Game 17, Mariners at Athletics
Carlos Silva on the road against Lenny DiNardo. DiNardo, unfortunately for the M’s, is a lefty, which means we get the anti-lefty lineup, and Silva’s pitching in front of a one-fielder outfield. (Dave adds: Bloomquist in right is way better than Morse, so it’s not that bad)
Could be ugly. On the other hand, it’s only DiNardo’s second start this year, so maybe he uh… won’t be able to pace himself.
Dave adds again: Also, Carlos Silva, remember when you talked about throwing a split-finger to neutralize LH hitters. Well, yea, you haven’t thrown any so far this year, and lefties are torching you for a .327/.365/.531 line. The A’s run out a lot of LH bats. If you have a splitter, throw it tonight please.
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On the bright side, Silva is facing a AAA lineup.
Go M’s!
I like the new “Donate” button. I’m glad you did it. As soon as I get some income flowing in, I’ll start hitting it. I’m thankful for the USSM crowd. Very intelligent folks here at this website. A lot better than where I used to go .
Sexson is out a day, maybe more. Wilk is also out, and, if I heard Mac right on the radio pregame, he has some shoulder soreness. What a shock that these two are ailing. All spring long we heard that they had both healed over the winter and were ready to go. Yet 1/10th of the way into the season, both begin to break down. Why don’t the M’s simply make all players follow Ichiro’s training regimen. Not only does he not get injured, he never seems to be nursing or playing through any ailments or soreness. Maybe he is on to something.
The bright side is that we don’t have to see Sexson and Wilk play. The down side is that we don’t have good people here/called up to play. Sigh. Oh well. A beer will still make this game better, right?
Since this is a game thread, where nothing is really off-topic (and this is baseball, and we were just celebrating Jackie Robinson) — this looks really good. But I’m having a hard time finding it on the festival website.
Good news: the M’s have at least until 2012 before the A’s add “rich” to “smart”
More good news: the M’s aren’t on this list of “History’s worst free-agent deals” (though not for lack of trying: they get an honorary mention for Zito).
On the bright side, if Bloomquist and Norton can merely maintain their current batting averages, they will have very productive evenings.
Yeah, I know. Small sample size.
And speaking of “rich” the Forbes list is out, and the M’s are the 11th most valuable franchise. Their value grew less than average over the past year, but they pulled in $194M and turned a $10M profit (EBITDA). And, once again, both Florida teams are the most profitable on a percentage basis, though the Nationals gave them a run for their money. The Marlins earned $14M more in profit last year than they’re going to spend on payroll this year — in other words, Loria is pocketing more than 1.6 times what his players earn, combined. The Mariners are among the least profitable teams on a percentage basis (though when you have the luxury tax teams claiming they’re losing money, you have to wonder about the voodoo accounting involved).
Silva after Felix definitely has a December 26th feel to it.
This may be a stupid question but what is the point of MLB.com if you can’t watch the Mariners when they are outside of Seattle? I bought it thinking I could watch the Mariners when they weren’t here…imagine my surprise
Norton at 1B, Boom Boom at RF. This ought to be a good game for the comedy factor alone.
I hate that the HD picture is partially obscured by a bar telling me that there’s an HD picture.
What’s up with the A’s uniforms tonight? Weird colors for them.
Hey, Boxing day is often a better day than Xmas! Standing in line at A&B Sound to get those door-buster specials and all the things you really want, at crazy sale prices….
Of course, that would only apply in the M’s analogy if Bedard was pitching the day after Felix.
zzyzx — Glad you said something about the b&w uniforms. I thought it was my TV at first.
Raul with the hit off the lefty!
Pretty ugly whiffs by Beltre.
11- My apologies, for my analogy was rather south of the(northern) border-centric.
Well, I mentioned this earlier but I used a touchy word and it ended up in the mod queue, so I’ll point to it again: anybody know anything about this?
gosh, I was shocked, shocked to hear that former-A Miggy Tejada is actually two years older than the age on his birth certificate.
The A’s PA system has pretty weird timing, playing the “CHARGE!” music right after they made an out.
Another devastating Richie Sexson leg injury.
Well, what’s what word on Greg Norton?
Yeah, totally shocked as well. Particularly since he looks 93, not 33.
