Frayed Knot

=41Forever post_id=23778 time=1570218143 user_id=69]Tonight they go from the Mall of America's team to All of America's team.

Sooner or later the Twinkies have GOT to have a good series, right? I mean even the stRangers beat the Yanx in the post-season (2010 ALCS 4-2) following a near similar, even if somewhat shorter, record of post-season ineptness. 1999 ALDS 0-3 1998 ALDS 0-3 1996 ALDS 1-3

=Centerfield post_id=23777 time=1570218138 user_id=65] I imagine he'd be there to overrule glitches. Balls that bounce and then cross over the plate. Called ball four that's right down the middle.

Astros fans have got to be sick of consistently getting the worst time slot even with their recent success. In this case it's a 1:00 (local time) on a weekday and they get that one every single time or at least until the number of teams whittle down enough. One can almost imagine the conversations at the network: Let's see now for our prime time slot: Do we program the Yanx, the Sawx, or that team from Houston whose name I can't remember right now?

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=23749 time=1570199327 user_id=68] And will home plate umps be replaced entirely, or will they remain to call safe/out plays at home, and to decide whether a batter checked his swing or not, or whether he fouled tipped the ball as opposed to completely whiffing on it? And come to think of it, as I'm writing this post, I doubt that the home ump will be replaced, at least in my lifetime. MLB will simply install a robot ball/strike caller when the time comes.

JDD is the dark horse by a Secretariat at Belmont margin.

And now the REAL part of the playoffs start. Game 1, in Atlanta, the 97-65 Braves host the 91-71 Cardinals; 5:02 first pitch (or so they claim) on TBS with (I assume) the same trio as the WC game (Ernie Johnson, Jeff Francouer*, and our own Ronnie D.). Mid-season import Dallas Keuchel [19 starts, 8-8, 3.75, 1.37] goes for Atlanta; Miles Mikolas [9-14, 4.16, 1.22] will wear the Birds on the Bat uni Braves won 4 of 6 during the reg season The Braves, for all their recent-ish history and their overall pain-in-the-ass-ed-ness to us, have won exactly ONE playoff series this century and even that one was so long ago that the team they beat (in the first series of the first year of the century, NLDS 2001) is no longer part of the National League (swept Houston 3-0). They followed up that win with a loss to the eventual WS Champ Diamondbacks in five games and since then have lost SEVEN** times in the opening (NLDS) round plus in their only time as part of the WC play-in game (to the Cards in 2012) * Francouer has been doing Braves games on TV for just a short time (full time only this year I believe) but was somehow chosen as the replacement for Dennis Eckersley who had to drop out with some family issue I wonder this makes Tom Glavine feels as, in addition to being the bigger name, he's also been in the ATL booth for a longer time than 'Frenchy'. **2002 to the Giants 3-2 2003 to the Cubs 3-2 2004 to the Astros 3-2 2005 to the Astros 3-1 2010 to the Giants 3-1 2013 to the Dodgers 3-1 2018 to the Dodgers 3-1

And another team joins, and another team joins, another team joins the search ANGELS Brad Ausmus 2021 Oct ‘18 Fired 9/30/19 after one season ASTROS AJ Hinch 2018 Sep ‘14 Signed a Four year extension in Sept ‘18 ATHLETICS Bob Melvin 2021 Jun ‘11 Two year extension on 10/18 BLUE JAYS Charlie Montoyo 2021 + 2022 Option Oct ‘18 BRAVES Brian Snitker 2020 + Option for 2021 May ‘16 Extension for 2020/2021 on Oct ‘18 BREWERS Craig Counsel 2020 May ‘15 CARDINALS Mike Schildt 2020 7/14/18 Hired as interim, signed extension thru 2020 on 8/28/18 CUBS Joe Maddon 2019 Oct ‘14 Will Not Return DBACKS Torey Luvello 2019 Nov ‘16 DODGERS Dave Roberts 2022 Nov ‘15 Extension thru 2022 on Dec ‘18 GIANTS Bruce Bochy 2019 Oct ‘06 Retired - Sep '19 INDIANS Terry Francona 2020 Oct ‘12 MARINERS Scott Servais 2019 + ?? Oct ‘15 Signed multi-year extension in July 2018 MARLINS Don Mattingly 2021 + 2022 Option Nov ‘15 Extension thru 2021/22 in Sep ‘19 METS =#0000FF]Mickey Callaway 2020 + Option for 2021 Oct ‘17 =#0000FF]Fired 10/3/19 NATIONALS Dave Martinez 2020 + Option for 2021 Oct ‘17 ORIOLES Brandon Hyde ???? Dec ‘18 PADRES Rod Barajas 2019 9/21/19 Hired as interim replacement for Andy Green - Sep ‘19 PHILLIES Gabe Kapler 2020 Oct ‘17 PIRATES Clint Hurdle 2021 Nov ‘10 Fired - Sep '19 RANGERS Chris Woodward 2021 + 2022 Option Sep ‘18 RAYS Kevin Cash 2019 Dec ‘14 RED SOX Alex Cora 2020 + Option for 2021 Nov ‘17 REDS David Bell 2021 + 2022 Option Oct ‘18 ROCKIES Bud Black 2022 Nov ‘16 Signed Extension thru 2022 - Feb ‘19 ROYALS Ned Yost 2019 May ‘10 Retired at end of 2019 TIGERS Ron Gardenhire 2020 Oct ‘17 TWINS Rocco Baldelli ??? Oct ‘18 WHITE SOX Rick Renteria 2019 Oct ‘16 YANKEES Aaron Boone 2020 Dec ‘17

