Game 38, Mariners At Orioles
Vargas vs Britton, 4:05 pm.
(Yes, I know, Britton is an LHP. But, I want to rant about this, and we all know Olivo isn’t moving down in the line-up against righties any time soon.)
Miguel Olivo vs RHP, 2011: .162/.222/.203
Brendan Ryan vs RHP: .188/..243/.232
Chone Figgins vs RHP: .218/.277/.241
Jack Wilson vs RHP: .279/.319/.302
NL Pitchers at the plate, 2011: .135/.162/.170
Against right-handed pitchers, Miguel Olivo has been marginally better than a random National League pitcher, and worse than all of the team’s no power, slap hitting infielders who you would never consider hitting fourth in the line-up. Stop it, Eric Wedge. You want to help this offense score more runs? Stop hitting Miguel Olivo fourth against righties. It’s stupid.
Ichiro, RF
FIggins, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Olivo, C
Cust, DH
M. Wilson, LF
J. Wilson, 2B
Rodriguez, SS
Saunders, CF
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135 Responses to “Game 38, Mariners At Orioles”
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Figgins needs to sit for awhile for A)not getting the bunt down, and B)not hustling to first base…would have been safe.
I hate you League. It’s not physically possible to be an effective closer with those f*%&ing stupid looking earrings.
I motion for Wright to be the new closer.
This is worse than the two consecutive walk-off losses at Angels last year…
Nut up M’s.
Well, f**k me to tears…
I had shit to do this summer, anyway.
Didn’t see that coming 2,328 miles away.
I need a drink.
Had to leave in the seventh to come on home… glad I missed the end.
Extra-inning losses are the worst.
It’s not just an extra-inning loss. It’s the way this shitbag team finds ways to do it. Pathetic in every way possible. This team continually finds new ways to embarrass our city.
Time again for Wedge to curse out this shitty group of fucks.
I’ve got nothing.
Time to eat dinner
Hey, guys: Can we please not live and die with every game? We’re not that good. Embrace it. It’s not ideal, but it’s true. Losing a few games does not make League a ‘mental midget.’ Frankly, that’s a little offensive.
I get the anger. We lost two out of three of these games when we lead with 3 outs left. That’s the worst. But can we please not turn this into every other internet message board with hyperbolic vitriol? The next time we lose, can we take 10 minutes after the game to decompress before posting?
The Ms lost in an epic fashion, but on the bright side, the quality content at USSM has hit an all time high…. 😛
Bah, Media, quit trying to drag reason into this. 😉
A pathetic excuse for a baseball team. Expected but nonetheless really disgusting.
themedia,
Very valid points. Realistically though, this IS our decompression. We don’t completely believe the statements we post as verified fact. At times like these, we post them as a form of expression and venting. Exaggeration, embellishment, and hyperbole are what we have. And I enjoy posting it as well as reading others to understand that my mysery has company.
“Is it just me,or are we turning a ridiculous amount of double plays this year?”
I guess this where I reveal that I’m an “older gentleman” (as the 20-something at the nightclub called me last night). The Mariners always have had some pretty good middle infielders (Joey Cora and Ray Quinones excepted)even in their infancy in the 70s. They lead the league in double plays back then. Seriously. But then a broadcaster pointed out that maybe it was because we allowed so many people on base. Our pitching is a lot better now than then but that is a factor.
Just sit back and enjoy the epic battle between Rodriguez, Saunders and the ghost of Mendoza.
I do think the vitriol shouldn’t get too out of hand. But we all need to realize that these are just words. And if you are sensitive to words, then you need to take steps to protect yourself instead of relying on everyone to conform to you.
Fuck, I’m not sensitive to words. That has nothing to do with my response to much of the above. I’d just rather not see this message board devolve into idiocy and directionless hate.
I feel like USSM can offer a bit more in the way of postgame analysis than “Time again for Wedge to curse out this shitty group of fucks.” Maybe that’s just me.
themedia
I understand your perspective.
