Game 19, Mariners at Rangers
Brandon Maurer vs. Nick Tepesch 5:05pm
These are the games the M’s absolutely need to have to avoid falling out of the race. As many have noted, there’s no shame in dropping games to Max Scherzer or Yu Darvish, but they need to beat the Nick Tepesch’s of the league to balance things out.
Maurer and Tepesch faced off against each other on the 14th, in what turned out to be Maurer’s first MLB win. Tepesch has, thus far, used a Maueresque pitch mix, with a four and two-seam fastball, the occasional curve, the odd change-up and a blizzard of hard sliders/cutters. He’s used it a bit differently, though. He’s got a lot of confidence in it (obviously), and so he’s used it *most* when he’s behind in the count. It’s not a putaway pitch, it’s his even-the-count pitch.
That wouldn’t be the worst thing for Maurer to emulate. His slider is more of a whiff pitch, but when batters expected it, they were able to hit it hard – even with two strikes. In his last start against the Rangers, he threw more fastballs than he had before, and nearly all were four-seamers. That worked in the still-spacious Safeco field, and while it’s tempting to say that he needs to get grounders in Arlington, I think Maurer should throw whatever pitch he can command – if that’s the four-seam, then he should throw it.
Franklin Gutierrez returns to the line-up today, as does Brendan Ryan who was held out yesterday to clear his head after his horrific slump at the plate. Montero’s also back after his own slump-related off-day.
Line-up:
1: Gutierrez, CF
2: Seager, 3B
3: Morales, DH
4: Morse, RF
5: Smoak, 1B
6: Ibanez, LF
7: Montero, C
8: Ackley, 2B
9: Ryan, SS
SP: Maurer
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88 Responses to “Game 19, Mariners at Rangers”
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Oh, and passed balls.
Whose gotcher marbles now?
Those 2 runs are on Montero..
Boy am I glad we have Kelly Shoppach on our team! I can’t take much more of Montero.
I really don’t like the way Montero flinches every time the ball gets to his glove. It’s like he’s afraid of it. Not good at all.
Two PB’s in one inning on fastballs. Sweet!
Definitely need to keep throwing Montero out there to catch when he is absolutely wretched. He seems to be at his worst when it matters most.
Two PB’s in one inning on fastballs. Sweet!
Definitely need to keep throwing Montero out there to catch when he is absolutely wretched. He seems to be at his worst when it matters most.
We don’t lead in strikeouts, Houston has us (narrowly) beat there.
We’re worse than last year. I went from watching the first game from Safeco to half monitoring it tonight on Gamecast while I watch Burt Lancaster in ‘Trapeze’ on TCM. I’m more interested in Tony Curtis landing The Triple than any triple any Mariner could possibly hit. Send the whole team to Everett.
We’ve still got an inning to catch them, spunky.
D the M’s have any hitting prospects other than Zunino?
I felt it was worth mentioning more than once.
Don’t worry with our improved offense we can comeback!! Um good Kool-aid
Spuuky, we still have a series with Houston next! It won’t be long.
Spuuky, we still have a series with Houston next! It won’t be long.
That’s the spirit!
Let’s score 6 runs this inning, but strike out 3 times to close in on Houston! Maybe they can drop a strikeout and we can strike out 4 times!
And my cat just horked on the living room carpet….
Yea Zunino’s .240 AAA BA clearly shows he is MLB ready
Being down by 5 takes all the pressure of Wedge from having to pick the wrong time to bunt.
That’s a positive!
Not saying he’s remotely close to ready, is there anybody else in the minors besides him….starting to seriously question this “rebuilding” of the m’s system.
I think I’d rather watch Ibañez catch than Montero at this point.
I hope the team decides that Stefan Romero’s primary position is 1B. That should send the proper signal to Smoak. I think.
NO
Management: we need you to make a change at Manager, Jack. And also, the day after this years draft, please come by my office for a short chat and “bring your playbook with you.”
Our motto should be “Seattle Mariners, Swung on and Missed!”.
Burt just got mauled by a lion – will he be able to catch Tony’s triple???
Eric, please pack your knives and go.
3 runs or less in 15 of 19 games this season so far…
1903 Pirates scoreless 52 innings – I’m sensing a record
Pretty hard to come up with a word to describe this line up so far other than “pathetic”.
Wedge and the Mariners are showing with unequaled clarity that the power of positive thinking loses to reality.
I’m glad I don’t work in a plate glass factory because I’d have some serious head trauma by now.
In other news, Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn seem to be playing well… (sigh)
Clearly Wedge and Zduriencik are plants by the Balmer/Hansen group to de-value the worth of the franchise so they can snag it on the cheap.
Not even three hitting coaches could fix what ails the M’s.
You can’t blame Wedge, but they will…this is essentially the same team as last year with some different faces. Montero has got to be the worst catcher in baseball. Amazing how he positions himself behind the plate…more amazing that the coaches allow it. Aside from Seager, Morales, and possibly Morse, there are no good hitters there, Guti is being treated like a kid, so don’t renew him, please. The rest are ST hitters . Smoak, Ryan, Ackely are busts…Montero maybe a hitter, but not for this team since he cannot field. Raul is done with and Bay should be released next week in favor of Chavez. Again, good pitching performances are wasted…sound familiar? Football practice begins in July!
I’m sure Wedge has the idea that Ibanez needed to get back on the horse, shake off the rough plays from the previous night. But a smart manager would recognize he’s a liability and simply shouldn’t be out there.
Chavez should have had that start. I suspect we’ll continue to see Bay or Ibanez, though. Bleh.
You can’t blame wedge?!?! How many times have we had runners on first and second with no outs and he flat out refuses to bunt?! How about last night when that should have been a routine ground ball and not a 2 run single, because Ackley was out of position?! Wedge is done. I haven’t called for a managers job during our run of futility once. But his errors are egregious and on display EVERY night.