Game 74, Mariners at Dodgers
DMZ · June 22, 2006 at 6:23 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
Felix v Lowe!
I wonder how much of the team’s interleague success is due to losing the DH.
Standard lineup of the last couple weeks: Ichiro/Beltre/Lopez/Ibanez/Sexson/Johjima/Reed/Betancourt
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I’m going to switch over from the Clemens/Liriano matchup. Great night for pitching matchups.
Now let’s repeat our Felix chant:
“Stay with your changeup.
The changeup is your friend.”
Is it Lowe or is it Tomko? ESPN.com’s preview has a picture of Lowe but the story says its Tomko. They did the same thing last time Felix started, showed Meche but it was Felix in the story (On Friday)
I’m not sure. I went with what I saw on MLB/everywhere else.
Anybody else see the Bullpen show? They showed that guy with the cowbell in Oakland (or at least one guy in left field that beats on a cowbell). He caught a foul ball, right in the cowbell. And then he couldn’t get the ball out!
Question for the audience at large — does anyone here watch MLB.tv on a Mac?
New proposed poll question:
Which Mariner pitcher is most likely to leave his wife for a Fox Sports reporter?
Lowe is the listed pitcher on Yahoo and ESPN.
I just found out that I don’t get the game over here. Or at least its not listed to be on. I was all excited to get to see KKKing Felix pitch, too. It would have been the second time I’ve gotten to see him pitch this year! Oh well, I guess I’ll channel surf and listen to the radio and just hope.
Dave Valle has never sounded better.
6 – Willie Bloomquist. Chicks dig the scrappiness.
9 – Have you seen Willie’s wife?! Yea, I don’t think he will be leavin her anytime soon…. Definitely a good representation of the women we have here at Arizona State
Dave N and Dave V just said it was Lowe.
Oh, figured out the problem with the ESPN.com article, it was written early probably because Tomko was originally listed as the starter but was hurt in batting practice on Wednesday… Mystery of their bad journalism solved.
I used to watch mlb.tv on a Mac, haven’t had to in a couple years though.
Hello to all. I finally decided to register after reading the board for the last few months. Lets see if the Felix can keep the changeup going tonight and keep the ball down.
10 – Willie can play several positions on the field, seems like that would translate off the field.
9 – How would you assess Willie’s wife in comparision to former Mariner – Scott Podsednik’s wife – Lisa Dergan?
Well, if the M’s win it’ll be only a happy bonus to Clemens being down 3-0 so far.
Jeff Clement is making his catching debut in Tacoma tonight.
9-I never knew that Willie was a pitcher.
I wonder what the record for GB outs combined in a 9 inning game is? I’m not big on records, but this one would be the interesting antipodial quanta to Ks and Ks combined in a game.
If the M’s were involved in a 21-9 blowout and ran out of fresh bullpen arms, I bet Willie would be the first guy off the bench they’d turn to for an inning or two of moundwork.
Willie is whatever Grover wants him to be.
So, what was up with those 87 mph curves in the first? Gun fast tonight, or did they just not have enough break to them?
I’m sure the M’s wouldn’t waste all their pitchers in the bullpen if they were being blownout
This game may finish in FAR less than two hours.
Do they still boo JD Drew in Philly?
Hell, they still boo Mike Schmidt in Philly.
I can’t believe the King didn’t get that call.
Strike 4!
Ha ha, okay, that ump just made up for missing the call on that curve.
Hey look, the ref from the USA-Italy game is calling balls and strikes.
Did this home plate ump referee the game between Croatia and Australia earlier today? He’s having a laugher.
You can’t hit that.
True. But he couldn’t hit it either.
Three red cards in ten minutes? I think he got his yearly quota.
Come on Beltre!
Yes, and he booked the same player (Simunic) 3 times. That’s something special. Let’s pick this up Felix.
That non-fastball was definitely 88. I want to know what’s going on here.
The pitching plan so far, 1st and 2nd innings, has Felix throwing the curve mostly and the change on important counts. Does it sound as though the Ms have finally decided to stop helping the league beat their young star pitcher?
Way to come back and get the K, Felix!
Or is it Jojima finally being actually listened to? If JJ Putz was honest about it being Jojima that insisted on the 3-2 splitter to Bonds, then it might be less Jojima and more the pitchers wanting to throw something else.
If a booing Philly fan had a team jersey on, and he ran on the field, the crowd would boo _him_. It’s a tough town to play, ask W. C. Fields.
Yuni!!
Wow, didn’t think it had the height.
YUUUUBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE-HEE-HEE-HEEEEE!!
