Game 16, Rangers at Mariners
RHP Kevin Millwood v LHP Jamie Moyer. 7:05, Fox Sports Northwest.
After last night’s offensive outburst
To answer the first question, Carl Everett’s not going to make me happy. Let’s move on.
I think the USSM author consensus (as much as we ever have one) was that Everett would probably hit around .260/.320/.425 with a good chance for a nasty collapse
If Everett hit that, a lot more of the criticism would be focused on the management for giving him that contract, and people would be particularly concerned over whether his option’s going to vest for 2007. Grover should come under criticism every time he allows Everett to hit right-handed.
What would it take for people to stop carping about the deal? That’s an interesting question. Assume you can get a bad DH for free (we certainly saw some candidates bob along the creek past us this spring). To get $3.4m of value out of Everett, using a nice round (and, helpfully, pretty close to the truth) $1m/win, he has to hit like 2005 Raul Ibanez: .280/.355/.436.
At that point, you’ve broken even on performance from the slot, but then we have to remember we’re downgrading left… but I think if Everett hits .280/.355/.436 no one would be complaining about the value of his contract. And then we can complain about everything else that’s wrong with bringing Carl in.
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I’m going to complain about Everett unless and until he hits .300/.400/.550 at least, maybe .600. It’s my constitutional right.
Any guesses as to the attendance tonight? I can’t believe that didn’t get more discussion on the mid-day thread. Fans AREN’T GOING TO GAMES. Are we seeing the beginning of a groundswell of discontent? I mean sub-20k for a Felix night? Are M’s fans THAT disgusted with the silent bats?
Better believe Grover and Bavasi are on short leashes this week. If the attendance stays low someone’s gotta go. If the FA’s underperform, Bavasi gets the axe, if in-game decisions don’t pan out Grover gets it.
Any way to get numbers on Grover’s in-game decisions in terms of how many runs/outs they’ve produced versus say last year’s averages? The M’s overall pinch-hitting batting line versus last year(even if it is SSST)?
There is no way Bavasi gets canned this week. Will not happen. I don’t understand why anyone thinks that Bavasi might be fired mid-season, much less this early in the season.
Last night’s crowd: 17,927. Will Wednesday night draw better? Today’s a family night, so you’d think they’d draw marginally better.
So how awkward are the interactions between Hargrove and Rohn? Or does Rohn simply wait for Hargrove to leave his office to place the game charts and scouting reports on Hargrove’s chair?
Mariner bats are amazingly inconsistent across the stats board.
AL 1st in Strikeouts with 104.
AL 6th in Walks with 44.
AL 4th in Doubles with 30.
AL 1st in Triples with 8.
AL 13th (Tied with KC) in HR with 10.
AL 12th in batting average with .246.
AL 11th in OBP with .313.
AL 13th in SLG% with .396.
AL 1st in SB with 17 (only 3 team CS so far; 85% success rate).
AL 7th in total XBH with 48.
AL 10th in total bases with 200.
So…
We’re good at hitting doubles and triples but not homeruns (SafeCo Field factor?… or “aggressive baserunning”?). We’re good at stealing bases. We’re not bad at getting walks. We suck at hitting homeruns, striking out too much, batting our own weight, getting on base, and power hitting. I suppose even though we hit a lot of doubles and triples, the home run numbers being pathetic really eats away that SLG%.
This is our offense. It is good and terrible.
Under 18k is really bad. I predict things will get worse before they get better, especially as long as this season continues to ‘feel’ like last season. I think that the typical Seattle fan needs something drastic to come back to the ballpark like a long win streak, or some kind of consistent amazing performance.
When they opened the Pre-Game show, the place looked damn empty. Is that normal for half hour before first pitch?
While I am not glad that the Mariners are not playing well enough to draw big crowds, I do hope these small crowds send a clear message to the owners. I just don’t know if they are listening…
Yes — there are not a lot of people im the stadium usually until about 10 minutes before 1st pitch, in my experience.
10 – Ok, I’ve only been to like 3 games at SafeCo, so I wasn’t sure if that was normal or not.
Srill, I bet there aren’t more than 25K there tonight, even with it being Gamily Night.
…uhhh, Family Night.
#7: the weather needs to get warm and sunny, which will draw some people to the park.
the team needs to go on a very serious tear. by serious, i mean serious enough that national media is forced to pay attention to it, thereby forcing the average seattle fan to pay attention to it. we’re talking serious here, a mere 5-10 game winning streak ain’t gonna cut it. (and i highly doubt we even see one of THOSE this year).
and/or, the team needs to be PEOPLE we feel like we know, that we can root for, as if we’re going to watch the neighborhood kids go play little league. we felt that way about the old dudes in the old days; we don’t feel that way about the new guys. seattle fans simply haven’t bonded with these players like they had bonded with edgar, bone, junior. whether you like it or not, that is actually part of why a large number of people go to the games.
The casual fans bonded with guys like Edgar, Bone, and Junior because the M’s were winning then. I guarantee you, if somehow the Mariners were playing playoff quality all this year, people in this city would know and love Lopez, Betancourt, Sherrill, etc.
What did they draw at Safeco for midweek games in April 2005? Those relative numbers are more meaningful to me than absolute numbers.
IMHO, the average fan isn’t going to get Felixmania until there are a significant proportion of superb outings from him in his starts. So I don’t expect his name on the lineup card to cause a surge at the turnstiles.
Even in ‘93 or ‘94 before we actually had success, a game pitched by Randy Johnson in a concrete dome would just about be filled to capacity.
No they weren’t.
G-Man-Most mid-week games last April drew in the range of 24-31K, IIRC.
I was at the M’s-Angels play-in game. There were about 10,000 empty seats. And that was a Randy start.
I remember in one of the 80s Bill James abstracts he did an analysis of attendance and found Seattleites were less likely to go to an M’s game in the Kingdome if it were sunny.
Small crowds will send a message to the owners quickly. Last year and the year before the Mariners posted attendance way out of line with their winning percentage due to a lot of emotional events: Ichiro’s single’s record, Edgar’s retirement, ‘95 season promo’s etc.
Thru 8 games last year the M’s (Safeco) attendance was 239,058. Thru 8 games this year it’s 223,243, a loss of 15815 people or a 6.6% loss (please check my math here, I’m a Coug and was drunk for most of my stats class) thru approx 10% of the home season. So projecting that (again SSST) we are potentially looking at almost a 160,000 less tickets sold. Realistically the losses should actually be deeper than that if the M’s repeat last years performance. Not sure if it’s possible to project what 160,000 less tickets sold would translate to $$$ wise but it can’t be a trivial amount especially for an ownership group so averse to taking losses and the M’s rather large payroll.
Or does Rohn simply wait for Hargrove to leave his office to place the game charts and scouting reports on Hargrove’s chair?
I think it’s very accurate to say that Dan Rohn is waiting for Hargrove to leave his office.
(1) Why should someone spend $80 on 2 tickets + parking + garlic fries + other stuff, to go and watch a $13 million third baseman who is underperforming like crazy and can’t buy a hit?
(2) Why should someone pay to watch a DH who cant hit?
(3) Why should someone pay to watch a closer who blows saves, walks the first guy he faces and always causes panic?
(4) Why should someone pay to watch a team whose divisional rivals spend 50% of the money but get more wins and are in the playoff race every darn year.
The only reason to watch are Ichiro, Felix and Johjima (unknown factor). And Ichiro and Felix are not in their strides yet.
