Frayed Knot

Oh darn, no leadoff runner to strand this inning!!

No, I guess not.

So far we've turned a single into a double, issued a free pass, and turned a definite out/possible DP into all runners safe. Any chance we can actually make the Fish earn their win tonight?

Green - 0.6 Dessens - 0.3 Pagan - 1.0 Murph - 1.5 Francoeur - 0.5 Beltran - 0.6

Stokes - 0.5 Thole - 0.5 Castillo 1.5 Pagan - 1.0 Murphy - 0.5 Beltran - 0.5 Green - 0.25 Feliciano - 0.25

First place is within reach for the first time ever as a Met DH plus a solo Cub game can make the end-of-the-day gap anywhere from two games back to one game ahead. Wednesday, September 10 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Expos 2 (1st game of DH) -- Jim McAndrew vs Mike Wegener - McAndrew starts the game in somewhat odd fashion, giving up leadoff triples in both the 1st & 2nd innings, both of which score on subsequent errors. But, after that, all he did was pitch 2-hit shutout ball through the 11th! - Mets match the run in the 1st (Shamsky singles in Agee) and then tie up the score in the 5th on a bases-loaded balk. - Mets load the bases w/one out in the 7th, but McAndrew hits for himself and grounds into a DP - McAndrew again bats for himself in the 9th w/2 outs and a runner on 1st, this time he Ks - in the 11th Jim Gosger PHs for McAndrew w/2 outs on 2 on ... and HE strikes out - Ron Taylor takes over in the 12th. He gets the first 2 outs but then serves up 2 straight singles, the 2nd one a PHer for Wegener who also went the first 11 innings. On that second hit, the runner (who I assume was running on the pitch) is thrown out at home! - Bill Stoneman (normally a starter) takes over for the Expos in the 12th. He also gets the first two outs but a Jones single, a walk to Gaspar, and a Boswell single wins the game. Game Time = 3:22 Wednesday, September 10 - Shea Stadium: Mets 7 - Expos 1 -- Nolan Ryan vs Howie Reed A bit less drama in the nightcap as the Mets, helped by 3 Montreal errors, 2 Wild Pitches, and an HBP, tally 6 in the 2nd and ride Ryan�s complete game 3-hit, 4-BB, 11-K effort into 1st place for their first time ever!! Game Time = 2:22 84 - 57; 1st place; 1.0 Game Ahead (Cubs oblige by losing their 7th straight - 6-2 to Philly) 6 full games were made up since the 1st of September Looking at 1969 is a lot more fun than looking at 2009.

Wright had three choices on that play and none of them were really bad. 1) go home - prevent the run but probably miss out on the DP. Killing the big inning is more important early in the game 2) go to 2nd (Keith & Ron's choice) - best chance at the DP but kind of slowly hit so need two good throws 3) do what he did - one sure out but a chancier throw to 1st even though he still had the DP if he's accurate His screw-up IMO was in execution, not decision. Of course immediately afterward Misch misched.

I'd just be throwing darts at this point

And, just to pile on while I'm at it, that 1st inning mis-throw was his 3rd bad play in, what, the last 10 innings or so although I think he only winds up with one error out of it all (the old "you don't assume the DP" call plus no one advanced on that throw) but tonight it led to all 4 runs.

David's Ks by year: 113 113 115 118 and now his first inning K was #116 this season in 125-200 fewer plate appearances than his other full years and 23 games still to go

Arriba! - I'll guess Clemente just for the Spanish name. Pittsburgh was among the first to heavily scout Latin America but most of them came later on in the '60s Duck - I want to say Don Hoak although I have no idea why Dog Vinegar Bend - Mizell Kitten - Harvey Haddix (IIRC he was 'the kitten' because he reminded some of a smaller version of Harry "the cat" Brecheen) Quail Smokey - Joe Burgess Deacon - Vernon Law Dr. Strangeglove - Dick Stuart, one of the great nicknames of all time

Particularly when you're bunting into Luis Castillo, the guy voted in his HS yearbook three years running as the boy least likely to score anyone on a Sac Fly and also the least likely to knock in more than one runner even if he does manage a hit. The only excuse there is wanting to stay out of the GiDP but Pagan batting lefty is one of the lesser candidates to do that anyway. Like I said earlier, I don't like that move even if it works!