ARRIBA COMMUNISM! ARRIBA BETANCOURT!
Go GO GO! GO Betencourt!
I am following the game on Gameday, was that a fastball the Yuni just hit out?
Note to Felix: don’t try the outfield conversion if you decide you hate pitching.
K-K-K-K-K-K-KING FEL… well, maybe Lowe will reciprocate.
Wow, Felix could hurt someone (himself included) with that swing. Let’s not have him come up ever again this year after today, please.
Oh my. I want to change my vote away from Felix as most likely to hit a home run.
I don’t know who it’d go to instead (voting for “no one” is a cop-out!), but I may have been overestimating his batting prowess.
felix is fun to watch pitch,
but I blinked and he struck out on something like 1.5 pitches.
#46: I doubt Betancourt associates any joy in his life with joy about Communism.
That’s not true – he’s actually trawling mlb for closet commies. why do yoiu think he came to seattle, home of the general strike?
Hey, once a Communist…
this is absurd. plunk lowe in his throwing arm
Does anyone know why the gamecast for ESPN’s site still says middle of the 2nd?
Now that just pisses me off. Not only that Lowe got a hit, but that he used up nine Felix pitches to get it. Sheesh.
what do those pitchers think, trying to hit– don’t they know this is baseball????!
I just found out about the “You’re with me, leather” story. Wow.
felix seemed to lose his concentration a little agains lowe, but regained it again by the end of the inning with nomar, that was filthy.
also, anybody else dig these super slo-mo replays??
Well, Chris Berman IS a very sexy man.
He is?
Felix was experimenting in the Lowe at-bat. You could see that he couldn’t grip his curve, and he kept spinning it up in the zone. He threw it three times, trying to get his CB down.
Not a bad idea, honestly. Lowe’s not a threat to hit a hanger, and if that helped him break off those nasty curves to Nomar, it was worth it.
57- I don’t see a way to really hit Lowe on his pitching arm since he bats righthanded and therefore protects it.
I’m joking.
But I’m not joking about the very real possibility that Ibanez might hit 30 home runs this year. Wow.
I spell RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUULL with 14 “u”s.
The super slo-mo is awesome, now that they’ve figured out how to make it more than a gimmick. I really want to see superslo from as close to directly behind the catcher as possible. Love to see how the pitches look from the batters point of view (with the benefit of slo mo, of course, since most of us don’t have the eyes of your typical major-leaguer).
So who hasn’t hit and HR this series. Lopez, Ichiro… and the pitchers?
Felix needs to buckle down here, get some groundballs, and keep his pitch count down. His target should be to get through the next three innings on 35 pitches.
For those keeping score at home, Raul had 24 homers with KC in 2002.
He had 20 with the M’s in 2005.
Those are his two highest seasons. So we could be looking at a career year in homers.
61 – Not to take business away from the USSM Swag Shop but:
http://tinyurl.com/ltpas
Yeah, it’s alright, but I prefer the X-MO…
I really like the idea of Felix taking the at-bat of the other pitcher to work on his problematic pitches. It’s not quite disrespect but it’s pretty close (Oh, you hit that? Sorry, I was working on something. Would you like one of my real pitches next time?)
Felix needs to buckle down here, get some groundballs, and keep his pitch count down. His target should be to get through the next three innings on 35 pitches.
1 pitch, 1 away.
4:2 GO:FO right now. That’s his typical 2:1 average. He’s throwing strikes and if you take away half those pitches to Lowe, his pitch count through 3 is fine.
I think he’s ok.
Make that 3 pitches, 2 outs.
Ichiii!! I love his technique on the short ball: he gets down to get the glove _under_ the pitch facing up, with his legs under him so he can come up throwing. Also he minimizes the injury risk, as opposed to guys diving horizontally, who maximize the risk, maximize the impact on landing which can jar the ball loose, and can’t come up throwing.
M’s defense living up to expectations this past few innings. That must be good for a young groundball pitcher’s confidence.
5. JMB: I do.
14 pitches for the 4th inning, mostly thanks to two over aggressive hitters and aggressive baserunning. 67 overall.
I seemed to recall from last year, that Felix isn’t ept in the use of the bat. Which is why he didn’t get my vote. I would have voted for Fruto, ’cause he’s a fine all-around athlete, but there’s no possibility that Hargrove would let him bat, so his chances of the HR are zero.
I’ve got him at 66 pitches.
Borchard hit is 6th homer of the season tonight.
Borchard: .333 OBA, .405 SLG
Everett: .322 OBA, .389 SLG
Boy, Grover is a good judge of talent.
I’m going off Gameday, so +/- a pitch or two.
