Frayed Knot

... and speaking of Murph, he pulled a couple of Murphs in the last few games. - Wednesday it was merely letting a routine grounder through his legs for what should have been the final out of the game. Now there were two outs at the time with no one on and a three run Washington lead so it was no big deal, except y'know ... Murph. - Tuesday was a classic Murph though: Nats losing by three this time when young Daniel leads off the top of the 8th with a double ... and gets thrown out trying for 3rd.

Reyes - 3B Granderson - RF Cespedes - CF Walker - 2B Loney - 1B Cabrera - SS Nimmo - LF d'Arnaud - C Colon - P Revere - CF Werth - LF Murphy - 2B Harper - RF Ramos - C Robinson - 1B Rendon - 3B Espinosa - SS Giolito - P

soupcan wrote: Jose is projected to hit 58 more doubles this year? Bring it! Seems to me it should be even more than that, there are 76 games left and he's averaging one per game since his return!!

Since we last saw them (all of eight days ago) the Nats have: - gone 4-3, which wouldn't be too bad except that it came against the mediocre Brewers & the awful Reds - returned from the DL both Strasberg to the rotation and Papelbon to the pen - DL’d starter Joe Ross and sent down OF Michael Taylor. Thursday, 7:10 — Colon vs Lucas Giolito Like Pittsburgh’s James Taillon earlier this year, Giolito will be the second top draft pick this season to make both his ML debut and then also his second ML start vs the Mets. He pitched 4 innings of one-hit ball in the rain-delayed game last week. Colon likely owns socks that are older than Giolito. Friday, 7:10 — Syndergaard vs Strasberg Strasberg’s return following a 2-week DL stint was 6-2/3 of no-hit ball vs Cincy before being pulled for pitch count reasons. Syndergaard had his worst start of the year vs the Nats last week [5 runs, 7 hits, 3 innings] Saturday, 7:15 — ??? vs Scherzer Obviously this Harvey thing screws up the rotation. He was supposed to go Saturday but it’ll now probably be Verrett instead. Since going 7.1 innings of 2-hit ball vs us, Scherzer lost to Milwaukee giving up 1 run on 6 innings. He still leads the league in HRs allowed and will often run up pitch counts that don't allow him to get deep into games which is what happened to him vs the Brewers Sunday , 1:10 - Matz vs Gio Gonzalez in a battle of each team's only lefty starter After a great start to the season Gonzalez has pretty much sucked: ERA over 6 since early May His one good game in the last two months came against the Mets back in mid-May, but then we turned around and kicked his butt five days later and he hasn’t been good since. From the ‘It had to happen sooner or later’ file: after hitting .397 in Apirl & May combined, Muffy returned to earth with a combined .264 in June-July. I heard a stat earlier in the season that said he was hitting around .500 on ground balls which is something even the most anti-sabermetric old coots on the planet would have to admit was impossible to keep up. On the flip side he’s already matched his career high in HRs with 14 (also done last season). Dusty Baker flipped Murph & Harper in the batting order on Wednesday, moving Murph up to 3rd while dropping Harper to cleanup. Not sure yet if that’s a new thing or just a one day hunch. The Nats hottest player right now might be SS Danny Espinosa. The guy who seemed almost sure to be replaced by hot prospect Trea Turner is leading the team with 18 HRs, including 5 just this past week, while the org is now working Turner out in CF Nats lead the NL in HRs -- by one over the Cubs and two over the Mets -- but they're not as HR-dependent as we are having scored 81 more runs thus far in the season. Amazing what NOT being inept w/RiSP will do for a team.

Elbow injuries -- and specifically TJ surgury -- have gotten all the publicity in recent years, but shoulders are a lot more complicated.

soupcan wrote: soupcan wrote: And if it's blocked they unblock it and - PRESTO! - the Dark Knight Returns! Well, in Cone's case, it was the majority of the year missed. Cone had a 'clot', Harvey's got a 'block'. Totally different word. Oh good, For a second there I thought he might have had an obstruction or, even worse, a clog.

