Frayed Knot

So Leiper was aggressive with no outs but passive with two outs. (and a fast runner)

Mets send eight to the plate in top 1 ... and manage to score the mathematical minimum possible. I'm not sure that Robert got the outs wrong. He appeared to duck the liner, or at least pause so as to not risk running into it. But then the coach seemed to make the premature decision to hold Robert while failing to read that the LF'er wasn't even looking to throw home.

There was a clash of the Titans at YSIII today as the AL best 5-1 Yanx hosted the NL best 5-1 Marlins for their home opener. The Fish got smoked. Pirates called up #1 overall prospect Konnor Griffin for their home opener today after just 500 total minor league ABs and less than 100 of them above A ball. The 1st round/9th overall 2024 draft* pick out of a Mississippi HS is a 6' 3"/222 R/R SS who doesn't turn 20 until three weeks from now. And, seeing as how he was called up just a week into the season, he'll still play enough (assuming he doesn't get sent down for any length of time) to get credit for a full season so his FA-gency won't be delayed (iow: NOT like the Cubs did to Kris Bryant) although that's likely a moot point as there's talk (not yet official afaik) of an immediate multi-year contract. He seems to have about 80 family members in the stands who have seen him hit an RBI double, walk, strikeout and gave him a Standing O for his successful ABS challenge. * he's not the first from his draft class to reach the majors, but he's the only high schooler in the top 10 so the others are all around three years older than him

He got unlucky in a few spots, but there's no disguising 19 batters faced with only 8 retired.

One trend from last year continues: Lindor and Soto never getting hits/on base in the same inning. When one hits the other doesn't and vice versa.

I'm hanging around for three innings or until they give up 17 runs ... whichever comes first.

Oh yeah, both SFG and, to a lesser extent, Oakland have long played the majority of their Saturday games during the day. This was especially true back in the Windlestick Park days when night games in SF were the equivalent to a Navy Seal survival test but it's still so now according to your stats there (9 day / 5 night) even if by a smaller ratio than before; in the past those D/N games might have been more like a 12/2 split So I just figured that a weekend series v the Giants meant a probable 2/2 split in D/N games, particularly in April, but, alas, it was Knot 2 B. By contrast, the SoCal teams have long played their Saturdays at night almost exclusively and long before it started to become the fashion in the east. Even back when the Padres were perennial losers barely drawing flies in that overgrown football stadium out where Interstates 5 & 8 cross, Saturday nights were often their biggest crowds of the week. No one wants to go to a ball game in the day time in LA or SD, they're all at the beach. And of course this means fewer late night games in the second half, but it still makes for a rough stretch now, especially since the Mets are on the road to 7 of the 10 West Division teams this year and two of the home series are with the ones only one time zone away (HOU & TEX). The only true PTZ team we skip visiting this year is West Sacramento. We hit the other five plus Arizona which is an honorary PTZ team once DST starts.

So tomorrow starts a long slog for both the players and us. This current road trip is the first of five the Mets make between now and June 7th, four of which will take them out west for at least part of the trek. So over the next two+ months (67 days) they’ve got 59 games, 32 of which will be on the road, 22 of them in either the Pacific or Mountain time zones, and 15 of those 22 will be late night starts here in the east. So more than 1/4 of the next 59 games (36% of the entire schedule) will be 9:30 EDT or later starts. There will be no days off prior to the first game of each west coast series although the day before each trip will at least all be day games. There will be a (mandated) day off following each trip as they return east. April 2, 3, 4, 5 (Thu - Sun) in SF: N, N, N*, D (4:05) April 13, 14, 15 (Mon - Wed) @ LAD: N, N, N May 1, 2, 3 (Fri - Sun) @LAA: N, N, D (4:07) Yeah, good move by scheduling two trips to LA two weeks apart rather than all at once. May 4, 5, 6 (Mon - Wed) @ COL: N, N, D (3:10) May 8, 9, 10 (Fri - Sun) @ ARZ: N, N**, D (4:10) Jun 4, 5, 6 (Mon - Wed) @ SEA: N, N, D (3:40) Jun 5 - 8 (Fri - Sun) @ SD:: N, N, D (4:10) *The Saturday game in SF suxx cuz the NoCal teams (or, I guess, Team-singular going forward) traditionally play their Saturday games in the afternoon but not here for some reason. **4:15 local start/7:15 EDT so we catch a bit of a break here

So you're saying they got a fab five (and 1/3) out of Freddie?

