Game 162, Rangers at Mariners
DMZ · September 30, 2007 at 12:34 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
King Felix Day to end the year! 1:05 (which means 1:10), KSTW.
Jones plays! Morse plays! Burke plays!
Texas respects the season by playing an even worse lineup than we’ve seen.
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Why have Vidro back in there rather than Clement? Or WLAD, or … meh, why bother.
Let’s hope Felix finishes the season as he started it.
If Burke goes 1 for 2, he hits .300! Ok, that’s about all the excitement I can come up with.
I’m concerned. Can Jones handle playing a whole game? I hope they keep him on a short leash.
Agreed. I think it would be better to keep the veterans in who have a better grasp of how to handle these no-pressure, end-of-season games.
God, I hate Mac, saying he’ll play all the kids once we’re out off it, and then breaking his promise. Why does he have to be back next year?
Continuity.
It’s vitally important that one keeps doing the same thing day after day, whether or not it works, becuase one day it might start working, or something…
How does USSM’s reasders feel about Dave Sims? Should he return as well?
I like him, for what it’s worth. I like him better than any announcer other than Dave Niehaus.
He’s not perfect, but he’s not transparently insincere like Rizzs, or wrong all the time like Valle. Not as guardedly on-message as Blowers.
Net, he is a GOOD THING.
Sims has some ticks that have increasingly grated over the course of the whole season, but he really is an amazing improvement over Rizzs, and I’m happy they made the move.
I imagine Mac thinks Vidro deserves to play after kindly ceding the DH role to Clement the last few days. Drayer said the other day that they weren’t going to play Clement at catcher as he really hadn’t caught any of the rotation up to now.
Biggio is being pulled in the 7th after going out to take his position, and he & the Houston fans are getting all verklempt again
I’m annoyed I haven’t heard Sims do the “Go BALL!” since the first week of the season.
sadly, I don’t think Rizzs is transparently insincere– I think he actually believes the babble he babbles.
I don’t really have a problem with Sims. He’s better than Valle, he’s better than Hendu, and he doesn’t have as many annoying ticks or the used-car-salesman smarminess of Rizzs. He’s pretty generic, actually, which is fine by me. He’s kind of the soothing yogurt to Rizzs’ ear-burning Vindaloo.
I am getting a bit worried about Dave N, though: he really can’t see a damn thing. Yesterday: “Swung on and belted… along the left-field line … curving foul … and caught well short of the warning track by the left fielder.” He’s also called doubles that bounced into the stands as HRs, and… well, you know what I’m talking about. I still love the tenor of his voice on a warm summer’s evening, but I wonder how long he keep going before it’s just hopeless.
Wait, Felix has been injured since his third start… and it makes his fastball control worse and that’s the only difference?
verklempt
Great word. Right but there with weltschaung and schadenfreude.
msb: you might have to hear Rizzs *practicing* the enthusiastic phrasing for the next inning during commercial breaks to really break the illusion… I always thought he was insincere, but you only have to hear him working on his schtick once to really have the illusion of sincerity dispelled entirely.
dang.
I just turned the page on my Companion Canines charity calendar to find that Mr October is Willie B.
Sims still drives me nuts. His forced cheerfulness grates on me and his baseball knowledge is so-so. He may be better than other options the M’s have used before, but I can’t believe he’s the best available choice.
I’m annoyed I haven’t heard Sims do the “Go BALL!” since the first week of the season.
I rather liked his “Way up, way back, way gone” call but it probably would get annoying if he used it regularly.
Jones 06 AB 74
Jones 07 AB 62 (not including today)
And liebensraum, and blitzkreig und… okay, I’ll shut it.
Willy B is a canine companion? That would explain quite a bit.
Man, I can’t get over the Mets’ collapse. Just epic. And what an appropriate way for their season to end, with Glavine letting the Marlins bat around before being pulled in the first with just one out and 7 ER.
Rizzs is not just insincere, but frequently wrong too.
He’s just been prattling about Felix being a power pitcher who needs to after hitters with his best pitch – his 98mph fastball.
oh, I don’t doubt that he practices — no one could keep that incessant flow of information going without having to think about what is coming out of their mouth, or remember to say ‘Holy Smokes’ even when a stronger word is called for, or have ’say, friends’ and ‘buddy’ leap so readily to their lips without practice. I also think that he actually believes what he says about players and how they play.
That was weird.
Morse is batting 4th? Am I hearing this right?
So is anybody else cheering for the Rockies to win and the Padres to lose, so that there’s a one-game play-off in which the Rox will have a chance to knock our hated interleague rivals completely out of the postseason?
