Frayed Knot

Centerfield wrote: Is this a serious statement? What the fuck else could he have been doing? I dunno, touching the sides of his head for half a second? My point is that not only didn't I see it but that, even if I were directly looking at him at the time, unless I were told what to look for and why, I still likely would have missed it. That there were no denials coming from him or from Houston indicates that's probably exactly what he was doing and so I have no problem with Manfred's response.

Houston's erstwhile closer Ken Giles hasn't won himself many fans in this post-season.

Francesa probably saw this coming ... Yes, but is only revealing now that he knew it all along. Turns out we're both prescient: From Phil Mushnick's NY Post column today: ... after Francesa mistreated a caller "as a know-nothing" for suggesting last week that Girardi could be out ... once Girardi’s removal was announced Francesa then "claimed he knew as far back as July that the Girardi-Yankees relationship was near its contentious end! And he knew it when their eyes met during the ALCS in Yankee Stadium!"

Five game suspension for Gurriel ... to be served next season.

bmfc1 wrote: And F those new 6 second commercials. I actually think ads like that are part of the future. When I'm elected king of baseball (lifetime appointment of course) and outlaw the additional warmup pitches the incoming relief pitcher gets when he comes on in mid-inning, having short ads that run while the new pitcher comes in and without cutting from the action entirely is how the clubs are going to make up for any time they lose by not taking a full commercial break.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Was the gesture mentioned at all during the telecast? Or is it something that caught fire with online commentary? I don't think it was mentioned during the game (although it's possible I missed a bit coming in or out of commercial breaks). I first heard about it when I flicked on the radio after the game was over. The chatter seemed to be mostly among mainstream media types there covering the game rather than just on-line agitators but I can't say exactly who 'started' it. I have to say that those I heard last night seemed to be much more sure that this was a 'thing' than I was once I saw it this morning. If this were a replay review I'd have to say there's not enough evidence to convict Gurriel on the offense even though that may have been exactly what he was doing.

The big question on the docket at the moment is whether Houston 1B Yuli Gurriel's reported 'slant eyes' gesture towards You Darvish is going to land him a suspension heading into Game 4. I didn't hear anything about this until after the game and the only evidence I've seen is subject to interpretation, one of those things that you'll see if you're looking for it but wouldn't even notice otherwise.

I'm not sure Day > Durocher qualifies either, it was just one I happened to think of and it would qualify among certain circles. Wiki: During her marriage to Durocher, Day was often referred to as "The First Lady of Baseball". While Durocher was managing the New York Giants, she wrote the book Day With the Giants (1952). In 1952, she wrote and published another book entitled The America We Love. She was also the host of Day With the Giants, a 15-minute television interview program broadcast before New York Giants home games. Another thing I learned about Day when looking her up is that she was a lifelong Mormon who abstained from cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, tea, etc. her entire life until her death at age 87 My question isn't necessarily 'how do you do that?' but rather, 'how do you do that and be married to Leo Durocher for 13 years?'

From the last out in the top of the 7th inning until the last out in the bottom of the 7th [u:pl1vf46u]took 21 minutes to play -- 13 pitches were thrown during that time.[/u:pl1vf46u]

An extra-long five minute break in order to get in the 7th inning stretch dog and pony show, followed by a double on the first pitch of the bottom of the inning, followed by a pitching change and another two minute break. IOW, one pitch over a seven minute span ... and they wonder why these games last four hours.

Mike Maddux hooks on as pitching coach with St Louis

Ashie62 wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: cooby wrote: I'd have picked Grote Grote was terrific, but he's not nearly at the level of Gary Carter and Mike Piazza. Yeah, but Piazza didn't do anything. Not sure that I'd consider 6-for-22 incl. 2 doubles & 2 HRs with 3 runs scored and 4 batted in over 5 games to be "not anything"

So with Darvish getting rolled in the early innings of Game 3 here an exiting with the score 4-0 Houston after recording just 5 outs, you think maybe Dave Roberts regrets pulling Rich Hill in Game 2 after just 4 innings/1 Run/3 Hits/60 Pitches and therefore leaning on his pen for 8 pitchers and 7 innings including 20+ pitches from four different guys?

Leo Durocher - Laraine Day (she was the 3rd of Leo's 4 wives)

Yeah, money was a bigger reason for the Nats not re-upping Baker than it was for the Yanx not re-upping Girardi so there's not way Washington is going to swap one out for the other. Girardi was already higher paid than Dusty and, being younger, is also going to want a longer term deal. Recently canned Red Sox mgr John Farrell is going to interview with the Nats but beyond that I'm not sure where they're going. Both these cases are interesting in that the teams are going to wind up with managers with a lot less experience than the ones they just got rid of which, considering the expectations -- one team stacked with young players and being one win from getting to the WS, while the other is coming off 94 & 97 win seasons and entering the final year of both Harper's and Murphy's deals -- the stakes for both are only going to ratchet up from here.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: In retrospect, it seems strange to think that Joe DiMaggio could have married somebody more famous than he was, but I guess he did! There's the story of Marilyn coming back from some overseas USO show (or something similar) and telling DiMag, "Oh Joe, you've never heard such cheering" "Yeah I have" he reportedly replied. Matt Treanor married multi gold medal winning beach volleyball player Misty May Casey Daigle is Mr. Jenny Finch the softball pitcher whose nordic blond looks and lengthy legs get her serious TV time whenever ... well, whenever they can. Tawney Kitaen was in an early Seinfeld episode, playing the bad actress that Jerry wanted to break up with but was unable to. [fimg=200]http://www.stanus.net/seinfeld/chars/isabel_1.jpg[/fimg]

The Yanquis tend to stay in house for a lot of their stuff. When they needed to replace Torre they interviewed only Girardi (former player who was part of their broadcast booth at the time), along with Mattingly, and Tony Pena who was an active coach for them at the time. Most of the names I've heard thrown around today involve guys in their system -- coach Rob Thomson, various minor league mgrs -- along with former (actually still current coach technically) NYM batting coach Kevin Long who of course came from the Yanx.

