Game 35, Devil Rays at Mariners
RHP Doug Waechter v RHP Felix Hernandez. 7:05 on FSN.
Soooooooooooo… Felix. Could you please bring your velocity and control today? I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but you’ve really been worrying us lately. You’re flying all over the place, your pitches aren’t where they should be… what’s the scoop? Was it Chicago? Was it us? We can change.
Until lineups are posted, I can only wonder: do we get Lawton again?
And what’s the worst plausible outfield the Mariners could field? I’m thinking Ichiro takes a half-day off DHing, and it’s LF-Ibanez, CF-Bloomquist, RF-Lawton. If Ibanez has to play 1B, you could even get an Everett/Bloomquist/Lawton outfield (or heck, sit Bloomquist and go Everett/Lawton/Ibanez).
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As long as it’s not Bloomquist at SS behind the King I won’t be quite so upset.
Don’t forget backup LF Richie Sexson.
The worst possible Ms outfield I can think of is probably Everett/Bloomquist/Lawton. That’s about as bad as it gets defensively.
Weird numbers on Waechter, courtesy of Yahoo:
The Devil Rays are 0-6 when Waechter (0-1, 6.46) takes the mound this season, and he has not won in his last 11 starts. Waechter has had his best success against the Mariners, though, going 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA in four career games against Seattle.
The right-hander threw a complete game, two-hit shutout against the Mariners on Sept. 3, 2003, and he has yet to allow a run in 7 1-3 innings pitched over two games at Safeco Field.
No Lawton. No Willie Ballgame, either. Take a screenshot of this lineup in case you forget what it looked like a week from now.
Lineups are up. Reed’s in center.
Reed’s in the lineup! Please, Jeremy, do what you need to keep yourself there.
Perhaps the best lineup they can field considering the roster. Petagine rather than Everett at DH. Otherwise no real alternative (sadly).
With the Angels on track to lose tonight, it looks like with a win we can gloriously rise into… 3rd place in the West! Better than the basement I guess..
Weird numbers on Waechter, courtesy of Yahoo:
The Devil Rays are 0-6 when Waechter (0-1, 6.46) takes the mound this season, and he has not won in his last 11 starts. Waechter has had his best success against the Mariners, though, going 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA in four career games against Seattle.
The right-hander threw a complete game, two-hit shutout against the Mariners on Sept. 3, 2003, and he has yet to allow a run in 7 1-3 innings pitched over two games at Safeco Field.
Um, how exactly are those weird numbers? Isn’t that exactly what we’ve come to expect of the M’s offense the last few years?
Safeco Field gains a lovely waterfront location with a 4m sea level rise. Not that we’d care about baseball after a 4m sea level rise, but there you are.
I don’t know, DMZ, catching a game in San Francisco, by the cove, is always nice….
ah, Matt Morrison speaking off the cuff … according to him Gomes once had ‘a pinched valve in his cardio area’.
12- Oi…they need scripts..or a day or two in radio to brush up on the ole’ improv skills..
yeah..that’s the ticket…
Good god, I think that was the worst rendition of the anthem I’ve heard in years.
#s 12 and 13 — Don’t make light of the situation. “A pinched valve in the cardio area” can be painful and serious. It requires immediate medicinal attention from a surgio-cardologist.
Delmon Young was suspinded 50 games w/o pay for the bat throwing thing, btw.
Improv is easier if you only need to work with a 100 word vocabulary.
I think the worst outfield the M’s could field would be Sexson in right, Moyer in left and Guardado in center.
Reed. yay!
Great. I get treated to the end of a ridiculous blowout (Atlanta–Florida) instead of the Mariner game on Extra Innings.
Reed going into tonight: 188/247/290
Sexton going into tonight: 190/272/331
Who would have thought Jeremy would be right on the Big Dog’s heels come May 8?
Uh-oh. Felix el Malo.
MLB.tv isn’t showing his velocity, anyone got a number?
Radio says Felix has hit 96 on the gun…verdad?
interesting to see what the enforced rest does for Reed’s wrist, if that really was part of the problem.
#18– nah, Moyer can still cover ground, and has a good eye for the fly ball.
