Game 124, Mariners at Twins
Dave · August 22, 2007 at 9:55 am · Filed Under Mariners
Batista vs Silva, 10:10 am.
As promised, a couple of changes in the line-up today. Bloomquist at second in favor of Lopez and Broussard DH’s for Vidro, so Beltre moves up to the #2 hole. The good news – Vidro and Lopez’s simultaneous days off means that we’re probably done with the Turbo as an infielder experiment. Thank God.
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282 Responses to “Game 124, Mariners at Twins”
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Hey, just because 57 pitches means 2-3 innings for Miggy, HoRam, and Wash, doesn’t mean that RRS has to live up to that standard.
oh, that wacky Derek.
Just when you are sure you know what he will do, he swerves and selects a different “Face of the Franchise”
250,
A 6-3 205lb lefthander that throws low 90s to low 70’s, and has good control with a 27/8 k/BB. Nope nothing there to like. Jamie Moyer never had the tools to be starter either. When you’ve got a young pitcher that seems to be able to get major league hitters out, don’t try to build a ceiling for them until they reach it. We’ve seen HoRam’s ceiling, RRS doesn’t seem to have hit his yet. His skill set seems pretty similar to Washburn’s, that obviously is short of allstar caliber, but good enough for the 5 slot.
As a starter, when he cannot throw at max effort every pitch, RRS throws in the high 80s. Even today, he started by sitting 90-92 but was down to 88-89 by his fourth inning. As a starter in the minors, he struggled, walking too many and striking out too few. It was not until he moved to the pen that his K/9 shot up to 10.0 and was good enough to compensate for his mediocre BB/9 ratio.
Based on his track record, his major league K rate may be for real, but his BB rate is going to rise. If he is Washburn, he is Washburn minus the command, which equals useful reliever, not a starter.
A 6-3 205lb lefthander that throws low 90s to low 70’s, and has good control with a 27/8 k/BB. Nope nothing there to like.
First, I never said there’s nothing there to like. The kid’s got some talent.
Second, if Rowland-Smith had the capabilities to be a big-league starter, why was he converted into a reliever at a young age? My guess: The organization looked at his stuff and determined that the only chance he had at helping the big-league club was out of the bullpen, where he could throw harder for a limited pitch count. You say we shouldn’t build a ceiling for him, but it appears that he built his own ceiling in the minors. This decision was made long ago, and the organization’s opinions of him aren’t going to change based on four innings of garbage time.
Turning this kid into a starter is not an experiment you try out at the top level. If he’s going to be a starter, it’s going to be through minor-league development. Unless that happens, he’s a reliever.
The Texas Rangers, who we play tomorrow, just scored 30 runs in the 1st game of a double header in Baltimore! I hope those guys will be dead tired from running around the bases tonight and have no legs tomorrow.
Wes Littleton just got a save in a game in which his team won by 27 runs. Saves are dumb.
A 6-3 205lb lefthander that throws low 90s to low 70’s, and has good control with a 27/8 k/BB. Nope nothing there to like.
You pick up 3-4 MPH out of the bullpen. Take away 3-4 MPH, and RRS becomes John Halama.
Jamie Moyer never had the tools to be starter either.
Um, Jamie Moyer WAS a starter when he came up first with Chicago and then Texas. There’s an argument to be made that his problem was that he was in some bad ballparks for his style of pitching (Wrigley and Arlington), plus that he’s the 1 case out of 100 where someone with very marginal stuff makes it- and even in Moyer’s case, he very nearly had his career end at age 29 after getting pounded out of the league.
Oh, and he came back… through the bullpen.
Just when you are sure you know what he will do, he swerves and selects a different “Face of the Franchiseâ€
Did David Andriesen really say that Ichiro “speaks good English?” I need to stop trying to defend the P.I.
Wow, I wonder what happened to the team chemistry today. Must not have been too good.
Did David Andriesen really say that Ichiro “speaks good English?†I need to stop trying to defend the P.I.
I was under the impression that Ichiro does speak relativetly good English, but chooses not to use it with the media.
261: I, on the other hand, can’t spell relatively.
261 – I believe that the OP thinks that perhaps Ichiro speaks English well.
aaron–
What is so terrible about saying that Ichiro speaks good English? Have you ever talked with him?
263:
Not to pick a fight over language, but “speaks good English” and “speaks English well” are both perfectly fine gramatically. One is using an adjective and the other is using an adverb.
“speaks English good” is obviously not correct.
My quibble was not about Ichiro’s command of the English language. It was with the phrase “speaks good English.” Should have clarified.
Not to pick a fight over language, but “speaks good English†and “speaks English well†are both perfectly fine gramatically. One is using an adjective and the other is using an adverb.
I’ve always found “speaks good English” to sound really, really inelegant, especially in print. This might be one of those things I should have kept my big mouth shut about, though.
Perhaps Ichiro has been participating in the “Speak Good English Movement”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_Good_English_Movement
At least he doesn’t speak Engrish. http://www.engrish.com
Sorry, I don’t remember how to do url tags.
No one is on here, but the Rangers won 30-3! That O’s pen could have used Parrish. Yes 30-3, apparently they picked up Payton Manning over the weekend off waivers.
#33 – Haven’t five of our eight grand slams allowed occurred in the last two weeks? (Torii Hunter in the last Twins series, the ChiSox Kid, Whomever hit that one off of JJ, the one of Sherill, and the one Today)
I hate to use the ‘statistical fluke’ argument, but it seems to be the case here.
