Frayed Knot

Yanx (22-23) lost Wednesday night to Toronto after a six-game winning streak (you suck Oakland!) had brought them back to .500 for the first time this season since being 4-4. They're still fighting it out for the AL East cellar with the Jays & Rays and this streak hasn't brought them any closer to the 1st place Sox seeing as how they're scoring just shy of 8 R/G lately (118 RS over last 15) and are as hot any anyone right now. Now ARod gets activated off the DL today and I bet they can't wait for his .194 BA to start clogging up the works again. This also pushes Beltran back to RF as he had been thriving (leads the team in HRs) while doing most of the recent DH-ing. Not that RF replacements/reclamation projects Aaron Hicks & Dustin Ackley have hit but it did give the team more speed, defense, and athleticism out there in Mr. Rod's absence.

Hernandez is the guy who has lost the most playing time due to the emergence of Trayce Thompson but, yeah, Turner still hitting 3rd (sometimes 2nd) most days despite his stats returning to earth this season.

Centerfield wrote: Gotta win Friday's game. And that task may have just become more difficult (or maybe not, what do I know?) as the Dodgers announced today that they will promote their top prospect, LHP Julio Urias, in order to start Friday's game vs the Mets. The 19 year-old Urias, has blown through the minor leagues since being signed out of his native Mexico in 2013 at the age of 16. Most recently he was 4-1 with a 1.10 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in 7 starts at AAA Oklahoma City and has been a top-10 prospect across the board in all the prospect services for two years now.

LAD KTE Update: May 27-29 Series Friday 7:10 -- Alex Wood [1-3, 4.03, 1.25] vs Jacob deGrom The lefty Wood fought the Mets and deGrom to a standstill in game 2 of the 4 game series in La-La-Land before a Trayce Thompson HR off Robles won it for the Dodgers in the 9th. For those not normally in TV range, this game will be MLBN's 'Feature Game' of the week with Costas & Kaat at the mikes. Saturday 7:10 -- Kenta Maeda [3-3; 3.29; 1.08] vs Noah Syndergaard Another rematch from the earlier series, Mets got to Maeda for 4 earned over 5 innings while Syndergaard allowed just 2 over 8 in a game the Mets won 4-3 1986 Anniversary night. Must be the week for this sort of thing as the BoSox honored their 86'ers this week also. Sunday 8:10 -- Clayton Kershaw [7-1; 1.48; 0.66; 95 K vs 5 BB] vs Bartolo Colon ESPN's Sunday game of the week completes the all night-game weekend series (Booo!) and, yes, it'll be a 3rd pitching rematch. We got exactly 3 hits off Kershaw in the earlier one, a 5-0 loss. Dodgers overall are 25-23, 7-6 since we saw them last even though they've won their last 4 straight including a 3-game sweep of the lowly Reds. So basically they're just kind of floating along these days. - Yasiel Puig was benched a few days ago for not running out what he thought was a HR - Trayce Thompson (7 HRs in 100 ABs) has pretty much forced his way into the everyday lineup, starting mostly in LF where he bumps aside high-priced talent like Crawford & Kendrick, but also sometimes in CF or RF for Pederson & Puig

Frayed Knot wrote: Friday Night, 7:10, [crossout]Alex Wood[/crossout] Julio Urias vs deGrom

For those who may be voting at home (or even if you're alone) a nice game by Rene Rivera Wednesday afternoon. - RBI single w/2 outs and behind in the count - caught a fast runner (Taylor) stealing and had him by about six feet And then after the two leadoff singles by Werth & Murphy in the 9th, he first backhand-gloved a wicked slider from Familia which looked sure to move the runners up to 2nd & 3rd. But maybe more important is that the Mets weren't even holding Murphy--the tying run!!-- on at 1st figuring that the Nats wouldn't risk the double-steal that they might have tried with a different catcher back there. That allowed Campbell to play off the bag and be in perfect position to handle Rendon's sharp one-hopper which got turned into out #2 (without a force there's no play at all because Familia was late covering). That hit is a single nine times out of ten. I know the guy has no track record of hitting, but it's fun to watch a non-hitting catcher make a difference every once in a while to remind you of how valuable that can be.

Edgy MD wrote: Wrinkle in the plan: Pads sat Will Myers last night with a forearm strain. Too many sliders?

Friday Night, 7:10, Alex Wood vs deGrom We expect Flores back which means we expect at least one of Kelly/Campbell/Reynolds to be gone and maybe more depending on how/if they address the Duda situation.

G-Fafif wrote: Almost no young Mets catcher has ever hit out of the box. Grote, Stearns, Hundley all come to mind as sucking batting early in their careers. Even d'Arnaud looked a little clueless. I wouldn't give up on the guy based on what amounts to a few extended cameos. This. It's certainly frustrating that he hasn't taken advantage of two extended opportunities, first last season and now this one and it could cost him down the road. But, at the same time, it shouldn't be taken as a sign that he can't be a major league hitter.

