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The Future Forty 3/19/09
Evaluating Defense Evaluating Pitcher Talent
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Game 11, whooops
Our first missed thread of the year! Yayyy!
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Twittah
On Felix Day against the Angels as well. To be honest, I’m surprised.
Felix started off with a dead arm, but he’s settling in nicely. Good to see some off-speed stuff early.
surprise, surprise
A broken bat should be an automatic out.
Another whhhhiffff by Sexson….shocker
why?
To get caught up…
First inning, Raul, Yay!
Second inning, Richie, Boo!
OK, all caught up. As you were.
First game of the year that I get to see on tv (I’m in Southern California)! Yeah! Oh…that means Rex Hudler. hmmm.
Not that I’m giving Richie a flyer or anything, but I think it’s funny that he’s catching so much hell for his rough start and Kenji is hitting just as bad. I know Kenji has been talked about, but not on the whole.
….Wilk is terrible.
I appreciate the fact that many more Weaver pitchers were thrown & seen in the 2nd than in the 1st, but gosh it would be nice if someone actually got a hit and/or a run off of those hits.
Kenji is doing just as bad? Kenji is actually doing much worse.
Richie’s catching hell because he did this for all of last year, too. If Johjima had hit this poorly last year, he’d probably be getting a similar amount of hard feelings.
The difference, of course, is that Kenji will eventually start hitting.
@8: Kenji has defensive value. Richie, not so much.
Fair point.
Wilk is still terrible
Paul B, exactly.
8 – this is two years consecutive for Richie… he’s looking bad. And he deserves the hell he’s catching for it.
well, crap.
somehow I didn’t think Felix’ .000 ERA was going to survive the Angels.
If you can’t keep your equipment in one piece, you shouldn’t be rewarded when shards of your tool spray the infield as the ball falls just past the short stop.
Also, Johjima has been good more recently. Also, Johjima plays good defense at the most premium defensive position, where Sexson is a statue at the least premium defensive position that isn’t DHing.
There’s some more great D from Big Sexy.
Richie just couldn’t fall down quick enough for that one.
I too believe Kenji will begin to hit.
I don’t think Richie is that bad over at first. He does fine. He’s by no means any Olerud with the glove, right as a ball goes under his f’ing glove…. maybe I should rethink this….
Hmm…that reads differently than what I expected. Nonetheless, broken bats that end with the ball in play should be automatic outs.
Homer by a back up catcher. Ugh.
Good thing Sexson is a professional hitter.
Richie got dirt on his uni! See how good his defense is! I’d say he’s scrappy, but he’s too tall! Ugh.
16
I agree, like I said I’m not givin him a flyer, I just thought it was interesting.
22 – It’s hard to fall down quickly when you’re standing 14′6″ tall.
why is Rizzs so deathly afraid of “dead air”?
29
it’s “a full 40 oxen tall”
Richie was playing out of position, standing roughly 2 feet to the right of that ball, and couldn’t get his glove on it.
Oh, and, also, Johjima is being paid about 35% of what Sexson is.
23 – Sexson is an absolutely horrible fielding first baseman.
Here, don’t take my word for it:
http://ussmariner.com/2007/10/02/wrap-up-part-two/
sho nuff
like I said, maybe I should rethink this.
How’d that non-veterany catcher do that?
It’s a damn good thing that Vladdy is a free-swinging hitter.
Vlad, will swing at absolutely anything. Unfortunately, he usually crushes it. Just ask Joel Pineiro.
Vlad the Impaler goes down swinging!!!
Yay Felix 99MPH!!!
KING FELIX!
[More from the McLaren channel.]
I’m behind.
How’d that veterany first baseman miss that.
Better call a pitchout because a manager needs to.
I don’t want to know what McLaren is thinking.
It’s scary.
And dark.
And there are cobwebs…
Felix is good. I am good. Felix is good. I can do this.
[fzzt - the McLaren channel had been cut off.]
20
Kenji hasn’t been better with the stick recently, He’s ofer his last 23 now…?
44 – I took that as more recently, meaning last season Kenji had a good year.
oh, … definitely.
Yeah, Kenji had a real respectable year last year. I don’t think he’ll ever regularly reach is Japan numbers, but thats ok. Bonus if he does
According to Sims, El Gato hit 99 on the gun
Felix Fermin pitches for the M’s now?
yeah, didn’t you hear
Gameday’s got him several times at 97, then 99 to Vlad.
