Frayed Knot

Nolasco sounds like one of those made-up corporate names. NOLASCO: NOrthern LouisianA Shrimpfishing COrporation; supplying shellfish to the greater southeast since 1967

Miggy Cabrera is a great all-around player but he may be the slowest 23 y/o prof athlete on the planet.

Actually the ground has sort of changed. When they re-did the stadium one of the things they did was to do some excavating and "dropped" the ground 3 feet so that the fences weren't as ridiculously low as they had been.

Nobody needs that finger - get it amputated and get him back in there.

He looked fine but let's not go overboard yet. Struck out batter #1 with some nice high heat in the 96 range. #2 hit a screamer but directly at Marrero in LF, then got #3 on a grounder to SS. It would be nice to see him get a breaking ball within sniffing distance of the plate. Nothing even close last night and he won't get away with that forever, not at this level anyway.

Owens looked good in his MLB debut inning - although it'll help in the future if he can get his slider at least in the same zip code of the plate. Not gonna get by with a fastball only for very long at this level.

Oliver - 2.5 Woodward - 1.0 Nady - 1.5 Owens - 0.25

Besides, it's not like this is really news of any kind. A DFA of Lima following today's game was a virtual guarantee no matter how things turned out. He was only called up because of the temporary starter shortage/impending DH and there was no chance he was going to get another start unless more injuries suddenly pile up. This was a one-off deal all along for a guy who needs to be sent down to add tomorrow's starter and he can't be sent back down without first being DFA'd.

Re: mailing it in "Starting pitchers are Lima, Maine and Pelfrey..." Not a lot of mystery here, it's is a function of having 3 starters on the DL plus a DH. "he sits Delgado, Floyd, Valentin and LoDuca againt Willis" With 3 games sked inside 25 hours he's sitting the lefty batters against a tough LHP -- and Castro had some good numbers vs Dontrelle. 'Taking things lightly' wasn't the problem. The problems were: - Lima sucking ... but also getting some unlucky hits and ZERO help from his 'D' all at the same time - Very UNtimely hitting on our part: Castro whacks the ball the only time he's up withOUT runners on, same for Woodward; 1st & 2nd/none out in both 1st & 2nd innings and getting nuthin; etc.

Fix the score NOW!!!! It was 7-5

I think that's probably the thinking. With 2 rooks going on Saturday we'll have lots of need for pen work but then with only 3 games in 8 days once action ends on Friday, we'll have little need for extra starters. So essentially Lima & Owens have replaced Pedro & Bell, then Pelfrey can replace Lima. I was thinking they could re-call Bell since we do have a DL situation but they're back-dating Petey's DL stint to before Bell was sent down meaning they can't do that. So unless there's a NEW injury, Bell can't come up until 10 days after his demotion (iow, after the break). They've also made it clear that Pelfrey's call is a one shot deal. I suppose that's always subject to change - but again, there are so few game after Sunday that Pelfrey would be better off back in Bingo or Norfolk.

Don't knock any knid of save - particularly as Wags gave up only a measly single and an UNearned run on his own. Cuz at the same moment that he was nailing down our 3 (then 2) run lead, Atlanta was in the midst of blowing a 5 run 9th inning lead to the Reds, the last 3 courtesy of Jose V's baby brother's 1-out PH 3R HR. That was Atlanta's league-leading 18th blown save of the year. 7-7 heading for the bottom of the 9th - despite the Braves getting a (not all that common lately) good game from Tim Hudson.

Word out of Boston is that Manny is bagging the AS Game as well (knee). Sounds like he & Petey will be back in the DR together sucking down some cool mango drinks.