Gomes is a weird lookin’ dude. His face looks like something you could chop wood with.
the sad thing is, there was a show last year where old Matt had gone to Cara Capuano in the field, and she did a smooth entry into an pre-filmed segment, smooth exit out, and then handled an assault by the Moose with grace and even tied it into her throwback to Morrison.
I’ve never seen the bottom hand come off the bat like Huff’s did there.
25.- Yeah he is. But I think Fossum last night was much creepier looking.
Always an adventure for Wiggington.
My goodness! That’s a huge store for beads!
Florida’s lineup makes me glad to be a Ms fan.
A. Amezaga SS
D. Uggla 2B
E. Reed CF
W. Helms 3B
M. Herges P
M. Jacobs 1B
M. Olivo C
R. Abercrombie RF
C. Aguila LF
You know, I think watching a Sexson-Guardado-Everett outfield trying to field balls would be much more entertaining then watching the current team. We could also have WFB play catcher. That would be good…
No velo readings on mlb.tv, but Felix’s stuff looks better today than last week. His command is still lousy, but that’s been true for pretty much his entire career.
They’ve commented that it’s been 96mph a few times.
I wonder if it wouldn’t help his command a bit by standing on the 3rd base side of the rubber or even the 1st base side..instead of standing in the middle of it.
Nah – his problems are mechanical, and he’s got a very inconsistent release point. He’s going to miss high fairly often no matter where he stands.
Also, here’s the fun story of the day.
Todays the day Beltre’s BA gets higher than Crazy Carl’s.
Cool….the King has gotten through the first part of the game unscathed.
My only worry is that he has thrown 33 pitches through 2 innings. I suppose strikeout pitchers can be expected to throw more pitches on average than “pitch to contact” guys. It would definitely be nice to see him go 7 strong tonight though.
If ever there was a time for Beltre’s second homer of the year (ugh, that’s just painful to write), this is it.
Huh. I hadn’t realized that Miguel Olivo was on the other coast now. You learn something new every day.
Nice one AB and Kenji.
Nothing like having your power hitters single the other team to death.
I love the shots of the D-Rays dugout, and they’re all dressed likey they’re playing in Alaska.
Attack of the strung togethor singles!
Why why why why why?
Adrian Beltre is on pace for 5 home runs… and 42 steals.
Seriously, his line right now would fit in perfectly with Tom Goodwin’s career.
Also, pitching with a lead (for once) might help the King….
Did someone miss a sign there?
Never make the first or last out at Third Base. Argh. Grover, stop it.
Yeah, go Ichiro…..
If we lose by one run we’ll remember that steal attempt with special affection.
Even when they score a couple runs they disappoint. These mistakes are deflating.
Seriously, the M’s offense should be the spokes-entity for Match.com with all these singles……….
53. Ba-zing.
This will be a very difficult DP to turn with some of the fastest guys in the league on base (and at bat)
I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll hit another homerun before the All-Star break.
Just saying, but in this game there’s only two .300 hitters and there’s five players hitting below .200.
Why didn’t they walk Gomes to get to the guy hitting .176? I don’t care if he’s Aubrey Huff, he’s hitting .176!
Because Jonny Gomes is a strikeout machine in a situation where you’re aiming for a strikeout.
Strikeout hitter, strikeout pitcher. You go after him this early in the game.
Carl Everett is on pace to have well over 500 ABs. When does his option kick in again?
Kevin Millwood’s line today – 1.1 IP, 9 H, 9ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Oh, and this was against the twins.
Looks like Minnesota went to Texas and found their bats again. Maybe that’ll work for the M’s too…
I sure bet Tom Hicks wants to strangle $cott Bora$ right about now.
Kansas City is slaying too. Is this night of the anemic offenses?
Good Felix. That was a nasty pitch.
my guess for the trivia is Stottlemyre
Now this is more like a King is supposed to pitch…….let’s hope this is the first of many great starts for him…love to see a CG tonight!
97 mph with movement. And a terrible undulation toward first base.
Felix seems to finally be on tonight. The only run he’s given up so far was because of Yu-Bet, and I can live with that, especially with a lead.
Yu-Bet really needs to work on his glove. I should offer him some afternoon clinics.
I wouldn’t have given Betancourt an error on that. Gathright can fly. No way they get him.
Also, if you’re going to Tacoma tomorrow, you’re going to be in for a pleasant surprise.
