Game 35, Angels at Mariners

Dave · May 16, 2007 at 6:52 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Criminally underrated John Lackey vs not-quite-as-underrated Cha Seung Baek, 7:05 pm.

M’s put Julio Mateo on the temporary inactive list for Tacoma, though he won’t report to the Triple-A club. Basically, he’s still suspended, just with pay.

Standard M’s line-up.

Comments

262 Responses to “Game 35, Angels at Mariners”

  1. eponymous coward on May 17th, 2007 10:20 am

    Still, I am one who believes starting pitching is by far the major factor in winning baseball games.

    The team stat that correlates best with team winning percentage is in-base percentage, at least last I checked.

    One would think ERA would correlate better if your statement was true./

  2. AuburnM on May 17th, 2007 10:33 am

    OK, that’s one I haven’t head of. What is “in-base percentage?”

  3. DMZ on May 17th, 2007 10:34 am

    “Entirely the result of bad coaching.”

    Please provide evidence that good coaching significantly improves player performance in this category or other evidence that coaching is responsible for poor performance here thanks in advance.

  4. AuburnM on May 17th, 2007 10:47 am

    #253
    Coaches should constantly deliver the message that the organization expects hitters to be patient and work deep into the count. Pound that message home all the time.

    If that doesn’t work, just before the hitter leaves for the on deck circle you say to him, “Take the first two.” When hitters are ahead 2-0 or 3-1 give them the take sign. If they ignore signs fine ’em, bench ’em, or trade ’em.

    I’m old school.

  5. eponymous coward on May 17th, 2007 11:13 am

    What is “in-base percentage?”

    It’s a mistake made when attempting to type on-base percentage.

    If that doesn’t work, just before the hitter leaves for the on deck circle you say to him, “Take the first two.”

    At the major league level, a strategy like that is going to have you in a lot of 0-2 counts. Go look up what MLB batters hit from an 0-2 count and a 0-0 count.

    No, you shouldn’t swing at everything, but an inflexible strategy of taking pitches won’t work, either.

  6. AuburnM on May 17th, 2007 11:25 am

    #255

    My point is coaches and managers need to teach and enforce a patient approach at the plate.

  7. eponymous coward on May 17th, 2007 11:35 am

    That’s fine. You just can’t be inflexible about it. It’a about pitch recognition AND discipline.

    And let’s face it, I’m not telling Ichiro he has to turn into Ted Williams, either.

  8. DMZ on May 17th, 2007 11:52 am

    Please provide cases of where coaches and managers teach and enforce patient approach at plate and where that has had a significant effect on their players thanks in advance.

  9. em on May 17th, 2007 12:30 pm

    Oakland.

  10. em on May 17th, 2007 12:33 pm

    Granted, I’m only coaching 14/15-year olds, at the moment, but I certainly know that hitting approach can be taught, even to old geezers. I will also tell you that the majority of major league hitting coaches (Dave Hudgens is an exception) don’t have a clue on hitter improvement. Pentland is actually a terrible hitting coach (based on his comments regarding Beltre, Reed, and bat speed).

  11. Ralph_Malph on May 17th, 2007 1:29 pm

    You can teach 14/15 year olds, but can you teach 24 or 34 year olds?

    Oakland’s example only proves that an organizational emphasis on drafting and signing players with good pitch recognition skills leads to a system stocked with players with good pitch recognition skills.

  12. John D. on May 17th, 2007 4:18 pm

    Re: # 135 – LAY/LIE
    Reminds me of something. Once, when I was teaching 10th grade English, I was distinguishing between LIE and LAY, and said “I have laid tile often,” and a voice from the rear of the class asked, “Who’s Tile?”

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.