Frayed Knot

Zvon wrote: Utley was 0 fer with 4 ks? And on a total of just 13 pitches. Utley & Howard = 0-8 w/7 Ks

So start one!

]In which alternate universe was Tom Glavine better than either Maine or Perez this year? Well I was thinking about the seasons leading up to this one when I wrote that ... but the alternate universe of our own PotG votes suggests he's right there in this one too. Our rankings project will look at that whole question a bit more subjectively and I've already said it's not obvious to me who's been the best pitcher on the staff this year. If you want to argue that Glavine deserves to be down the pecking order well ... that's what it's there for. At various times during the season all the major players seemed to take a shift both at being on top and at dragging the staff down.

I don't think this "news" (assuming it turns out to be accurate) is much of a surprise or based on how the season ended. Glavine made no secret from the very beginning that he was leaning towards this year being his last. Yeah, he's not the warm and fuzzy type and between that and (unfairly) the Braves roots he was perhaps destined to never be embraced here. But I think he's unfairly being killed for not seeming upset enough after Sunday's game - even to the point where he refused to use the word 'devastated' even though he took the time to explain why. In total, I don't regret his time he at all. He started off lousy, adjusted and got better, and was the best or 2nd best starter on the staff each year beyond that first one and wound up being extended two years beyond the initial contract. He never threatened to win the CY award but anyone who gets a 37 y/o expecting that to be the case was filled with false hope to begin with. And so even though the ending sucked just as much as the beginning did, he was also one of the few hurlers to even show up in the two Philly series (2 ER over 15 IPs) only to have the offense and pen blow those games.

Jeff Francis struck out the first 4 Phillies he faced.

Valadius wrote: Ok, how about this. If Albert Pujols were to suffer some kind of injury that never let him play as well again, and he played three more full seasons and retired, would you vote him in? I would. His first 7 seasons have been absolutely monstrous. He wouldn't be eligible to even get to a vote.

I was totally stumped as to who would be Pitcher of the Year. Several guys had their stretches where they were the best on the staff but none kept it up the whole season. Sorting the pitchers out for the year-end rankings is going to be tough.

Didn't think of including Beltran mainly because I was looking at this as if Wright & Reyes become NYM lifers, or at least something close to it. Beltran got his Met start later than either of the others, is already 3/7 of the way through his deal, plus is older and probably won't last as long in a Met uniform. So, except maybe for HRs, most of the records are out of his reach unless a contract extension follows this current one.

]Could you ask Omar to address these questions? M&MD did on Tuesday. Omar, of course, denied there is or was a rift.

"Madden is not the first to indicate that Bernazard wields a lot of power in the Mets front office, I've read recently that he pretty much thinks Willie is useless." Are others actually reporting this, or is it a case Madden being the source and others merely repeating something that's "out there" ? ]"I also hate the idea that Willie might actually be keeping his job because of monetary reasons This ownership has dumped Howe, Bonilla, Cedeno, Ordonez and others owing them a heckuva lot than they owe Willie. I honestly don't think this is a factor.

A speculative (and hugely premature) look at the race for some all-time NYM hitting records if the two long-term players continue at their current paces. For each stat the current record & holder are shown, where Reyes & Wright are and how far along to the overall team record, plus the projected season when one or the other will reach it assuming things continue at more or less current rates. STATRECORDHOLDERREYESPLACEPctProj?WRIGHTPLACEPctProj?ABs5,436Kranepool2,51819th46%20122,02431st37%------Hits1.418Kranepool71515th50%201163022nd44%------Doubles225Kranepool11817th52%------14113th63%2010Triples62M.Wilson522nd84%20088----13%------HRs252Strawberry4535th18%------9710th38%2015Total Bases2,047Kranepool1,07215th52%20111,07815th52%2011 RBIs733Strawberry24232nd33%------36512th60%2011SBs281M.Wilson2342nd83%20087715th27%------Walks580Strawberry17538th30%------24620th42%2014Runs662Strawberry42010th63%200934915th53%------Ks960Strawberry30432nd32%------38121st40%2015

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Sucks for Phillies fans getting a 10 p.m. start on a Sunday night ... I wonder if they'd move the game earlier in the day if one or more of the other series finish early? I'm sure they will.

