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.
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234 Responses to “Game 6, Rangers @ Mariners”
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It may be just a city block, but it’s been a painful one. Especially yesterday. And Bobby on the DL.
If today’s game is anything close to previous games there will be a record number of posts. Especially since there was none for yesterday’s (Saturday) disapointment.
Has Boone’s defensive skills eroded as much as it has appeared last season and the beginng of this season?
This is game #6.
Non-linear thinking. Fixed.
And to answer your question, yes. My mental state is characterized by incredible resilience.
#3– not that you’d know it frome the Times this morning
“M’s reeling after late-inning woes”
The short answer: No. Yesterday was painful, but you are correct. This was an anomaly, the exception not the rule. (I hope.)
We folks just need to remimmber that the M’s h ave just as good-a record as the BoSox. That’s perdy cool, if you catch my drift.
I look at that more as the Red Sox massively underachieving (which is hilarious) than as the Mariners playing well.
Terrace Club?
I got tickets there today for my family, never been in the Terrace Club, anybody know anything about these seats? Anything special?
Terrace Club, eh? My, aren’t we special? Going to drive your Aston Martin V12 Vanquish to the game, or will you be taking your private helicopter?
The Terrace Club is, by and large, quite similar to the club level at any other stadium. And based on the attendance so far, if you’re close enough to the outfield, you could have plenty of room to spread out.
Well, actually my son has cancer, and the seats were given to us. Don’t you feel like an @ss now. We will have a good time at the game, I was just looking for some helpful Mariner fans to give us some insight?
I think you missed the joke.
If memory serves, you’ll get padded seats with a bit of shade, which is always nice on a sunny Sunday afternoon. You’ll also have all kinds of access to concessions, with a good view of the game to boot. But then, I haven’t been to Safeco for a year, so I might be screwing up some details.
Well, thankfully no one else in the AL west has come out of the blocks sprinting. It is far to early to be worried about the season, but late enough to get annoyed at stupid mistakes. Especially when it comes to routine fielding.
Garry, pretty sure Jeff was being sarcastic there. I think you jumped to conclusions. He was saying that the Terrace Club in nice and you have got yourself good seats.
Thanks for the input, we’ll have a good time.
The terrace has better seats (as in more comfortable), never gets rained on (*cough* yesterday *cough*), you don’t have to deal with hordes of people, and you can get even more over priced food delivered to your seats (a nice way to get coffee or hot chocolate on a chilly night though). The view is basically identical to those of veiw box seating above you. It gets you away from the crowd a little, which some folks like and some folks don’t.
Best part about the Terrace Club? The bathrooms. No lines and much cleaner than elsewhere in the stadium. This is a plus for men and a huge plus for women.
jason
Also, they have TVs up there which can add information and/or replays. Overall, the view may not be as good as other seats, but it can be a pleasant experience.
I’ve had Terrace Club seats a few times. I recommend the food at the stand down the 1B line where they make sandwiches while you wait. The food served at the seats wasn’t so great the one time I got it. There’s a full bar. You can sit inside at stools behind the glass which might be much better seats than your assigned ones, but these are first-come, first served and therefore hard to get. People without T. C. seats can’t enter the section (maybe just applies to Infield T. C. seating area).
Beware anyone buying seats there – I almost got some Obstructed View seats that the ticket window person didn’t warn me in advance were blocked. It’s printed on the tickets.
Re: (# 2) THE BOONE BOO-BOO – I was talking to a friend–a pretty fair baseball player–some time ago about the Buckner thing.
“He didn’t get his glove down,” the friend contended. “You can always come up, but you can’t always get down,” he continued.
According to his post-game comments–in today’s Seattle TIMES–Boone seems to have forgotten this.
Is 260/350/525 a reasonable expectation from Boone at July 1? I’m hoping Bavasi can deal him for prospects by the ASB in preparation for 2006.
Jeff wrote: “If a baseball season is a marathon, a week is one city block.”
Actually, it is more like 1 mile (there are 26 weeks in the season), but now I’m just being a smartass.
