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Game 85, Tigers at Mariners
DMZ · July 3, 2008 at 6:51 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Verlander v Silva, 7:10.
Surprisingly, Cairo is not rewarded with additional playing time.
Vidro bats 4th despite being one the worst hitters in baseball. Anyone who can offer a cogent and reasonable explanation of why will receive one of my PNG beers.
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Oh, man, I so want a PNG beer. But there is no way I could put together anything like a reasonable explanation for Vidro hitting fourth.
I guess that is why I never had a career in publicity or communications or journalism…
This must be what Dilbert feels like all the time.
According to the pregame show, Vidro is hitting .563 with 2 doubles against Verlander (Warning - small sample size may apply).
Riggleman interviewed on why the Mariners are doing better since he took over.
He said it was coincidence, and that they always had good players, and that he was proud of the way they played against the Jays.
In other words, it was a typical manager interview. But I was glad that he lead off with coincidence. He didn’t use the phrase “regression to the mean” (and maybe has never heard that phrase) but I got the impression that is what he was saying.
Wasn’t there a post about this a short while back?
I want a PNG beer so here goes:
This is the American League. The DH is a position where players who can no longer play the field, but can still hit are placed. DHs are proven run producers. That’s why Jose Pepe Vidro is batting fourth tonight. He is the DH and thus a proven run producer. And proven run producers always bat fourth for maximum RBI opportunities. Thus Vidro = DH = Four hole.
OK, I just typed that, and even I don’t believe it.
He’s just trying to help the team — look i’ll explain
Vidro plays, goes 0-4 with 2 GIDP and 2 long flyouts
on each of these plays he runs hard to first base
after the game, since he played so hard, he is very hungry
and he eats the majority of the food in the post game clubhouse
this prevents the rest of the team from gaining weight.
he’s gritty like that. without vidro, ichiro wouldn’t be as good and felix wouldnt be as dominant.
Yuni must beat him into the clubhouse.
Vidro v. Justin Verlander:
.583/.588/.688.
OPS = 1.276.
Wild game in Baltimore tonight. The fangraph has big swing from one side to the other and back again.
fangraph Orioles Royals
Adam Jones 2 for 4 with a triple and a .234 WPA in a losing cause.
For the Royals, Jose Guillen went 2 for 4 and a .246 WPA.
As much as I’d like to go with all the fun and creative explanations given above, the answer is much more simple (and also quite unfortunate).
The Mariners as an Organization have still not figured out that
a.) Jose Vidro is not a good hitter
b.) Employing such a suckfest in the middle of the lineup isnt good for things like “scoring runs” or “winning ball games”.
PNG beer me.
I’d agree with you, but I refuse to believe that the FO is that ignorant.
That is indeed pretty crazy stuff. Check out the WE graph from the D-Backs/Brewers game, as well. Fangraphs is awesome.
Haven’t we already seen Silva get creamed by the Tigers? Why yes, we have, twice in fact. Seven runs each time.
Nothing like a lead off walk to start the game.
Anyone who can offer a cogent and reasonable explanation of why will receive one of my PNG beers.
Because the M’s are 17.5 back and nobody cares anymore. Oh but he is a clubhouse presence.
Hey, we could make Seven-and-Seven’s the official refreshing beverage for tonight’s game!
> Vidro bats 4th despite being one the worst hitters in baseball. Anyone who can offer a cogent and reasonable explanation of why will receive one of my PNG beers.
Taking a cue from Washburn, Silva has declared Vidro his “Personal DH”.
This further demonstrates why Ichiro’s a major problem for this team. Scoring just to increase his own run total, rather than staying on third and putting pressure on the pitcher. What a jerk.
So, will that be the M’s M.O. for the rest of the year and next season? “We are the victims of coincidence”? It wouldn’t surprise me…
Are the M’s announcers the only ones who pronounce Justin’s name “Ver-LAN-der” instead of “VER-lan-der”?
Oh look, a rally… not if Vidro can do anything about it…
But if he didn’t score he would just be “clogging up the bases”
and a first inning with three flyball outs from your groundball pitcher.
could be a long night.
19 - I think Niehaus is the only one that pronounces it like that. Rizzs says VER-lan-der.
22: Blow says Ver-LAN-der also. Maybe it’s contagious.
