Game 147, Mariners at Royals
RHP Francisco Cruceta vs. RHP Luke Hudson, 5:10pm.
I was all set to say that Cruceta would be making his first major league start, but it turns out he did that way back in September of 2004 with the Indians. In any event, Cruceta comes off a minor league season in which he fanned 185 hitters in 160 innings at Tacoma. He also walked better than four hitters per nine innings, so it’s not as if this is a finished product. Does he wind up in relief? Perhaps. But as Dave has said, why not make sure he can’t start?
The best news of the day is that Betancourt’s out of the #3 slot in the lineup. Any guesses as to who has replaced him? Johjima, certainly not a name I was expecting but a vast improvement over Betancourt.
CF Ichiro!
3B Beltre
C Johjima
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
DH Broussard
SS Betancourt
RF Doyle
2B Lopez
Of course, Hargrove then goes nuts by hitting Betancourt ahead of both Doyle and Lopez. I was all for moving Lopez down in the order, because ultimately I think his lack of patience makes him a #6 hitter as opposed to a #2 or #3 hitter. But Doyle 8th? That’s crazy talk. I’d personally go Ichiro-Doyle-Beltre at the top, but that’s just me. Of course, it’s pointless to get upset about lineup order for two reasons: it doesn’t matter all that much, and we won’t have to deal with Hargrove next season anyway.
The Royals counter with DeJesus, German, Grudz, Brown, Shealy, Costa, Buck, Gathright, Blanco. This offense was bad even with Mark Teahen’s breakout year — without him, it’s even worse. But hey, at least Buddy Bell has the sense to hit his all-field, no-hit SS 9th.
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maybe Doyle is 9th to get a runner on base for Ichiro? maybe?
All though I wouldn’t call Betancourt “all-field, no-hit”. I’d call him great-field, great-hit, (at least in the #8-9 hole.)
New theory on Yuni in the 3 hole. His parents/family were about to watch from Cuba…but only for a few games, and Hargrove was being nice.
Weird stat for the day: The M’s are dead last in MLB in doubles, but best in the AL in triples (4th overall in MLB).
Beltre leads the team in doubles (36) while Lopez leads the team in triples (8).
Perfect game through .1
5: You jinxed it.
I don’t think that (82 MPH) was a fastball, Dave.
The Mariners won’t score 10 runs this game.
Let’s see how that works.
Really? SS covering the steal with a right-handed batter?
Well this is going well.
thus speaks the former 2d baseman?
could we stop loading up the bases to get to Shealy?
I told you not to do it.
OK, so this is going even worse.
Because of Todd Helton maybe(?), Red.
26 homers at Colorado Springs… not all that impressive.
Shealy’s going to request a trade to the AL West just to see the M’s more.
Do you think somebody slipped Red a note on that one, JI?
It appears that Senor Francisco doesn’t have his head attached right now.
That’s what, 9 RBIs (so far) in two days for Shealy? He better enjoy it: this series may be the high point of his entire career.
so, what, no one wants the job of no.5 starter for the Ms?
or (dare we hope) is it is a cunning plan to get Grover out?
Nice throw, Raul.
“Use a little Kentucky windage.”
How’s the jersey taste Cruceta?
Granted, Helton looks more and more like Decline Phase John Olerud nowadays, but he is under contract for another 1200 years at eleventy million per; so if he doesn’t go Spiezio he’s gonna play.
Plus, wouldn’t Cruceta be exactly the type of pitcher Shealy was reaming at AAA?
Red Sox at Yankees rained out here tonight in New York, so they’ll now play doubleheaders both Saturday and Sunday. Normally that’d be a huge deal, but there’s very little interest in the series here as it is given the standings.
I told you Blanco could pick it.
[i]Normally that’d be a huge deal, but there’s very little interest in the series here as it is given the standings. [/i]
You don’t say. ESPN and FOX are collectively ramming the entire series up our– I mean– down our throats (wait, that one’s suggestive too) all weekend long.
dunno how Shealy hit against him, but he saw Cruceta all year in the PCL….
I always do that.
