Frayed Knot

MFS62 wrote: When was the last time Tampa beat the MFYs? You may round your answer to the nearest 5 years. Well at the moment the answer is last night. Also 8 times of the 19 this season so it's not quite so bad as it sometimes seems. As for the rest of that league's races ... - after Boston did the four game sweep thing of the Yanx last weekend they followed it up by sweeping Baltimore four straight. The result is that the AL East, which had been so close for so long, got all blow’d up and the Red Sox lead by 5.5, 7.0, and 9.5 games and are pretty much in cruise control the rest of the way home. None of the other divisions -- Cleveland by 7.0; Texas by 9.0 -- are in doubt either. The other development is that the sweep drops the Orioles out of a playoff spot for the first time all season. WC Standings TOR +1.0 DET - - - BAL - 0.5 HOU - 1.5 SEA - 2.0 NYY - 3.0 KCR - 5.5 Yanx at Blue Jays is the big head to head matchup this weekend -- one I'd feel better about if the Jays didn't like totally suck lately (7-12 in Sept) -- but also one that’s a ‘wrap-around’ series which goes through to Monday. After the Jays — and you figure the Yanx will need to win at least three of the four — they’ll host Boston & Baltimore for three each to close things outs (with no off days) so if they want to play past next Sunday they’re going to have to earn it. They also need to go 3-7 or better to keep their string of winning seasons alive. And, for the first time in a while, they won’t have the luxury of having teams in front of them all beating up on each other. The Orioles hope the visiting Diamondbacks are a cure for their ills Royals at Tigers - and I think it’s past time to put any hopes of a repeat championship to bed Mariners get their turn to beat up on the Twins (9-31 over their last 40) Astros host Angels Red Sox @ Rays

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Im staying up out here in the yard, to hear the radio highlights. coming up NOW!!!! Few better than Howie at the big moments.

Edgy MD wrote: I'm going in to the office tomorrow as a blondie. I've decided to be blond tomorrow too.

You figure that after missing by inches in the 9th inning last night, and then again in the 10th tonight (Duda), that the third potential walk-off HR was the charm.

Edgy MD wrote: Cohen announcing that the Mets were 0-63 when trailing in the eighth or later. Not so. They fell behind in the 11th not so long ago before being bailed out by Grandy. And he just repeated that. P.S. I haven't understood a word Asdrubal has said.

#Blonds hit more bombs

YOU GOTTA BE EFFIN KIDDING ME!!! Think he knew he got it?

Just as in the Braves series, we're giving up multiple run innings where there's maybe one hard hit ball ... and in this case even that double wasn't exactly smoked.

This pitching change is brought to you by the Padres & Giants being scoreless in the 5th out west.

But now here's the problem: now only are we down to the final catcher in a game which could last who knows how long but, any Philly that gets on base from here on out is going to run wild w/Plawecki back there and they have a ton of those annoying speedy little shits.

Prove me wrong here Lucas.

Fman99 wrote: Thankfully easy inning for the big fella. Only 9 pitches and none under stress. If they don't win it here and don't get to the 9th slot doing so (JF due up 5th this inning) I'd like to see him out there for a 2nd inning. And, no, I don't want to PH for Rene Rivera either (up 4th here). He's as likely to run into one as Plawecki ... maybe more.

Edgy MD wrote: That was kind of Conforto's at-bat that Bruce took, wasn't it? I guess the reasoning is that Bruce is less prone to the double-play because he makes less contact. Conforto and Bruce are pretty much the same player these days (both were voted the boy most likely to start his AB with an 0-2 count) and it's actually Conforto with the slightly higher K-rate for the season.

btw, big thanks to Philly manager MacKanin for yanking that lefty who pitched the 8th out of the game after Terry signaled in big bad Travis d'Arnaud, especially with Jeanmar Gomez struggling so much as the booth has been talking about. But, y'know, he's the 9th inning guy and the 9th inning guy needs to pitch the 9th inning. I think that's on a stone tablet somewhere.

I was just about the propose an alternate quiz asking which Philly OFer was going to end the game by robbing the game-tying or winning hit ... Aaron Altherr wasn't quite tall enough.

Oh wow, Bruce fell into an 0-2 count!!!

Quiz in advance: Which Met is going to make the final out with the tying and/or winning run on base? Yeah, I'm a bit pessimistic at this point.

The NYPost is reporting that Matz will NOT make his return start on Friday after experiencing "shoulder soreness" following today's throwing session. And so it goes. http://nypost.com/2016/09/22/steven-matz-scratched-from-mets-comeback-start/

While the overall position of the top three didn't change much in these last couple days, these last few days have brought the Marlins & even the frickin' Pirates back into at least the fringes of the picture. As of last week, Pitt had sunk to four games below .500, had lost, in quick succession, Gerritt Cole & Josh Harrison for the season, and looked as dead as any pretender could be. Since then they've won six of eight. Sure it's been Cincy, Philly & the Brewers, but bad teams don't always play bad from what I've heard. And while the Marlins taking two of three from the Nats would have been welcomed at most times of the year, this week was a really bad time to see it. Pitt -3.5 Marlins -4.0 There's also no longer any sense in hoping that the Dodgers could fall back into this so we've got to be neck-deep in rooting for LA in their final three head-to-head games w/SFG which conclude the season.

We got so giddy beating up on the Braves early in the year -- going 4-0 while out-scoring them 21-8 -- that we forgot that they were supposed to suck and went 5-10 for the rest of the year.

1 for 5 w/RiSP -- and that one was Cabrera's HR following Reyes's SB where it didn't even matter where the runner was.

So when was the last time Cespedes hit two balls over the wall and wound up 1-5 ?

Bunt is successful ... now here comes the uncontested steal of 3rd. Or, considering that it's Bonafacio up, a 32-hopper through the infield.

Swung at ball three with a 2-0 count. It was all downhill (and pretty predictable) from there.

Well, this had been a fast-moving game.