Game 38, Yankees at Mariners
RHP Wang v RHP Sele (Sele’s still on the roster? What?) 7:05. KSTW.
Campillo got pulled from a start a couple days ago, was supposedly congratulated by his teammates, his manager would say nothing, and now… nothing’s happened. I’m as baffled as you. Maybe if Sele really gets hammered today at home, Lincoln’ll do that thing where he calls Bavasi and asks him what it’ll take to make the guy disappear the way Spiezio did.
What’s really stunning is that the Mariners have 11k tickets left for Tuesday’s game and 9k left for Wednesday games. This means that not only did season-ticket sales dive this year, but that single-ticket sales didn’t even make up the gap for a New York series (midweek though it is). That’s trouble.
Comments
447 Responses to “Game 38, Yankees at Mariners”
Thanks again Boonie.
I’ll buy a shirt.
Strike zone is squeezing Mariano.
And Boonie hits a fastball that looked like a dead center meatball right to Jeter for the DP.
Blah.
387: Right again about Dobbs.
Hmm… while it’s unlikely that people hanging out this late for this kind of a game are a good sample, I think I may take this to the wider audience soon.
Another Kodak moment for Dobbs against Rivera. There may be a legend in the making there.
Or not.
You have to love Rivera’s “do I have to freaking play centerfield too?” face.
And I’d be in for a shirt as well.
and we have dobbs v rivera, round 3!
Good grief Valle is a blathering idiot.
Let’s see what Dobbs can do.
Yeah, anybody who would willingly watch Greg Dobbs at bat clearly can’t be trusted. Like me.
Yes, really.
Well if the T-shirt thing falls through at least accept donations.
You guys deserve something for everything you do, especially putting up with us! 😉
392 – Tasteful, inside jokey… yeah, I like it.
394 – I’ll take one of those too. 🙂
No wonder I’m always broke.
DMZ, I’d definitely consider buying a USSM shirt, but I need to buy a shirt from my own site’s store first, heh. (I won’t post the store link here, out of respect for the USS Mariner)
Such a sweet swing and a graceful post-strikeout pirouette.
But for a dropped ball by Sexson, the M’s win.
I might have to make it myself (I know it’s a bit too tasteless to have wide appeal), but I’ve kinda wanted a shirt that said “Productive outs are just slicing across instead of down.”
Of course, then I would have to be ready to be attacked by both old school fans and people who have attempted suicide. Of course, the Mariners probably make a large portion of both groups overlap…
417, that would be a great shirt that would generate a ton of explanation requests.
I’d take one, though.
Make it in black and I’ll buy one and wear it. Anything else, I might buy it, but I know it’ll rot in the closet.
wow the mariners and a’s have really helped the yanks out here.
BTW – My Dad has been in and out of the hospital over the last 5-6 weeks. Every time they go in to fix something, they find something else wrong that they want to fix. I’m now calling him Earl. Which is, of course, his middle name. You’ve sold me on the idea. After all, Doyle’s still pounding the ball without mishap.
it was exciting to be in third place for a whole game….
JJ Putz is gonna have to learn some different pitches.
# DMZ said:
May 16th, 2005 at 10:11 pm
Um, 116 wins won the division pennant.
========
I’m an Olde Fahrt. “The Pennant” to me means being the League Champ. Winning the division seems meaningless as I recall when there was no such thing. But since its all the M’s have been able to achieve in 28 years I suppose we fans need to take pride in it. Come to think of it, I think now that the Expos have become the Nats the M’s now have the distinction of being the oldest franchise never to have won the Pennant. And the only other teams never to have won it are the Nats and Devil Rays. Somebody correct me…
This just in… M’s lose, Yanks win.
Tim,
Texas, Houston, and Colorado have never won a pennant.
Both the Rangers and Astros have been in existence longer than the Mariners.
Yes to purchasing shirt. Would encourage you to post an address for those who would like to send funds for a server upgrade.
Nice topic Baltimore M’s Fan.
Personally, I would prefer Shin Soo-Choo in left rather than Winn.
By seeing that Choo is playing left field in Tacoma, it’s probably a good possibility that the M’s Minor League head guy is preparing him for eventually replacing Winn. If Choo fails, we still have a hot hitting [blip!]
Sele got 9 groundouts vs only 3 flyouts, gave up only 1 run against a tough team, and showed veteran leadership, toughness, grit, determination etc etc by pitching out of multiple jams (although he shouldn’t have gotten into the jams in the first place) – which means that his job is probably safe for at least one more start.
Someone delete that post by Calderon
So, as usual, I was at the game, and reading this whole thread and corresponding times with my scorecard is sort of amusing.
