I’m baffled by Davis, for the very reason you mention — he either hits for power or takes walks, but apparently can’t do both at once. His 2002 season was a great example of this. First half: .230/.306/.278, with 15 walks in 126 at-bats. Second half: .294/.324/.559, with just 3 walks in 102 at-bats. And as you mention, he’s basically repeating his 2002 second half so far in 2003 (.280/.308/.580). Despite my disdain for hitters who don’t walk, I have to say I like Power Ben better than Patient Ben, given that the latter seems to include a nice batting average as well. If he’s going to hit like this the rest of the season I’ll have no complaints.
Oh, and I’ve just updated the Big Board (link to your left). Very minor stuff, no pun intended. The biggest news of the day is that Kazuhiro Sasaki is on a rehab stint with the Inland Empire 66ers, scheduled to start tonight with a 20-25 pitch limit. There’s an article about this in today’s San Bernardino Sun, from which I quote, “Sasaki, who has been slowed by a bad back, will throw between 20 and 25 pitches in what is likely to be his only outing with the team. Sixers manager Steve Roadcap said if all goes well tonight, Sasaki likely will go to Triple-A Tacoma for another start before rejoining the parent club.” If any of you reading this happen to make it to the game tonight, we’d love to hear how Sasaki looks on the mound.
So, what do we think of Ben Davis? His career to date shows that he can draw walks or hit for power, but apparently not both at the same time. He’s doing the Alfonso Soriano at the moment, with a lousy 2/11 BB/K but a .588 slugging percentage. 9 of his 14 hits are of the extra base variety, which is really hard to fluke. He’s also been Gil Meche’s personal catcher, whose emergence has been the story of the first month. Since this city is so fond of giving Dan Wilson credit for his work with the pitchers, they’d ought to at least recognize that Davis has been the one behind the dish while Meche has emerged as a legitimate major league starter.
Minor League Highlights for Monday, May 5
Tacoma 8, Iowa 1 (DH Game #1). The Rainiers scored two runs in the top of the first in the first game and didn’t look back, never trailing at any point in yesterday’s double dip. LHP Craig Anderson had yet another strong start (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), going the distance in the abbreviated game and lowering his ERA to 3.15 on the season. 1B Andy Barkett led a nine hit attack with two homers, two runs scored and four RBIs, while 2B Chad Meyers had two hits and also scored twice.
Tacoma 12, Iowa 0 (DH Game #2). The drubbing continued in the nightcap, as the Rainiers pounded out 14 hits in a blowout victory to sweep the pair or games. RF Kenny Kelly, perhaps inspired by Barkett’s performance in the first game, went deep twice and drove in five runs to pace the offense. Five other players — 2B Mickey Lopez, LF Jacques Landry, C Pat Borders, 1B Craig Kuzmic and DH Chad Meyers — each had two hits, and all nine starters scored at least one run. RHP Scott Atchison (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) picked up the win to move to 3-1 on the year. As an interesting side note, the Rainiers scored six runs in the 7th inning of each game.
San Antonio 8, Tulsa 1. Another day, another win for the Missions, who thumped yet another helpless pitching staff to win their 16th straight contest. They’ve outscored their opponents by a 122-49 margin during the streak, winning each game by an average of 4.6 runs, and now stand 22-9 on the year with a five game lead in the West Division of the Texas League. RF Chris Snelling, who apparently hasn’t missed a beat, went 3-5 with a double, a homer, two runs scored and two driven in. He’s now hitting a cool .500/.526/.889 in four games since coming off the disabled list. CF Mike Curry and DH Jaime Bubela each added two hits for the Missions in support of RHP Chris Wright (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), who won his 4th game of the year against just one loss.
Inland Empire did not play, as the Cal League played a limited schedule yesterday. The 66ers are home against High Desert today but have not announced their starting pitcher, due to RHP Juan Done being placed on the disabled list with a sore shoulder. Done has been unable to get loose lately and is now headed for an MRI. Lefty reliever Russ Morgan was activated from the DL to take his spot on the roster. This may mean a chance for LHP Ryan Ketchner to enter the rotation.
Lansing 10, Wisconsin 6. Wisconsin scored six runs for the second straight game, but this time didn’t get the pitching to make it stand up for a win. RHP T.A. Fulmer was hit hard (9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and took the loss after falling behind 3-0 in the first inning. Offensively, 2B Tim Merritt and CF Gary Harris each had three hits, and 3B Matt Hagen drove in three with his 3rd homer of the year. The Timber Rattlers will try it again today with LHP Tanner Watson on the hill.
With the Mariners coming back for a homestand, we need to review a few things.
Conduct for Being on the Real One Video Screen
- Realize you’re on the video screen, jump in seat
- With one arm, point at the video screen
- With free arm, hit the person next to you while yelling “look, look!”
- Wave towards the video screen
At no time should you spot and wave towards the camera that is filming you. Act as if it is the R1VS that is watching you directly.
Now you may be wondering “Derek, how do I get my mug on the Real One Video Screen at Safeco Field?”
Good Question.