We did demonstrate some power today. Several early warning-track flyouts give me a bit of hope. I want to see Smoak go through a tear in the third spot in the lineup. I’d love to see a change with Figgins, because HE CANNOT PRODUCE IN THE TWO SPOT.
I love Ichiro, but I would hypothesize his hits matter more to him than we would like. He swings at decent pitchers’ pitches on 3-0 counts and won’t seem to bat out of the leadoff spot (I don’t know this but I believe it after the events of the last 10 years).
This team would be better with Chone leading off and Ichiro at two or three. That I 100% believe.
League blew the game but I have to give Wedge a lot of the blame of which the root goes several games back.
League has been extremely shaky ever since Wedge used him for two innings in a tie game. He blew the second inning and got his first loss of the season.
Closers (except for elite closers like Rivera, Hoffman, etc.) are generally very fine tuned, being in a very stressful job, and when something messes with their head/rhythm you get some epically blown games.
League isn’t the first closer who’s had unbelievably sucky meltdowns and handed the other team a win. There are some blown saves which have to be seen to be believed, they’re so bad. League’s mess-ups are probably par for the “closer not right in the head” thing.
Anyway, once their head gets messed up, we’ve seen closers lose it and become utterly unable to save games, unless they work out of it somehow (not in nailbiting close games though).
I blame Wedge for messing “with a good thing” (I think he likes this concept, as do I in general, as evidenced by his putting Olivo in #4, Smoak in #5, etc.). League unexpectedly was stellar in closing out the last inning from the start of the season. He was lights out.
If Wedge won’t move Olivo out because it worked for a few games in Detroit (“not to mess with a good thing”), why the heck did he decide to mess with how to use League?
2 innings in a tie game was a bad idea. And I’m not talking about what an elite should be capable of, I’m just talking about what to expect from a reliever who has shown significant fragileness in the past (quite evident last year). I think Wedge messed up with a good thing. (And please get Olivo out of cleanup for gosh sakes, it’s not remotely a “good thing” like lights-out-League was.)
Moving Ichiro out of leadoff and giving Figgins more at bats just because Figgins sucks (and you think doing whatever will suddenly make him produce more, and at the expense of messing with Ichiro, no less), is a terrible idea.
Hmmm… I think asking people to be reasonable in how they respond to the M’s expected worse than 50-50 chance of winning every night is not quite being “sensitive to words” and needing to protect one’s self. (Although “Fuck, I’m not sensitive to words” is a pretty funny disclaimer, Media… *laugh*)
I also understand the need to vent, which can safely be done on a blog site these days, without real harm to anyone (mostly).
Bottom line, we all want the M’s to do well, and react differently when it doesn’t happen.
We can rag on League, or call Wedge an idiot for pinch-running for Smoak, or any other number of complaints– whose validity can be debated– but can’t we also find time to compliment Vargas on throwing a HELLUVA ballgame for 9 innings? Or give Olivo props for a 2 out RBI in a scoreless game, a pretty damn clutch at bat in the scope of the entire season (even if he SHOULD NEVER BAT CLEANUP)?
It’s all just baseball– that’s the way it works. That JJ Hardy at bat could just as easily end up being the final out of the game, if it doesn’t get through the middle… 10 feet to the right, or left, and League and Olivo are both clutch, and we’re all bragging about the great game we played.
Don’t be afraid to enjoy a game, even if the score doesn’t end up in our favor. (I think this was the spirit of TheMedia’s comments– at least they resonated with me that way).
Let’s get ’em tomorrow! Go M’s! (Cleveland’s on a two game home losing streak… Someone has to win tomorrow…)
I hate to add a note of optimism to this thread, but I am very encouraged by what I’ve seen lately. The pitching has been so good, and even though the bullpen (League) had blown two late leads, it has been deep in extra innings, and it took some great pitching to get that far.
The only thing this team is needs is 2 or 3 replacement level players to go with Ichiro and Smoak to get to be a .500 team.
