Frayed Knot

Well ... after "taking out the garbage" (don't blame me. Keith said it) or even 'throwing in the towel' (if you prefer that) at the trade deadline, the first half of August showed the most progress we've seen all year both in raw numbers and in rank among all MLB teams. So while too much time has gone by for these numbers/ranks ever being 'good', that they're no longer bottom of the barrel and stagnant there is a big improvement. So instead of being embarrassed by being a bottom-feeder, you can now claim, 'We're in the upper tier of the lower third at scoring'. Hey, it's something.

One more game like that one and I think he clinches it.

His main competition (along with Nolan McLean) will likely come from: - StL's J.J. Weatherholt: 2nd base; 720 OPS; 16 HRs; 13-of-14 in SB (early lead but fading during July & August) - Cincy's Sal Stewart: 1B; 816 OPS; 23 2Bs/26 HRs; league leading 91 RBI

'Crash' Christian Scott faces Jake Irwin in a 1:40 start Irwin is a 29 y/o Righty whose 5.79 ERA / 1.32 WHIP pretty much mirrors the numbers from his four year ML career overall. Mets got to him for 3 runs on 6 hits in 4 innings back in May. That was the game where the Mets won by scoring 10 runs in the 12th inning (back when we were averaging about 10 runs a week) to eke out a 16 - 7 victory. Irwin pitched one game after that before missing all of June & July. This will be his third game since returning but the first three did not go well (12 Runs in 13 innings). Currently 4.5 out of 4th place!!!

No Fuckin' Way in my mind, and especially not with no one out!

Keith "I just knew Lindor would come through against Cruz" WAIT A MINUTE ... you were advocating pitching to him so they could then preemptively issue an IW to "RBI man" Bichette

Oh wait, they ran Pache for Polanco ... oh well, doesn't matter as Baty trots home with the tying run.

Or Robert. If this goes to the 10th you're going to want defense in for Baty anyway. And NOW especially!!!! (following the Polanco 1B) ... and they do.

Too many challenges based on hope rather than knowledge. Other teams are likely guilty of it too but this is the one I see all the time.

Beeter threw maybe five strikes in that inning (at least ones that were not hit) and yet survived.

Four batters = Hit - Hit - BB - WP .... and we still don't have a damn run out of this

Nats lost a run earlier on a pickoff (followed by a triple), now the Mets lose a potential one with Lindor getting caught on a 2 - 6 (followed by Single - Walk)

I wasn't wild about that one.

I heard there was a Harry Ford / who called the game for Brad the Lord But you don't really care for baseball, do ya? Now the battle's on for 4th and 5th / in a season headed off a cliff Where a series sweep evokes a Hallelujah etc.

This will be a 4:10 start, and I have it on good authority that there will be both pitchers and lineups in this game.

More 'Adventures in Diazland' last night Edwin comes in with a 2-run lead: HPB - SB - K - BB - GO - BB - GO So on the one hand, he didn't blow the lead, didn't even give up a run, and never let the ball leave the infield. On the other hand he still kind of sucked. So it's a split so far in the first two games of this four game possible preview for the NLCS.

For the Nationals (ionals) batting third (hird) the DH (ache) number 12 (elve) ...

That was the cleaned up version. At first it was: 'the Mets season is a dumpster on fire'

It's already five days past the expiration date on this TWiB. I'll let it go this time but there will be repercussions in the future. Only 14 appearances for Diaz this season but he's been scored upon in eight of them including seven of his last nine outings. But wait, it gets worse: half of those eight games have seen him allow multiple runs including allowing three runs in three of them! That the Dodgers are 4 - 4 in those 8 games (and that he's a mere 2 - 2) is some kind of minor miracle.

Abimelec Ortiz, a 24 y/o out of the Carlos Beltran Academy in Puerto Rico, played one game for his ML debut in July then was recalled on August 3 after the dust settled on all the deadline trades. Listed as a 1B/PH and at 5' 10" / 230 (that's a load!), he's pretty much playing every day now and is 10 for 30 in his brief career with four HRs already (1122 OPS) including a 3R job off Kevin Gausman yesterday to bust that game wide open. And remember, don't take Abimelec if you're allergic to Abimelec.

NY Post has a story up but it's still in the 'developing story' / 'no details' stage of things.

Was mine not good enough?

Well, at least we'll miss Cade Cavalli in this series. Cavalli just no-hit the Cubs thru 6-2/3 before losing it on a bloop single in the 7th. Wound up going 8 innings/108 pitches (of course they didn't let him finish) allowing just the one hit plus 2 BBs against 10 Ks. 7 - 0 was the final. So we'll head into tomorrow 6-1/2 games in back of the Nats.

The just completed nine game road trip where the Mets went 6 - 3 (which seemed disappointing only in that it was 6 -1 heading into the last two) now gives way to a 15-game span where only n odd one-series trip to the ChiSox sandwiched in the middle are away games [three games each vs WAS, SDP, @CHW, MIL, HOU]. So it starts Friday night vs the Nationals where Robert Stock faces 27 y/o rookie left-hander Andrew Alvarez. Following a September call-up in '25 he's been in 17 games / 9 starts this year compiling a 3.76 ERA and 1.40 WHIP So where are the Nats now? Well, they're still the highest scoring team in MLB at 5.37 RS/G. On the flip side they're 3rd worst in preventing runs (5.24 RA/G). They're also the team directly ahead of us so catching and passing them should be the most immediate goal. We currently sit 6.0 games in back of them (pending today's game in which they lead 6 - 0) as they're tattooing Kevin Gausman one day after we got skunked by the likes of Tyler Mahle. Most recently they swept the Reds in a series but lost the first two at home to the Cubs. So since we last saw them (mid May): - they traded righty bat Curtis Mead to the BoSox (where he promptly broke his wrist in his 2nd AB) - dealt 1B/lefty masher Luis Garcia Jr to the Yanx - probably their best starting in Foster Griffin was sent to the Guardians - and their best player, James Wood, is currently on the IL

Well, a bunch of stuff ... and pretty much nothing at all. https://www.gq.com/story/noah-syndergaard-maha-washington-dc