Frayed Knot

cooby wrote: Which Gary is that? https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CqmHRA2VYAAGQDj.jpg

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 3) Like Cti, they have 2 big scoreboards but confusingly laid out, especially the OoTS, hard to tell where ads end and info begins, like a badly laid out web page. Seemed garishly bright, like electric green garish. Keith got on it big time before Gary jumped in and denounced it as "sensory overload". 9) Big Gsellman fan. Getting that bunt down was a huge key to victory. A first-pitch successful sac bunt from a pitcher ... that might be the first of the year!! I'm betting we have more K's than successes from attempted pitcher sacrifices this season.

OK, which of you guys are going to admit to having hair like that back in the day?

Ashie62 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Way to be positive, Babe! Way to be realistic. Matz needs surgery. 1) well the "blow three to the birds" is out the window already so the 'be realistic' part is too 2) Matz allowed 2 runs over 13 innings in his last two starts, so while he may eventually need surgery he don't need it now.

Lefty Specialist wrote: You can play with numbers all you want, but realistically they have to sweep the Cards. Just don't see it happening. Sure, but my point in starting this was to point out that 8 in a row (now 9) and 12 of 15 (now 13 of 16) wasn't easy to see for the Royals this year either. They were even worse than the Mets until two weeks ago.

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: I step out to mow the lawn and find a 3-3 tie and Niese out of the game. Well stop cutting the lawn then. And now we have a guy making his major-league debut in the first game of a must-wine series. A lot of Mets games this year have been "must-wine". I know they've often driven me to drink.

Centerfield wrote: Henderson? really? Why are we not going to Robles here? Don't agree with this move. Have you been watching Robles lately? 13 R on 10 hits + 10 BB over his last 8 outings/9-1/3 innings. And that includes a 3-inning scoreless game in the middle of that run.

Centerfield wrote: We don't even need 8 (though it certainly would be nice). Three straight wins against St. Louis would make things really interesting with plenty of time left in the season. Yeah we don't need a streak so much as they just have to win consistently. As with the East division last year, this year's WC race is being left open by a bunch of teams none of which is likely to hit 90 wins. This is thanks both to the contenders knocking off each other and the NL (following a brief hot start at the beginning of the season) once again getting its collective butts kicked by the AL in inter-league play. So with 38 games left it's possible that they could squeak in by going 25-13 or even a game or two worse. 25 wins would put them at 87 on the year, the WC-leading SFG are currently headed for 88.5

And if the Mets ever decided to do an all-time Top-100 list we could tell them that the CPF has already done the legwork. Of course being a newer team the list is more susceptible to updates so it would kind of suck for an ex-Met to have his name on the roll of honor for a few years only to fall off the list and have their plaque removed on account of being passed by newer players. So sorry Eddie Murray, Ollie Perez and Danny Frisella, you are no longer are worthy. And hey you, Dennis Cook, Al Jackson, Frank Viola, and Aaron Heilman, don't make any long terms plans.

Mahatma Ghandi's gotta be in there.

The Gsellman Report If nothing else, he'll be a great addition to the hair content of this pitching staff.

MLB.com is crediting Jon Hey Man (why don't you leave me alone) for the news although adds that the club hasn't confirmed. Meanwhile, ya gotta love the hoops that Rubin is forced to jump through here: "a mild shoulder strain and rotator cuff inflammation during an examination with team doctors in Manhattan on Monday, as first reported by FanRag Sports and confirmed by ESPN". The 'confirmed by ESPN' is a recent policy of the Four-Letter Network after years of being accused of claiming credit for everything they aired or published whether they had the news first or ninth. Now 'FanRag Sports' could be run out of some guy's basement or by Edward R. Murrow IV for all I know, but I do get a kick out of the tortured legalese they go through in order to make it sound like they get half-credit by sticking Bristol's stamp of approval on everything that they think wouldn't exist had they just said "as reported by _______".

Yeah, I suspect this is more precautionary than critical as the Nats need him for October but, thanks to our incredible mediocrity, are in a position where they can pretty much cruise through September no matter whether Stephen Strasburg or Whoopi Goldberg were in their rotation.

Strasburg, who was supposed to start tonight in the 'Beltway Series' game vs Baltimore, to the DL with "elbow soreness". It's the second DL of the year for Strasburg although the first trip was not for the elbow and he wound up needing just the minimum 15 days out. But he's also 2-4 since his 13-0 start to 2016 and has an ERA near 8.00 over those six games, most notably the last one where he got hit up for 9 runs while not being able to finish the 2nd inning. OK it was in Colorado, but still ... AJ Cole up to start tonight.