“It was all … all dark and empty in there. And … and there were little mice in the corners and spiders had spun this web…”
…. need a grounder….
King Awsome!!!
Yeah, Beltre’s pretty awesome.
just like they draw it up…
Adrian!
Rizzs is now telling us about the Angel offense, which, oddly enough is better than the Mariner offense.
ooh! Beltre-d at first!
we really need a little emoticon for Red doing the happy dance.
54. Oh dear…
It would be very unwise not to re-sign Beltre. Considering his last contract was based on MVP numbers, they’ll probably get a slightly better deal on him too.
Hell of a pick by figgins… wow
Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuul two times!
Ibanez completely owns Weaver at this point.
Raul, Angel killer!
I heart this Weaver.
“This Weaver” is completely shutting down the rest of our line-up, some how.
2 bombs for Raul, he’s Locked in!
66–I don’t give him credit for that.
The fork in Richie is really getting obvious. He gets his arms out like that anytime before 2007 and it’s in the upper deck.
Hey, Kenji walked. That’s different.
I couldn’t help but think the same thing….he now has more walks than hits on the season
Dang.
I didn’t like the way Felix kind of stretched his back and winced just before he threw that homerun ball.
That was fun.
One more K and we can see if Vlad’s dreadlocks fit into a golden sombrero.
Hmm, I didn’t mean the wince from the post right above mine. I meant the Vlad strikeout.
How can he pitch so smart to Guerrero there and just go so brain dead some other times? Hopefully this is a sign of his progression.
Watching a pitcher lunge for a ball is not fun.
honestly, incredibly stupid play by Felix. Why not just pick the ball up and throw Kotchman out?
The gods of baseball are cruel sometimes
OK, guys, we’ve done the “Raul hits HR” thing. Can we do something different please?
Time for the offense to pick Felix up. They owe him.
Lopez was fortunate at second base. He was safe, though. But once he held up, boy it’s tough to make it.
I think I’d take the HR here. I know it’s redundant, but I’d manage.
Take a wild guess what will happen. Walk!
That’s different. That’s good. A few more please.
I was wondering if he would throw a strike to Raul with first base open.
Red’s there with his sign.
blowers and sims sure spent a lot of time talking about how weird it was for hunter to shift to the right side of the outfield like that. But that’s exactly where Adrian hit the ball.
What jersey was Red wearing?
For those of you looking at Richie’s, Joh’s, or Vidro’s perfomance so far, take a look at Baltimore, KC, and Oakland at the top of the AL, its a little early yet.
You know you’ve got a problem when your watching the game on gamecast in a Moroccon hotel lobby at 3am. Vidro needs q hit here.
time for some situational hitting.
Maybe Richie will walk.
Is this every Mariner fan’s worst nightmare?
93/Kazinki–now that’s a fan.
Lopez looked ready to walk off the field right then.
Oh MY GOD.
Leverage Index = 4.97
Holy Crap!!!
And, that, Mariner fans, is the best thing that could have happened.
Yay, Sexson gets an RBI.
95-Good call
Maybe Wilk can repeat Big Sexy’s performance there…
Best Richie AB this season.
What a time to get a hit!
Wow, that was a clutch walk, if he can show some patience he’ll be fine.
well, that was unexpected!
Thank God that Wilkerson hit wasn’t an Angel hit near Ibanez, because then I’d have to read a bunch of “Jones would have got that” comments.
Wow, this is like a real offense.
best part about that (other than the runs and the lead) is Felix’s reaction
When Weaver walked Vidro this inning, it looked to me like it was time to stick a fork in him.
And Richie is taking more pitches than usual (old man skill), so I sort of saw a walk coming. Richie did swing 3-1, though, so that worried me.
And Richie is like 0h for whatever against Weaver lifetime, so he was really unlikely to get a hit.
Then Wilkerson getting a hit, that had to be the final proof that Weaver was through.
111 – True That.
For those of us w/o tv coverage, what exactly was Felix’s reaction?? If I was him, I would be shocked…
He was just jacked up, running around the dugout, shouting, pointing at somebody.
109 — well, Raul is an incredibly bad fielder. So you have to expect some carping. Especially when McLaren doesn’t recognize it, not even enough to use a late inning defensive replacement.
Oh, crud, that looked like Yuni had a chance for a hit.
Web Gem. NO!
Felix knows its time to do work now
That really was a hell of a play.
