Frayed Knot

McCullers has been injured -- seemingly forever -- as he's appeared in just 8 games this season and a total of 32 since the start of 2022. But maybe he's ready to come back (hasn't pitched since mid-May) so the Astros are looking to cut ties with their former 1st round (41st overall) draft pick and the Tigers are hoping for short term contributions in a year with a winnable division and a weak AL overall. McCullers will be a FA this winter.

But then he had that weird moment in the post-game locker room interviews where someone asked him about the game (the WS Game 7 clincher for the Nats) and his answer was that he didn't think it was his place to answer because once the game was over it meant that he was technically no longer a member of the team. If any Astros fan heard that it was quite obvious that there was a snowball's chance in a Houston summer that he was coming back. A Yanqui fan all his life (despite being a SoCal kid his family drove his 11 y/o self to Phoenix to attend a one of the 2001 WS games -- and he has a picture to prove it) his next move was likely the most obvious one ever.

I remember when we used to talk about the post-ASG Wednesday as the longest day of the year as there was no baseball scheduled and that was before they made it even longer by making the break a four-day affair. And now, when we get a break by being in the one game that only takes a three day break, I find myself feeling like the break this year wasn't nearly long enough.

That tends to happen when the post is made on a word sheet of some sort then cut 'n pasted onto the forum. So either the reader needs to switch to dark mode to read it or the poster can color his post at the source before transferring it here. Every once in a while you'll see me put up a thread with Magenta type which is a clue that I wrote it on a word doc before moving it here. I wouldn't have guessed Cole because I figured he wasn't in Houston long enough. But the Astros got their money's worth with him (even if he mentally checked out of the team about five minutes after the 2019 WS was over) as he made 65 starts and pitched 413 innings in those two seasons AND turned in by far the best K-rate of his career while he was there.. - five seasons in Pittsburgh = 8.4 K/9; six w/the Yanx = 10.3/9; And in between there were those two seasons w/the 'Stros where he put up 13.1 Ks//9 which is just honking ridiculous for a starter to maintain for that long, but 400+ innings at just shy of a K+1/2 per is how you get over 600 in such a short time.

Not that the 98th game of the season really the start of the second half, but hopefully it's a restart of something. This game was moved up from Friday to Thursday so as to give ESPN a stand-alone game because they really, really wanted one. Actually I suspect it's so most of their employees (y'know, aside from the few baseball guys who remain at the station) can spend an extra day in Las Vegas following the ESPY awards tonight [aka: the Four Letter Network's annual salute to themselves] And, btw, who but ESPN would have an hour long preview show for themselves. What do they do in that, ask each anchor who he's wearing? Ask them to twirl on the red carpet while wondering if that's his wife or daughter on his arm? Christian Scott faces Aaron Nola who is basically their only pitcher NOT having a good season. Of course that didn't stop him from holding us to two earned over five back in mid-June, although the Mets later tallied three runs in the 8th to win the game 6-4. So perhaps it's better to say that he's having a rough go of it this season against Good teams. So it's Thursday at 7:10 exclusively on ESPN, followed by an off day Friday, then Saturday at 4:05 and Sunday at 1:35, both on SNY

...

Jim Kaat

So hopefully we'll see some of these names on the big club three or four years from now when maybe the team isn't dwelling in the cellar. Round 5 / Pick 152: Luke McNeillie, RHP U Florida, 3/17/05 6 / 181: Alex Petrovic, RHP, Auburn, 5/27/04 7 / 210: Aidan Keenan: RHP, Stanford, 3/7/05 8 / 240: Landon Koenig, RHP, Mississippi, 11/23/04 9 / 270: Ryan Tayman, C, R/R, Cal Poly, 8/26/05 10 / 300: Nate Isler, RHP, Dartmouth, 10/25/04 11 / 330: Kuhio Aloy, OF, R/R, 7/13/05 12 / 330: AJ Krodel, RHP, UC Santa Barbara, 5/11/05 13 / 390: Jacob Madrid, C, HS/CA, 11/02/07 14 / 420 15 / 450 16 / 480 17 / 510 18 / 540 19 / 570 20 / 600

Your 2026 New York Mets: Finding new ways to lose on a daily basis. Today it was: Bloop, Pop-up, E-6, Walk, Walk, Bloop ... THEN the double play! That they weren't going to score in the bottom of the 10th, even with the Gift runner, was a foregone conclusion.

Joe MiQing

Ask not for whom relieves the starter, the Tolle's replaced by Bello

Jose Oquendo

Just pathetic. A couple of singles and 0 for everything with runners on.

New Rule: If a batter challenges a strike and the graphic shows the the ball was entirely within the zone then that batter is banned form challenging any more pitches for an entire month.

Fact check on the Peyton Bonds info above: Peyton is the Nephew of Barry, the son of Barry's brother Bobby II, and of course the grandson of Barry I

The #90 overall pick by the SF Giants is Peyton Bonds, a 6' 5" R/R OF from Rutgers. And, yes, his nickname is 'Son of' Two picks later the Mets get their 2nd pick of the day and use it to select Aiden Robbins: OF from U Texas, 21 y/o, R/R, 6' 2" / 205

Leadoff runner on 2nd ... and then no ball leaves the IF for the rest of the inning. It's a little known fact but, in his HS Yearbook, Francisco Alvarez was voted the boy most likely to start an AB with an 0-2 count. I'll cut and paste the entry as soon as I get a minute.

Basically sitting out this series (or a big chunk of it) gives Bichette almost a full week to rest and heal all his owies.

Carson Wiggins, RHP, U of Arkansas

Somebody good.

And mountain lions. And intruders. Former USWNT soccer star (and cutie) Alex Morgan has joined the ever-growing ranks of ex-athletes pimping on-line sports gambling sites.

Fell asleep early and so missed the majority of this one. Scanned the box score this morning to see that they: - had 10 hits but 8 of them were singles ... cuz that's what they do - hit a HR, but made sure there was no one on base at the time ... cuz that's what they do - went 0-fer-8 w/RiSP ... cuz that's what they do - hit into two GiDPs, both coming immediately after getting the leadoff runner on ... cuz that's what they do

I just found out this was an APPLE+ game too. Well that suxxxxxx!!

Despite a season with a lot of one-step-forward/two-steps back for the Sox, they have won their last five straight even without Willson Contreras who is their only real hitting threat. But even that's only gotten them to a 43 - 48 record and, once you get past Contreras's 163 OPS+, CF Cedanne Rafaela (117) and RF Wilyer Aybar (113) are the only regulars in triple digits. Doesn't help them that neither Trevor Story or last year's rookie sensation Anthony Roman have seen the field since May.