My only problem in rooting for Tampa is that I don't trust anyone to beat the Yanx except for Houston (and I'm wavering on that one too). I mean, if you assured me in advance that THIS was the year the Twins will finally break through then, sure, why not.

So if this score doesn't change, what does that make Oakland in win-or-go-home games ... Like oh for their last 30? This will be three straight WC game losses (2014 & 2018) plus losses in every ultimate post-season series (save 1989) since their the 'three-peat' WS teams of the early '70s - most of those to the Yanx. oe: and just as I type this the network flashes a note on the screen that the Oakland record in a 'Winner Takes All' game is eight straight losses. But in games where it's just the A's needing to win or go home the streak is even longer than that.

=LWFS post_id=23568 time=1570064433 user_id=84] Make that 3 HRs, as Yandy Diaz smacks his second of the night.

=LWFS post_id=23556 time=1570060789 user_id=84] It's also possible that he-- perhaps somewhat misguidedly-- may have been trying to get into a rundown to guarantee the go-ahead run scored.

=LWFS post_id=23556 time=1570060789 user_id=84] It's also possible that he-- perhaps somewhat misguidedly-- may have been trying to get into a rundown to guarantee the go-ahead run scored.

Travis d'Arnaud: Clean-up hitter for a post-season baseball team

Quadrupling his HR rate [2.3/9 in 2018 vs 0.6 in 2019] while also upping his hit rate by 80% [9.0 vs 5.0] and his walk rate by over 60% [3.4 vs 2.1] is way beyond merely pitching in bad luck, even if the K-rate remained virtually unchanged.

This would apply to both halves, not just the second, but at a +54 for the season you can see what a huge chunk those 37 extra runs allowed just by Diaz & Familia* represent. +54 suddenly becomes +91 and who knows how many more wins depending on which games those runs disappear from. * over and above what was reasonable to expect from them as per the 'Back of the Pen' thread

Couple of post-mortems: - It's the 'DUH!' statement of the year to suggest that Grisham needs to play that ball better in RF, but particularly so because the Brews were in a no-doubles set-up meaning he was far too deep to even think about throwing a pinch-runner out at the plate. The game was going to be tied anyway so his one job there was to dial back the aggressive charge and get the pill safely back to the infield. - Soto getting throw out at 3rd went uncalled by both the national TV and radio feeds until finally mentioned pretty much as a meaningless trifle after the fact. But as we well know (and the Nats do too) closing out one run leads is hardly a given -- about 20% are blown across the board while two-run leads are about half that -- so you'd hate to blow a chance at adding to it. None of the replays showed Soto running but it seemed like he should have had plenty of time to make 3rd so I'm thinking maybe some in-play celebrating was going on. Turns out that it didn't come back to bite them but I was sort of hoping it would. Imagine what THAT would have done tacked onto the Nats' playoff history!

=Gwreck post_id=23489 time=1569985227 user_id=56] Can't believe they didn't bring in Doolittle to close.

=LWFS post_id=23485 time=1569985067 user_id=84] A three-run single. Yikes, Trent Grisham.

On the subject of dumb fans: - why do folks in the front row feel the need to stand up during tense moments? You do realize that it causes everyone else to NEED to stand up simply because you choose to! - I saw a lot of ($10?, $15?) beers going airborne following the Soto hit. It you're that anxious to throw away money, heave a few bills in my direction, will ya.

