Game 116, Angels at Mariners
Today’s lineup:
I. Suzuki RF
W. Bloomquist 2B
R. Ibanez LF
R. Sexson 1B
A. Beltre 3B
J. Reed CF
Y. Betancourt SS
S. Spiezio DH
Y. Torrealba C
I offer you, gentle reader, the Top Ten Reasons I Am Glad Scott Spiezio Is Our Designated Hitter.
10. Successive 0s in box score offer zen-like relaxation effect
9. Lulls Angels into false sense of security, distracting them from Thunderstick Yorvit
8. Gives hope to all minor leaguers that they, too, can fail to hit Eddie Gaedel’s weight and yet keep a job in the show
7. Sets stage for Krispy Kreme stock rebound as all Mariners begin to do the opposite of Spiezio’s routine
6. Increases likelihood of Ichiro teaching teammates Japanese synonyms for “suck”
5. If Betancourt gets a knock, no one can say “of course he’s getting pitches to hit, Spiezio‘s protecting him”
4. Keeps him in running for “worst facial hair by a regular major leaguer” award
3. Raises possibility of a Mariner using a Babe Ruth replica bat in a game
2. Sets stage for his new career: Jared Fogle’s personal trainer
1. Showcases him for inevitable trade to Padres
Comments
347 Responses to “Game 116, Angels at Mariners”
Nice AB from hansen,though
FRodriguez is going to need hip replacement surgery soon with a delivery like that.
#301 it looked like an nice at bat after watching spezio 4 times today!
Should pinch hit Morse here who at least has a chance to hit a homer.
This is another game where there’s no one to blame for the loss except Mike Hargrove.
The sweep is avenged. Could Scott Spiezio have looked any worse out there today?
How about we all sign a petition for me to go manage? No doubt I could of made this team win 100 games this year…
Actually, you could blame a lot of people…but Hargrove is first on the list, fer sure.
What a waste of a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon.
To top it off (and summarize this pathetic season) the ‘scrappy’ ‘hustlin’ ‘majestic’ WFB swings like a rusty gate at the PKA Beltre-bait to end this miserable freaking game. Gaaaaaaarrrrrgghh!
Spiezio, Hansen, Bloomquist, Thornton. How are we supposed to compete with players like this?
Ballgame. Wow. Spiezio’s not even hitting my daughter’s weight (she’s 7).
Boy oh boy..
Really,a few very odd decisions from Grover..
Why is he keeping Spiezio in the lineup frankly I dunno?
#310 Thornton and Bloomquist are actually good… Thornton can be REAL good…
I wonder if that golf course will offer tees for the price of Spiezio’s BA.
Come on now guys. Hargrove pitched a good game. You can’t expect him to keep teh Angels scoreless with this lack of run support. It was just a few bad pitches ending in hits that could very well have been outs any other day. Grover really did look good out there.
Whats that? . . . oh sorry, wrong excuse set. Let me run through the index for manager section of Major League Press Conferences for Dummies . . .
Post game comment: “The big inning has hurt the Mariners throughout this series.”
Or, as those of us who do not live on our knees in the broadcast booth put it, “We might as well have Stephen Hawking out there pitching for us.”
here’s hoping King Felix restore our faith in the beautiful game tomorrow night..
Now,as I’m on my hols,I’ll try to set the alarm clock to 4 AM-yes,you read that right-to watch the game live..
if it’s too much for me thank god for the MLB TV archives,and I’ll watch the match tuesday..
I say tommorow everybody here goes to the game and boos grover when he takes the lineup out… Than throw stuff at spaz when he is up to hit…
i think i have a better chance of sitting in the furthest away seat from home plate make a paper airplane and hitting spezio with it than he does of getting a hit…
Dead silence, stand and turn your back on the plate — believe me that would send an unnerving message.
I’m sorry to say this but it seems whatever Ron Villone had he gave it to Sherrill. Oh, there is no bullpen star!