This is actually Mike Vaccaro. http://nypost.com/2016/05/24/silent-matt-harvey-confirms-hes-the-phony-mets-have-enabled/ Oh well, I hadn't had my morning vodka yet when I wrote that. You know what? Fuck you Mike Vaccaro. What exactly has Matt done to suggest he isn't taking responsibility? Or shouldering the load? His responsibility is to work on his craft and do what it takes to get better. Boo fucking hoo he didn't talk to the media. I get knocking Harvey for not being there while leaving his teammates to answer all the questions. It's bad form and, for a guy who covets the attention as much as he does, it leaves the impression that he'll bask in it when things are going well but then duck and run when they're not. I just don't like the tactic of using this (as far as I know) lone incident as a jumping off point to say that this is the real Matt Harvey that you knew him to be all long but somehow neglected to mention EVER until just now.

I was OK with going to Familia for the 9th, especially once the power LH bats -- Harper and Clint Robinson -- were spent in the 8th. -- 4th time around the lineup, 100+ pitches under his belt, all RH ('cept for Muffie) bats due up, a rested back-end of the pen, etc. And I'm undefeated in IGT's this year (1-0 ... which brings me to about 1-21 going back to last season) !!!!

Edgy MD wrote: This is our deepest outing of the year for anybody, correct? Didn't Bart go 8 once? oe: Yup, May 2nd vs Atlanta Dusty started all his RH hitters so has/had no one to PH 'cept lefties. Clint Robinson managed to sneak a single up the middle but Harper PH-ing bounced out.

Matz in to start the 8th - and gets the first out. 15 in a row. Keeping with the '21 (outs) or over' goal for our starters. And now 16 in a row.

I've seen that Daniel Murphy movie before!

And I still think that Wilmer will get a sizable portion of the 1B time. But this would allow Terry to play Loney against RHPs so as to get the best out of him (career splits aren't extreme though typically favor him vs righties) while freeing up Wilmer to play elsewhere as well. It also improves the bench & the defense, gives more double-switch / late-inning options, etc.

Y'know, I get all that. But the 'we've always known him to be this way it was only a matter of time till it showed' line of writing sounds awfully hollow when you're only trotting it out after he hits rock bottom. (at least we hope he has) Kernan NYPost: It would be pathetic if it weren’t so predictable. This is who Harvey is, the ultimate front-runner, wanting everything his way when times are good and making the rules up as he goes along when they aren’t. His phony act hasn’t just worn thin, it’s worn out. The Mets are worried about his arm? They need to be worried about his heart. If it was so predictable how come you didn't predict it? Or even hint at the idea that maybe this emperor was at least occasionally short of clothes even when not doing SI photo shoots? Oh, I remember why. It's because you (meaning the whole pack of yous, not just Kernan specifically) were too busy slobbering over him while writing about how he was not just a singular talent but one uniquely suited to this time and place. I don't mind them jumping on him, I'm just a bit put off by the 'now it can be revealed (even though I always knew so)' angle. Now what would be really funny -- and by funny I mean totally absurd -- is if Francesa all of a sudden were to jump on this train as well after going from the guy who had barely heard of him to virtually claiming to have discovered him. Man, Mushnick, who dedicates maybe half his column space to calling big Mike out for claiming to have always known but only say so right after they occur, would have fodder to dine out on for months if that were to happen.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Win today would be very good to have. Going 3-3 while down a few guys, not playing particularly well and getting 2 turns with our worst pitcher isn't so bad. Those guys are at full strength, you know. Plus I don't want to sit on two straight losses for a day and a half. Plus my record while starting IGTs is like 1-19 since last season so I'd like to break that. Harper & Revere sitting vs Matz

Loney's not even a panic move. 'Panic' to me would mean dealing some potentially valuable future piece for an outsider because you think the team is going to fall apart without imported help. But Loney would be essentially free to pick up and, unlike Duda, we wouldn't be invested in him past this season so he could play a straight 1B platoon with Flores while allowing Wilmer to get in the occasional 2B & 3B action filling in for Wright and/or Walker. Loney also strengthens the LH-hitting bench just as Wilmer strengthens the right. And likely both Campbell & Kelly are banished with De Aza representing a much stronger 25th roster spot. All that said, it's unclear if there have even been talks between the parties yet so we shouldn't start prematurely enumerating unhatched farm fowl with these pretend roster moves quite yet, but I like it as a plan.

24 batters faced, 14 retired, 8 hits including 4 for XB (1 2B + 2 HR) & 2 walks. 1 K Not a lot of ways to sugarcoat that.

Day game to follow the night game. Expect Wright back in. Probably some hot Rene Rivera action too. Either Campbell or Kelly at 1st in what could be the last ML game for one or the other (or maybe both) for a while as somebody's getting sent down on Thurs/Fri. Pitching matchup should favor our side for the first time in the series: Matz vs Roark Matz, as we all know, is riding a wave after putting his 1st start behind him. Roark got off to a great start but had a much better April than May. And the meat of the bullpen is tanned, rested, and ready.

Frayed Knot wrote: This is all just going to make the comeback vs Papelbon that much sweeter. Or not.

This is all just going to make the comeback vs Papelbon that much sweeter.

bmfc1 wrote: Tonight, he challenges a perfectly good slide. Go F yourself Dusty Baker. Unfortunately there's no downside in making 'prayer' challenges. It's already the 7th inning so you don't need to 'save' your challenge. And even if you do need another one the umps are likely to give it to you anyway even though you've supposedly spent your limit.

That qualifies as a HIT

So we've had two ML debuts in the last week-plus and we've made them face first Scherzer (Reynolds) and now Strasburg (Kelly).