Frayed Knot

Not that it's Labor Day related, but I labored over making it and now you folks can labor over answering it. It's inspired by the Jeter/Gehrig discussion in another thread, my point being that the club record for most hits (like the most HRs by a catcher record from a few years back) is semi-obscure and not really relevant on a league-wide basis ... unless it involves Jeter of course. The other thing I discovered (and what I suspected and therefore what got me started with the research) is that the most hits mark is higher in 13 of the other 15 non-expansion clubs, further evidence of the non-importance of this "event". Anyway, can you name the career hits leader for each of the 30 franchises? ... and for good measure throw in each club's HR leader too. Rules/hints: - these are franchise questions. So it counts the Braves in all 3 cities as one club, not just Atlanta numbers count. Not separate Brooklyn/LA records for the Dodgers. Ditto with their being only one answer for old Senators/Twins, one more for newer Senators/Rangers, and one for Expos/Nationals, etc. - in 9 of the 30 cases the same guy holds both the team hit & HR marks, so 51 different guys hold these 60 marks - only 3 franchises have lower hit marks than the Mets; only 5 have lower HR marks - of the 60 possible answers two are current Mets, and four are one-time Mets (six really but only if you include the two NYM answers ... duh!) - obviously the numbers are not necessary, I'll just include them for the correct answers - the obvious answers are given, leaving 57 more to be filled in - let's keep guesses down to about 5 at a time or less TEAMHITS#HRs#PHILSHITS#HRs#METSKranepool1,418Strawberry252BRAVESHITS#HRs#MARLINSHITS#HRs#EXPOS/NATSHITS#HRs#ASTROSHITS#HRs#PIRATESHITS#HRs# CUBSHITS#HRs#BREWERSHITS#HRs#CARDSHITS#HRs#REDSHITS#HRs#DODGERSHITS#HRs#GIANTSHITS#HRs#PADRESHITS#HRs#DBACKSHITS#HRs#ROCKIESHITS#HRs#ORIOLESHITS#HRs# YANKSGehrig2,721HRs#RED SOXHITS#HRs#BLUE JAYSHITS#HRs#RAYSHITS#HRs#TIGERSHITS#HRs# INDIANSHITS#HRs#WHITE SOXHITS#HRs#SENS/TWINSHITS#HRs#ROYALSHITS#HRs#A�SHITS#HRs#SENS/RANGERSHITS#HRs#MARINERSHITS#HRs#ANGELSHITS#HRs#

And who, when they think of Gehrig, doesn't think of number of base-hits?

Why I'm going to be glued to my TV so as to follow Jeter's historic pursuit of of Gehrig's NYY hit record of course. Not that I don't already know the answer to this question, but has the chase of any [u:3d8z1z81]club record[/u:3d8z1z81] ever received this amount of outside coverage? I mean, the talk from inside the club and fans is understandable, but this is being treated like some historic MLB-wide record about to go down. ESPN - which has otherwise practically shut off what little attention they normally pay to baseball now that college football has started - is giddy with anticipation.

Sunday, September 7 - Shea Stadium: Mets 9 - Phillies 3 -- Gary Gentry vs Bill Champion A 3-3 game after 6 innings (1st inning HRs from Agee & Shamsky), Met bats explode for 2 in the 7th (Shamsky SF, Boswell RBI 3B) plus 4 more in the 8th (Agee 2-RBI 1B, Gaspar 2-RBI 1B) to make it a blow-out. Nolan Ryan came on to start the 7th and gets the win as the beneficiary of those runs (3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K) Game Time = 2:42 80 - 57; 2nd place; 2.5 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Pittsburgh 7-5 in 11 innings) Anybody remember George Myatt? Yeah, me neither - but he was the Philly manager for this series having taken over for Bob Skinner a month earlier. He would finish out the season in what would wind up as his only managerial stint at the ML level. In all this was a pretty non-descript Philly team. Outside of Dick Allen (gone at year end), Johnny Callison, and Don Money there are not a lot of recognizable names here. This was year 2 of a 7-year sub-.500 stretch. Bowa & Luzinski would debut the following season. Schmidt, Boone & Carlton (via trade) came aboard in �72 although it would take until '75 for them to break .500. By '76 they won the first of 3 NL East titles (and 3 straight NCS losses) and 5 of the next 8

