Game 110, ‘27 Yankees at ‘62 Mets
JMB · August 6, 2006 at 12:07 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
RHP Joe Blanton vs. RHP Gil Meche, 1:05pm. FSN.
I’m guessing traffic is pretty fun right now for those on the way to the game.
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it’d probably be faster to swim across Lake Washington than drive from Bellevue to SafeCo.
yeah, check this out:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/i90_bellevueway.htm#cam
We gotta get one sometime, right?…right?
that’s actually not as bad as I expected.
First time posting, love the site. Been living in Scotland for 15 years and this is the best site to keep up on the Mariners, it has been a life saver. Keep up the good work and thanks for everything.
When did the Red Sox get Corky Miller?
We need Yankee Stadium Meche today because we aren’t going to score more than 2 runs off Blanton.
sometime in late April, when Quiroz was added to the Tacoma roster and Miller was bumped to make room due to a catching logjam.
2006 A’s = Road Runner
2006 M’s = Wile E. Coyote
Maybe the M’s should order an ACME Power Hitter or try and drop a boulder from a cliff when the A’s team bus drives by.
Actually the A’s are more like the friggin’ Acme truck that runs over the poor Coyote on the desert highway
I’m calling for an equilibrium. That is, Joe Blanton gets shelled and regresses to the mean. Please?
I think the Mariners can’t hit against Blanton because they are afraid he will eat them.
My own theory on the difficulty the M’s have with Blanton is that they have trouble picking up the ball against the backdrop of his perfectly spherical form.
Love LOVE that red jacket on Neihaus.
Kendall leading off with a hit.. here we go again?
Ichiro!
Valle: “Ichiro has always been the ignitor of this offense.”
Has someone told Willie? Because I think he’s going to be pissed.
Lead-off double. Tease me and then break me heart, why don’t you?
Beltre will get this run home
Granted, if he blows this, he should be benched for a month in favor as Bloomy. Wait…that just punishes us, not Adrian.
I still can’t get over how the A’s have a catcher as their leadoff guy. I’m sure there are some good reasons for it, but still, it’s just odd.
Raul has gotten hits with two outs after others have screwed the pooch many times this year. Hope is not lost…yet
Ichiro on the 3rd, 1 one out — and Adrian gives us a tapper back to the pitcher. If Raul doesn’t bring him in….
Raul! The man!
BINGO! I don’t know about any of you, but when you HAVE to get a run home, I’d MUCH rather see Raul up than Adrian. At least this year.
RAAUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLL
A run? In the first inning against Joe “Oakland Fats” Blanton? No way.
Oh my god, a hit with RISP. Truly we are blessed.
Ibanez! Reverse the curse!
24: I’d say the statistics support you on that.
24: I don’t think you’re making a particularly controversial statement there.
Offense!!!
Maybe a little luck won’t hurt us either.
What is this clutch 2 out hitting? Do they not realize Cy Young.. I mean umm Joe Blanton is pitching?
IRONY:
A runner ignores the third base coach’s stop sign, which he hasn’t given all year, and is safe at home.
Maybe we’ll regress Blanton’s ass right back to the mean this game.
30
Actually I was reemed BIG TIME here during the BoSox series, when I questioned Adrian’s ability to get runs in, due to his horrific average (at the time) with RISP. I made the mistake of saying “with guys on base” when I first posted. Evidently his average with “men on base” was around .250, while his avg with RISP was at .160
But thanks for agreeing with me. I HOPE it wasn’t too controversial, lol
Blanton’s stats are so bad regardless that he’s owned the Mariners 3 times.
He’s. Not. That. Good.
Here’s to keeping it going.
A runner ignores the third base coach’s stop sign, which he hasn’t given all year…
So Ibanez says, “Is *that* what a stop sign looks like? I’ll be damned.”
Come on guys….my jersey is gettin’ stinky….\
go for the jugular
Watching on Gameday, how did Ibanez score on a single from 1st?
Did Sexson SOMEHOW appear to get slower as he lumbered toward the plate?
The Mirror of Truth
I could see that wave-in was not going to work. Too bad, but I’ll take the 2 runs.
Sexson’s limping. Crap.
Richie should have held up — and I hope that limp after the ’slide’ isn’t anything serious.
That was painful to watch, hope Sexson ain’t hurt that bad.
I’m worried that it looked like he pulled up lame, which would mean we’ll see Dobbs after this block of truck ads.
Third base coach throws up stop sign, runner ignores, runner scores.
Third base coach waves runner in, runner obeys, runner thrown out at home.
Sexson had NO CHANCE. It was even a fairly poor throw, up the line and everything. But like I posted earlier, he really did appear to shove it back into first gear rounding third.
