Game 152: Mariners at Blue Jays
JMB · September 21, 2005 at 4:17 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
RHP Felix Hernandez vs. RHP David Bush, 4:07pm, FSN & KOMO.
King Felix tries to bounce back after a pair of unKing-like starts. Torrealba caught both of ‘em; I thought we might see Ojeda out there tonight for a change of pace, but apparently not.
RF Ichiro!
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
DH Sexson
3B Beltre
1B Dobbs
SS Betancourt
2B Santiago
C JoeJessica
Ooh, breaking news — Tampa Bay will reportedly buy out the last year of Lou Piniella’s contract this winter.
Comments
246 Responses to “Game 152: Mariners at Blue Jays”
Ron Fairly just invoked “Young Kevin Brown” as a comparable groundball pitcher. That’s funny.
yo fellas,watching the games live here in Firenze,where it’s 1:18AM..
The things you do for King Felix..
Go Ms!
Right on, BP!
I didn’t know it was Felix day.
Gibbons has loaded his lineup with contact hitters today (except Koskie, who’s just bad). Let’s see how Felix does.
..and you’re telling me THAT wasn’t a strike??
With Barking Pumpkin back in the lineup the drinks should freely flow. Glug Glug
On my drive home from school today, I thought, “Let’s see, Felix worked Friday, four days off… hey, he’s pitching tonight!”
#6
You betcha..
here’s a toast to the rest of the gang..
(glug glug)
Make ‘im work!
Piniella. Discuss.
Tampa Bay… a great place to live, but not so good for working in baseball.
#10: Not a good manager for the D-Rays. Not good for the Mariners at this point, either.
Lou’s strengths: Getting the most out of a team close to contention. Working with hitters. Making good use of a good bench. Fairly tactically sound.
Lou’s weaknesses: Inability to manage pitchers (but smart enough to let Price do it for him.) Developing young players. Emotional vulnerability to losing.
Some team close to contention may pick up Lou and let him run. In the right situation, he’d be great.
its pretty ridiculous how easy his ab’s are when he gets ahead in the count
Does he take a year off? Manage right away? Plain old retire? I have to think he won’t go to another crap job after his experience in Tampa.
You can’t go home again. Look to the future. It won’t happen. There’s about as much chance of Lou coming back here as of the M’s trading for Jeff Cirillo.
..so,do you really think that Louu is taking next season off)
I won’t be a bit surprised to see him in NY next year. The chances of that happening go up enormously if they miss the playoffs, or go out meekly.
Some team close to contention may pick up Lou and let him run.
The trick is finding such a team that needs a manager, though. Good teams generally already have one.
There’s always the Yankees…
Sorry if I implied he’d be a good fit here, or that we should even discuss the possiblity. I agree with robbbbb on this one.
..i think you might be on something about Lou and the Yankees,especially if they miss the playoffs..
..and watching lou in pinstripes again will definitely break my heart..
I would actually watch yankees games if lou was mgr, and I am sure i’m not alone… right?
*crickets*
right.
The Yanks would be a pretty good situation for Lou. It plays to his strengths (veteran team, deep bench, solid bullpen) and minimizes his weaknesses. (The Yankees are contending now, not later, and you don’t have to worry as much about Lou throwing a temper tantrum.)
Then again, at some point Lou’s going to rip Steinbrenner in front of the media, and you get meltdown.
I personally think the Yankees are past their peak and headed into a downslope. They need some help, and they can’t get all of it on the free agent market. The core they’ve been riding for almost ten years is over-the-hill.
It would be entertaining to see Lou in NY with an aging team.
You know, Zaun’s pretty good for a cheap catcher.
Felix is throwing a lot of pitches today. This is bad. He needs a couple of those six-pitch innings he’s capable of.
Skydome is not the best situation for him, though. The turf works against his ground-ball style. He may get a couple grounders in a row that sneak through on the turf, and that kills the six-pitch inning.
C’mon guys! Let’s score something for Felix.
Toronto’s hitters see a lot of pitches. They don’t do a lot with them, but they see a lot of pitches. Only Hillenbrand and Wells swing early.
