Frayed Knot

I've lost track of all the questions here. I remember the 'Uecker wearing out Koufax' story as coming from McCarver. Taht doesn't neccesarily mean that he's the one who started it but that's how I heard it relayed. Timmy boy is probably recalling that one season where Ueck had some success and then extrapolating. The Labine/Musial legend probably grew in much the same manner.

Park was a very nice pitcher when he first showed up in LA; he just hasn't been recently. Maybe it was injuries, maybe the ballpark in Texas was responsible, maybe the pressure of his big contract got to him, or maybe he's just plain lost it. But the team that went through not only 13 different starters last year but 10 of them before the end of May shouldn't be tossing aside potential help.

Park's visa problem has apparently been squared away so he'll start on Wednesday. And El Ducky is on tap for his first real start on Thursday.

I doubt that Green is going to lose a job before the season even starts based just on what happens during ST - and certainly not on what happens over the next week. At worst he may fall into a platoon situation with either Ben Johnson or possibly Milledge. I suspect they prefer to see Milledge play every day at AAA to begin the season and be ready to come up if needed more or less full time if either Green in sucking or Alou is hurting. I could see Green losing his job by June 1, but not April 1.

Lots of weird stuff in that inning: - the pitcher bats for himself leading off during a tie game in extra innings - the pitcher swings away but then Agee bunts - after Agee bunts, Harrelson doesn't (or tried and couldn't) - the pitcher, who wasn't pinch-hit for because presumably his arm is wanted for later, is then pinch-run for - the good defensive play results no outs being recorded - the pinch-runner then makes a running mistake - a strike out advances a runner And finally ... all the advanding runner tries and IWs are essentially meaningless as the winning run, scored by the guy who tried to make out in the first place, takes the next three bases on his own

Alou is hitless too, so apparently it's some disease affecting corner OFers

]Smith look goodish, but he didn't hit his spots the way Bradford can, and he walked a guy. He also went 2 hitless innings against a lineup of mostly LHBs (5 of the 7 he faced I believe) - usually a tough assignment for RH sidewinders.

The only thing surprising about this thread is that it doesn't yet have an anti Corey Ragsdale screed from MFS'62

metirish wrote: I'd rather have Wright protecting Delgado than Alou.Protection for Delgado is a non-issue IMO. And, besides, the diff between Wright & Alou is a jump ball. Wright's a better overall player at this point but Alou could always hit (and still can) so it's not like pitchers are going to want to get to him anymore than they would to young David.

I don't think they'll do it, but hitting Beltran 2nd would allow him to run more which, considering that he's got the best SB% in ML history, isn't a bad idea. Beltran has also said he wants to run more this year but I know he & Willie like to keep that gap open when Delgado is up. Plus, if you're under the impression that LoDuke won't duplicate his BA from last year then #2 becomes somewhat of a hole in an important point in the lineup since he'll never take enough walks to keep his OBA up to a respectable level unless he keeps that BA high. Come to think of it, LoDuca would make a great #8 hitter. The question would then remain who you'd bat #3; - move everyone up 1 slot? : Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Wright, Alou, etc. - Slide Wright up to #3 in order to keep Delgado in cleanup?: Reyes, Beltran, Wright, Delgado, Alou - Put Alou 3rd?

Oh yeah, and one more thing; "Some believe the opt-out clause in [A-Rod's] contract was inserted by agent Scott Boras as a way to somehow get Rodriguez to Flushing, even after committing to another team." HORSESHIT!!!! It was done to ensure he could get another crack at FA-gency if the market moved in the interim and he was no longer MLB's highest paid player.

This "story" is a non-starter AFAIC. First of all, you ask virtually ANY player what he thinks about importing Joe Superstar from another team and he'll be all over it. To treat such a statement as 'news' is just silly. And then there's the whole story about whether ARod is actually going to opt out of his existing deal and what kind of contract he'd deserve if he did (too boring to rehash). I seem to be in opposition with most of the news media on this topic but I'd bet on him sticking with his existing deal barring some kind of total meltdown in Yanqui-land this year. The press seems fixated on the whole "spooked by NYC" angle (or maybe it's just by northern NYC) but I ain't buyin' it.. That he managed to win an MVP while being so afraid of his shadow seems to be dismissed whenever this discussion comes up.

]where are all the real prospects? starting off in big-boy camp even if they are destined to spend the season at low-A? Yes. That's when you hear them distinguish between players who have, or have not, "been invited to ML camp" Those minor league guys will work out on the outer fields and not have much contact with the reg team. And, one by one, the cut-ees will join them. What's with the asterisks?

Acc to Adam Rubin's blog, David Wright received a text message from Nady saying that his condition is NOT Crohn's disease but a minor inflammation of the small intestine. He is now back working out w/the Pirates.

Great announcer? ... No, and really never was. He's always been more an ex-jock in the booth rather than a polished voice of information. But he was decent at it and was a whole lot more coherant back when he was younger prior to his illnesses (perhaps you're too young to remember?). For the most part he's really more beloved for his knowledge of the game, his story-telling (even the repetitive ones), and his NYM longevity than for any great communicative skills. In short, there's a reason why Ralph is in the HoF as a hitter and Murph as an announcer.

Met fans hating on their closers is a time-honored tradition.

Wagner's just one of those guys who doesn't seem to have a filter for his mouth. He'd be better off if he said less - he's a bit like Cliff in that way - but he's not going to and we often complain when players do nothing but spout cliches so I'm just going to sit back and enjoy some of it and ignore the rest.