40: He ignored the third base coach’s stop sign and scored because the throw went into second base.
40; Enos Slaughter was on first.
51
Enos may have scored on that last hit
Home Furniture is changing their business format? What the hell does that mean — they’re going to turn into a convenience store?
I know the broadcast crew isn’t going to rip the decision to wave Sexson in, but to say they “manufactured two runs” seems… wrong.
Sexson’s a big guy to go down on his knee like that. We could be hearing more about that in days to come.
55: Yeah, he definitely should have run over Kendall.
Frank Thomas hits a gapper with a runner on first, you’ll see the same thing, the runner scoring on a single. I saw THomas do it in a June M’s-Oakland game.
55
Yeah, that ended up being a dumb decision to send him all the way around. I still thought he was a little faster than that though. But Garcia is supposed to know these things.
I know if I had Richie Sexson bearing down on me I’d drop whatever I had in my hands, but I guess major league catchers are tougher than I am.
Sexson was in a similar situation a month or two back. He slowed down and ran into the catcher so gently that he had no chance. We discussed the possiblity that his once-bum shoulder may make him leery of hard contact.
NEWSFLASH
Papelbon actually gave up a run! His ERA “skyrockets” to 0.64
Actually, what you were “reamed” for wasn’t entirely the RISP vs men-on-base issue, I-I; you were disagreed with for behaving as though a few months’ data represented any predictable ability at all, especially when it didn’t match preceding years; and for jumping on Beltre during a stretch when he was actually hitting well.
Incidentally, you know what Ibanez — that guy you want up in the important situations — has done in “Close and Late” situations? He’s hit .143 with an OPS of .554. Of course, it’s too small a sample size to mean anything at all — unless it’s Beltre.
Meche is hitting 95 on the gun. Has he increased his velocity, or is the gun off?
This is what has become of Gilbert Gottfried and Jon Lovitz — bad TV commercials.
Oh, I’m relieved — the Blue Angels are pumping ‘biodegradable’ paraffin-based oil into their engines to fill the sky with smoke. Breath deep, Seattle.
64, lol, I was absolutely thinking the exact same thing.
‘Breathe’ deep, that is. Hack, cough.
Yes! The military-industrial complex is thinking of you and the environment as they perform extremely risky aerial maneuvers over a densely populated metro area.
F-18s are not harmful to the enviornment, welll their smoke isn’t, mmmm…what about shock and awe?
thanks for the propaganda, dave.
Ah, our performance against Blanton regresses to the mean.
Paraffin is just candlewax. Useful in canning.
You get on the business end of an F-18 and it’ll harm the crap out of your environment.
Yes! The military-industrial complex is thinking of you and the environment as they perform extremely risky aerial maneuvers over a densely populated metro area.
A plane crashed into a house during an airshow in my hometown a couple of weeks ago.
i stopped going to m’s games when take me out to the ballgame became the third song of the night and when some guy clubbed me for forgetting to take off my hat during one of the others. is this still the general atmosphere at our old ball game?
The way people hate on the Blue Angels and the hydros you’d think they’d rather have a composting exhibition and Derrida readings.
What a sad state of affairs for the M’s pitching staff that a broken down retread of a RHP is our ace.
Sigh.
Someone pour beer on me.
62
I don’t think 29 & 30 were wrong to agree with me. Its merely a feeling and/or an opinion people get with certain players. No one says you have to agree with it.
Fwiw, here some 2006 stats for BOTH Raul and Adrian that I think COULD lend some predictability to what happened, at least in the first inning of today’s game:
Raul in 2006
RISP: .350
RISP w/ 2 outs: .410
Adrian in 2006
RISP: .206
RISP w/ 2 outs: .148
Now as for LATE in the game, I guess you have a point. Maybe I should look at the numbers closer. Maybe when its “on the line” Adrian is indeed better than we think, or Raul is simply worse.
Just letting you know where I was coming from though.
lets see another double play
75, agreed, i would rather those things, too.
they’d rather have a composting exhibition and Derrida readings
Well, yeah.
Uh huh. My concern with having F-18s do really dangerous things over downtown Seattle and my house means that I’m the ultimate killjoy and would only allow knitting in heavily supervised settings.
is this still the general atmosphere at our old ball game?
I clubbed a guy for being snarky during O Canada a few years ago. Yeah, they didn’t join us in the debacle that is Iraq, but they’re still our friends and neighbors.
Cheers, Gil.
0-2 pitch and Gil shows why its hard calling him an “ace.”
Ow.
What a sock that was.
Holy crap.
they didn’t join us in the debacle that is Iraq, but they’re still our friends and neighbors
It always pisses me off when friends and neighbors are smarter than we are. Almost as much as watching Gil give up 3 run homers.
