Game 86, Tigers at Mariners
Miller vs Hernandez, 7:05 pm.
Happy Felix Day. No, really, this might be the happiest Felix Day in a long time, because I can finally hang up the Mix Your Pitches soapbox and just enjoy the ballgame.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the kid the Tigers are throwing tonight, well, you could say I’m something of a fan. I wrote this report in March of 2006, and I then spent the next few months trying to convince anyone who would listen that Andrew Miller was a left-handed Roy Halladay, and clearly the best pitcher in the draft. The Mariners picked 5th overall and selected Brandon Morrow. The Tigers then proceeded to take Miller with the next pick. (There were extenuating circumstances surrounding the draft, covered here, so I’m not criticizing the scouting department for not selecting Miller.)
Of course, Morrow has since been turned into Matt Thornton 2.0, a hard-throwing reliever with no command or secondary pitches. Meanwhile, despite pitching issues of their own, the Tigers refused to alter Miller’s development plan, having him begin the year in A-ball while refining his overall game until he was ready to step into their rotation. A month ago, they made the call, and Miller’s solidified himself as a key member of their pitching staff, and a guy who will be counted on to start for them in October should the Tigers make the playoffs.
Meanwhile, Brandon Morrow’s lost his job as the right-handed setup man to Chris Reitsma and Sean Green, and will now pitch the middle innings when the ability to throw the ball over the plate is not required.
Had some different decisions been made, the two guys taking the hill tonight could both be Mariners – the 21-year-old right-handed prodigy and the 23-year-old left-handed phenom. Andrew Miller could have been starting for the Mariners tomorrow night. On the brightside, if we need someone to come in and issue an intentional walk, we’re set for the next 15 years, so that worked out well too.
But you know what? As much as I like Andrew Miller, he’s not Felix. Let’s hope the ace the Mariners actually do have shows up the rookie tonight.
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You know, throughout all of the first half reviews offered up by radio shows and FSN, not one, at least not one that I saw, mentioned Green. He has clearly performed better than Reitsma and Morrow. Imagine, if he had pitched this well in ST, then maybe the M’s do send Morrow down to the minors.
Dave, using your Future Forty system what numbers would you have given Miller?
He’d be a 10 reward, probably a 5 or 6 risk. His package of awesome sinking two-seamer, high velocity four seamer, knockout slider, and solid command from the left-side at 23-years-old makes him an elite young pitcher. I don’t call him a left-handed Roy Halladay lightly – this kid has the talent to be a dominant starter for a long time.
Dave, do you think Morrow has no future? or are you saying that Morrow has no place on the major league roster now? or a combo of both good sir.
Thanks, I have heard about the sinking two seamer that dives into RH’s and am excited to watch him pitch for the first time.
Hmmm… this begs the question: are Morrows “command” issues fundamental to his character as a pitcher, or just another skill he’ll need to learn?
If we put him back to AAA or AA to work on it, who replaces him? Mateo?
The line about the intentional walk is hyperbole and sarcasm. Morrow may become a major league pitcher someday – he’s not one now, though, and he’ll never be Andrew Miller. He really should be in West Tennessee right now, figuring out how to throw strikes and developing his secondary pitches.
It sucks that the politics of baseball conspired to keep the M’s from drafting Miller, because I don’t think any team in baseball could use him more than the Mariners right now.
So have you decided Morrow’s no good or do you think he just desperately needs some time in the minors? I’m inclined to think the latter, but I’d be interested in what you have to say.
Ichiro! followed by ‘designated hitter’ Vidro in the two hole. ‘left fielder’ Ibanez batting 3rd. Ugh…
/broken record
Nevermind. You already answered. So here’s question number 2: If we were to trade Balentien, who do you think we could realistically get?
I think I jumped the gun on Adam Jones by picking him up on my fantasy team on Tuesday.
Dave, I’m interested in your opinion of this,
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/minor_key/discussion/breaking_down_the_first_round/
He grades Morrow as the second best pick of the first round, mechanics wise. Is he a lost cause as far as the walks go, or can he still develop into a dominating starter/reliever?
Fraid so, Norm. Even if they had called him up, it might be a little early to call him Hunter Pence II.
Dave, can you elborate on your intent in stating “politics of baseball conspired to keep the M’s from drafting Miller”?
Is that Evil Rizzs making another appearance?
In light of Andrew Miller and Tim Lincecum’s success thus far throughout their respective careers, the selection of Brandon Morrow with the fourth pick in the 2006 MLB Draft is looking worse each and every day.
Since Morrow has a low variety of pitches and a piss-poor K:BB ratio of approximately 1 to 1, it currently appears that his future in MLB is that of a hard-throwing middle reliever.
I could easily be wrong about that, though.
Dave, can you elborate on your intent in stating “politics of baseball conspired to keep the M’s from drafting Miller”?
It’s in the second linked article in the post.
Let us all have a Happy Felix Day and a good start to the 2nd half!
He grades Morrow as the second best pick of the first round, mechanics wise. Is he a lost cause as far as the walks go, or can he still develop into a dominating starter/reliever?
I find Carlos’ work interesting, but I’m not qualified to have an opinion on pitching mechanics at his level.
I’m not writing Morrow off – he could turn into a good pitcher down the road. Don’t take this post as “Dave Hates Morrow”. He’s just not Andrew Miller.
Anyone else freak out when the announcers started out by saying, “We have a roster change.” Alas, it was just about Dave having some time off.
They were talking about the Friday announcement and while they didn’t say it was official, I guess that’s pretty official.
[i]He’s just not Andrew Miller.[/i]
“Stiff, stiff, stiff. OK, so it looks like he has good movement on his pitches, and he’s tall and lefthanded. Takes the ball out of the glove too early for my liking. Leads with his front shoulder, which I don’t like. Just glides into foot plant. Just doesn’t use his body well to throw. No oomph with his body/legs. Again, he’s tall and a lefty, but I don’t understand the mega-hype. I’ve watched his video a number of times and I still don’t get it. I just don’t see him keeping his velocity throughout his career, as his shoulder just takes a beating. I hope I’m wrong because I’d love to have a Bonderman/Verlander/Zumaya/Miller/Robertson rotation myself in a few years.”