Maybe bad broadcasting is contagious…
Oops…messed up my tags there, but Silva’s suck pitches will still become quite evident.
That was quite the rally.
but, but, they were just telling me that Richie is on a roll now, what with the homerun and all.
Great, Vidro just suffered from regression to the mean….
Wait, his mean his criminally suckwad, so it doesn’t really matter.
PLEASE RELEASE HIM!!!!! My nightly prayer to the MLB gods.
19: my biggest fear right now is that the M’s go on a tear and win 24 of the next 30 games… leaving the FO to think that the team is fixed and bring Pelekoudas on full time instead of going after one of the blogosphere frequently mentioned candidates…
Girls night out?
Gah, Richie almost makes one long for the days when Gorman Thomas and Dave Kingman roamed the earth.
Wow.
At one point in the 9th, the DBacks had only a 0.6% chance of winning.
Then in the bottom of the 9th, they had 7 straight batters reach base and they won with no outs.
We don’t need no stinking outs.
Reed!!!
30… I’m thinking of a way to propose what would be provided on “Men’s Night Out” without being banned.
I’m trying to think of a joke regarding the waxing of a Mariner, but I can’t think of one…
I don’t understand it myself.
on a girls night out, you’d want to go and watch the game, not get MaryKayed.
As Angie just put it, you don’t go to a ballgame to get anything waxed.
“the outfielders better be on their toes” Dave N referring to Silva’s pitching
According to MLB Gameday, Silva threw 12 straight fastballs in that 2nd inning. For the game he has thrown 25 fastballs, one change-up, and one slider. Guess it’s working better than Verlander though.
Girls night out.
Good seats, scorecards, free tchotckes & some cheap beer.
Outfielders, Diving for Dollars…
Either that or Silva brought his mirrors out to the mound with him.
I give up. I’ve been trying to think of any reason at all for Vidro to be batting 4th. You can’t even force it alphabetically.
Pudge better watch out, he’d be an hors d’œuvre for Silva.
Strasburg
27… Don’t forget about Sexson’s steal the other day.
Just out of curiosity, is it CLEM-ent or Clem-ENT?
The Orioles are looking to trade for David Eckstein from the Jays. Surely we can offer them Bloomquist or Cairo instead?
44 - I was just about to ask you the same question!
has JV already been brought up as a nickname for our pudgy, lovable, professional, 300 OPS, psuedo DH?
All those fastballs havent been staight up fastballs like half of them have been sinkers gameday just cant tell the difference.
Jeff CLEM-ent, Matt Clem-ENT
nobody out-scrappys Eckstein.
It’s CLEM-ent. Like Roger Clemens, not Matt Clement.
For the love of God, Montressor, do not give rally fries to any of the women you’ve shown begging for them so far tonight.
Lopez should buy a lottery ticket on the way home.
Vidro! Check swing base hit! He just kills Verlander!
Yay - another round of Turbo-nator….. And that had to be the weakest RBI single I have ever seen. But it worked. Ugh. It worked.
Did the catcher forget there was no force play there?
What happened on that play on gameday it shows that vidro got an infield single but i cant even see that happening.
Speedy Reedy
Vidro looks at Verlander and cries “nemo me impune lacessit!”
I wonder when some dying kid will “make a wish” to get rally fries one night.
For Richie Sexson, leaving runners on base is a repeatable skill.
Tall Vidro is trying to wrest the title of Rally Killer from Pudgy Vidro.
59: For those of us who had to cheat to pass Latin . . . ?
have the mariners signed josh fields yet
…We salute you!
speaking of making wishes, ESPN had a three-hankie My Wish segment with a young man visiting with the Indians
Big strikeout for Silva… Clete Thomas.
Even bigger strikeout for Silva… Michael Hollimon.
I always understood it to be essentially “No one attacks me unpunished”
Derek, do you HAVE your SP Lager yet? I got an email from the guy yesterday saying mine had shipped, which makes for an impressive TWO MONTHS just to get it on the damn boat. Life must be pretty lackadaisical in Papua….
No one provokes me with impunity, or in good old boy speak: don’t make me kick your ass.
hey all first time poster
69…i ordered mine for father’s day on May 27th and my order still says “pending.” i guess we overloaded them
Ah, but Ichiro knew it would take a long time for it to ship here. He knew it would keep up the anticipation for you all these long summer months while the M’s are in last place.