Even Valle was a little critical of the town the tube pitch belt high
well dw, that’s good to know, the SS is still in force at the games. makes sure patriotism rules all of the smallest behaviors…
Makes me wish the Mariners didn’t get caught up in the ‘Lefty sock’ debacle over the offseason, and made a play on Frank Thomas.
Yes, yes it does.
To be fair to Meche, that’s pretty much exactly where Johjima wanted it.
Awful pitch selection.
Thomas has reached base in his last 6 plate appearances.
Mother fuc***
Mixing politics with baseball makes me cranky.
I liked Thomas better when he had a sore foot.
Uh huh. My concern with having F-18s do really dangerous things over downtown Seattle and my house means that I’m the ultimate killjoy and would only allow knitting in heavily supervised settings.
There’s nothing more dangerous than Grandma and a knitting needle. She could hijack a plane with a #16. The TSA told themselves.
93. Johjima set up inside and high. The pitch was down the middle and high.
Actually what concerns me right now, was didn’t Blanton go back to his “normal vs the M’s” self last inning?
What the **ck was Jones doing?
This is depressing
M’s-A’s, folks. Live it, love it.
What’s Meche’ pitch count now? 75?
OK, so we have tried scoring first.. scoring second.. hitting HRs… manufacturing runs… Nothing seems to work, maybe we should just payoff the schedulers and tell them not to schedule us with Oakland, that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows would it?
/sarcasm
102
For the inning you mean?
Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Meche had the “bad inning” EVERY game. At least that is out of the way and lets remember that Blanton sucks…vs everyone else that is.
93. Johjima set up inside and high. The pitch was down the middle and high.
I went back on TiVo, and you’re right — the ball was over the plate.
My point, I-I, is that I’m not coming to any conclusions based on so little data, or anecdotal observation. I don’t think Raul sucks in Close and Late situations, and I don’t think Adrian sucks with RISP, because neither one of those ideas matches the way they’ve performed in the past, so it’s really really likely that their suckage at those things this year is a simple random fluctuation.
Baseball ability just does not reliably play out situationally. That’s a non-intuitive idea for people; we believe we ought to be able to have control over a specific situation, through a combination of our ability and our will, our character. But that’s not the way baseball works; every individual situation is a dizzying mix of abilities and unpredictable events. Baseball ability plays out over the long haul. The very long haul.
Also, are you fairly taking into account just how damaged Beltre is by Safeco? Did you know that Beltre is a better hitter than Ibanez on the road? Beltre’s road OPS is .831; Ibanez’s is .807.
High and hard to Frank Thomas on 0-2 is simply a wretched call. Meche didn’t miss Jo’s spot by more than a few inches at most.
Once the Marlins become the Portland Beavers, maybe we can volunteer to switch leagues with them.
Happily, I don’t think this one’s over quite yet… the M’s are hitting Blanton pretty hard.
106
Yeah good point
Sometimes I wonder how much “good” Safeco’s dimensions really are to our team.
Way to work the count Richie
Have ya been watching this entire series on how the A’s get men on base? Sheesh
Boy, those Sonics dancers sure are talented.
I wonder which demographic FSN is going for with this “Sonics Dance Team” show. I’ll take a wild guess and say that it’s not women between 50 and 74.
First 1-2-3 inning against the A’s since expansion.
95, i agree. i tune into baseball to forget; but lest we forget, we have special announcements (about candle wax), patriotic songs, and fan-freindly fans.
does anyone know when baseball made the star-spangled banner a regular gametime activity?
myabe we should pledge allegiance after the video hydro-races?
Good at-bat here. Make him work.
And finish up with a hit. Even better.
Did anyone tell the M’s it was alright to score after the first inning?
For us Gameday viewers, was that ball to Johjima a really bad one? Gameday showed it almost completely out of the little batter window.
As I recall, “Banner” became a tradition during the red-baiting, civil liberties trashfest known as the World War I home front. Not a good period in American history.
Jones is indeed an outstanding prospect. But does having him in the line up really constitute anything more than another Rene Rivera?
Yeah, just show the Blue Angles instead of the game. I confess, I actually switched over for a bit.
120, thanks. the reason to come to ussmariner.com: intelligent people.
Should Gil throw big Frank a fastball over the heart of the plate?
Oh yeah…never mind
I wish Meche beaned Thomas… just to send a message.
Lopez prevents a sure dp just in the nick of time
Season’s over, folks.
I hate the A’s…
Frank effin’ Thomas scores from second on a single?
The white flag as officially been shown
Actually, Ichi didn’t have as much time as I thought he would have. Frank got a great jump.