Longest active on-base streak: Shohei Ohtani, 36 games Longest active scoreless innings streak: Shohei Ohtani, 22-2/3 innings Both extend back to last season obviously, but the fact they're both held by the same guy might be just as obvious. And if our game ever gets off the runway it'll be a good day for scoreboard watching: 15 games today, 14 of them are day games with only KC not getting with the program.

So I guess you're saying we shouldn't pass this one over?

That was the group that recorded their album at Electric Lovelady Studios, right?

He's got one of their three hits tonight.

Except in those innings when they don't even get the first hit.

Cuz they were out of sushi?

The season to date has been the art of never getting more than one hit per inning.

Mary Leaky found these very early impressions.

Seeing as how I was the guy doing the most flag-waving for full-on Robo-Ump (which I'm still convinced is coming, it's merely a matter of when) I'm not the one to complain here. And once you've got the technology to determine B vs S down to fractions of an inch it becomes impossible to say that it'll only be used to overturn truly rotten calls but not the somewhat rotten or even slightly rotten ones. I like that the challenge has to be instant and can only come from one of the three principal sources -- no dugout 'time-out', no eye-in-the-sky, no replay coordinator -- and then that the verdict is rendered in a matter of seconds. Plus the challenges themselves have limits (low ones) that can only be augmented by being consistently correct and not by whining and pleading your case for a 'crew chief review' that somehow doesn't count against the inventory of the team doing the asking (aka: The Mattingly Exception*) What has long ticked me off about video replay challenges is that it's always sold under the notion that it will be quick, decisive, and only for obvious mistakes but frequently it's not any of those. ABS, on the other hand, at least lives up to its billing. * one of Robert Ludlum's more poorly received efforts

Bad Puns R Us

I'm not mixing the issues up, merely saying that the combo of the two made a CDT game end at the same time when a typical EDT game used to end. The closing comments about MLB failing act as the issue got worse and worse were aimed at the pace of play part of the equation

btw, this was obviously a Central time zone game but, due to speed-up rules and earlier start times being adopted by some clubs, this game ended (10:17 EDT) right around where an Eastern TZ game typically did prior to the new rules [a 7:10 start when the average game peaked at right around 3:07]. Or, if it were an 8:15 first pitch as StL games were a few seasons back, then this one runs to near 11:30 NYC time where I'm guessing I'm not the only one who opted to cash in my chips before the late innings. And to think, it only took MLB a couple of decades to realize that these (ever worsening) conditions were affecting the popularity and access to their games.

On Monday night the Yanx lost (Cal Raleigh walk-off PH single) as did the Marlins, Blue Jays, Brewers, and Dodgers, leaving no undefeated teams four games into 2026. Meanwhile the Rockies, White Sox, Giants, and Diamondbacks all won leaving the Athletics (0-4) as this season's only winless team.

Same bat time, same bat channel as the series opener. Kodai (Chrome) Senga makes his season debut vs Andre Pallante who I thought had played with Zidane on the French National team but apparently he's just a 27 y/o RH going into his 5th season with StL. He even started twice vs the Mets in 2025: 6 innings/4 ER in an eventual 4-1 NYM win; then just a few weeks later he also gave up 4 in 3.1 IP in a game the Cards won 5-4 There will be lineups but my sources aren't coming through with the goods quite yet. Either that or that's just what they want me to think.

This seems like one of those: we should be up by more than just 2 kind of games

I'm also not picking up the bal off the bat well. It's like the lighting And sound is off.