Game 50, Mariners at Twins.
That sucks — Expedia was throwing me out of my office so I could enjoy the wonder of an open space work environment, so I was making margaritas for our going-away party, and I get home and no one else has thrown up a game thread either, and it’s 3-0 Twins and the M’s managed to get out of a bases-loaded opportunity without scoring.
Ugh.
Game 48, Orioles at Mariners
RHP Kris Benson v LHP Jarrod Washburn.
I remember back when Kris Benson looked like he was going to be really good, and then when he looked like he still might break out and be really good even though it hadn’t happened yet… and now here he is, the leader of the Orioles staff.
Baltimore’s been pretty kitten-like (cute, harmless) against left-handers this year: .214/.288/.384 as a team (!). Which is way better than Richie Sexson or Adrian Beltre’s overall line, and a little bit better than Jeremy Reed. That’s really sad.
Seattle, if you’re curious, against righties: a not embarassing .276/.327/.430
Fun fact: Kris Benson will be paid about $1m more than Washburn in 2006.
Game 47, Orioles at Mariners
LHP John Halama v RHP Joel Pineiro.
Yay it’s Halama again! (pause, stare at hooves) Wait.
Bloomquist in center, too, for your enjoyment.
Batting ahead of Johjima:
Adrian Beltre
Carl Everett
Richie Sexson
I uh… at this point in the season, how can you defend this? I’m not saying batting orders are all that important, but Hargrove’s put three of his best hitters and then spiked the order so that there’s almost no way to string together a nice offensive sequence without ending the inning.
Game 46, Orioles at Mariners
Erik Bedard vs Jamie Moyer.
As always, since Winston-Salem is so close (read: 400 miles) to Baltimore, I don’t get to watch this series. Screw you, MLB.tv.
Game 43, Padres at Mariners
Dave Valle. Joy.
Game 42, Mariners at Athletics
A 12:35 start, and no television!
RHP Joel Pineiro v RHP Kirk Saarloos. Two “a”s, two “o”s there.
Game 41, Mariners at Athletics
WILLIE TIME!! OH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Moyer v Zito, 7:05.
Game 40, Mariners at Oakland
RHP Felix Hernandez v RHP Joe Blanton. 7:05, FSN.
Heyyy, you know how Hargrove wanted 40 games before drawing any conclusions about the team? This is game 40. And the team’s getting smacked around the league. Oh, we can say things may turn around, or they’re no worse than team X or better than team Y, but 90 wins? 80 wins requires them to play a little better than .500 ball the rest of the year, and that’s certainly possible, but playoff contention? Probably not.
Unless… unless they turn it around now, and Felix has fixed his mechanics and they build a little momentum and they could be right back in this. Right? Right?
Game 35, Devil Rays at Mariners
RHP Doug Waechter v RHP Felix Hernandez. 7:05 on FSN.
Soooooooooooo… Felix. Could you please bring your velocity and control today? I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but you’ve really been worrying us lately. You’re flying all over the place, your pitches aren’t where they should be… what’s the scoop? Was it Chicago? Was it us? We can change.
Until lineups are posted, I can only wonder: do we get Lawton again?
And what’s the worst plausible outfield the Mariners could field? I’m thinking Ichiro takes a half-day off DHing, and it’s LF-Ibanez, CF-Bloomquist, RF-Lawton. If Ibanez has to play 1B, you could even get an Everett/Bloomquist/Lawton outfield (or heck, sit Bloomquist and go Everett/Lawton/Ibanez).
Game 33, Indians at Mariners
D’oh.