Game 6, Athletics at Mariners
DMZ · April 8, 2006 at 1:18 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
LHP Zito v LHP Moyer, 6:05. FSN for TV.
Divsion rivals face off for the division lead! It’s crazy!
Interestingly, Felix Day drew pretty well, much better than previous games compared to past seasons. One of the things we’ve seen over the last two years is the M’s have still been able to sell the weekend and summer games even as the others have taken a nose-dive. If the team doesn’t do well and we still see those dates hold up, it’s a sign there’s a ~1.8m floor to attendence in Seattle that’ll erode, if at all, slowly.
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Johjima’s Defense (very appropriate post with tonight being “Dan Wilson Night”)
So, last night I was watching the M’s game on the free preview of the MLB package. I live on the East coast, so I had the Bay-area broadcast of the game and was listening to the A’s announcers….they stated exactly what I had noticed earlier this week: Johjima does not frame the low pitch and blocks pitches in the dirt poorly.
From my rough count, there were about 15-20 pitches that Mateo threw (mostly sliders that crossed the plate at the knees on a downward trajectory) that were strikes and were called balls because of where Johjima’s glove ended up. If he catches everything with the palm of his glove down, two things happen: i) you have to catch a pitch and make a much greater effort to bring it back into the strike zone (the umpire will see this and assume that the pitch must have been low) and ii) pitches in the dirt will become more difficult to block if he simply “stabs at” the ball from above (evidence of this was last night when he struck out Antonio Perez and the ball got by Johjima……Thomas and Bradley advanced to second and third on the play….it was a combination of his glove position and his body not being in a ready position to block the ball). Maybe he would be helped by watching Dan the Man’s instructional video ( http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sea/fan_forum/instructional_videos.jsp ).
My questions are as follows:
1. How has a coach (or a pitcher who is getting hurt by this like Mateo did last night) not said something to Johjima about this problem?
2. Did Johjima win 6 Gold Gloves in Japan simply on arm strength/accuracy? He does not appear to be a great technical defensive catcher (note: I am all for the guy getting it done in whatever fashion he can, but if our pitchers are losing strikes and being put into hitter’s counts by something like this, I want it to be corrected).
Your thoughts are appreciated…..go M’s!
I don’t think “framing” a pitch is nearly as important as everyone makes it out to be. I’ll try and look for it tonight.
One thing framing does in conjunction with a glove that doesn’t have to move is really sell the pitch. Seems those Braves pitchers in their youth (Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz) a few years back who hit their spots always had their catchers framing the pitch with little glove movement and get calls inches off the plate all the time.
I agree that framing is overrated because umpires their decision based on where the ball crosses the plate – not where the catcher catches it. Now, some may think that catchers can influence umpires by where/how they catch the ball, and that may occur at lower levels with less-experienced umpires, but I don’t think it happens in MLB.
sorry – umpires *make* their decision…
and wouldn’t former catchers Ron Hassey or the ever-vigilant Roger Hansen have mentioned it, if it was that glaring a problem?
I have also heard from umps that they decide on a pitch prior to its hitting the mitt. I do not think that framing helps much, if at all. It is overly discussed because of the bevy of ex-catchers working as color analysts.
Yeah, why isn’t Dave Valle, defensive catching wiz, all over this?
he hasn’t been able to shove Hendu out of the co-pilot seat long enough to weigh in on the subject….
I can’t imagine any umpire that allows catcher framing to influence his strike/ball decisions would be in the majors. As already stated, the S/B determination is made on where the ball is when it crosses the front of the plate, which is at least 5 feet away from the glove in most cases. (Most batters hit back in the box further from the pitcher.) And how many frame jobs have umpires seen by the time they get to the majors? If they see about 250 pitches per game and they are behind the plate maybe 50 games per minor league season, that’s 12,500 framed pitches they’ve seen per season.
however, there prob. will be a breaking-in period, where the umps learn him & he learns them– Joh is still a rookie in their eyes…
Picture this:
A sinker crosses the plate knee-high….
