Frayed Knot

Cespedes should be on 3rd ... but we should be used to this by now.

Is that the first come-backer Familia has fielded cleanly this year? But you know what this is really on ... it's scoring the first two runners of the game and then going into 'Operation Shutdown' for the next seven innings.

Frayed Knot wrote: I like Reed here in the 7th ... and it works!! Not sure I like removing Reed here so much.

Shouldn't this Cuniff guy be managed by Terry, while on the Pirates?

I like Reed here in the 7th ... and it works!!

That non-strike 3 call on Markakis (in front of Recker) certainly suxx right about now.

56 pitches thru 5 for Bartolo. I think Syndergaard threw 56 pitches in the 5th inning the other day ... and he didn't even get through the whole inning.

"This isn't Cricket" No, but the games these days are almost as long.

This game also decides the season series vs the Braves (currently 9-9) an especially humbling fact considering that we started the year vs them with four straight wins.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Is Granderson not CFing after yesterday's screwup? Sucks to sit Conforto against a righty. I think Grandy is in RF because we need offense and, like it or not, ADA is a better bet these days than either Bruce or Conforto.

Now if only Conforto weren't hitting .167 with a 32% strikeout rate since April.

Cards @ Rox is a day game today (3:10) so we're going to be chasing their result for a change. SF/LA at their usual late night time slot.

Mets Willets Point wrote: The only thing that makes Tebow famous is that he's become an icon to the type of Christian right people who believe that Christianity is being persecuted in the United States. I'm not buying that. MOST of the discussion surrounding Tebow was born of his stellar career as a college QB (Heisman, two-time national champion, numerous awards, etc) contrasted to his checkered one as a pro (1st round draft pick, division title, playoff win, but ultimately couldn't hold the job) and it's not like risk-averse ESPN is given to having religious discussion on their air. So even if the majority of the talk about him was overwrought and over-hyped, it was mainly about his football bonafides or lack thereof. His story and fame and coverage was really no different than what happened with Johnny Manziel* a year or three later where religion wasn't even an issue. Now that doesn't mean there weren't some fans who lined up with him for his religious status and backstory (born in Philippines to missionary parents) and who cited that as why he wasn't given enough of a chance in the NFL, but so were there others who specifically railed against his image and thought that the reason he was cut too much slack. * Manziel, btw, was once drafted in the 12th round by the Padres. Go get him NOW Sandy!!!! ... he ain't doing anything at the moment

Bartolo Colon vs Ryan Weber What's a Ryan Weber? Glad you asked. 26 y/o RH, 22nd round draft pick in 2009 out of St Petersburg College, which I've never heard of but my extensive research has turned up that it's in St Petersburg, Florida. He has pieces of two seasons in MLB, five starts in 2015, then 15 appearances this year including one start. He's faced the Mets twice and they've pretty much grilled him both times: in a start last September [4 runs in 6.1 IP] and once in relief back in April [3 runs, 6 hits in just 2 innings], both were NYM wins. But nothing's in the bag here as the Braves are hitting these days (and, no, not just against us) and, as you probably noticed, the Mets are not. Remember the stat last night about the Mets having scored (updated) 21 runs now over their last 8 games? Well the Braves have notched 49 runs in their last 8. Runs scored in September is 100 to 69 in Atlanta's favor.

Zvon wrote: Adam Wainwright (16) has more RBI this season than Travis d'Arnaud (14) this season. In 1/4 the amount of plate appearances.

A bloop that should have been caught, followed by two 3-pitch Ks then a ground-out against the middle of the Braves lineup. IOW, another boringly effective inning from Addison Reed.

This is now 18 runs scored in the last 8 games (or not quite 8 at this point). And seeing as how 3 of those runs were scored in extra innings, in regulation time it's 15 runs scored over the last 70 innings. On the flip side, our lazy-ass fly-ball swings are in prime form right now.

Braves have yet to hit the ball hard this inning.

Nymr83 wrote: Where did Gsellman and Lugo come from? The same draft actually in 2011. Gsellman was the 13th round choice from a Los Angeles HS; Lugo the 34th rounder out of Centenary College in Louisiana. And, yes, I know you weren't searching for a literal answer to that question, but I figured I'd give you one anyway.

MFS62 wrote: If there had been no Tim Tebow, ESPN would have created him. The folks that cover college football -- and ESPN all but Owns college football at this point -- don't really cover it so much as they cheerlead for it so they essentially try to create a new Tebow, or several news ones, every year. Each season they'll pick out some teenager to fall in love with and attempt to build him into the new national hero with a zeal topped maybe only by NBC Olympic coverage. Most will fall by the wayside, usually when the performance can't match the hype, but maybe because he gets tossed over in favor of the next cute young thing, or when his rap sheet starts to grow longer than the stats sheet. Tebow was merely the guy who never did falter so he still carried that partly accurate/partly hyped rep into the pros where the whole thing blew up into a monster. What position is he supposed to be playing? He'll be strictly an outfielder for now, although I suppose 1st base isn't out of the question down the road. Of course if he can't hit then his position will go back to being a football talking head.

Edgy MD wrote: I can't wait to see Rio. She knows she's something special and she looks like she's the best. Will probably be among the league leaders in dancing on the sand before too long.

P. J. Conlon - 13th round draft pick T. J. Rivera - Undrafted Free Agent Phillip Evans - 15th Round Draft Pick Thomas Nido - 8th Round Draft Pick David Thompson - 4th Round Draft Pick Thomas Szapucki - 5th Round Draft Pick Not exactly a ton of initial investment in any of those guys.

And yet another 9th inning loss by the Giants. Bumgarner left after 7 with a 1-0 lead (Kershaw went six) on 1 hit, 10 Ks Giants got through the 8th inning unscathed but then Bochy, trying to avoid both his former but currently ineffectual closers (Romo & Casilla), used three different pitchers in an attempt to get through the 9th but the result was four straight hits and two runs before anyone could ever record a single out. Of SF's last five losses they've had the lead going into the 9th in three of them and their blown-leads stats are just as bad going back a few months now. They've also now lost 11 of the last 18 games that Bumgarner has started even though he has a sub-3.00 ERA over that time. In all it was a good day for the Cardinals as they pick up a game on both WC teams. Miami also creeps a bit closer as they wait for someone to stumble.

I think we sometimes forget that Syndergaard is a just-turned 24 y/o in his first full season and expect more consistency out of him than is reasonable. Part of it is the Braves overall approach -- one which they totally flipped from just a year or two ago -- where they aim to put the ball in play at the expense of power but also in a way that reduces strikeouts and lengthens ABs. Atlanta batters mostly avoided chasing tonight, swung and missed at remarkably few pitches considering who they were facing, and fouled off a ton of them to drive the pitch count up to full-game capacity within just four innings. Marlins won tonight (vs Washington) Cards won tonight Giants are down 1-0 to the Dodgers out west.

I don't think it can be dismissed that all this is going down in Florida which is the home base for many of the Tebow worshipers.