Game 39, White Sox at Mariners
DMZ · May 11, 2008 at 12:10 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Floyd v Batista.
If you’re reading this, it means that after last night’s loss I slept in this morning, or went biking, or decided to work on the house plumbing or something, and didn’t make it back in time to update this.
But does it matter? Wheee, pink bats.
Dave adds: The Padres have setup a blog for the front office to communicate with their fans. Even though they’re not very good this year, they’re looking for ways to engage their fan base and create communication. Odds of the Mariners doing this are about as good as Miguel Cairo going yard today.
Comments
249 Responses to “Game 39, White Sox at Mariners”
Um, I have actually been DEFENDING Ichiro’s great defense, not criticizing it. I think you have me mistaken for someone else.
195
You clearly misunderstood my original post. Here’s how he pads his average: there are two possible outcomes:
A) bunt single
B) sac bunt doesn’t hurt his average
His average either goes up or stays the same. Going down is not possible.
Lucky Number: I was trying to assist you.
199 –
If you NEED a reason to like Ichiro:
Look no further
If you refuse to listen to someone else’s opinion about why Ichiro is not gutless and stupid, then fine. I suppose no one will be able to change your mind, but don’t expect your opinion to be valued any higher than theirs.
Also, this is not a board. Welcome to USSM.
My bad. I usually don’t post this much, so I’m probably suffering from some sort of game thread overload. All apologies.
Because the name of the game is to avoid getting out.
It’s a point that traditional baseball fans gail to grasp. The point is not to swing away…the point is TO AVOID AN OUT.
And any way to avoid making an out is smart. No ifs, ands or buts.
My mental image of DAMellen:
-dark green skin
-about seven feet tall
-can’t stand fire
-likes to eat small children
I wonder why that is?
195: Good news, Texas just cut him. Looks like we can pick up another player that doesn’t perform!
196
I never called getting hits gutless and I am yet to use the word “cowardly.” Oh wait, there it was. Anyways, I have no problem with hits (although, he usually doesn’t get hits, but that’s not hte point). When he bunts with a man on second and less than two outs, he guarantees that the Mariners will not score on that play and since Ichiro gets out most of the time when he bunts, he decreases their chances of scoring for the rest of the inning. That is just bad baseball. Of course, this raises the question, why would he do something that makes his team less likely to score? I think there are two possibilities and we’ve already gone over them. My main theory is that he does it to eliminate the risk of having an extra out on his average. Either he makes it to first for a single or he gets out and it’s a sac bunt. It’s like a free chance to pad your average! The other possibility is that Ichiro really doesn’t know how useless bunting with a man on second is.
And don’t tell me that the manager is telling Ichiro to do it. I have as much of a problem with McLaren as anybody, but it is very rare for any Mariner (even McLaren’s bunt monkey, Jose Lopez) to bunt with a man on second. Why would McLaren only tell Ichiro (our best hitter by quite a bit) to bunt with a man on second?
Ichiro’s BA is a good thing compared to say Vidro’s because he gets on base and steals bases. He turns singles into doubles and doubles become triples.
I question that.
Oooooookay, that’s about enough of this.
I’ve had to repost the “no personal attacks on M’s personnel” thing about twenty times more often than I should have to, lately.
If you don’t like a play Ichiro made, that’s one thing; continue to do things like calling him, or anyone really, “stupid” or “gutless” and your posts are likely to be whisked away to a magic land where they can frolic in lush fields with all sorts of other comments I’d expect from the P-I blog.
Cut it out.
DAMellen- Did you just try and convince a bunch of USSM readers that McLaren makes good in game decisions regarding the bunt? This is the last place that argument would work. I 100% believe McLaren had Ichiro bunt.
Good inning from Morrow. That’s always nice to see.
Haha! Did anyone else see Quentin turn around and yelled “FUCK!”? haha
Has this thread ever gone off the rails. Is the game still on?
Nice work by Morrow. Smoked that one right by Thome.
Thanks Jeff. Ignore my last comment.
wow jj is goign to get a save opportunity. let’s hope he can find the strike zone today. that’d be like old school.
The M’s just don’t have enough power. Johjima hits that ball as well as he can and it’s warning track.
If he wasn’t gutless he would have leaned into that pitch!
