Game 23, Athletics at Mariners
Eveland vs Newer Slimmer Carlos Silva. And what a nice day for it.
From Fangraphs:
Eveland’s pitch mix: 59% fastballs, 22% sliders, 6% curves, 12% changes
Silva’s pitch mix: 85% fastballs, 7% sliders, 8% changeups
Eveland hasn’t gone more than five innings since his first start this year, but even watching his last start against Tampa, you can see he had two distinct pitches working, the fastball and a slider (slider’s a little slower, like 84, but he gets huge movement on it compared to the fastball) and then threw some random stuff occasionally.
Meanwhile, as I flogged continually, Silva’s been throwing that BP-quality fastball/sinker/beach ball all the time.
Mmm-mmm.
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With Joyce’s erratic strike zone, Lopez couldn’t take the chance of taking any of those high pitches. Nice ending to a dramatic game.
Springer:34 pitches in two thirds of an inning. 14 of the to Jose.
That was an epic at bat by Lopez… Damn! What a game! I love baseball…
And we won on a night that Silva started. So, according to the latest collective bargaining agreement,(winning the game when a lousy pitcher starts) we get TWO WINS for tonight’s game!
This IS a fun team to watch (once Silva & Batista are out of the game, anyway), and they even win as often as not!
J-Lo…coming through in the clutch!
Lopez had seven walks in April, and his season high is only twenty-seven, so he is a quarter of the way towards exceeding that already. And then he has an at-bat like that, I think it is safe to say we are seeing a more disciplined Jose Lopez. And if that lasts, and he starts hitting like he can hit, even his strongest critics might start liking him.
That’s SIX 1-run wins already this season… 1/3 of the total number we won all last year.
Nice job boys. And I LOVED watching the team celebrate on the field afterwards, all the smiling, back slapping, yelling and hooting.
Thank you, 2009 Mariners.
UpOrDown –
Here, here bro! It’s always fun when the team can pull one out of the hat — and that comeback was definitely worth the wait!
Thank you Lopez. That AB was EPIC! And thank you rest-of-the-team, for not killing Lopez in the pile!
Silva? I don’t know what to do with you. Please do something to earn somewhere near your salary.
These games are fun to watch. They don’t quit when BP Silva gives up a six spot. That’s a very pleasant surprise!
Daaaamn, if I’d only gotten home like twenty minutes earlier I could have seen that ending. Wow. The descriptions alone are awesome.
Just got back. Impressions:
1. A perfect night for baseball. Can you imagine having to go inside to the Kingdome on a night like this?
2. Wind was blowing out to left early in the game, but had mysteriously died down about the time Beltre came up right before Branyan hit his out. Branyan did a super job of getting all of that pitch; it was just crushed.
3. I was in line in the men’s room during much of the third inning, so I didn’t see what Carlos was doing, but in the first inning he had some nice movement on his pitches (as witnessed by the two K’s). It was smart of Wak to take him out when he did.
4. M’s got some good breaks on line drives that were hit right at Beltre and Lopez. But that’s what happens in baseball.
5. Holliday’s homer was crushed, too.
6. I’ve never seen a broken bat 4-3-6 DP the way Lopez turned it. Forcing the runner to a dead stop was smart baseball because he lost all his acceleration. Just nicely done.
7. If all baseball was as exciting as that ninth inning, they’d need defibrillators at every seat. Lopez was just completely locked in, taking the game out of Joyce’s hands and then taking it out of Springer’s, too. Totally fun. And usually after the last out at least some folks in our section (127) leave immediately, but not a soul moved until Jose reached the dugout, which took a long time because he was mobbed and mobbed. He couldn’t tip his cap because he had lost contact with his batting helmet a long time ago. I suspect some of the A’s were already dressed and ready for the bus by the time he got to the dugout.
8. Winning games you could easily have mailed in after you fall that far behind is one way to exceed all your projections. Winning games that Carlos Silva starts is another. This was sort of a two-fer that way.
9. Does anyone know a good way to relieve swelling after clapping for a good half hour?
Ice, Breadbaker. Ice, ice, baby.
Lopey made Sportscenter! Whoo-hoo!
Any Silva game we can win despite him is great. Did anyone notice him in the wild celebration ending? Something tells me that he’d showered and was home at the condo with his feet up, watching the NBA by the time this thing ended.
Breadbaker –
Love that line…I nominate it Post of the Night! 🙂
Now I’m sorry I had a dinner and missed this game (though I happened to catch the Branyan and Gutierrez home runs). Just looking at how Lopez broke the Fangraph is fun.
I knew I had a tenth point:
10. Bottom of the ninth, tie game, bases loaded, two outs: the classic situation in which no one can be on deck, because either the game is over or the inning is over. Kenji was out of the dugout with his bat in his hand, but he had his full catcher’s gear on and wasn’t practicing swinging.
Maybe Kenji was anticipating getting put in as a pinch runner, so he had all the necessary gear 😉