27 May
Game 53, Red Sox at Mariners
7:10. Matsuzaka v Batista.
In WPA, Matsuzaka is 3rd in all of baseball at 1.84. Ratios:
K/9 7.95
BB/9 5.7
HR/9 .6
Batista is -.97
K/9 6.47
BB/9 5.7
HR/9 .74
1.5K/game separates the two pitchers right now, and in their starts so far, the results have been a difference of nearly three games in value.
CAIRO AT FIREST! His outstanding work charging a bunt yesterday is rewarded with a start!
!1!!!oneone!!!
CF-L Ichiro!
2B-R Lopez
DH-B Vidro
LF-L Ibanez
3B-R Beltre
C-R Johjima
RF-R Balentien
1B-0 Cairo
SS-R Betancourt
Boston:
CF-B Crisp
2B-R Pedroia
DH-L Ortiz
LF-R Ramirez
3B-R Lowell
RF-L Drew
C-B Varitek
1B-L Casey
SS-R Lugo
VIDRO OPTION WATCH:
Only 250-300 plate appearances to go until his 2009 option vests!
[head explodes]
May 27th, 2008 at 6:27 pmI noticed the lineup says Cairo is a zero-handed hitter. Nice work, Derek.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:33 pmPoor Derek. Following this team has turned him into JeffK.
And if this keeps up, I may have to start watching games at the Diamond Knot, since a brewery named after a sunken ship (with Diamond in its name, no less) is clearly the patron beer of this year’s team (assuming nobody finds South Pacific, of course). Though if their experiments have come to fruition, there’s no way I’ll be any shape to drive home. Which means the 2008 Mariners were so bad they forced me to live in Mukilteo.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:39 pmYoukilis out again? Did he get a twinge in something and I haven’t heard about it yet?
It’s amusing to note that Ortiz is off to a bad start this year, and it’s only some recent good hitting that’s gotten his OPS+ up to a mere 44 points over his opposite number on the Mariners’, Vidro.
Never the less, they both bat 3rd, despite their deficiencies.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pmBut Ortiz batting 3rd creates a pick-your-poison situation with Manny right behind him. With Vidro, the poison is self-inflicted no matter where he bats (listen to that AB countdown ticking).
May 27th, 2008 at 6:46 pmAs opposed to last night which was a very quick game for two reasons (Colon’s good control dovetailing with Mariner lack of patience and Red Sox aggressiveness in response to the threat of Felix H. strikeouts), this game will likely be loooooong.
The Red Sox will go back into disciplined mode against a pitcher they don’t fear. And Matsuzaka throws a lot of pitches that no one will swing at.
Last night we were into the bottom of the 7th after about 1:35. Tonight we may be in the bottom of the 4th or top of the 5th.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm#5. Lineup homeopathy?
May 27th, 2008 at 6:49 pmLooking at his line-up cards and bullpen decisions, it appears McLaren has been trying really hard to get fired. And naturally, he even fails at that.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:59 pmWouldn’t lineup homeopathy be starting with a lineup like Boston’s, and then, over the course of a season, diluting it with the addition of gritty no-hit types like Cario at 1st, Bloomquist at shortstop, Eckstein at 2nd, Bengie Molina at catcher, etc, etc, so that the effectiveness of the offense is increased due to homeopathic law?
James: Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing which wins; Matsuzaka’s tendency to pitch out of the strike zone or the Ms’ tendency to swing at balls out of the strike zone.
Frankly, a no-hitter wouldn’t shock me.
Of course, having said that, Batista will now no-hit the Sox.
May 27th, 2008 at 6:59 pmDerek - for us less-informed, can you give a quick background on WPA? I’m studying but still behind the curve.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:01 pmThat is the weakest line up I have seen in years. They will probably blow Boston out, Cairo 4 for 4 with an HR, Vidro 3 RBI’s,, etc. Headlines tomorrow, “Mac pushes all the right buttons”. And it continues.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:03 pmWPA
May 27th, 2008 at 7:06 pmAnd since that leads to the question “What is Win Expectancy?” and the rest of the terms. Bonus: run expectancy (since this has come up a couple of times in the past few games, the Mariners demonstrating new and astonishing ways to beat the odds). Everything else you can probably find at Tangotiger.net
May 27th, 2008 at 7:10 pmKurt Suzuki would’ve had that. But I’d still rather have Kenji swinging the bat. (Of course Clement might give you both, who knows?)