67 pitches through 4 for Felix
Borchard still sucks. Whether we have designated “misser” or another hitting DH wouldn’t matter.
According to ESPN
#83: They’re basically the same player. Borchard is much cheaper, of course, and has some defensive value.
The Mariners should have been able to do better … like Russell Branyan.
Borchard may be cheaper, but considering if we had both, we’d still be paying for C-Rex. So it’s kind of a moot arguement.
Or Marcus Thames, who I’ve been advocating for years, and has been freely available every offseason in recent memory.
He’s hitting .308/.381/.654 in 156 at-bats…
I voted for Moyer. He’s had 6 hits, career, as a Mariner. He hit two doubles back when he was a Cub. OK, he’s never had a homer, and I have no idea if he could hit a ball over the fence, but he might come close sometime.
2 of Lowe’s 3 k’s belong to Felix.
Man, Felix really looks awful as a batter.
Or Hee Seop Choi or Carlos Pena.
Just jumped in but I watch it on a mac JMB.
Nice to see us up again!
Dave, how are you feeling about James Loney these days? Seems like he’s shaken off a long, long underachieving funk. Or is it just a transient surge?
I think Yuni is hurt. he couldn’t run out that grounder to third. he fouled a ball off his left shin and I think he’s still hurting.
felix is getting better every AB. he made lowe throw 4 pitches that time.
Well, if we had Borchard, he could play left, moving Raul to DH. That would improve the defense and the offense.
And Borchard might improve. There is no way Carl will ever be more than a .240 hitter with 20 homer power. That’s as good as he’ll get.
Sure they could have gotten someone even better. The point is, they had one cheap option that would have improved the team plus had a chance of an upside (there is some small chance that Borchard will turn out to be a Buhner-quality hitter) – but they tossed it away.
In their commercials should AM/PM really use the voice of a guy who sounds like he wieghts 350lbs and is about to barf?
In their commercials should AM/PM really use the voice of a guy who sounds like he wieghs 350lbs and is about to barf?
What are the Dodger fans booing in the middle of an at bat? Is there something going on in the stands?
Here is an interesting, if meaningless stat from the Oregonian: In games where Sexson has an RBI, the M’s are 19-2.
100. LOL. He does.
OK, Rick L, any advice? I downloaded Windows Media Player for OS X, and I’ve still got nothing. I get a popup that says Safari can’t handle that kind of media, but perhaps Windows Media Player can, would I like to try? That leads to another video window which never connects.
beavers advance !! (for any that may care)
That’s just bad pitch selection.
Dave, I’ve watched a few of Felix’s pitches about twenty times, and two of them look like sliders. His curve usually rises a bit out of his hand then snaps late. The strikeout pitch to Nomar in the third was clocked at 87, had a flatter projection, and it looked an awful lot like a slider. I Wonder if Felix throws it occasionally to amuse himself. Of course, his slider should be in the low 90’s, so maybe I’m reading too deep.
What are you seeing?
104. I don’t know what to say. It loads just fine on my PowerBook. I have Safari 2.0.3.
They could be sliders – there’s no way to know without seeing his grip on the ball. The M’s stil say they’ve told him not to use it, and they’re not obviously different. Could be a slider, could be a slightly different release point causing the ball to move on a different plane.
You could be right. We just don’t know – call em breaking balls, I guess.
6 hits, all singles.
How fast is a really fast curveball, anyway? I was going to say 87-89 like Felix has been hitting the last couple starts sounds absurdly fast, then I realized I have no idea what the upper range on a curve tends to be.
I’d like to ban the words “pitch count” from baseball vocabulary
I’d like to ban the words “pitch count†from baseball vocabulary
Ladies and gentleman, Dallas Green is in the building.
Dave, how are you feeling about James Loney these days?
I’ve always loved his potential, but its nice to see him actually hitting for once.
112: Um, why?
JMB (104) – are you using an intel based mac? I am as well, and I have exactly the same problem as you do. There’s a plugin that supposedly lets quicktime play WMPlayer files, which may solve the issue, but they haven’t released the plugin for intel macs yet. If you’re not running an intel based mac, it might be that your version of safari is too new?
LOL.. i assume Dallas must agree w/ me
Never mind, I guess I probably know already, and the argument isn’t likely to enlighten anyone.
I recall seeing the curve coming in at ~86 last year; he could easily hit 87 with it, it’s nice and tight. But the observation that Felix may be popping in some sliders seems a good one to me, although I’m radio-only so I can’t see. Felix has been getting hurt by a too predictable pitching pattern, with too may fastballs in it, so mixing in a fourth pitch, just a few, especially to a good contact hittier, isn’t that bad a decision. If that’s what it is.