Niehaus: “A lot of center fielders don’t catch up with that ball as shallow as he was playing.”
A lot of center fielders wouldn’t play that shallow, Dave.
Dasve, has Felix always fallen off toward first? I don’t remember it being so pronounced last year.
Strangely, he’s redeeming himself with his bat tonight.
ICHIRO!
Yea, he’s always fallen off that badly. It’s just easier to look for things like that when he’s scuffing a bit.
Reed is not doing anything too compelling to earn back his (rightful) CF job……granted, it is 2 ABs after an extended layoff, but still.
As long as he’s not hurt, he’s the guy that needs to play.
No question Reed “needs” to play. But man does he seem to have a flat learning curve.
Does the score keeper hate Cubans?
AGAIN??? Come on, Yu-Bet!
wow, YuBet with an error.
Terrible call. Out by a half-stride. I could see it from the outset. The replay made it blindingly clear.
Why are you mad at Betancourt? He hasn’t made an error yet.
the score keeper, that is
I thought the scoring actually worked in favor of the home team if there was anything like a judgement call.
I just got in and saw us up 3-1…Felix pitching well or just the D-Rays sucking?
I have MLB gamecast up, so I can’t see the game…….what are these errors by Y-Bet? Bobbles? Throwing?
Sexson’s foot was off the bag.
But then the double play erases it. Nice. I do love a guy who gets that many ground balls.
Sorry, I only have Yahoo GameChannel to watch. I’ll withhold comment on things like that in the future.
I often had tears of joy in my eyes when he was on the mound last year, so no surprise that I’m just now noticing Felix’s glitch. That first time I saw the nasty curve (strike three to Matthew LeCroy, who looked like he needed a hug as he stumbled back to the dugout) I sat back and thanked God for all things Venenzuelan.
11 groundballs already. This is definitely Good Felix.
He’s sure steadied down the last 3 innings.
Is YuBet 2/2 with 2 errors??
Hardly errors. Scorekeeper dislikes Betancourt.
Yes but they’re errors in the book. There goes the Gold Glove.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the first one got overturned after the game.
Yes, but from what Dave’s saying, they’re not two “fielding-errors,” they’re “Joey-Gathright-could-be-a-gold-medalist-in-the-100-meter dash-errors.”
The first one was an infield hit, the second one was an E-3.
C-Rex!!! about time someone hit a HR!
Carl, you old superstitious dog.
didn’t we hear all about Steve Henderson last night?
Worst home run swing of all time. That looked like a pop up.
C-Rexy!
Crazy Carl strikes again. I could get to like the home runs from him, if he’d hit just a few more of ‘em.
Break out the dino!
Gathright is a little stallion.
Geez. Beltre couldn’t hit that any better.
Yeah, you’re right, Dave, it looked like a popup. Beltre’s long fly ball looked like a much better hit ball. Gathright did a real nice job of running it down in the outfield.
Beltre’s long fly ball is out of a lot of parks. In the Kingdome, that’s long gone.
Wow I guess that’s one of the reasons he’s here and not a gold medalist.
Crap…there goes my prediction of a single and then a CS to end the inning……
Carl now leads the Ms in the yard department.
Spittin in the wind. Poor Beltre.
That’s got to be frustrating when you’re a hitter. You get the perfect pitch, you hit it just right, and the ballpark holds it. He hit that ball about as well as you can and his reward for it is a trot back to the dugout.
“Just one more dying quail a week, and you’re a three hundred hitter.”
3rd inning Betancourt error got changed to a hit.
Felix is rolling. Groundballs and infield popups are all they’re getting against him.
Error changed to a hit makes the tampa run earned on Felix’s record.
The scorekeeper got a call from Marzano.
13 groundballs in 6 innings.
72. Dave, is that a reference to something Doyle-ish?
Okay, got the go ahead to make it public. Doyle starts his rehab stint in Tacoma tomorrow. Welcome back, Chris.
How is it that Wigginton has 30 RBIs?
There you go Reedy.
Sorry, I just did the read between the lines and got excited.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Dave, perhaps we could sprinkle a few drops of good luck beer on his knee? Or perhaps everywhere on him?
I could go to the day M’s game and then see Doyle’s Triumphant Return in Tacoma that night.