May 27th, 2008 at 7:12 pmdunno how any of this will compare to the exciting and star-studded two-part Streets of San Francisco episodes yesterday and today — prosecutor James Shigeta interrogating nervous witness Gary Frank in court about the radical “family” he was a part of, before the jury (Darleen Carr, Tina Chen, Jan Clayton, Norman Fell, Barry Sullivan, Dick Van Patten, Joseph Wiseman, James Hong, Doris Roberts, Irene Tedrow, Paula Kelly, Jim McMullen) are taken hostage by hard-as-nails leader Patty Duke and the rest of the gang, Anthony Geary, Ron Glass & Susan Dey …. Susan Dey inadvertantly gives the cops a lead (after info from her mom Marion Ross) but not before she panics and shoots Michael Douglas ….
May 27th, 2008 at 7:13 pmReed? Reed? Bueller?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:13 pmI feel slightly better about how Manny plays left field now. Slightly.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:13 pmManny? Susan Dey would have better range than Raul in left.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:15 pmAlways wondered what Susan Dey was doing between her life on the road in that multi-colored bus as part of a family pop act and her later career as a lawyer in LA. That seems to fit as a segue.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:15 pmThe Red Sox broadcasts use a dead on looking over the pitcher’s head camera positione at Fenway. It’s weird looking from these nearly over shortstop viewpoints now.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:16 pmdiscussion last night post-game on whether Vidro gets to vest– Hasselman can’t believe he will be allowed to, Drayer not so sure..
May 27th, 2008 at 7:17 pm#18. You just want to see that circa Partridge family version of Susan Dey running in left, don’t you?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:17 pmI think that if I owned a Red Sox jersey, I’d have Ramirez’s.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:19 pmdamn these selective hitters. why can’t the Ms play a team that flails at the plate the way that they do?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:20 pmAnd given how Danny Bonaduce turned out, the distance between the Partridges and the Mansons doesn’t seem particularly great after all. Perhaps the two families were just one communal cookout away…
Dick Van Patten, though. Sheesh. There’s a psycho killer family waiting to happen.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:20 pmYou’d almost think that his willingness to take a walk rather than flail at unhittable pitches is part of why Manny is a great hitter. Almost.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:21 pmI know Hargrove was the M’s manager last year. Did he teach Batista to slow the game down like this?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:22 pmLowell seemed very hot about a week ago. Now? Ehhh. Not so much.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:23 pmMuch as I dig the long ball, I’d be totally in favor of slight adjustments to the mound or something to give pitchers a bit more edge, reduce scoring, shorten games, and make ’smallball’ and one-run strategies more viable. Especially shorten the game.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:24 pmThis is all a bad dream. The good ship Mariner gurgling into the empty sea, while Tampa Bay is in first place.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pmDice-K is tied with Fausto Carmona for giving up more walks (38) than any other pitcher in baseball (and third, behind Oliver Perez and Carmona, in BB/9). I wonder how many innings the M’s will go without drawing one.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:25 pmI have a suspicion Lowell must be very popular with ladies of a certain age. But, as I’m not one, I can’t be certain.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:26 pmtell me if i’m wrong but kenji didn’t call for an inside pitch the whole first inning. next time around bautista won’t get so lucky against ortiz and lowell
May 27th, 2008 at 7:27 pmThere have been 3 or 4 games where Matsuzaka’s control was just terrible.
What the hell was he thinking?!? 1st inning!!! Take the out!!
May 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pmIchiro is doing his damnedest to carry this team. Anybody who claims he’s given up is clearly not actually watching the games.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pmI wonder if we became the Tampa Bay Mariners, would the Seattle Rays be in first.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pmMac banking on Vidro’s ability to ground out to second and get an RBI.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:29 pmi agree with dave, playing for one run in the first inning? all the sudden mclaren trusts vidro enough to get the run in when last night he had him bunt?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:30 pmGreat call Rick L
May 27th, 2008 at 7:31 pmMac knows his player’s abilities.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:31 pmPepe!!
May 27th, 2008 at 7:32 pmUgh. I thought, for a moment, that Crisp would get that. And, seeing the replay, he could have. Damn.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:34 pmLarry Stone is handling the blog tonight, and his pregame notes and game log are off to a roaring start
hmmm. well, he is a handsome fellow …
May 27th, 2008 at 7:34 pmCan I just state for the record that it is terribly disconcerting to come here and read people talking about the Red Sox as “we.”
I turned down tickets to tonight’s game, in part because I can’t stand being in an “away” game in my home stadium (and in part for all of the reasons that we’re all so frustrated)–and for the past two nights I’ve had to figure out that neither “Tek” nor “Drew” were actually USSM pet names for Mariners players (a la Turbo or Beluga Tits or, sniff, past tense for Doyle.)
Anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest. I now have to take a moment to remember how to cheer for Raul.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:35 pmJames: Eh. On a run and dive like that, I try not to think too badly if the player can’t quite judge the angle and the ball goes over or under the ball by a smidge.
