Frayed Knot

OlerudOwned wrote: 3 runs, and the only ball to touch the outfield grass was a 73-hopper. Ouch. Phelps hit didn't touch the OF grass either.

This game's lookin' like a quickie. 4 singles plus a walk combined thru 4

Well, considering that Glavine's next shot will be in Bud's hometown it's certainly possible - and maybe even the next try since it'll only be 100 or so miles down the road ... but I don't think he's going to be following him around country or anything. * Hey, Ho, I'm Johnny O !

Oliver mowing them down -- 1 baserunner thru 3

1-0 after one as the Mets build a run the small-ball way: Single, Steal, GO, SacF

metirish wrote: Are KC fans that beaten that they can't be bothered getting "historic" baseballs? 1) I don't think fans can get to that area. It's would probably be like Pratt's HR which was just picked up by some stadium worker out near the base of the scoreboard. 2) They didn't think it WAS an historic HR (and it still may not be).

A partial explanation about using marked balls for ARod's recent games ... although I don't know if this was actually the reason for it. Sir Alex of Arodia his #499 last night in KC and will get a shot at #500 today (against the same pitcher against whom he hit #400 btw). BUT ... here's the kicker; the Yanx have to finish up a late-June suspended game against the O's this weekend (Saturday I think). And the poobahs at Elias have ruled that since this is a conclusion of a June game then anything that occurs in the remaining innings (Yanx lead by 2 in the 8th) will count as if it happened on its original date and be counted in the order in which they would have occured. So ... if he does NOT HR before then, but then HRs during the conclusion of that game (and he's def sked to bat in that game) then last night's HR will count as #500 and the "500th one" as #480-sumpthin (depending on how many he's slugged since). And even if he does HR between now & then, a HR in that conclusion will change the order of every HR between the original starting date and now. Now THAT would be an interesting conundrum for the collectors crowd. Last night's shot to RCF landed in that grassy area near the fountain and, as far as I could tell, was left alone there and not collected.

]Maybe they say things about every team and we only pick up on the Mets comments. I think that's the main point. Most fans pay an inordinate amount of time paying attention to ONE team and only casual attention to the other 29 and are more likely to pick up on every slight, every mistake, every every piece of mis-information - whether real or imagined - about their own team. It's the same reason, btw, that fans tend to think of their team as being: - uniquely susceptible to losing to rookie pitchers, - consistently unable to get runners in with less than two outs, - saddled with a string of unreliable, heart-attack inducing closers, - yadda, yadda, yadda because that's the team you see it happen to most often. Where it gets childish (IMO) is when fans who start with this myopic view assume that anyone not declared as being with their team must automatically be against and, once there, it's easy to see a bias in all their work since you're starting with the conclusion and then simply selectively picking out that evidence which supports the already-reached conclusion. Large segments of Met fans, for instance, see Timmy McCarver as a Yanqui shill, while I've yet to meet a MFY fan who doesn't think McCarver is more anti-Yankee than anyone since Stonewall Jackson.

I think labeling sportswriters/casters as anti-Met (or anti-whatever) is a waste of time and often more than a bit childish. It's my experience that MOST fans think MOST of the media is aligned against them largely because they assume that these guys view the sports world with the same black hat/white hat mentality that they do (they make the same mistake about players). But the media sees this stuff as a JOB and I don't for a minute believe that Buster Olney - who grew up in Vermont as an LA Dodger fan - openly (or even secretly) roots for the Yanquis to the point of having it taint his work simply because he was assigned to them by his former employer for a 5-year span last decade.

The fan being led away looked somewhat happy with what he had just done.

Glavine - 2.3 LoDuca - 2.7 Milledge - 1.0 Heilman - 1.0 Green - 1.0 Wagner - 0.5 Wright - 0.5 Easley - 0.5 Anderson - 0.3 Delgado 0.2

Elster88 wrote: Are the Met bats waking up? LoDuca's is. That's like 6 hits for him in the last 3 days. I think he had 6 in the previous month (OK, so I exaggerate)

... has been (somewhat) set today when the Brewers traded right-hander Wil Inman and left-handers Steve Garrison and Joe Thatcher for San Diego reliever Scott Linebrink. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal: Inman, a third-round draft pick in 2005, was ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Brewers' farm system by Baseball America magazine. Thatcher was ranked 23rd and Garrison 27th. "You have to give up something to get something," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. "One of our goals was to add quality to our bullpen. We think we got one of the best guys out there." In 357 major league games, all but six in relief, Linebrink is 28-13 with a 3.19 ERA and four saves. Linebrink is a FA after this season. A brief peak at a Brewer site saw more negative reactions than positive, particularly about this Inman guy and about the general thought of dealing three guys for 2+ months of a good - though hardly great - reliever. So adjust your Chad Cordero/Eric Gagne proposals accordingly.

