Game 14, Rays at Mariners
DMZ · April 21, 2009 at 6:08 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Sonnanstine v Washburn.
Baker @ the Times reports Yuni’s starting, which… bleagh. All of this talk about team concentration and fielding drills not being about him reminds me of grade school when everyone had to put their heads down on their desks until the guilty party fessed up.
That wasn’t Rob Johnson’s glove, Dave. That was his head.
Well, he definitely seems not to have the cognitive dissonance and lack of self-awareness of say a J.J. Putz, so you may be on to something….
Well, he definitely seems not to have the cognitive dissonance and lack of self-awareness of say a J.J. Putz, so you may be on to something….
Or the girth of experience of Guardado. Or the lack of faith in his one great pitch like Sasaki…
I’ll take it, good solid win for Seattle.
Sorry, breadth would have probably been better for the joke.
An 86 mph breaking ball for the last strike of the game. Called.
Wow, Morrow.
I felt the same way about JJ when he started closing as I feel about Morrow now. The year before JJ gave up a lot of home runs.
Mike Sweeney really seems to be a great guy. He’s destined for TV.
the A’s lost. The Angels are still locked in a 3-3 tie with the Tigers. A chance to gain ground.
Isn’t Pitch fX usually up by now?
Speaking of Putz, he continued the Mets’ tradition of bullpen meltdowns, coughing up the win in the 8th tonight.
By the way, file this under “what would they do with Zduriencik, Wakamatsu and Jakubauskas?”:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4087695
I thought Johnson wasn’t supposed to be able to hit?
The way he is playing defense and calling games, and hitting, he’s starting to make Johjima look like Wally Pip.
So is Wash going to move up to 3rd in the rotation?
Lauren, that’s the funniest story. You should read Uniwatch’s take on it: “For those keeping score at home, the Nats are clearly leading the league in uniform miscues. On Monday, they sent Wilfredo Ledezma out on the field with an upside-down “Nâ€; on Friday, they wore those blue clown suits with red helmets and sleeves; and now this. Good thing the team in our nation’s natin’s capital plays such solid ball on the field to make up for — uh, wait, never mind.”
Actually, you should read Uniwatch almost as often as USSM, he’s hilarious. And infallible.
Want to see the difference between a pitcher with his pitchers working, and one who’s pitches AREN’T working? Compare Silva’s PitchFX vs. Washburn’s, especially the vertical movement vs. speed or vert vs. horizontal movement graphs.
Especially compare it with the pitch type.
Well, Pipp didn’t lose his spot to Gehrig the way the legend says he did, but in a way it’s even more appropriate: Pipp was already over the hill and got taken out of the regular lineup for that reason, not injury. Then again, he did not have a three year guaranteed contract either.
And those game-worn jerseys with spelling errors? Instant collector’s items.
BTW, that contest / survey they ran — “most exciting player in the AL East” — was the worst one yet. Longoria, sure. But the others? Just off the top of my head I can think of several better choices, starting with Adam Jones and Travis Snider.
Steve: Hee. Sounds like they identify their beat (in the article) as “uni-ineptitude”; over here, of course, we add a Y in front.
Does anyone have any idea what type of season Washburn would have to put up to get type A classification for free agency? I’m assuming its based on ERA, Wins, and some other new fangled statistics.
coreyjro I believe it’s weighted over a couple years, which hurts his chances. I think the exact calculations involve a bottle of vodka, a dozen baseball cards sent through a blender, and a couple of sacrificed goats…so it’s hard to say. It will depend upon how well the goat is eating over the next half year.
Is Boras his agent? If so, he’ll just need to have a pulse to get 20 mil a year from the Yankees.
As I remember, they exclude the best 3 games of the years covered, along with the worst 3.
But the Vodka and blender actually explain it better.
Just back from the game. My thoughts, in no particular order.
FWIW, Jarrod could easily have done his “it’s the defense, dammit” routine after Endy misplayed the ball off the wall in the first inning. He didn’t. If the new manager and pitching coach are working on his temper and focus, they deserve credit. If Jarrod is listening to them, or doing it on his own, he deserves credit. If his agent has pointed out this is his walk year and getting his attention that way, his agent deserves credit. He’s pitched three excellent games this year.