123. A win yesterday, a great game by Felix today, and tomorrow a Doyle sighting? So far this week is fan-frigging-tastic.
Happy Doyle’s Eve Everyone!!!
If the M’s never stole, never bunted, and never sacrificed, they’d be a better team. Hooray for Grover and his ridiculous aggression.
I saw in the one set of notes that he was expected to be back in uniform this month, and was going to mention it, but this beats me to it.
Oh, wow. That would be so… I can’t… oh, wow. Doyle, please, please, PLEASE, be careful.
That Reed play was much closer than it looked, he may have been safe.
On the bright side, Ichiro gets to lead off the 7th.
JUST CALL THE GAME!! THEY’RE PLAYING A GAME RIGHT NOW!!
DMZ, you get to break out your Doyle jersey!
Gil has some interesting facial hair there, did he forget his razor on the road or something?
A 1-2 meatball right down the middle. Sigh. Felix, bury a change in the dirt. They can’t hit that pitch.
Ack! Why did my television set just freeze?
132- I was just thinking the same thing. Why can’t Grover see that if you took away every steal and stretching base we’ve had this year AND took every out on stealing or stretching, we would be WAY ahead of the game.
It has been so bad I doubt they could make up for it all year, even if they started to be perfect now. Bah.
In what world is agressive baserunning ever better than smart baserunning?
bah humbug, stupid tv
Whats with Coors Light Fan of the Game? It seems like they try to pick the most random person who doesn’t even care about being at the ballpark. Is it supposed to be funny?
Is it possible to walk up and get tickets for Rainiers games these days?
Now Doyle can focus on baseball instead of obsessive-compulsive things like breaking world records for hitting a ping-pong ball against a wall.
mlb.tv is working but regular tv is not? How funny is that.
143-
What’s it matter? She was pretty hot…
lol.
Also on the bright side, Russell Branyan plays for the Devil Rays.
Dave: Not funny at all. I don’t ever leave the sound up because my wife practices her piano in the evenings. All I’ve got right now is a title card.
If anyone remembers the SNL skit with David Alan Grier and Will Ferrell where they’re doing the morning show and they lose the teleprompter, I have a vision of Hendu sitting in the fetal position in the corner of the booth right now.
yeah..not getting anything here either.
147: Agreed.
Anybody know Felix’s pitch count? I’d like to see him try and go 8 and just bring in Putz for the 9th…I don’t trust Eddie (probably) coming in in the 8th with only a 3 run lead.
Felix was at 79 after six innings. He might be allowed out to the mound in the 8th, but we’ll have to see.
He’s at 92.
If the TV picture goes out but the audio still works, they should have common courtesy to switch to radio with Dave so I don’t have to hear Rizzs and Hendon’t.
yaaay!
TV’s back!
147. Well ya some hot chick in a low cut tank top is great, but fan of the game? I guess the cameraman has a bit of a wandering eye so-to-speak.
In other words, no chance he pitches the 8th. This is it for Felix.
7 innings of one run ball with a WHIP of 1.? I’ll take it.
Sit down, King, you did good.
153: pitch count is at 95…….hopefully he comes back out, though it is unlikely
159: Who cares, it’s a stupid promotion, so they might as well show us a chick who is smoking hot.
7 5 1 1 2 6. 10 groundball outs vs 5 flyball outs, 3 of which were infield pop ups.
I’ll take 25 more of those, thank you.
Yeah. Ninety-two is close to his limit. No Felix in the 8th. That’s okay by me. Good job, kid. Now go ice that golden arm down.
163- smoking hot is a bit of an overstatement
159. I wonder what the decision making process is exactly…
Re Subway commercial: Wow, Jon Lovitz is obnoxious. Him and Hendu would be a hellish combination.
“That young lady and her friends….”
So that’s what they call boobs these days.
159-
I can’t honestly say I’ve ever seen a “Fan of the Game” being some beer-bellied guy sitting in his season ticket seat, eating a hot dog… It’s usually some kid, mom with their kid, hot mom alone, couple making out, weird people dancing, or other forms of hot females…
Every other second baseman on earth makes that play. Horrible defense by Wigginton.
Jose Lopez is slugging .471.
STOP WITH THE BUNTING.
