Frayed Knot

Reyes Endy Carlos B Carlos D Wright Cliff Valentin Ramon Glavine

Heilman - 1.0 Beltran - 1.0 Reyes - 1.0 LoDuca - 1.0 Oliver - 1.0 Wright - 1.0

In other games: - Yanx lose to Seattle despite another good game from Unit - BoSox throw 2nd consect 1-0 shutout at the Royals - Jays, preparing to host the Yanx for 4 games, lose to Texas - Angels finally lose and Lackey's consec innings streak is over - Clemens out-duels Maddux (with a lot of help from his pen) - Turnbow blows his [u:7ec05e4502]8th[/u:7ec05e4502] save of the year as the Giants come from behind and stay on the outskirts of both the NLWest & WC races - Braves losing (4-1) to StL in another game delayed long time by rain.

]... Gammons was interviewed on ESPN Radio about the passing of Jack Buck. The announcer asked him who he thought were the best of the young broadcasters. The first (and only) name out of his mouth? Michael Kay. You mean that an ESPN employee being interviewed on an ESPN outlet gave a plug for an ESPN broadcaster? Well color me shocked! ESPN so rarely allows cross-promotion like that as part of their programming.

I hope the other umps gave the 1st base guy a solid beating after they realized that his reprehensible call was responsible for them each having to work an extra 3 hours last night.

1. angry -- Gooden 2. waste -- Strawberry 3. tirade -- Piniella 4. braggart -- Reggie 5. sunny -- Carter 6. big red machine -- Rose/Morgan/Bench/Perez/Foster 7. juiced -- Canseco 8. cooperstown -- Baseball 9. afro -- Oscar Gamble 10. amateur -- ?? Later -- Sooner

The Hardball Times gives the Mets a mid-term report card.

Well this is fun: - ARod's AB resumed after about an hour and a half delay ... and he promptly struck out, and so they head for the 10th - But Torre had made so many subs in trying to tie the game that they've got an interesting lineup out there, including: 1st base = Johnny Damon; 2nd base = backup 1st baseman Andy Phillips Seattle goes scoreless in the top of the 10th including a Phillips-to-Damon groundout.

Pelfrey - 2.6 Beltran - 3.0 LoDuca - 0.9 Nady - 1.4 Sanchez - 0.4 Wagner - 0.4 Bradford - 0.3 Valentin - 1.0

]the date was May 20. A Thursday that was. I rmemeber it was a weekday only because I was listening to part of it while walking with my radio to the Subway.

Yanx tie it in the 9th in a pouring rainstorm - in part due to a TERRIBLE call at 1st (Posada beats out an infield hit - nuff said). Now ARod is up with the winning run on base (he stayed in after PH-ing ... guess his toe healed) ... and with a 3-1 count and 2 outs in the 9th [u:1e17bd94b9]the umps call for the tarp[/u:1e17bd94b9]!!!!

]It [the Ventura 2 GS DH] was a Sunday afternoon early season DH IIRC. It was a DH (Milwaukee) but not a Sunday. Was a mid-week make-up deal.

="Iubitul"]Lot's of good stuff coming from the booth tonight - Keith was definitely relishing talking about "clutch" hitting... Yeah, but he also shows a (possibly intentional) misunderstanding of what those 'sabrematricians' (he practically spits when he uses that term) are talking about when they discuss the concept of "clutch".

Ponson gave up a 3-run jack to Sexson in the 1st - then settled down and pitched pretty well after that - left losing 4-2. The Yanx are sticking to their ARod and his toe story by not starting him tonight. He then came in to PH in the 7th with a runner on and two outs: he promptly popped up and the boos started cascading down before the ball ever did. Same score and they're in the 8th

Yancy Street Gang wrote: No way would I pay ballpark prices for Liquid of Feces. They'll charge you six bucks, and it probably won't have the right stench. Yeah, but these modern stadiums won't even let you bring in your own Liquid of Feces -- they confiscate that kind of stuff at the gate now.

"Media credentials being abused" sounds like a pretty lame excuse.

Add Jay Payton to the roster of ballplayers doing radio ads for this dude and his Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show

"David Wright and the New York Mets have no affiliation or association whatsoever with the event entitled 'Salvation Miracles Revival Crusade,' Except for that affiliation we had when we encouraged attendance at their meetings. and neither approve of nor endorse the event," the Mets said in a statement. "The recent TV ad about the event was produced without authorization or approvals through an abuse of a media-newsgathering credential. Our 3rd baseman was kidnapped and forced into it! No really, he was. "The Mets did not and would not endorse any such event or allow their logos and trademarks be used in such a fashion. At least not a second time. The TV spots have been pulled and will not air again. We apologize for any problems or confusion that may have been caused by this unauthorized action." They fooled us with an "unauthorized" check.

Although none of ARod's errors mattered - and the Mariners gave back any chances they had with incompetent base-running, tacked onto the incompetent base-running by the ChiSox yesterday. It is interesting that ARod was eventually yanked from the game in late innings - and the Yanx are trying to sell the story about an injured foot. Oh yeah, and Mariano got out of his jam ... again.

]He's got This Year's Lee Mazzilli written all over him Except that Mazzilli circa 1986 still had something left. Fonzie hasn't shown signs of life for years.

Maybe it's just me - but everytime I see the top teams in this division they're stinking up the joint. I trashed the Tiggers earlier in the year when they were stinking up a series against the Yanx, and now it's the ChiSox turn to look awful. Whenever I'm not looking, of course, they're ringing up the best records in the majors. But after losing 2 of 3 against the BoSox before the break (and needing 19 innings for the only won they did win), the defending champs laid a 3-game egg against the Yanx. This weekend they didn't pitch: Contreras lost his first game since last August and Burlehe was chased early; they didn't hit: stranded all kinds of runners, popped up constantly, hit into numerous DPs; they didn't field: at one point messing up two consecutive NFY bunts; and they didn't run: had multiple runners thrown out on the bases just yesterday alone. - 1st inning yesterday: 2nd & 3rd, none out, heart of the order up, and Jaret freakin Wright on the ropes ... they got nuthin - 8th inning: tying runs on, go-ahead at the plate, none out ... Nuthin! - 9th inning: tying runs on, go-ahead at the plate, none out ... NUTHIN! The ChiSox now have just a 3 game lead in the WC race and trail the Tiggers by 4.5 - and the two start a 3-game series in the Motor City on Tuesday. The Twins have also stalled somewhat, trail Detroit by 11, and now Toriiiiii Hunter's out for a while. Joe Mauer hitting .372

]I'd imagine its Wright's personal thing not a Met sponsered spot. Except that if it's purely a personal thing then I'm not sure he coulld do it in his uniform. MLB controls the rights to those unis & logos & such and I was under the impression that they have to approve any ads that take place with them. That's why you sometimes see a player in some generic baseball uni if he's plugging something - say a video game - that's NOT the brand MLB endorses. I didn't see the ad but the whole thing sounds kinda odd. I guess the folks at MLB figured it was a local ad for a local event and didn't see any harm in one of the players providing some pr - and probably didn't check on the content.

Oliver - 1.3 Floyd - 4.0 Beltran - 3.0 Wright - 1.2 Delgado - 0.5

The Legend that would Last a Lunchtime!

Very few hitters are as fun to watch when they're going good as Clifford. Be nice if he stays on track for a while. Be even nicer if we could get Delgado back also.