Game 100, Red Sox at Mariners

DMZ · July 22, 2008 at 6:10 pm · Filed Under Game Threads 

Matsuzaka versus Dickey.

Comments

142 Responses to “Game 100, Red Sox at Mariners”

  1. WardP on July 22nd, 2008 9:05 pm

    Wow, FSN is now running promos for their generic white guy on-air “talent?”

    It’s not as though they have a winning team to promote.

  2. CC03 on July 22nd, 2008 9:10 pm

    MLBTR

    “The Red Sox inquired on J.J. Putz, but the Mariners say he’s not available.”

    Don’t know why I’m posting it.

  3. nvn8vbryce on July 22nd, 2008 9:12 pm

    Eh, IÂ’m sure it means very little to my friends in Warshington or my neighbours here in the Willa Met Valley.

    The Willa Met Valley of Ore-gone?

    That’s like saying I’m from Winnamucha (Winnemucca) in Nevahduh. or Sighslaw (Siuslaw) in Oregon. You can definately tell a native from a non-native in Oregon, Washington or Nevada. We’re the only people that can say these darned names correctly.

    And in other news: A Mariners pitcher went 6 1/3 today! It’s a red letter day!

  4. G-Man on July 22nd, 2008 9:12 pm

    IMFinksPa (89), I’m from that area, too. I tell people to say it like Worcestershire sauce, or WUSS-ter.

    Suddenly, I feel like having a tonic.

  5. JMHawkins on July 22nd, 2008 9:14 pm

    in Carthaginian formation?

    No, no. (H)Asdrubal is with Cleveland.

  6. scott19 on July 22nd, 2008 9:18 pm

    It’s not for a total lack of love to “Beantown” itself, mind you…there are a few rather cool things there. It’s just that when you’re driving along at, let’s say, 60 MPH, then that’s probably not the absolute best place to slow everybody down and abruptly wring them through a traffic circle.

  7. WardP on July 22nd, 2008 9:18 pm

    Both J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell have as many hits as the entire Mariner team.. blech.

  8. killer_ewok18 on July 22nd, 2008 9:18 pm

    The Red Sox inquired on J.J. Putz, but the Mariners say he’s not available.

    Obviously, they can’t trade him. He does all of the bobblehead commercials. Duh.

    That would be such a waste of perfectly good commercials.

  9. scott19 on July 22nd, 2008 9:20 pm

    Suddenly, I feel like having a tonic.

    I’ll take mine with Absolut Mandarin! 🙂

  10. JMHawkins on July 22nd, 2008 9:21 pm

    That’s Or-y-gon

    Home of the Or-goan-ee-ans. This all reminds me of Sims during one of his first few games with the M’s talking about a kid from Seck-whim. I don’t think anyone made him take his geoduck to Puyallup though.

  11. IMFinksPa on July 22nd, 2008 9:21 pm

    I went for a drink from the bubbla, but it was filled with pollywogs, so I just threw some jimmy’s on my wawful cone and just sipped on some tonic…

    Summer nights at the dairy, eating ice cream and listening to baseball on the radio while sitting on a 150 year old stone wall, overlooking the city on top of the big hill… what’s the Seattle equivalent to that idyllic childhood moment?

  12. PaulMolitorCocktail on July 22nd, 2008 9:23 pm

    what’s the Seattle equivalent to that idyllic childhood moment?

    RALLY FRIES!

  13. CC03 on July 22nd, 2008 9:24 pm

    Blowers keeps his kids in line, no question about it.

  14. cdowley on July 22nd, 2008 9:27 pm

    Home of the Or-goan-ee-ans. This all reminds me of Sims during one of his first few games with the M’s talking about a kid from Seck-whim. I don’t think anyone made him take his geoduck to Puyallup though.

    As my parents live in Sequim, I cracked up when I heard that.

    I believe I have heard him attempt Puyallup before… I think it comes out “Puyayllup” from him.

  15. G-Man on July 22nd, 2008 9:28 pm

    I said WUSS-ter, Dave!

  16. msb on July 22nd, 2008 9:30 pm

    so, does Yuni just not want to be at bat? He sure gets away from the box ASAP.

  17. CC03 on July 22nd, 2008 9:31 pm

    Jesus, Crisp almost caught that.

