Ceetar

so Maddon is implying that cheating is so rampant in Nat-land that even though Johnson never managed Peralta he was aware that he liked to use pine tar enough to call him on it?

Edgy DC wrote: Crazy trying to get one of them over from 60 feet away. Not that crazy if you're at Hofstra.

I've got a baseball in my car. maybe I should start practicing at lunch.

Mets � Willets Point wrote: This thread makes it feel like David has a hit in every game. How many 0-fers does he have this season? 12 0fers in 65 games. he's on a 10 game hit streak.

Edgy DC wrote: Edgy DC wrote: (Although I suppose truth serum might tell me that that was just a small cover for his bosses being cheap and broke.) To be clear, I'm not actually asserting this. I think it was more challenge/threat than cover. Suggesting that if Mets fans come to the park and buy tickets and suggest an increased revenue stream there will be justification to add payroll in July if something works.

soupcan wrote: Ceetar wrote: The wind currents at Yankee Stadium that normally allow pop-flies to float over the fence instead make the knuckleball flutter like crazy... Except the game is at Citi duh. *bonks self* The gentle breeze from the flushing bay then. 1.20 ERA at home for Dickey. .783 WHIP. After that night, Jeter's going to use Dickey as the excuse why he skips the All-Star Game this year.

Also this is a silly filler story that has to talk in absolutes. It's never strictly adding a rental versus selling commodities. It's possible no matter what the record Sandy could look to add a piece that won't just be helpful this year, but next. It's possible Mejia/Beato/etc make Jon Rauch expendable and they trade him not because they're out of it but because they don't need him.

So, what happens to ruin everything Sunday night? These have crossed my mind: --Sudden unforeseen steady rain messes with knuckler, umps won't halt play. --Sabathia pulls up lame, is replaced by Triple-A callup who has studied Dickey and learned the knuckler just for this night and he bests Dickey and it's a moral victory for MFYs 'cause Triple-A pitcher is from Newark and Mets kept him from pitching in front of his family this season. --Selig orders all umpires to redefine strike zone as of 8 PM Sunday and therefore all of Dickey's pitches are considered balls. --ESPN reports that while Dickey has certainly had success over the past several starts, the New York Yankees are history's greatest example of success and that which is evanescent can't help but succumb to that which is transcendent. --Fucking Jeter. No. The wind currents at Yankee Stadium that normally allow pop-flies to float over the fence instead make the knuckleball flutter like crazy. Jeter strikes out 3 times. He nearly reaches on the first because the ball gets by Thole but he doesn't run out of the box because he was bitching about the called strike the pitch before to the ump. Terry Francona declares Dickey is amazing and regales us with tales of Tim Wakefield similiarly baffling the Yankees. He talks about their long swings being unsuited to hit the pitch. C.C.'s heavy frame is worn out from it being a night game during a heat wave, he's strong early but waivers in the 5th to give up 3 home runs to the Mets. Wright, Davis, Murphy back to back to back. Mets feast on the bullpen for the blow-out. Wallace Matthews probably hasn't noticed since he covers the Yankees exclusively now, but back in the day he had some rather unprofessional and ignorant things to say about knuckleballs. I wonder if we'll get a sequel this weekend. http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2007/05/what-eff.html

He's right you know. His imagination about what Sandy Alderson was thinking in February is WAY MORE IMPORTANT than worthless things like current standings and actual results.

I heard Gary mention the no wild pitch thing last night, but isn't that just a scoring decision? Josh Thole has 5 PB and Nickeas has 6. Not all of those were Dickey starts, but I don't think Dickey is completely innocent of it.

3 out of first, half game up on the Braves for second wild card. (1.5 behind the Giants/first WC)

no no hitters today. Johan has one and has given one up.

bmfc1 wrote: My favorite part of the poll is that you can vote for all of the choices. someone didn't though..*gasp*

of course it would only take a couple of times through for them to realize what you're doing and know who in the rotation is 'supposed' to pitch. Otherwise you could always keep it vague and 'schedule' one of the starters that's on his throw day for every game. So like tomorrow, set Chris Young as the probable starter, have him do one batter and then go to Gee.

Edgy DC wrote: I would love to see a manager announce righty starter and go to the pen after the opposing number stacked his lineup with lefties. Not just go to the pen, put the starter in LF so when the opposing manager wastes his bench, you can bring the original guy back in.

metirish wrote: Ceetar wrote: Edgy DC wrote: On live with Francesa. cruel punishment for giving up that one hit. Is Francesa taking credit for turning Dickey into a knuckleballer? Probably. But I don't know, I didn't give up a hit so I don't need to be punished by listening. Francesa's been using the Clemens trial to assert that there have always been rumors about Piazza and steroids so he's already in my doghouse this week.

Edgy DC wrote: On live with Francesa. cruel punishment for giving up that one hit.

seawolf17 wrote: Mets � Willets Point wrote: Trade him now while his value his high (because the GMs on other teams only look at the most recent week's production). YES! Good plan. We'll take Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, Jered Weaver, and the Frieri kid who's striking everyone out. We'll throw in Jason Bay. Hell they can have Daniel Murphy and Jon Rauch for that too.

unrelated to Dickey, is Adam Jones just a punk or what? His first AB in particular, I noticed he was taking a ridiculous amount of time between pitches and stepping out and walking away and around. Then he grounded one just foul, and started running down the line well after the foul call he continued to slow and then step on first and then turn around and walk, slowly, back to the plate for the next pitch.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I don't think knuckleball skills are or even can be selected for, so almost by definition it has to be among a subset of pitchers who've failed to stick otherwise. Showalter mentioned that few are prepared to take it on psychologically since it sort of requires a rejection of everything you've ever learned and a willing step down in machismo. Which is why it probably helps to have thrown it before, in limited use. That will also foster the belief that you can pick up the pitch and use it. It probably equates to the Rick Ankiel and Adam Loewen too. It's just a completely different thing that it might as well be hitting. And guys don't often get the shot to do either in the minors on the companies dime.

Edgy DC wrote: I think folk have to make themselves less failure-averse. in an industry where the vast majority of pitchers fail to blossom anyhow, I think what they fear is looking bad with a non-traditional failure. Nobody wants to expend the energy defending themselves against the "You messed up a young pitcher!" argument. But if one in three such experiments work, isn't that meaningfully better than the success rates of non-knucklers? Aside from developing full-time knucklers, what about just working with the pitch anyway? That's what Dickey did. He'd thrown knuckleballs his entire life, maybe one or two. So when he was forced to it as a last resort, he wasn't unfamiliar with it.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120618&content_id=33530502&vkey=news_nym&c_id=nym&partnerId=rss_nym Marty Noble has an article on Hofstra's Olivia Galati, a knuckleball softball player.

Frayed Knot wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm afraid that I'm drawing a blank on Francisco Liriano. Was he, is he, any good? Briefly One of those young phenoms that took baseball by storm and then faded quickly. Edison Volquez. Dontrelle Willis. those types of guys. Or maybe he just can't pitch without Johan. flyer?

Edgy DC wrote: I'm not trying to propose anything radical here. Keying the rotation to make sure your top guy goes every fifth day is pretty common. Since they have two post-surgical pitchers that they want to buy an extra day of rest for here and there anyhow, it's really keying the rotation to keep the top three as close to schedule as possible. I'm okay with it via skipping Chris Young, I don't like the sliding Dickey forward that puts everyone on 6 days rest though.

G-Fafif wrote: �It's surreal. You almost get emotional out there, especially that last hitter. You hear everybody, like one big heartbeat beating. That's the best way I could explain it.'' That was probably in response to the "R. A. Dickey!" chants.