Game 15, A’s at Mariners
Jeff · April 20, 2005 at 7:11 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Can Barry Zito look like the Zito of old against the M’s? Will Joel Pineiro pitch with the rage of an inflamed flexor bundle? We’re finding out as we speak. Use this as a game thread …
Comments
230 Responses to “Game 15, A’s at Mariners”
Does Guardado even have an “out pitch” to speak of? Just curious.
I’m beginning to see why they call him Everyday Eddie. Don’t we see this every day he closes?
201. Out of the park, mebbe.
#203 – LOL. Seriously though, most closers have some sort of out pitch.. a nasty split finger, killer slider, something… he seems to have nothing that strikes fear in the heart of the opposing lineup.
at least eddie seems like he has some zip today…well…for him anyway
I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these days, Eddie just collapses on the mound with a heart attack.
#204 – Maybe he doesn’t understand which lineup he’s supposed to frighten.
Yay, a win for Joel!
woo…my heart can’t take this all year…
What Eddie lacks in “stuff”, he makes up for in intensity, right? Ummm, right?
LOL
Oh well, back over .500!
It shocked me the other day when I looked up Eddie’s career ERA: 4.39.
8-7 and first place looks very good.
We’ve gone from a three way tie for first to a two way tie for first.
Even if it doesn’t last, even if it feels like a lot of lucky hits at the right time or Guardado just barely keeping it in the park, even if we don’t have a pitcher that doesn’t make me want to reach for a beer, I’m happy with this.
The M’s haven’t exploded yet. Every week that this happens puts us that much closer to sniffing the playoffs.
Re: 176
My comment simply was pointing out that I think that our fanbase (by and large) is happy when the team wins. It doesn’t matter how, it doesn’t matter why, all that matters is win=happy.
If you look a little harder at each win or at each performance (as I see our “closer” Eddie Guardado give up a homer to Durazo, who’s been in a slump for 2 weeks), you see nuances of each team and each player, BOTH good AND bad. As for the M’s bullpen – they’ve just been given a gift 3 runs by Byrnes trying to make a do-or-die play which turned out to be the latter. The Villone HBP was on an 0-2 count. They darn near gave up the lead when it was handed to them on a silver platter. That’s not the mark of a good team.
The key here is that you need to look closer rather than just take a look at the final score.
I’m glad I got that off my chest.
The Villone HBP was very fishy, I really don’t think the ball hit him, and it wasn’t far inside at all, maybe 3″ off the plate inside (and high, obviously).
That wasn’t a horrible pitch when you’re that far ahead. Hell, he got Kotsay to start swinging on it (part of the reason it hit the end of the bat).
I’d take Zito over Eddie, these days. I almost worry more when they put him on the mound than Villone, now, which is scary.
(yay, I’m finally back in town after being in Pittsburgh for a week. Trust me, you guys haven’t seen baaaad baseball until you go to a couple Pirates games. Monday’s game was the most spectacular loss I’ve seen in ages, with the Cardinals scoring a whopping 9 runs in the 9th inning. But, uh, I look forward to going and seeing Jason Kendall play tomorrow night here! Wheee!)
Just back from the game. Aside from the first inning, Zito pitched pretty well overall, same with Piniero and 2nd inning.
Dobbs is amazingly lucky that Byrnes got a horrible jump and then decided not to bother playing on a hop to come up firing once it was clear he wasn’t going to get there.
At least we finally have a manager that yanks pitchers – Melvin would have left Nelson in until he gave up a few runs.
I’m also glad I’m not the only one that thought it hit Kotsay’s bat, not Kotsay himself…
And finally, we need a real closer instead of this “make every save situation interesting” one we have now.
#206.
Perhaps. But Everyday Infarction Eddie just doesn’t have pizzazz.
Actually, now that I think about it, how about Every Other Day Eddie. That keeps part of the alliteration and the prose rhythm is a little better.
Unbelieveable-ESPN;s power rankings put the M’s 24th. The Angels are 9th, A’s 13, and Rangers 17? Those rankings are supposed to be based on waht has happened so far, not what happened last year.
That’s a joke
#219 – I agree they are fishy. But the M’s haven’t proven themselves that much yet. They are playing better ball than I expected, but they went 1/3 against MIN, 1/3 against TEX, 1/3 against CWS. I’ll be impressed if they win a majority of their games over the next two/three weeks: CLE, TEX, OAK, ANA and then BOS, NYY, BOS, NYY
Ok and the A’s have been mowed down by powerhouses like Tampa Bay and Toronto. The Angels lost 2 of 3 to the Royals. The problem isn’t the 24th ranking, its the spots those other teams are in.
Right now none of the teams in the AL west are performing. The fact that they have the other three so high is based more on the fact that they had them ranked higher to begin the season. Except Texas. Not sure what they are doing with Texas.
I’m glad to see in the paper this morning that Nellie officially earned a “Hold” for retiring one of the four batters he faced. Villone is lookin’ good. Bloomquist cannot play center field.
I’d just like to say that Mark McLemore did commentary on ESPN2 for the game, and with a few more years experience, he might one day be as good as Joe Morgan.
# 217 – I am also glad the mgr will yank a pitcher when needed, but I worry about a mgr that puts home boy Nellie in the game. I know Nellie is on the roster and Hargrove has to use him but Nellie’s line shows 4 innings pitched, 5 hits, 4 BBs, 4Ks for the season. Nellie’s next trip should not be to the mound, it should be on a one way ticket out of town.
Re: 225
This is nothing new from Jeff Nelson. He’ll have 4 or 5 appearences where he’s unhittable and then he’ll have 1 or 2 appearences where he’s terrible, walking people and such. Doesn’t mean we should run him out of town. He’s doing a fine job so far in relief, considering he was injured last year and that nobody in the Mariners blogsphere or fanbase expected him to be even on this level.
#224 as GOOD as Joe morgan? Did you mean to say as arrogant and closed-minded as Joe Morgan?
I meant to say that I think we all know how “high” Joe Morgan sets the broadcasting bar, and Mac is comfortably underneath it.
Speaking of commentary, I heard Dobbs interviewed on the radio after the game last night and he did a really good job. Articulate, interesting, actually offered some insight into the pitching and play on the field (and not just about his at-bat, either). Mostly steered clear of clichés too. Don’t know if he was too pumped up by his performance to leave his brain on automatic pilot, or he hasn’t yet had “be personable, bland, and offer no new information” beaten into his head by management, or he just hasn’t done enough interviews to be bored by the whole thing yet, but his interview was as good as his pinch hitting.
“One-Run Eddie”?