Week #13 in Review
So that battle for the basement really didn’t turn out so well, eh. Despite stomach-punching those Athletics. Let’s play the Mets some more. Yeah, let’s play the Mets. And Pedro!
Vital Signs
On this Friday we find the Mariners 32-39. Still in third place. Barely. Three losses to the A’s means the Mariners are now a fraction of a game from last place. Despite winning four games, the Mariners dropped another pair of games in the standings, now 10.5 back of the Angels. Seems the Halos decided to lose only one game this week. According to Baseball Prospectus’ adjusted standings, the M’s are underperforming by a game and a half, and should really be in last place.
300 runs. It sounds like a lot. But it really isn’t. For the Mariners, it really sounds like a lot. The Mariners are one of three major league clubs yet to crack the 300-run barrier. They are the only one of those clubs handicapped with a designated hitter. Shameful, I say.
After a rather embarrassing series against the likewise run-deficient Athletics, the Mariners are now last in the American league in runs scored with 294. As a team, they are batting .256/.316/.380, compared to the league average of .266/.329/.419 — below average across the board. Their OBP ranks 13th in the league (squeaking past the Indians) and their SLG also ranks 13th (just above Oakland). They have hit 49 home runs, which ranks last in the league, tied with Oakland. They’ve drawn 199 bases on balls, 9th in the league, tied with the Orioles. Their .254 EqA ranks 27th in all of baseball, sandwiched between Atlanta, Arizona and Oakland.
The defense has allowed 311 runs, which makes them the 7th best team in the American League at keeping runs off the board. The gloves are turning 71.3% of balls in play into outs, which is the 2nd best rate in all of baseball. The overall the pitching staff ERA continues to shrink, now at 4.19. The starters are allowing 4.66 runs per nine innnings, while the relievers are at 3.22.
What goes up (a sweep of the National League New Yorkers) must come down (dropping 3 of 4 to lowly Oakland). In going 4-3, the Mariners outscored their opponents by four runs, 29-25. That they did so is pretty incredible when you consider the numbers. They allowed more total bases 102-83, more walks 27-13 and more home runs 5-3. Few things went right for the offense. The guy who led the team in total bases (Richie Sexson 12) only reached base 7 times all week. Ichiro! led the team in RBI. [dramatic pause] No knock on the great Ichiro!, but when he’s driving in all the runs, something just ain’t right with the offense.
Heroes
In a ray of sunshine, Adrian Beltre hit .368/.478/.474. You’ll note the on-base is higher than the slugging. That’s in part to the fact that Mr. Beltre walked 4 times. [dramatic pause] This is a very good thing, as Mr. Beltre had only walked 9 times prior to that all season. He further contributed a pair of doubles.
In 15 innings over 2 starts, Jamie Moyer allowed just 3 earned runs. However, he did walk more batters than he struck out, 4:3.
Not-so-much Heroes
Okay so its only be 2 games since returning from Don Baylor Jedi training school, but Bret Boone still stinks. In the last seven days, he has gone 1-for-11.
The Catfish may have been suckerpunched on Wednesday, but call it revenge for Monday. So Jeff Nelson enters a 3-2 game with two outs. His mission? Retire Mark Ellis of the .323 OBP against right-handed pitching. Ellis squibbles an infield single. Jason Kendall takes his .332 OBP against righties like Nelson and draws himself a walk. Mark Kotsay then proceeds to take his .389 SLG against right-handers and smacks a homer. Now 6-3 A’s. Nelson retired just one of four batters he faced and those three he failed to retire all scored.
Coming to a stadium near you
Get ready. Can you feel it? The tension is so palpable. The heated rivalry continues this weekend… Mariners versus Padres!
What? You say you don’t? I’m sorry, I don’t either.
San Diego remains the top of the NL West, despite a 7-14 June. After coming off a string of four straight wins (in which they allowed a total of 4 runs), they’ve dropped their last two games.
Monday then begins a three-game set with those pesky Athletics again. The Battle for the Basement continues.
Jake Peavy + Petco Field = I don’t expect the Mariners to cross 300 runs until after the weekend.
