Frayed Knot

Except that the Braves weren't a playoff bound team that year so they could afford a now-for-later deal. Alexander pitched well for the contending Tiggers that year - as did Larry Anderson for Boston in the infamous Jeff Bagwell deal.

]Cameron Maybin, who I recall may have been one of the h.s. outfielders drafted in the same first round as Milledge, would be a generous haul. Maybin is a 'Milledge-ish' HS OFer (uber-athletic toolsy dude) but was drafted just last June (2 years after Lastings) and is currently in low-A ball. Seeing as how we'd be in a 'going for it this year' kinda mode, even if we were of the mind to deal Cliffy I don't think you'd see such a now-for-later type deal.

]It does help that Russo is learning disabled though. Did you catch their exchange last week? Seems that Francesa missed a few days at least in part because he was seeing a doctor who told him that it's time to get a better diet. (why he needed a doctor to tell him that as opposed to ... say a blind news dealer is a question but that's besides the point here) So Dawg asks him what he can't eat. MF: Anything with four legs CR: Like what? MF: Well let's start with cows CR: So no steaks huh. How about hamburgers? MF: No, no cows CR: What else? MF: Gotta lay off the bread CR: How about bagels? MF: No, they're made of bread CR: French Toast?

I didn't like that deal when it was made - but man that one turned into about a big a disaster as can be. "The Diamondbacks --- like Seattle --- really seem unafraid to cut a guy and move forward. " Who was Seattle's big ticket cut-ee? The biggest dollar-eating fests I can remember was when the Angels dumped Appier and also the Tiggers w/Damian Easley. Both were owed somewhere in the mid-teen$ IIRC. The trouble with swapping him for someone else's white elephant of a contract is that there just aren't as many of them around these days. Even with the jump in contracts - both $$ & length - over the last two years, the situation isn't back to where it was during the '98-'01 'dot-com' era boom time when there were bloated deals all over the landscape.

The leagues seem to have reversed each other tonight as the Mets & Phils go through a high-hit, high-walk, 3-1/2+ hour mess. * Meanwhile the Yanx beat the seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" 1-0 * Boston & the Twins are 1-1 in the 12th inning (Sox just went up in the top). Of course Santana vs Schilling had a lot to do with that. * Braves lose again - this time to Florida

I hate you

Beltran - 1.4 Delgado - 2.1 Reyes - 1.9 LoDuca - 1.2 Wright - 1.4 Bradford - 0.5 Wagner - 1.0 Feliciano - 0.5

It was a 3+1/2 hour mess but I'll take it

GiDP of the Year!!!!

C'mon Carlos - put this game away.

Reyes with 2 IWs for the game. I think that was the over/under for the year for him

Reyes's tag was the best part of the play. Milledge, stop bunting!!!

That was NOT a HR swing (Delucci) ]They always do don't they? Willets using tonight to get 2 months of pent-up anti-Glavine spewing out.

In the early '90s Yanqui teams, Mel Hall took it upon himself to make Bernie Williams into his personal whipping boy. "Mr. Zero" was the nickname he hung on Bernie for his supposed value to the club. Obviously NYY mgmt thought differently (and correectly).

]In the Vet's version of the upper deck in 1986, one of them kept going on out loud for everybody's benefit about how much better the Flyers were than the Rangers. When you're groping for other sports, you know you're having a bad year. Some buds & I did a weekend thing in Philly one year (late '90s I guess) while the Mets were in town for an early Sept series. Had some good natured fun w/the Philly phaithful (not upper deck) as the two teams split the Sat/Sun games. But as the Mets started pulling away w/the Sunday contest and the locals were running out of things to say, they pulled out what they thought would be the killer material by yelling; 'the Eagles are gonna kick the Giants butts tonight', referring to the seasons-opening sunday night tilt in the Meadowlands set to go about 4 hours hence. What they hadn't counted on was that my crew consisted of 2 big-time Jets fans - who wouldn't piss on the Gints if on fire - plus 1 Steeler fan who promptly joined them in retorting; 'GOOD! ... Hope they do!'. The poor locals were so confused at that point that they simply turned mum for the rest of the game.

