Frayed Knot

'Nother throwing error by ARod tonight - led to a run. He's suddenly throwing sidearm with a goofy little "flippy" motion ... and his footwork looks awful.

="ScarletKnight41"]Pedro Is Hospitalized! Ummm, no. From that same link (apparently updated) "An earlier report that Martinez had checked himself into a hospital was a miscommunication. He was unable to pitch his bullpen session on Friday because of the heavy rain that fell throughout the afternoon. Martinez is scheduled to throw on Saturday, weather permitting, and will attempt a simulated game on Sunday. Mets brass confirmed that bullpen coach Guy Conti, not Martinez, felt ill before Friday's game and checked himself into a local hospital to undergo tests. "

It's now 2 complete seasons for Wright; first game = 7/21/04 Here's what his start looks like combined into one "average" 162 game season: ABHitsR2Bs3BHRRBIBBKSBCSBAOBASLGOPSIsoP6031851024233111165115175.306.377.539.916.233 Not bad, kid.

Change of plans, Maine going tonight, El Ducky tomorrow.

Edgy DC wrote: Hasn't Garner been experimenting with guys soemwhat out of position to try and juice the lineup a bit? Yeah, they can use all the offensive juicing they can get (and least the legal type) and are also loaded with coner IF/OF types who make switching around possible and, seeing as how they're not all that good defensively anyway, it doesn't run that big a risk. Ensburg, Lane, Lamb, Berkman and now even Huff are/were sort of interchangable defensively, and Biggio & Preston aren't exactly ideal middle of the diamond types anymore. Watch Lance Berkman when he hits; he's got this habit of gently laying the bat down after contact but before he starts to run like he doesn't want to scratch it or something. I've seen guys drop it, fling it, spin it, twirl it, and even carry it for a while, but have never seen anyone else set it down like it's a newborn.

KC wrote: I'd move the Mets to Kansas City if I owned them. What an Assclown!

Prior to the Wells walk-off last night, the Jays' comeback (Yanx led 3-0 at one point) was fueled by another ARod poor decision/throw. He went home (and threw wide) with a runner on 3rd, 1 out, and a 3-run lead. Now it wasn't him who then gave up 3 or 4 hits immediately after that which is what eventually tied it up, but that didn't stop Mussina from commenting on the play afterward. And while I'm not usually one who thinks these kinds of streaks of bad play from good players are dire signs of anything except bad stretches - this one is starting to snowball a bit, complete with fan backlashes and possible estrangements from teamates. It's not yet Knoblauch-ian in proportion, but I'm starting to think that there really is something "in his head" as the pop-psychologists like to say. The other thing I've noticed in the last 3 or 4 Yanqui games I've seen or seen part of, is that the opponents seem to be in a contest to see how many outs they can run into during a game. And it's not just caught stealings but also other versions of boneheaded base-running plays. Even the batter right before Wells last night had singled ... and then was immediately caught stealing by about 5 feet. Didn't matter as it turned out but I woulda been pissed if Vernon's shot had bounced [u:773abf91b2]off[/u:773abf91b2] the wall instead of clearing it.

