Us
Meta
Reference Material
The Future Forty 3/19/09
Evaluating Defense Evaluating Pitcher Talent
Evaluating Managers
Bugs Bunny, Greatest Banned Player Ever Selected for Best American Sports Writing!
The Attrition WarDisclaimer, Copyright
The U.S.S. Mariner is in no way affiliated with, condoned or given any notice by the Seattle Mariners baseball team, who have their own website. Similarly, we have no association with the ownership group or any businesses related to the Mariners. All article text is written by the authors, all pictures are taken by the authors, who retain copyright to their works. No copying or reproduction of any content here, photographic or otherwise, is authorized. Please email us if you wish to reproduce our work.
M’s win! M’s win!
Thank God we have something good to post about. Yayyyyyyyyyyyy.
Tags:
Comments
-
Recent Posts
- The AI Has Taken Over
- ’22 40-Man Preview Extravaganza
- ALDS Game 3: Astros AT Mariners – Welcome Home
- ALDS Game 2: The Pitch and What Follows
- ALDS Game 1 – Series Preview
- Recent Events Fill Mariners Fans With Unexpected Emotions
- AL Wild Card Series Game 2: The Ray Game
- AL Wild Card Series, Game 1: Here We Go
- AL Wild Card Series Preview: The Battle of Robbie Ray
- Game 162, Tigers at Mariners
Author Links
Local M's Coverage
M's Blogosphere
M's Official Sites
Resources
Twittah
and it sounded like there was a fine Adam Jones grab to save several runs in the 7th when the no-no was broken
so do Rizzs & Hargrove keep the goatees when the season begins?
And finally, the Pirates are the only team that haven’t won a game in 2007.
sigh.
On this day, 2001:
Seattle 6, Chicago Cubs 1 in Peoria, Ariz.
THE RECORD: Seattle is 2-4 in the Cactus League.
THE ARMS: Lefty starter John Halama has made two starts this spring, including two innings yesterday, and hasn’t given up a run. Only one batter reached base against him. … Reliever Jose Paniagua again looked dominant. He pitched the ninth inning and retired the side in order. He’s struck out four of the six men he’s faced this spring. … Lefty Brian Fuentes, a long shot to make the team as a second lefty reliever, threw a shutout inning.
THE BATS: Ichiro Suzuki got the Mariners started with a bases-loaded two-run double in the third inning. Stan Javier followed with an RBI single. After Javier took second on the throw, John Olerud singled in two more runs. The final run scored on Anthony Sanders’ RBI hit in the eighth. … Manny Alexander helped his cause to make the club as a backup infielder by getting a double and a single his first two times up.
THE QUOTE: “Every time he’s been back there, he’s done a real nice job with the pitchers.” — manager Lou Piniella on minor league catcher Blake Barthol.
Paniagua. Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in years…
“…Brian Fuentes, a long shot…”
Whoops.
Man, I was all about Anthony Sanders back in the day.
Yes, it’s spring, and yes, it’s meaningless, but did you notice that Willie Boom Boom “hit” third in today’s lineup…and we won our first game of the year?
This will haunt us, Mariners fans.
I think we should have seen “Willie hitting third” coming. Grover likes Vidro for the #3 spot, and Vidro both blows and gets hurt a lot, so the obvious replacement is Willie. He might even move someone else to DH (like Lopez or Ichiro) to make space for Willie’s glove.
Yes, I honestly think Grover has the cognitive ability of a mollusk.
What a massive insult to mollusks everywhere!
#8: Yes, I honestly think Grover has the cognitive ability of a mollusk.
Is that a European mollusk or an African mollusk?
whatever happened to Barthol?
#10: Is that a European mollusk or an African mollusk?
I wouldn’t be surprised if it is a poor attempt at cross-breading both. Oh and in response to #11…I think Fuentes ate him before he left.
That Rowe fella pitching for the Tigers – just looking at the box score it looks like he was brought in with the bases loaded with 1 out in the ninth inning, and he hit Rivera with a pitch while he let all of them score.
That’s really not how inherited runners are supposed to work.
11 – Barthol is the head coach for Lehigh Carbon Community College.
And he’ll always be the first catcher to catch a perfect game in the long, distinguished history of the PCL.