He thinks Miller is an injury concern. What is really interesting is that if Morrow was given Miller’s development time, we could be talking about Morrow as the slamdunk pick of the draft, I think.
I don’t know want to talk about the fact that he threw nothing but fastballs in that at-bat…
Hey Rick, how about looking at the umpire’s call.
There’s your breaking ball to Sheff, Dave.
22 – first pitch change up there.
First pitch curve – awesome. I’m going to shut up about this now.
So is it his fault, Johjima’s fault, or the bench’s fault?
If he didn’t throw Sheff a fastball all night I would be ok with that.
Where was Lopez?
unfortunate… was Lopez feinting at second base on that hit?
That’s just bad defensive alignment. That ball was hit right to where Lopez should have been. They were way too worried about Granderson at second.
100mph on gameday…he’s dialing it up tonight.
Darn, unlucky inning. We could have had dp’s on two of those hits, if the Tigers hadn’t been all run-run-running.
Oh well.
33 – Still not as bas as it could have been…
That’s actually a pretty terrific first inning for Felix. Ignoring the Granderson at-bat for a second, he got a whole bunch of ground balls, all of which would have been easy double-plays in a normal circumstance. The Tigers did a good job of avoiding the DP by sending Granderson and Sheffield, and the M’s gave away an out with Lopez’s positioning on Sheffield’s hit, so that run had very little to do with Felix’s pitching.
Agains this line-up, you’ll take that kind of pitching every day. That’s Good Felix, even though they scored a run.
Kenji has only thrown out 29 percent of those trying to steal? I’ll admit I haven’t really paid attention to it, but that’s Piazza territory, no?
Cool! Dave backed up my analysis!
Vidro…
Piazza territory is 5-7%. 32% is league average. Kenji’s fine.
You are more forgiving of the Morrow pick than I was.
What really bugs me about that kind of unofficial commissioner interference is that it simply punishes the teams who decide to follow “the rules.”
I mean, what happened to Detroit? Bare bottom spankings? Worse seats at the all star game for the owner?
So here we are now and Detroit has Miller and we have freaking Morrow and Detroit suffers no apparent damage from Bud’s big stick. Humbug.
We don’t care Vidro, just go sit on the bench so we can watch AJ hit doubles!
Turbo once again silences his critics…
Dave, what’s your view on Granderson as a player? Do you think he has a chance to be one of the better players in the league in the next couple of years?
and as I have to remind myself, these are the Good Tigers, not the Patsy Tigers.
and if Mike Winters continues with this interesting strike zone …
Ken Levine, who was a Mariner’s broadcaster sometime back in the 90’s and these days broadcasts only sporadically when he’s not writing comedy for television, is on the radio solo tonight. He’s a funny guy but might be in just a little over his head. I really like Ken, hope he has a great series. His blog is at kenlevine.blogspot.com.
See, Morrow wouldn’t have done that
Great pick!
Granderson’s a lot of fun to root for, but he’s a bit over his head right now. His SLG% is being inflated by an unsustainable triples rate. I think he can be a .280/.350/.460 guy for most of his career, and when combined with his defense in center, that makes him a very good player.
He is a Tigers pitcher! Maybe that is why we didn’t draft him.
is Sims off, too? odd for him to be off during Dave’s annual midseason vacation.
Sexson displaying his power…
At least he didn’t strike out, not that it really matters.
Sims was reported to be “under the weather” — hence, Rizzs on TV.
Ken’s best line of the night so far,, when Felix turned and faked a throw to second: “Maybe one of the most exciting plays in baseball…the spin around.”
I’d heard Levine was coming in, and my thought at the time was that it would be good to hear him with Neihaus again. ah, well.
I would absolutely love to hear what the actual ramifications are for a team paying above slot (as per post #40). Detroit is making a KILLING year after year in the draft because they seemingly don’t care about this slot money craziness. Note to MLB: Make a rule official with official penalties or shut your frakking mouth about it!
Looking pretty good so far (I don’t care about the run they got on one hard hit ball). Has Felix turned a corner? Can we expect a stronger Felix from here on out?
I love Miller, but the guy I would have picked if I couldn’t take Miller was Linnecum. Nothing against Morrow because he hasn’t had the chance to develop, but I always thought Tim would be able to step in and take a spot in the rotation.
I had the pleasure of meeting Dave Niehaus and Rick Rizzs (and Blowers and Sims) in the press box at Sunday’s game in Oakland. I must say, they were all great guys and very gracious. I enjoyed it very much.
speaking of lines, I did enjoy (how odd to say this) Ted Miller’s note today about Marlin’s president David Samson:
“Samson, by the way, got his job because he’s owner Jeff Loria’s stepson. Loria, once voted one of the top 10 greediest owners in sports by ESPN.com, is best known for being a terrible owner and firing manager Joe Girardi in 2006 because Girardi had the audacity to tell Loria to stop heckling the umpires during a game. The terminated Girardi went on to win NL Manager of the Year. “
Bad glove by Casey. He should make that play.
For all the Sexson trash talk… we could have Sean Casey.
Anyone know how much both Miller and Morrow ended up signing for?
Glad I picked this Miller kid up for my fantasy team yesterday.
oh, yay. Batista will draw Froemming behind the plate on saturday. I assume he won’t be drawing any days off for the tossing in Oakland
You get the feeling MLB makes up the rules as they go along…
At a glacial pace, no less.
At least they made Miller work that inning. 33 pitches through 2.
Looking back on your original scouting report, Dave, you had Miller listed as a ground ball machine. He’s certainly showed that tonight.
Granderson can flat out rake.
65…that is the way you beat the Tigers, knock the pitcher out and get to the bullpen.
Not only can Granderson rake, but he’s a damn fine baserunner. That was a slick move, heading down to third.
