Game 19, Royals at Mariners
Dave · April 28, 2007 at 5:35 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Meche vs Weaver, 6:05 pm.
The M’s are exactly the kind of team Meche should thrive against, since they’ll chase his breaking ball out of the zone and not make him work deep into counts and run up his pitch count. The Royals are exactly the kind of team Weaver should thrive against because they only have two or three major league hitters in their line-up.
Toss in Safeco Field, and I have a feeling we’re going to have a low scoring affair that is decided by the bullpens. And I’ll be stunned if we don’t see Julio Mateo in tonight’s game. Never mind, Jeff Weaver still blows.
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Weaver…
Ummm….
Meche…
Beer anyone?
Besides Mateo and Sean White, who else is available and non-gassed? Sherrill, I guess, but they don’t use him to eat innings.
Just beer? Think I am going to need some 100 proof SoCo.
I already drinking… would it be a good thing or a bad thing for Weaver to do well enough to buy himself another 2 or 3 starts of being horrible?
*I’m* already drinking… I haven’t had that much, yet.
Good point, considering noone was called up today.
One would think that a healthy FO would have brought someone fresh up considering it’s Weaver Day.
(now I feel dirty that I’m talking shit about my squads’ SP)
4- A down right awful thing.
I’d imagine White, Mateo, Sherrill, O’Flaherty, and Morrow are all available. The bullpen isn’t nearly as tired as Geoff Baker thinks it is.
You act like you know something about this Mechen kid? Name does sound familiar but it can’t be that guy the Mariners use to have because this Meche is making >$10million a year and has an ERA under 5. Weird the first name is the same too…
Hargrove has anointed Morrow his closer tonight.
Well, if Weaver’s going to show he has something left, tonight offers optimum circumstances to display it: Poor-hitting opponent + pitcher’s park + good defense. If he can’t succeed in this context, I’d say it’s fair to say he can’t succeed in just about any context.
I cringe at the thought of Mateo entering any game.
11- Unless he goes back to the NL where the Royals could be a .500 team.
The annoying thing is he very well may succeed with his stupid 86 MPH two-seam fastball, because the Royals are a crappy hitting team and can pound balls into the dirt with the best of them. But the last thing he needs is reinforcement that it’s a good pitch. I want to at least see him try throwing the four-seamer again before I completely give up on him as a potentially useful part, even if his best role might be suited to the bullpen.
Ugh, I hate this. That means it’s in the best interests of the team that Weaver get shelled tonight.
Not necessarily – it’s in the best interests of the team that he throws his four seamer again, gets some strikeouts, and stops thinking of himself as a groundball pitcher. Root for that.
I swear, listening to Gil Meche describe how he *will* get someone out is actually a sad thing.
Morrow and Sherrill in the closer role, per the pre-game. me, I have to run off and observe the social niceties, and so will likely miss most of this scintillating set-to.
oh, thank goodness, it’s “Throw In The Towel” Towel Night!
ohhhhhhhh. it’s that Weaver is a sinkerball pitcher and so needs a ‘tired’ arm to succeed, and why, he’s just had too much darned rest so far.
huh.
there goes the no-hitter
Jeff,
Stop throwing poop.
Thanksverymuch,
Corey
Here we go again. When is Felix coming back again so Baek can take over for Weaver?
Weaver’s looking to maintain his astonishing ERA….
Holy crap. Take him out already!
There goes the shut-out.
Teahen actually hit a good pitch. Can’t blame him for that hit. The others – blah, his stuff sucks.
Dream weaver
Ive just closed my eyes again
Climbed aboard the dream weaver train
Driver take away my worries of today
And leave tomorrow behind
Ooh dream weaver
I believe you can get me through the night
Ooh dream weaver
I believe we can reach the morning light
Wow, I’ve been a fan through watching Johnson, Griffey, and A-rod leave. But I don’t know if I can make it through the Jeff Weaver era.
nice hanger Jeff
Unless he pitches a shut out from here on out he needs to be on the bus tomorrow morning.
Bill Murray, Jeff Weaver coming to a drive-in near you in “Meatballs 6″ ….
Didn’t you see the scouting report on Jeff, the only problem is that it isn’t May yet…
Wow.
A third of an inning and Chaves is out.