And how about that Bob “Mad Scientist” Melvin? He made it back to the post-season before the M’s did…
Morse is batting 4th? Am I hearing this right?
McLaren “plays the hot hand.” I don’t know how that balances vs “veteran presence” but maybe Morse has been around enough that he gets honorary veteran status, kind of like Reed.
I’d actually feel better if McLaren was just obviously throwing darts at the roster to construct his lineup, because at least then he might end up with a good lineup by accident. His insistence on relying on traditional superstitions and following mindless shibboleths is really infuriating.
DMZ–I was hoping for “Buy a Beer” link on the updated site. Perhaps a trial to discouver if it works?
Plus a way to show appreciation, even though it seems you have taken to the grape over hops recently.
Unless Jones is the hot hand. Then he doesn’t play the hot hand.
some very excited Phillies there.
hmm. kind of an ironic ad now … “This September, get ready for America’s next great team — the FIFA Women’s World Cup”
it’s been a very nice year for Jamie Burke.
Ahhhhhhhhh, I remember when they didn’t think the backup catcher mattered.
BURRR-KIEEE!!!
Now that’s the highlight of the day. I hope he gets the ball.
Great day for Jamies thus far…Burke AND Moyer.
29 – If that were the case, the Veterans probably have bigger targets, and Jones must be the miniscule bullseye.
I just turned the page on my Companion Canines charity calendar to find that Mr October is Willie B.
Willie B is now a Companion Canine?
Let’s take a moment to give credit where credit’s due and celebrate a career year from our very own homegrown talent Willie Bloomquist.
Willie’s tied his career high in home runs (2), On-Base percentage (.320) and slugging percentage (.333) and is pretty much guranteed to finish the year out with the highest OPS of his career (narrowly edging out the .638 he put up back in 2003).
All in all it’s been a helluva career year for the 29-year-old local boy.
Hooray for Willie!
Nice to see Moyer and Dobbs making the playoffs. Does anyone realize that Moyer has a good shot to be in the top 50 in all-time wins by next year (currently 62nd I believe). Not bad.
The whole rally fries schtick aside, Sims has grown on me gradually as the season has gone on. Though I agree that he’s not perfect, he is nonetheless a breath of somewhat fresher air than Rizzy’s incessant ramblings of the greatness of ‘95 or ‘01, or Fairly’s on Opening Day 1966 at Dodger Stadium.
I love that Sims has a genuine sense of humor that sometimes takes him off the rails and takes the broadcast somewhere funny, even (especially) when it’s self-deprecating humor
That’s my Jones.
AJ turnin’ on da jets!
#41– and (as Rizzs would remind us) Snohomish’s own Adam Eaton.
Ahhhhh, there’s AJ. Wonder if McLaren saw that?
Oh, the suicide squeeze. McLaren, you devil.
Jamie Burke really wants to come back next season.
ah, I see the Old Man’s unearned run came off a Dobbs error….
Damn…wish we’d have seen a little more of this energy like a month ago!
what energy?
As happy as I am for Adam Jones, (’cuz that was a great hit & run) I’m soooo bummed we haven’t been able to enjoy any of those hits/plays for the last 2-1/2 months. McLaren you idiot!
or, rather, which energy?
“McLaren gave his final pre-game press conference within the past hour and was asked about Jose Guillen’s comments on him needing to be tougher on players.
McLaren responded that the particular conversation he’d had about that subject with Guillen pertained specifically to younger players, especially Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez.
”That conversation with Jose was actually totally about some young players and keeping them in line,” McLaren said. ”Make sure that we made them do the right things and know that there’s a right way to do it.””
Guess I was thinking of this game being a little more in motion than some I’ve seen recently…
That’s awesome, I just fixed a bug and introduced a bug. Wheee.
Our guys-with-five-letters-in-their-last-name part of the lineup is coming up. I don’t know why Vidro’s where he is.
so, not so much energy as strategy?
nice Jim Salisbury column about Moyer this morning
That was a nice write-up on Moyer…thanks for the link!
“Lou gets them into the play-offs, what does that tell you?”
um, that the division stinks?
I enjoy Sims. I like his random outbursts and, as several have mentioned, he just seems like a sincere guy who really enjoys his job.
Colorado now up 4-1 in the bottom of the 8th. 3 outs away from a tie-breaker game tomorrow against our hated rivals.
did Blow just say ‘hell’?
I agree I like Sims too, I think he should stay. And I think Blowers has been better this year than the Valle/Henderson combo for last year, with the whole rally fries shtick and other stuff.
