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”
So far so good. Tiem for me to leave work and check this out!
I think “Inflamed Flexor Bundle” was Speizio’s second choice for a band name.
Bigger question… will Niehaus ever say “Eh-RUBE-ee-el” instead of “Eh-REE-bee-el?”
He should just call him “Ruby.”
Why is Bloomquist starting? Is Reed hurt, or do they just want to let the joke play a game in center? I would rather see the newly brought up choo playing out there, anyone know the story behind bloom starting.
Wow. Wonder how long Zito’s going to last throwing like this.
So, if you’ve just handed away your two most dominant starters, keeping only the guy on the mound and two unproven young guys…how comfortable do you feel right now?
The retooling may have been a good idea, and maybe Zito will have a good year. But he’s not looking like the guy I want to be my ace. Oh, and I’m already tired of hearing about how Zito’s numbers last year don’t really count because 2002 was so good.
Oh, I love Lasik!
Holy crap! Grand Salami time!!!
Woo! Lasik pays off!
Alright, Boonie!! Wonder if I have any salami in the fridge…
And putting in I meant. Yes, I do know it’s a five man rotation.
Hmm, Jeff, it appears that Jeffs think alike.
does anybody know the quote neihous always says with a grand slam? beside grand salami
Why is Bloomquist not hitting 9th? I guess I can’t get too worked up at the moment.
Correction: Barry Zito will be working in a skateboard shop by September 2006. He sucks.
Re 13: rye bread, mustard, Grandma, etc.
Hearing Rizz do the call isn’t quite the same . . .
16. hoping for a little bit more, but i get the idea
Get out the rye bread and mustard grandma? That’s the only other standard I can think of…
I believe it is GET OUT THE RYE BREAD AND MUSTARD GRANDMA, ITS GRRAANNDDD SSAAALLLLAAAMMMIII TIIIMMMEEE!!!
Well, he has been known to say:
Break out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it’s grand salami time!
But he doesn’t say it every time.
#14 What are you talking about? WFB came into the game with a .333 BA. He should be hitting second.
fair enough..its about time i hear what he says
I believe the full quote is: “Get out the rye bread and the mustard, Grandma! It’s grand salami time!”
Was that Bloomquist’s fault, or Joel’s?
oops, #20 said it better
If you are Raul coming to the plate, and Zito has walked two guys, thrown a ton of bad pitches, and what… I don’t know… given up a grand slam…
Would it have killed him to take a few pitches? That seems like lousy game awareness to me.
#24
Come on. Are you kidding? Didn’t you see the hard nosed, throw back player kind of effort that the WB put out there? Nothing is his fault. Just ask Bob M.
So when will Sexson be able to play first again? Valle said Raul’s “feet went out from under him,” preventing him “from getting full extension” on the ground ball. This is serious problem for a baseball player, I should think.
hand needs to big abit bigger adrian…
Aww… Poor Adri-Adri looks stupid.
good job joel…(thornton anyone)? jk…i think
Silly NHK. Show the Yankees and not the M’s and I miss the grand slam.
A hit for Scutaro? Really?
so much for the complete game shutout..
And jes’ like that, it’s a one-run game.
I bet either or both teams score 10+ runs.
Sure looked like an error on Beltre to me.
To Macha and Hargrove: Leave both of these guys in there until the 7th and see how many crooked numbers appear…
Who would have said that the Zito and Pineiro would have had ERAs over 7 to start the game and they would go up?
Dear Miguel,
Please, get better.
I like how Ron Fairly says Valdez had a “pretty good idea” attempting to bunt for a base hit. As if that’s not the same idea he has every time he goes to the plate.
Lets hope for an Ichiro! ralley.
Someone buy that fan a beer for thinking twice before interfering
“If you are Raul coming to the plate, and Zito has walked two guys, thrown a ton of bad pitches, and what… I don’t know… given up a grand slam…
Would it have killed him to take a few pitches? That seems like lousy game awareness to me. ”
I was yelling at the TV- Zito had thrown, what? 12/14 balls? God forbid he take a pitch. There was plenty of time to roll one over to the 2nd baseman when the count is 2-1. Arrggh.
