Frayed Knot

Just what the teams wanted on this 2-stadium DH day - 1 hour 10 minutes to play 2-1/2 innings. They're gonna need that cop escort and maybe a few helicopters.

A decent-sized chunk of that list are pitchers who probably fit the 'too incompetent at hitting to face a same-side hurler' category. Just off the top of my head: Hank Aguirre Bob Beall Vida Blue John Candelaria Norm Charlton Jack DiLauro Larry Gura Mark Guthrie Mickey Lolich Mickey Mahler Sid Monge Roger Moret Fred Norman Jim O'Toole Donovan Osborne Wandy Rodr�guez Kevin Rogers J. C. Romero Bob Veale ... and probably a few others.

This one time Bill Brasky and I ... OK, I admit it, I've never heard of this character and had to look up WTF y'all were talking about.

Analysis and video of 1st rounders Davis and Havens http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/breaking-down-the-draft/

Tampa completed a sweep of Florida this afternoon with a Matt Garza one-hitter (leadoff HR in the 7th by Hanley Ramirez) which puts their record at 47-31. That's a 98 win pace they're on for a team with a bunch of young offensive stars and a front 3 of Kazmir, Shields & Garza. There are also rumblings that they'll be players in any potential Sabathia trade - even if just for a rental - and they've got the farm system to do it and still not sacrafice their entire future. Oh yeah, and they have the last two #1 overall picks just starting out in their system. Not so sure that those MFY fans who are convinced that history dictates a future of Tampa forever looking up at them should be writing these guys off quite yet. Plus, I know of at least one team who turned in a 100-win season despite never having before won more than 70 so it can be done. If you're one who believes in signs of destiny you should file this one under the heading of 'Maybe it IS finally the Cubs year' They deal for the 'get out the jam cuz he's toast' Jim Edmonds on account of Soriano getting hurt. So while he was with SD, Edmonds is 16 for 90 for 3 extra base hits (.178/.265/.233) including 1 HR and 6 RBI Now, after 82 ABs for Chicago, he has 25 hits, 13 of which are for extras (.305/.376/.622) including 6 HRs and 21 RBI Dude hasn't had a good year since 2004 and he's suddenly reborn at age 38 in a stadium where they used to boo him for being a hated Cardinal Pujols returned from the DL today after about a month ... 4-for-4 including a game-tying RBI in the 9th. Cards lost in the 10th anyway Twins just won their 9th straight and are just � game out of 1st. Two ways to look at that: 1) Stay there Johan we're fine without you? 2) They could be solidly in 1st if only they held onto Johan. AL is kicking the NL's tail in interleague play for the 4th straight year. The record is now 122 to 83 after the AL went 6-0 in Thursday's day games and this season looks like it'll run neck-and-neck with 2006 for the most lopsided edge in the 12 years of interleague play.

Nestor Shylock (sp?) Another AL umpire who had no effect on Met games but I only remember for his name. For a short time it became a thing among a group of us (around 15 y/o or so) to yell out that name whenever something happened just because it sounded cool and offbeat. A nice catch, for instance, during a ballgame would bring out cries of 'NESTOR SHYLOCK' from the others. I have no idea how it started or why.

Dragging up an older thread for some updates. This began with a thesis that the Mets seemed to be giving up an inordinate number of 2-out runs -- 48% of all runs allowed as it turned out. But I wasn't sure whether runs allowed per outs was something that was spread out evenly or how the performance of NYM pitchers compared to those of other teams. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: What are the leaguewide figures? Funny you should ask ... In the NL so far this season: Runs allowed with 0 outs - 24% Runs allowed with 1 out - 38% Runs allowed with 2 outs - 38% I guess that makes sense, a lot of runs are the result of big innings which naturally occur as the inning goes on and only occasionally before an out is recorded. The good news is that our ratios have improved a bit since I first looked at it. NYM 0-out runs - 43% NYM w/1 out - 36% NYM w/2 outs - 21% We're still heavier than normal with 2-out runs (and highest in the league) but not quite as lop-sided as it was 6 weeks ago (48%) so maybe it is partially a bad luck thing and the law of averages is trending this back towards normal.

