Game 60, Angels at Mariners
DMZ · June 4, 2008 at 12:40 pm · Filed Under Mariners
1:40 early start time.
“No one in their right mind thought we’d be in this position right now — the team we had and the additions that we had, good Spring Training, the talent we had,” he said. “Nobody thought that we’d be in this position right now, but we are. Let’s face the facts — we are in this position. We’ve got to get ourselves out of it.”
Ignorance as a warm, comforting blanket of reassurance. May the rumors you’re going to be canned before the road trip come true, as some small pre-payment on a much larger purge to be completed soon enough.
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That’s McLaren, by the way. Even with the extra info at the end, I didn’t know if it was McLaren or Bavasi until I clicked-through.
Is that a Ron Fairly comment? Boy, would this season be much more comical with the 1-2 punch of Sims and Red …
I love “McLaren-ism’s”…you have to take your fun where you can find it…
“No one in their right mind thought we’d be in this position right now…”
Really? Being delusional can be such a comfort.
“…the team we had and the additions that we had, good Spring Training, the talent we had,”
Lots of past tense…apparently they were really good in spring training and then a completely different bunch of players suddenly showed up with a lower talent level…ummm, yeah…that’s it!
“We’ve got to get ourselves out of it.”
Well, that and someone has to get YOU out of it, Mac.
DMZ, do you have a phone that you can access the internet with? A live blog of the game would be pretty awesome.
I’m glad professional hitter Vidro is in as DH again. Where would this team be without his veteran leadership? Oh wait…
KJR is saying that they are batting Vidro 4th. Is this true? If so, this is truely unbelievable. Instead of coming out to take the field in the first can somebody just go to the top step of the dugout and waive a white flag……….please!
4 – USSM goes live. that would be awesome.
I’m starting to worry that Vidro’s option will indeed vest. Ugh, this team…
At least they aren’t foolish enough to bat him 3rd.
Wait…
OMG. Jeff Bridges channels Bill Bavasi.
McLaren may get canned before the next road trip? Really? I’d be shocked if he was.
hmm. the theme of the day.
this or this?
Yeah, that’s eerie.
msb
Gotta be the second one.
Yup…Vidro is batting 4th!
Suzuki
Lopez
Ibanez
Vidro
Beltre
Reed
Sexson
Johjima
Betancourt
12 – but … why … The Dude … noooo … you can’t intertwine those two … going insane [explodes]
#12:
Picture #2.
btw, here’s a plugola for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight. Unless you are a season ticket holder, don’t waste your time getting to the ballpark today and paying those AAA, err, I mean, big league prices. Especially with gas over $4 a gallon. Just watch the Penguins and Red Wings tonight on NBC or the CBC, you’ll thank me later.
unfortunately, all I can think of is Bone when I see Bavasi
Amen to that, go Pens!
I have a serious question here, as someone who watches the Dodgers closely and has an interest in what happens in Seattle: is there any indication that, if Bavasi and all his henchmen were to be fired tomorrow, that ownership has enough of a clue to figure out why Bavasi failed? In the case of the Dodgers, Frank McCourt has a fragile ego, and criticism of any kind is received in a sniveling and cowardly manner; hence the eventual firing of Paul DePodesta despite the 2004 team’s success. The local sportswriting hacks (Bill Plaschke and to a lesser degree, T.J. Simers) seem to be de facto consultants to the team, and there may be a thread that the old guard in the person of Tommy Lasorda assisted in that heave-ho. Granted, DePodesta had a weakness in the PR department, but there was no need to turn that into a fireable offense. Are there similarly pernicious pathologies in the Mariners’ front office?
I’d like to hear what thought process (if any), McLaren goes through when he formulates these line-ups. Is it in descending order of grittiness? Does he pencil in Ichiro, and put everyone else’s name in a hat? It makes no sense whatsoever.
Did anyone notice Bob Fontaine’s quote about Morrow from Baker’s blog? “Let me tell you something,” he said. “I don’t look at having to be justified. I’ve done this so long, if I have to feel everything we do is under a crystal ball and has to be justified — and I’m going to worry about it — I’m going to make a lot of mistakes.”