Holy crap. That was a play.
shouldn’t that be ‘Raul is an adequate fielder with virtually no range, and an annoying tendency to let balls drop in front of him’?
Darn Aybar webgem there.
Well since Felix is at 94 pitches, maybe he is done for the evening…..(sarcasm)
96,
It’s King Felix. I wish I could get Gameday to work, I getting by with Gamecast.
Defensive play of the year so far. Can’t carp about that …. at least we got our 2 runs prior to it so we can appreciate it a little.
109 Oh boy…
I don’t even have to say it. Can’t complain about Raul tonight though.
Actual leftfielders hold that one to a single
Okay you can say it. Jones could catch that.
Glad to see Wilk is trying to prove me wrong!!
Felix is pissed cause the geriatric LF.
This game would be exhibit A for the trial of why move Rauul to DH.
Huh. GameCast showed both ball 3 and ball 4 there as right in the center of the strike zone. Good ol’ ESPN.
Felix is done
Gamecast has been doing that all season. They’d be better off putting a picture of a baseball there as a graphic.
This is scary.
I can’t believe they’re leaving him in to pitch to Vlad after having already thrown eleventyhundred pitches.
… and here’s the matchup of the season so far … can our boy win the day?
Goin for the hat trick plus one I guess
Bad pitch. Get him out.
I hate that guy
Hey, Grady Little is managing us today… how fun for us.
If I had any fingernails left after the first 10 games, I’d be chewing them now.
Can’t strike Vlad out everytime.
Thank you Green for not being O’Flahrety
Why bring in Green to face a lefty? Even though the results turned out OK, RRS should have been used in that spot.
Ibanez wouldn’t have done that!
I read somewhere that it’s been statistically proven that bunting with a man on second actually makes a team less likely to bring in the run.
I actually don’t mind bunting Ichiro to third. Let’s hope this works out.
Mac, letting the Win Expectancy go down. Super.
147: Fangraphs supports you on this matter.
Gracious–why bunt there?
This situation is made for Bloomquist.
See?! He’d've scored anyhow.
/Hindsight
Hey, why not a hit?
Great job of Raul getting the ball in the air. Not so great running the bases there lol.
Tango’s Run Expectancy By Base/Out State:
Man on 2B, 0 Out: 1.189
Man on 3B, 1 Out: 0.983
(source – The Book: Playing The Percentages In Baseball)
Richie just needs to come up with a nickname that has an “ooo” sound in it. Who can tell when Raul gets booed?
Green works the 8th. RRS in the 9th?
“Richie just needs to come up with a nickname that has an ‘ooo’ sound in it.”
Moooooo-lah
@158: Since McLaren thinks RRS stands for Rockin’ Richie Sexson, I doubt it.
LOL. Of course.
It amazes me how often pitchers throw wild to a base.
Wow, Green has a career 3 errors with 8 putouts.
WTF is going on?!
Yeah Beltre!
Best defense in the AL.
Ibanez catches that! Whew.
Jones would’ve caught that.
That’s funny. Four times I tried to post an anti-Richie comment and got kicked off the site. Must not have been alone.
Raul’s game tonight, win or lose.
Thank God. If the bullpen blows another Felix lead I’m gonna be pissed.
I still don’t understand why McLaren has Green pitch to a slew of switch-hitters and lefties.
Was that Sexy running that fast? Does that blank the error?
He …. was … OUT. But, thank you.
Now that sacrifice made no sense. And Sexson is still allowed to roam the basepaths?
Ok Kenji, let’s work on that average.
And is there a reason not to pinch-run for Sexson? McLaren combines the worst tendencies of Grover with the worst tendencies of Melvin. Use Bloomquist. See if he can steal the base, then bunt him over if he is successful. What a bad, bad manager Mac is.
As Earl Weaver once said, you can take the sacrifice bunt and shove it up your ass. I’m talking to you, John McLaren.
I demand that Richie Sexson should have his name officially changed to Captain Caveman. I swear I see his lips saying this when he swings.
Finally, the pinch runner.
Run for Richie after the sacrifice. Cause that makes sense.
A Cairo sighting!
168- I had a “Boo Sexson” just previous to my “Yeah Beltre” that never made it to the board…
Am I mistaken or do we sacrifice everytime we get the leadoff man to first when the run difference is less than three?
Joh for an oscar
Bust outta that slump in style Kenji!
Joltin’ Joh!
Kenji! Kenji! Kenji!