This is just awful baseball. Meche should be pulled by Grover and booed by the fans on his way to the shower.
Of course Sexson can’t score on a throw up the line, but somehow Thomas is so safe, he can go in standing up…sigh
i am very sad
#120– “In 1918, the United States was fighting in World War I. With American soldiers facing intense combat in France, baseball officials considered canceling the World Series. But then they heard that the soldiers were looking forward to hearing about the series-that it would be a huge boost to their morale. So the officials compromised, and they went ahead with the games, but as a patriotic gesture, they played The Star Spangled Banner during the seventh-inning stretch. Everyone stood and sang along. Eventually, The Star Spangled Banner became a tradition at baseball games, and before every other major sporting event as well. “
Against the division leaders, we throw out the “Wonderful free agent signing,” the “AL Pitcher of the Month,” and “#2 starter” Gil Meche. Is it too far out of a manager’s control to make it so that we have Felix and Moyer go against the A’s instead of all three of the dunderheads? I mean, seriously, would it have been possible to look at the calendar at the All Star break and work it that way instead of blowing Felix and Moyer against Tampa? Am I just looking for reasons to bitch at Hargrove, or does this make sense to anyone else?
cite! cite!
so I’m guessing we aren’t going to be calling Gil ‘the stopper’
135
Grover can barely figure out his line up card and even then rarely uses good matchups when the opportunity arises. So I’m sure this sorta thing would be waaaay behond his ability, lol.
Don’t even get me started on his moronic pinch hitting “strategy” late in the games.
136, indeed. i’m always curious about compromising officials…what a rare bird indeed…
Nice job by Sexson. Just stick to hitting Richie, leave the running to someone else.
Holyfield’s retirement didn’t stick? Shocking. Just shocking.
Shawn Green! Goodnight, folks!
Well, at least Meche was able to keep his team in the ballgame.
What? You mean he wasn’t?
this game isnt over yet….
Wow, I’m glad I slept through the first 1 1/2 hours of this game.
Can someone pinch me, or was that actually a 1-2-3 inning?
It’s over as far as I’m concerned. Hargove sang…the call to the bullpen. You do the math.
Despite all of the millions mistakes the M’s have made today, the MAIN things I see is that they actually have a hr (with two men on heaven forbid) and we haven’t had one in 11 innings…as usual.
BTW, when was the last three run homer we’ve had?
Something was wrong with that inning. No baserunners? Not very many pitches thrown? Nobody scrambling to the wall to catch an almost-homerun ball? Can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’ll come to me.
135. Not everyone at the games believed it was a good idea, and some of them in the coming years paid a physical price for not getting with the patriotic program.
The thing that seems especially brutal about this game is that the Mariners have finally gotten to Blanton, but the pitching has sucked.
Can we go ahead and fire Hargrove now if the season’s over? Please?
Hey, at least we lasted into the first week of August. That’s four months longer than the M’s were in contention the previous two years.
What does that mean? (#150)
my god Rizzs is nauseating. You can just hear how phony he is when talking about the little league kids and his “buddy” that’s leading them.
Another bad call for Blanton that COMPLETELY changes the entire count and at bat.
Apparently the ump doesn’t get paid by the hour
Yay, Dobbs!
2 runs in 5 and 1/3 innings is ‘getting to Blanton’?
All right. A .375 hitter coming to the plate.
I love when the fans give a big cheer for a guy who just hit into a FC.
Another Mariner offensive high point: avoiding the double-play by a hair.
157: 3 runs. What game are you watching?
Fwiw, I had to go back a little ways to find it:
Our last home run with more than one guy on base, was July 19th in the first inning vs the Skankees.
Gee, that’s only 16 games ago…ugh
Not unlike the grounder advancing a runner from 2nd to 3rd, for the second out of the inning. The Safeco crowd loves that.
M’s go quietly…shocking eh?
well we have definently used the strength of our team quite a bit this series… the bullpen
[error/sentence ratio]
As nauseating as Rizzs is, a friend who works in the clubhouse says he is actually like that all the time.
I guess my point is, I pardon the cheesiness if it is a full-time deal more so than the people who turn it on and off.
Gasp, did I just give Rizzs an excuse to continue… Sigh.
161: My mistake. We definitely had Blanton cornered.
Damn the friends who assured me that the Mariners would be fine without me this weekend as I attended the kickass Pickathon.
5.5 games back and it’s 6-3. Marvy.
ANOTHER first pitch out to help out the pitcher
Lopez is outstanding at driving in runs, but he HAS to learn to work the count a little bit if he’s going to bat in the top part of the line up. We have too many players content on swinging at the first thing they can reach
Beltre has learned to do this better as the season has gone on at least.