I don't either. Now Wags certainly has a big mouth and has a history of saying some stupid things going back to his days in Houston. But I think all he's saying here is that at first young players are satisfied just to have reached the big leagues. Eventually, however, they realize they'll have to fight just as hard - if not harder - to stick around and that Pelfrey seems to be onto that better now than he was upon first arriving. Some young players never catch onto that fact and those tend to wash out eventually if not quickly.

* Mets lose to O's on the road 6 - 3 * Humber pitched one inning giving up 5 runs (3 Hits, 2 BBs + a WP) * Ruben Sierra drove in all 3 runs as a DH, going 2-for-3, including a double. * John Maine went two innings / 1 hit and no walks * Ambiorix Burgos pitched two more scoreless innings, giving up 1 hit and no walks * Milledge was 2-for-4 w/a triple * Steve Schmoll pitched 2 innings and gave up 2 hits and a run, and recorded a strikeout

TheOldMole wrote: I thought Jim Piersall had died...? No, but Anthony Perkins did. I heard Erskine claiming the Labine/Musial stat yesterday too and found it hard to believe (I had never heard it before). I mean .. Rey Ordonez would get more hits than that off of Sandy Koufax, even if only by accident. One other thing that story does is provide an example (one of many) of why ballplayers don't always provide the best perspective on things, even when they were a part of them. Erskine sounds perfectly rational and sharp even in his advanced age but, at this point, has probably just heard and then repeated the story so often that I'm sure he truly believes it to be fact.

Mets lose to Dodgers 5-2 Pelfrey & Vargas toss two scoreless innings each 'Nother HR by Reyes. This one right-handed Chavez 2-fer-2 playing CF Milledge back in after sitting out for a few due to an HBP the other day Jon Adkins came in with a 2-1 lead and pitched a scoreless 8th ... and then gave up 4 in the 9th to lose the game

]Burgos is young and has options, i think The one guy of the bullpen hopefuls who doesn't have options is Adkins, so he's the guy who either has to make the team or put at risk to be lost.

[u:yq78x5sb]Team Leaders[/u:yq78x5sb] 1) Games - Wright 2) Hits - Reyes 3) Doubles - Beltran 4) Triples - Reyes 5) Home runs - Delgado 6) RBI - Delgado 7) Stolen Bases - Reyes 8) Caught stealing - Reyes 9) Runs scored - Reyes 10) Batting average - Reyes 11) On base percentage - Beltran 12) Slugging percentage - Beltran 13) OPS - Beltran 14) Strikeouts (most by a batter) - Delgado 15) Walks (most by a batter) - Delgado 16) Wins - Glavine 17) Losses - Glavine 18) Strikeouts - Perez 19) Walks - Perez 20) ERA (low) - Martinez 21) ERA (high) - 22) Saves - Wagner 23) BAA (low) - Perez 24) BAA (high) - Hernandez 25) Games started - Glavine 26) Games pitched - Schoenweis 27) Innings Pitched - Maine [u:yq78x5sb]Player-Specific Predictions[/u:yq78x5sb] 28) Jose Reyes: OBP - .361 29) Jose Reyes: SB - 58 30) Paul LoDuca: BA - .287 31) Paul LoDuca: Games - 131 32) Carlos Beltran: HR - 34 33) Carlos Beltran: SB - 25 34) Carlos Delgado: HR - 36 35) Carlos Delgado: K - 117 36) David Wright: RBI - 101 37) David Wright: OPS - .915 38) Moises Alou: Games - 118 39) Moises Alou: BA - .285 40) Shawn Green: Games - 110 41) Shawn Green: HR - 21 42) Jose Valentin: K - 80 43) Jose Valentin: BA - 275 44) Endy Chavez: Games - 110 45) Endy Chavez: OBP - .331 46) Julio Franco: BA - .245 47) Tom Glavine: IP - 184 48) Tom Glavine: W - 15 49) Orlando Hernandez: Games Started - 25 50) Orlando Hernandez: ERA - 4.25 51) Oliver Perez: K - 175 52) Oliver Perez: ERA - 4.68 53) John Maine: W - 13 54) John Maine: ERA - 4.28 55) Billy Wagner: Saves - 39 56) Aaron Heilman: ERA - 3.56 57) Duaner Sanchez: IP - 68.2 58) Scott Schoenweis: ERA - 3.93 59) Chan Ho Park: Games Started - 8 60) Mike Pelfrey: IP - 131 61) Phillip Humber: IP - 55 62) Pedro Martinez: Games Started - 12 [u:yq78x5sb]Top five Mets pitchers in Games Started in 2007[/u:yq78x5sb] 63) - Glavine 64) - Maine 65) - Hernandez 66) - Perez 67) - Pelfrey [u:yq78x5sb]Team Categories[/u:yq78x5sb] 68)Total runs scored - 830 69)Total runs against - 730 70)Team ERA - 4.04 71)Team batting average - .265 72)Record - 93 - 79 73)NL East Finish (1st, 2nd, etc.) - 1st 74)Games behind NL East Winner ---- 75)Playoffs (Division winner, Wildcard winner, no playoffs) - Div winner 76)Playoff finish - (Win WS, Lose WS, Lose NLCS, Lose NLDS, no playoffs) - Win WS

Maybe because he gave up 6 runs in those 4 innings? Labine was an old Dodger and the early Mets - somewhat concerned about whether they'd be accepted just 5 years after 2 National League teams abandoned NYC - made a habit of stacking the rosters with aging Dodger & Giant favorites for sentimental reasons. It's part of the reason it took them so long to re-orient themselves in the direction of winning baseball.

Damn! I should have started a new thread to announce the Chan Ho news simply so I could use the subject heading of: 'Park Benched' I hate it when I think of stuff like that too late.