Edgy MD

Remember the jokes we used to make about "Senator" Al Leiter. Well, that's now moved into the realm of the possible, with the job open, and Leiter being crazy qualified: [list:20f3726p][*:20f3726p]rich,[/*:m:20f3726p] [*:20f3726p]famous,[/*:m:20f3726p] [*:20f3726p]Republican,[/*:m:20f3726p] [*:20f3726p]no political past[/*:m:20f3726p] [*:20f3726p]living under a Mets fan governor who has the power to make the appointment.[/*:m:20f3726p][/list:u:20f3726p] Also has juice with both Mets and Yankee fans now. Philly fans will have to deal. I think last time his potential candidacy came up a few years back, however, he was officially a Florida resident. Aren't they all?

Bullpen: Jeeps, everybody they got out there is good, so get to the starters. Tyler Clippard was saving 32 games for them last year and now he's number four in the pen a mere year later. Yankee $$-lover Rafael Soriano already has closed out 15 wins. Nationals with Metropolitan Style: The Nats having given up on eternally rehabbing former Met prospect Jesus Flores, no former Flushingers haunt the Nats roster. Manager Davey Johnson is a Met Hall of Famer, which is no small thingaling. Director of pro-scouting Bill Singer used to be the Mets' Director of racial harassment. Pre-game and post-game action is brought you cardiac health advocate and Mets post-season hero Ray Knight. Mets with Nationalist Leanings: Rick Ankiel spent a pair of low-average/decent sock years in Washington during his decline. Marlon Byrd was an original Nat back in 2005-2006. LaTroy Hawkins has never been a National. Before there were Nationals, there were Expos, a team Dan Warthen called home in the mid-to-late 70s.

Shaun Marcum vs. Stephen Strassburg in game three. Marcum is winless and Strassburg is peerless. Assuming Strassburg makes it to the mound, I think we can all guess how this one is going to turn out.

Matchup Two Dan Haren is a wiley oldish vet, and Dillon Gee is a freshfaced young vet, but both have 5.00+ ERAs. The Nats have dropped Haren's last four starts, but he's pitched well in three of 'em, including a 10 strikeout game two starts back against Philly. Like Anthony Quinn and Juan O'Gorman, he's an enigmatic Irish Mexican. He has a slow delivery with a pause in the middle, which I think was true of those two also. Dillon's chillin', but he's comin' off a good start against the Yankees while pitching for his rotation life.

Matchup One Jordan Zimmermann has been as good a pitcher on as there has been for any team in the division with a non-Harvenian presence. He's 8-3 with a 2.37 ERA and he pitches deep into games. But, you may remind me, the Mets handed him his first loss of the season. Yes, I'll reply, but it took a five-pitcher shutout by the Mets to pull it off, and he's got a 1.85 ERA againt the Mets over his last six starts against the team. It's not like we've suddenly got his number. He comes, however, off of a bad start against Baltimore, and he catches Jeremy Hefner, who put up a goodie against the Yankees. These two guys are kind of having antithetical seasons, so it's good that they're opposing each other.

