The day in Mariner
DMZ · April 27, 2006 at 1:14 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Good stuff in the Times notebook: Johjima was screwing around with pitch-calling late in the blowout to see if there was anything interesting to be learned. Yeaaaah.
Also, this great Hargrove quote:
Hargrove admitted he had set goals for the start of the season. But he refused to divulge them.
Said Hargrove: “I was told by [the Pacific Institute’s] Lou Tice here in Seattle years ago when I was with Texas, one of the worst things you can do is make your goals public; it only adds pressure.”
An opposing view would be that making your goals known not only encourages you to fufill them, but allows accountability.
In the PI’s notebook, there’s talk of juggling the rotation (but not) and some generic Bloomquist love from Hargrove.
#47– and, fwiw, in this year’s SuperBowl ad (continuing the theme they company has used the last couple of years) the guy is on the phone with a woman who is obviously working with a bunch of jackasses…
#48 — How do we really know that Johjima is “blessed with intellect,” other than profiles like the one in yesterday’s Times? Jumping on the Johjima-is-smart bandwagon based on media profiles doesn’t seem that different than the whole fiasco of WFB. Instead of limiting our social scientific thinking to sabermetrics and econ, why not keep an eye on culture & history as well when it comes to sensitivity & community-building?
That’s a good article about Pentland. Here’s hoping he can keep at it and help turn things around. He seems like a good guy.
Thank you, that’ll be all for today’s lesson in cultural sensitivity, thank you.
If we are really concerned about being culturally sensitive, I feel obligated to point out, as an anthropologist, that those animals in the commercial are apes, not monkeys.
I realize the misnomer was probably entirely unintentional, but it’s that sort of ignorance that invariably contributes to the endless cycle of primate prejudice in this country.
Yes, on behalf of the entire USSM community, I apologize to any apes who may be reading.
It’s a change of subject, but I haven’t been able to see many games lately due to other commitments. Looking at his numbers online, I’m wondering what’s been going on with Sexson?
His average is down compared to last year at this time, and I don’t see him hitting for much power either (how long since his last HR?). Is he really struggling, or is it just a matter of running into some good pitching?
Or maybe it’s the monkeys who deserve the apology. Hell, might as well apologize for my own lack of awareness on this topic, too.
I bought my girlfriend a drink called a “Purple Monkey” at the bar last night. Do I need to apologize for that?
It’s a change of subject, but I haven’t been able to see many games lately due to other commitments. Looking at his numbers online, I’m wondering what’s been going on with Sexson?
[Steve_Kelley]
It’s clear that Sexson is a free-agent bust. Remember when we had Tino Martinez? We never should have traded him away. He could do a lot to help this team.
[/Steve_Kelley]
[KJR_caller]
Why do we continue to play Sexson? When is Willie Bloomquist going to become our full-time first baseman?
[/KJR_caller]
http://proxy.espn.go.com/mlb/sportsnation/coach?coachId=40
Hargrove approval rating. Vote.
#60: Tino? (retired), Willie at 1st? (great spot for a guy with no power!) That’s why I get frustrated listening to KJR sometimes….
I wouldn’t say Sexson is a “bust”, he had a very good year last year. I think he did exactly what we signed him to do. I’m just curious about his apparently slow start in 2006.
If you guys are offending anyone, it’s non-primate lifeforms. Your primateocentric discussions show your clear disdain for ecodiversity.
I think it’s time you apologize to the three domains of Bacteria, Archea, and Eukarya. And twice to the kingdom Protista, unless you want the Algae Rights League covering your front doorstep.
His average is down compared to last year at this time, and I don’t see him hitting for much power either (how long since his last HR?). Is he really struggling, or is it just a matter of running into some good pitching?
One way I like to look at this is checking how many hits is he away from hitting for what we might expect. If you give him 4 more hits in his 85 ABs, his average would be .270, right in line with his career average.
If those 4 hits are all singles, then his SLG only goes up to .424, well below his SLG from last year. He’s about 14 total bases short of what it would take to get his SLG to last year’s .541.
Basically, his average doesn’t seem like anything to worry about at all, but his power does seem to be down. Of course, if he goes off and hits 3-4 HR next week with a reasonable average, his season-to-date could fall just about right on last year’s numbers. So just based on the numbers, I’d say it’s still a bit too early to say he’s really struggling.
#64: Excellent breakdown of his performance compared to last years!
I hadn’t ever thought about it that way before, but it makes sense.. Thank you!
Hopefully we’ll see more HR’s, and less strikeouts on this road trip!
I saw those Geico commercials where those cavemen are offended when they say switching to Geico is so easy even a caveman could do it. Don’t remeber the Superbowl ad, guess I was too pissed about the referees to pay attention.
“I’ll have the roast duck, with the mango salsa”.. “and for you sir?”.. “I don’t have much of an appetite, thank you..” LOL!
I actually blame Richie’s slow start on what has been some universally terrible umpiring so far this season. Since Richie’s such a patient hitter, and he already gets victimised by umps calling low strikes when they forget that he’s 40 oxen tall, this really hurts him.
And if I’m allowed to call a white guy a monkey, I’m allowed to call a black guy a monkey.
“40 oxen tall” – a reference to this year’s ad campaign?
In the games I have been able to watch, I have seen many questionable (at best) calls against Richie. Umpires seem to really stretch the lower portion of the strike zone on him (even though a pitch below his knees would be thigh-high to me!).
A caveman without much of an apetite. lol
I wish Richie would develop an apetite for some homers. Beltre, too, for that matter.
Even a broken watch is right twice a day, you’d think Beltre would have lucked into a homer by know…
That should be “by NOW”..
I’m with Evan regarding the number one issue for Sexson. He’s being very disciplined on the whole about not swinging on the low pitch, especially low and outside, but the umpires are making bad calls and wrecking his hitting plan. Happened again today in Baltimore. I’m not sure what is going to be done about this or when, but if the umps keep putting him in a hole out there, he sure won’t see anything on the inner half of the plate again, and _that’s_ a real problem. Richie hasn’t been that sharp when he actually swings, but his overall sub-par numbers are not all him.