Game 140, Orioles at Mariners
LHP Erik Bedard v LHP Jamie Moyer. 7:05, FSN for TV. (Also, PCL playoff action)
With the Mariners pushing Moyer back and moving Franklin up so that Moyer could get another start at home, it sounds like the Mariners are, at least when opportunity allows, adopting the “home starter” idea Dave and I were kicking around back in July.
To update that post, Moyer continues to be a different pitcher at home:
Home: 2.73 ERA, 8-0, 95.2 IP, ~7 innings/start, 6 HR, 19 BB, 56K
Away: 6.73 ERA, 3-6, 70.2 IP, ~5 innings/start, 12 HR, 28 BB, 33K
No park effects, I know any split for a season is subject to wild variance, but even then — that’s crazy. Just the two things you can be sure he controls, walks and strikeouts, are far, far better at home than on the road.
Helping Moyer out tonight is Rafael Palmeiro. Once better known in Seattle for his Mariner-killing hitting, Palmeiro’s not even with the team. Coming back from his suspension, Palmeiro didn’t play, didn’t hit when he played, and lost his starting job before being told nicely that the team would prefer he not hang around, sending him home to rehab his right ankle and knee.
Purely on selfish terms, this is Mariner fans, because if anyone was going to go 12-12 with 8 home runs and four doubles in this series it was going to be that $#@$@#% (and @#%^^@ing @#$&@%er) Palmeiro. And that would turn his season around, he’d come back next year with the Orioles, tearing up Mariner pitchers for another year and driving us insane.
Instead Palmeiro has possibly easily been the greatest casualty of the steroid policy. He went from lauded hero for his tough talk denying steroid use to having people argue his career statistics should be nullified, and his Hall of Fame chances are badly wounded and hiding out in the woods hoping to fight another day.
While I think history will see this much differently, I would bet that a survey of HoF voters, perhaps given a quick update of Moyer’s achievements since turning into the ace of the 90s, wouldn’t pick Palmeiro over Jamie. Jamie appears that even if he’s reduced to hanging around Safeco exclusively, seems ageless, clean, with a long run of quiet dominance and impressive raw stats, while Palmeiro’s hitting stats are discounted by era and the drug test, his reputation and character impugned by the Congressional hearings, and it appears he might be done entirely.
Next year, Palmeiro might be back, of course, and Moyer retired, but tonight, only Moyer gets to step on the field. I feel a little guilt at taking delight in anyone’s downfall, but as a Mariner fan, it’s going to be so nice to see Jamie pitching at home and not having to face Palmeiro.
Comments
124 Responses to “Game 140, Orioles at Mariners”
Go Cougs!
Oh, whoops — I mean Go M’s!
oddly enough, Raffy actually hasn’t been all that overpowering vs Moyer through the years (unlike his numbers againt the team as a whole) He only hits around .260 against him… looking it up, I see it is now at 5 HR in 86 ABs, and it sure seems most of those came just the last few seasons. Only 86 ABs in 19 seasons — must be all those years when they played on the same Chi, Texas & Baltimore teams.
BJ Surhoff, on the other hand…. sheesh.
Dobbs has a MIF glove? Even for emergencies? That’d be scary.
Richie with RBI #100.Woot!
Did we even have a 100 RBI guy last year?
no
Just checking to see if comments are still posting.
I think that pushing Moyer back proves that Grover secretly reads USS Mariner. He just sends the King out for 120-125 pitches to spite everyone here.
Nice, quick inning.
Just like Grover saves Moyer for home games, UssM readers are saving their pithy comments for KIng Felix’s starts. How else to explain a single-digit comment count in the third?!
I know, this is crazy.
9: It’s the Cougar game, no doubt…and it’s Friday…regardless, I’m off to watch my beloved Cougars stomp a cupcake team.
Go M’s!
