Frayed Knot

Since we lost the original list in the EZ-Board Tsunami, why doesn't everyone who wants to do one claim a series or two from the upcoming schedule:@ Oakland - Tues Jun 14, Wed Jun 15, Thurs Jun 16 {Seawolf 17}@ Seattle - Fri Jun 17, Sat Jun 18, Sun Jun 19 {Met Irish}@ Philly - Tues Jun 21, Wed Jun 22, Thurs Jun 23 {MFS '62}@ MFY - Fri Jun 24, Sat Jun 25, Sun Jun 26 {Frayed Knot}Philly - Tues Jun 28, Wed Jun 29, Thrus Jun 30 {MFS '62}Florida - Fri July 1, Sat July 2, Sun July 3 {Rockin' Doc}@ Washington - Mon July 4, Tues July 5, Wed July 6, Thurs July 7 {Nymr 83}@ Pittsburgh - Fri July 8, Sat July 9, Sun July 10 {Cooby}that'll get us to the A-S break.Fill up this list and we'll break out the 2nd half of the season - first come, first serve.

I dunno.First of all, Okha pissed off Frank Robinson last week which isn't a very smart thing to do for job security purposes. And, as you mentioned, Spivey will play until Vidro is ready and will still probably get a decent amount of playing time after that since it's not known whether Vidro will be able to handle full-time duty.Okha was scheduled to start tonight -- not sure if they plan on Drese being the permanent replacement or just a temp try-out. I don't know who they've got if not him.From Milwaukee's standpoint it sounds like they're ready to bring up Richie Weeks, their #2 overall draft pick form 2 drafts ago who's turning in a good start at AAA.

Since we lost the schedule for this, I decided to do it.In this case we really need a 'KTE' since we hardly ever play these guys so we need to know something about them. Problem is, I can't even figure out where they play! Their name - at various times - has implied that they play in Los Angeles, in Anaheim, or just in California ... sometimes one or more of them at once!! And, marketing attempts aside, LA & Anaheim aren't really even all that close to each other -- so I'm just going to call them 'Angels in America'.Where: Shea Stadium for 3 games to finish up the longest home-stand of the yearWhen: Friday 7:10 EDT, Saturday 7:10, Sunday 1:10 So let's meet the Angels: Since becoming surprise winners of the 2002 World Series, the Angels crashed and burned in '03, then bounced back nicely last year before getting steam-rolled in 3 games in round 1 by the eventual champs from Boston.This season they've split their last 10 but remained in 1st place (thanks to the Rangers getting their butts kicked in Philly) in the AL West at 34-25, coming off taking 2 of 3 in Atlanta (something we certainly find tough to do).What they're doing well right now is pitching: 4th in the AL in team ERA, 6th in OPS, 1st in K/9, 5th in WHi. A decent, though not real deep, starting staff (we'll get their best 3) is backed by a real deep bullpen. Felix Rodriguez (11 saves, 0.95 WHiP, 2.37 ERA) closes, but Scott Shields (1.08, 2.75) & Brandan Donnely (1.02, 3.49) can also match w/anyone.Pitching Match-ups:Friday: Bartolo Colon (R) 7-3, 1.18 WHiP, 3.10 ERA -- vs Kaz IshiiColon's last 2 starts have been somewhat rough, plus he's still fat.Two of our AL ex-Pats: Beltran (.343/.425/.743 - 4 HRs, 35 ABs) & M'kiewicz (.333/.371/.515 - 1 HR, 33 ABs) have hit him well; while Cameron (.087/.160/.087 - 8 Ks, 23 ABs) has not. Saturday: Jarrod Washburn (L) 3-3, 1.50, 3.86 -- vs Kris BensonAgain the ex-ALers are the only ones w/significant samples: Beltran (.333/.364/.619 - 2 HRs, 21 ABs); Cameron (.226/.342/.355 - 1 HR, 31 ABs) & M'kiewicz (.400/.438/.467 - 15 ABs) Sunday: John Lackey (R ) 5-2, 1.46, 3.93 -- vs Pedro MartinezLackey is just in his 3rd season, so only Cameron (2-for-14, 1 HR) and M'kiewicz (5-for-14) have any track record.What they don't do well is hit (sound familiar?):9th in AL in runs scored, 12th in OBP, 11th in Slugging, 12th in HRsPart of that is due to Big Bad Vlad being out but, as luck would have it, he's scheduled to return tonight. But even with him they're not all that potent.Likely starters:1st - Darrin Erstad: A decent CFer who - when he isn't knocking catchers into next week - really doesn't hit as much as you'd like from your 1st baseman (2 HRs)2B: Either Adam Kennedy who's been in and out of the lineup since being the 2002 post-season hitting star, or super-sub Chone (pronounced Shawn/Sean) Figgins. Figgins is an excellent runner who with a glove is ... er, an excellent runner.SS: Orlando Cabrera: An Ex-'Po who got far too much credit for Boston's WS run last year. He fields well but has lower OBP numbers (.295) than our SS.3B: Rookie Dallas McPherson started slowly but is coming around (16 of his 36 hits so far are for extra-bases).OF: As mentioned, Vlad Guerrero should be back from his (non-throwing) should boo-boo. Garrett Anderson doesn't walk as much as he should but hits over .300 w/decent power, and Steve Finley still has a bit of speed & pop to compensate for his low avg (.223) and the fact that he's 57 years old.C: They have several catchers all named Molina (Benji & Jose). Since they're virtually indistinguishable from each other and (in a foot race) from both former Met Jason Phillips and current one Ramon Castro, I'll spare you any details, except to say that they're both good defensively. Apparently that characteristic is in the genes since the MFY's will be facing baby brother Yadier at the same time.Ex-Factor: A couple of early-'90s brief Mets; Paul Byrd - who we likely won't see, plus OF/PR sub (if you blinked you missed him) Curtis Pride - most notable for being MLB's only deaf current player.