Getting Your Mug on the R1VS
- For fans with life partners:
- Procreate or adopt an early-stage procreation of another human
- Evaluate early-stage human for cuteness: do people on the street stop and say “My, what an attractive and sympathic helpless toddler you have there” or something similar? If not, retreat a step and procreate again or adopt another early-stage procreation of others.
- Bring infant human to the game.
- Wait.
- During half-inning breaks, hold infant human up and bob child to the music.
- Sell child to newly interested infant human dealers and bank profit. Repeat as needed.
- For fans without life partners:
- Buy a set of 5 tickets or more.
- Find out where local high school girls hang out. (Hint: ask local waitresses for tips)
- Give all tickets but one to attractive local high school girls. Screen to select those with proclivities to show their bellies.
- Wait.
- During half-inning breaks as attractive local high school girls are put on camera, camera will pull back slightly to show larger section of the crowd, including you.
- Optional: While they bask in glow of stadium-wide attention from males, determine if any of them are of legal age in Washington and attempt to make them your life partners, so that you can produce cute progeny and continue to dominate the R1VS between innings.
Hope this helps!
Mariner pitchers with events as a percent of approximate batters faced (omits stuff that’s not in ESPN’s main pitching stats page, like HBP):
NAME abfp h% hr% bb% k%
Freddy Garcia 180 20% 4% 9% 14%
Ryan Franklin 173 23% 4% 8% 9%
Joel Pineiro 167 20% 2% 11% 13%
Jamie Moyer 156 22% 3% 10% 20%
Gil Meche 154 21% 3% 6% 21%
S. Hasegawa 70 17% 0% 7% 14%
G. Carrara 67 25% 3% 9% 10%
Julio Mateo 60 18% 3% 8% 22%
Arthur Rhodes 57 16% 0% 9% 21%
Jeff Nelson 47 26% 4% 4% 28%
K. Sasaki 45 31% 2% 9% 24%
R. Soriano 7 0% 0% 14% 43%
Team line is 21% hits, 3% HR, 9% BB, 16% K. Note that while Kazu turns up as being the superior pitcher in K/9, Nelson is clearly the better and more dominating of the two relievers.
Fun secondary stat for the day: I looked at the number of batters it takes each Mariner pitcher to record three outs. Low, obviously, is good. High was Kazu with 5, Carrara was 2nd at 4.7, followed by Pineiro, Moyer (4.4), Garcia..Meche was at 4.2, and Arthur Rhodes was the lowest of all at 4. I find that really interesting, because it means that to get through an inning, Kazu on average sees two batters get on base (or circle them at a lazy trot).
Minor League Highlights for Sunday, May 4
Tacoma was rained out in Iowa, and the two teams will play a double header today to make up the lost game. LHP Craig Anderson and RHP Scott Atchison are scheduled to start for the Rainiers.
San Antonio 10, Wichita 7. This is getting a bit ridiculous, don’t you think? One day after scoring 21 runs on 25 hits, the Missions pounded out 17 hits to win their 15th game in a row. 3B Jose Lopez (normally a middle infielder) and DH Chris Snelling (normally an outfielder) each had four hits in five trips including two doubles for Snelling, who drove in three runs and scored once. Lopez scored three times and is now hitting .333/.379/.482 — he could be in Seattle sooner than you think. 1B A.J. Zapp added three hits including his 9th homer of the year, tops in the Texas League. RHP Clint Nageotte was the beneficiary of this offensive outburst, going to 4-0 on the year despite not pitching well (5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, 2 HBP). RHP Jared Hoerman (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) picked up his 8th save of the season.
Inland Empire 6, Modesto 3. Double your pleasure, double your fun. The 66ers used seven doubles and a late rally — two runs in the 8th, one in the 9th — to pick up the win for RHP Emiliano Fruto (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), who appears to be thriving in his new relief role. CF Greg Jacobs, DH Richard Pohle and 3B Hunter Brown each had two hits, including two doubles for Pohle. Seven of the team’s ten hits were doubles. C Chris Collins, getting a rare start behind the dish, drove in two runs with his second double of the year. RHP Jared Thomas worked the first five (4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 8 K) and RHP Mike Steele (1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) was credited with his 7th save. In prospect news, RF Shin-soo Choo has cooled considerably since his hot streak upon being inserted into the leadoff spot in the batting order. The young Korean has slumped to .233/.327/.444 on the season.
Wisconsin 6, Dayton 2. Wisconsin got back in the win column Sunday after losing back-to-back games following their 8-game win streak behind the pitching of LHP Bobby Livingston (7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K). RF T.J. Bohn homered and was one of four players — 3B Matt Hagen, LF David Delucchi, DH Christopher Phillips, Bohn — with two hits in the game. Hagen doubled and scored twice, while Delucchi doubled, scored and drove in two. RHP Renee Cortez (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) and LHP Cesar Jimenez (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) each worked a perfect inning to close out the game, and now have ERAs on the season of 0.96 and 1.86, respectively.
Minor League Highlights for Saturday, May 3
Iowa 3, Tacoma 2. Iowa pitching held the Rainiers to just four hits, winning a one-run game for the second straight day. RHP Brian Sweeney (5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) took the loss, though he still has a 1.91 ERA and 30:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 28 1/3 innings on the year. RHP Allan Simpson put together a solid relief outing (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) and C Pat Borders had two of Tacoma’s four hits, including a double.