I think this team lacks any kind of passion.. they dont care much about winning.. and they dont give 100% on the field.. Maybe its because they play in a tough AL West division where there is no gimme team.. and their hopes are already sealed.. maybe its because they are tired of overpaid stars who underachieve so much and kill all rallies.. I dont know. But this team sucks big time – I get very demoralized watching this team and have even stopped watching much on TV.
Dont get me wrong, I love baseball and I will always love the game.. but I dont want to get demoralize and let the M’s affect other parts of my life by playing without pride and passion and as if they dont care.
Sorry for the rant.
Do we *need* the movie plug crossed with Moyer highlights? I vote no.
I love that the Ricoh scouting reports have gotten even worse to drive me insane. “Do what you do”? Yesterday it was “Dance with what brought ya”
#21… you also have to consider concessions. 160K fan translates into millions.
That really peeved me, because the saying is “Dance with THE ONE what BRUNG ya.”
Regarding the attendence. Apparently the clever ad campaign isn’t working anymore. It seems like this year is going to be the same as last year and if so I bet everyone on this board gets so bored that there are only 10-15 posts a night under the game thread.
The only reason I am even watching is because I’ve seen the episode of L&O airing now 15 billion times. (It’s the one with the shooting at the brokerage firm.)
Did you guys see that ad that just played. They interspersed clips from the new movie that’s coming out, “The Sentinal”,with Mariners clips. The best one had King Felix throwing a pitch immediately followed by a missile taking out a helicopter. The King does throw missiles.
David
This isn’t a board.
Oh my, those seats were more filled back on Safeco open house day.
#21: they lost 2K season ticket holders. If those were full season ticket holders (like I was, with my 2 seats so I’m not sure if I count for 1 or 2), that’s 162 seats over the course of the season multiplied by 2K = 324K seats right there (or 4K for each game.
But of course, they count those folks who buy 4 game packages as ’season ticket holders’, so the range of impact from losing 2K of THEM isn’t quite as drastic.
And don’t forget – they raised the ticket prices again this year, so, that plays into the equation also. Maybe they finally went beyond their price elasticity…
I hope it doesn’t get to only 10-15 a night…I’m a Knicks fan…and let’s just say the posts about the game might not hit that many on a good night the last few weeks of the season.
It seems like this year is going to be the same as last year
We’re three games under .500! Last year we were already in the cellar by this time. We’re in the cellar now, but we’re only 1.5 out of first.
and if so I bet everyone on this board gets so bored that there are only 10-15 posts a night under the game thread.
How long have you been posting here?
There will be 250-350 posts a night even if Scott Atchison is starting every game and Hargrove is appointed Manager For Life. There were that many when they sucked last year, and there will be that many this year when they’re mediocre.
#23. Why spend $80??? I’d pay:
$25 to see Felix, $15 to see Ichiro, $10 to see YuBet, $5 to see Lopez, $5 to see Soriano. As for the remaining $20, I’d pay that just to smell those garlic fries. Mmmmmm, garlic fries from two sections away.
Was that double play ball on a 2-seam fastball? Didn’t know Jamie threw that. I thought he threw a four seam cutter.
It’s an open question on how the M’s count them. We don’t know yet if it’s 162-game equivalents or what.
This team would be able to compete if it were free of that dastardly lease.
Mmmmmm, garlic fries from two sections away.
The Ivar’s on the 300 level has garlic fries now too. So now you can smell like the Gilroy Garlic Festival anywhere in the upper deck!
Someone want to fedex me some garlic fry’s?
That fastball for Millwood really tails.
This weekend it’s going to be sunny and in the 60s. This will be the first test of whether the team can draw in good weather.
1-0 hooray!
Wow. Raul just poked a basehit. Hey… we have a lead!
Early runs, love it.
It’s like there’s a bunt quota or something.
Making garlic fries is not hard. All you need is a couple of jars of minced garlic, some potatoes, a decent fryer, and a cooling rig.
Wait, do we have a lead?
More bunts for everybody!
Amazing how much more energetic the lineup feels when Ichiro is getting hits.
Well, it “worked” this time, getting the 1-0 lead.
we look almost good! but not really.
My Grandma would love to face carl everett
Oh thank GOD someone calls that a ball. Richie gets that called on him more often then anybody else. He’s 6′8″ not 6′2″.
And the bunt was not a sac. He was bunting for a basehit. As Henderson said, the benefit of that is “if you don’t get a hit, it’s still a sacrifice.” I think he meant stats. Someone needs to tell him that it DOES impact your OBP.
#32 – A few years ago, I understood that they combined packages bought together to calculate season ticket equivalents. So, if Sam buys two seats for the Weekday package of 40 games and Joe buys two for the Weekend package of 40 games, and one for them throws in Opening Day to make a total of 81, they called that “two season tickets”. I assume that they still do, even with a 4-pack, though they didn’t go less than a 16-game package at that time.
You think Hendu cares about OBP? Or knows about it?
Sriram wrote:
I don’t get that vibe at all. I think they are trying hard (some, like Beltre, seem to be trying too hard); they just aren’t that talented. At least not enough to overcome your star leadoff and supposed MOTO 3B hitting something like .165/.218/.206 combined. Not to mention your $13M 1B barely hitting his weight. Once (if?) those guys get going, they’ll be fine. Not necessarily contending, but I think the .500 predictions are still about right.
Making garlic fries is not hard. All you need is a couple of jars of minced garlic, some potatoes, a decent fryer, and a cooling rig.
yeah..but it’s not the same as getting it at the ballpark. I had a really great plate of those in Salem-Kiezer during the NW league season. I think I spent most my summer watching Short Season Ball…I think it’s my favorite of the Minors.
Damn #55 beat me to it.
Maybe with Rickey hitting in front of him he didn’t really feel like it was neccesary to get on-base.
Jeez, with all these K’s and Felix’s early struggles, maybe MOYER is the King.
Yeesh, Jose. You can’t have someone swinging off their front foot at something THAT far outside and allow them to get on base. You gotta get that ball. Jamie made Blaylock look silly.
Raul got a bad read and jump on that flyball, but I don’t think he could have caught it if he did have a good jump.
#54: but would it count as 2 because they have 2 seats taken up for all 81 games, or would it count as 2 because it’s 2 account numbers in play?
The Trader Joe’s garlic fries are pretty good.
I don’t know, right now, it’s sort of seeming like Jamie’s not the king either.
Who gets to commit an error next? Money’s on Beltre.
Lopez has not looked particularly good on defense at all this season. Am I being picky? Do the metrics agree?
Speaking of defense, we’re putting on a stellar display this inning.
sit down!
Yeesh, Reed. Two little floating pop flies fall in. Both “hits” were off the end of the bat.
Nice K, Jamie. If your D can’t do it, do it yourself.
64 – I think he’s been a bit spotty. It’s not like he’s loafing it or anything. I’m not sure what it is..
If Jamie threw only change ups, would it still be called a change up?
Man, Jamie has been looking on this season.
Newby, it would be called an eephus.
come on!
yikes. that’s not so good.
Average attendance at Safeco, weekday (M-Th) games in April:
2004: 31,539 (6 games)
2005: 25,305 (4 games)
2006: 20,518 (4 games, not including tonight)
That’s a HUGE dropoff in revenue.
Lagging indicator of success. It was coming after these past 2 years.
Maybe this, ahem, LACK OF PROFITABILITY… will encourage ownership to change their approach.
2.0IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 2SO, 4 Groundball outs.
And Beltre tried to commit an error with that throw.
I wonder how much the M’s ridiculous TV/stadium deals insulate them from these kinds of attendance drops.
was that really a called strike? wow!