Just curious, what is the statistical probability that a pitcher flips on his game when his pitching coach pays a visit in the top of the first.
Never mind, how could one even determine that…
Way to go Dog Poop (aka Weaver), way to go…
Call Trailways.
The question is, how many chances do you give a complete chump?
Check the third of an inning.
CW11 has a drunk scoreboard operator.
Cheers dude!
Not even an out in the game yet and I’m already tempted to turn it off.
This is awful. Hey! An out!
This is unbelievable.
Oh wait, there’s an out.
when does the game start? and since when do they show the visitors batting practice on TV?
Twenty-six more to go.
There goes the win.
SO what do we do with this guy? Send him down, trade him(not likely), or release him?
Gil Meche is enjoying his warm seat in the dugout at the moment.
I guess it doesn’t matter who the closer would have been.
well, he IS being more efficient tonight– it took a lot less time to give up those 3 runs.
well, I have to go to dinner
Wait’ll he’s gone through their line up a couple of times — say with 2 out in the 1st — they’ll really have his number by that time.
44: DfA.
so they are taking him out of the rotation tomarrow, right?
44 – can’t send him down. Putting him in as the garbage time man seems most likely at this point or just releasing him.
Send him down. Tonight. Hell, after this inning.
Weaver makes me miss the bad Aaron Sele.
Gordon got a hit, time to sit Weaver. He just got hit by a AAA quality batter, he should be sent to AA.
Sean White is warming up.
Bullpen is active now. Jumping the gun, but what the hell…is there a chance we’ll see a position player pitch tonight?
Hey fellas,
Is there anyone out there charting Weaver’s pitches?
I’m curious what his average velocity is coming in at, FOX radar gun or not.
SO what do we do with this guy?
Send him hunting with Dick Cheney. After we buy Cheney a better shotgun.
DFA Weaver!!!!!
velocity seems to be around 86-87
So when the bullpen gets blown up tonight, who do they call up from AAA tomorrow to help out?
58: And if he survives that, we can always put him in a car with Ted Kennedy.
I honestly think, that after he gets cut, he’ll go back to St. Louis, because they have starting pitching problems too.
Shouldn’t White start warming up before the game so we can send him in right now? Why mess around?
So, Dave, you’re the pitching coach AND manager. What do you do with Weaver at this point? Is there more to work on, given that whatever they’ve worked on TO this point hasn’t been working?
surely he can’t be left in the rotation, can he?
58. At this point, I am with you on that one. OUr record would be so much better if our pitchers didn’t get us in the huge freaking holes in the 1st inning.
the silver lining with weaver…. pitching from the stretch doesn’t make his stuff less effective….
Get him the **** out of there right the **** now!!!
Rest the bullpen make Weaver go all 9 and just take the loss.
at what point does Bavasi start thinking about DFAing Weaver?
It’s about time.
Well, that will be his last start as a Mariner.
DFA time?
Nah, probably not.
Seriously that has to be it doesn’t it?
61: what you do is forfeit this game. There is no reason to waste the pen. If we’re not allowed to forfeit for whatever reason, send an army of gophers onto the field after the 5th inning.
6 spot…wow
Hell, the game is lost. Make him finish the inning at least.
The bullpen is going to be totally shot after this.
73
Dave, I hope so.
Bloomquist wants to pitch, I hear.
If they did that, we’d be trying to reschedule 4 more games because this one wouldn’t be over until Tuesday.
Has anyone ever seen someone set 8 million dollars on fire?
Now you have…
2+ million per start!!!
not even clemens can get that kind of scratch. weaver is the man!!!
I swear, if weaver has just one more start like this, I’m gonna bench him on my fantasy team.
I mean it.
1/3 inning, 6 runs = 162.0 ERA for today.
Game is not lost… remember, we’re facing Meche.
It’s official, Weaver sucks. . .
I knew this signing would be a disaster right from the get-go. But did anyone believe me? Of course not.
Weaver is in a league where he has struggled in the past and his playing for himself, not for the good of the team. Why Bavasi ever signed him I will never know.
Gameday has him at three speed groups:
89-91,
85-87,
and the high 70’s.
I’m at work, how loud were the boos?
89- about as loud as 25 people can be.
The cheers were loud when Grover came out.
you have to wonder how Weaver pitched in the postseason last year…
Grasping at straws, I’ll reach for the stats they showed on Weaver’s improvement from April to May in the past.