Man, I’m the opposite of you, Jeff- I loved Brian Fuentes. I thought he had the most hilarious ears ever (oh, and an awesome pickoff move). I thought he’d be a damned effective loogy, but his evolution into effective closer…well, i didn’t predict that one.
okay, so now the entire BP-dissing post is gone? I guess I understand, given that it had some factual problems, but it’s important to remember, when people start throwing around libel-suit threats, that they are threats, they’re meant to shut you up, they repress speech instead of joining the argument, and that the standard for libel is (quite thankfully) very high in the US.
Well, “some factual problems” is maybe the understatement of the year, unfortunately.
Big day for Tony Torcato — my 9 year old’s favorite player of all time.
Yeah, he’s a weird kid, but still, kind of cool.
What a bizarre turn of events.
I was thinking of some cross breaded mollusks for dinner tonight.
On the disappearing post – I talked to Dave, and we took it down. You can see the remaining post on this, but the short version is that Steve apologized for any perceived slight, baseless or not, and I’m now doing my own apologies.
Apparently it takes 5 former Mariners to replace Blowers on the KOMO pre & postgame show.
“Dave Valle, Norm Charlton, Bill Haselman, Tom Lampkin and John Moses will join hosts Tom Glasgow, Tom Hutyler, Matt Pitman and Mariners reporter Shannon Drayer in the broadcast booth in 2007.”
“…that the standard for libel is (quite thankfully) very high in the US.”
Unfortunately, so is the cost of defending onself against such a suit.
I personally enjoyed listening to Dave Winfield talk during the game on saturday…he was on for what seemed like 3 hrs but I was only listening for 2 innings! I think it was his natural ability to repeat the statement…”Kids just don’t do anything outdoors these days! When I was a kid I’d be outside all day working on my hitting, I never had my hands on any video game controllers.” I was about ready to throw a Gyro-ball through the radio…
Boy, after today I’m convinced Ramirez is the true ace Bavasi knew he was trading for! Threee no-hit innings? Imagine how long he could have gone if he was left in! Yet another successful trade for Bavasi.
All right, I know Ramirez will have an ERA over 5 this year, but it was still cool seeing him toss those no-hit innings, which (including the charity game) gives him 5 innings of 1-hit ball this spring.
Mmm… mollusks
#24: All right, I know Ramirez will have an ERA over 5 this year, but
You use “but” like he won’t be proud of his ERA, just remember, Ramirez will just be glad he can count it on one hand. Maybe…
While I was at Mariners Fanfest Bavasi made a comment that may haunt some fans too. He said, and I quote, “We have the best utility player in the majors in Willie Bloomquist.”
Any thoughts?
Wasn’t it Howard Lincoln that actually said that?
What Bloomy lacks in ability or hitting ability, he more than makes up for in grit and clutch and also “spark”.
Any news on Ross Gload?
Steve Kelley likes straw men!
Steve Kelley has written an interesting column in Wednesday’s Times:
“Open Season in Blog-ville if M’s Loseâ€
A few clippings: “I can almost hear the dissent building irrationally. Nerves beginning to fray. Cactus League questions lining up like hitters by the batting cage. Bloggers blogging until their finger tips are as worn as base-stealer’s pants. Anxiety increasing before Felix Hernandez has thrown the season’s first pitch. The sublime quickly morphing into the absurd.â€
and “I conjured a group of passionate, well-intentioned, if not quite well-informed, fans hunkered in some chat room, debating the Mariners’ slow start in the desert.â€
ending with “Throw a few more coals under that hot seat. Opening day is only 26 days away.â€
That article is absolutely retarded.
Why do ILuvGar, SafecoSlim, BoonieTwo, and CoraCoraCora never comment around here? Are they too good for us? I really doubt Kelley’s ever read a blog.
OMG, dumbest column evah. I mean, why single out blogs for this kind of behavior. This is one long passive-aggressive hit piece.
“the kind of blogosphere nonsense that could build rapidly if the Mariners keep losing before the real games begin” – evidence, please? cite names, don’t impugn an entire form of media. that’s like saying “the kind of radio nonsense” or “the kind of newsprint nonsense” – the nonsense would be independent of the form.
“I conjured a group of passionate, well-intentioned, if not quite well-informed, fans hunkered in some chat room, debating the Mariners’ slow start in the desert.” – again, where is this “chat room”? (how 90s)
“I suspect the early March losses already are making some fans apprehensive about the new year.” Where is the evidence? Oh yeah, it’s here:
“A guy actually came up to me at breakfast Tuesday, shaking his head and telling me, in all seriousness, he thought Mariners manager Mike Hargrove was doing a lousy job this spring.”
