Game 24, Mariners at Athletics
DMZ · April 30, 2005 at 12:15 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
Moyer v Blanton, 1:05. FSN for TV.
Park adjusted: M’s offense is 23rd, Oakland is 28.
Moyer could become the all-time M’s win leader.
Boone could get his 1,000th RBI.
All of Moyer’s starts so far have been day games. There’s nothing interesting there, though:
2003:
Day 2.81, 80 IP, 22 BB, 48K
Night 3.53, 135 IP, 11 HR, 44 BB, 81K
2004:
Day: 6.15, 74.2 IP, 22 HR, 25 BB, 47K
Night, 4.67, 127 IP, 22 HR, 38BB, 78K
Comments
187 Responses to “Game 24, Mariners at Athletics”
It only becomes official when Rizzs issues the jaunty lament: “Oh, those bases on balls ….”
Villone needs just forget about the friggin runner.
Yeah um er…
It wasn’t me. Someone posted under my name. Yeah.
If we were a good team the A’s would already have been buried by now, and vice versa, if the A’s were a good team we would have been buried by now.
Jim,
Does the A’s bat boy still run a 4.3 40 yd dash for foul balls?
Yes, and for some, he’ll even do a perfect Lonnie Smith pop-up slide ….
Damn, no excuse for that loss.
Ug. That was pathetic.
Crap.
What the hell…we’re not catchin’ any breaks…out hits with RISP today looked a lot more like 2004….
This is a very tough loss to take. With countless opportunities to win it, and then to blow it when your reliever can’t throw strikes with two out, this one hurts.
great comment Jim. safe travels to you
LOB: 36
Choo couldn’t play first, but Reed has played some in the minors. Ichiro has even played some in Japan. We had options. We just didn’t go through with them. It’s this 12 man staff thing. Gives us so much less late game versatility because of the pressure to keep one guy on the bench.
Thanks, I’ll be here again tomorrow. I have interviews to finish in the morning … and coming off a loss, the other writers assure me it won’t be pleasant.
I wish the FSN crew would stop the spin about how this team “battled back all day.” The real story in this game was the pathetic inability of the M’s, particularly the woeful bottom end of the line-up where all the hitters seem to be taking performance inhibiting drugs, to drive in runs from third base with less than two outs. Just more of the same from this team as has occurred for several years.
Not catching any breaks? You’re kidding. Missed opportunity. Complacent manager vs. complacent Manager equals 500 baseball nothing more.
We need some more Mariner home shopping infomercials and some more 95 playoff highlights. Don’t let this season slip away M’s.
If Mike Hargrove is too stupid to utilize Shin-soo Choo, then the M’s might as well bring up Sneaky Dave and let him team up w/ the Dobbers to combine for the ulitimate[ly awful] lefty pinch-hitting duo.
As it is, the M’s bench is horrendous, which is why the team would be better off if they jus’ sent down all of ’em sittin’ on it, sans Wilson, and brought up Hansen, Justin Leone, and Chris Snelling; I’d rather see Mike Morse or Yuniesky Betancourt over Wilson Valdez, too.
Also, for what it’s worth, Raul Ibanez could’ve played first, while Willie F’n Bloomquist could’ve manned short; Valdez is horrid.
By the way, I hope Calvin Reese spends his $900,000 in Nintendo bucks well.
Re 169:
The question there would be:
Is Valdez a worse hitter than a pitcher? And if so, is the defensive downgrade of WFB worth it?
Remember that if you move Ibanez to first, you have to forefit the DH.
Pathetic late-inning hitting and Villone getting a fear-factor black belt with a ridiculous BB. But there is better, off topic, in a paen to Ichiro! by Alan Schwartz that holds to the usual high standards of writer and subject:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/sports/baseball/01score.html
.500 to finish out April is better than I expected by 3 games when this road trip started.
I would have preferred Choo pinch-hitting for Valdez as well. Giving up your DH isn’t the worst thing in the world. In this scenario, the pitcher would bat in the #9 position anyway. If you score, you have a chance to win before the pitcher’s position comes up. If not you still don’t get to that position until the 11th anyway. Sure thought our bullpen was shaping up a lot better than theirs, since Yabu was basically all they had left. Tough loss, but a somewhat lucky win yesterday, so I guess it evens up.
Hey, Mike, are you glad you have that 12 man pen now? Wasn’t it great to not have a PH option for your #9 hitter in the 9th inning?
