Frayed Knot

So the Yanqui game was fun this afternoon (even if our isn't). Scoreless in the 8th at Toronto; Tyler Clippard on for the Yanx and quickly gets the first two outs in the bottom half, then comes a single and a walk ... then comes the three-run BOMB from Joey Bats. That's [u:1r5gay98]three[/u:1r5gay98] shutouts in a row and 9 losses of their last 11, all of which came on the heels of their 7-game winning streak which put them right in the mix.

Not sure if they've got what it takes to fight back from this - but I'm thinking that a hit would be a nice start.

So part way into this I'm thinking that it's going to be a tale of a dorky kid bouncing from one uncomfortable/awkward situation to another (and I tend to really dislike those movies) but it quickly grew beyond that and turned into a nice little flick. I take it this director likes making music movies [ONCE, BEGIN AGAIN] which is OK because he's pretty good at them. And you don't even need to be an '80s music geek to enjoy this one.

Not sure what Asher's tattoo is of but it looks like a bar code of some kind.

Wilmer keeps getting injured during windows when he'd essentially be playing almost every day. Early in the year it was right after David's injury. This time he would have grabbed many of Neil Walker's ABs and then a chunk of Loney's when he started to slump.

Just so I have this straight, this is NOT the way we wanted to start, right?

Cardinals thumping Cubs, 10-3 in the 8th Nobody ever said this was going to be easy.

Alec Asher (not to be confused with Cody Asche) will be the Phils alleged starter. (Asher/Asche -- Rupp/Ruf ... what's with these guys? They get group discounts or something?) The soon-to-be 25 y/o Righty, who came over from Texas as part of the mass of bodies in the Cole Hamels deal, will be making his 3rd ML start of the season to go with the 7 he started in 2015. He shut-out the Nats two weeks ago on 2 hits over 6 IP in his 2016 debut. Since then he's held Pitt & Miami to 2 runs each over 6 and 4 innings. His only start vs NYM came just about a year ago (Game #158) and he might still be seeing a therapist over that one. He left after facing seven batters but retiring just two while allowing a leadoff double followed by two walks, two wild pitches, two HRs (Muffy - 3R, Conforto - 2R) and on the short end of a 5-0 score although it turned out to be the Mets and not him who wound up losing the game as Logan Verrett and Bobby Parnell (in his final NYM appearance) conspired to give back the entire early lead and more in that post-clinching game. Ya gotta figure that Robles, Ynoa, and maybe Smoker are unavailable for today's version of the March of the Wooden Pitchers, although Salas, Reed, and Familia should be tanned, rested, and ready.

Friday was a nice night in the AL race too as the Yanx got trounced by Toronto while everyone above them with the exception of Houston won. Not completely dead yet but 4.0 games out and, more importantly, with five teams ahead of them for the two spots.

In the best case scenario here: - Thor is all well and good by Monday - he "saved" his start for the Marlins instead of "wasting" it on the mere Phillies - was probably only going to start twice more in the regular season anyway so doesn't lose one - and it lines he and Bartolo up for the final two games of the season if needed - or, if not needed, for the WC game and Game 1 of the NLDS ... so this winds up not being a net loss in the long run and we survived his missed outing and Ynoa's bad replacement on Friday.

dinosaur jesus wrote: Wil Myers with a three-run homer. 3-0 Padres in the bottom of the first. Keep it up, guys. Wearing the old school mustard and brown unis the Padres are. SF has yet to record an out in bottom 1st.

Terry over-playing things this inning ... and he comes out smelling like roses so far.

The Angels are in Houston tonight with LAA wearing their red tops and the Astros their Orange ones. Not a good look. You almost can't tell who is on what team.

Terry forced to quit being a Smoker before he wanted to.

Man, what a kick in the ass that would be if he returns to anything resembling April form. Him, Duda, and d'Arnaud. Just two of those three wold be YUGE.

The Phils were required to take Hellickson out here because otherwise this game was in danger of running up against the curfew rules. Whatever speed-up rules they put in -- and I think they're going to visit that this winter during CBA talks -- they've got to run film of how he pitched tonight and make everything he did illegal from here on out.

Zvon wrote: Matt Stairs, the Phillie ex-jock head, has a voice that sounds exactly like me when I try to talk after throwing up in my own mouth. He's from the Canadian Maritimes and lives full-time in Bangor, Maine. They all talk like that up there.

So with 6 walk-off HRs in each of '62 & '63, that means that over 13% of their total wins in those seasons (91) came via game-winning HRs. Nearly one win of every eight. That's stunning!

sharpie wrote: The Cubs had a pre-game ceremony honoring David Ross for the final home series of his career. Like, really? Hard to figure. Only his second year on the team. Had far more at bats as a Red and as a Brave than as a Cub, not to mention his time with the Dodgers, the Pirates, the Padres and the Red Sox. He's apparently been very popular there as the elder statesman/father figure/veteran presence/insert your favorite old-guy cliche here. He even has the gray hairs in his beard to play the part. Grandpa Rossi they call him.

seawolf17 wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Yes. His Marlins contract runs through 2017, and the Rockies are still on the hook for paying most of his 2017 salary. The Mets will have Jose for the major-league minimum. No, I don't think that's how it works. He'd be a FA at the end of the year. The Rox/Fish/Jays/whoever still have to pay the $, but the years don't matter any more. The 2017 dollars called for in his original contract that he signed with the Marlins back in December of 2011 ($22 mil) will be paid by the Fish/Jays/Rox (however they split it up*) as will the $4 mil buyout for 2018 -- so that $26 mil all together -- MINUS whatever the Mets agreed to pay him for the 1-1/2 deal he signed back in June as I think it's safe to say that the Mets will pick up that option. I'm not sure if it's ever been made public what the Mets signed him for. This year was likely for close to the minimum but next year's number has to be a bit more substantial if only as an incentive to keep him from looking for a new multi-year deal this coming off-season. * it appears that the freight for all of 2016, 2017, and the buyout falls entirely on Toronto

Centerfield wrote: I'm not asking for every reliever to be trashed. I'm asking for Jim Henderson. Jim Henderson who was great for us in April, but has been awful since then, and is getting worse. His pitches seem to have no life and he seems aware of it. He is our worst reliever, particularly in the second half. Except that I could go back over some IGTs, all within the last month, and read demands that we never see [fill-in this guy] comprising just about every bull-penner we have or have had recently.

And they've already lost their 55th game so they no longer have a shot at matching the Mets '86 record making it totally safe to root for the Cubs.

Edgy MD wrote: You don't want that. Big Jim was put in an a very difficult situation. And that walk came after several strikes three were effectively fouled off. You'll need Jim Henderson before this is all over. The real problem I had was Terry going to the guys he had taxed over the previous four days, and not giving the Hendus and the Robleses a chance at their own inning or two, instead of having to bail out the gassed front-liners. Plus, if Sandy were to follow our advice and trash every reliever that this place asked never to see again there'd be nobody left in the pen except for Reed & Familia.

Ynoa vs Jeremy Hellickson And if it seems like we've faced Hellickson a number of times already this year, it's because we have. 4 starts overall: 20 innings, 15 Runs on 27 hits, although those games were split 2-2 despite all the runs allowed. Most recently Cabrera's 2R and Cesedes's 3R HRs chased him after just 4 innings in late August during an eventual 12-1 NYM win. Be nice if they got their hitting shoes on prior to 11 PM this time.

Two other fairly recent movies I mentioned on this forum (and apparently no one else saw) which are both pretty much all-Hardy start to finish (literally so in one case): LOCKE (2014) and LEGEND (2015)