Frayed Knot

We're very good at solo HRs tonight. Nothing else, but we've got that part down pat.

That two called balls reversed where the ball was completely or 90+% completely within the strike zone.

And then Dedniel happened.

Not a great outing by Thornton, but the fact that he's limited the damage when he had multiple base runners with no outs has kept this a game when the offense has consisted of two swings.

Meanwhile, HP ump Andy Fletcher is one of a group (of five or six I believe) who have already accepted MLB's offer of a buy out and will retire at the end of this season. With his B/S efficiency tonight (0-5 on challenges so far) it looks like he's getting an early start.

The radio guys were saying that his movement to one of the corners, probably LF, will begin on the next home stand ... so, Friday.

Still just 33 y/o but hadn't played all year and just 90 PAs (w/LAA) last season. Lots of potential -- 17th overall draft pick in 2013 and top prospect status pre-'15 & '16 -- but that talent was only occasionally realized mostly due to injuries as he played over 125 games just twice in ten seasons. Below average power and a woeful walk rate (career 3.7%) helped limit his value as well. Maybe most famous for his "Stalk-Off" HR into the Iowa cornfields vs the Yanx in the very first 'Field of Dreams' game. btw, Phils/Twins play in the FoD game tomorrow (on NetFlix)

And that just about puts the end to this party.

You're not jumping to conclusions, are you?

I'll go with Lindor's GS vs Philly in '24

Woo-Hoo! Nothing like going from behind to a 'W' on one pitch in the bottom of the 9th

Lenny's 1986 Game 3 NLCS 2R-HR off Dave Smith to flip the game

And now one for $3,500 !!!!! I've paid less for cars I've owned. For that price the fucking thing better kidnap the fish and force it onto the line.

Senga's first ML save and the Mets secure the season series from the Braves You look for small victories where you can find them.

Gotta say that the three run lead feels miles better than just two.

Senga needs to stick with the two Gs: Gas and the Ghost

Not a TV commercial, but an ad on this site for Cabela's (an outdoor chain) is featuring their 'bargain' price for fishing reels -- not the pole, just the reel itself -- for $1,000 and up. Really?!?

Just like the bad old days: just shy of two hours to get through 5 innings.

And during the World Cup

Nothing to worry doubt, just Matt Olson as the tying run.

It was ball four anyway.

Alvarez had two early chances to challenge a pitch earlier in the inning but wisely didn't as both were borderline at best. He saved his challenge for the perfect spot and got the reversal which may have kept Scott in the game. Maybe Francisco is starting to get this challenge thing.

We may want to split this discussion off. I wasn't intending on it being a challenge to top the Freeman/Olson pairing but that's what it's become (and that's fine) but it probably shouldn't be taking up IGT space.

Good duo. But DeCinces played parts of nine seasons with the O's five of which overlapped with Brooks so he played other positions in addition to 3B and did so occasionally even after Brooks retired. He also didn't play the same string of complete/near-complete seasons. Brooks was maybe the closest thing to Gehrig/Ripken as a one-man crew for one team/one spot* averaging 156 games/year for 16 straight seasons (1960 - 1975) before finishing with 77 and 44 GP in his last two years. The big difference with Freeman/Olson over just about any other duo one could come up with is that FF appeared in 92% of all ATL games from his call-up to his departure, almost of them at 1B, and Olson has appeared in 100% of games in his Braves tenure and 100% of them at 1B. And also that one directly replaced the other with no gaps and no overlaps. * credited with 25 G at 2B and 5 at SS, probably most of which were partial games

Little side note on the Braves: Since September 1st, 2010 the Braves have played 2,473 games* and two people have been their starting 1B-man in 93.2% of them (2,304). As you might have guessed, 9/1/10 is the day of FFF's ML debut**, he was 11 days shy of turning 21. Now Frederick did get his days off, particularly early on, and appeared often as a PH only that September. He also was the starting 3rd baseman 16 times in his career and had his share of missed time due to injuries (118 games played in '15, 117 games played in '17, etc.). So all of the missed 1B games are his since his direct replacement, Matt Olson, quite famously has a consecutive games played streak which started before he ever got to Atlanta and continues to date. Tonight will be his 767th consecutive game as a Brave, all of them starts at 1B (played a few innings in RF). It would be tough, particularly in today's game, to find two guys covering that high a percentage of starts at one position with no gap in between them. And it would be especially tough to top their combined (just w/Atlanta) 451 HRs and 645 doubles. Olson is 32 (turns 33 in March) and is signed through 2029 with a team option for 2030 so the legacy of this tandem has a ways to go yet. * actually, I calculated this a couple days ago and I'm not going to do it again ... and, besides, it changes the math just a minuscule amount and the point not at all ** Against the Mets!!! He went 0/3 with a GiDP and was PH'd for late in the game. Braves won 4 - 1. Not a single other person who played in that game is still active although it was Craig Kimbrel's rookie season so he pitched both that year and this one just not in that game. One from that game is in the HoF (Billy Wagner, Chipper was injured and didn't play), one has managed (David Ross), and at least one is deceased (Pedro Feliciano). The pitching matchup was Mike Pelfrey vs Tommy Hanson