Johjima takes his glove (palm down) and stabs downward at the ball to catch it in his glove; when he catches it, the glove ends up slightly below the knee of the batter
Jason Kendall (who the A’s announcers said was very good at receiving the pitch) catches the same low sinker with the palm of the glove facing toward the sky; as a result, he does not appear to move his glove below the hitter’s knee, thus catching the pitch at the bottom of the strike zone
I can understand what Tek and tgf are saying (about umps seeing thousands of pitches and making decisions before the glove is in the mitt), but what about the times that a pitch is borderline (like a lot of Mateo’s pitches last night) and the ump has to think about it for an extra second. Wouldn’t the glove position of the catcher factor into his decision slightly?
Granted, this is a very trivial topic, but just something that I noticed and the announcers pointed out…..I’d much rather discuss why they had WFB make a “How To Lead Off of First Base” video (in my instructional video link above) rather than a “How To Go 0-3 and Strike Out Looking Twice” video……..as any baseball coach would say, “Gotta get that bat off your shoulder son”.
Or maybe Mateo just sucks right now? It takes real talent to walk 6 while getting only 5 outs.
If this is a problem why aren’t all the M’s pitchers walking a ton of guys?
You have to think that Umpires also take in a bit of reputation on these calls too. If a guy has been missing, missing, missing, he’s not gonna get the borderline calls.
Is anybody besides me worried about the M’s overuse of Felix? It started last year, and continued last night (pitchers who are barely 20 shouldn’t be throwing 100 pitches in their first start of the season, particularly when they don’t have good control, in my opinion). The M’s, of course, have a dreadful track record in this regard (Garcia, Meche, Piniero, Madritsch). They seem quite happy to overuse a good young pitcher, especially when the team otherwise is doing poorly. I’d rather keep Felix healthy for when this team is a contender again, rather than see a lot of him in a season when they’ll be lucky to get to .500.
WRT Mateo, it seems that he really imploded when he was facing the lineup for the second time in the eighth inning. Before that it was a 2-0 Ballgame and not out of reach. So, it does not look like good bullpen management to me to leave him in for a second turn through the lineup, especially when Harris had not pitched all season if I am not mistaken.
#1 — The A’s are notoriously good at going deep in the count. If any team is going to exploit an opportunity to have borderline pitches called as balls, it would be them. Last year they were third in walks behind the Yankees and Red Sox, and I have to think that a lot of those Yankee and Red Sox walks were in the nature of big boy avoidance.
The Angels are free swingers by comparison.
#15: I think there is also value in letting Felix try to work out of his own messes.
I like Dan Wilson
Sure, I can see that, but he’s still only 20. My understanding is that there’s quite a bit of research by now on the need to be very careful with under-25 pitchers (the risk of major injury with overwork is much higher than after 25 years of age). The M’s history in this area doesn’t give me much confidence.
Slocumb!
Happy Dan Wilson Day!
#20: I think there’s also research showing that maybe all the overprotection of pitchers has helped contribute to many of these pitching injuries  that they’re not sufficiently toughened up, essentially. I read something recently  at Baseball Prospectus, I think  and will try to find the source.
wtf are these commercials during Dan Wilson day!?!?!??!
Lou!!!!!!!!!
Loooooooooooooooou!!!!!!
Lou looks and sounds good on the field. Hargrove is popping Tums and swallowing handfuls of Valium.
I know that Lou will not replace Grover if/when Grover gets fired, but I am going to guess that Lou’s appearance gets his name mentioned in baseball gossip columns as such an eventual replacement. And I bet that Phil Rogers does it first, as soon as he is finished misreading old Ichiro quotes.
Look at those white wings on the sides of Lou’s head … he looks like Paulie Walnuts from “The Sopranos” ….
reporting for duty in center field…wfb
If Lou goes the Paulie Walnuts route then Grover should be nervous. Hopefully Grover doesn’t go rowing alone down by some isolated dock.