For $8 million, I don’t think that they’re ready to DFA him. They don’t want to look that dumb. Maybe he’ll be the mopup guy for awhile, butI’ll bet you haven’t seen his last start as a Mariner.
Well, that will be his last start as a Mariner.
Dave, does that mean
A)he’s going out to the bullpen?
B)he’s going to be DfA’d or released?
89 – I wouldn’t call them boos so much as a standing ovation… When Grover finally came out to get that sack of sh*t
81: I wonder if there are grievance issues with player’s union if Hargrove were to just leave Weaver in there until his arm fell of, mostly out of spite, but also to save the pen some.
#84 I have him starting on two of my fantasy teams
Wouldn’t most of you enjoy listening to Blowers and Niehaus right now, during the break?
The Seattle Times website already has the story on their website about how Meche won in his return to Safeco.
Blowers just said Raul has done a better job in LF this year and looks more comfortable.
Hey Mike…. he’s got 3 errors already this season.
86: you forget what Dayton Moore said…We’re not facing Meche, we’re facing Carpenter…
I was hoping those other two runners would score a little bit so his ERA would jump even higher.
97: I’d gladly take 8 mil in exchange for being terrible at my job in front of so many people..
#100: the Ms still have all 27 outs….
Well heck, the A’s put up 12 today, anything is possible.
Yow. Beltre got jobbed there.
TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURBO
TURBO!
That’s a little league strike call, when the pitchers throw so slow that the ball enters the plate zone at the knees and drops to the ground by the time it’s caught.
97: the “someone” I was referring to was Bill Bavasi.
another infield hit… geez
the royals commentators just said that vidro “doesn’t have the speed he used to have.” i spit beer…
If Vidro can get an infield hit then this can happen tonight too…
114- Cubs leadoff guy was even named DeJesus
If Willie gets to pitch tonight it will make this game worth watching.
Wow. 18.26 ERA so far this season. 11 1\3 innings in four games. Why???
It’d be worth trying Weaver out in the bullpen before he gets DFA’d, but this is a Spiezio-like performance, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the M’s “sent a message” by dumping Weaver.
I’ll have a post up tomorrow, though, about how his value to the team could still be saved if used properly in relief.
and the royals guys just said that weaver topped out at 97 mph tonight…are they just insane from all the years of losing…and they said meche is the “perfect” ace…
This is hilarious…I live in Oakland, but am from Seattle and live and die (mostly the latter) with the Mariners. I got the game going online (for once, MLB.com has the Seattle broadcast), went upstairs to eat, came back 15 mins. later and saw KC6, SEA 0 in the top half of the first and Weaver gone. This has got to be the last time he appears on the mound for the Mariners…I mean anywhere. Starting rotation, Bullpen…Tacoma…I don’t care…Eat the salary and move on. He’s always sucked wherever he’s been and looks like he’s throwing hams toward home plate when he pitches. Please tell me the crowd either booed or cheered loudly when he left the game.
Nice catch by Ibanez. The look of panic on his face made me think it was a two-run double, but a surprise happy ending there.
120: They cheered Hargrove when he came out of the dugout to take Weaver out, and then booed Weaver all the way from the mound to the dugout.
I wan’t happy about Weaver joining the pitching staff, but I did think that we would at least get a semi-decent start out of him occasionally. Cardinals fans are convinced that Dave Duncan was solely responsible for the turnaround last year. I wonder if there’s anything to that.
Was Richie even running?
Sexson is a basepath sloth. Even Turbo would have gotten an infield hit on that.
It only takes Richie 6 steps to get there, how was he not there!!
Signing Weaver gives 8.5 million reasons to fire Bavasi..
how are the Ms playoff chances looking after roughly a month into the season?
Richie only likes XBH’s.
Fangraphs has W**v*rs WPA at -.430 o.O
Make him work Guillen
Coolstandings has the M’s having a 15% chance of making the playoffs.
Question: Will this game be longer or shorter than the director’s cut of Das Boot?
I’m starting to think longer.
Come on gil, show us the meche we all know and love
Once the get rid of W**v*r their chances have to jump by 20%
To be fair, a lot of teams wanted to sign Weaver. That “World Series hero” pixie dust is mighty blinding.
