Dave Henderson, in the 12th inning, with Winn at first, Ichiro hitting, and nobody out.
I can hear the fans back in Seattle now saying “why aren’t they bunting”? Well, Ichiro isn’t going to hit into a double play, and thats why you bunt, is to avoid the double play.
First off, I can’t imagine anyone was sitting at home asking why Ichiro wasn’t bunting. We’ve all seen enough pointless bunts to last us a lifetime. And, second, staying out of the double play is NOT why you bunt. I mean, seriously, does he actually believe that?
Hey, look, Ichiro with an infield single, showing again why bunting is ridiculously stupid. And with runners at first and second and nobody out, I guarantee we’re about to see one.
New GM Watch
May 25th edition
a brief comparison of GMs in their freshman year at the helm of their teams
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Dan O’Brien, Reds, 26-18, .591 [last year .426]
Paul DePodesta, Dodgers, 23-19, .548 [last year .525]
Bill Bavasi, Mariners, 15-28, .349 [last year .574]
You know, something’s been bugging me… Olerud should have been out when he was “locked in the video room”. When it’s your turn to bat, you have to bat. Sure, it’s a courtesy or whatever, but it’s in 6.03 of the rules. What’s supposed to happen is that it’s Olerud’s turn, Olerud’s not there, the ump tells the pitcher to go, and every pitch is a strike. Threee pitches and Olerud is out.
Now, it didn’t matter– Olerud got out anyway, but what if that had been the difference in the game? Detroit would have had a perfectly legitimate protest to the league, and (though this would never happen, because they’re lazy) MLB could have upheld it and forfeited the game.
In fact… if they’d played by the rules and Olerud struck out, they might not have gotten him and Aurilia out in time to start the next inning, and then what happens?
It appears that the new blogger is anti www addresses, so for those of you out there who are having issues accessing the blog (and, theoretically, are unable to read this post-what am I doing?), reset your bookmarks to either ussmariner.com or ussmariner.blogspot.com, and forget the www.
Also, Peter White and I are one-upping Derek on his eastside get togethers to watch the M’s. We’re taking eastside literally, and we’ll be hanging out somewhere in the Washington D.C area on Saturday, watching the Red Sox and the remains of the M’s roster do battle. If you’re interested in joining us, email me or Peter and we’ll hook you up with the details. East coast, represent!
I like the “young, but experienced” bit too. Of course, we should realize that the team probably defines young as “under 35” so that’s not so much a contradictory set of requirements.
Rekindle hope for 2004… there isn’t a player in baseball that could single-handedly return this team to contention for this year. Can’t happen.