Oh wow. I don’t like you Carl, but that wasn’t a strike.
Damn, was hoping everett would get pissed and tossed.
that 3-2 pitch was same spot at 2-2… eddings is horrible
pretty soon he will say he doesn’t believe in Kevin Millwood.
Carl Everett doesn’t believe two-seamers should be thrown, because they weren’t mentioned in the Bible.
That last pitch is a call Jamie has been getting. The previous one was at his freggin eyes.
Wow.
these stands are sad to look at.
Probably a lot, Sammy, but TV deals expire, and if advertisers aren’t getting their numbers (which they won’t if fans don’t want to watch a crappy hometown team on TV), they don’t renew, and if TV stations don’t get advertisers for Mariners programming, the Mariners lose their TV deal.
wow, they may not want to do sweeping camera shots of an empty SafeCo. It’s disturbing..
Do you think the Ms will have extra bobbleheads?
that was good to see beltre drive a ball that way that hard… even though it was foul
W-L after 15 games (as of today)
2003: 8-7
2004: 6-9
2005: 8-7
2006: 6-9
Not very enlightening.
That foul ball Beltre hit was why he had over 40 homeruns in 2004. His ability to hit with power the other way and staying back on breaking pitches to hit them that way is what he needs to be successful. PLEASE someone tell me that’s a good sign.
We swept the Royals in 2005. That helped the 8-7 record greatly.
PLEASE someone tell me that’s a good sign
Well, it was more of a good sign than the ground out to 3rd base.
#77: A ridiculous amount. Attendance hasn’t been the driving factor in profitability of MLB teams for a long time now.
Of course, as far as the Ms accounting office is concerned…the money from those TV and radio deals was already sucked up a few years ago when they signed the deals and got paid up front. So the broadcast deals were showing as a negative on their balance sheets, even back in 2004 (so said Ms CFO Kevin Mather when he came and spoke to our baseball class at TESC).
Hmmm, do you think Dave is being optimistic in thinking there will BE 25K fans at Friday night’s game? How much DOES an Ichiro bobblehead help? (yeah, probably enough to put them over the 25K, but I can’t imagine by much).
The M’s clearly lack imagination. The big example of that for me was the eternal reappearance of Pat Borders for so long. They do not know how to get the most out of their payroll.
Thank you SafeCo.
95… Could you imagine if attendance was so low on Friday that they actually had Ichiro bobbleheads left?!
98- Two Ichiro bobble head games this year!!!!!!
thats 2 pitches eddings has missed… WOW! what a horrible strike zone tonight
make that 3
I apologize if someone has already mentioned this in this particular thread but I just can’t stay quiet one second longer. I WANT TO SEW HENDU’S MOUTH SHUT!!!!!!! PERMANENTLY!!!!!! AND WHEN I FINISH WITH HIM I WILL SEW VALLE’S MOUTH SHUT!!!!!! AND NOT WITH CAT GUT EITHER, WITH TITANIUM WIRE, AND WHILE I’M AT IT I MAY JUST HAVE TO WRAP THEIR ENTIRE HEADS WITH DUCT TAPE AND THEN PUT THEM ON A SLOW BOAT TO SIBERIA!!!!!!
My. My. My. That’s 3.
Settle down there, cowboy.
Dude, marbledog… you don’t need to go that far. Nunavit’s just to the north.
3.0IP, 3H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 2SO, 5 Groundall outs, 2 Flyballout.
Wow Doug Eddings. The second and third balls were questionable, but that first one was the exact same pitch you called strike three on both Nevin and Laird. You can’t just stop calling that now, man.
Alrighty then. I just think that Hendu = Giant BVortex of Broadcasting suck
Vortex..ugh
Dave Henderson may be a real sweet guy, who knows, but nothing he has to say has any value, as far as I can tell.
#21 The Bill James Abstract that looked at Mariner attendance was 1985. The standard meme was that nobody attended games in the Kingdome when it was sunny. But the BJ Abstract found that weather was not a stasticaly significant predictor of attendance. The most significant factor in attendance was whether or not there was a special promotion that night.
#53: Someone needs to tell him that [a sac bunt] DOES impact your OBP.
No. A sac fly drops your OBP. A sac bunt does nothing to it. That’s not the way I’d write the rule, but it’s the rule:
Divide the total number of hits, bases on balls and times hit by pitch by the total of at-bats, bases on balls, times hit by pitch and sacrifice flies.
Link
oooh, a bunt! I’m excited already.
There comes a point when not only does the absence of value continually rancor a person, but their voices become fingernails on a chalkboard. Sorry for the outburst. Go Ichiro.
Oop. You are correct LB. Though someone needs to tell me why a sac bunt doesn’t count against your OBP like a sac fly does.
Do player try to hit sac flies, instead of just getting a hit? I think that’s the justification for the rule being the way it is: with a bunt, they are intentionally all but removing the possibility of getting on base, but a fly ball isn’t such an attempt.
Ichiro would have been safe if he had slid head first.
#114: Like I said, I wouldn’t have made the rule that way. An out’s an out.
Maybe it’s meant to show pity on pitchers’ OBP in the NL.
What’s not to love about aggressive running? Unaggressive outs
Does anyone know why sometimes on mlb.tv I don’t get the graphics on the top of the screen or the commercials?
118. i have ZERO problem with ichiro getting thrown out there… Ibanez isn’t a power hitter so much more of a singles double guys hes just trying to position himself to score on a single… If sexson was up than it would be more of a questionable decision to send him cause sexson has been all or nothing this season…
Yes Hendu, and people pay you for what, we’re not really sure.
“Do player try to hit sac flies, instead of just getting a hit? I think that’s the justification for the rule being the way it is: with a bunt, they are intentionally all but removing the possibility of getting on base, but a fly ball isn’t such an attempt.”
The problem I have with this is that Jose Lopez in the first inning wasn’t sacrificing. He was bunting for a basehit, but because of the way the rules are tracked, he gets a sacrifice. He doesn’t deserve a sacrifice.
#115: Do player try to hit sac flies, instead of just getting a hit?
Under the right circumstances, I’m sure they do. 2004 ALCS Game #5, nobody out, runners on the corners, Varitek at the plate with the Red Sox down by 1 and Mariano Rivera on the mound. I’m sure he was trying to get the ball in the air and get the tying run in.
And Hendu is amazed that Bill James gets paid for what he does.
If you took Kevin Mench’s melon, and put it on Ichiro’s body (or vice versa), you’d . . . well . . . . that’d be a real funky looking ballplayer.
123. i think the rule is probably saying you have a much better chance on getting a hit while trying to hit a sac fly than you do on a sac bunt
123- They do have a point that the Moyer statistc is pretty meaningless though.
I’m amazed that Hendu gets paid for what he does. I’d do it for free, and do it much better.
I’d do it in a heart beat, and I’m already in radio..which is probably the reason I’m not on TV. heh..
123: I’m sure they may be hoping for good things to come from getting the bat on the ball, but what I’d like to know is does a hitter do something different in their approach, such that they’re more likely to hit a fly ball, instead of getting a regular hit? Or do they do what they ordinarily do, and it just seems like they’re able to hit a fly ball out when they need to because there are times with the flyball failure case still has a desired result?
Words cannot express my man crush on Brad Wilkerson. Duder is just a friggin’ player.
The Wordpress server having issues tonight?
we escaped disaster that inning
Betancourt made a silly mistake on that grounder. He should have gone home and not tried to turn that into a double play. Ah well.
fricken strike out machine
The server has trouble every night. Give us money or something.
doooobleeee
Nice slide by Johjima…the ball was there way before him.