If Boone’s hitting 260/350/525 on July 1, there will certainly be takers. I think that AVG-to-OBP spread is a bit large, though, since he doesn’t walk all that much. Of course, if he’s hitting that well and the M’s aren’t out of the race, they should probably keep him around.
jason
Agreed JMB.
We’ll see how the seasons progresses. 4-5 games out at Sept 1 is darned hard to overcome so I would trade him even if 4-5 games out. A few years back, Bpro studied the likelihood of coming back from different # Games Behind. I think they found that the odds were a lot lower than one thought.
#21
Heh, talk about fundamentals. I was just drilling my little league team (9 & 10 year olds) on this yesterday. “Get your glove on the ground because it is much easier to come up on the ball than get down on it”.
Not that the loss wasn’t mostly “Every once and While” Eddie’s fault, but did you see Boone’s error? Cripes. I was a better fielder than that in little league. Boone’s defense dropped off last year, but apparently it’s a free fall.
I wrote “Keep the glove down” on my glove to remind me of that.
Last year was a baseball black hole for me. Work prohibited me from seeing almost any games.
So can someone who did watch tell if the defense I’ve seen from Boone so far this year is a blip or if he lost a step last year? Not just errors… he doesn’t seem sharp at all, even on routine plays. I know I’m judging him primarily against himself, but is he in a defense decline?
My uncle has given me terrace club seats a few times; one other nice perk; you get a special parking pass to park on the first level. It takes five minutes to leave instead of 30.
Terrace club is very, very civilized way to watch the game. No constant hawking, no people stepping all over you to get past, and the pesto chicken I had cooked for me as I watched was the best I’ve ever eaten, anywhere. Splurge and enjoy, especially on a sunny day.
#31, ha ha, i think the most civilized way to watch a game is on tv at home, everything else is atmosphere
Does Meche ever have control?
Wow was that a weak throw by Dan.
What was Ron Fairly talking about? I didn’t get it.
i think fairly even confuses himself
Announcers re: Willie Bloomquist
“He may be the best center fielder the Mariners have, to tell you the truth.”
In short – it’s really hard to hit a homerun on a ground ball…
If you get groundball outs, you give up fewer homers.
wow, mads out at least three weeks
In a statement released by the Mariners, the MRI revealed that Bobby Madritsch had a TEAR in the capsule of his shoulder and will not throw for the next three weeks. After that period he’ll have another “augmented” MRI… not great news
Boone is off the juice for 2 years now, and look how baggy his uniform is on him, how slow his bat is sometimes, and how he is just listless out there in the field.
Free-fall multiplied by a guy coming off of supplements, not a pretty sight.
The guy is old.
He doesn’t like bending down anymore…
I was really excited about seeing Bobby pitch this year.
Wow.
Is it just me, or is Drese inducing a bunch of groundballs?… very few of his pitches have been struck sharply.
Meanwhile, Meche is giving the warning track a workout.
Hmmmm. Bill, we need some sinkerballers! Get on it.
That was some seriously stupid baserunning.
Getting tired of that already this young season.
#44
Agreed. He looked like a deer caught in headlights. I sometimes wonder if their teaching them any fundementals now adays.
Well, if Wilson and Bloomquist can get consecutive hits, that gives me a little more hope.
Someone get a hose because willie bloomquist is on fire
I’m already getting tired of this “Willie’s batting 1.000″ drivel. Stop it, Rick.
Drive ‘em in, Ichi!
What the hell is that umpire question Ichiro!’s judgement?
That was u-g-l-y.
That ump is out of his mind. That strike was a full foot off the plate.
Oh please. Good grief.
talk about running yourself out of a scoring opportunity
that inning was really beautiful… gives me the boost i need for the day, you know?
Ichiro!’s clearly not happy with the strike zone. I wonder if he’s ever been tossed from a game for arguing?
Naaaaahhhhh, I guess not.
Umpire’s name is Young right? I think I remember he’s a consistently lousy ump.
This is why you sould sit on your hands as a manager.
Horrible 3rd strike call on Ichiro.
