it's an encouraging full-season debut for an NAIA product who bypassed low Class A.

Ike winds up #18 on BA's season-ending 'Prospect Hot Sheet' Note that this is not necessarily the same thing as being in the top 20 prospects in all baseball. 'Hot Sheet' is more like a list of this year's best selling albums rather than a prediction of which one's will still be getting played 10 years from now and it doesn't include a bunch of just-released records either as many of them haven't had time to rack up sales yet. Still, it's a good showing for a kid many were quick to write off 2 months into his pro career. Age: 22 Why He's Here: .298/.381/.524 (128-for-429), 20 HR, 31 2B, 3 3B, 71 RBIs, 58 R, 57 BB, 112 SO, 0-for-2 SB The Scoop: Davis overcame a startlingly slow start as a pro (.260/.330/.338 without a home run through his first 312 plate appearances) to assert himself as a top first base prospect. (He played two games in right field, too, in preparation for the World Cup.) And if spending half a season with Binghamton, the worst team in the minors, had any ill effects, it was not apparent in Davis' performance. He hit significantly better in Double-A than he had in high Class A (.951 OPS vs. .863), and from April 28, the date of his first pro homer, to the end of the season he batted .303/.388/.551 in 415 PAs. One of five college first basemen taken in the '08 draft's first round�a group that includes Yonder Alonso, David Cooper, Allan Dykstra and Justin Smoak�Davis this season led the quintet in average, home runs, RBIs, OPS (.906) and isolated power (.226). The power came at a cost: He also averaged the most strikeouts per at-bat (26 percent) and posted the lowest walk-to-strikeout ratio (.48), indicating areas for improvement.

I plan to see this movie next week and then immediately start a brand new thread to discuss it.

Well, of course, the Japanese guys are more easily distinguished by their names; the only difficulty is remembering who all of them were since many were just brief ships that passed our way in the night. Mexican guys not so easy to separate although I tend to think of them as mostly brief and semi-anonymous middle-relievers too. Japan - Nomo, Yoshii, Shinjo, Matsui, Takahashi, ... plus a bunch of guys who were like Takahashi but weren't him Mexico - Ollie, Armando Reynoso ... plus a bunch of guys who looked and threw like Armando Reynoso. Oh yeah, and Elmer Dessens

I'm actually more interested in harpooning Florida's shot at the post-season than the Philly's - although I'll take any party-spoiling I can get.

(Keith and Gary once again reading from this thread last night ... would it kill them to give us a plug?!?) Thursday, September 11 - Shea Stadium: Mets 4 - Expos 0 -- Gary Gentry vs Jerry Robertson Mets ccelebrate their first-ever day in first place (in front of 10.713 fans!!) with Gary Gentry�s complete game, 6 hit (all singles), 2 walk, 9 K shutout. Mets tally solo runs in the 3rd, 4th, 5th & 7th. Lineup for the (44 - 100) expansion Expos on this day: Ty Cline - CF Gary Sutherland - 2B Rusty Staub - RF Ron Fairly - 1B Mack Jones - LF Coco Laboy - 3B John Bateman - C Bobby Wine - SS Jerry Robertson - P Game Time = 2:45 85 - 57; 1st Place; 2.0 Games Ahead -- Cubs give up 3 in the 8th to lose 4-3 to Philly, it�s their 8th straight loss.

I'm frightened by the fact that I knew both of those (all three actually) almost instantly.

Les Rohr - England Bruce Bochy - France

Be interesting to see what C Manual does with the closer spot - not only for this series but the rest of the season and especially the post-season. He yanked Lidge out in the middle of an inning the other night. Having a "convenience store" ERA plus 10 blown saves this year put Lidge on thin ice to begine with; when he then loaded the bases w/one out in a 2-run game on Tuesday his manager had seen enough. Madson went in and got the save and also also got the save opp the very next night. When the post-season rolls around it's possible that some guy named Pedro might get a shot at closing some games. He did get up to 119 pitches in his last outing but I can't see him nudging out any of the starters come October. Also, Brett Myers is back from injury. Not sure how he's pitching so far but I'm betting he's still a retard. Blanton got his butt kicked by the Nationals on Thursday - although a 5-run 9th made it a close game in the end. Matt Stairs hit his ridiculous 5th PH HR for the season - which also doubled as his 12th career Grand Slam.

Stoner - 0.7 Pagan - 1.0 Francoeur - 2.0 Wright - 0.8

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, that Angel Pagan's baserunning is costing us runs again.