Yeah, 35 already for Felix through two innings.
cmon,let him work,JoeJessica!
Aw geez, Ron’s gonna be on this ALL NIGHT.
Bush is getting up there in pitches too.
why,Ichiro,why??
That was U-G-L-Y. He ain’t got no alibi.
Hmmmm….Rohn to Tampa? He’d be a good fit.
We have our best hitter bunting again? Hard to teach an old dog new tricks.
Wow, i think they call this dealing
1-2-3 inning..
we and the king needed that..
Our best hitter is Richie.
i cant see Lou going to NY, I could see him take a year off, maybe go National Leauge
Will be interesting to see where Lou does end up this winter…….that rumor about them buying out Lou has been around for a couple months….didn’t think they’d actually do it.
Now about a future managerial choice for the current M’s squad……I really don’t think Hargrove is that bad……..but a guy I’d love to see in Seattle……..
Jim Tracy
Heard someone on KJR this past weekend speculating, like last winter, that if/when the Doghairs don’t make the playoffs this winter….Depodesta will finally make a move to bring in his own manager.
He’d be a great candidate to lead the young M’s resurgence next year, IMO.
#36-
If you are using the royal “We”, you could probably just say “We needed that.” I mean he is a king afterall…
Or you could say “The King and I” but you might run into copyright infringements.
Lets get Franky…. i meen the king some run support
Whoa. Bush is going all Rick Ankiel.
I don’t know about Jim Tracy. He was doing a lot of weird things in LA this year, ie playing Hee Seop Choi when he shouldn’t and benching him when he should have been playing him.
#40
thanks 4 the tip. Much appreciated!
Nice line drive
I just hope that Bavasi has Wally Backmon’s number laying around the office somewhere, just in case
finally some runs..
way to go Richie!
A heck of a snit, indeed.
Beltre is going for the 1 game record for most pitches faced.
How about Lou to the marlins.
Why does Beltre look like that when he swings? Ugh.
Make ‘im work!
Nice job, Adrian. Way to lay off.
looks like we have Bush on a rope already..
Lets see that pretty swing Dobbs.
beltre: nice 10 pitch walk.
Wow, i called it
Atta boy, Greg
nice one!
let’s go Ms..
How ya like his swing now, bee-yatch?
Wow, way to bunt and set the table for Ramon? Or really afraid of a double play.
I thought we got rid of Wilson Valdez. Oops, that’s Santiago.
I am such a fan of JoeJessica, lets go!!
Interesting that Felix’s deuce breaks just as much as Bush’s and is 15 mph faster
FYI, Bonds just hit his 4th homerun.
I love reading the boxscore when Bush is followed by League.
LOL Rusty.
#66, That would be much more comical if the Jays weren’t 9.5 games better than the Ms.
i know much has been made of betancourt’s hitting (or lack thereof), but why in the world would he sacrafice there? to set up some good RBI opportunities for our “heavy hitters” santiago/torrealba? i thought outs are the most precious thing in baseball and that they shouldn’t be given away easily……….maybe i am missing something
also, forgive me for being a little late in my post, but yahoo sports is the best i have to work with……
Is there any reason ML hitters can’t refrain from pulling the f’ing ball? Other than a lack of the little gray cells.
Wow, Kazmir has 77 pitches through 2.1
Following in the footsteps of “quitting while you’re ahead”,and seen as it’s now 2:15AM here,I reckon it’s time to go..
so long folks,and I’ll see you here soon..
Peace out..D
Why is it that FSN shows classic college football games for Washington, Washington State, and Oregon State, but not Oregon? I mean, I hate the Ducks as much as the next guy, but it seems odd to exclude them from this sort of thing.
69 Try CBS, it’s quicker than Gameday on the reload.
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/live/MLB_20050921_SEA@TOR
So long, Pumpkin. I’ll raise a gin and tonic in your honor here in about five minutes.
I saw one last week with Akili Smith…. oh wait that was against Oregon State.
JMB: I saw the Ducks playing on FSN classic college encounters the other night… they were busy getting beat in the Best Civil War game ever. Ah, Jonathon Smith, Ken Simonton… you guys were so cool. Go Beavs.
