Game 119, Mariners at Rays
Stepping in to get a game thread up, after we missed yesterday. Brad Miller was the big story, but it’s also worth taking a look at what Erasmo Ramirez is doing. Seriously, the guy is 4-0 with a 7.06 ERA – yes, in analytical terms those are numbers we don’t want to focus on, but it’s still a bizarre combination. Normally, you would think that kind of record belongs to a bad reliever who vultures wins by coming in with leads, giving up some runs, and then getting bailed out by his offense. But Ramirez has done this as a starter.
Similar to what Dave and Jeff have been talking about with respect to Farquhar, there’s also some divergence between results and performance here. Ramirez’s FIP is 5.25, and his xFIP is a practically respectable 4.03. Understanding how those are derived, you won’t be surprised to know that the differences are mostly due to home runs. Ramirez is giving up more flyballs than last year, and then they are going out of the park at insane rates. We’ll see if that normalizes over the rest of the year. Anyway, today’s game features:
Miller SS-L
Franklin 2B-B
Seager 3B-L
Morales DH-B
Morse RF-R
Smoak 1B-B
Saunders LF-L
Ackley CF-L
Quintero C-R
The pitching matchup of Harang versus Price is not one we necessarily want to dwell on, other than the tidbit that this is the first time Price has pitched against the Mariners in his career. Also, the right-left imbalance of the current roster is showing.
Glad to see Wedge keeping Miller and Seager in the 1 and 3 slots respectively.
Nice run in the first – is it trite to say it was “manufactured”?
Thanks for the thread, Mike!
Nice start for Harang.
Thanks much, Mr. Snow sir!
That run by the Condor to catch that ball, does Ibanez even go after it or just let it go foul since he’d not have been within 20 feet of it anyway?
Ibañez might’ve given us something GIF-able on that ball, Breadbaker. Condor just gave us a competent, boring catch.
There we go! Pour it on!
Nicky looking good there!
CLANK!
The palpable fear in Kelly Johnson’s eyes on that LF error was absolutely hilarious. Can someone please immortalize that in an Ibanez-style GIF?
Runners on base – 3 straight fastballs to Ackley and he watched them all go by. Probably his worst AB of the season.
Pull the trigger, son. Leave the vapor lock in the dugout.
This is why an actual manager makes a difference. Robby Thompson needs to understand that he might have been pitching just fine, but he’s still Aaron Harang. He can turn into a lump of coal at any time so you need to have someone ready to take over a lot earlier than he did. We’re lucky he’s leaving with a lead and it’s not at all unlikely he’s going to be the losing pitcher of record.
Credit Furbush.
Harang should kneel down and kiss Furbush’s feet when he gets to the dugout.
I think that Kelly and Ibanez yesterday had trouble with the notorious low Trop lights. Not that they couldn’t look bad without help.
Maybe a little higher than the feet.
^ hehehe
Alright. I’m done with Morse. Just go away. Please. Trade him. For anything.
All those people who said, “All who those people who said the Morse-for-Jaso trade was bad for the Mariners look like idiots right now” look like idiots right now.
Once again, the infield fly rule is ignored by our announcers.
Do we only have the one relief pitcher available?
Rizzs mentioned IFR on radio. We certainly have more than one Reliever but they have all shown the ability to walk batters at a stupid rate
I don’t know why but Medina makes me think of Julio Mateo. Except not as ugly.
Horrible call
Then again, the only guy as ugly might be Julian Tavarez.
That strike 3 call was pure shit.
Funny, Waco. I remember that very well after those early HR’s. I haven’t been rubbing it in, though. Maybe I should?
Just looked at the bartenders numbers in T-town. He gave up 3 ER in 1.2 inn. with 3walks.Let’shope Farq doesn’t catch the disease. Oh Farq!
That replay really made Chavez look silly.
Not-a-home-run.
That wasn’t a bad pitch.
THAT pitch, on the other hand…
Well, a triple-play puts it in extra innings.
Did Sullivan inherit the Cameron curse when he became the featured writer?
Crud.
What was it Jeff was saying about luck?
Side note: Saunders, with his 2-month slump, has a 2013 OPS that’s only ~ 20 points lower than Michael Morse’s.
Unfortunately that says more about Morse than about Condor (who is just a touch above AL average).
One more comment out of Krueger about how ‘Medina did a great job getting out a jam in the 8th’ and I’m going into the booth with a Louisville Slugger. Medina gave up three walks and put the top of the Rays line up in play for the bottom of the 9th,,,setting the stage for Farquhar to fold like a used Kleenex. Which he did. Why can’t they just give up 10 runs in the first so I can do something productive with my time? And while I’m ranting, how many walks does a reliever have to give up in a one run game before Thompson gets off his scrawny ass and does something? Or puts a shock collar on Dustin Ackley that will send him into convulsions every time he fails to swing at a pitch 3″ or less off the plate? Jesus.
Argh, exactly. And your name describes the game.
Well, Danny wasn’t going to be the reincarnation of Mariano Rivera. He’s going to have some bumps along the way, but I still like his aggressiveness. I would rather see us lose that way than load the bases with walks and a sac fly. Alas, tonight he earns the moniker Lord Fartwad
I’d say the Morse-Jaso trade is pretty much a toss up. Both have been limited to about 70 games, Jaso has higher average, Morse more homers and rbi’s. They probably cancel each other out defensively, with Morse having the upper hand at first. Not sure where Jaso would have gotten any at bats.
John Jaso has higher OPS than Michael Morse this year, and that’s as a catcher not a corner outfielder. You really can’t see where a catcher who’s hitting better than Morse might get at bats this year?
RBIs are not really valid as a statistic for evaluating an individual player’s performance. Heck, Barry Bonds only had 137 RBIs in 2001 when he hit 73 home runs – nobody was getting on base ahead of him. Jeff Kent, hitting behind Bonds, had 106. Bonds OPS was 1.378 that year!
Jaso has higher average, Morse more homers and rbi’s.
Awesome, really stupid comparison stats like batting average and rbi's, and ignoring things like Jaso having an on-base almost a hundred points higher.
Why don't you add in productive outs while you're at it?
Not sure where Jaso would have gotten any at bats.
Yeah, it’s not like the M’s are using catchers they picked up off of the waiver wi-oh, wait.
Here’s an idea. Both Morse and Jaso have significant (and complementary) splits, and I bet Jaso could play outfield as “well” as Morse does. We could platoon them! 😉
You must not watch Jaso in the field. I liked him when he was here but with Zunino ready to move up, keeping Jaso, a classic singles hitter, made no sense for this years roster. Jack moved him when his value was high and filled a big need, a power bat. Morse was off to a terrific start till,his injury. Looks like Oakland may only get 70 games out of JJ this year with his concussion problem.
Also, that extra ninety points on his on base amounts to roughly one walk per 3 or 4 game series, hardly an impactful difference.