Frayed Knot

d'Kong76 wrote: It's pay back for last night's quickie. 2:32 for a low-scoring, 8-1/2 inning game used to be considered a longie. The sad part here is that the Nats have hit maybe four balls hard all night. Now granted that's two or three more than we have, but mostly we've just been giving them bases all game.

OK, who ordered the really long, boring, poorly played game?

Another call that not only shouldn't have been overturned but one that no one would have pointed to as needing a replay system to even review.

You simply can't be walking Werth w/2 outs, no one on, and Harper on deck.

Also, as mentioned above, Lagares is 10-26 (.384) against Gio G Plus you get your best fielders in against behind the lowest K pitcher.

Other Binghamton area celebrities: Rod Serling, and there's no limit on the things you could do with that theme.

Poor Fredi. Everybody misused him, ripped him off an abused him.

I think they should honor Bingo-area native Johnny Hart and name themselves the BC's, or the Wizards of Id Each player could be a different character and such, although, admittedly, it might be tough to get one of the macho athletes to be either 'Cute Chick' or 'Fat Broad'

Nice headline in Baseball Prospectus: Fredi ... Blamed ... Fired. The Braves, btw, almost came back last night. In a game where they were trailing 7-0 at the end of the 1st and 9-zip after 2 (welcome to the big leagues Brian Snitker!!) they wound up losing 12-9 with the tying run on-deck in the 9th. But that's how it seems to go for losing teams; in a season where your offense is averaging barely 3 runs/game and has only 4 times scored more than 5, the day you put up a season's best 9 runs turns out to be the same one where you go out and surrender a season high of 12.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Nationals LH Gio Gonzalez (2-1, 1.93 ERA) vs. Mets RH Uncle Bartolo (3-2, 2.53) Gonzalez rebounded from his worst start of the season by holding Miami to two runs (zero earned) on six hits over five innings in his second straight no-decision last time out. The 30-year-old veteran was rocked for five runs in 5 2/3 innings in his previous turn at the Chicago Cubs -- the only start in which he has allowed more than two earned runs. Gonzalez is 9-4 with a 2.66 ERA against New York, but must be wary of Juan Lagares, who is 10-for-26 against him. Gonzalez is having a good season -- 1.93 ERA over 7 starts -- but has only a 2-1 record to show for it. Run support is obviously a factor but his biggest problem is that he either walks too many or throws too many pitches even when not walking guys. It's why he averages only 6 innings/start despite the otherwise good numbers. In his last two starts he threw 100 pitches in 5.2 innings, and 106 in just 5.0 I suspect Duda sits another day because of the lefty starter even if the back is better, but this game is the best chance to get into their middle relief early.

So, if I have this straight, the area around Binghamton, NY has a rich history in carousel rides.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Let's hope Bartolo has gotten that whole 'give up lots of runs in the first two innings' thing out of his system. Or that off the field distractions don't start becoming an issue The 42-year-old hurler has been dragged into Manhattan court by Alexandra Santos, 38, who claims the $7 million-a-year player, and married father with four sons, is a deadbeat dad who failed to pay child support for two elementary-school-age kids he fathered with her ...

All new for 2016! Majors: Nathan (free agent): Retired? Maybe. Met him last week at our annual gala, where we honored him for his donations. NOT retired as it turns out. Just signed a deal with the Cubs of all teams, who then immediately placed him on the 60-day DL. Hasn't pitched since his opening day of 2015, a 4-pitch save he recorded which preceded his TJ surgery later on that month. The hope is that the now 41 y/o will be game ready by July.