Mostly Hagerstown news from BA: The [NYM] organization's next best four prospects are in Class A, but their performances over the last two days certainly have been impressive, and show signs that there is life beyond Milledge and Pelfrey. Lefthander Jon Niese led that group, throwing a complete game shutout Wednesday for low Class A Hagerstown as the Suns thrashed Lexington 9-0. “He was outstanding last night,” Suns pitching coach Shawn Barton said. “The use of his changeup was a big key for me. It is a pitch that has been lacking in terms of using it. Our goal was to mix it in and he established all three pitches early with command. “He doesn’t use the change enough. We were forcing him to throw it last night and it was a great lesson as far as the value of that pitch." The lefthander needed only 102 pitches to get through nine innings as he struck out nine and walked two while allowing three hits. Barton noted that it was the first time all season Niese had all three of his pitches working in sync. “He recorded seven outs on his change and seven strikeouts on his curve,” Barton said. “The curveball had very good break, seven strikeouts on the curve and four of them were looking. When you get four guys looking on the curve like that, you know it is pretty sharp.” As it has all year, Niese’s fastball was averaging 89 mph and touching 91. The performance improved his record to 9-6, 3.51 with 106 strikeouts and 50 walks in 97 innings. Niese got all the support he would need from outfielder Fernando Martinez, who was playing his first game for the Suns since June 10 because of a sprained knee. The 17-year-old went 3-for-4 with his third home run and three RBIs. Just under 800 miles away, Philip Humber was showing no ill effects as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. The third overall pick in the 2004 draft out of Rice threw five shutout innings for high Class A St. Lucie while allowing four hits and walking none. Scouts have been giving strong reports on Humber, who has had his fastball sitting 90-94 mph while showing his trademark hammer curve and the occasional power change. In 26 innings in the Florida State League, the righthander is now 2-1, 3.12 with a 25-5 strikeout-walk ratio. Their outstanding nights came a day after righthander Deolis Guerra, another 17-year-old, had his best outing of the year for the Suns and lowered his ERA to 2.82 in 54 innings. Guerra took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and allowed two earned runs over seven innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. Like Niese, it was the first time he had all three of this pitches working together. “He had his curve going well, and he'd not had the curve going for him all season,” Barton said. “He threw 14 of 19 for strikes. It is a pitch he has been lacking confidence in, but he established it early and was able to throw it behind in the count. “His change is his best pitch because he gets so many swings and misses on it with deception and great arm speed.” Due to the changeup, Guerra is more effective against lefthanded hitters (.216 average) than righthanded hitters (.241). Also, from a seperate BA Q&A: Q: Now that Pelfrey'ss up, who is the Mets' top 5 prospects A: 1 - Milledge; 2 - F. Martinez; 3 - Guerra; 4 - Humber; 5 - Niese. I might need to move Humber up there. We have had very positive reports on him in the FSL since his return from TJ; 90-94, plus curve at times, plus change at times.

Glavine - 2.5 Bradford - 1.4 Delgado - 1.1 Floyd - 1.1 Chavez - 0.9 Nady - 0.5 Beltran - 0.6 Valentin - 0.4 Wagner - 0.7 Heilman - 0.4 Feliciano - 0.4

The sticking point w/Abreu is not only the money he's owed but also that he has veto power over any trade - and would most likely at least want his 2008 option year picked up before he'd agreed to anything (his agent has said as much). So that's the remainder of ($15 mil?) contract for this year and about $16 + $17 for the next two - all this WHILE you're paying Wagner, Pedro, Delgado, Beltran major bucks as well, and about the time Wright & Reyes would be heading for that kind of territory. On the other hand ... y'know what a .425-ish OBA w/decent power & speed sitting between Reyes & Carlos^2 & Wright would do to our run production? Like Wow!

I think it was both Agee & Swoboda who went 0-fer-10 in the 1968 1-0, 24-inning loss to the Astros. That game was pretty early in the season too so it had to also mess with some averages.

Not worried about him, but at this point virtually ANY warm body is an improvement to their pen. Of course if they keep scoring 12 runs/game ...

Braves deal for Bob Wickman from Cleveland in exchange for a A-ball catcher. Looks like they'll have themselves a real-life closer just in time for their trip here next week.

Carlos - K Carlos - K Wright - K

Also from last night's (Wednesday's) games: Tony Gwynn Jr. (Milwaukee) got his first ML hit, 24 years to the day after his father got his.

Clayton - Single LaRue - Single Arroyo - SacBunt Freel - 2RBI Double Denorfia - F9 Dunn - F9 2-2 end of 5

Glavine - Reyes - Chavez go FO, FO, FO 2-0, mid-5th

Glavine works around a 2-out walk by K-ing Phillips looking 2-0 end of 4

Inning 4: Carlos D adds a 'KABOOM' of his own Then 2 out singles by Cliff & Valentin leave things up to Castro who ... promptly strikes out. 2-0 middle of 4th

Castro erases a Red single with a CS 1-0 after 3

(No one tell MFS that there's a huge middle finger graphic pointed at him right now) A Glavine single is left stranded in the Met half of the 3rd.

Well maybe you can't see them because I didn't put up any graphics. Reds get back-to-back 1-out singles from Encarnacion & Phillips but no runs in their half of the 2nd.

Cliff wants to tell the CPF: "KABOOM" 1-0 middle of 2nd

Mets go 1-2-3 in the top Reds counter with: Freel - CF Denorfia - RF Dunn - LF Aureilia - 1B Encarnacion - 3B Phillips - 2B Clayton -SS LaRue -C Arroyo - P ... and Glavine retires them 1-2-3 on 8 pitches

NITZ 3!!!!