Jiminez made a terrible try on that. You had him out by 10 feet.
I’d love to pay you US$20/month. But I can’t afford it.
johjima!!! wow what a break that jimenez got lazy with that tag… wow kenji hits the ball hard!
wow everett hit that ball on the button, him and beltre have been swinging it well the past 3 games
Good thing C-Rex is a leader, full of fire, because he can’t hit for shit.
Is it normal to just scream obscenities at the computer screen every inning?
So Blanton has given up 8 hits and 4 runs through 4 innings tonight. How on earth did we look so bad against him????
Not really.
That was a scary image.
142. that was not a shit peice of hitting… that ball was hit well unfortunately for everett right at somebody..
143. Definitely. Especially on Felix Days.
Jamie’s getting knocked silly.
Money for a defective product, DMZ? That’s like paying for Mariners tickets :rimshot:
How did Phil Nevin suck so hard last year in San Diego?
call me crazy but i am saying beltre will get his first HR and RBI on this at bat coming up… I think Millwood will leave one up here to him and beltre will capatilize got a hunch
WRONG
Crazy.
I still can’t get other how RIDICULOUS it is that Beltre STILL doesn’t have a rbi yet.
By the way could they hit the ball any harder at Rangers? Jesus
Has anybody seen Millwood throw anything but a two seam, four seam, and slider?
152 I have been saying that since game 10 and still nothing but thanks for being optomistic. Just like last night when you mentioned Woods had been great this season then followed with the dreaded walks.
152 – that can never happen. Beltre’s first HR will come against a lowsy Kansas City pitcher or in a hitter friendly ballpark like Texas. I wont even be surprised if his BA drops to below .100.
Beltre should be demoted to the T-Ball league.
Did anyone notice Moyer, after his last inning, just hurl his glove into the dugout? He looked pissed.
Ichiro 3-3…too bad nobody else is hitting
Moyer knows that if he gives up more than 1 run, he cant win.
Now that’s how you know someone’s on a streak. When little stupid swings like that result in basehits….
I-CHI-RO
3-3 thats encouraging still theres 5 other guys in the lineup that can’t hit
THERE’S my bad ball hitter!
In 2001, this would be a 2 outs so what situation
Good hustle by Lopez…bases loaded!!
Let’s get some runs!!! Please…
well i am not getting my hopes up for any runs this inning… this team likes to get guys on than leave them there…
Bases jacked…
Re: Tuesday night’s attendance, that 17.9 was the announced total; I was there, and there couldn’t have been 15K max in the seats at the peak. In the first inning there didn’t look to be more than 12, awful, but this is a city of stragglers so it ‘filled out’ a little bit. It looked, well, somewhere between tragic and scary.
Alright Raul, one time, kid. Need at least a run to get this meager crowd into it.
I hope Grover gives Willie Bloomquist a chance at 3rd so we can hope for a little offense out of the position!
“How do you win big ballgames? You come up with big hits.”
I thought it was all the little things that won games, like stealing bases and bunts.
The M’s currently bat .215/.318/.686 with RISP. Let’s improve on that here guys….
Bela, when the box seats are sparsely populated at the infield, that’s treacherously low.
Perhaps Kelley pines for Russ Davis as well.
eddings is just HORRIBLE tonight
.686 certainly does not suck.
This is a huge at bat right here.
If the ball looks outside from this camera angle, that is a horrific call.
That was 6 feet outside
10 bucks says the runners are going… any takers?
I personally long for Rico Rossy.
Crowd finally sounds into it.
175: That’s an OPS over 1.000
I am way too nervous right now
POPPED THE F&#! UP!!
thats more like it i almost though we might get a run with a RISP
ARGH!
Ummm….am I the only one who’s going to comment on those weird links in the post for the game? Guys…hello…I know you’re trying to get some revenue, but the little auto-ad program you’ve got running is a bit strange…the links go all over, to non-baseball sites. Its a little confusing b/c when I see a post like that I think you’re purposefully linking to some of those sites…when clearly you are not.
Obviously Ibanez is not the skilled clutch hitter he once was…
Oh man. Look up ‘Seattle Mariners’ in the dictionary and it forwards you to ‘Missed Opportunity’.
Those are the M’s I know and can’t stand.
That was just Derek having a little fun. That’s not any kind of ad program running.
Wow…ok I feel a little stupid. Humor went right over my head! Uh…go M’s.
Hee hee hee.
Laugh it up, D-Rock…I’m going back to watching game with stick and ball.
They should give out Carl Everett t-shirts for the kids.
I love how Henderson likes to imagine the conversation the pitchers have trying to convince the manager/coach to let them stay in the game.
Re the links: The one I can relate to best (and hence liked the best) was linking make me happy to the Deschutes Brewery site.
Rizzs and Henderson discussing pitch counts. My cup overfloweth.
This game is moving slower than a Moyer change up. WORK QUICK, MOYER. Life is short, especially yours.
I love that Jack in the Box runs these ads that make fun of stoners going through their drive-in.
look on the bright side the angels lost 12-10… a’s are down 8-1
I want the old format back. Hendu + 9INN = nausea
204- You would think more Fast food places would cater to this demographic. Or at least some 24 convienence stores.
205. All that means is the Rangers pick up a game on everyone in the division.
207. I agree. It is a large and growing market segment. And watching the M’s can make the segment larger.
What’s extra brilliant about that ad is it’s hilarious to anyone who’s tried to serve stoners in any kind of food/retail job, plus it sells to stoners.
There’s a popular uppity pizza chain here in NC called Mellow Mushroom. The whole place is an ode to stoners.
Carl Everett sure does touch himself a lot when he’s in the box. Isn’t there something in some book about that?
Try talking to them on the phone..”Dude can you play some Floyd?”
off topic… but do you guys think money ball is a book worth reading?
#214… good thing Joe Morgan doesn’t read this site.
I think 7-11 has this cornered: 2 am always has been the prime hour for selling shiny things to teenagers…
Yeah there’s a Mellow Mushroom in Charlottesville at UVA. Pretty decent pizza and a great buzz-enhancing vibe.
Derek, Carl doesn’t want anybody else. And when he thinks about you, he touches himself.
w/r/t moneyball worth reading
Yes. Also, are you aware that you can capitalize words? There’s this thing called the shift key. You’ll find two of them on your keyboard.
214. Forget Moneyball. Go with Steve Kelly.
2 am always has been the prime hour for selling shiny things to teenagers…
Nothing says 2am like some crappy ass 7-11 Nachos…
I once worked on the other side of Jack on Mercer Island. When the midnight stoners came through to clean the house out of Moby Jacks, it was pretty amusing.
[bye bye]
…Although the Scott hatteberg chapter looks a bit silly in retrospect.
Attendance watch: 17613. Lowest. Crowd. Evar.
(I have a feeling we may be saying that a lot this year.)
“Hey Grover, I got some key outs there and I know I’m over a hundred pitches but it’s my fourth start and I’m allowed to go over a hundred!”
“You sound a lot like Dave Henderson, Jamie.”
“Uhhh..”
“Did you fall and hit your head? Let’s get the trainer over here. Hey, someone call the bullpen and send Mateo in.”
Carl Everett sure does touch himself a lot
Between Carl regularly repacking his package and Ichiro’s eternal post-swing butt-digging, they’re pretty much ruined the Mariners as family entertainment.
re: Moneyball.
