Opening Day Game Thread
It’s Opening Day and Felix Day #1.
The weather forecasts for Oakland looked fairly dicey, but things look good for now, and the chance of precipitation actually declines later in the evening.
Your first 2010 M’s starting line-up:
1: Ichiro!
2: Chone Figgins, 2B
3: Casey Kotchman, 1B
4: Milton Bradley, LF
5: Ken Griffey, DH
6: Jose Lopez, 3B
7: Franklin Gutierrez, CF
8: Rob Johnson, C
9: Jack Wilson, SS
On the hill for the Athletics is Ben Sheets who 1) hasn’t thrown a pitch since 2008 and 2) makes more than the rest of the Oakland pitching staff combined.
The A’s DFA’d Jack Cust the other day, which means their clean-up hitter is Kevin Kouzmanoff. Yep.
Let’s go M’s.
Cactus League Game Thread 3/12/10
M’s vs. Royals, so you know what that means…. pitch fx is back! This is a great opportunity to see what Ryan Rowland-Smith’s new cutter looks like in pure, raw Cartesian coordinates. I know I just got joser’s attention.
Line-ups have been posted – here for example (hat tip Kirby Arnold at the Everett Herald)
1: Ichiro!
2: Chone Figgins (2b)
3: Milton Bradley (LF)
4: Ken Griffey Jr. (DH)
5: Ryan Garko (1b)
6: Franklin Gutierrez
7: Matt Tuiasosopo (3b)
8: Josh Bard
9: Jack Wilson
SP: Ryan Rowland-Smith. Aardsma looks like he’ll get back onto the mound today as well.
Also in Kirby Arnold’s story linked above is the news that Jack Hannahan suffered a groin pull and will be out another week-10 days (he hasn’t played since 3/4). Arnold thinks Josh Wilson might benefit, but Geoff Baker mentions Tui as another guy who might make the roster as the utility infielder if Hannahan doesn’t heal quickly. Personally, I think Tui’s got the inside track. Wilson may be the better defender, but his bat is bad enough that it’s tough to justify giving him 100-150 ABs.
Luke Hochevar starts for the Royals, who I think is fascinating. I know his xFIP is much, much better than his results, but as the #1 overall pick in a pitching-heavy draft, his pure stuff has always seemed fairly pedestrian. The fascinating part? He’ll still uncork a game like this just to tease Royals fans, who need no additional teasing, thank you (they’re starting Yuni at SS today and Mike Aviles at 2B. I’m so sorry, Royals fans). Here’s a fangraphs article on Hochevar’s strange results in 2009.
Game 160, Rangers at Mariners
With a sweep we could pull into a tie for second, which we wouldn’t technically get losing the season series, but hey, who knew we’d have that to look forward to going into the final series? Of course, we’d also likely leave the realm of protected draft picks in the process, which doesn’t excite me. I’d take it, if it means an opportunity to see Snell build on what he did last week.
T-~42 hours until the final Felix Day of the season.
Lineup:
RF Ichiro!
CF Gutierrez
2B Lopez
DH Griffey
3B Beltre
1B Carp
C Moore
LF Saunders
SS Wilson
Game 156, Mariners at Blue Jays
Yesterday marked the remarkable occasion of Ichiro’s first ever ejection in either league he’s played in. This particular event was triggered by a called strike three that Ichiro did not agree with. Turning towards home plate umpire Brian Runge as Runge was making his signature call, Ichiro seemed to feel slighted, and proceeded to draw a line in the box, either disputing Runge with his own conception of the strike zone or indicating an intention to duel him should he cross said line, either of which would be grounds for immediate ejection. Whether the call was accurate or not, as far as what is typically called ball or strike, is debatable. The will of Ichiro is not. Runge, watch your back.
Snell also threw a good game, which he lost, and Saunders played the field. Further proof that even with a week left, you can still manage to see something new. Baseball: you know you’ll miss it in two months.
Lineup:
RF Ichiro!
CF Gutierrez
1B Lopez
DH Sweeney
3B Beltre
LF Hall
C Johjima
2B Tuiasosopo
SS Wilson
Rowland-Smith, pitching for the #2 spot in the rotation according to the official site, vs. Tallet.
Game 132, Angels at Mariners
Saunders vs. French, 7:05 pm.
No Ichiro again today, sadly.
Lineups:
Franklin Gutierrez – CF
Josh Wilson (ugh!) – 3B
Jose Lopez – 2B
Mike Sweeney – Designated Hugger
Bill Hall – RF
Hannahan – 1B (pour one out for Branyan)
Jack Wilson – SS
Rob Johnson – whatever the heck it is that he does
Ryan Langerhans – LF
Angels:
Figgins
Abreu
Hunter
Guerrero
Rivera
Morales
Kendrick
Napoli
Aybar
This one is probably going to be painful.
Game 122, Mariners at Indians
4:05 PST, French vs. Huff.
Game 117, Yankees at Mariners
7:05, Sergio Mitre (whee) versus Luke French (yay!)
I’m sortof losing my ability to care about the lineups that Wak runs out, so feel free to post them in the comments.
Game 89, Mariners at Indians
4:05, FSN.
I’ll post lineups shortly.
Lineups:
SEATTLE MARINERS
Ichiro Suzuki – RF
Russell Branyan – 1B
Jose Lopez – 2B
Ken Griffey Jr. – DH
Franklin Gutierrez – CF
Ryan Langerhans – LF
Kenji Johjima – C
Chris Woodward – 3B
Ronny Cedeno – SS
CLEVELAND INDIANS
Grady Sizemore – CF
Asdrubal Cabrera – SS
Shin-Soo Choo – RF
Victor Martinez – 1B
Travis Hafner – DH
Jhonny Peralta – 3B
Ben Francisco – LF
Jamey Carroll – 2B
Kelly Shoppach – C
Game 44, Giants at Mariners
“I was thinking, if we’re going to be judged on our performance, we have to be able to throw against our own team. It’s only fair.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t want to go into contract negotiations next year and try to explain that my comparable pitchers got to face my team, while I’m out there getting hit around by the Rangers.”
“Absolutely. We do get the Angels and A’s, though.”
“Angels post-Vlad aren’t going to be Angels pre-Vlad. Lucky suckers who drew them early in the season. I’m saying, it should be adjusted or we should all be given a couple of extra starts against teams of our own offensive — sorry, hang on — what’s up, skip?”
“Washburn’s knee is bugging him. You’re pitching against the Giants tonight.”
“Woo-hoo!”
Game 38, Red Sox at Mariners
Masterson v Vargas.
Ha ha ha ha it’s funny because I end up sitting near her every time I go to a Mariner-Red Sox game and now I don’t go.