Game 5, Mariners at Orioles
Batista v Loewen. 4:05 our time.
This is the first time we see the quite pointless Wilkermorse platoon in action:
CF-L Ichiro
2B-R Lopez
LF-L Ibanez
1B-R “Big Fork” Sexson
3B-R Beltre
RF-R Morse
DH-B Professional Hitter Jose Vidro
C-R Johjima
SS-R Betancourt
I’ll skip repeating my rant about the Wilkerson platoon. This should, if nothing else, be a potentially wince-inducing introduction to how bad outfield corner defense can get. Sorry, Miguel.
versus
2B-B Roberts
3B-R Mora
RF-L Markakis
1B-R Millar
DH-L Huff
LF-L Scott
C-R Hernandez
CF-R Jones
SS-R Fahey
Meanwhile, Loewen’s a heavy ground-baller, so as you’d expect doesn’t give up the home run often, good K rate, bad walk rate. Now generally, I’d say that’s as about as well-suited a pitcher as you could put up against the Mariners, except they have been drawing walks lately, so they might be to take advantage of that if they keep that up. Still, turning Ibanez into a pumpkin in the middle of that order will help them a lot.
What might be even more interesting is to see Sexson against a lefty. Over his career, he hasn’t had much of a platoon split at all (.264/.339/.518 vs .260/.365/.504) but if part of the problem is recognizing pitches and getting his glacial bat around in time to make contact, facing a left-hander might be substantially easier than righties. Last year, for instance, his OBP was fifty points higher against lefties, though his slugging percentage was only up ~twenty points.
Comments
296 Responses to “Game 5, Mariners at Orioles”
Golden Sombrero is 4 K’s. Sexson “only” has 3 k’s. hahahah
This team can’t go much longer without moving Beltre up in the lineup, can it?
I predict that McClaren will blame this loss on the injury to JJ first and foremost.
Good at bat for Morse.
Chad Bradford breaks PitchF/X’s pitch recognition.
248:
Well, it is Sexson. He is a walking, talking, golden sombrero.
Morse v. Bradford with Wilk on the bench…
WHHEEEEE!
Here’s the thing… Bradford traditionally has had a really bad time with lefties. If the platoon in right is to maximize offense, you should swap Wilkerson back in there. But… I don’t know. Why bother.
Pretty good at bat overall. Not a great result, but he was a couple feet from getting a double and had a few good swings.
255:
I think you pretty much summed up McLaren’s coaching strategy: Why Bother?!?!
Oh, suuuuuuuuuuuure, now we see O’Flaherty
Is Sexson out of options? Seems to me that he could use some low Class A ball seasoning.
On the positive side, if Sherrill shuts down the M’s in the 9th, he will save the M’s pen from having to pitch an extra inning. Silver lining.
Why do we have Jimerson and Cairo who we never ever use? You think a LH PH bat would be much more valuable. But what do I know.
I think McLaren is doing this just to piss me off.
Cairo’s on the bench to allow Bloomquist to get into games.
#260 – Because Jimerson is just fun to say. And having Cairo? It makes us sound elegant.
Weren’t we going to work on reducing walks allowed by our pitchers this year? In fact, I think I’ve heard that every year since, well, I know Piniella was still here (and Russ Davis!).
Someone should give 2R-S and Jimerson Roberto Petagine’s phone number. They can chat when they have free time, like during M’s games.
Good. I was wondering why we could never use Willie when the moment called. I think, compared to what they have, that either of them would make a fine upgrade at firstbase.
Mariners need throwing practice, this is getting stupid.
Willie more that Cairo. But Dave and I talked about this the other night, and he’s right — the team’s not going to make incremental upgrades. They’ll get Raffy to come out of retirement or something similarly crazy, and that’ll be their solution.
They could call up Wlad and move Wilkerson to first. But, yeah I agree. I would prefer this.
As random as this seems to this game thread, I can’t help be think about how Morse “got his chance” to make it. Who missed that chance because they didn’t recover from a leg injury as quickly? Time for baseball’s “clean era”, right?
Anyway, Morse had a good at bat and had a great spring. And there’s also this:
#269 There’s no way I’d want Bonds on my team. Unless, of course, he got drilled every time he came up to the plate.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2154494
Let’s pile up the losses and force ownership to clean house. That is the the only way they will ever be regularly competitive.
Why Not? He’d instantly be the best hitter on the team (+/- Ichiro)
Can we get Tom Selleck from Mr. Baseball to replace Sexson? Selleck had a hole in his swing, but could still hit.
273- But we won 88 games! We got a 1-2 punch!
That is the last thing this ownership is going to do.
Well they will do whatever it is they call this nonsense without dollar one from me. Not that it matters, but it is all I can do.
#272 At least Morse came clean and didn’t pretend that it was some bad B12 that he took. I can respect that.
At least we’re in the heart of our order here. 9-1-2, the only team in the majors that can say that’s our heart of the order…
Disaster.
#277 Hate to break it to you, but if you’re watching the FSN games or MLB.tv, then I’m pretty sure you’re helping to contribute a dollar or two.
Well, if you think Morse came clean there, sure.
There’s tons worse people in MLB than Bonds. Some have even played for the Mariners. To say Bonds is your breaking point is silly
#282 I’m not saying he’s my breaking point, but I’m not a fan of him. I used to be a fan of his, and even cheered for him during his 73 homer season, but no more.
#281 You can’t deny that he was more honest about the situation than just about any other player that has been caught.
Yes I can.
I don’t think there’s been an honest admission about steroids from any current active player. It’s always the ‘I did it once or twice and I regret it’ (a la Petite) or the Giambi ‘I’m sorry but I can’t specify why’.
America’s a really forgiving country…why are these players so afraid to admit they cheated like the rest of baseball did?
Oh great. Here comes the injury train.
Bedard out with hip inflammation per KOMO. Felix to start tomorrow. Not known if Bedard will pitch in Tampa Bay.
On a completely different note, I can understand now why Sherrill had facial hair. Not much intimidation clean-shaven. I still don’t understand why lack of facial hair (or short head hair) makes you a better athlete.
Is there a single Bonds-hater here who didn’t get his/her facts/opinions entirely from the sports media industry?
I dunno. Let’s ask Marion Jones.
291-
Illogical analogy. She swore up and down for YEARS that she didn’t take any performance enhancers, and repeated that same story up until the day she got sent to prison.