Game 28, Mariners at Astros
Hisashi Iwakuma (!) vs. Dallas Keuchel, 1:10pm
Great to see Iwakuma return to the big club; the M’s got very solid starting pitching from the fill-ins while Iwakuma (and then James Paxton) was out, but this offense needs some help if they’re going to contend. The M’s aren’t going to slug their way to 81 wins unless something changes fairly dramatically. Adding an elite pitcher is still going to help their chances, though. Iwakuma wasn’t throwing any splitters in his simulated game, and apparently used it very sparingly in his rehab start with Tacoma, but it’s obviously an important pitch for him. I think that’s the most important thing to look for today: is he able to get the same sharp break on it, or will the pressure it puts on his finger noticeably alter the pitch?
Dallas Keuchel. I’ve said before that his name sounds like some sort of regional dessert, so now we need to figure out what a “Dallas Keuchel” should be. A blueberry danish, battered and deep fried, then drizzled with honey.
Keuchel’s had a solid year, and Adam Lewis hints at one reason why: he dropped his big slow curve and picked up a slider (Lewis calls it a slurve) that’s on a similar plane as his change-up. The curve ball was apparently easy for batters to identify, as they hit .370 off of it and posted a better-than-.600 slugging percentage. He’ll use the slider against righties and lefties alike, so the fact that he’s had better results with it isn’t just a platoon advantage artifact. Keuchel’s K rate is up a bit this year, but fundamentally, he’s a ground-ball guy with a good sinker and a sinking change-up. The change is an important pitch for him – he only throws it to righties, but it gets swinging strikes and ground balls. Keuchel’s struggled against righties in his career, as you might expect from a sinker/slider pitcher throwing 90mph, so developing the change-up – and disguising it with his slurve – has been critical to Keuchel’s improvement.
1: Saunders, CF
2: Romero, RF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Hart, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Smoak, 1B
7: Gillespie, LF
8: Miller, SS
9: Zunino, C
SP: Iwakuma
The story of the game last night was the bullpen usage, as McClendon went to Yoervis Medina in the 8th, up a run, instead of turning to Danny Farquhar (who eventually did pitch the 9th and 10th). I mentioned it on twitter last night, but in terms of leverage index – who pitches the most important innings – Farquhar’s clearly the 5th righty in the pen, and essentially the #7 guy overall. The bullpen has 7 pitchers. With Luetge’s demotion (to make room for Iwakuma), Farquhar’s got the lowest leverage index upon entering the game (gmLI) on the team. And it’s not even close – Medina and especially Wilhelmsen are the righty set-up men, with Furbush also getting important innings. Dom Leone’s a step behind those two righties, and Rodney’s obviously the closer. That means Farquhar’s pitched some garbage time innings. He got some important innings last night, but it’s not just hindsight that makes the M’s usage look odd.
The Angels are in some tough negotiations with the city of Anaheim over the lease on Angels stadium. To get some leverage, or just to explore all of their options, the Angels have approached other cities in Orange County to talk about a new development. The A’s are famous for trying to get out of their mixed-use facility and into Fremont; it’s kind of odd to see the Angels -the team with an owner willing to spend lavishly and refurbished baseball-only park – thinking about a similar move.
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87 Responses to “Game 28, Mariners at Astros”
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WE are going to lose this game. How horrible and demoralizing
Why is Medina still in?
Not a 4 out save attempt. 3 outs punish us enough Fernando!!
Not using Farquar last night – when he should have been used – has resulted in him not being available today. Lloyd may get a two for one Medina special out of yesterdays decision.
I’ve seen as much as I want to see of Medina for a while.
Oh, if only we had a fresh arm in the bullpen…
Wow our bullpen sucks. I cant watch this anymore. Came in from rototilling the garden and adding 1 ton of horse manure. Came in to watch Horse Shit Baseball by the M’s.
Who puts a freaking hill PLUS a flagpole in center field?
Well that makes sense, Mike!