Here is the math. Replacement level is 45.5 wins, the pitching so far is at about 6 wins through 38 games, that projects out to 25.5 WAR from the pitching staff. If Ichiro and Smoak can combine for 10 WAR, and the entire rest of the team averages out to 0, then the M’s will win 81 games.
Now of course the first thing somebody is going to say is there is no way in hell that the M’s position players minus Smoak and Ichiro can play at replacement level. And I really don’t have a counter argument, so nevermind.
Good point, though I would have said the exact same thing if I was told he would suddenly produce so much less in Seattle than Aneheim. The shift in his batting spot is a more tangible change than a change by teams, because he will get a different pitch selection and will have to take a different approach with a runner on, as opposed to with bases empty.
So while it may seem like I’m hoping for a magical solution to his poor production, the fact is that his absurd drop in production could almost qualify as magical in and of itself. So I don’t think the idea is that preposterous.
I suspect these very low scoring games cause many of the still-sensitive scars from last season to flare up again…
yes, I’ve been watching baseball a long time, since Dizzy Dean and Peewee Reese were doing the game of the week Saturdays on NBC, and the one thing I’ve noticed over and over, is that if you drop a guy one spot in the batting order all the sudden pitchers will start grooving fastballs and hanging sliders. Never fails.
Now of course conventional wisdom will tell you that when you have a speed guy with a high OBP percentage like Ichiro in front of a low power hitter like Figgins then he is going to get a lot of fastballs anyway, but nevermind that.
Now of course somebody might point out that part of Figgin’s problem is that he has been swinging at 20-25% of the pitches out of the zone the last two years with the M’s. While his last two years with the Angels he was swinging at 15-16% out of zone pitches, so maybe that is why he isn’t getting better pitches to hit in the zone, and perhaps the out of zone pitches he is putting in play are easier to field.
Welp.
Guess I had my question answered.
Joke of a team.
Yes.
I enjoy many games–this is why I watch. I’m just saying hyperbole doesn’t offend me and should be allowed whether I like it or not.
Also can we jettison Griffey and bring on this guy (from 0:30 onward) as special consultant?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY0_jeOUB6Q
Nail, head, etc.
Pretty spot-on Westy, but I think “the blown save” is the real culprit. Especially with it being two days after the previous blown save and approx one year from blowing a 4 run lead in Baltimore. Baltimore owns League in Baltimore. He seems to throw like he knows it, too.
Definitely spot-on, Kaz.
Also on the good news side (in addition to Vargas pitching his ass off), Guti had 2 hits in each of the past 2 games for the Rainiers. Maybe he comes back when the team returns home next week?
Agreed Spanky. Just like pleas for slightly more sanity should be allowed, too. *laugh*
Wanting folks to be a little more reasonable with expectations doesn’t really have anything to do with being sensitive. It’s more (for me at least) a matter of having to roll my eyes a lot, to the point they get sore, and too much chuckling.
Although I have to admit a certain perverse joy I get out of coming online after a loss (if I wasn’t following live with the game) to see the “slit my wrist” hyperbole spin out of control as the game spins quicker and quicker down the drain.
Maybe the most fun of the season so far on USS Mariner was to reread the comments on the Monday we overcame a 7 run deficit in the last two innings to win it.
There were people practically paying hit men to take out certain Mariners, and then giddy glee 20 minutes later.
But wait! And then… more negative feelings about being unreasonably happy, so more “sky is falling” banter RIGHT AFTER PULLING OUT A PRETTY GREAT WIN!
Even on that old cartoon “Gulliver’s Travels” there was only ONE Glum to deal with– “It’ll NEVER work…”, “They’ll never make it…” (said really slowly in a low, growly voice)
Here are some talking points for happy thoughts:
A) Starting pitching
B) Pineda
C) Smoak
D) Guty coming back
E) #2 pick in the draft
F) Wondering what high draft pick we’ll have NEXT year
G) Amphetamines
I agree MrZ. people don’t need to play chicken-little all the time.
*cough*GeoffBaker*cough*