Frayed Knot

Not that I'm saying I predicted this or anything, but I wondered, when they first displayed the lineup, about Rivera at 3rd & Johnson at 2nd rather than the other way around as Rivera put in about twice as much 2B time in the minors as compared to his time logged at 3B But TJ has looked anything but smooth at 3rd in his short ML time.

metirish wrote: Fittingly dirty #Arod takes MFY3 mound dirt . I wonder if he actually saved it or if that was just something that he felt like he was supposed to do (or maybe even ordered to do) when leaving the revered YSIII? I'd put the odds at him dumping that stuff out of his back pocket onto the clubhouse floor the moment he was out of camera range at at least 50/50 Meanwhile, Yanqui hurler Nathan Eovaldi, who was pulled out of a game last week with elbow soreness, will require Two elbow surgeries -- traditional UCL replacement (TJ surgery) and also a flexor tendon repaired -- to repair his arm and will miss all of the 2017 season rehabbing. Kind of an odd case Eovaldi; seems like he's been around a while but still just 26 y/o, scouts rave about his 'Stuff' but that stuff hasn't always matched the results as he's still a below .500 pitcher with ERAs in the mid-4.00s most seasons. Even the Yanx, desperate for pitching most of this year, had him in and out of the rotation. I believe he'll achieve FA-status during the 2017-18 off-season so it'll be interesting how much attention he draws that winter seeing as how it'll be some 20 months between games for him by the time the '18 season starts up again.

metirish wrote: SNY Trivia Who are the only three pitchers to face Keith 100 or more times? Steve Carlton, Mike Krukow, Bob Knepper

Edgy MD wrote: That was the second opportunity this week for De Aza to try to tag two bases. Instead, zero? Yeah, but I'm with Keef there, that's the right play by ADA. I can't remember when, or even IF, I've ever seen a ML runner tag two bases on a fly out. And tagging there and then having to stop at 3rd if it dropped is by far the bigger sin.

Finally a NYM pitcher realizes the only way he's going to get to pitch with a lead.

Hey I look at it this way: we had two on with none out and, for a change, didn't get shut-out for the inning!

Should have read [u:3jvuytgl]S[/u:3jvuytgl]low-bouncer. That play certainly could have been a DP although I don't think it was a slam-dunk. The SD infield was set-up physically and probably mentally to come home at that point and maybe Walker getting a great jump maybe convinced them that the DP would have been tougher than it at first seemed. Either way, yeah, we have a decent shot whenever the other side is trying to hand us the game but so Ray certainly seemed like he was trying to last night (pitching & fielding) and that didn't help.

Edgy MD wrote: [Westrum] sent his players up there taking by default, until they got a swing sign. Rehire Westrum! Ugh, not for me.

We've been doing pretty well in games where the starting pitcher can pitch seven no-hit innings or more. But just barely. We've actually had four games in the last nine days where the starter has allowed one run or less into the 7th - deGrom gave up 1 over 6.2 to Detroit but they needed a 2R Walker HR in the 9th to pull that one out - Colon vs ARZ (at home) gave up 1 thru 7 but we lost that in the 12th - deGrom again held the Padres to 1 run over 6th but it took a dramatic walk-off blow bouncer + wild throw in the 11th to steal that one - and then the Matz game which was a 1-0 game until they salted it away with 3 insurance runs in the 8th So, yeah, I suppose that's something to hang our hats on: 'When our starter pitches lights-out for at least seven there's always the chance we can squeak out a nail-biter.' In fact, that should be the club motto.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: So what I'm really asking is whether 3-0 should really be a take in almost all situations, as I think it is now. I don't think it is all that automatic. Keith, usually prompted by Gary or Ron, will opine as to whether he thinks a particular situation should or should not be a 'take' and lots of factors go into it. And remember that just because the batter doesn't swing doesn't necessarily mean he was taking. The disciplined hitter on 3-0 wants a particular pitch and narrows his zone down to a tiny box, if the pitcher doesn't hit that spot then you 'spit on it' and know he has to pick his spot again. So even batters with the 'green light' probably wind up taking most of the time.