Yeah, but that’s a Oregon State classic game. On the commercial, they list the three schools but not Oregon.
63 pitches through four innings.
Dang right that game’s an Oregon State classic! Maybe it’s a licensing situation and the Ducks didn’t want to participate in the deal.
Probably something like that, yeah.
Deja Vu?
Yeah, I’m sure Oregon has many cable channels bidding for the right to show their classic games.
Maybe Reed should have stopped at second?
84 the runner can’t advance on a caught fly unless he tags up first.
Not being able to tell, was that a hit and run?
#85 — no, I mean he should have stopped there to see if the ball was going to be caught.
More than halfway to the [don't do that].
Two outs on four pitches!
damn you Itea, you should be slapped!
Ibanez spanked it, Reed thought it was going over Wells’ head and was steaming towards 3rd, couldn’t make it back in time.
#88
GAH NO!!
WHATS WRONG WITH YOU!!??
YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY ANYTHING!
I edited it; we’ll see if I was fast enough.
Nice eight pitch inning for the King.
I wonder how many of us are watching.
Both Randy and King Felix are on my fantasy team. I’m in the finals; between their two starts today I’m getting a LOT of help so far.
Oh come on. Jinx jinx jinx. I talked about Mike Warren’s [I'm serious] in the fifth inning, and it didn’t stop him, and he was one of the worst pitchers ever to throw one.
Dont worry, it only works in the dugout
Low on the Ks, but that figures given the lineup today, but it’s nice to see Felix have another dominant GB start so far.
Don’t worry; I have scrolled time back to post 87. Carry on.
Has anyone given any thought to Carlos Lee in LF. He’s gonna get a pretty penny but 40 dingers and 100+ RBI’s sounds nice.
93
Hopefully the baseball gods were to busy messing with Randy’s no-no after I yelled RANDY HAS A NO NO three times.
I don’t think Carlos Lee is going anywhere.
Ohhhhhhh Bush and League, now I get it, and i am not even on my way home, cause I am already here
Looks like Randy gave up a hit.
He is a Free agent and Milwaukee is cheap et al Sexson
Am I the only one who sees some (well let’s call it “irony”) in the fact that the authors here take so much pride in debunking incorrect traditional baseball wisdom, and yet they believe in jinxes?
It’s your site, so I won’t say “the word”. Rest asssured that I have mentioned it here at my house more than a few times now.
Milwaukee is on the cusp of contention though now. They weren’t 2 years ago. They don’t have an Overbay player coming up to take over in LF. He’s not walking.
What about Carlos Baerga?
107: I wonder if Milwaukee has given any thought to moving Overbay to left field?
Carlos Lee has a team option on his contract. I’d guarantee Milwaukee will pick it up.
Itea,
We’re fans at heart. Fans are superstitious, even though they know it’s crazy to be so.
Lyle was part of the trade for sexson. And they have quite a nice farm system including Prince fielder, I believe.
Well, they need to do something, because Fielder is certainly pushing Overbay.
Let’s just say the King is pitching very well and leave it at that.
Milwaukee has a good thing going — Fielder, Weeks, JJ Hardy, Ben Sheets…
With Lou available, could the next M’s manager be … Joe Torre?
It doesn’t sound right somehow, but stranger things have happened.
I just jinxed it. I hadn’t been watching the game, and EVERYTIME I hear of a guy pitching well like Felix, something bad happens within the next 2 batters.
Let’s just say the King is pitching very well and leave it at that.
Indeed. In similar situations, I’d always call my friend David (if he didn’t call me first) and say, “Chris Bosio is pitching a very good game. You might want to turn it on.”
111 – If it couldn’t stop Mike Warren, it can’t stop anything.
If the Jays picked up Chris George and had him start a game, then the box score could say George Walker Bush League.
Mat where did you find that? I believe you but I thought that he was a FA with no option.
Whew, I thought that might make his pitching… less good…
Wow, end of 6.
