Game 105, Mariners at Twins
Hernandez vs Slowey, 4:10 pm.
Happy Felix Day.
The trade deadline has come and gone, and it sounds like there were no deals made by the Mariners today. Not a huge surprise, as we talked about yesterday. The only guys who are affected by this deadline are League and Aardsma, and the M’s didn’t seem very motivated to move either. Neither are having great years and still have team control left, so they could boost their stock with a strong finish to the 2010 season, and be trade bait this winter. Or, stick around and help the 2011 bullpen. There was no urgency to move either.
The rest of the guys will be able to clear waivers, so the M’s can continue to shop them for the next month if they want to. Just because Jose Lopez is still here doesn’t mean that he’s going to finish the season as a Mariner.
If you needed a bigger sign that the team has tired of him, the M’s recalled Matt Tuiasosopo from Tacoma today, and he’s playing third base today. I’d expect he’ll get the majority of the playing time at the position going forward. Wak still likes him, and the M’s will probably give him a shot to see if he can finish strong. I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s more interesting than watching Lopez pull the ball to third base five times a game.
Going down to Tacoma to make room for Tui is Justin Smoak, whose struggles we’ve talked about the last few days. This isn’t a bad idea, I don’t think – give him a few weeks to get his feet under him again, let him get his confidence back, and then he’ll return to the club when they trade Kotchman or when rosters expand.
In less happy news, Sean White was also recalled and Milton Bradley was placed on the DL. Oh joy, oh bliss.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Kotchman, 1B
Branyan, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Saunders, LF
Bard, C
Tuiasosopo, 3B
Jack Wilson, SS
Comments
74 Responses to “Game 105, Mariners at Twins”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
And why can’t Tui throw a baseball!?
Kotchman can even save Tui errors. God he is a witch with the glove. Too bad he can’t hit.
Dear Felix,
Joe Mauer owns you … and it has nothing to do with “luck.” Do not pitch to him. Roll the ball to the plate and he might not hit it as hard. You also might not have to duck as often.
Love,
Mike
There you go …throw shit in the dirt and maybe he will swing at it. This time he did – and you didn’t end up having to duck.
wtf Ichiro, 3 k’s
Ichiro is on pace for a new career high! Unfortunately it is his O-swing% which is at 36%.
This offense is the worst in the MLB, but is the worst af all times??
I’m beginning to wonder if the first inning was due to Felix sulking about the loss of his personal catcher. He threw a lot of meatballs up there, and seems to have “regained” his usual form since then.
Wow this team is totally unwatchable
2 called K’s at pitches 1″ or less off the plate and 1 swinging K at a pitch that bounced across the opposite handed batters box. When you swing at shit like that, you have a lot less credibility with the umps – when you “disagree” with something they called an 1″ off the plate. Ichiro’s approach is absolute horse-shit too often. If he had Gwynn’s discipline, he probably could have made a run at hitting .400 during one of his high avg. years.
With that said, I am going to make an advance prediction on Ichiro’s next AB: Single.
So, does Slowey now vault up the ladder into the Top 3 for this years Cy Young consideration?
You usually need to wait until mid-September to see these types of inspired performances by teams out of the running. Lucky us, we have gotten to see a lifetime’s worth in less than one full season.
Yay!
No more predictions for the evening. No need.
I agree Msfanmike….Ichiro has been increasingly aggressive with each season. For comparison in 2002 his O-Swing% was 20%. Basically he averages a 1.5% increase in his O-swing% with each passing year. Not to mention fangraphs has his speed rating at 4.9, the league average is 5.0! I don’t know, or claim this is the beginning of the end for Ichiro. They are just very discouraging signs from the highest paid, and best player on the team.