I would have prefered to see Manny back that dive up better, maybe keep Ibanez on first, instead of having to make a u-turn after Crisp missed it.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pmSure am glad the Sox paid to bring over this guy with 5 or 6 pitches so that Tek could call 2 of them. Annnnd Beltre misses the cut fastball after all the other fastballs. Okay.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pmMan, Beltre has an amazing looking swing, even when he misses…
May 27th, 2008 at 7:37 pm05/27/2008 19:32
Fast Food Vidro scores from 1st on a double.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:37 pmwhy, the M’s have just invited me to go vote Ichiro! to the All Star Game.
I see that he is actually in 2nd place at the moment, with (oh, what a surprise) the Yanks & Sox leading the AL voting.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pmWho is the better left fielder, Raul or Manny?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pmWhere is that? I don’t see it.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:38 pmVidro is lucky Crisp didn’t make that catch - there’s no way he could have gotten that much weight turned around quickly enough to make it back to first. I mean, I’m no physicist, but it seems nigh impossible to me. On another note, it’s nice to hear some people cheering for the M’s tonight instead of just the BoSox…especially, you know, since they’re in Seattle..
May 27th, 2008 at 7:39 pmIn my defense, I came back to the faith of my fathers in 2003, instead of September 2007 like some people. I have vivid memories of my father’s reaction to… events, in 1986.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:39 pmwow. kenji. no.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:39 pmpgreyy- I feel it…there’s an unholy disturbance in the force.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pmAnd I’ve been a Sox fan since 1977. I signed up here because there was interesting discussion of a lot of different things relating to the game.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pmAnd I try not to use “we” in speaking of the Red Sox. If I do, I agree that a stern reproach is merited.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:42 pm49-I saw that today. It kind of makes me sick that a few players that should at least be in contention are not even close.
1st base- Giambi in 3rd? really?
2nd base- Cano 2nd, is he hitting over .200 yet?
catcher- V-Mart is in 5th? He is getting beat by Posada who isn’t even playing!
Doesn’t look good for the integrity of the game when half the votes are coming from 2 cities.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:44 pmMLB should dominate TV on Memorial Day. Why weren’t any games on the tube during the day?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:46 pmNot that I disagree, but what’s your proposed alternative? Turn the selection process over to the same geniuses that gave Rollins the NL MVP last year? He was neither the best shortstop in his division, let alone league, nor the best player on his own team.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:46 pmWho says Manny can’t play D?
May 27th, 2008 at 7:47 pmManny seldom makes a catch that couldn’t be accomplished without carrying a martini and not spilling a drop.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:48 pmWhy did Cairo bat right handed? Anyone have any idea? Vidro batted left handed if I remember correctly.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:48 pmEh. That was a Jeter-level classic ‘get a bad jump and make a play that would look (and be) routine for a better fielder look difficult’.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:48 pmwhile carrying a martini and not spilling a drop
May 27th, 2008 at 7:49 pmCan’t argue that. The guy to his left is in at a whole diffrent level. The All-star game is for the fans, but now that it does mean something, should there be intervention? I can’t say myself.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:49 pmYeah, but it’s really sad to think that Manny can still get to that ball after making a bad read. I can just picture Raul getting a bad jump on the same ball and then dropping to a knee to play it on the hop. Ugh.
May 27th, 2008 at 7:50 pmYeah, James T has been around here for a while. He’s well-behaved, so we tolerate him. There used to be an old guy from Providence (”Pahvidence”) that hung out in my neighborhood bar and had been cheering for the Red Sox since Ted Williams (and had all the psychological trauma to prove it). He was a treat to sit beside for a baseball game.
On the other hand, Seattle seems to be full of people who have never been to the East Coast and picked up all their Red Sox gear right around, oh, 2004. Or last year. (Presumably displacing all the Yankee gear they picked up around 1996). These people are among the most obnocxious fans I’ve ever encountered. I actually left a bar last year because some loudmouth yahoo in a Red Sox hat (who I’m quite certain has gotten no closer to Boston than Harvard Avenue on Capitol Hill) had me considering starting my first bar fight since some dickwipe decided to decry Prince’s “promotion of interracial sex” in 1984. I realize these people just want to identify with a winning team because their pathetic little lives give them so little else to be proud of, and it’s unfortunate for all those long-suffering BoSox fans that they get lumped together, but seriously: right now, the bandwagon Red Sox fans are the worst fans in baseball. (And I say that having worn a visiting team hat while in the stands at Yankee stadium).
May 27th, 2008 at 7:53 pmi did enjoy the few m’s fans trying to drown out the “lets go red sox” chant
May 27th, 2008 at 7:59 pmI wore a Beckett shirt into yankee stadium in 2006 and was shocked at how tepid the response was.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:00 pmI have no problem with the all-star game being a popularity contest. But if you’re going to do that, it shouldn’t have an effect on the home team for the World Series. And if you are going to have it influence the World Series, then it should just be the top WPA (or OPS, or VORP, or whatever) players at each position, no voting / no choosing / no pity picks for bad teams.
