Game 84, Mariners at A’s
Dave · July 7, 2007 at 12:24 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Hernandez vs Harden, 1:05 pm.
Happy Felix Day is ruined by Fox’s arcane blackout rules, which prevent everyone in the country from seeing this game. MLB continues their stupid anti-fan policies, which prevent people from enjoying their product and exposing the game’s best pitchers to a new generation of fans.
But, regardless of the fact that no one can see it, the M’s will still play. Felix takes the hill, and once again, we all scream in unison – Mix. Your. Pitches.
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This one has the potential to be a classic … soured by the game long agony of having to listen to Rizzs since we have only the radio feed. That fits my definition of cruel and unusual.
Why did Oakland schedule a day game that they knew would be blacked out? Did they figure that a day game’s attendance would dwarf a Saturday night attendance figure and thus went ahead with a non-televized game?
Dave N. will be on the radio today, and he and Rizzs work well together.
I blame MLB for the crappy deals they sign. MLB knew what FOX was up to when it bought the rights to all these Saturday games.
MLB: Let me watch every game my team plays. In HD. I will pay for the privilege. What is this, the 1970’s?
Yeah, we only get Rizzs in spurts.
Crap, the Indians are spanking the Jays. At least we can hope the Red Sox wake up and smack down the Tigers (c’mon Boston, at least put Ortiz in the lineup so it looks like you’re trying). And we can hope the Yankees are world beaters (or at least Angel killers) for the rest of the weekend.
How are they going to black it out on MLB.tv and know that FOX isn’t going to show it to anyone? They need to prorate that shit, I want my 7 cents back for this game!
The YANKEES are playing today. ROGER CLEMENS is on the mound. Obviously baseball is giving the fans what they want…
Who are these “yankees”? Do they have any players I would recognize?
The three Fox games are LAA @ NYY, MIN @ CWS, or ATL @ SD. So you have a choice of Yet Another National Yankees Game, the Twinkies laying down the smack on a team that has apparently quit, or a dull NL game. I haven’t checked by to verify but I heard we’re getting the NL game so we can watch our hated, hated down-coast interleague rivals. Ugh, I hate watching the Braves even more than the Yankees. The only possible highlight to that game is the chance of seeing Soriano pitch an inning.
You know what would be really cool? A TV series about the Yankees. Each TV season could dramatize a different baseball season. ESPN should do it because you know ESPN is an acronym for quality.
Sorry to rant about this again but…yeah, the crap-ass Yanks probably getting pounded by the Angels takes precedence over Felix vs. Hardin? Thanks again, Fox! >:(
I hope the other games are just awful as Harden throws a 1 hit CG loss to King Felix’s perfect game to shove their Yankee bias down their throats.
#11:
Yea, I have my doubts about “The Bronx is Burning.” But John Turturro as Billy Martin? Sign me up.
Harden on on 55-65 pitch count? Maybe the M’s can knock him out early.
Our rivalry with San Diego: Here in Juneau, there’s a LL team that’s Mariners, naturally, but also a team of Padres with authentic uniforms. Not sure if the coach is from San Diego, or if he just has a sense of humor.
13: Unfortunately, it would probably still be relegated to the last ten seconds of the national sports reports…’tis happens when these freakin’ networks are based in NY or LA!
It’d still be awesome, though!
14. But what’s with the weird paste-on ears? Crazy, drunken, ranting under that brush mustache is what says Billy Martin to me, not big ears.
At least gameday is interesting to watch. Good first 9 pitch AB by Ichiro.
Vidro…YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT…
Looks like Ichiro is doing his part to run that count up, wow.
And the march toward Rice’s record continues.
Rich Harden’s one of the few starters who has a comparable fastball to Felix Hernandez. His first 9 pitches were 5 fastballs and 4 breaking balls.
Pay attention, Felix.
Vidro and his GIDP
lol Vidro DP…no way!
Fox 13 in Seattle (also on Directv as a local channel) is showing Yankees-Angels.
I guess that is better than the two alternatives, but not much.
speaking of paying attention, how about the management paying a little attention to the DP machine vidro…worthless…
I blames all of Vidros DP’s on Ichiro, if he didn’t get on base all the time then Vidro would just have a bunch of common 4-3 groundouts. DAMN YOU ICH!
14: Saw that trailer, but wasn’t aware that Turturro was playing him…
Might be interesting to see if he can pull off the psycho that Billy Martin was.
does anyone know of a proxy to run though somewhere where the game is not blacked out?
