Frayed Knot

Edgy MD wrote: Holy shit, Yonder Alonso is still in the league. He was one of those from the 2008 '1st base' draft - 7 of the first 23 picks: 3rd - Eric Hosmer 7th - Yonder Alonso 11th - Justin Smoak 13th - Brett Wallace 17th - David Cooper 18th - Ike Davis 23rd - Allan (no relation) Dykstra Don't think we're likely to see that again.

Got a break on the first strike three call to Rosario ... and then the EXACT same thing happened anyway.

It would help down this stretch if Conforto were, y'know, good.

Unless the ump specifically signaled 'Safe', you've got no argument. And even if the ump did, I'm not sure what could be done about it.

They do double steals. We do double plays.

Twice now in this game they've left the sacks drunk.

With Rene Rivera due up in a crucial situation, Mickey panic'd when he should have Panik'd

53 suddenly looking more feasible than a few days ago.

=41Forever post_id=22241 time=1568838332 user_id=69] Who is Sam Hilliard, and how is he hitting half of his season home run totals in this game?

This is, perhaps, the biggest reason why MLB is still in this stupid state where the best relievers are reserved for the ninth inning "closer" role and why the stupid save stat still carries so much weight ... yadda yadda ... And so it goes. The NFL has a somewhat similar, though considerably worse, system. Once an NFL player is "franchised" it effectively negates the fact that he otherwise qualifies for FA-gency. To compensate, said player is to be guaranteed a top salary (Top 5, I think) among those at his position. The snag is that, like the set-up/closer roles, a player's position isn't always so neatly defined. So what an NFL team can do is label the player at a position where the top salaries are lower, even if that position wasn't that player's primary spot! And, as usual in the NFL, players who don't think they were labeled correctly can challenge the league's decision by appealing it ... to the league that made it. And I'm pretty sure that 'The Shield' is undefeated in those fights. Back to baseball, one would think that the arbitration board would be a little less beholden to tradition but I guess it's kind of a Supreme Court 'Stare Decisis' kind of deal: allowing past precedent to rule heavily in present and future decisions. Betances & his agent took the position that the label shouldn't matter, but not only did they lose that argument but then the team essentially publicly berated him for daring to try. IIRC, not only did Randy Levine wail about what he labeled as 'a violation of the sanctity of the arbitration process' (whatever the fuck that means) but then added that Betances comparing himself to a closer was as random as he (Levine) calling himself an astronaut.

I feel bad for Betances cuz he not only got screwed over via the arbitration process but got mocked by the Yanx for daring to suggest that he was worth closer money while never officially being THE closer even as he filled-in at that spot often enough to rack up 36 saves over the years, was often the best reliever on their team, and was usually the one they leaned on hardest. He averaged 70+ appearances and 80-some innings per/year; has a career 2.36 ERA/1.04 WHIP; ERA+ numbers always over 150 and twice over 250 and was a four-time All-Star But because he never had the word C-L-O-S-E-R stamped on his forehead, the arbitration process stuck him in with the middle relievers while NYY Prez/resident asshole Randy Levine publicly berated both Betances and his agent for 'making a mockery' of the arbitration process for wanting to compare himself to the league's top relievers. iow, he didn't "know his place" and how dare he even try. So now here he is finally reaching FA-gency and getting to determine what his true salary would be. But he's going to have to find out while coming off a season-long injury and heading into the off-season with another one and is now on the cusp of turning 32 y/o (Mar 2020) just as older players aren't cashing in on the FA process. He SHOULD be a prime example for the player's union of a guy not getting paid while he's young and good only to find out that he's also not going to be paid on the back half either.

I feel bad for Betances cuz he not only got screwed over via the arbitration process but got mocked by the Yanx for daring to suggest that he was worth closer money while never officially being THE closer even as he filled-in at that spot often enough to rack up 36 saves over the years, was often the best reliever on their team, and was usually the one they leaned on hardest. He averaged 70+ appearances and 80-some innings per/year; has a career 2.36 ERA/1.04 WHIP; ERA+ numbers always over 150 and twice over 250 and was a four-time All-Star But because he never had the word C-L-O-S-E-R stamped on his forehead, the arbitration process stuck him in with the middle relievers while NYY Prez/resident asshole Randy Levine publicly berated both Betances and his agent for 'making a mockery' of the arbitration process for wanting to compare himself to the league's top relievers. iow, he didn't "know his place" and how dare he even try. So now here he is finally reaching FA-gency and getting to determine what his true salary would be. But he's going to have to find out while coming off a season-long injury and heading into the off-season with another one and is now on the cusp of turning 32 y/o (Mar 2020) just as older players aren't cashing in on the FA process. He SHOULD be a prime example for the player's union of a guy not getting paid while he's young and good only to find out that he's also not going to be paid on the back half either.

