Frayed Knot

Yeah, that's the other thing about Boston/NE that I forgot to mention; that of all the "shared" cities (NY, Chi, LA, Philly, StL) they're the only one who decidedly went for the AL team over the NL. ]Connecticut in the 1980's was as blue & orange as New York City. Parts of it sure, but the other 5-1/2 states I doubt it. I guess the best way to put it is that New England is the one area of the country where they're so into baseball at the same time that much of it is so dismissive of an entire half of the league. It's like when Rizzutto was still announcing and he openly admitted that he paid no attention to the NL.

For what it's worth; I heard [the Boston Globe's] Dan Shaughnessy on the radio today and he thinks that Boston will try to trade Manny; that they're tired of his act, his foibles and would love to get out from under that contract ... but that he doesn't think it'll be easy. He mentioned the Mets as a possibility - and why not, they talked already? - because they are one of the few that could take on a chunk of the contract. But even with all that, I don't think a deal with Beltran is anything other than a proposition concocted by fans saying; "hey, if the Mets wanna dump some salary to get him ... ". On a personal note - and I've said this before - I don't want him!!! Well, I kinda WANT him but I can't see wanting him at the price (contract and exchange) that I suspect it'll take to get him here. And while you're concocting imaginary trades, ask yourself: - How that turning doubles into singles trick (on a regular basis) gonna play at Shea? - Looking forward to watching him try to cover one of the larger LFs in MLB after watching how he often butchered the smallest one? - How 'bout that drop the fly ball and laugh about it act ... and you think the fans hated Franco's alledged "smirk'? - Gonna have fun watching him slide safely into 2nd then get tagged out when he goes to pick up his helmet while the play is still live? - you think NYC fans are going to get a kick out of the stand-and-pose act? I mean jeez he even starts taking his batting gloves off before he leaves the box! - if you think running out grounders should be an occasional act? - and he starts getting better at his age right? - And mainly just think to yourself why the team (in a DH league) that already has him at his currect production & price (and can afford it) is so G-D anxious to get him out of town.

Yeah you're right, I getting all my playoff baseball confused here. The ChiSox squeeze was a much better call since they already had the lead and it was late in the game where the extra run was HUGE!!!! The Angel one even though it "worked" still almost assured the fact that the LAAs would score just the one run out of a bags-loaded/no out situation (1 out by the time of the bunt). No doubt little-ball lovers will cite that as a winning factor even though playing it straight up may have resulted in more and the downside to failing there would have been HUGE for the MFYs. btw, when Eckstein squeezed home a run agin the Pads the other day the announcers mentioned that it was the 17th!!!! time LaGenius had called that this year (w/3 or 4 by Eckstein alone) and I think it was something like 14 times successful. Howie & Gary on the other hand grew fond of tracking the squeeze possibilities for Les Mets and the number of times Willie went ahead and employed it (17 times fewer than TLaR).

GAME RAINED OUT!!!! Game 4 will be played Sunday instead - probably in the prime time slot. You can drive yourself nuts thinking about this sort of stuff but I can see this helping the Angels. - They'll have their choice of bringing back a fully rested Bartolo Colon for gm 4 instead of the prev sked Jarod Washburn - and then having either Washburn or Lackey for gm 5 if necc. It'll also gives them the chance to rest their pen after they used all the good guys for 5+ innings on Friday. - The Yanx have to go with either Chacon or Wang in one of the games anyway even if they bring back Mussina for gm 4. But here's the thing, they left Moose in Anaheim figuring they wouldn't need him until gm 5, so even if they do fly him back it'll be Mussina then Chacon-Wang instead of Chacon then Mussina ... no real difference. And the MFY pen is in such disarray that it doesn't really matter except for Mariano and he's rested anyway with or without the rainout.

2 oddities from Boston this week: 1) 3 champagne celebrations in 6 days in Fenway. * Yanx on Saturday after winning division * BoSox on Sunday after clinching WC * ChiSox last night 2) Edgar Renteria ends (by my count) a 3rd post-season series: * grounded out for last out last night * grounded out against Boston to end World Series in '04 * "walk-off" single for Marlins to beat Cleveland in '97 WS I'll bet those are (weird) records.