Thanks Adrian, I was beginning to wonder if Derek Lowe had turned into Brandon Webb.
112: Some early cavemen said the same thing about fire.
I’d imagine the average velocity of the ball coming off Beltre’s bat is about 50% higher in June than it was earlier. He’s really stinging the ball. It’s the first time all year he’s hitting it square. I don’t remember the last time he took one of those awful hacks and popped up a meatball.
JMB, I’m watching on a Mac right now. Do you have a macintel or a powerpc mac?
If you have an Intel-based Mac it isn’t impossible but it is problematic. Either way, you want flip4mac (you can get it from Microsoft) because MS has discontinued Windows Media Player support/etc for Mac–just like IE for mac. You might need to “find” the new beta for flip4mac (google it, prolly have to find a torrent of it) if you want to watch on a macintel–or just continually hit refresh on the mlb.tv window.
Safari can play the file also by the way, it just needs flip4mac installed, then restart the browser. You’ll get a disclaimer that your browser isn’t supported but it will work…eventually.
LOL.. i assume Dallas must agree w/ me
Oh, I’m sure he does. That said, I’d imagine Bill Pulsipher, Paul Wilson, and Jason Isringhausen probably don’t, considering Green’s “screw pitch counts” philosophies effectively wrecked their careers.
Lopez!
Nice time for a 2nd dinger Raul. Nyah.
#104: How about changing your browser to Mozilla Firefox? I find that handles most outside applications pretty well. (I have a Mac Powerbook G4 with the OSX operating system.)
There was something. They held Beltre at third on the double by Lopez. He would have been out by a bunch at home, but that didn’t deter them in other games.
Oh fircrisake!
How many times has an Ms baserunner been trapped off 3B this year? It feels like 50 to me.
The Dodgers need to order that defensive skills video from Fred McGriff. I hear its the video that get results.
doorbot – thank you.
ok… i give
Heh, the scoring on that play made Gameday ‘asplode.
130 – They actually achieved having 30 runners caught in rundowns before they had recieved 20 baserunners!
God, that was the Sexson of April, back again, swinging at balls two feet out of the zone.
Jesus.
Tacoma down 2-1 in the fifth. Jeff Clement singled in the only Rainiers run so far.
Of *forrfff*, the Ghost of April Last wraps that inning’s promise in it’s clammy, slimy arms, and drags it to the bottom. Oh well.
Hey I thought Beltre was supposed to be the one to strike out on breaking balls three feet outside.
Boy, Lowe made Sexson look sick.
Thanks all.
Intel-based MacBook. I looked at flip4mac, but it wouldn’t install. There’s a beta that’ll work for Intel-based macs?
Mozilla’s another good idea, Jim.
In any event, I’m off to bed and will try again tomorrow.
Doyle goes deep off Jim “Bell Jar” Brower! 2-2 tie!
Sexson has now struck out 81 times in 270 at bats.
That was the worst fastball I’ve ever seen Felix throw. 93, no drop, straight down the middle.
Another single. Are the Dodgers doing something different here that others haven’t done against Felix? Shortening their strokes? Etc?
I wonder if Hargrove would let Sexson set the major-league strikeout record if the situation came up.
Rick just called a slider… Was it really a slider? I can’t tell.
Jeff Kent has been Voodoo Doll’d by Richie Sexson.
Okay, I agree, that was a slider.
Oddly enough, Sexson does not lead the majors in strikeouts.
Brad Wilkerson had that honor with 85.
Doyle!
Another damn single.
PeterCampbell, no problem. I feel like I’ve spent this entire season looking up fixes for this wmv problem.
#131 – that is too funny. i always see that commercial at 3am on ESPNEWS. I love that outfit they make the crime dog wear. I wonder what he did to deserve that kind of punishment?
Time to get Felix out of there.
Yet another damn single.
Throw Martin junk. He’s a fastball hitter, and he looked terrible against the offspeed stuff earlier. Change, Curve, Curve, take the strikeout, go after the pinch hitter.
Gotsta get a groundball.
oh boy…lets get the King out of there.
That single off of a fastball?
Ah, curve.
That was a good pitch, and a good swing.
And still one more single.
to his credit, martin hit that off his shoes.
Nothing you can do about that.
Felix isn’t missing bats these last two innings. It doesn’t seem like he’s throwing the change much this game, either. Anyone have a read on that?, I’m only hearing about half the pitches what with other things to do.
Very few changeups.
I don’t think Felix has his best stuff today all around. Considering quite a few of the hits early on were groundball singles, he hasn’t done too bad. However, his last few innings the singles have been line drives too.
