Game 157, A’s at Mariners
Dave · September 25, 2006 at 7:03 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Esteban Loaiza, who has been lights out in the second half, against Cesar Jimenez, who isn’t a major league pitcher. The A’s can clinch the division with a win.
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I’m pretty sure they also need Anaheim to lose.
I’m sure the Angels are digging the Mariners and their choice of pitcher tonight.
And Doyle with a nice catch to start the game!
1 — A’s Magic # is 2 — two A’s wins, two Angels’ losses, or one of each and the A’s clinch the AL West.
Early thoughts — Jimenez is working really quickly — I’d seen him a few times in Tacoma, and he didn’t seem to be in this much of a hurry.
Jimenez would be a great cricket bowler.
We’s gonna sweep Oakland.
Why in the hell are we starting this guy? I guess we should make sure Piniero is ready for relief and Willie hits clean up so we ensure another loss to the A’s.
Fwiw, I think Jimenez actually LOWERED his e.r.a. with another crappy inning. NEWSFLASH: The kid ain’t ready yet…sigh
Haven’t watched Beltre bat for a while, as my children have taken over all TVs in the house in a violent coup.
He looks like he’s playing Whack-a-Mole.
Does anyone know if there were any callers on the post game show asking why Grover used Piniero TWICE in a row to screw us?
I know the media themselves wouldn’t have the guts to ask a legitimate question like that.
It’s Pineiro.
Man, the M’s are strong up the middle. That looked cool, even though Chavez was jogging.
That’s great…
If one of my two questions was “how do you spell Joel’s last name”
Sorry for the misspell, but I guess I’m just a wee bit more concerned with the M’s conceding another loss to the A’s rather than spelling some loser’s last name right.
Why in the hell are we starting this guy?
who should they start?
Richie!!!!!
13 – I was just trying to save you from further editing. The Pineiro thing is kind of a trigger around here.
So… at this stage of the season, IS there a reason to continue to trot out the starters? I will concede that giving Jiminez a start is not “taking a look at their future,” but should the M’s keep the rotation intact?
pregame health updates–
Baek is sore, so they are shutting him down.
Campillo was at home in Az, and planning to pitch winterball when they called to ask if he’d like to come back up here.
Sori still has occasional headaches, but is allowed to do some training.
Lowe’s elbow is still bothering him ‘though his first MRI had not shown anything; they’ve brought him back & plan to do another & see if they can figure things out.
oh. and Raul thinks that Lou keeping him on the bench may have had the benefit of keeping his body healthier as he ages
Hell’s ya keep the rotation intact. They’re all due for a victory over Oakland.
which rotation is that? Moyer is gone. Washburn is hurt. Joel is crap. Gil pitches wednesday, Felix pitches saturday. That leaves Woods (tuesday), Fieirabend (friday), Travis Chick & Francisco Cruceta.
So basically the organization literally has NO ONE else to trot out there. Wow…if that really is the case, just how sad is that?
Watching Ichiro position himself to play that ball in center made me flash back to Tony Kubek and Joe Garagiola imploring the “kids at home” to watch and learn. He comes up coiled and ready to throw.
Whatever happened to Jeff Harris anyway?
released in July
#19So basically the organization literally has NO ONE else to trot out there. Wow…if that really is the case, just how sad is that?
it’s not like they are playing for anything– when the minor league seasons ended they sent everyone else home. You aren’t going to call those guys back….
23
But we SHOULD be playing for SOMETHING. I see nothing wrong with putting the best possible team out there to try and finish .500 and/or to FINALLY get out of the cellar. Or how ’bout actually beating the A’s again this year?
Yeah, that’s probably more of a reflection of me being overly competitve than the M’s tanking it, but it still bugs me.
But like you said: Its not like they’re playing for anything. The last two games with Grover’s decisions (like putting in Piniero with the game on the line TWICE) would certainly agree with that I suppose.
cool! the home plate ump is Mike Reilly, who made that fabulous wrong call at 1st in the rainy Yankee game and then delayed calling the rain delay much too late…
#24– and even if they were playing for something, this last-minute rash of injuries would have left them in much the same boat (except they would have hung onto Moyer)
#22
He was then resigned a few weeks later.
25
Good recognition on that since you’re right it is none other than him. Good call at home though, calling Jo safe.
