Game Two Recap
Boo, 1-1.
He’s not a Mariner, but let’s start with Dallas Braden. He’s basically Oakland’s version of Jason Vargas; a finesse lefty with a good change-up who throw strikes and lets the defense do the work. Except, tonight, the M’s decided to abandon their make-the-pitcher-work approach and chased every pitch he threw, most of them being pitches down and out of the zone. As such, Braden rang up 10 strikeouts, easily a career high. Now, maybe his pitches were just really hard to lay off or something, but the approach didn’t resemble anything like the one the team took against Ben Sheets last night. The M’s didn’t make Braden throw strikes, instead waving at pitches that they couldn’t do anything with. I’m not trying to take anything away from the A’s starter, but that looked more like bad hitting than great pitching to me.
Unfortunately, I think the same is mostly true about the Ian Snell and the A’s. Snell looked pretty similar to the guy we saw last year, throwing some decent pitches and some bad ones, plus struggling with his command at times. The two seam fastball was better than the four seam, as the extra velocity seemed to be accompanied by an inability to find the strike zone. The results were pretty decent, I know, but the A’s probably have the worst offense in the American League, and I don’t know that this would have worked all that well against a team that can hit. It’s good that he didn’t get lit up or anything, but I didn’t see anything that made me overly excited from Snell.
Kelley looked good, tossing his newly rediscovered change-up on his second pitch of the game, and locating his fastball and breaking ball well. Glad to see Wak use him in the 7th, even though he’s technically one of the two long guys in the pen.
Here’s a surprise – when Milton Bradley isn’t getting on base, this offense is pretty bad. Oh, wait, we knew that. Try to get on base more, Milton. The guys around you aren’t up to picking up the slack.
Lopez made a couple of mistakes in the field. They both looked like things he can learn to fix with experience, but yeah, there’s going to be growing pains with him over there.
And finally, yeah, he got the loss, but I thought Kanekoa Texeira looked pretty good. The breaking ball (I don’t know if he calls it a slider or splitter) has nasty downward break, and he showed confidence throwing it in any count, even in his major league debut. His fastball moves too, so while he’s not overpowering, he’s got a couple of pitches that can eat hitters up. The bloop double from Travis Buck that caused the problems in the 9th inning was on a pitch that just shattered Buck’s bat, and was nothing but bad luck. He threw some really good pitches in Rajai Davis to get a huge strikeout, showing he’s not just a ground ball guy. Ellis hit a pretty good pitch to win the game, too. I don’t have any complaints about his major league debut, even if it didn’t end all that well.
Teixeira did look good. The stuff was nice. I just think he was left in a bit too long, since we had other fresh arms ready.
Well at least it was an interesting game. Snell did his job. The offense looked miserable against Braden’s change-up. I can see why GMjack picked Texeira (despite his results tonight). Better luck next time Kanekoa.
Milton is missing those high fastballs….not good.
He actually spells his name “Texeira” not “Teixeira”.
oh yes I’m stoked we got a couple Hawaii boys on the squad. I’m whiter than Casper the friendly ghost but lived in Hawaii for 18 years.
Am I the only one who knows what happened there in the 10th? That was all the fault of a rookie catcher. Chavez and Ellis were both getting tipped off by Patterson who was stealing the signs. Moore never changed the signs on the last 3 batters. Watch it back if you have it on Tivo. It is really obvious. Shitty way to lose the game. Also it would help if the M’s could score a couple of runs.
Exactly. Did he really need to be in such a high pressure situation for that long?
Second game in a row I wasn’t overly impressed with Wak’s bullpen management. They were trying to “stretch out” Kelley in spring training to throw 3 innings as needed, and Mark Lowe is supposed to be able to go 2 innings-ish. After using three pitchers last night, Wak left himself with only one reliever who was “fresh” (Tex).
The idea that these early games are your chance to “get work in” has to go. Texeira wasn’t bad, but he was essentially thrown to the dogs. I’m sure League could have thrown some more pitches after last night, and DA is nominally an everyday closer–but in a tie ball game, high leverage situation, Wak had no idea if he was staring at a 9-inning game or a 15-inning game.
Also, our lineup sucked. But we all know that.
Is there ANY OFFENSE ON THIS TEAM AT ALL????
ANYTHING???
For a sinkerballing strike thrower, I really didn’t see many sinkers. Or strikes.
Also Eric Byrnes belief system seems to involve swinging as hard as he can at anything thrown slower than 97 mph.
Frustrating to lose a game when we get these kind of “results” from Snell. I agree completely Dave, not at all confident in Snell but man, really would like to win games where Ian Snell goes 6 IP and gives up 1 run.
I only got to listen to the game on the radio and didn’t get to see the pitchers. Thanks for the Snell/Texeira analysis!
Matt Pittman is raising questions about Milton Bradley’s “slow start” after 2 games. Seems a bit premature.
I just read a very interesting perspective from Curt Schilling over at espn.com. Its about the use/abuse of pitchers on defensively focused or offesively inept teams (whichever you prefer).
