Game 137: Mariners at Athletics
RHP King Felix Hernandez vs. RHP Joe Blanton, 1:05pm, FSN/ESPN/ESPN2 and KOMO. I have no idea what your local/regional TV situation might be, so you’ll have to check it out for yourself.
Remember at the beginning of the year, when everyone (well, most everyone) said the A’s would be awful because they traded away Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder? The two guys who took those spots in the rotation were Joe Blanton and Danny Haren.
Joe Blanton: 36.8, $316,500
Danny Haren: 30.4, $323,500
TOTAL: 67.2, $640,000
Tim Hudson: 36.6, $6,750,000
Mark Mulder: 35.5, $6,550,000
TOTAL: 72.1, $13,300,000
The first number is 2005 VORP. The second is 2005 salary. With Blanton-Haren, the A’s are getting 93% of the Hudson-Mulder performance for roughly 5% of the cost. Meanwhile, Oakland is 76-60 and a game back in both the division and wild card races thanks to the second-best team ERA in the league. Billy Beane — what a frickin’ idiot.
RF Ichiro
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
“DH” Dobbs
2B Lopez
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
Happy Felix Day!
Game 136: Mariners at Angels
RHP Jeff Harris vs. RHP Bartolo Colon, 1:05pm. FSN & KOMO.
RF Ichiro
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
“DH” Dobbs
2B Lopez
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
Game 135, Mariners at Angels
In the interests of promptness, here’s a game thread for tonight’s tussle, Ryan Franklin (6-14, 5.34) versus Jarrod Washburn (7-8, 3.26). I have a sensitive stomach, so I’m going to see Son Volt instead.
Tom Huytler on the pre-game show: “Ryan Franklin’s on a roll … and not the good kind.”
Just call him butter. Rancid butter.
Game 134: Mariners at Angels
Apparently we’re slacking. Sorry. M’s already up 1-0.
RF Ichiro
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
DH Hansen
2B Lopez
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
LHP Moyer vs. RHP Paul Byrd
Game 133, Yankees at Mariners
Better late than never. Let’s go M’s.
Game 132, Yankees at Mariners
The dust is settling around my house. Boards and plaster have settled down like warm snowflakes, and a new room is taking shape.
We’re doing a tradition long enjoyed by my favorite baseball team, the end-of-summer remodel.
Remodeling inherently involves destruction, sometimes painful. You throw away a part that’s outlived its usefulness, you tear down a section of your life. Some good always goes out with the bad, and if the old poker table doesn’t fit the updated room, well, that’s a hardship.
It’s the same with baseball, where a beloved chapter has to end so the fresh start can spring up. If you’re fortunate, time stops enough to let you see the great times of the previous era just as you sense those thrilling, emerging possibilities.
It’s in this mood that I go to watch Felix Hernandez take on Randy Johnson. Two aces, two eras, two baseball teams in different stages of transition.
One special end-of-summer night. Enjoy.
RF Ichiro
CF Strong
DH Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
2B Lopez
LF Morse
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
Game 131, Yankees at Mariners
RHP Jeff Harris vs. RHP Shawn Chacon, 7:05pm, FSN & KOMO.
RF Ichiro
CF Reed
DH Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
LF Morse
2B Lopez
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
There’s much to like about tonight’s lineup: Reed hitting second, Bloomquist’s absence, Lopez’ presence, Morse in left, Ibanez back to DH, Betancourt in there to haul in everything hit his way, and so on.
Chacon has been something of a savior for the Yankees and their depleted starting staff, going 3-1 with a miraculous 1.80 ERA in six starts since being acquired a month ago. Even factoring in that he’s spend his entire career at Coors Field, he’s obviously in way over his head, but you gotta stick with the hot hand. Right Mike Hargrove?
Game 130, Yankees at Mariners
7:05. Your lineups:
Ichiro, RF-L vs Jeter, SS-R
Ignitor, 2B-R vs Matsui, LF-L
Ibanez, LF-L vs Sheffield, DH-R
Sexson, 1B-R vs Rodriguez, 3B-R
Beltre, 3B-R vs Giambi, 1B-L
Dobbs, “DH”-R vs Williams, “CF”-B
Betancourt, SS-R vs Lawton, RF-L
Reed, CF-L vs Posada, C-B
Ojeda, C-R vs Cano, 2B-L
Aannnd in the biggest matchup of the day… RHP Mike Mussina v RHP Ryan Franklin. Not even in terms of “how good are they now”, but where their careers have been.
Mike Mussina is 36 this year. He’s 223-127, with 2,393 career strikeouts and a career ERA of 3.63. He’s had a couple of absolutely stellar years (1992, 1994, and his 2001 was pretty good too) a whole collection of almost-as good-ones. His worst years, he’s been league average. While probably not a Hall of Famer, Mike Mussina has had a tremendous career that seems to have gone largely unappreciated, and that could be because of the postseason, or his generally quiet manner, or whatnot.
Lately, he’s been beat up badly a couple times this year but also dominated on other occasions. June 14th, he pitched a complete-game shutout of the Pirates, striking out six and allowing only one walk (and no home runs) and using only 109 pitches to do so.
By contrast, his opponent Ryan Franklin has been horrible since he returned from his steroid suspension. Franklin hasn’t had a good start since July 4th, when he celebrated this nation’s independence with a complete game shutout of the Royals (six hits, one walk, four strikeouts).
And as to the career… Franklin is only four years younger than Mussina, but he’s 33-49 for his career, with 406 strikeouts.
Mike Mussina was a college pick out of Stanford at #20 in the 1990 draft. The Mariners picked Marc Newfield at #6. Two years later, they drafted Franklin in the 23rd round of the 1992 draft.
Oh well. Amazingly, the press notes indicate that there are 9,000 tickets for tomorrow’s Harris v Chacon matchup, and 7,500 each for the Wed King Felix v Randy Johnson match and the Thursday 1:35 mid-day Pineiro v Wright game. What’s the world coming to when the M’s can’t sell out Yankee games ahead of the series?
Game 128, White Sox at Mariners
Anyone else notice that Dave Niehaus pronounces Orlando Hernandez’ nickname like “El Dookie,” which I believe is Spanish for “The Album that Made Green Day Big”?
It’s a good thing Jose Contreras doesn’t have a nickname that Dave can turn into a homonym for poop. And speaking of fecal matter, Joel Pineiro … nah, that’s too easy.
Oh, and one other note: evidently, getting knocked around by the Mariners earns you a ticket to the minors these days. Hard to argue with that, either.
Confidential to Peter C.: Don’t think I didn’t notice that you left the game last night just before Eddie served up the game-winner. You’re lucky the Jeff-man has a loving heart, and is not superstitious.
Game 125, Mariners at Rangers
RHP Ryan Franklin vs. RHP Juan Dominguez, 5:05pm, FSN and KOMO.
RF Ichiro!
2B The Ignitor
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
CF Reed
SS Morse
“DH” Dobbs (dammit, this must continue)
C JoeJessica
Have at it, kids.