Comments
22 Responses to “Week #13 in Review”
And the vital signs for next week aren’t looking very good. Sexson has just been suspended for 2 games for his, um, tantrum after being ejected from the Mets game the other night. The suspension is too start tonight, unless he appeals it.
Jake Peavy + Petco Park isn’t too great either…
🙂
Sexson gets two games for that? Is there a precedent for getting two games for arguing, cause i haven’t heard of it.
I don’t get the Sexson thing, unless he did something else that we didn’t hear anything about, but arguing balls and strikes? you argue the strike zone, you get ejected; why should you get a suspension on top of that?
regardless, this is exactly what our offense needed :@.
Sexson was suspended not for arguing, but for throwing a bucket of balls onto the field after he got ejected.
ahh..well, that explains it a bit.
now if only Hargrove would do that….
That buckeet of balls was the Mets offering for Boone.
I’m not happy about the suspension, but the timing is perfect (as long as he doesn’t appeal) since they can play Ibanez at first in San Diego.
And didn’t the M’s win the game after Sexson was ejected? It’s not as though we’re relying on his bat.
I actually like the energy Sexson shows. First he kills a bat, then chucks a bucket of balls. Good to see some emotion out there once is awhile. Eat your heart out Pineilla.
“And didn’t the M’s win the game after Sexson was ejected? It’s not as though we’re relying on his bat.”
What is this supposed to mean? Aside from Ibanez, Sexson is by far our most productive bat so far.
one game: small sample size. I think we can all agree we’d rather have Richie in the lineup than be without him. In truth, with Beltre struggling, he’s our only power threat.
The only problem with Sexson is, his bad games are cancelling out his good games. I wish he could be more consistent, but he’ll probably end up with 40 knocks, and that is hard to knock.
His bad games are cancelling out his good games? An 0 for 4 does not “cancel out” a home run. The HR still counts.
Dave Kingman one year batted .204 with 37 HR’s and 99 RBI’s. His line was 204/285/432, for an OPS of 717. That is a lousy hitter, whose bad games might be considered to “cancel out” his good games. More to the point, he just made too many outs for the production he gave.
Sexson, on the other hand, is batting 238/339/492 for an OPS of 831. Yes it would be nice to see his batting average — and more importantly his OBP — come up, which I think it will. But he’s still been a productive hitter, and he’s helped the team a whole lot more than he’s hurt it.
The “cancelling out” part was an exaggeration to drive home the point that he needs to be more consistent. In no way was I slamming him, Sexson is doing what I pretty much expected him to do, I just wish he would do it a little bit more often.
Rumor mill boone to padres for lower division prospect and mariners pay boone….Just heard this in san diego radio im down here for the series
Hard to make sense out of that since Loretta will be back.
Of course Boone would go to the Padres, the Mariners never trade with anyone else.. even though they are our bitter rival.
please let that rumor be true. I don’t care if we have to pay his entire salary or if we get fringe prospects. I just want him gone.
Those were vital signs? Sheez. But I am still feeling like we are close … or are we? Can the pitching keep this up? The bullpen still has Nelson, Shiggy, and Thornton. I’m not sure the others make me feel any better (save for Eddie). Is it possible that we are overperforming from the mound right now, and as the bats come around our pitching reverts back to the mean and … yuk.
Only 20 comments…People!
In the immortal words of Kate Bush, don’t give up.
Boone won’t go to SD. Arizona and Minnesota could use better Second Sackers and might still be close enough in late July to have an interest.
I never understand why players or managers are congratulated for “showing some emotion” when they throw childish tantrums that cost the team. I’m not interested in displays of emotion, except for pumping up teammates or celebrating success; I’m interested in focused energy. Take that anger and do something productive with it. Does Ichiro throw balls on the field?
I don’t think teams get “fired up” in any useful way when they see a temper tantrum thrown, either. Sure, they may get excited and angry themselves, but I don’t think there’s any evidence that translates into playing better.
I guess some people think that a temper tantrum is a sign that a player really cares, or something. And when the team is losing, the fans are upset, and I guess some of them want to see some evidence that the players are upset. I take it for granted that the players don’t lie losing. I don’t want to see “fire,” I wasnt to see focus.