#136– sorry, that was here
sadly, this is more interesting than the game…
I see the fine Wiki folks say that: “Although the playing of the song two years later during the seventh-inning stretch of the 1918 World Series is often noted as the first instance that the Anthem was played at a baseball game, evidence shows that the “Star Spangled-Banner” was performed as early as 1897 at Opening Day ceremonies in Philadelphia and then more regularly at the Polo Grounds in New York beginning in 1898.”
Keillor’s Writers Almanac (and others) claim that 9/11/16 was “the anniversary of the first time the “Star Spangled Banner” was sung at the beginning of a baseball game. It was in 1916 in Cooperstown, New York.”
Dave Andriesen wrote a piece about it when the Ms came back to play after 9/11, saying “The Star-Spangled Banner” was first played before a baseball game in 1862 and made its World Series debut in 1918. It was played on special occasions until 1942, when a wave of patriotism from World War II made the performance an everyday ritual.”
and “According to The Cultural Encyclopedia of Baseball, ‘the patriotic fervor that accompanied World War II forced the playing of the (national) anthem before all major league games for the first time in 1942. That protocol continued after the conclusion of the war.’ The Encyclopedia also mentioned that ‘unlike other major league clubs, the (Chicago) Cubs played the anthem only on holidays and special occasions in the late 1950s and early 1960s.’”
According to Rizzs, Ibanez is coming in to pitch for the A’s. That’s talent right there.
‘Raul Ibanez will take over in relief, and Brad Halsey will take over in relief.’ -Rizzs
Either Hargrove’s gone insane or Rizzs is being an airhead again.
oh, and at least Gil prevented the embarrassment of losing 5-2 three days in a row….
And he just referred to a strike as ball three. Rick’s on a roll today.
173
Maybe Raul could be that extra lefty in the pen, lol
We better watch out. If Sexson gets on, this may actually be a rally
If getting schooled by the A’s ALL YEAR doesn’t tell Bavasi to get some bats that know how to work the count and walk more, then I don’t know what would.
The Mariners have brought the tying run to the plate to make this third out they are about to make all the more devastating.
The downside to the two-headed DH. Now we have Perez vs. a righty.
Here’s the drawback of the DH platoon.
Lefty up, so we pinch hit with Perez, therefore, Oakland brings in a righty to face him?
177
Nice timing, right as the M’s draw two consecutive walks.
171, thanks. those more historically rich descriptions, with citations, give needed context to our baseball experience. the quote in 134 sounds, unfortunately, as if written by dave’s blue angel copy writers.
If we had Snelling healthy we could’ve brought him in
If only we had an Australian on the bench, or hadn’t used Dobbs earlier.
You’re friggin’ killin’ me today, JeffS.
Still looking for strongest citation on the man who was beaten by fellow fans at 1918 World Series for not standing for the national anthem (it is referenced in a Nation article, but there are better sources). A couple of more incidents during 1920s red scare.
Okay–the game is interesting for the moment. Go Perez.
“If this guy sees a first pitch fastball, he’ll jump on it….”
That’s because he’s a *real* Mariner and not one of the panty-waist wait and watch kinda guys.
181
Well they only walked to spite me
Ah I remember when that slot in the lineup was an automatic out. Those were the days.
Perez worked the count and got a two out hit, because he’s one of the few M’s NOT cursed by the season long A’s spell.
Yes! Make it four-for-four Kenji.
How ’bout a lil’ game tying double?
Yay Perez. Keep it going, Joji.
Not even Perez’ forte and he still pulls it off.
I hope Carl Everett is watching somewhere.
Nasty curve ball there sucked Kenji in like a Kirby salesman with free cocaine samples.
I imagine we’re looking at a near two inning apperance from Huston Street later on.
189. And not all that long ago, the catcher’s spot was that way too–maybe worse. There’s some hope for this ship.
Yup, there’s hope for this ship. It’s sinking slower nowdays.
At least our guys have actually figured out that it’s okay to not swing at everything.
Bring on Huston Street, ala 7 blown saves.
We’re gonna need a bigger boat.
I’m now a veteran of around 200 viewings of Burt Bacharach in that GEICO commercial and I have to ask: Is there something wrong with his spine? Or is he trying to look down that woman’s sweater? Or what?
201: That is one of my favorite movie lines.
swisher needs to seriously reconsider that facial hair.
well then……
Where is Sherrill at a time like this?
Awesome. The bottom of the 7th has instantly been erased.
