Frayed Knot

Maybe he followed him into a 'Dinky Donuts'? No, that was a tall guy.

That 'Drop-the-Pop' play is NOT legal if the umps deem it to be intentional. Correct call though as no one's that good an actor.

]When did Francessa make that claim?Oh constantly.Frequently a caller will bring up a Mushnick column; 'hey did youse guys see what Mushnick wrote about you on Friday?' only to get a response from Mike that not only didn't he read it but that he doesn't read those columns at all and doesn't care what's being said about him. But then on other days he'll pre-emptively bring up what's been written by Mushnick, Raissman or one of the other sports/media scribes concerning his/their show and will fire back while calling their facts wrong and their journalism sloppy.btw, I don't really have a problem with him keeping up what's being written about them, I just get a kick out of his participation in a war he pretends to be above.Like I said, Cosell was famous for dong it too.He liked to claim that he was so secure in his talent and position that those pathetic writers firing their shots at MNF were nothing more than fleas to be ignored. But Gifford would often describe Cosell approaching him in the office some given morning with a clipped column (much tougher to get in those pre-internet days of course) screaming; DID YOU SEE WHAT THIS GUY IN THE DES MOINES REGISTER WROTE ABOUT ME?'

Ya gotta remember also that covering the sports media and those on it is Mushnick's beat meaning that he'd likely consider what he's written about M&MD to be just part of his job description rather than something personal. Sterling too as this is hardly the first time he's teed off in that direction.That said, the fact that both sides here (Mushnick + M&MD) have hefty sized soap-boxes means that there's been more than a few missiles thrown at each other over the years to the point where you can certainly make an argument that it sure sounds like things have become personal.My favorite part comes when Francesa claims to not read what's written about him ... before practically quoting the most recent article word-for-word. It almost sounds slightly Cosell-ian.

The weird thing about Mattingly's 6 GS season is that they came in the middle of his career and that they were the only 6 he ever hit. Never hit even one before that season, never hit any after. The other 'odd' record Mattingly holds part of is the consecutive HR streak - 8 games, since tied by several others. And the funny part about that is when YES shows the (then) record 8th on their between-innings highlights ... and the ball is bouncing around in a sea of empty RF bleacher seats. There are probably a bushel full of recent Yanqui fans who don't know there was a time when empty seats was a regular occurance.

Not only is the 'Best Bunter' title generous (Eckstein is MUCH better) but so is his inclusion on the best defensive list. I think he's got the potential to be there but he isn't yet. Everett better IMO, so is Jack Wilson and maybe some others.

Flying first class is hardly a great perk when you're only air-borne for like 12 minutes or whatever it would be from DC to Philly. By the time you reach cruising altitude ... it's time to descend. And do they even have first-class service for those short jumps? Meanwhile, all that time you "saved" is spent shuttling from the stadium in the city out to the airport, waiting around for take-off, and then waiting to land before shuttling again from the new airport back into city to get to the hotel. But hey, I bet they get first-class bus accomadations.

]I love taking the train, I just think it's a silly way to transport a group of people who make 200,000,000 clams between them. Look at it this way; if you and I would prefer it over plane travel for this length trip, why wouldn't they also?

cooby wrote: City of New Orleans...great song. Wasn't it Arlo Guthrie though? Arlo had the biggest "hit" with the song (about a billion different singers have covered it) but it was written by the late Steve Goodman, a fun-loving favorite son of the Chicago folk/blues scene.

Xavier the Pirate: 11/36 w/4 2Bs; .306/.390/.417

Maine - 2.0 Reyes - 1.1 Beltran - 2.0 Valentin - 1.1 Milledge - 0.6 LoDuca - 0.8 Feliciano - 0.8 Heilman - 0.7 Wagner - 0.9

At the moment, Maddux & Schmidt are seriously dealing. Both had shutouts thru 8, Maddux doing his on only 60-some pitches ... now out after being PH-ed for in the 8th. Overall, the Dodgers have famously won 14 or their last 15 ... just a few weeks after losing 13 of 14, moving from last to first in the process. And that's about how this division's gone. Each of the 5 teams have been in each of the 5 positions in the standings at some point during the season. The Giants - losers of 15 of thier last 18 - are the only one starting to look like they've got no chance at the division. SD - 1.0 game out (pending tonight) Ariz - 2.0 out Colorado - 4.0 out Giants - 6.5 out

The lowest "tragic number" for being eliminated from a division belongs - not surprisingly - to the Royals. Their Max wins = 85; Tigers need just 10 more for 86 Elimination from the WC is a bit tougher to figure because ALL the teams in front of you can't lose ALL their games since, in a number of cases, they're playing each other. But, suffice to say, the Royals aren't going to the post-season this year. Elimination from the NL WC will be real tough to figure in advance because there's such a log-jam and so many contender-v-contender match-ups since the Pirates, Cubs, Nats and (maybe) Giants are the only ones who don't still have a punchers chance at it.

Yup! The Tigger lead - which peaked at 10 games just recently - is now down to 5.5 as the Motor City Kitties head to Boston for a series. Twins lost 2 of 3 to Toronto (too little/too late for the Jays I'm afraid) as well as Frankie Liriano, maybe for the remainder of the season. ChiSox head home for 4 with KC (the team, not the poster) before series with Minny (3 in Mn), Tigers (4 in Det) then Minny again (3 in Chi). This could get real fun!!

