Frayed Knot

Be nice if they didn't try to end this by sitting on a 4 run lead for 8 innings.

A couple of interesting series starting up tonight: - Cubs @ Pirates First meeting of the year. Cubs start with a 3.0 game lead in the Central - Nats @ Royals The middle series for Washington on their 10-game StL (3) to KC (3) to Chicago (4) road trip which they started with a 3-game sweep of the Cards. - Phils @ Cards Maybe just a non-descript four game series between a couple of 3rd place teams. But it might be a good read on the early trend towards the thinking that the Phils are going to be a lot better than previously thought and maybe that the Cards this year are going to be somewhat less than their rep suggests.

d'Kong76 wrote: Markakis, RF Castro, 3B Freeman, 1B Garcia, LF Pierzynski, C Brignac, 2B Aybar, SS Foltynewicz, P Smith, CF Reid Brignac must have been a call-up earlier today*. His appearance here tonight will make him the Braves' 6th different starting 2B-man of the still-young season. He's been hitting well in AAA Gwinnett, but his ML record doesn't bode well for much of an upgrade at that position. From 2011-15 he's amassed just shy of 500 trips to the plate combined spread over those five seasons and five different orgs and has managed a stunning .189/.236/.241 line over that time with just 3 HRs and 17 XBH. * looks like Opening Day starter Jace Peterson has been disappeared to make room

Edgy MD wrote: Peralta is due back at the start of June. That's one thing. Sure but, when he does return, he'll likely represent a step back from his replacement.

I'm thinking the Cardinals might be in a bit of trouble this year. Already they've been swept by Pitt & Wash and have lost 2 of 3 to the Cubs while their near .500 record and wildly positive RS/RA ratio is largely due to blowouts vs the weaker sisters of the league (Atl, Milw, SD). It's still a small sample size, but I'm thinking that in this case the RS/RA ratio is more likely to start resembling the W/L record than the other way around. They also seem to be only as good as they are thanks to out of nowhere contributions by guys nobody had heard of (don't they always though?): Almedys Diaz is filling in at SS for Jhonny Peralta and hitting a league-leading (.405/.435/.703); Jeremy Hazelbaker (no, really, that's his name) is a 28 y/o twice-released (including once by StL) rookie with 11 XBH in 64 ABs; they're also getting a near .400 average (18 for 48) out of their pinch-hitters including a ridiculous 7 HRs. There's a lot in there that doesn't seem sustainable. Meanwhile on the mound, Adam Wainwright (34) seems lost and/or done (7+ ERA) while FA signing Mike Leake suxx. Then they have to count on the increasingly creaky duo of Molina (33) & Holliday (36) to stay healthy & productive at a time when the Cubs are threatening to run away and hide. We don't see them until late July. As several comments above said, and as Gary mentioned the other day, with a split seeming to emerge in the NL this year, the early trend looks towards the Mets, Nats, Cards, Cubs, and Pirates fighting for four playoff spots (East, Central, both WCs) while a mediocre free-for-all in the west battles for the 5th slot.

The Yanx will NEVER suffer in silence as long as I'm around. I'm STILL pissed off at those Mets fans who decided that the mid-90s Yanx were an OK team to root for; because they took George's relative silence as a sign of a reformed man (he was still an asshole, just one who was under suspension), or because the team had been down for long enough (no such thing), or out of a misplaced allegiance to Doc & Darryl. The two-run bomb off of Bettances's first pitch was the best part of Sunday's game. That, btw, was his 3rd straight outing with a HR allowed.

SWEPT in Fenway!!!! 8-15

Zvon wrote: Freeman's still in a funk, isn't he? This series I wanna see Funkin' Frdy Frmn. He actually seems to be coming out of his early season funk. 10 for his last 30 with 2 HRs

KTE May 2, 3, 4 Since we’ve last seen [crossout]Aston Villa[/crossout] Atlanta … … the Braves (6-18) were busy going 2-4 on the ‘Theo Epstein tour’, first losing 3 of 4 in their inter-league home-and-home “rivalry” series to the Red Sox, then splitting 2 in a rain-shortened series in Wrigley. They tried real hard to lose Sunday’s game there — blowing a late 3-0 lead including the 9th inning tying run on a botched pick-off attempt — but then won it in the 10th so they’re apparently not even very good at being really bad these days. - FFF now has a full 60% of Braves HRs this year (3 of their 5) Question of the day: If Freeman takes a trip to Paris, does he feel unfettered and alive? - they can’t seem to decide on a 2nd baseman (except to decide that they all suck) They’ve already used 5 different starters there with none of them starting more than 8 times over 24 games - at SS they’re trying various combos as well because their “bridge” starter there, Erick Aybar, is OBP’ing at an under .200 clip, something even the most virulent anti-analytics dudes (oh Hi Mike Francesa) know suxx. - in CF, Mallex Smith is losing PT to Drew Stubbs cuz I guess they figure that if they’re going to have someone out there K’ing in 1/3 of his ABs, they might as well do so with a guy who at least brings the threat of some power - they tried to bolster things by calling up former Marlin Emilio Bonafacio until, after announcing his promotion, the transaction was squashed by MLB on account of it not being 30 days yet since they did the cut-and-resign thing with him in Spring. So they have to wait another week on that so we won’t see him in this series. - they’re basically calling up and/or returning a reliever to/from the minors about once a day lately (and I mean that literally: 11 separate transactions since 4/20) so don’t ask me who’s in the bullpen because the answer will probably change before I finish typing this sentence. And, really, do the specifics matter? - as of earlier today, all three pitchers for this series were listed as TBA. That could mean they just haven’t decided on the order yet or maybe it’s that they’re still looking for three guys. Perhaps they’re running a lottery and one or more lucky fans will get the assignment. - Finally, though, as of late Sunday they had filled in their pitching starters for the series: Monday - 7:10 Colon vs Mike Foltynewicz This will be his 2016 debut although we did see him last year and basically kicked his butt (6 runs / 9 hits / 4 innings) Tuesday - 7:10 Harvey vs Matt Wisler Wisler won his ML debut vs the Mets last June (1 run / 8 IP) but is 0-2, 4.26 ERA this season in 4 2016 starts Wednesday - 1:10 Matz vs Jhoulys Chacin Former Rockie/DBack, Chacin was released and/or not signed by three different clubs in 2015, so naturally he hit right in with the Braves rotation. 1-1, 3.27 in 4 starts this year. Other than those minor problems listed above, things are going really well for them.