Yeah, ok, make Lopez bunt. Sheesh. Do they even pay attention to how the players are doing?
Lopez with Ichiro on first or Sexon with Ichiro on second…gosh, that’s a tough choice…
Holy crap, they’re lettin him go out there…kudos!!
Lopez sacraficing = STUPID
How about stealing a base with Ichiro instead of bunting with your hottest hitter…..perhaps Grover got a little gun-shy with all of the CS
Gee, this inning was so exciting a minute ago, Ichiro on, nobody out. Now ichiro at second and… three outs. Brilliant strategy, Grover.
Bleh.
Annnnd Richie strikes out.
I figured out what’s been bugging me about Big Richie’s swing. Is it me, or does it look like he’s trying to hit a wood from the fairway?
Felix is headed back out there. I’m surprised.
King pitching into the 8th…awesome! The leash is slowly beginning to loosen……if only they would “Drop the leash! Drop the leash!” (to quote a little Pearl Jam)
As long as he doesn’t go past 110 or so, I’m fine with this.
Why bring him out for the eighth?
This is currently a save situation, so looks like we get to skip Not-Quite-Every-Day Eddie for JJ or Raffy in the 9th! w00t!
(whoop, out of sequence)
Let him pad his stats against the D-Rays!
Good pitch.
Throw a change.
It’s not just the pitch count, although I’d like to keep it lower rather than higher, I certainly don’t want to “drop the leash”. He also just had a really good outing, in line for the win, nudging up against his pitch limit… why not call it good?
I said change. Change-up. Throw it.
After 100+ pitches, Feliz just threw a 96mph fast ball.
I just CAN’T WAIT til Felix gets to throw his slider. He’s going to be unstoppable.
What is Hendon’t's love affair with Mexican baseball? This is the second time in the past few games where he said something to the effect of “You learn that in Mexico.”
Diminishing returns. He already has three nasty pitches. Another one won’t do him that much more good.
Oh, man, he did the Paul Newman finger pistol.
Dave I’ve noticed he hasn’t thrown the changeup as much this year, have you seen anything about this? Last year I remember no one came close to touching it.
Good outing by Felix…now just finish it up with the bullpen
True, but as badly as he wants it in his arsenal I think will do give him even more confidence…if that’s possible.
Well Dave, you got your wish….108 pitches. Nice outing!
Isn’t the ‘Felix hasn’t thrown his slider yet’ a bit of a myth? Aren’t some of the ‘Royal Curves’ that don’t break as much really sliders?
If Felix had any more confidence, he’d be running Iran.
I think the pitch counts are probably a good idea (for a bit at least) but I also like how they aren’t obsessed with the number 100. He’s pitching well and helping his confidence which after some of those starts he probably needs.
Good outing Sherill
Yea, I’ve noticed less change-ups this year too, which sucks, because its devastating.
Are you kidding me? We’re going to burn through Sherrill, Soriano, and Putz to get four outs with a 3 run lead?
Nice outng by Sherill.
I hearby nominate the recently referenced Potted Plant for the M’s new manager. I’ll even send the M’s $50 if one of you guys will drive to Lowe’s and take it to Safeco. There’s no way the Potted Plant could be worse.
Soriano a whopping 1 pitch thrown
Yeah no doubt, personally I think it would cause more success. I think a changeup in general is a better pitch than a curveball, you can see the spin of a curve and sit back on it. But if your change looks like your fastball and you place it right, its the best pitch in baseball.
And about the sliders, its a completely different pitch with a different grip, sometimes different arm slots, and a different wrist snap. I’d believe it would cause more problems in a young pitcher than the curve, so I think it’s a good idea they’re keeping it locked up, he’s good enough right now without it.
More change-ups would be very nice, yes. That pitch is nasty.
And for all the worry about Felix falling off to first base; I just watched some of the Ken Burns ‘Baseball’ documentary last night – specifically the stuff on Bob Gibson. Talk about a violent end to a delivery – Gibson was basically standing half-way between the mound and first base, with his back to the batter, when he finished his delivery.
He did all right…
If the M’s score a run, Soriano finishes the game.
If the M’s don’t score, Putz gets to finish.
Whoever came up with the three run save rule had no idea how much he would change the game.