15% is 16% better than what I gave them at the start of the year.
Come on JoLo!!!! Show us more of what you did in the first half last year!
133 – longer, and harder to watch.
Maybe a lot of teams were intersted in Weaver, but they weren’t willing to pay 8 million.
A run!
woohoo, a run!
A guy with a 95 mph fastball that likes to stay away is a pXssy…
I think they are about where they should be now…I always figured Felix would counter the mess that Weaver would be, and Washburn has been surprisingly better than I thought. Despite the largely anemic offense (Sexson hitting what? .148?) they have somehow managed to play respectable ball, the six-game losing streak notwithstanding. The AL West is still shaking itself out…M’s are 9-9 and only a half-game out; that has to count for something, right? The next few weeks will tell a lot…trip to NY, Detroit…make up game in Boston, then back home for the Yankholes and Angels. And then there’s Felix’s (hopeful) return…I put their odds 40% chance of making the playoffs…For what it’s worth.
136- To be fair, no one else was stupid enough to offer him 8+ million.
Hey it’s the old Gil
Climbing back, against Gil-ga-Meche it might not actually be over.
Has Weaver been escorted to his car yet?
Nothing’s over yet folks. Meche looks like the old Meche to me.
ICHIRO!
Thank you Ichiro. Way to nibble.
Right off his A$$, way to get him back Ichiro!
Scoring 6 runs isnt impossible, but the real question is, can the bullpen stop the Royals from scoring even more runs…
go ichiro!
RE 142 Richie is 0 for 19 on GBs that won’t last forever.
a bomb from Beltre would be great right now…
at least were not paying weaver 11mil/yr for the next 5 years
wont happen
What do ya know…. Beltre grounds to third.
Didn’t even Dave, at one point, advocate signing Weaver? He’s not a total loss- he just needs to stop with the crappy two-seam fastball stuff and go back to what made him (slightly) successful.
At this point Blanton vs Washburn was half over time wise.
Seriously, does anyone know anything about Dave Duncan’s coaching over in St. Louis – is it possible that Weaver is coachable?
I don’t think you can coach someone to throw like they did five years ago.
Niehaus really seems to have it in for Meche. Nice to get a little window on how he must have been seething in the booth the last few years.
nice catch Raul
Well he only threw 83 innings with St Louis, and his ERA was 5.18 its not like he was great.
Then the post season came, and he got hot.
Ok who grafted 25 year old legs onto Ibanez?
who grafted the 45 year old legs on guillen
Who grafted the old ladies arm on Weaver?
161: What did he say?
Seriously, does anyone know anything about Dave Duncan’s coaching over in St. Louis – is it possible that Weaver is coachable?
The whole “Weaver pitched better in St. Louis” thing is a myth. Compared to his time in Anaheim, his strikeout rate went down, his walkrate went up, his groundball rate went down, his home run rate was basically unchanged, and his line drive percentage was the same. His ERA was a run lower because he stranded more runners and his defense turned more balls in play into outs.
He pitched well in the playoffs, but overall, in St. Louis, he was still a bad pitcher.
So Dave does Weaver have trade value, and if so what would we expect to get from him?(providing we ate the 8.5 million?
157–Just check out this link for Weaver’s career stats…Two winning seasons, and those were just barely winning.
Thanks, Dave – that’s what I was wondering.
Sorry…this is the link for Weaver’s career numbers.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6200/career
A bomb right here and it’s a ballgame again.
of course he strikes out
Why don’t they sit RIchie down for a few days and get Broussard some playing time?
Although man, both Beltre and Richie have been screwed by some ankle-high 3rd strikes….
Sexson got screwed on that call. The hdtv shot showed the ball was below his forward knee when it passed thatpoint approaching the plate.
So Dave does Weaver have trade value, and if so what would we expect to get from him?(providing we ate the 8.5 million?
You could probably get someone to give you a non-prospect minor leaguer if you ate the whole contract. The Nationals, for instance, would gladly take a free arm for their rotation.
another decent inning… all for nothing
Sorry, have to correct 176. Not HD but merely digital.
Hell, for that money let’s keep him and have him make pizza runs.
Dave,
Nice call on Weaver.