I’m not even sure I can count the number of times I’d sit there waiting for the error to show up on the board before scribbling about an “infield single” on my scorecard. Ridiculous. Yeah, some of those were just funny (like watching A-Rod scramble for the ball in the first) and not really errors, but Boone’s blooperville in the 8th? Come on!
Anyone catch why they undid Matsui’s groundout to second before he subsequently struck out when they redid the play? That was confusing.
Say what you will about Sele, but I sure as heck enjoyed watching him strike out the side of Yankees, even if it was the bottom of the lineup.
I didn’t understand why they didn’t leave Sherrill in either. That seemed like a big mistake against a switch-hitting Bernie Williams.
Wang looked really good out there. He also had a huge cheering section of people holding up Taiwan flags and various signs full of kanji I can only assume were cheering him on. I think there was a bigger group of those people than there were Matsui fans, even.
The A-Rod booing was notoriously lackluster compared to past years of A-Rod booing. I don’t know whether to blame it on apathy or on 1/4 of the stadium being empty (which is also scary for a Yankees game, even a Monday night one).
And I’d totally buy a USSM shirt if you made one!
Why all this hatred towards Sele, he wasn’t the reason they lost tonight.
Pedro it stems from his other bad starts this year (and the last three years), and the fact that he pitched poorly tonight but looked “good” to someone who doesn’t pay attention that he had 6 walks and 5 hits in 5 innings with only 1 run (on 95 pitches). Then he got the three freak strikeouts in the 6th. Every inning he was putting a bunch of guys on, but squeaking his way out of it. A pitcher can’t walk that many and give up that many hits without eventually giving up a ton of runs…
Basically, people are frustrated that we may be stuck running him out a few more times when someone who can’t be any worse is in the minors because he managed to spread out his walks and hits among a bunch of innings without ever stringing them together.
And honestly, I don’t think anyone was blaming him for the loss. People were just recognizing the fact that he looked bad while he was on the mound and kept expecting him to fall apart. Instead it was Hasegawa et al who did.
Sherrill down, Campillo up.
It’s Wacky Roster Moves!
#420: Yes, there were more than a fair number of Yanks fans there, of every nationality, make and model. After watching/hearing the Sox fans matching the effort of the fans in the last series, and seeing the Yanks fans matching the number of M’s fans (with 1/4 of the stadium empty, no less) I’m a little disappointed at what’s happened to the fan base…even if I understand their reasons for staying home.
The SafeCo scorekeeper needs to be stopped! That muffed play by Boone was as bad a scorekeeper error as I’ve seen at a game.
As for Sele…he really wasn’t too bad, but my God was he a slow worker. I’ve seen the guy pitch before many a time, but I don’t know that I’ve seen him work that slowly before. Although it got Sheffield to make a bad baserunning decision, it made the game drag on for an eternity considering the lack of scoring at the time.
I’m also disappointed to see Sherrill sent down. He came in tonight and got the job done in a tough situation against one of the hottest hitters in baseball. His reward? A demotion, while Thornton lives to see another day.
With the need for a long man in the pen, I don’t see why Sherrill and Villone reprising last year’s roles isn’t preferable to putting Villone in a different role than he’s ever had (to my knowledge anyway) and relying on Thornton for an extended number of innings as a long reliever.
All this time spent figuring out what to do with whom, both by maangement and the coaching staff, is needlessly costing us games IMO.
Ugh. That should have been ‘430,’ not ‘420.’ Of all the numbers to screw up…
Re: (# 301) TINO’s INTERFERENCE – Right on! (For some reason or other, they showed that play over.) TINO was clearly in fair territory–where he ain’t supposed to be. The ump should have called a DP.
BTW, what happened–the runner interfering with the first-baseman’s ability to catch the ball–is what the rule was actually designed to prevent.
What is even more shocking (because it was so obvious)than the ump not making the call; is neither Olivo, Sexson, nor Hargrove protesting the non-call. (My feeling is that had at least one of them done so, the umps would have huddled, and Tino would have been called out.)
[We was robbed.]
NOTE: “Yet Another Paul” was referring to Rule 7.09 (k).
#430: He must have fouled the ball of himself. I was there too, and haven’t checked TiVo, but that’s the only logical explanation.
One of those times that “ultra slomo” camera actually came in handy. Matsui hit the ball into the ground and it immediately came up and hit his bat again on the follow through. Ball hitting the bat twice is a foul ball by the rules. Good call by the umps.
Matsui striking out because of it was just priceless. Nelson could have gotten out of the inning, but remembered which team he played for.