I’m not sure what the hell he is talking about but I wonder if McLaren and Bavasi have some sort of crystal ball that they use to make their managerial decisions. Decisions made by a crystal ball, hmmm… maybe management is pushing said crystal ball on Fontaine and he is refusing. I can totally picture Armstrong, Bavasi and McLaren in wizard costumes as the crytal ball tells them to put Vidro at cleanup and Cairo at first.
What is with Beltre being so far down in the order? Isolate the two guys who can hit in the lineup as much as possible from each other. We wouldn’t want them driving each other in.
Ah, well, it doesn’t matter that much anyway. More comedy.
Let me fix that lineup.
Suzuki, CF
Lopez, 2B
Ibanez, DH
Betancourt, SS
Beltre, 3B
Johjima, C
Balentien, RF
Reed, LF
Sexson, 1B
I did this without looking up any numbers so it might need some tweaking.
You might balk at Yuni at #4, but BP has shown that the “power” slots are 3 and 5, not 4. Everywhere else, you should follow OBP.
Our team OBP sucks.
OMG. Jeff Bridges channels Bill Bavasi.
You know, I was going to quip that Jeff Bridges was the Computer That Wore Tennis Shoes and Bill Bavasi was the opposite. Then I realized it was actually Kurt RusselL.
(This totally spurious trip back to obscure late-1960s Disney movies brought to you by the random firings of brain cells slowly dying from the alcohol necessary to survive watching this team).
What? Where is this rumor circulating?
Background, please…
Only the rumor that Griffey is more lucrative now that he has ‘general body soreness’
#27:
It was mentioned over on this blog post. But I don’t know if that was a joke or something I hadn’t heard yet.
So anyone who might have predicted this team could faceplant was crazy? Despite the fact that circumstances proved that person correct?
This then is McLaren’s logic, if your analysis is proven false, you were obviously thinking clearly. But if your analysis is correct, your thinking was faulty/
If those are the perceptions ruling Royal Brougham it’s not surprising the team is in last place.
Heres my lineup for tonight.
Ichi,CF
Lopez,2B
Beltre,3B
Ibanez,DH
Betancourt,SS
Johjima,C
Balentien,RF
Reed,LF
Silva,P
-Richie doesn’t bat, in hopes that Silva gets mad at the plate after getting shelled in the first and eats Willits. This is the only way to a win tonight. Promise. Go M’s!?
Mac thought we were playing well in Spring Training?
I went to Peoria. I sat through a few games. We didn’t win any.
Our vaunted “killer starting pitching line-up” (including Bedard) threw something akin to batting practice up there. Our fielding was an absolute nightmare (and the irony was that the one player who looked awesome in the field was, of all people, Wilkerson.)
We did TIE one game. That was the lone bright spot.
From what I saw in spring training, I predicted EXACTLY how this team would perform–but all of my supposedly more knowledgeable about baseball friends assured me that the addition of Bedard and their having built upon what they did last year would mean that they’d at least make the playoffs, if not the World Series. They’d have to–as that’s what all of the analysts were chiming in with…
…but believe me, anyone who saw this team in Spring Training did not come away with any false positive impressions.
And to the Dodger fan who wonders why Bavasi is failing here…I think it comes down to the simple fact that they’re really bad at evaluating talent…that they value the wrong things and don’t know what they should value.
(And this comes from someone who sheepishly admits that he cheers for Raul to get more U’s–because whatever fondness I have as a silly fan who believed the marketing when I was told that I “gotta love these guys” should have little to no bearing on whether or not the people hired to put out a winning team should keep putting him out there in LF day after day…unless you have no one better to replace him with out there…and if so, then you’ve failed at your job.)
29 – which blog post?
Typical Willits at-bat to start the game. Fifty billion pitches, walk.
well, that doesn’t usually mean anything– they had a losing ST record in 2001. however if all the games had the kind of bad play you saw …
jro
I don’t know if this is where it started or not, but they talked about it on KJR earlier today. If I heard it right, they were saying that if we just get smoked today that they “should” get rid of McLaren, possibly before they go to Boston.
Other than that, I haven’t heard anything other than McLaren is doing “a great job” so I doubt there’s much to the “rumor”. I think it was just somebody venting on the radio.
