Game 63, Phillies at Mariners
RHP Vincente Padilla v RHP Aaron Sele. 7:05, FSN.
20,000 tickets remain for tomorrow’s game. Wow. I was at last night’s game, and there were not a lot of people there. Interestingly, the Mets series is going to sell out entirely. So much for the inherent magic of interleague play.
Beltre is out again with his “grade one” hamstring strain. Hansen gets the start at third. Now, I’m no rocket scientist, but Hansen is the backup 3B? Not Dobbs or Bloomquist? I’m a little baffled at this. Hansen’s skills at the hot corner are… limited?
Game 60, Mariners at Nationals
LHP Jamie Moyer v RHP John Patterson. 4:05, KSTW-11.
Looks like Ibanez in left and Winn in center again. I’d have looked at a NL road trip as a chance to give all three LF/CFers (Ibanez, Winn, and Reed) some time off, but that’s me.
Game 59, Mariners at Nationals
Joel Pineiro vs. Sun-Woo “Sunny” Kim, 4:05pm, FSN and KOMO.
Kim’s making his first start of the year, taking the place of Tomo Ohka who was just traded to the Brewers for 2B Junior Spivey. The surprising Nationals (34-26, 1st in the NL East) needed Spivey to fill in for longtime 2B Jose Vidro, who’s expected out with an ankle injury until at least the All Star break.
Washington’s smoking hot, having won seven straight and nine of ten to take a 1.5 game lead in the division. The M’s, meanwhile, have won eight of eleven. But I don’t need to tell you that when these two clubs get together, you can throw out the record books. They flat DO NOT like each other.
Game 56, Mariners at Marlins
RHP Ryan Franklin v RHP Brian “Scuffy” Moehler.
No matter which way Hargrove goes with the lineup tonight (sitting Ibanez or Winn or someone else) it seems certain that during this roadtrip to NL parks we’ll likely see both sit at least once, leaving the consecutive game demolition derby to Ichiro! (who rocks) and Boone (who does not).
Game 55, Devil Rays at Mariners
RHP Hideo Nomo v LHP Jamie Moyer. 1:05, FSNW (“Where Northwest fans come first in ads aired on this channel”)
So something else to watch for — the Mariners, in their game notes all season, have been making subtle arguments that Bret Boone’s a future Hall of Famer. They’re providing “of all second basemen, he’s 5th overall in home runs” and so on.
I don’t think he is, clearly, but it’s been interesting to see this. There’s a general belief based on things that’ve happened in the last few years that the Mariners tend to prep the community for players leaving by trying to seed the dandelions of discontent* well in advance of the departure. But Boone’s would seem to pretty clearly headed elsewhere after this year, and the publicity guys are pumping up his historic achievements? It’s odd.
* sorry, been weeding this morning
Game 54, Devil Rays at Mariners
LHP Scott Kazmir vs. RHP Joel Pineiro; 7:05pm, FSN and KOMO
Kazmir was once regarded as one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball, and has pitched well this year for a 21-year old who entered the season with just 33 innings of experience above AA. His strikeout rate is a bit lower than you might expect given his good stuff, but check out how he’s kept the ball in the park — he’s on pace to allow just 12 homers in 188 innings over the course of the season. That’s a darned fine number for any pitcher, let alone a guy just three years out of high school. He’s also left-handed, which certainly doesn’t bode well for the M’s tonight.
Meanwhile, the ticking time bomb known as Joel Pineiro takes his 6.66 ERA to the mound for your hometown nine. Last time out against this same Devil Rays club, he was shelled for ten hits and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Could be a long night.
Game 53, Devil Rays at Mariners
LHP Casey Fossum v RHP Aaron Sele.
I feel beat up already.
On Lou’s yearly return: I’ve already complained about the team’s snub of Randy Johnson, but what about Lou Piniella? Doesn’t he deserve anything for his time here? Even as some kind of compensation for being the most frequently badly-typed name during his time (Pinella, Pinnella, etc)?
Game 52, Blue Jays at Mariners
LHP Gustavo Chacin vs RHP Gil Meche. FSNW.
A couple of things:
– Beltre looked like he was in pain when he stole third last night. I think that hammy’s bugging him a lot more than we’ve been led to think.
– Jeff is a man of peace
– A lefthander? Noooooooooooooooooooo.
– Is there a lower position on the camera-man totem pole than the guy who has to go into the stands to try and capture Moose antics, or get crowd shots of people waving?
Game 51, Blue Jays at Mariners
Hi folks, Jason here with your game thread for the last day of May.
Chad Gaudin, making his 2005 debut, vs. Ryan Franklin. 7:05pm, FSN and KOMO.
Gaudin’s just a kid, having made his MLB debut at 20 years of age back in 2003 with the Devil Rays. Tampa Bay traded him to Toronto this winter for C Kevin Cash. He’s also a short (5-11) righty, and you know how tools-oriented teams hate those, whereas the Blue Jays have no such hangup. Gaudin was 3-2, 2.48 ERA with a 47:14 K:BB ratio in 65.1 innings at AAA Syracuse before getting the call. He’s perhaps best known for having tossed a perfecto in the minors two years ago.
Franklin you know; I’ll spare you the details. Of more interest are new SS Mike Morse and C Rene Rivera, whom few of us dreamed would be in the lineup at the same time (at least this soon). Those who did — were they good dreams, or bad? Oh, and Wilson Valdez got the ol’ DFA to make room for Morse.
Enjoy the game and play nice; the wife’s sick, the kid’s sick, there’s homework to do and then I’m off to bed.
Game 50, Blue Jays at the Mariners
LHP Lilly v LHP Moyer. 7:05, FSN.
Mariner bullpen usage
by day, by batter faced, with 10+ as + to preserve formatting
[Derek note: deleted for formatting reasons]
Organized alphabetically. Names and dates removed for pattern-scanning ease, though they’re still alphabetical. I had this done up in Excel with conditional formatting, but I could never get it to look quite right.