Please mr bavasai send choo down if you arent gonna use him dont ruin this kids summer by letting him rot on the bench…
Just back from the Oakland Coliseum and boy am I steamed!
#172 They didn’t have to give up the DH to put in Choo to pinch-hit for Valdez. Bloomquist, who had pinch-hit for Sexson and went in at 1B, would have had to move to SS and one of four guys would have had to play first in the bottom of the ninth — Winn, Choo, Reed or Ichiro. You wouldn’t bother losing your DH just so Ibanez could play first since he’s not much of a first baseman. They might just have had a lead going into the bottom of the ninth had they let Choo pinch-hit.
I brought up the Choo situation with a couple of Mariner media people including Finnigan, before the game. My point being that Winn or Ibanez have played every inning of every game. They could use a day off once in a while. Finnigan replied that Hargrove likes a set lineup and likes to stick to it.
It seems to me that if Hargrove thought Choo could have gotten a hit
in that situation he would have used him — but maybe I’m giving him too much credit. After not playing for almost 2 weeks now it’s possible Hargrove feels that Choo is pretty worthless at the plate. But whose fault is that?
In any event, this was another game the M’s should have won. Great comeback only to go down. Did I mention Hargrove (or was it Price) calling for a pitch out with Swisher on first and an 0-2 count on Scutaro (with the deadly Kotsay on deck)? Why worry about Swisher stealing when Villone should be focusing on the light-hitting Scutaro (as Ray Fosse pointed out in the elevator after the game, Scutaro leads the A’s in walks) so he can be sure he doesn’t have to face Kotsay./
I think it’s time to go back and re-read DMZ’s analysis of Hargrove’s managerial tendencies from a while back. Two things I seem to remember are A) He will stick with the same lineup pretty much religiously. (I remember reading about Indians prospects rotting in Akron.) B) He will keep one player on the roster whose presence will be inexplicable.
There were other points but are two I remember. If I got them wrong, I’m sure DMZ will correct me. Anyway, I think we should review that analysis or maybe it could be reposted?
I was thinking of how using Choo might get it done in that situation as well, then I thought about the 1B situation. If we had pulled Ibanez from DH to 1B to lose the DH spot, did we have another hitter to hit for the pitcher? I didn’t think so, I don’t konw what Hargrove’s thoughts on that were. Plus, if this game were to go much much longer, he possibly wanted Choo on the bench to play anywhere in the event of an injury…
We should call up Aaron Rifkin. Holy shmokes. He’d solve the lefty bench bat problem the way he’s been hitting. I hope this is for real.
I can’t find another place to post this before knowledgeable people, so I’m just going to ask…
Can anyone here think of a possible explanation for the Orioles’ Brian Roberts so far this year? I mean, I know about small sample sizes, but yeesh.
The point i was getting at choo is to young to rot call a 3A vet up if they aint gonna play are even sniff the field but dont ruin a so called up and coming prospect!!!!!Would choo have gotten a hit who knows i would bet not but too have him gat 1 atbat in 10 days is ruining confidence and letting him get out of the groove so when he goes back to tacoma it will take 2 weeks to get hi m started again just like spring training.Heard thru a friend who works for the team bucky is out till late june at the earliest knee isnt right.
I am jumping on the Aaron Rifkin bandwagon.
Fortunately, Tribnet reports that Hansen will be up on Monday. I hope Choo gets a start today just to make this past week worth it.
If I were the M’s and wanted to sit a guy on the bench and not play him except in an emergency, I’d purchase Hunter Brown’s contract to sit on the bench and not play. He’d fill that role perfectly. But burning service time with Choo sitting on the bench is damn stupid.
Who wouldn’t fit the role of “sitting on the bench and not playing” perfectly?
Well, I figure said player needs to be at least be able to kind of hit and field in case of an emergency. Hunter Brown is that guy.
Hunter brown hit??????Field avg at best .The guy to hit is snelling the guy to field is santiago 6 1 way half a dozen the other..I proably forgot they have no roater spots so i guess thats why it was choo but they have to make a roster spot for hansen right?Who comes off?My guess they will take mads to the 60 day dl.
Pokey’ll probably be moved to the 60-day. If I were them though, I’d DFA Spiezio.
Also, it could’ve just as easily been Leone.
leone is one i forgot that for me is the best choice and im not a leone fan.But he has pop and is a far better defender then he showed in seattle last year..