Then he comes out and misses a fairly routine ball that leads (along with the “hit” to Beltre- I am sure Joel’s ERA loved that scoring decision) to a 3 run inning. Godawful.
i don’t think hargrove knows what “legitimizes” means.
Has anyone heard if Sexson is feeling any better? I see he is DH again. I hope he can shake this bug so he can get back on the field.
boonie???…nice showing of speed, i guess
Nice SB by Boonie.
Somewhere in the Bay Area, Alyssa Milano is hastily packing her belongs and entering the Government’s Bad Athlete Girlfriend Protection Program ….
belongings
49: I thought Zito was already enrolled in the Bad Actress Protection Program…
So, does Grover let WFB swing 3-0?
Amazing.
did bloomie really get a sign to swing 3-0?
Bloomquist swinging 3-0? When Zito can’t throw a strike? AARGH
if only they wouldve collided
My eyeballs just about fell out of their sockets when Bloomquist swung at that 3-0 pitch.
hold on, still lookin for mine
Not only that but he can’t even bring in Boone from thrid with the fly out.
Does Willie’s fly count as a productive out?
Bloomquist was just building strength on 3-0 for that sac fly effort on the next pitch.
and so it goes
If you’re Barry Zito, and you have one of the best curve balls in baseball, facing Miguel Olivo, who couldn’t hit my breaking ball, why would you ever throw him a fastball?
And Jim, I’d trade any pitcher in the M’s current rotation for Zito straight up.
Damn he’s calling him Clyde again.
I wouldn’t. He has the worst performance-to-reputation ration in baseball.
ratio
I am stunned that he let WB swing on 3-0. That’s just ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than letting him play center.
off-topic… I am extremely jealous of the deal the Sox just managed to sign with Wakefield. We need a Wakefield. They are useful to have around.
BUt it made me think, this deal-for-life business… if the Mariners hear about it they might offer one to Bloomquist.
It is interesting to note how many young position players that Oakland has developed/acqured as compared to Seattle.
Fine, he’s overrated because he won a Cy Young and he’s not going to be that good again. But you can be simultaneously overrated and still solid. I don’t see any argument for preferring Moyer, Sele, or Franklin, and the cases for Meche and Pineiro would be built more around hope and faith than any kind of objective reasoning.
Just our of curiosity, Jim… which of our pitchers would you keep instead of Zito?
I think my list would start and end with King Felix. And I don’t think he even counts.
Look out. Joel just lowered his ERA to 7.45. They really need him this year, so I hope it keeps going down.
I wish we swung at more high fastballs.
I’d keep Pineiro and Meche, because I have more faith in the possibility that they’ll put it together. I just don’t believe Zito is going to ever get past his struggles. Lots of talented pitchers flame out early. And the money issue is paramount  too many people believe Zito is a premium pitcher and will pay premium money for him.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. Right now, Barry Zito doesn’t do much to help a team will a ballgame.
64: Kerry Wood holds that spot on my list.
Zito sure has been wild tonight! He sure seems threatened by Beltre and Sexson. Man, I’d be intimidated by Beltre – that face he puts on in the batters box is wicked!
#72: I agree, Jim. Zito has a hard time keeping his team in the game.
I would rather have Rich Harden or Dan Haren; they both have a much higher ceiling than Zito.
Jim,
Pick a pitcher.
A: 4.67 ERA, 7.10 K/9, 2.58 K/BB, .265/.321/.442 opponents against
B: 4.48 ERA, 6.89 K/9, 2.01 K/BB, .263/.333/.427 opponents against
If you think there’s a huge difference between Zito and Pineiro’s recent performance, good luck finding it objectively. It just isn’t there.
And Zito has a much better track record prior to ’04. And he doesn’t have arm problems.
I can’t even begin to come up with a reason to take Meche over Zito, so I won’t even try. You seem to think Zito is much, much worse than he really is.
I’m in Jim’s camp. There comes a point in many award-winning players’ careers where their relatively ‘solid’ performance and past reputation fails to outweigh the heavy contracts they demand…
75 – However, Jim’s assertion was to keep Meche/Pineiro over Zito. Bringing Harden/Haren completely changes his assertion.