Moneyball is a very entertaining read. The draft chapter: clutch. You’ll become a Billy Beane fan.
#217… dude, it’s all about the White Spot. Nothing says drunk/stoned like a Gusburger.
The Mellow Mushroom just opened in Winston a few months ago. The wait for a table was two and a half hours. Wake students like to drive their BMW’s over there and pretend to not be living out of the silver spoon.
Rizz put his tie on after he took over on TV. The open collar look must be an FSN sin.
Oops, neglected to capitalize Hatteberg, please don’t ban me!
Rizzs, my bad.
Does anyone think that Mateo could pitch while in deep REM sleep?
Dave-
At Evergreen, we called these folks “trust fund hippies”.
Moneyball is a very entertaining read. The draft chapter: clutch. You’ll become a Billy Beane fan.
The draft chapter is by far the worst in the book. It’s pretty much horsecrap. I threw the book across the room reading it.
Julio Mateo is the 2006 Towel.
ec you’ll probably say that again tomorrow. But probably not Friday, thanks to Ichiro Bobblehead Night.
Say Oly Fan, you’re a Greener too, then? Was that class a group contract on baseball, or did they schedule it? Just curious. I’m a ‘91 grad, and spent most of my time there in individual contracts on historical theory? Which is why I’m nearly unemployable and halfway to being famous. . . . Or something.
235… or my fav, Trustafarians!
Aw geez, 1st and 3rd no one out and Moomshoot Mateo on the mound.
We have to have someone better. The game is within reach:
Sherrill?
Putz?
Soriano?
Bueller?
Anybody?
211: the first Mellow Mushroom was in Atlanta, Ga, and was a hole in the wall. I spent many an afternoon in that joint playing Donkey Kong when I was a kid. Hard to believe they might be called “upscale”.
If Kenji tries to tag Nevin, he’s out.
It’s probably not a good idea to cheer right after your team just surrendered two more runs, just because the batter got thrown out at 2nd.
It’s not exactly Royals fans giving a starter a standing O for allowing 4 runs in 5 innings, but it’s getting close.
Well NOW we’re screwed…
It looked, on first glance, that the Ranger going into 2nd was safe as well.
Oh, it’s definitely uppity pizza. $20 a pie, toppings heavy on things like pesto, sun dried tomatoes, feta, yada yada yada.
I love that when Blalock was up and the infield was in, Hendu went on and on about how great it was to put pressure on the batter, who was then forced to hit it into the outfield, or hit a hard grounder.
Then now, he talks about how horrible it is because it’s so easy to get a hit.
I don’t want to wish harm on him, but I wish Henderson would just not talk.
well good we only gotta see 1 pitch of that at bat
That’s the Beltre I know and LOVE!!
Two words. “Mute button”. Mine has been on since Tuesday.
I had my hopes up early this season but after the last 2 nights I must accept that the M’s suck. Wish this were like th NFL where a top pick meant something. Anyone want to bet on if Hargrove or Basali will be back next season? My guess is neither will. Bring up Morse, Jones and the rest of the pups because the big club sucks right now.
Man, maybe Beltre should go back to wearing #5, I think there’s some Boonie mojo or something haunting that #29.
Beltre out going for a high fastball… I wonder, do strikeouts get more tolerable, the more of them you have? He seems to want a lot of them.
Strikeouts are good. Thanks, Hendu, I’ll make a note of that.
So it’s important not to walk people, but it is umiportant to draw walk? Huh Hendu?
He’s priceless.
In the sense that you wouldn’t think to put a price tag on him.
Ducks on the pond yet again.
This would be a good time for Ichiro! to earn that exclamation point.
Is it time to begin wondering which was the worst Mariner free agent aquisition at 3rd?
Wow Hawk fan…talk about some defeatism.
Can we declare Ichiro’s slump over, even if this is just one game?
Rally? Not so much.
Way to go, J-Lo.
I wondered about Lopez in the 2 hole being so young and not such a smart hitter in the past. He is playing true mariners baseball with hits like that tonight.
I wish we could just mute the announcers; I dig the sounds of the game.
How old is Hendu? He’s not sure himself, from earlier comments, as his birthday occurs each year DURING the season…
Must be a big relief for Beltre — Hendu has announced the slump is over. Didn’t really follow the analysis, though.
This game kinda blows.
does Rick Rizz spend all his time at a retirement home? he always knows the 90+ crowd
Padilla is on my HACKING MASS team. I hope the M’s do their worst tomorrow.
More than kinda.
to little to late raul thanks for doing that with bases loaded!
#266
Maybe that’s where all the Rick Rizzs groupies are.
Here we go again, more baserunners. What a tease.
Not sure why but I feel like we have a shot to comeback. Haven’t really felt like that in any other game this year.
8th Inning! Sodo Mojo! WHOOOO!!
thanks for doing that with bases loaded raul
Bela & eponymous, both Greeners? Hmmm.
No, I’m not a Greener. I’ve taken 3 community ed classes there, but I took 1 class there for actual credit. It was a 16 credit undergrad class (full interdiscplinary load for a quarter). I took it as a special contract for 5 graduate credits (all I needed) for UW Tacoma. The class was taught twice, once back in 2000 or 2001 I think, and then when I took it, in spring of 2004. Two instructors, Oscar Soule (original TESC faculty, retired after the class) & Stephen Bray (freelance journalist).
Amazing class. Met T 9-3, W 10-1 or 2, Th 9-3 and I took loads of annual leave from my job to be able to go. Every Wednesday we’d watch a baseball film and discuss. Every week we were assigned reading of baseball literature and non-fiction. Lots of writing, lots of reading. Each week had it’s own theme as it was truly interdisciplinary (economics, history, art, politics) and we had loads of guest speakers and a few class trips.
Most memorable for me was Don Fehr’s visit. He flew here JUST to talk to us for 2-3 hours. We also had Art Thiel, Kevin Mather, Kevin Kalal, many others I’m too lazy to name, went to Slade Gorton’s office to talk to him, a game at Cheney with interviews with Bucky and Ramon Santiago, a game at Safeco where Niehaus, Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, Hide Suyeoshi (works in int’l scouting for Ms), Rafael Colon (bilingual counselor for Ms), Rafael Soriano and Julio Mateo all talked to us.
Sweet class; I’ll be grateful to Oscar and Steve forever. And, ONLY at TESC (and I’m sure, never again).
This is the inning that Beltre hits that home run. I can feel it in my finger.
hey im good luck, the mariners are batting 1.000 since i registered
#270
Maybe it’s because Alfonseca is the next line of denfense.
Johjima will need to go yard, or at least drive them both in, for me to seriously think we can come back on Fatcrisco in the 9th.
i’d think we’d have a much better chance of coming back if mateo never entered the game
That is the pits.
Lefty Sock baby! WHOO!!!
Look at the gut on Alphonseca. WOW!!
I always love it when people speak of Alfonseca’s 6-fingers, 6-toes. Neihaus started talking about it, then got interrupted by some action, and I’m sure a lot of people driving in their cars are like “WHAT?”.
Beltre on the RBI board! WHOOO!!
im good luck! beltre with an RBI!
FREAKING BELTRE!!!!
ATTA BOY!
Yay Beltre! Warms my heart!
Score another datapoint for reckless baserunning. Darn, if it wasn’t for that 6-4-3…
WOW..Was that Beltre? Wake me up!!
A Beltre RBI? That surely can’t be….
On a low and away pitch, too…. jesus wept.
I would love to be a professional athlete and still have a massive beer gut.
RBI BELTRE!
