Frayed Knot

The Cub infield has now errored for the cycle: Eeeeez at 1st, 2nd, SS, and 3B

It was all infield singles and errors ... until Russell Martin cleared the bases with a double. Zambrano should have been out of that inning several batters ealier.

Brewers are in deep doo-doo. Down one game to none the last thing they needed in game 2 was an off night from Sabathia but that's exactly what they're getting. With two outs he couldn't put away Bret Myers batting and eventually walked him after a 10 or 11 pitch AB. Then he walked Rollins to force in a run ... then he gave up a granny to Victorino!! Brews had Myers on the ropes in the 1st but only got one so it's 5-1 Phils in the 3rd.

I think the mods should just confess that they're monitoring all of BatMags movements and activities. Nothing personal mind you, just be careful what you say in the bathroom. You never know who's listening.

I guess the Rays were the only active franchise never to be in the MLB playoffs ... until now. James Shields vs Javier Vazquez get the game 1 starts as the ChiSox were forced to fight all the way to the end (and beyond) and are starting a 14 game loser on account of it while the Rays rested up and are starting their titular ace. Rays lead 4-3 as they bat in the 5th Carl Crawford is back on the Rays' roster and in today's lineup Closer Troy Percival is not, but last year's #1 overall draft pick David Price (LHP) is on instead.

Egg-Zellent stuff. We could hash out an argument about how middle relievers seem to rate more highly than closers but we pretty much had that discussion last year. Overall, I think PotG "correctly" nailed the top few on the list and that our more subjective consensus will match up pretty well.

="batmagadanleadoff"]Strawberry opened the 1985 season hurt. His opening day start was in question and he did not play at all in the Mets next game. He missed a significant amount of playing time in 1985 to injuries. Most of his missed time was on account of when he rolled over on his thumb making a catch in a game I was at - in mid-May I think it was. ]How come my post above displays a "last edited" note even though this is the very next post? All that means is that you edited something in that post after the thread was active again.

]Well, Francesa would rebut - and has - that you can't compare the four guys - or at least not Jetah. Jeets has 4 rings and has been a proven clutch performer since he broke inta the majahs. And for exactly the reason I said earlier in this thread; that he believes (as did his former partner) that players are either clutch or unclutch and therefore once one is established on one side or the other they'll remain that way for the future. - So Jeter = established clutch and any instances where he isn't is the outlier and normalcy will quickly return. - ARod is NOT clutch and therefore getting a lesser player for him could still be an upgrade even though there are no real upgrades to ARod. - and now Wright & Reyes, on the basis of the last two Septs, are flawed and therefore, like ARod, are part of the problem I chuckle up at Lennon's use of stats in his column only because stats are useless in the face of "clutch" arguments since proponents of the clutch/choke dichotomy theory only cite evidence which backs up their point while ignoring any other. MF did this very thing by using numbers one minute to show how unclutch Wright has been, and then minutes later dismissing a caller who chimed in with contradictory data based on the fact that "you can make stats say anything you want". Oh.

My thoughts as I remember them at the time: 1. Failed to re-sign Bradford -- I didn't mind this move based on not liking 3-year deals for relievers and his similarity with the younger/cheaper upcoming Smith. Only problem was then turning around and giving similar money to Schoeneweis 2. Failed to re-sign Oliver -- I thought nothing of this at the time. He was ready to retire and I'm shocked he's still pitching. 3. Allowed Floyd to leave -- Right move then and now 1. Traded Bell/Ring for Johnson/Adkins -- It's easy to lament Bell now, but unfortunately he was lousy during his last season here. Maybe this was a Peterson issue. The problem was what was brought back. 2. Traded Lindstrom/Owens for J. Vargas/Bostick -- Lindstrom had stuff but was wild and not all that young. Owens was more a novelty (catcher turned pitcher). Again, the problem was that the imports weren't good enough to be 4th OF/5th starter types as hoped. 3. Traded Bannister for Burgos -- I liked this at the time. Fans keep saying they want power arms for the pen and Burgos was exactly that plus younger w/more upside. Just didn't know he was going to turn into injury-prone criminal. 1. Re-signed Mota -- showed promise in a brief trial. But too brief + steroids shouldn't equal a 2-year deal 2. Signed Schoeneweis -- See Bradford 3. Signed Sele -- Essentially a meaningless back of the pen move 4. Signed Newhan -- Essentially a meaningless end of the bench move 5. Signed Easley -- Decnet to good bench player 6. Signed Alou -- Good singing