I could see Lou being mobbed up … spending all those days and nights in Tampa steakhouses ….
” …however many we had at the time ….”
One-liner of the night so far.
re: #32 – Anybody who knows Steinbrenner as well as Lou does has met his fair share of wiseguys.
Why start WFB in center? What is the point of having Borchard? I just don’t get it…..
Willie’s right-handed, and the best center fielder on the team. I heard that somewhere.
Willie Ballgame..wonderful…
“Is anybody besides me worried about the M’s overuse of Felix? It started last year, and continued last night (pitchers who are barely 20 shouldn’t be throwing 100 pitches in their first start of the season, particularly when they don’t have good control, in my opinion).”
I’m not worried about a 100 pitch start. If it were 140 or even 120 I could see it, but at some point pitchers have to be able to pitch to be useful. Sure, be careful, but at some point you’re going to have to let people pitch.
Dan Wilson was a fabric of the community.
So has Jeremy Reed been relegated to Platoon Purgatory?
#35 Agree perhaps wfb has had prvious success against Zito. Would much rather see Borchard out there.
Willie is a catalyst. Duh.
good god, i got mlb tv…. why? they told me i had no account…i couldn’t get in before because i couldn’t confirm it… now i have it… new name: stunned in taiwan..
i hoped it is not ripped off in taiwan
The advantage of Bloomquist replacing Reed is that he bats much lower.
Yeah seeing Willie in the bottom of the order is alot better than him batting 2nd.
Is anyone in the San Francisco area getting this damn exercise machine infomercial that keeps interrupting the game? Fox Sports Bay Area is making me very angry.
Willie Bloomquist gets his second straight start–this time in centerfield?
Funny story: Reed hits lefties better than Bloomquist.
Wait, that’s not funny.
#42: Went to Felix Day last night, and I can tell you for sure that Wille Ballgame was the catalyst of getting 2-hit by Joe Blanton.
Nick, it’s on espn in taichung!
Hey, down in Phoenix I have to contend with a Hockey game till 7.30
anyone see what bazardo did last night? some wild pitches but only one hit in his first start!
Adam Jones, wow.
To Gag…(50)
No TV in this flat. Could this explain why I’m seeing it here? It is not blacked out in Taichung?
BTW, are you in Taichung Gag? I’m right here.
Nick
I really hope this is a better game than the debacle I watched this afternoon.
yup
Hoo-yah. Barry Zito, flyball machine.
gag, where do the mariner faithful gather here?
23780385
I think the pitching book on Beltre is now “will swing at anything.”
So anyone with the extra innings package, do some games just get preempted like the Mariners is preempted by hockey or would things change if I actually bought the package?
The games on the special channels never get preempted.
man, is Beltre gonna keep doing this (again this year)? last start Zito got tagged for 7 in the second.
Nick, not sure there are more than two of us…
Oh yeah, I love Carl striking out with runner on third… Beltre too
Maybe other teams should start out the inning by giving us a runner on third. We’d never score.
I like “Hey Joe” for Johjima.
#40: Grover is just being proactive…..in light of the second 1 game losing streak of the season, Grover obviously wanted to add more grit to the lineup.
lou pinella
60: I’m watching gameday right now, as Hockey is preempting the M’s until 10:30 EST. I’m bloody well pissed.
Pre-empting was a bad choice of words… the game is scheduled to start halfway in because the hockey package shares the same channel… is this standard or only because its the free week?
No clue. It’s annoying to have paid and put up with this, though.
I’m pretty sure anyone else on the roster would have hit that pitch to bloomquist out. Mid 80′s fastball at the letters right over the plate.
We’re back to making average pitchers look like studs.
#48 said: ***Reed hits lefties better than Bloomquist****
If by *BETTER* you meant SHOCKINGLY ALOT WORSE than Bloomquist in his brief big league tenure, I agree completely.