He’s thrown 2 changeups in the 5th and 6th innings.
It’s just so unnecessary. Why is he being directed to pitch this way?
Another line drive. Another single. Felix is done.
The problem, as always, too many fastballs.
172 – Felix was done three or four batters ago…
Does “missing the bats” have some meaning or is it just another way of saying “swinging or looking strike”
Just curious.
JMB, in the morning, if you read over this thread, you’ll have to try to find the beta.
If you only have Windows Media Player installed you might actually get the video stream to play 1 out of every 100 times you try (for some reason). It doesn’t matter in this case if you have Firefox, Safari, Camino, etc. as they all use the same plugin to attempt to play the video stream.
You can find the torrent of the beta (the flip4mac people have ‘closed’ the beta to new testers–as of last week) and install it just fine from some of the bigger all-purpose torrent sites. In fact, Googling “flip4mac beta torrent” gives you two working links right off the bat–and a bunch of “news” stories after the torrents.
i stayed in mississippi a day too long
Well, if the idea was to subtract half of Felix’s change-ups and replace them with sliders for this game, I’m not that wild about it. I agree with Dave that the change is his best pitch. But I’m glad that the Ms brain(t)rust seem to at least be experimenting with their pitching plan for him, ’cause their approach for the first two months was your Basic Dumbass.
174 — I thought so. He didn’t walk anyone, but his control had left him.
If you’re curious, here’s the baserunners by pitch:
Ethier, E-5, Fastball
Izturis, Single, Fastball
Lowe, Single, Fastball
Etheir, Single, Curveball
Martin, Single, Fastball
Furcal, Single, Fastball
Drew, Single, Fastball
Etheir, Single, Fastball
Izturis, Single, Fastball
Martin, Single, Curveball
Furcal, Single, Fastball
Can you spot the trend?
Just when I was really enjoying my evening…
I’m tired of waiting for his ERA to shrink. I know it will, but I’m tired of telling everyone, “just wait, he’s still the biggest thing since the wheel, he won’t struggle long.”
Bobby Livingston tonight: A semi-shaky six innings — four walks, but just three hits, one earned run and five Ks. Eight GBs, five FBs. Second straight quality start.
“Missing bats”=nasty stuff a batter can’t touch~=K
Dave, what do you do to figure out what the pitches were?
Re: #180, that’s an eyechart I’d like to have Bavasi, Hargrove, and Chaves sit down and read. One of the three, max, would pass the test.
Walking Lofton to load ‘em up for Nomahhhh — a questionable strategy.
this game is slippin’
Dave, what do you do to figure out what the pitches were?
Watch the game. His fastball, curve, and change-up look nothing alike, and are very easy to tell apart.
I just bought, wrapped, and shipped a package of baseball gloves to Nomar Garciaparra. Written on package in thick black sharpie: NO WORRIES: NICE AND SNUG, WON’T FALL OFF.
Jim, are you still high on Michael Garciaparra?
BUUUUUUUT it worked.
Nomar looked downright silly on that swing… Now lets see if the offense can get it goin in the late innings again.
188 – Oh. Make me feel stupid about it…
. Do you keep a chart, or do you have an incredible memory for pitches? Just curious.
Did I miss them mentioning that Nomar likes to swing at the first pitch fastball? What if we hadn’t gotten it the first couple times.
Also, I hate drawing too many inferences from TV radar guns, but…
Felix never threw a pitch harder than 94 after the 4th inning. He was sitting 93-94 in the 5th and 6th. Last year, he was consistently 96-98 even late in games.
He rarely, if ever, hits 97 or 98 anymore. This year, he’s 93-96. Those missing couples of MPH will be a big boon if he ever gets them back.
Re: #180, it’s called the Shortsighted Test. : (
190: If he is, he’s got to be high on something else too.
Heh heh.
188 – Oh. Make me feel stupid about it…
. Do you keep a chart, or do you have an incredible memory for pitches? Just curious.
I guess you weren’t around when I introduced the charting Felix project. I’m tracking every pitch he throws all year.
Read this article too. You’ll enjoy it, I think.
#190: I’m joking, mostly, about MIchael Garciaparra. If everything goes just right for him, he could have a few Bloomquistian years in the majors.
Yeah, Felix’s lower velocity, I haven’t heard of any injury, so I don’t know whether it’s a physical thing, or if it’s Chaves’ ‘let’s all throw the two-seamer’ approach. But he’s almost never been to 98.
Felix was throwing the two seamer at 96 last year. It’s not that.