We can’t catch a break
Hearing that Mateo is warming up in the bullpen is… special.
a similar experience:
Laura Kaminker
“My baseball season ended last week, when the Yankees lost the World Series. So also ended another season of harrassment by other fans. It’s not that I’m wearing a Red Sox cap – I’m a Yankees fan through and through. But I choose not to stand during the singing of the national anthem or “God Bless America”. For this, I pay a price.”
http://www.commondreams.org/scriptfiles/views03/1027-02.htm
Key numbers this series (though hardly surprising)
Extra base hits-
OAK 11
SEA 5
Walks-
OAK 15
SEA 8
Good to see we really made them earn that run back after a prolonged battle
Let’s see, how many times this year has Hargrove left Sean Green in for more then 2 innings and how many times has that resulted in runs for the other team.
Say it with me, Michael, HE IS NOT A LONG RELIEVER!
203
Jaws is my favorite movie of all time. Funny how Spielberg was sure the cost overruns and difficulties they had making it were going to ruin his career.
212
To do otherwise would mean actual “strategy.”
Grover doesn’t do strategy. I don’t think it was part of his contract or something.
Hey I see A Jones had his 26th homerun today! Good job Ada… oh nevermind it’s not funny.
213. Well, since the ship is indeed sinking, why is Jaws your all-time favorite film? I’ve never seen it. And are the A’s the big shark?
Betancourt of the Single. At least he gets on.
We have ignition!!
Has MLB.tv always been as reliable as a Yugo? My feed is cutting out a LOT.
216: How have you gone through your entire life without seeing Jaws?
Also, we have Ignition.
Re 216:
Does this mean when Hargrove is fired we can all say “Smile you sonofabitch”?
Speed on, Ichiro up. Time for the fabled HR swing?
Way to go Willie Ballgame. Get that single that should have been stopped by two unique fielders!
That was a terrible at bat by Ichiro.
Ichiro is a mess at the plate these days.
216
I was in early grade school when it had already been out a few years and you still always heard about it when people went swimming. When I finally saw it, I guess it lived up to the hype to me. I think it appeals to people at all levels. Suspense, horror, some funny parts, great cast, just enough special effect to make it interesting, not too much to where they’re going over the top like in a lot of movies today. Plus, that shark is just not something you want to meet up with if you’re ever in the ocean.
Maybe Ichie’s worst at bat of all time!
Uh-oh. Bases Juiced.
Gotta imagine Street comes in here.
223-
Even his balls are gritty! Gritty-Balled Bloomquist!!
And Jose!
I’m thinking this is going to do wonders for our LOB numbers.
This inning is great, but one can see why the absence of any x-base hits, so far, looms large. Three baserunners/NO runs. Maybe this is finally the inning where we break out vs the A’s!
Ok, Adrian. Lets start showing us what ya got in these late inning/RISP situations!!!
Yep, here comes San Antonio Road.
What a horrible at bat for Ichiro.
Way to go Jose!
Now Adrian Beltre can psych himself out or be a hero.
220. Point is, have I missed anything? He’s far from being my favorite filmmaker.
Dallas Lane is even better. That’s like, one heckuva porn name.
This is the type of at bat where Beltre will try to kill an outside pitch and ground weakly into a double play.
221
The A’s are no ordinary fish. They’re a big fish…swallow ya whole.
(I think that’s how Quint said it at that town meeting)
Moneyball Blanton holds the M’s down, Moneyball Swisher extends the lead, Moneyball Street in to nail it down…
Wow!
Please no double play, AB.
Beltre!!!!
How in the hell did that drop?
As I said back up there a ways, a little luck wouldn’t hurt the Ms….
That’s like, nearly all of the A’s hits yesterday!
Huston Street gives up the Texas leaguer. Ridiculous.
Beltre!
Well hit to deep short!
Great job by Adrian. Maybe he only hits with RISP if its late in the game
Lets hope we don’t set the MLB record for most singles WITHOUT getting three runs in one inning.
Nice slide Beltre!!
Ladies and Gents, defensive replacement Bobby Kielty.
We’ll take it. Raul up with one out is just fine.
Great job by Beltre in taking out Scutaro.
That was a NFL-level block at second.
Beltre touched the bag with his hand. Why is Macha arguing?
Man, Beltre didn’t even slide until he was almost past the bag.
Now we just need one of our million singles to get the lead…forget the x-base hit!
Legal slide, but that is some hardcore baseball. I can’t remember the last time I saw a slide like that not at home plate. Props to Beltre.
Too bad…got his pitch to hit with a fast ball down the pipe on 3-1. THAT was the pitch he needed to do something with…sigh
That really sucks.
right down the middle! what are you DOING Richie!
Just BARELY in the strike zone.
Here’s to swimmin’ with bowlegged women.
At least we aren’t going down quietly… but that pitch to Sexy appeared to be low.
Richie is the master of the 3-2 strikeout.
