Game 24, Mariners At Tigers
Dave · April 26, 2011 at 2:14 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Hernandez vs Coke, 4:05 pm.
Happy Felix Day!
Justin Smoak returns to the line-up, but now finds himself hitting behind Miguel Olivo. Jack Cust has been dropped in the order, but it’s tough to say if this is a permanent thing or if it is just because the Tigers are throwing a lefty tonight. Cust probably should have never been hitting 4th against an LHP to begin with, after all. Not that Miguel Olivo is a great option either…
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 3B
Bradley, LF
Olivo, C
Smoak, 1B
Cust, DH
Ryan, SS
Saunders, CF
Wilson, 2B
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Wilson!!
That was a nice diving catch by the elf.
You know that its a low attended if you can hear the vendors
On the bullpen topic, I’ve actually been pretty happy this year on the whole. Like someone said above, between League/Laffey/Wright/Pauley, I can’t really complain much. I mean, I always still get stressed out by them, but that might have more to do with the lack of our offense being able to respond to any runs the pen gives up? We sent Lueke down, so that’s good. I hope Cortes can fill in well.
I’d be perfectly ok with the skies opening up now.
Paul, the relay throw from Bradley toward Figgins was tipped by Ryan. We were talking about the same play. We were doing such a poor job of describing the play that it appeared to be a different play, but it was the same play. A it down the line, thrown toward Figgy by Bradley … and tipped by Ryan prior to getting to Figgy for him to butcher it and/or throw it away. They had a double-cut off (closely positioned near one another) and a subsequent FUBAR. Doesn’t matter now, but I want to make sure the Congressional Record has been cleared up.
CUST GETS A HIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“What’s that green stuff my ball landed on?”
You know it’s a low attendance when you can hear Jack Cust yell “s**t, now I have to run…” when he gets one of his few hits…
Got the ball out of the infield! Wow, I didn’t think he could do that.
That was a relatively painless trip through the heart of the Tiger’s order…
AND! It involved a whole bunch of chest high center of the plate fastballs.
Shocking, but nice!
You’d think that chick had never seen a cell phone before.
Thank goodness for Rick the Peanut Guy’s soft voice.
Although, I’m kinda hungry for a hot dog, and I can’t figure out WHY for the life of me???
9-15!
Nice job Pauley & League.
3 out of the last 5!
Justin Smoak,man. My hat’s off to ya. I lost my dad at the same age as you- and was a wreck in almost every way for months afterwards.
I way prefer how you responded!
That was the first game all season where the team looked like a complete major league club, notwithstanding a couple of fielding miscues and Wilson’s stupid baserunning. They could have melted in the first inning, but Felix wouldn’t let them, and then they could have melted after losing the 3-1 lead. Instead, they played well, and lots of guys who have been zeros, got hits.
Dave has been emphasizing how important Smoak is to this lineup and he sure showed it tonight. I can’t imagine how it must have felt to launch one right after coming back after his dad’s death. Heckuva lot better than going 0-10, that’s for sure.
Sorry, things have been weird and I end up watching these games a bit delayed.
SMOAK – I am so glad we’ve got him.
Olivo’s home run – not quite as good as bouncing one off Canseco’s head… but close.
Condor and his 0-2 counts – given his high strikeout rate, I’m wondering if he’s “under orders” to watch pitches or something. If not, it’s worrisome – but he did make some good contact on a couple of at bats anyway.
Brendan Ryan – I love that guy!
Also – did anyone else notice Sims’ “Happy Felix Day” comment?
Nice King win and timely hitting. Great way to start a road trip.
The offense and the bullpen really did a nice job today.
And thank you Raburn for making one of the most intriguing plays I’ve seen all season so far.
BTW if Smoak keeps up anything like his current pace – Wedge will have to put him in the cleanup spot.
I don’t care how old-school Wedge is, and how much he buys into the veteran presence crap – the young kid is already a much better player than any of the guys that’ve hit fourth.
Also – do you think Texas is kicking themselves for giving Smoak to us for a couple month rental of Cliff Lee? Or was the playoff drive worth it to them?
I think Smoak cemented himself with the M’s fan base tonight, returning under the circumstances. I have no idea if he’ll be as good as billed over time, but I bet he sticks around for awhile and becomes a real fan favorite, whether his numbers ultimately warrant it or not. I wish him the best.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse but I notice Michael Saunders looked at 3 first pitch strikes tonight and went 0-3 in those AB, he swung at one first pitch strike (foul), but hit a double in that AB.
Pretty small sample size but I am going with my theses that Saunders needs to be looking for that first pitch strike, until they stop grooving it for him.
How many of those first pitch strikes were from lefties? (I THOUGHT a couple of them were….). Not that it changes your point, but…
Well they got into a World Series for the first time ever, that’s worth a heck of a lot. No Cliff Lee, no World Series.
OTOH, I’m reminded of how the Red Sox decided they needed bullpen help in their 1990 drive to the World Series, and acquired reliever Larry Andersen in return for giving up a prospect. They, like the Rangers, did make it to the World Series. The one problem is that the prospect they gave up was Jeff Bagwell. Oops.
But on yet another hand, most prospects do not turn our to be Jeff Bagwell. Only a few are can’t miss surefire prospects, like A-Rod. If it’s 1995 and the Mariners are fighting the fight of their lives for a playoff position, you still don’t trade A-Rod and AFAICT the Ms were not tempted to do so. But you might trade a Justin Smoak. It’s a gamble but that’s baseball.
Tonight’s game thread word cloud reveals that we’re really starting to like Justin Smoak.
Okay, so I’m only writing this down to convince MYSELF things will be okay, but it is interesting to note other fellas who are struggling at this point:
Magglio Ordonez .200
Adam Dunn .150
Carl Crawford .163
Jason Varitek .100
Torii Hunter .216
Miguel Tejada .195
Andrew McCutcheon.220
Jose Lopez .143
Raul Ibanez .171
BJ Upton .216
And just for fun (to pound home the “small sample size” message):
Rob Johnson .368
Well, some of those guys may no longer be in baseball by the end of the year, or the start of next season (some might deserve to be out sooner but will stick around thanks to their contracts). But yeah, there are a few up-and-comers on that list struggling too.
Sorry for the late response, but John Olerud also hit for the cycle as a Mariner in June of 2000.
Buhner hitting for the cycle always cracked me up – and, to be fair, when I’ve heard him talk about it he seems to think it’s pretty funny too. If I had to pick someone less likely than him to have done it, I think it’d be a pretty short list… maybe just Edgar.
maybe just Edgar.
Haha that reminded me of one of the coolest events in my life. I was at one of the division playoff games against Cleveland in 2001, and Edgar stole second. There was no throw, nothing. I think everyone was so shocked to see him steal a base that the Indians team just froze by either laughter or shock. I will remember that day for the rest of my life cause really, how many people can say they watched Edgar steal a base in the playoffs? 🙂
Edgar stole a base in the last month of his career, when he was even slower and more injury-laden, in Chicago off Buehrle and Ben Davis. They had a little mound conference after it, and while I’m sure they were just discussing changing up the signs with a man on 2nd, I remember at the time imagining it actually went something like
“Dude, Edgar just stole a base on us”
“I know”
“Dude, Edgar Martinez”
“So… you want to just quit now, or wait until we get back to the dug-out at the end of the inning?”