KC wrote: Is it me, or is trying to move a team by train from Wash to Phil kinda dumb? Nah! The thing about the train is it gets you from downtown to downtown - in this case probably in less than 2 hours. You couldn't do any better than that via air-o-plane for this distance.

Trachsel - 4.1 Tucker - 1.8 Valentin - 1.3 Bradford - 0.7 Oliver - 0.7 Wagner - 0.9 Wright - 0.5

I remember them. I even (slightly) knew Bruce Stark I've never been much of a collector but those are the kind of thing I wish I hung onto - although the quality of stuff on news print paper doesn't tend to age real well.

Jenkins, like Green, has a contract for next year, meaning you'd want the other club to get a bit creative before you'd even consider that one. He's apparently been benched in Milwaukee leading to the speculation that he'd be available. Preston Wilson is another new consideration. He's on only a 1-year contract and has been DFA'd by the Astros. He'll almost surely be traded somewhere in the next 10 days.

Newsday reports that with Floyd out, the Mets are asking about Green. He's apparently cleared waivers and so can be traded at any time. He does hold a no-trade clause which prevents him from being dealt to anywhere except the So-Cal teams - but those can often be negotiated. He's owed $9.5mil for next year plus a $2mil buyout in lieu of whatever his '08 contract calls for. Mets supposedly want the Snakes to pick up at least half of the '07 money plus the buyout for '08. No word on what the D'Backs would want in return.

Glavine - 3.5 LoDuca - 2.0 Oliver - 0.5 RHernandez - 0.5

RMPL http://cybermessageboard.ehost.com/getalife/viewtopic.php?t=4301

There's Something Goin' Wrong Around Here Tom Glavine, pitching tonight, needs ten K's to tie Sad Sam McDowell for 33rd on the all-time strikeout list. That would be Sudden Sam McDowell, so named because he threw real hard Good thing that it wasn't well known at the time that he was also a fall-down drunk

Omar's said that he wants to be agressive in promoting within the minor league system and, between Gomez (skipping high-A) and F. Martinez (full-season ball at 17), he appears to be doing just that. This guy certainly doesn't have the track record (or draft status) that either Humber or Pelfrey had in college, but he's still 21 y/o and coming out of a Div 1 college system so he shouldn't need the kid-gloves/from the bottom up treatment of HS pitchers. Mulvey also didn't sit out an entire year before signing like Hum-Frey did. In fact, I think this is the quickest 1st pick signing we've had since maybe Heilman.

This happened sometime Wednesday but I don't think anyone brought it up yet. The Mets came to terms with their top pick (#62 overall) in this year's draft - Kevin Mulvey from Villanova Univ. via Parlin, NJ. He will first report to the minor league complex in Pt St. Lucie for "conditioning". The plan then calls for him to head to AA Binghamton.

There are snippets about these two in the individual minor league team threads, but I just thought I'd put this up seperately. Baseball Prospectus does it's usual thorough take here - this time on future CF prospects - as they manage to give you what's up while skipping all the breathless hype that permeates many sites as they trip over each other in an attempt to be the first to tout every other youngster with a decent season as "CAN'T MISS" These two Mets make their list of 17 Fernando Martinez, Mets Age: 17.8 Hitting: .333/.386/.532 in 51 G (1 R/45 A-/5 A+) Martinez was the big prize in last year's international signing period, as the Mets won a bidding war for his services with a $1.4 million bonus. Point No. 1: 17-year-old players are not supposed to be ready for full-season leagues. Point No. 2: 17-year-old players are certainly not supposed to be good enough to earn a promotion to High Class A by getting a hit in every three at-bats. Martinez is a ridiculous offensive talent with ability well beyond his years, but he still has room for improvement. He's coming into his power, which should at least be average, and while he's a free swinger, he gets away with it because of tremendous plate coverage. The only knock against him is his defense. A slightly above-average runner now, his instincts in center are lacking, and he'll almost assuredly need to move to a corner in the not-so-distant future. This is a still remarkable season for such a young player, and over the next couple of years we will figure out if he develops into an ideal number two hitter, or a middle-of-the-order power threat. Carlos Gomez, Mets Age: 20.7 Hitting: .287/.347/.431 in 93 G (AA) The Mets don't have just one toolsy outfielder moving quickly through their system, they have two. The organization has always loved Gomez's long body and outstanding tools, but starting him this year at Double-A seemed curious, if not downright wrong. Only 20 years old at the start of the year and coming off an uninspiring .275/.331/.376 campaign at Low Class A Hagerstown, his performance didn't merit skipping a level, and he was overmatched in the first half of the season, with his batting average sitting at .211 at the end of May when he hit the disabled list with a back injury. Whatever happened during that time off changed everything, as Gomez now has pretty respectable numbers thanks to a nifty .406 (41-for-101) average in July. While Gomez hasn't shown much power, scouts believe it's in him, and he's very close to establishing new career highs in doubles, triples and home runs with almost a month still to go in the season. He's a plus-plus runner with 95 stolen bases in the last two years, and he covers a ton of ground in the outfield while featuring a strong, accurate arm. Gomez still needs to refine his approach, as with 73 strikeouts and just 17 walks in 344 at-bats, he doesn't work well at the top of the order, and his speed has less value at the bottom. The Mets can afford to slow him down a little, and he might repeat Double-A next year.