Well I'm the one to blame for bringing up the topic in the first place - probably a case of me over-reacting to what I saw as the over-reaction of ESPN-ites to the impending record. I guess the start of the college and impending start of the NFL season combined with the appalling lack of real pennant races to seemingly steer what little time the 'Worldwide Leader' devotes to baseball chatter these days towards the latest Jet-arian accomplishment as if that should be every baseball fan's main focus during the holiday weekend. It's something I know wouldn't be the case for any other team record and to the ears of non-MFY fans and to most of those who live west of the Delaware river, it sounded like just another case of east-coast-centric, Jeter/Yanqui-stroking that they already believe is that network's raison-d'etre.

This is the final of the two-game series. There would be just two more Met-Cubs games on the schedule after this one, but by the time those would be played they�d be nothing more than schedule-filler. Tuesday, September 9 - Shea Stadium: Mets 7 - Cubs 1 -- Tom Seaver vs Ferguson Jenkins Mets score twice in the 1st (Boswell: 2-RBI double) and twice again in the 3rd (Clendenon: 2R-HR), then add single runs in the 4th (Garrett: Sac Fly), 5th (Shamsky: HR) & 7th (Grote: RBI double) to run away with the game. All runs score off Jenkins who K�d 9 but also gave up 10 hits (incl 5 XBHs) & 3 BBs over 7 innings. Seaver, meanwhile, was perfect thru 3 en route to a complete game 5-hitter w/1 walk & 5 Ks. He also hit a double. This was also the infamous "black cat" game. Game Time = 2:15 82 - 57; 2nd place; 1/2 game out of 1st -- and a guaranteed winning record!!! (something that would have been a noble goal just months earlier but there are bigger bears to fry now) I had forgotten (or most likely never knew) that one of the myriad of CF candidates the Cubs trotted out that year was a 19 y/o Oscar Gamble. For a team solid in every other position they had a revolving door of mostly young hopefuls in CF who never worked out -- 9 in all, including 7 different starters*. This game was just Gamble�s 9th ML start and he�d pretty much be the guy for the rest of the year. No mention is made in BB-Ref.com on the size of his afro at that point but I think it�s something that needs its own stats column. (in truth, the afro came much later) * All remember the name Jimmy Qualls - or, more precisely, the one start out of the 26 he made out there. But it was Don Young who was the Opening Day starter and the most used (88 starts). Then came Qualls, Gamble, Adolfo Phillips, Jim Hickman, Jimmie Hall & Rick Bladt. Only HIckman (who was really a RF doing occasional fill-in work in CF) and Hall (very briefly) would ever play for the Cubs again after this season. Gamble, who would go on to have a nice 17-year long career, would be dealt to Philly in November for an over-the-hill Johnny Callison. Meanwhile the Cubs would continue with a revolving door of scrubs in CF until Rick Monday joined the team in 1972.

A sac bunt there (Pagan's AB) would have been stupid even if it worked!!

They just showed a very abbreviated one there. The camera half missed it.

Looks more like a signal or inside joke of sorts than a quirk or superstition.

So what's the deal with Castillo and the "sleeping" motion he does when he gets on base? I've noticed this for a few months now and I've yet to hear anyone comment on it, but it seems that each time Luis gets on base he looks toward the dugout and pantomimes going to sleep by putting his hands together and briefly "laying" his head on them off to one side. Any knowledge? Any guesses?

My Beltran's back and you're gonna be in trouble ... (Hey la, hey la, my Beltran's back) Pagan, lf Castillo, 2b Wright, 3b Beltran, cf Murphy, 1b Francoeur, rf Thole, c Hernandez, ss Redding, rhp

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btw, looks like the next closest to taking over a team hit mark are: * Vernon Wells with the Jays and Ichiro in Seattle - both are in the 200-250 hits away range * Wright is some 450 behind Eddie Krane * Hanley Ramirez needs around 500 for Castillo's Florida mark Expect a little less fanfare when/if those happen.