Junior, on the other hand . . . well, I can tell my grandchildren I saw Ken Griffey, Jr. bunt and how many can say that? But frankly, he looked like there was a fork in his back today. Against a righthander. Not good.
Ichiro’s bunt was not a smart baseball move.
Sweeney may be a “professional hitter”, but he hit line drives and was clearly seeing the ball well today. I was surprised to see Branyan sit against Sonnanstine, but Sweeney seemed to know just what to do with each pitch (including the one that hit him).
Can we give whatever Gabe Kapler was drinking to all opposing center fielders?
Enough with the bunts, please.
When Beltre started jawing with the ump after the first strikeout call, I thought he was complaining that Sonnanstine was throwing at him, that’s how far the pitch looked from being a strike. And I’m sitting in row 127 a couple rows behind the Diamond Club.
The last pitch of the game was a lovely sight to behold.
Ok, it looks like it’s two seasons.
For a starting pitcher it appears to be “Total games (total starts + 0.5 * total relief appearances), IP, Wins, W-L Percentage, ERA, Strikeouts” to determine.
Sorry, the link was supposed to be this one.
That’s what I get for not just doing the HTML myself.
Any word on what was going on with Ichiro’s bunt? Was it a squeeze, or just Ichi being dumb?
I’m watching Fringe now, so can’t watch the post game.
Maybe the fact that Washburn, a fly-ball pitcher, has an actual outfield behind him, has loosened his giblets.
I mean, that outfield. It’s like having 5 guys out there, and none of them are Raul Ibanez. So now Wash can be Wash.
This make no sense at all(from Baker):
Maybe Yuni wouldn’t start on the pitch but he should have had enough of a jump to score if he knew the bunt was coming.
That quote from Baker is only Wak covering for his player.
Yuni didn’t pay attention, and you could see it on the third base coach’s face right after the play.
If that bunt was a squeeze, whether Yuni was going or not, it was a terrible bunt, right in front of the plate. If Yuni had gone, the catcher would have had to just stand there to tag him out.
Why was Yuni so far back anyways? He’s behind the third baseman, who was playing on the grass. Even if its not a squeeze, he should have been further up the line.
Yuni didn’t pay attention, and you could see it on the third base coach’s face right after the play.
Or Hines could have been reacting to the fact that they totally botched the signs. I don’t see how the difference would be completely obvious. We can recognize that Wakamatsu might be covering for Betancourt, but it’s not exactly clear, he could be telling the unvarnished truth.
What bunt were you watching, Bread? The ball went to the right of the pitcher, and was played by Longoria, who made one hell of a throw to get Ichiro by about 12 inches.
About 3 third baseman in the league could make that play to get Ichiro. If Yuni had been going on movement he would have been ahead of Longoria, and safe without even sliding.
Yeah,
That was a perfectly good bunt, if Yuni was going. It might have scored Yuni even on a safety squeeze, if he had been paying attention.
It sound like Wak was covering for Yuni, rather than Ichiro was bunting for a base hit. It makes no sense trying to bunt for a base hit when a squeeze would be in order. Ichiro can hit a ground ball to the right side with his eyes closed, though, that makes even more sense than calling a squeeze.
I must be mixing up bunts. There were so many of them and I don’t have the advantage of replay since I was just at the game (and they didn’t exactly show those plays again).
But he can’t ensure it’s not fielded, resulting in a 3-2-3 (or 3-2-1/4 depending on who is covering 1st) double play. Or just an FC out at home.
But clearly word of the bunt-happy M’s is getting around — it drew the Rays’ outfield in, and that won the game. Wakamatsu is a genius.
All I can say is this.
It is what it is.
For the first time in a long time there is hope.
aaaaaaand, Krueger throws Ichiro under the bus, claiming that it was Ichiro bunting for a hit, not a missed sign.
Pipp was already over the hill and got taken out of the regular lineup for that reason,
It took some astute evaluation to note that PIPP was “already over the hill”–or would soon be.
He knocked in 99 runs the next year.