22
Hold on.
Harris was available to fill in the past few weeks are were going with these guys? At least Harris showed he could pitch marginally decent at the ML level. Other than Huber, have ANY of these youngsters even done that?
I guess I just think .500 and/or third place would’ve really been a great accomplishment by this group. Who knows? Maybe we’ll miraculously pull out tonight’s game.
Hey I can dream, right?
with each passing day Sexson makes himself more and more the road to salvation (payroll flexibility)….
Seriously, you’re whining because we’re not starting Jeff Harris?
#27– oh, yeah…. it made such an impression on me, I guess.
mid-July “Signed by Seattle as a free agent. Placed on Tacoma roster and assigned to Peoria on a Minor League Rehabilitation Assignment”
08/03 came off the DL
08/28″Jeff Harris Placed on Temporarily Inactive List” (roster manipulation)
he had a handful of not exactly dominating starts, pitched in Tacoma’s playoffs and at age 32-33 wasn’t someone they really needed to take a look at….
31
I’d rather whine about SOMETHING then be satisfied with tanking it after really playing well for a stretch. The White Sox should’ve shown you today why there’s no reason we should’ve have swept them. Its not about Jeff Harris, its about showing we have a lot of pitchers not ready for the majors with no one else apparently to turn to right now. Like I’ve been saying, .500 should’ve been an important goal to reach. So what if it bothers me seeing that goal go down the crapper?
But hey, if you’re enjoying games like tonight’s, and the last two, then that’s certainly your right. I was sorta liking this “winning thing” the past few months and was disappointed to see we have basically no shot tonight with the arms were throwing out there.
I’ve been following the M’s since 1980 and remember several years where this was the type of arms we got to see on a more regular basis. Call it nightmare flashbacks if you want.
32
Thanks. Maybe he wasn’t a viable option. He was a nice story last year imho after going through about a zillion stops before reaching the majors.
I just hate losing to Oakland. Heck, we should all hate losing 16 straight to ANY team, much less the A’s.
But hey, if you’re enjoying games like tonight’s, and the last two, then that’s certainly your right. I was sorta liking this “winning thing” the past few months and was disappointed to see we have basically no shot tonight with the arms were throwing out there.
Get off your self-righteous high horse and stop complaining. Good Lord, it’s the last week of the season and the team has had a bunch of pitchers come up with sore arms, so they’re making due with what they have. Would you prefer they make these guys pitch through it? Did you enjoy the era of “you’re not hurt, son, just go throw” advice from the pitching coaches where the line for TJ surgery was longer than season tickets?
Jeff Harris isn’t any better than Cesar Jimenez. Neither one is a major league pitcher. Neither is Travis Chick. You know why they’re pitching? Because they have to. We’re running out of live bodies. That’s why we recalled Jorge Campillo from his home in Arizona today.
The M’s aren’t tanking. They’re surviving. They just happen to care more about the careers of their pitchers than your desire to see the team improve their chances of winning a meaningless game by five percent.
#34: I dunno….could the M’s lose 16 straight to a nicer bunch of guys?
I’m starting to think we might lose this game.
#37: nah…..just send Snelling deep on a post pattern and this baby is a nail biter again…
for those of you who can actually watch the games, what’s going on with Doyle’s strike-out rate? Have major league pitchers found a hole in his swing that minor league pitchers did not?
Is it just me having trouble with gameday and mlb.com?
ERAs of tonight’s pitchers:
14.73, 12.60, 16.62
Fugly.
40: It’s not just you: it looks like Mark Ellis double about three innings in a row now.
Cruceta is the only one with more K’s than BB’s in his career, and thie season he is way below that mark.
So few comments….are corco and coach owens banned?
Sexson:
.259/.335/.496
Wow. He’s almost climbed out of that chasm he dug himself way back when.
Somebody get Raul a raise — this guy is absolutely ridiculous this year.
35
I can agree with most of you said. But unless Harris has regressed severely (which is entirely possible) which guy that pitched today is capable of having a a few quality starts like Harris has? Apparently it sure isn’t Jimenez yet. I guess I just prefer an over the hill minor league vet trying to eat up innings rather than erode the confidence of Jimenez and Chick.
Sure I was overreacting. But there are worse crimes than being sick of losing to the A’s.