Oh, Raul.
Look at that dive, that thing was pro.
Nice dive Rauuuuuuuuuuul.
Oh, Raul…….tsk tsk.
sigh.
“trying to make the catch out there, and coming up short, is Ibanez…”
Ral Ibanez gets no “U” for that play.
Ooh! Everyone take a shot for the Raul-Ibanez-dives-for-a-fly ball drinking game!
From the SI article:
Juan Pierre, $44 million, five years, Dodgers. He’s riding the bench only one year into his term. Great guy. But the lesson here is, never pay big bucks for a singles hitter with a nice personality.
Please send this to Bill Bavasi.
I think that Raul dive did actual damage to my eyes. Jesus.
26: I could go for that.
27: Be careful, otherwise Bill will take that as a insider tip to trade for Pierre.
“He can do a lot of different things for you.” — Blowers.
Such as, seen in exhibit A, striking out.
Norton. Dave Valle’s number, Dave Valle’s swing
Alright Willie, work your pony magic!
Walk, Willie! WALK!!!!!!
That was a super-gritty walk.
DiNardo is all over the place tonight.
Two Outs?
So WhatIgnite!Boom-Boom!
Steal! WILLIEBALLGAME!
just that it was made by the filmakers of Half-nelson, the Ryan Gosling film about the teacher with a drug habit, and that it got a lot of talk after it played Sundance.
and scrappy too.
Is it just me or is Wilkerson finding his way out of the lineup more often than not. I swear he’s playing every other day now.
In other news, Adam Jones has put the Orioles over the White Sox in the 10th, and Sherrill should be coming in to mop up for the two inning win!
Never mind, it’s over apparently.
are you just being dryly humorous, or did you miss that he’s been platooning out there in right?
Man, they wasted the rally Willie started.
Go Lopez.
second verse, same as the first.
Okay, is it too much to ask that Beltre hit the ball this time?
RON ‘Red’ Fairly reference on TV by Dave
and crazy irate A’s fan yelling “Hey Belre, You Suck!!” HAHAHAHHAHAHA
Comedy … good thing we are on a winning streak against them.
The “Farmers Insurance” sign is distracting him?
Why is the ump so determined to get the sign changed?
Must be a Geico fan.
Man, Farmers is going to want a refund.
This reminds me of “earring gate” minus Arthur Lee getting angry.
Time for a “Professional” hit Turbo…
Dave was saying the Sweet Lou went ballistic on that UMP during his years in Seattle. Apparently as a 1st base ump something went down … anyone remember ?
TURBO!!!
that works.
TURBO BUTTON!
was that Jose or Pepe?
How professional can this guy get?
Nice swing by Vidro. 6 runs this inning?
TURBO!!!
Vidro, using his power of the long single for good, not evil.
Now, of course, though, he’ll be the lead runner in a DP…
Maybe he broke his foot. And his contract won’t vest because he misses tons of time.
*wishful thinking*
That’ll do Turbo, that’ll do…
Bucknor’s not a well-respected ump, for good reason
I lovWow Lenny DiNardo and the wheels are falling off. C’mon Joh no ground balls (prolllly)
Good time for a Kenji bomb.
Neihaus: “Johjima has hit a couple of Salami’s”
Any particular reason why? I don’t know much about umpires, so what has this guy done to piss people off?
oh, sure. Bucknor ejected Lou, and then when Lou blew up, just stood and ’smirked’ to quote Lou. Jim Caple had a fine description of it
I just remembered not seeing many black umpires, so maybe I answered my own question.
68 – that is shameful and hilarious at the same time. nice walk Joh
or a rare Ninja walk…
And DiNardo gets chased early. Awesome.
Is that the earliest we’ve knocked out a pitcher this year?
He pitched himself out of the game.
Yeah that was a young pitcher meltdown right there.
Wilkerson sure as hell wouldn’t have run that out…
What hustle! What grit! BOOM BOOM!
Rick R. says Willie really hustled on that fielders choice. Repeat: Good Hustle.
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of attending an A’s game at the Coliseum, “The A’s have someone up and throwing in the pen.”, means “The A’s have had one of their bullpen pitchers fold up one of the metal chairs along the first base foul territory and begin playing catch off of a sort-of mound”.
