Frayed Knot

Cliff did bunt for a basehit earlier in the game against the shift ... nice bunt too.The problem w/the time where Carlos was on 3rd was that he didn't get there (via his 2nd consect stolen base) until there were 2 strikes on Cliff w/2 outs. Bunting unsuccessfully there w/your best power hitter would look really effing stupid. And - even though Carlos could lead halfway down the line w/that shift on - it's virtually impossible to steal home w/a righty pitcher and lefty hitter unless the pitcher is stupid enough to deal from the full windup.

Use its power for good?You mean that if we go around saying; "oh these fuckers are gonna blow this one for sure", that in 86 years (or, I guess 86 minus 19 and counting by now) we too we win the World Series?

Meanwhile, out in Texas -- the Rangers have an 18-4 lead heading for the 9th. 9 HRs have been hit, 8 of those by Texas and 3 of those by Kevin Mench.Teixiera also has 2, Soriano & Blalock 1 each, plus Vlad for the Angels.

In the meantime, Sheffield is getting a 2-day vacation for his antics in Sunday night's game courtesy of the MLB office.

Martinez - 3.5Woodward - 2Reyes - 2Looper - 1Hernandez - .75Ring - .25Floyd - .25Bell - .25

Who says Loopy doesn't ever get 1-2-3 innings? (I mean, aside from all the radio callers sure to chime in next time he doesn't)

Washington hangs on for a 7-5 win.

Pittsburgh - down 6-0 after 3 - puts up 2 in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th in Washington.Now 6-4 Nats in bottom 6.Kip Wells and Estaban Loiza started. A host of relievers since.Milwaukee leads Cubs 5-2, end of 2Rangers - trying to stay within shouting distance of the Angels - lead 6-3 in the 3rd, trying for their 2nd consect win (after losing like the previous 50 head-to-heads).

Or ... he can get Beltran to bang into a GiDP and get out of the inning quickly.

Looks like both ends of the Philly battery is going to have themselves a short afternoon as Reyes hits his signature play (3-bagger) to knock in 2, and then gets singled in by Cammy.Leiber is already up over 80 pitches w/only 1 out in the 4th and on the short end of a 5-1 game.

A story in [url=http://www.palmbeachpost.com/marlins/content/sports/epaper/2005/06/30/w5c_marlnotes_0630.html]The Palm Beach Post[/url]suggests that the Marlins may have interest in Sheffield in exchange for OFer Juan Encarnacion & RHP A.J. Burnett "according to a National League source"."An American League source confirmed that the Yankees are interested in Burnett and Encarnacion and have talked to the Marlins about them. But that source also said connecting Sheffield to the discussions "might be premature."

Pratt is the Phils' only RHB against Pedro today (prolly Leiber also) as Manuel stacks the lineup and sits Burrell

I suspect "top young pitcher" means someone who is a top, or approaching being a top, pitcher NOW!!!! - as opposed to someone like Petit who might be in the majors in a year or 2 and hopefully wil become a top pitcher in 3 or 4.In other words, I'm not so sure that'll get it done.

Benaro - brought in to start the 13th - was Atlanta's last available pitcher.Florida meanwhile had burned all their available bench players.Somewhere in the middle of the game Raffy Furball went down w/what looked like a twised knee and was evetually pulled from the game.Julio Franco in June: .378/.455.784 OK so it's only in 37 ABs but still, the guy'll turn 47 soon.Andruw in June: 13 HRs -- something Aaron & Mathews never did for the BravesWilson Betemit in June: .351/.388/.635Once considered a top prospect, he's been spinning his wheels in the monors ever since and was starting to look like a bustKelly Johnson - an IFer converted to OF called up out of AA - started his ML career 1-for-31. Since then he's 23/50 w/8 extra-base hits including 4 HRs.And that doesn't even include the near-rookie (Jorge Sosa) who beat Dontrelle the other night; the catcher (McCann) who filled in quite nicely (.348/.400/.478) when Estrada was injured; the prospects they've dealt in the last 2 years to get Drew, then Kolb (OK, so that one didn't work out so well), and then Hudson; or their best two position prospects: Jeff Francouer - who they've yet to call up; and Andy Marte - who was up briefly.It's like that team has a never-ending conveyer belt of talent that shows up and then performs well right out of the box just as they need it.

Marlins win it in the 13th - after trying to lose the thing about 10 different ways.- First, Florida scored 2 in the 8th to tie the game 4-4 that they'd been losing from the start, Leiter started, didn't last 5.- Then they blew scoring chances in almost every inning from the 9th on, including situations like: winning run on 3rd/no outs, etc, but could never push a run across.- Then Andruw (who else?) HRs in top 13 to give Los Bravos the lead- Then the Fish put the first 2 on in the bottom ... only to make the next 2 outs (Cabrera & Delgado) til it looked hopeless.- Then they get 2 consect RBI hits (LoDuca & Encarnacion) w/2 outs off Atlanta's [u:e4df7092a7]9th[/u:e4df7092a7] pitcher of the game (Benaro) to tie, then win the game.

I heard a chunk of Sheffield's rantings today. Basically he was rambling, angry, egotistical, threatening, illogical -- and that's while he wasn't being largely incoherant.Mostly he wants money. He "made sacrifices" to sign w/his beloved Yanx by agreeing to defer money while all those around him are making much more and getting it all up front while - in some cases (and it sounded like he REALLY wanted to name names cough*Giambi*cough) - he's producing as much or more than all of them.So, he'll agree to go wherever he's sent (like he has a choice) but he wants the new team to sweeten the pot (which he has no power to force) and he doesn't promise to be a pleasant person.Minaya, meanwhile, has apparently denied there's anything going on.

