Frayed Knot

For those who were at (or weren't watching) Sunday's game and missed the explanation of the HR apple's "failure" to rise for Tatis's HR, it goes something like this: - because this apple (unlike the last one) is located in straight-away CF, and thus would be in the batter's line of sight if up, the raising and lowering is on a strictly timed basis; IOW, it's not as easy as pushing one button for up and another for down. - When triggered the iconic fruit is set to rise quickly but settle back down slowly so the drop begins almost immediately so as to be back in its nook before the next batter arrives. Problem is it then needs some 45 seconds to 'recharge' and reset the hydraulics before it can go up again. So not only was Tatis's 1st pitch bomb was too quick for the poor guy to be ready for further action (must be a male) but they also had to wait until the end of the inning for its 'tribute' so as to not interfere with the other batters. Poor dude waits about two weeks for some action and then gets so much at once he can't handle the workload.

]The Perez signing was... well, "reprehensible" is a bit strong, but "detestable" might fit the bill. (Personally, I was a Lowe-and-Sheets guy, then Lowe-and pay-Sheets-a-mil-to-rehab guy, then I-guess-we've-got-him-so-go-Ollie guy.) In fairness to the Ollie signing -- which certainly looks like shit at the moment seeing as how he's missed over half of this half-season -- I'd take what he gave us for the last two complete seasons: 63 starts; 371 IP; 320 Hits; 354 Ks; ~3.90 ERA; ~1.35 WHiP and had no problem thinking that he could more or less continue along those lines for 3 more at his age. You wanna haggle about the price go ahead but I'm not sure he could have been had for much less. As for Lowe he's certainly doing OK in 2009 (although a higher ERA & WHiP than the Ollie stats above) but neither he nor Ollie was going to be a one-year commitment (in which case I would have preferred Lowe too) and are we really going to now get on Omar's case for NOT signing a 36 y/o pitcher to a long-term contract? I think I've brought this up before but Lowe was older, more expensive, a longer commitment, and not as good a track record as compared to Glavine at the time of his NYM signing. Yet we all seem to know now that TG was a mistake all along while DL was the way to go. Sheets, meanwhile, isn't pitching because he physically can't pitch and it seems uncertain as to when he'll ever pitch again. Maybe he's great next year but Sheets has had a lot of maybes in his career and too many maybes haven't worked out in Queens lately. And, of course, signing none of the above would have just pushed the Livan/Niese/Nieve/Redding alternatives to the 5th, 4th, 3rd slot that much quicker and for that much longer.

He's more a guy without a real role - which means he gets bounced from team to team and backs up a lot. Doesn't get on base enough to deserve a full-time position although has a lot more pop than Argenis (of course so does Castillo so that's not saying much). The fact that he can play SS and elsewhere makes him a useful bench guy. If they do bring him I suspect he'll be there until the real Reyes is ready and then probably get sent back again (which means waivers again) unless Cora and/or Castillo goes down in the meantime.

Piniella and LaGenius had some fun stuff tonight. - Already down a couple of runs in the 8th, Cubs pitchers load the bases w/no outs. Cards send up a LHB so Lou brings in a LHP (his only one as it turns out). - LHP (Marshall) gets his guy but now a RHP is up. So Lou brings in Heilman but sends Marshall out to LF to replace Soriano. Heilman then Ks his guy - Due up next is a StL lefty, so out goes Heilman and in from the OF comes Marshall. A new LFer goes into the field. - So now LaRussa checks w/the umps to make sure that Marshall has to face at least one batter (since he's a newly brought in pitcher not an existing one) and switches to a RH batter in an attempt to negate Lou's switcheroo - Batter winds up lining out ... on a diving catch by the newly installed LFer (who falls down while catching it) and the Cards don't score at all. Cubs lost anyway (they are the Cubs after all).

]You're telling me that there is a bigger sport in New York than baseball? Our two NFL teams play in New Jersey, the Knicks have sucked for 10 years and hockey? Well, most people don't care about hockey. I didn't say I thought it was bigger there then here, only that they see themselves that way and more supportive of their guys to boot. NY, Boston & StL are the three cities where baseball is the clear #1 sport. Out of those StL fans like to think of themselves as nicer than fans in either east coast city, ergo self-proclaim themselves to be better.