Wow, Once A Week Woods in the second already. I think I’ll be flipping to that ESPN wrap-around. (Maybe flipping back for Doyle’s at bats).
Cruceta out?
Not that I really care, but I think he should of been out there for the 2nd.
I precit 15-6 is the final tonight.
well, I’m off for a while to make some Norwegian crumb cake. Maybe that will make things better.
I precit 15-6 is the final tonight.
15-6 Mariners? That will max us out on this month’s run quota.
When I wrote that, it didn’t even cross my mind that KC had just scored their 6th. I meant it 15-6 to the bad.
Larry LaRue writes in today’s Tacoma newspaper that Hargrove and the remaininng coaches will return for the 2007 season.
The decision on Rohn, who was in a newly created administrative coaching position, was more about a clash of personalities. Sources said Rohn disagreed with Hargrove’s managing and, worse, talked to other coaches and players about it.
Good for Rohn.
(Link to TNT article.)
I just checked the scoreboard on CBS SportsLine’s GameCenter, and came over here…JMB, I didn’t really get past “why not make sure he can’t start?”
He can’t start.
(aaack!)
For what its worth, the fact that Francisco Cruceta got exactly one inning tonight is a total crock. Yes, it was a bad inning, but every pitcher in baseball has had an inning that bad.
The Mariners had already decided that Cruceta wasn’t a major league starter, and odds are that they were right – his command is poor and he only has a fastball that he can consistently locate for strikes – so his future is in the bullpen.
But to give him just one inning in a meaningless game in September when the team is out of the race? That’s just stupidity.
The organization does some things well. Unfortunately, they’re about as good at evaluating pitching talent as a blind horse.
Dave or JMB, can you please tell me why you think Hargrove is gone after the season? The big 3 papers today all seem to suggest that these 2 coaching moves indicate that the M’s are going to go with both Bavasi and Hargrove for at least another year.
We’ve covered that in the past couple of threads. Feel free to read those.
I think Hargrove’s gone because they need a scapegoat. I think he’s gone because they were ready to fire him during the season (hence keeping Rohn around) but didn’t. What could Hargrove possibly have done this season to change his standing?
Stupid Pete Rose.
#39. Earlier today was the first time I heard on the Mariners network invitations to send in your money for season tickets for next year…
How many of you are having second thoughts about doing that, if you weren’t already?
#42 – I missed it. Why is Pete Rose stupid (besides the obvious)?
Oh, the AFLAC trivia question was about him.
2007 Season Tickets: Send us your money so we can blow it on veteran starting pitching.
Or, 2007 Season Ticket Deposits: Because we’re going to be paying two managers next year.
2007 Season Ticket Deposits: Help defray the cost of Joel Pineiro’s arbitration.
See, this is a fun game.
Woo.
On May 12th, Joel Pineiro had this string of results against the Angels:
Walk, single, single, single, single, foul out, single, walk, double play, home run. 10 batters faced, 2 walks, 6 hits, 1 HR, 2 batters retired.
He would, of course, get many, many more starts this year.
On April 18th, Jake Woods had this string of results against the Rangers:
Walk, walk, walk, strikeout, single, flyout, walk, strikeout. 8 batters faced, 4 walks, 1 hit, 3 batters retired.
He would, of course, get many more appearances, and eventually be moved into the rotation.
On July 4th, Julio Mateo had this string of results against the Angels:
Double, walk, flyout, double, walk, single, flyout, single, popout.
9 batters faced, 2 walks, 4 hits, 3 batters retired.
He would, of course, get many more high leverage situations and become Hargrove’s go to right-handed setup man in tie games.
I’m just saying.
2007 Season Tickets – Revenge of the J’s (Joel, Jake, Julio) – This Time It’s Personal
Would “The J’s Strike Back” come before or after “The Revenge”?