A GUY CAME UP TO HIM AT BREAKFAST. Thus, bloggers are the ones bringing this team down. Dear Lord.
I find it kind of adorable that Steve Kelley has the same level of insight in to the world of blogging that my Grandpa has in to the world of Hip-Hop.
The man who approached him at breakfast certainly wasn’t a blogger, because as we all well know, bloggers are incapable of leaving their basements, most likely due to a skin condition of some sort.
I realize I’ve already spent way too much time on Steve Kelley when I should really be studying, and this is it for me, but here’s the last two sentences of the email I wrote to him in response:
Pressing ‘send’ felt really good there.
29: I’ve heard the tired words used to praise WFB, but I think what’s often overlooked is his moxie and gumption.
Let Steve Kelley lash out if he wants. Most in the radio and print professions fear all forms of internet media, because it takes focus from and threatens their professions. Just accept that Kelley’s more irrational than most and as we all have an image of the irrational, uninformed fan (for many of us it’s Steve Kelley) for him it’s the bubbling mass of the internet. He’s really just yelling at what he sees as unreasonable scrutiny or worrying, only instead of something he overheard in a bar, it’s something he read on the internet, and we all know internet Marinerville can sink to disturbing depths. Kelley was just looking for something to write.
email I sent Kelley:
I don’t understand your column today. Obviously your fictionalized “blogosphere” findings were an allegory for underinformed fan rantings, but I don’t see the substance. Where is the evidence that anyone cares that the Mariners are losing in spring training? If your point is that some fans are underinformed and irrational, that is obvious and doesn’t need a column devoted to it. If it’s about fans being impatient with Hargrove, wouldn’t analysis of the validity of this impatience or of his managing ability or the security of his job be in order? The obvious fact that spring training doesn’t relate to managing ability is not defense of one’s managing ability. The whole basis of the column is the unfounded and unsupported claim that people care about game related managerial tactics during spring training. I’m sure if you could find some idiot who thinks that, but what would be the point? It seems you’re only purpose here is mocking the internet baseball community, that which your article portrays as troglodytes. I’ve seen the best and worst of amatuer internet sports journalism. There are places that are black holes of endless time eating stupidity, but also those with real credentials and deep understanding that offer analysis and insight surpassing even your own. I believe people can be trusted to pick and choose where they find their analysis, and have the ability judge quality and to tell what lines of criticism are stupid and pointless. Attacking uninformed, ignorant idiots doesn’t make Hargrove a better manager. He is a terrible manager because the decisions he makes when it counts and his lack of understanding of the game as demonstrated by what he says to the press. Your column did make one valuable point. The Soriano deal was a terrible trade.
I actually think we can expect to see this on a regular basis from HoRam. Not ace-type stuff, but plenty of games with about as many strikeouts as walks, tons of ground ball outs, and not many runs on the board. He at least has some sort of plan on the mound.
Weaver’s the guy I’m worried about. He’s not a lefty in Safeco and doesn’t have a solid plan. He’s just going to throw some stuff over the plate and likely get hammered on a regular basis.
If there’s anyone who’s likely to post a 5+ ERA, I submit it’s Weaver. I look for HoRam and Batista to sit in the mid 4’s.
Basically, Weaver 2007 could very well be Pineiro of 2006.
The fact that Kelley made up a blog rather than actually consulting any says it all.
I don’t know about print media, because I’m not a part of it. But I am in radio, and last time I checked Internet was not on my list of fears of anything. Yes it can be another thing to compete against, but as far as fear goes. No. The internet doesn’t threaten what I do or how I do it, it’s just another factor to add in.
from Hargrove today:
“Ibañez wasn’t the only Mariner on hold Tuesday – Hargrove had to scramble together a lineup that didn’t include Jose Vidro (flu), Jose Lopez (ankle) or Jose Guillen (day off), and wound up with Willie Bloomquist batting third.
“I had to take a look at myself in the mirror after putting Willie’s name in the third spot,” Hargrove said.”
Steve Kelley == Grandpa Simpson
And #37, it’s D-E-I-T-Y, not diety. The latter would be some god of weight reduction, I guess 🙂
Paragraphs, #40, paragraphs. Especially if you’re going to rip on someone who writes for a living (granted, someone whose own idea of paragraphing follows the Mike Lupica One Sentence Per Rule).