Yeah, so you know, the Nats. IT'S NOT THAT EASY, IS IT, BOYS?! The team that had the next big dynasty all teed up with the benefit of two #1 draft choices looking like legends at the dawn of their careers... is seven games out, in second, but with just the flailing Mets and the hard times of the Phillies' starting rotation keeping them out of fourth. Bryce Harper is drinking DL juice and Stephen Strassberg was pulled from his last start with a lat strain that the team publicly insists is nothing even as they privately tear themselves apart with fears that it isn't. The team is coming off losing two of three to the first-place Braves, despite playing badly enough to get swept, hitting .190, scoring seven total runs, and striking out 20 times while walking only twice. They are seven games out and, like most of the East, in danger of letting the season get away from them --- which would suck, watching the Braves run away with the flag while getting disastrous seasons from Uggla, Upton, and Heyward. That sort of thing should be blowing up in their faces. It would blow up in ours. "Half the ballclub is not doing things they're capable of offensively," manager Davey Johnson said. "I look up there, a bunch of guys are hitting .150. There's too good a quality of players here to be doing that. I'm sure we'll pick it up. It's just a tough time." Preach, Mr. Johnson. None of which makes this an easy assignment, even as leadership returns to the two guys who held the job before the arrival of those two young guns, those illegetimate sons of Bob Dylan, Ryan and Jordan Zimmerman(n). Apart from the wounded youth, Catchy is also sore point, as Wilson Ramos has been out since mid-May with a hammy strain. And you never know with hammies, do you? But Kurt Suzuki is doing an adequate job in what will likely be a second career as an adequate journeyman vet, after starting his career as an adequate young backstop with Oakland for six years. He's working at .235 / .301 / .333 // .635, but is probably a little better than that. His fringey backup is named Jhonatan Solano and has done squat besides squatting this year. Firstbasin' is still the province of Adam LaRoche, a professional hitter who probably isn't the guy who OPS'd at .853 last year, and is probably closer to the guy hitting .243 / .329 / .454 // .783 this season. But he's probably good for at least one big hit this series, so I don't take him lightly. No sir. Joining Upton, Heyward, Ike Davis, and Cole Hamels on the NL East team of players who desperately want the season to start over is secondbaseman Danny Esposito, he of 12 RBI and 25 hits all season, he makes the division's futility squad over Dan Uggla, which is hard to do. Somebody tell him that Davy Johnson likes keystoners who can hit. At third base, Ryan Zimmerman continues his career as an almost-convincing copy of David Wright. He's pretty much as good a hitter now, though Wright's highs are higher. Wright's probably got back to his level as a fielder, and our guy's arm is certainly stronger, and DW is the better baserunner as well. That's just how it is. Shortstop featured a breakthrough year by Ian Desmond in 2012, with 25 homers. He started well in 2013 too, but fell off in May and is now down to a more typical level of productivity --- .265 / .298 / .460 // .757 --- pretty good for a shorty but a drop of almost 100 points of OPS'n' from 2012. I like when somebody starts thinking of themselves as a power hitter and forget to get on base. Then the power isn't always there and then what are they? WHAT ARE THEY?! Injuries have moved Tyler Moore into the starting leftfield role. When he hits a homerun, a cat meows, because it's a Tyler Moore production. Get it?! Wocka wocka! Anybubbles, he's a fringey reserve outfielder who hits like one and I'd tell you not to worry about him except in this game, he pinch-homered in a grossly un-American act that conspired with Fred Wilpon's ugly hats in a shocking conspiracy to undermine the warm feelings I have about the Mets and thier response to the attacks of 2001, and almost cost R.A. Dickey a Cy Young Award. If Dickey didn't win, this hit and this hit alone would have been the deal breaker. So, pay him back. In the the middle of the outfield... in the middle of the outfield, I call your name. And the name I call, and the love that turns me on is that of Denard Span. Denard follows Kirby Puckett and Torii Hunter in the line of good-glovin' centerfielders out of Minnesota with a joy for the game, a bat that's aflame, and a kool first name. Fortunately for NL East rivals, he's also following Hunter in demonstrating a dropoff in offense upon leaving Minnesota. The defense is still there though. He's also kinda hot, and a two-triple day this weekend is all that kept the Braves from sweeping away the Nats into third place. Hey, guess who else is on the DL? Rightfielder and erstwhile Phil/sasquatch Jayson Werth. Werth has been rehabbing in the minors and will likely return during this series (for all I know he's in the lineup tonight), but let's hope he's rusty. With Werth and Harper giving themselves up to the cause in right, Roger Bernadina is out there until then, and will likely end up in one of the other outfield positions if Werth reappears. You've met Roger and are complaisant with him --- a meaty football type. Scott Hairston, but with more muscles. Can hit opposite field rockets, but can also chase breaking pitches at his feet. Definitely not getting it done this season (.479 OPS --- hello, futility team), but still dangerous. Went 11-32 against the Mets last year, but with no power, so I'm hoping their scouting report does the trick. Other dudes you might see? Steve Lombardozzi, is the scrappy ethnic white veteran guy you might get at second or in left. He's also OPSing unacceptably but Espinosa needs to be pushed. Expect at least one start from the Dozzer. Chad Tracy backs up the corner infield positions. He's usually pretty comparable to LaRoche, but this year is pretty comparable to an end table. He's gone 8-53 with seven singles and a homer. Does the futilty team need a futility infielder? (see what I did there?) Davey Johnson spent his last few years as a veteran backup on a good Phillies teams, and is said to value those sorts of players, but mercy, his vet backups are not helping him right now. You know this team well enough. One stranger who you don't know is Jeff Kobernus, an outfield reserve whose name I am not making up. He went to Berkley, got drafted in the second round in 2009, was nailed by the Red Sox in the Rule 5 Draft, traded to the Tigers, and returned to Nats. He's really an infielder but he got called up last week to help in the outfield (presumably after Clown Question hit the DL. He doesn't have a hit yet, and I wouldn't grow too attached to him, as he's clearly the odd man out if Werth returns as expected. Good contact, low power output.

The Wik wrote: Lawrence King "Larry" Yount (born February 15, 1950 in Houston, Texas) is a former professional baseball player. Yount (whose younger brother is Hall of Famer Robin Yount) holds the unique distinction of being the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to appear in the official record books without ever actually having faced a batter. In his only major league appearance on September 15, 1971, he had to leave the game during his warm-up pitches due to injury.

As he played all of one game, that's to be expected. But he appears to have gotten hurt warming up and never faced a batter.

@ italics: Is Valde as good as any of those guys? Right now who knows. Certainly as good as Wagner. The rest, I'm not sure.