Using Jamie Moyer when you’re trying to make a point about any random pitcher finding the ability to be a starter is just silly. You might as well use Ichiro as proof that anybody can get a lot of hits. Or Ruth as proof that all pitchers should be able to hit home runs. Moyer is a freak, an oddity, an outlier. He’s not proof of anything except the delightful diversity of human ability, and the amazing things you can find in the outer reaches of the bell curve.
Man, that Texas game is just epic. More than one hit per out. More than one run per out. The first time a team has scored 30 runs since the Chicago Colts set the major league mark in a 36-7 rout of Louisville in a National League game on June 28, 1897. Three-run homers in the 4th, the 8th, and the ninth; grandslams in the sixth and the eighth (the latter in the one and only AB by Travis Metcalf, of whom you’ve never heard because he was called up from AAA Oklahoma just this morning — welcome to the big leagues, kid! But before you get used to this whole winning thing, remember: you’re playing for the Texas Rangers). And yet nobody came close to Anderson’s 10 RBIs from last night: they had two guys with 7, a couple more with 4, a bunch with 2. And poor Nelson Cruz went 2 for 7 with no RBIs.
And then after absorbing that, Baltimore had to come back and play the second game in the double-header. Yikes. I don’t feel so bad about the today’s M’s game anymore.
(Heck, they’re even playing them tough — 6-5 Rangers in the 6th ATM. Here’s hoping for a tied game, extra innings into the late night, and a tired, tired Texas team tomorrow).
Looks like the Angels are going to lose tonight, they’re down 7-1 in the 8th. Which means we had a net gain of 1 game over the Yankees and no change in our position with LA over the course of this series, which is probably one of the better outcomes we could’ve hoped for.
You know the Rangers game was monumental when it was on NPR.
In the news summary.
The first two minutes of it.
Typical Mariners coverage on NPR: “And today, the Seattle Mariners played…baseball!”
First things first
Sweet Melinda
The peasants call her the goddess of gloom
She speaks good English
And she invites you up into her room
– Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues
If its good enough for Dylan, then it should be plenty good enough for the likes of us.
271,
Jamie Moyer is just one example, Washburn was another, and more apt, they have similar volocities, RRS is more of a flyball pitcher. But the majors are full of guys that can throw 95 and can’t get anybody out, and guys who can’t get the ball up over 90 but have successful careers. One of the keys to a pitcher being successful without a lot of volicity is control, and that seems be something the RRS has.
And then after absorbing that, Baltimore had to come back and play the second game in the double-header.
Apparently, Texas set the record for most runs in a double header. Before the first game was even over.
271,
Jamie Moyer is just one example, Washburn was another, and more apt, they have similar volocities, RRS is more of a flyball pitcher. But the majors are full of guys that can throw 95 and can’t get anybody out, and guys who can’t get the ball up over 90 but have successful careers. One of the keys to a pitcher being successful without a lot of volicity is control, and that seems be something the RRS has.
Washburn threw a bit harder earlier in his career, and honestly, he’s not as good as Jamie was. Ryan Feierabend is more similar to Washburn.
So, ace, your assertion is a Mariner organization that has had no issue with promoting soft-tossing lefties (John Halama, Travis Buckley, Feierabend), or even signing them to FA contracts (Washburn, Moyer) and has been desperate for starting pitching for years, converted RRS into a reliever because they don’t need starters or won’t use lefties who are control artists?
Do you see where I’m going here? Look, RRS might turn into Jamie Moyer. He might turn into Jarrod Washburn. Or, he might turn into John Halama or HoRam. I’m not convinced a pennant race is someplace to find out, especially since he hasn’t started in a while.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/08/22/poll0827/index.html
Found this kinna interesting. (Since its the players’ point of view). Wished they seperated SP / RP results.
They’re already dumping Parrish?
You know what I’m tired of? Bavasi trading for gambles like these. It seems like he’s obsessed with being able to flip a marginal minor leaguer for someone who could, maybe, if things broke right, would be an incredible steal.
And while it’s not like he’s spending a ton on most of these deals (the HoRam-for-Soriano deal being the exception), it’s really getting bothersome. It’s like he’s the guy in the fantasy league who drafts Mo Vaughn on the off-chance he might stage a comeback.
the word at the end of the game yesterday was that they needed to make a pitching move going into 4 games in Arlington, partly because RRS’s 4 innings pitched. Hickey’s note just says they may be taking him off the 40 man, right? If he passes through waivers, he goes to Tacoma.
One of the keys to a pitcher being successful without a lot of volicity [sic] is control, and that seems be something the RRS has.
Rowland-Smith’s last year as a starter was 2005 in AA. His line was 122.3 IP, 3.75 BB/9, 7.50 K/9.
In AAA/AA in 2006, his line was 62.6 IP, 4.87 BB/9, 10.49 K/9.
In MLB/AAA this year, his line is 63 IP, 4.29 BB/9, 11.0 K/9.
He does not have good control, Washburn-level control, or even Feierabend-level control. If you take away his ability to throw at or near maximum effort in relief, you also take away his velocity, his strikeouts, and his usefulness.
If its good enough for Dylan, then it should be plenty good enough for the likes of us.
I have somewhat different standards regarding use of language for poets, musicians, etc. than I do for journalists and writers of non-fiction.
However, it is fairly apparent that I hold a minority opinion, while the majority opinion is held by some literate and intelligent folks, so I’ll chalk it up to difference of opinion and slink back under a rock.