A Yuniball followed by an Ichiball. Great stuff. I really like Yuni in the 9th spot as the second leadoff guy.
207
Actually, I’m a teacher. I love children. BECAUSE THEY’RE DELICIOUS!!!! You should see the looks on parent’s faces when I’m like, “Whoops! Lost another one.” “When’d you last see him?” “I think snack time.”
206
I get that the point of baseball is avoiding an out. I get it all too well. That’s why I think on base percentage is a much better statistic than batting average. And where was Ichiro in on base percentage the last few years? 19th last year, 46th the year before that, and 70th the year before that. Wow, those are honestly even lower than I thought they would be. I was only gonna do three, but just so you guys can have one point to stand on, he was also 9th the year before. That was a good year for Ichiro.
Anyways, Ichiro hits for spectacular average, but his ability to get on base isn’t exactly elite. It’s very good, but he’s not David Ortiz or Lance Berkman. He’s a great player. He’s an awesome fielder (way better than David Ortiz or Lance Berkman just to name a few) who is good at getting on base, but not amazing. I think you guys give him a lot more credit than he deserves.
Cairoball?
If only Swisher hadn’t knocked that into the stands
I am not excited for the Cairoball.
Oh I guess he didnt knock that in.
BTW – did anyone catch Wasserman falling down after the pitch to Cairo and tumbling over? hilarious
Cairoed! Sort of…
222 – I may be killed for trying this one more time… but
Did you read this?
Cairo went yard. of course it did hit the ground first tho…….
Putz wooooooooo?
yeah baby, just got back from mothers day – looks like the M’s might pull one out here. fingers crossed.
it’ll be nice to get A win
Yeah I read it. I didn’t agree with a lot of what was said in it and I still don’t. Ichiro’s a good player. He’s not the Jesus of Seattle.
I’ll leave you with the latest from Hawk Harrelson…
to AJ Pierszinsky “Cmon 12, we need you on the basepaths, buddy”
It looks like JJ’s velocity is coming back. That’s nice to see.
212
I definitely agree that McLaren makes terrible decisions regarding the bunt (also regarding about ten other things, but that’s for another discussion), but tell me how many times you’ve seen him use someone other than Ichiro to bunt a guy from second to third? I can only remember one. I’ve seen Ichrio bunt guys from second to third about ten times. Why does he only tell Ichiro to do it?
210
You think Ichiro is batting over .500 when he bunts? That’s hard to believe.
He does it with Lopez all the time.
yay we win one. now let’s string on another. this is almost worth a cigar.
A good win.
A horrible game thread.
On to Texas.
Holy Shit..A Mariners win!!!
I’d celebrate but I’m too hungover…
Go M’s!!
Duane Shaffer, Mariners Special Assistant to the Executive VP, Player Personnel, is at Shea Stadium.
Know who else was at Shea stadium?
Jr.
11 game winning streak continues at SAFECO field. Maybe I should buy season tix to M’s to help them. 🙂
As north said, good win, strange gamethread.
I’m not happy that the troublemaker of the PI board found his way over here and after playing quiet for awhile finally started showing his true colors.
It’s pretty disappointing coming to the quality USSMariner blog and having to see this guy posting reams of his Anti-Ichiro diatribes while revelling in arguing with other people.
Yes, again as Benny Hill once said, “that’s one in a row!” 🙂
Hey Terry, 243;
So who remembers Jr & His Dad going yard back to back in Seattle?
Was it 1990 or 1991?
I have not been advocating this but…. if JR wants to end his career in Seattle… Bring him on & let him hit # 600 here and see where we go from here.
#234
I don’t know what you are referring to but I have to agree about Ichiro not being the Jesus of Seattle. It gets kind of lame how all the USS Mariner faithful get all excited whenever Ichiro says something clever. I don’t deny that Ichiro does say some clever and cool things but I don’t feel like I have just heard from a demigod or something and start worshipping him just because he is clever. Don’t mean this as disrespectful to this web log as much of the content here is pure genius but the whole fawning over Ichiro’s every word business get nauseating. Also don’t mean this as disrespectful to Ichiro because I do like him.
I don’t know what the heck happened in this thread, but it’s clearly not about today’s game anymore.