Game 81, Indians at Mariners
The halfway point? THE HALFWAY POINT?!? This is going up early because hey, I won’t be around later.
Roenis Elias vs. Josh Tomlin, 7:10 pm PT
Roenis Elias was last seen, I think, during last night’s game as he was pounding the dugout railing and cheering after Endy Chavez’ home run. Endy Chavez now has a 94 wRC+, which is eighth-best mark on the team, or just sixth-best if you pull out the limited samples from Iwakuma and Montero hitting. Even numbers dig the long ball.
Josh Tomlin was last seen by the Mariners on April 19th of 2012, a game in which he threw 71 of 96 pitches for strikes and ended up K’ing seven while allowing just five hits and one run over eight innings. It was plainly his best start in a year that he ultimately ended up being worth -0.1 WAR. This year, he’s had some value and his strikeout rate, at nearly 20%, is considerably better than the ~13% clip he’s been at for most of his career. As ever, he doesn’t walk dudes and one of the easier ways to get him into trouble is to hit a home run. Like Endy Chavez hit a home run. Just last night. Help.
DH Endy Chavez
CF James Jones
2B Robinson Cano
3B Kyle Seager
1B Logan Morrison
C Mike Zunino
RF Michael Saunders
LF Dustin Ackley
SS Rad Miller
I didn’t mention it last night in that edition of the minor league news, but remember how I was loudly complaining about the lack of at-bats for Choi? Turns out they had a solution in the works. With Hart and Smoak occupying DH and first base as rehabbers, the workaround has been that last night and in the AM part of today’s day/night doubleheader, Choi has been playing left field.
You may want to ask me how I expect that will work out and I really have no idea. I’ve never seen Choi at a position where scouting reports would even talk about his speed, so I haven’t the least idea as to how readily he might be able to run down flyballs. I would assume that because he’s played third and catcher in the past, the arm works in his favor. Additionally, he’s known to be a hard worker, so what he doesn’t pick up immediately he’ll improve on in time. It’s versatility.
Comments
41 Responses to “Game 81, Indians at Mariners”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Haha, so at least the org is being consistent throughout the ranks… if you’ve got too many DH/1B types, just throw one or more of them into the outfield!
What could possibly go wrong?
Who can we diss tonight so that he can make us look like fools AGAIN? It worked for Endy last night. Let’s see if Tomlin throws a lot of strikes there are fewer bad pitches to swing at. Got to go with Zunino. Zunino SUCKS! He shouldn’t even be in Jackson. There that ought to work. Go M’s
Reverse reverse psychology… Rad is gonna go yard– three times– tonight.
Bank on it. 8 RBI total.
And sure, he’ll commit 3 errors, but they only lead to 2 runs, so he still comes out ahead.
Halfway there, and the Mariners, featuring anybody-with-a-pulse at DH and leading off, are a serious playoff contender. Who woulda thunk, but this is fun.
Elsewhere, Toronto and Baltimore may end up 1-2 in the AL East (never thought I would see that), Houston is challenging Texas for fourth place, Detroit is looking good as expected, and Oakland has the best team we’ve seen since 2001. Interesting game, baseball.
Sorry to be lazy, but…
does anyone know when the last time the Mariners were 7 games over .500? Did it happen in 2009?
Oops. I see that they finished 8 games over .500.
So to have a better record than the 2009 team, they still need to play over .500 ball.
Dennisss
It’s crazy to think the 2001 Mariners were 14 games better than the pace the 2014 A’s are on…
Also remember that the 2001 A’s won 104 games. The AL West was absurdly good in 2001.
Yeah, 2001 was a blast. That was a once-in-a-lifetime season.
Outside of rooting for the M’s, I’m sort of hoping Billy Beane’s shit works in the playoffs for once. Beane deserves it. Just not against the Mariners, if it comes to that.
Looks like we’ve got a room full of Mike Blowers in here today!
Let’s talk about Charlie Finley. Those were some real A’s teams there.
Let’s get some runs for Roenis!
At this point, I’d settle for breaking up this perfect game…
Bad stretch for Cano. He’s too good for it to last very long. I hope.
Other than the first inning, Roenis has been nails.
You’re not twelve feet tall, Brad.
Hey, a base runner!