“On a one year deal, a durable guy who has shown an ability to eat innings and avoid the disabled list and projects to post an ERA south of 5.00 is a pretty nice pickup… He’s a decent innings sponge, and since Safeco is rather pitcher friendly, it’s a good spot for him to come attempt to rebuild his image. If you asked me if I’d rather have Jeff Weaver or Gil Meche for 2007, I’d probably flip a coin.” – Dave (1/26/07)
The wisdom of the blogosphere!
j/k You guys are usually spot-on, but I think some lump-taking is in order here.
Before today, Weaver had the third-worst VORP for pitchers, or maybe I should say the third-highest VBRP? I wonder if this turd he dropped today is enough to pass Jae Seo for first place?
Jesus. Is this the worst starting pitching run by a Mariner? Three stinkers and then this. Is White going to get Weaver’s starting slot?
Stevie must be rough being right all the time.
I don’t understand why Sims comes to the TV side so early. 3 innings of Niehaus isn’t enough. For me, anyway. Oh well. Anytime I find myself on the verge of whining about the new announcers, I just remember Hendu and Valle and I thank my lucky stars.
I think it’s fair to say that Weaver’s surprised even the pessimists so far this year.
183
Oh, I’m not right all the time… or much of the time, for that matter. Maybe I should have put the winking emoticon next to j/k? The reason I read this blog is because these guys are good at what they do. Doesn’t mean that when they argue for Weaver being a good pickup and he ends April with an ERA that is college-age, they get a free pass from some good-natured (and deserved) ribbing. Hopefully, Dave would agree with that.
As bad as Weaver is, he got really unlucky tonight. 7 hits on 8 balls in play? Unless his stuff is *so* bad he is historically unique, those odds belie the whole consistent BABIP theory.
In fact, looking at his rate stats, we should expect his RA, WHIP, etc to regress to his numbers from the last couple of years. The difference is all BABIP.
Not that his numbers from the last couple of years are any good…
Oh sure, but when its your second post ever to their blog it seems a little rude (at least that I could find of yours).
Maybe Weaver has just made me cranky.
Gee think they’ll walk Ichiro?
Maybe they can start something here…
Are Beltre and Sexson the only ones on EITHER team to not have reached based?
If so, yet ANOTHER reason Ichie better do something with Beltre on deck
191
not to have reached BASE
My spelling is about as good as our hitting w/ RISP
Why would anyone ever throw Beltre a strike?
#187: there was nothing unlucky about weaver tonight….
Maybe they can tie Weaver up and use him as a BP target, kind of like this.
194:
OH LAWD IS DAT SUM CIRILLO?
193
The fans were the only thing “unlucky” about Weaver pitching tonight. I’m sure White must be licking his chops and calling family members to watch on satellite to catch the game when Weaver starts.
I can see why Belte is a great #2 hitter. He has such great pitch selection and bat control. Practically waves that bat like a wand. What 15 million dollar player would you rather have up as a situational hitter and/or with the game on the line?
197
Never mind, I already know the answer to the last part of that post is Sexson…sigh
195 – Personally, I find the ‘Amos and Andy’ imitation uninspiring.
He’s a hittin’ machine, that Vidro.
Jose Vidro is having yet another good game. 3-3… productive much?
No one sprays the ball around the shallow part of the outfield like Turbo.
Ichiro better get his ass in gear or he’s going to lose that lead off slot.
He looks like Pete Rose hitting after Beltre and before Sexson and Ibanez.
Vidro and Guillen are starting to look like pure gold acquistions, relative to the rest of the Ms line up.
Bring ‘em all home YuBet!!
LETS GO YUNI!!
This is the Gil that we know and (now) love.
Yuni will do it.
Or not.
Get the rally towels swinging…
YUNI-BOMB
Gil Meche WAS who we THOUGHT he was! AND WE LET HIM OFF THE HOOK!
hahaha… weak
After Meche does the nearly impossible, walking Jojima (to load the bases even), please tell me Yubet didn’t swing at the FIRST PITCH.
Right?
BABIP theory depends on the assumption that the pitcher is ‘major league -quality’. It’s known not to hold in the case of pitchers that simply have no business on a major league roster. If, say, I myself were to get tomorrow’s start for Boston against the Yankees in place of Julian Tavarez, the odds are excellent that the Yankees’ BABIP would be rather high, and that’s expected.
