Game 55, Rangers at Mariners
James Paxton vs. Matt Moore, 7:10pm
Happy Maple Grove Day.
The M’s couldn’t quite put away the Rangers last night, and their bullpen slipped up a bit for the first time in what seems like weeks. Still, they’re the overwhelming favorites again today, as they’ve got their ace on the hill against Matt Moore, activated from the DL today (taking the 25-man spot of Austin Bibens-Dirkx, the guy who started last night’s game).
If you were into MLB prospects around 2010-11, you’ll remember Matt Moore, the kid from New Mexico whose rise to MLB ace seemed assured. You’d find old heads who’d mutter “There’s no such thing as a pitching prospect,” but then, Moore wasn’t a *pitching* prospect. He was a *legend* prospect. In 2010, he struck out 208 hitters in 144 2/3 IP. The following year, he K’d another 210 in 155 IP in the minors, then added 15 in 9 1/3 regular season innings with Tampa. His fastball sat in the mid-90s, and had unearthly armside run. He backed it up with a hard, nigh-unhittable curve and a solid change-up.
The Rays signed him to what seemed like an absurdly team-friendly extension that off-season in an echo of their extension for Evan Longoria. They were always going to move David Price, but they made a commitment – a somewhat tenuous one, but it’s the Rays – to Moore. He was decent in 2012 and 2013, but injuries and control problems limited his overall production. Even by 2013, his velocity was noticeably lower, and then he blew out his elbow, missing most of 2014 and 2015.
Since then, he’s been a pale shadow of his former self. Like the rest of the Giants, he was terrible last year, but even at $10M in salary, he seemed like a decent bounce-back candidate for the Rangers this year. That has…uh, not been the case. His K:BB numbers are bad, his BABIP is terrible, and he’s not stranding runners. Thus, his FIP is below replacement level, and his ERA is much, much worse than that.
It’s odd – he still gets plenty of swinging strikes, both with his now pedestrian fastball and also with his change – but he’s less and less able to turn those strikes into strikeouts. He can get to 0-1 counts, but batters are hitting .298/.371/.481 after going through an 0-1 count. Like many lefties, Moore’s faced an overwhelmingly right-handed set of batters in recent years, but it seems less important now; he doesn’t have dominant stuff even to lefties anymore, if he ever did. Lefties actually have hit him harder over his career.
1: Segura, SS
2: Heredia, CF
3: Haniger, RF
4: Cruz, DH
5: Healy, 1B
6: Seager, 3B
7: Zunino, C
8: Span, LF
9: Beckham, 2B
SP: PAXTON, Herr Maplegrove
The Rainiers dropped a 4-3 contest in Las Vegas last night, with local kid Tim Peterson getting the save. Immediately after the game, Peterson got the call up to Mets; I’m rooting for him after seeing what seemed like half of Puyallup come out and see him on the Rainiers last homestand. Tonight, Casey Lawrence takes the hill at Cheney as the Rainiers host Salt Lake and 2017 surprise Parker Bridwell.
Arkansas won a 16-10 slugfest against Midland, getting a HR from Braden Bishop. Not a great pitching performance from Nathan Bannister, but hey, the offense pounded out 21 hits. Anthony Misiewicz starts tonight’s game against Logan Shore, who made his AA debut against the Travelers back on the 24th.
Modesto was blanked by Stockton (like Midland, an A’s affiliate) 6-0. Ports starter Dustin Hurlbutt tossed 5 scoreless, giving him 8 2/3 scoreless IP on the year. Reggie McClain starts for the Nuts tonight against the Ports’ Parker Dunshee.
Clinton lost 4-2 to first-place Quad Cities (Astros affiliate). The second-place LumberKings hand the ball to Oliver Jaskie, who’s struggled thus far in 2018, giving up too many hits for a decent K rate to matter. He’ll be opposed by Venezuelan 18-year old Jairo Solis, making his 2018 debut. MLB has him as the Astros’ #12 prospect.
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10 Responses to “Game 55, Rangers at Mariners”
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Paxton is pounding the strikezone and getting nothing. Even one pitch right down the middle according to EQ tracer was called a ball.
His first pitch to Guzman was clearly a strike as well, and not called.
Is this it? is this when all our luck ends…. a win tonight ties us for first but I fear it’s not in the cards. Please please baseball gods, just let us win.
Outfielders missing the cutoff man is dooming the M’s tonight.
Jake, it’s the bullpen sucking. It’s not the outfielders missing cutoffs. Repeat last nights performance. We can only hope the bats come back.
Scrabble is garbage.
1 pitch 2 runs. How’s that for a bullpen?
Mariners just never gradually get worse, it’s always a huge implosion dragging them back to reality.
At least we’re not leaving the whole game up to Zunino.
More awesome outfield defense. What in the hell was Span doing on that flyball by Gallo?