Lest we forget:
Bottom 1st: Texas
- G. Matthews Jr. walked
- M. Young walked, G. Matthews Jr. to second
- C. Lee flied out to deep right center, G. Matthews Jr. to third
- M. Teixeira walked, M. Young to second
- H. Blalock reached on fielder’s choice, G. Matthews Jr. scored, M. Young to third, M. Teixeira to second on B. Broussard’s throwing error
- M. DeRosa singled to right, M. Young and M. Teixeira scored, H. Blalock to third
- M. Stairs flied out to shallow left
- I. Kinsler walked, M. DeRosa to second
- R. Barajas safe at first on shortstop Y. Betancourt’s throwing error, H. Blalock and M. DeRosa scored, I. Kinsler to third, R. Barajas to second
- G. Matthews Jr. singled to shallow right, R. Barajas and I. Kinsler scored
- M. Young flied out to deep right
Bottom 2nd: Texas
- C. Lee walked
- M. Teixeira walked, C. Lee to second
- J. Woods relieved G. Meche
Thirteen batters faced over 1+ inning: 6 BB, 2 H, 3 FO, 2 Reached on error.
I don’t give a damn about the errors. You have to be something special to walk 6 people in 1+ inning, let alone do that and then whenever pitch meets strike zone, give up a couple base hits and a couple deep fly balls outs.
Those are productive outs right there.
Raise your hand if you’re geeky enough to call the Royals pitcher “The Sisco” a la Deep Space Nine.
*hand up*
I mean the two that just scored Sexson, not those mentioned in #53 above.
Let’s just hope there isn’t a “Return of the J’s”
Sisco’s a great athlete, even though as you mentioned, he’s huge. — Fairly
2007 Season Tickets – Let’s welcome Darin Erstad, Rondell White, and Poulsbo’s own Aaron Sele to the team!
*hand up*
Though calling him the Emmisary would probably be geekier.
The J’s in: The Replacement Level Wars.
I like that we have dueling Star Trek / Star Wars references going on.
Big Papi, Little Papi… I go to school with a girl named Poppy. Does that mean anything?
Mmmm, Poppy Montgomery.
Well, as long as Joel the Hutt is turned into Bantha Fodder before next years episode I don’t care.
Or there is always Poppy 2.0
No, her name isn’t Poppy Montgomery.
Oh, you play the game according to what the scoreboard says!
WOO!
Beltre!!!!! One exclamation for each rbi tonight
Apparently the scoreboard told Beltre to hit that pitch out.
I dunno if Adrian’s worth the money he’s being paid but he’s worth a lot to me as a fan. Love watching him when it’s working.
He certainly is fun to watch when he’s going well.
But when he’s going bad… man. Ugly plate appearances.
yo, Adrian! that’s the way to rejoin the game. so, was Lopez actually out at 2nd, or was it another whack call?
#42– a friend and I were joking a month or so back about the need for his Nats & my Ms to watch some Tom Emanski videos– I opened the mail the other day to find a lovely copy of “Pete Rose’s winning baseball”, with a thoughtful note indicating that he couldn’t find any Emanski for me, but that he’d give me 5 to 1 that this book was better…
When Beltre is off his game it’s uglier than my ex destroying 1 microwave and 1/2 a kitchen cooking a baked potato.
Trying to catch up here a little – that is awesome about Rohn. Good for him. It’s refreshing to see someone with the confidence and moral conviction to say what needs to be said, even if it means his job. There’s too little of that in this organization. And look at that, we’re ahead all of a sudden!
Those Tom Emansky videos are so good, I’m giving them my full endorsement.
Ditto Sexson’s RBI double to take the lead.
MSB – it was a bad call. He was safe.
I have to say that if ‘Ambiorix’ isn’t the most unusual first name in baseball, it’s got to be in the top three.
“On his arrival, however, Ambiorix seized him, stripped him of his arms and clothing, and then struck him down with his javelin, uttering boastful words over him, such as these: ‘How can such creatures as you wish to rule us who are so great?’”
have the Ms had more bogus calls on them than usual this season, or is it that I am so worn down by the losing that it just seems that way…
I’d like to point out that we’re in the 7th inning and the Mariners have yet to strike out a Royals batter.
These aren’t exactly the 27 Yankees.
Geez, Dave, ruin it for the rest of us…
there are times that I don’t even think they are the ‘62 Mets.
80 – We’re either getting hosed on a call, or making an incredibly bone-headed baserunning play (or, sometimes, both!).
