Frayed Knot

Papa Gsellman

themetfairy wrote: WE HAVE A PITCHER WHO CAN BUNT!!!!!!!!!!!! He's 2 for 2

So here are the in-game injuries from just the past week. Tuesday - Niese removed in bottom 1st Thursday - Lugo after the end of the 5th Friday - Ruggiano after the 5th Saturday - Cespedes in the bottom 7th, then Walker at the end of the 8th Sunday - Cabrera in bottom 1 ... and maybe more to come, who knows! And let's look at Ruggiano's year while we're at it: - gets 4 ABs with Texas on opening day and gets sent down - gets 175 ABs in AAA then is released - gets signed by the Mets but goes on the DL after 6 ABs - comes off the DL but then goes back on 14 ABs later for a different injury

Vince Velasquez vs Robert Gsellman -- 1:10 (only 7 day games left after today) Velasquez started off his first full season (55 IP w/Houston last year) great, beginning with a 6-inning/3-hit game vs the Mets on April 9 (a 1-0 Philly win) and following that up with a complete game 3-hit/16-K performance vs SDP. But lately, not so good: 9, 5, & 5 earned runs in his last three games, those 19 runs came in just 16.1 innings on 29 hits and 8 HRs with 5 BBs thrown in, although he did strikeout 23 in the process. On our side, this is the first of (at least!) three consecutive games with a trainee on the mound. Not sure why that fact calls for a Cespedes-less game but at least so far there's no word that broken body parts or major surgery is involved, although he was PH'd for late in Saturday's affair. 4 - Cesar Hernandez 8 - Odubel Herrera 5 - Mikael Franco 3 - Tommy Joseph 9 - Aaron Altherr 7 - Jimmy Paredes 2 - AJ Ellis 6 - Freddy Galvis 9 - Vince Velasquez 5 - Jose Reyes 6 - Asdrubal Cabrera 4 - Kelly Johnson 9 - Jay Bruce (or some faint copy of him) 7 - Curtis Granderson 8 - Alejandro De Aza 3 - James Loney 2 - Travis d'Arnaud 1 - Robert Gsellman

Frayed Knot wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: See, now... Josh Reddick, I might have been a little more okay with than I an with Bruce. I thought of that too; less powah than Bruce better better glove, legs, arm, contact skillz. The main difference is that he's a FA at the end of the year whereas we have JB for 2017 also - which I suppose one could look at as either a positive or a negative. Reddick w/Dodgers 11 for 75; .147/.210/.160; 10 singles + 1 double He somehow managed to be worse than Jay Bruce who has all of 13 hits (81 AB) w/5 of them for XB

And down goes Miami, 1-0 loss to SDP

Games like this one are very satisfying ... and very frustrating at the same time. After all those games of failing to get even a measly hit against non-descript pitchers and losing by a run or two. And tonight they get a bushel full on a Syndergaard night when they've got at least three straight games ahead of them with untested pitchers.

Blonds have more pop.

Zvon wrote: It's rare I get GKR when we play the Phils. Except that tonight you are [fimg=150]http://www.crazyabouttv.com/Images/arliss.jpg[/fimg] R-less ... Get it? Arliss!?!

7:10 -- Jeremy Hellickson vs Noah Syndergaard Unlike last night's starter, Hellickson has been pretty good recently (6 'Quality Starts' in his last 9) and probably their best pitcher all season: 10-7; 3.60; 1.14 This will be his 4th start against us this season, Mets have gone 1-2 Only the Dodgers, who lost to the Cubs in extras, lost lat night among the NL contenders so we're pretty much in the same place today as we were yesterday except that there's one day fewer remaining on the schedule.

We should probably just have a running thread labeled '[insert pitcher here] to miss his next start' to make things easier. Anyway, deGrom is to be skipped, according to the NYDN, on his next start (Monday) for reasons that are "mechanical, not medical". "at this point, we don't believe it's a medical issue," Mets' GM Sandy Alderson said, referring to the cause of deGrom's past two clunkers on the mound, in which the pitcher has allowed 25 hits and 13 runs in only 9.2 innings, a 12.10 ERA. "The last couple of starts, his ball hasn't moved as it typically does." "Of course, I want to be out there," deGrom said. "But these past few, I haven't helped the team very much. If it's in the best interests, then I think that's the plan we decided to go with."

Edgy MD wrote: Tonight's starter, Adam Morgan, besides being a fun place to drink in Washington, DC, is a left-handed second-year guy with a 6.21 ERA. So Flores, Ruggiano, Rivera, and especially Céspedes can be expected to be licking their chops. He's a control specialist with a rebuilt rotator cuff, whose best pitch is called a "Bugs Bunny change up." So don't lick your chops too much, guys. Y'mean like the RHBs in his one game vs NYM last August (one year and two days ago to be exact): Cuddyer - 2 doubles; Wright - HR; Flores - HR; d'Arnaud - HR; Lagares - HR Then later in the game, although off different pitchers, Cuddyer HR'd, as did Cespdes, Murphy, and Flores for a second time as the Mets set a club record of eight in a game. In keeping with the present, it was also one of those awful days for deGrom like we've be seeing lately. He lasted only 2-2/3 giving up 7 runs on 8 hits including 3 HRs of his own (Ryan Howard, Domonic Brown, Cameron Rupp) before moving aside for Gilmartin (W), Robles, O'Flaherty, and Carlos Torres to finish up the 16-7 win. Not surprisingly, this game was in Philly. http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/gamedetail.php?gameno=8652&tabno=D Morgan actually entered the 4th inning of that game up 7-2 but when the Mets half of the 4th started: Single, HR, HR, Double he wasn't around for the end of it.