Just, ugly.
Ugly.
What the hell was that?
Wow did hear that right! It was announced Bloomquist M’s BEST centerfielder. I am so ignorant regarding M’s players as would have never thought he was best centerfielder M’s have.
Beginng to wonder if Boone is best 2nd baseman in organization.
Is it me or does every decision Hargrove make a bad one, I know it’s early but he has run us out of innings, put pitcher’s in the wrong situations (Thornton), not pinch hitting when he should. I was against this hiring before and even moreso after watching him manage. He was terrible in Baltimore and loaded in Clevelan – Manny, Lofton, Belle, Giles, Sexson, Thome, Baerga, Alomar, just to name a few.
meche is getting bailed out by texas hitters. hardly any first pitch strikes, i have a feeling he’s gonna get hit hard soon.
This is reminding me WAY too much of last year–consistently depressing.
Y’all can complain about Ron Fairly all you want, but at least he isn’t as bad as the Rangers crew (Josh Lewin and Tom Grieve).
Thanks to them, I now know that the killer bees capital is Hidalgo, Texas. They were trying to tie in the fact that Richard Hidalgo used to play with the Astros.
Idiots.
Since when did a runner go first to third when Ichiro fielded the ball?
Yes, I’m watching on Gameday.
kw…it was a fairly slow hit ground ball…
If this umpire has such a liberal strike zone, why isn’t Meche getting more K’s?
Bad pitching, that’s why.
Rizz said Junior is batting 2nd in Cin? ..oh how the mighty have fallen!
Valle says Meche should be throwing a 140 pitches a game??? I’m glad Valle isn’t the pitching coach…
Chiming in from Germany: What do we think about the way the Ms ran themselves out of the bottom of the third inning?
OMG did the fan just steal it from ICHIRO! ?? [my town] sucks. (I can say that cause im a native!)
Kick that fan out, dammit.
This year is starting to remind me of last year and with Mads going on to the DL we may be as bad as last year. Texas manager helps them out hit and run to avoid a DP Hargrove needs to take notes.
Thanks, idiot fan.
From Germany? Where? Yes I think that was Hargrove asleep at the wheel” wake up, they knew you’re going to steal! They saw it on the fake, I don’t see why he kept the play on.
Wee willie strikes again.
Well, at least Willie F. Bloomquist also makes errors in the field, even if he’s batting 1.000.
NOW THAT’S WOLF PRIDE, BABY!
Oh good, Thornton is warming up. Just what we needed.
They’ve already given up on the game, Thornton’s warming up.
Frankfurt am Main. MLB.TV works ok for me. It is kind of late, though.
Yet another line drive off Meche. Has Drese given up *any* line drives or fly balls yet?
How often have I heard the phrase, “Dan just couldn’t hold onto it”?
Meche as Kasbah.
No K’s for Meche. Even with a wide strike zone.
I turned off the game. Too painful.
The strike zone isn’t so much large as it is random. Though he is calling pitches inside on people batting leftie rather consistently. Consistently bad.
I am really beginning to question Hargrove’s judgement. Lopez starts hitting so you put Willie in at short?
You mean Wilson Valdez, John.
This whole inning has been a huge Exxon Valdez spill.
btw, did you guys see the smarmy smirk on that guy’s face who stole out #2? Did you see ichiro stare him down in disbelief? did you see that piece of crap try and give ichi the ball back, like he was saying, “well, geez, here, if you want it so bad…” We should all go hunt him down and key his car or egg his face or something
89: I’d just give him 12 bucks so he can go to the souvenir stand and buy an official baseball if he wants one so bad.
#89, yeah, what’s worse is that he was in half of the replays of every hit Meche gave up last inning. Same smug look on his face too.
Someone needs to go spill their beer on him.
Wow, a hard-hit shot off Drese. Finally. Way to go, Jeremy.
What is it with frickin’ fans interfering with the play???
well, that’s encouraging
Sure looked like a dinger to me, off the fans glove bfore it made contact with Hidalgo’s glove.
