Frayed Knot

PiggiesTomatoes wrote: On a side note, how could Figboy be so ineffective on Monday and go four plus strong today? For the life of me I can't figure out this pitching. Green blows early in the season, looks like a machine until a week or so ago and is back to being a tool. Same for nearly every arm on the staff. It's called baseball.

Angel Pagan is only arb-eligible this coming off-season (3+ years of service) and, I think, is playing his way either into a starting OF job next season here or into a semi-valuable trading chip. That he's already 28 and has only played in parts of four seasons (less than one full season's worth) makes it tough to brand/sell him as young up-and-comer, but he's got 50-some games ahead of him to show what he can do over an extended period going into what should be his prime years. I bet his recent play is opening some eyes, both on his own club and on the clubs spying on his.

What's stunning this year is Pagan's triples rate -- now 7 is less than 150 ABs. The identity of the only NL player ahead with more right now is Michael Bourn (see what I did there?) in Houston with 9 in approx 3 times the number of PAs

="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr":17r4yztu]Cut to horrific endgame, wherein Nelson Figueroa, while receiving a celebratory high-five from HoJo, is accidentally decapitated.[/quote:17r4yztu] Only because HoJo corks his arms. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Aug 05 2009 12:53 PM In collapsing following his ankles' being pulverized by Figueroa's bounding skull, Razor flails his arms wildly in pain. Going through the postgame procession off-field, Alex Cora espies Razor and, thinking he's being waved home, slows warily at the clubhouse entrance. A 20-man crush at said entrance ensues. After being yanked from the fray too quickly, Brian Stokes and Pedro Feliciano suffer severe neck trauma and pass away at the ER. Deeply sensitive to the psychic disturbance, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and-- miles away-- young Jenrry Mejia plunge into a catatonic state, from which they will only recover sporadically, to sing "Sweet Caroline" during the eighth inning of each Mets victory over the next 35-37 years. It is revealed seven months later that trainer Ray Ramirez also perished in the crush. Willets Point Aug 05 2009 12:58 PM The 2009 Mets are starting to look like Sam Peckinpah's Salad Days. OlerudOwned Aug 05 2009 01:01 PM During the upcoming series in San Diego, several Mets are suspended under Major League Baseball's drug policy for licking shortstop David Eckstein, whose skin excretes a venom with psychoactive properties. Benjamin Grimm Aug 05 2009 01:02 PM ="Edgy DC":1doau5ms]Parnell in a save situation here, right?[/quote:1doau5ms] Yep, if he pitches the final 3 innings. Benjamin Grimm Aug 05 2009 01:03 PM And he has pitched the final three, so he gets a save. Edgy DC Aug 05 2009 01:03 PM Thanks, removed my post for being in the wrong thread, though.

Parnell getting his first-ever MLB plate appearance ... and rips a single!! Fear the number 9 slot in the lineup. Fear it.

MFS62 wrote: Anyone have any advance pics of the official Mest team body cast? Y'see now a good marketing dept would work in a NYM logo arm sling give-away before the season is out. Not that it's what THIS team will do; they'd be too sensitive to the issue and have no ability whatsoever to laugh at themselves.

But, in the meantime, Holliday just whiffed w/the bases loaded and it's still 5-0 heading for bottom 5. All of which means we have an outside shot at winning this game.

'73 was the one I thought of too. I remember a lot of guys playing out of position for a while - particularly in the OF.

I'm not so sure it's a good thing that pitchers have 4 of our last 10 RBIs

I got one: a pitcher, who's only up because of injuries to others, stretches while trying to get an out at 1st in the 2nd inning of early start game the day after losing an extra-inning gut-wrencher in which the 2nd baseman hurts himself falling down the stairs. I mean wouldn't that be weird?

Methead wrote: ="Gwreck"]My gameday just says "injury delay." Can you be more specific? Niese hurt his leg on a play at 1B... tried to throw a warmup pitch and fell down in a heap. I saw Bob Gibson do that one time. Hurt his leg changing directions while running the bases and insisted on coming out for warmups in the next half inning. He collapsed like a wet sand castle as soon as his stride leg hit ground.

Tampa eventually won that game. Longoria - who had HR'd in the 8th to tie it - HR'd again in the 13th to win it. And nice of Roy Halladay to pick last night to suck. Well he didn't suck all the way through, but after giving up 2 in the top of the 1st he then settled down and gave up no more until getting the first two outs in the 8th ... at which point he coughed up 3 HRs in a 6 pitch span. So that when the Jays got 2 runs on 5 hits off of Hughes & Rivera in their half of the 8th and 9th it was TLTL.

Part of that is a reflection of the difference in the offense of the eras. Four runs on five hits over three was a lot worse then than it is now, but yeah, the concept of "saving" the pen wasn't as prevalent even though most teams had just 10-man staffs.

