Frayed Knot

Instagram WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM OK, that's not FoD/Dyersville corn, it's merely a random cornfield on the side of the road we stopped at one morning because, well because pictures like that are mandatory when you're in Iowa. We wound up being closer to Dyersville than I realized but, with the game less than two weeks away and probably a ton of late prep work going on, they weren't about to route 15,000 idiot cyclists into the town.

I had no idea who 'Webb' was so I hadda look 'im up. Turns out he's Logan Webb, a 24 y/o RH whom SFG drafted in the 4th round out of HS (Rocklin, CA) in 2014 He made his debut in 2019 and racked up ERAs of 5.22 (8 starts) and 5.47 (13 games, 11 starts) in 2019 and 2020 Naturally that means he's pitching to a sub-3.00 ERA this year (2.96) while lowering his WHIP from 1.52 ('19 & '20 combined) to 1.14 this year Now Webb is young but he fits nicely into the Giants' "strategy" for 2021 which is apparently to wave a magic wand and have all your players, many of them in their mid-30s, all have seasons exceeding anything they've done in the recent past. On the hitting side: C - Buster Posey (35): for his most recent three seasons (in his case '17 - '19 as he opted out in '20) his combined OPS+ was 108. OPS+ this year = 160 1B - Brandon Belt (33): 113 for his recent three years / 138 in 2021 SS - Brandon Crawford (34): 91 / 144 3B - Evan Longoria (35): 96 / 135 Darrin Ruf: Remember him? ... he played for the Phils but then didn't play at all in 2017, '18, or '19!! = 96 ('15, '16, '20) / 148 in '21 across 200+ PAs I mean, WOW!, how the fuck does That happen all simultaneously?!? Is it any wonder that NO ONE had them picked to lead that division, much less the whole NL, in wins for the year, something they've so far done for the entire season to date.

Just so I have this straight (as I didn't hang with the game thoughout last nihgt) the Mets scored their four runs via -- a groundout, a groundout, a Wild Pitch, and a Sac Fly, the final two being set up by three walks and an infield single?!? That's good hittin' yo!

At least we finally retired a Turner tonight. I was thinking that if the Dodgers had put Tina in the lineup that she might have notched a few knocks.

Still no hits w/RISP, still nothing out of the infield. It's like a disease they can't shake.

Sacks loaded, one out So put your money down on either two pop-ups or one GiDP

The LAD IF not exactly covering themselves in glory tonight.

The LAD IF not exactly painting themselves in glory tonight.

I think that's now 6 ABs w/RiSP tonight and nothing yet has come close to leaving the IF

A couple of mighty blows by Dom tonight. Not sure if either the combined distance or exit velo broke into triple digits.

Give Reed a spot in the rotation!!!!

Game on mute and the music up for however long I manage to remain awake.

Well, at least we won't lose in extra innings tonight.

Oh so that's one of those two out hits I've been hearing so much about. I wasn't sure what they looked like.

It's amazing how increasing the number of base-runners decreases our chances of scoring.

Getting down 3 (or 4) Zip in the 1st inning -- as they've done multiple times in recent weeks -- has proven to be a poor strategy for winning baseball games.

This is not the time of year for moral victories or 'hang with em' shouts of encouragement.

Is Dave Roberts about to over-manage his way out of a victory?

J. Turner looking almost human these days.

Conforto - Davis - Villar for the win

Two dominant 8th inning relief stints, by Csstro and then by Vesia (who i never heard of prior to just now).

Aaron throws Bellinger for a Loup

Right time to pull him (IMHO of course)

Just 54 pitches thru five for (the good) Walker.

First hit of the game for either side. 4 complete innings in < 1:00 Is that even permitted these days?