I think it just makes him a little less interesting and equally more frustrating to watch from time to time … but not representative of any actual decline yet. He had a season where he hit just a tick above .300 with 205 hits (2004 or 2005?) – and he will likely have a better season this year than he did then. Ichiro has a lot of gas left in the tank. I didn’t complain about what his salary was at that time (underpaid) and I won’t complain about his salary at the present time. I don’t care what they pay him. I don’t have to write the checks. Plus, all the metrics which you likely know better than I do (that are used to calculate value in terms of wins in comparison to salary) show that he is more than worth his salary (every season except 1 during his career). It was a link Dave provided earlier this week. I read it. I understood it. I even appreciated it.
At this point, I would like to see an advance metric (created by Dave) used in concert with some fancy use of the English Language (written by Carson) – that can prove this season didn’t actually happen. It can be called “Baseball Between the Numbers Rev 2” … and only available to Mariner fans.
Why is what’s his knuckle (on the radio – Pittman?) all over Figgins again? What did Figgins do or not do?
Oh, he’s a “jerk” according to Pittman. I see. A jerk.
I missed whatever it was that Figgins “did.” I know he didn’t get 3 hits today. He had 3 hits yesterday though. But today, he is a “jerk” because the Mariners didn’t trade him?
What the fuck is Pittman talking about?
Please fill me in … if this Site is still active
Slate? That’s limestone, a stone that is prevalent in Minnesota. The limestone inside and outside the park is absolutely beautiful and very Minnesotan. Brick or block? Just do what everyone else did instead of doing something original using local materials? Puh-lease.
There is absolutely nothing cheap about this ballpark.
SBG, I think it’s great you guys finally got a real ballpark. Having said that – what was it like in early April? I know Minnesota isn’t the only place with cold spring weather at times – the Mariners had an early-season series at Cleveland snowed out a couple years ago!
April was absolutely gorgeous — our warmest April on record, I think. My first game was a night game in April and it was about 60 degrees. I had a light jacket on and was very comfortable. The park has a concourse all the way around it that is open to the field. There are heat lamps in the concourses — you can stand under the heat lamps when it is cool and watch the game, if you are so inclined. But April was absolutely terrific, weatherwise.
Average temperature in April: 47.2 degrees in Boston, 48.6 in Chicago, and 46.4 in Minneapolis. It’s not THAT much colder in MPLS than a lot of other northern cities that have baseball outside.
Thank you. I blew it. I knew it was limestone … and my fingers said “slate.” And I did say, it probably looks better up close than on TV. The LIMESTONE behind the plate (light color) looks dirty on TV. However, I have noticed it throughout the rest of the park, so there is a match and it is a very nice highlight throuhgout the rest of the park – and unique. As a matter of fact, it just might be the most beautiful accoutrament (sp?) I have ever seen … anywhere … at any time – even if it is not covered by a baggy.
At least we are discussing important things now.
Back to Figgins and Matt Pittman: Didn’t Figgins have what was arguably the only (and certainly best) hustle play of the day – when he backed up the errant throw to 1B from Felix, and he threw a strike to 2B … to Jack Wilson who was actually waiting at the bag to receive the throw and tag out the batter runner.
ALL THE PLAYERS AND PEOPLE THAT WORK ON THIS TEAM ARE LOSERS.
FIRE THEM ALL.
Tacoma is at least competing for a championship. It might be more fun to be there.
Tuiasosopo I don’t get. Why not just play Josh Wilson at third. he is a much better hitter, and probably a better defender.
Josh Lueke is now in Tacoma. His line on Saturday:
2 innings pitched, 1 hit, zero walks 4 k’s and he earned his first save at AAA. I know this guy has a history that is a PR nightmare for the M’s, but with their bullpen as awful as it is how can they keep him out of the majors much longer? He’s 25. Not exactly too young to make his debut. His criminal past is likely the only reason he was never called up by the Rangers. Just sayin…
Inter-FO politics, I’d imagine. Tui is local sports royalty because of who his dad is.
If How/Chuck are still in charge the next several years, we’ll probably draft Trey Griffey when he graduates – whether he’s played high school baseball or not.
“Not to worry, Luke French should be able to stop the bleeding tomorrow”
..and remember, ALL bleeding eventually stops! I believe we’re there…
No Mauer, don’t even think about using your closer, it’s only the Mariners.