I feel pathetic saying that.
Assuming Reed walks, will grover have the presence of mind to seen up Petagine?
Also, Putz and Mateo seem to have switched spots in the “lose the game/save the game” bullpen rotation.
Did Beltre just double? Really? I mean seriously? He did? Ok… I’m gonna go faint.
Petagine!
Oh, please pay off, Petagine. For better or for worse, low sample size theater is going to determine how much we see you.
So if someone pulls a lefty on Petagine, do we have any righty sock on the bench? I know we have righty scrap…
And we all know you can’t spell scrap without . . .
May I, very respectfully, suggest a homer?
Maybe Petagine will have his Gerald Perry year. That’d be sweet!
scrappy Willie Bee?
Texas is sendng out Otsuka. At least we won’t have to risking hearing about Benoit balls.
If Petagine comes through here he has to earn a start.
Petagine sucks! Bench him!
Nice try anyway.
Otsuka seems to have changed his delivery. He’s not doing the pumping the ball in his mit at he goes to the plate.
Oh, dear. See you in May, Petagine.
How dare he not be perfect!
Rizzs just said “Willie Boom-Boom”
/vomit
He’s still batting .400, anyway.
Neihaus has used it before too. It just shows how sad even the commentators are.
That has got to be the most nauseating nickname I’ve ever heard.
Although my sister thinks hearing Niehaus* calling Sexson “Sexy” is just about the funniest thing on God’s green earth.
*(please don’t flame me for the spelling)
Looks like Texas ain’t done with the Mariners yet.
Just what the doc ordered…
Couldn’t Willie trip the baserunner on the way to 3rd? It’d be gritty and gutty.
Does that make Putz’s last 5 outs by K?
Hey, whoever brought up the rule about sac bunts not being included in OBP – thank you – what an interesting rule that is. As far as I can tell, that’s the only place in all of the official rules where sac flies are mentioned but not sac bunts – don’t quote me on that but I think so. And I think your interpretation is right but it’s a really weird rule. There’s no reason stated, of course. I wonder what the reason is.
That was almost as fun of a tangent as the one I took earlier into Urban Dictionary following the “hit that” link.
Way to keep me interested in the game and quelling my murderous thoughts.
#321: Glad to add entertainment value to an otherwise sluggish game.
I’ll take an Everett walk off homer for the win. I can feel it!!!
GAMEPLAN:
-Ichiro singles
-Lopez reaches by error (thus avoiding a DP)
-Ibanez triples
-Sexson hits a SF to win the game
Baserunner!
thats a pretty big HBP right there
4 hits = +50 batting average points. Love the small sample size theatre.
Lopez!
HBP and a double.
Well, it’s a start.
Cordero has been shaky to begin the season, Seattle needs some excitement, this is promising. Walk off! Let’s see it!
This is even better than my best-case gameplan…
Intential ibanez walk??/
Darn.
Even a single would tie the game. C’mon, Raul!
OMG, is that a light?
Nice, since I got here, we’ve scored 4 runs! *knock on wood* Go Mariners!
Take it! One more sac fly baby!
*cheering*
1 run game…1 out…PLEASE dont strike out Sexson!!
Talk about the high hard one.
Neihaus is feelin’ the excitement. He called “Swung on and belted” on those last 2 batted balls.
Tie game! Shaboy Sexman!
base hit…tie game!!!!!!
BOOOOM!!!!!!!!!1
Yay!
ALL RIGHT!
I presume Lawton in left, Ibanez at first if this goes into extra frames.
The 4k people left in the park are lovin’ it.
Why PR at this juncture?
Oh well, I hope Johjima doubles and makes me place my foot firmly in my mouth…
Come on Joh!!
woot!
This game now officially unblows.
wow…the bats are ALIIIIVE
It’s up to Carl!
Carl Everett, superhero!
Haha… this is gonna be great for PR.
Hero, or goat?
Kenji is the man!!!
Lefty coming in, do we pinch hit with Borchard? Should we? Will Grover?
Time for Carl to earn his pay.
Wow, Buck pulled his closer.
Now we have to watch Carl hit righty.
NO! Everett’s batting righty! Have Felix pinch hit!
#355: Will Grover?
Absolutely not. You stick by your vetrans (baseball pronunciation) in April so they stick with you in September, says Grover.
DINO RALLY TIME!!!!
Double steal, sac fly.
Assuming he always bats right against lefties, 1 for 10 is so encouraging!
C-REX!!!!!!!
Everett! Righty homer!
Take that, naysayers!
Rejoice!
Talk about mixed feelings…
CCCCCCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLl
Holy Snikies! He crushed that!!!
Yes!
Go C-REX!
BIGOTSAURUS WITH THE WALKOFF!!!!
You know he’s not getting benched now.
that’s why you sign clutch veterans, folks.
wooooooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
!!!!!!!
Heh. The thing I hate most about Everett is that, even though I’m really happy when we do well, there’s always a part of me hoping he fails… I don’t like rooting against my own team no matter what…
Just want to remind everyone that before this inning i called it. post 323
oh man, what a comeback!!! ichiro, c-rex, and beltre all with good games, and a nice walk-off to end the night for me!
Happysadhappysadhappysadhappysadhappysadhappysad
Wow. No more carping on Everett. At least for a day or so.
wow…
Come on, people. Forget about Everett–we won.
Absolutely perfect!!! Teixeira, Blalock, and Young, guys I have on my fantasy team, all had good numbers. But the Mariners still win. Love it. I also have Ichiro and Johjima, btw. They did well too. Now…if only everygame could be like this.
Fitting that it fell on the “Hate on Everett” post for the game thread.
That C-Rex: he’s clutch from pole to pole. : ) He’ll still be here in July, too; that hit makes it bank.
Carl Everett just made you happy. Admit it, DMZ.
Carl has gone from a .300 OPS to a respectable .825 in 3 days. Gotta love small sample size theatre. Gotta not hate Carl. (at least for 1 night)
i second Rain Delay
wow…
Yahoo Game Channel is freaking out. Carl Everett + HR = Does Not Compute…Does Not Compute…Does Not Compute…Must Shut Down…………
Newby did in fact call the shot. Nice going.
Speaking of fantasy, I got screwed out of a run for Sexson because he got pinch ran for.
So, tomorrow, can we have a game thread that details why we are down on Beltre?
And as of this moment, we are .5 games out of first with every team under .500 in the AL West.
I just got home, what did I miss?
Holy crap! Why did I pick today to stay late at the gym and talk to my boxing coach??? At least I got to hear the Neihause call live on the radio. GO M’S!!!
That was the most entertaining half-inning of Mariners baseball I’d seen since…. ???
Is Dave okay? I can imagine he might be having a coronary.
When I posted my exclamation (#366), I got a WordPress error message and had trouble getting back into the thread.
Did you hear Hendu defending Carl’s lousy stats after the game?
“It’s not how many you hit; it’s when you hit ‘em.”
I second Choska. And maybe the next day it could be Jarrod Washburn or Gil Meche?
#395: See post #135 about giving money.
Say hey, Oly Fan, yes, that’s the Evergreen we all know and love. A subject no one else would _dare_ to program; amazing set of knowledgable speakers; it looks at first like it’s Lightweight U, but by the time you get done seminaring, doing the required reading, and writing every week (plus usually an individual project), you find that you more than paid your way as a scholar while paying more attention than you would in any Ho-hum 301 elsewhere. On baseball, too, no less. Don’t be surprised if it isn’t offered again: Evergreen remembers it’s successes, and files ‘em away somewhere.
