Frayed Knot

Well assuming that his family's OK (they did have a sick kid but I think that problem is behind them) this is the best of several scenarios as it: a - rules out injury or other availablility issues and b - rules out unexplainable decision making And while now is definitely a bad time to go defending the bullpen, with the usual caveat about avoiding injuries thrown in, I think we're reasonably well-stocked here to the point of being better than most. As far as today's game, I would have liked to see Ollie get at least that final out in the 6th ... although he certainly has a history of losing it in a hurry at times so keeping him could have just as easily blown up on us too. Two bad outings for Heilman in a row but it's tough to complain about his past year & change overall (even though some certainly will). I'm not worried about him bouncing back.

Royals win 5-2. Neither Bannister nor Hughes were very sharp. Both threw a ton of pitches and couldn't get past the 3rd (Hughes) and 5th innings. But Hughes deserved even worse then he got as KC left runners on all over the place (inc bags loaded twice) and were on the verge of hanging some real big numbers on him. He'll still probably be a real good pitcher in time with flashes of it now and then this year. But there's definitely a contingent of Yanx fans who simply assume that Hughes was destined to be a front line guy immediately since Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano, Soriano, etc were and they might be in for a dose of reality in this case. Nothing more than normal growing pains actually, but some didn't realize those things apply to them too.

Schneider smacks the first pitch he sees from Chad Durbin up the middle for a base hit. Endy to bunt? ... I wouldn't.

So, considering that it's already the 7th inning, why Schoeneweis and not Feliciano? PF has made one appearence so far this season and it was for 1 inning in the 13-0 blowout. This was Show's 4th outing.

Sosa and Endy in on a double-switch. Shoeneweis and Pagan out.

SteveJRogers wrote: ... we are seeing with Reyes you have to deal with a selfish, me-first malcontent hot dog when things don't go according to plan. Horse shit!

Phils burn a player as Taguchi bats for Dobbs who was going to bat for Moyer prior to Willie switching Schoeneweis for Smith.

="SteveJRogers"]Werth's MLB photo shows this thing on his chin that looks worse than Speiezo's! FUGLY! The worst chin fuzz of the year contest has already been decided and the winner is Nick Swisher for his oddly-shaped and blond-dyed goatee-like patch.

Ollie gets the first two but then can't last the inning. Smith in to face Feliz - 1st & 3rd/2 out

Triple Dee wrote: Is it just me or does Castillo look like he has a permanent limp? I was half listening to a radio interview with Willie a couple of days ago and he said something about Castillo having one leg shorter than the other. Didn't catch all the details but he's definitely one of those guys who has a different style gait when he's walking as opposed to running.

seawolf17 wrote: Gee, that Orlando Hernandez kid seems a little old for A-ball, doesn't he? He's a little old for the Supreme Court

]The team has started out with five straight losses I guess they just promoted the whole Savannah team from last year.