1 pitch from Soriano………..they really should keep him in for the 9th (but I bet they won’t)
207: The potted plant would at least not make a move when Chaves asks “Should we bring in Putz for the 9th?”…..unless there was a breeze in the dugout, that is.
Is it me or does Beltre need to shorten his stride?
Don’t forget to water him
Adrian really looks like he’s hitting the ball pretty well as of late…VERY good sign!
Beltre is really smoking the ball…
Beltre is definitely out of his early slump. Sexson, on the other hand, still sucks
more singles…awesome……….
I’ll wait until Beltre isn’t falling on one knee hitting a single to proclaim the slump over.
Thats such an awesome name…
Kenji… JOHJIMA!! AAAH!!
I bet the D-Ray coach did’t say: “With your first pitch after this talk, why don’t you hit him and load the bases”
big spot for Reed here……
For some reason when I hear the name “Brian Meadows” I always think of Brian Fellows. “Hi, I’m Brian Fellows”.
Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet. That’s crazy!
223. That’s craazy
Interesting.. They brought in a right-hander.
Hendu “Felix is on the same kind of roll that Pineiro and Meche are.”
Um, different kind of roll entirely, Dave.
Wow. He was safe, brought him off the plate.
And the point of sliding there is…?
What are the chances Grover squeezes with Betancourt?
We could really use Willie Bloomquist’s scrappiness right now.
230: triple steal instead
I think Eddie might close this game out.
If this was the only game you’d ever see Betancourt play, you would think he as a great hitter and a lousy fielder.
“Beltre was kinda in nowhere’s land”
-Hendu
Why can’t Tampa be in the AL West?
Updated Beltre since the nadir (April 16th)
.300 .364 .400
223 – You are not alone. I share the shame.
Ichiro!
Bases loaded, Lopez up. How much you want to bet Grover has him bunt?
Bunt Lopez here?
We sure can hit singles.
I have a potted plant that I have kept alive for, oh at least a couple of moinths now. For me thats practically a lifetime. I’d donate it; it’s a nice kalanchoe. Not that that makes me leap to any conclusions, but Rohn was on the pregame show, and it is so entertaining to hear him.
I love the Devil Rays bullpen.
2 more RBIs for Mr. Lopez!
Glad to be proven wrong.
See what happens when you don’t give away outs and let your batters swing, Hargrove?
The D-Rays bullpen makes us look like a decent offensive team!!!
Holy Mariners Offense Explosion Batman!
Now leave Soriano in.
Lopez has moved into the top ten in RBI’s for the American League.
I think Lopez should have to do just a bit more to hit in the 2-hole.
I bet Brian Meadows wished he was hosting an animal show right now….
Nah. You use Green, Livingston and JJ for the 3 pitcher 9th!
If ever there was a time for Jake Woods, this is it.
Think how many RBI’s Lopez could have if he hadn’t bunted so much.
#251 IM BRIAN MEADOWS..That Parrot stole my credit card!!
HEY ..We are not in Last Place anymore!!!!
Typical Devil Rays… we are making you guys look like the 1927 Yankees at the plate. Good stuff.
Let Ichiro pitch………oh crap, Grover might do it.
Thats why Reed plays center!
Lawton/Bloomquist would totally have had that.
If Fairly was doing the D-Rays broadcast he’d say Waechter pitched very well except for 2 innings.
Willie would have done that standing, backwards, with a lot more grit, and then gave the ball to a small child who’s at their first baseball game.
14 hits and only one of those went for extra bases.
262. Plus he would have balanced the budget.
Hendu did try to say Waechter had a good outing a little while ago.
In fact, Waechter is on the same kind of roll that Pineiro and Meche are on. 2 BB and 1 K, 14 H, 7 runs.
263. And that was Cretaceous Carl.
Are people actually smiling? Can’t remember the last time I saw that.
266. Except Pineiro and Meche haven’t do the 7 runs thing lately.
I smell an eight game winning streak to get back to .500. And Doyle’s back tomorrow!
so, is the Sexson bobblehead freakishly tall?
That was obviously supposed to say done.
Hello, third place!
so, tomorrow they only have to get past that Kazmir kid, and all is golden.
OK, we can think sweep now. Then Angels and A’s. Important week, this is.
