Frayed Knot

From MetsBlog: Talking with reporters after last night’s win, Willie Randolph told the media Alou is fine, saying, “His knee was stiff, and hopefully he’ll get some ice tonight and be ready for tomorrow.” Following the game, Alou told reporters that a recent MRI revealed a slight tear of the meniscus, which he will treat with ice and medication, or, at worst, a cortisone shot.

Easley - 3.0 Beltran - 1.6 Glavine - 1.6 Wright - 1.4 Alou - 1.0 Heilman - 0.8 Feliciano - 0.6

Alou removed for a pinch runner due (at least in part) to "swelling in his knee". That's one we'll have to watch.

I've never seen a stadium with as much behind the plate and in/on dugout advertising - much of it for casinos.

Wright gives Wags the rest of the night off

GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY!!!!

- guy put in for defense makes an error ... CHECK - guy who doesn't walk walks ... CHECK it all points to something good happening ... unless it doesn't.

Coming back to Heilman suggests that the fans whispering about elbow worries isn't a concern to Willie. Chavez, Green & LoDuca isn't the ideal order I'd like up in the 9th - but then again the ones I did want up hardly distinguished themselves in the 7th & 8th.

Time for Delgado to keep himself off my official worry list. I don't think he's made decent contact in more than 4 or 5 ABs this year.

Cee-Lee perhaps? And if it's not Sele maybe Lino is just up for the next two games and will be swapped out for Saturday's mystery starter (Sosa? ... Humber?) after Friday's game.

Maybe this guy's title of Director Of Performance Enhancement gives us a clue as to what his primary fitness techniques involved.

as of May 3: 1) Todd Helton -- 26 2) Ryan Howard -- 25 3) Kelly Johnson -- 25 4) Lance Berkman -- 23 5) Barry Bonds -- 23 6) Pat Burrell -- 23 7) Andruw Jones -- 20 8) Chipper Jones -- 19 9) Jose Reyes -- 17 Whoda thunk it?

The idea behind Jones & Sanders being available is that both are being squeezed out by young call-ups. Felix Pie was called when Soriano got hurt but looks like he's going to stay, and the Royals just called LF prospect Billy Butler. Anyone taking either now would want their clubs to eat a chunk of the salary although the amount they'd be willing to eat probably goes down as the trade deadline approaches.

]Dallas has, historically, been home of the Rangers. Sometimes known as the Dallas Rangers, sometimes as the Dallas Fort-Worth Rangers. NYC's hockey Rangers were originally owned by entertainment magnate Tex Rickard (sp?) and the name came from being called Tex's Rangers. * I'm Dave Magadan!

The main reason for those 'regional' names is a fear of upsetting those NOT from within the city limits. IOW, if you name the team after Phoenix then the chamber of commerce poo-bahs in nearby Scottsdale and Tempe won't throw their weight behind the team. Ditto 'Tampa Bay' (Tampa vs St. Pete) and 'Minnesota' (Minneapolis vs St. Paul) etc. Much of the fight in South Florida involves changing (or not) the name depending on where (and if) the money for the proposed new stadium comes from. If the city of Miami pays (or takes from their citizens and gives to the team ... but that's a seperate agurment) they're gonna want their name in lights. The reason is was originally dubbed 'Florida' is because they were so happy to beat the Tampa area to getting a team that they wanted to "claim" the state for themselves. And yes, the folks in Tampa/St Pete were pissed. Now I realize that you & I couldn't care less about this sort of stuff but we're not in the whoring for votes business. Those who are care a lot.