Reed vs lefties: 79 games, .196/.280/.268
WFB vs lefties: 129 games, .273/.323/.373
That being said, I’d much prefer a platoon of Reed and Freel.
Is Dave going to talk to that damn Aflac duck all season?
And so it starts.
Kotsay’s billionth homer against Moyer.
Did someone forget to remind Moyer that it is NOT good to give up homers?
mlb gamecast slightly ahead of mlb live
and mlb gamecast pitch locations way off
OK, it’s time to get some hits. They can’t have forgotten how to hit.
What are the local rules on betting?
72- I think Dave has pretty good chemistry with Clyde, in that sad doddering old man sort of way. Hopefully it’ll put Ol’ Red on notice that he is replacable.
Bah.
Any broadcast without Henderson is a step up.
Yes Dave, Adam Jones looked awesome last night. Even his groundout to short was hard-hit. That triple was BEAUTIFUL, landing about 5′ in front of the 420′ marker out in center. Cabrera went 3-3 also, and the pitching (on our side anyway) was looking pretty darn fine too. Looper and Cortez both looked very sharp.
Oh god, now they’re talking about Willie at short, as if he counts in that shortstop plethora we got going on???
Ok, I’m in college on the east coast and wondering why they can’t fucking get anything going agaisnt “One Trick Pony Zito.” Sit on his curve and mash his fastball and cutter. The Good Guys should be up 2-0 right now, not the reverse.
Oh, yeah, walk the guy hitting .092. Man, what’s happening.
Man, it’s going to be a long season watching Beltre swing like that.
So Beltre’s just guessing. Not looking, no plan, just guessing.
Beltre, Beltre, Beltre . . .
#85: DUH…the crafty veteran was obviously setting up the inning-ending double play…
Not only that they’re just wild looking, desperate slashes. No rhythm to the swing at all.
Guys youre being way too hard on Beltre….he kicked ass in the WBC when it really counted
Ooh, we’re rocking Zito, two men on base. We must be starting to hi…
oh.
Two more of those HBP’s and we can score a run.
WBC taking one for the team…..now thats grit….
daggum it.
For. Pete’s. Sake.
14 innings and counting ….
Stop counting.
Oh, right. We don’t believe in “counting stats.”
Guys, dont fear…. the M’s are setting Zito up for the 1 game playoff in October…
willie…..
Good lord that was idiotic
Oh, good god.
He never had a chance for that. Where is his brain?
Where is Hargrove’s brain?
He shouldn’t ever start in center again.
That’s that “dirty uniform” style of play that wins ballgames ….
Can we give an earned run to WFB for that? please?
… by allowing runs
lou pinella…please
Bloomquist, Bloomquist, Bloomquist . . .
Yeah, you can’t ignore the effort, way to go Red.
I think you mean Bloomquist!? Bloomquist!? Bloomquist!?
grit people…grit….
So was Willie thinking “web gem” when he left the ground for that ball, or was he just trying to look like he’s working hard? Did he think he would be within five feet of that ball?
******here I come to save the day……..*****
OK, that Jaime commecial *rocks*.
“As God is my witness, I’ll never go off the field with a clean uniform again.”
Has anybody noticed the Boss-Button on MLB.TV?
“Boss-Button”?
explain yourself.
Has anybody noticed it’s not pleasant to talk about the actual game?
Hey, its cool to see Lou
I haven’t got time to talk. Too busy punching pins into my Willie Bloomquist doll.
Geez. This is not even Good Zito, guys ….
Well at least Zito has probably hit his pitch limit.
He might hit you with a pitch for saying that…
There’s that low pitch stabbing again by Johjima
May be the only way to get on base
So any bets, that Johjima will get the day off tomorrow?
I have it: they told the team it was “Imitate Dan Wilson Night”.