It's "writing" a wrong? I fail to see how such a discreditable process is a gift to the fans. It's about advertisers getting their logos in front of fans.

I imagine the Atlantic League takes the unaffiliated status of their members as a distinguishing qualification.

Cursed Pablo Sandoval. It's that bloody cute nickname of his. #VoteSugarpants

1976: When we all looked like sex offenders.

Not Paul Godschmidt. And yeah, hanging Rice out to dry like that stunkaroonie.

Yes, but historically, there usually is some bump for host teams, right? Not that I'm rooting for that, at least, not on that basis.

.333 / .465 / .491 // .956 =#fff5c2]Matt Tuiasosopo, in 31 games and 71 plate appearances with Detroit.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Nice scissor work, fellas!

My first guess is my cousin Jeffy from Babylon.

It might be, but I think we're getting conflicting reports on the persistence of the boot.

I still like my Manny comparison, but mostly because of personality challenges. Baseball-Reference likes Frank Robinson. Cabrera (current): 6,732 PAs; .320/.396/.565; 338 HRs; 401 2Bs Robby (through '65): 6,408 PAs: .303/.389/.554; 324 HRs 318 2Bs Robinson gave you more on the basepaths, stealing 161 bases, to Cabrera's 33. Both started their careers in offensive eras (to different degrees) that generally waned as their careers progressed.

Zvon wrote: I respect you and what you're sayin. I feel they should do that kind of thing in the minors unless the guy is being groomed to be just a utility man. If the idea is to get PT while learning to hit major league pitching, then doing it in the minors is something beside the point. There are plenty of examples of guys playing around the diamond initially as major leaguers --- Andy Van Slyke, Kevin Mitchell, Albert Pujols, Honus F. Wagner. Lot of MVP votes there. Don Mattingly came up as an outfielder/infielder. Gary Carter came up as an outfielder/catcher. Why bench some poor shlub if he's not going to hit? Why let a defensive assignment undercut his development as a hitter if it turns out to be a mismatch? Look at this way: If you give him a job in right, and he sucks defensively, he ends up losing the job and his career returning to limbo no matter how he's hitting. But if you give him a super utility job, and he sucks at one position, you play him a little less there, and a little more elsewhere and tell him to just keep hitting. This essentially is how we failed with Murphy. They assigned him to left fulltime, and he failed defensively and lost almost all his opportunities offensively. Not only did he lose confidence in himself, but Jerry stupidly did also --- explicitly, declaring that he didn't want to play Murphy in the infield, because that put him "closer to the ball," as if nobody who couldn't play outfield could play infield. It was only in a domino crisis that Jerry allowed Murphy to play first. And even that was after he first tried Jeremy Reed --- a no-bat outfielder who had no firstbasing experience and was on the roster as a ballhawk. Jerry chose to deliberately ignore all Murphy's minor league experience as an infielder. Had Murphy simply been allowed to roam the diamond as a firstbaseman/secondbaseman/thirdbaseman/leftfielder/maybe rightfielder too, his difficulties at one position would never have turned into the existential crisis for his career that it became, and his settling in eventually at first would have come far more quickly and comfortably than it did. His eventual transfer to second as well. I think Gregg Jefferies would have been helped by an "unspecified duties" assignment on defense as well. Just hit, baby.

Yeah, the point is worth making that the Mets lost a game of musical chairs, and that's not entirely their fault, but neither is it not. The product degraded, and the partners noticed. But it's overstated. They're probably not the team nobody wants, so much as the less desireable in context. I mean, of course Buffalo wants to affiliate with Toronto. That said, the first thing I do as commissioner is end the practice of affiliation agreements. They're bad for baseball and bad for America. And Canada and probably a few other countries. A new crib won't change the weather but at least the facilities will be upgraded. Well, I would imagine that it could change at least some of the effects of the weather. Better irrigation and such. If Bob Hope can play golf in the drylands, the Mets can play baseball. The Mets are not expected to grow flowers in the desert, but they can live and breath and see the sun in wintertime. Seriously, I fully expect a replay of the Mets' affiliation with New Orleans, where they said all the right things about being happy to affiliate with this neglected jewel of a AAA franchise and then got the hell out as soon as an International League affiliate became available.

Demoralizing the team and the fan base depresses attendance and TV ratings, which diminishes revenues which ultimately is a factor in winning. Sometimes, you want to win a little, because it helps you win a little more. The other direction is a strategy too --- bailing completely on the season and minimizing expenses as you develop. But so is trying to grind out a few more wins in the meantime.

I'm a big believer in playing young and athletic guys all over the diamond. Treat them like their first job is to hit major league hitting. If that works out, they can work on the refinements to cement them at one position. It also underscores that they haven't replaced anybody and keeps them striving while still getting them work.

That was some chunda.