Frayed Knot

In other gay dame action: Mini-Soda finally beats KC after losing 2 straight to them ... while ChiSox lose to TB in extras, cutting that WC race back down to a 1/2 game Chi lead.

Two Hitter The whole Oriole team hit barely .200 for the Series

Not only did that staff win but they beat the vaunted '4 20-game winner' staff of the '71 Orioles: Cuellar, Palmer, McNally & Dobson. All low scoring games except for game 2

Eddie Coleman mentioned something on the radio which I either didn't know or had forgotten (I think it may be a fairly new rule): -- that, while you can do an injury substitution thing in making your post-season roster, you can only sub a pitcher for a pitcher or a position player for a position player. Ergo, bringing Anderson Hernandez up now (and paper demoting Dave Williams) may only be a way of "balancing" the pitcher/player ration and assuring themselves of roster flexibility later on and not necc a sign that Andy Handy is their man.

I'm in the midst of reading the David Maraniss book on Clemente - which, not surprisingly, has a whole chapter on the '71 WS seeing as how it was Roberto's shining moment. Anyway, I was struck by Pitt manager Danny Murtaugh's use of starters - as he used 6 different ones in the first 6 games - Dock Ellis (31 starts during the reg season) - Bob Johnson (27) - Steve Blass (33) - Luke Walker (24) - Nelson Briles (14) - Bob Moose (18) before returning to Blass for game 7

I'm back to hating the Tigers again following a brief respite last night. Every time I watch them they suck; every time I see their lineup and say WTF? (you can't win anything starting Neifi Perez); and whenever I see their vaunted pitching staff in action someone on it - say Jeremy Bonderman for instance - is in the process of giving up 12 hits and numerous walks to the Yanquis in just 5 innings. 6-2 in the 7th. The big Eunuch has a 2-hitter (both HRs) and ARod has a single, double & HR (Jeter must have inspired him)

I dunno, it barely seems worth it to me. The benefit of the in-season report is that it takes the almost endless possibilities of the reg season - with it's dozens of games remaining, the differing schedules, the varying RS/RA ratios - and boils that down to general odds. But in a small sample like a lose-and-go-home series all that stuff becomes meaningless. Each game is more-or-less a 50/50 proposition so it doesn't take a lot to realize that going from a 1-1 tie to a 2-1 lead sends your odds soaring. Then, by the time you get near the end, you can pretty much figure out your own. If you're up 2-1 say in a best-of-5 there's only 3 possibilities left: * Lose then Win * Lose then Lose * Win On two of those 3 you advance and on one you don't ... ergo your odds are more or less .66667 You can attempt to account for those particular games by figuring home field edges or starting pitcher matchups - but by that point you're way into the speculation realm and away from actual odds.

="Edgy DC"]I guess if Williams never reached third, Reyes can't reach second. Yup, that's the thinking. Gary has an official scorer's book he's been poring over - and it says that if a runner is put out at 3rd by any method then the batter can't get credited with a double. In this case Williams never legally touched 3rd so Reyes can't be credited with a double. But also if a runner on 1st played it half-way on an OF fly which finally fell uncaught - and as a result gets tagged out at 3rd with the batter already standing on 2nd because he ran all the way ... it's still a single. If the out at 3rd is the 3rd out it's simply a single; and if it was a 1st or 2nd out I guess he gets credited w/a single plus 2nd on the throw. And if Williams had missed 2nd then Reyes doesn't get a hit at all. It's scored like it's a force play. Now THAT would suck for a rope into the gap. Keith was having stomach pains at the thought.

The 'Playoff Odds Report' and the mythical USA v Japan series that they did last year are two very different things. The first is simply a mathmatical exercise based on a defined schedule of games and the teams' results to this point. The other was purely speculation along the lines of a sophisticated Stratomatic approach. Figuring the playoffs here could work the same way as the in-season report once you've got the matchup set - but it would change so much from day to day that there doesn't seem to be a lot of point to it. btw, last night's win assured us of a winning season. I'm sure y'all were worried about that.

Williams - 3.5 Wright - 3.0 Valentin - 2.5 RHernandez - 0.5 Mota - 0.5

]Is There a Way to Check This? Is there a reason to?

You need to get out more.

Or they could make a liar out of me like they've done every other time I've cursed them out ... as Craig Monroe hits a 2-out/9th inn/3R HR off Proctor to give the Tiggers a 5-2 lead. Now if they can close out the bottom of the 9th cleanly I'll promise to get off their case for a while.

They may have held the 'best record in baseball' title since not too long after opening day until ... well until right about now, but every time I see the Tigers play they're fucking incompetant. They're about to lose a DHer in which they scored a grand total of 2 runs.

All defense/no-bat backup catchers is basicaly the definition of backup catchers.