Emmit Ashford. AL ump who was, I believe, MLB's first black umpire. Very energetic guy who'd run out to his position and make animated calls on the bases. Players liked him (IIRC) although Jim Bouton mentioned (either in 'Ball Four' or its sequel) that Ashford's fellow umps would snicker behind his back while treating his actions as clownish and rarely associate with him outside the park.

How quickly after Houston formally cuts ties with him is he picked up by the Yanx? A: It depends, as the time lag will be inversely proportional to the success of Sydney Ponson Chacon, after all, was conferred "TY" status back in 2005 when he and Aaron Small were picked up in desperation (following injuries to Big Unit, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano & Jaret Wright) and proceeded to go 17-3 down the stretch as the MFYs tied for the division lead (won on tie-breakers) on the final weekend of the season and finished 2 games ahead of the WC.

Dick Selma was from out in that area - I'll go with him.

... is the NCAA baseball champion The FS Bulldogs beat the Georgia Bulldogs in the 2 of 3 final with Orel 'Bulldog' Hershiser in the booth for ESPN watching over it all.

Maine - 3.5 Wright - 2.7 Reyes - 2.4 Castillo - 0.5 Heilman - 0.3 Smith - 0.3 Sanchez - 0.3

AG/DC wrote: When Reyes goes deep, the announcers don't seem to realize it's gone off the bat. They should have on that one. This hasn't exactly been a suspense-filled series has it?

That was Wright (#2) - and, no, it didn't clear the picnic area. Gary: "Most opportune rest since the 7th day"

Woulda been nice to get more than 2 that inning. Marlon usually gets a good swing at least once every AB -- he didn't there.

Kerwin Dantley - looked like Butch Huskey

Have the Mariners ever played a throwback game in Pilots' uniforms? If not they should, even though I'm not sure those unis actually exist anywhere outside that little town upstate.

... picked up off waivers. Jouneyman RH-hitting 1st baseman who spent his entire major & minor league career with the Yanx prior to this season. I don't know that he's a guy you'd want to hand over a full-time job to, or what he brings that they don't think everyone's current favorite Val Pascucci doesn't (maybe fielding - Phillips is very good) but he's at least another option in the race to complement and/or replace the rapidly plummeting Carlos Delgado.

]Say (and this is just off the top of my head) Toronto offered Vernon Wells and AJ Burnett for Beltran and Pelfrey. Or Houston offered Miguel Tejada and Carlos Lee for Reyes, Fernando Martinez, Pelfrey and Niese. You don't think it's possible Omar could make a move like that? I don't think it's probable, but I worry anyway. Anything's possible. But those scenarios you lay out above are stars for stars deals. The "50 cents on the dollar" comment - which is what started me jumping in on all this - implies something totally different and for very different reasons.

The possibility of a stupid trade exists anywhere at anytime by anyone ... but giving up Mora - at a time where they had a contending club and desperately needed a SS - is hardly an equivelent situation to dumping one or both of two legit All-Stars in some kind of quick-fix scheme. If you're desperate to contend you add to those guys, you don't shop them.

But then the 50 cents on the dollar part doesn't make sense. You only do that for guys you WANT to get rid of, not for players of value.

Why do you think he'd dump Reyes and/or Beltran at all much less at a discount?

It was Alomar

I tend to cut Omar some slack for that Colon deal as he was told at the time that his team was going to be contracted and there was no reason to build for tomorrow. That doesn't mean he WON'T make a bad deal here, I just don't buy the idea that it's part of a tendancy of his.

Newday has been running this thing everyday where they look back at a random game on this date in Shea (also at some other stadium) and give a quickie run-down of that game and the main players involved. Today they go back to June 25th of 1989 and a game that became the first in NL history where the [u:537b4e1895]defense recorded zero assists[/u:537b4e1895]. Not surprisingly it was a Sid Fernandez game with 9th inning help from Aguilera. The final tally involved 13 strike-outs, 12 fly/pop-outs, and 2 unassisted groundouts.