One or the other.
As an aside: I never use “we” to refer to the M’s, even though that’s the team I cheer for. I’m not on the team, and I’m not an owner or an employee, so I don’t believe I have the right to use “we”; moreover, I don’t think it’s healthy to do so. I’m sure it doesn’t matter to most people, and it is a convenient shortcut at times, but there certainly are some people who take the identification a little to far. So as a matter of personal style, I keep it formal. They’re them, and I’m me. (On the other hand, I probably have used “we” to refer to the USSM community… I’ll leave it to others to judge whether that’s healthy or not).
May 27th, 2008 at 8:01 pmOk, Batista just blew a ‘fast’ball past David Ortiz? Anybody got a weather report for Hades?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:02 pm72
May 27th, 2008 at 8:03 pmThe temp is falling VERY quickly.
joser: I totally agree about the use of ‘we’ when referring to one’s favorite sports team.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:04 pm#72. Ehh. 95 mph pitch. Ortiz might have hit it if he’d cut down his swing to one appropriate for just a 500 foot homer.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pmWith that flyout by Lopez, Ichiro now leads the team in batting average.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pm15:
Actually, she wasn’t part of the jury in that episode, though. She played her usual recurrent role of Mike Stone’s daughter, Jeanne.
Though I’ll agree that I’m surprised Danny Bonaduce wasn’t a member of that Manson-style gang…
Come to think of it, ol’ Danny Boy might make an interesting next M’s manager. At the very least, he’d be certain to lead the majors in ejections every year.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pmI will say “we” about the M’s in 6-10 years when they (almost typed we) get back on track and actually win something. “We won the world series!” Yeah, that sounds nice, I will use that.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:06 pmAlmost two errors on one play by Casey.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:07 pmI guess that’s what the Tigers are missing.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:07 pmThere are almost as many Red Sox fans as Yankee fans in New York (heck, the NY Times is a part owner, and covers the them like they’re a third NY team). You have strength in numbers. That said, unless you were out in the bleachers you probably didn’t get the full effect.
I wore a Giants hat for a 2002 interleague game in which Bonds hit a home run (long story). Had I worn a Bonds jersey I might not have survived. There are still a bunch of true Giants and Dodgers fans in NY, but they’re mostly using walkers to get around and aren’t much help in a fight.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:07 pmHAHA!!! I would love to see Danny Bonaduce manage the M’s. That would be real entertainment. I would also like to see Mark Cuban own a MLB team.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:08 pmI want to be clear that I chose my words carefully. (Well, I could have said that the “implication that Red Sox=we.”)
I said that it was disconcerting… I’m not angry about it. I’ve lived in Seattle long enough to not get angry about that. Of course, the irony is that’s one thing that East Coasters tend to criticize us about–that if an M’s fan would go onto a Sawks board in a year where the M’s were dominant and the Sawks struggled–hey, this is a rhetorical scenario I’m picturing of course–and even if they participated politely, they’d likely get chased off with a Louis CK-esque “Go suck a bag of dicks.”
It’s hard enough this year to see MARINERS fans display their frustration by being mad when marginal players on our own team do well or express their hope that we lose enough games to force some serious organizational changes.
But to go onto a board based for supporting the M’s to see comments about how the poster wishes that Manny would have properly backed up Crisp to keep Ibanez to a single…or worse, to read a CONVERSATION between two Red Sox fans discussing what their team should or shouldn’t do…
…again, it’s disconcerting.
Nothing personal.
…but so was seeing the Portland Timbers soccer player in the stands who got all of his teammates to come to the game–where they put on Red Sox jerseys and cheered for Dice-K striking out a Mariner. I’m definitely of the LeBron shouldn’t wear a Yankees cap to an Indians home game mindset.
I’m a born & bred Packers fan…and I went to the Packers/Seahawks MNF game here in Seattle with a Seahawks fan…and I didn’t wear any GB stuff and didn’t cheer loudly while the Packers controlled the first half. I just didn’t think it was right. (And since the Packers ended up losing that game, I’m happy with my decision.)
But, whatever.
I’m not asking that anything be done–I agree, there hasn’t been any baiting going on by any of the Sawks fans participating here…and good on you Sawks fans for keeping it respectful. I was just expressing how its disconcerting.
Oh…and Raul’s up again with a chance to drive in Ichiro. For many of us here, that still has the potential of being a good thing, right?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:08 pmAnd to top it off, I want to see the Moose in a no rules cage match vs. that thing from Philly.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:09 pmHmmm…the Mariners in the World Series…
Boy, it’d be nice to jump on one of Southwest’s “getaways” to a parallel universe to see that.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:09 pmYou think 6-10 years is too optimistic?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pmFair enough, pgreyy. Thanks for everyone’s forbearance in having us here.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:11 pmAnd I should have known better than to call this a board.
