Frayed Knot

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I missed the particulars of the switcheroo. Feliciano was never announced was he? Couldn't have been. Pitchers, once announced, have to stay in the game for at least one out/batter. Before we all get excited over Looper, he pitched 3 innings of 1-hit ball in game 3 (a Beltran HR) and did have a reasonably good '04 season here.

Willie's a freakin genius! (only now my scorecard is messed up cuz I already wrote in Feliciano's name during the commercial)

metsguyinmichigan wrote: And let me use this break to say how much I enjoy conversing with you all. It gets lonely being a mets fan so far from New York, and doing this is like watching the game with a bunch of friends. Fun stuff! Feel free to take a Mich-i-gander here at times other than during games as well. We talk Mets here all year. I ws thinking the same thing as McCarver ... that Rolen seemed tailor-made for Maine. I was surprised that Willie chose THAT moment to make the change but, as they say, all's well that ... yadda yadda

It's 'Brass Cojones' time - as my Puerto Rican/American softball coach likes to say.

I can barely recall even intermittant adulation of Glavine. Talk about your strawman arguments. But if you insist: Playoff runs given up: - in Glavine started games: 1, 0, 4 (Avg Glavine IPs = 6-2/3) - in Non-Glavine started games: 5, 5, 9, 5, 5 (Avg starter IPs = 3-2/3) Insisting that it's good news that he'll pitch no more games for us this round, or that he's been some sort of choking dog who wishes he was elsewhere just sounds like more of this childish 'ewww, he's got Brave cooties' stuff that I thought went over well only on the playground during recess

Willets Point wrote: Glavine won't have any more starts this series. Yeah, we've scored 0 & 2 runs in two of the threee losses this series (6 in the other) and are severely hurting for healthy and effective starting pitchers, so it's a good thing we don't have to be burdened by any more starts from the guy who's given up 3 runs over 3 games and 18 innings during the playoffs because it's clearly all his fault!! This kind of reminds me of the 'pick your designated whipping boy(s) ahead of time and then bend the facts so as to fit your pre-determined bias' shit that I thought I left behind at another forum!

]His attempt at bunting was abandoned and he was pulling the bathead back in a defensive posture. I don't think he was. In my view he was still attempting to bunt, meaning that a bat hit, hand hit, or hand/bat hit were all foul balls.

HR (and Pujols can do that to anyone) and BB aside, that inning was nothing more than a pair of seeing-eye singles. No need to put Glavine on double-secret probation yet.

]Best thing you can say about Glavine's cuts is that they're not as bas as Ollie Perez's It occurs to me that both Glavine's and Ollie Perez's swings are just like their pitching motions - right down to the follow-throughs. The one is all smooth, efficient and in control, the other all arms and legs, full of fury and signifying (mostly) nothing.

It's time to remind Weaver that he, y'know ... Suxx.

Edgy DC wrote: Paulie, shouldn't you be on third? I didn't think so.

Theoretically at least, the contract you sign him for wouldn't need to be as high as a normal FA deal since, after you win the bid, he only has one team to bargain with and can't play your offer off against another like the Zitos of the world can. The $13mil bid for Ichiro came as 'conventional wisdom' had it going as high as $10 in the weeks leading up to the deadline. The M's surprised folks that they bid as high as they did but the initial contract wasn't all that high (4 yrs @ approx $20 total?) due to the non-competing thing. Plus, he then only had the rights of a reg 4th year player (arb-eligible) when that deal ran out. The Matsui twins, on the other hand, were both true FAs which enabled them to negotiate better deals including getting a clause into their contracts that they couldn't be offered arbitration when the initial deals ran out, in effect making them FAs here earlier then they would normally earn it. Hidecki quickly re-upped w/the Yanx last year (at about a 65% increase) even though he was free to talk to others, while Kaz is now free to either strike a deal w/any U.S. team or go back to Japan since no MLB team currently holds his rights. One would assume that a Matsuzaka/Boras duo would want that same out in a deal also and that they would be ready and willing to use the 'give me something approaching [u:9cff60caf6]real FA dollars[/u:9cff60caf6] or I'll stay in Japan one more season at which point I'll become a total FA and I don't care how much money you gave Seibu since none of that's going into my pocket' ploy. The success of Ichiro & H. Matsui put him in a stronger position than Ichiro was when he started this dance 6 years ago.

