Game 160, A’s at Mariners
French vs Cahill, 7:10 pm.
We’ve entered the stage where a lot of what’s going on is just bookkeeping. The Mariners are almost certainly going to pick #2. Aardsma and Branyan are likely out for the rest of the season. Felix won’t be going in the final game and instead we’ll get Ryan Rowland-Smith, for which there will be a substantial enthusiasm gap. The ERA title goes to Felix since Buchholz won’t be pitching.
A few new bits of info include that Pineda is with the team, basically as a spectator, and that Shawn Kelley’s surgery wasn’t as bad as expected. How good it will be is still up in the air, but the fact alone that he didn’t end up needing Tommy John a second time should be positive news for our bullpen future. He’s had a rough first couple of years in the majors and hopefully will get on track soon enough.
RF Ichiro!
2B Figgins
DH Gutierrez
1B Smoak
LF Langerhans
C Bard
CF Saunders
3B Mangini
SS Jo. Wilson
I say this should be “Happy Shawn Kelley day”!
WAIT! We’ve got a Langerhans sighting!!
I haven’t really said this too much this year, but DB’s actually made some slightly interesting choices with this lineup tonight…
Guess it must be Guti DH’ing while both Saunders and Langerhans are also both pencilled in for the same game.
How many Fangraph authors are Mariner fans? I’m counting 3. New Record?
On the bad news Felix jet got overtaken for the strikeout lead. I still wish he could make the last start just for the fans and to get 250 IP.
Below the linked Shawn Kelley story, there was also a story about Lopez telling Brown he’ll be ready to DH this weekend.
Ugh – hopefully the team shuts him down “as a precaution”.
BTW Bill Krueger is such a hypocrite. He talks about how Felix has a low win total and should win the Cy Young because Wins don’t tell all and then goes around and says Cahill has had a fine year because he has 17 Wins. Can we get a new analyst please? Dave? Buhner? Carson? Jay? Hell I may deal with Joe Morgan if I have to.
I think it could be possible for him to come down with a slight case of suckitis in that messed-up finger of his. 😉
True enough. I’m not crazy about Guti batting third but at least his September was better than his August. Condor is in the same boat there, but it’s mostly relative terms.
All in all though, without knowing exactly what the M’s are after aside from “experience”, I’m glad Brown is basically a non-factor among the candidates this winter.
Based on his fine “analytical” skills, I think Count Krueger might be trying to bump up to big Pox for a gig with Saturday Baseball for next season.
Figgy!
Franklin says hello, Bone.
Talk about limping to the finish line.
And, speaking of Fox Saturday Baseball, I noticed how Jeanne Zelasko is now the “court reporter” on Judge Joe Brown this season…
Going from a nationally-televised sportscast to a syndicated small-claims court show strikes me as a bit of downward mobility for some reason.
More like having the bloated carcass of this season being pushed across the finish line by the brooms and mops of the cleanup crew….
When was the last time they played any one of this years crop of TV commercials during a game? It seems like it’s been a while now….
There, I fixed it for ya! 🙂
They can’t, Swungonandbelted. Everyone in them is either gone, on the DL, or the Suckitis list.
Besides, that Ichiro one rules. Let’s just play it constantly.
Well, considering that every one but one featured somebody who’s no longer with the team (Lee, Lowe, Wak, Junior)…and the one that was left available for airplay was the one with Hyphen (who was also on the DL toward the end of the year), that tells you how sad of a year it was for even the marketing department this season.
Actually, I’m kind of glad in a way that this game is already beyond reach — since the rematch of the Australian Rules Grand Final is on in a little while, anyway.
We’re not getting no-hit tonight. We aren’t even getting one-hit!
Niehaus just remarked that Lopez’ year is over because of that “bad finger” — which leads me to tonight’s, uh, “lost” song lyric:
Looking out on my lonely stats…Day after day!! 🙂
I pity the announcers having to try to shill the 2011 tickets.
Although my attitude by now is, it’s GOT to get better.
A great slogan for next year:
The 2011 Seattle Mariners — It Can’t Get Any Worse!
Don’t dare them, Scott.
I was able to catch any games this year but I sure want to next year. Please make it worth my time/money!
A good bit of this year involved watching a bunch of veterans suck out loud (and I include RoJo and Lopez in this group even though they aren’t “old” per se).
At least next year it’ll be young guys who can reasonably be expected to improve at some point. For me, that fact alone will make the team more watchable.
Of course, after this season, the bar is kinda low…
God yes, Westside. I’ll watch young guys struggle all season over watching men who should do better…not.
Hey juneau_fan,
I’ve been wanting to ask you this all season- do you really live in Juneau? I lived at 340 Highland drive for 25 years.
Yes, I do. Currently I’m over on Douglas. I’ll have a great view when the avalanche strikes Highland like they’ve been claiming it will forever. 😉
When Sweeney comes in, the game’s over. And not in a good way.
So, a quick glance at the standings tells me the Mariners have sewn up the 2nd pick in the draft, is that correct?
Yup
The M’s aren’t limping to the finish line. They’re hopping on their bikes and tearing out of the stadium.
Mariners get pick #2!!
Pirates please pass on Anthony Rendon, but they wont.
Will we pick Gerrit Cole or Matthew Purke?
Should be Cole. From everything I’ve heard he is much more polished then Purke or Jungmann.
Mariners 2011 Lineup…..
1. Ichiro RF
2. Moe Howard C
3. Curly Howard 1B
4. Stan Laurel CF
5. Bud Abbott LF
6. Shemp Howard 2B
7. Oliver Hardy 3B
8. Lou Costello DH
9. Larry Fine SS
Just when you think that the 2010 season can’t get any worse, we are proven wrong.
This has to be the low point. On “Fan Appreciation Day”, the stands were mostly empty. We had an extra ticket, and since we couldn’t find anyone who wanted it we sold it for $5 — and nobody ended up sitting in that seat.
Then we get beat 9-0. After the second inning I couldn’t even maintain enough interest to continue scoring, and my only motivation not to leave was to see if we would win the 42″ LCD.
In the post-game show the word “dismal” was used to describe the game, and it seemed perfectly appropriate.
Are we fans — or are we enablers?
I sold an extra ticket as well for $5 when I went. No one ended up sitting in it.
2 more games left. So close.
Woeful admission: considering how bad this season was, when I took the whole family (we’re 5) to Ichiro Bobble-Head Night, instead of being good sports, I ruthlessly had everyone snag a Bobble Head… My only regret: we missed Felix B-Head night…
re: “We’ve entered the stage where a lot of what’s going on is just bookkeeping…”
uh… I’d set that stage a bit farther back than now… Like about 80 games ago…
I think Fan Depreciation Night would be a better description of last night’s fiasco, actually.
Snort! These last couple of comments have been pure gold.
Great art rises from deprivation, after all.
scott19: Priceless thanks for the Badfinger reference….I’m actually going to miss laughing about Lopez’ playing “abilities.”
“Bookkeeping” ended for me once Ichiro got #200 and Felix made his last start.
See you next year.