I guess I’m NOT choosing my words carefully enough.
Anyway, Go M’s.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:12 pmMore than a few Mariners fans are actively hoping the M’s lose.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:14 pmLarry Stone may be onto something (not “on” something, note the difference). They just showed two girls about mid 20s with a sign saying that “Boston Ladies Love Mike Lowell”
Mid 20’s.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:14 pmI almost didn’t watch this game tonight, but I’m glad I did. It’s got me feeling pretty good about this one. Plus, we gotta help out the Rays.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:14 pmWell, not if it’s 6-10 light years, no.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:15 pmI think ichiro was mocking Crisp lol
May 27th, 2008 at 8:15 pmGOD Beltre is unlucky. He just can’t find the grass.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:17 pmI wore a Ted Williams shirt into Yankee Stadium last year during a Yanks/Angels game (just for kicks) and literally have never heard louder boos. We literally (there were two other guys with Sox shirts - I got suckered in to join them) got booed out of the stadium.
On the other hand, I wore my Ken Griffey Jr. jersey to the Bronx on Saturday and Sunday, and only had a grand total of 3 people over two days “politely inform” (yell at) me that the Mariners “are not very good this season” (suck). It’s amazing how things change when your team is awful… nobody even puts forth the effort to taunt you.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:18 pmJohjima had more twitches and little gestures there than a pga golfer with OCD.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:18 pm93 haha with that sliding catch? he would do something like that
May 27th, 2008 at 8:18 pmI keep hoping the Ms FO will shape up. USSM and LL are so good, I don’t have much choice but to hope that they get a better FO and team to talk about. My heart is very much in sympathy with Ms fans.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:18 pmI swear our announcers are in love with Manny.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pmBigB. In slight defense of the yankee fans, I’ve never liked someone wearing a shirt to the game that’s not associated with the teams in question. I’ve been at Fenway when the Sox were playing some other team and seen people with yankee shirts. It’s too much of a provocateur thing for me.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm[no]
May 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pm“I doubt he thinks ahead enough to worry about showing anyone up” - doesn’t that just make him ignorant?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:22 pmMaybe Sims & Blowers have gotten the memo that there might actually be more Sox fans watching FSN Northwest than Mariners fans at this point?
(That rings so true, it hurts a little.)
May 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pmOur new first baseman is looking like an improvement. It’s sad when F.M.C. is an improvement.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:24 pmMatsuzaka is an excellent fielder. That’s part of why that first inning decision to throw to third on the bunt was so weird. Maybe Varitek totally misjudged it and was shouting “Three! Three!”.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pmHa! Blow, blow! I get it!!
May 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pmyup, I realized after the fact that I’d lumped her into the jury– it was just so ridiculous as the faces kept popping up on screen. SOSF wasn’t a show I watched when it was on the first time …
it’s Wakefield tomorrow, right? wonder if Bedard would like to push back a day, and let Dickey pitch
May 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pmWhen the Hawks beat Favre on Monday Night in the snow, some clown wore a Steelers jersey and beanie.
He got beer dumped on him multiple times, got in three fights (full on fist fights), and then they kicked him out.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pm71 and 74: Yankee fans, particularly at nyyfans.com and LoHud Yankee blog, are particularly notorious for doing that. Not so much for Red Sox fans at the 2 RS boards I read regularly.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:26 pmpgrevy - that could be.
“Hey guys, we were looking at the tv ratings for this series against the Red Sox, and, uh, it turns out nobody’s really watching. Except for some sox fans of course. So, you know, you can go ahead and talk about them if you want. It’s probably easier to do anyway.”
Even Niehaus was in on the Manny love-fest earlier.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:28 pmSo nobody knows why Cairo wants to bat right handed against Daisuke?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:28 pm111- Mac is having him try something new.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:31 pmThey actually made a yankee fan a moderator over at Sons of Sam Horn. There are 3 or 4 yankee fans posting there who are pretty good.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:32 pmI love Manny. I would be happy to have Manny & all his idiosyncrasies on my team. I can understand admiring his hitting on the air.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:32 pmJamesT: I was at a Red Sox Yankees game at Fenway and I wore my Ms cap. I just got a coupled puzzled looks though. One guy said Mariners??? I told him I was on a business trip, from WA but man do I hate the Yankees. He gave me a hug. I guess the Ms don’t real provoke anyone.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:34 pmMSB (or anyone) - did you see the “Best of Manny Being Manny” on Baseball Tonight last week after his “high five” play? It was an incredible set of highlights.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:34 pm#110. I’m shocked. Because Manny’s usually a cheap opportunity for announcers to go into high dudgeon about him not respecting the game.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:34 pmHope there’s nothing wrong with Dice-K. Beyond, you know, giving up 3 runs in four innings to the worst team in the American League.
