Marc and I discuss the team at some length
It’s a podcast-type thing, kind of! 40+m of raw USSM power! Sighs! Awkward pauses!
Table of contents
—
Ichiro
Jack Cust
Brendan Ryan
Ackley as the source of our problems
Jack Wilson as Patient Zero
A long chemistry discussion that avoids mentioning a certain tattooed third baseman
Chone Figgins
Does (and should) Zduriencik get fired
Miguel Olivo
Josh Bard and canned meats
Olivo and Wedge
Moving the fences
Pineda
Bedard
Pitchers
Smoak
The outfield: Carp, Halman
Adam Kennedy
Saunders
Mike Wilson should get another shot
Saunders, C
We can’t have nice things
Figgins, again, briefly
It’s our first attempt at this kind of thing, so it has issues:
– we couldn’t get recording right, so this is all done from Marc’s side
– audio quality is not great
But hey, we’re giving it a shot. We’ll only get better from here. Probably.
To-do for future efforts:
– Figure out how to record the whole thing on my side (and I’m happy to bore people with details)
– Figure out how to record it on both sides and then merge it for super quality
– Spend too much time on chapter breaks and other ridiculous audio features
– Find a player for wordpress so you can just hit ‘play’ if your browser doesn’t support it
Game 101, Mariners at Red Sox
Jeebus. Pineda v Wakefield
RF-L Ichiro!
SS-R Ryan
2B-L Ackley
C-R Olivo
1B-L Smoak
LF-L Carp
CF-R Gutierrez
DH-L Cust
3B-S Figgins
I know I’ve said this before, but any team that puts out a lineup card like this is either not serious about winning that game or badly managed. Sure, lineups don’t have a huge effect. But making the most of that is what Wedge is employed to do.
Red Sox:
CF-L Ellsbury
2B-R Pedroia
1B-L Gonzalez
3B-R Youkillis
DH-L Ortiz
LF-L Crawford
RF-L Reddick
C-S Saltalamacchia
SS-R Scutaro
Game 100, Mariners at Red Sox
Beavan v Beckett.
Mariners have the worst team AVG vs. RHP. The Red Sox have the best (.224 v .277)
Mariners have the worst team OBP vs. RHP. The Red Sox have the best (.289 v .353)
Mariners have the worst team SLG vs. RHP. The Red Sox have the best (.331 v .455)
Mariners have the worst team batting average on balls in play vs. RHP. The Red Sox have the best (.261 v ..301)
Or, if you like your stats Fangraph style, wOBA — .276 to .354.
On the other hand, it’s a beautiful day here and the National Weather Service forecast for Boston is
Isolated showers and thunderstorms before 9pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. Partly cloudy, with a low around 74. West wind between 7 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Heh.
Watch Dominican amateur baseball online
With the Mariners among the most prominent players in the international market year in, year out, many people here and on other sites around the internet have often expressed interest in the international scouting game. In the past, the answer was always that the kids are raw as hell, because most of them go into high-octane training programs at a very young age that focus on building athleticism and drills rather than playing actual baseball games.
This has started to change in the past couple of years with the advent of trainer-run leagues, most notably the Dominican Prospect League. Tomorrow, a TV station out of the Dominican Republic will be broadcasting the DPL all-star game. You can watch online at http://www.teleuniversocanal29.net tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. The game will feature $3.5 million Texas signee Ronald Guzman as well as Helsin Martinez, who the Mariners were rumored to have signed for somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million (though that rumor has been walked back), among many other 6 and 7-figure signees.
As for what to expect: I’m going out on a limb and saying you’ll probably see a good deal of athleticism on the field, and very, very raw baseball skills. The DPL is turning into the Dominican equivalent of the showcase circuit in the United States, only with kids 2 years younger than their American counterparts. Nonetheless, I thought it might be interesting for those who want to see what a $3.5 million 16-year-old talent looks like.
The seven-man bullpen
When was the last time a team carried 13 pitchers for any significant length of time and afterwards looked back and said “That worked out really well. We were able to get everyone consistent work and they all contributed”?
Did you have to have double-headers regularly for it to make any sense?
Game 99, Mariners at Redsox
King Felix vs. John Lackey, 4:10 PDT.
After being swept aside by the 4th place team in the AL East, the M’s arrive in Boston to face a team with a wOBA of .354. The only Mariners with a wOBA that high are Dustin Ackley and Doug Fister.
