Game 78, Red Sox at Mariners, Danny Hultzen’s Cheney Debut, General Excitement
Felix Hernandez vs. Franklin Morales, 7:10pm
Danny Hultzen vs. Jamie Moyer, 7:05pm
Happy Felix?hultzen day, yet again! Let’s hope it goes slightly better than last time, when Hultzen couldn’t find the plate in Colorado Springs. There are obviously a lot of excuses for that – from nerves to altitude to the fact that the city was on fire – but he won’t have them (and hopefully won’t need them) tonight. The Las Vegas 51s start a familiar face, the incomparable Jamie Moyer, who was just picked up by the Blue Jays organization this week. John McGrath’s got a good column pointing out that Jamie Moyer called one of Hultzen’s College World Series games when he worked at ESPN during his Tommy John rehab, and everyone everywhere is trotting out those “Jamie Moyer is older than X” factoids.
Felix Hernandez is coming off a very encouraging start against the Padres at Petco Park, striking out 10 in 7 innings. He’s going to be facing a tougher offense tonight; the Red Sox have the 3rd best wOBA while the Padres are 2nd worst. He’ll be opposed by Franklin Morales, another hard-throwing Venezuelan. Morales came up in the Rockies organization, where he was renowned for a plus fastball that occasionally hit the upper 90s, or even 100mph. Fellow fireballer Juan Morillo, a young Dominican, was coming up at the same time, and they were both about one year behind Ubaldo Jimenez; for a month or so in 2006, it really looked like the Rockies were going to deal with playing at altitude by cornering the market on guys who threw ridiculously fast. The problem was that neither Morales nor Morillo knew where the ball was going. This proved fatal for Morillo’s MLB career, and it forced Morales to the bullpen, where he’s been pretty effective as he’s finally found some control. With injuries in their rotation, the Sox have had Morales make a few starts, and he’s been lights out. He’s still got a very good FB for a lefty, averaging around 95, and he’s got a curve and change-up that he uses against lefties and righties, respectively. As a starter, his control’s been impeccable, so the M’s need to get a good pitch and drive it. He rather memorably gave up a long home run to Mike Carp last year when he was working in relief.
Line-up:
1: Ichiro
2: Gutierrez
3: Seager
4: Montero (DH)
5: Wells
6: Smoak
7: Olivo (C)
8: Ackley
9: Ryan
SP: King Felix
Larry Stone’s going to live-blog the Hultzen start (which means I don’t have to!), but I’ll be spouting off about it all night on twitter, so check out one or both of those things!
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194 Responses to “Game 78, Red Sox at Mariners, Danny Hultzen’s Cheney Debut, General Excitement”
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I must say I am quite happy with Wedge’s management of the ninth inning for once.
And I’d say that even if Jaso had struck out. It was the right call.
MrZ – for context, Guti got cracked a lot harder than Wells did last yer pre-vertigo symptoms. Wells only git nicked. Guti git Hit Square and hard. Looked like somewhere between the cheekbone and the ear. Getting hit in the ear hole of the helmet really rings your bell. I can’t imagine how much it rings without the plastic helmet protecting you. Pick off throw probably traveling around 80mph.
I was researching the proposed trade of Gonzalez. There were a few, actually. The worst, was a three-way deal, that would have sent Felix to Boston. Worth noting, Boston proposed it, Z shot it down.
95% of the noise you heard was Kings Court
I like good, close games. 5-4; 4-3 is the perfect type of game IMO. I sure wish we could see some of those. This one run shit (vice Felix pitching) blows.
Yes, that rhymes
Good Lord, listening to Hendu on the radio side can be brutal.
Listening to Sims is far worse!!
Crazy ray: it is hard for me to believe that Hendu gets paid to speak.
You are not alone
Update on Guti is a mild concussion. He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow
msfanmike: THANK YOU! I hear people complain about Sims all the time and I do agree that he can be tough to handle, but I want to throw my radio through a wall when Hendu is on. I never thought I’d say that I’d rather listen to “Red” over anybody, but I’d rather listen to him any day over Hendu.
I think you’re both crazy! I’d take Hendu over Sims any day. Worth noting, I’d vote ‘none of the above’ if those were options on a ballot.
Fair enough Steve. For me, I only watch games on TV once in a while so I don’t have to put up with Sims all the time.
I like the radio because of Rizzs. He makes it easier digest. Blowers is a bit dry, so the crap we’re fed from Sims, goes down real rough.
That would be interesting though. I wonder if I’d like listening to Hendu or just dead air with nothing but the sounds of the stadium more. Hmm
Given the possibilities, “mild concussion” doesn’t sound too bad. But we’ll have to see.
Poor Guti can’t buy luck.
I agree Westside. I finally saw a replay of the throw that got Guti and that didn’t look good at all. I was actually worried he might have broken his jaw, or something like that. Mild concussion is actually a pretty good result to a horrible looking accident.
I’ve killed the volume plenty of times. Also opted for radio and dealt with the delay.
Really funny hearing this ROOT cast discuss ear-flaps on helmets.
Hey, Geoff Baker mentioned something interesting.
Apparently MLB has a new 7-day DL that is specifically targeted at concussions. Had you guys heard about that?
It’s actually real hard to break your jaw. One of the toughest bones in your body (maybe the toughest, actually). I attempted to do just that with a skinhead. Broke my hand instead. I’m sure Guti will be fine. He’ll probably need the better part of a week to recover, though.
