Game 73, Mariners at Padres
Erasmo Ramirez vs. Jesse Hahn, 3:40 pm
I don’t really want to talk about last night’s game any more than the rest of you might. The excitement that I gain from the Mariners being over .500 and still competitive this late is too often negated by their inability to get Felix his wins.
I didn’t expect to be writing about Erasmo Ramirez still, after all these starts by Walker in Tacoma, but perhaps the Padres writers in the rival bizarro version of our universe didn’t expect to be writing about Hahn either, being their guy who vaulted from double-A to the majors. Hahn is one of an increasing number of drafted players who had TJ before or just after turning pro. He’s got the two varieties of fastball, which can touch in the mid-to-high 90s if he puts all he has into it, and he’s got a curve and a change-up as well. He gets to face off against our lefty-heavy lineup plus John Buck as the designated Erasmo catcher.
Hahn is not a pitcher for whom we have a lot of data at the moment (9.2 innings in the majors thus far), but in his time here we’ve seen groundballs, Ks, and also walks and dingers. FIP basically hates him. In the minor leagues he was extremely not-dinger-prone, had an easier time hitting his spots, and didn’t strike out so many. My knee-jerk reaction from seeing the Mariners face unknown pitchers for some years now is to throw a hooded robe on and go wandering about muttering “doom” and other punchy Anglo-Saxon-derived monosyllabics.
Today in the minor leagues, we have possible Erasmo replacement Taijuan Walker starting again. No, I don’t have a Charlie Furbush replacement to talk about (Luetge isn’t worth the exchange, I think). Tyler Olson goes in Jackson, Scott DeCecco is in High Desert, some TBD in Clinton, Blake Holovach in Everett, and now Pulaski is opening up their season. I don’t have a lot to say about them as the roster typically has high-end summer league prospects and everyone else who was drafted in the later rounds, so it’s not a roster one ever has a good gauge on, before or sometimes after. Most of these games are now in session after the all-star breaks of the respective leagues, so this is as good a time as any to mention that Austin Wilson, who was hitting .300/.380/.527 at the time, was not selected to his league’s team which is some real BS. He should at least be in the Cal League soon.
RF Endy Chavez
CF James Jones
2B Robinson Cano
3B Kyle Seager
1B Logan Morrison
C John Buck
LF Dustin Ackley
SS Rad Miller
RHP Erasmo Ramirez
Go ‘Ners.
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10 Responses to “Game 73, Mariners at Padres”
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I think it’s hilarious how Dave Sims goes on and on about the Padres being one of the poorest hitting teams in MLB. Like, HELLO!
This looks too much like last night’s game.
Wonder if Lloyd will say something nice about Erasmo? 16 2/3 scoreless streak is pretty good for a #5
Not only was Wilson not an All Star, neither was DJ Peterson. Which seems wrong when he’s 2nd in HR and 2nd in RBI and 6th in OPS in the Cal League… Of course, Jabari Henry is 2nd in OPS, and he wasn’t an All Star either.
Yeah, this does look a lot like yesterdays game… and every other Mariners game for the last 10 years.
Five comments – looks like I wasn’t the only one to forget this was an early start!
Come back soon, Condor!
The Mariners need to bring in more offense from outside the organization.
The Mariners have trouble scoring runs? Imagine my surprise.
So… suddenly the A’s have the best record in the MLB. And SF has temporarily fallen off the cliff even without Morse getting injured, although that’s an accident waiting to happen. The first’s no surprise, the second isn’t really. Either way, they’re good clubs and, again either way, looking at for example the A’s middle of the lineup, or SF’s Machi i.e. — production depth coming off the bench or depth in the bullpen — these are the bugbears we’re not going to be able to wish our way out of this year, regardless how well we manage to stay on the nice side of .500.
As a mental exercise more than anything else, I ask the question: if they are anywhere near a wild card run (let alone actually sitting comfortably in that spot, which to be honest… … … no, I won’t say it…), come end July: would they buy some Rent-a’s?
I know. This isn’t something they “do”. But I’m wondering if last winter’s desperation which is showing results for what it’s worth (how, though, isn’t really obvious) won’t now translate over into an obsessive desire to make something happen, if we’re anywhere close.
Ner’s. Neither-Nor’s.
Guess how many of the players on the A’s starting line-up came through the organization? If you guess 2, you’re guessing high. Mr. Bean can build an efficient, effective organization year after year. The M’s can’t.
Any CEO of any other business with the results the M’s put up would have been out of a job long ago.