Frayed Knot

2-1 Phils heading for the 9th in Sandy Eggo Lidge in to relieve Hamels

There is a limit on rehab time but it's more than just the couple of days that Castillo's been playing so far.

Well, after getting off to the worst possible start in game 1 of this 15 game "soft" stretch, our hoped-for 9-6 minimum record or 11-4 preferable one is off to a very nice 6-1 start. With 8 more still to go, 5-3 to get us to that 11-4 seems not only very do-able but even better-able. Mon 8/11 - Pitt - L Tues - Wash - W Wed - Wash - W Thurs - Wash - W Fri - Pitt - W Sat - Pitt - W Sun - Pitt - W ----------------------------------- Mon - 8/19 - @ Pitt Tues - Atl Wed - Atl Thrus - Atl Fri - Hous Sat - Hous Sun - Hous Mon - Hous

" ... i think [Ayala] was the one guy who sufferd a serious injury in the WBC" Yeah he was - and maybe his diminished numbers are partically the result of the first year back comedown that pitchers returning from major surgery often have. Best-case scenario is that he helps out this year before really bouncing back next season meaning that we got a useful pitcher on the cheap from an organization that wasn't patient enough to wait him out. See also Sanchez, Duaner. Or they could both suck for the rest of this season and everyone season thereafter, whatthehelldoIknow?

]"The muscles in the arm are like any other muscles - the more you exercise them the stronger they get". Sure, but like any kind of exercise there's a limit on not only how often one should train but also how hard during any one session. Muscles break down when taxed and need rocovery time to build themselves back up bigger ... faster ... stronger than they were before. So OVERuse at any one time or over a prolonged period can break them down faster than they can repair themselves. Any trainer will caution against what they consider over-training. Also, many of these pitcher injuries occur not to the muscles but to the connective tissue that surround them. Those tendons & ligaments can not be built up beyond a certain point (or artificially helped by use of steroids) and are the ones that get strained or even just snap from prolonged misuse or overuse.

Beltran's HR looked the same as his single but about 10 ft higher

I think it's safe to say that the bloom is off Brian Bannister's rose. Spotted a 3-0 lead before he even took the mound today in the Bronx, he wound up being pulled before getting an out in the 2nd down 10-3

TransMonk wrote: Chad "I'm Making My MLB Debut" Reinke wins! Mets now 2 up on the Phils. Cool -- SD's big inning came just after I shut down for the night. Great news to wake up to. Reinke was the guy Houston gave up in the Randy Wolf deal (important to grab that vet hurler while you're fighting for 5th place) SD's pen backed him with 4 scoreless/1-hit/8-Ks innings. I wonder what those are like to look at?

]i don't like that rule. if anything i'd give the team a pick like 2 rounds later...so if your first roundr doesnt sign you get a sandwich pick between the 3rd and 4th rounds, etc. otherwise a team with a the #3 pick ina "weak" year might decide they are best off not signing the guy and getting the 4th pick the next year. Possible, I suppose, but that kind of stuff is virtually impossible to predict a year in advance. The whole purpose of both the better compensation and the earlier deadline date is, like DC said, to put more pressure on the players/agents as well as to give the team an extra incentive to walk away from high demands. ]I'm just waiting for the one agent and the one player with the heart to bring the whole sham crumbling down The NFL's MUCH more restrictive and structured draft system has stood up several times in courts, including fairly recently. So unless this is going to be (another) case of the NFL getting away with things that other businesses and sports can't, I wouldn't be holding my breath waiting for that one.

="AG/DC"] 1) How old is a pitcher? 2) How many high-stakes pitches is he throwing? 3) Has he been injured before? 4) Is his motion a violent one? 5) Is he pitching through fatigue? All good reasons for why a 'one-sice fits-all' count shouldn't be the norm but rather that tracking should be used in combination with professional observation and individual variation.

Pelfrey - 5.1 Reyes - 1.3 AReyes - 1.3 Wright - 1.0 Heilman - 1.0 Feliciano - 0.3

The problem isn't with pitch counts, it's with 'one size fits all' pitch counts. Common sense is being thrown out in favor of over-caution in a lot of cases. In Pelfrey's case, I think they're more worried about the cumulative amount he throws this year moreso than what he does in any one game. Paricularly with young pitchers you don't want to increase their yearly IP totals more than a certain pct each year, and a guy like him who went from the much shorter college season to a full-time MLB pitcher in just a few years falls into that catergory. The total innings thing is what they're worried about with Santana too - although that's more about protecting their investment than anything. And for all the dreamy-eyed nostalgia I'm hearing lately about how many pitches/innings Koufax, Drysdale and Marichal threw, those 'everything was better back then' dreamers rarely mention the flip-side; about how Koufax threw his last pitch at age 30, how Drysdale threw his last at 31, and about how Marichal was a shell of his former self after age 32. If there were $100million tabs on their butts you can bet your butt they would have been handled differently and, as a Met fan, I too would kind of like to see Johan not fall apart halfway through his current deal.

