Week #5 in Review
Happy Seis de Mayo!
Vital Signs
As of today the Mariners are 12-16, sitting in last place of the AL West and five games back of the first-place Angels. They’ve scored 114 runs (3rd in the division and 11th in the league). Stop me if you’ve heard this before. They’ve hit 17 home runs (last in both division and league, 2 fewer than the A’s and more than half less than the Orioles’ 40). They have drawn 86 walks (3rd in division; 7th in league, and just as close to last as to 4th in league). Their EqA is .243 (11th in league, and just .002 better than last place Kansas City). But as Dave brought up earlier this week, the Mariners have faced the stiffest pitching of any team in the league over the first four weeks.
Defensivley, the Mariners have allowed 119 runs (2nd in division; 5th in AL). The gloves are gobbling 72.5% of balls in play into outs (2nd in AL). That’s just outstanding.
And again, their record accurately reflects their offensive and defensive contributions.
Not a good week in Marinerland. Not at all. The M’s have hit (no pun intended) a five-game losing skid versus division-mates Oakland and Anaheim. The culprit? How about the offense that slapped .237/.296/.333, had just 12 extra-base hits in 208 at bats and scored 15 runs over 6 games. They haven’t scored any more than 5 runs in a game since Tuesday April 26. And while the case has been made for quality of pitching the Mariners have faced, the five pitchers notching “wins” against the M’s this week include Keiichi Yabu, the pitcher formerly known as Barry Zito, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey and Paul Byrd.
Heroes
Hmmm… uh… eeny, meeny, miney… Randy Winn? He went 11-for-20 (.550/.640/.700) with 3 doubles and 5 walks. He was the only regular to reach base more than a third of the time. He also contributed a stolen base.
Then there’s the bullpen corps of Jeff Nelson, Shigs Hasegawa, Julio Mateo and Matt Thornton. They combined for 11.1 scoreless innings, allowing just 3 hits, walking 4 and striking out 5.
Not-so-much Heroes
While Winn made only 9 outs for the week, Adrian Beltre made 23, swinging 4-for-27 (.148/.148/.185). Then there’s Miguel Olivo who went hitless in 14 plate appearances, striking in almost half of those.
Following his strongest start of the season, Jamie Moyer was beaten and bruised an Oakland offense that’s struggled to score runs this season. He couldn’t finished the fourth inning and surrendered 10 hits leading to 5 runs. His ERA jumped a full run. The law of averages catches everyone.
Coming to a Stadium Near You
Next up are visits to Fenway and the Bronx. It’s less menacing than it sounds. Pedro Martinez no longer wears red socks. Boston sends Matt Clement, Jeremi Gonzalez and Wade Miller in his 2005 debut. Boston’s offense is third in the league in runs scored, just 3 behind league-leading Texas. Meanwhile, their pitching is middle of the pack.
It just might be that the cure for this anemic offense is a trip to the Big Apple. Only the Devil Rays have surrendered more runs than the Yankees’ pitchers. However, the matchup to watch will be Monday, as Randy Johnson takes the mound. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m thinking this is the Big Unit’s first start against the Mariners. Then again, the Yankees’ offense is every bit as potent as Boston’s.
Unfortuantely, due to time constraints and the fact I’m week away from finals, that’s all I got today.
Comments
22 Responses to “Week #5 in Review”
I just hope the 2005 M’s are better than the team Randy played on when he was last an All-Star.
Maybe Wiki will be the spark this team needs (yes I’m joking).
I made a post and it never showed up — am I in the Corcoran queue? My post was no more useless or off topic than any of his.
I’m looking for Beltre to get on track this week. And as I said jokingly in the post that disappeared, I think Wiki will be just the spark this team needs.
How interesting, my posts are showing up at the top instead of the bottom. I didn’t think to look up there.
Randy Johnson pitched against the Mariners on July 20, 1999 when he was with the Diamondbacks.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B07200SEA1999.htm
D-Backs won 6-0. Randy pitched a complete game and struck out 10 M’s.
I don’t know if it was 2000 or 2001, but I know Randy Johnson did make a start against the M’s as a Diamondback at Safeco Field. I’m not getting it confused w/ the All-Star game either. I would have to scan old box scores to find the exact date, but I’m certain it’s either ’00 or ’01.
and Jeremy beats me to the post. looks like it was ’99. Oh well.
