Game 6, Rangers @ Mariners
Jeff · April 10, 2005 at 8:32 am · Filed Under Game Threads
Have you recovered from yesterday’s stomach punch yet?
After two wildly exciting games featuring late-inning comebacks and dramatic errors, this afternoon is the rubber match: Ryan Drese v. Gil Meche, 1:05 p.m.
The next time I start to draw conclusions about where the season is headed based on these first few games, I’m going to remind myself that Ben Molina has more home runs than Hank Blalock, Wilson Valdez has a better batting average than Mark Teixeira and Johan Santana’s ERA is over 7.00. If a baseball season is a marathon, a week is one city block.
Comments
234 Responses to “Game 6, Rangers @ Mariners”
dmz, right… it is odd, though, how the phonemes of one language are intrisically more aesthetically pleasing than the phonemes of another. I’m not convinced that we can chalk that all up to environmental conditioning… but I don’t really know much about the matter, so I guess I can’t say for sure.
KW: It doesn’t matter. When you’re a public figure like Rick Rizzs, you shouldn’t make those comments on the air. Period.
Nice outing for Villone. Now we’ve got the big bats coming up…
Since you asked: my impressions so far
“Did Niehaus really just say he might be the best center fielder on the team? Still, Bloomquist looks really good at short so far — Oh, he butched that! Man, that was ugly.”
“Why does the cursor seem to randomly jump around typing on the Mac? Is this some kind of key code thing?”
“Should I start keeping a running track of the weird decisions Hargrove makes now, for documentation purposes when people ask us later why we’ve turned on him?”
That was the first time I saw the batter’s box commercial with Ichiro. “I hit singles in mine. All. The. Time.” It made me grin, but I can see how it will get old.
Ooh, a nice ride by Winn there. Too bad.
Jeremy:
I should apologise for commenting when I didn’t hear Rizzs in the first place. I don’t have a problem with a public figure expressing a personal preference for one language over another. Cheap shots or unfairly derogatory comments are another thing. Since I don’t know which class his comments fall into, I shouldn’t have said anything.
Dobbs pinch hitting for Wilson. This is like… renting a Chevy Citation because you’re tired of your Fiero
RE: 204
Yes, you should. I recognize that it’s totally ridiculous to turn on someone this quickly, but I’m really furious.
Spiezio pinch hitting for Bloomquist. Hee hee hee.
Do you have a powerbook? Try going into the keyboard settings and checking the thing that turns off the trackpad when you type. That only helps sometimes though. Otherwise, I guess you just have to use proper typing posture.
Also, the Hargrove thing? Yes. But don’t publish it until he’s gone; it’ll just be depressing in the meantime.
And there goes the game.
dropped the first two series… it’s a bummer.
I second that. Absolutely start documenting Grover’s decisions.
And there goes the game.
(PS: What’s all this about “You can only post a comment every 15 seconds. Slow down cowboy”? Hello?)
Oh I see, I double-posted. Sorry.
Playoff at the Masters.
Go Chris DiMarco.
How about a ban on baseball mitts anywhere near the field of play, since Mariners fans are apparently too stupid to understand that they’re not actually on the team and have no business interfering with play.
And Thornton was allowed to play because …?
DMZ–Yes to keep track of all Hargrove’s bad moves. Was giving him benefit of doubt until he learned players, then again a win in April is (at least could be) as important as win in Sept. especially against division rivals.
Missed game but if Rizz offened Japanese addios to him as the majority ownership will exact proper penalty.
Rizz may be kind of hard to listen to sometimes, but come on. That really wasnt offensive. Just stupid.
Re: ( 218 & others) THE 10TH FIELDER – Seattle doesn’t have a monopoly on this foolishness (fans interfering with the play of the game). Remember last year’s Cub series (Moises Alou)?
Or the aforementioned Jeffrey Maier thing ?