But… Vidro had a double yesterday! He’s going to be a great hitter for the rest of the year!
I actually read sentiments similar to that in the news yesterday.
That’s a good point bhsmarine. Vidro should bat behind Sexson.
Usual Mariner first at-bat.
watching on mlb.tv in Switzerland and Turbo looked sheepishly guilty as hell as he trudged back to the dugout
What happened to Ichiro’s plan to steal second all the time to keep out of the DP?
You’re right, #28, it is his fault.
Perhaps it occurred to ol’ Ich that making Vidro’s fault obvious may be better in the long run.
3rd pitch breaking ball! Woo!
Wow! Offspeed pitches!
5th pitch breaking ball. Felix is learning!
31. I despise this attitude in sports commentators. Anytime the blind squirrel finds a nut, he’s turning a corner! (To mix my metaphors.)
Hell, even pitchers occasionally hit home runs in the NL. Does that mean that Dontrelle Willis is the next A-rod?
could someone give me a quick summary of how to read the BRK and PFX?
The breaking ball already…interesting!
It’s gonna suck having three days without fantasy baseball.
I am so happy – it feels like I just ate a morphine cookie!
Objectibely, I know that position in the batting order doesn’t mean that much, and that while playing Vidro as the 2 hitter is stupid, it shouldn’t do that much damage.
But what’s discouraging isn’t having him hitting second, it’s having him hitting behind Ichiro. It’s sucking value out of our best asset. Arrrrrrgggh.
I thought my Jr. High pictures were bad…who does MLB’s? Nick Swisher looks like some hippie stoner after a eating a pile of brownies.
39: However, Dontrelle may wind up with more extra-base hits this year than Turbo!
Hey is the gun off, it has Felix hitting low 90’s, and Harden in the upper 90’s?
Objectively, too.
Is there some way to find out what the pitches are today? Must be if we know he has thrown a couple of curves. All I have to go on is the radio broadcast.
Kick Ass Yankees!
Ignore BRK.
PFX is really complicated, so rather than explain how it works, here’s a basic primer for Felix’s pitches:
PFX of 10″+ = straight pitch. Fastball or change-up.
PFX of 6-9″ = hard breaking ball. Slider
PFX of 0-4″ = soft breaking ball. Curve.
34: Wow…you can see all the M’s games AND you probably have universal health care. Is it tough to emigrate to Switzerland? I speak a little German and owned one your famed Army Knives as a child.
It looks like the radar readings from the Pitch F/X system in Oakland are just lower than in other parks. It has both Felix and Harden consistently at 91-94 with their fastballs, and we know both throw harder than that.
Woah, the way the strike zone changed on gameday is freaking me out. Apparently Sexson wears his letters at his neck, and Guillen at his bellybutton.
Nice patience by the M’s here – 9 pitches without a swing to start the 2nd inning. Harden’s on a pitch count, so let’s get him out of there.
thanks
FUNK BLAST! BELTRE
53 – Thanks just noticed that in Harden’s second inning. Was getting a little worried cause in Harden’s first inning they had him in the mid to upper 90’s.
…..Beltre….tears of joy…..
Adrian — the A’s Killer!!!
Good time to wake up. For me, not the M’s, but that counts too!
Ooh, Herculean! Love it!
yay beltre
Adrian Beltre is en fuego.
Beltre is my hero! I attribute the hot streak to my using Beltre in Home Run Pinball on The Bigs for my 360.
Holy Shit! I can’t believe what I just saw on yahoo gamechannel.
Beltre is en feugo!! Muy Fuego!
God I love Beltre. Let’s play our home games in Oakland.
Yes…thank you Dave Neihaus for telling him NOT to bunt there!
17 total bases in his last 6 AB’s. That’s good.
Beltre!!!
Sorry, no universal health care in Switzerland – they’re too rich to pay for poor people’s needs.
It’s easy to emigrate here if you’re moving from the UK (grudging reciprocal rights to European Union citizens) to marry your Texan girlfriend.
Hopefully both the change in Hernandez’ pitch selection and the M’s patience is the result of a shift in management philosophy and might be repeated.
Good thinking Dave.
55. Perhaps this strategy could work in ALL games. Let’s see, take some pitches, force some walks…then pitcher is forced to throw a strike…and Beltre gets a HR!
No, no, let’s not get too crazy.
May I belatedly add:
Frog blast the vent core!