Well, the Cougs are on ESPN! Besides which, are you watching this game? If the entire crowd isn’t asleep by the 5th inning it will be astonishing. Bedard is ssslllooowwwww.
This game might be over with in two hours if Bedard would THROW THE FREAKING BALL! Geez.
even Rick Rizz doesn’t have his usual manic enthusiasm tonight…
I can think of a term for that, and it starts with “cluster-”
If the entire crowd isn’t asleep by the 5th inning it will be astonishing.
Actualy, I fell asleep watching the Sox-Yanks and missed the first part of this.
Well, excuuuuse me for forgetting about the Cougs game.
I was thinking about asking my doctor for a prescription for Ambien so I could get some decent sleep on my flight to Australia, but I’ve reconsidered. I’m just going to think about Erik Bedard.
C’mon Ron, say it. Say it! “Willie hit right around .300 while he was playing everday…”
Yes, Ron. The M’s will trade Lopez to make room for Bloomquist.
Just… wow.
I’m glad Bavasi’s probably up in the owner’s box right now, happily snacking on some nachos or something.
Wait — they don’t pipe the feed into that box, do they?
I stepped away. Did he say something else?
USSM Crew:
I noticed in recent days that # of posts in gamethreads have gone down significantly. Perhaps you would be willing to pay me to artificially bolster your comment numbers?
2K6 rotation idea:
I wonder if we should have Felix and Moyer pitch on consecutive days – maybe as the 2 and 3 starters (assuming Bavasi can pull a TOR pitcher out of his hat).
I don’t think you could come up with more contrasting pitching styles if you tried. They might help complement each other.
DMZ –
if your flight leaves late at night, when you get on the plane to Sydney, take two melatonin. Don’t eat, don’t watch the movies, just sleep as soon as you get on the plane, for as long as you can, and eat as soon as you wake up. IF you can get 8 hours sleep, you’ll be in decent shape when you land..
Nice plate discipline by Yu-Bet. Good to see that.
My LA to Auckland flight is 9:30P to 5:15A.
Back is going to be a real beast, it’s 10:45P to 2:40P.
Auckland? That’s a nifty route. What are you flying? Obviously not Qantas.
United?
American?
Um, lotta walks from M’s batters here??? Are we through the looking glass, people?
DMZ, what are you going to be doing down there in AUS? Besides drinking Australian beer?
Here comes the slider.
Did he kneel down to hit that pitch? Weird swing.
Beltre was trying to pull it; I think that’s why he looked wierd swinging. Going with it for a 2-run single wasn’t appealing.
Dave is mixing up his Lopezez. Lopi.
runs are like pulling teeth in this game.
DMZ, what are you going to be doing down there in AUS? Besides drinking Australian beer?
Um… that’s not a valid itinerary?
Reed that and weep, Baltimore!!! What a Catch!!!
Oh. My. God.
Reed.
mmm. beer. beer and pie. beer and sausage rolls. beer and chips. beer and twisties. beer.
Wow.. slick-fielding middle infielders make me a happy old-skool baseball fan.
My goodness. A .992 fielding percentage on 364 total chances? The tradition of great defensive play in centerfield continues. Now if only Jerey could hit a little …
Hey, DMZ, if you get lost/eaten/shot in the Outback, what will happen to this blog?
Double play. Sweet!
I meant Jeremy. And I was once a spelling bee champion. Gosh how far I’ve fallen.
Yu-bet to J-Lo to Sex-E ……. I could live with seeing that DP combo next year
How long until Reed wins a gold glove, you think?
After several TiVo replays, it kinda looked like Reed actually overran that ball. Amazing. That’s some range. Maybe not ultimate precision, but range!
based on recent history, Reed is going to have to hit more to have a chance to win a gold glove
Reed hasn’t gotten his timing down yet; he catches too many balls without leaving his feet. You have to learn to dive for some of them so they look harder. Of such plays are GG’s born. Hitting helps, too.