I suppose they were playing well in spring training when compared to how well they’re playing now. I think they finished only a few games south of .500, now there is something to strive for!
#34
If Silva threw that many pitches in the first at bat does that mean that Dickey is already in for relief?
Well so far Silva has loaded the bases here in the first with no one out…but on a brighter note I heard on KJR this morning that Dickey said he could go another 4 or 5 inning today!!
Crazyray – thanks for the heads up. I was looking for something — anything — that might have the M’s name attached to it or maybe commented upon. Total wishful thinking, and I was unable to hide my glee.
Only 3.6 more years to go.
Wow. Silva is sucking already? Welp . . . back to work.
Oops I meant, Silva eats Weaver. Not Willits.
Forget it, this is just silly. Silva is up to his old tricks again.
#38 – should be
The only thing I’m using for relief these days is my right hand. This is flat out terrible. At least I hoped we would get swept aside so some changes would be made.
COMEBACK WATCH
An occasional and snarky comparison of the 2008 Mariners position in the standings to other notable baseball comebacks
After 59 games:
2008 Mariners: 21-38, 14.5 games out
2006 Twins: 26-33, 11.5 games out
2005 Astros: 24-35, 14.5 games out
1995 Mariners: 30-29, 4 games out
1951 Giants: 32-26, 5 games out
1914 “Miracle” Braves: 25-34, 11 games out
sigh.
That as fast as you can charge a ball, Raul? Get off the field, for chrissake.
Who’s the long relief guy today?
Dickey. Its all Dickey from here on out.
45 – I like the sound of the ‘Miracle Mariners’ … or the … ‘Disaster Mariners’
same thing to Bavasi I guess … or should we start calling him Obadiah Stane
genius msb
If you gave a room full of chimpanzees with typewriters an infinite amount of time, they may eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare, but I’m pretty sure they’d never type a $48 million contract for Carlos Silva.
Guys.. you guys can all talk crap about Vidro and the slumping hitters. And I completely agree with you. But the real problem is the lack of decent starting pitching. The Mariners only have a chance to win every 5 days, because Felix is the only guy that doesnt put the team in a 5-0 or 6-0 hole after the first inning. This season is getting worse — and I didnt think that was possible.
#10
OMG is right! Don’t tell me Bridges is making a movie of the career of Bill Bavasi! That’d be the ultimate in “B” cult movies…
Or maybe #18, they’re making a movie of Jay Buhner’s career…now I might rent THAT one!
Comeback?? Are we joking here? Lets worry about getting through the first inning without being down by 3+ runs, before we worry about coming back from 13 games down or whatever (I lost count in April).
The starting pitchers are a joke ….. I sympathize with everyone watching the game live at Safe ….
It is a shame Dickey and Feliz cant pitch every other game and alternate, with Morrow closing. Then maybe we would win a few…
No way. Our SP is bad, I grant you that. But the real problem here is the team’s offense sucks. Even when Washburn gives up 4 runs in 4 innings, we should have a chance to win because every once in awhile se should be able to score 5 runs in a game. Or win a high scoring game.
Things are pretty bad when, listening to KJR earlier today, none of the call-in suggestions for righting the Mariner ship really sounded off the wall. In fact they made a lot more sense than this past 2+ months of the season…
well at least since DMZ is at the game we will have some cannon fodder for later
Amazing we’re talking about McLaren when Bavasi put this pile of $#&* together. When are they going to figure out they have easily the worst GM in baseball. In fact, if you put together his body of work on trades – he MAY be one of the worst GM’s in history.
If a $117M payroll loses 100 games – isn’t that proof enough? They evaluate GM talent the same way the GM evaluates player talent.
Lopey!
That’s right Rauuuuuuul, you don’t have the wheels to try to stretch that into a double….
Lopez must hate someone out in that bullpen! He keeps rocketing balls out there!
Flowin
Hey, there was that game against Boston where Bedard pitched like an All Star and then there was………..hmmm………shit.
They just said that the M’s will be spending their off day in Boston tomorrow.