Mid-game O-o-T-S check: - Nats lead Rox 4-2 in the 6th - Marlins losing 4-2 to Padres, top 5 - Pirates & Brewers scoreless in Milwaukee - Cardinals up on Oakland 2-1 in the 3rd - Dodgers host the Cubs late Giants vs Braves, also on the west coast

That shot just redeemed four really shitty innings since the back-to-back jobs leading off the game. Going scoreless there would have been a YUGE downer!!

Don't like the fact that it was 2-0 four pitches into the bottom of the 1st and is still 2-0 four innings later, nor that we've K'd 7 times since.

4 - Hernandez 7 - Altherr 5 - Franco 3 - Howard 2 - Rupp 8 - Herrera 6 - Galvis 9 - Bourjos 1 - Adams 5 - Reyes 6 - Cabrera 7 - Cespedes 4 - Walker 3 - Flores 9 - Bruce 8 - Ruggiano 2 - d'Arnaud 1 - Colon

Homecoming/Home Stretch Series -- Aug 26-28 Friday 7:10 -- Adam Morgan vs Colon Morgan = Not very good. 26 y/o, 2nd year lefty; 16 games/14 starts in 2016; 6.21 ERA, 1.58 WHiP. Hasn't faced us this season; faced him once last August where we put a whoopin' on him Saturday 7:10 -- Jeremy Hellickson vs Syndergaard Hellickson has probably been the Phils best starter all year. 25 starts, 10-7; 3.60; 1.14 Faced him three times this season and lost two of those games, mainly we wore him out with high pitch counts and forced short outings: 10 ER over 16 innings overall. Sunday 1:10 -- Vince Velasquez vs Gsellman Velasquez is probably their most dynamic pitcher (owns an 16-K / three-hitter this year and beat us 1-0 back in April) but also less consistent than Hellickson: 4.31 ERA, 1.37 WHIP Got bombed in his last three starts (19 runs in 16 innings vs LAD, LAD, & StL) What's new? Mainly that Carlos 'Chooch' Ruiz has been traded. After signing with them as a teenager 18 years ago and then 11 seasons with the big club, he was dealt on Thursday to the Dodgers for their backup backstop AJ Ellis plus some minor bodies and money going one way or the other. Seemed like an odd trade from LA's side and 'Cooch' was all but gone in a few weeks anyway. Ellis is only 2 years younger and can't hit either. Aaron Altherr is the German-born uber-athletic looking OF who we saw a bit of in 2015 but was on the DL during all our meetings earlier this year. So he's back now, mainly in LF, as Cody Asche is back on the DL Other than that, pretty much the same as before: 1B - Tommy Joseph or Ryan Howard 2B - Cesar Hernandez SS - Freddy Galvis 3B - Mikael Franco LF - Altherr and/or Tyler Goeddel CF - Odubel Herrerea RF - Peter Bourjos C - Cameron Rupp backed by AJ Ellis instead of Ruiz Still might get to witness the first Goeddel-v-Goeddel meeting. And while I know we're looking in front of us much more than in back, the Phils are only 5 games behind.

Ruiz had been relegated to a part-time role most of the season even prior to the trade (had about 1/3 of the catching ABs) so things won't change much this final month as far as their catching goes. Rupp backed by Ruiz just became Rupp backed by AJ Ellis. Barely a noticeable difference most likely. That trade seemed like an odd move from the Dodgers side. Ellis had been a friend and a fave of Kershaw having caught more than half of CK's career starts. And while Ruiz is a better offensive player than Ellis, it's not like they're getting Ruiz's offense from a half-decade ago so the step up is pretty minor. Mostly it just seemed to be a very disruptive deal for a small upgrade (if there even is an upgrade) plus any perceived addition of Ruiz's famed 'leadership' qualities. And it really suxx big-time for Ellis who not only doesn't get to catch Kershaw anymore (was on the brink of crying over it yesterday) but he goes from the brink of a division winner just weeks from the finish line to a team that's going to be done with his 35 y/o self by the time they get to wherever they hope to be.

Friday 7:10 -- Adam Morgan vs Colon Morgan = Not very good. 26 y/o, 2nd year lefty; 16 games/14 starts in 2016; 6.21 ERA, 1.58 WHiP. Hasn't faced us this season; faced him once last August where we put a whoopin' on him - but of course we were putting a whoopin' on everyone back then

Not when starters are routinely exiting after the 5th, or are taking turns either being scheduled for or recovering from major surgeries, or when even that portion of the pen that folks aren't anxious to deport (Robles, Reed, Familia) is diminishing in effectiveness, quite possibly from overuse. IOW: Welcome to the world of spotty and erratic middle relief folks, this is what it often looks like.

We can't send every reliever back to Vegas folks!

One hopes that pitchers remember plays like the one Flores just made whenever they're given to bitching about singles that sneak through the shift.

Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure who else the Cards have left, but Tuivailala feels like a white flag. Not according to his BB-Ref page sponsor.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Chad Ochoseis wrote: bmfc1 wrote: And Flores has no business playing against a righty. K. Johnson booted a grounder yesterday so he hits the bench but he should be in there. Can't say I disagree about Johnson over Flores at 2B, though. Terry Collins, genius. And now Terry is a super genius as Rene Rivera is the guy who puts this game to bed (at least hopefully) with a 2-run single off the wall (not quite sure how he managed that).

Nats finally beat the Orioles. Marlins about to lose ... (and just did) Pirates were leading but were just tied up by the Brewers in the 7th. Dodgers v Giants just getting started.