If Pineiro can go another inning, it would be a solid start. 6 IP, 3 ER, and he didn’t kill himself with the walks.
Let’s revisit this issue late this season and see what we think.
Joel is certainly more efficient than Zito tonight. BZ has already thrown 75 pitches in 4 innings; JP has only 60 in 5 against a team renowned for deep-count at-bats.
All I’m looking for is a reason, Jim. Give me something to think you’re not just pissed off that he uses aroma candles and a blanky.
beltres hard singles and doubles are nice…but show some of your league leading power sometimes
81 – It is reassuring to see JP get through the 5th.
brush prarie..havent heard that for awhile
82- Hilarious but don’t forget Milano.
Just noticed something… Choo was born the same day I was.
A: 4.67 ERA, 7.10 K/9, 2.58 K/BB, .265/.321/.442 opponents against
B: 4.48 ERA, 6.89 K/9, 2.01 K/BB, .263/.333/.427 opponents against
Hmm, and their salaries are closer than I thought. I didn’t think we were paying Joel this much, but ESPN lists him at $4.7 mil and Zito is only making $900k more.
Still, I’m not entirely sure I would make the straight up trade. They both have question marks, I think Zito will command much more money once his contract runs out than Joel will, and last year just doesn’t feel like a huge fluke to me. Especially looking over his periphirals for 2003 and 2004.
Remind me of Zito and Joel’s ages. I’d either pick the younger or the one with fewer pitches thrown.
A four way tie in the AL West? Wow. I didn’t realize that.
Because he has a progressive record, from 2003 on, of losing control of his stuff. And his celebrated curve has been awfully hittable since the start of ’04. His K-W and K-to-9-innings ratios ratios are not good, and portend little future promise of improvement in their trends (such as they are). In fact, they’re getting worse. He just looks to me like Generic Wild Young Stud #447A. He doesn’t much resemble his Cy Young self, in delivery, release point, mound demeanor or pitch selection. There’s something seriously wrong with him that anybody can see just by watching him, and if nobody has been able to pinpoint it by now, I’m not sure anybody ever will.
I believe, by contrast, Piniero and Meche will figure things out. That’s more gut feeling than numbers, but I think they’re more mechanically sound, and, for the money, I’d much rather let them work out their problems than let Zito hold my payroll hostage with his maddening mediocrity.
I have nothing against Zito personally.
Zito’s lefthandedness will allow him to continue into the Terry Mulholland-Jeff Fassero twilight zone if he continues his mediocre ways. He’ll still get at least one good payday.
I forget Rick Honeycutt, another ex-Mariner lefty who just kept going, and going . . .
But there are some difference.
K/9: Pineiro Zito
2003 7.1 5.67
2004 7.94 6.89
K/BB: Pineiro Zito
2003 1.99 1.66
2004 2.58 2.01
Sure, Zito dominated in ERA in 2003, and looked slightly better in AVG/OBP/SLG against in 2003, but it’s not like everything points to Zito being a better pitcher this year (or next).
looks like Piniero’s losing his control
Joel getting killed by the 8th and 9th spots in the order.
Well, I should say more than slightly. In 2004 he was just slightly better in those numbers, in 2003 those three did have quite a bit of difference.
How frustrating. JP gives up all four runs after two outs in the inning.
Love this trio coming up. Sad.
Nice catch by Swisher – I like the replacing the divot. Nice touch. Save the carpet.
Olivo got a hit!
And so did Valdez!
Actually, the interesting this is that his strikeouts massively plummeted in 2003 and his home runs were pretty low, but his ERA still looked good. Then in 2004 his strikeouts climbed back up somewhat, but his homeruns went up some and his ERA tanked.
Could you find his batting average on balls in play for 2003/2004? It looks to me like the 2003 ERA may be a feature of overperforming defense, and then that luck caught up with him last year.
Why is it that baseball players “run well” but never “run fast”? (Niehaus on Olivo)
You know, Wilson Valdez has done exactly what was asked of him. I think he’s going to stick as Reese’s backup.
Olivo and Valdez back to back. Nice.
C’mon Ichiro.
/I’ll still take Zito, thanks, over any of our guys. And when he wants a big payday… I’ll trade him for more than you’ll ever get for Piniero.