Yeah, Willie was whipping his pink pony down the line there.
I love games when our offense actually does something.
Notice they didn’t try to force-out Willie. ’cause Willie is the BOOM-BOOM MAN.
I love those innings. I also love disgruntled A’s fans.
Good to see the hometown 9 bat around.
I wonder how times Ichiro! has made 2 outs in the same inning? I’m thinking not many.
Just saw Dave’s added note above. Can anyone confirm or deny that Silva has thrown a splitter (particularly to a lefty) in this game?
Hey, guess who just made two outs in one inning…
88 – Kurt Suzuki?
Silva would be really good on a team with a good defense.
Goddammit Norton.
Well that was Sexsonesque.
Jones, I mean Sexson would have had that.
Well, Lenny DiNardo couldn’t.
Buckle Down – Time for a Douple play.
The best part of that Lou blow-up. He said in the interview after the game that he pulled a hammy. That was a classic.
hey, look at that: good defense
I’m trying to figure out how the A’s are 9-7.
I wish Silva was really as good as he is pitching
I also remember during the ‘95 season Lou would go in the clubhouse mid-innings to puff some smoke down.
Classic Lou
Dickey starting tomorrow? Should be interesting.
Whoa we have a knuckleballer going for us tomorrow? Who was the last Mariners Kuckleballer? Anyone know?
truck ads. so, how long before Chris Long start shilling as well?
98 – it’s a looooooong season. The A’s will probably be 20 games below .500 by the end of the year.
Silva 31 pitches through three. Another complete game in the making?
Oakland fans are weird.
I’m really enjoying Beltre’s BA above .300.
Exciting to see him play / get better every year.
Sexson?
Goodness, the A’s look awful. Saarloos can’t find the strike zone either.
Those are some powerful truck ads indeed.
heck, he often didn’t even get as far as the tunnel, he’d just lean back in the corner of the dugout…
Can we have a USSM historical blog, whereby you blog as if this were 2001?
By the way, I’m giving the M’s a 45% chance of making the playoffs this year. That’s their 40% shot at winning the west and 5% chance of getting the wildcard.
So… did anyone else notice that Vidro was wearing the ankle guard on his back foot, not his front foot? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. Or have I just always missed it?
I still think the M’s should have signed Tejada, when ‘Everyone thought Tejada would end up in Seattle.’
I don’t even care if hes 50 now … haha
#112 – e-mail Paul Lukas (of uniwatchblog.com) immediately!
jspektor-Sexson feels like the one piece of this infield not built to last. Holding the Lopez-Yuni-Beltre trio on the team should be a priority-they will only get better.
Sexson somehow hit 39 HR’s for us while in SafeCo … what?
I love the fact that Silva is such a ground ball pitcher … throws strikes … innings eater…
as advertised.
2 outs? Who cares!!!
…wait, wrong team.
STRIKE 116 FROM THE BOOKS.
ADMINS I SPOKE TOO SOON
I guess it was too good to be true.
I love the A’s one run rallies this series. Silva needs some oxygen after that inning. He did well.
Lou used to light up every time he’d look at the phone, and think, Lord, do I have to bring in Slocumb again?
Sexson is a slow pitch softball player.
“Hit it here, win a suit” – I believe the Aquasox field has that sign. Where else? Tacoma?
121
That was a great trade …
No, this, and the last start, are pretty much vintage Silva. No strikeouts, around the plate, groundballs, every so often get owned.
back to Bucknor, it is so hard to actually make it to the majors as an ump, that those who have made it hang onto their jobs and to each other — no matter if they are any good at it or not — like grim death ….
w/r/t Bucknor: the beef, as I understand it, is what Lou’s talked about — that he’s not any good at keeping cool in confrontations/not provoking people/etc. Or, to contrast — there are some umps who have a really good reputation for being able to calmly say “he was safe, his hand was in ahead of the tag” give the manager his moment, and then be able to end the discussion without ticking anyone off.
Bucknor is not mentioned as one of those
124 – I love the fact Silva throws so many strikes – I literally go ballistic when pitchers come in and start throwing balls. It drives me up the walls.
They need to shoot that guy who keeps yelling “Let’s go Oakland!”