To be fair, Steve… Skinheads have exceptionally thick skulls.
There’s not much brain in there, so the bone naturally grows thicker. Nature abhors a vaccuum, as they say. Something has to fill all that empty space.
Interesting, Westy. I remember something being mentioned about it, didn’t know there was a 7 day DL for that. Wonder how they make that determination. Is a mild-concussion still classified as a concussion?
They don’t call them ‘boneheads’ for nothing!
Dammit, Steve. I’m a webmaster, not a doctor!
(Props to Leonard “Bones” McCoy)
I know it isn’t easy to break your jaw. Just where the ball hit him and his exceptionally bad luck, I was fearing the worst.
Sorry to hear about your hand. You at least won the fight right?
That 7 day DL is a good idea. A great idea, actually. I do not know why it is 15 days or bust for everything else, though. The minor leagues have had a 7 day DL for a very long time regardless of the specific injury.
With that said, I think it will be good luck for us if Guti is only out for 7 days. The swelling alone will make it painful during the jarring associated with running for at least a few if not several – days.
Dont sell youself short: A webmaster, a baseball statistical savant, ‘Nostrawesty,’ the pied piper of gardening, a joker, a smoker and a midnight … blogger.
Why not a doctor, too?,
No, I didn’t. It looked like I did, because I sent him backwards. The doctor’s bill(s) made it a loss.
Nostrawesty got the Wells home run prediction wrong… I mean the Wells pop-up prediction right!
In all seriousness, I am glad the various pro sports organizations are finally taking concussions seriously.
If they place Guti on a 7 day DL, I wonder who takes his place on the roster?
Totally agree, Westy. Especially in the NFL. Careers are short enough as they are, the last thing I wanna see, is someone injured for life.
Oh Steve … You know that somebody has just been Jonesing to have a reason to call up Peggy.
I would go with Ford, personally. He can cover CF and the dude can motor. He only just recently came off his own DL, though. Probably not ready. They have proven they need four legitimate OF’s, so if a move has to be made, I hope they add someone who can field their position. Roster move would be required though.
Liddi doesn’t seem to have solved his strikeout problem, so it probably won’t be him.
I was looking at Ford’s line today, earlier in the game. Not bad. Didn’t look at his splits though.
When is Carp coming off the DL?
Not that I want to see him anywhere near left field – I’m enjoying watching an actual competent trio of fielders!
Wells can play center, too, but Ford would still make more sense than Peguero. Wilson was named PCL player of the week, and hit well tonight, so maybe he gets the call?
There was something on the Mariners site the other day, suggesting Carp would be out a while yet.
Carp is going to go out in a rehab assignment after he heals his injury. I assume he won’t be back until after the all star break. Maybe even late July. Just a guess, though
“That 7 day DL is a good idea. A great idea, actually. I do not know why it is 15 days or bust for everything else, though. The minor leagues have had a 7 day DL for a very long time regardless of the specific injury.”
I’m sure it’s to prevent roster shenanigans. If you had an off day coming up you could consistently “DL” one of your starting pitchers to give yourself an extra bench bat or reliever in between starts. I would assume they don’t do this in the minors because it’s understood that organizations are more concerned with developing talent than maneuvering for minor league victories.
The concussion exemption is a good rule.
The Gutierrez play at first looked sick watching it live.
Was wondering about something as it happened and perhaps they said something on TV or radio. Why wasn’t he tagged out? He fell off the base, the ball was live, you can’t call time out with him off the base (can you?). If I’m the Red Sox, I feel bad but I’m trying to win a baseball game. Is this another one of those unwritten rules? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen injured players tagged out before.
Adam, I had the same question. Having watched the replay a few times, I”m pretty sure it was just a classy move on Gonzalez’s part. It’s possible the ump called time, but that seems unlikely.
I don’t think it’s an unwritten rule. Just a nice gesture. My guess is if Guti just pulled up lame with a pulled hammy Gonzo tags him out, but since he felt partially (perhaps fully) responsible for the injury he let it go.
Obviously, I’m assuming a lot here, but that’s how it appeared to me.
That’s an interesting question, Adam. I don’t recall hearing the broadcast crew talk about it though.
Okay, rule 5.10(c) says the umpire shall call time and the ball is dead “when an accident incapacitates a player or an umpire”.
Not that this is news to most of you, but you can download a PDF of the current rules of baseball from mlb.com (I didn’t know that until now).
@dnc: your reasoning is sound, so no arguments there, but I believe it would be difficult and/or self defeating for teams to manipulate the 7 day DL for a pitching staff when routine rest is 4 days (5 with a game day off). If teams did find a way to manipulate it to their benefit, I think the league could adequately administer and control/prevent it to a large extent.
Maybe a minimum could be 10 days for pitchers to allay the potential for manipulation.
I hate seeing teams have to play short handed with positional talent when they are uncertain how long a guy might be out. You see it all the time. A player is held out for a few to several days while the team contemplates a decision. It means they played at a disadvantage for several more games than they needed to. There are likely a lot of guys that are ready to get back after it with 7-10 days on the DL. With pitching staffs comprising 40% of a roster these days, it can really put a team in a bind.
I would like to see the 7 day DL be a universal option and administered properly by the league