Watch now: the Boston bullpen will pitch a no-hitter.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:34 pmI remember reading the headline 18 months or so ago, “M’s trade for Ramirez” and being all excited. Then I found out it was some other Ramirez. Some really bad Ramirez.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pmSpokaneMsFan -
It’s like when you’re playing softball in your church league, and you’re behind 28-6. Sometimes you just want to try batting wrong-handed for the heck of it. Because you know, it doesn’t really matter.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pmSeal: So he’s just batting right all the time? I tried googling Miguel Cairo right handed, but didn’t see anything relevant, thx.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:36 pm115: I got that all the time living in Boston for 4 years in the epicenter of that Sox/Yanks rivalry. Kind of the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” factor. Besides, Seattle is arguably the 2nd most Yankee-hating city in the country behind Boston.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:36 pmAardsma looked very awkward on that throw. Sometimes it’s like pitchers don’t think the infielders throw the ball hard to the first baseman and they don’t dare try and have the poor guy catch their heat.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:37 pmMy worst fear is seeing the headline in the future “Jose Vidro Resigns” only to realize it isn’t “resign” as in retire, but “resign” as in re-sign. I can’t think of a worse sports transaction headline blunder.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pmI’d love to see a Wakefield and Dickey matchup…not sure when the last time two knuckleballers faced each other.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:40 pm“Denver school superintendent proud of Hampton testimonial”
May 27th, 2008 at 8:41 pm“Sexson gets 4 year extension. Bavasi thinks he can be comeback player of the year.”
“M’s trade Felix for Griffey”I can think of worse.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:42 pmThat would be a WTF for Lugo…
May 27th, 2008 at 8:43 pmIs that now an official stat?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:44 pmI hate that smirk.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pmFrancona doesn’t get thrown out very often. Hell, I wish he’d argue a bit more, not much, just a bit. But when was the last time a shortstop got thrown out for saying something about a check swing. Angel Hernandez needs to be a bit less sensitive.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pmWell that was fun. I still don’t get what happened. I guess I’m gonna want to watch the post game show to see what that was about.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pmFrom Red giving Vidro the hex right over his head to two ejections over a check swing, this has been a pretty entertaining inning. Nothing better than a bad umpire with rabbit ears and a hair trigger temper.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:45 pmYeah, I was thinking it would be cool to have a Dickey-Wakefield matchup. I wonder how long it’s been since both starting pitchers were knuckleballers. Of course, if things go badly Dickey might end up in the game anyway (yikes, cross fingers, and whatever).
May 27th, 2008 at 8:46 pmand as the tv side pointed out, it looked like Tito had started to walk away when Hernandez tossed one last remark at him, and that led to him saying the magic word that got him tossed.
boy, the diamond club better watch out, or some of them might get run for remarks about the umpiring
May 27th, 2008 at 8:49 pmActually, I think it would’ve been cool to see ol’ Danny take on Jose Canseco’s $5k challenge to meet him in a boxing ring in Atlantic City this summer.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:50 pmTo Scott19: re:knuckleballers facing each other.
According to Wikipedia:
…but, that’s Wikipedia.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:51 pmHaeger = Charlie Haeger
May 27th, 2008 at 8:52 pmcould you see Red? I’m mostly listening
May 27th, 2008 at 8:52 pmI think youtube still has that argument between McClelland(sp?) and Earl Weaver in which Weaver says that he’ll be going to the hall of fame and McClelland shoots back, “For what, Earl, f***ing up World Series?” Classic stuff
May 27th, 2008 at 8:52 pmI disllike Angel Hernandez as an umpire. After that smirky, smartass look he got on his face after running Lugo, I don’t think dislike is appropriate here. Its more like I disrespect him as a person.
Hernandez sucks. His strikezone sucks, his calls suck, and his professional demeanor sucks. I shudder everytime I see him on the crew announcements. Francona had every right to be pissed there.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:53 pmJoe’s Tracer on that a.b. was awesome. It looked like buck-shot scatter.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:53 pmBatista’s been very economical until now. Trouble?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:53 pm134: My first guess would’ve been back when the Niekro Brothers and Charlie Hough were all still pitching…but then, I remembered that Wakefield and Steve Sparks were both in AL at the same time a few years back, too.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:54 pmHe was crystal clear on the HD signal. Wearing some crazy blue or purple sunglasses. Pointing at Vidro (pointing down) and shaking his head, etc. It was quite amusing.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:55 pmut-oh… is this a turning point?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:55 pmDamn, there goes Yuni’s gold glove….