Bloomquist isn’t actually good, unless your definition of good is “not a complete waste at the plate like Wilson Valdez or Scott Spiezio”. He still doesn’t walk much and has no power at all, and being “gritty” doesn’t make him a good regular.
He should be a sub limited to 3-4 games a week with defense/PR substitution/PHing against lefties, and letting Morse rot on the bench so you give playing time to Spiezio and Bloomquist is pretty awful roster management. I’d slide Betancourt to 2B and put Bucky in at DH, plus promote an OF from Tacoma, and DFA Spiezio and Hansen.
A good promotion for the Mariners would be if you buy a ticket you get 10 gallons of gas at the price of Spezios BA
#322: I agree 100%!!!
Osmer brought up a good point. There’s a better than decent chance that Matsuzaka signs here in the offseason, and considering the trackrecord of japanese pitchers in their first year who have funky deliveries/pitches, that’s a good addition.
Then we have the FAs: Millwood, Burnett, Schmidt. Anyone of those is good enough.
Imagine the rotation that could give us
Felix
FA to be
Matsuzaka
Madritsch
(Good) Pineiro
Holy starting pitching batman, that’s a good one right there.
Of course, we also could end up seeing
Felix
Crap
Crap
Crap
Crap
x 5 more years, followed by Felix’s departure.
Another 38,500 saw today’s game. From ownership’s perspective, all they need to do improve the team to the 80-85 win level(= “competitive”) and the cash cow will be reborn.
This lose I blame on one thing and one thing only…
Is it the crap pitching of Gil Meche..No
Is it the horrible 1.1 inning that Mateo pitched…No
Was it Scott Spiezio being Scott Spiezio…Well Kinda
….No it was Mike Hargrove, he should have been out there when Sexson was called out at home, regardless if Sexson was out, he should have at least showed his team that he was backing them up, half the team was calling Sexson safe when they called him out and Hargrove did nothing. But, more importantly, he should have pinch hit somebody for Spiezio, I mean the tying runner at 3rd base and you keep the guy who is batting .046, 2 hits all season, 2-45 this year. Agghhhhhhhhhhh! Dave Hansen comes in for the guy that just hit a double in his last at-bat. Dave Hansen should have came in at the bottom of the 8th with runners on 1st and 3rd, not the top of the 9th with nobody on. Thank god we play the Royals next, cause I dont know how much longer I can handle this…I hope King Felix pitches great against the Royals and we can salvage some dignity back from this series…..Can I get an AMEN!!!
For the love of all which does not suck.. Why is Spiezio still on this club??
For that matter, throw in Hansen, Shiggy, and Nelson too.
Thornton and Bloomquist aren’t actually good. Unless you consider a 5.19 ERA good? Thornton has some heat and not a heck of a lot else and in regards to Bloomquist, well, eponymous said it best.
We’ve got some talent, let’s use it. The next few years don’t look too good unless something drastic happens in the off season or from the young players we have. Give them a chance.
The Royals have a 14 game losing streak. Having Felix destroy them doesn’t give us dignity, it’s just kicking the dog.
Sorry, wrong URL….
http://www.petitiononline.com/mariners/petition.html
Spiezio has gone into The Felton Zoneâ„¢. This is an expression that my brother and I would use growing up. For more info: The Felton Zoneâ„¢
Not sure why that didn’t work…
http://www.baseball-reference.com/f/feltote01.shtml
and just to be accurate, Hargrove was out there after Sexson was called out, not that it was going to make Diaz give him the run back. There were some mighty odd calls in this game, non-strikes, called for going around when the batter hadn’t, guys called out when they weren’t….
#317
Yikes, I am moving to Italia next year and there is no way I am getting up at 4am to watch this team 🙂 I’ll read the recaps. Watch the lowlights.