120. You can complain about WFB all you want, but nobody has been doing much better in the last two games.
No, because Bloomquist can’t catch.
At least, I hope he can’t.
Game’s a great example of different approaches to at-bats: A’s are patient as always, making opposing pitchers work. Contrast with the M’s just in that last inning — Ichiro swinging at a 55-footer, Lopez strikes out on a pitch at his shoelaces… etc.
(in response to #126)
Looks like they may have had him and of course, Sexson had to double-clutch.
#130 – Ichiro had a 10 pitch at bat or so, cant really say thats impatient.
No, because Bloomquist can’t catch.
At least, I hope he can’t.
Yeah he’s no Dave Cochrane.
I’d settle for Bud Bulling or Bill Nahorodny at this point.
133: He swung at seven of those pitches. Ichiro’s great, but patient he’s not.
Nor should he be, it works for him. Usually.
130. Agreed. What happened to our offense? With our pitching, we need to have those 7 and 8 run offensive efforts.
nobody has been doing much better in the last two games
For which I credit Willie’s sterling karmic qualities.
Yeah, my bad. I think I need to go find a team to play on again, my baseball is getting rusty.
I do, however agree that Borchard should have played for Reed if Reed was to be rested. If you have to give WFB some at bats, he could play for Beltre.
3 hits in 15 innings is pretty pathetic.
126 – Johjima will probably get Sunday off not because of his so called “framing”challenges but because he has caught 6 days straight. Do you think Quiroz is better?
I too would like to thank WFB for these last few games.
At least he gives us a nice concrete reason to pull for Grover’s canning even harder.
I too would like to thank WFB for these last few games.
It’s not Willie’s fault. This is likely the team we’re going to see all year. They’re better than bad teams, but much worse than the good teams. It looks live we’ve taken a tiny step forward from last year. At this pace, we’ll be ready to compete right about the time Felix is bolting for free agency.
Not to say that I think he should actually be in the lineup or anything. But his 0-4s seem to fit right in for the past few nights – and at least we’re not paying him $12.5 million per year to put up those numbers.
142 – No I don’t think the back up is better. It would make sense for Joh to get the day off tomorrow..with the whole Night/Day game thing going on. Then again, I’d rather have Joh catching. But he’s going to need days off, or he’s going to be burnt by the All Star break.
We’re crying uncle too soon. We hit well the first three games. The next two we haven’t hit at all. I’d wait at least a week before concluding that we’ve reverted to standard.
Well, unfair and inaccurate though it may be, crapping on Willie passes the time. Watching the camera pans of the Safeco Field crowd I haven’t seen so many blank expressions on a big crowd since I watched Shaun of the Dead in widescreen.
I was being sarcastic, of course its not entirely his fault.
Has a 3 run game ever seemed more out of reach?
Haven’t seen this sustained level of hopeless , clueless M’s hitting since . . . last night?
I know he is plenty capable of pitching multiple innings, but continuing to use Soriano may make him unavailable tomorrow.
Soriano sure looks good so far this season.
Now thats a great use of 26 pitches
….Watching the camera pans of the Safeco Field crowd I haven’t seen so many blank expressions on a big crowd since I watched Shaun of the Dead in widescreen…
The line of the night.
I say we let him start.
In other pathetic diversions, Wilson Valdez and Aaron Sele have teamed tonight to hit .500 with two RBIs as the 8-9 hitters tonight for Las Vegas.
154, 157
He is indeed pitching better than anyone else so far (small sample size). He could start or he could close. Of course, the way we have hit the last couple of days, we may not have much need of a closer.
Wow, was WFB looking for a walk there or what…
Rick sounded pretty excited about having a base runner there…
My god, a base-runner. Now watch Oakland panic.
The Ignitor! Yeah!
Yeah.
10-1 says Borchard takes over in CF and Willie Ballgame moves to the infield..ugh..