Haven't done one of these for a while (possibly because we stopped caring about pennant races a ways back) but there were some fun games today - Phils, with Hamels going, lost their second straight to Houston - although, unlike Saturday's meltdown, this one didn't take a blown save from Lidge. Instead, Rollins popped out with the tying run on. - Marlins did blow a save in Washington. After scoring 2 in the top of the 9th to take a 4-2 lead, Nunez came in and served up HR - 1B - HR (Harris, Guzman, Zimmerman) without even getting an out - Cincy scored once in the 8th to tie it and then twice in the 12th inning to win in Atlanta. Reds swept the 3-game series - Ryan Franklin of the Cards joined the blown save patrol in Pittsburgh. Cards scored in top 9 to take a 5-4 lead. But a Ryan Doumit single ties it, so LaRussa goes to a lefty for Garret Jones and Jones promptly knocks a booming double for the winner - Prince Fielder hits a walk-off in the 12th inning for a 2-1 win against San Fran. Brewers turned a triple play earlier in the game. - Colorado thumped the Snakes. Dodgers-Padres are the late game. And in that other league: - Yanx got smacked 14-8 by the Jays as they continue to run Sergio Mitre out there in the 5th starter slot (that 1/4 billion payroll just doesn't go as far as it used to). The game featured a bases-loaded pitch-in-the-face (didn't seem intentional) of Randy Ruiz by former Jay Josh Towers (how long he's been a Yank I have no idea) - Billy Wags served up a long HR to Ramon Castro. Red garments still beat the White ones. - Detroit, down 3-1 in the 9th, puts up a 4-spot via a Brandon Inge GS to further kill Tampa's chances of repeating

Pelfrey - 4.8 Murphy - 4.2 Pagan - 0.4 Schneider - 0.6

Murph's triple fuld fooled.

One of the networks -- I think NBC -- did this several years ago at an NFL game -- let the pictures and ambient sound tell the story. It wasn't a huge success. Yup, that was also a late season game with little interest that was only going to be regionally telecast anyway. NBC producer Don Ohlmeyer had wanted to find a way for his tech guys to experiment with crowd and other ambient noises so they concocted the no-announcer gig both for that reason and to drum up some interest in an otherwise dull affair. I don't know how you measure "success" (or lack of) with something like that, but in usual football-TV fashion there was more talk about the fact that there was no talk about the game then there was or would have been about the game itself - so, to that degree, plus whatever knowledge they gained about external sound sources, I suppose it was a success as far as the network was concerned. It was never supposed to be a trial for potential things to come.

Raissman thinks that these are gimmicks to get viewers during a lousy season. He is, of course, correct. They're basically experiments, nothing more. As for the Labor Day off-day that, unfortunately, is nothing new. I think the Mets have been off for something like 3 of the last 5 Memorial Days. And it's tough to even blame the schedule makers. With so many opponents to face and most of them making and receiving only one visit per year, the sked has become so concoct that they slot in off-days whenever they can find them - and if some of those usual Monday off-days happen to fall on Labor Day, Memorial Day, or July 4th then that's where they fall. Blame inter-league, expansion, and the sub-dividing of the leagues.

Saturday, September 6 - Shea Stadium: Mets 3 - Phillies 0 -- Don Cardwell vs Jerry Johnson Cardwell (6 IPs, 4 hits) and McGraw (3 IPs, 2 hits) combine for the shutout The Mets first hit is a 3rd inning leadoff HR from Grote. 2 singles and a Garrett Sac Fly later it was 2-0. McGraw later singles in the 3rd run in the 7th. Game Time = 2:17 79 - 57; 2nd place; 3.5 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Pittsburgh 13-4)

Figueroa - 1.2 Takahashi - 0.5 Feliciano - 0.5 Sullivan - 1.8 Thole - 1.0 Castillo - 1.0 Wright - 0.5

Sullivan's the man, and our search for the 2010 catcher is over now that Thole's here. OK, I'll calm down now.

For me it's not even so much a matter of Papelbon being a pinhead (although he certainly can be) it's that I think they really need to get a handle on the pace and length of these games. Every year or so Selig talks about how they're going to do something and every year it seems to get ignored. Of course that something will never include shortening between-innings time which has really become a monster during the post-season but at least this is something. The fact that Papelbon admits that it's not his first fine even though it's the first we've heard about it means that maybe they realize how serious it is and are trying to attack this more than they're publicly saying (that would be a first). What would really make it hurt is giving the umps power to affect on-field calls for delays: balls called on pitchers, strikes called on wandering batters. Theoretically they already have such power but I've never actually seen it used.