So, how much of this early game patience was inspired by McLaren’s reminding the team that Harden’s on a pitch count???
Harden is already at 45 pitches. Hopefully we’re into the bullpen by the fourth inning.
47 pitches through 2 innings for Harden. He’s going 3 innings, max. That means 6 innings of the bullpen.
Nice job, offense.
Well, at least Vidro can’t hit into a DP next inning.
Look at Felix mix his pitches! I love Good Felix.
Is there any reason for Felix to throw Cust a fastball anywhere in the strike zone?
That last fastball at 96 had a PFX of 7, eh?
If taking pitches today is McLaren strategery (however obvious) it’s already better than that last fellow’s. However, his handling of starting pitching might be of concern. Grandpa Dave interviewed him pre-game yesterday.
Mac: “I’m not really a pitch count guy.” Does this mean he leans toward leaving pitchers in too long?
That was probably a two-seamer. Felix’s four-seamer is usually 11-14″ PFX in Safeco, but it looks like Oakland gives lower break and velocity numbers. So, the fastball is probalby 9-11″, and a two seamer might be in the 7-8″ range.
Dave, 2nd pitch to D Johnson reads 11.8 PfX, yet registers at 86…something going on with pfx or just a good slider?
So I missed the first inning…did Felix attempt to ‘establish the fastball’ again or has he been better in mixing his pitches?
Nevermind, didn’t see posts 78-82
Did Felix really just hit 101?
Lenny Dinardo warming up in the A’s pen
someone up in the As pen
Dave said that on the radio. I have to believe that the gun in the stadium was wrong. Gameday had 96 as the highest pitch speed to Johnson.
He needs to finish off a hitter like Johnson and trust his stuff. Nice job not messing around with Ellis though, went right after him it appears. Is 28 the correct pitch count, it seems low to me?
Dave squared!
So Vidro buys himself another week in the starting lineup?
oooohhh man, stuck watching the Braves and the Padres here int he ATL, and Wells just blew a head gasket and got tossed after serving up a meatball to Franceour… looks like suspension time. I thought he was going to have a heart attack .
Good God that was painful watching Vidro run the bases
is this game going to be available to watch on mlb.tv archive after it is over?
If Roberto Clemente was in right he’d have caught Rauul’s fly there
I’m gonna knock you out. Momma said knock you out!
It hurts every fiber of my being to be rooting for the Yankees.
I see that Vidro went all the way from first to third on a double.
Would Harden’s 88mph pitch with PFX 13″ be a straight meatball?
_david_, as I understand it yes, but it was probably 91 not 88, since their gun is apparently low.
Yep – though, I’m not sure that the Pitch F/X velocity is right today. The readings all look several MPH low.
Going to the bullpen.
Anyone else having an issue logging into MLB Audio? I can’t get any feeds…
Yep, there goes Hardin…
If only every day was Good Felix pitching and the M’s offense being patient and driving out the starting pitcher in the 3rd.
Beltre’s OPS is up to .821!
While it’s only a few days into the month, it’s still shocking to see Beltre with a 1.617 OPS for July. Here’s hoping his late season surge has started early this year.
Oakland fears the monster they have unleashed.
Why is Betancourt batting in front of Lopez today?
110, I think he usually does when he is not batting 2nd.
MLB TV has the game on
104. It took more kicks to the machine than usual to get mlb audio to start today. It’s always a pain the ass for me. But it is working. Maybe try restarting? That usually works for me.
The King is pitching pretty well today
I had to laugh this morning when Ozzie announced that the Twins were no longer pirahnas (his nickname for them last year) but that now they were sharks
he must have heard he made the Anti-All Star team again
115-
Sportsline is as worthless for real insight as yahoo sports is.
Beltre the anti-all star at third? Good god sportsline sucks.
This is weird. Three innings of no-hit Good Felix and no K’s
and that’s why you want to take a pitch or two, Jose.
112. Great! But if you’ve only subscribed to mlb audio, that doesn’t do you much good.
116- I only read Scott Miller’s useless crap for giggles. How is Rolen not the worst 3b this year?
my fb trade of Scott Kazmir for Beltre appears to be paying off big time…
Does anyone know how to watch this game? MLB TV is still blacked out.
113 – Thanks, I guess I’ll just have to use that whole “patience” thing.
112 – It only has it if you’re not in the black-out area, which is like 45 sq. ft. of the U.S.
