Edgy MD

The Cubs booth described a player as uptight a few days ago and made an Archie Bell and the Drells reference. Either it's a common reference among ballplayers of a certain vintage, or Keith is more influential than I previously thought.

I'm not sure that the problem is necessarily a lack of depth or an unwillingness to go to another well. It'll be curious to see if they'll try to keep Syndie in the rotation and turn Gee into a bullpenner. But the real problem remains offense. Working for bullpen perfection is a fool's pursuit.

I think average is certainly within reach with two of their better hitters back in the lineup (assuming they come back healthy, in a reasonably timely manner). Gravity alone will improve things, just like it'll dampen the pitching success.

Get angry, Mets.

Recker looking like he's getting less love than he was expecting.

DePaul basketball coach. Another golden throat destroying "TMottBG" this afternoon.

Duda hit the lefty again today. He looms. He looms so much that he's the fruit OF the loom.

Well, she's really chugging in the Southeastern Conference there. Amateur chugging — followed, presumably, by amateur chucking. I don't know if she still his co-pilot. That horrible, stalky site of baseball groupies says there's another in the picture. She seems at least a little crazy but I was kind of rooting for them.

Carlos Beltr�n.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: How egregious was this error we're talking about? And more generally, isn't it weird that he's hurting us so much more badly on bad throws than balls-not-gotten-to or clanks-off-the-gove? Bad throws, I guess, sometimes are the product of bad footie-work. It's funny how similar this is to Murphy in left field � where any sane person would have his qualms, but he absolutely passed a test of about a third of season. But then he opens a season at the position and it blows up.

One name that ALWAYS jumps out at a man is that of... Keith Hernandez!

I check the game where they've brought their lumber I leave it on while in bed I slumber I hear the umps... check out the replay Can't understand, just what does he say?! I'm on the MLB Radio! I'm on the MLB, oh-wo Radio!

Flores giveth. Flores taketh away. You don't bring me Flores.

I'm sure I'll get used to it, but that digital scoreboard in left field is pretty jarring. Wrigley means ivy, day baseball, a manual scoreboard, and a drunk guy singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Anthony Recker saved his major league life today, for at least two months. He's getting some love tonight.

I'm working with the assumption they think moving him around to second and third when Tejada's otherwise going to be in the lineup � to say nothing of lifting him for late-inning defense � engenders the sort of discouragement and distraction that you don't want to sow into the mind of a young player when he's trying to establish himself as a big-league player. But I say: [*:21syucs6]He's a professional. [/*:m:21syucs6] [*:21syucs6]He's demonstrated himself to be, if nothing else, pretty unflappable. [/*:m:21syucs6] [*:21syucs6]How discouraging is it when the guy is playing himself out of the lineup, in part because you're asking him to do something that he's not the best choice for?[/*:m:21syucs6][/list:o:21syucs6] Other great outfielders at third: Clint Hurdle, Tommie Reynolds.

Turning point of the game.

I imagine that Tejada at third and Flores at short is dramatically worse than the alternative.

I assume he means running to second. Another possibility would be that the runner would be dead. Jumping, face first, into the path of a the relay from the shortstop, twenty feet away? Really?

Frayed Knot wrote: - Duda is now Better this season vs LHPs than against RHP [.400/.447/.600 vs .244/.347/.384]. Yeah, it's a small sample [38 PA vs 103] but, still, that's a stunning turn-around! If this is a year ago and he's leading off the 9th in a tie game vs a lefty brought in specifically to face him you're looking at the lineup card for available RH pinch-hitters. Last night he quickly gets down 0-2 but then just as quickly smacks a liner into LF and is on as the go-ahead run. I get the idea that this surprising statistical situation, apart from the SSS, is partially that, as lefties are pitching him more aggressively � in part because the old scouting report says he can't be this good against them, and in part because they're brought in to get him in late-and-close situations, when their job is to get him out and not pitch around him.

Surely you realize that "might" is an impossible condition without "can."

No, man, right now he should be beating himself up for not running, apologizing to any and all, and reminding himself (with mental hammers) of his obligation to himself, his teammates, his fans, his mother, and whatever higher power he believes in to run until he is established as safe or out. Beyond that, yes, becoming more effective through practice and review is do-able. But then you deflect into your DH argument. Again. I don't get the passage Frayed quotes above. When the ball drops, the runner is forced.

Ceetar wrote: There's not really much he could've done, no. Run like the Devil was on his tail. Ceetar wrote: Just wondering if perhaps there was some chaos to be sown in reaction to realizing Harvey wasn't going to make it once the ball dropped rather than about facing again and making a hopeless 80 yard dash. I'm not sure what this means. Run, and there's no realization to be had. Ceetar wrote: I'm not excusing Harvey, in fact I'm heaping MORE blame. No, you're deflecting to your pro-DH campaign. Ceetar wrote: Do you think Harvey's going to take more BP? more bunting drills? I think he ought to run, first and foremost. Become a more effective bunter? That would be GREAT. Ceetar wrote: his job is to be an automatic out and occasionally get lucky otherwise. No, that does not correctly characterize his job. Ceetar wrote: With very few exceptions the entire league treats it like that. It's stupid, but if they're not going to care about it, just put in the damn DH. I agree with the part about the DH being damnable. But I would campaign for more caring, not fewer things worth caring about.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Conforto and Nimmo can't get here soon enough. Maybe, but they can get here too soon. For now, the team has to sort of solve their problems as if those two don't exist.

Designated hitters have shown a capacity for doing stupid lazy stuff too. It's practically in the job description.

Of course he couldn't do anything. Your job as baserunner on a popup is to jog back within safety distance of the bag and then watch to see if the ball somehow falls in. With the popup 60 feet away from the bag, safety distance is spitting distance. Harvey's job is to assume nothing, and run like a cheetah until he hears an ump call him out. He assumed, and he ended up looking stupid and lazy.