Frayed Knot

Zvon wrote: Wow, that was a [crossout]ballsy[/crossout] stupid send by Tueffel.

1) (another) bad send by Timmy. I was saying 'No' the entire way. 2) Ump made the out call too early 3) I hate that calls like that can be overturned - but that one should have been and we've certainly seen much less decisive calls flipped

What's this now, three different games this week with no hits or just one hit through the first six? Someone's got to figure out how to get a hit here.

Damn, one of the Blash brothers is now up!

Just what you want from a 10:40 start: a 1-0, yet still slow-moving, game.

No, they just consider 250 lb slow-footed sluggers to generally be really bad bunters.

See-See Cabathia, coming off his best start of the year with 7 scoreless vs Baltimore on Wednesday, lands on the DL with a groin strain. One time Yank, but started the year with Lancaster in the independent Atlantic League, Phil Coke called up to replace.

Willie Mays turns 85 today. Just thought that needed to be said.

Wind blowing out at Wrigley this afternoon: HRs by Rendon (solo), LaStella (2R), Rizzo (solo), Zobrist (solo) and Zobrist (3R) 7-2 Cubs thru 5. Both Lackey & Scherzer still hurling. Also 3 more hits for Murphy (double + 2 singles)

Do keep in mind, however, that the Mets' BA & OBA are, despite two low-hit games in the last week, not low but actually right around MLB average (BA a few clicks below, OBA a few above) and that the vaunted 'KC model' is currently DFL in the AL at putting runners across the plate and, across baseball, is out-scoring only the Phils & Braves.

As frustrating as deGrom's night was, there was some REALLY bad pitching Thursday night elsewhere in MLB. - The Rox hung a 13-run top of the 5th on the Giants, starter Matt Cain then reliever Vin Mazzaro taking the brunt of that one. So that's now a 12-run and a 13-run inning vs SFG pitching just one week apart. Even worse was that the Rox starter, Chris Rusin, apparently couldn't handle the pressure of working with a slim 17-3 lead and was unable to finish the bottom of the 5th and thus qualify for the win. He was yanked after retiring just one of the seven batters he faced in that 5th, leaving with two runners on and a manager unwilling to trust him with a 17-7 lead. The reliever was able to get out without costing Rusin any more runs and, oddly, the remainder of the game passed by scoreless on only four combined hits; probably all the hitters were tired out by then. - As Gary mentioned at some point last night, the city of Chicago was hosting four 1st place teams last night as the Nats were at Wrigley the same time as the ChiSox were hosting the BoSox. Not sure exactly what was going on in the AL side but that game somehow turned into a 3 Hour 57 Minute slog-fest even though the final score was a relatively normal 7-3 in favor of the Sox Rouge. 16 walks issued probably didn't help speed things along.

Somebody oughta smack Rodney's hat straight.

Well, if nothing else we've taken a potential no-hitter where we were out-played from the jump and turned it into a game where the opposing manager soils his undies and we make them burn their closer in what looked like a blowout. And at the very best ...

In a game where bats ARE working, the Rockies hang a 13 spot on the Giants in the top of the 5th in SF. HR, 2B, E, 1B, E, 2B, GO, 1B, 2B, 1B, HBP, 1B, 2B, K, 1B, GO

Now we just need for the bats to get one or more of those hit things I've been hearing about.

Cubs close out the Nats 5-2 (a 2-out/9th inning HR by Jayson Werth ruins the shutout). So we're a W away from a TH. Need to make it happen.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I heard an interview with Cashman who insisted the MFYs one of the shiftiest if not the shiftiest club out there are totally convinced of its efficacy. In some newspaper piece a couple days ago Cashman was whining about how the set-up of YSIII conspires against them in this 'Age of Shift' because shifts done in that small RF serves both to cut-off singles via grounders through the infield at the same time it crowds the OF so much that even liners and loopers don't fall in either. IOW, after decades of bragging about how the various version of YS were a big strength to the club smart enough to build a team with the park in mind, suddenly it isn't working anymore so we're using it as an excuse for our suckiness this year while our manager complains he wants all shifts outlawed.

soup can wrote: ... I don't believe he's stupid enough to throw away his potential hundreds of millions for booze, pills or coke. NOW it's a Prince thread!

Heard good things, but haven't seen it. And you gotta like that sub-title on the poster: Boy Meets Girl, Girl Unimpressed, Boy Starts Band.

There have been several articles recently -- ones that I've skimmed but have yet to really dissect -- that are trying to get to the heart of exactly how effective (or not) the rather short history of these shifts have been. The bottom line seems to be that the data is still pretty sparse to draw any conclusions. BABiP hasn't really changed according to one report and you'd think that's the eventual litmus test. But it's also not quite that simple; you need to filter out the TTO ABs since obviously those aren't affected by shifts; anything other than grounders are pretty much noise as well, and so on until the size of the database just isn't that large just yet.

Since I've never heard of Colin Rea (I assume he's no relation to Colin Hay of MEN AT WORK) and we never got a KTE here: 12th round pick out of Indiana State (Go Sycamores!) by the Pads in 2011 6' 5" / 225 -- RHP/RHB 6 starts last year, 5 plus one relief outing this season. 4-3 overall, 4.42, 1.41 WHiP Coming off a win vs LAD

1) Curtis Granderson Master Flash 2) David (the kids are all) Wright 3) Michael Concerto 4) Yoenis Yes-peds 5) Lucas Doo-Dah 6) Neil Walker and the All-Stars 7) Asdrubal Cabrera 8) Kevin Plawecki 9) Jacob with the good hair 1) John Jay - CF 2) Wil Myers - 1B 3) Matt Kemp - RF 4) Brett Wallace - 3B 5) Melvin Upton Jr. - CF 6) Alexi Ramirez - SS 7) Derek Norris - C 8) Jemile Weeks - 2B 9) Colin Rea - P

d'Kong76 wrote: My MFYF-friend is convinced that Yo is due for suspension and that it's also going to come out that he's a number of years older than advertised. "Only the Muts were stupid enough to take the bait on him, no one wanted him.". The Yanx have contracts on the likes of ARod, Teixeira, Ellsbury, Sabathia, & McCann until they're all old and gray (or old and even balder in McCann's case) but the Mets are the only ones stupid enough to "take the bait" on Cespedes for one to three years?!?!?! Ummm .... yeah, OK. Shyeeeeet, the Yo man could be four years older than advertised and still be younger at contract's end than half the Yanqui roster.

d'Kong76 wrote: I never saw animated backpack girl... classic! Looks like animated Backpack Girl is making googly eyes at animated TransMonk.

Dilson Herrera = 4/6 w/2 HRs + 1 triple last night. Las Vegas 15 - El Paso 5 (17 hits each!!)