Loney's wasn't on 0-2, although he had Loney 0-2 a pitch or two earlier. There were two outs in that situation also. It was like an '08 Mets inning: that's one where the pitcher almost *but not quite* gets out of the inning before disaster sets in. There was an error earlier in the inning to set it all up too. When the lead announcer (Stockton?) said that the hurler made a "mistake" pitch to Manny both Darling & Gwynn immediately jumped in saying (in effect) 'that was no mistake - that was just Manny being Manny'

Jon Lester & John Lackey Angels won 8 of 9 this season, although haven't been able to beat the Sawx in post-season play anytime recently. Josh Beckett has been pushed back to Game 3 because he's not healthy. Neither is Mike Lowell although I think he's in the lineup tonight.

Dodgers using Maddux to close? He's in to try to close a 7-2 game.

Cubs jump out to a 2-0 lead on a DeRosa HR. Dempster kept walking guys but getting away with it ... until a 2-out GS in the 5th by James Loney and it's 4-2 Dodgers. Dempster out, Lowe still in.

Hamels was cruising with like a 2 or 3 hitter and a low pitch-count thru 8 - but of course they pulled him anyway and Lidge put on a couple and threatened to blow it ... but didn't.

Beermakers finally get a couple of baserunners - Hamels was perfect into the 5th - but no runs so far. 3-0 headed for bottom 6

I heard that guy being interviewed on the radio a week or so back. He would slyly state that some items (I think the 410 sign was specifically brought up) were "off the market" or already spoken for but didn't let on that HE was one of the reasons for it.

I mean, what exactly is he coming back from? It's not like he was injured, released, or banished into disuse last season. 2007: 67.0 IP; 54 Hits; 30 BBs; 1.25 WHiP; [u:5572af894f]9 HRs, 25 ER; 3.36 ERA[/u:5572af894f] 2008: 69.3 IP; 50 Hits; 35 BBs; 1.23 WHiP; [u:5572af894f]2 HRs; 15 ER; 1.95 ERA[/u:5572af894f] So essentially the difference is giving up fewer HRs (admirable in cozy CPB) and ... probably luck. Not that this year doesn't represent a better season, it just doesn't seem like the type of award they usually give out to guys going from a good season to a better one. Cliff Lee, on the other hand (the AL winner) was mostly lousy last year to the point of spending part of the year in the minors before bouncing back to a probable CY season and 22 wins.

6:30 EDT Ryan Demster faces Derrick Lowe Raffy Furcal, who missed a huge chunk of the season and only got a handful of ABs at the very tail end of the season, will reportedly be in the lineup tonight.

[u:3e7da9692b]menisci[/u:3e7da9692b] That would be an awesome throw-down in a Scrabble game - particularly if you were able to stick it somewhere by hooking that final i Of course I'd never actually 'see' it even if I were aware of it as a word because I'm not programmed to think of words ending in i I'd probably just be cursing the fact that I got stuck with multiple i tiles again.

Oh sure, but two specifically who were in position to make contact with it. So in assigning just the fans' portion of blame, Bartman gets, at most, 60/40 with the other one. Instead, it somehow wound up 100/0

Yogi is a good guy who was an only so-so manager, but the fact remains that no one should get booed at this sort of thing.

What I want to know is how the guy in the seat next to Bartman who ALSO reached for the ball and was just as responisble for denying Alou a chance (small chance) at the catch got away with none of the retribution that was heaped on the Harry Potter-faced sap. It was like the city executed Sacco while letting Venzetti slide.

Game 1 at 3:30 today Hamels vs Gallardo Gallardo was supposed to be their hot-shot rookie until a leg injury shelved him early in the year. He came back only last week and probably can't be counted on for many innings. That just adds to the list of things that sucked about our inability to force a play-in game; the Brews had no one to pitch that day. Ben Sheets certainly wasn't and, not suprisingly, has been left off the post-season roster after admitting he was done for the season (never a good thing in your walk year). Pat the Bat came down with a stiff back after BP yesterday.

The more I read this board the more I realize that virtually everyone knows and cares about uniforms A LOT more than I do.

And the Chicago White Sox are your AL Central Division Champeens. Win a 1-0 combined 2-hitter with the only run coming on a ridiculously long 7th inning Jim Thome HR.