Nice first outing for U^3: 0.1 IP, 4 ER, 2 H, 2 BBshe came in to start the 9th w/a 6 run lead and proceeded to go: K - BB - 2R-HR - 1B - BBforcing the Phils to relieve him w/Wagner, who allowed both of those inherited to score and brought Hank Blalock to the plate as the tying run ... before he grounded out to end the game.

I wonder if this is the same source - the one he claimed "never steered him wrong" - who got him the scoop over this past winter that the Mets had signed {note: not might sign; are thinking of signing; are on track to sign, but [u:e02418aa24]had signed[/u:e02418aa24]} Moises Alou to a 2-year deal?Anyway ... I remember seeing Fonz play 2nd at some point last year when the Giants had some injury problems there - and he was embarrassingly awful. Zero range and bad agility. He's actually hitting OK these days - as long as we ignore the fact that his power numbers have been in free-fall for the last 5 years.And did anyone see enough out of Schmidt last week to say; "hey, that'll be a good use of an $11million option next year"? He's either injured or done - neither one of which makes him a good get right now.

Well, we can't keep getting 6 hits a night and expect to win.

I have no objection to Bell, just towards those idiot Met fans who pre-decide that they're going to divide the team into two camps: the chosen ones and the designated whipping boys.Heath - for the most part - has been one of the golden boys so he gets a pass on any and all mistakes. Kaz (plus others) on the other hand ...

Well, here's to all those who want Bell to get all those important innings!

I've seen just about enough of those P.O.S. Jose Vizcaino hits fall in against us thankyouverymuch

That was, in fact, Cliffy's league leading 8th OF assist.That's often not a real good sign of OF throwing prowess but he is playing/moving much better this season

All right, let's kick this Springer guy's ass!!!!

Floyd makes Lamb lie down (near) Broadway -- and we go to the 10th.

Ensberg: GO 1-3 Lane: 1B to CF Everett: GO 6-3 w/the runner movingRunner on 2nd - 2 outs for Brad Ausmus: ... who flies to Cammy in RFTime for someone to be a hero (maybe it'll be one of the subs)

Loopy in to face 5-6-7 in the order:Ensberg: GO 1-3Lane: 1B to CFEverett:Ausmus:

One of those years Pedro just missed out on an MVP, Yanqui sychoph ... I mean NY Post writer George King failed to list him on his top-10 ballot at all claiming he didn't believe in voting for pitchers seeing as how they had their own award. Of course that didn't explain why he previously HAD voted for pitchers in his MVP.

btw; my comments about hearing really bad trade proposals for U^3 weren't from this board. Mostly this idiocy comes from talk radio denizens who seemed mostly to be under the impression that swapping 2 or 3 regulars plus several top prospects for Urbina would result in us getting the better of the deal.Wow that grass is green over yonder!Also, several of this morning's papers mentioned that the Mets had been in discussions w/Detroit for Urbina - although it's not known how far those talks got or who - if anyone - was involved.

]Comments? Two comments:1) Good trade for the Phightin's. I did think it would take more than that to pry U^3 away from Motown ... except that accepting the salary prolly has something to do with it.and B) Even if I underestimated the price it took to get him, I feel justified in being sickened by listening to Met fans who GROSSLY OVERestimated what it would take. I've heard NYM fans proposing deals that offered packages like 'Cameron/Humber/+ ...' or 'Petit/Diaz/+', etc. Good lord people he's a freekin' reliever!

Graves made reference to some "legal technicalities" that prevent things from being finalized.Not sure what that means, except that it means he's signed ... just not yet signed.

The bit about this being his best WHiP & BAA - but not his best year - is part of what I meant when I said he's been less than lucky (if you buy that notion) that his ERA is as high as it is. Seems that when he does give up baserunners he gives them up in bunches and, as a result, nearly half of his runners have wound up scoring (25 of 59 - or 42%).Just as a comparison, Clemens & Livan - with WHiPs approx half again as high (.93 & 1.06) have only allowed 22% & 24% of their's to score.Assuming Pedro continues being as stingy w/runners as the season goes on (not likely but let us dream) it's probable that his ERA will plummet as he goes on.

Considering his block of work to date this season -- .451 OPS-Against, .151 BAA, .188 OPB-against, 0.67 WHiP, etc. --he's actually been a bit "unlucky" to have an ERA as high as it is: 2.45And he's managed all that even while being "stuck" pitching to (8 of his 12 starts so far) w/a catcher that he DEMANDED not to work with ... or so we were assured.

The TV guys were talking about an incident from last year between Oswalt & Cliff -- which I don't remember a thing about.Anyone?

If accurate, those are reasonable enough terms to make this a good signing. Essentially, that's about 700K for the rest of the year because he'd have to pitch almost out of his mind to get that option picked up.He's worth that risk.