Is anyone persuaded that Medina should be pitching in high leverage situations?
Oh man…
How in the world does anyone blow a 9-2 lead to the AAAA Astros? Incredible.
I can’t stand it anymore !
Lloyd needs to take some of the blame for this debacle. He screwed the pooch yesterday and it has boiled over today. Oh the pain of being an M’s fan.
Eastside, think about it: you have unlimited bull shit coming from the bullpen… Perhaps we need a way to bag and sell it… Call it the Mariners Way Manure?
There’s not much alternative but bringing in Rodney with the bases loaded is not ideal
When the bullpen is blowing a massive lead, you turn to the steady hand of Fernando Rodney.
Im about to go back to shoveling shit. Way more relaxing.
Breathe… Breathe…
The Rodney Experience is ON.
Need a ground ball to Seager here
That was a Mariner swing. Thank god
The angels said: “Ball four”. The batter didn’t listen.
Great movement on that pitch and a great frame
Whew!
Whew…..back to the Garden. Go M’s
Ugly win.
Nothing to it. Piece of cake.
Yeah!
Someone please explain to me why the f**k Medina is pitching the 8th for this team over Farquar? Medina sucks, not only should he not be pitching the 8th but he should not be pitching for the Mariners. We should send him to Tacoma and bring up Pryor, or Smith. Anyone know if Pryor is fully healthy, and pitching well in AAA? I haven’t been keeping close tabs on it.
Glad we won, but I’m getting sick and tired of plugging in my heart monitor every time we turn the game over to the bullpen. I’ve spotted 3 more gray hairs in my head today, and I’m only 27. This team will be the death of me, the death of me I tell ya!
Farquhar wasn’t available today, but I’m thinking that, like Saunders, he may end up being the guy they turn to by default.
Let’s try Wilhelmsen – fail! Medina – fail! Furbush -don’t think so. Hey how about the guy WHO WAS A GOOD CLOSER LAST YEAR! Let’s give him a shot.
Lloyd has shown some real stubbornness concerning both those guys and his critical attitude toward Saunders play seems a little odd. All is forgiven if he actually learns from it and doesn’t bury them on the bench after their first cold streak.
Wow, the Heartbreak Kids come through… And heart medication sales are off the charts in Seattle.
Just had to share this bizarreness I stumbled upon–
Mike Morse this year with SF:
90 AB’s, 6 Dbls, 7 HR’s, a .311 avg, .968 OPS, 178 OPS+
WTF? Who did we sign last year?
Oh wait, there he is… This year with the Giants, 27 games in LF, -19 Total Zone Rating
Wow, in both directions. (laugh)
Z: I saw someone putting this down to a sort of Swan Song for Morse. I don’t think so. He just had the luck to be traded off to a better team (how hard was that to accomplish?). And I mean better in the sense that they don’t have a huge backlog of doubt and disappointment laying beneath everything like quicksand.
We all know it’s not just the acquisition of players, but confidence.
Things, at least, are interesting. We’re right now looking at a knife-edge team, teetertottering across win/loss. They don’t have a team that has “win” written all over it, but they can win, regardless of how ugly.
Last year, it was just ugly.
Corey Hart is the new Jason Bay.
Z: Check Morse’s splits from last year. He had 8 HR thru Mar/April, and an OPS of .800 with a .245 BABIP. This year thru the end of April he was carrying a .932 OPS with 6HR and a .345 BABIP. And, he does have a couple of bombs already in May pushing his numbers higher.
The thing is, as you referenced – the defense. Good God the defense, and – he seems to inevitably get injured. I like the guy, and hope he stays healthy all season. But history doesn’t show that to be likely.
LongDistance…
Did you see the -19 runs on defense, in 27 games? Confidence can’t make him a better fielder. Morse in the NL is at best a zero sum player. At worst, he’s Mike Morse.
And like 11records points out– with similar offensive numbers last season thru April, it seems he’s only decent till the first pull/snap/sproing/tear to his body, and then the fade starts…