Dave, has Felix stopped throwing his two-seamer? It seems like his fastballs always clock in around 95-96 now, and he doesn’t have that 92-94 two-seamer making an appearance.
A ground ball pitcher against the hacktastic Mariner hitters. Unless I missed something, no fly balls by the M’s in the first two innings.
70 – I ‘m seeing his pitches hit 98-100 on gameday and 96-98 on tv. right now…
Crap. Felix throws the pitch he wants, gets the batter to swing, gets crappy contact, and it bounces off the plate for a run-scoring single.
OK, sorry to bother everyone, but I am listening to the radio and however funny Levine may be, he cannot do play by play. What happened on the Ordonez at bat, which Levine said first was a bloop to Beltre and then a single off the plate?
Despite the five hits and two runs, I think Felix is throwing well. He’s had some bad luck.
#58. Samson’s as much an idiot as Buster Olney is. Samson said Ichiro’s “led his team to zero?”
What about Ichiro’s first year in MLB? Seems to me the Mariners won 116 games that year and beat Cleveland in the division series, and got beat by the Yanks in the ALCS (who went on to lose themselves in the WS).
And this year is a fine example of what happens when a premier player has an outstanding year for a less than productive team, and said premier player cannot pull said team out of their doldrums (see: NY Yankees). The same thing happened to the Mariners the last couple of years.
74 – It was a high chopper off the plate.
Felix’s velocity has jumped back up to pre-injury levels tonight. The four-seamer is 94-99, the two-seamer is 94-95.
#77
Thanks. Levine enjoys his own stories too much.
Did anyone see this?
http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2932479&name=law_keith
Is ESPN ripping Dave off?
Vidro, hitting like he’s on the hot-seat
I honestly can’t see the difference between the four-seamer and the sinker. I think that’s why I watch the games on TV, instead of sitting in the dugout.
Well, that, and a whole bunch of other reasons.
If you think our guys on FSN NW are bad. You should listen to FSN Detroit which I am watching now. Not very good at all.
Why is Ibanez in the 3 hole against Miller when he already has enough problems against lefties.
81. And sadly, this is the best he can do.
I like Valle’s line: He’s not trying to do too much there…
No, I think that’s the simply the best he can do. He’s still go the eye, but he has no power. So he puts the bat out there and the ball goes for a single.
Oooh, the announcers are starting to talk up Adam Jones. I think the organization’s priming the fan base for a move.
I hope the organization’s priming the fan base for a move.
Announcer: The reason Ichiro gets so many infield hits is because the dirt around the plate is so hard. Verbatim.
You know, part of me dreads to bring this up, but…
USSM crew have commented on occasion that Bloomquist has stuck with the team because he’s a local white kid. Is it possible that Jones isn’t already up because he’s black?
And now here’s Richie again with 2 on and 2 outs…
When I was a kid growing up in Michigan, it was George Kell and Al Kaline on TV and Ernie Harwell on the radio. Greatness.
And I lived halfway between Detroit and Chicago so I could also listen to Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau do the Cubs on radio with Jack Brickhouse on TV. Its hard for a kid not to be a fan when they put the love of the game they had into it.
88 — Please stop. That is absurd.
Just to address the (Dave supplied) reason why the Mariners didn’t draft Andrew Miller -
Miller’s signing bonus was $3.55 million, which was only $1 million more than the recommended slot bonus.
The Mariners probably sell about a million dollars in garlic fries in a week…
Would be a good time to start his second half surge.
Unless he’s just going to suck it up the second half as well.
Jones’ color has nothing to do with it.
89. Yes, it does seem as though we always have two outs when we have men on. And…there he goes: OUT.
88: Don’t ascribe malice to that which can be attributed as incompetence.
I used to have my doubts about the mariners circa 2002 when they got rid of most of their “brown” players like Freddy and Carlos Guillen. The club became pretty white then. It’s hard to make that claim now however.
Miller’s signing bonus was $3.55 million, which was only $1 million more than the recommended slot bonus.
Miller’s total package was worth just over $6 million. The signing bonus was only part of his deal. The Tigers went way over slot to sign him.
Every time Carlos Guillen comes up to bat against us, it is like a wound. Of course, when I think of the hitters around the league who used to be with us, I feel like William Holden at the end of The Wild Bunch.
88. See Jason Ellison, local kid (So. Kitsap High).
Looks like all the breaks are going for the Tigers today…
I dunno. If you’re going to claim that Bloomquist is on the club because he is a local white boy, it’s not such a reach to say someone else might have gotten to the club faster if he’d BEEN a local white boy.
Anyway. Fuck. Guillen, you NEEDED to get that back in.
Jesus. Comon now.
Guillen looks like he’s even managed to get some chew on his shirt. Way to go.
Tigers are willing to make the moves to win. After all their ultimate accountability is not to Bud Selig. M’s ownership isn’t that bold so they only have themselves to blame.
Karen: So it’s easier for local black boys to get on the club, but they’re permanent bench dwellers? :>
YESSSS lopez!
I have tickets to tomorrow’s Bonderman-Washburn matchup. Go or sell tickets?
#86–
Sorry to have to break this to you. I listened to the pregame. The manager interview is quite instructive. Tonight, Mac said this (paraphrasing):
Adam Jones is terrific. He’s in Tacoma to get at bats and continue to learn pitch recognition. He’ll be up one day. But for now, the team is doing very well.
Yes, folks, we have ourselves another don’t rock the boat manager.
103: I agree. Trying to appease the commish is nice. Trying to win is better. Andrew Miller would be a big step up from Horacio Ramirez. Wonder if having Andrew Miller means we could’ve kept Rafael Soriano…
Valle says: “Little breaking ball.”
No, that was a nasty, hard, 90 MPH slider. Yech.
106: I wonder how much this is Mac vs the organization. Strictly speaking this is not his decision.
#106
Well, he is an interim manager. What is he going to do under the circumstances? Say the GM is wrong in an interview?