I never really thought about it before ... but New England might be the one section of the country that's both a strong baseball area at the same time as having strictly an American League mindset. Think about it, the other sections of the country that have had a long and/or strong affiliation with baseball have either been NL country or at worst split. * NY - as much (if not more) NL as AL throughout the century * Wash/Balt - never really strong franchise histories and now no longer just AL * Chicago - split/leaning NL * Cleveland - good fan support ... but more football territory than baseball plus there's Reds fans towards southern Ohio and Pitt fans to the east. * LA - AL is just now grabbing the headlines after playing distant 2nd banana for 4 decades * Milwaukee - Once and eventual NL team who were anxious to switch leagues saying they "always felt like" an NL franchise even while in AL * Seattle/Dallas/Toronto/Tampa/Oakland - relative newbie towns w/o strong baseball identifications * Detroit & KC might be the best 'AL only' towns if only the cities (Det) and franchises (both) weren't so run down. So I'm afraid that Nutmegger Met fans are going to feel like secondary citizens for the foreseeable future. The whole of NE (5-1/2 states worth anyway) just views the bb world through a different prism than the rest of us.

="metirish"]All these awards are bullshit, who in 8 to 10 years will remember the MVP's let alone the "comeback" players. MVPs, ROYs and CYs are remembered. The Comeback player "awards" are more trivial novelties because they depend on a downturn just to make it possible. It's a bit like the notion that Ali was the greatest boxer ever because of his winning the heavyweight title 3 times. No, that merely means he was defeated twice en route (even though you can argue that one wasn't his "fault"). Likewise, the Floyd vs Griffey choice reflects not this year's accomplishments so much it does this year as an improvement over last.

The Sox are dead, long live the Sox! ]I fucking loved the suicide squeeze call by Ozzie It was gutsy move I'll give him that. As it was they had bags-loaded/no outs and made 1 out already ... had that squeeze failed they would have almost certainly killed that inning and gotten zero runs out of it. I don't think I'd have had the guts to call it. Nice job by Finley. Was a bit torn watching El Ducky. He always annoyed me for no specific reason at all so I was torn between wanting him to get lit up (I at least wanted a longer series) and wanting him to look good as the current MFY staff falls apart. Same with Leiber down the stretch, and ditto Contreras, ditto Pettitte and ditto Cle ... um no, not Roger.

I loved the final result obviously, but man I was pulling my hair out in the 4th inning there. First the Anglos get nothing with 1st-and-3rd/no outs, then the Yanx start the hit parade while hitting almost nothing hard: - first Matsui gets the requisite 318-1/2 ft Yanqui stadium HR ... then Cano gets an IF 1B (good throw gets him) ... followed by a Bernie 52 hopper into RF ... Tino hits a shitty grounder to 1st (why didn't Erstad go to 2nd there?) ... Posada hit an equally shitty grounder to 1st (2nd run) ... Jete-boy gets the stick-the-bat-out bloop to RF (3rd run) ... AGod then walked I think ... at which point G-I-am-Bi hits that piece-o-shit dribbler against the shift for another fuckin run!!! The hardest hit ball of the whole inning turned out to be Sheff's liner to end the inning where Figgins made the defensive play of the game for the 2nd straight game. That was one of those innings where this morning everyone would be saying that "they knew" at that point that the Yanx would win (if they had y'know ... won). That was a brutal call by West at 2nd on Cano and reminded me of that garbage call denying Cameron a catch this summer. Technically it's correct but there's no way that he's leaving the base early (and a nano-second early at that) to gain an advantage - although it's nice that the whole thing was set-up by ARod taking time to count the stitches before making the throw. Looked like he forgot the situation. How much would MFY fans be crying and demanding retaliation and league action if one of their guys was drilled in the elbow after hitting 3 HRs a la Molina? I mean jeez whenever Jeter dives into one and gets one off the hand it's treated like a capital offense.

Always fun when a guy makes a great comeback while consistantly refusing to tell us what he's coming back from.