Considering that Chad is also in his yearbook as the 'boy most likely to keep the damn ball in the park' makes him a good choice to face Pool-holes.

Didn't hear either

Not all that surprising. Brantley seems to have grabbed (been assigned?) the macho guy role on 'BB2N' - right down to his moniker on that show of 'Cowboy' (one I've never heard anywhere else). I was listening to him talk a while back about relievers/closers and he was making the usual point about 9th innings being "different" than others yyybbb. A debatable point certainly, but nothing too unusual about hearing it from a pundit or ex-player. Until, that is, he launches into how that difference affected him in his reliever days claiming that he was the type who needed that kind of pressure to the point where, while he'd sometimes give up runs in non-save-type situations, he NEVER coughed it up when the game was on the line in the 9th because he was able to set his mind to the task. Call me cynical but I'm betting that claim wouldn't stand up to even semi-close scrutiny.

Yeah, teammates liked Murray (a lot), and, maybe to a lesser extent, guys like Carlton and George Hendrick who had bad reps with the press. Bonds never did have that kind of support. Somewhat against my better judgement I recently read the Jeff Pearlman book; 'Love Me, Hate Me' (or something along those lines). I'm usually not into athlete bios - and, unlike the issue-driven 'Game of Shadows', this is a total Barry bio - but I grabbed it out of the local library. Anyway, no matter how big of an A-hole you people thought BB was ... double it ... triple it ... quadruple it if you want ... and you're still not close. And it's not like he suddenly became an ass when he started making the big money; he was an ass in w/Pittsburgh, and ass in the minors, an ass in college, an ass in HR ... you get the picture.

<<<<<---------- My next 20 posts will become much slower 3-Way tie so far: Mets 2 -- Cards 2 -- Weather 2 It's still anyone's series I've given up trying to figure out who the fractured schedule favors. Just play the game(s).

When the NYDN was reporting it's 'Albert the Grouch' article the other day following his Glavine comments, it also cited an anonymous StL writer as thinking that it was a good thing that he was getting this type of exposure so now the rest of the country would find out what the local scribes already knew; that 'Prince Albert' could be a bit of a pain who wasn't always as pure as his image. Not quite Bonds-like perhaps, but perhaps 'Barry Lite' in the uncooperative/prima donna department. The thing is, it's less likely that that sort of thing gets out when it occurs in a one-newspaper town and that paper is given to being sympathetic to the party line exchange for their near exclusive access. A strong personality like LaRussa (or Whitey before him) is closer to a big-time college coach who, when he wants a story portrayed with a particular slant, is more likely to get his way than he would if multiple outlets were competing for a unique angle on things.

LaRussa sez Weaver starts tomorrow. Which makes sense really. Carpenter would be set then to pitch game 6 in NYC for either the clincher or to avoid elimination.

Yeah, but what Solo is referring to is that Macha was supposedly fired (not re-hired actually since his contract was over) only to return a week or so later when they agreed to whatever it was they couldn't agree to initially. Also, speaking of Howe, he's landed a coaching job w/the Phillies.

The PA has been doing the 'Jose-Jose' thing since at least mid-season and maybe earlier. Maybe I'm just assuming that it was PA-prompted at first because that's the way I heard it all year until near the end of the season when fans were starting it on their own.

metsguyinmichigan wrote: What are they singing to Reyes? It's just a soccer-style chant where they sing 'Jose' over and over again. It's been going on much of the year at Shea, at first when prompted by the PA system and then later on it started popping up spontaneously.

I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing well-turned DPs

metsguyinmichigan wrote: If Pujols and Howard split the vote, Beltran could still be the MVP. Could? ... Yes Will? ... No From the 'Context Please' file: You'd think that the announcers who keep pointing out that most of Beltran's post-season HRs have come against the Cardinals might also point out that most of hsi post-season GAMES have come against the Cardinals. 11 of 19 to be specific.

First Eckstein, now Molina ... anyone else get the opinion that if the Cards trotted Jason Tyner up there he might just send one over the wall?