I thought it was unusual for teams to go a day early on a road trip–that’s what Blowers (I think) had said earlier in the year…but I think they’ve gone out a day early for EVERY road trip that’s had an available off day.
It seems like it, anyway.
I don’t know if that means anything–it’s not like these guys can get homesick for a town that most of them don’t actually live in…but I just found it weird that Blowers had said something and then the truth is exactly opposite of what he said…
…oh, wait.
I dunno why anyone every throws Beltre something that’s not a slider.
me, I’m still waiting for that Veeck as in Wreck screenplay to get made.
I doubt it’s that unusual to leave “early” and have your off day on the road, it gives you more time to recover from the travel and jetlag.
Yeah… but Vidro wasnt good last year either. Neither was Sexson. Or Ibanez. But the SP was OK, and the bullpen was great, so we won a lot.
We need to start re-building right now. This season is over. I want to see the young guys playing.
#56, answering #51:
Our starting pitching is bad because most of the pitchers are worse-than-replacement-level to begin with, but they’re made even worse than that because of the erratic defense behind them.
And the erratic defenders are probably taking every mental funk with them to the plate because they also fail erratically at a lot of the possible ball/strike scenarios, including the most important, RBIs with runners in scoring position (which is rare enough as it is).
This isn’t a team. It’s a bunch of disgruntled finger pointers looking out for #1.
And that, of course, includes the head honcho finger pointers in the front office. Ptoo!
I was at the game last Friday when Silva pitched. After the first inning, I considered looking at the small print on the ticket to see if there was some kind of money back guarantee. Maybe something like “In the event that the game is effectively over in the first inning thanks to our $48 million pitcher, please visit the ticket window for a full refund.”
I guess today is slightly better, but seriously, Silva is awful. Actually, let’s be honest, 3/5 of our rotations is truly awful.
the quote by Mac reminds me of the Ned Yost quote someone posted in another thread…
“I know we’re a better team than our record shows, and I know the guys in our clubhouse feel the same way. The frustrating part for us is that we’ve been going about our business the right way, playing the game like it’s supposed to be played but we just haven’t always gotten the results.”
Umm… I count 4/5 of our rotation. Bedard has an ERA over 4 (maybe 5 after last night… not sure). For Adam Jones, Sherill, and others, it is definitely not worth it. Granted, Bedard has been good at times (like against the Red Sox), but I dont think anyone can say that he has lived up to his expectation.
What I think, is that there should be some small print on a trade contract that says “In the event the pitcher sucks, and you just gave away your future left fielder for a mediocre pitcher pitching on the worst team in baseball, you can just say “tradeback”.”
Now that would be nice..
The Veeck movie idea is a great one….
some Bill Veeck innovations:
- Names on uniforms
- First black AL player – Larry Doby
- Funny mascots (Max Patkin)
- Fireworks after homeruns
- Ivy on Wrigley Field walls
- Harry Carey singing “TMOTTBG” in the 7th inning
- Using a “little person” to bat intending to draw a walk – which he did
- Players wearing shorts
- Disco demolition
- Carved an ashtray into his wooden leg
So, let’s say the obvious moves are made:
— McLaren fired
— Vidro, Sexson, Cairo, Burke (?) released
— Clement recalled, platoons at catcher
— Ibanez pulled from LF, installed as DH against righties
— Washburn made long man in the pen; Dickey gets extended trial in the rotation
That leaves two and maybe three open roster spots. I don’t see much of value in Tacoma to fill them. Who do you pluck off the waiver wire or rescue from another organization?
Six outs in a row! Silva’s turned a corner!
Man. J Lo, meanwhile, is on frickin’ fire.
well, there is always that Rosenthal-proposed “new situation” straight swap of Sexson for Delgado …
B.O.D.?
Alright everybody, it’s time for White Castle to have an AB, sliders for everyone!
Bill James has written a lot on some of Charlie Finley’s innovations:
— Mechanical rabbit delivering balls to umpire
— Colored baseballs
— Alarm clock that goes off if a pitcher takes too long between pitches
— Picnic areas in the outfield
— Rock bands at the stadium (there’s probably a good book to be written someday about how Finley threw nearly his entire fortune at The Beatles — after their itinerary was set — to get them to play one night in Kansas City after a game in 1964)
— Cheesy giveaways linked to player milestones (300 gold coins given away when Rocky Colavito hit his 300th home run, etc.)
