Frayed Knot

Verdi and Custer referemces in the same game.

Probably not often that a knuckle-baller get replaced by a knuckle-baller

This topic makes for good time to play another round of 'Build-a-Bob song' Tack-on verses welcome How many runs must bullpen let up and pretend it's a quirk to ignore and how many times must Wagner implode allowing the opponent to score? Yes and how many batters will Heilman walk until we can stand it no more The bullpen my friend, is blowing all the wins the bullpen is blowing all the wins How many batters must Schoeneweis plunk until we can ask if he tries? And how miles can Duaner's fastball drop before Jerry starts asking why? Yes and how many times must Joe Smith give it up before all the fans start to cry? The bullpen my friend, is blowing all the wins the bullpen is blowing all the wins How big a lead do the starters have to get and not have to pray for some rain? And how many leads can they blow in the ninth before they drive Johan insane? Yes and how many stabs can we take to the heart and still hope to endure the pain? The bullpen my friend, is blowing all the wins the bullpen is blowing all the wins

Centerfield wrote: Do any of the relievers have options? Smith probably does. Probably just Smith among the main guys. ]I'd be all for letting Claudio Vargas, Stokes and Niese have a crack at the late innings rather then risk Maine or allow these losers to keep fucking things up. Well one guy needs to go tomorrow to make room for Maine and then another on Monday for Wagner. Muniz is probably one but after that I'm up for anything at this point.

TheOldMole wrote: It worked for Smoltz and Righetti. Smoltz was put in the pen out of necessity because they were afraid his post-surgical arm couldn't take the strain of starter innings. Righetti, I always contend, was a mistake. Having the big stud closer was just coming into fashion then and George decided he had to have one too so he jumped on Righetti's sophmore slump season as an excuse to make him into one and prove his baseball genius. Both did well as closers but my guess is that most good starters would do well as closers given the chance. The problem is that you not only take a good arm and reduce its use from 200 or so innings down to 65 but you create a hole in the rotation. Personally, as long as Maine is healthy, I'd opt for more Maine and patch the pen holes with Kunz/Stokes, etc rather than the other way around.

Unless and until the penners start pitching better Jerry can shuffle the roles all he wants but it's going to be akin to as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titantic It's not like mis-matched roles are causing sudden suckitude. Nor, contrary to popular belief, are the starters leaving the pen too much work. NYM starters are covering right around a league avg of IPs. 1st half pen ERA = 3.91; 2nd half = 6.82

OK, so you guys are a nice story. You're a small-market team that's won two WS in the last 20 years and has been at or near the top of the AL over the last half-dozen years blah, blah, blah - essentially doing what Billy Beane and Oakland are trying to but even better and with a lot less publicity. This year you lost Santana & Toriiiii Hunter are barely missed a beat even though Liriano has been out for most of the last 1-1/2 years and Carlos Gomez pretty much suxx. Alright so you decided to release Big Papi six years back after trying to turn him into an opposite field singles hitter but, hey, everyone misses one now and then. So now that I'm being nice to you can you do me a favor please? Can you beat the friggin Yanquis every once in a while? I'm mean, shit, you haven't won a season series in at least 6 years (I didn't look any further back than that) going a dismal 12-27 head-to-head in that time - and that doesn't even include the two playoff series where you got your doors blown in. This year, the schedule maker even gave you 3 series with them and you're off to a whopping 2-5 already. So do you think that maybe it's time to wake the fuck up and stop curling into the fetal position whereever you see pinstripes? You've got an extra series in your crappy indoor mall there where you won't even see those silly pinstriped pajamas and where you seem to be unbeatable against everyone else. So a sweep here would not only even the season series but you've got a ton of other incentives as well to at least not suck. You're 1/2 game out of the Central lead as I type this, plus only 1-1/2 behind Boston in the WC race and 2-1/2 ahead of these very Yanquis. And, seeing as how those Bronx bums already need the Hubble telescope just to see Tampa Bay in the standings, that means they'll have to catch BOTH the Red Sox AND the loser of the race between you and the ChiSox just to make the post-season. I mean you can't end their season right now, but you can make it so where they're taking on so much water that Al Gore will declare them to be a protected wet land. So give winning a try this week ... you might even find you like it. Oh, and by the way, you're facing Sydney Freakin' Ponson tonight. 2-0 Twins in the 6th. * As good a topic as any for my Seaver post

Evan Longoria, TB 3Bman and probable RoY - broken wrist

Just in case you thought you were imagining things: Innings 1-3 the Mets run differential is +88 in innings 4-6 it's -1 and in innings 7-9 it's -49 Put another way, the NL average for runs score/given up in innings 7-9 is 30% Mets score 22% of their runs in those innings and give up 35%

Totally disgusting

5 relievers used, 4 sucked. Oh yeah, and we've scored one run since the 1st inning.