Subject heading for this KTE courtesy of Jimmy Webb (sort of) for a four-day dust-up in the desert; Thursday through Sunday. The Snakes - coming off 3 straight sub-.500 (and one disastrous) seasons - are off to a better start this year (16 - 13) and have a different look than the team we beat 6 out of 7 last year including an old-fashioned butt-kicking in their place which was part of a 10-0f-11 road trip which put the rest of the NL East in our rear-views for good. Just now starting to taste the fruits of their 'rebuild from within' philosophy after ownership upheavals and shedding the leftovers from their 2001 championship run, their current roster features numerous homegrown players from recent drafts. Pitching a lot better than they're hitting these days as they're trading 1st place with the Dodgers in much the same way we are with the Braves these days, they've gone through the highs and lows that seem to follow rebuilding teams and, for whatever reason, all those kookie NL West teams. They've recently followed up a 5-game losing streak with a 6-game winning streak. [uGame 1: Thursday - 9:40 -- Glavine v Micah Owings Their 3-round pick in 2005, Owings makes his 4th ML start: 15.1 IP, 12 H, 6 BB, 14 Ks Game 2: Friday - 9:40 -- Maine v Randy Johnson (L) This will be the 3rd game back following a trade back to Arizona and off-season back surgery for the surly unit: 11 IP, 8 ER, 13 H, 5 BB, 12 Ks Selected NYM hitters against Johnson: Reyes = .375 (6 for 16); Alou = .571 (8/14) 1 HR; Easley = .123 (4/33) Game 3: Saturday - 9:40 Park v Brandon Webb Or at least we think it'll Park. He's on schedule for it though no one has yet confirmed that he'll be given another start after his not-so-good (though not helped by his 'D') first outing. Webb is the reigning CY winner: 6 GS, 2 - 1, 3.21 ERA, 1.33 WHiP Alou = .478 (11 for 23), 2 HRs; Wright = .500 (6/12); Delgado = .111 (1/9) Game 4: Sunday - 4:40 -- Pelfrey v Livan Hernandez Pelfrey staved off a trip to New Orleans with a bounce back (after the 1st inning anyway) performance on Tuesday. So what's left to say about Duque's half-brother? He's old, fields well & hits well, and will give up his share of baserunners yet still manage to muddle his way through into the late innings more often than not: 6 GS, 2 - 1, 3.55 ERA, 1.50 WHiP Green = .345 (19 for 55) 3 HRs; Wright = .393, (11/28) 4 HRs; Easley = .179 (5/28) The Lineup: 1B - Conor Jackson - a 1st round pick in 2003, he's off to a slow (read: NO Power) start after a good rookie season in 2006 - (.219/.354/.266) 2B - Orlando Hudson - Snagged two years back from Toronto in the Troy Glaus deal, off to a great start with the bat and his usual outrageous range in the field - (.348/.412/.500) SS - Stephen Drew - JD's baby brother was their top pick in 2004. He didn't sign until 2005 when the traditional Drew/Boras hold-out dance was over, then was up for good by mid-2006 - (.240/.319/.330) 3B - Chad Tracy - home-grown player in his 4th ML year with the club. May sit against LHPs (.292/.370/.472) LF - Eric Byrnes - Ex A & ex O has a reckless style which causes some sportscasters to over-sing his averageness. (.286/.357/.446) CF - Chris Young - Not to be confused with the 6' 10" San Diego pitching Chris Young, this rookie (70 ABs last year) was a throw-in in the deal that sent Javier Vazquez to the ChiSox for El Duque. He then blossomed in the Arizona system to become one of the more highly touted young hitters in the game - (.211/.265/.400) RF - Carlos Quentin - Another 1st round pick (10 slots after Jackson) from 2003. (.229/.362/.354) C - Chris Snyder - Miguel Montero - Robby Hammock None of this 3-headed catching platoon is hitting all that much. Hammock also plays other positions and has been tabbed (at least temporarily) as Randy Johnson's "personal catcher" even though they're taking great pains not to call it that (who knew RJ was picky?) Bench - Alberto Callaspo - young player snagged from the Angel system is playing as the all-purpose utility guy. May see time at 3rd vs LHPs Tony Clark - aged and limited, but still an occasional power threat off the bench (4 HRs in 50 ABs) Scott Hairston - Brother of ML player Jerry Jr., son of Jerry Sr., nephew of Johnny, and grandson of Sam Hairston, will fill in LF The Pen: Jose Valverde (closer): 10/11 Saves, 1.64 ERA, 1.55 WHiP Brandon Medders - 13.0 IP, 4.15 ERA, 1.54 WHiP Brandon Lyon - 12.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 1.75 WHiP (this team leads the legue in Brandons) Tony Pena - (no, not that one ... or even related to him) 16.1 IP, 1.65 ERA, 0.92 WHiP Doug Slaten (L) - closest thing to a LOOGY. 11 G, 7.1 IP, 1.23 ERA

Willie has said that Easley is going to be his "main guy" during Valentin's absence and that he wanted to get Gotay a start so as not to have him sit around too long upon arrival. No mention has been made, to my knowledge, of Newhan starting any time soon. Clearly he's the 25th guy on the roster (or the 14th position player) so isn't all that important virtually by definition. I have no problem replacing him if anyone has someone better. Just not sure who that someone might be. Maybe with Milledge & Ben Johnson hurt it could be a more of a strict outfielder. Speaking of which, remember when the Braves dumped Ryan Langerhans on the A's the other day for some athletic tape to be named later? ... well the A's have already turned him around, over to Washington this time in exchange for OFer Chris Snelling. Snelling has been constantly injured since he was a hot-shot prospect in the Seattle system - at least partly due to his reckless style of play which earned him the title of the Australian Lenny Dykstra - but I still like his upside more than that of Langerhans at this point.

Braves called up minor league catcher Jason Saltalamacchia today (McCann got hit in the hand with a bat backswing the other day). Saltalamacchia becomes the first ML player ever with a 14-letter last name. Stuff like this is important and should always be noted. In fact, this might be the most important 'name' record since David Aarndsma replaced Hank Aaron as the first alphabetical player. Braves beat the Phils.

Perez - 3.4 Reyes - 1.0 Chavez - 1.2 Smith - 1.0 Wagner - 0.6 Schoeneweis - 0.4 Green - 0.9 Wright - 0.9 Beltran - 0.6

The new strength & conditioning coach we were just discussing ... the Yanx just fired him. Not only the recent injuries but apparently he was a guy who hadn't worked in baseball for a number of years and was doing things differently than what the players were used to and some were reluctant to work with him.

9th: Amezega - Fly out Olivo - Single Ramirez - Fly out Uggla - Pop-out BALL GAME!!!!

metirish wrote: ="Frayed Knot"]Willie going to the whip with Smith here. In for his 3rd inning. What does that say about Heilman? That he pitched two innings last night. Meanwhile, I don't like this tying run coming to plate every inning or so stuff in a game we should be ahead by a lot more.

Willie going to the whip with Smith here. In for his 3rd inning.

Two more (good) LOBs for Joe Smith ... and gets his first AB and will pitch the 7th.

The Indians protested Saturday night's game after the umpires awarded a run to the Orioles — three innings after initially waving it off. MLB did not elaborate in announcing its decision. The Indians submitted paperwork to MLB on Sunday. ... Three innings later veteran umpire Ed Montague called scorekeeper Chad Broski and told him to add a run for the Orioles, giving them a 3-2 lead. Indians manager Eric Wedges protested the game, arguing the run can't be counted later. "I don't blame Eric for protesting the call since it was our screw up," Montague said. "But we can't take away a run on my screw up. Eric was great about it. He understood, but he had to protest."