Frayed Knot

Never saw it.

Hockey linesmen and referees have almost universally gone to wearing helmets over the last decade or so to the point where it now looks odd to see one without. The other thing this points out is how - especially with the newer stadia bringing the stands closer to the field - is how much danger paying customers are potentially in and wonder if it's only a matter of time before the netting that exists behind the plate starts getting extended out further in some places. At least with coaches and umpires - even if their concentration is away from the batter at times - you at least know (or certainly hope) that they're paying attention. Some of the fans I'm not so sure about. Again in hockey, it took a child being killed by a flying puck before they raised the behind-net protection -- a step that was both long over-due but also so un-obtrusive to the fan that it's tough to understand what prevented it from happening earlier.

The "Win Graphs" method (very bottom of this link) shows that the IW slightly increased the Dodger odds of winning. - They point out the jump for the Juan Pierre walk which led off that inning. - The graph then bumps up again for his "steal" of 2nd on the Green muff. - It then heads in the Met's favor for the first out - Then that next small bump would be the Kent IW - It then goes down again for out #2, up again a shade for the Wild Pitch which moved the runners up, before going to 0% for the final out

That's right, they were going to do Winfield but changed their minds after he "dis-honored" them by going into the HoF as a Padre ... as if that alone made his NYY career less worthy.

7-2 St Louis is your 10-inning final in Atlanta. Next up for the Braves is a 4-game visit to the SF Barrys.

The other thing is, I like it when a new player carries on the tradition started by an earlier player by wearing his number. Reyes even knows (was told most likely) about Ed Kranepool and his time with the Mets and I think his playing with #7 adds to Krane's legacy rather than takes away from it. Then, if someone wears a particular number both at a top level and for all or most of his career, that digit can then be set aside as a special one never to be duplicated. 41 is the only one that has done that to date for me. btw, the Yanx have cheapened the "honor" IMO by over-doing it for good but not great, or for short-term great players: Guidry, Howard, Martin, Nettles; as well as for those who were non-Yanx longer than they were ever pin-stripers: Jackson, Maris, Winfield, etc.

2R HR for St Louis (Schumaker) Still batting lead 4-2 in top 10

No, Castro PH for Heilman in top 9 and then stayed in the game hitting 9th and catching. That put the new pitcher - Feliciano - in Loduca's 6-slot where he was later PH for by Alomar because his spot came up 3 slots sooner than it would have if Castro just PH'd and left. Now it didn't matter in the long run because we had already taken the lead at that point and Wagner was going to come into the game anyway - but if we had not already scored, it could have put us in the situation where you'd have to let PF hit or pull him while he still had some pitches left in his afternoon. So I'm just curious if Willie had a specific reason for switching LoDuca for Castro there, because there was no advantage in the lineup.

Pretty interesting manuver to walk the potential winning run in the 10th there. Summary: - Pierre on 2nd after the botched pick-off - Kent coming up with 1 out after Martin was K'd - Kemp and GarciaParra coming up next Pro: - You set up a force-play and/or the potential double-play and stay away from the dangerous Kent Con: - Kent's the winning run and you're handing him the toughest base to reach - A non-intentioanl walk now puts the quick Pierre on 3rd where he scores on an out - Kemp may NOW be more dangerous the Kent, even though less experienced - Nomar is in the midst of a good series and you're making it more likely that he's coming up I don't think I would have done it. It's certainly not the first time I've seen it done but it's not like it's a tie game where that second runner doesn't mean anything. It did in this case and I HATE giving that potential run a head-start even though there are strategic advantages elsewhere. I'd also be interested in Willie's reasoning for keeping Castro in the game after his PH appearance. Turns out that it didn't matter but it might have hastened Feliciano's exit from the game in a spot where we could have used a 2nd inning from him.

OHernandez - 1.8 Wright - 1.0 Reyes - 1.7 Ambres - 1.0 Milledge - 1.2 Heilman - 1.1 Feliciano - 1.0 Wagner - 1.0 Beltran - 0.2

I've been espousing the "counter" arguments for years across these and other airwaves. Fewer retired numbers is better than more IMO. Induction to the Met Hall of Fame (which hopefully will be more accessible in the new joint) is a good in-between step to honor top Mets while saving the retired number stage for the truly special - like along the lines of Ira's conditions. I suspect they'll retire Piazza's 31 but it wouldn't bother me a bit if they didn't. Talk to me in 15 years about #5 & #7

Wright - 2.0 Beltran - 2.0 Mota - 1.0 Castro - 1.0 Milledge - 1.0

"Are there others here? " One, or at least one who admits to it.

Or the pen ... replacing Sele? But any decision like that is still several weeks away (at least)

Milledge got screwed on strike 2 ... but it's not like that was a game changing call. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that there's some sort of anniversary DVD re-issue of 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' on tap and that FOX has an intere$t in it. Just a hunch.

The daily Reyes pop-up makes its appearance.

That means that they couldn't find any actual baseball announcers to work a baseball game. Generic all-purpose announcers doing your favorite sport usually sound out of place. But I guess he's already on the FOX payroll so they figure they might as well use him.

Who is Mr. XFL? I assume you're talking about Timmy parner here but I don't know who that is.

DocTee wrote: Was looking forward to seeing the Mets today, but here in the Bay Area Fox is showing Giants-Brewers. ugh. Maybe they'll cut in for Marlon Anderson's ABs

..

Doesn't look like Joe Buck is doing baseball this year. I haven't heard him paired with Timmy for a while now. I guess he has to prepare for football season. After all, there's only 7 or 8 weeks to go and it's never too early to start rehearsals.

Perez - 4.2 Beltran - 2.1 Feliciano - 0.8 Wagner - 0.6 Reyes - 1.0 Wright - 1.0 Anderson - 0.3

DocTee wrote: Folks on the Royals pages seem to be down on Gotay-- saying things like his BA is inflated (limited AB) and his defense horrendous. Sure, because they saw him over parts of 2 seasons (nearly 500 PAs) hitting all of .242/.292/.355, so it's only natural to assume that his current .354/.385/.525 is a small-sample (106 PAs) fluke that'll start reverting to the norm any day now. The other side to the coin is that he was just 21 & 22 in his two seasons there, so you hope that the 24 y/o model we've got now is the new & improved model who was simply given up on too early. Maybe that's true, maybe not ... but it looks like we're going to get at least a decent chance to find out. I haven't seen enough of his defense to swing me one way or the other so far. * Oh no, I'm Bobby Bo

Nymr83 wrote: who gets the call from AAA? Tracy? Ledee? Johnson? maybe Tatis? Easley off the bereavement list most likely. Maybe somebody else if he still needs a few more days but it can only run for another 3 or 4 days max. Not to mention that Alou may be ready by Tuesday

Frayed Knot wrote: That Valentin foul ball high off the shin looked like the same type that broke Jermaine Dye's leg in the playoffs back about 5 years ago. I didn't want to be right.