Frayed Knot

Pagan - 0.7 Wright - 0.7 Francoeur - 0.7 Tatis - 1.0 Evans - 0.7 Sullivan - 1.0 Takahashi - 1.2 Angel would normally get more for two hits including a triple but gets major demerits for his base-running idiocy which basically killed a potential huge inning and set the tone for the game.

Yeah, why not give up a couple more walks Pelf, it's not like they're going to cause the game to get out of hand or anything.

Wright's head does look like a peanut in a fishbowl with that helmet. Plus he keeps pushing it back down on his head like he feels it's going to rise up and take off on him.

Can this mutha-fuckin' team do anything right?!?! Our base-running fuck-up negates a big inning. Their base-running fuck-up CAUSES a big inning to get even bigger.

I would excuse it if that were Pagan's first brain-fart - but it's about his eightieth it seems. And I was just about to say that Pelfrey's pitches can't be too straight because no one has hit one hard yet ... and as I'm typing he gives up a bomb. But his main problem was getting the ball over the plate. No one in that 1st inning hit the ball hard or out of the infield.

1st inning: - Mets hit four (consecutive) liners plus get a walk and an error - Rox hit nothing hard the whole inning and we have a whopping one-run lead out of all that. Pagan hits well, fields well, and runs the bases like an absolute moron. And I don't know what to think about Pelfrey these days. Losing guys with the bases loaded after an 0-2 count, botching a sure GiDP ball, ...

I saw this not long after it first came out. It was well done and a good look into the circus that surrounded the whole fight - particularly after the fight was delayed for a time following Foreman being cut while sparring. And of course the film is mostly about Ali as everything around him always is. What struck me while I watched it was every once in a while getting a particular angle of the younger, buffer and still hair on his head Foreman and catching myself saying; 'hey, that looks kind of like George Foreman'. Of course it was the same guy as the present-day smiling, pitchman with the quick wit and sunny disposition, but the earlier incarnation was so different that you almost had to remind yourself that they were [u:107zkav2]not[/u:107zkav2] two different people.

I didn't remember either - see the note on the 8/23 game.

Re: Last night's game -- could you imagine the cacophony from talk-radio and other YLDBs if it were ARod to make the error which broke up Pettitte's perfect game w/2 outs in the 7th rather than temporary ARod replacement Jerry Hairston Jr.? Pettitte went on to lose his no-hitter on the next batter anyway and the shut-out the following inning but of course THOSE could have/would have been blamed on ARod as well for breaking AP's concentration and making him work out of the stretch, etc, things we know his SS would never do.

A somewhat abbreviated 'Bullet of Cool' lineup this month, a condition caused by any one of several factors: - I was away for part of the time - not as diligent as I should have been - no one picking up the slack in my (mental or real) absence Or maybe we're just not posting well as a group lately (golden oldie right there). But that doesn't mean we were totally clueless during August even if the team was. So without further ado: The Bad Strategy Explanation of the Month: Razor Shines would wave the Titanic right into the iceberg if you let him. -- Fman99 The 'Friends Don't Let Friends Stat Drunk' Post of the Month Tying run on deck saves are the cheapest ones there are. It�s known in some circles as �The Mariano�. -- Frayed Knot The 'Why Religion is Rarely Discussed Here' Example of the Month Wait-- you mean there ISN'T one giant, Biblical-sense-awesome penis in the sky? Then what the hell have I been tithing to? -- LWFS The 'You Laugh Because it's True' Line of the Month Let's be clear here. If Derek's test came back positive there would be major investigations... of the testing process. -- Edgy DC The 'No Really Officer, I'm Fine' Statement of the Month All I did all weekend was frink and duck. -- Edgy DC The 'Just Doing Our Part to End the Recession' Post of the Month If MLB adopts those helmets in the future, Ramon Castro could sublet his out to a small family during the offseason -- Rockin Doc The Simile of the Month [Joe] Morgan rails against the use of OBP as a batting-skill evaluator... [even though] he had a crazy-high 16 percent career walk rate, and was on base like a crackhead -- LWFS The 'Does Your Husband Pitch Too?' Question of the Month If for no other reason, Giants deserve to lose for the landing strip on Affeldt. I half expected to see female genitalia under there. -- Piggies Tomatoes The 'Tell Us How You Really Feel' Post of the Month Jeter is a douchebag prick who kicks puppies, spits on little old ladies, tips poorly, parks in handicapped spaces, makes fun of fat people, steals ice cream from little kids, snitches, and has bad breath. Tiger is not. -- Centerfield The 'What Planet are You From Dude?' Statement of the Month Wait, you used logic and reason but your wife still doesn't see things your way? That's shocking. That like, never happens to me. Ever. -- Centerfield And, finally, The Images of the Month -- Edgy DC Derek Jeter's NUMBER TWO MASKING AGENT by Derek Jeter

That the decent-though-hardly-great Brian Stokes has won the RPotM 5 times in the 7 months he's been here says a lot too -- although I'm not sure what.