#63– it’s all the fault of that darned Anthony Gwynn, Jr.
so, does Felix finish this one up, or do they get JJ in for one more save?
Question.
why does the supposedly Slovenian Comcast Housemate have a bad Russian accent?
67 – Id think they might give JJ one more chance for a cy young impression. Just my thought.
Felix: 16-1 GB-FB
class move, Feliz. Good job this year.
Uh-oh…the NL saga is not over yet…our Hated Rivals the Friars will live to play another day…
and, man-hugs all around.
BBTN in their NL East wrap-up say that in 21 years Glavine had never hit an opposing pitcher. He did today in the 1st, as well as making a throwing error.
Nice way to end the year.
DARN THE PADRES!!!1!11! WHY WON’T THEY LOSE?
As for the Yankees….
It was awfully nice of Felix to show us another reminder of why we call him “The King.”
Wow, Felix looked pretty emotional…wonder what he and Raffy were saying to each other?
A couple tough stretches, but all in all a good year…it’s always nice to stay in it, at least until football season gets here.
And on that note…GO SEAHAWKS!
Good way to end the season. Can’t wait for next year now.
and as we move into the off-season, amidst speculation about changes to the coaching staff, Felix & Chaves bring each other to tears
At least the Fox nazis will be deprived their satisfaction of a Subway Series (er, Ratings Bonanza) this year.
Great season guys. One for the books.
77: Amen, brother.
80 – Still got their possible Red Sox – Yankee series though, and all the hype we’ll hear before then.
Angels lose! Meaning Putz stays tied with K-Rod with 40 saves.
83: You’re right — unfortunately.
Could’ve ended up better…but not a bad season overall.
I’d like to take the opportunity for thanking our hosts for running a great site this season. If only the M’s were as well-managed as USS Mariner.
87 – I agree. I joined mid-season, and I have to say this has definately been a learning experience for me, I learned a whole lot about the team and the management of the team. Thanks Dave and Derek, and I will definately be around for the offseason and next year.
Yeah thanks for the show guys, this is a top blog.
We’ll see you all when Bavasi makes his first bad contract signing/personnell decision of the winter!
Until then, GO COUGS!!
Fun Mariner factoid:
Seattle is the only team in the major leagues to increase its win total in each year since 2004.
So, next season, the Mariners win 89 games?
#87. Or LL.
I, too, found you only a few months ago, and you’ve taught me a better way to watch and appreciate baseball. Thanks especially to the bloggers, but also to the commenters. Now the scary off-season dealing begins.
Good season M’s! You did better than anyone expected, teased us with playoff aspirations, but overall played really good baseball!
Hopefully the M’s will make some smart moves in the offseason to get them over the hump for next year.
A class move by Felix to let J.J. get his 40th save.
Go M’s!
Cheers, guys. It was a blast. Considering the expectations, it was awesome to play meaningful baseball late in the season.
Thanks to Dave and Derek for teaching/putting up with us.
Go Indians! Go Seahawks! Go . . . Cougs. Sigh.
I would like to thank you, Dave and DMZ, for your blog. I read it every day. You guys have exceeded my expectations.
[again, because you can't spell his name right]
#95: Just wait a month until basketball season, then you’ll feel better about the Cougs.
Simms hate here today? really? huh.
ESPN has a repeat on at 5:00 of the recent Clemente special, for those who might never have seen Roberto.
Thanks Dave and DMZ…great work. USSM has been a welcome source of insight and humor allowing me to stay in touch with my hometown M’s all the way from Singapore.
Look forward to next season.
So, Dave, when are you planning to make your offseason plan?
Hey get off his back….he’s still working on a player evaluation post (and a manger evaluation post too or is that Derek?).
Oh ya…it’s time for a future forty update too.
Thanks for the site from a recent arrival. Always enjoy the effort and
thought that are put into the posts. I don’t always agree, but I always
appreciate the original, studied, impassioned analysis and commentary.
Frustrating year, and difficult to see the silver lining for next year
when our biggest need is everybody’s biggest need and there are no
easy fixes available (starting pitching, starting pitching, and starting
pitching). Thanks fellas!!!!
turned out to be a new Clemente special, with a lot of familiar faces at the end, talking about the Clemente award & his legacy…
I was at last nights game and was supposed to leave to go back home to Norfolk, VA at 7:10am this morning but missed the flight….well in a bittersweet moment I found a ticket to today’s game and finally got to witness King Felix, Adam Jones, and JJ(as a closer, since I saw him in 2005 already) live in person, so I got to see the last two beastie boys shows and the last two Mariner games for awhile. Awesome! FREE ADAM JONES! Ok, I’m a little concerned that the fans at the game cheer louder for the hyrdoplane race than they do the actual game….you would think an inside-the-park homerun was about to happen.