... T60) Lenny Dykstra: 30 T60) Wilmer Flores: 30 T62) Ty Wigginton: 29 T62) Mo Vaughn: 29 The above totals, however, do not include Dykstra's from the prison rec league he played in for a few seasons.

Gary mentioned something earlier about only Duda having more (or was it as many?) 2-HR games at CitiField then Stanton - and that was said prior to his second HR today. t'would be kind of sad to have a visiting player, someone with just over 150 ABs at CF, hold that record.

I read (or at least started reading) that NYDN article. Basically it was one of those where you start out with the conclusion -- Met/sports fans are animals who would root for Hitler if he could hit .300 for you -- and then set about finding quotes from someone(s) who would confirm it. Might have been the only two quotes from sticking a mike in front of 75 faces, but those two become the basis of the piece.

Just think of it as if you're watching a parade down Main Street in your hometown. If the parade is passing you from right to left, the flag on the back of the Mayor's Cadillac will be flying, as we usually see it, with the star field in the upper left. But if you move to the other side of the street (to try out the lattes at the other Starbucks maybe) the parade is now passing you from left to right and the flag flying off the back of the opposition Green Party's Mayoral Candidate's Prius will be flying with its star field in the upper right. It's the same with the soldier unis. The fact that the flag is on the right shoulder means the flag would fly like the Prius flag, just as it would if said soldier was carrying one instead of wearing one. Move that patch to the opposite shoulder and the flag-patch would be reversed to its "correct" position.

Why does every team we face seem to have unlimited reviews? This is MLB, not coffee at FRIENDLY's!!

THIS IS FREAKIN' ABSURD!!!!

21 (outs) or over, that's what we want from our starters. Nice job by deGrom who's been behind the pitch-count eight-ball since the very first inning.

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: All in favor of issuing Stanton an intentional walk for every at-bat left in the series? Assuring someone of a 1.000 OBA will always be a losing proposition in the long run. But if this becomes a one run game in the late innings ...

Lefty Specialist wrote: With the bases empty he homers twice, but with the bases loaded he hits into a double play. Gah. We're the Mets, we only do solo HRs.

Will get the measurement on that one once it comes down. Check back later. 3-1

Curtis driving in some runs [u:uqr317kd]other than himself!![/u:uqr317kd] ... Cats and Dogs living together.

I was going for the Elvis reference. [youtube:1fp9raie]p0MNf2Rztn8[/youtube:1fp9raie]

Wilmer: Don't bury me cuz I'm not dead yet

Still time to be proven wrong on this, but I think what they've decided is that Reyes is going to be given the luxury of playing his way Out of the lineup rather than the other way around -- mostly at the expense of Wilmer it seems.

Cespedes (as starter), plus Syndergaard & Familia

And Matt Reynolds is, indeed, the odd man out.

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: Brewers up 5-1 on the Nats. A win tonight sure would be nice! Nats got it to 5-2 but then Harper K'd with 2-outs and the bases loaded ... so there's that.

TransMonk wrote: How long has it been since Terry's thrown out a lineup that looks that fast on paper? Since he was in charge of the Astros in the early '90s? Meanwhile we're slipping back into the mode of how things were prior to the Cubs series last week, getting [crossout]2[/crossout], now 3, hits off a pitcher who had been giving up nearly 2 per inning (1.7) over his last four starts.

themetfairy wrote: That he's a Hall of Famer is a close call, but I don't think he makes the cut. That he would go into the HOF as a Met is unpossible! I think he will make it to C-town, and it's certainly not unreasonable to think he'd "go in as" a NYM (to the extent that such things are meaningful). With now six different teams on his resume (and maybe still more to come seeing as how he's probably been the Yanx best player this year) there's no one team that has the majority of his career but he does have the most games & PAs for the Mets (just barely over KC) as compared to any other team. Granted it's still just over 35% of his total career but of course every other team is less than that, all but KC substantially less. He also hit the most HRs as a Met, most RBIs, highest OPS (except for some half-season stops) and had his only Top-5 MVP placement. Whether he does or not has no bearing on my opinion regarding the retired number scenario (I'm against it) but Carlos with a NYM insignia on his HoF plaque's cap is not unpossible at all.