And there’s K #1, Dave.
And down goes the first Royal by Strikeout.
As noted, there have been other people named Ambiorix. He looks like an athlete, too.
Looks like I screwed up the html despite diligent effort. It was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ambiorix.jpg
Butt Night at Kaufmann Stadium??? Interesting promotion.
Righty-righty or not, I question the wisdom of walking Ichiro to get to a guy as hot as Beltre has been in this game.
But then again, it’s Buddy Bell.
#88– you’d think Fox would be promoting it harder, seems right up their alley.
what was that about Blanco, Jason?
Does anyone think that either of these teams could win back-to-back-to-back AAU championships, even with Tom Emanski at the helm? My money is against it.
92- Emanski will be at the game tomorrow to recruit Joel.
92-For that matter, could Joel get Fred McGriff out, if he were to face the Crime Dog tonight?
I mean 93, unless I’ve resorted to asking myself hypothetical questions within the thread.
8: Howm any runs will the M’s not score?
95- The crime dog would take Joel deep, no questions asked.
boy it did not take long for Hargrove to fall in love with Huber.
If you thought Cruceta had a bad night, consider Hayden Penn, who went 3 innings and gave up 7 runs against Detroit tonight, making it his best start of the year. His season line:
7 1/3 IP, 24 H, 22 R, 5 HR, 5 BB, 3 K, 27.00 ERA
29 of the 51 batters he has faced this year have reached base safely.
To get his ERA for the season under 5.00, he would need a 22 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings streak.
Oh, and by the way, that walk last inning was Adrian’s first of the month.
Does anybody know what number Oswaldo Navarro is wearing?
Sooo sick of that damned Tom Petty song. Those of you on MLB.tv know what I mean.
Mariners.com says #17. ESPN.com says #61.
Turkey!
At least we got the thread over 100 posts tonight.
C’mon, Benuardo.
TJ and the Bomb!
TJ BOHN! Somebody grab that baseball.
Bohn: Heh, this is totally super. Hitting off this guy is just like AAA pitchers.
Put this game to bed, please.
I wish Bohn would catch on at the major league level. It would eternally amuse me to watch a guy who looks like Jeff Spicoli playing for the Mariners.
Lopez: Where are my homers off KC scrubs?
There’s the Bohn Bomb; a little bit of candy during this ‘trip to the dentist’-like September for the Ms.
Do you think the annoucers for other clubs are as obsessed with the birthplaces of their players as the M’s announcers are?
Maybe we should push for getting a hometown announcer.
I hope so.
0FM6 W3 0WN3D T3H Z7 Ұ4NKZ!!!11!11!1!one!
I hate it when the Mariners win.
Um, Y4NKZ. Character didn’t show up.
Birthplaces are traditionally a BIG thing for announcers. Broadcast regions in the old 8-team Leagues could cover thousands of sqm, and it was a way of tying in individual listeners to a player and so to a team identity. Goes waa-aa-ay back. It’s an indication of how _old school_ the Ms announcers are, and how radio-bred-in-the-bone, not TV vapor-gab, that they still give the old home town line consistent air time.
Good game, everyone. I’m off to bed.
Gawd, that’s over at last. I swear, Little League _must_ be more fun to follow than September gettin’ oozy in the fridge like we’re watching now. Oh and Beltre in his walk-a-month modality?: back to Adrian being Adrian. Probably wants a few more dingers to pad his season aggregates—and he got one, so he’ll be the designated ‘hero’ in the media coverage tonight *bllehhhh*.
98-For Penn’s sake, it’s too bad he missed that start against the M’s when he had the appendectomy. That would have helped his numbers out a bit.
Bela,
I don’t mean to be rude, but when it comes to Adrian Beltre, we know you have an irrational hatred of the guy, okay? Let it die.
I’ll take 3 for 4 with a hr, double, and walk 9 days a week.
#120– thanks for staying up with us, Jason. btw, Baking & Pastry Skill Development sounds both wonderful and dangerous.
nice win, that was actually a really big comeback.