May 27th, 2008 at 8:55 pmthank you, Yuni.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:56 pmBetancourt…you can’t give Batista 4 outs…you just can’t
May 27th, 2008 at 8:56 pmshit.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:57 pmThis team is actually cursed. I am now convinced of it.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:57 pmboy, you could just see that coming.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:57 pmOy.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:57 pmYup. Trouble.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:57 pmAaand there it is. I’m going to bed.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:59 pmGammons says Hatteberg likely to land with the M’s. We’re saved!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pmI hate being ablr to call it like that. Sorry I ruined the surprise.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pmAnd there is goes…thank you Yuni. That is what happens when you give Batista 4 outs to work with
May 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pmAnd there is goes…thank you Yuni. That is what happens when you give Batista 4 outs to work with
May 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pmso did Yuni miss that pregame infield drill?
May 27th, 2008 at 9:01 pm-able-
Who is Jose Can-Strike-Out fighting? Some ex-nfl guy, right? What a jack ass.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:01 pmBatista threw 25 pitches in that inning, 64 in innings 1-5. He can’t find the plate, and when he does, they’re finding it too now. Hmm.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:01 pmGee, Dave, I know you’re one of the great voices of the game and all…but must you be that enthusiastic about Manny’s HR? He is, after all, uh, not playing for us. >:(
May 27th, 2008 at 9:02 pmSorry for the extra post the internet lagged out on me you can delete the extra one and this one :).
May 27th, 2008 at 9:02 pmJust like that.
And would other teams likely have plunked somebody for Manny’s pointing…or has Mannybeingmanny been accepted by all of the old schoolers?
(I’m not advocating plunking anyone–I always think that’s foolish strategy.)
May 27th, 2008 at 9:02 pmNo ownership can be pleased with this many Boston fans in the stands, instead of Mariner fans. Sure they sold tickets, but they can’t be that short sighted to not think what happens when Boston leaves town.
Pathetic.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:02 pm163, I like Sims. Plus he know thre are more Sox fans watching than M’s fans. He he he…
May 27th, 2008 at 9:03 pmThank you Adrian. A leadoff walk after an inning like that keeps the game from tipping.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:03 pmThank you. I hope he gets his ass handed to him on a silver platter. What a chump!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:04 pm166- Oh, they are that short sighted. I think they have porved it over and over and over…
May 27th, 2008 at 9:04 pmgritty, hard-nosed, character-laden hometown veteran??
check.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:04 pmAiiigh. Maybe someone SHOULD distract Manny with actual fellatio.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:05 pmprove, sorry about my sloppyness tonight.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:06 pm30 years of calling losing baseball, you take your entertainment where you get it.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:06 pmI wonder if he has braids everywhere? /shudder
Baserunning. Arrgh.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:07 pmNo, actually, I was talking about Niehaus on the radio side. He sounded as if he were calling a grand-slam by Griffey about 10 years ago on that call…yikes!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:07 pmYou know, I was going to mention this morning that we could end up with Hatteberg because he was yet another hometown guy, but I didn’t think the FO would be that stupid and obvious given the current state of the team.
Guess I was wrong.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:08 pmThis is a strange game. Kenji just stole 3rd.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:09 pmHatteburg just like Wilkerson…would have been a nice idea a decade ago.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:10 pmHatteberg would be a pointless pickup. I would rather have Richy. And I don’t use a sentance like that loosely.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:10 pmwell, that looked more like the Mariner offense.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:11 pmUnless…. Is Hatteburg viewed as some kind of super team leader? From what I hear, we don’t have one of those.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:12 pmLeaving Batista in there to loose it. Way to go Mac.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pm@Joser 12/13 - thank you much.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pmI retract 183.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:16 pm183 - I can’t believe I am about to say this, but tonight you may not blame Mac for the loss. The Innings was Yuni’s fault for giving Batista an extra out to work with. Not Macs fault, Yuni’s fault.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:17 pmThough, if he were playing 1B, I’m not sure if Hatteberg — even washed up — wouldn’t be a better option than Sexson at this point.
And, in a moment of joy that should unite us all — Mariner and Red Sox Nations alike — the final from Camden Yards: O’S 10, Yanks 9. To borrow a line from John Sterling: “YANKEES LOSE!!! THHHHHHHE YANKEES LOSE!!!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:18 pmManny Delcarmen has been terrible in high leverage outings this season. If he can get Lopez this might be his best clutch appearance this year.
Nope double. Still a chance he can blow it. Sigh. Delcarmen’s from the Boston area so he seems to get an almost complete pass from the media. Very frustrating.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:24 pmLopez just overtook the team lead in batting average with that double.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:25 pm188: Yep…gotta love those “hometown” guys, eh?
