Frayed Knot

The devil, as it always is, is in the details. And not just of the switch itself but also what was said to the men in blue as it was being done and what Angel & co did or didn't do with that info. But just from reading that brief description via the link, this sounds like the rare type of protest that might actually have a chance at succeeding. This game concluded the 3-game Boston/TBR series which saw the Sawx catch the Rays for 2nd place last night before falling back again as a result of today's game. But these games were also the first three of fourteen straight games the Sox have against Tampa and the Yanx 2-1 vs TBR in Tampa Four games vs the Yanx in Fenway starting Thursday Then, following an off day Monday, Tampa comes to Boston for three then the Sox head to the Bronx on Friday for four more including a Saturday DH MFYs started today with a 10 game lead on each so it's not like life hangs in the balance here. But if either of those teams are going to make a move it would have to start now and the loser of the TB/Box race is likely to be fighting Oakland and/or Cleveland for the 2nd WC slot. Yanx have a two-game set with the DBacks in between the two four-gamers w/the Red Sox

And at least Cano was jogging for the right reasons last night, as opposed to Machado. The only jogging he did was after a foul pop up that he probably should have caught yet didn't come within 15 feet of.

Yanqui relievers can't even fuck-up their way into a loss. Chapman and Ottovino combined to give up Six Walks while recording just five outs and yet allowed only one run. A diving catch by Aaron Hicks w/2 outs and the bases loaded in the 10th sealed the 14-12 MFY win. Twins had 5 LOB in the 9th & 10th Yanx are now 2-0 this season in games where they allowed 12 or more runs btw: 10 innings, 5:03

A quick look at the pitching staff now that we're 100 games into the season. The bad news is that the staff everyone knew was going to be among the league's best this year currently sits at 12th best in the NL for RA/G The good news is that they kept their ERA well under 5.00 during this recent set of 20 games which made it the best stretch since games 21-40 All of which makes that whopping total of Four Runs scored during those three games/34 innings of the San Fran series all the more frustrating. Win just two of those extra inning games where the RA were 3, 1, & 3 and we'd be looking at a 10-5 July w/seven games to go rather than 8-7 This team has only had one winning month and that was a 2-1 March, or 15-14 in March/April if you want to combine the two. ERALg AVGDiffERA+RA/GNL RankStarter ERARel ERABAA-A Thru 20 Games5.614.28-1.33726.3515th5.565.91.280 Games 21-403.27——————3.50——————.215 Thru 40 Games4.424.31-0.11884.9310th4.294.75.248 Games 41-605.17——————5.15——————.283 Thru 60 Games4.664.34-0.32865.0012th4.405.19.260 Games 61-805.04——————5.25——————.255 Thru 80 Games4.754.38-0.37865.1313th4.405.44.259 Games 81-1004.30——————4.50——————.247 Thru 100 Games4.664.40-0.26894.9712th4.285.28.256

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Twinkies tie it up in bottom 9, but should have had more. Aroldis Chapman started the inning Walk - Walk - Walk, but Twinkies managed only one run out of all that on a Sac Fly. Wish I could stay with this one but no telling how long it'll last so I'm out.

And now, after two were out and no one on in the 9th, the Yanx go Walk - HR (Aaron Hicks) to go up 12-11 23 runs on 32 hits with the Yanx still batting

Twins & Yanx are in the midst of an absolutely ridiculous game here on Tuesday night. Didi Gregorius has 7 RBIs for the Yanx (two 2-RBI doubles plus a 3R HR), but Miguel Sano just hit his 2nd 3R HR of the game (450+) w/2 outs in the 8th making it now 11-10 Twinkies as they head for the 9th. They're already at the 4-hour mark and who knows how long this will go when and if it ends.

=G-Fafif post_id=16589 time=1563935138 user_id=55] That game surely approximated fun.

