Frayed Knot

Tripled last night, has doubled already tonight. It remains to be seen what happens as he gets to the second time around the league, but this is stunning so far. .346/.414/.769 in 26 ABs coming into today's action (so not including today's leadoff 2B)

Ronnie: 'Everyone in the game is afraid to go out and talk to the pitcher for fear of running out of visits before the game runs out' Me: GOOD!!!!

A quick look at Milwaukee finds them in 2nd place in the NLC at 7-6 although with a -15 run differential (44 / 59) Mainly five of their seven wins have been by one run including twice via walk-off plus another in extras. And the other wins were by just two and four runs so they're not exactly in cruise mode so far. Not surprisingly with a negative RD they're sub-par in the NL both in run scoring (11th place at 3.38 R/G) and run prevention (10th @ 4.64) while the NYM sit at 5.0 RS/G (4th best) and 2.82 RA/G (#1 in all of ML Fuckin' Hitting: Jonathan Villar (.310) although he's yet to draw a walk in 42 ABs Not hitting: Ryan Braun (.167) although 1 of his 2 HRs was a walk-off game-winner They've blown multiple saves opps since closer Corey Knebel went on the DL and, y'know, this squad of ours has been kind of good in those 'close & late' spots lately.

It's not so much that the Nats are now 6-8 (lost 2-1 to Rox tonight) but that they're 6-8 after starting 4-0 !!

Except that "partial tear" could mean 10%, it could mean 90%, or anywhere in between, so TJS isn't always a given (even for Mets). But then this 60-day DL assignment was a clue to the just minutes-later announcement of the impending knife.

Rosario just rocketing his way up the lineup.

If they're 60-day DL'ing d'Arnaud (and not Wright!?!) this quickly then it sounds like they don't think his can be a 'rest then play through it' type of partial UCL tear. Lugo, Tanaka, and probably all kinds of position players have partial UCL tears (diagnosed as such or otherwise) and yet continue to play while dodging surgery.

Yeah, fans get pissed off when early diagnoses don't turn out to be the eventual truth, but it just goes to show that reading X-Rays/MRIs/EEGs/EKGs/KGBs, etc. is as much art as it is science. I think a lot of folks are convinced that it's as simple as the litmus paper turning blue when it's broken or torn and red if it's not.

So that's a big ol' negative on the negative X-Ray, then? Nido can't really hit either (at least he hasn't proven to do so yet) but it sounds like we'll get to experience what a little better defense behind the plate is like, at least over the medium term. Haven't had much of that since the brief NYM days of Hank White (that's Henry Blanco for those of you who don't speak Croatian).

What's weird is that Chipper Jones, of all people, gets to play the role of Russell Hammond while the lone Met, along with the rest of the band, is just one the out of focus guys.

I think I once sprained my lenticular.

Centerfield wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: They were 18 games over in 2015, and 12 over in 2016. Of course, prior to 2015 there were six consecutive seasons where they failed to win 80 games. We're going to win 80 before the end of April WRITE IT DOWN. Write it down, just don't write it down and hand it in as your math homework.

No broken jaw, no concussion. Expected to make his next start.

Nats sign Mark Reynolds to a minor league deal. One suspects this may have something to do with Ryan Zimmerman hitting .111 at the moment (4/36) which, especially absent Murphy, is affording Harper (16 walks in 12 games) little or nothing in the way of line-up protection. The 34 y/o Reynolds hit 30 HRs for Colorado last year and has been almost exclusively a 1B/DH over the last few years.

Yanx were up 8-1 in tonight's game - in part due to 2 Gary Sanchez HRs. But it's now 10-6 and, being a Yanx/Sawx game, is still in the 6th inning despite starting the same time as ours. Oh yeah, and they've just had a fight. Second time the benches have emptied, first time the fists were flying. Second incident certainly seems to be directly related to the first.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Felipe Rivero of Pittsburgh has changed his name. He is now to be known as Felipe Vasquez I guess Felipe Gaga was already taken?

41Forever wrote: Just getting here after listening on radio driving home. Guys in the booth were incredulous that Donnie Baseball gave the Marlins' pitcher the hook after 75 pitches. They were noting that leaving him in wouldn't cost them the pennant, and the team could use something positive to excite the fans even a little. Mattingly deserves a big share of the Schaefer for this game. - he says prior to the game that, despite not being a starter, Garcia could go 90 pitches (he had pitched as many as six innings in relief) yet then pulls him after 77 with a no-no going - he then makes wholesale defensive changes in a 1-run game with 2 innings to go which included yanking his one legit power hitter - he opted NOT to make a double-switch when he brought in a reliever, but then DID make one later that same inning during a second change ... as if the key to the game was getting more than one inning and closing out a one-run game with Junichi Freakin' Tazawa - and, although it turned out not to matter because they were left on deck and in the hole behind him, those hitters would have been Bour & Maybin (the only two on the team old enough to shave) except that both were double-switched out of the game in the top of the 8th!!

TheOldMole wrote: What do we know about Plawecki? Nuttin' yet. Stayed in the game and ran the bases after the HBP, but then was PH'd for later that inning as his/Nido's slot in the lineup both started and ended the inning. Bruise seemed to be dead-centered on the back of his hand and was already a lovely shade of purple before he even completed his trip around the bases.

The only snag in that strategy is that he (Gsellman) is due up 3rd in the inning.

I'm always surprised when 90+ mph pitches off the hands don't break bones Every. Single. Time.

d'Kong76 wrote: Is it Donny or Donnie Baseball? I think tonight it's 'Dummy'.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I'm probably sending him there. You? No. Or at least 'No' from the part I saw. We didn't get a real good view of exactly where everyone was as the relay was coming in. With 2 outs, definitely. But I was leaning 'No' the whole way.

Well, we now know that Mickey isn't going to be a slave to L/R

Oooh, that doesn't look good. White phone for Mr. Lobaton.

Rosario looking much more polished defensively than in his short stint last season.