Im starting to see why the Orioles let Mike Hargrove go, I think that his success in Cleveland was less to do with him and more to do with that team. I miss Lou..we need to dump this metabolicly challenged chum. Rebuilding? If we were rebuilding we would have Mike Morse as the DH. And Scott Spiezio as the guy who cleans Ichiro’s shoes when he comes in from playing REAL baseball. I mean other then our lead-off hitter what has been consistantly good for this team? I mean I show pity on the fans who have to watch this team, but imagine Ichiro, who has to play with those embarrassments. Can anybody tell me what Mike Hargrove’s plan was? Can anybody tell me what this organization’s plan is? Well its not long till September call-ups, when Mike Hargrove will have another shot at proving to me that he has no idea what hes doing with this team. If I was Ichiro i would demand a trade to a team that is serious about being competive. I need a reason to keep my hope up, but what?
Felix.
yup, Felix.
Ichiro!
Beltre at 3rd, Betancourt at short, Sexson at 1st.
The return of Jeff Harris in September.
Mike Morse, Outfielder.
Here’s a question. How much of this awful year lies on Beltre’s shoulders?
Yes, I know signing Beltre was a logical and VERY defensible decision to make at the time. But realistically, if Beltre is another Bret Boone (when he’s good, he’s good, like in 1994, 2001 and 2003, and when he’s bad, he’s awful), who might show up with .260/.300/.425 seasons on a regular basis, we’re paying someone $11 million a year to be David Bell’s evil twin every so often. Can you win overpaying THAT much for performance, unless you’re the Yankees?
Re: #336 and #328 and a number of other posts on the same theme:
Has it occurred to anyone that Grover wants out more than any of the guys on the field? I’ll bet he’s hoping the M’s get the idea and fire him before they even think to DFA Spezio….
Adam Jones outfielder (at least starting today at SA)
Jose Lopez who is now officially tearing up the PCL
these are also good things.
Sorry, that’s Spazio…er, Spiezio.
Things to look forward to for 2006:
Catchers that aren’t a black hole on offense (can we just see a 700 OPS?) The rise of Jeff Clement.
Richie Sexson hitting 40+ HR
Jose Lopez having a regular job at 2nd base, meaning no more WFB
Betancourt with his spunky defense and knack for hitting opportunistic triples
Beltre having a full year adjusted to the AL and in the magical age 27 year
A starting infield who’s average age is 26.
Chris Snelling taking over for Griffey in the first D/L appearence office pool
Doyle manning LF and roping doubles looking like a poor man’s Edgar from the left side
JReed with the ROY expectations lifted and his hustle in CF
Ichiro with the .400 expectations lifted and an offense scoring runs
Raul being Raul
A bench that is Bucky, Morse, and Strong instead of Spiezio, Hansen and Bloomquist
A full year of the King
The fierceness of Bobby M back on the mound, fresh after the extra rest of the entire 05 season off
The chance we might have good pineiro back
The chance we might land a FA pitcher (or two??) to fill out our rotation
A bullpen that’s solid
The return of Rafael Soriano to said bullpen
The grit of Eddie
The 5 year anniversary of 116 wins
Yes people, there’s always hope.
#340 Even if Beltre was hitting Pujols like numbers we’d be losing. Our manager is horrible and this team was left in such a reck its going to take at least another year for our GM to clean up the mess.
The fact that we are bad isn’t the problem. Its the personel decisions in the last week that are the problem.
EC… I disagree about Beltre on a few fronts. (not disagree, really, I know it was a question… so I take the “not too much” answer)
Beltre, even with his horrific start, is still better than half our hitters… making it not a level of suckitude great enough to blame the season on.
Absent April and May, he’s a good player to have. Overpaid, but not as much as some.
And if we were pinning our season on one guy in the first year of a league change then I would say that’s someone else’s blame to start with.
I feel very good about Beltre next year. His best is better than Boone and his mean projection is better than Boone’s.
And keep in mind that Beltre is just starting to come into his prime age. That’s very different than Boone, as well.
I think that by the end of Beltre’s contract we will have been very glad we signed him.
I worry far more about the people around Beltre, Sexson and Ichiro than I do those guys. It is harder to be a spectacular player on a crappy team than it is to be great on a good team.
I rate this game thread a -23 on a scale of 0 to -50.