"A team source tells https://sports.yahoo.com/team-source-chances-pretty-high-wheeler-wont-be-met-on-aug-1-000717249.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=twYahoo! Sports' Mike Mazzeo that chances are "pretty high" that Wheeler will be dealt before the July 31 Trade Deadline. " Nothing is official yet but Wheeler, who threw earlier today, is a strong bet to make his return from the IL on Friday Trade deadline is next Wednesday

btw: Innings 1-3 = 116 career HRs (44.0% of HRs in 40.9% of ABs) Innings 4-6 = 85 (32.7% - 30.6%) Innings 7-eog = 59 (22.6% - 28.4%)

It also blocks views. If I had season tickets that was suddenly now being blocked -- partially or otherwise -- I'd be demanding refunds and/or alternate seats.

Wait, WHAT?! How did I not know that stat? And, IIRC, it didn't even come until the middle/late part of his career. He had been an oh-fer for many years*. Of course being a leadoff (and often 2nd place) hitter has something to do with that. But the reason that stat always stuck with me was the whole 'clutch' thing. It got explained away by the amen chorus by saying that of course Jetes just concentrated on driving in runs in those kinds of situations rather than trying to be the hero. Naturally had he wound up with more than his share of GS's then THAT would have also been used as 'proof' of his obvious clutchability. It's the old Win-Win argument which so personified the Jeterites. * oe: 2005, right about the mid-point of his career

Move over Kirk Nieuwenhuis* ... you've got company. * also Yoenis Cespedes ... I had forgotten about him in the 3-HRs at home club

Edgy MD wrote: Am I being wishful or has Rosario taken a step forward defensively the last few weeks? Definitely better.

I was yelling the whole time for McNeil not to try and take 2nd base there ... I guess he didn't hear me.

They have this in several ballparks throughout the league. It looks good in none of them. Do they take the ads down on Sundays?

-- 30 y/o utility man Tyler Saladino went into Sunday with 5 hits (all singles) and 0 RBI in 49 ABs this year and had 17 career HRs in just under 1,000 ML ABs in pieces of six ML seasons (ChiSox & Brewers) So naturally he hit Grand Slams on back-to-back days for Milwaukee. And, as I always like to point out when a player hits his 2nd ML GS, this puts him one ahead of Derek Jeter -- Paul Goldschmidt also hit a Granny on Monday, his broke a tie in the top of the 10th ... and it turned out that the Cards needed every one of those runs. Pirates got three runs in and had two on with no one out [Double - Double - HR - Single - E6] but then bunted into a force play (BiFL!), had the tying run thrown out at the plate on a single, and then flew out to end it. -- Twins got out-HR'd at home (5-3) on Monday but still managed to beat the Yanx 8-6 for like the 3rd time in their last 378 tries (or something like that). They were helped by Gray Sanchez grounding into a 5-4-3 Triple Play. Sanchez is now 6-for-54 [.111/.186/.204] in July

Paddack was demoted just briefly and that was mainly as a way to limit his innings here in his rookie year. Between that and the ASB, he's now twice been given 10 days of rest between starts. During his two starts in July he's given up just 1 run on 4 combined his [0 R, 3H in 5.2 vs LAD; 1 R, 1 H in 7.2 v MIA] Also 14 K/1 BB And he famously held the Mets to just 4 his in 7.2 innings of 11-K/1-BB shutout ball back during his 7th ML start back in early May

Edgy MD wrote: And we still have Mazza and Rhame with fresh arms for tomorrow! Tomorrow? Try 'in a few hours'. I was so afraid Diaz was going to walk the tying run in there. It wound up as less than the greatest closing job ever, but at least he made the Twinkie batters earn their runners.

PUT IT IN THE BASKET!! Frazier did

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Schoop failed to Sc[CROSSOUT]h[/CROSSOUT]oop

=G-Fafif post_id=15999 time=1563245555 user_id=55] Td'A 3 HR 2nite @ MFYS III. Rays win!!

And then there was the Dodgers @ Boston SNB game. OK it went 12 innings but you figure, at the 'normal' three innings/per hour pace, that should take the game up to right around four hours even. Yeah, no. Try 5:40 Five Freakin' Forty!! for a game which actually was a bit below average scoring (4-4) at the end of 9 and totaled an unremarkable 11 runs/21 hits combined by the time it ended which, even with the new pushed-up starting time, was well after midnight.