120: If your going to get picky, I’d go with Kouzmanoff for 3b, however you must consider this article was written July 5th, back when Beltre was only a supreme fielder with above average offense
123 – Yup. I’m not really sure why Arizona is in the blackout area but it is.
So I’m doing a couple searches for Pitch F/X information, and what’s the first hit? A Monster.com job ad for a Pitch F/X Operator at Kaufman Stadium in KC. I guess that’s on the list of places to get the system next…
Weird game. More flyballs and line drives for Felix than groundballs and still no strikeouts.
MLB blacks out based upon your credit card address, no? Or do they use some kind of IP address locator voodoo?
I’m obsessed with the mlb photos: Cust’s makes him look like a Little Leaguer that they painted an A’s hat on when he got called up. It in no way resembled the man I saw at the plate on TV yesterday.
That was a very fast 4th inning.
Alas, Vidro.
Cameron just hit a HR in the Padres game, to take them up by one, after Francoeur hit one to give the Braves a lead, after Greene hit one for the Padres. That may turn out to be the most exciting of the games Fox is televising. Though it’s still the Braves, so I still wouldn’t watch it.
The Lackey-Clemons pitching duel…. well Roger only has one SO to Lackey’s seven, and they’ve each given up four hits and a run, so it’s not exactly the dominating performance we’re getting to, uh, listen to with Felix.
Would people want Felix to get his first no-hitter if they can’t see it?
i’m developing a mancrush on adrian. he’s cute in a gangsta kinda way
I would be perfectly happy to listen to Felix throw a no-hitter. But since the game is blacked out, I would also like to listen to the whole game. Here, Vidro was already out before they went back to the game after the commercial break. Very frustrating.
That was smart, walk Sexson to get to Beltre.
133 – Ask me that in the 9th inning…
Well, I can’t see any of this, so I gotta ask. How mixed are his pitches?
You think Beltre looks like a gangsta? Snorf.
134 – You’ve jinxed Beltre…
Take a breath Adrian.
Ooooh, Beltre loses that battle. Bummer.
1st pitch swith with bases loaded. !@#!@
133 – That reminds me, Dan Wilson had the game of his life, hitting 3 homers in a non-televised game in Detroit. It was a weekday day game, IIRC.
“swing” not “swith” !@#%$!@#
First pitch with the bases loaded on a ball out of the strike zone, smells like Yuni a mile away.
Maybe the M’s hitters want Felix to get back out there quickly.
Firstesky Pitchswingencourt
Yuni…….
DiNardo falls behind four straight guys, and Yuni can’t take one damned pitch with the bases loaded? Arrrrrrrrrggggggggggghh.
.. now I didn’t say it was a good idea, I just said…
Wow, Yuni is having a pretty rough start here in July at the plate.
every time I hear that Kraft ad, I think he is saying Crap.
Had Beltre gotten a hit, could it have been history? Ibanez, Guillen, Lopez and Beltre all with a .277 average. Still wierd that 3 have it…sort of
God damn MLB.tv, I could be watching Felix pitching, but its blacked out!
I thought I almost got around the blackout on MLB.tv. I got the window open with no redirect, got the live scoreboard on the right, but it started playing yesterday’s feed. Such a tease…
Although in the process I found a way around local live blackout restrictions. And I’ve still yet to try a few other ideas…
Playing with URLs is fun!
Dang.
So much for the no-hitter.
Crap.
Eh, I never get too excited until at least the 7th anyway.
90 mph with a pfx of 0? Fox better show a replay of the game tonight.
Ah, well, one hitter.
Doh.
Punctuation is telling.
Ellis broke his no hitter -
Archives for MLB.tv wouldn’t be blocked would it?
any word on if weaver was hurt last night?
Here’s a trivia question…Wonder if there’s ever been a no-no pitched in baseball history in which the guy who threw it did not record a single strikeout? I’m going to say probably not, but…
90 mph with a pfx of 0? Fox better show a replay of the game tonight.
Slider.
I blame GD for mentioning it.
But hey, he could still do the A’s what he did to the Red Sox (given the difference in offenses, the Boston game is still more impressive, of course).
You know, given the way this team has made the worst of the A’s pitchers look like monsters in years past, it would be only fair if they make the A’s aces look like ordinary schlubs this year. Past time for the Kryptonite to turn around.
167- Ken Holtzman did it.
So, with the Fire Sales inevitable in Chicago, Cincy, and potentially Washington, can we begin to speculate on shopping lists for the second half?