From BA's Q&A:Q: Mike from NYC asks:Hello Chris i am very angry, why isn't Jason Scobie of Norfolk not considered a top prospect, he is 15-7 with 3.34 ERA and an ALL STAR, yet the Mets did not even put the guy on their 40 man roster. I know he doesn't strike out many hitters, but he is winning his games. Why is Scobie being disrespected? A: Chris Kline: Sorry you're ticked off, Mike. But Scobie was a little older than the guys on this list, despite the success and the all-star appearance. He has average stuff across the board, but is a workhorse. I know the coaching staff in Norfolk felt he deserved a promotion, but the Mets never came calling. In their defense, it was Scobie's first year in Triple-A after coming off an injury in 2003. He was there all year to eat up innings and prove he was healthy. Q: Al Green from Motown asks: [try to 'Stay Together' Al]Had Jeff Keppinger not gotten hurt and countinued to play the way he was, BA .330+ would he be even considered for top 20 or top 30? A: Chris Kline: Keppinger had a nice year at Norfolk, but the thing that impressed me most was his defense at second, short and third. He's a good player, but probably not much more than a utility guy in the big leagues. Q: Mike from Chico, CA asks:Was Anderson Hernandez close to the top 20? Do you believe that the Mets will give him the 2B job in '06 (providing that they don't trade for Alfonso Soriano)? A: Chris Kline: He was, and he got some support from several managers around the league. Hernandez is a nice player, good range, decent arm, turns doubleplays well fundamentally. He's a spray hitter and won't hit for much power. I don't see him in Shea next year unless it's as a utilityman. And even then, I like Keppinger better. Q: Todo Yamaguchi from Tokyo asks: {Iron Shinjo?}Yusmeiro Petit and Brian Banister, who is better and can they both be in top 20 next year? Who would have more success in majors? A: Chris Kline: Petit is better. Bannister is likely a middle reliever in the big leagues, whereas Petit has the ceiling to be a No. 4 or 5. And - just because he comes up in our discussions so often ... Q: Francisco from boston,ma asks:What do you see happening with Kelly Shoppach in the future and what type of player will he be in the majors? A: Chris Kline: Shoppach doesn't have much else to prove in Triple-A, that's for sure. He's a great leader, handles a staff well and has good game-calling skills. He'll never hit for a high average, but he's got all the ability to be an everyday catcher at the next level. The question is where.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/05league20s/int.htmlNo Tides on BA's list of Top-20 International League prospects.On-line chat at 1PM today if anyone wants to log in and ask why future superstuds like Jeff Keppinger and Andy Hernandy were so blatantly overlooked.

7-1 Braves in the 9th. Solid game from Smoltz, lots of outward enthusiasm by the Braves, Cox disagreed with every call made in the entire game. Odd seeing both closers (Lidge and Farnsworth) being used with a score like that.

The Marlins have received permission to talk to Joe Girardi, and I suspect the D-Rays may be close behind them in asking. I wonder if the Yanx could get away with granting permission to one but denying it to the other based on the long-standing bad relations between the two teams, or if the Commish would jump in and call 'Foul' if they tried it?

OK, here's a "Run Expectation" chart for 2004 Runners0 OUTS1 OUT2 OUTSEmpty.538.287.1141st.926.550.2462nd1.160.710.3361st & 2nd1.467.958.4613rd1.454.972.3621st & 3rd1.8541.224.5222nd & 3rd2.1341.472.618Loaded2.2551.595.808 What this is saying is that the average number of runs that the average team scores after getting the lead runner on is .926 or, put another way, given that situation 100 times you'll score about 93 runs. The bad news comes when you see that while the successful steal pumps that up to 116 times in every 100 tries (runner on 2nd/none out), the UNsuccessful steal drops you to all the way to 29 (none on / 1 out). Here's some hypotheticals which show that even an 80% steal rate is only somewhat helpful: Leadoff x 100 = 93 runs Leadoff + steal x 100 = 116 Leadoff + (steal * .80) x 100 = 99 {stealing at 80% success} Leadoff + (steal * .70) x 100 = 90 Leadoff + (steal * .60) x 100 = 81 Leadoff + (steal * .50) x 100 = 72

one suggestion for refining the Schaefer rules for next year would be to allow fewer than 10 points in a loss. Make 10 mandatory in a win, but establish a minimum of 5 points in a loss. Now if only someone had suggested something like this earlier.