And MLBTV is horrible for me tonight. Unwatchable.
You think they’re going to keep Valdez over Bloomquist? I don’t.
ichi, looking a bit shocked after that pitch
Ichiro’s going to knock Zito out on pitch count alone.
#105
I was having problems too. I switched to Real instead of Windows Media. Night and Day the difference. I havent frozen up yet.
#105 & 109
Real worked for me as well. Windows Media sucks for watching the game on MLB TV for some reason.
what market is mlbtv broadcasting for the game tonight?
How do you like that? 8 and 9 get hits. 1 and 2 can’t make it happen.
#111
I’m getting the Seattle feed
106 I think both will stay, because as we know, Willie is the best centerfielder on the team. Dobbs will be superfluous once Spiezio comes back (as if he wasn’t already) and Thornton is another meltdown away from a dfa. The thing is, the papers had completely contradictory reports on Reese this week. I’m not sure anyone really knows what his problem is. He may not play for a while. Since he will be pinch-hit for often when he does return, I can see WV as a late-inning defensive replacement. That would be worth more than what Dobbs gives them.
Seattle tonight. I’ve had better performance with realspyware player than windowsdrm player.
anotherjeff… thank you! I did that last week and it worked… but apparently didn’t save my preferences. Your reminder fixed my problem.
Wow. Pineiro’s pitch count is low. He could. Go. All. The. Way.
Just got home. The HD feed is amazing! Stromotion though – it turns out – is standard definition only.
Now if only I could see a M’s run or two.
good save by ibanez… sexson couldve stayed on first with his wing span
John in LA.
No Problem. I cant believe the difference!
#114-Reese is on a rehab assignment to Inland Empire. He had two hits yesterday.
120 There remain contradictory reports on his arm. Two hits is a rarity. Maybe he’ll arrive red-hot.
woohoo doyle!!! sorry…heh
Street looks like he could be good.
#122
Update??
Here comes the Dobber!
I wonder if we’ll see Dobbs PH’ing for Olivo
Check out the mini stat sheet for Huston Street — 13 Ks in 31 batters faced.
Oh, no — it’s Miguel. Make that 14 Ks…
Bases loaded, two outs, and we get…Dobbs??!! crap
Dobbs… our wonder bat off the bench.
Dobber!!!
Has hell frozen over? Or has Dobbs actually gotten a hit?
Dobbs looks really nervous
I mean Dobbs…
Still a K is a K.
Retract previous statement. Nice hit, Dobbs.
I wonder no longer. For some reason I thought we had a three man bench because in my mind I had mereged Spezio and Dobbs into one person.
That was cool. Like Dobbs or not, that was cool.
And just like that, i eat my words
Dobbs- I take it all back!
Holy crap, Dobbs did it!
In other news, I think I just pissed my neighbors off with a shout and a clap. In no way did I expect that.
whaholy crap
Oops. Run scoring play. Sorry for the time lag…
I give Hargrove credit for subbing Willie with Reed. Not sure if Melvin would have.
I get the feeling that Hargrove might make good use of a good bench… if he had it.
WOW! 2 pintch hitters and 2 hits. That is a good sign.
Huston looks really constipated.
What are the odds we’ll hear “Huston, we have a problem” on SportsCenter tonight (assuming they actually play highlights from the games out here in a podunk like Seattle)? My neighbors were hating me as well when that ball got by Byrnes.
Does anyone else feel really comfortable with Reed at the plate? This guy has poise and steadiness at the plate that is beyond his years. I’m officially jumping on the bandwagon.
On the West Coast, they should call it “Baseball this Afternoon”
145, yeah, same here. Not to mention that I’m a *lot* more comfortable with him in CF than Bloomie, heh.
I think i’d rather see bobby ayala hit than bloomquist
123, doyle hit the game-tying two-run double that rolled to the wall in the 8th and turned the tide…rainiers got one more run and won it
oh, and a woohoo for dobbs too, heh
Anyone else feel really uncomfortable with Nelson pitching?
I too am comfortable with Reed. I’m not very comfortable with Jeff Nelson.
Talk about another left hander that has stuck around just because he is a southpaw.
152-Nelson’s a righthander. I’m not sure why he’s stuck around.