If it’s even close, you have to swing. Don’t leave it up to the umpire. Contact is better than nothing.
Horrible call though.
JJ in a non-save situation? But it’s Mateo time!!!
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Especially in light of the fact that the ump has called FAR TOO MANY borderline pitches strikes against us already today.
I’m not excusing the mediorce job the ump has done today, just underscoring your point on why its not wise to leave it up to the ump today.
It wasn’t really a horrible call. It was right down the middle and at the knees. It was at most an inch or two low, but still, you have to swing in that situation.
Oh, so NOW Grover puts in a new reliever. Too bad he wanted just one more inning out of Green, huh?
Ugh. So close that last inning.
New war chant: More Pantywaist M’s! More Pantywaist M’s!
Putz is now our first pitcher smart enough to try to keep the ball down to Thomas…and still gives up a hit of course.
Again, the ump fails to give us a close pitch…
I wonder whether the M’s hitters notice all the deep counts the A’s keep working.
Fairly on radio remarks how interesting it is that the A’s don’t have a .300 hitter. Talk about missing the point.
I think Yubet is our only one besides Ichie and the entire A’s line up has a better OBP than him.
And the A’s have been doing this for years (beating the M’s, getting on base) and had it all published in a book, and still the Seattle organization just doesn’t seem to get it.
They just made the Mariner closer throw 29 pitches in a non-save inning. I hope the light comes on somewhere in Marinerland.
The best part about Moneyball is the updated version with Pat Gillick talking about what a gimmick it all is.
SOOOOOOO many little things that the M’s just screwed up today that could’ve made the difference
-Sexson’s play at the plate
-Ichie’s ghastly throw with the glacial speed of Thomas running
-Leaving Green in like he’s a long reliever…when he’s obviously NOT
-Jones bobbling a routine single, allowing an extra run
It true, Moneyball doesn’t give you the eyes or the scouting instincts to sign Ryan Franklin to a one-year deal to come pitch in Philly.
Is that too low a blow?
Break!
Fate is setting up the Willie-Walk Off
Lets see how quick Willie makes that mis play irrelevant
Oh wait Bloomie’s up so nevermind…
Holy cow!
And Kendall has been terrible throwing out staealers, hasn’t he?
Oh crap – I forgot, it’s Gritty before Ichi.
Why the hell is Bloomquist hitting?
sweet, yuni gives willie a chance to be the hero! (I guess you can’t hear my sarcasm online)
281 – I believe literally, we have nobody left other than Rivera.
Now if Yubet can just steal two more…
Okay, clutch management time here.
Well, now they’ll surtely walk WB to get to Ichiro.
Smart play, given WFB’s lack of power.
283
Can’t Moyer pinch hit?
IGNITION
When you have the tying run on base, two outs bottom of the ninth, and all you have at the plate is Willie Bloomquist… you suck.
Something, somewhere went terribly, terribly wrong with your team.
I mean I was forced to sit here and PRAY that our hitter gets hit by a pitch so a real hitter can come to the plate.
That’s a sad, sad thing.
Story within a story:
Aggressive baserunning comes close, but not quite enough to take over moneyball.
I’d like to say this doesn’t hurt. But it does.
Willie is horrible.
Gotta admit–that’s a perfect ending, poetically speaking.
Goodbye, 2006 playoff hopes. It was nice knowing you.
Great to see a guy with FOUR extra base hit all year STRIKE OUT with no clue to end it.
Good thing we used Dobbs earlier in a non critical situation
Game over… and so is the season.
Do you think WFB ever feels bad for stealing a roster spot that deservedly belongs to someone else, or do you think he keeps telling himself, “I’m an ignitor, I’m gritty and doggoneit, people like me!”
I mean I was forced to sit here and PRAY that our hitter gets hit by a pitch so a real hitter can come to the plate.
May have solved removing someone from our roster as well.
What a series. Really exposed the underlying mediocrity of the M’s, particularly in the starting rotation. Not a single starter showed any kind of command. How could you expect to win a division, let alone a playoff series, with 3 starters who couldn’t crack the rotation of any of the division leaders?
274
I forgot to add Lopez’s botched dp ball
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David, Did you see the last name of who the M’s hit against tomorrow? Does that INCREASE of decrease our chances of winning?
And the Curse of Mike Cameron lives on.
*BIG SIGH*
Haha, yeah, the almight Tampa Bay Corcoran. Loves it.
We aren’t done yet, but man do we have to get hot.
53-45 vs everyone else.
We’ll be alright…until we play THEM again. The main problem is hoping they’ll start losing again, now that we gave them ANOTHER healthy dose of confidence.
Ugh!
