Frayed Knot

I was reminded that with the death of Jack Warden the other day that Jack Klugman (juror #5) is the last survivor of the "Twelve Angry Men". I remember hearing a trivia question a while ago where you had to list all 12 actors by their jury number and by their occupations - all of which were mentioned at some point during the movie. I confess that I don't know all the answers here myself but I bet we could piece it together. I'll start with: #1 (Jury Foreman) Martin Balsam - Football Coach Take it away (closed book please)!!

Martinez - 2.5 Beltran - 1.0 Wright - 1.0 Sanchez - 1.0 Feliciano - 1.0 Wagner - 1.0 Franco - 1.0 Reyes - 1.0 Nady - 0.5

Phils send David Bell to Milwaukee for a minor league pitcher. Boy did that FA signing turn out to be a dud for Philly.

Baez hasn't been all that good this year and Betemit seemed to be getting good after failing to live up to his early promise for a while. I'm surprised the Braves chose now to deal him. Some rumors had him winding up with the Yanquis so I guess it's not as bad as it could have been.

This story's been told many times before, but when Cone was first in NYC and still relatively unknown he'd get invited to appear at Bar Mitzvah's and Temple by New Yorkers who thought his name was Cohen. He's also Irish - I believe he said it was originally O'Cone - and it's possible that the C-O-N-E spelling is one of those American corruptions of European spelling.

I had heard rumors of his being dealt but figured Chipper's injury might put an end to that. Wrong again!!! To the Dodgers for Denys Baez and someone else.

old original jb wrote: I felt no pressure, no sense of foreboding, and no sense of threat from the Braves. I just didn't have any expectation that the Mets would fold or the Braves would rear up from out of nowhere. In fact the Braves seemed listless and defeated. I dunno. I still think this team has a lot of fight in them. They just may not have the horses to pull it off, but they've always managed to throw a 50-20 stretch in there somewhere whenever someone has counted them out. Too late for 50-20 I realize, but 35-10 would be hard to fight off. Stepping on their throats in game 1 just makes the odds of them getting off a run like that a little tougher. Tough to call a game w/a 12 game lead a BIG win, but it's a semi-big one because of the above and because Pedro shook off the dust and got off the deck.

That Cuban kid still needs a bit of polish in his game from what I saw but he has a wicked quick bat.

According to Eddie C late this afternoon it was: Fri - Pedro (duh) Sat - Ducky Sun - Glavine Mon - Off Tues - Pelfrey Wed - Trax Thurs - Pedro again, which would be his 6th day IOW, Maine's the guy getting skipped for now (or at least delayed) although Willie said he will get another start. I'd guess this is Pelfrey's last trip around the rodeo unless he really impresses in his next start. Not sure why - with the two days off and Pedro returning - he wasn't sent down already to get more work but I guess they want to see him at least once more.

Yeah, but think about the promotional tie-ins when it's 'Bubba Shrimp' night everytime he pitches!!!!

Totally different kettle of fish than with Zito. Trading a potential star for an existing one who's young, under control for 3 more years, and is left-handed and can hit!! Now if only you could get someone to actually offer that trade.

From BA: Nelson Cruz' hot hitting was not enough to keep him in the Brewers organization. The Triple-A Nashville outfielder hit his 20th home run in his final game for Nashville, which moved him within four of the PCL lead. Cruz, 26, was hitting .323 in July, with hits in all but five games. For the season, 302/.378/.528 with 17 stolen bases. The biggest caveat there is that he's already 26. Not too late to have a good career certainly, but a bit old for 'top prospect' status.

The game's in Atlanta, you've got your radar pointed in the wrong place.

Lee, though a dangerous hitter, just turned 30 and is already a DH-in-waiting. I'm skeptical of those big-bodied types as they get older and am not so sure that the BrewCrew didn't dodge a bullet when he turned down their multi-year deal - especially seeing as how they've got a 'Prince' of a younger/cheaper/lefthanded version of him already on the team.

Oooh, we got our first biggie: ESPN.com's Keith Law (when did that happen?) reports: The Milwaukee Brewers are trading slugger Carlos Lee to the Texas Rangers as part of a multi-player deal, ESPN.com learned Friday. The Brewers are sending Lee, minor-league outfield prospect Nelson Cruz and a player to be named later to the Rangers for relief pitcher Francisco Cordero and outfielders Kevin Mench and Laynce Nix. Both teams are checking for any medical issues before consummating the deal.

Yup! Maddux accepted and Atlanta wasn't budgeted for it which triggered the Millwood for Estrada deal - one which worked out well for the Braves anyway but was roundly panned as a panic move at the time. I strongly suspect Oakland would offer him arb. Maddux wasn't 28 y/o at the time and wasn't passing up his first long-term mega-contract that is sure to come Barry's way this winter.