At least the Rays have Kazmir going tomorrow, so we have a chance. Of course, with the way they are hitting right now, they’ll probably lose 1-0. This series has been frustrating as hell.
20,000 at the ballpark — with no giveaways and a ton of walkups. Woo.
So, in the first inning, I think Jojima called for 12 fastballs and a curve. Seemed like he was trying to send a message (to whom I don’t know). At the end of the inning he ran up the line to meet Felix and kept talking to him all the way into the dugout. 2nd through 7th inning, Felix was regularly hitting 97 on the stadium gun.
I went tonight in part due to the low attendance yesterday. A) I knew I could get cheap tickets and sit wherever I wanted (which I did) and B) being a loyal fan, I wanted to help the team out. Plus it was a nice evening. Unfortunately my kid made me leave before the eighth-inning rally. Grrrr.
You could have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn’t for your meddling kid.
Oh my. Angels fans are not taking to being last very well.
Nor did we…. Let’s stay out of it.
What, are they rioting in Orange County?
Suzuki has raised his average from .177 to .288 in three weeks. When asked if he was now hitting the way he wanted to, Suzuki replied, “When was I not?” …
What are Putz’s chances of keeping this closer’s job? Will Soriano take over? Will Eddie actually get his job back? I haven’t seen him pitch much so it’s hard for me to know, plus I’m not exactly in the head’s of the M’s FO/manager like some of you might be…
What are Putz’s chances of keeping this closer’s job? Will Soriano take over? Will Eddie actually get his job back?
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE NEXT THRILLING EPISODE OF…
THE MARINER!
“When was I not?”
Smart guy, Ichiro. He knows his batting average will fluctuate wildly.
That said, last night was the first time this season where Ichiro appeared to be hitting the ball exactly where the defense wasn’t. It reminded me a lot of 2004.
I think it was Mark Ellis who complained that season that if the defense moved around to adjust to Ichiro, he’d “hit the ball where we were.” He seemed really weirded out by it.
Wow…we are in 3rd place. Granted, I am not happy with the overall underperformance of the club, but watching the Angels have a harder time of it makes me a happy boy.
Living here near Anaheim and watching the rudest fans on the West Coast suffer is justice. When I say rude, let me explain:
Me and other M’s fans down here would go see them when they played the Angels. In 2001, the M’s OWNED the Angels and us M’s fans were there in force. The stadium usually was 1/3-1/2 full at best.
Well up comes 2002 and the Angels are playing well in the second half. The fans don’t start showing up (with thunder sticks no less) until the end of the season (gotta love the bandwagon fans) when me and other M’s fans are there to see the final game between them in August. Well, I saw two fights started by uppity Angel fans to innocent M’s fans, saw beer poured on some kid wearing an M’s jersey and two M’s fans get thrown out for verbally sparring with the jerks in the back.
2003 comes and these fans get crazier. They won a world series, fine, I tip my cap to them, but these fans get more outrageous. More reports of beer poured on fans who wear other team’s jerseys, no sense of humor whatsoever and I even had a kid flash gang signs to me to remind that he is an Angels fan and I am not welcome.
It’s gotten worse EVERY YEAR. I’ve gone to see games in Safeco and NOBODY treats anybody else’s fans like that (unless it’s the Yanks, but they get that treatment everywhere they go!).
Now, I am happily heading down to the games on Friday and Sunday to laugh my butt off at the Angels misfortunes. HAHAHA, couldn’t happen to a worse group of fans (sorry if that offends anybody, but I see lots of games around the country and outside of Boston and Philly, Angels fans are a mean bunch).
Oakland and San Fransisco (at least at old Candlestick) are not picnic either. Oakland fans are mostly just toothless, unemployed and in-gorant. But the Giants fans (at least those of yore) were belligerant and just plain scary. The ratio of cops to fans at the Stick was outrageous. In one case I looked up at a guy who had been chanting “GI-ANTS SU-UCK” for the last seventeen innings or so to find a Giants fan in the row behind him with both hands around his throat apparently trying to choke the life out of him.
I took a trip last year to Detroit, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and all those fans were better behaved than either the Oakland or SF fans.
My favorite bit of park atmosphere was at PNC park where the scorboard has digital pirate ship fights and a jolly, drunken pirate to keep the fans entertained between innings. SOOO much cooler than hydro races.