Listening to some of you people, you’d think the Imperial Wizard of the Klan is the Mariners’ GM. Then again, Bavasi does have kind of a skin head.
Felix shook Joh off on that strikeout. I think Joh may have called for a fast ball.
Wow. Was Rizzs right, was that a curve ball? Interesting to see Felix shake Johjima off before throwing that last pitch (although at 91 mph, wouldn’t that be more likely to be a two-seamer?)
In spite of years of watching baseball on TV, I can barely recognize one pitch from another. I need an online course or something.
MD: Geez. Way to overreact to extremely hesitant speculation.
Wow, Felix showed great composure there. He sure does pitch like a much more mature pitcher. Doesn’t seem to get too emotional, except after he gets out of a stressful inning.
I think the 90-91 pitch is his slider. The mid-80s is his curve. (Correct me if I’m wrong.)
My general rule of thumb for Felix: 95ish is fastball. 90ish is slider. Mid-80s is curve or change. Usually, you can tell the change ‘cuz it tails away from a lefty, and I don’t think he throws it much to righties.
Rally Fish and Chips? Can we handout some fries just in case?
Why the hell is he calling for a sign from the ump on a possible strike 3 instead of running???
Beltre checking his swing on the strikeout!
The 88-92 breaking ball is a slider – the curve is 80-84.
114 — I would say it was absurd speculation that made no sense. But whatever.
Pudge getting ejected is a very good thing for the M’s.
Hit the showers, Pudge.
117. Don’t knock it. it’s working.
What the heck did Pudge say? That didn’t take long.
Pudge had a case, there. He just got a little too animated expressing it.
125. He bumped the ump.
He bumped him at some point, looked accidental but still did it.
Chips=fries
Overshadowed was the silly-looking slide into third by Beltre.
Looked like he did it twice. He ignored the first one but by that time he was so animated he wasn’t going to ignore it again.
Pudge is totally right – Betancourt completely interfered with Rodriguez’s path to throw. Pudge shouldn’t have bumped the ump, but he’s dead on about the ump blowing this call.
Yuni’s massive overswing works in our favor this time.
Dear Lord, we didn’t need that pop up.
What’s the penalty for the obstruction? Runner returns to first, batter called out?
(Incidentally, the scene that ran through my head was Crash Davis getting thrown out at home plate in Bull Durham.)
interesting ESPN Gameday bug – it counted Beltre’s strikeout as an out.
Andrew Miller has been everything he was advertised to be tonight. Wow. The kid’s got dynamic stuff.
This kid can pitch.
I would prefer to see him look terrific against another team.
75 pitches for Miller now.
The bright side: Miller’s thrown 75 pitches through four. The M’s are going to see the Detroit bullpen here, sooner or later.
It looked like he [Pudge] bumped him, while bending over to point at YuBet’s foot print. Completely incidental contact. Unlucky for Pudge, but lucky for us.
He’s been great, but as Rick L. pointed out above, 75 through 4 innings means we are actually making him work. It seems as if wnen the M’s prepare themselves for a challenge like Miller, they are much more “professional” (not chasing early) hitters. It’s been said before, we struggle much more against AAA talent pitchers…
Sure would be nice to give the King some run support to show your appreciation.
That last strikeout, made more likely by Kenji framing the pitch, is one of the reasons it is hard to quantify the contribution of the catcher to a team.
How could Rick Rizzs watch this game and then compliment Felix’s fastball command?
I don’t know if anybody else is listenting to this, but I am listening to a borscht belt comedian, not to a baseball game. Levine had absolutely no details about what Pudge did.
It’s amazing how quick Gary’s bat is. Ugh.
Framing is a myth. If you’re going to credit Kenji for that one, are you going to blame him for all the ones the ump misses?
The Tigers bullpen isn’t strong. Miller’s throwing a lot of pitches. I don’t think the M’s are getting shut out tonight.
145: Cuz our announcers are overly positive morons. I’ve never heard them say anything negative about any of players beyond “He’s struggling right now, but you know he’s about to turn it around.”
Did Valle just say “Not paying attention to Sheffield at first base?”
151. Yes, after Sheff stole second.
I was about to get annoyed at ‘em for walking Guillen, and then I heard that Rabelo was next. 240/293/320 looks a lot better than 325/393/576.
Woo! After all that bad luck, I thought that might get through.
Hey Dave! Sexson couldn’t have made that play if he was four feet tall!!! =)
Felix tossed to first two times at least in the Sheffield at bat and framing is for people watching television.
151: Technically he’s right -he wasn’t paying attention to him on first base.
My Oh My! Where did they find this Ken guy?
Ichiro is OPSing .000 since the All-Star Break. Looks like he got that contract extension and started loafing already.
Who is Al Levine? I could have asked my own accountant with a nasal, snively voice to call the game if I knew that was needed.
3 for 3! Sign him to an extension!
Er, Ken Levine. Whoever he is, I’m about to put this on mute.
Turbo playing for his job…
This is going to add fuel to Corcoran’s dad’s fire.
Does anyone else find it comical that Turbo keeps on hitting singles among all this speculation?
Touche, 157.
Maybe Pinky and the Brain weren’t so bad afterall.
Ken Levine is an Emmy winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years Ken has worked on MASH, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, WINGS, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, BECKER, DHARMA & GREG, and has co-created his own series including ALMOST PERFECT starring Nancy Travis.
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/
Ken Levine was great in “Arli$$” too.
“Self serving program note: I will be broadcasting tonight’s Seattle Mariners game on both radio (KOMO Seattle, XM, and MLB.com) and on television (FSN Northwest). I will do this without the benefit of Eric Brynes and his dog in a kayak outside the stadium in the bay. Wish me luck. ”
Nice touch there.
169: Arli$$. Ugh. “Pinch my nose”
Wow, Levine and Valle. The M’s announcers have hit new lows.
Dance Polecat?!? Mike Parker (OSU) would have been a much better choice as a fill in announcer.