  18. MattThompson on July 22nd, 2008 9:31 pm

    Summer nights at the dairy, eating ice cream and listening to baseball on the radio while sitting on a 150 year old stone wall, overlooking the city on top of the big hillÂ… whatÂ’s the Seattle equivalent to that idyllic childhood moment?

    Listening to baseball on the radio, while fishing for salmon as the sun sets under the Olympic Mountains, and the Seattle skyline lights up with a glowing-orange colored Mt. Rainier in the background.

    I win.

  19. killer_ewok18 on July 22nd, 2008 9:34 pm

    Listening to baseball on the radio, while fishing for salmon as the sun sets under the Olympic Mountains, and the Seattle skyline lights up with a glowing-orange colored Mt. Rainier in the background.
    I win.

    Crying yourself to sleep, listening to M’s baseball on the radio.

    I win.

  20. msb on July 22nd, 2008 9:36 pm

    First time in LA, I had to reassure the navigator that I was indeed looking for La Cienega Blvd when I called it Lah see enica

  21. IMFinksPa on July 22nd, 2008 9:37 pm

    Yeah, but your listening to the Mariners:)

    There’s no losers here. I think I’d take the crackling sound of the old radio on my father’s ’64 T-Bird in any location over 118, but its the memories as much as the reality and more of my childhood memories include baseball than any other reference. Sox or Mariners, it doesn’t matter as much as it was my team and my family sharing those moments and that we can share similar sentiments.

    So, I’ll lift a beer to all your fond memories of Jr, Edgar, Harold and the rest fighting the good fight while you did the same to land that prize Chinook if you’ll enjoy a home made blackberry waffle cone to mine.

  22. forte40 on July 22nd, 2008 9:42 pm

    Anyone else hear Red Sox fans chanting “lets go Red Sox,” and basically drowning out our fans?

  23. scott19 on July 22nd, 2008 9:54 pm

    Anyone else hear Red Sox fans chanting “lets go Red Sox,” and basically drowning out our fans?

    Ah, it could always be worse…at least the tech in the sound booth isn’t under an official mandate to play Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” in the eighth inning…

    Yet, that is.

  24. MattThompson on July 22nd, 2008 9:58 pm

    So, IÂ’ll lift a beer to all your fond memories of Jr, Edgar, Harold and the rest fighting the good fight while you did the same to land that prize Chinook if youÂ’ll enjoy a home made blackberry waffle cone to mine.

    Ah, blackberries. That may be the one thing uniting our childhood memories.

    Still, you had to listen to the Sox, and at least the Mariners didn’t torture us, in those days, with the hopes of an entire region. They stunk, we knew it, but it was baseball, after all.

    Still, I raise a glass to Yaz, The Spaceman, Pudge, Conigliaro, The Splinter, and all great Sox past. In the hopes, of course, that the M’s, eventually, can wake up and win one too.

  25. msb on July 22nd, 2008 9:59 pm

    Anyone else hear Red Sox fans chanting “lets go Red Sox,” and basically drowning out our fans?

    well, there was just the one lone fella trying to get the ‘let’s go Mariners’ chant started, so he was easy to drown out

  26. enazario on July 22nd, 2008 10:04 pm

    No one is talking about Jeff Riggleman’s record anymore.

    Edited: Jim I meant! I love this feature!

  27. G-Man on July 22nd, 2008 10:06 pm

    Nor Jim Riggleman’s 🙂

  28. Sports on a Schtick on July 22nd, 2008 10:43 pm

    Seattle rookie C Jeff Clement left the game in the third inning after a foul ball clipped his right hand and ripped the finger nail off his thumb.

    This season keeps getting better.

  29. Breadbaker on July 22nd, 2008 11:20 pm

    For what it’s worth, according to Google maps (and using the satellite feature), there is nothing between US Cellular and the Dan Ryan expressway (I-90), while there is one street between Fenway and the Mass Pike and the Jake and I-90. It’s a bit more complicated with regard to the Safe, of course, depending on which of the various lines coming off I-90 you count, and whether you count the technical piece of 3rd Ave. So. behind the stadium.

  30. hincandenza on July 23rd, 2008 12:41 am

    enazario: No one is talking about Jeff Riggleman’s record anymore.