It must be nice to be 19 and this good at something….. other than avoiding MIPs
C’mon posters – are we going to play “Who’s going to be a jinx?” all night? Why not just start predicting when he’ll give up his first thingy…(I’m not going to do it)
Id suspect them trading Overbay way more likely than not picking up Lee’s 8.5M option. If they dont, hey, he’s perfect. Hits righties better than lefties, young enough, good home/away splits. I’ll take him. But I put him in the same likelihood as Matsui of leaving their current team.
Cot’s Contracts is a site I’ve found to be pretty useful for contract info, and generally accurate:
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005_01_25_mlbcontracts_archive.html
This is a bush league game….O:-)
The Jinx thing is part of the fun of being a fan IMO.
another little tidbit from the Yahoo! boxscore:
SEATTLE’S GREG DOBBS SINGLED IN THE FOURTH INNING TO EXTEND HIS HITTING STREAK TO 10 GAMES.
he had better frame this one, because he sure won’t see this again……
BEAT THE JINX BEAT THE JINX
Thanks Mat, nice work.
Are coaches/managers contracts guarenteed? They aren’t part of the MLBPA right? So, I’m thinking they’re not. Which means we can fire Hargrove this winter and not worry about eating money.
Do jinxes count for the opposing announcers? The Jays guys won’t stop mentioning……”something.”
It is usually written in the contract. I am pretty sure that is what a contract does…. but I am not a lawyer, anymore.
OT – How does Yorvit = JoeJessica?
Well, look at NFL contracts, they can be “fired” anytime and the team pays them nothing further.
The one time I don’t link the FAQ, I knew this would happen!
David: http://ussmariner.com/?p=2461
If I was an opposing fan/announcer I’d shout it from the rooftops.
Does it count as mentioning it if the broadcasters decided to continually pan to that portion of the box score on the scoreboard but not actually say anything?
135 last name is Torrealba…. Torre Alba
LETS GO
ORIOLES
LETS GO
Doh!
Does it count as mentioning it if the broadcasters decided to continually pan to that portion of the box score on the scoreboard but not actually say anything?
No… I think that’s an appropriate way to clue in viewers who have just tuned in.
ERROR!
CALL IT AN ERROR!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
Noooo….:(
Felix wanted it! That’s cool.
Alex Rodriguez gets that one!
THATS WAS A FUCKING ERROR!!
Why do these “things” always seem to come down to a scoring decision?
damn
E-6!
E-6 damnit!
136- Thats players, because their bonus is the only thing gauranteed, coaches get their money, thats why Holmgren can’t be fired, they are on the hook for to much.
Jinx what?
(And yes, I know that there’s no way it should be an error)
Dobbs over his last 15 games:
20/55, 4 BB/7K
364/400/455
7 RBI
He’s going all Bloomquist on us!
Honestly, he was going to have to throw a LOT of pitches to finish the game. I’m glad he lost the no no. Now he can just go the 7 maybe 8 and be done.
it’s Dave’s fault– he mentioned calling your friends just before the error/hit
That was pitch #90.
Was that an instance of YuBet being too good for his own good? It tainted the scorekeeper?
Um, that happened RIGHT after Dave said the magic words on the air for the first time this game.
Fairly isn’t too swift with mathematics if he thinks everyone starts a season off with a Zero batting average.
Fuckin’ homer score keeper….:(
Not that I’m saying they’ll overturn the scorer’s decision here, but occaisionally they’ll review a play in the offseason and change the scorer’s decision. Wouldn’t that be a funny way to get a (we can say it now, right?).
What do you call 0/0 ?
how much of a pitch diffence is going 8 vs. going 9?
He’ll never get through 9 innings. So don’t worry, be happy!
undefined TIP
damn it what happened I was gone for a sec and all the sudden the no hitter is broken up
0/0 is “undefined”. But they usually list it as .000 on the scoreboard.
Rather than starting with a .000 batting average, I’ve seen some box scores with — which seems to make a lot more sense.
Felix has a 1 hitter going.
Yup! Felix is still pitching well.
Anybody watching CNN/MSNBC/etc.? There’s a JetBlue plane with landing gear problems that’s going to land at LAX. The TV coverage consists of an eerie shot of the plane just speeding through the air. Basically, the front landing gear are rotated 90 degrees — the wheels are facing side-to-side instead of straight ahead.