The genius of the man…
I thought sea mail was about 2-3 months …
I believe that would be “yo ass” in the vernacular.
I do not have my SP Lager yet. I am promising to deliver SP Lager at a future time.
If we lose to a team with Matt Joyce, Clete Thomas, and Michael Hollimon in their lineup…
Of course, the Tigers fans are saying: If we lose to a team with Jose Vidro and Richie Sexson in their lineup, and Carlos Silva on the mound…
I don’t drink beer, though I do love the design on the PNG bottles.
I figure Riggleman worked it out like this:
Ichiro leads off and Lopez bats second, with Raul third against a righthander.
Since the starter is a righthander, he figures Beltre has to move down in the lineup. Reed doesn’t “look” like a cleanup hitter, so he must be sixth. Richie ain’t hitting cleanup ever again (with his five LOB in 2AB, I think we’re all good with that). Clement is “too young” to bat cleanup, even though he’s got power. Betancourt is the “second leadoff man”, so he’s gotta bat ninth. Which leaves whoever the DH is. And Vidro is the only lefthanded bat on the bench. So, since the rules of baseball dictate that someone must bat fourth, and that person must bat behind whoever bats third and ahead of whoever bats fifth, the only possible cleanup hitter is Vidro.
Please note, I am not justifying any of this (other than that it shouldn’t be Richie). I would have batted Clement fourth. But I think that is as close to what Riggleman was thinking as we’re likely to get.
And here comes the pain….
The Mariners announced Thursday that they have signed Dennis Raben, their second-round pick (No. 66 overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft.
O yeah
Dave Sims thinks that’s a fielder’s choice? Um… Isn’t it a hit?
Once Lopez took a step back he should have realized he had no chance. Bad, bad choice.
Does Silva’s necklace glow in the dark?
Dave Sims also thinks Jeter ‘dove’ into the seats that time, rather than having his momentum carry him into the seats.
regarding the PNG beer, and why play Vidro?
If the primary goal of the M’s was to win the game, they should not play Vidro (or Sexson, for that matter). Therefore, since the M’s continue to play Vidro (and Sexson), I conclude that their primary goal is not to win.
What, then, is the primary goal? I suspect it is to be able to trade Vidro (and Sexson) for something…anything (i.e. a prospect and/or not have to pay the full value of their remaining contracts).
If we assume that Vidro (and Sexson) CURRENTLY have NO VALUE to any other team, then the M’s can only CUT them or keep them. I believe their current value is zero.
Now, if the M’s play Vidro (and Sexson), there is at least a small chance (my guess is 5-10%) that one or both players go on a HOT streak with the bat, thereby increasing their value from ZERO to “just a bit more than zero”.
If this occurs, then the M’s might find a foolish GM to make a trade for Vidro (or Sexson), and maybe the M’s get back a prospect, or don’t have to pay all of the remaining salary.
Logically, to improve now, the M’s should just CUT Vidro (and Sexson). Given that the M’s have no chance to make the playoffs, I think the M’s are making a purely financial decision, trying to squeeze some value out of them.
Fortunately, the trade deadline is soon, so the likely scenario is that Vidro (and Sexson) both continue to suck, and both will be cut at the deadline. Or, if the M’s get “lucky”, one or both players start to hit and are traded for some low-grade prospect.
Silva doesn’t seem to fare well against players not named Matt Joyce, Clete Thomas, and Michael Hollimon.
Blow comments that Detroit is not a good matchup for Silva. I’d like to know what club is.
Not if the scorer thinks that the batter would have been out if the throw had gone to first base.
and the doors get blown off… Can we go back to playing crappy teams again? Oh wait, Silva was getting torched by them as well. Why didn’t we listen to Dave when he was concerned about this pick up during the off season?
Don’t look now, but Ichiro is over .300
Yep…as his suck pitches have now fully taken effect, Silva’s mirrors have all completely shattered.
80 - The necklace is actually candy which he eats between innings.
Um, the Bad News Bears perhaps?
Cool, Rainiers on TV tomorrow!
I wonder if Ed Wade has any prospects of value we could connive off of him?