Carl Everett did not make me happy.
Yeah, his *homer* did.
Top 7: Why the heck do you pull the infield in with men on second and third in the seventh? The risk-reward analysis of such a move has to prove it damningly stupid.
Bottom 9, Ichiro’s HBP: That’s taking one for the team the easy way…on the bottom of the foot!
Bottom 9: Can’t say I was excited to see Carl coming up, but GO CARL!
Nope.
272. Thanks for the good luck. That is M’s baseball of old. WOOOHOOO!!!!! MOJO!!!
I give up, then. He made me happy.
2 for 5 with a double and a 3-run walk off (both from the right side!) makes me very happy. If I have to close my mlb.tv window as soon as the postgame interview starts in order to enjoy my happiness, so be it.
403- How come a Ranger fan is helping to run this blog?
“Evergreen remembers it’s successes, and files ‘em away somewhere.”
Yeah, there’s that Physics 101 and Bulldozer Recognition 101 that Rachel Corrie should have taken…
Nope
Enjoy the win DMZ, regardless of how we get it. Don’t let the Bigotsaurus inside of you eat at your soul. Yes, I hate C-Rex. We all hate C-Rex. We all don’t want him here. But we do want wins. So, embrace the devil once in a while. It’s only your eternal damnation at stake.
Ummmm.
#385 except his ops 3 days ago was .595. he is not great but he isn’t the worst of our offensive problems.
Lemme try again:
Do you really want to be sad / upset that the Mariners won? Is it worth hating Carl and everything he means just so you can root against our beloved team?
You don’t have to like it, but enjoy the win at least.
I will enjoy the win, I just wish it was someone else so I wouldn’t have to be cheering for a guy while we make fun of him.
Well, i’m happy. Not really because c-rex hit a 3 run homer – he could have singled there, or struck out and let beltre single, and the result would have been the same.
It’s more that this team put up some good offense today, and we actually had a glimpse at good ichiro (reaching base 5 times? where have you been). 18 hits on the rangers is normally no big deal. But 7 runs and 15 hits against Millwood + Cordero is impressive stuff. Even beltre got an RBI.
I’m pretty excited about what this offense can do if it clicks.
Now if we can build on this for a game or two in a row I’ll be really happy. This team tends to operate on fits and starts. They need consistency. Hopefully we can build on this.
No. I just feel empty inside, the same way I feel every time he comes up.
The surprise ending win was great, but because Everett really was the hero, it also makes it more likely that Hargrove will keep playing him until his option vests, instead of at least splitting the time with Petagine. So just as there would be if Bloomqist triggered a win, it’s easy to have mixed emotions.
At the same time, this team does have much more fight in it than last year, and you really do feel like they have a chance to come back when behind. Now if Beltre would only start hitting….
I was hoping he’d do something harmless then let Beltre come up and hit the walk off. That’s just the tonic he needs.
As for me, it’s mixed feelings. I’d use schadenfreude, but that’s joy at the failings of others. This is feeling bad about someone doing well, in a situation where I should feel good, and I like seeing Mariners wins.
Wow. we must be in bizarro world. Beltre gets an rbi and Carl rex comes through with a clutch hit
#416
Did someone pee in your pasta?
Or did you sell your soul in order for Carl to hit .340/.470/.660 this year? Is that why you feel empty? Because if you did, cool! Way to take one for the team.
I can’t speak for DMZ, but I can say why I’m not happy about C-Rex winning the game. If C-Rex has a flukishly good season, what does the front office learn? They learn that signing players like C-Rex is a good idea. So we keep seeing the same kinds of personnel decisions being made, in spite of the fact that most of the evidence points to it being stupid, stupid, stupid.
Even if it means the M’s losing a few more games in a season in which they’re not likely to contend anyway, I’d far rather see a signing like C-Rex tank and get cut in favor of a smart signing like Petagine. For me, it has very little to do with how much I personally dislike C-Rex as a human being. It has far more to do with hoping that the M’s front office can learn something and make the team better in the long run.
On the other hand, perhaps *we* will learn that signing players like C-Rex *is* a good idea. It does work both ways, after all.
it’s sad that people are so hung up on the business aspect of it that they can’t enjoy a win. a good win even. this was a good game.
When Carl came up to bat there, I knew he was going to lose a game for us.
Not necessarily this game, but a game. If he hit a weak grounder, he would have lost us this game. If he jacks one, he loses a different game by virtue of having won himself a spot in a future lineup.
This really was a great game. I rather enjoyed listening to hit after hit late in the game.
I can’t speak for DMZ, but I can say why I’m not happy about C-Rex winning the game. If C-Rex has a flukishly good season, what does the front office learn?
I believe it was Dave that said if Everett has a good season enough to make his option for 2007, even if it’s a flukishly good one, will have been worth his contract. But I believe Dave said that based on the idea that the requirements for the 2007 option are pretty high.
In that regard, if he does make the 2007 option, he’ll have been more then worth having around for 2006 at least.
424 – It IS sad. I feel a little cheated that because the front office went out and signed one of 2 or 3 players in all of baseball that I just cannot root for. If you can root for anyone at all in an M’s uniform, good for you. I can’t. There are limits for me – and Everett is on the other side of them.
And I should add that not being ecstatic about it might not make you less of a fan, it might just make you a fan with a better sense of the big picture.
Jeez people. LIVE IN THE NOW! There will still be stuff to bitch about tomorrow. I know that’s what you live for. We won TONIGHT!
429 – Technically, I am having conflicting emotions, YOU are the one who is “b****ing.”
John, why is it that Everett’s one of the 2 or 3 players you can’t stand the most? If it’s his beliefs about dinosaurs, well, I find that as a funny reason to hate someone. If it’s his beliefs about gays, you’re naive if you think baseball clubhouses aren’t full of players who feel the same way. If it’s his fiery outbursts, I assume you hated Sweet Lou as well.
I’m no Everett lover. At all. I hated the signing and still think it was foolish. I’d rather give Petagine the job fulltime and forget about it.
That said, I just don’t understand the hatred Carl inspires. He’s ignorant and a bit of a jerk. But in sports, that’s far from a rare combination.
It just seems to me if you hate Everett you should be hating a lot more than 2 or 3 guys.
So, hey. I had my 4-year-old a little confused, but still screaming “I believe in Dinosaurs!” upon every C-Rex AB during yesterday’s game. I mean, heck, there was a point when every time I’d blow the “Free George Sherrill” trumpet a bit louder, something bad would happen to George. When you say something bad about someone you don’t like, it’s inevitable that the converse happens — something good happens to the guy you’re gripin’ about.
It took a few AB’s before my kid was screaming “Pinch Hitter!” when Bloomquist came to the plate. Whaddya know. Boom-Boom proceeded to do his good by hitting a Carl-Everett-scoring sac-fly.
To the guy posting as davepaisley, I’m not going to pursue any flame war with you, so this is going to be my _only_ reply in this context to your post: what a despicable comment which would be beneath contempt if it’s implications were not such that it warranted a reply. That comment has ZERO (0) appropriateness in being made in a posting context on baseball and those who love it.
dnc – it’s a fair question, but one I will try to answer briefly because this was all hashed over thoroughly at the time of the signing. To be brief, yes, there are many players in baseball that share one or the other characteristics of Everett, but two things:
1. Few of them feel the need to tell me about it. I know nothing of 99% of player’s religious beliefs. The 1% I do know is that they like to kiss their hand and point to someone, presumably a god, that is somewhere directly above them. They also like to thank him a lot in interviews and point out that he helped them win because he loves them and, I guess, hates the other team.