Strawberry's 'intervention' via the NYDN wasn't out of the blue though, it was triggered by a no-show at a joint appearance scheduled for the two, plus at least one other last minute cancellation by Doc, plus presumably previous and ongoing concerns. And now Straw's statements have been seconded and even third-ed by members of Gooden's own family.

The Cards have as many injuries as anyone but, as usual, don't seem to lose a step when that happens as someone comes off the bench (or sometimes, it seems, out of the stands) to ably fill-in if not surpass what the missing player was doing. - 1B Matt Adams is out (shoulder) so ex-Red Sock/Pirate/Athletic/Indian Brandon Moss shows up (July '15 pickup) and has 23 HRs in 290 ABs!! He's 32 and in his 10th ML season and only once did he top that in a full year. - SS Almedys Diaz broke his thumb on a HBP. He was already like their 4th choice as the season started so naturally he had 42 XBH and made the AS team in his rookie half-season. Greg Garcia [.238/.352/.338] is the current SS. - LF Matt Holliday is on holiday for his thumb fracture. A combo of guys are filling in there, including Moss and Jeremy Hazelbaker (he even sounds like a Cardinal). He's the 28 y/o career minor leaguer who was hitting nothing but XBHs during his first few weeks in the majors back in April. He's calmed down (and been sent down) since, but still has 11 HRs in just 170 ABs so yaneverknow. - also filling-in all over the place and also HR-ing a rates never before seen is Jedd Gyorko. The ex-Padre, like Brandon Moss, has 20 HRs in part-time duty (272 ABs) Not surprisingly, this team leads the NL in HRs by having nine different guys in double digits including four who have less than 300 ABs (and Tommy Pham has 9 in 129) Also out are pitchers Lance Lynn, Michael Wacha, closer Trevor Rosenthal, and a handful of lesser arms. Neither Rosenthal nor Wacha were having good years anyway so those losses probably helped more than they hurt. Sueng-Hwan 'The Final Boss' Oh is closing to the tune of 39 hits & 86 Ks in 64 innings

MFS62 wrote: But regurgitating old stories is unnecessary. Except that the gist of this recent spate of stories is that this is NOT old news, that Gooden's problems are very much current. So says his recent actions/no-shows, also his ex, his kid (Dwight Jr. in an additional story today), and so fears Strawberry.

Optimism reason # (whatever) That other 2015 WS team looked even more dead than we did in early August -- 7 games below .500 on Aug 5th, dropped to 4th place, as many as 11 games back in the AL Central -- and for many of the same reasons: lots of injuries, pitching not as good as in the past, etc. And while they're still a seemingly insurmountable 8 games back in the Central, their current 8-game winning streak* and 13 wins in their last 15 has them within 3.5 games of WC #2. Now of course we're currently just 1/4 of the way into a theoretical 8-game winning streak and even further from a 13-of-15-like run, but we're also not starting from as far behind as the Royals did and are essentially in the same spot that they're just now getting to. Grasping at straws? Sure, especially seeing as how they've shown no signs of being capable of anything like it recently, but it is a reminder of what a hot week or more can accomplish. * Runs allowed during their run: 4, 1, 1, 1, 1, 4, 0, 1

The NYDN has been following this like a soap opera in recent days. Within that article are three or four links to previous pieces from the past week which started around the time he failed to meet one appointment (although skipping Benigno's radio show is a sign of a healthy mind to me), was subbed for last minute by Mookie in another, one is of Strawberry expressing worries about him, and yet another is Gooden saying that he's fine except for some 'minor health problems'. btw, I'm not sure I want to know what an addict shits like.

SteveJRogers wrote: I gave this one to my son of all people on a long car ride. His guess and its not a bad one: Gaylord Perry. Nope, just Indians HOF and Giants Wall of Honor. And soon to be a statue in SF for Gaylord.

Fasten 'em!

If I'm managing, Syndy is pitching the 9th -- at least until he gets into trouble at which point you can go to either Jan or Marcia.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Anybody know where Cespy's HR landed? In the seats. Seven complete for Noah but in only six innings worth of pitches (90). No sweat to go at least one more unless his spot in the order comes up in a critical PH situation ... and even then I'm not sure I'd do it. None of the Robles/Reed/Familia trio has been so dependable lately.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Yoenis Cespedes is Mr. August! This year he's Mr. Late August.

The other good news is that they're 2/3 of the way through the game in just an hour and a half -- which is even more remarkable when you consider that it's a longer-commercial national game -- so there's less of a chance that this one will last until midnight like the usual SNB games. Of course that's all providing that someone, y'know, scores a run at some point.