Trachsel - 1.5 Delgado - 1.9 Beltran - 1.9 Reyes - 1.6 Wright - 1.5 Green - 1.0 Bradford - 0.6

Press Release: METS ACQUIRE CATCHER MIKE NICKEAS FROM TEXAS The New York Mets today acquired minor league catcher Mike Nickeas from the Texas Rangers in exchange for outfielder Victor Diaz. Nickeas will report to St. Lucie (A) of the Florida State League while Diaz will be assigned to Oklahoma (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League. Nickeas, 23, appeared in 17 games with Bakersfield (A) of the California League this year, batting .297 (19-64) with six runs scored, four doubles and six RBI. Mike missed three weeks of action in May with a pulled hamstring before he was promoted to Frisco (AA) of the Texas League on May 28th. Nickeas hit .248 (28-113) with 15 runs scored, seven doubles, two home runs, 15 RBI with 21 walks and 22 strikeouts in 39 contests with Frisco. Mike batted .202 (49-242) with seven doubles, one triple, five home runs and 24 RBI in 68 games with Frisco in 2005. He also, hit .286 (6-21) with one double, one home run and one RBI with the rookie-level Arizona Rangers. Nickeas was named the best defensive catcher in the Rangers’ organization by Baseball America in 2005. The 6-0, 205-pounder was Texas’ fifth round selection in the June, 2004 Free Agent Draft after spending three years at George Tech. Diaz, 24, was designated for assignment on August 22nd. He hit .224 (85-379) with 30 runs scored, 16 doubles, eight home runs, 38 RBI, 25 walks and 99 strikeouts in 103 games at Norfolk (AAA) of the International League. Victor went 2-11 (.182) with a double and two RBI in six games with New York this year.

soupcan wrote: Is that the kid that was suspended for 50 games? Yup! He's current Tiger OF/DH Dmitri's baby brother. He was the #1 overall pick the same year Milledge was 12th. Milledge, btw, was the first HS pick from that draft to reach the majors - perhaps helped in part by Delmon's bat-throw related suspension.

One other bit I left out; former #1 overall draft pick and noted minor league bat-thrower Delmon Young made his ML debut last night for the Devil Dogs. The first pitch he saw ... hit him square in the back. Then he HRed in his next AB

Matsui's a FA after this year so it's not like the Rox need to find a place to stash him if they don't have one handy.

Are we talking about the same George Fraizer who was the only honest man to lose 3 games in the same World Series? Lefty Williams also lost 3 in the 1919 WS but that was a best-of-nine plus ... well you know.

An interesting variety of stuff from last night: * Tiggers @ Yanx rained out - they'll play 2 today and 1 on Thursday * ChiSox survive the D-Rays and leap over the Twinkies for the AL WC lead * Because ... the Twins were getting shutout by KC (the team, not our admin) on a 5-hitter by Mark Redman * Josh Beckett finally pitches a good game ... and the BoSox lose anyway, 2-1 to Oakland. Ortiz, Manny on WM Pena have all been sent back east to get medical stuff checked out. * Mariners win over the barely-surviving Angels is marred by M's pitcher Rafael Soriano getting smoked in the head by a liner off the bat of Vlad. This was not a glancing blow folks. Apparently is OK w/just a concussion and one mother of a headache. * Phils beat Washington as Ryan Howard ties Mike Schmidt's club mark for HRs in a season with 48. This guy's headed for 60 * Cubs score in the top of the 11th ... but lose to Pittsburgh anyway on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom * Bonds homers twice - 726 & 727 - and robs Francoeur of a 3R HR, but the Braves win as Andruw also hits 2. * Astros score 7 in the 8th for a 10-3 win ... Willie Taveras's hit streak is over at 30, in part because he got plunked twice including once in the head. Roy Oswalt signed to a 5-year extension. He was to be a FA after the '07 season. * Mark Mulder continues his slide as he doesn't survive the 2nd inning and the Marlins win their 9th straight. * Padres take over the NL WC lead - Piazza HRs * Reds lose 5th straight and drop out of the WC lead - losing to the Dodgers and a Ramon Martinez walk-off HR in the 16th inning NL WC: Padres Reds - 0.5 Phils - 0.5 Marlins - 1.5 Giants - 2 Dbacks - 3 Houston - 3 Braves - 4 Brewers - 5 Rockies - 5.5

So how many times is Keith going to mispronounce "humidor" tonight? He keeps adding an extra syllable in there somewhere.

P.S. Wily Mo Pena is also out indefinitely and I don't know what's going on with Alex Gonzalez. He wasn't hitting much anyway but his play in the field early in the year put him on track to earning the gold glove at SS instead of you-know-who.

I don't think Brad Hawpe is winning a gold glove anytime soon.