Wed: 3:00 - Rox @ Phillies 6:30 - Angels @ Sox 10:00 - Cubs @ Snakes Thurs: 3:00 - Rox @ Phillies 6:30 - Yanx @ seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" 10:00 - Cubs @ Snakes Fri: 5:00 - Yanx @ seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" 8:30 - Angels @ BoSox Sat: 6:00 - Snakes @ Cubs 9:30 - Phils @ Rox Sun: 1:00 - Snakes @ Cubs 3:00 - Sox @ Angels 6:30 - seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" @ Yanx 10:00 - Phils @ Rox Mon: 6:00 - Yanx @ seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" 9:30 - Sox @ Angels Tues: 6:30 - Rox @ Phils 10:00 - Cubs @ Snakes

I'm pretty much neutral on this one -- but will root FOR either winner if they face the Yanx but AGAINST either if Cleveland is the opponent.

Also, if there is a low/mid-80s win team it's probably more likely to be a division winning club than the WC. The WC team MUST be one of the top 4 teams in the league. Not so with the div winner each year ('73 Mets, '00 Yanx, '06 Cards, '07 Cubs)

They all had a big pow-wow today followed by a press gathering and anyone who wants Willie gone ... is going to have to wait a while because it's not going to be this winter. The "vacilating" Omar did - if you want to call it that - sounds like it was him first expressing his choice to have Willie back, and then backtracking a bit when he realized that maybe those things are better left unsaid until you're sure all the big boys are on board with that.

NL MVP - Jimmy Rollins AL MVP - Alex Rodriguez NL Cy Young - Jake Peavy AL Cy Young - C.C. Sabathia NL ROY - Ryan Braun AL ROY - Dustin Pedroia NL MOY - Lou Piniella AL MOY - Eric Wedge NL Gold Gloves: (I'm going with who SHOULD win on these - at least as far as I have an opinion - even though most of them won't) 1b - Adrian Gonzalez 2b - Orlando Hudson 3b - Ryan Zimmerman SS - Orlando Cabrera LEFT F - Eric Byrnes CENTER F - Mike Cameron RIGHT F - Jeff Francouer C - Russell Martin P - Greg Maddux AL Gold Gloves: 1b - Carlos Pena 2b - ?? 3b - Brandon Inge SS - John McDonald LEFT F - carl Crawford CENTER F - Curtis Granderson RIGHT F - Alex Rios C - Joe Mauer P - ??? and finally, where do mets rank: David Wright, MVP: 4th Carlos Beltran, MVP: 14th Jose Reyes, MVP: 24th John Maine, Cy Young: no votes Oliver Perez, Cy Young: no votes

Cubs for this round but it's up in the air after that. I'm not going to get all giddy and jump on their bandwagon even though millions of non-Cubbies fans will. * And on that note, I become a Conehead!!

Not really sure what kind of "performance" you feel is missing. Everything since around May 1 has been awesome, and he spent August & September getting on base nearly half the time. I guess maybe if the staff didn't give away so many of our early 3, 4 and 5 runs leads some of his early-inning RBIs & runs scored would have stood out more. btw, NL leaders in 'Runs Created' (roughly the sum of all offensive stats translated into a runs/game estimate for those not followers of that kind of stuff): 1 - Miguel Cabrera 2 - DAVID WRIGHT 3 - Hanley Ramirez 4 - MATT HOLLIDAY 5 - PRINCE FIELDER 6 - JIMMY ROLLINS 7 - Albert Pujols 8 - Ryan Howard 9 - Adrian Gonzalez 10 - Ryan Zimmerman Now the difference between each spot is pretty much hair splitting when they're that close - but it does show that the four presumed leaders are in the same ballpark with David at worst holding his own. Also, the same site I got those from also lists all four as being somewhat below average at "being clutch" - iow, none of that group had any demonstrated ability (or even coincidental ability) at timing their offensive output for maximum damage.

Helluva hitter but neither his fielding nor baserunning skills were on display tonight. And that's part of the problem with the earlier anti-MVP argument for Wright; you're more likely to see the warts on your own guys simply because you see so much more of them.

McClelland's out/safe call is as slow as his ball/strike

WOW!

Here's Trevor to try to redeem himself. Pads would have had this wrapped up on Saturday until he gave up a 2-out/2-strike run-scoring triple to, of all people, Tony Gwynn Jr.

Yup, if the double WC scenario were in effect this year it would have played out exactly as this one is playing out now. In the AL it would be the Yanx against the winner of a Detroit-Seattle battle -- a play-in to get to the play-in!!

Would be cool to see Helton win it.