Wilie deserves a roster spot, but it’s the 25th spot. Unfortunately, that’s what we fgae down to in this situation. One downside to the two-headed DH is that if you PH onbe for the other like Hargrove did, you burn a bench player.
I scanned the season stats of each hitter in the starting lineups of these two clubs to see who had BB/AB ratios of 10% or better. Among the A’s, most of them did (of course), and only Payton isn’t close. Among the Mariners, there’s Raul, and then, uh, let’s see, uh, I’ll get back to you.
Unfortunately we’re in a race where the competition has 12 cylinders and we’re trying to get by on six.
307
Excellent analysis. Unfortunately, we STILL haven’t figured out that its A LOT easier to score when people get on base via something BESIDES singles. Nothing wrong with walks.
Unfortunately, I’m watching the game around all of my sisters-in-law. I love ‘em, but none could understand why I was writhing in pain and frustration during the WFB at-bat.
Seriously, how much worse could RR have done?
MONEYBALL (See # 236, # 272, # 275, etc.) All this adulation! Does the name JEREMY BONDERMAN ring a bell?
#305, 306 and 308:
Here’s how I see it:
Oakland just proved head to head that they are better than the M’s. Sure the Ms are 53-45 against everyone else so far but if the As are better than the Ms, what are the chances that the As will be 6.5 games worse against everyone else than the Ms for the final 50 or so remaining games?
This weekend really hurts.
Right about now… I could use a Mike’s Hard Lemonade to recover from another Mike’s Hard Loss. If Bavasi doesn’t pull the trigger tonight, we have over-rated his smarts. There is nothing for Bavasi to gain by going down with the ship with Hargrove. He’ll be replaced along with Hargrove at the end of the season.
I’ll bet he isn’t.
For anyone holding out hope for the postseason I giver you the odds from Baseball Prospectus: 3.7%
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/ps_odds.php
or click on through to reach the PECOTA adjusted odds: 3.1%
Required reading for Ms fans this year:
Gary Regan’s “The Joy of Mixology”
Who knew a hand-made Tom Collins can take the edge off a sweep and skies filled with F-18s.
Way late but still needs to said.
I’d rather be under the flight path of the entirw Blue Angels squadron during high-G manuevers then pedaling down damn near any street in America with a single soccor mom driving an SUV, talking on her Razor while chugging her Starbuck’s triple grande non-fat, iced half-caf mocha.
By the way…I’ve raced bikes for years, average 6,000± a year and I’m too foolish to not ride.
That’s fine, but here’s the problem: if I’m out biking and that soccer mom takes me out, that’s just me. Running the Blue Angels over a metro area puts far more people at risk.
The chances a biker gets hit may be larger than the chances that biker has a F-18 fall on him, sure. But if that F-18 crashes, how many people does it kill?
Anyway.
317: I don’t really care if people stereotype a little bit (they are often amusing), but do you think you could fit a few more into that post?
He forgot… “with 2 screaming kids in the back, on the phone with her therapist”.
This just in from the Silver Lining Department: Isn’t Scott Kazmir still on the DL? He hasn’t started a game since July 23. Just our luck he’d be activated in time for our series. Anyone know his status? If we can avoid him, we can get back on track.
Hey this internet thing is really cool, I just answered my own questions. Went to this thing called a “web site” or something like that, and found the TB probable starters. Cocoran (3.54 ERA), Seo (5.56) and Shields (5.28). So we’re looking at three starts by Broussard. And NO KAZMIR!!!!!!!
I wonder where Gil Meche would have fit on the ‘62 Mets. Not the ace spot, anyway. Sort of makes one shudder.
Did it really take until comment #323 for someone to mention the title of today’s game thread?
To be much more specific…
Since the inception of the Blue Angels in 1946, 23 pilots have been killed in airshows/training exercises. No regular joe, on a bike or otherwise, has been killed due to the actions of the Blue Angels.
They perform greater then 70 shows per year and train over 120 hour of flight prior to the airshow season.
If we are going to be big fans of predictive statistics on this website, I think we may be able to see that the Blue Angels are capable of repeatable skills. This repeatable skill can be interpeted as one that allows maximum safety for any person who may be under their flight plan.
To be clear…I’ve had 3 large martinis with dinner and I fly aircraft, upside down for fun, and regulary use my private pilot’s ticket.
Speaking of which, Jason, I didn’t know Babe Ruth was now black, right handed, and wore number 35, nor did I know the 27 Yankees now wear green and yellow. Also, what is that thing on Lou Gehrig’s face, why was he batting 6th and why did he wear SWISHER 33 on the back of his jersey? Was this some sort of weird Turn The Clock Into LSD game?
And man, Pipgras OWNS us. How does he do that?