I brought up in last night's IGT how players traded to the Cardinals seem to go on instant tears. Now I'm sure a StL fan could come on and tell me about all the guys they acquired who sucked but, until then, this is my story and I'm sticking to it. [u:j7rwfr0y]Matt Holliday[/u:j7rwfr0y] since his trade: 43 ABs; 21 Hits including 6 2Bs & 3 HRs for a 1.386 OPS (.488/.549/.837) OK you're saying, but at least Matt Holliday is a good hitter. Well sure, but then there's Julio Lugo and he suxx. Except that, since his banishment from Boston, he hasn't: 43 ABs; 16 Hits including 4 2Bs, 3 3Bs, 1 HR for a 1.052 OPS (.372/.378/.674) And speaking of LL numbers, there's Albert Pujols 10 trips to the plate with bases loaded in 2009: 9 ABs + 1 Sac Fly. 7 hits including 2 singles and 5 Grand Slams

Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear and Tuesday double-headers (must have been a rain make-up) Tuesday, August 5 - Crosley Field: Reds 8 - Mets 5 (Game 1 of DH) -- Gary Nolan vs Tom Seaver Seaver lasts just 3 innings giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 2 BBs over that time including 2 HRs (Bobby Tolan in the 1st & Pete Rose in the 3rd) A Shamsky 2R HR in between kept the Mets in it until the Reds tacked on 2 against Koonce and 2 more off DiLauro to make it an 8-2 game. Mets scored 3 8th inning runs to make it look respectable but reliever Clay Carroll retired the last 6 batters straight. Game Time = 2:26 Tuesday, August 5 - Crosley Field: Mets 10 - Reds 1 (Game 2 of DH) -- Gerry Arrigo vs Nolan Ryan Ryan gets one of the ten starts he�d in 1969 because of the DH and promptly tosses a complete game 1-run / 7-hit / 2-BB / 7-K performance. Met bats, meanwhile, jumped all over former NYM Gerry Arrigo and reliever Pedro Ramos for eight 3rd inning runs and the rout was on. HRs from Clendenon & Agee plus 5 doubles lead the attack. Game Time 2:21 59 - 46; 2nd place; 8.0 Games out of 1st , 2.0 games ahead of 3rd place StL (Cubs beat Astros 5 - 2) How �bout a DH in 4:47? -- Or, as the Yanx & Sawx would call it, 7 innings. Reds OFer Bobby Tolan was in the news within the last year when his 20 or so y/o son was involved in what sounded like a racial profiling incident (black kid in a nice car gets followed into a nice - Houston I think - neighborhood) in some ways similar to the recent Prof Gates deal up in Mass. Only in this case the cops sounded a lot more belligerent and young Tolan wound up shot on his driveway. Kid wasn�t killed but it likely ended whatever chances he had at a future baseball career.

Santana - 3.4 Stokes - 0.1 Murphy - 1.5 Wright - 1.3 Castillo - 1.0 Cora - 1.0 Sheffield - 0.8 Pagan - 0.9

Redding - 2.0 Parnell - 1.0 Feliciano - 0.4 Stokes - 0.7 Murphy - 1.0 Santos - 1.0 Castillo - 1.0 Pagan - 1.0 Wright - 0.4 Cora - 0.4

The problem with most sports fiction is that it's never as good (or as bad) as reality.

Pelfrey - 1.0 Green - 0.4 Francouer - 2.1 Sullivan - 1.0 Castillo - 1.0 Murphy - 1.0 Cora - 1.0

In the 'shared misery' department: - Tampa - at home - just loaded the bases in the 10th with no outs and didn't score: IF pop, IF pop, K - also the Marlins coughed up 6 in the 8th to the Nats in a game they led 4-0

Edgy DC wrote: I'm putting it on Jerry. This mix'n'match bullpen shit is just too much to watch. And the thing that shocked me was LaRussa NOT going to the lefty when Muffy was up in a game-winning situation. That would have been understandable and, with LaRussa, I would have thought automatic. Instead, Tony opts not to and gets away with it while Jerry tries to out-LaRussa LaRussa and gets burned by it.

Think about the things that conspired to add up to this clusterfuck. - Pagan misreading Wright's single in the 1st and failing to score - 2 caught stealings - Sheffield's 2 GiDPs - Berroa's error - Cora's error (even though it wasn't scored that way) - Jerry's pitch switching after 1-pitch/1-out - Frankie's worst outing of the year - Feliciano 4-pitch walking someone - Castillo falling down the steps - Green's HBP on the first pitch

Good night

If that pitch was only 3-1/2 feet over it would have missed him and maybe even been over the plate.

WTF is it with players traded to StL? They all seem to hit about .600 over the first month or so. Holliday, Lugo, Larry Walker a few years back. And don't tell me it's because the fans love them so. That can't help you hit the curveball.