Obviously there’s a lot more to a game than the last two innings, but I still think Wak’s decision to not bring out K-Tex was a huge mistake that needs to be further addressed. As debuts go, sure, he showed composure and the overused Mark Sanchez adjective, “poise.” But let’s not forget that it was the hits he let up that forced him into those pressure situations.
Before the season we talked about the need to capitalize on a soft April schedule considering our injuries. Well, this type of game is one where you hope Wak won’t experiment with relievers. These types of personnel decisions should be shored up going into this game.
The first issue of the Recap needs to delve into Wak’s off par pitching choices the last two nights. After bringing in White last night, and leaving K-Tex in tonight, I’m a little worried about pen management.
Clearly being overly paranoid here, but I think we can all agree we need as many wins as possible to start this baby off, (vs. scrambling for Ws in August and September) and this one was very winnable with the top of the lineup coming up in the 11th.
Schilling’s article was pretty interesting, especially his comment about 85 pitches in a 1-0 game being more draining than 125 pitches in a 9-2 blowout. The body’s chemical stress response is pretty draining, and if lack of run support lowers a pitchers stress threshold, I could see a biological effect.
Has anyone tried to quantify it through stats?
I too was confused why Kelley didn’t log more innings in a tie game when he was supposedly being stretched out for starting, if not for situations *exactly* like this one.
Also I wasn’t very impressed with Tex. Nice breaking ball, but his fastball was getting tattooed.
Amen JMHawkins……it could be as simple as being so focused on the one run game you feel “drained.” Like taking a hard test, your mind is tired so the body follows suit?? Of course I would love some numbers to support or debunk this. I think statiticians need psychology classes to compliment their numbers and bring an understanding to the unquantifiable variables of the human psyche.
Tex’s stuff looked good, but he didn’t seem to be able to throw a strike when he needed to. That last pitch in the 9th could’ve been called ball 4 and walked in the winning run if it hadn’t ended up as a pop up (I thought all 5 pitches in that at bat were balls, actually).
Normally I wouldn’t think it’s a horrible decision to send him out again, saving the bullpen and all that, but wasn’t this his first appearance above AA? Holding a 1-1 tie in the 9th and 10th on the road seems a little like baptism by fire, even against the A’s lineup.
spankystout–
I think what JMHawkins was noting along with Schilling’s amateur pscyhologizing underscores is that there is, in fact, a physical response, not merely in the human psyche. The body’s natural stress mechanisms will trigger whenever it THINKS it is in danger; you have a fixed amount of hormones and neurotransmitters in your body, and after they are used up, you’re done until they can be replenished.
There is a physical effect going on here, a crash after high adrenaline levels or the like. Who needs psych classes? Just run blood tests in stress situations; it doesn’t even have to be on ballplayers.
I agree….. The body dumps adrenaline and cortisol into the body when under stress. A quote I found on webmd was too much of a chemical cocktail and you need to “shutdown and reboot.” I personally have an extensive understanding of the psyhical reaction to a constant percieved stress(anxiety). I was pointing that each person is different in how they handle or cope with it.
I can’t cut and paste on this damn thing. Go to webmd and check out the article on “Testosterone ups home field advantage.” Amazing stuff!
Today’s fun useless stat for the day is that the Ms were 2 for 5 in tonight’s webgems.
#5 was Byrnes’ play at the wall in foul territory and #1 was Kotchman digging that short-hop screamer out of the dirt and then racing it to the bag.
I think I’m talking to myself now. Anyways I did some quick research and there is a correlation between adrenalin and lactic acid levels. Everyone knows Mr.Adrenalin so I don’t need to elaborate on it. Lactic acid on the other hand builds up in the body during strenuous activities and makes you “sore” unless you get enough oxygen in your blood to combat this buildup you will need to rest. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps apparently has abnormally low lactic acid production and an ability to bounce back faster than average. Which some say gives him an “advantage.” Can someone control their perceived stress? If they can through “mental toughness” do they produce lower levels of adrenalin, cortisol and lacticacid? Thus making it a human psyche issue is what I was alluding towards. Either way stress makes you tired.
For my money, it was a relatively late-breaking slider. The hand grip didn’t look like the splitter, and I don’t think Texeira is a prime candidate to throw that pitch, anyway (due to what I see as lack of ideal hand-size).
One hundred and sixty games to go. Please hit, Mister Bradley.
I know it’s early in the season, but already we’re making the other team’s
look like he’s a Cy Young candidate.
If we can’t win games where we hold the opposing team to 1 run through 9 innings, this is going to be a REALLY long season. This was a tough way to pick up our first L.
Did carrying only 11 pitchers play a role in leaving Texeira in for the 10th? Given the iffyness of starters not named Felix, did Wak need to save what he has in the bullpen? Tough to rely on a rule 5 guy in that spot.
In the innings I watched, it seemed like it was more Braden throwing a breaking pitch for strike one than it was the M’s not laying off of it.
So, yes, I think it actually was the pitching more than the inept hitting.
If the hitters are mostly starting off 0-1, it becomes quite a bit easier to pitch.