What’s the verdict on whether or not Raul was injured last year? He seems to be running fairly well and (small sample size) is absolutely raking the ball lately.
I want a big lead when they take Silva out so we can see Morrow for the first time this year.
@129,
Small sample size or not, we know Raul can hit. As far as the injury goes, I’m unsure.
Raul was injured first part of last year.
Rauuul!! No THAT is a professional hitter.
129. He was definitely hurt in mid season but kept playing.
RAUUUUUL
Are you KIDDING me Ibanez?
Wow Raul is en fuego.
I’m surprised Sims didn’t call that a “long run” for Ibanez.
LET’S GO, OAKLAND!
Every time I hear “Norton” from the announcers all I can think of Jackie Gleason’s intonation of the name on “The Honeymooners”.
I could be wrong, but it seems like Moyer also had a run in with him a few years back as well — based on a combination of Bucknor’s variable strike zone and, ah, oh-so-charming personality.
139… you should yell “norton!” in that tone during the next homestand. I wager that Mr. Norton has never heard that one before.
on top of his always problematic hamstrings, for the may 2007 THT:
“Ibanez admitted on Wednesday that a sore left shoulder was bothering him earlier this season, though it is no longer a major problem. Ibanez added that the injury occurred late in spring training on a checked swing and had bothered him since. A minor back ailment caused him to miss five games from May 19-24 and he used that time to rebuild the strength in his left shoulder.”
Dagnabit, I was gonna keep up the LET’S GO OAKLAND chant but the comment system is too smart.
Damn you Zumsteg!
Get someone warmed up, you moron.
Yeah, Silva looks done.
I haven’t been watching closely, has Silva lost the strike zone, or has Bucknors strike zone altered?
139: Yeah, I’m waiting for the sound techs at Safeco to start playing that “Oh, Norton!” clip whenever he gets a hit — in the same vein as that Lou Costello “Hey, Abbott!” clip they used to play for Paul Abbott.
Silva looks gassed. This may be it for him. Just pray the ball is hit to someone for the last out.
Get out of the inning Silva…c’mon…
Yeah, he got out of the 6th but I’m thinking trying for 7 is going to be stretching it.
Strikeout works for me.
Or someone swings at a ball two feet outside. Thank you
That was Sexsonesque.
somehow I’d forgotten that Batgirl’s nickname for Silva was The Jackal
What’s Saarloos’ pitch count up to? I’m surprised he’s still in there.
70 pitches for Saarloos.
Did I hear Silva’s coming in for the 7th. Good for him. I think I like this guy.
He pitched 2 innings on Tuesday. Probably could do another inning.
Sweet turn of events in the Mets and Nats game in the 14th. They walk Wright and Delgado to load the bases. Wild pitch. Game over.
The A’s fans look really bored there.
Didn’t the Rangers go ahead in the 14th last night on a wild pitch? I love this game
The A’s look really bored there.
if interested, the two SI player polls that ranked Bucknor as the worst ump are here and here
Yeah…all 12 of them!
Indeed they did. Crazy that it happened two days in a row.
Shows what I know about pitching.
I’m just amazed to see a Mariner’s pitcher who throws strikes, doesn’t start nearly every batter Ball One, and it’s actually past the 5th inning!
If loving him is wrong, I don’t want to be right!
(And yes, I know it won’t last.)
Bucknor doesn’t seem to be doing badly behind the plate tonight. Maybe it’s his other three days on the bases that stinks.
Silva is at 95 Pitches through 7
Does anyone know when the last time the M’s had back to Back Complete Games
He’s putting grease from his hair on the ball.
I’m thinking at had to be Moyer and Freddie. Just a guess
A little faith never hurt anybody.
Nice job Lopez, taking advantage of the infield moving up.
Apparently even years are the good ones for Lopez.
May I dare to hope for at least .500 April
Remember how we cringed two years ago when we played in Oakland. Now we make their pitchers throw 150 pitches a game. Very nice
We have an RRS sighting.
I love an ump who has the guts to call the phantom second base play against the home team.
98 pitches, 65 strikes, 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run. Great work again by Silva.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
context please monty?
Which is very refreshing.