Third time’s the charm? I hope…
Chalk up 2 more LOBs to Sexson here
I could use some funk right about now…..
Richie, do me a favor and take this pitch. Okay?
Thank you.
Nice, Beltre with the sacks drunk.
He is different, but I actually recall enjoying his color commentary back in the 90’s.
Didn’t this guy write for the Simpson’s for years? (Or still does)
Anyway, it’s kind of memory lane with him back on the tube. Last time he called a game with the M’s, Griffey and Edgar wore the uniform.
Come on, Adrian. Maybe fantasy team needs this. Also, the Mariners.
Levine is (was) great. Don’t you remember him as the M’s color guy in ‘92? Bandwagon fans, all of you!
I mean, Levine just got called out of retirement for this game. It’s like when Kevin Collabro called a few games in like 02 or 03 (can anyone remember that).
It’s all up to Adrian “2 Ks so far put hopefully not another one” Beltre.
Here is where Pudge would be key for the young guy…Im calling a Grannie
Yes, the two old ladies have almost finished that bottle of scotch.
Bottom of the fifth and the bags are loaded.
171: I had never seen Arli$$ until I was away this weekend and they were showing it on “ESPN Classic.” My friend said “Oh, you’ll enjoy this!”
Uh, yeah.
I liked Calabro as the announcer during those games. He called it straight, and did a nice job of keeping on top of the action.
Kevin Collabro called baseball games?
hell yes
BELTRE!!!!!!
Nice slide. By Guillen…not by…what?
Good Adrian!!!
No tag!!!!
HOLY CRAP BELTRE! What was that?!
That was the wildest play I’ve seen down at second base.
When did the Keystone Cops take over the infield?
I wonder how much it cost to buy the guys in blue for tonight’s game. This is awesome.
what the crap?
No f’in way
holy crap! that was awesome!
Wow, we are getting a lot of breaks tonight.
Nice Barry Sanders impersonation by the Beltre! Freeze tag in an elevator indeed!
I think he got him with the last tag
[Rizzs]
Oh man. I’m glad we got rid of that guy. Can’t tag to save his life.
Is that enough funk ?
Bud is letting the Tigers know why you don’t sign draft picks for more than the recommended slot amount.
And we do the hokey-pokey and we turn ourselves around…
WHAT THE TRUCK??????????????
Tie game.
LOL!!!! And the wackiness continues!
Until then.
That is bullshit. He touched the bag!
okay, so he was safe when he was called out and was out when he was called safe
Well, I thought that was a couple bad calls.
did they just call him out again? wtf?
Gameday isn’t saying anything. What’s happening?
Make up call by Froemming to call Beltre out for never touching the base.
Oh, man. Gotta say…I have seen some ENTERTAINING baseball this season…
Is this the Hidden Umpire Trick? DMZ, you out there?
# 206: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, post of the year
That was a horrible Blue job all around
News coming in… Beltre was safe after all! We have to go back.
Umm, Sportscenter is on ESPN, Mr. Levine.
216:
Beltre singles into right, two runs score. Throw to the plate to get Guillen, who slides around it. Runners try to advance to second and third. Catcher throws down to second to get Beltre. Beltre slides around the tag but overslides the bag. Guillen misses the tag.
They do the hokey pokey around second base, and Guillen looks like he gets the tag between second and third. Sexson takes off for home plate, Guillen loses his handle on the ball. Sexson scores, Beltre slides into third.
Then they appeal, and Beltre is called out for never touching second. (The tape shows that he clearly touched second.) Mariners score three.
Can’t wait to see this on Baseball Tonight…
It broke Yahoo anyway.
BTW, check out this great post on Levine’s blog about bad announcing gigs:
First Froeming got the call right….saying he was not tagged (he was pretty well blocked from seeing Beltre touch the bag by the strange position of Guillen). Then he got the call wrong by not calling Beltre out when Guillen tagged him on the elbow on the third attempt. Then he got the call wrong saying beltre never touched the bag. Again, he was blocked from seeing that and the announcers saying he “ruled him safe which means he thought he touched the bag” are full of crap. The safe sign and the “no tag” sign are exactly the same. He could easily have been signaling no tag. It’s a verbal communication. Which would be why Guillen continued to pursue Beltre.
So, he got two wrong and one right. The key though is that the “appeal” of Beltre is just that…an Appeal play. So, the run counts that scored from third on that fiasco. Had he been called out on the tag on the elbow, the runner would not have crossed the plate. Ao, all in all, we came out WAY ahead on that deal.
Ken Levine…Kenny Maine…kayak…Dog…What?
Dear Mr. Levine,
Shut up.
Your pal,
Joe
223: Thanks. Even with the (eventual) Gameday explanation, I couldn’t even begin to figure it out.
Ken Levine sounds like a videogame baseball announcer.
I guess I still don’t understand why the Sexson run scored. If Beltre was out for not touching the bag, surely Richie was still at third? Or wandering around, trying to figure out what to do?
Not that I’m complaining….
I can see Dave Sims reading this board and chuckling. “Make fun of me, will you? Well, I may have to call in sick again tomorrow…”
231: Since it’s not a force play, if the run scores before the out is recorded, then the run counts.
Think of it this way: Single, runner scores from third. The runner gets thrown out trying to stretch to a double. Run still counts, right? Same kind of play.
231 – because it wasn’t a force play, that’s why Sexson’s run counts…almost Beltre…almost
So we get Miller out of the game and get into the bullpen down two runs….that is how you beat the Tigers, by the way Vidro is 3-3 tonight.
Yeah, this is great… we get this clown two nights in a row. You know he was dying to drop that Kenny Mayne joke since he had the same freakin’ one on his website.
I know im going to get killed for this, but i like him…
That baseball article is PDF.
“Then I decided to mess with Bob (who was a GREAT guy by the way and a good friend). Every time he called a pitch a fast ball I called it a curve. Every time he called a slider I called it a change up. Listeners don’t believe announcers can accurately call pitches anyway. This just confirmed it.”