Jackie Wilson says: 1B Tying run to the plate

Partially off-topic but I always liked this Don McLean tribute to TV's Superman; a song which doubles as his oft-visited metaphor for drifting American values and waning strengths. I don't want to be like old George Reeves Stuck in a Superman role. I've got a long way to go in my career And some day my fame will make it clear That I had to be a Superman He came from another place deep in his mind As far as the planets in space. As galaxy's mysteries start to unwind Some changes are bound to take place. Though gravity constantly weighs on my travels My mission is close to adrift Though I can be strong when my power unravels I still come to you for a lift. I know I can fly when my plane hits the sky I believe I've got nothing to lose. But when I'm alone with the bed and the phone I get the terminal metropolis blues I flew to the coast where Superman's Ghost Lay shot on the bedroom floor He said "Watch out for TV it crucified me, but it can't crucify me no more." "I'm red white and blue, I've got justice to do I'm the man of your fantasy dreams But I'm an alien man from an alien land Who's alive on your orthicon screens. I once ruled the world and when flags were unfurled I performed for you live not on tape. But the public is cruel when played for a fool As you see by the blood on my cape." "Well I never was real or stronger than steel. I'm a figment of Freudian need. And the video screen is a psychotic scene And it's all done with mirrors and green My agent just called, the talks have been stalled I soon will be pulled from the air. But the image persists in the video mists That a Superman still will be there!"

Yeah but LoDuca has so much spirit which certainly makes up for any other shortcomings. And speaking of Piazza (which we sort of were) and the never-ending debate on his DEFENSE!!!!: From the recent SABR meetings and a study of "missed" pitches (passed balls & wild pitches) comes word that: Since 1957, the best catcher at "saving" missed pitches over his career has been Mike Piazza, with 151 pitches saved. - One missed pitch costs .27 runs, on average. A good catcher can save his staff four runs a year; a bad catcher can cost that many. - Over his career, Piazza has saved his team 41 runs over the average catcher, though that doesn't offset the 131 runs he has cost his team (vs. average) in stolen bases. If you're into delving into the details on the study they're available Here Oh yeah, and Mike & wife are apparently expecting a kid

Check out the fact that the ChiSox are projected to nab the Wild Card ... with 106 wins!!! That likely won't happen as the Central-vs-Central contests were where the AL really gained their edge during the Inter-League period. Now that they'll have to play each other more often over the next 3 months some more losses will get tossed in there ... although it still could take an upper-90s win total to get the WC in the AL this year while the West winner sneaks in with 80-something. The NL WC, on the other hand, prolly won't require even 90 wins.

[u:b1c584d8f3]Half-Way Home[/u:b1c584d8f3] All teams have now reached the half-way point. The chart shows each team's number of wins by game 81, their projected full-season record, and then how that projection compares to last year's finish. TEAMWINS thru 81Proj Season+/- Last Year

He didn't "save" shit! Canseco is being given far too much "credit" for what essentially was a sleazy tell-all which contained enough factual errors that he himself was backing away from some of them even as he did interviews to plug the thing prior to it's release date. He reminds me of David Wells who did the same thing, or Charles Barkley who claimed that his qutobiography misquoted himself. Wrote it? Hell, I'll bet he never read it.

OHernandez - 5.3 Reyes - 1.1 LoDuca - 1.0 Valentin - 1.1 Bradford - 0.5 Sanchez - 0.5 Chavez - 0.5

TransMonk wrote: I'm sure Willie sent Chavez on a hit and run in the first to "try and get Woody going." Quite possible true - although Willie's used very few H-&-Rs since he's been here.

The remaining teams should hit their 81-game mark tonight.

But many of those 50+ seasons were NOT outliers, they were done by a handful of the same players multiple times and represented a new norm - as did the 50+ HR seasons of the '20s & '30s.

The mission now - should anyone choose to accept it - is to answer whether these outlier season ARE more common in this recent era. I'm not so sure they are. Conventional wisdom assumes that there's an automatic cause-&-effect between drugs and seasons like Brady Anderson's as if it's virtually certain that they couldn't have happened without modern chemistry. But the likes of Maris, Foster & Hack Wilson show that they certainly could have.

]I still have hope he can be a productive 3-5 starter, but not the #1 or #2 originally projected. I don't recall him ever being projected as a #1 or #2 -- at least not by anyone with the club.