168–
Slider? Amazing.
Somehow “King Felix and pray the roof gets stuck open” doesn’t have a ring to it.
Does there come a point in time where Oakland cuts off Kendall? He’s 33 years old w/ an OPS of around .540…. He is their version of Vidro with only 11 extra base hits
Anyone concerned over the 0 K #?
I think I got it. If you pull out the MMS stream URL of, say, today’s CLE/TOR game, get around the url character encodings, and change the stream to direct to the SEA/OAK game, I’ll bet it works. It just takes a few minutes to decode/change/encode the MMS URL.
Of course, this is all armchair speculation, and I am *certainly* not actually thinking of doing anything illegal.
why would you be concerned if the kid is tossing a 2 hit shutout in the 7th without any K’s?
“Yankees, Halos draw aces today on FOX
———–
Veteran Roger Clemens faces Angels All-Star John Lackey on Old-Timers Day in the Bronx.”
- mlb.com front page banner
Nice thing is that right underneath it is:
“Mariners make quick work of Harden
———–
The Mariners chased Rich Harden after 2 2/3 innings to back Felix Hernandez”
Go M’s!
172
Woah woah woah. Give the Weave some credit. We can let him pitch before the roof gets stuck too. Maybe Washburn. If he’s lucky.
I was outside for the first part of the game. I got all excited to put on the game when I got back and was stunned to see Yankees/Angels.
Oh well at least Mel is happy because now we can go on our walk instead of me watching it.
He needs to put these guys away with some K’s is all.
Ok, there’s the K
On the radio Dave N is talking about Reggie Jackson getting thrown out of the game while protesting Gaylord Perry throwing spitballs. Let me take this opportunity (in DMZ’s absence) to note that there’s extensive coverage of Perry and his, uh, foreign substances in a certain book advertised on this very site.
Happy?
There is the K!
I am.
Felix is Jack Cust’s daddy.
Well, even if it did take six innings, it’s always fun to get the first one against Cust!
It helps to be able to strike somone out when you need to, but the ‘out’ part of strike out is the only part that matters in the game. Perhaps focusing on ‘blowing guys’ away was leading to some of his troubles. *shrug*
182 – DMZ’s book came out?
See what you miss when you boycott a team? It’s not just Hargrove’s feelings that get hurt.
I guess I’d best shuffle over to Amazon.
Wow, the offense has decided to call it a day, then…
K. Good. 188, I agree the out part is the important part. I never said you need to get the K’s with fastballs. His slider has been shitty of late as well (not sure about today or last start). It seemed on some of these guys he was throwing a good # of pitches and not coming away with the K. I’m out, Go King.
Wow, the Yankees had a leadoff double in a tie game and couldn’t even move him to 3rd. The last out was on a pickoff.
I’d rather be watching the King though…
Dammit, Posada!
190: At least they scored some runs first.
193 – I can’t decide who I should be rooting for there to be honest. I still don’t believe that the M’s record isn’t an illusion, so I’m not ready to emotionally commit myself to a playoff run.
Detect-O-Vision had a post the other day about Felix’s RHB/LHB splits. I did not agree with all of it, but he does have some very distinct splits – RHBs are 272/301/348 compared 319/388/563 for LHBs. 5.7 vs 2.8 K/BB ratio too. He advocated staying away from tough lefties and walking them more if need be (even though he already is more so than against RHBs). Seems like good advice, and to also mix up his pitches better (of course). Against Swisher and Cust last inning he threw about 50% offspeed. I like it.
Took a nap, woke up and Mariners are still ahead!
“King Felix and pray the roof gets stuck open”
lol
Perhaps Felix is figuring out that against teams with wet-noodle offenses, he can dominate without trying for all the Ks. It keeps his pitch count down, for one thing. I hope there’s a little voice whispering in his ear saying ‘You have nothing to prove at this point, Felix, you just need to win games’ (In Spanish, of course)
Then again, perhaps this is a further refinement of “mix up your pitches” — he’s pitching them backwards. Instead of trying to “establish the fastball” and get Ks early, he’s doing it in the later innings once he’s frustrated them with his offspeed/breaking stuff. I remember reading an interview with Pedro where he said he did that in some games to good effect.
I was out for the first half of the game …. came back expecting Rizzs on the radio and was pleasantly surprised to find Sims doing the plya by play. Has Rizzs even been on the air today?