DSI,AGSI (didn't see it, ain't gonna see it) I'm sure someone will telling that I'm missing something, but I've never seen a minute of anything PWH has ever done on film or on TV. Mainly it's just never occurred to me that it would be anything I'd find remotely appealing.

Plawecki was going to sit the next game anyway as a DGANG, and the same decision about Wright may have been made beforehand as well.

#Met-wives-matter

13 baserunners (8 singles, 2 doubles, 3 walks) but 12 of them either stranded or erased.

Y'know, if all a manager who has already spent his replay challenge needs to do to get another one is simply ask the umps to do one anyway, then they might as well throw out the so-called one challenge limit and just review every single play. Sure the games will now be 5-1/2 hours instead of 3-1/2 but they'll get every play right* and that's what everyone seems to want! * except for the ones they won't I totally agree. The manager should not be allowed to approach the ump in this situation. He could yell from the dugout but he shouldn't be able to just waltz out there. Or, here's a novel thought: actually stick to the one-incorrect challenge rule and then managers wouldn't be so quick to challenge every out/safe by-a-hair play in the 1st inning. As things stands now, challenging every nit-picky call at any point in any game has become almost an automatic for skippers this season as they obviously feel there's no downside to it.

Y'know, if all a manager who has already spent his replay challenge needs to do to get another one is simply ask the umps to do one anyway, then they might as well throw out the so-called one challenge limit and just review every single play. Sure the games will now be 5-1/2 hours instead of 3-1/2 but they'll get every play right* and that's what everyone seems to want! * except for the ones they won't

We had some chances early on against Bumgarner. Bu I fear we may have missed our chance against Bumgarner.

soupcan wrote: The MLB has to be tougher than 15 year-old girls, no? Yeah, but so are their union reps.

I beginning to think that we may have some very special in this guy. In fact, I think I'm pretty much already sold on that idea. His initial trial by fire last summer -- after barely 500 ABs in the minors and less than 200 of those above A-ball -- was promising enough, but so far this season he already seems leaps and bounds a better hitter than he was even last October when, oh by the way, he was seen knocking 3 HRs in 30 post-season ABs. Given the 3-slot in the batting order, he accepted the challenge and has run with it to the point where he's already the one I want to see up w/RiSP ... or with no one on, or in any other situation you care to name. It's reached the point where I'm almost surprised if he doesn't get a hit or at least doesn't take a good AB and hit the ball hard somewhere.

We're gonna need a bigger keg! [fimg=400:2hjrqtyr]http://www.dartmouthpartners.com/assets/boat.png[/fimg:2hjrqtyr]

How's the BA w/RiSP looking about now?

And Papi just took Bettances over the monster w/a man on to break a 2-2 tie in the 8th. It was 2-0 Yanx until the 7th. Only the 2nd & 3rd runs scored off Bettances this season. And they'll see Kimbrel in the 9th. And Kimbrel closes it out.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Is something up with the audio? I'm watching on the MLB.tv feed and can't hear the announcers, though I can hear the fans. I've had that happen. Try just re-setting the game -- go back to the MLB sign-in and re-select the game -- and see if you get voices again.

The only problem with that inning is that it took so long that Matz qualified for free agency during it so we'll have to go to the bullpen.

Team Overview: 12-11, which is good enough for tied for 1st place in the NL West although that's thanks mostly to the Dodgers getting swept this week by the Marlins. And even that averageness is a bit misleading as the SF'ers started out 7-2, then lost 8 of their next 9 (all division games), and now are riding a 5-1 streak. We're getting a bit of a break in the pitching department. Samardzija & Cueto have been their best starters and we'll miss them both. -- Friday's starter Peavy is coming off a good game (7 IP, 2 R vs Miami) but it's his only one in 4 starts so far this season. Seems like Peavy should be about 50 by now by he's actually not quite 35. -- Saturday brings us Matt Cain who's just plain been terrible: 0-2 in 4 starts w/a 6.35 ERA and 1.67 WHiP. Cain never seemed to recover from being injured during his peak seasons and has now won just 12 games over the years 2013-16 -- Sunday we get Bumgarner who's been good but not Bumgarner-good: 3.64 / 1.38 Also they're missing some key bullpen guys. Set-up man Sergio Romo is DL'd, as is starter/reliever Chris Heston (yeah, the guy who no-hit us last year, remember?) leaving them with closer Santiago Casilla and a bunch a names I barely know.

Release Duda NOW!!!!