Frayed Knot

]Only a portion of Citi is publicly funded, the Mets are putting up most of the bill. Which is why there's not going to be a dome. It's easy to put one into your plans when you think someone else (read: us) is footing the bill. But the era a the publicly financed stadium is over.

Meanwhile "up north" here not only is it not raining but it's 15 degrees warmer.

The Rays tying it up might actually give the umps an excuse to stop the game.

And yeah, Kazmir's gotten squeezed a few times. But 6 BBs + a HBP in 4-plus innings is the type of game that's keeping him from being a top pitcher. He has too many of those.

Can they by rule have one? -- Yes.

metsmarathon: i would think that the problem with the stanky maneuver is that he's outside the basepath. Nah, you can run anywhere you want as long as you're not doing so just to avoid a tag. Sounds to me like it was simply a rule made up specifically to counter one guy who found a sneaky way of gaining an edge. The baserunner intenionally foiling a grounder rule was made up the same way. The way I heard the story was that during a tie game, bottom 9, bases-loaded, 1-out situation, a a probable GiDP bouncer was hit to SS. The runner from 2nd (Joe Adcock sticks in my mind) grabbed the ball on the way by and heaved it into the OF. He was out but he prevented the DP and the winning run scored. That's when they put in the rule that the umps could rule a DP if the ball-hit-runner play was deemed intentional. IOW, in both cases the sneaky ploy worked ... but it was the least time.

Centerfield: I always wondered why sacrifice flies were not treated the same way in the Majors as it is in Little League. In the majors, I see players retreat to the base, put one foot on third, and face the outfielder. Once the ball is caught, they turn to home and take off. When I was growing up, we were taught to get on third, face home, and get into position to take off. We focused on the third base coach, and waited for his signal. As soon as we got the signal, we took off and didn't look anywhere else but the on-deck guy, who told us to walk it in or slide. My guess is that you get a better jump by anticipating when the catch is going to be made and use that to 'burst out of the blocks' as in a sprint. You're still in contact with the bag as your lead leg moves into its initial stride as well as ahead of the game by the time ball hits glove. MLers (theoretically at least) have better judgement to do that than 10 year olds and therefore don't need the coach to yell "NOW!!" at them. The runner would lose split-seconds due to the gap between hearing the coach and reacting plus the first part of the stride he gains from anticipating.

If the Dodger references are more or less limited to the outisde architecture (there are no similarlities in the field AFAIK) and the JR tribute I'm not going to have a problem with it. If there's a lot more at the same time that NYM history is getting buried in the basement than that's a different story, but I'll at least wait until we get to that point before breaking out the pitchforks.

- The Phils are the 43rd team in World Series history to take a 3-1 lead. Of the previous 42, 36 have gone on to win the series, including 23 closing it out in five games. The six teams to rally from a 3-1 deficit were the 1903 Pilgrims over the Pirates, the 1925 Pirates over the Senators, the 1958 Yankees over the Braves, the 1968 Tigers over the Cardinals, the 1979 Pirates over the Orioles and the 1985 Royals over the Cardinals. Other tidbits from the folks at BP: �The Phillies scored eight of their 10 runs off home runs in Game 4 and have scored 14 of their 20 runs in the series off homers. �Howard had the 46th multiple-home run game in WS history. The first since Kent for the Giants in Game 5 in 2002 and the first Phil since Dykstra in Game 4 1993. �The Phillies are unbeaten home in this postseason, taking two from the Brewers in the National League Division Series, two from the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series and now two from the Rays. - Blanton's HR was the first in the WS by a pitcher since Ken Holtzman for the Athletics in Game 4 in 1974 and the 15th time overall. He's also became the fourth player to hit his first major-league HR in a World Series game. � Eric Hinske's PH HR was the 23rd player in World Series history to hit a pinch-hit home run when he connecdted off Blanton in the fifth inning. The Phillies� Eric Bruntlett in Game 1 was #22. (No mention if it's the first time two different PHers named Eric hit HRs .. I suspect it is). � Rays 1B Carlos Pena and 3B Evan Longoria are 0-for-29 w/15 strikeouts in the series after going 23-for-78 (.295) in the ALDS & ALCS

Cliff is injured and was replaced between games 3 and 4 by Eric Hinske (who promptly HR'd in his first AB). But you didn't used to be able to make roster changes mid-series based on the idea that there's nothing to prevent teams from "discovering" an injury as an excuse to replace worn out or slumping players, or even platoon-type players/pitchers towards the end of a series simply for strategic reasons.