And what a great game from Felix. Fangraphgs has our win expectancy at 96% but that’s low due to the non-contextual evaluation. With JJ lurking, I’d say our WE is more like 99.5%.
White Sox up 3-0 in the 8th. Apparently after scoring 32 yesterday the Twins are having trouble even lifting their bats.
103 Pitches, Felix heading out for the 8th?
“Lopey”?
Good goin’ Marty Foster — it’s about time one of the umps called the A’s on that infernal stepping- out-of-the-box-just-as-the-pitch-is- thrown habit of theirs!
199 – Rizzs has the day off.
look whats on espn2 @6pm
LOL ROCK PAPER SCISSORS
199: It was announced earlier in the game that Rizzy had the day off. Must be nice to take a day off to go sightseeing in SF!
Glad that DiNardo didn’t start today.
5IP 3H 4K
Felix is done here I hope…. think Longterm McClaren (sp?)
195 — ALWAYS root for the Yanks to beat your division rivals, especially the ones in front of you. There is no shame in that.
200 Hilariously the AP initially reported that the Twins scored 32 “points” in a double header yesterday. They have of course taken down that headline, although the new headline still didn’t have the word “runs”.
Nice to see Felix bring his ERA down!
I think a “run” is worth something like fourteen “points”
205. It was inevitable. Can Hopscotch be far behind?
207. I was just musing to myself, wondering if DiNardo can pitch pressure-free when he knows, at the worse, he’s not going to be the losing pitcher in this game.
209 – in my defense, I’m worried about a second half resurgence for the wild card. We’re fighting on two fronts here.
Felix is at 110 pitches. Is anyone else hoping to see a good guy out of the pen in the ninth? Not necessarily Putz, but someone to keep Felix from hitting the 125 mark.
So … who pitches the 9th?
Felix’s BABIP will take a nice drop also with the lack of K’s and just 2 hits.
I think his going back out is McClaren’s way of giving his pitchers confidence in their stuff.
McLaren
Misspell…my bad. 116 pitches through 8 for Felix…non-save situation, who’s going to close this out?
I was studying Dinardo for my fantasy team and they said he and Sergio Mitre were two of the most extreme groundball pitchers but when I had Dinardo on my team he got torched.
hmmm do we see Morrow out to the mound for the 9th?
Rowland-Smith I would hope, This is the kind of situations he is in that bullpen for.
With the wild card, the M’s have two tough AL Central teams in front of them and right now it looks like whichever one doesn’t win the division will be the team to beat for the wild card. Fortunately the still have several series to beat each other up, but the Indians and the Tigers both scare me more than the Yankees.
Yeah I think so ,Otto
Sherril was apparently up and throwing earlier. It’s sure nice having both him and Putz in their to backstop everybody else.
209 – I like to think of rooting for the Angels to lose and trying to forget who that means I want to win.
Ironically, Dinardo was originally slated to start for today…until Geren (sp) announced that he was starting Hardin instead.
Glad he didn’t start Dinardo.
Can’t they just both lose?
Oh, it’s Sherril
Ignore my comment 223. Since Felix was dominating it felt like we were up by a lot more then 4 runs.
Yanks and Angels are 1 to 1 til the ninth, now it’s the Yankees’ turn
-Let’s hope for the best !
Awesome game, Felix!
As Tom Petty once said, “It’s good to be King”!
do they go back to getting the rotation in order after the break? start felix, then wash, batista, weaver, and (gasp) ho-ram?
229 – If it weren’t for the all star break, I’d root for 89 innings to exhaust the team.
“The Mariners are 7 and 3 in shutout games this year” — Dave N. Took me a couple of seconds of “Huh? How do you lose a shutout?” before I understood what he was saying.
Fuck Buster Olney, leaving the M’s out of the top 5 AL teams. I believe we are firmly the 5th best.
shields vs. yankees…bottom nine…
It looked like Jeter just hit himself on the face with his bat on that bunt attempt.
i hate A-Rod…but a walk-off would be nice…
Yeah, and now with 2outs, it’s gonna be 8-3
A-Rod up bottom nine, tie 1-1.
YAY, Orel Hershiser showing some love!
Go Ms!
Cust da bust.
that’s a wrap…now c’mon Yankees!
Wow…one run over two games. If I didn’t loathe their stinking guts I’d feel sorry for the A’s.
got him! Jack-of-one-trade Cust striking out
M’s win again, 4-0
woo hoo part 1 done Yanks lets get part 2 done
Jack Cust vs. GS52 is like Me vs. Ray Lewis in a prison yard fight.