If Weaver really is done as an MLB pitcher, then he’d be expected to have a poorer than expected BABIP.
RE 212
If you want to crown him then crown him.
Oh wait we already have a king.
It was the 2nd pitch. Breathe a sigh of relief Invader.
well it was actually the second pitch, but looked like ball 2 nonetheless
Don’t some of our hitters remember Meche from last year? Why would we make the mistake of being over aggressive against a guy who has SO MUCH TROUBLE thowing strikes consistently.
If there’s no errors or homers, this team has extreme difficulty scoring no matter how out of the strike zone the pitcher is. (I guess that could count as a “Captain Obvious Fairly” comment)
Oh oh, Sims knows the ballgirls’ names and bios now.
217 & 218
Well he’s being twice as patient as normal, lol
Even before tonight, KC had the most HBP batters, and the fewest opponents HBP.
It’s one way to get OBP, I guess….
Are we trying to start a fight so hopefully someone knocks out W**v*r?
ANOTHER HBP??? come on guys
What is it with beanball? Are we that bad?
and a topical charlie sheen joke from Sims… cool
Oh oh, Sims knows the ballgirls’ names and bios now.
Harold Reynolds II, the sequel…
#220
I thought Freddy Garcia was back in town for a second…
When it comes to wildness it’s nothing like that reliever for KC last night. I was starting to worry about the Moose…
I wasn’t wild about the Weaver pickup. I think at one point I ran his PECOTA next to Baek/Woods for compraison, but I can’t find the post now.
Maybe the team is just looking for more marketing story lines using old slogans:
Facing Gil Meche on the mound: NINE hits, two walks and even two errors in just FIVE innings…And all we have is three runs.
Ya gotta love these guys.
Weaver: nine batters, seven hits, one walk, one out, 12 balls, 1 called strike, 1 swinging strike, 7 fouls. That’s not unlucky. He’s actually lucky he didn’t take any line drives off his teeth.
Just got home from Tiger Mountain (Tiger Hill). I’m really sad I missed Weaver’s last start as an M.
We need sarcasm tags please.
Lopez really needs to stop pulling the ball. It’s clearly killing us.
I don’t think anyone was too high on the pickup of Weaver outside of Dave.
If you all thought about it, you’d know Weaver’s ghastly start this year could just be an attempt to make Batista look good
Joh and Lopez need to be higher in the order, I think. Usual caveats on batting order not mattering all that much.
Yes, clearly saying “ehh, it’s only a one year deal, it’s better than spending crazy money for longterm deals on all these other guys who suck” is obviously the definition of being high on the signing.
Bad Beltre is Back and Stalking the Country-Side.
LOWANDAWAYLOWANDAWAYLOWANDAWAYLOWANDAWAYLOWANDAWAYLOWANDAWAY
And Beltre needs to bat lower, at least until he remembers not to swing at that outside pitch (which seems to take him ahout 4 months every year).
come on… the pickup was what it was, you cant fault him for trying to find some sort of upside once it had already happened…
we all knew that he would probably suck, but there was a small part of all of us that hoped that maybe the world series start was going to revert him back to his former self
Beltre rushes toward the Mendoza line with another “I just made Meche look like Roy Halladay again” at bat
I had no problem risking the 8 mill that was going no where else at that point in the off season on him for one year.
It would not be unheard of for the M’s to just drop Weaver this early. It was early May last year, I believe, when the D’backs decided they’d had enough of Russ Ortiz and his 4-year, $32-million shititude.
Well, here’s the thing — the M’s had a rotation slot left and a bunch of money they were going to set fire too. Weaver on a one year contract made a lot of sense: he’s got a huge incentive to work on his conditioning through the off-season, maybe try and get some velocity back on his fastball, because it’d be a contract year where he could rehabilitate his rep and hit the free agent market.
I didn’t like that it cost so much, but cost doesn’t really matter – it’s not as if that $8m was going to help them otherwise. And it’s equally true that a good season from Baek/Woods wouldn’t have made a huge long-term impact.
And yeah, as Dave points out – better a one-year $8m washout for Weaver than Zito’s deal.
I don’t have his combined numbers (including the post season), but as a Cardinal fan who saw most of Weaver’s starts last year, Weaver was terrible his first 4-5 starts, and then settled down and was “acceptable mediocrity.”