The 47th * and final * Shea home opener sees the 2-3 Mets facing off against some guys from down the pike sporting a 3-4 record after having the 2007 NL East handed to them. The blue & orange locals never trailed in any of their wins so far and never led in any of their losses ... which says something but I'm not bright enough to figure out what. The Phils lost 2 of 3 to the Nationals before splitting 4 with the RedLegs of Sin-City-Natty Philly took 12 of the 19 games between the two teams last year, which is probably not as lopsided as most remember it but that's only because it was first 4-1 Mets and later 7-4 before the Phightin's won the last 8 in a row. New Faces and new places: Pedro Feliz brings his good glove and low-avg/decent power bat (.253/.290/.418 in 2007) in from SF to man 3rd base. Longtime Brewer Geoff Jenkins (how in the name of Bob Barker is he only 33 y/o?!?) arrives to split RF with incumbent Jayson Werth as Shane Victorino shifts over to CF to cover the FA departure of Aaron Rowland. The sometimes good/sometimes not closer Brad Lidge - who was brought in to shove wife-beating Brett Meyer to the rotation - is just off the DL following his spring training knee injury and an off-season trade from Houston. And now let's play follow the bouncing Seanez! ... Newly signed (as in last week) reliever Rudy Seanez arrives in the City of Brotherly Drunks following a path that took him from Cleveland to San Diego to Los Angeles to Atlanta back to San Diego to Texas to Boston to Kansas City to Florida back to San Diego back to Boston back to Los Angeles and now to Philly ... and he's not even lefthanded. The rest of the infield from hell: Ryan Howard, Chase Utley & Jimmy Rollins returns (I guess it's Utley's turn for MVP) as does Pat (it's mandatory here to use the words "Met killer") Burrell in LF and the combo of Carlos Ruiz & Chris Coste catching. Reserves feature 3B/OF Greg Dobbs, the all purpose Eric Bruntlett who spent the last 5 years in Houston, and former Cardinal defensive OF specialist So (what) Taguchi Hot so far in 2008: Utley (.346/.438/.769 - 3 HRs); Burrell (.435/.519/.957 - 3 HRs) Not Hot: Ruiz (3 for 16); Howard (5 for 24 - 1 HR); Victorino (4 for 28) Tuesday - 1:00: Oliver Perez, coming off a great start in Florida, will face the 62 year old Jamie Moyer who have up 6 runs (3 earned) on 9 hits in just 3-2/3 IPs in his only 2008 start Perez started 3 times against the Phils last year going 0-2 including 18 walks in 13 innings!! Wednesday - 7:00: Mike Pelfrey makes his 2008 debut, the results of which will feed either the "he's a bust" or "he's a future star" camps for the next few days. He'll face the Phils version of a 23 y/o 2nd year pitcher Kyle Kendrick (4 ER, 8 hits in 5 IP last week) who beat the Mets in his only previous appearance last season. Pelfrey lost his only start against the Phils in 2007, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings. Thursday - 7:00: John Maine off his bad control outing against the Braves faces 2nd year Phil Adam Eaton who had a lousy 2007 (6-10, 6.29 ERA, 1.63 WhiP) but managed to go 2-0 against the Mets in 4 starts. Maine actually won a game against Philly in 2007 (somebody had to) in 3 starts. So they miss Pedro and Santana while we slide out without seeing Hamels & Myers JC Romero is their only lefty reliever and he keeps company in the pen with rightys Ryan Madson, Clay Condrey, Chad Durbin, Tom Gordon and the newly signed (to his 75th team) Rudy Seanez as they try to get to Lidge Injuries: Mets: Pedro Martinez, "strained" hamstring -- anywhere from 4 weeks to 9 years Moises Alou, hernia -- now running and swinging a bat in the DR, is expected to go to Florida soon for rehab and "baseball activities" ... I love that phrase Ramon Castro, tubbiness -- Is nowhere close to returning Duaner Sanchez, expensive taxi ride -- pitching in A ball, should be ready before April is out Orlando Hernandez, in early stages of fossilizing -- pitched in a rehab assignment Ambiorix Bugos, elbow surgery -- may pitch before the year's out ... or maybe not. Phils: No one of consequence seems to be injured at the moment Ex-Met Kris Benson was signed to a minor league deal but is rehabbing from something that's apparently NOT related to his wife but isn't close to pitching yet

The problem with Castillo is that he's standing on a very narrow ledge since, more than virtually any other player, his entire worth as a player rests on one statistic: OBA With a decent one he's useful, but if/when it falls he becomes an anchor in the lineup and no amount of defense at 2B will be enough to save him. And betting that he'll keep that one skill through the next 648 games is a risky proposition.

I'd take what he gave us for the half-season last year - but I'm not all that confident we'll get that often enough for long enough to justify the contract.

Holy shit the Tigers are getting their asses handed to them again and are on their way to an 0-6 start on the eve of a trip to Boston.

The funniest thing about that passage from the Nick Lowe song is that he puts the same sort of echo-overdub on the 3rd line of that verse that Astley used throughout his song. What struck everyone who first saw that Astley video back when the song was new was how much the person didn't visually match the voice they had been hearing. I think it's safe to say that studio magic had something to do with that.

Most of you will be happy to know that (Boston Globe writer) Bob Ryan teed off on this subject on ESPN's 'The Sports Reporters' this morning. This weekly roundtable show gives each reporter a minute or two long segment at the end for an op-ed kind of piece and Ryan came down decidedly on the idea that the current building is NOT where Ruth, Gehrig & DiMaggio played and that this should be considered the end of the line for a 30-some year old pretender that barely resembles the original.

Santana - 4.0 Delgado - 0.8 Wright - 0.5 Church - 0.7

Do you remember Rick Astley? He had a big fat hit that was ghastly. He said I’m never gonna give you up or let you down. Well I’m here to tell ya that Dick’s a clown -- Nick Lowe

Beltran - 1.75 Delgado - 1.0 Church - 1.5 Pagan - 0.75

This is all just gonna make the comeback that much more amazin'!

Swing the Effin' bat!!!!

Peter Moylan, representing the soft, white, down-under belly of the Braves bullpen.

soupcan wrote: That ball was so obviously not caught - you can't fault Pagan for seeing that and continuing. The ball could bounce 4 times before Kotsay gets to it but if the ump calls it a catch then it's a catch (at least until further notice) and all runners need to react accordingly. And it's not Pagan at fault so much as it's Alomar who was windmilling his arm to send Pagan home like an out call was never even a possibility -- but when a play is even semi-close it's something the coach oughta be sure of before he starts sending runners. And now I'll shut up -- except to repeat that situations like that are why reversing calls (either thru conference or replay) are rarely clean and easy.