* Found that Gullett game: 8/23/70 Mets take a 5-2 lead - but Seaver coughs up 2 in the 5th & 3 more in the 7th enroute to a 7 IP, 7 R (6 ER), 11 H, 5 BB day. He even took the mound for the 8th!! (Hodges misusing his pen again!!). Meanwhile, Gullett came in to relieve McGlothin & Washburn to toss 4 innings of hitless/walkless ball w/8 Ks!! to close out the game. btw, he was just 19 y/o!! Great pitcher when he came up but really only had 3 full seasons and was done by age 28

Gullett, IIRC, was already damaged goods when the Yanx signed him - but that was in the new FA-era when George was not only signing guys he wanted but in some cases was hording redundant players simply so opposing teams couldn't have them. I first saw Gullett when he came into relieve during game 2 of a Met/Reds DH. I had never heard of the guy before but he came in tossing bullets and shut down Met bats for several innings as the Reds took the night-cap.

BA: Already the best defensive catcher in the Mets system, Drew Butera flashed some pop last week as he went 10-for-17 with two home runs. It might just be a fluky week, but he is worth monitoring when you consider his defensive skills. His explosion coincided with a recent hot streak from the Mets top catching prospect Jesus Flores, who is hitting .394 in June with three homers at high Class A St. Lucie.

BA: Mike Pelfrey, rhp, Mets (Double-A Binghamton): He started slow after his promotion to Double-A, but the Wichita State alum is firing on all cylinders now. In his last three starts, he has allowed just three runs in 19 innings while fanning 22 and walking four. He even had three hits in one of those starts. There are still concerns about his secondary stuff, but the former Shocker has blown away hitters with an electric fastball that sits in the mid-90s that he is able to command to all parts of the zone.

Which is one more than I've seen. As a result I'm often lost in these conversations.

Sometimes a good year (or good stretch) is just a good year and a bad year is nothing more than a bad year. As fans and observers we have a tendancy to assign absolute cause-and-effect reasons for it but that doesn't neccessarily make it so.

"6. Lastings Milledge can fix Victor Zambrano in ten minutes" Nine minutes would have been funnier

]Heyman should also note that Duque's recent successes total one game. Well the second part of that comment was mine, not his. What he said was that the Mets had considered bringing him up earlier this season (skipping AA altogether) and that he may only get 1 more start in AA before his inevitable promotion. But with only 3+ weeks to go until the mid-season break (and then a 3-games-in-9-days stretch to start the 2nd half) AND the back end of the rotation pitching well (even if just briefly) I'm guessing that they may slow that timetable up a bit.

* Where Maine is right now is re-assigned to AAA. His DL time and rehab time ran out so he was officially demoted just recently. * Bannister, on the other hand, isn't even eligible to come off the DL for another 2 weeks, at which point he'll have missed 2 months and will need 2 or 3 starts in rehab (those things have time limits as well - I think it's 20 days) before a decision needs to be made on him. Best case scenario here seems to be after the AS Break. * Jon Heyman in Newsday had a note yesterday that the Mets were close to promoting Pelfrey -- but maybe the recent successes of Soler & El Ducky have reduced the urgency there. I personally haven't heard anyone even mention Maine's name recently, but if they are it's more likely because he's the closest-to-ready choice if one needs to be made and not necc that he's considered the best of the bunch. Maine was a fairly highly regarded prospect in the Bal'mer system before somewhat losing some of his luster. As far as my/our personal opinion(s) of him, well there's only so much that can be judged on one start.

Martinez - 2.8 Delgado - 1.2 Beltran - 1.1 Woodward - 0.9 Reyes - 0.6 Chavez - 1.0 Castro - 0.9 Milledge - 0.6 Feliciano - 0.3 Oliver - 0.3 Bell - 0.3