In fact, as his postseason stats will tell you, the Cards didn’t really trust Weaver for the first two playoff rounds. Despte allowing a acceptable amount of runs, he didn’t even average six innings a start in the first two rounds. It was only after striking out 14 Tigers in 13 innings that he caught everyone’s attention.
I will say this though. Even when he was struggling he was still throwing 90-92 and touching 94 with his FB. The Cards annoucers attributed his settling down after a few starts as Duncan “finally getting through to him.” Whether this is true or not, I don;t know. But it’s pretty clear to me that we was better with St. Louis once you add in his postseason #s.
MATEOOOOOOOO
Hmmm, looks like Meche gets $300K on the Meche Meter. Assuming he doesn’t get a W, of course — which, given KC’s bullpen, is still a possibility.
238 & 246
Even the most leery people regarding Weaver couldn’t have imagined he’d be this bad…no matter what they’re saying now.
Heck, tonight, everytime the offense has a chance to get back in it they choke anyway, so I’m not sure we’d have won no matter who was pitching.
Can anyone remember a pitcher starting out this bad in the last twenty or so years…M’s or otherwise?
And even the pessimists were thinking along the lines of 140 IP, ERA 5 to 6. Not 11.1, 18.26.
uh oh Mateo
Oh, I forgot about He Who Haunts the M’s bullpen. Nevermind.
Beltre. We need to put the electricity to work on this problem. He has the talent, we have the technology. Pin his eyelids open, put on the video replays and plug him in to a batting coach with an attitude.
I’m thinking if Susan Sarandon had her finger on the ‘ bzzzzzt!’ button, he’d get trained toot sweet.
[that's just wrong]
Let’s not get carried away. There are several pitchers every year who start out this bad. Suckitude is a widespread trait, especially in small samples.
It’s days like this I’m extremely happy for the NFL.
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What exactly does he bring to the table that makes you want to hit him #2?
Uh, besides that super cool “appeal to the umpire on the check swing” (eyes rolling)
Here’s hoping Mateo goes the last 3 innings and is thus unavailable for, say, May.
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An ERA near TWENTY after four starts w/ hitters literally hitting .500 against him?
Name a few
At least this is proper Mateo usage.
I love how one of the google search suggestions in firefox once you get to Julio Mat is “Julio Mateo sucks”
I bet the Weaver jerseys will be on sale after the game in the team shop.
And there he is, on the very night they handed out the official surrender flags. No way would he miss it. Did they print his face on them and make them flammable like I suggested?
Another groundout, that’s just Mateo being Mateo.
Wouldn’t even have to be, oh what’s his name? Felix. The Royals aren’t exactly setting fire to league average pitching.
Finally the bullpen!
OK, once you add it altogether, Weaver made 20 starts with St. Louis.
113 IP, 124 H, 35 BB, 64K, 18 HR, 4.62 ERA.
I think this was the “New” Jeff Weaver we hoped we were getting. Even if he pitched like this, he would have been an OK 5th starter. How could we have known he would suck beyond anyone’s wildest dreams?
Maybe we can score a bunch of runs and lose by one again. At least that’d be interesting (painful) to watch.
I’d take Weaver and his contract over Zito and his contract, even now. DMZ is totally right about that. Even right now, I’m not annoyed at the contract or the signing, just the player.
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How good does the opposition’s pitching have to be to shut down a team that struggles mightily to: Draw walks, run the bases well, work the count or situationally hit?
Granted, Felix probably would be able to get it done, even under those familiar circumstances like tonight
Sexson has to be close to .125 now, still not a sign of sitting him.
I can’t find a post where I talked about Baek/Woods/Weaver forecasts.
I also love how if you actually search on “Julio Mateo sucks” you get as many rants about Hargrove as Mateo. Even those who blog about other teams think so.
Not to be too hard on the offense tonight…
Think how many runs we’d have if we could skip the black holes of Beltre and Sexson. One likes to make the last out and the other has a knack for making the first one.
somebody put a sock in that guy’s mouth
You know, HoRam’s performance last night suddenly looks a lot better!
Chaves must be completely winded by now.
Oooh, Mound Conference Theater….
More lame: NFL draft recap, or dirt bike racing during the 8th inning of the M’s blowout? Hmm. At least Comedy Central has … uh, crap. Joe Dirt. Wow. That’s a trifecta.