What does it mean to “pitch out of the stretch”?
Love those Zunino at bats…
Love those Saunders at bats…
This isn’t shaping up to be the M’s finest effort.
I am going to assume your question is serious Okinawa Dave.
When a runner is on base (usually 1B or 2B or both) the pitcher does not “wind up.” He pitches “out of the stretch.”
Pitchers oftentimes pitch out of a stretch with a runner on 3B, but throwing from a windup is common, too.
Pitching out of a stretch keeps runners honest on the bases. They would steal every base in sight if a pitcher were to execute a full windup before delivering the ball. In little league it’s a moot point. Base Runners cannot leave the bag until the pitched ball crosses home plate.
Nicely summarized Mike
Tomlinson dealin tonight. Gotta tip your hat.
Wow, getting dominated tonight.
Thank you for the explanation, Mike. Yes, it was a serious question. I suppose I could’ve Googled it, but I lurk in too much – might as well participate occasionally. 🙂
I assume that pitching out of a windup is better? Do they get more velocity on the ball that way?
Bullpen version of Brandon Maurer looks really good!
A pitcher can get a bit more leg drive from the windup, but it’s mostly a nominal difference in velocity. The slide step (from the stretch) can tap velo, though.
A lot of relievers pitch from the stretch regardless of whether there are any runners on base. I have no idea why. Relievers are mostly nuts.
I am also not sure how to describe whatever it is that Fernando Rodney “pitches out of” but it works. It’s kind of a full body heave and may not fit into either category.
The bright spot from tonight’s game is that we did not get no-hit, so I’ll take that and move on to the next game.
ugh
That is all.
Hey Eastside – if you were Jack Z, would you be able to send Maurer back to AAA? I doubt I could do it. I think I would be praying for someone else in the pen to all of a sudden get a mostly invisible blister, feign an allergy or develop a bruised eyelash.
And. Bullpen has looked solid yet again
Thanks Mike!
Mike….I don’t think he has a choice. For me, the only option is The Bartender, Medina has been nails and Lord Farquhar has more pitches than Maurer. The LHRP’s aren’t going anywhere. I’m just glad to see this transformation moving ahead. Maybe Z is marketing him for a big move. Could very well be.
I hate the lefty strike zone.
Last hope is Endy Chavez.
Boy are we screwed.
Whatever number of hits that were in that beard – have been used up. Gotta shake things up, Dustin. Time for the bee give to go.
He hit .417 with 22 home runs his last year at North Carolina Seager hit .394 with 6 home runs that same season. Some guys just never fully adjust to the wood bat and major league talented pitchers. Or they peak early. Not sure what the deal is with him, but I feel sorry for him. And us.
My attempt at reverse psychology fell flat on its face. Thanks Endy.
28 batters. That’s a pretty dominant performance.
As a mariner fan, I would rather see our hitters have to face the Tom Wilhelmsen of the future, than the Brandon Maurer of the near future. Relievers are so damned volatile, though … It’s really hard to know from year to year.
But yeah … Tough call.
OK. WTF. As much as I love the idea that when I buy some cheapseats tickets from some dufus down on the south side of Safeco at 9 in the morning (actually, I’ve got some amazing seats that way…), they’ve got a better than 50% chance of winning, or at least look not too ridiculous losing, I’ve gotta say this:
[For those of you who want to just live and breath the euphoria of having something resembling baseball return to Seattle, consider me painted with a giant target, and so prepare your throwing knives, bullets, tomahawks …] We’re not going anywhere beyond mid August, with no upgrades.
April, May, the Brownian Motion (I still love that line … was it Jay? Jeff?), was around .500. Now, that’s shifted to .530.
We’ve been here before. Granted, it’s been so long that we all feel like Rumpelstiltskin. But, remember what it was like, way back then, in that universe far, far away? Lou throwing crap, hats… bases… all around the Kingdome, wanting an extra arm, an extra bat, to bandage over some weak spots, some injuries, bring some late season spark in?
OK, let’s just assume we might actually stay in the BM (Brownian as opposed to Bowel), for another 5 weeks. Fact is, everyone we see who’s anywhere near the same spot, is going to have upgraded.
Bets are on whether Z a) will do it, and/or b) he’s got the green light to do it.
Throw knives… now.
Go M’s.