— “Poison Pen Awards” given to disfavored sportswriters
— Women on the radio and in the PA booth
Sorry, I omitted the useless AB for Turbo before White Castle Beltre. Just me being hopeful I guess.
Man, I can believe George Sherrill has 19 saves. He could easily knock off Bobby Thigpen’s single-season record of 57.
Wo here thinks Chase Utley will hit 60 HRs this season? Not me.
Quality AB there from Jose Vidro.
Using the FO’s favored pitching statistics:
2007 – HoRam + Weaver 15-20 6.59 ERA
2008 – Silva + Washburn + Batista 8-18 6.14 ERA
Do you think even they (the FO) realize there’s a problem here? Oh, that’s right, nobody in their right mind thought we’d be in this position…
Lets go Reed…
whoops.
Frickin a, Beltre. That pitch was over your head. Arghh!!!
argh.
or argh.
One change that could be made that is just simply a line-up change would be batting Lopez 4th and Vidro batting left out! I mean Lopez really isn’t a true clean up guy, but he’s the best hitter on the M’s right now especially with runners in scoring position. Isn’t that the sort of production you want out of your 3 and 4 hitters!?
Napoli hr…..You heard it here folks.
I know I’m late to the party, but is Turbo seriously batting cleanup?
Honestly?
Where’s Dickey?
I think he’s batting cleanup dishonestly.
So, any bets on who is not on the team plane when it gets to Boston?
Sexson, career stats vs. Weaver: 0 for 11, 5 Ks.
He sits against Todd Jones as a PH, but goes full-time against Santana and Weaver. Because Mac wants him to have a fresh start, in order to maximize his possibility for success.
Hey, a basehit!
Jeff Nye
Yes, can you believe that crap? The Angels had to be laughing their asses off when they saw that.
The only big purge I can think of from the Mariner past that’s equivalent to what needs to happen here is in 1983, when, en route to a 60-102 season, the M’s, in one fell swoop in early June, dealt Julio Cruz to Chicago for Tony Bernazard (basically a wash) and released shortstop Todd Cruz and Gaylord Perry. Harold Reynolds got a shot at 2B late in the season.
The Spike Owen Era began in earnest (he led off the rest of the way and hit .196 with a .250 OBP).
Manny Castillo was replaced at 3B with the .223-hitting Jamie Allen (spelled occasionally by current Yakima Mayor Dave Edler) before Darnell Coles got a late-season shot.
Ken Phelps got his first extended shot at DH over the faltering Richie Zisk.
The big midseason free-talent pickup was Ron Roenicke, just released by the Dodgers. He hit .253 with little power but played decent defense and had a .362 OBP.
Bob Stoddard and Bryan Clark got extended trials in the starting rotation. They were the Cha Seung Baeks of their time.
At this point, batting dishonestly may be the only way to get some of these guys going.
97
A good team?
Zing!
I’m just continually flabbergasted by the Bizarro World that the Mariners seem to operate in, where there’s actually a thought process that decides it’s okay to bat Turbo in the cleanup spot.
I’m wondering if maybe McLaren realizes he’s on the way out, and he’s just messing with us all.
Tomorrow: Willie Bloomquist, Starting Pitcher.
Billy B- So, man, we need a new pitcher, man. Someone who isn’t like, a carpet peer, man.
Chuck A- I am the walrus?
Howard L- Lenin, Donny! V.I. Lenin!
Billy B- So, man, I hear Carlos Silva never, like, tinkled on a rug man.
Howard L- I did not watch my buddies die facedown in the muck so I could watch a nihilist carpet-peer pitch for my Mariners!
Chuck A- What?
Billy B- Alright, man, so like 4 years for Silva, man. And another white Russian.
Is it just me, or does Ichiro’s offense look like he has lost the will to live?
I can see it coming on Friday:
Keys to the Game:
Boston – Show up
I don’t really care who they get – but it’s ridiculous when last night I spent $34 to see the likes of Vidro, Sexson, Burke and Cairo. If I was closer to Tacoma, I’d rather go there to see better talent.
tchaw. Richie was a Bucco
Jose IS the B.O.D.
