Game 7, Mariners at Angels + Other Things to Worry About
Hisashi Iwakuma vs. Matt Shoemaker, 12:37pm
Our first day game of the year features an M’s team in near panic mode, having dropped the first two games against the soft underbelly of the Angels rotation. Today, they’ll get the best (healthy) pitcher the Angels have, in Matt Shoemaker. The M’s have fared well against the righty, but most of the damage against him has come in Safeco. Like many Angels pitchers, Shoemaker’s a different animal at home, with a better K:BB ratio and much lower HR rates; as HR rates are his biggest flaw, that’s a pretty important difference. And if you remember, Jeff Sullivan and others have pointed out that the Angels have been especially tough in *day* games in Anaheim. This isn’t a great match-up on paper, but then again, the M’s have struggled in what seem like tailor-made match-ups, so hey, let’s try something different.
I’ve mentioned it before, but Shoemaker really seems like an American version of Iwakuma. Neither has an overpowering fastball (though at this point, Shoemaker’s got 5-6 MPH on Iwakuma), and both feature an excellent split-finger/change. Both have excellent control, and both are susceptible to home runs. The splitter is such a great pitch because it essentially neutralizes platoon splits; it’s an equal-opportunity weapon. Shoemaker’s career splits are slightly reversed, with a FIP about a tenth of a point better against lefties. Iwakuma’s splits are reversed, and the gap’s slightly wider.
It wouldn’t be right to talk about this game and not mention what happened the last time we saw Shoemaker. A 105-MPH line drive off the bat of Kyle Seager slammed into Shoemaker’s head, ending his season and fracturing his skull. After emergency surgery in Seattle, he’s had to go through rehab and get comfortable on the mound again…all while learning to be a parent (his wife was 7 months pregnant at the time of the injury). This OC Register report mentions that he’s become good friends with Seager as a result of the injury, which is nice, but I can’t imagine how tenuous everything must have felt for Shoemaker. As a non-prospect, Shoemaker didn’t have a signing bonus that helped him pay the bills during his years of minor league bus rides, and despite nearly 3 solid years in a big league rotation, his largest salary had been $530,000. Living in Michigan, that’d be life-changing money, but if he wasn’t able to come back and get to his comparatively-generously-paid Arb years, he’d have spent nearly a decade of his life fighting to get where he was only to have it snatched away just as it was getting lucrative. He turned 30 years old during his post-surgery rehab. I don’t much care for the Angels, and I hope the M’s hit several HRs off of Shoemaker today, but I’m really glad to see him out there, and wish him the best this season. Except against the M’s. (I also can’t imagine what’ll be going through Seager’s mind today).
1: Segura, SS
2: Haniger, RF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Valencia, 1B
7: Martin, CF
8: Ruiz, C
9: Motter, LF
SP: Iwakuma
Tacoma dropped their first official game of the year 6-5 to Sacramento after a 3-run rally by the Rivercats erased a 5-3 Tacoma advantage. Tyler O’Neill hit his first AAA HR, a long 3R blast to left-center that gave Tacoma the lead. But in that fateful 8th inning rally by the RiverCats, O’Neill made two fielding errors that proved critical to Sacto’s comeback. Dylan Unsworth makes his first AAA appearance today against the Giants’ top prospect, Tyler Beede.
Arkanasas was stymied by Houston prospect Dean Deetz, and Corpus Christi smoked Traveler’s starter Tyler Herb for 4 runs in 4 2/3 IP. Kyle Hunter starts today for Arkansas against ex-affiliate San Antonio and lower-tier Padres prospect (they’ve got a LOT of pitching prospects, so it’s no slam on the guy) Brett Kennedy.
Modesto got walked off by Lake Elsinore last night, giving up 4 runs in the 9th for a 10-9 loss. Joey Curletta and Logan Taylor homered for the Nuts, but control problems and timely hits by the Storm meant it wasn’t enough. Control artist Reggie McClain starts today in his first High-A appearance.
Clinton was shut out again by Kane County, pushing their scoreless innings streak to 22. They’ve still scored in only one inning on the year. They’ll play the wrap-up game of the series today with Tim Viehoff on the hill for the Lumberkings. The lefty struck out 55 in 39 IP for Everett last season.
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23 Responses to “Game 7, Mariners at Angels + Other Things to Worry About”
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Thanks Cano.. Can breathe now first time all year.
Wow, tuned in to a 4-1 Mariners’ lead! A pleasant surprise…
Cano is having himself a good day!
BTW, Marc, the second Shoemaker-Seager link goes to the same place (theplayerstribune.com) as the first. I suspect you were referring to this story:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/shoemaker-748880-head-injury.html
For people with eyeballs on this one, how it Iwakuma looking?
I am not experienced enough to really separate a pitcher’s mechanics from his results… But he seems to be hitting his spots, at least.
Ugh Vincent strikes again! So glad we have a good lead, let’s close this out boys!!!
Haniger has kind of quietly managed to reach base in every game this season if I’m not mistaken. One of the few offensive positives.
Still waiting on Haniger, but his bat and approach look good. OBP is always a good thing. Not sold on Martin in CF though. Fast, yes, bad bat, yes. Take your pick I guess? Also, I mentioned this a coule years ago, but is Mike Z’s game calling an issue? Just a thought…
Oh come ON.
Well, Iwakuma looked good anyway.
Sheesh might as walk Trout at this point I guess.
This is upsetting.
Looks like staying inside on a nice April afternoon was not the right decision today…
That was dreamy.
I would say unbelievable, but this is very believable. Wow.
I’d like to say “I don’t believe it”, but unfortunately I can’t.
Hahahahaha. At least I can find something sadly funny here!
So that really just happened huh… wonder what the excuse will be.
Alright, now I’m going to jump on Grayfox’s bandwagon, this team is absolutely terrible tight now. Better start turning it around pretty quick or their season will be done. We have seen seasons lost by May before…
https://youtu.be/O3_ww66EeN8
Well that escalated quickly.
Possibly the most ridiculous thing about baseball is this team is a couple timely hits away from being 4-3.
Yet even if they were, i wouldn’t feel great about them. Probably the only thing that hasn’t been lousy so far has been our starting pitching, but if they can’t pitch into the 7th it negates much of that strength.
Lets let this team play some games at Safeco before we reach any lasting verdicts. C’mon fellas, surprise us.
I had to go back to 1994 to find a start this bad. But, last year at this time didn’t look very good either. And there were similar starts in 2004, 2008, and 2010.
Uh … considering what happened in those years (except 94, which was only just mediocre and I’m obviously not including last year) I guess I’m not cheering myself up let alone anyone else.
Jack Z must be rolling in his dingers-happy-antisabremetrics grave.
Seriously underwhelming for the moment.