That thing you saw flying through the air, the monkey off his back.
Waay to go Kenji!! RBI and batting .500 for the game.
There it is! The patent Kenji pull double.
You mean the rally monkey off his back right?
blowers, hahaha… “i dont know if he thought a fan touched it..” on the ball through third base
No question about it.
That goes well with an inning earlier of him saying “That kids gonna be the talk of his school tomorrow.”
Gee, and I thought another 2 walk night was a step forward for Kenji. Way to break out!
By the way, the fungo commercial is on. Why did the Mariners think it was a good idea to show that almost the whole team is uh, rhythmically challenged?
Yu-Bet!
1st triple of the year!
Who are these guys?
Oh Yuni I have a crush on you babe!
Nice contract Hunter. Tee Hee.
man i love the yuni turning of the bases
From the guy covering Baker’s blog.
Just some of that great defense we keep hearing about.
Jose Lopez has a great plate approach this year, it is very enjoyable to watch.
1$ on raul RBI
Ibanez out at first–as close as it gets.
Big Whiffy needs to sit a game. Offense, Defense it is all bad.
Nice replay angle there, Fox.
Hey VETERAN you don’t slide into first. Good thing you know that cause your a veteran and not some young kid who will need to learn that.
So does Mark Lowe get the save opportunity today?
Wow, that was weird. Interesting throw by Ichiro.
Lopez is a primadonna, how does he give up on that play that fast?
Matador defense.
Fucking Lopez. Look where the ball is.
Yeah, let’s pick out one insignificant thing from the guy who has 3 RBIs in the game.
Nice to see Lowe’s velocity apparently back. Hope he can keep healthy. Mac will probably find some way to screw that up.
Doing something stupid like slowing your self down from getting what could be a very important run since Putz is on the DL and putting himself at injury risk for zero gain. I would say thats ok to point out.
I would suggest, 207, that the problem the Ms have is they give up on plays and give up on games. Lopez has had a very good offensive game but that’s not and excuse for him to just give up on that play. That kind of play he needs to stick with, Yuni had the base covered, he shouldn’t stand there and watch Ichiro and Yuni complete the play he should have made or at least kept up with after he missed the first catch.
I’m guessing Ibanez was still out there in the ninth. Cairo at first(??). At least Wilk showed a good arm.
I’m guessing Raul slid to avoid a potential tag based on where the pitcher was.
206-That was my guess, too. Remember when AJ slid to the outside of the base and just brushed it with his hand?
{must not make Raul-AJ comparisons, must not make Raul-AJ comparisons, must not make Raul-AJ comparisons}
Did anybody watching the post game hear Kreuger just say “fagtastic”?
208/Mike G.– didn’t watch the post game show, but I’ve got to know the context.
He just swallowed the ‘N’ in fantastic. Nothing intentional.
It just gave me a laugh because I apparently have the sense of humor of a 12 year old.
ESPN has the Mariners in the top 5 in one category…
There was some weird karma going on tonight. Felix pitched pretty fantastic, yet gives up four ERs, and yet also gets his 1st win. Ichiro somehow misread Matthews’ homer – it seemed like a ball he could have made at least a more solid attempt on, it was weird. You had to wonder if it would doom Felix again. Later, Felix’s incredible horizontal sprawl on a pussy hit leads to nothing but an ER and fear that he separated his shoulder. Let’s face it, the four ERs were a mirage.
But that was just the tip. Ibanez and Weaver, WTF? Then, Wilkerson and Johjima break thru. The Izturis play up the middle keeps it from breaking open. Then the Sean Green error is like the M’s karma trying to pull the cosmos back into balance. Sexson’s error is insult to injury and the kind of thing that makes one leave the room. In the ninth, it’s like deja vu all over again with Lopez’s miss up the middle, a forgivable miscue but also undoubtedly perceived by most fans as somehow as predestined as Charlie Brown, Lucy and the football. But then we won.
Funny aside on Johjima: during his at-bat that yielded the double, Blowers mentioned the 0 for 23. My wife, who doesn’t watch a *lot* of baseball, says, “0 for 23? What is he, Dan Wilson?” I love my wife.
Betancourt continues to be an awesomely fun player to watch. Please get back to your defensive brilliance, Yuni, because you are a player I can get behind. How was his fist pump after the triple *not* the highlight of the game?
Sacrificing Lopez was lame. Sacrificing Wilkerson was probably sadly prudent.