September begins with a trip to La-La Land the Mets losing a second straight game for the first time since August 12 & 13 Monday, September 1 - Dodger Stadium: Mets 6 - Dodgers 8 -- Jerry Koosman vs Jim Bunning Mets send 8 to the plate and score twice in the top of the 1st But Koosman faces just five batters in the bottom of the inning, retiring only one and getting yanked with a 3-2 score that would become 5-2 before the inning was out. By the end of 2 it was 7-2 Dodgers and 9-2 by the time the 4th was done (the remainder off Koonce). Met bats make it look more respectable with two each in the 6th & 7th to chase Bunning, but the LA relievers hold them to only one hit over the final 2.1 innings. Game Time = 3:04 76 - 55; 2nd place; 5.0 games out of 1st (Cubs idle)

Lots of depressing stuff in that list; - no starters in the top 5 - Tim Redding several spots ahead of both Pelfrey & Parnell - Andy Handy up above Wright - Misch & Dessens both ahead of Rodriguez And it's not like those role players are up there because they did so well, only that the supposed stars were that invisible. Add all that to the pre-season starting catcher hanging out in 25th place while not even injured and it adds up to a depressing month.

Add Jose Contreras to the list of current Rockies. They apparently felt the need to also pick up a lousy pitcher in order to match the Giants acquisition of Brad Penny earlier in the day.

And we're movin' on up (movin' on up) ...

Two weeks in a row as #2 on BA's 'Hot List' for Kirk Nieuwenhuis -- including a pronunciation lesson Why He's Here: .444/.500/.815 (12-for-27), 1 HR, 5 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBIs, 5 R, 3 BB, 6 SO The Scoop: Pronounced NEW-en-hice, the Mets' 6-foot-3 center field prospect has been just short of unstoppable in August. He's gone 34-for-101 (.337) with 18 extra-base hits (six homers) and a 10-to-19 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 24 games. Florida State League MVP voters probably will look elsewhere because of Nieuwenhuis' .270 average and 113 strikeouts, but the '08 third-round pick leads the circuit with 32 doubles, 86 runs scored 53 extra-base hits. A strong finish could result in the home run and slugging crowns, too. Not much has gone right for the Mets this season, but the development of Nieuwenhuis, who projects to be an average center fielder, has been a pleasant surprise

Necessitated by John Stearns

Oh sure, I go away for a while and does anyone pick up on this? .... Nooooo! How is anybody going to know what happened otherwise? What we missed was the beginning of a 10-game road trip to the west coast. Expansion San Diego was first up where the Mets swept a 3-game series - including a DH which briefly cut the Cubs� lead to just 2.5 games. A split of the first two games in San Fran plus a couple of Chicago wins throws it back to 4.0 - which brings us to a Candlestick DH to end the 4-gamer. Sunday, August 31 - Candlestick Park: Mets 8 - Giants 0 (Game 1 of DH) -- Tom Seaver vs Mike McCormick Seaver cruises to a complete game 7-hitter while his mates explode for 5 in the 4th & 3 in the 5th. Two RBIs each for Swoboda, Grote & Weis, plus one from roomies Harrelson & Seaver. Game Time = 2:43 Sunday, August 31 - Candlestick Park: Mets 2 - Giants 3 (11 innings - Game 2 of DH) -- Jim McAndrew vs Ron Bryant The Giants score their first two batters of the game, leading off bottom 1 with a single, triple and single. Giant�s pitcher Bryant faces the minimum through 6 but the Mets break through in the 7th when a Swoboda 2R-HR ties up the game. All is then well until the 11th when McGraw and Taylor can�t record a single out and the winning run scores on a bases-loaded walk. Game Time = 2:45 So they wind up with a split of the 4-games w/the Giants (Mays missed the entire series) but have still won 14 of their last 17 since the disastrous series in Houston which dropped them into 3rd place double-digits out of first. All 3 losses in those 17 games were to the Giants. 76 - 54; 2nd place; 4.5 games out of 1st (Cubs beat Atlanta 8-4) and now a full 6.0 games up on 3rd place StL, who I think we can kiss goodbye to for the remainder of the season.

Kunz has been walking too many (30 in 58 IPs) and getting hit around by too many LHBs to warrant key situations. Plus, that he was picked out of college 3 drafts now ago at a position (RP) where one usually makes the big leagues most quickly, merely treading water is, in effect, moving backwards and he's barely treading water.

Figueroa - 4.5 Stokes - 0.5 Rodriguez - 0.5 Pagan - 1.5 Castillo - 1.1 AHernandez - 0.9 Murphy - 0.5 Francoeur - 0.5

Yay! They survive leaving a small village on base in the early innings and an offensive shut-down against the Cubs' pen thanx to a great day from Figueroa with help from Stokes & Frankie.

That song was lousy the first time. We should have more runs.

Francoeur - 1.5 Tatis - 1.0 Schneider - 1.5 Murphy - 0.5 AHernandez - 0.5

Misch - 4.0 Dessens - 0.2 Tatis - 1.8 Santos - 1.0 Pagan - 1.0 Francoeur - 1.0