The AL is a mess this year. It's unbalanced the way it was back in the '80s where several real good teams and several bad ones left the league all stretched out, as opposed to the NL in those days which was much more scrunched towards the middle. This year the AL is back to that spread out scenario which, when added to the IL ass-kicking they're getting, it's like the worst of both worlds and leaves them no 'middle class'. Two teams have already lost 100 (DET, BAL), one more is almost sure to (KC = 96) with a fourth still possible (TOR = 91), while there are two teams (NYY, HOU) sitting at 99 with four more at 89 and above. It's like someone started a baseball season and the NBA broke out. In this year's NL, only the Marlins (currently 98) will lose 100, while the Dodgers (98), and possibly the Braves (93), are not only the only ones who will/might get to 100 wins, they're the only ones assured of reaching 90 In the middle class, ten NL teams currently sit between 69 & 88 wins, but in the AL only BOS (79) and TEX (73) do

You guys forget, we never win deGrom starts anyway.

The sons also rise -- Mike Yastrzemski HR'd for the Giants in his 2nd ever AB vs Boston on Tuesday night. It was the first Yastrzemski HR in Fenway Park since July 31st 1983 -- Cavan Biggio wasn't even guaranteed any more ABs in Baltimore last night. He was scheduled to hit 6th for the Jays in the 9th inning of a tie game where he'd get introduced with that most annoying of announcer cliches: 'Just a triple short of a cycle'. So after a two-out single followed by a 9-pitch walk to Bo Bichette got Biggio his 5th AB of the game ... he tripled. The Biggios join Gary & Daryle Ward as the only father/son duo to hit for ML cycles.

=kcmets post_id=22192 time=1568774400 user_id=53] Just sitting on 'whaled' like it was a 77 mph hanger there, weren't you...

=nymr83 post_id=22193 time=1568774772 user_id=54] Ramos with the gun down!

Met bats finally come alive in the 6th inning and just whaled on Melville. And, yes, I've been waiting all game to use that one

Met bats finally come alive in the 6th inning and just whaled on Melville. And, yes, I've been waiting all game to use that one

=Fman99 post_id=22178 time=1568768380 user_id=86] This pitcher is very red. Did someone embarrass him before the game started? He's a splotchy sumbitch.

Not only are we making some very mediocre pitchers (and mediocre is perhaps a generous description) look pretty darn good lately, but tonight all three NYM base runners have been instantly erased by DPs. Melville has faced the minimum thru five innings ... in Coors Freakin' Field!!!

Benjamin Grimm wrote: My mind keeps going back to the thought that the Mets would be in much better shape right now if they had just won [CROSSOUT]one[/CROSSOUT] four or five of the [CROSSOUT]three[/CROSSOUT] six games against the Braves and Cubs at Citi Field a couple of weeks ago. Fixed it for you.

"But there will be a time limit on replay reviews" has replaced "the check's in the mail" as the biggest lie on the planet.

Edgy MD wrote: I never thought much of Bud Black's baseball ways, but he's been managing for a long time. And would have been the Nationals manager but they basically offered him minimum wage so he told them to take a hike. They wound up with Matt Williams and that turned out to be a disaster, both from a strategic and a management aspect.

So while we're out getting on our Rocky Mountain high, here are the important other series that may or may not affect our fate. - Nats head out to St Louis for a three-game set starting tonight - Cubs host the stumbling Reds for three - Brewers host the Padres for a four game set - Phillies head to Atlanta starting tomorrow And, btw, BB-Ref is putting on their standings a tiny skull-and-crossbones image next to teams that have been eliminated from post-season. In the NL it's only Miami, Pitt, and the Rox so far, but more than half the AL has the S&C on their line: TOR, BAL, CHW, KCR, DET, TEX, SEA, LAA which clearly reflects the unbalanced nature of the AL (really good teams but lots of really bad ones). Also, the NL long ago clinched the season IL season series, 158-126 to date (.556 win pct). This translates to the NL winning inter-league games this season like a 90-win team while the AL is the equivalent of a 72 win game.