I think I’d rather see Bobby Ayala pitch than Jeff Nelson…ok, maybe not. But get Nellie out of there!!!!
Nelson might be the only truly effectively wild pitcher I’ve ever seen.
I don’t like seeing Ron Villone pitching in crucial situations.
Now we get the “versatile” Ron Villone.
At least Villone has better control than… d’oh! Never mind.
Just think, Everyday Eddie could be up next inning.
He can suck in a variety of roles.
That ball hit the knob of Kotsay’s bat.
Sweet Jesus, Chavez scares the daylights out of me.
I didn’t know you could pitch around guys with the bases loaded, but Ron Villone is proving me wrong.
Sorry about that but for some reason I always thought that Nelly was a lefty. Been way too long since I saw a game.
wow! chavez was watching the whole time…geez, lucky villone!
Whew, can’t wait to relive that experience next inning.
Unbelievable. I mean, Villone DID walk him on the previous pitch. But still, for Chavez to watch that last pitch go by is insane.
That was exciting. Sam Adams here agrees.
Villone was pretty money there, ignoring the fluke HBP.
I love you Ron
6 pitches and not one swing.
Re: 164
Must have been a long time, because Nelly is about as righthanded as you can get on a mound.
I like the fact that we may win this game because of the inability of the A’s to make plays. First, Dobbs feels good about himself because Byrnes can’t get to his lazy single and then Villone feels good about himself because Eric Chavez can’t take the bat off his shoulder.
Hmm.. i wouldn’t call Villone lucky since he didn’t hit Kotsay and he was hitting the corners. Good job by him.
Duscher? That’s one unfortunate name.
sheesh what is with soem of you, rather than be happy the Ms are winning all you can do is whine that they aren’t winning in a way that meets your apporval or something.
Rrrrrrrrrandy Winn.
“Every So Often” Eddie is warming up in the pen…
Yeah it has been 3 years since I was in the states. Been hard to follow things from over here.
Re: 175 Actually it is Duchscherer, and I think he was the minor league pitcher of the year two years ago (in whatever AAA league the A’s play in, I forget).
Beltre has an old-school power-hitter’s body, solid all the way through. And he looks pissed at the ball. That’s a good thing. Short, angry swing.
Oops. He struck out. Trade him!
180. I knew I was missing some letters. Still an unfortunate name.
176, I’m not sure that all of us are equipped to handle cardiac arrest without a little excitement. I can promise you that I’m glad the M’s are winning.
#180 Oakland’s AAA affiliate is in the PCL unless something changed…
Now where did I leave my bottle of Tums?
Here comes Eddie. Make sure no sharp objects are nearby.
181. I know. That’s what makes me happy whenever I think about him. He looks like he wants to smack that ball very hard.
A’s single-A affiliate used to be in Medford, OR. I used to go watch Jose Canseco play when he was just learning his way around a syringe.
Re 184, Thanks, my mind just went blank there for a second and I didn’t care to look it up. I was pretty sure that they were in the PCL too but not 100%.
And I am still not sure if Justin was the PCL pitcher of the year in 2003 either, but I think he was.
Hey look, it is Eddie!
Just heard a few minutes ago that the Rainiers win was all the more impressive because of the adversity they faced. Specifically, the starting pitcher left with an injury. Anyone heard anything about Baek and whether he’s really hurt? BTW, hero of the game was Doyle, with 3 hits including a double to tie it in the the eighth.
#176
I agree with you. It seems like groupthink is prevalent in blogsphere. If most of us believe a player sucks, then he sucks no matter what. If that said player performs well in one game, then it must be luck. It can’t be that he just steps up and delivers what he has worked hard every day for.
Nice start for Eddie.
I just noticed that the A’s have an all-lefty 3-through-5 in their order, which makes them probably one of the only teams that actually bodes well for an opposing left-handed closer.
My oh my.
…
Guardado is a pile.
I’m just going to walk away for about 10 minutes.
The A’s AAA team is the Sacramento Rivercats.
That said, it doesn’t work when you’re just plain bad.
Question for Guardado-followers…. does it look like he throws a much flatter ball than he used to? Seems that way to me.
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”?