Edgy MD

I'm honored.

Frayed Knot wrote: At last check, Megill had an ERA in Syracuse north of 10.00 Worth checking again. It's down to an enticing 8.67.

=dances_w_vowels post_id=133677 time=1690935651 user_id=178] New here, thanks Edgy MD.

The funny thing is that I thought the expanded playoffs would mean less deadline action. The broader post-season field increases demand, because more teams would be within sniffing range of the post season. But it also decreases supply, because fewer teams would be outside sniffing range of the post season. But I guess for that team on the bubble, with the choice to go either way, the prices went up. And that team could have been the Guardians or the Padres, but that team, it turns out, was the Mets. Looked at generally, was the amount of activity meaningfully different from a typical season?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Is it possible for Señor Wences to throw a pitch without getting saliva on it? This could be problematic. It's a credit to you how you're always thinking ahead about these things.

Don't mention football in the baseball forum. It's not a rule, but it ought to be. Senga-Quintana-Carrasco-Peterson-Megill until further notice. They are also penciled in as our opening rotation for 2024. Joey Lucchesi is injured, but in reserve are Jose Butto, Denyi Reyes, Mike Vasil, David Griffin, David Geffen, Joey Buttafuoco, Justin Jarvis, Jane Jarvis, Christian Scott, Montgomery Scott, Randolph Scott, Great Scott, Willie Randoph, Christian Laettner, Daison Acosta, Junior Santos, Senior Santos, and Señor Wences.

We were robbed of Seaver's 200th win in a Mets uniform. We missed his 250th and his 300th. These were sacred milestones to Mets fans that were somehow achieved for someone else's cause. We got to see Verlander's 250th win and it was like "I guess that's cool, because it beats losing, but whatev ... oh, you traded him?" Part of that is just being old, but a big part is the knowledge that these guys were always just passing through. If Pete Alonso were to go, it wouldn't "rip my heart out," because I'm already a crotchedy old fuck whose heart is made of crumpled, rusted scrap metal, but I recognize how it would do painful things to a ten-year-old heart that trading Justin Verlander could never do.

That's a pretty accurate impression.

