Tacoma Rainiers Home/Stadium Opener
The weather’s a bit sub-optimal, but the Rainiers will open the remodeled Cheney Stadium tonight in Tacoma. The Rainiers face Sacramento tonight at 7:20, with Chaz Roe taking the hill for Tacoma against Cuban righty Yadel Marti of the RiverCats. It’s still raining in Tacoma, but the forecast has the showers tapering off around gametime.
It’ll be on 850am, and it sounds like the livestream at MiLB.com is now working.
I’ll try to get some photos and updates on the game, Dustin Ackley, Alex Liddi and any bullpen candidates to replace Chris Ray tonight.
Update: 6:50
It’s that wonderful spring half-mist, half-just-really-humid thing. It’s wet, but this game’s going to start on time. The rain isn’t so much falling as hovering, and I feel like I’ve just walked through a watery net. Probably isn’t helping the paint dry.
Lineup:
1: Ackley
2: Kazmar
3: Tuiasosopo
4: Carp
5: Liddi
6: Peguero (CF)
7: Bard
8: Limonta (LF!)
9: Bonilla (RF)
With Mike Wilson ailing, the Rainiers found the one guy who looks even
more like a defensive end to play CF.
Update 7:25
They’re underway, and the first batter, Jemile Weeks, fists a single to center.
In the Rainiers’ half of the first, Ackley pops out to 2B. Still scuffling so far in 2011.
Stadium looks pretty nice, and the berm area looks better than I thought. After losing a lot of inexpensive seating areas over the past few years, it’s nice to see that they maintained some despite the upgrades, though of course they no longer actually provide a seat.
Then (September 2010)
Now
Whoa. Carlos Peguero’s first swing in new Cheney was crushed for a HR off the scoreboard in straightaway right field.
As well-stroked as his HR was, it paled in comparison to his 2B off the big CF wall at Cheney. Take that long HR Hafner hit in the M’s home opener against Wilhelmsen and change the angle off the bat from “majestic” to “malicious” and you get the idea. Sounded like an explosion. I saw Choo’s HR over the CF wall, and this was hit harder.
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And I’ve got tickets! And I get to take my three year old son!
So is Chris Ray’s leash about as long as a 10 year old’s arm hair?
No gamethread for the M’s? I have to mention what a pussy Figgins is. That ground ball hit him in the ass when he turned away from it.
Hmmm…I think he must’ve been watching some instructional videos from Russ “The Matador” Davis.
WHY is there no Mariners game thread? The signal to noise ratio in the Lookout Landing game thread is all noise, no signal… Aren’t any of our heroes watching the game with us????
Ump at the M’s game SUCKS
One comment about today’s game: The way this umpire’s calling the game, you’d swear this is Bedard’s first ML start.
He’s making pitches, and the guy in black ain’t calling them.
So what’s the deal with Bedard? Has he always had the two pitch repertoire the LL preview shows? He’s always been a fly ball pitcher, but hitters are really getting hold of stuff and his HR/H ratio has to be way high. Has he lost some kind of deception? Is he really missing his spots a lot? He’s starting to make Fister look like a better pitcher….
So looking it up, his HR/9 is 4.00 compared to a history in the .9 to 1 range, BABIP is about 50 points above average. And as we speak, Matt Treanor puts out a first pitch not quite down, not quite in and not quite up to speed. Can any of the scouting types who can take his motion apart tell us why he’s so horrible this year? And will he get any better???? I just keep expecting that as long as he can pitch, his history says he ought to get better results than this….
I don’t know what to make of Bedard. The guy has been out of the game for so long that it’s hard to say if he’s still recovering his old stuff or if we’re witnessing his new stuff. If you look at his Pitch Type Values and compare 2007 (his last healthy season) with 2011, the things that jump out (to me at least) is that he used to throw his curveball a lot more than he does now, and it was an absolutely devastating pitch (in fact, it was the most valuable pitch in baseball that year, and no other pitch was even very close). Instead, he’s throwing something that Pitch FX classifies as a changeup, though it might be just a slow fastball. Whatever it is, it’s nowhere near as effective — in fact, none of his pitches are a positive. At least, not yet. It’s still early, of course, but it’s sure not encouraging.
Well, that’s it. I’ve got playoff hockey to watch, and my team is pretty darn good (and wow, is that weird to say).