Burke on post game radio, “mixing our pitches”
Can’t wait to see the post on how Felix pitched today.
Burke just spoke about the importance of mixing pitches. Hmmm. I hope this isn’t simply post-game baseball speak. I hope they are serious about this because today was a reminder of how great it is to live in the Northwest and bask in the awesomeness that is King Felix.
Thanks for the heads up on the Rock Paper Scissors Championship, will be watching it shortly.
his contract is up at the end of the year, and the A’s pitchers like having him catch.
argh. I hate to do it, but ….
“go Yankees! c’mon Cairo! c’mon boys!”
Yeah, that post-game interview with Burke sounded like he was reading from Dave’s post. I really, really hope that whatever it is — MacLaren, Chavez, Burke — it’s a real philosophical change and it will continue.
253. As specifically as Burke was talking about it… every team can hit the fastball… teams have been hitting him hard… let’s do something … let’s mix it up… I’m sure they’re conscious of how devastating Felix can be outside of the strictly “establish fastball” pattern.
I can’t do it. I don’t care if the Angels are our division rivals, I can’t root for the Yankees. They could be playing Sauron and the Orcs and I’d still root for the other team.
What’s so damn crazy was seeing that huge KENDALL! banner yesterday on the Beltre homerun replay. Someone took time and effort to make that thing, hump it to the Coliseum and duct tape it to the railing.
I want the Yankees to fail, but they can beat the Angels and still fail.
Felix just gave a shout out to “the internet.”
Yes! Felix credits reading the Internet for mixing his pitches today. I think you guys deserve some credit for that.
259: Let’s break it down, all Dave style:
Team A is your divisional rival, whom you are currently 2 1/2 games behind in the standings.
Team B is in another division, 11 games back, and unlikely to contend for the postseason.
Holy crap, I hope Dave is listening to the radio! Hilarious.
Chaves says he showed the letter to Felix because “it was a reinforcement of things we have been telling him … I wanted to show Felix that it’s not a top secret that he throws the fastball”
if you’re listening to the radio…this is awesome…
I really hope the Mariners have enough vision to hire Dave and DMZ as consultants or something then I would guarantee the Mariners multiple championships no doubt about it.
via Baker
The Mariners already knew that Felix fell into patterns, they just used the letter as reinforcement to show that EVERYONE knows that he falls into patterns.
You know what’d be funny? If Felix started up a Schilling-style blog, only in Spanish…we’d all have to resort to AltaVista translations to read it…
Team B is the Yankees.
Fuck the Yankees. We have plenty of games with Anaheim coming up. I want them BURIED before the end of July, because Steinbrenner can buy a second half comeback if they’re too close.
It’s not really that awesome. Chaves said it’s not something they didn’t already know, and that it’s not something opponents didn’t know. Anyone with the time and gumption to monitor the pitches could have come to that conclusion… Obviously, opponents had.
Dag nabbit.. Too much bling around the pitcher’s neck kept him from making the play at first.. Looks like M’s stay 3 1/2 back.
Well Red Sox are up 2-0 on Det.
However, the letter did help Felix in this outing so he shout it out -
and I think that’s good enough to know
Scoreboard watching is fun but if we don’t win more games than we lose against the Angels then there is no chance of winning the division.
272: I think its more of the fact that something from the blogosphere got mention from Chavez and the King, themselves… That doesn’t really happen that often
Dave, I think it looks like you really made a difference. And the dude — I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your login — who handed the letter to the bullpen.
277: If the Angels lose every game to every team that isn’t the M’s we don’t even have to beat them once. I love the M’s more than I hate the Yanks, period. THIS IS A NO BRAINER.
272 – Sure didn’t take long for someone to pooh-pooh the news. If Felix and Chaves say the letter made a difference, I don’t know why you’d want to be a wet blanket about it. Come on.
Chaves said much the same thing that Dave mentioned in his letter– that Felix falls in love with his fastball to start a game and needs someone to tell him (or show him) that it doesn’t work, and everyone knows it.
My take is that Chavez sounded rather defensive about the whole pitch pattern thing. In fact, at one point, he stated that he “doesn’t know everything”. All in all, a very cool thing for USSM.
Yanks have first and third, one out vs. F-raud.
Captain Intangables up with 2 outs.
Angels win.
And the Yankees lose…
Anyone who roots for the Angels to beat the Yankees is both bitter and not a particularly good Mariners fan. Grow up and get over it.
