Frayed Knot

Edgy MD wrote: Down 3-2 with two out in the bottom of the ninth with no one on base, your Columbia Fireflies rallied last night to blow the minds of the the Hickory Crawdads, and escape with a 4-3 walkoff victory. Well, when those two teams get together you can pretty much throw out the record book.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I know it's a quaint notion but I'm into "sportsmanship" however that plays out. Compete hard, but respectfully, be aware of actions that could put your team in a compromised position, understand that the other team are trying to win too. This is pretty much where I'm at too. This whole topic, along with baseball's long-time aversion to such things, got a big boost from Joey Bats in that Toronto/Texas playoff series from a couple years ago. But that was not only a playoff game but his HR was a come-from-behind, late-inning shot in what had already been a tense and emotional series*. Now had Bautista done the exact same thing on a random Tuesday night in May I would have been at the head of the line in criticizing him. But the context of when and where he did it made all the difference in the world and therefore something I didn't have a problem with at the time. * can't remember now whether that HR came before or after he got punched by Rougned Odor after sliding into 2nd base

This illness, recently diagnosed as strep, has apparently been dogging JdG for about a week now (possibly explaining the Atlanta game although maybe not the one against the Twins) and it is now enough to get his next start pushed from Friday to Saturday. Vargas will move back to Friday which was to have been his turn before they moved deGrom up with the idea that he'd then also get a turn at the Phils when they come to CitiField next week (Mon, Tue, Wed). That obviously won't happen now.

Braves closer Adroys Vizcaino: out for the season. He pitched four times in the opening week but had already been [CROSSOUT]D[/CROSSOUT]IL'd by the time we faced them last weekend. Apparently they were just awaitin' on the prognosis which turns out to be shoulder labrum surgery with a lengthy recovery period. Atlanta has already been one of the teams linked to talks with former Brave Craig Kimbrel.

Neris was finally forced to go to the fastball and it beat Broxton for the final out.

None of these splitters are in the strike zone, so if they can just lay off ... tall order I know.

Ramos, hitting for dArnaud, gets hit in the arm and he looks hurt ... which could be a problem if this game continues. I wouldn't think you could hurt Ramos by hitting him in one of those meaty arms.

And the 5th infield hit of the game for the Mets keeps it alive.

Morgan gets one out of the two lefties he was brought on to face. Now it's time for the righty bats to hector Neris

Unlike in recent years, Philly actually has some competent OF defense out there. That may or may not come into play here.

Well Petey did the right thing, rather than swinging for the fences down by two w/no one on, and then hustled enough to bring the tying run to the plate.

They did an Eddie Bedbug number on him.

The entire Mets team has 'dribbler to the infield' power today. All three hits so far are of the IF variety.

Saw this like a million years ago -- so long ago that Mickey Rourke was still thin, and recognizable, and not crazy (or at least less outwardly crazy). I remember liking it at the time but can't say now that I remember enough to comment on it or give a rating. Not sure I even remember what its 'most famous line' is.

I've said this before, but the problem with ESPN's SNB isn't the announcers. Well, sometimes it is but that largely a matter of taste and mostly fans take that stuff too seriously. The bigger problem is that ESPN doesn't think you tuned in to watch a baseball game, they think you tuned in to watch ESPN In their view you tuned in to see ESPN announcers and other ESPN personalities do their schticks, to see ESPN graphics (and sound effects), to read the ESPN crawl and to check out the promos on upcoming events to be shown on ... wait for it ... ESPN Should they, as the linked YAHOO article states, have checked out the Aaron/Jethroe photo and have realized that Hank never played in Boston? Sure, except that they've all but severed themselves from anything that's not football or basketball so the odds have having anyone that who would know that is pretty small at this point.

Briefly last night, the Yanx were up 8-0 on the Sox right about the same time that the Mets were down 10-0. That's a Tuesday that's so depressing it should be an honorary Monday -- The reason for the blowout in the Bronx was Chris Sale coughing up 4 earned on 7 hits over 5 innings, which puts his season line to date at an ugly: 0-4; 8.50 ERA and 1.56 WHIP This follows his 2018 Red Sox season where he went 12-4; 2.11; 0.86 WHIP All this also comes on the heels of the five-year $145 million extension he signed three weeks ago, the one that doesn't even kick in until next year (2020-2024). Yeah four starts is a small sample size, but for a skinny guy (6' 6" / 180) who just turned 30 (week after the extension) and has a history of fading late in seasons, this is not what Sawx fans want to see. And how weird is it that a Yanx/Sawx game comes in at just 2:23? Not only is that shorter than every single NYM game this season but it's 45 minutes (or more) shorter than all but our opening day tilt -- Christian Yelich vs StL in 2019: 6 games; 28 PA; 11-for-21 plus 7 BBs (3 K) and those 11 hits consist of 2 singles, 1 double and 8 HRs; 524/643/1714//2357 And just think Cards fans, only 13 more games to go. And youse guys want to complain about the piddling shit that Freddie does to us. Hah! That ain't nuthin'

