Game 58, Mariners at Angels
Blake Beavan vs. Garrett Richards, 7:05pm
April 5th was the Rainiers home opener this season. The R’s didn’t have the best offense in the league, but it wasn’t bad, and Cheney had played much more like a neutral park in 2011 than in years past. Garrett Richards, the enigmatic right hander was on the mound for Salt Lake, fresh off of his surprise demotion after a solid spring and despite the injury to Jerome Williams. Rumors swirled that he clashed with Mike Scioscia, or that he was just too streaky to trust in the rotation, and some thought he needed a lot of work on his command. A good prospect, to be sure, but one with question marks.
Over the next two hours, Richards was nearly unhittable. He walked none and K’d 7 in 7 innings, touched 97 quite often and showed a very good change-up and slider. He made two mistakes, but the combination of velocity, command and stuff was eye-popping. A scout I talked to a month or so later said it was the most impressive performance he’d seen in the league that year; yeah, OK, we’re talking the PCL and not the Southern League, and no, he hadn’t seen Shelby Miller, but Richards flashed serious ability.
From April 26th to May 9th, Richards pitched a total of 7 2/3 IP, giving up 22 hits, 14 runs and yielding 10 walks (and four HBPs!) to 8 Ks. When people talk about inconsistency and lapses, this is why. It shouldn’t really be a surprise; Richards posted an ERA of 6 in all three of his seasons at the University of Oklahoma. Still, having seen him at his best, I completely understand why many in the LA organization look past his so-so stats and focus on what he could be.
The M’s need to make him throw strikes tonight, and they need to be able to hit mistakes when he makes them. Mike Wilson was able to do so back in early April – and it’s easier for this group of hitters to emulate/replicate what Mike Wilson did than it is to emulate what Albert Pujols does. The M’s have their lefty-heavy line-up in, which means Jaso catches. See? The job of making Richards throw strikes just got easier.
1: Ichiro (RF)
2: Ackley (2B)
3: Seager (3B)
4: Montero (DH)
5: Smoak (1B)
6: Jaso (C)
7: Carp (LF)
8: Saunders (LF)
9: Ryan (SS)
SP: Blake Beavan
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72 Responses to “Game 58, Mariners at Angels”
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Can we give up on Beavan as a starter
Why would Beaven put anything near the plate at 0-2 against a guy who swings at almost anything?
dw
Change topic…I saw the article on ESPN about instant replay being implemented for foul/fair and safe/out calls….Any thoughts? I mentioned in another thread about crappy umps, so I thought we could NOT think about this disaster of a game.
I’d love to see Hamilton leave Texas, whether it be here for a reasonable deal, or anywhere else for an expensive deal:P But I suspect he’ll figure things out with the Rangers.
@WTF
If they were to implement something like that, I’d imagine there would be lots of complaints about game-time. I’m not sure I’d be on-board with it, though I can’t say I’m happy with the umpiring either. Id’ be real curious to hear what the owners & managers around the league think.
Is Ichiro o-fer since his 2nd home run on Saturday?
Getting embarassed by a 24 year old (just turned) with all of 8 games in the majors. Seattle Mariners baseball.
With any luck, Hultzen, Paxton, and Walker will be doing the same thing for us!
Saunders! At least someone’s having a good night for us!
This game sucks, but Saunders is making it worth watching. Love the opposite field power. Remember how useless Saunders used to be on pitches away?
Holy freaking crap … Saunders is going to be leading the team in Avg pretty soon.
What!!!???
I think he and Carp traded places since last season.
From what the article said, it was the umps that got it blocked. It was supposed to have been expanded this year. It’d be a lot like th NFL where the booth would have replay umps, so gamesome would be less effected.
Ryan hits way too many fly balls like that for a guy with basically no pop. He hits the ball hard, but it shouldn’t be in the air like that. He needs to turn those into line drives if he’s ever going to be a respectable hitter.
Mike, if Carp and Saunders traded places, why isn’t Carp a better fielder?!
Jebus, Richards looked *exactly* the same tonight as he did in April. Exactly.
Damn you, Angels. Hey Garrett, go piss off Scioscia some more so that they dump you on someone the way they did Mike Napoli.
I was there in Tacoma, too.
It was freezing freaking cold, and he was getting hit a lot harder in Tacoma than he was tonight.
@wtf
Was there a date set for having another go at it? Wonder if they’d have it in time for the playoffs?
Iwakuma’s looking good. Wonder if he’ll ever see a start.
damn, I spoke too soon.
At least Carp didn’t GIDP like usual.
Steve, no…didn’t mention it, as it was supposed to have already been done.
Saunder is free to try to stretch an infield single into a triple, if he’d like.
Damnit. Back to the good old days of “tipping our caps” to pitchers that who will be getting hit around in their next start.
Man, doesn’t get you far when only one guy on your team is able to hit a particular pitcher, unless maybe you’ve got Felix on the mound for you.