102. I was just asking.
huh. did you know Magglio Ordonez was battling Arod for the batting title this year?
ah, BBTN. We now learn that the Mariners just need some more pitching, as the bullpen is great, they can hit and they have great defense. The defensive illustration was a stop by Yuni. (a good one, but prob. not his best of the year)
oh, and Steve Phillips & Dusty Baker are threatening that one of the AL West teams will take Barry Bonds
190.1 Inn’s, 165 K’s, 53 BB’s, and 20 HR’s.
Not sure what the xFIP translates to but just eyeballing the numbers seem to indicate a pretty damn good year by the King. It was also nice seeing him hit 96-97 on the gun in the late innings of his last game of the season.
He’ll turn 22 at the start of next season. His best years are still ahead.
A disappointing end to the sixth-best regular season win total in Mariner history (31 seasons). And for all of McLaren’s foibles, only Lou has a better winning percentage in team history. Just looking at the bright side for once.
Great job by DMZ and Dave this year. I seem to recall that there were as many as five authors to shoulder the load at one time. One request: I would love to see a quick playoff handicap from the authors if they haven’t collapsed yet.
another nice column about Moyer
somehow Dillon Moyer is 16 years old.
Um. That’s not saying a lot….
109: If Phillips and Baker are right (lol), hopefully it winds up being the Angies — and BB will bring just enough baggage onboard to sink them next year.
BTW, you’re right about that squeeze play today — it probably was more strategy than energy. It’s just very difficult at times to put the word “strategy” in the same sentence with John McLaren.
In defense of Rizzs, I’m a fairly new fan – didn’t start watching baseball until my mid-30s – and I find Rizzs’ game calling the most informative of the bunch. I know this website is for serious fans, but I’m wondering what the average fan needs from a broadcaster. I’d say Rizzs does a great job. I’m amazed at how long he’s been here and he really is good at seeming excited about the game through the bad times. I was shocked to hear him calling a game from 15+ years ago – you really have to be a professional to keep up the spirit that long. Also, I find his voice to be the most pleasing to listen to for long games (I listen to most, as opposed to watch them on TV). I just want to put in my 2cents.
115. It’s just that he has this fake happiness. It’s really annoying. With Niehaus and Sims, you can tell that they’re into the game and really love the sport. With Rizzs, not so much. Also, he loves Willie Bloomquist way too much.
Yes, it just sounds creepy when he starts lauding Willie. He comes across like some Dirty Uncle Ernie.
From the ESPN/AP post game report, about McLaren putting in JJ with 2 out and nobody on in the 9th:
“That was probably the toughest decision I made all year,” McLaren said. “We wanted Felix to get the complete game, but I felt like J.J.’s been there all year. He deserved 40 saves.”
Again with the ‘deserved’. Get over it John.
And if that’s the toughest decision he’s prepared to make (and it may well be) Lord help us all.
This man has no spine. He’s a bigger milquetoast than I am. And I’m a pushover.
Rizzs ain’t too bad. Perhaps I just needed a ‘break’ from him this year. If he came back to TV in 2008, I wouldn’t complain.
I thought about about Fairly, then they had him in the booth for a few games in So Cal when somebody was on a break, and he made me want to poke my eyes out.
I didn’t watch the game, as I haven’t since two Felix days ago, but just wanted to say how much I love the site. I have lived everywhere but Seattle for a long time, but this site keeps me involved in the Mariners like no other. I’ve bought Derek’s book, listened to Jason Webley, subscribed to BP, drafted King Felix in fantasy drafts way too early for two years running, enjoyed every Vidro RBI a little bit less than I should have, wished a guy named Jones was playing even though I’d never seen him and everything else. Great job this year. The best since I’ve been following this site which has to be at least since 2003.
120: Oh no…did “Red” attempt to bore the audience to death again with one of his great stories about how he and Rusty Staub used to set everyone’s shoes on fire down in the dugout when they played for Expos back in ‘72?!
115 – I agree with that. Rizzs doesn’t like Bloomquist more than any other also-ran guy that has some big moments. If you disagree, you should have heard his call of Burke’s home run today. He has a great rhythm in calling the games. I listen on the radio far more than I get to watch on TV, so I’m glad that he calls half the game.