Sorry we didn’t get an M’s game up. I was focused on this game, but we should’ve had a thread up.
Don’t worry. We’re not missing anything.
They breed a few tough baseball fans out there in KC, though. That weather’s just nasty.
Alex Liddi with a swinging bunt. He’s a fairly polarizing prospect, and he’s not helping his side with his poor start. The M’s could really use a 3B to step up and make a case for moving Figgins, but Liddi’s not helping matters by looking confused by AAA pitching so far.
Saunders must have heard the call on Peguero’s HR on the clubhouse radio..all of a sudden he got a hit
Another comeback for the M’s?
Not sure if it looks colder there or here…
Everyone might want to check out the M’s game. Their mounting a comeback.
Uhhhhh, good eye? That looked like a pretty good pitch, but I’ll take the run.
And Figgins lines out to end it. Would’ve liked to see a pitch or two, but he hit it mildly hard.
Ackley gets out in front of a pitch and grounds out. For a guy with such excellent bat control, he sure puts a lot of nasty swings on the ball. It’s nice that even when he’s fooled he can adjust and make contact, but the guy will ground out a lot.
Mark, do you think Chaz Roe has any chance to become a regular major leaguer, starter or reliever?
Saw it. Couldn’t believe it. Still can’t. He actually tried a hip-check save. If I had done that in College, my coach would have pulled me at the end of the inning. If I had done that in high school, my coach would have pulled me instantly. I wasn’t good enough to play professionally, but if I had been, I would have expected to get fined for pulling the olay play.
Get your chest in front of the ball Figgins.
Figgins is a scat back. A punt returner. A specialist. He is a utility player without a natural position on the basebal field. He would be a valuable guy to have around on a good team. However, he is completely worthless on a bad team. He is a great baserunner, but he has a hard time getting on base. 177 games down … 471 games to go (I guess). What a disappointment he has been.
The local radio rag (fighting 960 am) forgot to program the game onto the radio (2nd time this week), except in today’s case – it lasted for the entire game, and this Site had no game thread, so I will have to post my bitch gripes on the Rainiers game thread.
Maybe Peguero is Mr. April and should get a callup for his one, shining month. The M’s could use a Mr. April. I am not sure who their one hot designated player might be for the months of May through September, but we could use a “Mr April.”
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He made a lot of pitches (average fastballs) right down the heart of the plate too. And, they were hit … hard. Francouer lost a ball against/with/toward/in spite of – the wind.
Has Mangini’s quad muscle been re-attached yet? When is he due back and able to report to Tacoma? I know his glove is below average, but the org likes his bat even though he wasn’t “one of their guys.” Is he going to be healthy any time soon, and if yes – do you think they will give him a sniff as a DH replacement for Cust … assuming Cust lasts long enough to be replaced by Mangini?
Cust should be replaced today, but i am sure they are seeking a full non value to the guaranteed money they gave him. If it wasn’t for the Mariners, Cust would not be on a Major League Roster.
Lalo – still deciding. Looks decent tonight. Not seeing a real weapon, but he’s better than he was for Colorado Springs last year, at least tonight. This is a miserable offensive environment here though – cold, wet.
Regarding Matt Mangini, yes, he’s almost ready. I’m told he may play this homestand.
Chris Carter looked lost in his first two PAs and I mentioned how crappy his swing looks these days on twitter, so of course he hits a 3R-HR to give Sacramento the 3-2 lead. Damn it.
Fixed that for you.
Positives: Cortes threw strikes, and while he wasn’t perfect, it was an appearance to build on. Not sure what we’d get after his terrible stint in Venezuela.
Peguero killed the ball, only K’d once.
Negatives: Liddi. Wow. I’d been in his corner based on his AA stats, but this was my first chance to actually see his swing. Wellll, let’s hope he just didn’t react well to the weather conditions. Swing looked looooooong.
Delcarmen: Better than spring training, which is damning with faint praise. Velo still not back, command is what it’s always been – not a strength.
Hmmm, that wouldn’t happen to be the boys in blue and green now, would it?
‘Cause they sure looked good again tonight against the Blackhawks! 🙂
Well, like they used to say whenever someone would praise Brian Hunter’s baserunning – you can’t steal first base.
LOL- loudly! Thank you for fixing it for me and you are most definitely correct, sir.