Game 32, Cubs at Mariners – Let’s Hope They Got It Out of Their System
King Felix vs. Cole Hamels, 7:10pm
A most happy Felix Day to all of you this Tuesday. I apologize for missing the last two posts, but if you’re going to miss a couple, could you possibly pick better games to skip? I didn’t even watch, as I fell ill, and spent essentially the entire weekend sleeping in the day and feeling sorry for myself at night. It’s been miserable. It’s almost like the M’s caught something though, too, and if their abysmal play was a gesture of sympathy, uh, that’s…that’s not necessary, guys. If it was just one of those weird things a team will go through during a season, that’s fine; all’s forgiven. Now score the King some runs!
The M’s made a pretty big personnel move, optioning CF Mallex Smith down to Tacoma and bringing back Braden Bishop. The UW product will slide into Smith’s spot, and Smith, who’d recently been working on his defense, will now get to work on his…everything in the lower pressure environment of the PCL. 2019 started so brightly for Smith, but he’s in a funk that quickly took on worrying proportions. Chris Davis spotted him an 0-33 start, but he’s since surpassed Smith’s slash line, and to be clear: Davis’ line is still awful.
I don’t think Smith’s a bust or anything, but whatever the M’s were doing wasn’t working, and when it perhaps started impacting his defense (as we saw in the Texas series), then the M’s made the move. It’s a great opportunity for Bishop, who was hitting .267/.356/.444. Bishop’s always carried a great reputation for his glovework, so the M’s don’t need him to carry the offense. The 10%+ walk rates he’s put the past few years give him even more of a cushion. As Brendan Gawlowski mentioned on Twitter today, he’s the first Mariner who’d also played at the University of Washington since Sean White back in 2010. The M’s org has had a number of Husky products get to AAA but not the majors, like Jeff Heaverlo, Forrest Snow, Andrew Kittredge (who made MLB with Tampa), and Nick Hagadone (who’d previously made the majors with Cleveland, et. al.).
The M’s face veteran lefty Cole Hamels, who I’ll always remember as one of the big prospects who debuted *After* Felix. If we separate baseball into the pre- and post-Felix eras (and we should), you’ve got Felix and Justin Verlander right at the 0 point. Matt Cain was just a bit later that same August of 2005, and Francisco Liriano was a call-up in September. And then, in 2006, the next wave came with Jered Weaver and Cole Hamels.
At the time, Hamels was a straight-over-the-top lefty who released the ball from about as high as he could reach, and that angle produced pure backspin on his fastball, giving it some of the best vertical rise you’ll see. That helped it play up from its so-so 90 MPH velocity. But of course whenever you talk about Hamels, you have to talk about his change up. It’s been his best pitch for well over a decade, and it’s stayed effective even as his arm angle dropped and his fastball doesn’t have quite the rise it once did (on the plus side, he’s throwing faster now than when he came in). He mixes in a cutter that’s been one of his favorite toys in recent years, and he’s thrown his curve more since joining the Cubs.
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SP: FELIX.
It was only, what, a week or so ago that the M’s announced they’d hired former great Mike Cameron to be a roving instructor for the club. Today, the M’s doubled down on legendary coaching hires by making Ichiro Suzuki an instructor who’ll focus on OF play and hitting for both Seattle and Tacoma. Maybe he can help Mallex Smith?
Jarred Kelenic is 2-3 thus far in West Virginia, with a HR and 2B. He’s on a long hitting streak, and now the question is just how long the M’s will keep both Kelenic and Logan Gilbert down in A ball.
Speaking of old friend Forrest Snow, he’s starting tonight against the Rainiers in Salt Lake.
Last night’s action featured a walk-off loss for Tacoma, a nice win for Arkansas capped with a Kyle Lewis HR, and a classic Cal League 14-11 slugfest in which Lancaster outlasted Modesto.
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