The Nationals actually did make an offer above "slot" -- it just wasn't as much as the draftee wanted. The fact that these slot limits are voluntary (even if strongly suggested) is probably what makes them legal. Or at least they're legal until someone decides to challenge them but, even then, these draft picks don't yet have the backing of the MLBPA and proving damage from an unenforecable guideline is going to be kind of tough. Plus, despite all these "suggestions", the bonus money went up this year and did so by a larger pct than in recent years and despite the August 15th deadline which was put in recently in an attempt to put more pressure on the picks and their agents (previously negotiations could go on for a full year until just before the next draft). The only other 1st rounder not to sign this year was the Yanx' pick at #28. Gerritt Cole was a HS kid who was described as having 'top of the draft stuff' but fell through the entire round due to perceived high demands as well as the thought that he might go to college instead. Virtually all observers expected that flashing the NYY wallet would "talk" him out of any college aspirations but in the end he fooled them all and will go to UCLA and not go back into the draft for 3 years. In both cases (Wash & NYY) failing to sign a high pick means that they'll get an extra pick right after the same slot next year. IOW, the Nats failed to sign pick #9 this year and therefore will get pick "9A" next year - the pick right after 9 but before 10 - in addition to whatever other pick this wonderful season "earns" them (quite possibly #1) and the Yanx will get pick #"28A" on top of their regular pick (effectively making the 1st round 2 picks longer).

I wanna see a double play where Reyes & Reyes erase LaRoche & LaRoche

Contenders continue to get nicked: - Brad Penny; SP LAD (shoulder) after getting smacked around by the Phils the other day - Troy Percival; RP TBR - sprained knee - Chris Carpenter; SP StL - (again)

Phils, off a 4-game spanking by the Manny-led Dodgers, head to Sandy Eggo for a 3-spot Oldsters Moyer and Maddux get it started Marlins host the Cubbies for 3 Zambrano & Josh Johnson on Friday

At the 120 Game (3/4) mark: TEAMProj O/UWins thru 120Proj thru 162TrendNYM93.56486UNDERPHIL87.56486CLOSEATL84.55574UNDERWASH70.54459UNDERFLA68.56385WAY OVERCHIC87.57399OVERMILW84.56993OVERCINC79.55372UNDERStL78.56588OVERHOUS72.56182OVERPITT68.55574OVERARIZ86.56182UNDERLAD87.56182UNDERSD84.54662WAY UNDERCOLO82.55372UNDERSF71.55068CLOSE

U.S. loses to Cuba in extras via these new speed-up rules. Drops their record to 1-2

Nothing really specific, except that both parties deny that personal dislike played any role. - time to move on - 19 years is a long time - (MD) I need new challenges

Mike with a 10-minute or so intro explaining the whys and wherefores. Now Mad Dog on via phone to say goodbye and breaks down crying part-way through.

]I listened to their show when they were in studio together but always preferred them when they were each by themselves. ... Francesa is pompous and condescending and Russo is ill-informed and prone to over the top hysteria. As a team they seemed to bring out the worst in one another. Seperately, although they were both still irritating, they tended to be more reserved I tend to think that they alternately brought out both the worst AND the best in each other. More reserved seperately, yes, but also more boring beyond short stretches. I'll miss the pairing at times. It's one thing for someone to do a radio program solo - but even anexperienced one for 5-1/2 hours daily is going to fall into a rut real quickly. There's talk about there being "other voices" on the show but it's going to be Mike's show exclusively. There'll be no replacement and therefore little check on his extremes. One thing I'll miss about Chris is he's the only one on that station who'd take a few minutes out and review the general state of MLB on a semi-regular bases. Usually when by himself - but sometimes steering the dual broadcast that way - he liked to take 10 minutes out every few days to observe that; 'hey, Houston's hot; this new rookie in Anaheim is tearing things up; White Sox are in free fall and the manager's in trouble' or whatever the case may be. It's amazing that in an industry which treats analyzing every football game played (even some left coast deal between two also-rans) like an analysis of it to within an inch of its life how MLB is treated like it barely exists beyond the borders of NYC by virtually everyone else.

"FK, you can't put these things out there and not the answers when one tries" I guess I really didn't phrase that too well since I wasn't designing a quiz. Was just simply making up job descriptions based on the sounds of their names. DC's 'Aaron Boone' is better than mine.

Heilman for the 9th was an odd choice. Maybe he already had him warming before the Mets re-broke open the game and figured as long as he was up ya might as well bring him in. And, while I'm not going to go all backup-QB syndrome and pronounce Kunz the next closer yet, as long as he's here you might as well use him. So far Jerry seems reluctant to use him in tight games ... or in non-tight ones.

Perez - 3.3 Sanchez - 0.3 Delgado - 1.5 Schneider - 1.5 Tatis - 1.0 Murphy - 0.8 Reyes - 0.8 AReyes - 0.8

seawolf17 wrote: And do it now, get it over with. The problem there is that Mr. Boras isn't going to agree to that - not with the prospect of having dozens of teams in on the bidding at the end of the season. He ALWAYS takes his players to FA-gency