Good week for Randy Winn, but it’s a bad week for the M’s when Randy Winn is their best player.
Notice where the next two opponents stack up on the Defensive Efficiency list:
LG TEAM PA AB H BB SO HBP HR ROE DEF_EFF
AL CHA 1004 909 204 84 173 7 19 12 0.7268
AL SEA 1055 958 237 84 143 8 30 10 0.7253
AL DET 994 878 223 92 150 13 28 8 0.7145
AL MIN 942 886 226 41 160 6 34 10 0.7118
AL CLE 974 885 214 69 169 7 21 15 0.7062
AL OAK 1065 944 233 95 181 17 21 10 0.7044
AL TOR 1088 995 261 73 167 10 31 12 0.7001
AL TEX 1164 1024 276 119 165 10 20 7 0.6906
AL ANA 1073 979 249 86 197 6 25 11 0.6904
AL TBA 1114 976 278 113 157 12 42 11 0.6873
AL KCA 1064 947 254 94 160 13 25 17 0.6813
AL BAL 1065 948 246 105 206 8 22 8 0.6796
AL BOS 1029 936 265 68 168 18 27 10 0.6684
AL NYA 1097 997 306 74 161 13 28 12 0.6468
Boston’s defense has been lousy this year, and New York’s has been as bad as Seattle’s bats off the bench.
Not sure if that’ll cure Beltre’s slump, but seems like it ought to play into Ichiro’s hands pretty well, and maybe Reed’s too.
Well, if Yankee pitching doesn’t get the bats going, I am sure we can help the Yankees turn their season around. I have a feeling some team is going to come out of that matchup and turn their season around. I sure hope its the M’s.
No Cameras!!!
urchman,
Randy is usually been their best player (sans Ichiro) when the team is sucking. It seems when the team is down, Randy is up.
That being said, look for Randy to make his second career all-star game 😉
Gameday has Ibanez playing 1st and hitting cleanup. Dobbs is DH. no Sexson. Unless the bats wake up, looks like no home runs tonight
I was going to say 1999. I was at that game; the fans gave him about a three minute standing O when he came out to warm up. He briefly tipped his cap then mowed down the M’s.
WHile I understand the Ms have faced a tough contingent of pitching over the last month it is STILL very troubling to see this line: “…Adrian Beltre made 23 [outs], swinging 4-for-27 (.148/.148/.185). Then there’s Miguel Olivo who went hitless in 14 plate appearances, striking in almost half of those.” Thanks to MLB All Access, I’ve been viewing Mariner at-bats(masochism anyone?) over the last few weeks and…Holy god!?! Beltre’s swing has gotten WORSE – that k with the bases loaded was painful to watch. There was no doubt he was going to whiff…and everyone else was not much better (save Randy).
Hopefully getting away from the AL West will help these guys, but at what point do we as Ms fans become concerned about overall hitting and whether the 2004 version of Beltre was just a mirage? Anyone??
Sexson is out cause his wife had a baby.
wow, gameday didn’t even put that pitch in the strike zone!
and it all comes crashing down…..
Yup, I remember that now, July 1999. He got a standing ovation and then handcuffed his former team, making it look very much like the current one at the plate. argh ‘sigh’
So the M’s have 12 games in a row against the Yankees and the Red Sox. They’ve already lost 1. Any guesses on how the remainder goes? I expect they’ll drop two of three to the Yankees, get swept by the Red Sox in one series and pull one out in the other, ie go 3 for 12. That will put them at a record of 15-28…
(OT) A little nostalgia here. If you’re looking back to April 29, when we were last–maybe the last time this season–above .500 (12-11), and can’t get enough of that feeling, here:
http://tinyurl.com/8w34y
BTW, I expect BELTRE and SEXSON to come around–about the same time that the pitching goes south.
…about the same time that the pitching goes south.
And which way would you say it’s been going so far?
Re: “But as Dave brought up earlier this week, the Mariners have faced the stiffest pitching of any team in the league over the first four weeks.”
True! Bring on San Diego and Tampa Bay.