NYM = 7th best in NL in RS, 0.10 R/G better than league average 10th in NL in RA although, oddly, there they were also better than league average, by 0.16

It's not like early-game long balls with Scherzer on the mound are an unknown occurrence.

I have no real point with this, I just stumbled across them while looking up something else and wanted to see how the standing would look if done this way. NL DODGERS +273 NATIONALS +149 BRAVES +112 CARDINALS +102 CUBS +97 DIAMONDBACKS +70 METS +54 BREWERS +3 REDS -10 PHILLIES -20 GIANTS -95 PADRES -107 ROCKIES -123 PIRATES -153 MARLINS -193 AL HOUSTON +280 YANKEES +204 TWINS +185 ATHLETICS +165 RAYS +113 INDIANS +112 RED SOX +73 RANGERS -68 ANGELS -99 BLUE JAYS -102 WHITE SOX -124 MARINERS -135 ROYALS -178 ORIOLES -252 TIGERS -333 So what stands out? - that one team in each league are clear stand-outs - that the Brewers were a should-have-been sub-.500 team when they went on a 21-7 finish (most of it without their best player) - the lack of a middle class in the AL. 13 of the 15 teams were better than +100 or worse than -99. Only 7 of the 15 in the NL were outside those posts - and then the bottom of the AL; two teams, nearly three, with a worse run-diff than the Marlins, and five of the bottom seven

Can't tell the managers without a scorecard. ANGELS Brad Ausmus 2021 Oct ‘18 Fired 9/30/19 after one season ASTROS AJ Hinch 2018 Sep ‘14 Signed a Four year extension in Sept ‘18 ATHLETICS Bob Melvin 2021 Jun ‘11 Two year extension on 10/18 BLUE JAYS Charlie Montoyo 2021 + 2022 Option Oct ‘18 BRAVES Brian Snitker 2020 + Option for 2021 May ‘16 Extension for 2020/2021 on Oct ‘18 BREWERS Craig Counsel 2020 May ‘15 CARDINALS Mike Schildt 2020 7/14/18 Hired as interim, signed extension thru 2020 on 8/28/18 CUBS Joe Maddon 2019 Oct ‘14 Will Not Return DBACKS Torey Luvello 2019 Nov ‘16 DODGERS Dave Roberts 2022 Nov ‘15 Extension thru 2022 on Dec ‘18 GIANTS Bruce Bochy 2019 Oct ‘06 Retired - Sep '19 INDIANS Terry Francona 2020 Oct ‘12 MARINERS Scott Servais 2019 + ?? Oct ‘15 Signed multi-year extension in July 2018 MARLINS Don Mattingly 2021 + 2022 Option Nov ‘15 Extension thru 2021/22 in Sep ‘19 METS Mickey Callaway 2020 + Option for 2021 Oct ‘17 NATIONALS Dave Martinez 2020 + Option for 2021 Oct ‘17 ORIOLES Brandon Hyde ???? Dec ‘18 PADRES Rod Barajas 2019 9/21/19 Hired as interim replacement for Andy Green - Sep ‘19 PHILLIES Gabe Kapler 2020 Oct ‘17 PIRATES Clint Hurdle 2021 Nov ‘10 Fired - Sep '19 RANGERS Chris Woodward 2021 + 2022 Option Sep ‘18 RAYS Kevin Cash 2019 Dec ‘14 RED SOX Alex Cora 2020 + Option for 2021 Nov ‘17 REDS David Bell 2021 + 2022 Option Oct ‘18 ROCKIES Bud Black 2022 Nov ‘16 Signed Extension thru 2022 - Feb ‘19 ROYALS Ned Yost 2019 May ‘10 Retired at end of 2019 TIGERS Ron Gardenhire 2020 Oct ‘17 TWINS Rocco Baldelli ??? Oct ‘18 WHITE SOX Rick Renteria 2019 Oct ‘16 YANKEES Aaron Boone 2020 Dec ‘17 Latest move (as in: today) was Brad Ausmus being dropped just one year into a three year deal. Rumor already has it that the Angels are sweet on Maddon and it would surprise no one if talks were already going on prior to the season ending. Also Clint Hurdle being kicked to the curb after nine seasons on the job in Pittsburgh.

The Nieuwenhuis bolt was more a great moment in what had been a grim game as compared to the similar Cabrerablast which came as the final coup de grace in what had been a wildly exciting back and forth affair.