Where would we be without Lopez????
Oh yeah, last place…..
OMG Sexson scored a run! Way to go Lopez!
OH! That’s what you meant by B.O.D. I thought maybe it was a song by the actual J Lo.
J LO!!!
Wow… if it werent for Lopez, we would never win a game. The man is a beast out there.
Shame he couldnt hit like this last year, we really could have used him down the stretch in Sept.
wouldn’t it be nice if the next batter after a RBI actually took some pitches? I know they are desperate for offense at this point, but, c’mon, as Ron Fairly would ask –
who’s in trouble here?
No U’s for you, Ral.
It’s now 5-4, Angels. Time to bring in Dickey, right?
It worked last night. Well, I mean, we lost but…we lost 5-4.
And that has to be seen as some sort of improvement than losing in much more horrible ways. It proves that the M’s approach is working, that we’re coming around…that our chosen players and our chosen staff are putting things together and soon…who knows when or why…it’ll all fall into place and we’ll start winning all of these games we thought we’d have won when we started this year.
(Sorry, I seemed to have channeled the M’s FO there.)
heh. all I know from the real JLo is supermarket headlines…
My favorite Ron Fairly quote ever:
Airtight analysis.
Vidro has impressive warning track power…at a little league field
I don’t understand the mindset that settles on Richie Sexson as “the problem.” Certainly he’s part of the problem, but he’s doing okay against lefties and on the road. I don’t think releasing Richie does us any good because they got rid of all of our alternatives but Clement. Maybe a platoon?
I don’t understand how anybody thinks putting Cairo at 1B is an answer to any question regarding good baseball ideas. He would count himself fortunate to hit what Richie is hitting while people are calling for his release.
I wonder if the radio spot where Dave N. is talking about how the M’s might have the best rotation they’ve ever had is still running.
We have the second worst ERA in the AL (to Texas) despite playing in the best pitcher’s park.
I don’t know if anybody would have predicted we’d have the worst record in the league, but many predicted we wouldn’t be good. It wasn’t that hard to figure out.
7 pitch inning. Way to make Weaver work for his outs. I mean, you have had him on the ropes in the last few innings. You know the Angels have one of the best bullpens in the Majors, and that you only have a few more innings in which you can score.
Why not take a few pitches?
It’s not ideal, but after the first inning, I’ll take 6 innings from Silva, at least we’re kind of in this ballgame.
W121-why not take a few pitches?
Because nobody is steering this ship, and it’s sinking. I agree with you, there’s not a lot of common sense or simple baseball knowledge being used.
Not game-related, but as I prepare for the draft tomorrow I looked at recent drafts. Does it make anybody else throw up in their mouth a little when they recall that we took Michael Garciaparra two spots before the Mets took David Wright back in the ‘01 draft? Good times.
No kidding. If he’s gotten chased early, we’d have had to DFA Dickey or RRS to make room for a new long-guy for this weekend.
Oooooof.
Fail.
Yep…with the 3-for-3 guy on deck, let’s underestimate the Angels’ fielding abilities and send Yuni home — to make the third out on the basepaths.
oh, Yuni.
you know you are not doing right when you get chided by Drayer.
Scrappy baserunning there, Yuni.
Gunned down with two outs and your team’s hottest hitter coming up.
If only Yuni could get an injection of some veteran grit–then he’d know his limitations and have stopped at second.
Both teams were swinging like they had a plane to catch. The Angles do, and they know they can win anytime they want, I guess. Either that or they want to be sure that Silva gets deep enough into the game that Dickey doesn’t come in
Yuni takes one in the nose at home plate with Lopez on deck! Geeeezzzzz…
Perlozzo sent him. Yuni’s just doing what he was told.
Here’s a question–who is the best third base coach in baseball?
And why can’t we hire that guy?
I bet that would have increased our win total last year by 3 or 4 games.
Funny – NPR just announced that the M’s lost again, 5-4. Jumping the gun a bit, but maybe they figured it was safe.