My personal opinion is it’s still a conditioning issue.
Come on C-Rex
My bad: Livingston had a scoreless, hitless, walkless seventh.
if you belive in dinosaurs clap your hands
He was safe.
What an awful, awful call.
Rare to see a 1B call that bad.
grrr. safe.
Mystifyingly bad call. Even Vin couldn’t believe it.
Eddie Time!
With Felix, there is also the issue of the Ms, at least in principle, wanting to hold down the wear on his arm. The idea was to hold down his pitch count, and probably his inning pitched, but there may be private discussions to keep him from reaching back and just heaving for 98 as a way to avoid injury. But, yeah, I’m more inclined to see it as conditioning than a deliberate attempt to throttle Felix back.
Vin Scully keeps saying “Gwa-Dar-Doh”. Even the patron saint of announcing has a wart.
Uggh, I lose complete confidence in holding a game close when Eduarado Guardado is in the game.. Hopefully he can prove me wrong and the offense can get goin to pick up Felix.
211. I think it is a conditioning issue too. Pedro Martinez (and Lowe) runs five miles the day after a start. I can’t see Felix running 500 yards.
“Everyday [a Runner]” Eddie is on game. *gulp*
Thanks for the definition of “missing bats.” I used to not ask. After a decade or so of wondering what on earth “go the other way” meant I decided to just ask.
So, here’s a dumb question: WHY is Eddie pitching when it’s only a 2 run lead?
Bye bye rotator cuff?
217 – I dont think Eddie has had a rotator cuff for years haha.
Hargrove only believes in using his good relievers to protect leads, not to keep close games within reach.
Bob Melvin suffered from this disease as well. It’s a fundementally ridiculous strategy, as are most things Hargrove does.
well, reality will return, only without a buzz of victory– said the chronically depressive robot
Regarding Felix and running, I really want the Ms to line him up with a first-rate kinesiologist. There was a discussion in the paper by Raul Ibanez a few weeks back about how after he hurt his hamstring [in KC? of later??] he was put to work with running trainers who rebuilt the way he ran so as to avoid reinjury, and the entire discussion was apt. I look af Felix’s body, and I think he can do the running, but that he needs some very close work building up his stride so that it’s mechanically efficient and injury avoiding. The shin splints in ST were a big, red light about how the team was approaching the issue. If Hernandez isn’t conditioned well, some of that may be on him, but really _all of it_ is on the Ms org: they have the training and development staff, and the organizational investment in the player to do this right, and frankly it’s at least as important as holding his counts down, and a hell of a lot more important than the ‘establish the fastball, don’t chicken like your buddy Freddy did’ crapola we’ve seen too much of so far this year.
heheh, they talk about how effective lowe’s been and show some of his great strikes. 3 of the 4 were to felix.
you da man lowe!!
Amazing that Tomko is still pitching after he was unimpressive for the M’s years ago. The national league seems to be a place that old Mariners go to thrive.
National League is a place for all worn out and substandard pitchers to go and improve that ERA
It is uncumbent on the Mariners to salvage Ichiro’s honor in the ninth and give him one more chance to extend his streak.
It is incumbent on the Mariners to salvage Ichiro’s honor in the ninth and give him one more chance to extend his streak.
I guess they plan on having Lowe pitch the 9th.
#226 I agree. I think I would rather have Ichiro get that hit then see a win tonight… but both would be great too.
I guess Grady is channeling himself in the 2003 ALCS.
Richie. Why couldn’t you have done that when the bases were loaded?
Anybody care to characterize that Mound Conference Theater production?
231 – Grady was looking for some support. Figured he would go out and let Lowe stay in – to the applause of the crowd.
Next up: Jorge Posada…
well that sucks. Crazy Carl could have got himself kicked out or something…
Well tomorrows game has the potential to be a huge game for this team, in the past after a streak was ended the team has tended to go into a bit of a tailspin and ruin what semblance of momentum that has accumulated. It will be interesting to see how they come out in the next game to keep the momentum goin… PS, we are now winless on Thursdays this month. Coincidence? Ya, prolly
it’s not like we were gonna sweep the NL anyway.
also the bullpen did hold. (lessee, what else was good?)
just when .500 was in the teams sights…It slips away just like that.
so now it’s Peavy, Park & Michael Thompson
Much as in Operation Market-Garden, .500 is A Bridge Too Far (although in that one, the offense won at a .667 pace, but still lost, so much for the analogy).