Or, you could say, it's overtime Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon received a $5,000 fine from Major League Baseball on Thursday for a pacing violation. Last season MLB starting asking umpires to enforce a rule that limits the time pitchers take to throw, and is also meant to control the pace of hitters and managers. Papelbon has frequently violated the pacing rule and says he has been fined seven times for taking too long to begin the inning, MLB.com reports. "Game pace, pace of game, or something like that," Papelbon told the Boston Herald and WEEI.com. "I don't know why they keep coming after me. It's probably because I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm not obeying the rules. I'm taking too long getting to the rubber. You're allowed [two minutes and 25 seconds], and I'm taking too long." Papelbon says his first fine was for $1,000 and the total balance now is well over $10,000. "After this, I don't know, man," Papelbon told the newspaper. "I think they're going to call my parole officer and put me away." Papelbon has 34 saves in 37 opportunities this season, with a 1.84 ERA. Papelbon's implication that the fine is for taking too long just in getting the inning going is full of it; it's because he just takes too fucking long to throw each pitch. Dude takes like 30 seconds per heave whether there are guys on base or not. "I don't know why they keep coming after me". You don't? I do.

Parnell - 4.0 Rodriguez - 0.4 Sullivan - 2.1 Tatis - 1.1 Castillo - 1.4 Wright - 0.3 Santos - 0.7

Back home after a day off with a Friday DH, and back in the NL East Friday, September 5 - Shea Stadium: Mets 5 - Phillies 1 -- (1st game of DH) Tom Seaver vs Grant Jackson - the 5th place Phils (27.5 GB) draw first blood via a 2nd inning Deron Johnson triple - Mets then score three times on only one hit in the 3rd inning courtesy of two walks and two errors - Grote�s 8th inning 2-out/2R HR makes it 5-1 - Seaver goes all the way on 5 hits, 1 BB & 7 Ks Game Time = 1:52 (not a typo) Friday, September 5 - Shea Stadium: Mets 2 - Phillies 4 -- (2nd game of DH) Jim McAndrew vs Rick Wise - Wise strikes out 11 during his complete game 8-hitter - Mets tally 2 in the 5th to tie the game and still have 2-on with no outs but miss a great chance to tack on more as McAndrew Ks (trying to bunt) and Agee GiDPs - McAndrew pitches well (7 IP, 6 hits, 0 BB) but gets nicked up for single runs in the 1st (on a Sac Fly) the 4th (on a FO-DP) and in the 7th (an unearned run via an IF Single) - Taylor (1 R on 3 H) pitches the final two innings Game Time = 2:28 78 - 57; 2nd place; 4.5 games out of 1st (Cubs lose to Pittsburgh 9-2) Rick Wise was an interesting story. After two more seasons (between �71 & �72) he would be traded straight-up for Steve Carlton in a move that , in hindsight, wasn�t very ...well, wise. Both were coming off good years at the time, were about the same age, and, IIRC, both were having contract squabbles with their teams and so a spring training trade was seen as the solution to each squad�s headache with the prevailing wisdom being that Wise was getting the better deal seeing as how he was headed to the better club. And while Wise was a fine pitcher who would go on to win nearly 200 games over 18 seasons (11 after the trade) only 2 of those years were spent in StL. Meanwhile Carlton was making between 33 and 41 !! starts in 12 of his 14 seasons in Philly and racking up 4 Cy Young awards in the process. I contacted Steve to get his recollections of the deal, but he had no comment.

The good thing about that pop-up was that it was going to be an out whether anyone caught it or not -- which is kind of important for a team where catching pops is a coin-flip proposition.

Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues and you know it don't come easy

Dykstra caught stealing From himself no less.

That's a big boy inning from Bobby P.

3rd week in a row on BA's 'Hot Sheet' (#4 this time) Also a note in there on a small swing change that might have triggered his recent hitting surge. (plus this gives me a chance to experiment with the new color system) Why He's Here: =#BF0000].452/.514/.774 (14-for-31), 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBIs, 4 BB, 10 SO, 1-for-1 SB The Scoop: =#BF0000]Nieuwenhuis has to be upset that the season is ending, because at this rate of improvement, he'd be flirting with hitting .400 by mid-November. He was plugging along with a solid but unspectacular season until August arrived. Since then, he's hit .363 with 15 doubles, three triples and eight home runs�he had 10 home runs heading into August. What's the explanation? One possible reason for the hot streak is a new approach. Nieuwenhuis had showed opposite-field power early in the season, but he was vulnerable to being pitching inside. But the St. Lucie staff worked on cleaning up his swing. Now he's able to turn on inside fastballs, taking a vulnerability and turning it into a strength.

See, if it's deemed that he can't hack it at SS then he becomes a whole lot less valuable and I become a whole lot less interested. I don't know that I've seen enough of him out there to know yet. If you need a platoon at 2nd you can get a much better bat - unless you already have a thumper at 2nd in which case he becomes the occasional gloveman/fill-in, but our current 2B man is too Andy-like to begin with. Ahhh, doesn't matter. This is an off-season discussion anyway and not a real high priority one at that. But at least he's showing himself to be a better player these days then the one we sent away two years back and doesn't automatically get written out of the conversations.