Game 45, Giants at Mariners
DMZ · May 24, 2009 at 12:09 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Order up! One favorable matchup for the M’s and it’s Felix Day against a lineup he should carve through, on a beautiful day in Seattle. Wooo!
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119 Responses to “Game 45, Giants at Mariners”
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Well that was a nice change.
Amazing they had a 5-5 home stand considering how bad the offense has been, thank goodness Griffey and Beltre both delivered some power today!
Apparently the Hit It Here Cafe has a new pastry chef, or new offerings from their pastry chef, one of which is an Apple Tart with a lavender crème fraîche topping (presumably this is a locovoric dessert, featuring Washington ingredients). Samples of these were sent up to the booth, where the aforesaid announcers rhapsodized about it before trainwrecking themselves in a tangle of butchered française.
The Ugly: Crème Fraîche
Samples of these were sent up to the booth, where the aforesaid announcers rhapsodized about it before trainwrecking themselves in a tangle of butchered française.
Leave it to joser to state things about as perfectly as can be.
Aardsma: proof you don’t have to spend money on a closer. Or a very high draft choice.
Was at the game today…beautiful day for an M’s win!
The answer to the question as to why Griffey (and, to some degree, Branyan) was showing bunt was simply due to defensive alignment against them.
For Branyan, the Giants were simply deep…but Griffey had a major shift put on him and a decent bunt against that might have gone for a double–not to say Junior was doing anything more than trying to lure the 3rd baseman a bit closer in.
Felix looked good, mostly. Dead bullpen or not, I was surprised to see him come out for the eighth.
Merkin Valdez, for the Giants, through 9 pitches…all of them strikes…and none of them anything the M’s bats could handle. Glad we got what we did off of snake-y arm Zito.
Merkin Valdez…possibly the worst name for a relief pitcher since JJ Putz.
Or, rather “Valdez, for the Giants, THREW 9 pitches, all of the strikes”.
Edit button or not, that’s a messed up name.
JJ Putz wears a merkin on his face.
How did Felix only get charged with 1 ER? There was no error as far as I could tell in the 5th. Or was there a scoring change that hasn’t caught up with the box scores/recaps yet?
TJ: I believe that the ball that Branyan misfielded was originally ruled a hit…but was changed to an error right around the time of the next Giants hit (that scored their first run.)
Who were those singing idiots? Get off my show!
On the CBS Sports store they are selling a1978 turn back the clock JJ Putz Jersey. WTF…. I swear the marketing geniuses there need their head examined…
Last i checked, Ichiro’s turn back the clock night jersey was up to $10,000…
Currently there is a game used ball from Ichiro’s 3,000th professional hit game, yes, a game used ball. lol
fyi: not cbs store. mariners auction.
Aardsma should be our closer. The guy is a closer. Look at his history/make-up. The problem is that too many teams saw his abilities and thought he was too good to be relegated to a ‘garbage role’ (based on organization) and thought his value was as a starter or reliever. The only reason the Sox didn’t keep him is that they have Justin Masterson. USS Mariner admins and posters shit-talk the guy left and right and seem surprised that he can pitch. The goal will be sticking with him if he has a less than effective outing or don’t throw him into relieve too often due to a drought in save opportunities. I anticipate a huge post echoed with “I told you so’s…”, should he blow a save. Y’all are ready to throw him to the wolves. Whatever. Stick with the guy.
Riiiight.
People around here questioned his command coming out of spring training, and given his history, that was a legitimate concern. And, if you haven’t been paying attention to some of his high-wire outings, it remains a concern — as his 13BB in 20.2 IP shows. That’s as close to “shit-talking the guy” I’ve seen here.
Here’s a thought: stop making things up. I don’t know why you feel the need to set yourself up as some kind lone genius who alone can grasp the secrets no one else can see. But that problem is yours, not the posters or “admins” here. You’ll find your opinions taken far more seriously if you abstain from criticizing people for things they haven’t said. Otherwise you just come across like a delusional, belligerent crank.
“Who pitches the 9th? Aardsma? He’s a fastball pitcher with questionable control, just like Morrow. I’m not convinced a season of him closing would end up all that different. Remember, for all the walks he gave up, Morrow was 6 for 6 in save opportunities before last night.”
Bang up evaluation…
His career BB/9 is 5.57
His 2009 BB/9 is 5.40
In what way is “questionable control” an unfair description of him? He’s pitched well recently (one thing that stands out in his 2009 statistics is that his GB% has dropped by 2/3rds while his FB% is way up from last year. If this is an indication that he is pitching a particular way to take advantage of Safeco and the outfield defense while avoiding the infield defense, Aardsma deserves credit for it. I am sure there is a way to know, but I admit I don’t.)
All stats courtesy of Fangraphs.
You consider that “shit talking”? I guess I’ll have to raise my virtual pinky in the future when discussing pitchers.
Yes I wrote that, and I stand by it. It may not be a complete evaluation, but it’s entirely accurate as far as it goes. He’s a talented pitcher; no one is “surprised he can pitch.” But when you walk as many batters as he does there’s no way to characterize his control as anything but “questionable.” He’s been lucky, with ridiculous (and unsustainable) strand rate, but that doesn’t make him better than he is. He can still be an effective closer, but he’s not going to be as effective over a full season as he has been until now. Unless he gets the walk rate down, he’s not the next Mariano Rivera and he’s unlikely to be any better than Morrow.
“USS Mariner admins and posters shit-talk the guy left and right and seem surprised that he can pitch. ” No they don’t and no they aren’t; there’s plenty of evidence that contradicts your assertion. That doesn’t stop you from making things up, though, does it? Clearly you’ve fallen in love with the guy for some reason and are overreacting to any reasonable criticism.
“Y’all are ready to throw him to the wolves. ” There’s no evidence of that either. Mere evidence is not going to stop your delusional ravings though, is it?
“Whatever. ”
My sentiments exactly. When you’ve cured yourself of your trollish imaginings, get back to us.