Still mad about Cruceta getting the hook after 1. If it was Meche, Washburn or Joel I wouldn’t mind the hook, but come on Grover don’t totally kill any confidence he may of had. Let him try and pitch 3 or 4 innings and make him feel good about himself.
Something tells me Grover would not of pulled Woods had he given up 5 in the 1st.
Still mad about Cruceta getting the hook after 1. If it was Meche, Washburn or Joel I wouldn’t mind the hook, but come on Grover don’t totally kill any confidence he may of had. Let him try and pitch 3 or 4 innings and make him feel good about himself.
I don’t feel entirely led to believe that Hargrove just came up with the idea himself after Cruceta started getting roughed up. Thus I don’t believe it was completely his decision.
I jinxed Freddy’s perfect game, so here goes: Maddux no-hitter through 5, 56 pitches
All right, I can’t help it:
Ambiorix’s agent needs to get on the horn with Pfizer RIGHT NOW about a name-licensing agreement.
Some hack out here writing for the AZ republic was rambling about who he’d vote the NL Cy Young, talking about difference between wins and losses, ERA being his two main criteria, and at one point he joked that maybe Greg Maddux would throw 3 no hitters and he’d have to consider him. Maddux now has a no hitter through 6, so I find that amusing.
130- I live in AZ as well and I read that article. Wasn’t a big fan, but in all fairness the CY is pretty much judged on Win/loss record and ERA and Arizona should have the CY young winner for 2006.
Go Maddux. It’s good for baseball when Greg Maddux pitches a no-hitter.
damn.
131- Webb just pitched a complete game one run gem, now leads the NL in innings, wins and 2nd in ERA behind Carpenter.
How the hell does Grady Little pinch hit for Maddux in a two run game after 68 pitches?!?!?
134
Yeah I was watching. Webb is awesome, he is my favorite pitcher in the bigs. I hope he wins the CY, he seems like a real good guy and he has earned it with his pitching this season.
Maddux had 68 through 7 innings, imagine what he would do against the M’s…
Roy Halladay demonstrated again today what a dumb idea it is to evaluate pitchers based on their W-L records.
Since his last win, he’s started 5 games. In one of those he left in the first inning after being hit by a line drive. In the other four, he pitched 32 innings allowing 12 runs. 6 of those runs came in a 7 inning outing against the Red Sox where he took the loss.
So in the other three, he’s thrown 9, 7, and 9 innings, allowing 2, 1 and 3 runs. His record in those three games: 0-1
AL Cy Young voting really needs to go Johan-Halladay. No one else is close. I’d probably vote for K-Rod third because he leads AL pitchers in WPA.
5, 6, 8: Hey, how about that!
Although obvious other arguments could and should be presented, barring a total power outage in the last couple of weeks, I don’t see the AL Cy Young going to anyone other than Johan, based on one simple fact – he has a legitimate shot to be the Triple Crown winner.
I don’t mean of the AL, I’m talking about MLB. Just noticed that earlier today. He’s currently tops in each category.
Like I was saying, those don’t necessarily mean he’s been the best pitcher, in fact all three can be very deceiving. As it is though, I doubt anyone else gets more than a cursory glance.
In the end though, it would probably be a tough argument to say that anyone else deserves it more, especially if you consider Cy Young to at least be partially based on actual perforance and results.
Isn’t he more than just triple crown?
First in MLB in ERA by .07
First in MLB in Wins by 1
First in MLB in K’s by 43!
First in AL in IP, second to Arroyo by .2
First in AL in BAA, surprisingly first is Matt Cain, and second is Zambrano
First in MLB in WHIP by .06
I still say he should be MVP
Bela,
Is Ichiro channeling Vic Davalillo, who I think is still active in the Venezuela winter league?
