Frayed Knot

Leaving Yanqui games - esp those against either Baltimore or Boston - is often neccesary because it's nearly time for breakfast by the time they end. As long and ugly as our game was last night when it ended the Yanx were still in the 7th inning.

metsmarathon wrote: i guess a RISP 2 outs deep fly ball that the outfielder drops wouldn't be scored a sacrifice fly and an error, would it? Error yes, Sac Fly no, RBI no, At Bat yes. The reason the SF exists is to acknowledge that there is some degree of intent when an outfield fly is hit w/a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out. Remove the intent incentive and you also remove the "credit" for hitting it there.

Beltran - 1.6 Green - 1.4 LoDuca - 1.0 Milledge - 0.5

I think what happened is that everyone in the park heard DiFelice screaming for home except Sosa - so the middle IFers assumed he was going home and weren't expecting a throw. It was Sosa not seeing either Reyes or Castillo on the base w/glove out that caused him to belatedly turn around and go home. Castillo was still close enough to receive a throw had Sosa made one, it's just that he wasn't looking like he was expecting one and that spooked Sosa.

Lawrence of Anacostia* scoreless through 2 * this joke would work better next year as the new stadium is closer to the Anacostia river

Already two mistakes on the bases -- we've just been lucky so far. 1) Reyes was picked off in the 1st (by a lot!) if the throw didn't go wide 2) LoDuca getting caught off 2nd base in the 2nd, a play which turned out not to matter because the Nats screwed up the run-down. Early HRs tend to cover up sloppy shit.

]With a Rickey or a Reyes on first, the pitcher is more likely to balk or to make a bad pickoff throw to first base, the catcher is more likely to rush a throw to second and watch it fly into centerfield, and the #2 hitter is more likely to get a better pitch to hit or to see a pitch wasted because of a pitchout. Batters tend to benefit from runners on base no matter who they are (pitching out of the stretch, holes created by holding runners, etc). I've seen/read studies showing that there is some evidence that batters are helped a bit more if said runners are base-stealing threats but it's not a big margin. So, given a choice, the batter would probably be better off with a high-OBP guy in front of him rather than a speedster. Getting both, of course, would be ideal.

From where did you mine that info mm? * A! G!, A! G!, A! G!

Oh yeah, that was a Billy Martin team and he encouraged Rickey to run all day. Billy was very much a small-ball kinda guy and with a team not playing well anyway he'd definitely go for the antagonistic angle.

Those arguing from a more pro-SB position usually claim that because SBs are often employed situationally those generic run-expectation charts shouldn't be so strictly applied; like if you're playing for a single run late in a game and those big innings that a CS would cause aren't part of the picture and such. Problem with claiming that for Rickey's season is that it's tough to imagine more than a handful of those 172 attempts being even remotely situational in nature. Steal at every opportunity possible while caring more about the record than the game is probably more like it.

It's not like Vic is the first guy to blow off Soupie with the old "I didn't hear you" routine.

Beltran - 2.5 Alou - 1.0 Feliciano - 0.5 Heilman - 0.5

Martinez - 4.0 Feliciano - 0.5 Schoeneweis - 0.5 Castillo - 1.0

Another game like these past two and I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning and get myself a gun.

* Duque hurtin and uncertain: He won't make his sked start on Monday (Pelfrey instead?, maybe Humber?, Brian Lawrence?) and no timetable is known when he will start again. * The Zephyrs lost - were swept actually - in the PCL championship by Sacramento, so a new haul of players is back in Queens: Joe Smith, David Newhan, Anderson Hernandez, and Brian Lawrence. * Ramon Castro is also back (as of Saturday) but he was taking himself in and out of rehab games and I think his status for the playoff roster is still up in the air. * Heard a few minutes with former NYM/current Zephyr color man Ron Swoboda on the radio last night. He was surprisingly honest in some of his opinions of N.O. players: - Joe Smith: Never got the velocity back that he had earlier in the season - Anderson Hernandez (Org's minor league player of the year): Has talent but doesn't bring it everyday, has lapses both offensively and defensively - Humber: Fastball is straight, can't succeed at AAA much less the majors unless he controls his curveball * Saturday's HP Ump Dan Iassongna seems to have been in a bit of a vindictive mood. During the telecast, after Reyes visibly rolled his eyes at strike 2 early in the game, Gary Cohen speculated that he better be ready to swing at the next one. Sure enough the pitch was even worse and he got rung up anyway. Then Marlon Anderson is quoted in today's papers as claiming that Iassonga brought up past disputes immediately after thumbing him in the 9th; "Every time you come to bat you complain" The Strike 3 on him was absurd for anyone who didn't see it and certainly smelled like a payback for something.

9-1 BoSox after 7 .... I think they have an outside shot at winning this one. For final results check back around 10:30 PH EDT ... unless it goes extra innings of course.

... during Phillie games has been stunningly low. Those caught stealings in the 6th inning today were killers - I don't think I've ever seen an inning where the pitcher get out unscathed after walking the final 3 batters he faced - yet it was merely a symptom of how the last 6 games against them have gone. Other stuff: - Beltran taking a step back on balls hit in front of him then coming in on ones hit over his head - Inability to lay down bunts when asked or even when not (Willie said he took the bunt OFF in Friday's game w/Gomez up after strike 2 but Carlos bunted anyway into a force out). - Missing signs, missing cut-offs, stupid errors, bad decisions, etc. - Stupid steal attempts of 3rd w/2 outs and the middle of the order up - bad approaches in ABs (Willie was going to squeeze the other night if he got a count in his favor but Castillo was suddenly hacking at everything) - plus a bunch of other shit I can't even think of right now. Then there's just the inexplicable inability to hit their bullpen not to mention their bottom-scraping staff in general. We've scored 2 or 3 runs in every one of the last 7 games ... except for the time we scored 10 and gave up 11. Each of the last 6 have been 1 or 2 run games. And, yeah, there's been a bunch of bad luck too (swinging bunts, broken bat bloops) plus some of the worst umpiring I've seen in years ... but that stuff just adds to the misery and isn't the cause of it. In a way I'm not all that worried because these games have been so bizarre and so Murphy's Law-ish that it can't possibly continue like this (getting outscored just 26-19 while losing 6 straight - including 2 in extra innings) .... but GEEZ this is fucking frsutrating!!

Glavine - 3.4 Wright - 2.0 Wagner - 1.0 Alou - 1.2 Milledge - 0.7 Castillo - 0.7

"The football team was pretty much an afterthought, which is why it fled" Football definitely plays 2nd banana to baseball in St Louis (it was also a real good hockey town for a time) but lack of fan support/interest is rarely a reason why NFL teams move. Mostly it's the owner leveraging a better stadium/land/amenities deal (for himself) while the league stands by and feigns helplessness.

I just hope this doesn't give him a big head.

The north shore mafia jumped all over that one. GWreck kept us from perfect attendance.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Be cooler if you were born in 1911. He'd most likely be deader if he were born in 1911.

"Costas is a native St. Louis'er (ite?)." Costas grew up a Mickey Mantle fan in Commack, Long Island. I believe he first went to St Louis for a job as an announcer for the ABA St Louis Spirit and has lived there since. IOW; resident, not native.

Reyes - 2.0 Wright - 0.5 Alou - 2.0 LoDuca - 1.0 Humber - 0.5

Maine - 3.1 Sosa - 0.5 Wagner - 1.0 Reyes - 0.8 Anderson - 1.3 Milledge - 1.1 Beltran - 1.2 Green - 1.0