Game 63, Mariners at Cubs
An early 11:20 start. No M’s TV broadcast. WGN’s broadcasting it, though, if you have access to their feed. Jeff Weaver v Jason Marquis.
Is it best that we don’t have television for this one? I’d rather not watch bad Jeff Weaver. Now, if he’s willing to put up another decent enough chunk of innings, that’d be fine. And I’m interested to see how he’s looking, since the back end of the rotation really needs the help.
Lineups posted when I see ’em.
Mariners
CF-L Ichiro
2B-R Lopez
RF-R Guillen
LF-L Ibanez
1B-R Sexson
SS-R Betancourt
3B-R Willie “The Ignitor” Bloomquist
C-R Burke
(pitcher)
How can a team with both Burke and Bloomquist lost? Also, I like that Sexson’s protected by Betancourt. Pre-season, who’d have thought there’d ever be a lineup turned in like that?
Cubbies
LF-R Soriano
CF-L Pie
1B-R Lee
RF-L Floyd
3B-R DeRosa
2B-L Fontenot
C-B Hill
SS-B Izturis
(pitcher)
Guess Hargrove figured Bloomquist was on a hot streak. He’s got his OPS up to 560 on the year, after all.
Welllllll…the M’s made the most of their 3 hits and 3 BBs, scoring 4 runs with that. But when they let the other team get TWELVE hits and 3 BBs? For a couple of minutes or so in the top of the 8th it looked like the M’s would steal another 1-run win.
Bye, bye Weaver. (I wouldn’t even let him back on the plane)
Easy…you put Vidro at 3rd and pray it doesn’t get to him. Or better yet, put Lopez there and Vidro at 2nd.
Couldn’t Lopez have moved to third and Vidro played second?
Last I heard, if we didn’t actually score, there would be no need to worry about the ninth inning infield.
But, I’m still figuring out why Sherrill was taken out so quickly with a tired pen behind him
Weaver good, Morrow bad. Crazy.
Oh well, pen had to blow one eventually.
Who would you put at third?
Cross that bridge when you come to it, the first order of business is scoring a run to tie, or 2+ for the lead.
#397 — Didn’t Lou love Willie too? All the M’s managers seem to love Willie because he can fill in at almost any position.
Sure, it’s not ideal, but I’d put either Vidro, Burke or Lopez at 3rd. Cross that bridge if you get to it. But you can’t let the worst hitter on the team bat there, against a righthander.
Disappointing….arguably, Beltre is the player we can least afford to lose for any length of time, because the dropoff to Bloomquist is so great and there aren’t any alternatives. Get well soon, Adrian.
Bat Johjima for WFB, let Burke hit and play 3rd. He’s played a lot of 3rd in his career.
Willie can’t hit, never has been able to hit, and I just can’t understand why he gets so many at bats.
What, he has 4 RBI’s already this year? He’s got a chance of reaching double digits….
409
I’ve been as hard on Beltre as anyone and I completely agree with you
#399
You have to get to the bottom of the 9th first. WFB was an out waiting to happen.
Lopez at third and Vidro at Second?
Burke at third and Joh at catcher?
Now…trade WEAVER NOW… Now that his stock is rising…
Good lord, what a disaster. The bullpen has been solid all year, but today it cost us.
So, is Morrow’s transformation from top starter prospect to crap reliever complete? If high draft picks can be considered as investments, isn’t this the equivalent of blowing your inheritance on cocaine?
When do we cut him? And how long will it take his next team to repair the damage and actually develop him into a pitcher? A year? Two years?
Ironic, isn’t it, that we run off this incredible streak of 1-run victories on this road trip, only to end it with two one-run losses to the Cubs, who have been terrible in 1-run games this year.
And before we jump down Brandon Morrow’s throat, let’s remember that his stellar 8th inning work has been worth at least a couple wins this year, maybe more. We’re still on the positive side with him.
And certainly, pitching didn’t lose this game. Managing just three hits and a little bit of managerial incompetence did.
Weaver didn’t give up a run after the first. He’s with the club for the rest of the year now.
416
Stop using him every day or every other day would be a step in the right direction.
What happened to that Soriano guy who used to do the same job without walking eveyone? 😉
aw, they are playing Lou’s WGN postgame conversation. good to hear all the stammering and bizarre mid-sentence pauses again.
Why would they cut Morrow? That’s nuts. If anything, this helps them send him to the minors to turn him into a starter, just like they should have from the beginning.
That postgame conference with Lou was funny — everybody all happy to have taken 2 of 3 “from one of the hottest teams in baseball.”
OK, you can all please stop it with the Bloomquist hatred. Willie made a huge play on Sunday to steal third and then score the winning run. But no one gives him any credit for that on this blog. He also scored the winning run on Monday, taking off from first on the Ibanez double.
Yes, he’s no great shakes at the plate. That’s why he’s a bench player. He’s a good pinchrunner and can play many positions adquately, filling in when someone is hurt or needs a day off. It’s certainly a chicken-and-egg question about his hitting, because it’s not easy to sit for four days and then go out there and go 2-for-4. Everyone knows that.
After the 1 millionth “Wille Sucks” comment, I’d think we could just desist for a bit.
Hargrove on Weaver: “Pitched well” “He was good after the 1st inning”
We’re going to be seeing him every 5th game through the end of season.
I second the motion #422.
say, has anyone warned Ichiro about the outfield in Houston?