With most local media speculating that Hargrove will be back, citing “indications” from “team sources,” please tell me tht USSM pronouncemets to the contrary are based upon similar, or better info….
it isn’t just local media– now, I don’t read enough of SF’s Bruce Jenkins to know if he is generally good or generally an idiot, but I was a little startled to see him tuck this into his ‘notes’ section today: “The Mariners, meanwhile, seem committed to manager Mike Hargrove for another year, and there’s another dreadful decision. Ichiro Suzuki, a potential free agent after the ‘07 season, is said to be less than thrilled with Hargrove. Losing him would be a disaster.”
there was also an interesting piece out of Texas that the Missions might be looking for a different affiliate team today
poorly phrased, there– I meant the article was today, not the search.
of course Scott Miller at CBS thinks it means the opposite: “The firing of bench coach Ron Hassey in Seattle, a close friend of Mike Hargrove’s, as well as administrative coach Dan Rohn (administrative coach?) signals that everyone there — including Hargrove and GM Bill Bavasi — are a few steps closer themselves to walking the plank. Hargrove has one year left on his deal. “
From the article on the Missions:
“They have been told that the Mariners don’t have any interest in winning at Double-A,” said a source close to the situation who did not want to be identified. “They’re just interested in developing players.”
I thougth that developing players is why MLB clubs have minor league affiliates. That quote seems more like a justification than a reason for changing MLB affiliates.
As far as the “Grover Gone on 07″ question, it would seem odd to fire Hassey if Grover was going to be back next year. Unlike the rest of the coaching staff, which floats quite a bit, bench coaches and managers tend to be joined at the hip (at least until and if the bench coach gets a shot at managing).
But then oddities abound already. Hassey bailing immediately instead of sticking around for another three weeks – that’s odd. I don’t undertsand it unless Hassey was just incredibly unhappy about something. Coaches get fired every season and it isn’t a black mark. Comes with the territory, and doesn’t make you unemployable elsewhere. Leaving in a hurry – even if everyone says it’s voluntary – makes it seem like Hassey was canned for something other than a losing season and becomes something he probalby has to ’slpain to potential future employers. Unless of course he just expects to hitch up with Grover in the next gig.
More Kremlinology. Da, but what else do we have to do for the rest of this season? See if Meche can pitch well enough to earn us a compensation pick?
I lean toward Scott Miller’s line of reasoning (and agree that the effect of leaving Hargrove in place on Ichiro is by itself reason not to keep Hargrove around, among many others), but of course I’ve learned that “indications from team sources” that contradict logical reasoning might need to be given more weight with this team. I don’t want to know what the USSM boys have been told, just that they have some basis for believing that Hargrove will be gone based on similar “indications from team sources” that they feel confident with . . ..
The “team sources” themselves are probably on the chopping block, so they might be inclined to spread around a little disinformation…
The “team sources” themselves are probably on the chopping block, so they might be inclined to spread around a little disinformation…
Poisoning the well makes our observations of theirs more objective than theirs are toward the truth?
Seriously though, there may be some validity to either viewpoint, but right now those of us who don’t have direct sources (myself included) are more likely to “read into” something than actually take it FWIW, if that makes sense.
I’m willing to wait and see what comes down. I feel fairly confident in the thought that they will take care of that “business” but I’d like to see what transpires in the months ahead.
#146. If the Mariners were stupid enough to say something like that ‘we’re only interested in the minor league team to develop players, not win’, even internally knowing it could get back to the minor league team owner….
Here’s the thing. The minor league team owner makes his money from the gate. From merchandise. From concessions. They don’t have big TV or radio contracts.
So – more than the majors, the minor league owners NEED that team to perform well, to draw well. I mean, they can draw some folks with the promotions, but the season ticket holders who are their base revenue…they’ll want the team to WIN. Why should they (in Texas, in California, in Tacoma even) give a rip about whether the Mariners end up doing well or not?
If the parent club doesn’t take that into account, then the minor league owners – at ANY affiliate level – would be perfectly justified in not wanting to re-sign an affiliation agreement.
Man, this sucks because the Rainiers new owner lives in Texas and has most likely seen that quote as well, and they’re in the middle of re-negotiating an affiliation agreement too.
Oly Rainiers Fan — You are exactly on the mark, in my book. Like you, I am (almost) as big a fan of the Rainiers (and to a lesser extent, AquaSox) as I am of the Mariners. I want to see competitive games, AT LEAST.
I sure hope the M’s don’t shit in their nest because having a couple of affilliates close is marketing genius.