It’s good that they called it a hit, otherwise Grover would leave Alex in the game until his arm falls off.
I just switched
thanks for the update JMB.
Alex?
re: Lou to NY, it would mean that George would be willing to pay Joe Torre $13 million the next two years and pay Lou about the same to manage….
IMO everyone should start at 1.000 and work their way down. I like seeing the catcher or untility fielder with a .667 BA at the end of the first week.
I meant Felix, not Alex of course. The airplane thing has me distracted.
Question:
How would Lou do with the NYY?
good/bed?
Paul, Larry King just called it the “plane thing” on CNN, as well.
im sure lou would have a good bed in NY, he’d get paid a lot.
I’m sure everyone is engaging in wishful thinking, but really, there is no way that was an error, as much as I’d like it to be.
Felix is coming out for the bottom of the 8th. Anybody know what his pitch count is? I’ve got him at 92 through 7, but could be off significantly.
If he’s at 92, he’s probably done after 8, unless he gets through this inning quickly.
gameday had him at 93 through 7.
fastball’s at 94 though. Yank him sooner rather than later.
Anyone else see this in on USA Today’s website: USA Today: ” The Mariners will pursue Ken Griffey Jr., who left Seattle when he signed with the Reds after the 1999 season, if they believe he’s healthy.”
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/bbw/columnist/nightengale/2005-09-21-majors_x.htm
It’s in the buzz section on the right hand side.
Sounds pretty set in stone? Anyone know of any truth to it?
they are stalling to get the bullpen pitcher some more throws in now….
I think it would almost be freakier to circle and circle to burn off gas than the do the actual landing….
Yeah, too many balls this inning. I’m with you, LS.
LS, I agree with you. Lou would have a good bed in NY.
Kulich, same thing we’ve every offseason since about ’01.
Id love to, but I don’t see it happening.
Woa, you don’t see that everyday.
eeeeeep
I was watching CNN.
How do you single on a sharp ball to the pitcher?
lets go sherill, keep Felix’s line pristine.
Either way, great outing.
Alright, no more Felix, time to check in more regularly on Cleveland v. Chicago.
190. Yeah, exactly what I thought. I guess we’ll see. Do you think he’d DH, if he’d come back?
I’d have him splitting time in LF with Ibanez.
103
It was a line drive back to Felix, he caught it, but the ball was hit so hard that it knocked the glove out of his hand.
2 infield singles. Pretty good day’s work.
KGJ in Seattle again? … maybe.
All I have ever heard is that KGJ is never going to be in Seattle again.
I have always hoped KGJ would come back and take the DH role and take it to the Edger lvl.
Argh
That was meant for 193
Wow, that landing was about as smooth as you could possibly hope for.
#186, that IS Bob Nightengale, after all– one of my favorites of his was that the Ms would be making a run at Carl Everett after the season, reported in his piece about the Ms clinching the division in Sept. 2001.
FWIW, he also has a questionable record when it comes to Griffey stories…
203 No kidding. Man I hate flying. That pilot deserves praising with great praise. And a beer.
202, JMB — yes, it was. Almost anti-climactic, but thank god for that.
That pilot deserves a raise!
Yeah, give those pilots a raise and a year off.
and a clean pair of trousers!
I’m not with you on the year off. I want him flying any flight I’m on
Still 3 -0!!! (Much happier posting about baseball than potential tragedy.)
At least Bucky Jacobsen still has those Banner Bank commercials.
I’d want the slide to deplane– I’m not sure my legs would actually be working at that point.
I realize that Griffey has cleared waivers and so trades are allowable, but is there a cutoff point? Is there a no-trade period immediately following the end of the season?
213.
yeah, I think it during the playoffs.
I think no one can do something that takes away from the playoffs, like a trade or a firing.
214 You can DO it, you just can’t announce it.
IIRC, it is until the end of the season– the August deadline is just if you want to put the player on a playof roster…
Dobbs looked like he’s never fielded one in the dirt on that doubleplay attempt.
At this point, I don’t care if Griffey comes back. The PR would be nice if anything.
215. Ah! that makes sense. thanks
It really is time to shut eddy down.
