Game 66, Astros at Mariners
Aaron Harang vs. Bud Norris, 7:10pm
Bud Norris was once a big-time (er, semi-big time) strikeout artist. A fastball/slider pitcher who mixes in a few change-ups to lefties, Norris racked up whiffs with his sharp slider, but yielded a fair number of homers-allowed. This year, his strikeouts are down markedly (like, 21-24% to 15%). But he’s also managed to *halve* his HR rate.
I know HRs are bad for pitchers and all, but this is something of a worrying trend for Houston fans. K% stabilizes much more quickly, so there’s a (good) chance that his HR rate regresses to his career numbers and he’s left with the worst of both worlds. Still, that seems too easy, too SABR-by-er,-numbers. The combination looks like a conscious choice, a trade off, even if its not obvious exactly what the terms were. He’s still throwing 50% sliders and 50% fastballs to righties, it’s just he’s given up zero HRs to them instead of lots.
Line-up:
1: Chavez, RF
2: Franklin, 2B
3: Seager, 3B
4: Liddi, 1B
5: Ibanez, LF
6: Morse, DH
7: Shoppach, C
8: Saunders, CF
9: Ryan, SS
SP: Harang
The corresponding move to the Zunino call-up was, as expected, DFAing Brandon Bantz.
Alex Liddi takes the place of Kendrys Morales, who was a late scratch with his sore back.
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68 Responses to “Game 66, Astros at Mariners”
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Harang’s going for that ‘innings eater’ role, hoping to hang on with the club.
The Seattle Sounders on the MNT have nearly single-handedly kept the US in the World Cup.
Insert Carlos Silva joke here.
I hate these bunts, Just hit to right.
Thank you.
Not sure what you mean, G. He did, and almost succeeded.
And Pena made it look hard, at the same time.
Wow, Astros’ pen sucks. And that’s saying something compared with it’s their other suck.
Man, at least the team has finally figured out how to beat the freakin’ Astros!
The M’s win I will take it even if it is against the Stros.
These guys recently swept the Angels in a 4 game series?
If he has to be up now, I hope Zunino tees off in his first big league game.
I’m surprised Wedgie left him in the entire game. He has a penchant for pulling our starters once someone gets aboard in the later innings.
The Angels lost again so we put them a little farther back in the rear view for the time being.
Harang vs. SD & Houston this year: 18 IP, 6 hits, 0 ER, 2BB, 18K, 2 CG.
Harang vs the rest…yikes.
I’m good at driving things into the ground, so – after 66 games…
2013-06-11 RS 236 RA 278 (-42)
2012-06-15 RS 265 RA 285 (-20)
But it’s the younger players who are knocking us back! The older guys who you criticized are fine! Let’s get Morse an extension!
Okay, so what’s it called when the game ends and we have more runs than the other guys?
Somebody help me out.
I used to know this.
I think it starts with a “W”…?
Comparing Russell Wilson to any of our young players is truly apples to oranges. R.W. is an exceptional talent and a superlative natural leader. These humans are rare in any endeaver; not just sports.
How many people actually attended the game last night?