Others who have 100+ HBPs:[u:1b45387d68]Plunkees[/u:1b45387d68]:Jason Kendall - 183Fernando Vina (he's still active??) - 157Larry Walker - 136Carlos Delgado - 130Jeff Bagwell - 127Damion Easley - 112Gary Sheffield - 111Jeff Kent - 102Jason Giambi - 100Derek Jeter - 100[u:1b45387d68]Plunkers[/u:1b45387d68]:Randy Johnson - 162Roger Clemens - 148Kevin Brown - 138Tim Wakefield - 131Greg Maddux - 120Pedro Martinez - 116Al Leiter - 111Chan Ho Park - 110Pedro Astacio - 109 (including Biggio 8 times - most by any pitcher even though they were teammates for a time)Kenny Rogers - 106 (and that doesn't even include camermen)Aaron Sele - 104Jamie Moyer - 103

Hey look, it's the beloved world-famous diplomat ... and he's standing next to that Condi Rice person.

For most of the season, Brian Bannister has been pretty unhittable at Double-A Binghamton, last night (Tuesday) was not one of the those nights. The Mets righthander could not get out of the fifth inning as New Britain touched him for six earned runs over 4 1/3. The Southern California product allowed eight hits, three walks and fanned only one.

After hitting just .216 in April, Mets outfielder Lastings Milledge has been one of the more productive players in the Florida State League, batting .351 in his last 40 games with 37 runs scored, increasing his season averages to .304/.390/.430 in 207 at-bats. His problems on the basepaths continue however, as the 2003 first-round pick has been successful on only 15 of 27 stolen base attempts.

Newsday: The Mets, too, have reportedly resisted any trades including prospects Lastings Milledge, Yusmeiro Petit, and PhillipHumber, one or two of whom might have to be included in any deal for Sheffield and a reliever.If it were Cammy for Sheff even-up you'd have to pull the trigger justfrom a talent swap basis alone. It's a major upgrade in offense eventhough Sheff is one of my least favorite players alive. But when you start talking about major prospects as throw-ins it makes it easy to just walk away.And, as mentioned above, we don't HAVE to do a deal for an OFer, the Yanx do - although it's still a weird deal from their side. WithSheff gone, who plays RF? Bernie in LF and Hidecki in RF? That doesn't help much. They need to move Bernie to DH and Womack and his .270 Slugging Avg!! to ... I dunno, Mars?

Then we're talking about different plays. I was thinking of a 1st & 2nd situation where a foul pop was gloved by Wright. In that case the ump indicated the IFR but then didn't call it when the ball came down foul.Didn't see the one you're talking about - I was in and out of the game after a while.

]Why wasn't the infield fly rule called there?Not applicable on a foul pop (assuming we're talking about the same play).When a pop like that is in the air - and all other conditions apply - the ump yells; "infield fly, IF FAIR".Think about it, the entire rationale for having the I.F.R. doesn't exist when the ball is foul.]... Abreu is a great player, but I swear I've caught him lollygaging and essentially taking some nights off in the past and I think we did tonight tooIt's not your imagination; Abreu is frequently indifferent in his outfield play.

Zambrano - 3Piazza - 2.5Beltran - 2Ring - 1Cameron - .75Anderson - .5Reyes - .25

[u:4e925a673e]CSI: NY[/u:4e925a673e] -- Forensic scientists try to uncover the rationale and culprits behind the Zambrano/Kazmir trade[u:4e925a673e]Cold Case[/u:4e925a673e] -- Forensic scientists try to dig up the rationale and culprits behind the Ryan/Fergosi trade[u:4e925a673e]Scrubs[/u:4e925a673e] -- A panel from the CPF discusses those 250-odd players not good enough to garner points in the 'Rankings Project'[u:4e925a673e]King of Queens[/u:4e925a673e] -- Weekly highlights show honoring the Met Player of the Week (as chosen by CPF polls)[u:4e925a673e]Everybody Loves Raymond[/u:4e925a673e] -- Ray Knight talks about how he was a more popular Met after he left than he ever was while he was here[u:4e925a673e]Still Standing[/u:4e925a673e] -- The Steve Trachsel Story[u:4e925a673e]Fear Factor[/u:4e925a673e] -- Celebrity fans take turns picking their favorite NYM closer to protect a 1-run lead[u:4e925a673e]Queer Eye for theStraight Guy[/u:4e925a673e] -- <Insert Piazza joke here>[u:4e925a673e]Who's the Boss?[/u:4e925a673e] -- Jim Duquette discovers previously unknown clauses in his contract. Hilarity ensues (as does Minaya).[u:4e925a673e]Trading Spouses[/u:4e925a673e] -- Anna Benson spices up the Met clubhouse[u:4e925a673e]Law & Order - Special Victims Unit[/u:4e925a673e] -- Jeez, this one has so many possibilities[u:4e925a673e]E.R.[/u:4e925a673e] -- Highlights of best Met injuries thoughout the years. Dr. James Andrews stars[u:4e925a673e]Numb3rs[/u:4e925a673e] -- A Sabermetric look at Met lineups and decisions throughout the decades[u:4e925a673e]Wheel of Fortune[/u:4e925a673e] -- A preview of the upcoming baseball draft[u:4e925a673e]Smallville[/u:4e925a673e] -- Focus on short NYM players; John Franco & John Cangelosi host[u:4e925a673e]Without a Trace[/u:4e925a673e] -- The search continues for Roberto Alomar's talent and Kaz Matsui's gold glove skills[u:4e925a673e]Lost in Translation[/u:4e925a673e] -- A news magazine style show examining the expectations and results of Met players signed from Japan[u:4e925a673e]Will & Grace[/u:4e925a673e] -- A look back on the 1980's Mets from the viewpoint of opposing 1st basemen