High horse? Well, faithfully following a team for over 25 years in an area where virtually no one else wanted to, (mostly via the radio when I was a kid) leaves me overly attached and too critical sometimes. Didn’t mean to offend anyone though.
I just had a premonition: Mariners win with a walk-off tonight…
Hello?
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?
Come on, now.
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again………
hi
why is putz even warming up? seems silly to put him in this game.
As in hello? or Japanese yes?
just a greeting… not really watching the boards though, had the game on mute most of the night.
49
So is Matsuzaka the real deal or what?
Good start. Now we need Johjima to single and Ibanez to be intentionall walked. Then Richie can do his bases loaded thing.
And as I write, part A comes true!
He looked pretty good in the WBC. I would love to see how he would do in the MLB….
Who was dreaming of a walkoff earlier? I’d like to rain on Oakland’s parade tonight.
48
Lookin’ good so far I must say!
I just thinks its been great seeing Japanese players succeed in the majors…especially with the M’s of course!
And we have another Hargroveism – pinch run for the guy whose run is meaningless.
Woo!
I came back from Japan in 2000, it was like I was following Ichro after watching him for all those years in Japan…
This lineup is invincible!
Criminy. Jones and Willie, I don’t want to see this go to extra innings.
You dont see three guys with 4 hits all that often
Pinch running for the guy representing the winning run is a good thing.
59
Probably trying to keep out of the DP– who am I kidding, Willie needs his mandatory screen time.
Actually, it’s possible there was something wrong with Kenji. I have the radio on for audio (would rather listen to Dave N) and they seemed to think Kenji might have pulled up lame. Then again, it’s Dave and Red so who knows if their eyes can be trusted.
Jeez, Broussard looked clueless there.
K’s just as I type,
Does anyone have ANY faith in Ben Broussard?
I think he swings with his eyes closed. All his at bats are as follows
0-1
0-2
1-2
K
Why would Milton Bradley throw that ball home? That’s not too bright.
And those of us who stuck around are getting a pretty enjoyable inning at the end of this thing.
But 63, I agree, if they don’t win it this inning the people on the basepaths are going to kill the M’s when the lineup rolls over.
come with the walk-off….
DOBBER!
Greg Freakin’ Dobbs! HOLY SMOKES!!!
Put Street on suicide watch.
19 Hits? My-oh-My
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Whew!!!!!!!
Damn! Huston, we have a problem!
cmon YuBet!!
DOBBS!!! F* DOBBS!!!!!!
smile…
Yow! Right now, someone’s frantically removing the champagne and tarps from the Oakland clubhouse…
Somewhere in southern California, some Angels are making a lot of noise in a locker room.
go ahead and walk him….
Oh bugger. Yer money has to be on the As now.
Ah crap, our lineup’s crap now…
JJ better strike everyone out in the 10th
Is there any act of violence that wouldn’t be forgivable if Grover proceeds to put in Pineiro?
Ok, what’s the defensive alignment? Rivera in as catcher. Who takes over for Sexson?
Too bad Rizzs jinxed Broussard, we could have won.
I think this just might be the baseball gods playing a cruel joke on us by thinking the Mariners might actually beat the A’s.
I called for the walk-off, no inning specified….
#70: Why would Milton Bradley throw that ball home? That’s not too bright.
You answered your own question.
C’mon Putz…
Bloomquist at 1st, batting 5th. And our #3 batter? Rivera. Sigh
No champagne in the A’s clubhouse tonight even if they win: the Angels won tonight.
Go J.J.!
Uh, Hendu said that Willie would find a way to score. What happened, Hendu? Why didn’t he steal home from 2nd?
86
JJ must have heard ya
Man, what a contrast in closers tonight.
Wow, game comments just doubled over the last inning.
96
Sometimes I wonder if Hendu is really just trying to read a book or something and takes a break every now and then to catch up on what’s happening in the game.
94. No worries, only one batter required……
How many blown saves is that for Street now?
Great job by JJ
Couldn’t ask for any more momentum heading into the bottom of the 10th!
Thank you JJ
that wasn’t a save situation
JJ is flippin’ good.
It’s funny when the closer has twice the K’s in have the innings that your starter does.
Actually, it’s funny that your closer has even close to half the innings your starter does.
