Game 28, Mariners at Twins
Jarrod Washburn vs Johan Santana in a battle of southpaws who couldn’t be more different. Santana’s fastball routinely hits 95 MPH, which translates to 142 on the gun Fox Sports was using last night, and his change-up is about as unhittable as any pitch in the majors.
Washburn, on the other hand, has an 87-90 MPH fastball and… not a lot else. But he throws strikes and the Twins have a worse offense than the Tacoma Rainiers, so I’m thinking we’ll see another quality start from Washburn.
Also, WFB is not only back in the line-up, but he and his .308/.345/.308 line are hitting second while Jose Lopez takes his .514 slugging percentage to the eight hole. Even better, since Bloomquist is starting and we have no other backup middle infielders on the roster, we can’t pinch hit for him late in the game. Mike Hargrove is about as useful to the Mariners winning ballgames as a potted plant.
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213 Responses to “Game 28, Mariners at Twins”
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198 – Reed Johnson is a great example of that. Dude only bats against lefties, and he leads his team in HBP.
Play by the rules or change them.
At some point, everyone knows which rules are enforced and which rules aren’t. Have you ever seen someone called for not getting out of the way of a pitch? Once? Maybe twice? If Lackey doesn’t know that the rule isn’t enforced, he hasn’t been paying any attention. If he’s got a beef with how the rules are enforced, Jason Kendall is not the appropriate person to approach with this beef. (And no, to be clear, I still don’t think this gives Kendall enough reason to charge the mound. I just don’t think we should give Lackey a free pass for instigating the whole thing.)
The funniest thing to me about the Kendall brawl is that he did the same thing to his now-teammate Joe Kennedy a couple years ago. From the articles linked in #46 and #123:
This wasn’t the first time Kendall has charged the mound after a pitcher complained about his leaning over the plate. It happened two years ago with current teammate Joe Kennedy while Kennedy was pitching for Colorado and Kendall was playing for Pittsburgh.
“It was kind of the same situation as today,” Kennedy said. “No one really knew why it happened, but it was pretty similar. I threw a 1-2 fastball over the plate, and he leaned over and got hit by it. I told him, `Next time get out of the way,’ and he came at me.
“When I was running out there today, I was like, `Hey, I’ve done this before with Jason.’
I think Jason needs some anger management counseling
Just watched the Batista video – isn’t that Kenji cracking up in the dugout?
FWIW, there is a history with Lackey & Kendall, over the exact same thing dating from the end of last year… is this case, with the bases loaded, and one out, Kendall was leaning even farther out over the plate looking fastball away, Lackey threw a curve that didn’t go where he intended, and Kendall pulled his elbow out of the way of the pitch. Apparently Lackey then made his [expletive deleted] remark about keeping his elbow pad off the plate
“Said umpire Dale Scott: “The whole reason Kendall went after him — which was completely wrong, and of course he’s going to be ejected — is because Lackey yelled at him aggressively, very aggressively. He took a couple steps beyond where he usually ends up where he pitches, basically challenging him. If Kendall doesn’t run out, I’m not going to run Lackey. But Lackey has to hold some part of the responsibility for the reason the two teams were out on the field. If he doesn’t yell, he [Kendall] doesn’t charge. It’s that simple.”
204 – The uniform says Soft Bank, so it probably is Kenji.
Independent League Small Sample Size Theater:
After 3 games with the Long Island Ducks, Bucky Jacobsen
5/12, 1 HR, 2 2B, 4 RBI
…and he’s playing 1B which suggests his knee is OK.
Mo Vaughn used to play first base.
I’m just saying…
speaking of former M’s, from the Times:
Former Mariners RHP Jeff Nelson signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. Putz learned the news in a call from former teammate Matt Thornton, who joined the White Sox in a spring-training trade. “I just started laughing,” Putz said, “because Nelly was always messing with Thornton last year, constantly tormenting him. He’s like, ‘I get traded, and sure enough, he’s back.'”
I’m not saying we should sign him to replace Sexson (although, now that I think about it…..), just that he’s a guy you want to root for and it’s nice to see him on the field.
#203–I think Jason needs some anger management counseling
he’s been hit 201 times in his career (ranking him seventh all-time in the majors). He’s gone towards the mound twice.
202 – My point is I think they SHOULD call it, and if they are not going to, then the batter who chooses to cheat shouldn’t complain if he gets beaned or yelled at.
I have zero problem with Lackey jawing at him, or hitting his arm off the plate.
205 – Dale Scott is an idiot.
“If Kendall doesn’t run out, I’m not going to run Lackey.” Ok, Dale, but you are going to run Kendall if he runs out no matter what… so you are basically saying that you let a player dictate whether the opposing pitcher got kicked?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Hey, Santana hit a guy yesterday… next time we have an all star pitcher against us and Scott umping, let’s have Willie charge the mound in the first, save us some grief.
If you are not going to run lackey for what he did, you do NOT run him because of something someone else did. Idiotic.
well, FWIW, Kendall didn’t complain. He also got out of the way of the pitch.
Lackey (‘who’s fiery personality has caused him to self-destruct in the past’, if I may quote Mike DiGiovanna from last year) had loaded the bases; if Kendall WAS trying to get hit, he would have stayed put and gotten a run walked in.
He avoided the pitch, and before he stepped back in Lackey chose to come off the mound and yell at him. Apparently Lackey has not been shy in the past about comenting to Kendall about his stance, his elbow and his pad on field, and with all the info sent to the umps before series these days, it may be something that Scott was aware of beforehand.