Yeah, except that if a low-finishing team signs him it doesn't quite work out that way. A team with a [u:b4cdf8ee50]bottom 15 pick[/u:b4cdf8ee50] doesn't lose their 1st round pick to the spurned team but rather their 2nd rounder. Let's say Zito signs with the Braves (from either the Mets or A's) who wind up finishing under .500 and own the 13th pick next June. In that case the team losing him would get Atlanta's 2nd round pick plus a supplemental. So with 30 picks in the 1st round, the supp pick would fall somewhere in the 30s and Atlanta's 2nd round pick could be in the mid-50s depending on how many supp picks there are. Usually there are at least 10 so the 1st pick of round 2 = #41, 13th pick of round 2 = #53 Also, if Atlanta signs [u:b4cdf8ee50]TWO[/u:b4cdf8ee50] FAs, the team losing the [u:b4cdf8ee50]better ranked[/u:b4cdf8ee50] guy would get the Braves' 2nd round pick and the other team the 3rd. Probably tough to imagine them signing someone better than Zito but yaneverknow. Again, nothing to sneeze at, but it's not like losing him is guaranteed to land you 2 sure-fire young studs.

]Keep in mind also that failing to extend him results in 2 first-round draft pixx Well two picks, not necc both 1st rounders. Depending on where he signs and other factors, those picks could be as low as say the mid-30s thru lower 50s. Nothing to sneeze at of course, but tough to get someone potentially as good as Milledge (#12) with those.

I vote No. We don't need Zito to get into the playoffs (if we collapse badly enough to fall out of them then we have bigger problems than just the ones he'll solve). We only "need" him to help us thru them. But the problem there is that he may only get one start; or only a couple. And maybe those starts aren't any good (happens all the time), or maybe they are but everyone else suxx, or he's good but it's not good enough, yyybbb. (See; Johnson, Randy / Houston 1999) We'd be dealing a big-time minor league chip (stop with this "Milledge is dime-a-dozen" stuff) for a few starts. That's not enough. And while we're on the subject: this sign-before-the-trade thing isn't going to happen for several reasons: - the A's would have to allow it - and actually they have to get permission from Sea-leg's office to do it. Then, if they did it for the Mets they'd have to do it for everyone which slows down other potential trades if this one falls through, etc. - Zito/Boras have to agree to negotiate with one team just 2 months before this 28 y/o lefty will be allowed to negotiate with all 30 ... and Boras ALWAYS takes his guys to FA-gency. Zito switched agents to Boras specifically for his potential move. - allowing it would drive the price up and probably no longer be for just Milledge (assuming that's a standing offer to start with) as the reason the price is so "low" to begin with is BECAUSE it's only a 2-month rental. - Can anyone tell me when the last time they've heard of this happening? ... I can't either. The only recent ones were where [u:19ac860678]the player[/u:19ac860678] controlled the agenda thru a no-trade deal (Schilling to Boston, Johnson to NYY). This contingency has happened in the past but it's very rare and I don't see it happening here.

The sequels were about boxing The sequels were about making shit-loads of money ... but that's a different story. I generally suck at these 'list' projects, but here goes: Casablanca Godfather (original) Some Like it Hot Cabaret (NTTAWWT) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Monty Python & the Holy Grail Duck Soup Wizard of Oz Network The Sting (I need some newer flicks)

Actually on the radio today Omar said that same thing, only about Maine. Not for the post-seson specifically but just in general. Pelfrey throws harder than that, of course, but I think he just used Maine as his example since he's at the more polished state right now.

Well I don't know that there's any need to check up on this since all you'd be doing is checking on an opinion anyway. The notion that hard-throwers succeed more often in post-season may also just be one of those baseball "true-isms" that insiders simply accept as fact except, as we all know, there have been tons of those over the years and not all stand up to closer scrutiny. Yeah Smoltz was generally better than Glavine and particularly Maddux in October (that trio alone could be both the source of this theory and the "proof" of it at the same time) - but it didn't stop Glavine from tossing a 1-hit WS clincher. Whitey Ford did OK for himself once October rolled around - much better than the fire-balling Gooden now that I think about it. And so on. He could also just be thinking that because the Mets lack a real hard-thrower on their staff now that the addition of one would be good just to give the opponents a different look.

I don't necc buy the idea that certain types of pitchers (hard vs soft, etc) succeed in playoffs more often than others - but Smoltz was probably was the most successful of the Braves "Big 3" in October over those years. Whether he was the supposed #1, #2, or whatever at the time is pretty much irrelevant IMO.

]I've heard it said that Booth's apperance on the stage was thought to be a cameo appearance by some in the audience. He also knew the play and timed the assasination to be at the moment when the audience was laughing at a good joke.All true.

The only public parking I ever checked out in/off Main St. in Flushing was what looked like a shoppers lot charging 1.00/hr (25 cts for each 15 minutes) but the problem was the meters only take quarters! So unless you're carrying about 20-some quarters w/you it's not the place to use for a ball game. There might be some other lots besides that one but I'm not all that familiar w/the area.