As Homer Simpson would say, it’s funny because it’s true.
Shweet.
Wow — great job by Green.
Levine is a treat…he is a great second banana, but running the show is tough. The thing I like about Ken is he keeps putting in the effort to be better. You guy’s all realize that he was the lead writer for Cheer’s, and Frazier, he is a pretty smart, multi talented guy.
27, it is a reference to the all star game announcers.
Our bullpen is like 13 deep.
233, 234. I’m still somewhat foggy, but I think I understand. Still, if we win by this score, it’s gonna be a sneaky sort of win.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Nice pitching…do we keep him in???
Since Levine posted before the ASG that he was coming to Seattle for Thursday and Friday, I think Sims illness must have been pre-planned.
And I like Levine anyway. Throwback to the early nineties…
241 – I hated both those shows…but he does put in the effort, don’t hate the guy, just find certain comments he makes rather amusing, I like him better then Sims…
Kids who drink alcohol are three times as likely to gamble.
Wow, Levine did a voice in the Simpson’s “Baseball” episode.
Hey, I fancy myself a great accountant, but you’re not going to see me attempting to be an executive at one of Atlanta’s finer establishments. It takes a certain level of talent to do play by play, talent that’s absent from this dude’s arsenal.
244 – No, it’s a win the M’s earned, nothing sneaky at all, but can’t make it clearer than 233’s post.
Ok, they have officially ran out of shit to give out huh?
Ichiro’s power display at the All-Star game seems to have ruined his swing.
Vidro stole Ichiro’s mojo for the night…damn him
If Vidro goes 4fer and Ichi goes Ohfer…. well, that’s just crazy talk.
248: And ice cream consumption correlates highly with swimming pool deaths.
244: In other words, Adrian wasn’t out until he was tagged at third.
So has Green suddenly got good – or is he just having a lucky streak? When I saw him pitch last year he looked very aversge.
So much for getting all over the bullpen.
Wow, too bad the M’s got into the Tiger bullpen.
257 – yup, but he was only out because Froeming said he didn’t touch second base, which he clearly did. Now since it wasn’t a force out, when Richie scored it counts, because Richie scored before Beltre was tagged, now if Beltre was tagged before richie touched home, he would’ve been out. If it was a 3rd out force out, than regardless of Richie touching home before the out was recorded, the run won’t count. Don’t know if that makes any sense.
My wife (the piano teacher/professor) says: “Dave Sims must subscribe to my theory of substitutes. Pick someone who’s really terrible, so when you come back everyone says, ‘Wow, you’re so great.’”
Oh, oh, it’s Reitsma.
Argh why is GS52 only facing one batter.
Idiotic. Let George stay in — he’s not a LOOGY, for God’s sake!
I don’t like that. I’d rather see Sherill against a rightie than Reitsma ever against anyone.
261 – I meant “because Richie scored before Beltre was tagged, now if Beltre was tagged before richie touched home, the run doesn’t count.”
Okay, I’ll take the run and not think about it too hard.
And sneaky is probably the wrong word. Wacky? Weird? I thought Beltre touched second, so I didn’t think he was out, so I don’t feel like the run was stolen off Detroit, but since it happened on this crazy, disputed play, it feels…I’ll go wacky.
And I have no problem accepting it. It’s a long season; those kinds of wins happen.
AH! Krazy Ken just said because the appeal came after the scoring run, it counts. Or…maybe not. *holding head*
Reitsma woooooo???
Reitsma’s still a Mariner?
I remember evine being hilarious way back in the day. I’d like to see him call some games with Dave, Neihaus always cracked up when he was in the booth. Remember Levine’s law? “A leadoff walk always comes around to score. Except when it doesn’t.” Granted I was about 10 at the time, but that was gold!
*Levine
sorry
Fact check: Diamond, not triangle…
270, he just came off the DL, and they DFA’d Davis.
it’s just a four sided triange
I wonder if JJ’s mad at Leyland for pulling him in the ASG even Roberts blew the final out?
275- Glad someone picked up on that. I don’t want to be the “special” poster.
i thought the “no tag” signal by an umpire was “nothing”, no motion whatsoever.
Maybe the ump heard Bob Eucker shouting “He missed the tag!”?
Sexson, Guillen, one of those guys.
I can see how you’d confused Guillen and Sexson… uhg.
I wish Ken was paired up with Jay Buhner. That would be most amusing.
Does Detroit have any fat guys that Ellison can shove around?
So how much money will you guys give me when Ellison gets thrown out by Pudge’s replacement?
Placido Polanco has a really fat head, does that work?
It’s not quite the same.
He just called Weaver a stoner!
Who is the damn announcer? He’s freaking horrible. His voice makes me want to stab my ear drums with my severed toes.
The guy from “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” will be pitching on Sunday?
Good, because he’d be better than Weaver.
Polanco’s head disturbs me.
And “Battle of the Titans” is not what I’m thinking when I hear Verlander vs Weaver.
Did u just start watching or just notice it 288?
286… I hear Dave Sims will be returning shortly.
It seems like Valle just doesn’t know what to say in response to Ken’s bizarre comments. So he says nothing. But he thinks, “Jeez, I wish Rick was here.”
#287
What? Who?
I’ve been watching the game muted.
290 – More like the battle of David vs. Goliath
I bet Carlos Guillen can’t wait to get back to Pioneer Square tonight
I do like reading Levine when he writes on Huffingtonpost.
And considering the fact that he didn’t know he would be announcing until sometime today, I will give him a pass.
294 — Levine said Jeff Weaver looked just like Jeff Spicoli, the noted stoner.
Beltre with a great jump? I guess… he does tend to jump at inside pitches.
This guy hasn’t gotten a player right all game
Damn, I wanted to predict something right!
My god, this is worse than when the kid’s in the booth.
Ellison’s the runner, you moron!
I think Levine might be better off calling the teams from Abbott and Costello’s famous skit. “Who?” “Exactly.”