Swungon, you said it beautifully. There should be a FAIL picture for each game the M’s have lost. I know it will be hard to find just one moment that sums up every horrible game but I think it’s possible.
@ Max Power:
Probably referring to last night’s game? They lost 5-4 last night.
Big time. I hated that pick the moment it was made. There is no golden DNA in the Garciaparra family . . . well, not until Mia grunts out a few kids.
Great, even our 3rd base coach is turning on us. Probably didn’t want Yuni clogging up the bases.
C’mon Beltre, C’mon Beltre, C’mon Beltre, C’mon Beltre, C’mon Beltre…
How close was that?
Holy crap, Silva pitched 8 innings!
Just when we really needed Sexson to strike out.
I thought she had. Twins?
Was picking a Garciaparra the draft equivalent of picking a veteran?
How sad is the Safeco crowd that they roar with excitement any time a Mariner makes contact? Richie’s groundball gets a roar, and Joh’s fly ball the screams of a home run. If only….
Big Richie!
Goodness gracious
Dickey has told Morrow about THE POWER OF THE BEARD!!!
Sexson…….
146 – Does that mean Morrow will come out firing 68mph pitches instead of 100, some power boost
The Mariners need a “spark” according to Sims. The “spark” needs to light the front office on fire.
Isn’t Dickey the a-hole brother from Field of Dreams? I think he also played the electric violin in Revenge of the Nerds, but that was P.B. (Pre-Beard):
http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/danielfe/WindowsLiveWriter/MicrosoftBloggerstheMovie_FDBA/dweller_actor2.jpg
So, I’m looking at our pitching staff on sportsline’s Gamecenter. We are carrying 12 pitchers. Why we carry a 12 man staff in June is beyond me. Our bullpen had the following IPs:
Green 30.1
RRS 25.1
Lowe 23.1
Dickey 22.1
Putz 17.2
Morrow 15.0
Rhodes 10.0
Morrow, for all his “looking good” is not pitching. He’s on pace for about 40 IPs this year. Send him down to work into the rotation at Tacoma already. He is simply wasting time right now.
Rhodes is firmly ensconced in the LOOGY role (averaging 2.6 batters faced per appearance). Assuming a 60-win team even needs a LOOGY, is a 38 year old LOOGY part of a rebuilding plan?
Hey, Dave said Napoli is not a threat.
I CAN”T BELEIVE WHAT I JUST SAW!
Raul, so graceful.
Wow, I didn’t think he was going to be anywhere close.
I’m sorry. Maybe a faster-of-foot outfielder wouldn’t have made that dramatic, but as long as they insist on running Raul out there…I’ll give him a couple of U’s for the effort in that last play.
Now, how about some runs?
Okay, Sexson is not doing well. I’m not saying that he is.
But I read over some guy’s shoulder today that one of the local papers was saying he needs to be released.
So the guy with an OPS of .682 needs to be released, but the DH with an OPS of .613 is batting cleanup? After Richie sat for 5-6 days behind a guy with an OPS of .507? And the guy with an OPS of .566 just got signed to a 3-year extension?
What kind of logic is this?
Crap. There’s another couple months for Raul in LF. Wait, he’ll be out there all season anyway.
So, how many batters have we gone through since putting the ball in play against K-rod? 4, 5, 6?
Did Raul really just catch that?
Marinerlogic. My, oh, my.
Y’know, the more I think about it, the more I realize Dave Niehaus is a genius. His signature phrase works perfectly well for an exciting team winning 116 games, or a dismal train-wreck of a club skidding to 100 losses.
Nope. No runs.
I don’t understand the mindset that settles on Richie Sexson as “the problem.”
…
I don’t understand how anybody thinks putting Cairo at 1B is an answer to any question regarding good baseball ideas.
I don’t understand why anybody is still mentally rearranging deck chairs on this particular titanic. I mean, it’s not like the chairs are even dry anymore; the ship is already deep in the mud on the bottom of the sea.
Unless you can trade guys for something that will help in ‘09, it really doesn’t matter. But hey, maybe they can swap Sexson to the Brewers for Bill Hall. One sub-Mendoza slugger who gets booed at home for another.