2. Rare indeed is the player who combines ALL the reprehensible and/or idiotic characteristics of Mr. Everett.
I’ll say this, if Jamie Moyer came out in a post-game interview tomorrow and said that he would “set straight” any game teammate he had, said that man made up dinosaur bones, etc. And if came to light that he and/or his wife were abusing their children to the point where one of them has to leave the home permanently. And if Moyer started spitting at other players and being a jerk to everyone near him… then, yeah, Moyer would get on the short list.
I in no way need my sports figures to be moral, upstanding and virtuous… but I do need them not to be bigots and child abusers/child abuse condoners.
Regarding C-Rex and his ‘heroics,’ personally I’m reconciled to his being here because there is little that can be done about it. I think about other things when he bats, and have no interest in him as a member of the organization—but he’s here. I can’t get caught up in it, and the team won’t win or lose overall based on his performance. He’s going to be a topic of discussion, but given the stance of Bavasi and Grover he’ll be starting and here until and unless he plays his way out the door or does something really outrageous, which isn’t all that likely. Can’t root for the guy at all, but then he’s earned that, so.
Bela… I think that is completely fair. I also think it’s fair if people DO want to actively root for him. Nobody has to use my criteria of fandom but me.
John in El Lay, my comment wasn’t directed at you BTW, I was typing while you were posting. Myself, I’d rather folks _don’t_ root for Carl, but I won’t stand up out of my seat and shout at them, or anything. : ) Only by his playing like he’s done will he convince those that this was a bad deal; if he’s not done, then that says we’re saddled with a minimally productive, unlikeable cuss. . . . Rats.
—But I’d rather talk about Mateo, and whether he’s going to stick, get traded, or go down. Or Putz, who’s stuff has gotten to be genuinely impressive. Or how Lopez and Johjima means that this team can actually rally more than once a game, now. Or that all the “What’s up with Ichiro” talk can now fade away, just like every April when he takes much of the month off to save his legs for later unless the team really _needs_ a top-or-the-marquee performance, as it really did today. If there’s a guy in the game who can turn it on at will, it’s Ichiro!
Clearly USSM has inspirational control over Carl Everett. He likely found out about the game thread info today, got really fired up about it, and decided to crank one out just to spite you guys, especially Derek. (Because of course “fired up” == “able to play much better.”) Keep up the good work, USSM.
I honestly don’t give a damn about what players do off the field. I think Everett’s got silly religious beliefs, he’s a bad person, and worst of all he was a bad signing, but none of that’s stopping me from hoping he gets on base every time he’s at the plate. I’m not rooting for him as Carl Everett, but as a Mariner, and though I criticize him on pretty much a daily basis, you can bet I was cheering when he jacked that one off the upper deck tonight.
I dunno. I guess baseball means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but I don’t see how what any player does off the diamond has anything to do with how I should feel about him on it.
Last night is a good example of why we watch. Talk about an incredibly unlikely series of events.
Was it me, or did C-Rex look incredibly awkward hitting that HR last night? My guess is that his HR is the exception that proves the rule. The next 99 times we put C-Rex up there he makes an out. Later this year we’ll lose a game we shouldn’t have lost, and I’ll think of this one which we shouldn’t have won.
I wish I could have written the headline “Blind Squirrel Finds Nut” for the stories in today’s papers.
I thought he looked pretty solid from the right side, and his hitting an ABSOLUTE p-rod off the facade in left will agree
FWIW I think Everett looks awkward everytime he steps up, what with the bat joggling, shoulder rocking and hip swiveling. Can’t see how he could hit a bull in the butt with a base-fiddle much less a fast ball while he’s rockin’ out like that, but there it is.
[deleted, obviously]
Ummm, are you saying what I think you are saying with the “Take off the hoods” name, and comments?
Seriously? I don’t like Carl Everret, but I do like Ichiro, Jose Lopez, Raul Ibanez, Adrian Beltre, Kenji Johjima, Yuniesky Betancourt, Felix, Soriano. I have no problem what so ever with Rene Rivera, Matt Lawton, Eddie Guardado, Julio Matea, Joel Pineiro.
So really, is that what you think? It has nothing to do with his past transgressions against his children, we’re all just racist, come on….
I shouldn’t have even responded. Please delete that.
Pretty sure “take off the hoods” at 444 is headed for deletion. And comments are about to be closed. And for good reason.
So before that happens, I’d like to say to John in LA: Nice, reasonable response to a question that was maybe a bit more pointed than I intended. I see where you’re coming from, I just can’t necessarily jump on board. But thanks for the classy explanation.
This thread is a winner A++++ would read again
Only the cranky and menopausal care about “trivia” like spelling, capitAlization and grammar? Uhhh…
On to today’s media: Grover in the PI today says “it’s great to be a Mariner”.
Love the win, hate the winner? Whatever.
All that aside, ya gotta admit only baseball gives you this. 6-1, then 6-2, then 6-4, then bang bang bang it’s a 9-6 win. In football they run out the clock. In basketball they foul foul foul foul foul. In hockey they take a ridiculous gamble. In soccer they stall out a 1-0 lead they grab in the fist minute. In baseball, though, both teams have to keep playing until there’s 27 outs. Beautiful, man, just beautiful.
So now, it’s sunrise in Marinerland.
Over at lookout landing, Jeff mentioned that at the lowest point last night the Mariners had a 1 in 40 chance of winning the game. Crazy stuff indeed, and a fun game.
We came within a hair of going to last night’s game just to see Millwood and because there were so many good seats available (box behind 3rd base for example). Decided not to at the last minute which, really, is to the good since I probably would have walked out after the 7th inning and then felt like (with some justification) a complete idiot.
So I’m sure that no one’s reading this anymore, but a couple things –
1) Coug got tossed in the mod queue because after I made the point about caps, he posted a comment designed to annoy people using poor capitalization. That kind of thing gets you tossed in the mod queue for a while.
2) I’m annoyed that being honest that the accomplishments of Carl bring me no joy seem to have inspired such… I don’t know. Scorn? I’m deeply conflicted about these things, and I’ve tried to be honest about that.
3) It’s amusing that when we’re not being attacked for being politically-correct white-people-haters, we’re being attacked as racists. That’s great.
4) I don’t understand why everything gets simplified so badly, so fast: the start of this thread asks how much Carl would have to hit for people to be happy, with his performance and in general, and attempts to answer that question. It’s not a Carl-hate post or anything of the sort.
Anyway.
434. I’ve got my 4-year-old chanting “STE-GA-SAU-RUS” when C.Rex comes up. Sometims kids are so precious!
#31 First I call Asians, orientals and piss them off then I call USS Mariner a message board. I never cease to offend somebody.
#34 Didn’t mean to get you all riled up. I was half joking. I realize this blog will probably never be down to 10-15 posts a night and the M’s aren’t doing that bad. Its just after the last few years you come to expect the worst from this team.
DMZ -
While you told us that Carl didn’t make you happy, you didn’t expand on that at all. I don’t think you should have to, but you must realise that people will tend to fill in the blanks themelves if you don’t do it for them. People don’t like blanks (this is why statistics get such short shrift in modern society – they only talk about probability, not certainty).
I guess I’m surprised that anyone missed the loooong discussions of Mr. Everett’s past history at the time he was signed; it is prob. safer to either generally google or to search the USSM “general baseball” archives than to open that can of ugly worms again.
B. Rust: “Love the win, hate the winner”—that’s choice. : )