The Ms have been playing over their head in the recent streak, most of it against really poor, poor teams. If you have three guys in the line-up averaging 1000 OPS and some of your starters chip in some peak performance starts, you’re going to rack up some wins, but other than Ichiro I don’t see that continuing. The Ms. may well yet make .500, sometime around 1 July, but then relegation to the mean Mean is the most likely outcome. If Bill B. goes and gets a bat, though, that tends to put a lift in the boys, so there’s room to extend this run, but the FO has to make it happen not hope it happens. Sound like the Ms, dealing for real run??? Not my team, it doesn’t.
Well, the M’s have done pretty well down in SD lately, and playing the NL West in general. I think they could take two out of three, but Peavey is Bad News. He may be on a losing streak at the moment, but he’s a career 4-0 (1.69 ERA) vs the M’s. And who knows if he has another 13K outing in him this season. The bummer is that he’s up first, and if the M’s lose two in a row I can see the black cloud of doom swallow them up for the rest of the month….
Greg Dobbs, OBP god … 0-2, 4 walks tonight … scores the game-winning run in the 13th.
219 – Melvin was probably worse for that, since not only would he give up and use his worst pitchers when trailing by any amount, he’d use his absolutely best releivers to protect any lead. Up by 8 runs in the 8th? Bring in your best guys so you can’t use them tomorrow.
What a weird game last night. I was sitting behind homeplate and watched: 51’s 20-game hitting streak quietly come to an end, Felix’s first professional at-bat and Scott Boras “watching” the game with Mr. Wheel of Fortune Pat Sajak. Weird; only in L.A.
weird that Boras & Sajak were sitting together, or wierd that Sajak was there? FWIW, Sajak used to have a baseball show on MLB radio, and is> one of the owners of the Golden Baseball League …
Its quiet today. Did the loss upset everybody that much.
Hopefully the M’s can take this next series agaist the Padres, which would put them one game under 500. In fact, playing well up to the All-Star break would do a lot to make the players believe that they could win the (admittedly weak) division. I do wish that Hargrove would realise that Everett isn’t crushing the ball, and do a better job of rotating the bench, but that is like wishing the weather would be better. Bavasi should be beating the bushes to bring in another bat to this team. Somebody that Hargrove wouldn’t want to keep on the bench. Hopefully this is the precurser to a good summer run.
I am of the opinion that they are pleased with C-Rex. I also think they will let him vest and we will see his team leadership on display next year. Here’s another one for you, betcha he gets a start in the outfield this series, the old veteran presence and all. Giving him a vesting option means that he is useless as a trade rent a player at the deadline. He gets an ocaissional HR or hit, left handed sock. Nuts, even Eddie gets to soak up air still, Grover thought he threw well yesterday, 2 outs and 2 hits, it is an improvement.
I wonder: Was Boras there to protect one of his investments (D-Lowe?) or was he there to do what he swears he never has done, snatch a budding star out from under the nose of the budding star’s long-time-but-no-name agent?
He needs to protect Beltre. If AB doesn’t extend this little hot streak 3 more years, the renewal on the contract might be more in the league of the no name agent!!!
I hope you are wrong Eleven11, but this is the franchise that doesn’t have the best track record in the world. I’ll say this, Everett has been acceptable, but I certainly do not believe that he is worth allowing the vesting to occur (though I am biased. I didn’t want him in the first place). On one point, I don’t think that Everett would be used in a rent a player deal at the end of the year. If he were hitting, the M’s would have held onto him, and if not, they would have DFAed him.
Hargrove has nothing but good things to say about his players. Guardado could probably give up 6 straight bombs, and Hargrove would give him a pat on the back. Its one of the things I liked about Pinella, as he would be more than willing to say the team performed like crap if they did. But then, Guardado is probably still the closer.
249 – Guardado may be giving Ayala-like results, but I doubt he would have remained as closer, as he’s no godson of Lou’s.
C-Rex hits well enough to stay in the bigs but not well enough to be worth what he is paid. I called and email the M’s that if they hired him I would not pay to see him play. So far, I’ve done that (although I cheated a little when I got given tickets, thankfully, Morse DH’d) Lou loved Everett and kept trying to get him. I loved Lou but he was not a great evaluator of talent sometimes. Going back to yesterday’s posts, I think this run to the All Star Break is important to the M’s. IF this team is unchanged after the break, it will not catch anyone. Playing .500 would be a blessing.
At what point does Rivera become Felix’s personal catcher? Why are the Mariners being so stubborn with starting Jojima when Felix pitches even thought it is clear that he pitches better to Rivera. Kenji is already tops in innings played as a catcher so they have a built in excuse to sit him during Felix’s starts.
There’s no evidence Felix pitches better with one or the other catcher.