Tex’s throwing a slider and a 2 Seamer with solid arm side run! You have to really credit Blengino on this one because he was one of the driving forces for getting him in the rule 5. To be able to pick up 2 solid relievers and a first and second basemen on the offseason, not to mention Cliff Lee, Wow!!! By 2012 this team could have solid depth and some serious upside!
There’s something wrong with your offense if almost every guy in your lineup strikes out on a 70 MPH changeup two feet off the plate.
Nobody has mentioned that Ichiro made an out on the base paths for the second straight game. What’s up with that? He needs to be aggressive but his performance on the base paths thus far has been woeful.
If we can’t win games where we hold the opposing team to 1 run through 9 innings, this is going to be a REALLY long season. This was a tough way to pick up our first L.
Not sure if it was here or LL, but the other day I read an article about how tough it would be for other teams to get beaten by our M’s. In insanely frustrating fashion, other teams would walk away wondering how they got beaten by a team that scored 3 runs on 4 hits, after leading most of the game.
Welcome to the other side of the coin. I foresee many an M’s loss coming by 1 or 2 runs, after solid pitching performances, blowing numerous opportunities to seize a win against a team that *seems* beatable.
I think there are two different questions involved. One is whether some players can control their response to stress (e.g. how their body reacts to the adrenalin and cortisol). Do they freak out under pressure? Are they clutch?
The second question though is whether players can control when their stress response kicks in. I don’t think they can via “mental toughness” but I am certain that training and experience influence this. You can learn not to treat certain situations as stressful ones. I suspect this is what Schilling meant by different pitchers having different definitions of “going to the well.” Play for a team that scores lots of runs and a guy on second with 1 out is a concern, but not a stress trigger. Play for a team that struggles to score and maybe that guy out there flips the Stress switch.
The first issue, “clutchness”, has been statistically analyzed and the result is that there’s very little actual varience in “clutch” performance among Big Leaguers (my own theory is that guys who choke are weeded out before they make an MLB roster). What would an equivalent analysis of the second issue (Stress Trigger Threshold?) look like? Are we inherently dealing with small sample sizes and unable to separate out the real factors?
Woeful?
Really?
It was pretty easy to see why Wak stuck with Texeira in the 10th inning: He’s only got 6 men in the bullpen; its 8 days until the next day off; your 3-4-5 in the pitching order is coming up; its an extra inning game that you have no idea how long its going to go; everybody left in the pen pitched the day before so they can’t go more than 2 innings; likely the next guy in is Sean White.
The last thing Wak wants to do is blow up his bullpen on the 2nd day of the season, especially when it looks like his hitters are going to need another 6 innings to score a run.
Exactly, Kazinski. Most internet managers tend only to see what’s going on that day, not what’s coming up. As Dave pointed out, Ellis hit a good pitch. It wasn’t a fastball out over the heart of the plate. It wasn’t like Tex was exhausted.
There’s more to baseball than trying to micro-manage every game. Managers have to think several moves ahead. Keep in mind, it was a tie game, and if they did get out of the inning, and swapped out one more pitcher, it could affect the next game.
I don’t think Itchy’s baserunning has been anything near “woeful”.
He was actually safe last night on the pickoff, and his 3B steal attempt in the opener was damned close.
Milton looks like he either has lost some bat speed or has a hole in his bat, based on my completely unscientific eyeballing of a few of his ABs. He needs to be able to put a fastball at the letters in play, at least, and preferably to crush it.
Ichiro is doing what he needs to do which is being aggressive. He is one of the best in the Major Leagues at knowing when he can and can’t steal a base as indicated by his ridiculously high career steals rate for someone who attempts as many steals as he does. As others have pointed out, he probably was safe both times he got called out.
This Mariners team looks like it will be a league-average or worse hitting team, which means it will need to rely more heavily on the running game than most teams. This is evidenced by the 5-run opener in which the Mariners were moderately successful in stealing bases versus game two in which the running game was completely shut down after Ichiro’s pickoff in the 1st inning. Game results: 0 stolen bases, 1 run scored, first Loss of season.
I agree with Dave on his game assessment although one thing bears pointing out. Along with MB getting on base more, he looks positively uncomfortable at the plate. Some of his hacks are laughable and hes not even close to catching up with the high fastball. Hes never had a “pretty” swing but what I’ve seen the last two nights hasnt endeared me to him in the least. Hopefully he just needs to work through some timing issues and “see the ball” a little better. The sooner the better because this offense isnt going to get us very far without him anchoring the middle of the order.
rjc… did you watch the games? If you had you would see it was woeful officiating…. Ichiro did just fine. Reached third ahead of the tag on monday and reached first ahead of the pickoff on tuesday.
I also disagree that the M’s were hacking away at everything. Braden was at 30 pitches by the second inning. Braden was on top of his game. I put it at 70% quality pitching 30% poor hitting.
JMHawkins
Urine and blood tests are the only two tests. I would love if someone could quantify this somehow. Did you read “testosterone ups home field advantage” at webmd.com? What did you think?