As Gary put it in the intro today: the reason why Matt Reynolds (who hasn't been hitting all that well recently) was promoted rather than one of the other IF possibilities: 'He's on the 40-man, the others aren't'

NYDN: Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said Tuesday he had surgery "a week ago Wednesday" as part of his treatment for cancer, and that the procedure was "fantastically successful" and had been planned since December when Alderson and the Mets announced his diagnosis with the disease. "The surgery was pre-planned. It was part of an overall strategy that was devised by my doctors early in December. The surgery followed a very successful regime of chemotherapy. The doctors were able to do everything they had hoped to do, and were able to avoid everything they hoped to avoid." Not just successful folks, but fantastically successful. Full article: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-gm-sandy-alderson-undergoes-cancer-related-surgery-article-1.2640315

Edgy MD wrote: Gonzalez found out by getting an e-mail from the team's travel agency?! Yeah, apparently the auto-email confirming the rearrangement of his travel plans back to Atlanta while in the middle of a road swing in Pittsburgh reached his phone before the team reached him. Meanwhile, new guy ain't doing any better. [crossout]8-0[/crossout] 9-3 in the 4th in favor of Pitt

[fimg=400]http://screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/rambo-3.jpg[/fimg] 'We drew first blood sir!'

Basically these gNats are doing things the same way we are, combining good pitching (3rd best in NL, NYM = 2nd best) with below average run scoring (9th in RS, Mets = 12th) More than anything with the bats, they're getting most of it from three players: Murphy, Harper, and the catcher Ramos, while the remainder of the starting eight are hitting at or near .200 The .400-hitting Daniel Murphy has recently been moved to cleanup in the lineup following the Cubs giving Harper the walk-a-thon treatment last week (13 walks, 4 intentional, plus a HBP in 4 games) and never paying for it as Ryan Zimmerman left the population Maryland & Virginia on base following all the free passes. The downside to this for Dusty is it provides the perfect Blevins spot late in the game followed by Zimmerman - Werth - Ramos all lined up for a righty. Ben Revere is 4-fer-43 since returning from the DL following his opening day injury. And because Dusty believes in the replacement batters automatically taking the lineup spot of their guy, Michael Taylor and/or Matt den Dekker were leading off in Revere's absence. The result of all that is the Nats this season have gotten a whopping .171/.219/.282 production out of the leadoff slot. MdD was demoted to make room for Revere. The career .263 hitting Ramos is suddenly banging .350 What's up wit' dat? All purpose IF backup Stephen Drew is just as bad as he was on the Yanx: 6 for 41 Anthony Rendon [.227 w/2 HRs] hasn't looked like the top-5 MVP player he was in 2014 since 2014, and, unlike last season, this year he doesn't have an injury excuse.

That could be the two-AB stretch of the game there: the non-reversal of the call followed by a single that could have driven in a run, then Synderella coming back to K Harper after getting behind 3-0

Good Non-reversal IMO. I wouldn't have overturned an out or a safe call based on that evidence.

Amazing how little Keith listens to what goes on in his own booth sometimes. Gary: 'Scherzer's not a bad hitter, a career .199 hitter with 5 hits already this year plus 3 RBIs' Keith: 'And he's driven in 3 runs too'

So essentially, against one of the best pitchers in the majors, we're missing two regulars and have a bench tonight consisting of De Aza and Rene Rivera

Bye bye Fredi. Gonzalez fired. Tough to claim that it's his fault that they're 9-28 but guys with that kind of record usually doesn't hang onto jobs very long. 60 y/o AAA mgr Brian Snitker takes over. Snitker played parts of 4 seasons in the Atlanta system from 1977-80 and started managing for that org in 1982

soupcan wrote: NBA has already said they're doing it. [uniform advertising] And as if on cue, the Philly '76ers announced today that their uniform sponsor for the "three-year pilot" program (yeah, like they're going to let it expire after three years!) that will begin in the 2017-18 season will be ticket broker STUB HUB (how appropriate). They are the first team to publicly announce their on-uni sponsor and that the 2.5" x 2.5" patch (upper left chest) will net the team $5 million per season.

So 41% looking-K's so far this year as opposed to 33% in his last full(-ish) season. Might be a stat that bears watching as the season goes on. Also, not sure what the overall pct on called-v-swinging 3rd strikes is but 41% called does seem high.