The order has been set and the [u:08566f6b81]Mets pick 18th[/u:08566f6b81] this year. The main significance of that is that only the first 15 picks are "protected", meaning that if we sign a 'Type A' FA we'll lose that pick to the player's original team. In recent years our picks have been one of the protected ones (top15) and therefore we're used to only losing the 2nd (and then 3rd) round choices for the biggest FA signing(s). It's something for the brain-trust to consider. Early word on this year's crop describes it as "underwhelming" - particularly on hitters - although that assessment could certainly change when this winter/spring's HS & college season get underway. So far my pick for "best looking prospect" goes to Long Beach State SS (and I'm not making this up) Eva[u:08566f6b81]n[/u:08566f6b81] Longoria

I think many ChiSox fans are honked off about the fact that the Cubbies have received the lion's share of the national media attention in recent years (despite sucking about 75% of the time) and object to the assumed notion that they (Cubs) have always been the more popular team. Older fans can tell you about when Wrigley was often empty prior to the re-gentrification of 'Wrigley-ville' and the whole "Wrigley experience" becoming tres chic. Hence the mostly 'one-way' resentment. It's like some in the under-20 crowd in this town - and many outsiders as well, some of whom make their living telling others what to think - who have no concept that the Mets out-drew the Yanx more often then not until just a few years ago.

'Twasn't too late for one of the 3rd basemen as a couple of game-saving plays were turned in by *Chone Figgins, plus a few more over on the other side of the diamond when Figgins tried to mess up his handiwork with bad throws. Erstad came up with 2 really nasty in-between hops - including the one that ended the game. Orlando Cabrera had the big hit -- a 2-run/2-out single in the 7th to break a 2-2 tie. * So which name has more creative spelling in MLB? Sean - Shawn (Green), Chone (Figgins), Shawon (Dunston) OR Jeremy - Jeromy (Burnitz), Jeremi (Gonzalez), Jeroime (Robertson)

2-out Ribby single by Benjy Molina ties it up in the 6th. So far in this series, every time the Angels send a runner in motion it's come back to bite them. Sometimes it's stupidity and sometimes it's just bad luck, but in retrospect they'd be better off not even trying.

Usually the stereotype in Chi-town is that White Sox fans hate the Cubs (smugness and a un-earned sense of entitlement and all that) but that Cub fans are fairly indifferent towards the ChiSox. That rant implies otherwise.

Not that I'm declaring this over, but it's amazing to watch Atlanta in the post-season where they don't even look like the same squad that annoys me with their efficiency for the previous six months. I mean Hudson's wildness was the biggest culprit but also; - Andruw had a medium-shallow fly ball w/a runner on 3rd which I suspect he'd gun out at least 70% of the time ... and he threw the ball about 15 ft over the catcher's head. - Braves also missed an infield out when - after a great sliding stop by Giles - the runner was safe by a hair because Franco at 1st didn't even make the slightest hint of a stretch toward the throw, so there were 2-on/1 out instead of 1-on/2 out.

November ? - Free Agency Period begins 15 days after the conclusion of the World Series. Players may only discuss financial terms with their own teams before this point. December 5-8 - Winter Meetings in Dallas December 7 - Final day for clubs to offer potential free-agent players arbitration. Not offering prevents receiving FA compensation for that player. December 19 - Final day for players to accept offered arbitration. If a player accepts then he is considered signed (terms to be worked out). December 20 - Non-Tender deadline. Final day to offer contracts to unsigned (non arb eligible) players. January 5-15 - Salary arbitration filing period. Eligible players can file during this time. January 8 - Final day (until May 1st) for FAs who rejected an arbitration offer to re-sign with their old team. January 18 - Arbitration figures exchanged February 1-21 - Salary arbitration hearings.

Texas GM John Hart also "resigned" yesterday. His 28 y/o assistant gets the job. Wonder how HE gets along with Buck?

The 2005 rankings will be more of a consensus reached after a subjective analysis from many viewpoints. The idea for the PotG is to use it as [u:8jzo1ykb]AN[/u:8jzo1ykb] opinion in the consensus, not the final word.