May 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pmClutch deceleration at the bag there, Turbo.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pmArg. I go out to work with the new foal here and I miss some good old fashion Manny being Manny action. Bother.
But… tie game! Gotta love a tie game. I root for Boston, but I also root for the Leverage Index.
TURBO strikes!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pmHow much of an M’s fan am I?
I believe that Ibanez could have beat that out.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pmwow, i think lopez was halfway between 3rd and home before vidro even got to the bag.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:28 pmfrom the Cincy paper today: “What they will miss is his presence in the clubhouse, his savvy and his willingness to share his experiences.”
huh, Hatteburg got all of 52 ABs this season. of course, we are all speculating about something Gammons wrote…
May 27th, 2008 at 9:29 pmSomething’s definitely not right in the universe when Jose Lopez has a higher average than Ichiro! yet in the final week of May.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:29 pmWTF Vidro, will you hustle please you p.o.s.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:29 pmThat annoy anyone else how he just jogged to first base on what could have been a hustle single?
It seemed that, reading between the lines, Hatteberg used to be a big time source for writers in Boston and elsewhere.
And here’s that Earl Weaver argument I mentioned earlier:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-4FSRYagc
May 27th, 2008 at 9:32 pmum, we are talking about Vidro here.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:32 pmWhat’s weird is that Vidro did ge all those infield hits last year. Does he not want to hit 300 again?
Maybe he knows that no matter how badly he hits, McLaren will still put him in the lineup until his option vests.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:32 pmWTF Vidro, will you hustle please you p.o.s.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:33 pmMaking his option look more and more appealing.
Lets go Morrow. >:)
May 27th, 2008 at 9:33 pmKind of a tough assignment for Rowland-Smith, but that’s the job I guess.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:34 pmEh, somebody needs to pitch to Ortiz. It’s not like anybody really wants to.
Wow. Manny, the ball only needs to go about 410 feet or so. It’s ok if you don’t get it up to escape velocity.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:38 pmHe only has one pitch, but it is fun to watch sometimes.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:39 pmPhew. Nice, Morrow. Stop trying to make us feel a bit of hope about our club.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:39 pmThat strikeout was awesome.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pmNice, I think Morrow had a shot of “Hot Damn” before he came in the game
May 27th, 2008 at 9:41 pmBTW, you guys might like this one.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:41 pmThat minor leaguer who was trying to set up the system where you could buy shares in minor league players was at a Sabr thing in Boston earlier this year. He said that one of the coaches on one of his teams had been a catcher who was in the AL while Edgar Martinez was there. This catcher told him that Edgar was absolutely impossible to deal with. The thing they came up with was to intentionally throw a breaking pitch out of the strike zone on the first pitch to try and see how he reacted to it. Did he shift his weight way to quick for that? Right on it? I guess the catcher’s theory was that he’d absolutely kill you if he was guessing right about what you’d throw and that he’d probably kill you if he just relied on reactions, see pitch hit pitch. But that you had some chance if you were going against his guesses.
When he is on what a beautiful thing to watch this kid is.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:42 pmOMG, Morrow!!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:43 pmOk guys, Morrow bailed your butts out, time to score a few runs and win this thing
May 27th, 2008 at 9:43 pmA nice bit of WPA accumulation for Morrow there.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pmI’m definitely rooting for Morrow, but there’s a morbid part of me that wishes Manny got a hold of one of those. The thing would land at midfield of Qwest.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pmCan’t wait until Morrow get slid into the rotation.
As for 1999. If Vidro had done like a tick above jog he would have beat that out. That was unacceptable.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pm[wow]
May 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pmImpressive.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:45 pmWoof!
Double Woof!
Every so often, you remember that baseball in Seattle can be a beautiful thing…even when you’re rooting for the home team.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm…and then, you wake up when you have to go back and take back a “U”.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pmHey Arizona, if you have to swap asterisks for real letters and pluralize with apostrophes, can you at least not do so in the same damn sentence? Okthx.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:50 pmu forgot to put a space between your Okthx.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:53 pmHow the hell has Varitek gone 3-6 with 2 homers off Putz? Talk about your examples of skewing by small sample size.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:55 pmI have this memory from, like, 2001, of an interview in SI with some random pitcher who’d ended up with Barry Bonds going about 1-17 off him, single, one walk, and they asked him how he did it. And he clearly had no idea. Sample size.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pmSims just said “Good to see JJ in there, getting some work.”
Yeah…
It’d be better if JJ was in there to try to get a save, though.
pg
May 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pmGod forbid they leave Morrow in for more than one inning. Wouldn’t want to build his arm strength too much.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pmSo I take this as Mac is just putting Putz in there to give him some work because he does not think any save opportunities will come up any time soon, I mean, thats just a guess.