What’s also refreshing is that both of these games in this series have had very good flow to them — remembering the old three-and-a-half-hours-of-HELL games at the Coliseum.
Sorry
that was for RRS coming into the game
but he had a quick inning.
Monty do you have R2S confused with EOF?
We just might see Morrow in the 9th.
nah. just entertain yourself by googling Bucknor and strike zone.
I have a hate on Chris Guccione, myself.
What’s the over/under for BB’s in the bottom of the 9th?
I am eager to see Morrow.
Can we come to some sort of agreement on what we’re calling Ryan Rowland-Smith around here? I’ve seen three different iterations of his name here: RRS, 2RS, and R2S. So, which is it?
@186: I Googled that and…man, everyone hates that guy
I think the A’s will dump the black jersey and hat look after this performance.
Another “variable strike zone” ump who Moyer’s had a run-in with before, too.
Sentinel, don’t forget RR-S. I’m not sure about R2S. Maybe R^2S would work.
Is Morrow back on his game or are the A’s just that bad?
God, Beltre is good.
Well, I guess the under takes it. I’m surprised…
Morrow’s fb, cu, and split all looked pretty good.
And Adrian puts a nice exclamation point on it. Nice arm there.
*fist pump*
Feels good to be over .500. Good night everyone.
189: If he ever named a son Ryan, would the kid then be R2S2?!
I vote RRS. It makes the most sense to me.
Raul, why must you spit when you know you’re on live TV?
Great job, guys!
Two games at the Coliseum under 2-1/2 hours in length…amazing!
So, I had to miss the game. Did Silva use his splitter, or is it just that the A’s have nobody who can hit?
Is there any chance a certain Seattle knuckleballer will write a documentation of each game he pitches in and of the season as a whole? Maybe he could call it “Strike Three”?
Oh… wait.
The royals have the tying run at the plate in…wherever the Angels play.
SILVA HALO!
/any other Duranies on here?
Wow, quite a game going on in San Diego: 0-0 in the 11th. Peavy:11 Ks in 8 innings. 9 total hits thus far.
No doubt about it, Mac will say “and so forth and so on” during the post-game.
What a beautiful win by the hometown 9 tonight … King Felix has restored faith.
They ranked Sweet Lou the number 3 coach in NWest history on FSN top 10. Gotta love these guys.
Lou is probably the most likable coach in northwest history. Bring Lou / Junior back!
Dead horse? Never!
I’m loving the M’s… but did anyone else catch the highlights of the O’s game tonight…
Wow.
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200804172544209
Now the Padres walked the bases loaded in the top of the 14th, and then walked in the run.
And then Colorado came right back and did essentially the same thing. So it went from an 0-0 tie at the end of the 13th to 1-1 at the end of the 14th. And on they go….
Meanwhile, Sherill got the W in the O’s game.
I caught some of Baseball Tonight after the game; they covered the M’s game. Ibanez was one of the 4 that appeared in that summary graphic they give at the end of discussing the game, along with WFB. I think it was Ravech that laughed sarcastically at his 0-2, RBI, Run line. It was a kind of WTF is that doing in the summary reaction
So…does the Mariner’s PR machine send these in to ESPN, or was it ESPN that decided to put WFB in there?
What a weird game in San Diego. Still tied 1-1 in the 15th.
yeah, pads are in a battle. I want to watch that game … wish I had mlb.tv
maybe http://www.channelsurfing.net will have it?
Bottom of the 18th now. This is getting epic.
19th!
20 innings.
Lets just go for history here. My spouse likes the Rockies and I want her to wake up for work to a tie ballgame in the 34th.
I’m staying up all night for this. Hell, I just bought an mlb.tv subscription just to watch this.
21!!!!!!!
Amazing.
I am so happy to be awake right now. It’s 3:48 here.
The Padres announcers are hilarious tonight.
This is yet another reason why baseball is the BEST game on the planet. I loved the Padres announcers a few minutes ago: “We have word that the final Australian Rules Football game just ended…”
I think the funniest sports-anything I’ve seen this year is Matt Vasgersian tucking a napkin into his collar and cutting into a hat with a knife and fork.
Padres have used, by my count, 14 position players, and the Rockies 13. Woooowwww.
