Frayed Knot

'Siri, how do you make a double switch?'

Ashie62 wrote: Oh dear lord. Travis at cleanup? He's been there twice already this week. Besides, he's currently 2nd among active players on the team in HRs (and on a per/AB basis he's 1st) so if it's not going to be him then whoever else you choose isn't likely to be much better.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: I'm as surprised that Keith's place is so cluttered with stuff as I was when I found out Keith is a cat guy. Keith used to have one or more dogs he would talk about all the time but I never heard a mention of whatever became of it/them. Maybe the cat ate them. Or maybe his dogs just quietly disappear like his wives.

I often found it both sad and funny to read through the letters to the editor in NEWSDAY that would simultaneously decry and celebrate the degree of corruption, nepotism, and patronage that existed in Nassau County/ToH; people would say that they hated how it worked but then admit that it gave their kid his summer job so they supported it whole-heartedly. The classic may have been after a big snowstorm where some didn't get their streets plowed for four or five (or more) days. Then a guy writes back to essentially call all those complainers a bunch of idiots for not having the foresight to do as he did which was buy a house on the same street as some assistant transportation commissioner (or other such title) since everyone knows those are the streets which should and do get plowed early and often. And of course the way localities often "solve" such problems is to double or triple the amount of assistant transportation commissioners so that more neighbors now feel that they have an in with local gov't. There'll still be those unconnected slobs who won't get their streets plowed but now there are fewer of them even as higher and higher taxes are now required to keep the streets of those insiders clean and dry.

bmfc1 wrote: The "MC" has been changed since Mr. Grimm attended and it's more tolerable. Really? I caught part of a game from Nats Park on TV the other day and it sounded like the same over-the-top manufactured "spirit" that so pollutes NBA arenas. That's my only real problem with that park. The building itself is fine -- some of their seats are pretty damn high but that's a minor deal -- but there seems to be an attitude where, probably because the city was away from baseball for so long, they feel the place needs an artificial injection of enthusiasm so that they don't seem inferior to more established baseball towns. My view of DC is that there's long been a certain inferiority complex among the populace as compared to the bigger east coast towns (NYC, Philly, Boston) that they're determined to not seem small time. Problem is that the artificial stuff comes off as high-school-ish and makes them look even more small time and I'm sure I don't need to remind you that the announcing crew's cheerleading just adds to it.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: No team in post-1900 history has struck out more than 10 per game on average. This year, the Indians are currently at 10.05 and the Astros are at 9.95. And Aaron Judge is right behind them

There's something about talk radio that favors the loudly ignorant and the fiercely corrupt. At least the ESPN guy who got busted last week for being drunk and naked in someone else's vacation condo gets to say; "Whew, I'm off the hook now"

Chad Ochoseis wrote: I didn't catch the Southhampton digs. When did Keith move from Sag Harbor? That confused me, too. According to Wikipedia, Sag Harbor is an incorporated village partially located within the Town of Southampton. Who knew? Not ever having been a Long Islander, I never got the town/village distinction they have there. But I remember my 7th grade social studies teacher noting that Oceanside, where he lived, was part of the Town of Hempstead, and I think the Town of Huntington takes up a fairly large chunk of Suffolk County, including plenty of places that wouldn't be thought of as Huntington. Yeah, that's pretty much it; it's a way of dividing up local jurisdictions. Nassau County, for instance, is made up of three townships plus two independent cities with all the small villages except for those two indies are part of the larger towns. Suffolk is the same only larger with, I believe, ten townships encompassing all the small villages. In Keith's case a resident would tell you they live in Sag Harbor because it's more specific and, not a small consideration on the east end, also more prestigious. A reporter might give the more generic Southhampton to mean the same thing or Keith could have specifically asked him to be less specific so as to not draw fan-boy attention; I could definitely see that. Very generic, but generically elegant, stuff. Keith is a catalog shopper. More likely his interior decorator is.

Never been a listener, but the sleaziness just oozed out of him to the point where if you had asked me which radio personality would be involved in a ticket ponzi scheme in order to cover heavy gambling debts the only reason Craig Carton wouldn't have been both my first and second guesses is that Sid Rosenberg is still drawing a paycheck so he would have moved down to second and third. oe: he and Francesa have had a long-running feud (at least partly real although possibly played up for spice) so now guess who gets the last laugh on his way out the door.

Following their 10th inning loss to Arizona last night, the Dodgers are now 1-10 in their last 11 games. Prior to that they were 50 - 10, essentially taking two months to lose as many as they've lost in the last week and change. Now 92-46, 100 wins is probably still in the bag (one would assume this kind of losing won't go on forever) as all they'll need is an 8 - 16 finish. But they'd have to run the table just to match Seattle's 2001 mark of 116 wins, something that at least seemed possible just a short time ago, and to beat the expansion era NL record of 108 wins now requires that they close the season on a 17 - 7 run so our (shared) record may be safe after all.