Why Vidro is batting fourth? His career numbers against Verlander are amazing: .563/.588/.688
The only problem is that its 16 AB but hey he’s hot against Verlander!
I always wished the candy necklaces were made with sweetarts.
Aren’t they usually to be found on him?
I keep expecting to see Shawn Chacon on a UFC commercial.
I hear Shawn Chacon is available.
82: How about we wait for the team that hires Bavasi?
huh. so the Ms are on at 1 tomorrow, and then the Rainiers are on at 7, visiting those pesky Beavers.
Not advocating at all, but actually, Shawn Choke-on might be a marginal improvement to this rotation
99: I don’t think Vidro would appreciate being traded to the Boys’ & Girls’ Club.
Or, on the card at the next WWE Smackdown.
If a team is ever credited with Offensive Indifference, it will be the 2008 Mariners.
so, what is it, 5-6 LOB?
Congrats on #1700, Ichi!
I think the M’s need a warcry and I nominate something I just heard from somewhere: “Let’s Vent!” (intertextual reference to “A Mighty Wind.”)
That was Ichiro’s 2,978th career hit, counting his totals in Japan.
I’ve always been partial to ‘Spoooon’
82, that is exactly what I think their thinking must be.
You know things are rough when Ibanez pulls an Ibanez in right, then hits a double the next inning only to get doubled up, and it doesn’t even get a mention here.
111: I think everyone’s gone home.
An absolutely amazing career!
113 - It ain’t over yet.
114: True!
With all these PH appearance for WFB, I think it’s clear that The Riggler must want him to reach the consecutive games record.
Chasing history!
Baseball, cell phones, and domestic violence. What else could you ask for?
Ichiro, Lopez, and Ibanez have been getting on base all game, and we have our worst hitter due up when it happens.
There’s our reliable cleanup hitter!
Walk-off Willie!
Is there a worse 4-6 trio in baseball than the one the M’s just sent up? I mean, it really doesn’t get worse than that, even in NL 7-9 slots. And that’s the heart of our lineup.
Well, I guess not 4-6, but 4, 6-7 (Vidro, Bloomquist, Sexson), but does it really matter when you leave Beltre on an island, surrounded by oceans of suckitude?
113 - not in the face! Not in the face!
Ummm…did anyone else just catch Blowers say “He can really run shit up there” also? I hit rewind on the DVD to confirm. No doubt about it.
Maybe they’ll give him the day off for his error and have Cairo play color commentator.
Uh oh…someone needs to remind him that’s one of the seven you can’t say on TV (RIP, Mr. Carlin).
Man, they should have Cairo take over as DH. It’d be an upgrade.
Does this fall under the category of “appealing to more women and children?”
Gah, could you imagine Ozzie Guillen in the White Sox broadcast booth for a day?!
Actually, here’s a better idea…give Ozzie his own segment during a Fox or ESPN game of the week in which to rant — ala Don Cherry’s Coach’s Corner.
I was really looking forward to that PNG beer, and with the argument I had meticulously constructed in support of Vidro batting cleanup, I could almost taste it. And then I remembered the cogency prerequisite… I hate these contests where the odds of success are so remote as to be non-existent.
I think you’d have a better chance of winning the Seven Cedars Casino Seven in the 7th Contest and placing your own order with a Papua New Guinean distributor.
106: IMHO, I don’t even think that the Boys’ and Girls’ club would ever be that desperate.
134: At least it would be more unpredictiable than a M’s game.
Arthur is my hero.
only if he wears Coach’s jackets.
You know I was look at MLB.com’s “Milestone tracker” thingie, and it did NOT include any mention of Willie Bloomquist’s XBH streak.
It is unconscienable that MLB would ignore The Streak and slight M’s fans like this.
Belated Vidro explanation: he was batting cleanup because that’s what DH’s do.
I could just see Ozzie wearing loud plaid…or, since the Sox’ colors are black and white, maybe that jacket with the funky prints that looked like compact discs that ole’ Don was wearing during the SC Finals a couple of years back.
Beauty!
one of my all-time favorite ads?
the late Mrs Coach doing an ad for a headache remedy.
DMZ–no explanation of Vidro’s clean-up status. However, I did hear a description that would apply. One of the TBS announcers talking about a player who’s name I didn’t catch, said, “That’s like having Oscar Madison hit clean-up.”