As you all know, the M’s have lost 12 in a row, and I’m sure reactions to the streak differ from fan to fan. Jeff Sullivan says that losing 12 in a row has made each successive game more captivating – that a win wouldn’t just be a meaningless win in a lost season, it would feel like an accomplishment. Others may be secretly (or not so secretly) hoping that the streak continues; if the team isn’t going to win, the least it can do is lose grandly. While it might be hard for some to justify rooting against the Mariners, the line-ups they’ve trotted out must give even the die-hards pause. I’m not big on “true fan” debates; the pointless and often heated arguments wherein one group of baseball fans spews venom on another for enjoying the game in all the wrong ways. If you’re still here after the past two years, you’re a fan. If you think an epic losing streak is more likely to produce meaningful change in the future, great. If you want Felix to destroy and demoralize the Red Sox hitters because he’s Felix and they’re the Red Sox, yeah, that’d be nice too.
The M’s may find themselves in what’s going to have to pass as a decent match-up. No, I know, the Mariners are still playing, so I’m not going to push this too far, but the Red Sox are starting John Lackey, owner of a 4.71 FIP on the year and an RA near 7. Lackey’s fastball has gone from a solid pitch to a liability. He’s walking more lefties, and his walk rate against righties is a bit misleading: he’s already tied his career high in hit-by-pitches, with 9 of 12 coming against righties. That pushes his walk rate vs. righties from around 7.3% to 10.6%.
He’s using his slider more this year, and while it’s not as effective as it once was, it’s still been his best pitch in terms of generating whiffs. When the M’s faced him in late April, they ran out a lefty-heavy line-up, but he handled it fairly well, yielding 2 runs in 6 innings. In that contest, he threw a blizzard of curves to the M’s lefties, and while he gave up walks, that was about all he gave up. Of course, there’s not a lot whole lot to glean from a game in which Lackey faced Mike Saunders, Milton Bradley, Ryan Langerhans and Jack Wilson. Guys like Carp and Ackley can probably expect a steady diet of curves and change-ups, and the right handers will see quite a few sliders.
But if they can be patient, they’ll see Lackey’s fastball, which now has so little arm-side run that the Pitch FX algorithm classifies it as a cutter. Now, maybe it is and maybe it isn’t, but you’d think if he was intentionally throwing his FB this way he’d just, you know, stop. In the end, it doesn’t really matter. Whatever you call it, the 90mph thing that he throws hasn’t been good, and the M’s (especially the lefties) need to jump on it. Justin Smoak, if you’re still in there somewhere, give me a sign. Blink twice if you can understand me.
The line-up:
1: Ichiro?
2: Ryan
3: Ackley
4: Olivo
5: Kennedy
6: Smoak
7: Carp (LF)
8: Cust (DH)
9: Halman (CF)
Happy Felix Day, though
May he be backed up with a reasonable lineup as he attempts to prevent a thirteenth straight loss.
To each their own
“You can’t give in to the fight. You can’t keep pouting about it. You can’t quit. You’ve got to just keep going,” Wedge said. “I’m looking at this from an individual basis right now. Each man has to come out there and do everything that they need to do to help us win a ballgame tomorrow.” — Eric Wedge, quoted on MLB about his post-game clubhouse meeting
I hope this means Wedge will be turning in a reasonably sane lineup card next time.
Game 98, Mariners at Blue Jays
Fister vs Romero, 9:37 am.
A couple of pieces of news – Kyle Seager was optioned back to Tacoma to make room for Josh Lueke on the roster. Seager probably would have stuck around if the bullpen hadn’t been worked so hardly lately, but with the team headed for Boston and New York, they needed a fresh arm, so Seager was the one to go. Kennedy will go back to playing third base.
In other news, Chone Figgins is playing left field for the first time as a Mariner today. You could either look at this as the team preparing him for a super-utility role, or showing other teams that he can still play out there. The Reds have been reported to be interested in Figgins as a lead-off guy, and they’re also unhappy with their current left fielders, so it could be a favor to the Reds to show them what Figgins looksl ike in LF.
Oh, and cover your eyes before looking at the line-up.
Ichiro, RF
Ryan, SS
Kennedy, 3B
Olivo, C
Smoak, 1B
Bard, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Figgins, LF
Wilson, 2B
Game 97, Mariners at Blue Jays
Vargas vs Morrow, 4:07 pm
Normal-ish lineup with Carp in left, Kennnedy at first, and Smoak DHing.