Game 8, A’s at Mariners
Taijuan Walker vs. Sean Manaea, 6:40pm
Well, here we are. The strangest home opener any of us have experienced. The M’s host the 3-3 Athletics, who have played Anaheim and Colorado. The A’s have stumbled a bit at the plate; after a tough series against the Rockies, they’re sporting a sub-.300 OBP.
In recent years, they’ve had a good offense, but have benefitted from some great pitching performances. They’ve needed them, given how injury prone they’ve been. One of their top pitching prospects missed almost of 2019, and is hurt again now. Tonight’s starter had TJ surgery a few years back, interrupting his development. But despite these setbacks, they’ve gotten good-enough (or better!) pitching from their depth starters like Chris Bassitt and Daniel Mengden.
Sean Manaea’s an ex-phenom, I suppose. After a dominant Cape Cod league performance, he was the favorite to go #1 overall in the 2013 draft. But his junior year at Indiana State was plagued with inconsistency and minor arm trouble, and he fell to the competitive balance round. For years now in the majors, there’s still the sense that you don’t know which Manaea you’ll see. Far from the mid-90s he sat at in college and flashed in the minors, he’s been around 90-92 in the bigs. He averaged 90 last year after coming back from surgery, but sat at just 88 last week.
He has a weird, Justus Sheffield-like sinking four seam fastball, a slider (for years his best pitch), and a so-so change. He’s mixing in a curve now, though it’s still a work in progress, and lacks real depth. The lefty has been ok against righties, as his slider has been very effective against them. His fastball has been less effective, so the M’s will probably look to jump on fastball counts.
1: Crawford, SS
2: Lopes, DH
3: Lewis, CF
4: Seager, 3B
5: White, 1B
6: Nola, C
7: Long, 2B
8: Moore, RF
9: Gordon, LF
SP: Walker
Welcome back Austin Nola! The catching crew was a bit suspect with both Tom Murphy and Nola out. Crawford’s started the season on fire, which is great to see; I was losing hope he could be a league—average bat. It’s early, but he and Kyle Lewis are propelling what’s been a surprisingly good line-up. Obligatory small sample caveats, of course.
Walker has been dealing.
I missed these last couple games, and the Mariners won both of them. Perhaps the best thing I can do as a fan is… not watch? 😉
Pretty sure it’s eponymous who’s fueling Seattle’s success right now!
Kikuchi has been dealing.
Nice to see Kikuchi work his way out of trouble and keep the A’s off the board.
Solid start.
I much prefer watching Evan White handle first base than, say, Daniel Vogelbach.
Watching Vogelbach play first is entertaining.
It’s just a different kind of entertainment.
Kyle
Lewis
Pretty sure it’s eponymous who’s fueling Seattle’s success right now!
You rang?
So far with a little less than 20% of the season in the books, the Mariners are, to paraphrase the words of Denny Green, who I thought they were. Rebuilding. There will be nights where you see flashes, there’s some talent, and then there’s the nights where watching Dipoto’s latest dumpster dives will show you why they were in the dumpster. Fangraphs says this is among the worst rosters in baseball. Sure, we’ll go with that. All the pleasant surprises we have for the rest of the year welcome, I guess.