Holy crap, it’s still going on? I went away assuming it was going to end in the 15th, and I come back what, an hour later?
We’re going to 22!
22!
I love the fact that the innings on the scoreboard have now scrolled to the point where the leftmost inning is in double digits.
What’s really horrible is they probably stopped serving beer in the 7th.
24 hits, 12 walks….
…2 runs?!?!?
You have got to be kidding me.
What are all the people still at the game going to tell their bosses tomorrow?
If they get past the 23rd, they’ll have the NL record.
Have both teams completely blown through their bullpens yet?
The Padres shoulda kept Cammy…they’d have had this locked up in the 19th. /yukyuk
Rockies score!
Wow. Checking in late, and things are hoppin’. And a RUN in the top of the 22nd.
I hope the Padres score in the bottom half.
42 players have appeared in this game. That’s everybody except the other starters, isn’t it?
I thought the NL record was 26. Ah, here we are
Rally time!
Was this a 7:05 PM start? They’re still over an hour short of the record.
It’s not over yet. They did this in the 14th and the Padres managed to match them.
18Ks by the two starters, both went at least 7 innings, and neither is going to get the win.
Innings:
COL: Francis 7; Fuentes 1; Buchholz 2; Bowie 2; Herges 1; Corpas 2; Speier 3; Wells 3
SD: Peavy 8; Hoffman 1; Bell 2; Thatcher 2; Cameron 1; Ledezma 5; Rusch 3;
Props to Ledezma pitching 5 innings there of “middle relief” in innings 15-19
Where my Rally Fries at?
Uh-oh. Pitcher has to bat with two out.
How badly does Rusch want to go home now?
This reminds me of that last game of the season, same teams, Rockies had to win to advance, they ended up down by 2 in the bottom of the 13th and came back to win it (I almost turned the radio off). Would be karma if the Padres manage to pull the same feat.
Boooooooooooooooooo
What a game. Incredible.
Heck of a game, guys. See ya in the, uh, morning.
haha – I went to bed at about 12:30 am pacific – I think the game was in the 18th – its hilarious reading the thread after I went to bed though – classic baseball
my favorite argument for baseball as the best sport: no game clock.
M’s look good
well, Eduardo Perez is part of the show these days (he’s been known to call ‘raaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul’ in the background during relevant Ms highlights) Perhaps he is the Willie B instigator ….
If the M’s have a PR machine someone should tell them about how ridiculous the name ‘Funk Blast’ is every time a home run is hit. I mean come on.
They should also cancel that stupid grounds crew dance.
And I’m sorry, but I hate that ridiculous grounds crew dance they do once every few home games. It drives me ballistic. I remember going to a game against the ChiSox last year where and sitting behind the Sox dugout – when Ozzie Guillen started making fun of it.
It’s flat out dumb and our hometown crowd gets more excited for those guys then they do a clutch pitch … or sometimes even a ‘Funk Blast’.
Sorry, morning rant – time to bring on the Angels.
259 – I’m pretty sure they got the dance idea from other teams. Yankees fans seem to think their crew was the first to start it.
#259
Don’t like Funk Blast? I’d avoid LL if I were you.
260
Really other teams do that? That actually shocks me. Maybe I am just so mad from losing so many years in a row that something like that drives me bananas.
Aka, cant the team focus on putting a winning product on the field instead of dancing grounds crew?
I guess everything is okay when you win, right?
One more thing: Does anyone know when the last time the M’s pitched a knuckleballer …
either SP or RP? I have been trying to find out figure the USSM guys would know.
you can always check here
MSB -
Great find / Great Link … Awesome.
So the guy recently became a knuckleballer … then developed other pitches besides the knuckleball? Should be I really excited about this guy … because I am…
Sorry, for some reason my grammar is horrible. I meant …
apologies lol
This is just embarrassing. I’m done for today. TGIF
Glad to see the donate button up. I will be happy to chip in on a regular basis.
If that Rox-Pads game had just gone a bit longer, we would have seen Maddux. Apparently he got his glove at the start of the 22nd – presumably because he was going to play.
Nice to see a win last night! Now we’re over .500. Hope we can win a couple in Anaheim.
I’m still wondering how the A’s got a 9-7 record. Did they do it with mirrors? They looked horrible last night.