44. I know the sentiment.
There’s an interesting question: who is the worst-fielding outfielder to win a Gold Glove in, say, the last ten years?
AL Candidates: Buhner 96 (I love him, but come on), Shawn Green 99, Jermaine Dye 2000.
NL Candidates: Jose Cruz 03. Maybe a Bonds 98. Grissom 96?
STRONG IS THE UBER OUTFIELDER!!!
Go ejections!
Definitely out.
8th inning, 50 posts. Kind of sad. Indicative of the season I guess. I still love the M;s and baseball more than any other sport. I have also had too much to drink.
I thought Strong didn’t have an arm. Was this an exceptional throw or just a bad baserunning decision?
On second thought, maybe we got away with one there.
RAUUUUUUL!!
Uh… so he might have been safe. But the ump has to stand behind the catcher for the rest of the game, so I don’t blame him giving it to the M’s.
Go Raul. Good thing I just dumped him from my yahoo team.
Was he safe? Is anyone getting ejected over this?
I’m not sure if these stats include tonight’s game:
Johnny Damon: 365 total chances, 4 assists, 6 errors, .984 fielding percentage, .321 BA, national TV exposure as part of defending champs
Mark Kotsay: 271 total chances, 7 assists, 4 errors, 3 defensive DPs, .985 fielding percentage in 116 games, great defensive reputation
Aaron Rowand: 327 total chances, 3 assists, 3 errors, .991 fielding percentage. .275 BA, 12HR, 61 RBI, plays on best team in AL.
Vernon Wells: 311 total chances, 8 assists, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage, 24 HR, 80 RBI, .782 OPS
Grady Sizemore: 321 total chances,3 assists, 3 errors, .991 fielding percentage, .285 BA, 18 HR, 72 RBI, 20 SB, .815 OPS, plays for wild-card leader
After looking at Reed’s offenisve #s (.257 BA, 39 RBI, .681 OPS, 10/20 on stolen bases), I think msb is dead on in his assessment. Plus, as you can see, he’s got some stiff competition.
Maybe Hargrove told Perlozzo about Denny’s and he was trying to beat the postgame Mariner rush.
We have a number of players (Betancourt, Beltre, and Reed, in that order) who may smetimes diappoint with the bat but take away a lot of hit with their fielding. I wonder if there are any stats that factor that in (along with stats like OPS) to a player’s value. Similarly, I wonder if it would not be advantageous to factor stolen bases into a player’s falue. Is someone who hts a single and then steals second as valuable aws someone who hits a double?
45 can we just change that to Yu Bet J Lo is Sex E instead of 6-4-3
Random side note: in researching The Book Project, I’m constantly amazed at how stupid people are. I could do a timeline of “society’s constant free-fall, from inception to today.” I don’t think there’s a year where I haven’t found someone lamenting how awful players and fans are, how poisonous the relationship is, how overpaid the players are, how society today isn’t what it used to be, and back in the good old days…
It was annoying at first, then it was funny, and now I just expect it.
Re: 31 and 36
Any beer tourist must go to Prague.
There are many stats that attempt to measure a player’s overall worth. Check out WARP o’er at Baseball Prospectus, for instance. Or Win Shares. Or a host of others.
Nah. Belgium has the best beer.
But for the price?? Prague, then Krakow is where to go.
Polish beer? Tell me more – what is it like?
St. Louis is the best place to go for beer. Duh.
Yeah there was a great pub off the main square serving unfiltered hefeweizen. After the first couple though I was just appreciating the price.
OK everybody, make sure you’re buckled up. Eddie’s coming in the game. No repeat of Wednesday afternoon Eddie,please.
After a long stretch in which we wer either way ahead or way behind, Guardado has suddenly got a lot of save opportunities in a row. The last one he blew. I am assuming he will come in in the ninth.
Gameday says George Sherrill, interesting.
Did Eddies arm finally fall off. I wouldn’t even be dissapointed at this point. It had an amazing run.