I like that they proudly display this hokey though iconic logo large and centered so that there's no way of mistaking it for the home of any other team unlike .... well, unlike some places. [fimg=600:2qtwx9xs]http://images.performgroup.com/di/library/sporting_news/8a/2e/twins-target-field-102815-twins-ftrjpg_1wmzv623p48x215ejet1m3q9cx.jpg?t=-1366156448&w=960&quality=70[/fimg:2qtwx9xs]

MFS62 wrote: Most of the ballparks I've visited aren't around any more. [fimg=300]http://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/field/image/Parthenon-of-Athens.jpg[/fimg]

Got to love that even G, K & R do the KAHNfidence thing when discussing Fran Healy. You also get the idea from that little exchange that Gary wasn't exactly a Fran fan.

I think Nimmo does that when he wakes up in the morning.

I think that's the 12-piece sectional couch that Jerry helped him move.

Without a comeback here, that'll make it six losses in the last eight JdG starts. Prior to that the Mets had won eight straight with deGrom getting the win in all of them.

Edgy MD wrote: Edgy MD wrote: If you've got to play Nimmo, I'm having trouble figuring out why you don't hit that guy leadoff every time. Because pop-outs to start the game are so much more .... umm, something. And on that note... leadoff pop-out. Betting on Reyes to pop-out, whether he leads off or not, is like a 50/50 proposition these days.

There is, I believe, still a five coaches in the dugout rule so whatever new or assistant roles they've conjured up in recent years are decidedly second level positions so, if I were running a database on such stuff, I'd cut things off at the mgr + 5 level.

Edgy MD wrote: If you've got to play Nimmo, I'm having trouble figuring out why you don't hit that guy leadoff every time. Because pop-outs to start the game are so much more .... umm, something.

That's Philly's top prospect J. P. Crawford making his ML debut at 3B tonight: 'Young man we'd like to introduce you to Mr. deGrom' The touts who follow such stuff started to sour a bit on him this year as his stats more or less plateaued and/or backslid, but he's still just 22. He's essentially a SS but the Phils are going to have to figure how they want to integrate him into their current roster.

I'd like to cast a vote as being AGAINST too much sub-dividing of forums. If you've got something you want to discuss then start a thread and discuss it, and if you don't want to join in then ignore it, but either beats the hell out of over-regulated discussions. It's similar to the case I've been trying to make for years now about this place getting far too reliant on "all purpose" threads which, in my mind, tend to bury topics on Page Whatever of huge threads that could rightfully stand on their own but folks feel compelled to corral into pre-assigned locations - but I've been losing that argument for years now so just ignore my bitching. Y'know there's no rule that says one has to use the player projection threads to make numerical projections (I rarely do). But, geez, if we're not going to discuss our expectations for that season's players or potential players during spring training then what the hell else are we going to discuss during ST? Either way, I fail to see how talk about baseball "clogs" the baseball thread. btw, I'm fine with the new travel/stadium forum since that'll act as a kind of reference guide that you'll want all in one place and not have individual threads fall off the back into archive-land. But let's not overdo the management angle, ignoring threads or topics or even people you aren't interested in is quite easy and doesn't involve any heavy lifting.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: themetfairy wrote: One cool feature is that you can borrow a glove for the game. If you like the glove, you can purchase it at a discount after the game. Although having some strange, borrowed piece of leather on your hand instead of the trusty mitt that you've gone to battle with for years would seemingly increase the chance of you muffing that rare foul ball catch opportunity, I am still in favor this cool, little park perk. It's essentially a sales pitch from the Mizuno corp. They have a permanent location at the park where they'll not just loan you a glove for the game but also help you with advice and fitting for when you want to buy one which you can do right there at the park or they hope that the brand name will be planted in your head if you buy a glove elsewhere.

The thing about catchers is that they have a high risk of injury and you always need two anyway, which is kind of my way of saying that, unlike 1B with Ike/Lucas, there's not the same pressure to make an either/or decision on these guys, at least not yet. Each getting 350 or so ABs next year might prove a better solution than saying to either of them that the job's all theirs while bringing in some career back-up as the clear #2 That doesn't mean you give an automatic 'NO' to any trade requests but we could do a lot worse than those two fighting it out for 2018 or future supremacy. I don't know of any in-house solutions knocking on the door aside from Nido who is still just 23 y/o and saw his OPS drop significantly this year (816 to 641) with the move to AA Bingo.

Ben Lively (I don't know who that is) I know that he's a 6' 4" 25 y/o RH rookie, originally drafted by the Reds, who's made 10 ML starts this year including one against us that wound up as a 2-1 Mets win (thank you JdG) back in late June. I also know that he's nowhere near as nice to look at as Blake Lively [fimg=300]http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2015/greatideas/blog/151116/blake-lively-300x400.jpg[/fimg] Aside from that I got nothing.

#53 ... Weisman probably not in attendance.