I think it’s only fair to want them both to lose.
That sounds awfully familiar…. Why, I think it’s what non sports fans say to excited sports fans!
Could we stop telling each other the proper way to root for and against non-Mariner teams and all that? It’s got to be about the silliest thing to get self-righteous about that I can imagine.
Just back from the game.
Comments:
1. Felix was totally pumped. He seriously fistpumped an inning ending strikeout.
2. When Beltre gave Felix the ball after an “around the horn”, he put serious mitt-popping mustard on it. For Sherrill, he lobbed it. Coincidence? I think not.
3. Also, Betancourt committed an error on an around the horn throw from Sexson, and Ibanez had to lumber in from left to shag it.
4. Has Betancourt had a hit in July? He looks utterly helpless.
4. Great day for ball at that wretched football stadium the A’s play for. Lots of Seattle fans in attendance.
287: Agreed…I believe it was once Churchill who, during WWII, said of Stalin, “My enemy’s enemy is my friend.” As much as I can’t stand either the Yankees or the Red Sox, I always have to hold my nose and root for them when they play a divisional rival, ’cause ultimately that helps us out.
rd –
where did you read felix credites the internet?
291 I don’t know whether Churchill said it or not but it was one of Chairman Mao’s more famous sayings, possibly in that little red book that communists of a certain generation passed out: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
292 I believe he did it on the radio.
292 check out baker’s blog
278 – That would be me. Just got back from the game. Anyone have a pointer to a radio replay so I can hear what they said about Dave’s letter?
Too bad for Harden today. It doesn’t look like he’s fully ready yet. He didn’t have his normal velocity or location, and was falling behind all of the batters in the 2nd inning when he gave up 3 runs. I don’t think that he topped 94 today on the stadium gun. He seemed to be 3 or 4 MPH lower than his normal velocity all day, mostly in the 91-93 range.
I tried charting Felix most of the game and he did hit 101 once in the 2nd inning. His pitch velocity to start the game was 95, 91, 85, 91, 82, 93, 92, 86, 94, 96, 96.
His best pitch sequence was probably at the end of the 6th inning when he went 82, 85, 98, 83 (S,S,B,S) to strike out Jack Cust. 98 to 83, that’s just plain nasty.
His last 10 pitches were 95, 95, 95, 96, 97, 88, 96, 96, 93, 92.
2. When Beltre gave Felix the ball after an “around the horn”, he put serious mitt-popping mustard on it. For Sherrill, he lobbed it. Coincidence? I think not.
It’s funny, I noticed that too. But I think that part of the reason was that Sherrill was about 10 feet toward third when Beltre threw it, whereas Felix was hanging close to the mound.
re: 296–
In the first inning was he throwing mostly 2 seamers? I was in no position to see movement on the pitch, and at first I thought that the stadium gun was slow (especially with Harden sitting at 91-93), but later Felix was consistently 97-98 on the stadium gun with the fastball.
And by “mostly two seamers” I mean when he wasn’t throwing breaking balls/change-ups.
re: 297 – I wish I had better notes here, I only recorded the velocities from the gun. I didn’t have a good vantage point either so I had to keep switching between viewing the monitor and the field. As I recall, I think that he wasn’t throwing many 4 seamers, and most of his pitches had a lot of movement. The announcers were calling some sliders but I couldn’t confirm it from my vantage point.
Throwing the only fastball for a ball, in a parade of offspeed strikes: that’s how you get to be Greg Maddux.
Comment 271 has totally baffled me. Not only am I amazed that an M’s fan would actually root for the Angels to win so that they can possibly put more distance between them and the Mariners, but how and who is Steinbrenner going to buy before the deadline that would turn this Yankee team into a playoff contender??????
It’s really not nearly as cut and dried as people are saying. Cool Standings shows the Mariners with a 16 percent chance at the division, and a 13 percent chance at the wild card. That’s not much of a difference. The Yankees still have a 7 percent chance at the wild card, mostly because they are a much better team than their record shows; they are fr better on runs scored vs runs allowed than the Mariners are. It is not at all out of the question that improvements to the Yankees could put them in the thick of the wild card race in a hurry. We’ll be fighting the Angels all year, assuming we stay in the race; but another bad run could knock the Yankees out for good. I’d rather the Angels lose, myself, but there’s a reasonable argument for rooting for them to beat the Yankees — however one feels about it emotionally.