San Antonio 21, Wichita 5. If this team were any hotter, they’d be in danger of spontaneously combusting. The Missions have now won a Texas League record 14 straight games, outscoring their opponents 104-41 during the streak. In yesterday’s 25-hit blowout win, all nine starters had at least two hits and all but one scored at least two runs. C Jim Horner led the way with five hits in six trips including a homer, raising his season average to a robust .475. Amazingly, 20 of their 25 hits were singles. LHP Bobby Madritsch didn’t pitch well (5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 0 K), but picked up the win thanks to all that run support.
Modesto 6, Inland Empire 2. The 66ers were shut down at the plate once again, scoring just twice on seven hits. RHP Enmanuel Ulloa, recently sent down from San Antonio, got the start but couldn’t make it out of the 5th inning (4 1/3, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). Still, it wasn’t a bad start for a guy who has worked almost exclusively in relief the past two seasons. LHP Ryan Ketchner (2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) took the loss in relief but added to his remarkable 37:4 K:BB ratio. Offensively, 1B John Castellano went 2-4, scored once and drove in a run. CF Greg Jacobs added a triple and a run scored.
Dayton 4, Wisconsin 3. The Timber Rattlers dropped their second straight following their eight-game winning streak, despite taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st. Dayton tied it up in the sixth, then took a 3-2 lead in the 8th. Wisconsin answered with a run in the top of the 9th to tie, but RHP Bryan Heaston (1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K) allowed the winning run in the bottom half of the inning. 1B Jon Nelson led the offense with two hits including a solo homer in the 1st. The Timber Rattlers made four errors in the game, one of which led to Dayton’s tying run in the 6th.
On April 22nd, the U.S.S. Mariner crew met up for a ballgame at Safeco Field. Before and during the game, there was discussion about Mike Cameron’s future with the Mariners. It was agreed by all parties that he’d be nuts to re-sign here after the season, and the Mariners would be wise to spend their money on a player who could succeed in Safeco Field. The unanimous opinion was that both the Mariners and Cameron would be better off parting ways. It didn’t hurt that he was hitting .229/.313/.357 to that point. He then proceeded to win the game with a grand slam home run and has hit .429/.538/.714 since. Think he heard us?
Speaking of heating up, Jeff Cirillo is 6-12 on the road trip and has drawn 4 walks without a strikeout. However, 5 of those 6 hits are singles. Until he starts consistently hitting the ball with authority to the gaps, I’m going to have a hard time saying he’s back. Nevertheless, he’s not that bad of a player outside of Safeco Field, and the talk of using McLemore, Bloomquist, or Colbrunn at third base is nonsensical. The Mariners are 4th in defensive efficiency for a reason, and Jeff Cirillo is a huge part of that reason. There isn’t a player on the roster who offers a large enough offensive increase to justify taking Cirillo’s glove off the infield.
By the way, when do we finally talk about the remarkable emergence of the Patient Bret Boone. After drawing 3 walks tonight, he’s now 9th in the American Leauge with 17 in 116 AB. He’s walking once every 6.8 AB. Last year, he walked once every 11.47 AB. It was once every 15.75 AB in 2001. He now has a .393 on base percentage despite “only” hitting .293 at the moment. That OBP is .021 points higher than his year-end OBP in 2001 when he hit .331. If Boone is straying from his hack-a-matic past and his power doesn’t disappear, its possible that he could have an even better season than the season we’ve deemed as one of the great flukes of all time.
If I’m Mike Cameron, I ask my agent to see if the White Sox are interested in a Gold Glove CF this off-season. He kills the ball in that stadium, and if the Sox could find a taker for Carlos Lee — like, say, the M’s — they could play Cameron in center and prospect Joe Borchard in left.
Oh, and Colbrunn finally gets a start against a lefty, but in place of Edgar instead of Olerud? That doesn’t make much sense to me, but whatever. On the TV broadcast they made some claim about how Melvin decided to save Edgar for Colon since he’s a fastball hitter and Edgar hits fastballs so well, as opposed to today’s starter Josh Stewart who’s more of an off-speed guy. To me, the deciding factor should be that Olerud just isn’t as good against left-handed pitchers.
For all my carping about Melvin’s constant small-ball tactics, when I went to look it up this morning I found that Seattle, with 18 stolen bases and 6 times caugh-stealing, is only 8th in stolen bases (tied with Baltimore, and way behind Florida’s eye-popping 52). And we’re 19th caught-stealing, which overall puts us right next to the Yankees and Orioles, who have attempted 19 and 18 steals and been caught 6 and 5 times, respectively. And sacrifice hits (which is, bunts), the Mariners are middle of the pack.
I can’t reconcile this with my own observations: are the M’s running-and-attempting-the-run all the time, and laying down the bunt over and over until they get it right? That doesn’t seem like a rational conclusion, so here’s what I’ve started to think: that I’m so frustrated with the times that Melvin’s employing these tactics, particularly the sacrificing the runner from 1-2 and 2-3, that it seems like they’re doing it much more frequently.