Game 119, Angels at Mariners – Battle of Baltimore Cast-offs
Ariel Miranda vs. Parker Bridwell, 1:10pm
The M’s try to salvage a game from this ill-fated series today behind Ariel Miranda. The M’s three-game slide certainly feels like a gut punch, but it hasn’t doomed the M’s playoff run as much as you might think, thanks to the Royals’ and Rays’ poor form. Of course, that’s balanced by the fact that these Angels are now a game ahead of all three. BP’s playoff odds still likes the Rays to end up with the 2nd wildcard, while Fangraphs thinks the Angels have the edge; BP likes the M’s chances better than Fangraphs, but both have the M’s with a slightly worse than 1 in 5 shot.
Today’s game features a pair of pitchers whom the perpetually pitching-starved Orioles essentially gave away. Miranda came to the M’s last year in exchange for Wade Miley, who’d pitched his way off the M’s, and has gone on to post a replacement-level year or so with Baltimore. Parker Bridwell, like Miranda, was a lower-tier prospect in the O’s org until this year when Baltimore gave up on him and sold him to Anaheim for cash considerations. Baltimore’s starting rotation makes the M’s look decent, as they’ve compiled a 5.49 ERA and just 4.5 fWAR this season. They are the primary reason Baltimore’s not in playoff position despite a hot start. Meanwhile, they’ve traded away legitimate starting pitchers in each of the last *5* seasons, as this Baltimore Sun article from earlier this year mentions: Jake Arrieta in 2013, Eduardo Rodriguez in 2014, Zach Davies in 2015, Miranda in 2016, and now Bridwell in 2017 (this last one came too late to be included in the article). Those five traded guys have put up 6 fWAR this season, so, uh, nice one, Baltimore.
Bridwell has a 92-93 MPH four-seam fastball and a 90 MPH cutter that he uses a lot of against righties. His outpitch is a true slider at 80, but he’s also got a change and curve. While he’s been effective for the Angels thus far, his FIP’s a lot higher, and he’s shown troubling platoon splits – lefties are pounding him. In the O’s system, Bridwell always struggled with his control, but he’s been surprisingly decent in that department with the Angels; his walk rates plummeted immediately after joining the Angels organization. He’s also a fairly extreme fly ball guy, which helps explain his somewhat high HR rates. Miranda’s home run rates are a much bigger concern, of course, and they’ve killed his effectiveness after an eye-opening start to the season. If the M’s want to re-take the wild card lead, Miranda’s going to have to figure out how to keep the ball in the park. Seriously, Ariel: use your splitter. A lot.
1: Segura, SS
2: Alonso, 1B
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Dyson, CF
7: Heredia, LF
8: Martin, RF
9: Ruiz, C
SP: Miranda
Tacoma won an incredible game last night in Cheney 10-9 in 11 IP. Mike Curto details it in his blog post, but the short story is that the R’s scored 4 in the 9th to tie the game at 6. After Reno scored 3 in the 10th to take a 9-6 lead, the R’s got two HRs in their half to tie it back up, and then won it on a Dan Vogelbach walk-off hit in the 11th. The win got the Rainiers back to .500 at 60-60. Bryan Evans, whom the M’s recently got out of the indie leagues to fill in for Arkansas, will come up to AAA to make the start today.
Arkansas beat Midland 5-4 thanks to a decent start from Nick Neidert and a two-run shot by longtime MiLB catcher Steven Baron.
Modesto and Clinton kept the streak going with one-run wins of their own, but Everett lost a one-run game to Boise, an 11-10 affair in extra innings. The AquaSox Greifer Andrade had the batting line of the night, going 4-6 with 3 2Bs. Pitching line…I guess we’ll go with Ljay Newsome’s 5 shutout innings for Clinton.
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6 Responses to “Game 119, Angels at Mariners – Battle of Baltimore Cast-offs”
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It would seem Miranda didn’t receive a copy of the “Control the Zone” memo.
A 4-game sweep at the hands of the California Angels at home, during Edgar Weekend might be the final nail in the coffin for the 2017 season. That much needed Alonso acquisition is paying dividends, right?
Random aside but Scott Servais maybe the most blah quotable of any manager in Ms history. After today’s game: “Unfortunately, we hit a bad spot here, a bad patch at home.”
The Mariners really need a manager with a passion for winning. Some fire would be nice.
I love how we’re ready to fire one of exactly two Mariner managers with a +.500 record because of one four game sweep.
If it wasn’t for his relationship with Dipoto, would Servais be the manager for any other MLB team? Last I checked, there is only one ex-Mariners manager currently managing in the big leagues and that is Melvin.