The Ballad of Bloomquist Continues
I’m late with this one — sort of a theme for me this week — but Derek’s latest P-I column is a sterling piece of research that answers the musical question, “Is the team really better off with Bloomquist in the lineup?”
Soriano up; rookies hazed
Chris Snelling has been moved to the 60-day DL; Soriano has been activated and is with the team today in Oakland. Hargrove says there won’t be any other callups until Tacoma’s season and playoffs are over.
In other news, it was rookie hazing day over the weekend. Here are accounts from both the Times and PI. If you feel bad for anyone, it should be JJ Putz — despite the fact that he went through this last year, Eddie Guardado made him to it again.
J.J. Putz, who had a black tank and sparkly hot pants, had been double-crossed — he went through the ritual nonsense last year.
“He helped pick out the stuff,” explained Eddie Guardado. “He’s been here less than a year, and that’s not enough time. So he has to go through it again.”
Game 136: Mariners at Angels
RHP Jeff Harris vs. RHP Bartolo Colon, 1:05pm. FSN & KOMO.
RF Ichiro
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
“DH” Dobbs
2B Lopez
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
Atchison arrives; notes abound
The M’s have, as expected, activated RHP Scott Atchison from the disabled list and added him to the active roster. To make room, Jorge Campillo was moved from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list (Campillo will have Tommy John surgery, but there’s no date set for this yet).
John Hickey speculates that Rafael Soriano will follow on either Monday or Tuesday. Soriano has been going very well for Tacoma, with 11 strikeouts, one walk, and three hits allowed in 5 1/3 innings of work. His total rehab work this season adds up to 16.1 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, and 24 K.
Over in the Times, we hear word that LHP Bobby Madritsch is able to “throw a bit harder“. He’s throwing three days in a row before taking an off day, and it sounds like all is going well in his rehab. Also, RHP Gil Meche and his funny-feeling shoulder will have another throw day off the mound tomorrow.
Eesh, looks like it’s also time for a game thread.
Game 135, Mariners at Angels
In the interests of promptness, here’s a game thread for tonight’s tussle, Ryan Franklin (6-14, 5.34) versus Jarrod Washburn (7-8, 3.26). I have a sensitive stomach, so I’m going to see Son Volt instead.
Tom Huytler on the pre-game show: “Ryan Franklin’s on a roll … and not the good kind.”
Just call him butter. Rancid butter.
Meche, September callups
Meche was expected to be activated from the 15-day DL (patellar tendinitis, right knee) this week, but he had a setback while throwing. Great quote: “He said his shoulder felt funny.” — Mike Hargrove.
It’s possible Meche’s shoulder has been bugging him for some time now, and it’s also possible he changed his mechanics due to the knee problem and it put some new stress on his shoulder (or some combination of the two). In any event, I would not be surprised at all if he’s done for the year as a precautionary measure.
In the same article, the Times reports that Soriano and Atchison will be up from Tacoma this week. Finnigan speculates others will be Shin-soo Choo, Ramon Santiago (?!) and Rene Rivera. He also says Bucky Jacobsen is likely not among the first wave. The PI, however, says that after Soriano and Atchison, the M’s are likely to leave both Tacoma’s and San Antonio’s untouched through the minor league playoffs.
Finally, Tacoma starter Bobby Livingston posted the following line last night: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 14 K. He’s now 6-2 for the Rainiers with a 4.70 ERA, in what has been an up-and-down stint since being promoted from San Antonio.
Game 134: Mariners at Angels
Apparently we’re slacking. Sorry. M’s already up 1-0.
RF Ichiro
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
DH Hansen
2B Lopez
C JoeJessica
SS Betancourt
LHP Moyer vs. RHP Paul Byrd
Week #23 in Review
Watching this Mariner team fight for a split with the Yankees has some measure of moral victory. Somewhere.
Vital Signs
Wins: 57. Losses: 76. Games out of first place: 18.
For the first time in what feels like years, the Mariners climbed the standings. And by that I mean they are 1/2 game closer to first place than they were this time last week. It’s sumthin’. The Angels were swept by the Devil Rays and dropped 5 straight, and now they’re sharing the division lead with Oakland. Texas, on the other hand, took 3 of 4 from the White Sox, and so now third place stands 7.5 games away. Unless Providence intervenes, the Mariners are on their way for their first back-to-back last place finishes in club history. In 28 years, the Mariners have finished last 7 times (or once every 4 years, just like the Olympics!), but never twice in a row. Maybe Bill Bavasi has some ‘splainin’ to do. Maybe Pat Gillick does, too. They are now 4 games below their projected wins according to third-order wins.
Runs Scored: 588 (12th in the American League). Batting average: .255 (last). On-base percentage: .316 (13th). Slugging percentage: .396 (13th). Home runs: 116 (12th). Bases on balls: 376 (8th). EqA: .249 (11th, tied with White Sox). The American league average is .262/.329/.426. The M’s are well below the league average on all counts.