That’s ridiculous. We talk about Bloomquist as a great 25th man all the time, particularly in how his base-running and versatility make him well-suited for that role. There’s a lot of mocking about the gap between actual value and the tongue baths the broadcast crew gives him, but no one really argues he’s not worth his roster spot.
That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a huge drop-off from Beltre to Bloomquist at third.
And for the “sit for three days…” he doesn’t hit when he gets regular playing time, either.
It’s certainly a chicken-and-egg question about his hitting, because it’s not easy to sit for four days and then go out there and go 2-for-4. Everyone knows that.
We’ve looked at his minor league record, too. He has over 2500 professional at-bats, and he just can’t hit, period. Jamie Burke is almost certainly the better hitter… but WFB got to swing away.
It’s stuff like that that drives people crazy, FWIW.
The last two games are games that championship level clubs do not lose: first, you lose on a misplay of a routine throw, and then a relief pitcher that walks you to a come-from-ahead loss. I am encouraged by the development of this team so far, but this pair of one-run losses to the sub-.500 Cubbies has brought me back to Earth. I hope that they can win the series in Houston to come back home with a nice 7-3 roadtrip. As for the AL West race, maybe it is a little knee-jerk, but, with the Angels playing at such a torrid pace, it will be hard to contend with them.
I blame the Curse of the Sudden Spotlight. The media wakes up to the fact the Mariners are playing pretty good, they talk about it, and we start losing. The moment they gave A-rod the super attention–different from his regular ‘god on earth’ moniker–he stopped hitting 3 HRs a game. The moment the media started wailing, The Yankees are done! they started winning.
Still, these two loses hurt. I swear, sometimes it’s better to just lose by 7 runs and figure it was a bad day.
The last two games are games that championship level clubs do not lose
You obviously did not watch the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals much.
A’s and Astros, tied in the top of the 11th. Here’s hoping the Astros have a burned-out bullpen.
I’ve been enjoying FanGraphs as much as anyone, and usually checkout the WPA each game. But I just noticed something that made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. Go to FanGraphs, seelct Teams and look at the Mariners for 2007. As you’d expect, Ichiro leads in WPA this season. Look at who is No. 2. And look who is last. Now, I’m not sure I trust that WPA is really telling us much.
The “cut him” was a jab at the M’s inability to develop or understand pitchers, not a suggestion.
I don’t think WPA tells us much about individuals, no. It does tell us significant things about the game state during a game, and also about apportioning credit between the starting pitching, bullpen, and offense.
The starters have been mediocre-bad, the offense has been a little above average and the Mariner bullpen rocks.
#151: and now I’m the joke…. 🙂
The reason Bloomquist doesn’t hit when he’s given regular playing time is that he’s worrying about not getting to play if he has an o-fer. What they need to do is let him play every day for 2 or 3 years. Only then will we be able to truly evaluate whether he can really hit.
See, his repeated failure to hit is really management’s fault. That was Spiezio’s problem too. They only let him suck for a year and a half before they benched him.
425- Ichiro played center in the All-Star game in Houston.
416- Blowing your inheritance on coke is a lot more fun than that 8th inning was.
Open question: When Mark Lowe returns, presuming that he has bounced back fully from his injury, should the Mariners send down Brandon Morrow to get work as a starter, with Lowe taking his place in the bullpen?
#359, Is California considered “local”? 😛
And I have a question for people that know more about Morrow than I do: Does Morrow have a history of having no command/control or is this a recent development?
436 – Ralph, don’t confuse the Ignitor with some up-and-comer who is trying to develop into a day-in day-out regular, or someone trying to earn a spot on the field. Willie’s playing time is not dependent on whether he has good or bad days on the plate. His talents and abilities are well-established and are not going to change, and in a sane world, neither is his role. He is a utility reserve who is well suited to that role, not a plucky but raw kid who risks AAA-time for having a bad run at the plate. I repeat – he is a permanent reserve who’s playing time is dependent not on his own performance but by the availability of the starters. He would have to eat the bat with his asshole to lose playing time on account of his performance, so that’s not a concern.
WFB is an asset to the team when used according to his capabilities, and the mark of a good manager in any line of work is recognizing what their employees are capable of succeeding at, and placing them in situations where they can do well. Problems arise when bad management places more stock in him than his track record demonstrates to be wise, and he is left in to slap for the fences while the best hitter of the day is subbed out.
Addendum – Maybe you were being sarcastic =)
Did anyone else hear the post-game “round-up” where Rizzs gave Weaver the MVP for the game? I get the feeling that this start means we’re stuck with him for the rest of the season no matter what happens.
I think any post invoking Spiezio pretty much has to be sarcasm.
…And the A’s win it in 11. Thanks to some kid named Suzuki. Kurt Suzuki. Who’s a catcher. Jeez, Beane even manages to get the cheap combo version of M’s stars.
On the plus side, the Astros only got 4 innings out of their starter and used Lidge and Qualls for 2 innings each among six relievers total. And their starting shortstop, Adam Everett, broke his leg.
Kurt Suzuki
445
Only matters if we can limit our infamous 7-8 pitch innings tomorrow.
#432 – WFB has been fortunate to be inserted into several games lately where he has had high leverage impact, bumping up the WPA.
WPA is all about being in the right place at the right time. Note his BRAA is pretty sucky.
Still, as noted, it merely reinforces the notion that he is an excellent late innings PR, not so much a valuable everyday guy.
ugh, Yankees catching up on the wild-card standings… this is not looking too great.