I was walking the dog last night in the 10th inning with my laptop in her wagon. (She's lost most of her mobility, so "walking" her means taking her to one of her favorite neighborhood pooing spots in a wagon and placing her on the grass, but that's besides the point.) I was following the game and lost the signal as I exited my Wi-Fi range about a second after the winning run scored — which was, kind of, you know, merciful. But it doesn't mean I didn't sleep on it. And by "sleep" I mean both my limited sleeping hours and my greater number of laying-down-awake-on-my-mattress hours, cogitating on that bizarre loss. And the nature of it. And that nature of it is that, well, Josh Walker lost the game. But he didn't lose to the Royals really. Not if we're being fair. He lost to the clusterfuck of ancillary, barely baseball-related concerns that is baseball in 2023. He comes into the very worst of situations — with the winning run on third, just up from the minors. But hey, that's baseball. That's the drama we pay to see. He quickly goes over the approach to the batter with a manager who barely knows him and a catcher he's rarely worked with. They're on the clock. He takes his strictly counted warmup pitches. That's the game. But then a domino-effect of extra-curricular shit hits. His pitch-com fails. I'm not keeping stats, but after a season and two thirds of this new technology, the failure rate of this device is about 35% when new pitchers come into the game, which apart from screwing up the game, certainly creates pace-of-play issues. It's 2023. Digital communication is everywhere. We rely on it for everything. It's been part of the NFL for generations, but here in MLB we seemingly have a 35% failure rate and a crisis each time. But my concern isn't telecommunications. It's the game. And this pitcher and his catcher can't communicate, and that's not a good recipe for good baseball. They haven't established hand signals, so he's in a fix. And he's already become set. He needs to signal without balking that he's dead in the water. What he needs is for his catcher to signal that, but he has no rapport yet with his catcher and the catcher hasn't yet done so. The catcher may not even realize it yet. And the clock is counting down. He can't afford an automatic ball! He's got the PitchCom screwing him one way and the clock trying to screw him another. This is a classic step-off-and-regroup situation if there ever was one. BUT THEY'RE COUNTING DISENGAGEMENTS NOW. You have to conserve your disengagements or you're going to give the runners a free base! And that free base is home plate with the winning run!! So you sort of really don't want to do that. But you get two disengagements before the penalty kicks in on the third one, so he'll use that if he has to. Hopefully he doesn't have to, but he prepares to do that if it comes to it. And damn it, the pitch clock is ticking down. And I just got off the plane, and I'm going to go right back down if I screw this up, so don't waste those limited disengagements. But the pitch clock is winding down and I don't have an understanding with my catcher on what I'm going to throw, or any communications with him whatsoever. Yeah, I just switched to the first-person voice there, but that's what happens to a fan in such moments. They become the athlete in their own heads. So fuck it, his mind commits to using that disengagement. (I'm back in the third person because I suddenly realize I'm watching a car about to wreck.) And, and, and ... just as his brain has begun sending that signal to his leg, his eye tells his brain, that he's finally seeing the catcher signal to the ump that communications have failed. His brain tries to stop the signal to his leg, but it's too late. HE TWITCHES! With no intent to deceive any runner, he twitches. Without even intending to pitch or throw a pickoff attempt, he has balked. And that brain that couldn't manage to navigate all of these not-very-basebally concerns while simultaneously working through the most dramatic of baseball situations does the only thing left for a brain to do, and it sends a message to the heart and soul to pray that nobody saw the twitch. But it's in vain. Everybody saw. Two umps called the balk, and the two others should have called it, but were delayed by pity, and then thankful that the other guys called it because they knew the call that had to be made but were delayed by pity. They would have called it a second later, knowing the prayer they would be spurning in the process. But now they can sleep more soundly. It's the other guys who put those tears in Josh Walker's pretty blue eyes. Josh Walker lost without throwing a pitch. He lost, although not, you know, credited with the loss, as it were. He twitched and that's against the rules and that's tough. But it wasn't the Royals that came down on him and got the win. I mean they loaded the bases and that's not nothing. Actually, they just loaded two of the bases, so things were already getting stupid before the inning had begun. But who is the hero here? Who does the field reporter wire up for the post-game interview? It wasn't any Royal, that's for sure. It was the strange vicissitudes of baseball in 2023. Rob Manfred is an easy target, and it shouldn't be all about him. But that's the gig. This weirdness is his weirdness. These changes have his signature. Toss the Gatorade on Rob Manfred. Manfred for win. Wire him up and let's talk about it. The strange, stupid, bizarre-assed win. This is why I don't sleep.

Royals have one guy left on their bench and have burned the DH.

Well, this night just got a little longer.

Edgy MD wrote: Despite calling that go-ahead sac fly "a high fly pop," Steve Gelbs has been much sharper tonight. Gelbs must've only had nine innings in him, or maybe the jet lag kicked in, because he's kind of been a mess this inning.

Trying to one-up Shmálvarez, Pete has one of his uglier at-bats of the year, swinging at sliders down and away from his knees.

There's a multi-RBI hit!

For what it's worth, I think the Mets are 6-1 in extra innings this season. Maybe 5-1.

Despite calling that go-ahead sac fly "a high fly pop," Steve Gelbs has been much sharper tonight.

LET'S GO, REMAINING AND SURVIVING METS! LET'S GO, REMAINING AND SURVIVING METS!

Strange that the KC outfielder didn't make a try for that bloop. There wasn't much downside to lunging for a ball that was gonna drop in and die.

Bezes very quickly loaded for Alfonso. Big chance here.

Well, that's the way to take the lead. Wish we had done it.

It's kind of like the Billy McKinney Interregnum to me — when the Mets had so many offensive injuries that Nido and McCann were their two best hitters, the roster was filled with emergency callups and grabs from the excess pile around the league, and they managed to stay in most games despite ... Nido and McCann being their two best hitters. For a few weeks there, there were a lot of competitive — but really short — games.

=metirish post_id=133702 time=1690940743 user_id=72] Will Zack go to the HOF ?

Jeff McNeil has LEDs embedded in his face. It's tough night for Met faces.

Greinke is goneke after only 72 pitches. I hardly see the pointke of paying the guy handsomely if you're not going to let him try to win for you.

Pete looking like he wanna cry — and not just from that blow to the face.