OK, admit it, how many of you had already written 'GiDP' into your scorecards?

Centerfield wrote: Any update on this? Out for the season? Day-to-day? Coupla days most likely. But, as with most muscle pulls, yaneverknow.

]I don't think we had a choice -- the roster rules dictated that. Weren't we required to keep Anderson Hernandez up for a minimum number of days before sending him down again? No, it's the other way around. If you send someone DOWN you then can't call him back up for (10?) days unless there's an injury up on the big club. The purpose of that rule is to prevent a team from sending all its LH batters down for a day or two while facing southpaws and then calling them back again when that club leaves town. Players can be sent down after just one game.

Time for Glavine to hit McLouth in the mouth, treat Sanchez like he's dirty, give LaRoche la rope, keep Jason at Bay, make Nady look like a lady, hand Doumit a donut, wave to Castillo that we'll see ya, and tell Jackie Wilson that we're in heaven when you suck

From the Braves website: one Major League scout confirmed the Braves and Rangers are still discussing a trade that would be headlined with Teixeira and almost definitely include Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Atlanta's 22-year-old switch-hitting catcher who stands as one of the most attractive prospects on the trade market. Another National League scout said the Braves might be discussing also including a young pitching prospect (possibly Jo-Jo Reyes) and Elvis Andrus, the 18-year-old phenom shortstop who is currently experiencing the struggles of the maturation process with Class A Myrtle Beach. While Andrus has been promoted as one of the game's next great shortstops, the scout said, "[braves general manager] John Schuerholz will deal a kid like that if the deal is right."

DocTee wrote: That "nifty logo" is exactly what I was referring to in another thread where I commended the SF Giants for their commemoration of broadcaster Russ Hodges. Wouldn't it be nice to see a pair of those, for Murphy and Kiner, somewhere in CitiField? The radio and TV booths are already named for Murph & Kiner and will continue to be at Citifield. What would be good is logo-ed signs designating them as such being visible from the stands rather than to just those entering from the inside.

Last night: Met Game; 8-4 final; 2:22 NYY Game; 9-4 final; 4:02

Maine - 4.9 Milledge - 2.0 Reyes - 1.0 Gotay 1.0 LoDuca - 0.8 Heilman - 0.3

The Yanqui game tonight is 2-1/2 hours old ... they're in the 5th inning. That league is unwatchable.

Easley is back off his bereavement leave with Chip Ambres getting shipped out to make room. But it seems that Moises strained a shoulder during one of his rehab ABs and will not be activated until maybe later in the week.

Sept 20, 1973 I remember staying up late listening on the radio to this one as the sub-.500 Mets were trying to catch the barely .500 1st place Pirates. - Down 1-0, the Mets tie it in the 6th (Jones 1Bs in Garrett) - Pirates score again in the 7th, Mets tie it in the 8th (Millan 1Bs in Martinez) - Pirates go ahead in the 9th, Mets tie it again on a 2-out Duffy Dyer 2B - Mets get 2 on in the 12th ... but can't score - And finally in the 13th, a Ron Hodges single plates John Milner Every game was crucial coming down the stretch that year, and this was one of those make-or-break games. It was also the night of the BJ King / Bobby Riggs tennis match, and the night signer Jim Croce's plane went down. To this day whenever someone mentions either of those events my first reaction is; 'Oh yeah, I remember that night ... the Mets beat the Pirates in a real thriller'.

Biggio was, I believe, unsigned beyond this year and it was not exactly a slam-dunk that he would have gotten a job offer from Houston, or maybe would have had to accept one at a greatly reduced price and for a greatly reduced role. IOW, not surprising that he's quitting. Being 41 y/o has something to do with it also. Back to milestones ... why are they using specially marked balls for Bonds & ARod during at-bats where they couldn't possibly tie or set a mark?!? As good as both are, it's not like either can hit TWO HRs in one AB. Do they think Alex's #499 is going to be valuable to the point where it's authenticity can't be in question? Or Barry's NON record-tying HR?