Ah, quit complaining about Levine. He’s funny. Yes, he doesn’t have a typical voice you’d hear doing something like, say, announcing new contestents on a game show. But it’s only for a couple of games, and things could certainly be worse.
I guess the Tigers don’t want to try and tag Beltre anymore. He is sneaky fast.
297… and driving on 520.
Polanco grimaces worse than the old cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Someone deserves a Rally Beer.
Guillen’s missing his binging buddy in Garcia though…The good old days, when Freddy was obviously recovering from the night before and was pouring with sweat before he even threw a pitch in the not so warm weather of Seattle.
So how much money will you guys give me when Ellison gets thrown out by Pudge’s replacement?
How much will you give us now that he wasn’t. On a pitch-out.
Glad someone picked up on that. I don’t want to be the “special” poster.
Too late. But it’s ok. We’re all special. Each in our own way. Like snowflakes. Very, very dull snowflakes. Well, that’s me anyway.
296. I thought about David vs. Goliath, but that would mean our guy is the good guy. I want Weaver to win with an irrational passion, but something tells me he doesn’t have God on his side; I say he’s made a deal with the Devil.
You need to order those Rally Beers prior to the bottom of the 7th.
#305 – I think we need Rod Roddy announcing the Mariners
“Willie Bloomquist COME ON DOWN!!!!”
312… how about Bruce Campbell versus his hand?
Need a soccer announcer for baseball. Pitcher gets the sign…shakes it…shakes it…SHAKES IT…SHAKES IT….throws to first base.
I have my doubts about Putz after the all-star game
His confidence is probably crap!
I am going to the game on Friday with the best tickets I will have all year. A few rows from the home team dug out. So I want Weaver to win. Yes! Thank you Brown from the Sequim Gazette for the tickets. Yes!
“That’s a tough play for a catcher.”
“I don’t think so.”
Hilarious!
Yuni…
Yeah 317, an exhibition game will kill the confidence he had built up all this season. Just like what happened to Gagne a couple of years ago.
http://images.earthcam.com/spaceneedle/live.php
Whoever that’s at the game…I see you….
Levine: Here comes “Pootz”, where I believe the correct pronunciation is “Putz” with an “uh” in the middle. Anyway, I’m late to the blog this evening but I have hugely positive memories of Levine when he was here – I believe it was during the time when Rizzs was auditioning to replace ERNIE HARWELL. Gawd, the very thought used to regularly make me throw up in my mouth (I grew up in Detroit in the 60s/70s). Levine was a very funny guy who wasn’t perfect but said things you remembered the next day. Those of you whining about him this evening … take a deep breath and look forward to him tomorrow.
Thank god we keep Granderson off the bases.
Joe Bag: Kindly do not jinx Newly Good Weaver with your rude jabs!
298: Posted by Levine Monday July 9:
“And then tomorrow I fly up to Seattle to announce for the Mariners Thursday and Friday nights. (New posts will continue. I understand they have the internet in Seattle.)”
Sims ill? Yeah, right.
not even jones gets that…
crap crap crap
Sheff scares me.
I have to confess that I’m a bit nervous here. Sheffield and Ordonez. Aigh.
Shef hasn’t struck out since June 25th. Think he’s due one?
JJ be the man!
I have a feeling Levine is going to bust out “spin-o-rama” if Putz keeps doing the spin move.
315. Sadly, I don’t get any Bruce Campbell references. I needed to be told he was the fat jerk in the new Old Spice ads.
I don’t know if I can survive another batter in this puddle of sweat.
And why is Levine obsessed with aging? “There’s Leyland, growing old.”
correction June 24th
what’s wrong with walking him?
wasn’t levine in seattle to replaced neihaus, meaning he was in town to help on the radio side. sims’ illness prevented him from calling tv, so someone had to do it.
Remember Putz vs. Bonds last year? Same thing, only a hell of a lot more relevant and important.
JJ’s performance in the ASG was just a stratagem to lull Leyland and the Tigers into underestimating him.
I knew he could do it, I was just saying that stuff to get a rise out of you guys! Yah!
And the Mighty Maglie had struck out.
M’s win!
Yeah, M’s win, A’s lose, Angel’s not playin – a good day to be a Mariners fan
What a great pitch. Magglio looked particularly foolish going after it, since Joh had nearly stood all the way up to take it.
Good Felix
Great bullpen
Just enough offense
I love this team
gained ground…ichiro is signing…awwww…the good life…
337 – so even if he switched from radio to TV, he would have been prepped for play by play either way.
According to coolstandings, the A’s have about as much a chance of making the postseason as Boston has of missing it (4-5%). And that was before tonight. Meanwhile, the Ms are probably over 40% after tonight. And JJ stayed right on track. Pinch me!
#337– yup. which is why he was thrust into doing play by play, when they asked him to come back to do color.
#334–
jerk?? ahem.
me, I’ve sure been enjoying watching Brisco County again.
Pudge is totally right – Betancourt completely interfered with Rodriguez’s path to throw. Pudge shouldn’t have bumped the ump, but he’s dead on about the ump blowing this call.
Yeah. What struck me about that was that immediately after throwing the ball, Pudge was pointing at Betancourt’s foot over the plate. One of a couple good breaks for the Ms… it sort of seems like Guillen tagged Beltre on the third (or so) swipe (which was before Sexson went home). Oh well, mark it down!
Favorite Levine quote of the night from his radio broadcast “Cleveland is breathing down Detroit’s throat.” Quite an image he created with that one.
349. I’m sure he’s a delight; I hear that’s his cult appeal.
In the Old Spice ad, he *plays* a fat jerk–or at least, that’s my interpretation of the ad. Frankly, I can’t figure out who’s the audience. It seems to be playing off some ridiculous idea that a cologne will make chicks love even some old dude singing off key…but that’s what the ad’s selling. I just don’t get it. (What did I just see, that we lose our joke comprehension as we age?)
350 – the 3rd base camera showed clearly that Guillen missed ALL the tags.
349
msb, if he was supposed to replace Niehaus, then he would have been doing pbp anyway, no?
