Game 123, Mariners at Phillies
Roenis Elias vs. Jerome Williams, 4:05 pm
Wild Card Odds – Fangraphs.com: 50.1%. Baseballprospectus.com: 52.4%
The M’s head to Philadelphia with their wildcard odds now north of 50%. They face righty Jerome Williams, a pitcher they know well from his time with the Angels and Astros. Williams is now on his third team of the year; he started with Houston, was DFA’d and picked up by the injury-ravaged Rangers, got cut again, and was picked up this month by Philadelphia.
He’s had HR problems – issues that predate his move to hitter-friendly parks. This isn’t really a left/right issue; while his K:BB ratio is abysmal vs. lefties, righties have hit more dingers. It’s not really an arsenal thing – like an journeyman worth his salt, Williams is always tinkering, and throws 4-5 different pitches regularly. It’s…it’s just that whatever magic he had for reducing HRs and getting himself to the bigs appears to have expired in 2011.
That and a declining GB rate, which makes his higher than average HR/FB rate untenable.
1: Jackson, CF
2: Ackley, LF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Morales, 1B
5: Seager, 3B
6: Zunino, C
7: Morrison, RF
8: Taylor, SS
SP: Elias
Elias replaces James Jones on the active roster.
Comments
55 Responses to “Game 123, Mariners at Phillies”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I’ve seen a few people mention Ackley at 1B. Have they been working him out there? I know he played there in college but if he hasn’t been getting reps would they really just throw him out there cold? I’m not necessarily opposed to it, just curious.
In 21 games as a Mariner, Kendrys Morales is hitting .215/.281/.342. Nope, Lloyd, you can’t have anyone getting their timing back up with the big league club – isn’t that what you said? You can’t be giving away August at bats – did I say that right?
it’s to bad that not one of us has enough voice to confront Lloyd about his lame lineups and have him actually listen.
Westy, that was completely unfair. You should know that only applies to the specific players he doesn’t like as much.
I missed the game last night, but I was surprised to see that lineup. Llyod knows as well as anyone that pitching and defense has gotten them this far. In fact, he himself has said that more than once.
So why change course now? I hope he learned from that.
Seattleguy527, Ackley has not worked out at first this year, as far as I know – but he has played first base 19 games (or parts of them, anyway) as a Mariner in the past.
I’m not necessarily advocating for him to be there, given he’s a decent left fielder… but he could almost certainly do it if Lloyd’s Magic Pencil decided to put him there.