Frayed Knot

Cespedes - 6.0 Conforto - 1.0 d'Arnaud - 1.0 Flores - 0.7 Granderson - 0.7 Johnson - 0.6

Following the post-ASG sweep, Williams + Rizzo took some heat for NOT re-jiggering their rotation so as make the Mets face Scherzer when the Mets did exactly that when we threw the trio of Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard at them, so I suppose they see this less as desperation than as correcting an earlier mistake. But, yeah, it's got the whiff of desperation. Last night's game saw the return of Denard Span and the first time all season that they've had the projected 'starting eight' on the field at the same time. But mainly what they've had going for them over their mini three-game winning streak (aside from, y'know, facing Milwaukee & Sandy Eggo) has been large two-out hits. Last night it was a 2-out GS from Ryan Zimmerman which broke the game open; on Sunday they got a 2-out/3-RBI 2B from Espinosa and a 2-out/3R HR from Rendon a couple innings later. Nice work if you can get it, but it's tough to count on stuff like that night after night and it's easy to see how a couple of ABs can change a game from one result to another. The trade for Papelbon 30 days ago now. He's pitched 7 innings for them to date and only 3 of those 7 1-inning appearances were in save situations. Maybe that deal will prove worthwhile down the stretch at some point but, even though he's pitched reasonably well for them in the short time he's been there, it really hasn't so far as they've been mostly playing games that wind up as blowouts one way or the other: only 3 of their last 19 games have been within 2 runs and all of them losses.

Had Francesa on for five minutes (must have been on Monday) and heard some caller trying to give Cespedes $130 mil over 4 years. And even Francesa, who was on the Cespedes bandwagon before he ever got here, had to talk the caller off the ledge by saying that he was too high by at least half, particularly for a team with 3 OFs already under contract for 2016 plus Conforto & Nimmo knocking on the door (Mike didn't say that last part, I did). So, yeah, let's just enjoy the ride while it lasts because he certainly doesn't seem like a Sandy guy even before Medgel jumps in a cites his non-signing as another reason to work Madoff's name into an article.

Murph slightly held his follow-through pose as he watched his HR sail. But, like the Gomez/Yanx incident, it's a case of a team getting entirely too twerked off about something that on a 1-10 transgression scale rates maybe a 1.5 as a way of overcompensating for the fact that they're getting their asses kicked that night (Yanx) or the whole season (Philly).

Just re-watched the Robles/Ruf 'incident' from last night, this time via the Philly feed. - there was ZERO indication that time had been called until the ump puts his hand up when the ball is already in flight - Rupp WAS looking up at the pitcher by the time the ball was released although he looked up just in time and clearly wasn't ready for it - Bowa, after he was already tossed, was CLEARLY gesturing to Muffy that he was going to get the next one in the ribs - hence the bench warnings. Not quite sure how Murph got into it except by being the closest one to the Philly dugout Bottom line is: if you're in the box w/the pitcher on the rubber you damn well oughta be ready. I think Ronnie was a bit harsh on Hansel and I'd be fine if he (Robles) did the same thing again tomorrow. Even more silly was the Yanx getting their panties in a twist over Carlos Gomez's reaction to a fly out. He mis-hit a ball he obviously thinks he should have crushed and mildly bat flipped his way to 1st. The Yanx bench, maybe led by McCann who had a past incident w/Gomez, immediately started squawking which caused a reaction from the usually hot-headed Carlos. It all ended with Gomez seen mouthing "Shut Up" multiple times to MFY catcher JR Murphy on his way back to the dugout and we pretty much know it all started on account of the Yanx being down by several touchdowns at the time.

I've liked all of Terry's relief moves so far. Liked that he stuck with Robles rather than going to Clippard early. And after Clip-art struggled for two outs, nothing wrong with going to Jeurys one out earlier than normal.

Maybe I need to see it again, but I missed whatever "crime" it was that Robles committed.

What the fuck are the Phillies pissed off at? I'd be mad if I were Robles & Mets.

Edgy MD wrote: Shoulda pinch-hit for Johnson there. Mebbe, and, if so, Ruben would be the logical choice. But KJ actually has slightly better career numbers vs LHP as compared to vs RHP

Nats have scored 8 un-answered since I last checked in here, so we're going to have to keep the lead on our own. Astros up 12-0. Haven't seen anything there since the 1st but it sounds like they're having fun. oe: and when I say 12-0 I mean 15-0

seawolf17 wrote: Travis Jankowski is coming up! Our first non-pitcher in the bigs. 5 for his first 9 in the bigs I see. Actually he just dropped to 5-10 as he pops out vs Strasberg

Early update from around the league: 3-0 good guys in Philly 2-0 Good guys in Washington 5-0 Good guys in the Bronx The Astros top-1st was funny. Jose Altuve makes an out on the 1st pitch of the game. 10 batters later he made the 3rd out of the inning on the first pitch of the AB. Lots of fun in between.

Other odd tid-bit from last night's game: First time EVAH each of the 1-7 hitters in a lineup all HR'd in the same game.

Murphy - 2.0 Flores - 2.0 Verrett - 0.75 Clippard - 0.75 Granderson - 1.0 Syndergaard - 1.0

Lefty Specialist wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I know. I think the odds are in the Mets favor, but a bad week can change that dramatically. Tonight's game isn't technically a "must win" but it feels like one, and that definitely counts for something. Well, looks like they nailed it, despite an abysmal deGrom. It was a nice, demoralizing shot across the bow. Let's hope they (the Phillies, that is) lay down a bit now. You know who this has to be demoralizing for? -- Nats fans. You can imagine a guy checking out the scores, seeing the early 7-2 score with deGrom unable to last the 3rd inning and figuring that his boys grabbed a half-game while kicking back on an off day. Then you can imagine the same guy checking in on things a bit later .... "Oh Shit!" Fortunately for my Nats-rooting cousins, I'm too nice a guy to taunt them right now. Plus there's that karma shit which may decide to come back and bite me if I did.

Season high in games ahead (5.5) Season high in games over .500 (12) Another game chopped off the schedule And all it took was 14 unanswered runs.

So there goes the 14-9 possibility

Rupp has had himself one good but tough night behind the plate. Dude has blocked every piece of shit these Phils pitchers have thrown up there.

The Astros got "Ollie'd" tonight. Scoreless game in the 9th, they bring in Ollie Perez to face a couple of lefty's: Walk, WP, IW, BB So they bring in a reliever to try and pull out a miracle but Beltran Sac Fly'd the Yanx to a win on the 2nd pitch.

If this game ever actually gets around to ending, I think we're going to like the result.

Edgy MD wrote: Phillies announcer calling on Morgan to knock somebody down. Same thing Gary & Ronnie were saying about deGrom 3 innings ago (well, pitch more inside anyway).

Meanwhile in the Bronx, the Astros & Yanx -- two teams who do nothing but hit HRs -- are scoreless thru 5 with just 7 singles combined.

This is a NY Mets team with which I am not familiar.

Edgy MD wrote: This Wright guy may turn out to be worth something. Let's trade him. Let's trade him to Philly. With 20 HRs in 375 ABs in that park -- compared to 46 in 1,692 in CitiField -- they should just hand over their entire farm system to us in exchange.

So when did we hire the worst pitcher in the NL?