Frayed Knot

That shot, plus the 6-spot the A's put up on the Yanx since I last peaked in on that game, fulfills my quota of porn til at least next decade.

David is seeing a lot of pitches ... one of these times

Santana is probably home and not available for pinch-running.

The pen meltdowns this week have been equal opportunity sucking.

Aguila was a 3rd round draft pick of the Marlins in 1997, 6 picks after the Mets drafted Cesar Crespo. Crespo never played for the Mets but did have 250 or so ABs of sub-Medoza line hitting for the Pads and BoSox. Hasn't been seen since '04

During the 5-game losing streak (and NOT including today's still in progress game) here's what the for and against pen numbers look like TEAMIPHRBBKMETS151912912OPPs18.281413 So we're getting into their pen earlier but doing absolutely shit with it. And, needless to say, tonight's debacle isn't going to make this look any better.

Heilman continues his perfect vs perfectly awful dichotomy

We are, once again, getting totally shutdown by another bullpen.

That Reynolds HR weren't no cheapie either (I just saw it now via replay for the first time since I turned away while the ball was still in flight when it actually happened)

That's my Reyes vote circling the drain unlikely to resurface.

So Alou probably isn't available even to PH ... meaning we're again one man short on the bench. Just Castro left on the bench now.

How are all those caught stealings looking right about now?

THe way things have been going I actually looked at us getting a break on that HBP call and thinking it was going to come back and bite us.

Alou's calf "stiffened up" during the rain delay and is out today. He may need another MRI.

]Has anyone read Feinstein's Glavine/Mussina book? Yeah I just finished it. There's not a whole lot 'controversial' in the book. Mainly Feinstein just follows Glavine & Mussina around all year starting in ST and chronicles the ups and downs of two top pitchers at the end of their careers. He does get some good plot lines between Mussina being dropped from the rotation for a while and the Met collapse at the end and Glavine's role in it but there are no wild 'out of school' tales being told. Glavine does question the wisdom of Reyes & Milledge jumping around like they did in a kind of 'kids these days' manner that you'd expect from an older guy looking at how early 20s guys act. He'd prefer they took it in the dugout the same way Keith does. I don't remember any specific Wagner's complaints about Glavine's 300th. Maybe there was something Willie said (or didn't say) at the time that he questioned, but the official celebration was a org-directed thing a short time later which certainly wasn't too small. Glavine was clearly a bit uncomfortable with it and would have preferred something smaller (or non-existant). Wagner is in the book a lot as he and Glavine were best buddies and usually drove to the park from Conn each day.

Other out of town news: Glavine is joining Smoltz on the DL - "strained elbow" this time. Not sure what the time frame is, but all three of the 1990s Atlanta crew could be done at the end of this season. Would make for a nice weekend in Cooperstown for tomahawk choppers in July 2014. In Dodger land, Furcal to be out several more weeks so, with Nomar set to return, they're going to try him at SS for the first time in years. Tigers lose Jeremy Bonderman for the season with blood-clot related problems. This is in addition to Dontrelle's forced march to Florida for remedial pitching lessons. Couple of years ago you couldn't have touched either guy without emptying your entire farm system. Now they're both more baggage than weapons. Albert of Pujols injured last night too. Calf.

Maine - 1.5 Alou - 1.0 Wright - 1.4 Castillo - 0.7 Beltran - 0.5 Delgado - 0.5 Reyes - 0.5 Feliciano - 0.4

It is like September in that everything that can go wrong is, and the relievers seemingly take turns deciding who's going to suck that game. The last 5 losses have all involved late runs (including 6 HRs) surrendered by Feliciano, Smith, Schoeneweis, Vargas, Wagner and Sanchez. (everyone except Heilman btw)

metsguyinmichigan wrote: I'm assuming this is a rain delay? Hmmmm. Tie game. If this doesn't resume tonight, do they restart the game from this point on? Yes and yes.

bmfc1 wrote: Alou is amazing. He hasn't played for 2 weeks, didn't have a rehab game, and he swings at the first pitch to drive in 2. And then swung at the first pitch he saw in his 2nd AB and hit another one right on the screws (line out to SS) Couple good signs so far: - Castillo on base 3 times - Delgado hustling into 2nd base, setting up a run w/2 outs - all 2-out RBIs Not so good: - Maine's pitch count - Reyes's CS ruins what could have been an even better 1st inning

The DBags come into town in first place by 3.5 gmes (34-30) but also losers of 10 of their last 14 and have lost the early season glow when they were (briefly) considered among the best teams in baseball 2008. They were 20-8 when we met them at their place in early May. Mets, obviously, coming off a disaster in Sandy Eggo and need to turn things around soon or there's gonna be some changes goin' on around the campfire. In short, IT'S TIME TO LIGHT THIS CANDLE!! Pitching Matchups: Tues - Maine vs Owings -- same matchup as on May 2 in Phoenix when the Mets won 7-2 Wed - Webb v Pelfrey -- same as game 2 of that series, Snakes win 10-4 Thurs - Santana v Haren -- again a re-match, although neither figured in the decision as the Mets scored 3 times in the 9th off Chad Qualls (payback for Jimmy) and won 5-2. Winning pitcher = Jorge Sosa who got the final 2 outs in the 8th DL - Eric Byrnes Hot - 3B Mark Reynolds is on a HR tear and leads the team with 14

I'm not sure things have changed all that much. These blogs do give the beat guys some more room to free-lance a bit and include some stuff that doesn't quite fit 'the mold' of what their day-to-day activities require. But they still need to be in the clubhouse each day and therefore can't be as free-swinging as the columnists or radio-talkies in the same way the White House beat reporters aren't going to have the freedom to tee off on a Presidential action like some 'Meet the Press' panelist. What Rubin did today isn't any different than what we mentioned Noble doing occasionally doing all those years ago - and off-days are always the most likely time to see one of the beats step out of thier mold.

You mean it's not Jonathan S. Weissman?

BA's Jim Callis re-does the NYM Prospect 'Top-10' in the wake of the recent draft (assuming all high picks sign) 1 - Fernando Martinez, OF Still young and talented, but his lack of production may mean he's overhyped ** 2 - Ike Davis, 1b Hulking lefthanded slugger can handle the outfield and pitch, too. ** 3 - Reese Havens, SS More likely a third baseman or possibly a catcher, stands out with approach and pop. 4 - Jon Niese, LHP Quietly having success in Double-A at age 21, he owns three solid pitches. 5 - Dan Murphy, 3B Having a breakout year with a .325 average and eight homers in Double-A. 6 - Mike Carp, 1B Back on track in Double-A after slumping in 2007, he's hitting .351 with nine homers. 7 - Eddie Kunz, RHP Top 2007 pick has held his own in Double-A in his first full season. ** 8 - Brad Holt, RHP 2008 supplemental first-rounder can touch 96 mph, needs a reliable second pitch. ** 9 - Javier Rodriguez, OF 2008 second-rounder is a lean athlete with speed and projectable power. 10 - Nick Evans, 1B Another Double-A masher (.295, nine homers), he destroys lefthanded pitching

="Centerfield"]I've never read Pedro Carlos and Omar. How did Rubin view those trades in his book? Rubin wrote the book with his beat-writer hat on; a kind of 'just the facts ma'am' approach that wasn't out to give opinions on the moves or on the movers. It's actually somewhat unusual for a beat writer to step out like this an offer analysis as that stuff is generally left to the columnists. I remember back when Marty Noble was working the Newsday beat the paper would make sure that a noticable 'Analysis' lable was on top of his handful of yearly opintion pieces so it was immediately distunguishable from his usual beat work.