So why not pinch hit for the centerfielder so you don’t have to take the stud shortstop off of the playing field in the top of the inning? Oh yeah, grit wins ballgames. I keep forgetting.
Tying run in the on-deck circle! Game’s in the bag!
Does Borchard move to center and Bloomquist to short?
Yes.
I say we give the manager job to the first guy who starts his interview by saying “Well, right off the bat, that Bloomquist guy has got to go.”
I’d hire that guy.
Clearly the baseball gods were looking the other way during games 2, 3, and 4, and someone said, “Hey, no one’s been on the M’s and now look what’s happened.”
Just wondering, what’s our closer doing in a game where we’re three runs down?
OMG!! Eddie in a non-save situation!!
#171 – Hargrove is finally using someone in an attempt to keep the game close… oh wait, he probably just wants to get him some work, so nevermind about intelligently using the ‘pen.
Eddie in a needs-to-be-saved-from-himself situation!
171. Trying to prove he can pitch an inning without giving up three runs.
…or through less than 30 pitches in an inning
Eddie, Krazy Karl, and WFB need to work harder on working their clubhouse mojo. That’s the, y’know.
That makes sense, I guess…
And he did it!
Man, Street almost completely steps off to the side of the rubber before he delivers his pitch.
Street is definitely pitching off the rubber. Good camera work by the Fox crew.
Makes you wonder why a team doesn’t bring that to the attention of the umpiring crew in future games.
We got one hit and one walk. Hard to win that way.
Post game show comment: The game may have sucked, “But, we had a very good pre-game ceremony.”
I guess it’s unreasonable to expect 9 guys to be able to hit a baseball with tears in their eyes. Tomorrow for sure!
Hey, its a good thing Carl is energizing the clubhouse otherwise the M’s wouldve been no hit….
Bring back LOU!
Bring back LOU!
Bring back LOU!
Howard, Chuck, Bill. You know you can do it. You want butts in seats? Bring us Lou and they will come!
if I’m Hargrove, I can’t imagine not being even a litttttle bit nervous when Lou makes an appearance in Seattle.
I’d love to see Sweet Lou back in a M’s jeresey.
Lou Piniella on his plans for returning to baseball (pretty much a transcription courtesy of TiVo): “You know what, we’ll see what happens after this season’s over. Yeah, we’ll see. You know I’d probably hate to end my career with three losing seasons like I did at Tampa Bay….We’ll see. We’ll see if there are opportunities, then we’ll weight ‘em.”
How about a mid-year job if ‘somebody’ gets fired?
“I don’t want to see anybody get fired. No. You don’t want to see anybody lose their job. but we’ll see at the end of the year. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
He is not, however, interested in managing a “developing team. You know? I’m interested in managing a team that wants to win, that’s interested in winnning. Now. At the present instead of the future.”
So is Seattle in or out of the running?
Uh, no.
Bad day all around, as Tacoma was rained out and San Antonio lost, 2-1.
 Jiminez: 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 Ks
 Natanael Mateo gives up both earned runs, takes the loss.
 Sebastien Boucher: 2-5
Lou has been sniffing around the Queen City (the real Queen City an awful lot lately…
My lasting impression from the game as I saw it from the CF bleachers was that I was cheated out of a no-hitter by a play that Mark Kotsay probably makes more often than not. (At least live, it seemed like the ball was in his glove and popped out. Certainly not an error, but on a good night, he catches that.) Thanks to the one hit in the game for the M’s, it was just a rather mundane depressing game rather than a memorable loss.
Also, it seemed like Moyer was let down a little by his defense. If Johjima blocks one more pitch in the dirt and Willie Ballgame doesn’t go getting his uniform dirty again, then I think Moyer makes it through the game allowing just one run in 6 innings, rather than 3 in 5 and 2/3.
Also, because it doesn’t mean anything, the team is 3-1 in games with no Bloomquist, and 0-2 in games with Bloomquist now.
The M’s are 0-2 with WFB starting, 3-1 without. That would suggest that WFB shouldn’t be starting.