It's come to the point where I have an almost perverse fascination with the number of ways they can find to lose games as this point. - a team that relies on its pitching gets a game where they had 18 baserunners (12 hits, 5 walks, plus an error) yet were never really in the game on account of picking that night as the one where every pitcher they threw out there sucked. - on a night where they actually went 3 for 9 w/RiSP, those hits only yielded two runs (Reyes singling in d'Arnaud twice) and those were the only two (of 17) baserunners that were driven in by hits - they had 12 trips to the plate with multiple runners on base and managed just 3 singles - if told that Flores would go 2-for-4 plus a walk and a strikeout in 5 trips I'm betting you could guess which one of those results occurred with 2 outs the bases loaded ... against a lefty no less during a season where 36% of his ABs vs LHPs result in a hit and 10% result in a HR!! (30 hits and 8 HRs in 83 AB) - the starter Ray retired just 2 of the first 5 hitters he faced, 4 of the first 10, and 7 of his first 14, and the result was one run - Ray struck out 5 in 5 innings: one with a runner on 3rd/2-out; bases loaded/2-out; 1st-2nd/no-outs; runner on 1st/2 outs, and once with the bases empty (of course they were empty, the leadoff single had just been erased by a GiDP)

Frayed Knot wrote: You know it's a problem when it's bases loaded and none out and I'm wondering if they're going to get even one run out of this. Well whatyaknow, three runs ... and counting. Of course there have been no actual hits during this time, but they squeaked across a trio of runners anyhow.

You know it's a problem when it's bases loaded and none out and I'm wondering if they're going to get even one run out of this.

But wait, it gets better 9 NYM ABs tonight [u:2l62vwbo]with two or more runners on base[/u:2l62vwbo] - 3 singles but only 2 RBI - other than that: GiDP, K, FO (w/bases loaded but no RBI), K, GO, GiDP

NYM: 9 hits, 9 singles ARZ: 12 Hits, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 6 singles

NOW Wilmer gets his hit. In typical NYM 2016 fashion he has two hits - but then K'd in the one AB where the bases were loaded.

Meanwhile, an hour and 40 minutes to get through 3-1/2 innings. Not going to be an early one tonight.

Bartolo's walk was both historical and hysterical. btw, I'm with Gary & Keith, I would have PH'd for him. And Ray has now thrown six innings worth of pitches just to get thru four innings so he's not long for this game either.

So this Ray guy (not to be confused with former punter Ray Guy) retired just 7 of the first 14 hitters he faced and now 9 of the first 18 ... and yet still just one run.

Look, we all know this is the result of the cheap-ass Wilpons not wanting to pay for an extra letter [u:960z5s2x]AND[/u:960z5s2x] a freaking period to go after it. Hell, in TJ Rivera's case you'd have to pay for two of each!!! Or maybe they could do just one, like the shortened version of his chosen name of TJ is just T. Or maybe that's what only his best friends call him.

Me too (started a couple days ago) meaning that it's unlikely that all our 'Flash' players are in need of updating at the same time and so the problem lies elsewhere.

Well it's not like Gary stealing from this board would be anything new.

Gary brought this up a couple days ago. Said it had been several years since they've used initials when duplicate last names were involved but didn't seem to know exactly when the practice was dropped or why. And all this just as Spanish names across baseball are belatedly getting all their accents and tildes in place.

Groin strain for Giancarlo - probably lost for the season. Suxx for both him and for them obviously but it was also partially his fault; he got caught watching his single which turned out NOT to be caught at which point he suddenly had to turn on the jets attempting to reach 2nd. It was legging it out that caused the pull and, to add insult to injury, he never did reach the base. So probably more Ichiro in RF ... and maybe some ARod mixed in? Also DL'd for the Fishies is LH starter Adam Conley with some kind of finger injury. He had the 2nd most innings pitched and K's on the team (behind Fernandez in each).

bmfc1 wrote: Marlins win after a bad call. The catcher blocked the lane to end the game and it wasn't called or reversed. And the catcher juggled the ball. Other than that, the call was correct. Just saw the replay. That's the type of call they were (wrongly) making back when that plate-blocking rule was first put in but haven't made in a while now. I couldn't tell about any bobble but, like the one where Bruce was nailed at the plate last week, they weren't going to overturn that one; catcher had the ball long before the runner got there. Hell, Yelich threw the ball about 30 feet from the infield dirt. Best Gary Cohen pun of the game: when talking about Rene & TJ Rivera in the same game he said that CitiField had become Two Rivera Stadium