Runs allowed: 619 (7th). Staff ERA: 4.47 (7th, tied with Yankees). DIPS ERA: 4.73 (13th). Strikeouts: 730 (last). Bases on balls: 426 (11th). Home runs allowed: 152 (11th). Starters ERA: 4.98 (11th). Relievers ERA: 3.43 (5th). Defensive efficiency: 70.4% (4th).
As is usual, the Mariners offense was measly this week. However, their pitching was overpowering, and thus, the Mariners outscored two playoff hopefuls in the White Sox and Yankees 32-24. They were outslugged 12 home runs to only 6, but they did draw more bases on balls 24-23.
Heroes
No Mariner hitter logged 20 or more at bats and had an OPS above .800. So we gotta go with Jose Lopez, who was 4-for-11 (.364/.417/.818) with a pair of doubles, a home run and a walk. Tuesday against the Yankees, Lopez walked to load the bases with no outs in the second inning. In the next inning with one out, he doubled, scoring two runs, making a 5-2 game “a brand new ballgame” at 7-2.
On the one hand, Joel Pineiro made two starts, pitched 12.2 innings, allowed 4 earned runs on 11 hits and 3 walks with 10 strikeouts. On the other, Felix Hernandez made two starts, pitched 15 innings, allowed 5 earned runs on 11 hits and 5 walks while striking out 15. Take out those 4 home runs Felix allowed, and that’s a pretty damn good week for Felix. But home runs really do count.
The Myth of Joel Pineiro
If you’ve been following the team for the last month, I’m certain you’ve heard about the rejuvenated Joel Pineiro. He’s finally getting healthy, he’s changed his delivery, he’s throwing the sharp curve more often, etc… You can even read about it in the P-I this morning. Jon Paul Morosi, who we like and is generally insightful, tosses out this little paragraph in the game recap:
Since (August 1st), however, Pineiro has pitched quite well. Take away his ghastly game in Minnesota on Aug. 21, in which he allowed eight runs and a career-high 13 hits, and he has a 2-1 record and 2.86 ERA since the start of August — which happens to correlate with the point Hernandez arrived and began pitching the day before each of his starts.
He even gives us a new reason for Joel’s resurgence; Felix is in town, so now Joel has someone to challenge himself against. So, we can add that to the list of theories for why Good Joel has returned.
Here’s the problem, though. Good Joel hasn’t returned. People are saying Joel is back. People are wrong.
Here’s a look at what most people remember as Good Pineiro, his 2002 season:
194 IP, 189 H, 24 HR, 54 BB, 136 K, 3.24 ERA
Now, here’s a closer look at 2002 Pineiro’s peripherals:
Walks – 7 percent of batters faced
Strikeouts – 17 percent of batters faced
Home Runs – 11 percent of fly balls allowed left the yard
G/F – 1.28
WHIP – 1.24
Pitches Per Batter Faced – 3.80
Fielding Independant ERA – 4.24
Those numbers aren’t bad, but they’re not spectacular, either.
Now, let’s look at his last six starts, you know, since the hands went up and Felix started pushing him and his stuff started coming back and all that.
41 1/3 IP, 46 H, 4 HR, 7 BB, 24 K, 4.13 ERA
Not a bad line, but not super revealing either. Let’s look closer.
Walks – 4 percent of batters faced
Strikeouts – 14 percent of batters faced
Home Runs- 7.6 percent of fly balls allowed left the yard
G/F – 1.12
WHIP – 1.28
Pitches Per Batter Faced – 3.54
Fielding Indpendant ERA -4.82
Last Six Start Pineiro isn’t even the same pitcher type as 2002 Pineiro. He cut his walkrate almost in half at the expense of his strikeout rate, and more of his flyballs are being caught by the outfielders instead of clearing the wall. Most research shows that isn’t a repeatable skill, though, so don’t get too caught up in believing that because Pineiro has allowed 4 homers when we’d expect him to allow 5 that he’s made some kind of step forward.
So, what we basically have had since August 1st is a strike-throwing machine who lets his defense do almost all of the work. In fact, if you want to compare Last Six Start Pineiro to a Mariner starter, here’s one that works pretty well: 2004 Ryan Franklin. Franklin’s peripherals from last year are pretty darn close to what we’ve seen Pineiro put up in the last 6 starts. And, well, Ryan Franklin wasn’t exactly a good pitcher last year.
Joel Pineiro hasn’t had any kind of revitalization. He has not been reborn, and he’s not on the verge of posting another year with 200 innings and an ERA in the low 3.00 range. If Pineiro continues to throw like we have seen the last six starts, we’ll have a $6 million contact pitcher who will look like he’s pitching well when the balls are getting hit to the fielders and will endure several games like that Minnesota start a few weeks ago. All in all, it’s not a very good pitcher. Joel Pineiro is not a very good pitcher.
Game 133, Yankees at Mariners
Better late than never. Let’s go M’s.