Game 127, Mariners at White Sox
James Paxton! vs. Anthony Ranaudo, 5:10pm
James Paxton returns to the rotation, with Tony Zych heading to Tacoma. Meanwhile, Mike Freeman’s been recalled, and Wade LeBlanc’s been DFA’d. That last one probably comes as a shock to many, but with Paxton back and the rotation pretty well sewn up, LeBlanc had been working as an extraneous lefty out of the pen. Without options, it’d be hard to keep him, and the AAA season’s just about done anyway. Ah, the life of an out-of-options journeyman.
Anthony Ranaudo was once a real prospect, taken in the 1st supplemental round out of a major program and seen as a very high floor prospect. To date, he’s produced at a subterranean level for three teams, struggling with his control, home runs, and missing bats. He began this season in the Texas system, and made two disastrous appearances early on to bail out a struggling Rangers bullpen. In the second, he walked *5* White Sox hitters in 1 1/3 IP, and the Rangers released him. He was picked up by those same White Sox, another project for long-time pitching coach Don Cooper to tinker with. Ranaudo was assigned to AAA, and *immediately* started running the best walk numbers of his career: in nearly 100IP this year in AAA, Ranaudo walked 11, for a BB/9 mark of 1.02. All hail Don Cooper and his minor league minions, right? It’s Matt Thornton all over again!
That control improvement may have come at a price. The *other* thing he started doing in AAA is giving up home runs by the bushel. He yielded 15 in 16 appearances, and when you remember that the IL hits a lot fewer dingers than the PCL, let alone the majors, that was something of a red flag. Called up to make a couple of starts, Ranaudo’s given up 4 in 10+ innings already. In 2011, the M’s Anthony Vazquez gave up 13 HRs and struck out 13 in just shy of 30 IP. I never thought another pitcher, especially in this high-K era, would come close to equalizing both dingers and Ks, but Ranaudo actually has a shot – he’s given up 5 dingers in the majors this year (Across two teams) while striking out 7.
1: Aoki, LF
2: Smith, RF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Lind, 1B
6: Zunino, C
7: Martin, CF
8: O’Malley, 3B
9: Marte, SS
SP: Paxton
Guaranteed Rate Field is the single dumbest name in stadium naming right history.
Freeman’s recall’s probably related to Seager’s foot injury – with O’Malley now manning 3rd, they don’t really have a back-up SS/3B.
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11 Responses to “Game 127, Mariners at White Sox”
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Guaranteed Rate Field is dumb, but it’s not as if Safeco or any other corporate name is much better.
“Guaranteed Rate Field is the single dumbest name in stadium naming right history.”
Good call, although Smoothie King Arena, where the NBA New Orleans Pelicans play, is in the running too.
And in retrospect, Enron Field is the most egregious, boy-aren’t-you-sorry-for-selling-to-the-highest-bidder, stadium name of all.
Between Enron’s criminal flame-out and San Francisco’s ballpark name whipsawing with each corporate takeover, I resolved to never remember (and to try to never say) any stadium’s corporate name, ever. So I’ll say “the Angels’ stadium” or “Pittsburgh’s ballpark”. Wrigley Field gets a pass partly due to tradition and partly because it was named more for the man than the company.
Cishek needs to go. Nothing but giving up runs late.
What’s with fans running on the field today? Yesterday, some guy fell into the Yankees dugout.
Cishek/Vincent combo must have like a 25.00 ERA. Average minor league pitchers at best.
Nothing like running your team based on Small Sample Size Theatre and What Have You Done For Me In The Last Five Minutes, eh, WTF_Ms?
I’m sure Diaz is going to be good and rested once he gets into a game. Maybe it’ll even be sometime this week.
Small sample size is my specialty! 😉 I gotta vent. Those two have been put in high pressure spots and have failed more than not. Still stand by my minor league statement though!
Vincent! again! you bum, why is he still around here… wtf
Scared me. I forgot they weren’t in Seattle — and thought Safeco had changed the name of the park.
Well, at least they don’t have to wear a company’s name on their uniforms… yet.
Man, this is a little depressing. I was hoping the M’s could beat up on these sub-par teams and jump into the middle of the playoff race.
> Well, at least they don’t have to wear a company’s name on their uniforms… yet.
I will never understand the resistance to this. It’s by far the best option for leagues to increase revenue without increasing commercials. People need to calm down about it. The NBA is launching them next season, but the patches won’t be on the jerseys for sale to the public, just the game jerseys.