Game 140, Rangers at Mariners
Taijuan Walker vs. Derek Holland, 7:10pm
This has got to be the most pressure Taijuan Walker’s felt in some time. You haven’t tossed a quality start since late June, and you’ve worked through injury and been sent to the minors as punishment by a manager who openly questions your attitude. In your last outing, you failed to get out of the first inning, so now you get to go out in front of your suspicious manager and pitch to the division-leading Rangers. Fun stuff.
Apparently, the M’s have made a minor adjustment to Walker’s motion and mechanics, as this post from Jason Churchill details. It may be too little, too late to save this season, but if Walker can get comfortable with these adjustments, it obviously sets him up to have a bounce-back 2017. Walker’s the kind of guy who’s made for instructs, where he could work with coaches on a back field in Peoria for hours, but the M’s are scaling back there, so he’ll either work solely on the side or maybe see action with a Caribbean winter league team. Overworking him is a concern, but it’d be nice to know his body’s comfortable with the mechanical tweaks by the time he gets to spring training.
1: Heredia, LF
2: Gutierrez, RF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Lee, 1B
7: Martin, CF
8: Iannetta, C
9: O’Malley, SS
The Rainiers won the opener of their playoff series in El Paso 6-5. Mike Curto called it the most tense game he’s called in years. Rob Brantly and Tyler Smith each had 4 hits in the game. Cody Martin starts game 2 for Tacoma.
Jackson topped Montgomery 3-0 in a great pitcher’s duel that went to extras scoreless. Tyler O’Neill won it with a walk-off 3R HR in the 10th, but the star of the game was SP Andrew Moore who tossed 9 scoreless innings, giving up just 1 hit. Brett Ash faces off with big-time Rays prospect Brent Honeywell tonight.
San Jose beat Bakersfield 5-3 just to spite me for saying they weren’t very good in the series preview. Sorry, Blaze. Top starter Zack Littell takes the hill in game 2.
Clinton blanked Peoria 4-0 behind a great start from Nick Neidert. It doesn’t get easier for Peoria: they face Luiz Gohara who already has 8 K’s through 5 scoreless.
Everett and Spokane were rained out yesterday, but Brandon Miller is ready to start game 1 tonight.
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10 Responses to “Game 140, Rangers at Mariners”
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Bases Loaded, one out, middle of the order. This is the time to shine, fellas!
Getting more than one run this time would be nice…
Yeah! Chris Ianetta!
Walker’s issues aren’t mechanical, they’re mental. He throws the ball down the middle too much and gets crushed. Most likely got away with it his whole life and simply hasn’t made the adjustment to MLB hitters.
These pitch counts are pretty incredible so far. It’s a bad sign when you root for relief pitchers just so the game ends before 11.
The TV announcers were even commenting on the pace of game earlier.
Woo hoo! Mariners take 3 of 4 from the Rangers!
Positive vibes after game 140, since we are looking for some moral victories for the september roster:
Sean O’Malley started the year hoping to be the utility infielder. He might end the year as our de facto starting shortstop. He’s gotten my respect with his glove.
Heredia has a legit arm in the OF, two legs that work, and he’s hit major league pitching enough to be able to plant a flag on this roster as the 4th outfielder. Both Heredia and O Malley strike me as guys who will have solid career paychecks even if they never truly gel as hitters.
Zunino + Ianetta = a major league catcher, possibly 2. Its a shame they both hit from the same side of the plate.
Diaz is the real deal, I havent been this excited about a Mariner reliever since… Carson Smith.
Leonys Martin makes me think about Mike Cameron from time to time. At no point last year did I ever think of Mike Cameron watching the guy last year. I’ve temporarily forgotten his name, hopefully that memory loss is permanent.
I look forward to another season of Dae Ho Lee and (!) Adam Lind. Neither is a legend in the making, but they are both a damn sight better than Morrison/Hart were last year.
Pitching mainly in shambles, we can completely focus on the 40-man roster to see what we got… Miranda? Scribner? Zych? Vincent? Johnson? time will tell.
Was watching the Rangers broadcast on MLBtv. Around the 6th inning they pretty much completely stopped talking about the same and went on and on for about 15 minutes about their lunch at Salumi. Didn’t know how Heredia got on base in the 7th because they kept showing pictures of the beef tongue sandwich. Thanked Rick Rizz for the tip about 30 times. It was pretty hilarious, but–come on guys, you’ve got a playoff bound team here!
Let’s be honest, Salumi is pretty freaking outstanding.