Besides, it's an off day.

metirish wrote: Francesa probably saw this coming ... Yes, but is only revealing now that he knew it all along.

More activity this off-season than I suspect most folks anticipated. TEAM MANAGERCONTRACTSTATUSANGELSMike Scioscia2018 ASTROSAJ Hinch???ATHLETICS Bob Melvin 2019Signed ext for 2019 on 9/28/17BLUE JAYS John Gibbons 2019 + 2020 OptionBRAVESBrian Snitker 2017 + 2018 OptionOption for 2018 picked up on 10/5/17 BREWERS Craig Counsel 2020CARDINALS--- Mike Matheny 2020CUBS Joe Maddon 2019DBACKSTorey Luvello 2019DODGERS Dave Roberts 2018 + 2019 OptionGIANTSBruce Bochy 2019INDIANS Terry Francona2020MARINERS Scott Servais2018MARLINSDon Mattingly 2019METS [crossout]Terry Collins[/crossout] 2017Hired Mickey Callaway on a 3-year deal - Oct '17 NATIONALS[crossout]Dusty Baker[/crossout]2017Will Not Return for 2018ORIOLES Buck Showalter---2018PADRES Andy Green 2021Signed Extension Aug ‘17 PHILLIES [crossout]Pete MacKanin[/crossout] 2018 + 2019 Option ---Signed ext in May '17 -- Will not return in 2018PIRATES Clint Hurdle 2021Signed 4 year extension - Sept ‘17 RANGERS Jeff Banister 2018 + 2019 Option RAYS Kevin Cash 2019 RED SOX [crossout]John Ferrell[/crossout] 2018Hired Alex Cora on a 3-year contract - Oct '17REDS Bryan Price 20182018 Option exercised - Sept ‘17 ROCKIES Bud Black 2019 + 2020 Option ROYALS Ned Yost 2018 TIGERS [crossout]Brad Ausmus[/crossout] 2017Ron Gardenhire hired - Oct '17 TWINS Paul Molitor 2017WHITE SOX Rick Renteria 2019YANKEES [crossout]Joe Girardi[/crossout]2017=#0000FF]Will Not Return in 2018

Edgy MD wrote: Do you think the Pythagorean differential is a good metric to judge a manager on? Not particularly. It's why I said that I doubt the front office was going to hang that on him because if they did they'd have to totally ignore his 'over' achievement the previous season. I mean I suppose one could rationalize saying that the manager won "only" 7 more games out of a team which just improved from -20 runs to +198 over one season (as the '16 to '17 Yanx did) so whatsupwitdat? but I think that's missing several forests while examining trees.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: This is the part I didn't get either and was biting my lip all along to refrain from commenting on. The team was a hair away from winning the pennant and going to the WS and you're all mocking them because your 70 win team .... did what exactly? Well the thread was titled back in [crossout]February or so[/crossout] late January so it's not like the season results were in at that point.

Girardi is originally a Chicago guy. The Cubs are set but the White Sox are stocking up on prospects lately and may be a good landing spot for him in a year or two. This year's Yanx actually under-achieved their pythagorean projection by a whopping Nine games as their RS/RA ratio [858 / 660] suggested they should have been a 100 win team this season instead of the 91 they actually won. I doubt that that alone was enough to sway MFY mgmt especially since it was coming off the 2016 when they managed 84 wins despite a negative RS/RA

Benjamin Grimm wrote: An article on Mets.com by Anthony DiComo says that Milone, along with Reyes, is a free agent. Which must mean that they had already removed him from the 40 (which was what I thought even though BB-Ref still lists him as on) because he's still a year short of the six years required to declare himself a FA

Edgy MD wrote: Two out in the 11th, and just as I'm question carrying this character name Charlie Culberson and his .497 OPS over Granderson, the guy homers to left-center. And Culberson was the guy double-switched in for Bellinger!!! I thought Roberts overdid it on a couple of occasions last night. Once he was overly quick pulling the starting pitcher [Hill = 1 run on 3 hits + 3 BBs, 7 Ks and just 60 pitches over 4 IP] it set off a chain reaction down the road which not only left him in a position where he's double-switching his 40-HR rookie out of the game but also left him with no option but to try and finish the game with a starter (McCarthy] who's thrown six innings total on just three appearances since mid-July, and none in the post-season to date. Boom. Puig goes down hacking Houston takes it. All they were saying, was give Puig a chance (but it didn't work) I just watched the condensed game (20 minutes)--what was Culbertson going nuts about in the 11th? His HR brought LA to within one which is great but he celebrated as if he tied or won the game. A bit over the top, eh?