Game 141, Mariners at Angels
Happy Felix Day! The six-man rotation (may it die a swift and terrible death) means that even when the schedule has you facing the same team twice in a row, your pitching opponent will be different. So instead of the fine Felix vs. Dan Haren matchup we enjoyed last week, this time it has to be Felix against Ervin Santana.
Another thought to consider – we already have seven-man bullpens, imagine if the six-man rotation caught on too. You’d need more than half of your roster for the pitching staff, and you’d be left with absolutely no bench. Once you make sure you’re carrying the standard three catchers, there’s room for literally one guy, who apparently has to be able to somewhat capably play all of the positions in the field. Wait, I see a market opportunity for Chone Figgins! (And don’t tell me you can cut down on the bullpen if you go with a six-man rotation. The deeper you have to dredge to find starters, the crummier they will be, and you’ll need that bullpen more than ever.)
RF-L Ichiro
SS-R Ryan
2B-L Ackley
DH-L Carp
1B-B Smoak
C-R Olivo
3B-L Seager
LF-B Robinson
CF-L Saunders
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26 Responses to “Game 141, Mariners at Angels”
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Dave Cameron on 1510 KGA September 6th
Golly, I love Ackley.
Horrible cell phone signal and all!
Good to hear from Dave, though!
In other news Dustin Ackley is still more sexy than all the other 39 members of the 40-man roster put together. Partially because of Carp’s highly negative SAR (sexiness above replacement).
Yeah, Carp and Smoak both have that big ol’ country boy thing going on which is no GQ-worthy.
Ah, crap. I was all excited to go nutty over a Smoak Bomb.
Ah, yes. The old E-1. Now Santana’s gets off the hook for ensuing runs.
I don’t care how dirty Ryan’s uni is, or how gritty he plays or how mad he gets when he doesn’t come through like that, but I’m sick of him not coming through like that.
Nice play in at 1st by Smoak.
I don’t know about Smoak that much. But Carp has the whole “My father was Jack Wilson’s redhead brother, and my mom didn’t let me out in the sun” thing.
Nice catch Ichiro. Maybe the best catch for him this year?
After that muffed catch yesterday, Ichiro wasn’t going to let that one get away from him. And paid the price.
Expand the roster to 26 players–13 pitchers and 13 fielders. Lucky all around and everyone’s happy!
Horacio Ramirez comes in for the Angels.
FINISH HIM!
HoRam sighting!
Did anyone else just get sick to their stomach?
At least this manager know when to pull that fo’
Need 3 total baserunners to get Ichiro another at bat.
Good win. Not a single earned run, either.
As always, suck it, Angels.
Felix win! And that’s even after leaving 14 men on base. Good times.
The M’s got 10 hits tonight–they should have more to show for it than 2 runs (especially with 4 Angels errors). I guess if the hits continue, the RBIs should come (I hope).
As far as the Angels go, 4 errors by a team chasing the division leader while playing the worst team in the division is surprising. There were some nice defensive plays, robbing Ackley and Seager of RBI hits, but in general they played badly both tonight and last night. Surprising for the Angels.
Nice to see Smoak hitting again, and fielding 1st base well. I definitely prefer him there over Carp. Keep it up Ackley and Seager.
I live in Minneapolis so I get to hear the Twins on the radio, and apparently the Angels were also quite sloppy in their recent series as well. Maybe everyone is letting the pressure get to them.
Yeah, if my infielders aren’t from the Carolinas these days, I’m not happy.
And I think that if they insist on this specialized brand of baseball, they should just bump the roster to 27 or 28.
I’m thinking the 25-man roster is more passe than the five-man rotation.
QUESTION: Why is it that kids playing in college can be two-way players- pitching AND a position player when not pitching- but as soon as they turn pro, they have one role and one role only (unless there’s a massive game emergency and it’s the 40th inning and they need SOMEONE who can get an out.)?
I mean, the amount of star college players that also take a turn in the rotation or the bullpen when convenient is considerable. And many are capable of both. Why does that all have to go away when they sign a pro contract?
I realize they’re investments and you want to minimize their chances of getting hurt/unable to perform…but it wasn’t so long ago in MLB (think the ’30s and ’40s) that to earn your stripes as a ballplayer, it really helped if you could either pitch or hit.
At this level, you pretty much have to specialize. Basically no one’s good enough to both pitch and hit at an MLB level, plus you’ve got all kinds of issues with practice time, and the stuff you brought up about protecting your investment.
It’s due to specialization (or, in economic terms, division of labor).
Sure, players can play both ways in college. And more so at the high school level, and even more so at the middle school level, where the best athlete is likely to be the best pitcher, and when not pitching will probably be the team’s best fielder. There’s a two-way player for ya.
But it’s one thing to be a great sbortstop, great hitter, and also a great pitcher in the 8th grade. Harder in high school, harder still in college, and almost impossible in the majors. If it’s the 1920s and you’re Babe Ruth, great. But even Rick Ankiel couldn’t simply walk off the pitcher’s mound and become a major league hitter.
The demands, both in terms of inherent athletic talent and in terms of training and practice, become ferocious at the highest levels. Only a relative handful of human beings can be first-rate pitchers (or hitters) at the highest level, and in selecting for those skills, you’ve got to give up on the other skills.
This becomes even more apparent in football. In middle school, you pick your best athlete to be quarterback — and he’s likely to be your best defensive back or even linebacker as well. It used to be that high school quarterbacks were that way too, but quarterbacking has become such a specialized, high-skill position that 2-way quarterbacks have become rare in high school — and almost non-existent in college, and totally non-existent in the NFL.
Kickers even more so. One of the better players at my high school was also the kicker. So he’d play both on the line of scrimmage and kick. But NFL kickers are too high-skilled — and specialized — for that. If you can kick a 53-yard field goal, you’re not going to also be a decent linebacker. And vice versa.
Ooooh.
What about a 4-man rotation and an 8-man bullpen, with the 5th started being by committee – just relievers pitching a 1-2 innings each.
Worked for the Houston Astros when they threw a no-hitter against the New York Yankees a few years ago.
Holy crap, that was 8 years ago!