    Well, maybe they should. What, did we think he was going to come in and have this team pulling a 2007 Colorado Rockies kind of streak? When McLaren was axed, they were 25-47; they are now 38-64, two games further under .500 (24 games) than when Riggleman took over.

    But they were a .347 team with McLaren and are a .380 team now. At the one month mark of his tenure, they were 13-13 but have lost these last two to the not-exactly-chopped-liver Red Sox to fall to 13-15 with Riggleman.

    While missing Felix for a couple of stars and the only roster moves being the replacement of players with AAA prospects, the Mariners were a .500 team for the first month of the Riggleman era. Yes, yes, small sample size, but give the guy his due: he’s not the greatest manager around, but he’s good enough that for whatever reason the team is basically mediocre with him at the helm.

  31. Librocrat on July 23rd, 2008 1:24 am

    Yes, yes, small sample size

    And

    the only roster moves being the replacement of players with AAA prospects

    Along with Beltre’s BABIP regression and random fluctuation explain Riggleman’s success pretty well. See: Vidro, Cleanup. The Manager doesn’t make a huge difference to begin with. Riggleman continuing to bat Vidro cleanup tell me he is not making enough of a difference to improve the team by several wins in a short time. I see no reason to give him any credit for the recent “success.”

    (I love this edit feature)

    Edit: Also, I see no success, as not including the losses to Boston is like saying Batista wins a lot of games when he doesn’t lose.

  32. mln on July 23rd, 2008 2:36 am

    I just wanted to add my 2 cents that this edit feature is the best thing since … Rally Fries!

  33. James T on July 23rd, 2008 5:19 am

    For what it’s worth, according to Google maps (and using the satellite feature), there is nothing between US Cellular and the Dan Ryan expressway (I-90), while there is one street between Fenway and the Mass Pike and the Jake and I-90. It’s a bit more complicated with regard to the Safe, of course, depending on which of the various lines coming off I-90 you count, and whether you count the technical piece of 3rd Ave. So. behind the stadium.

    Well, Fenway is just a block or so from the Mass. Turnpike (also I-90) but there’s no easy way to get to it from the Pike. The nearest exit’s another half mile east so you have to drive through some city streets to get to Fenway. But don’t park too close if you ever visit. There’s no such thing as jaywalking in Boston (see, the Sox fan is letting Manny off the hook again!) and pedestrians will block any movement within a hundred yards of the park if your car is that close.

  34. texasgal on July 23rd, 2008 7:28 am

    For what it’s worth, according to Google maps (and using the satellite feature), there is nothing between US Cellular and the Dan Ryan expressway (I-90), while there is one street between Fenway and the Mass Pike and the Jake and I-90. It’s a bit more complicated with regard to the Safe, of course, depending on which of the various lines coming off I-90 you count, and whether you count the technical piece of 3rd Ave. So. behind the stadium.

    I live in Boston, lived in Chicago, and went to the Jake last year for the ALCS. The Cell sits right on the freeway, only a feeder road in between the stadium and the interstate. The Jake also sits nestled right on the freeway, and is ridiculously easy to get into and out of. Fenway is another matter- like James T said, it looks like it’s just a block from the Pike, but in reality, you have to wind your way through several random city streets after exiting the Pike before you reach the Park.

    But no one drives to Fenway, anyway. No one sane, that is.

  35. msb on July 23rd, 2008 8:02 am

    Seattle rookie C Jeff Clement left the game in the third inning after a foul ball clipped his right hand and ripped the finger nail off his thumb.

    that would explain why he looked like it really really really hurt.

  36. joser on July 23rd, 2008 9:10 am

    While missing Felix for a couple of stars and the only roster moves being the replacement of players with AAA prospects, the Mariners were a .500 team for the first month of the Riggleman era. Yes, yes, small sample size, but give the guy his due: he’s not the greatest manager around, but he’s good enough that for whatever reason the team is basically mediocre with him at the helm.

    And that’s a valid comparison because they played exactly the same teams under one manager as they did under the other. Oh, wait, they didn’t? And the sample size is really small? In other words, that comparison has exactly as much analytical value as the southward-moving methane from a northward-moving cow.

  37. joser on July 23rd, 2008 9:15 am

    But no one drives to Fenway, anyway. No one sane, that is.