Mateo: Sorry coach, I was just trying to make the right pitch.
Chaves: Did you really just walk a guy?
Mateo: Yeah…sorry.
Chaves: Ok, well look, we are down by 5 in the 8th
Mateo (cuts in):I know, and I’m a clutch pitcher, I just can’t focus when it doesn’t matter.
Chaves: Uh yeah, well I want to go home. Put it over the plate, whatever happens happens.
Ump: You guys are down by 5, can we move it along now.
George! Curious.
GS52 versus a righty? What the hell is going on?!
Amazing what a real reliever can do.
Alright, lets get George the win…
whatever works…
Saturday night is not good for TV. Even the soccer channel is showing MLS. CSPAN’s showing Joe Biden mysteriously picking up a little southern accent in South Carolina, if you’re thinking about just going to bed.
Why did I watch this whole game?
Richie Sexson gets no love again
We can’t get Brossard an AB in a 8-3 9th inning? Sweet job Hargrove on getting your bench players some time.
How exactly are the M’s supposed to get any momentum with Gascan Weaver going out there every fifth day? At what point does management realize this guy is never going to be worthwhile and just eat his salary?
Sexson needs some time off, another 0-5 night tonight. He needs to fix whatever it is that’s wrong. Is he hiding an injury? Something is definitely not right with him.
Uh Oh… don’t look now, but Vidro is leading the team in batting average. ;] Quick, fire Bavasi before he signs him to a 4 year extension!
On the subject of letting Weaver go nine, I can see the grievance hearing now.
MLB: Why do you think a fine of 7 million is justified, Mariners?
Mariners: He refused to take the mound in the top of the third.
Weaver’s Attorney: My client had already thrown 200 pitches.
I hate to bring up this controversial point, but St. Louis is a National League team. Even Mariner pitchers did well against National League teams last year. Then we got back to our own league and took a tail spin. His World Series Victory could be written off as a victory against a very tired team and as a fluke, like Ryan Franklin pitching a complete game.
I can remember a game in 1992 when Rich DeLucia gave up something like eight runs in the first three innings. Manager Bill Plummer refused to take him out, later telling reporters that the bullpen needed a rest, and left DeLucia in there to give up something like 13 earned runs in seven innings.
Doyle?!!
Drayer was speculating that they skip a start, work on things, and then give him a start, which would fall against Detroit, coincidently the last team he had success against.
Weaver did at least say it was all him when talking to the media.
IdahoInvader–Just what is it you have against Beltre? Sure he gets off to slow start as many players do. But this seems different as for each year since Ms acquired Beltre a majority of your posts seem to be to bash Beltre.
If Weaver had managed to do this in the first game of the season, he’d be sporting an ERA of 169.00!
Why did I watch this whole game?
At least I actually fell asleep twice for brief periods during the game. Something I’ve been having problems doing at night.
Grover believes that the only way to get a player like Sexson out of a slump is to play him every day. When asked questions like this in the past, Grover has always said that it would not help the player to sit him for a game or more.
So any hopes of seeing Broussard taking some of Sexson’s at bats, are sadly misplaced.
From BTF:
Jeff Weaver’s Opponents OPS: 1340.
Barry Bonds’ OPS: 1347
Weaver turns his opponents into Barry Bonds.
fwiw, he is far from the only manager/coach who believes that.
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Beltre has so much talent, yet refuses to go up to the plate with any sort of coherent approach. There are little things even a struggling (as he ALWAYS seems to be early in the year) hitter can do regarding simple siutational hitting. Things he doesn’t do consistently. Like hitting it to the right side with a runner on second & no outs or even hitting a simple sac fly, instead of flailing at pitches well out of the strike zone leading to strikeouts.
I’ve heard various excuses justifying his struggles. So I’m well aware I’m probably in the minority thinking he’s one of the problems of our mediocre offense just as often as he is one of the alleged solutions. I think for the superstar contract he signed, he should be expected to contribute more than Lopez, Vidro, Kenji and Raul…not less.
His first year and a half were sure nothing special, but he was great in the second half last year. I guess I’m disappointed that we’re seeing him regress back to that first year and a half type of hitting for who knows how long.
Oh well…at least he looks better than Sexson right now.