At least Duaner was a good boy today. Heilman got the day off yesterday so I assume it'll be him for the 9th. Be nice to get him a bigger lead.

The only guy the pen has gotten out so far is the one who (inexplicably) made out on purpose.

]i'm not asking why the Mets didn't block the waivers, i'm asking why they didn't offer more than the reds got. The Mets could offer Wright & Reyes with a Beltran to be named later but if Arizona claimed him the Mets had no way to make such a deal. ]i assume that because Buck was mentioned he is the best guy in the trade, the mets could have done better. Don't assume

We're doing this 'grab the lead early and sit on it' thing again.

And alternate football leagues have such a great track record of success too!

Well, considering that we don't know who 2/3 of the trade involves it's kinda tough to say whether the price is cheap or not.

Reyes, ss Evans, lf Wright, 3b Beltran, cf Delgado, 1b Tatis, rf Easley, 2b Cancel, c Martinez, rhp

soupcan wrote: 9-6? ... wouldn't that still be a little disappointing? That's why I referred to it as an absolute minimum.

The rest of August is a huge soft spot in the schedule (at least theoretically - witness our 2-8 vs Astros & Padres so far) and it's time we start taking advantage. From GWreck's pitching sked: v PIT Mon Aug 11 - Martinez v. Zach Duke at WAS Tue Aug 12 - Santana v. Odalis Perez Wed Aug 13 - Maine v. Jason Bergmann Thu Aug 14 - Perez v. Colin Balester at PIT Fri Aug 15 - Pelfrey v. Jason Davis Sat Aug 16 - Martinez v. Zach Duke (redux) Sun Aug 17 - Santana v. Jeff Karstens Mon Aug 18 - Maine v. Paul Maholm vs. ATL Tue Aug 19 - Perez v. Tom Glavine Wed Aug 20 - Pelfrey v. Jair Jurrjens Thu Aug 21 - Martinez v. Mike Hampton and that stretch is followed up with 4 at home vs Houston before seeing Philly - Florida - Milwaukee - Philly Also, at some point in the next week or so (again, at least theoretically) we'll see the return of Maine, Wagner, Church & Castillo. Seems like we need to go 9-6 at an absolute minimum here and could really use more like 11 wins

Seems like a big weekend for the D.L. - including some out for the season guys plus key players on contending teams: Tim Wakefield - Sore shoulder (I didn't think that was possible for knuckle ballers) Carl Crawford (TB) - Hand, 15 Day Although they actually got Rocco Baldelli back Jose Contreras (ChiW): ruptured achilles tendon - out for season Carlos Lee (Hous): broken finger - probably out for season Scott Rolen (Tor): shoulder (what else is new?) Orlando Hudson (Ariz): wrist surgery - out for season and he's going to be a FA too

Phils win - back to a 2 game defecit ChiSox beat BoSox (to take 2 of 3) and take back 1st place from Mini-soda Angels complete the sweep of Yanx. Game was tied in the 9th when the Angels got 2 on against Marte. So Girardi brought in Rivera and Chone Figgins promptly bounced his first pitch through a hole for the win TB wins again (swept Seattle) which not only increased their lead over Boston & NY to 4.5 & 8.5 but also set a franchise record for most wins in a season ever (72).

Smith - 0.25 Schoeneweis - 0.25 Reyes - 1.2 Chavez - 1.2 Wright - 1.2 Murphy - 0.9

TransMonk wrote: I don't need to see any more of Carlos Muniz this season. Considering that Maine (Wednesday) and Wagner (week from Monday) are both on target for their scheduled returns, I think you're going to get your wish -- at least until Sept 1.

And it's too late to hope to be saved by rain (which is coming any minute now)