The Ms are one frustrating team. Sending Sherrill down while Nelson remains on the team in nothing short of sheer stupidity. They brought Sherrill up to face the hottest hitter in baseball, with the bases full of Yanks, and he broke the guys bat. If it wasn’t for a slightly misthrown ball, then Sexson makes the catch and the inning is over. Instead it is . . . thanks for the pitches George and see you in later. Meanwhile, Nelson keeps drawing a paycheck. It makes NO SENSE to keep Nelson on the team when a younger, better guy, is sitting in Tacoma.
Not to get off on a rant here, but let’s not leave out the Ms hitters who — once again — bailed out a no-name pitcher by swinging at his first offering nearly every time. At this point it seems like every other team in the league should just plan on bringing up their Triple A pitchers when they play the Ms. Why bother pitching your real pitchers when you can get wins with your rookies.
The only good news is the Camps got the call up. Considering where he was a year ago, this is quite a story.
I should be clear, this isn’t personal against Nelson or Sele. They are obviously professionals who trying hard. The problem is that the Ms management has placed these two guys in positions where they are going to fail. There is no shame in trying hard and failing. There IS shame when management of any organization puts its charges in a position to fail and mismanages the assets it has. By keeping Nelson and Sele on the squad, the Ms management are doing a disservice to them. They are also doing a disservice to Sherrill and the other pitchers who deserve an honest shot, to the other guys on the team, to the Ms owners, and to us.
I gotta go. I got three IM windows open from friends in NYC. I think they need to rub salt in my wound.
#430, Deanna, re: why didn’t Hargrove leave Sherril in to pitch to Williams.
Hmmm… without doing a lot of research I’d say this:
1: Bases are loaded, game on the line
2: Bernie is in the on deck circle examining Sherrill’s pitches
3: Hargrove hopes to twist Williams up a bit by making him hit from the left side, probably his ‘weak’ side, by bringing in Putz. This is pure Piniella style bullpen management. We should be used to this righty/lefty late-game fiddling. BTW, Williams was expecting just that sort of move but thats the way things are. There aren’t many secrets in baseball, really.
4: If anyone has a chance to throw fastball strikes past the Yanks in a game situation its Putz with his 95+ heat. Remember, he’s a kid too and needs to learn how to do this. He has a lot of talent but that talent needs to be tempered with consequences. Now he’ll think a little bit before he grooves a pitch to a disciplined hitter like Williams with the bases full. Next time he’ll throw that pitch with the idea that its the hitter who is overly anxious to hit. Next time it won’t be anywhere near to being hittable.
5: Its a rebuilding year.
Bring Back the Dead Ball!!! =)
[deleted, use of “literally” to mean “figuratively” which drives mgmt here insane]
hehehe…gee, sorry for the misuse of literally guys.
I did think it was a nice image, though. How about “The M’s should consider stenciling large forks on the backs of Aaron Sele’s and Jeff Nelson’s uniforms in lieu of numbers.”
#280, 282, 283, 297, 301, 326, 327, 374 and anyone else who blamed Sexon for dropping the ball.
I was a catcher in high school, many, many moons ago. Two standard catcher’s drills, one for fielding bunts and one for turning the 5-2-3 double play taught me–hell, hardwired me–to do one thing when throwing to first base: always, always makes sure that you have moved out of the first base path before making the throw. Take your time (you have plenty of time) and take several steps toward the shortstop before letting go of the ball. That is catching 101.
Olivo neglected these rudimentary steps. Sexon was left with a tough play: tracking a ball that was, momentarily, blocked from view. The fault lay with Olivo, not Sexon, for creating a tough play when an easy play was only several steps to his left.
Even if Tino was running along (or over) the infield side of the baseline, Olivo had plenty of time to make the adjustment against a very slow runner. Sexon has received a bum rap.
The more interesting question is how could Olivo have gotten to the major leagues without being hardwired for this rudimentary play? Was he not properly schooled? Did he panic? Is he slow witted?
Mr. Kayline we agree that that throw could have been better. Also, replays show that the throw was adequate and catchable. Sexson flinched as both the ball and runner were converging on him at the same time, a natural reaction. Yes, a better throw could have made the play more comfortable for Sexson to make. As it was, he could have caught it but didn’t and though it isn’t a serious crime it tends to put us on notice to watch Sexson’s defensive skills in the future. Many of us remember how good Olerud was with the glove and plays like that one we like to take for granted. I suspect things will be markedly different with Sexson.
Dear Deadball Tim,
I have no problem with how Olivo threw the ball, only from where he stood when he threw. He should have been 3 to 6 feet closer to the shortstop for two reasons. One, to avoid being knocked over by the baserunner from third and, two, to create a better angle for Sexon to see the ball coming toward him. Oldrud was a master at turning the 2-6-1 double play because he moved toward the mound before throwing to the shortstop–all the better to give the shortstop a good view of the ball. The same principle applies to Olivo making the throw to first base.
Yes, I understand the principle. Point taken.