George thought it built character. In fact, both Yanqui Georges did: Steinbrenner and Costanza

Add Gary Sanchez to the NYY injury parade: strained calf

I was speculating yesterday (in the KTE) that the Braves might skip the rookie Wright and go directly to Newcomb due to their snow-out in Denver on Wednesday. But I guess not, so that means we'll likely see Newcomb and Teheran over the weekend and miss the lefty Max Fried (pronounced: Freed) this time around. Wright had four relief appearances at the tail end of last year including a one inning stint vs the Mets on 9/26 where Conforto and Dom hit solo HRs off him in an eventual 3-0 NYM win This season he's made two starts: 3 earned on 2 hits plus 5 walks in 4.1 IP in Philly (L); 6.0 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 1 BB vs Marlins (ND)

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I don;t even know why they call him Polar Bear. Why do they call him Polar Bear? Duh, because he's a Spaniard from Florida!!

=kcmets post_id=7075 time=1555035999 user_id=53] No one can eat 50 eggs.

This Atlanta reliever's name is Luke Jackson?!? I wonder if he can eat 50 eggs?

They gave Acuna $100 million only a week or so ago to buy out all his arb years and into FA-gency Both guys are only like 15 years old..

What in-division KTE morphed into in recent years was sort of a year-long thread on each of the four teams with new info getting thrown into there whenever a new series came up - as opposed to six separate KTEs, sometimes only a week apart depending on the schedule. The out of division KTE are the ones that fell by the wayside which is kind of a shame as those are often the ones we need most of all. Braves are one of three NL East teams sitting at 7-4, although they got there after getting swept in their three-game opening series by Philly. So they're 7-1 since vs the likes of the Cubs (3-0), Marlins (2-1) and Rox (2-0 then a snow-out on Wednesday) This series: Gausman vs Matz - 7:20 Braves moved their starting times up to 7:20 from last year's 7:35 (still the latest of any team) at least partially as a nod to Atlanta traffic even though the team is now some 20 miles outside the city Friday: Wheeler vs TBD - 7:20 Saturday: Vargas vs TBD - 7:20 Sunday: deGrom vs TBD - 7:00 as ESPN moved their SNB telecasts (the only baseball games played that they really care about) an hour earlier, at least partially as a nod towards combatting late arrivals for the next series The 'TBD's for Atlanta pitchers is probably uncertainly following Wednesday's snow-out in Denver. Rookie Kyle Wright has followed Gasuman so far this season but they might use the extra off day to skip him and go with: Sean Newcomb, Julio Teheran, and Max Fried for the remainder of the series. Or, if they stay with Wright then we'll likely miss Fried on the back end. Wright is a 23 y/o rookie and a former #5 overall draft pick (2017 out of Vanderbilt U) who made the team out of ST after just 4 relief appearances last season. Two starts this season: 5 runs on 7 hits over 10.1 IP 12 BBs in those 10+ innings has been his problem vs 13 Ks Newcomb has had two good starts in '19; Teheran 1 good but 2 bad; Gausman's been pretty good since being dealt to the Braves from the Orioles at the deadline last summer:2.57 ERA in 10 starts in '18 + 1 so far this year. Fried (7th overall draft pick in 2012 by the Padres from a California HS); Gausman (4th, 2012, Orioles, LSU); and Wright (5th, 2017, Braves) are all not only 1st round draft picks but all top-10 guys to go along with Newcomb who was taken 15th overall by Anaheim in 2014 out of U of Hartford

Two things are apparent in NYM games so far this season - that whether the Mets are ahead by a lot or behind by a lot in late innings, the game is never really put away until the last out - no matter how the game is progressing, it's not going to end quickly. Only one game has been under 3 hours so far (opening day) and most haven't been close including last night which was 4:08 and the longest game in the majors this year More NYM games over 3:50 so far this season (3) than under 3:10 (2)