But then, one could say I’m being disingenuous. And they would be right.
just out of curiousity, when did fans in Seattle ever come out to games just to watch Lou? FWIW, he turned down an offer for a front office job in Cincy this year, plans to do occasional broadcasts for Fox, and likely won’t take a managerial job this season as if he does he has to give some $ back to the D-Rays …
Earlier this year he said: “I want to manage again,” Piniella said, “because I want to win at least one more world championship and another 250 or more games. But it’s going to have to be with a team that’s ready to win and an owner who’s willing to spend what it takes to win, and if that’s not the case then I’m content to call it a career.” [coughsteinbrennercough]
#70, Blanton & Zito are average pitchers, huh. so, what about Harden tomorrow?
#107–leave us remember that Lou was just as big of fan of Willie and his gritty little intangibles as everyone else…
my question is, what is the point where they decide to stop running Everett out for ABs to ‘get his bat going’, and instead put someone (not named Willie) in at DH who might actually hit the ball other than as a pop-up?
Okay, even I’m conceding that the Willie Hate is a bit out of control.
Slogan for your 2006 Mariners’ Offense: We’re better than last year! Or not.
Okay, even I’m conceding that the Willie Hate is a bit out of control.
It seems like even if the “Willie Hate” is proceeding at appropriate levels, it’s going to temporarily nudge it self out of control after games where he makes a brutal play in the field like he did tonight. (I was somewhat amused by the impromptu “We Want Reed” cheer that erupted from a small group of fans in the cheap seats after that play.) On the bright side, I guess he did have a team-best .667 OBP tonight.
Lou loves living in Tampa, and it caused him a lot of grief just to take the Seattle job years ago in the first place. He is not going to manage here again, even if he is a demigod to this day in Seattle.
We practically got no-hit today. We need to shift the lineup a bit. How about batting Beltre 9th until he shows us he’s willing to swing and make solid contact with those 91 mph fastballs right down the pike? And not batting Bloomquist at all?
And per Dave’s comment at the feed about Borchard’s difference in hitting when he bats righty… totally watched for it when the A’s brought in Kennedy and totally noticed it. Borchard’s a total slap hitter from the right side.
The painful part: I paid to watch both last night’s game and tonight’s game. I only paid for CF bleacher seats but I still feel a bit cheated.
Hey Gomez, look at the bright side, you saw some great baseball! To bad it wasn’t played by the home team but Blanton pitched a GREAT game and Zito wasn’t far behind.
RE #117 – Sammy:
The Boss Button is a field on the video player that you can click on when the boss enters your office/cubicle. The broadcast immediately changes to something resembling a kiss-your-boss’ ass letter. I thought that’s pretty cool, as I actually use MLB.TV in the office. Not that my boss needs ass-kissing, I don’t think he cares what I do as long as I get my work in.
196 – re: Lou big fan of Willie…
Didn’t Willie only play for about ten minutes for Lou?
I don’t have any problem with managers being fans of Willie… I have a problem with them horribly misusing him.
Re: Willie hate out of control…
No one hates Willie. At least no one I know. But there is nothing in the world wrong with hating to see him play 500 innings a year.
Through absolutely no fault of his own, he is the most obvious example of clueless management and fan base.
There is at least a reason for everybody else run out there to play, even those not hitting… some have been young, some have been defensive wizards, some have been expirements that ended, whatever.
Willie’s only added value is that he can play many positions in a pinch. If you play him 500 innings that advantage is gone completely and he is next to useless.
I know this has been talked about 7,000 times, but anytime I hear someone say the willie hate is out of control I feel compelled to say it again.
Bloomquist was first called up in Sept of 2002, he played in 12 games and Lou started him in 8 of those.
change of topic; the Herald tells us what Dan Rohn is filling his time with while he waits to move up…
i wish lou woulda stayed after the presentation…and managed the team