These fans aren’t making Seattle fans look good at all.
Embarassing.
UMPS BLOW ANOTHER CALL!! kill me now. Should have been a homer for sexson and 3 runs instead of 1. Lou would have had the umps head on a stick.
what happened — gameday stopped!
Jesus. This is a farce.
You broke Gameday!! =8O
Laaaame. Sexson wuz robbed.
Ron and Dave need to get some freakin glasses. It was obvious from the first replay that the fans glove touched the ball. Digusting call, along with digusting play from the ‘fan’.
Well, runners on 2nd and 3rd, no way we can run ourselves out of this inning.
ok, i think i got it — ground rule double for sexson?
So Drese is finally starting to give up a few more flyballs. That’s promising.
OK. Fans in rows 1-5 should not be allowed to bring gloves to the stadium. That should be a new stadium policy.
novice fans: WHEN OTHER TEAM IS BATTING, DONT CATCH THE BALL (ITS A HOMER)
WHEN WE BAT, MAKE SURE YOU CATCH IT, DONT KNOCK IT ONTO THE FIELD.
Now if we could just broadcast it over safeco…
Paul,
That wouldn’t help matters. I learned a long time ago that not all Seattle fans are going to be like me. Sad but true.
Yeah Thornton! 3-pitch K. Now just keep doing that for another 50 innings and all will be forgiven.
no use complaining about thornton now…. nice k.
Wow, Thornton struck out Hidalgo. He has been good this series.
#108, yeah, like the fans screaming and yelling and making noise during a Seahawk 3rd down during the playoff game against the Rams. False start and the ‘hawks were soon punting.
Fortunately, the call and the fan action did not stop the three runs from scoring.
P.S. Rizz just said that Mads had a “tear” and that he will be in a sling for three weeks, after which his arm will be re-assessed. If Mads is done, someone should write some sort of condemnation about Melvin’s use of Mads last year.
THIS UMPIRE SUCKS.
Last all caps from me. Apologies.
It looked like Thornton should have struck out Delluci twice but instead he walks. This ump is a joke.
two of those pitches were strikes two innings ago…
Hey, if that fan reaches out over the wall to catch it, is that still a home run or does it have to be out of the park when it hits the fan’s glove?
If you’re in Yankee Stadium, and the fan’s name is Jeffrey Maier, it’s a home run.
Just wondering… Do the Mariners know that spring training is over? For that matter, have the umpires been advised of this as well?
If he reaches over the fence it isn’t a Homerun, and in some cases may even be an out based on the umps decision.
113: I posted Mads’ pitch counts from 2004 earlier this week at Sports and Bremertonians. Here’s the link.
http://bremertonians.blogspot.com/2005/04/downright-scary.html
Thanks, Melvin.
So who’s the guy they put in Thornton’s uniform?
122: Arthur Rhodes? Same number, heh.
Wow, I remember a couple of heavy usage outings, but nothing like that list. Hargrove can run the M’s out of two innings a game, and he is still superior to BoMel.
maybe we should make it dan wilson t-shirt night every night…
Oh good, we’re not the only team with a crappy catcher.
Ichiro is gonna have to get his butt into gear if he wants to pick up his usual two hits this game.
I am beginning to think that Ichiro will not bat .500 for the season.
wow, the texas infield is looking uglier than us
Ichiro can blame that “fan” in right field.
Hello spots fans. Got up from a nap in time to watch Meche get rocked and watch Sexon get robbed. But things are looking up now. Thornton seems slightly out of character today.
Apparently we aren’t the only team that can really screw up an inning. Error on second, no one on first? Sheesh…
Anyone else notice that the BOA “Higher Standards” clip today was of Bloomquist making an error?
Yeah Richie!!
Well at least Magnolia got their moment today.
Okay, it’s official. This is much more fun then last year.
holy moly!! Richie is a hero! A HERO!!!!
BIG SEXY!
Richie is the man
Yeah, I’m just waiting for Rizzs or Niehaus to call him “Sexy” in an unguarded moment.
Booyah! Richie is mashing right now.