C-Rex hits well enough to stay in the bigs
The Mariner DH performance so far, compared to AL average:
BA: .243 (10th)
SLG: .376 (13th) (Minnesota DH’s are dead last, with a SLG of .333. Ouch. Nobody else is below .400)
OBP: .316 (11th)
2B: 11 (T-9th)
HR: 8 (T-11th, Minnesota’s DH’s have ONE for dead last)
R: 34 (9th)
RBI: 33 (11th)
There is not a single major category in which Mariner designated hitters are better than league-average.
Also, time for Player A/B/C Theatre:
Player A: .263/.342/.385
Player B: .245/.354/.360
Player C: .246/.321/.388
Player A is our DH in 2004, Edgar Martinez, who retired after a disappointing year at age 42.
Player B is our 1B in 2004, John Olerud, who was waived in midseason after a disappointing year at age 36.
Player C is Carl Everett in 2006.
As far as I’m concerned, we can waive C-Rex any time we want.
EC Don’t disagree a bit, would be nice to get out to the Safe this year, however, he still gets big league contracts so he does hit well enough to stay, at least in the Mariners eyes. I wish they would dump him and Eddie and clear two spots for some legit help, especially OF starter or utility guy. I am not down on WB like many on this site but he is just an infield UT, we need the same for the OF or better.
I don’t know how many on this board would defend Everett’s hitting, but the one’s that need convincing aer the Manager and GM of the team. Its exactly why I posted about finding another LF/1B/DH type player for this team, so that Everett can be shown the door. However, some of the options are not pretty. The few mentioned don’t actually save the team any money, even if Everett’s contract next year is picked up. And the team doesn’t have much they can trade, as most of the spare parts have little to no value.
Whats left? Doyle being healthy? Bite the bullet and bring up Clement to DH? Jones? Not very good in house options right now.
Well, there rarely are options for any team but in any event, C Rex was never the answer. The answer might be rotting down at the end of the bench. Why not put Petegine in there for a month. If he sucks, the cost of DFA is not high, if he hits like his overseas history says he did, hey, an improvement.
Oh yeah, that would require a change. Want to know the secret to Grover? Go watch a film clip of his at bats. The Human Rain Delay. Exhaustive, repetitious, pointless little routines that even Nomar shuns. Every pitch, never a change, always 15 to 20 seconds of readjusting.
What would we consider evidence? Obviously there will be a small sample size with any catcher we look at. However, based on my calculations Felix has averaged:
The least amount of IP per start
The second least amount of K per start
The most walks per start
The most hits per start
The most ER and R per start
When pitching to Jojima. When he pitcher do Rivera, Tolleraba and W. Gonzalez his numbers are lower than pitching to Jojima. Doesn’t that at lesat make you question the logic behind always having him pitch to Jojima?
Isn’t the great game he pitched against Anaheim evidence to give it more of a try?
It’s certainly not fair to compare Felix’ numbers pitching to catchers last year to those pitching to Johjima this year. (there is an “h” in Johjima; spell it right). So far Felix has been a different pitcher this year. Unless you think it’s Johjima’s fault that he’s lost velocity on the fastball…
I would think Felix is smart enough to realize that if he pitches to Johjima he’s likely to get more run support than with the gaping hole that is Rivera’s spot in the lineup.
Blaming pitching performance on the catcher is a copout. The flawed pitch selection Felix is using this year is obviously an organizational decision and not Johjima’s, and the ultimate decision on what pitch to throw is always the catcher’s.
Ralph…while I agree with basic contentions, I do think there is the issue of confidence. Felix on at least 2 occassions now has talked about what a “good game” that Rivera calls. Now, do I want Rivera catching a lot – NOOO!!!, but since Johjima leads the league in innings and starts, Rivera needs to play more than he is now. Why not with Felix. If Felix pitches the way he did in Anaheim, he does not need Johjima’s bat in the line-up.
I don’t disagree with any of that, Cheetah…Johjima needs days off, and if he has confidence in Rivera I’m OK with that. Though the day game after night game rest days are the first place for him to get them.
My primary beef with the earlier post was with including Wiki and Torrealba in the analysis. If you’re comparing his results with Johjima this year with those of guys from last year you’re comparing apples and oranges and the comparison is of no use. I would like to see some statistical analysis of Felix’ performance with Rivera and Johjima catching him this year.
Agreed. Further, before other posters grill me…I totally admit I have no idea if Felix has more confidence in either catcher…but I do not recall him ever saying anything about Johjima. I just can not believe Grover keeps running Johjima out there… unless the goal is to make sure Johjima is worthless in August / September, so we are forced to bring up Quiroz or Clement.