="metirish"]Broad Street Joe they are calling him in Philly. You misheard, it's broad-assed Joe. Or, as they said in Oakland back when he was part of the famed 'Moneyball' draft, "he wears a big pair of underwear".

Because bad relievers rank lower in my eyes than bad starters.

Since when did they start allowing in-series roster moves? I hope there's some sort of limit what moves can be made or I could see some serious manipulations at some point.

Yup. Lotsa mistakes both ways, runners left all over the place, not very good fielding, and even some bad umping. Good bullpens has been the hilight for both teams.

Rays' newly found defensive rep is suddenly taking a beating this week. And it's the solid infield guys (Longoria, Barlett, Iwamura) who are making most of the goofs. Crawford's HR was only the 2nd of the last 9 TB runs that was driven in by a hit. The other was Crawford's game 2 HR. All 4 runs in game 3 came on an infield out, an infield out, a Sac Fly & an error

I'm Mo Green, you don't buy me out I buy you out! Either he's confident that one of his other interviews/feelers will come through or he really doesn't want to work for Acta.

revamping the bottom of my list ... 13 - Sanchez 12 - P. Martinez 11 - Chavez 10 - Schoeneweis 9 - Heilman 8 - Stokes 7 - Feliciano 6 - Pagan 5 - Evans 4 - Figueroa 3 - Ayala 2 - Vargas 1 - Alou

Probably, although I don't remember the specifics. It's rare though not unheard of and Bobby certainly wasn't one to pass up an opportunity. I do know Hodges used it a few times years earlier. He also once took an infielder and stuck him in the OF for an over-the-top 'no-doubles' defense.

Serves them right for not even scheduling the start until after 8:30. Not that rain is more likely at that hour but it leaves you with no wiggle room once you do get delayed. But it won't change. Selig was quoted in the last day or two as saying that, while he'd like to reduce some of the extra off-days in the post-season next year, the idea about moving even weekend games to afternoon or earlier PM starts is not up for discussion. The ratings suffer in afternoon games he claims and the networks won't clear the time anyway. Of course they would if the rights fees were reduced but he's not going to add that part. For those who didn't stay up; the Rays tied it without a ball leaving the infield in the 8th and the Phils won it without a ball leaving the infield in the 9th. Top 8: Upton infield single; steal; steal + E2 = tying run (3-3) Bottom 9: Bruntlett HBP; passed ball + E2 = runner on 3rd/0 outs. Then IW + IW loaded the bases and prompted Madden to play 5 infielders vs Ruiz who foiled the scheme by getting a 40-foot single for the always-popular 'walk-off dribbler' Game 4 = Blanton v Sonnenstine in another late night game in late October in the northeast.

I mentioned before my indifference and/or annoyance for Chevy Chase. On the other hand I went looking for mermaids for weeks after seeing Hannah. Splash down!

My brother, a huge Dustin Hoffman fan and a pretty good mimic, saw this in the theatre twice the first week it was out and then preceded to talk like Raymond/Rainman during an entire car-ride from NY to Virginia. He spoke and answered all questions either in dialog from the movie or at least in character for 5 hours straight. I'm voting for it anyway.

I wasn't as ga-ga over either of these when they first came out as the general public seemed to be -- but funny scenes at ballparks beats brats in bars any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Every time I see 'Stand By Me' I wish I were 12 again as I very much identified with the whole first time exploring the area beyond your boundries thing. I didn't grow up nearly as rural as the kids in the flick but there were some undeveloped land around and we used to do some of that hang out in the woods overnight stuff too. Suck my fat one you cheap dime-store hood Saw 'Say Anything' just once (fairly recently) and didn't think it did enough to distinguish itself from the myriad of coming-of-age flicks.

If FOX & ESPN ever co-produced a game they could have a "short-off" starring their on-field reporters Ken Rosenthal and Tim Kurkjian

Tied-Up! Now they all get a day off - or maybe two if the forcast holds for Saturday