Frayed Knot

Nats lose again to the Phils and are now 2.0 games behind them in the standings (try getting odds on THAT prior to the season) and are now 8-15 in June.

Mex17 wrote: ... I stand by my statement that quality people are going to want to shape the rebuild themselves rather than accept whatever it is that Riccinayachhardi leaves them as a result of a fire sale that takes place before they are even hired. If and when there's a new head honcho after this season then he'll have plenty of reshaping to do and, at least theoretically, with a more versatile roster as a starting point. In the meantime, no one is simply going to put the franchise in mothballs for a half year.

That's absurd. The whole purpose of making trades towards the deadline would be to fill holes in the roster going forward -- and which potential GM is going to take that kind of job? ... Plenty of them! Plus, in my mind anyway, I think one of the Wilpons' biggest weakness is them sticking to their comfort zone of known quantities rather than take a chance on the unfamiliar, and yet you want them to not even consider anyone but the currently entrenched threesome.

Mex17 wrote: "Conduct a through search for a new GM including people outside of the organization at the end of the season" and "Expect a flurry of creative activity at the trade deadline where no single player is safe" are wildly incongruent with one another. So the alternative then is what: to leave the roster untouched this year and/or only consider candidates already here?

How many weak bloops is that for the Mets tonight? Gotta be a bunch because even some of our hits were weak bloops too.

Harvey held the Braves to a lone run thru 6-2/3 tonight. 6 hits, 1 BB, 2 K Now 4-1 Reds in the 8th

I was in the midst of writing about how I guess that 1st inning -- a single in amongst a couple of wild pitches -- was to be the extent of our offense tonight ... and then Conforto HR'd So I'm taking credit on the reverse psychology thing.

Yeah, it was a gutsy L/R switcheroo which ultimately didn't work ... except that it did. The lefty, Jose Alvarado, walked Harper to start the inning, then was moved to 1B while a righty came in to K Rendon. Back came Alvarado w/o his 1st baseman's glove to face the LH-hitting Soto & Murphy, both of whom got (soft) singles to load the bases ... meaning Alvarado faced three LHHs and retired none of them. So in came new RH Sergio Romo who got a fly-out too shallow to even attempt a tag by Harper at 3rd and finally a K of Michael Taylor to end the game. It's like mgr Kevin Cash fell up the stairs with those moves. The Rays, btw, are now just one game under .500 after starting the season 4-13. That still leaves them miles behind the Yanx & Sawx but they have the best pitching in baseball over the last couple of months and could definitely be a pain in the ass to someone down the stretch.

NYP: Sandy Alderson is taking a leave of absence from the Mets to battle a recurrence of cancer. Alderson was originally diagnosed with cancer in 2015. He said it had returned in April or May this year. “Since that time I’ve been undergoing treatment,” the Mets general manager said at a news conference Tuesday. “I expect to have surgery later in the summer. My prognosis is actually good.” Without Alderson, the Mets’ baseball operations will be led by John Ricco, Omar Minaya and J.P. Ricciardi. Alderson may not return to the role, regardless of how his treatment goes. "If I were to look at it on the merits, I’m not sure coming back is warranted", Alderson said. “I feel personally responsible for the results that we’ve had, ... At the same time, I have confidence in our manager, our staff, our players that this will change.” Mets co-owner Jeff Wilpon would not say whether Alderson would return as GM, only indicating he was worried about Alderson’s health and not his future with the team. https://nypost.com/2018/06/26/sandy-alderson-is-taking-leave-to-battle-cancer-recurrence/

It's a shame, now that they have Crick on their staff, that the Pirates got rid of Tony Watson just last year.

Are those fish scales tattooed on this Brault guy's left arm or is it a rendition of the periodic table? I'd have to get a close look to find out.

G-Fafif wrote: 1,060. Tyler Bashlor Is this overall or just this season?

It's fairly obvious from tonight's game that beards and 3rd base defense aren't a good match.

Well, we've got a bloop single through 4 innings ... so there's that.

Keith will NOT be back with FOX this fall in their post-season round-table crew.

Robles's 2nd outing w/Anaheim this afternoon, coming in to start bottom 8th with his team down 1-0: Walk -- Hit-n-run Single (1st & 3rd) -- RBI Single (1st & 2nd) -- GiDP (3rd) - K So very typical of Hansel this year: 1 inning, 2 hits plus a walk, could have been worse

Pirates got off to a hot start this season (8-2) but failed to keep that up until drifting towards .500 by the end of May and now are in the midst of a 7-14 month of June including a five-game losing streak that has them just staying above last place in their division. Sound familiar? However instead of missing stars with lengthy DL assignments, they seem to just be getting a bunch of 'blah' years from almost everyone in the lineup. No one on the roster is hitting .300 (Corey Dickerson = .299), no one has 10 HRs, and only catcher Francisco Cervelli (an excitable boy they all said) is OBP'ing over 350 (.390) but he's the one guy who is DL'd at the moment (7-day concussion as of 3/22 so we won't be seeing him). Well be seeing former #2 overall draft pick (2010) Jameson Taillon tonight (as previously mentioned) -- 4-6; 4.03; 1.22 then 25 y/o 3rd year man Chad Kuhl on Tuesday [8-11; 4.35; 1.44], followed by former MFY Ivan Nova [4-5; 3.98; 1.23] No Lefties!!!!!

Yanx also lost on an extra-inning HR today (12 inn) which also completed a three-game sweep (Tampa) ... so, y'know, there's that.

Left unmentioned by Gary when discussing 6 HR games at former NYM homes was that the one by the Yanx in '99 at Shea was a Met win, it was the 'Matt Franco Game' HRs by Paul O'Neill (off Rick Reed, 1st inn) and (Greg McMichael, 6th inn)' Ricky Ledee (Rick Reed, 5th inn); Jorge Posada (Dennis Cook, 8th inn & Rick Reed, 5th inn); Chuck Knoblauch (Rigo Beltran, 7th inn). Final score: Mets 9 - Yanx 8

Who says 1-0 is an insurmountable lead against the Mets? ... aside from me that is.

The Mets have hit into three GiDPs in the last two innings ... it's just that the Dodgers have only been competent enough to turn one.

Avoiding hitting into a GiDP would be a real nice change right about now. Between the four so far today plus the bases-loaded killer than Plawecki hit into in the 6th inning last night (we were shut-out the rest of the game) we've been killing a lot of rallies.

I have CAHNfidence that the Mets aren't going to lose this game ... mainly because I don't think it's ever going to end.

That (the GiDP) is the first Colorado grounder that's actually gone at someone tonight with the exception of the one that Frazier effectively turned into a double. Lugo certainly wasn't good tonight but he was also a bit unlucky.

Post-8:00 (EDT) starts after tonight: Sunday July 22 @ Yanx (ESPN) - 8:05 Mon Aug 27 + Tues Aug 28 @ Cubs - 8:05, 8:05 Friday Aug 31st @ SFG - 10:15 Mon Sept 3 (Labor Day) @ LAD 8:05 Tues Sept 4th @ LAD - 10:10 So really only 2 late-night games (and only one of those on a school night) plus a handful of starts right at 8 PM. We're even done with the 7:35 games in Cobb County, GA for the season. Although there does remain the possibility of being 'flexed' into another ESPN SNB game; Sun Sept 16 @ Boston, for instance, is listed as 'TBD'