Pelfrey - 2.8 Rodriguez - 0.3 Parnell - 0.4 Sheffield - 1.0 Wright - 1.0 Schneider - 1.0 Francoeur - 0.8 Murphy - 1.0 Tatis - 0.6 Castillo - 1.1

Santana - 4.6 Feliciano - 0.3 Rodriguez - 0.3 Pagan - 1.5 Wright - 0.7 Castillo - 0.7 Francoeur - 0.9 Santos - 1.0

Nieve - 2.4 Feliciano - 0.5 Parnell - 0.5 Green - 0.5 Murphy - 1.1

Misch - 0.6 Stokes - 0.5 Wright - 1.4 Sheffield - 1.0 Tatis - 1.0

- Ralph was definitely talking about Francouer standing as in a hitting position while pitchers are throwing in the pen (and doing it often) in order to get used to what a strike does and doesn't look like. - Forbes Field, where Ralph played a big chunk of his career, was huge, except of course for the LF corner (Kiner's Korner they called it). But this 'oh all the old ballparks were so big and it took a REAL man to hit 'em in those days' stuff annoys me. Ralph still gets damp talking about hitting in Ebbits Field and those old-time MFY fans manage to mention 'death valley' about 30 times for every one time they mention the 296 ft RF corner with the 3ft fence. Part of what makes today's newer places look small is because many of them replaced '60s & '70s era parks which were much tougher than the old ones of their time. Think AstroDome, Shea, Dodger Stadium, Old Busch, Candlestick as compared to Wrigley, Fenway, Tiger Stadium.

Newsday's Ken Davidoff (on the radio yesterday) thought Francoeur would be non-tendered by the Mets at the end of the year if this 2nd half looked reasonably like the 1st half and the last year or so. Purely speculation on his part of course, but if they are going to do that with him seems to me they would have been willing to do the same with Church. Personally I think the OF-deficiency around Met-ville would kill the idea of letting either guy just walk away but those are winter-time questions for another day.

MLB Network has had him on a number of times. He is very good although it seems to me he's might be a bit too "inside" for Letterman. 90% of his audience aren't going to know whether he's any good or not.

The rep comes from is that StL is one of the few cities outside NYC & Boston where baseball is the clear #1 to football combined with the native mid-western boosterism of the home folks that makes the fan base less angry than their east coast counterparts. Hence they like to see themselves as being the best of both worlds: more passionate and serious than the west coast while just as knowledgeable yet more supportive than the east. Although you do need to keep in mind that it's pretty much a self-label which has been picked up by various media members. StL fans love calling themselves "the best fans in baseball" - although saying so doesn't necessarily make it true. I've also read some very harsh things on Cardinal boards so I know they're not nice all the time. One guy yelled at Isringhausen to "Die on Christmas" following a blown save and LaRussa (and former GM Jocketty) would have been removed long ago if some fans had their way despite being competitive nearly every year.

Well that top 6 looks like an improvement as compared to recent orders.

]There are no ground rules for this Bedsheet Blog, except good taste. That'll eliminate most entries right there.

="LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr"]The best part is that Uribe was a DEFENSIVE substitution for... yes, you guessed it... Luckily, Pablo is a jolly sort of fellow, whose belly jiggles in a cheerful fashion as he ho-ho-hos at the consistent lack of respect. You know what, I saw the replay earlier this morning and it a was on off-the-chest (or belly) hop which bounced far enough away to where Uribe couldn't recover. All of which reminds me of when Lenn Sakata replaced Brooks Robinson at 3rd in Bal'mer. Even Brooks Robinson used to refer to himself as Mr. Bad Body and remarked that the problem the small-ish but more carved gymnast-type body that Sakata had made those hops ricochet all over the place where in Brooks's case they'd just fall at his feet for easy pick up. Maybe Sandoval could have done the same thing last night.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: ="Frayed Knot"]]Are we all aware this team can't score because Cora can't hit? Yeah, that's the problem. Yeah I know. But Cora is really killing us. He's OPSed at like 500 for the last 6 weeks. I think we call that 'above average' compared to the rest of the crew these days. In any case I'm not all that concerned with what backup SS hit - I expect them not to. Now it would be nice if he weren't batting at the top of the order as much but, until Reyes gets his leg amputated and we need a full-time replacement, I can live with him.

So I'm guessing that the #12 (retired?) jersey is at his high school. He never played in college and didn't stick around the minor leagues long enough to make a mark in any one place I wouldn't think. He was 'Mr. All-Everything' in HS although you usually think of football numbers being more honored than baseball. There's also a very successful amateur baseball program in the Atlanta suburbs where he grew up so it's possible it's from there. And maybe it's a window as to what number he'll take. Not sure if 12 was taken when he first got to the Braves.

]Are we all aware this team can't score because Cora can't hit? Yeah, that's the problem.

Edgy DC wrote: ="Frayed Knot"]What was that, five balls out of the infield? An unusual amount of choppers back to the box, it seemed. Plus Phillips at 2nd had like 76 assists (I may need to recount but that's pretty close I think)

FWIW, Francouer and the Braves have been going with 1-year (non-arb determined) contracts all along and he's currently playing for $3.375mil As mentioned before, he'll be under Met control for the remainder of this season plus two more.

What was that, five balls out of the infield?