Yeah, these games — whether the M’s win or lose — are way more enjoyable to watch.
Noel — I think someone already did
say sexy this year.. I forget who.
Thornton sure is in a grove. Looking dominant, where was that against the Twins.
Rizz must of had to take a whizz. I’m heaaring it in spanish.
what? español? que hora es?
wow, they’re doing it in Spanish now, cool
The game is better in Spanish than with Rizzs and Henderson. If only I could get the SAP channel on mlb.tv
Thornton looks good today.
Buehrle vs Santana, wish I could see that one.
I wonder what “This team never quits” in Spanish means.
I swear that guy on the mound looks *exactly* like Matt Thornton. It’s uncanny.
Whoohoo! I just checked the TV listings in my neck of the woods and they are showing the Minnesota/ChiSox game today.
So we don’t have Santana in Thornton’s clothing. Drat.
What a catch by Ichiro. Thus Thornton continues to look fine, as opposed to giving it up again.
Matt saw his life (in the major league) flash before him.
Thornton for starter!
If Thornton isn’t careful, his ERA will drop into single digits. It’s currently 10.12.
This looks more like the Thornton I expected.
fantastic! there’s the thornton we all know
Oh good, Villone is warming up.
I hope he survives through Hidalgo
Oh and Nelson. Sluggers and unreliable relief, bad record… when do we get Lou back?
Did that popup just hit Sexson in the nuts?
yeah, that’s what it looked like
Might have to change his nickname.
Matt’s back.
That…. wasn’t surprising
Haha the games on in your area because it’s Sunday Night Baseball.
Bad Matt.
Earth to Hargrove… are you recieving?
Time for another comeback…
Whoa, the tension. Will Willie preserve his 1.000 average?
You could see that coming. He was up in the zone all inning. Left him in too long.
Pretty decent outing overall though.
I guess Willie isn’t the Greek God of Hits after all.
There we go. the streak is alive!!
I-chi-rooo!
Do we have another one in us?
Ichiro’s back… hey, he just has to go 3-6 for the day to keep his average up where it belongs.
god, i love that geico commercial
For my own peace of mind, I might prefer it if he doesn’t get a hit in a game sometime soon. Just so I don’t have to worry about him retiring after hitting in every game this season.
I’ve got a nominee or two for the Pepsi “Fan of the game”.
The first time I saw that ad, I was looking forward to the Tiny House premiere.
Oh man. It’s Jeff “leadoff walk” Nelson.
You know, I actually feel bad for Thornton this time around. There is NO way he should have been left out there for a 3rd inning. What was Hargrove thinking? If you get two scoreless inning from Matt-frickin-Thornton, you don’t push your luck.
The Japanese announcer have a lot less idle chatter in their booth.
what? nihongo? ima nanjidesuka?
I wonder if Rizzs will be talking about how Japanese is a beautiful language?
Omigod, Nellie had a good inning.
Nelson gave up a walk and a hit and scared me. If that’s his good inning, I don’t want to keep him around to see the bad.
I like that Rizzs got that cheap shot in against Japanese. Henderson’s commenting on how in Japanese broadcasts, they’d say Henderson-san, and Rizzs adds “Henderson-son-son” . That’s classy. Spanish, though — beautiful language to Rizzs
#189
He did sound rather turned on by Spanish.
Memo to Mariners: Rally.
Hey DMZ, welcome. Your impressions of the game so far?…
wouldn’t call it a cheap shot so much as a gratingly ignorant middle-aged, middle-class attempt at humor
I’d have really liked that to be a home run.
Here’s the thing. There are languages that are more pleasing to the ear in that there’s a lot of soft consonants and more long vowels. This is why people think French is beautiful but German is harsh.
My problem is that Rizzs gushed about how much he loved Spanish and what a beatufiul language it is, but when they came back from the NHK Japanese broadcast, all he’s got is a crack about the use of honorifics.
I also have to say that those commercials are wearing thin on me already.
Maybe he liked Spanish and didn’t like Japanese. Just a thought.
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.