Actually, maybe it’s not funny.
my bad coach, it was…
Due to a complicated trend in our walk-off wins over the course of the year, I’m predicting that Beltre hits a walk-off homer.
I’ll explain the trend if it continues tonight.
Am I the only the one who thought it odd that Grover put in JJ, three runs down to pitch the top of 9th. I agree that he should expand the traditional view of the closer to high leverage situations other than the 9th with a lead. Today though. Not on Saturday when were up a few runs letting it slip away.
105. Wasn’t it for Street? I thought the rule was 3 runs or less.
Ichiro, do it….
Hey, how about this Ichiro guy?
Bunt…?
Jeez, Hargrove, don’t bunt Beltre! Rivera is an automatic out and you can’t hit for him.
Do we really need Beltre futily trying to bunt? Can’t Ichie get his like millionth straight steal instead?
110. I guess he wants him to win DHL Delivery Man of The Year.
I want to know what the complicated walk-off trend is.
yeah, coach, sorry. It’s late in my neck of the woods… getting a bit crosseyed here
111
Yes, and the announcers even pointed out that Eck used to get some like that.
Street has 9 blown saves this year coming into this game; last one was on 9/22 vs the Angels.
100
Hendu reads? Books? That assumes an awful lot.
Grover is such a tool
and the answer’s 10, counting today
Yikes
119 & 120. So thanks and how many blown saves is that for Street.
Oh – Walk off bunt, it’s the magnitude of the hit in descending order to produce the game winning run. Next it will be the diminutive strike-out that gets past the cather.
Bunting in front of Rivera? Fucking stellar, Hargrove.
Ichiro ought to get credit for HBP. </sarcasm>
YES!
NOW can we let Beltre hit?
Hendu: “He’s not hurt, the ball just hit him”
122
More proof you’re right:
Hendu’s latest gem: “Oh he’s not hurt. He just got hit hard by the ball.”
Yeah Hendu, no one has ever gotten hurt by a ball before…(eyes rolling)
who got hurt?
It would be cuddly if he stole third too and wasn’t really hurt at all
Ok, so would you say Ichiro hasn’t exactly given up on the season yet? (On the radio, Dave informs us this is Ichiro’s 392nd consecutive game — not all of those were starts, obviously).
118: I’ll explain a bit later (right after we walk off).
#133: Hendu, meet Ray Chapman. He’s not dead; the ball just hit him.
134. Ichiro got hit by the pickoff but he’s all right.
Now we get to see our Rivera/Suckquist middle of the order combo platter in action! Freakin’ Sweet!!!
Why are they playing this music for Rivera.
How many consecutive hits for Rivera to even get up to the Mendoza line?
isn’t ibanez our backup catcher? That is, oughtn’t Rene be pinch hit for?
138
Best. Post. Ever.
If they get Rivera out, they’ll walk Ibañez to pitch to Willie.
It would be hilarious if Rivera hit the walk-off…
Why would you even bother throwing Rene a strike?
Great, now they’ve got Bloomquist “protecting” Ibanez in the lineup. Any guesses what they’re going to do when Raul comes to the plate?
will someone please explain to me why Beltre was showing bunt? With Rivera hitting behind him. Give me a f***in’ break!
142. 6
#144: Thanks, I’m finally in midseason form. (Just like the M’s.)
ahh well. I really would have loved to see raul play catcher.
Ichi should steal, and we pray for Rene to put the ball in play.
If he lets Rene work the count full, he should just quit
Wow Rivera didn’t swing at that!
Can Raul just walk to first without even getting into the box?
Willie Walk-Off Time.
#149: Glad to oblige. The reason is, Mike Hargrove is the M’s manager.
I’d rather have Ray Chapman, I think.
OK M’s, show us your Willie.
Come on Bloomie.
uh oh, having to walk Ibanez to get to Richie
Fear the ignitor
(Nah, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face)
Why is the crowd booing? Willie is the ignitor! He makes things happen!
Walk.
Boy, never saw this coming, not even an inning ago.
Ichiro better steal home from second.
Interesting subplot to this series – the race between Rivera and Antonio Perez on the A’s for worst hitter that spent the whole year in the majors (OK, Rivera came up the second week in June).
Rivera has a 50 point lead in OPS, but Perez could catch him with a couple dingers this week. And with some of the pitchers the M’s could throw out this week, would you bet against that? His only homer this year came off Pineiro, after all.