Why Sherrill?
Anybody know why Eddie isn’t there?
What? Sherrill? Is this going to be a 3-pitcher inning?
Why Sherrill?
Batters coming up……left, right, left.
Wow….
What? Sherrill?
?!
D’oh!
Uh, Mr. Hargrove, I’m not second guessing you, I’m first guessing you. Unless Eddie really is hurt, that was a bad move.
Oh God, I can’t look anymore.
I was abour to be happy that Eddie wasn’t in after the last performance when he blew it big time, but now I am not so sure.
?!??!?!
How bout JJ if Eddies getting an offday?
At least Tacoma is winning.
He’s coming in now, but he had his chance the other day and didn’t get it done. Now he’s pitching with a 1 run lead instead of a 4 run lead.
78. That would be a good possibility, but Guardado doesn’t seem to me warmed up. JJ might be the closer of the future. If so, this is a test. I can’t help thinking of his past performance this year. Fortunately, the baes aren’t loaded.
88: Wait…Baek is pitching.
At least Tacoma is winning at the moment.
What about Soriano?
ahhhh I’m having flashbacks to ’97. This is painful.
My wife just looked up from her knitting and asked, “Where’s Eddie?” …Good question
At this point I think I’m ready for the M’s to hold open tryouts. Want a shot? Come on down!
Rereading post #90, I can see that I have had way too much to drink. Apologies to the rest of you.
Pitch out please.
Good idea, bad execution.
Maybe we should walk this guey to go for the double play.
JJ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Large strike zone.
Nice. One to go.
97 MPH.
Eddie looks hung over
Yes! Mariners win!
JJ does it!
There it is!
Game over.
I was away for a bit. What happened in the eighth that they’ve alluded to?
Well, I’ll wait to see what Hargrove has to say about the closer situation.
94. I suspect it might have to do with Eddie having pitched in the last four games (I think). Or his blowing the four run lead in the last game. Or that his shoulder has finally come apart.
108. Brain Roberts was trying to score the tying run on a base hit. He was thrown out by Ibanez on a close play where he may have touched the plate before Torrealba tagged him on the left shoulder. He and manager Sam Perlozzo argued, and Perlozzo was thrown out of the game for slapping the umpire’s mask during the argument.
Do we have a winning record in September?
111. Jamal Strong with the throw
Does anyone know if Bucky played in the Tacoma game tonight? How did he do?
5-3 in September. Yay(!)
Hargrove just said they decided Eddie had thrown a lot lately, and decided before the game he was sitting, ‘tho Eddie said he could go.
113. Oops. My bad.
2 runs on 10 hits? How did the Birds manage that?
Sounds exciting, but I’m probably glad I missed this game.
Re: Earlier speculation about un-merited Gold-Gloves.
How useless in the field was Bernie Williams when he won his?
In regards to the gold glove thing… Hideki Matsui quietly made only his first error of the season yesterday. Can you say underrated?
Where was everyone tonight? We showed, but there weren’t more than 15,000 in the park at first pitch. It probably climbed to near 25,000 by the third, but there a lot of empty seats in the lower deck to move down to.
Just read the thread and have but one thing to say – I should have known MarinerDan was a Coug. I bet Daaaaaan is too.
121 Dylan – I wasn’t there tonight but I noticed there was an insane amount of seats left, in all sections, for tonight’s game, for whatever reason. Same for Saturday. Yet, it looked like the Angels games next week had a lot more tickets sold.
There are plenty of awesome seats left for Sunday’s Felix outing as far as I can tell, too, as in like, less than 20 rows behind home plate awesome. I’ll be there in something like 12 rows behind home plate awesome. Maybe enough people already saw the Orioles, or don’t like Palmeiro anymore, or didn’t think the weather this weekend was going to be nice enough to justify sitting at Safeco in the cold, or whatever.
I will even get out the long underwear for Sunday.