So one week in and fifteen teams are 3-3, and the M’s have the same record as the BoSox. Let’s give it a month or two before we start either panicking or jumping for joy.
w/r/t RIZZS:
I wouldn’t say it was offensive, though it flirted with being offensive. It was just such a jarring contrast: oooooooooooh, Spanish is sooooooooooooooo beautiful, those announcers were sooooo good…. Check out how wacky those Japanese people are with their crazy way of speaking! Ha ha ha! They’re craaazy!
Re: (# 121) THE PERSPICACITY OF BOB MELVIN – Here’s more, compliments of ROTOWORLD:
Jose Cruz Jr. was held out of the starting lineup in favor of Quinton McCracken for the second straight game today.
Cruz did play half of yesterday’s extra-inning game after replacing McCracken. His absence certainly hasn’t been for performance reasons. He has an 1106 OPS and seven RBI in 17 AB. Apr. 10 – 8:30 pm et
QUINTON McCRACKEN ?
#204 – Here are the wierd decisions on my list:
a. Going to Spiezio to pinch hit three times in the series. OK, he looked at a third strike in the first game, but the ump missed the call and he walked, helping to keep the rally alive. But this was not justification to call upon him to pinch hit twice more in this series.
b. Over insistence on L-R matchups and roles. Hargrove seems to manage very strictly by the book in this respect. This is the kind of logic that can result in keeping Matt Thornton on the roster, even though George Sherrill would probably compile a lower ERA in more innings over the course of a season (regardless of whether he faced left or right handed batters).
c. Fast hook. For example, in the first series he pulls Meche early for Thornton. This did not work out well, but even more importantly, if he keeps this up he is going to exhaust the bullpen mid-way through the season. Given how the bullpen is performing when rested, this could get very ugly down the road.
Two comments from among the teeming masses at the Safe today:
1) This looks alot like 96, 98, 99, and any other year when the M’s had a killer offense and absolutely no one to hold the lead. Note that in those years we were out of the race (perhaps not mathematically but in spirit) by 9/1.
2) When are the idiots who attend these games going to realize we have a bona fide All-Star and Edgar replacement in Adrian Beltre, and make a little friggin noise when he comes to the plate? Come on people, Randy Winn gets more applause than Beltre. Sure, he wasn’t a 95 or 97 or 01 hero, but let’s make the guy feel appreciated, at least!
#226
While I agree that the fast hook isnt such a good thing considering the issues with the bullpen, I dont know where Grover has alot of good options in the matter. His starters arent pitching to keep the team in the game. Do you let Meche self distruct further and damage and already shaky confidence? Mads tore a ligament leading to an early change. Moyer was up in his pitch count lastnight. So the more I think about it, the harder the decision seems. Just pray that Franklin eats up some innings tomorrow to give the bullpen a rest. A healthy and effective Pinero would be pretty helpful too.
I assume that Spezio was used to pinch hit because of his ability to swing from the left side. Though in the end it didnt make alot of difference.
From what I’ve heard from non-English native speakers, English is not a particularly pleasing language to foreign ears who can’t understand it. Japanese I’ve learned to the point where it no longer sounds strange to me. Chinese I don’t understand at all, and it sounds really weird to me, with a lot of tone changes and strange sounds.
The Times has pictures of the fans who muffed things up. I hope those two guys woke up today feeling just plain stupid. Especially the slob who got in Ichiros way.
Years ago I was watching a Cubs game and they were talking about Japanese players. I don’t remember if there was a Japanese player in the game (this would have been before Nomo) or how it came up, but Caray went into a riff about how small the Japanese are, ending with the line “you never see a fat Jap”. Which caused Steve Stone to quickly change the subject.
Harry Caray I mean, of course.
The Mariners could use Steve Stone in the broadcasting booth.
Haray Caray reminds me of my late grandmother, who would say politically incorrect things like that while we were eating at a restaurant and in a loud voice so that everyone around could hear.