Intentionally walking Ibanez to get to Sexson? When has that ended well this year?
ack, stupid bloomquish
when sexson is blooomquist
its Scrappy Doo not Sexson
Oh. It’s Bloomquist. Never mind. I should pay attention more.
Rick talking about Princess Willie is a MVP candidate.
Good Willie, don’t even take a pitch two feet outside up 1-0 in the count
That was one hell of a hack! Quite scrappy.
He’s got 14 RBI! He’s the guy you want up in a clutch situation. He’s the David Ortiz of Seattle!
169
Why? Grover obviously doesn’t
Willie walk-off.
Well we all saw THAT one coming, lol!
Yay! Willie. We love you!
Willie is so clutch.
…………………………………
WFB!!!!!
Oh yee of little faith – (me included).
See? See?
Hahahahaha Willie doing anything good makes me laugh.
MVP shoe-in.
put it in the bank.
IT’S AMAZING!!!
M’s win!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuck yeah! Willie!!! Tongue baths from everyone!
boooooo yakasha
Willie BOOM BOOM!!
The scary thing is, in this context, Bloomquist actually is the David Ortiz of Seattle. That’s not a measure of the clutchness of Bloomquist, it’s a measure of the clutchnessless of the Mariners.
Hendu, how is getting a hit beyond the call of Willie’s duty? Or are you tacitly acknowledging what most of us on USSM agree, that while Willie may deserve a place on the club it isn’t as a hitter.
Ah
There is the Port Orchard reference.
Krueger loves WB!
I’ll be go to hell. When I was coming in from the airport and heard 9-3 on KOMO I never figured the corpse would twitch, let along rise from the dead. And let’s got easy on Willie. He sucks, but can’t we enjoy the moment just for a moment? I mean they were playing for the division title tonight and we were playing for a teacup full of pride, if that much. And we won. Good times, even if a bit of it was due to the efforts of the dreaded Bloomquist.
I never figured the corpse would twitch
CLASSIC!
oh, and we finally beat Oakland.
Can Jimenez start tomorrow too?
118: OK, here’s my crazy and random walk-off trend which was just broken tonight. I hope you weren’t looking for some scientific explanation, for in this regard it is severly lacking. Here it goes:
Our walk-off over the course of the 2006 baseball season have been performed by the following players in the following order:
x1x yy z2?
Where: – “x” represents Carl Everett
– “y” represents Richie Sexson
– “z” represents Adrian Beltre
– numbers (1,2) represent no one in particular
-letters represent walk-off homers
– numbers represent walk-off singles
– the question mark represents the outcome of tonight’s game
So, looking at our formula, we can see that Everett hit a walk-off, then there was a walk-off single, then Everett hit another walk-off. After this Sexson hit two walk-offs. Beltre then hit one, and this was followed by a walk-off single. In order for the whole trend to come full-cirlce and end in a symmetrical manner, Beltre had to hit a walk-off tonight, which would have replaced the question mark with a “z” and left the trend looking like this:
x1x yy z2z
This would have made everything quite symmetrical, but instead we have this trend:
x1x yy z23
Although tonight’s results disrupt my little trend here, they do reflect the fact that Bloomquist’s been terrorizing pitchers throughout baseball, and is simply one of the most dangerous men to have at the plate late in a ballgame.
Dangerous for the Mariners, that is. Thanks for reading!
see #48
nice!
It’s a good formula, a nice pattern. While the immediate symmetry is broken, there may be another larger one lurking that factors in tonight’s win. Not sure how many seasons it will take to play out
Wow. I just checked:
54 comments posted at 9.53pm (and just 17 in the hour leading up to that)
156 comments in the 2 hours since. What a backloaded game thread.
Willie gets 5 hits in one game last week. And this week, he gets the walk-off game-winning single.
Willie is a hero!
The Mariners must immediately sign Willie to a multiyear, incentive-laden contract.
Willie Bloomquist, Lifetime Mariner.
#143– just to be accurate, I believe Raul has graduated from emergency catcher, and that role now belongs to the fabled Willie.
#203 I thought that was the case but I wasn’t sure.
I also heard rumor that William (Wallace) Bloowquist was 10 feet tall and could shoot bolts of lightning from his arse.