Can’t we grab Prince Fielder? Ichiro can hook him up with some tofu…
So . . . the Mariners have a 12-3 record in their last 15 games and the 45 games before that weren’t so great either. Firings and all of that other ugly stuff typically happens at the front end of a road trip. Is this the week serious changes are made or will we have to wait until the 19th? Or, dare I say, October?
I’d rather send the Brewers YuBet for Matt LaPorta.
12-3 for their last fifteen?
EXTENSION TIME!
I imagine that the Angels are sitting there now, saying “wow, that was the worst series we’ve played all year, and we swept them in Seattle.”
what did we do today? out hit them 12 to 8 or something? to lose again 5-4.
sad.
I knew something looked wrong when I hit the submit button. In addition to aggravated and cynical, the Mariners have now made me dyslexic. Sweet.
Well, I don’t understand it either. The M’s pregame has got to be the most annoying radio ever. It seems like every time I turn it on, they are talking about fixing things by rearranging the batting order. Like moving Vidro from 6th to 4th makes him better. Ugh.
ooh, yay!
KOMO has to hold off on the postgame remarks by Mac, as they have to try to edit for family listening
Heee heee.
Brad Adam handled the punt very smoothly on-air, but FSN tried to carry Mac’s post-game speech live…only to cut very quickly once the number of “pissed off”s were likely to push the daytime audience’s tolerance level…
“Looks like we’ll have to get to that later and add some bleeps”–Brad Adam.
So… how long until Dickey is in the rotation?
Wow, FSN just went to Mac’s post-game press conference, then instantly cut away, realizing they’re going to have to bleep out what looks to be a pretty good rant.
I just heard ‘I’m pissed off, the players are pissed off…’
Dave may deserver the HoF for his broadcasting career, calling this team this year should qualify him for a sainthood though…
Why, exactly, is Mac mad *now* but hasn’t been since, well, up until now?
Wow, Matt Thompson…talk about being TWO MINUTES LATE.
(At least msb and I posted our similar info at the exact same time…
)
God I hope those are the last words I hear Mac speak as manager of this team.
Regarding Dickey going into the line-up.
You’d put your trust in a disgruntled Washburn to be the long relief guy for when Silva (or Bedard or Batista) digs himself too deep to get out of himself?
I’m of the mindset that we make the rotation: Felix, Dickey, Dickey, Dickey.
Yeah, that wouldn’t really work because Felix would probably get too tired.
(Semi-serious question: If the M’s end up bringing Freddy back…is that good or bad for Felix?)
oh, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day, radio feed:
“McLaren’s post-game comments, even though we can’t let you hear them, are brought to you by BECU. the Employee owners of…”
Maybe if he yells loud enough, Mac won’t hear the words “You’re fired.”
pgreyy-yeah, but I’m tapping these out on a Blackberry. Not conducive to high-speed touchtyping.
Oh, Matt, as a CrackBerryist myself, I feel ya…
I was just being silly about how foolish is the urge to be FIRST.
I couldn’t be mad at you. We’re all brothers in Mariner misery.
Our DH has an OPS of .599. How is that possible? Most teams would be looking for a solution if that production was coming from shortstop. It’s coming from the D-EFFING-H.
One of our first basemen has an OPS of .677, and he’s being subbed out on occasion with our other 1B who has an OPS of .507. FIVE OH SEVEN. That’s … that’s … that’s ….
FIVE OH SEVEN.
What in the name of Ned makes that happen?
on the walk home, I switched over to KJR to hear if they had Mac’s rant up yet (KOMO was still editing) and Furness was teasing the postgame show …. by once again ranting about Bedard and the media.
huh?
it is rapidly assuming obsessive proportions.
Here’s a link to the censored version…
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/06/mclarens_postgame_statement_ce.html
God I hope those are the last words I hear Mac speak as manager of this team.
Well, it is the perfect setup:
SEATTLE (June 5) - Saying his "family-unfriendly comments" were the last straw, the Mariners fired John McLaren today, one day after he began an after-game press conference with a obscenity-laden rant, the beginning of which was carried live on TV and radio. Citing "other issues with the performance of the team," General Manager Bill Bavasi made the announcement as the team departed to begin a weekend series in Boston...