352… Bruce is mugging it up for the camera.
If you haven’t, go forth and rent “Bubba Hotep.” Bruce Campbell as Elvis and Ossie Davis as JFK (”they dyed me!”) Classic film.
Ergh, that’s not a good introduction to Bruce Campbell. Army of Darkness!
353 – I don’t know about that. The third tag was not visible from that point of view. It was being mad running down the line from 2nd to 3rd. There is no way that angle could definitively tell if he tagged him or not. Froemming had the best angle.
Was Yuni really interfering? His swing took him across the box. Is that illegal?
353: Ah, okay. Wonder why they kept showing the other angle.
356… Shop Smart! Shop S-Mart!
See? The dude’s a cult.
Uh, with all this talking about tagging and who did what…they can’t take the win away, can they?
Yeah. Certainly impeded Pudge.
But it wasn’t as clearcut as other interference calls. Wouldn’t have been surprised if interference was called.
Clearly Guillen tagged Beltre and the ump made a lousy call. He made up for it by calling Beltre out on the appeal. The ump knew Beltre tagged second or he wouldn’t have called him safe. A really lucky call for the M’s.
I don’t know about Betancourt’s interference…doesn’t it have to be intentional? He was swinging for an outstide pitch on the hit-and-run and his momentum carried him over the plate.
Lucked into another win. I’ll take it!
Good performance by Felix and the Pen though, absolutely.
Well, even if Beltre was out it the game still would have been tied and we’d have gone extra innings. So we only lucked out…uh, 50%? Haha.
Ha! Has anyone looked at JJ’s page on ESPN.com lately?
He used to pitch for us, but was acquired by the American League recently.
Maybe some can help me visualize it, but not having watched the game myself and relying only on the internet did Felix really pitch that good of a game? Seems to me that the Tigers were hitting him pretty well tonight and Felix was just lucky to get out of some of those innings.
He was okay. He got into trouble early, but I wouldn’t say he was “just lucky”… he pitched himself out of some tough spots.
I thought he was pretty good. He had all his velocity back today, I saw him hit 100 on several occasions. Detroit got a number of hits that couldn’t entirely be attributed to hitter skill. I thought he really bore down on them after he got into that jam in the 4th.
I was at a concert last night and I kept trying to get updates on the game from my phone. It was stuck on that 2-2 count for over 10 minutes. That was frustrating, but when I got home it made sense.
#362– according to Valle, it doesn’t have to be intentional to be be catcher’s interference.
Does anyone besides me want to hear Levine say “InconCEIVable” or “…never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second, only slightly less well known, is this: never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha”?
Are you talking the Princess Bride?!? Brilliant!!
I am, thank you. He just has the slightly annoying lispy thing going on.
And IMHO the second “Evil Dead” movie is the one Bruce Campbell to start with, followed by the Briscoe County series and then Bubba Hotep as dessert.
#373– and there are some fine moments to be found, if one cherry-picks the Herc and Xena series. I can also happily recommend his book, “If chins could kill: confessions of a B movie actor”
But even though Betancourt was out of the box, over the plate, he ducked to give Pudge a clearer throw. Which isn’t something he has to do when he’s in the box; when he’s out over the plate like he was, purely unintentionally because he was off balance, it’s the least — and the most — he can do. If he hadn’t done that, I think Pudge would’ve had a much better case (and in fact wouldn’t have been able to get the throw off at all). I think the ump was cognizant of all of those factors — that Betancourt wasn’t intentionally interfering, and was trying to stay out of the way — and so declined calling interference. I think that’s reasonable. If Betancourt hadn’t ducked, and the ump called an out on interference, I would have been ok with that too. It’s understandable Pudge got upset, but going completely ballistic was absurd. He needs to remember his noodle arm wasn’t going to throw out the runner at 2nd even under the best of circumstances.
As for Beltre — we Tivo’d the replays and watched them carefully. Beltre obviously grabbed second base: no doubt there. And Guillen definitely missed him on the initial tag. Guillen also missed him on the second tag, as Beltre let go of the bag and started to scramble. But on the third try he tagged him on the arm as he was running to third. There are three camera angles in the replays, and one of them shows this pretty clearly; you can also see Guillen stop chasing Beltre at that point because he knows he got him. But Sexson broke for home while that was going on, and he crossed the plate before that third tag attempt was successful. So Beltre was out on the play, and the run did score. In other words, in spite of a blown call and a bogus make-up call, they got the situation right in the end. It’s not often you see umps make two bad calls on the same play and end up with everything the way it’s supposed to be, but that’s what happened.
I’m sure Detroit is pissed, and they probably don’t see it that way, but it looks to me that in spite of everything the game was decided by the play on the field, and not the umps. Of course, Pudge could’ve not got himself thrown out and given his team another chance to win at the plate; then again, had he been behind the plate on the Beltre play his inevitably weak throw to 2nd might’ve given Beltre more time to overslide 2nd and get safely all the way to 3rd, extending the rally.
Heck, even Beltre thinks that’s what happened
I do like giving this play the moniker “The Great Escape.” It may not rank up there with The Catch and The Throw, but take note: if the M’s end up taking the Wild Card by one game from Detroit, this is that game.
Also, I like this:
“You just hope you make good pitches … and that Sheffield doesn’t take your head off,” Putz said.
Thanks to all of you who commented on my fill-on stint broadcasting for the M’s this week. Even the negative comments.
It was a crazy situation, especially being thrown onto the telecast and then that crazy play, but I had a great time, I love the Mariners, and although I was a little rusty and my voice is my voice, I think I conveyed the joy I felt being there and covering the M’s. And I think you could follow what was going on.
In any event, this is a terrific blog. And I learn more about the team from you guys than from anywhere else.
If anyone is interested, I have a blog as well. It’s more humor oriented. But for those who do enjoy my act, I invite you to check it out. Today I have posted my travelogue on my Seattle trip.
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/
Thanks again.
Ken Levine