Frayed Knot

On the plus side, it was only a ten pitch inning.

What do the Mets mean by "second opinion ": a second MRI or a second opinion of the first MRI? Rodney Dangerfield: I went to the doctor and he told me I was fat. I told him I wanted a second opinion so he said, 'OK, you're ugly too'

If nothing else, the offense has been improving. They spent the early part of the season DFL in RS/G, numbers that were brought down, mostly anyway, by the putrid RiSP ABs. Those numbers were unsustainable and had to improve just by accident if nothing else, which they did and it was enough to leap us past three teams anyway. Plus we've seen the two big FA signees show signs of life since the early weeks and then there's the multiple missing men who may start to reappear soon. The pitching has been at or near the top all along so that one feels more 'real'. It doesn't mean the number will stay where it is but the place among NL teams seems less likely to plummet multiple slots. We've also gone from a record which was multiple games better (like 4 or 5) than the Pythag Proj which is tough to do so early in the season. Now it's down to two games up ("should be" 33-27) which, particularly with a larger sample size, is more like a rounding error and suggest the idea that they're playing at or above projections ever since.

-- Now 10 games over .500 - a nice little mini-milestone as we (finally!) hit the 60 game mark. All others have played between 65 & 70 -- Currently the third-best record in the NL behind only the Giants (4.0 G) & Dodgers (2.0 G) as this recent stretch has moved us past SDP, CHC, MIL -- Five games in front in the NL East which is also the largest lead of any division leader [ChiSox = +4.5] 2021 vs 2020 Now that the number of games played is temporarily equal, what we see is a tale of two very different seasons, starting with 35-25 vs 26-34. But it's in the RS/RA where things get wacky. RA/G [3.48] is the best in the NL. RS/G [3.88] is 12th ahead of only MIA, WAS, PIT The 2021 NYM have scored 55 Fewer Runs than their counterparts from a year ago, but also allowed 99 fewer Part of this likely reflects a league-wide trend, only I suspect the Mets are more extreme than most. We're also now within two games of our Pythagorean Projected Record [33-27] a gap which has been shrinking since earlier in the year when we were posting (slightly) winning records despite a negative RS/RA tally.

The leagues included are: NEGRO AMERICAN LG (1937-1948) NEGRO NATIONAL LG II (1933-1948) EAST-WEST LG (1932) NEGRO SOUTHERN LG (1932) NEGRO NATIONAL LG (1920-1931) AMERICAN NEGRO LG (1929) EASTERN COLORED LG (1923-1928) BB-REF also redesigned their front page to make room for the announcement which has the added bonus of cleaning things up a bit from the jumbled mess it's looked like most recently.

I recall Sid being a terrible fielder. Or maybe 'clueless' is a better term.

The Dom/Pete HR celebration, which we've seen a bunch of times now, is totally dorky

More pitches than you'd prefer to see (>50 thru 3) ... but that's a bit like looking for blemishes on the Mona Lisa

There's your run Jacob

[oldman]When I played and we got hit in the ear, we got up and ran to 3rd. The players are such wimps these days[/oldman]

Stock might be the one guy in the league who can give JdG a run for his money in the nightly mph comparison* they do every night. He can drop triple digits on ya. * I just realized that I have no idea who the sponsor of that gig is (used to be Cholula but that was like four years ago) which means it's probably not money well spent

=Centerfield post_id=68058 time=1623850449 user_id=65] I have no memory of Willie Harris as a Met. I remember him making great catches against us as a skinny National. Dude put on some weight.

And speaking of two-out 8th inning HRs, Arizona, losers of (I believe) 11 straight and 20 straight on the road, jumped out to a 7-0 lead in San Fran last night. They lost 9-8 It was Mike Yastrzemski with the two-out 8th inning Grand Slam which provided the final four SFG runs. Jose Altuve hit a walk-off 10th inning GS to beat Texas 6-3 Braves lost, Phils lost, Marlins lost, Nats won (although to the Pirates so that barely counts)

Edgy MD wrote: One of the problems with pinch-runners is that sometimes, the guy doesn't feel like he's just supposed to get around the bases more gracefully and a few steps faster than the guy he's replacing, but actually feels like it's his job to make a play. Marizzy for PotG. Except that Marisnick was sent by his 3B coach although it took at least two replays before GKR realized this, they first reported that he had run the sign. So, if there was an added level of forced optimism, that's on our old nemesis Willie Harris rather than Marisnick. btw, not just a great throw by Guillorme but he also got rid of it immediately. That's either great instincts or possibly good coaching by Lindor (or both) as neither one of them took for granted that the runner was going to be held at 3rd. Even one arm pump or one of those split-second delays until you realize - 'Oh shit, he's going!!' - would have been enough to flip the call.

=Gwreck post_id=68035 time=1623810438 user_id=56] 1. Would have hit for Lugo. 2. Would have been fine going to Familia for the 9th.

BoSox jump out to an early 5-0 lead in Atlanta. Braves fight back to tie it at 7 but Alex Verdugo just made it 10-7 Boston with a 2-out/3R HR in top 8th

dinosaur jesus wrote: He wasn't out by that much. I mean, he was clearly out, and it was a dumb play, but his hand was like three inches from the plate when McCann tagged him. That's what I'm getting at. A merely good throw or a slightly slow tag and the Cubs pull that gamble off despite the dumbpth of it all.

And after all that -- bad send, perfect throw by Gee-Or-May -- it was a pretty damn close play at home.

We can dance, we can dance Everybody look at your hance!

Oxygen Magnesium!!!!

Doesn't Sogard have to go back on tour with the Jayhawks soon?

And there it cost Rizzo a safe

Edgy MD wrote: I didn't think Rizzo did such a great job there. He let it drop but didn't keep it in front of him, and then didn't get the lead runner. He went for the easiest DP and the Cubs had it in the bag ... until they didn't.

Sooner or later, those fault for NYM bats hitting Contreras behind the plate starts to fall on Contreras.

=Fman99 post_id=68006 time=1623808015 user_id=86] Lugo was lights out in the 8th, so, naturally, Luis has May warming up for the 9th. Despite the fact that May looked like chewed gum yesterday.