    You have to be insane to drive in Boston, period. I think they require a test for that when they give you the license.

  38. JerBear on July 23rd, 2008 9:19 am

    Riggleman continuing to bat Vidro cleanup tell me he is not making enough of a difference to improve the team by several wins in a short time. I see no reason to give him any credit for the recent “success.”

    Very true. I don’t know if anyone’s seen the article up on the M’s site about their “Different Approach at DH” – It’s mindblowing. Seriously, they put an article on their own page attempting to justify Vidro in the middle of the lineup, and it reads like a damning testament to their own ineptitude.

    Vidro is about as far away from Ortiz as you can get. He has just five homers this season and is hitting .223 with a .267 OBP and 41 RBIs. Even when Vidro hit .314 with a .381 OBP as Seattle’s main designated hitter in 2007, he only had six homers and 59 RBIs.

    And for now, while many teams would prefer some additional pop in the lineup, the Mariners are content to stay with their different breed of designated hitter.

    And it has some insightful quotes from Riggleman:

    I’m astonished to tell you the truth when I look up and I see Vidro’s average is what it is, because I feel like every time he goes up there I’m very confident that he’s going to give us a good at-bat….It’s not a classic DH situation, but I feel good every time he walks up to the plate….The numbers may say otherwise, but I think he’s going to give us good at-bats.

    Sounds like classic McLaren right there. “Numbers, analysis, and common sense be damned – I’ve got warm fuzzies!”

    Nothing’s changed. And it’s not like it’s a surprise, or disappointing on Riggleman’s part – I really expected as much. But it’s sad that the entire organization is willing to go along with such insanity.

  39. Jeff Nye on July 23rd, 2008 9:20 am

    Yes, yes, small sample size, but give the guy his due: he’s not the greatest manager around, but he’s good enough that for whatever reason the team is basically mediocre with him at the helm.

    There are three types of managers:

    1) Managers that are seriously excellent and substantially improve their team’s chances to win. This is the smallest group.

    Tony LaRussa is the guy that seems to be most often mentioned as part of this group, but there are a few others.

    2) Managers that seriously suck and are actively detrimental to their team’s chances to win. This group is slightly larger than #1, but still pretty small.

    I’d put McLaren in that group despite him having a terrible team to work with; he could have gotten more wins if he hadn’t made some utterly inexplicable choices.

    3) The very, very large pool of guys in the middle who just don’t matter, but sometimes APPEAR to matter depending on the talent available to them.

    Bob Melvin is the poster boy for this; he’s a mediocre manager who has had really good talent to work with the last couple of years, so people are talking about him as if he suddenly got amazing after he left Seattle.

    Riggleman is solidly in group #3, and McLaren was solidly in group #2, so yes we’ve made an (incremental) improvement; that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be trying to find someone who’d be part of group #1, and those guys are around in the minor leagues.

    I’m still mad about Dan Rohn. 🙁

  40. scott19 on July 23rd, 2008 10:26 am

    You have to be insane to drive in Boston, period. I think they require a test for that when they give you the license.

    Well, if you’re a city resident, you have to be able to prove that you have a place to park a vehicle you’re purchasing before you can get it registered there — unless they’ve rescinded that law, that is.

  41. joser on July 23rd, 2008 11:33 am

    I’m astonished to tell you the truth when I look up and I see Vidro’s average is what it is, because I feel like every time he goes up there I’m very confident that he’s going to give us a good at-bat

    Wow, that’s just a classic quote. The numbers are reality, and he’s denying it, which in most other fields of work would be considered incompetence at best and mental illness at worst, with fraud sitting somewhere in between.

  42. hincandenza on July 23rd, 2008 3:34 pm

    I never said Riggleman was a La Russa or even Piniella or Francona; only that because McLaren was so awful, simply having marginally competent management (the Vidro issue notwithstanding) has coincided with a brief run at ~.500 baseball.

    There’s no need to be insulting, I acknowledged the small sample size, and will note that after his first 28 games, McLaren was also 13-15. But if- big if- the Mariners play ~.500 ball for the rest of the season, they’ll be a crappy 70-win team and not a horrific 60 win team.

    And I’d completely agree that a new manager along with a new GM would be fantastic for the Mariners.

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