Nightengale is right about as often as Willie B homers.
What does anyone think of Guardado’s work over the pst few weeks? Is something wrong with him? Will he need surgery?
Oops.
Sonofa–!!
Gads, shut him down for the season. Something ain’t right.
Why couldn’t we have traded Eddie… *sigh*
I know this won’t be the popular sentiment, but I’m not sure anything’s wrong with Eddie besides reversion to the mean. He was way, way over his head in the first half.
Guardado might need to sit down for the rest of the season. His last few weeks have not been all that good, from what I’ve seen.
#224: We wanted too much for him? He had a no-trade to the east coast teams? We overvalue “proven closers?” All of the above?
217 – The scoop was definitely a makeable play. Of course it will be overlooked in the hype that Dobbs tied the assists record for 1B in one game
Whew!
G-Man wrote:
What does anyone think of Guardado’s work over the pst few weeks? Is something wrong with him? Will he need surgery?
Not much. I doubt he’ll need surgery; if he could pitch this far, he should be able to again (though I am no doc). It seems that he has had some endurance issues with it, though.
And yes, it does make me wish we had traded Eddie (particularly if the M’s don’t plan to exercise his option), and this was fairly predictible.
Man, nice catch by Reed!
ya reed!
and everyone says it isn’t physical–
“Guardado said. “It’s just not happening right now and I don’t know why. I have to be better, plain and simple. It’s frustrating because they had a chance to use me and I didn’t come through.”
“The last three or four times out have been rough,” Hargrove said, “but Eddie is a gamer and he will be OK. He is up in the strike zone with a lot of his pitches, where he hasn’t been before.”
And that’s the problem. Guardado must keep the ball down to be effective.
“[Dennis] Eckersley was the same way,” Hargrove said. “Eck had command of his fastball and slider and those were the only two pitches he threw. And he didn’t throw much harder than Eddie does.”
It’s all about location, location, location.
“My location is off,” the veteran closer said. “The ball is up.”
that was a long 9th inning “save”
Eddie came into the year with a career 4.39 era, so Dave is on it again. But the ragged shoulder still has to be a concern, I would think.
is Eddie in the running for the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year?because it would sure be appropriate this season ….
235
I’m pretty sure Rivera is got that secured.
The King faced 27 batters:
13 ground ball outs
1 fly ball out
2 line drive outs
6 strike outs
To go with 3 walks and 2 hits
Very nice.
Gotta love the line from the AP wrapup on the M’s game.
“Chris Hobbs hit a two-run single for the Mariners, who have won two straight following a four-game skid.”
is Chris Hobbs Roy’s kid?
Ryan Howard just hit a grand slam in the 10th for the Phils…
Apparently the fans at the game were booing when that hit off YuBet was scored an error. And they gave Felix a big O when he was taken out of the game. There weren’t many people there, but the ones who were obviously were real baseball fans and knew exactly what they were watching. Class act all around. Give yourself a hand, Toronto.
Wonderboy!
Pick me out a winner, Bobby.
Sorry, that should be “when that hit off YuBet was not scored an error.”
Sure Yubet messed up but how many times has he saved Felix from getting hit. Remember that leaping catch into shallow left field. I think it was against the A’s.
#217 & #228……you guys being a bit critical there…….
While I agree the scoop was a “makeable” play……..though it wasn’t really a “scoop”, but a medium hop….which is probably one of the toughest plays for a firstbaseman.
The shorthop scoop is pretty easy…….the long hop is pretty easy, as well……..its the ball that bounces 4-5 feet in front of you, that doesn’t hardly give you time to adjust to its bounce that’s tough.
Was it a “makeable” play……yes, but so was that leaping snag that hit off the heal of Yubet’s glove to break up the no-no. “Makeable”, but far from being an “easy” or “routine” play.
Who else thinks that Felix’s outstanding performance tonight was somehow related to him only going 3+ in his last outing? We’ve seen evidence from the authors about pitcher performance degrading following 100+ pitch outings, and until last time Felix was around 110 or so each time.
That’s fairly sound analysis. Felix may well have benefitted from having a shorter previous outing.