Game Thread – Doyle’s Return
Morning game for the Rainiers, and as we mentioned last night, Doyle is back. So, to enjoy the festivities, have a minor league game thread.
Also, for those who aren’t aware, milb.com is offering pitch-by-pitch gameday action, in case you aren’t able to listen to Mike Curto broadcast the game.
On May 10th, I Praise Kenji Johjima
He came to Seattle from Japan. He filled an important gap. In a year where the Mariners have seen two kinds of holes — ones in the lineup, and ones down which promising careers have fallen — it’s nice to see a player cover over a void rather than create one.
Apropos of this, I think it’s time to revisit the issue of Kenji Johjima. We have always endorsed the signing, but with little save the weather going right these days, it might be fun to focus energy on the positive.
Perhaps this will, at the very least, put to rest the constant accusations of anti-homerism we get around here.
Potentially, we will remember Johjima as Bill Bavasi’s best all-around free agent signing. He’ll turn 30 next month, is signed to a reasonable deal, and plays a demanding position where talent is scarce. What’s not to like?
You recall his Seattle beginnings: two games, two home runs. The power numbers haven’t kept up that pace, certainly, but Johjima’s brought sock to a position that has been a consistent black hole for the Mariners. And his memorable first impression stuck with people.
30 days later, Joe had become a fan favorite. There are good reasons for this.
Kenji has put to rest many concerns, be they about his bat or the way he would communicate with pitchers. Misgivings about the offense he’d provide have been proven quickly proven unfounded.
At the last USSM Feed, I suggested that we’d be happy if Johjima gave us numbers comparable to Tadahito Iguchi‘s. “Ecstatic,” Derek quickly added. Given where Johjima is at this point in the season compared to where Iguchi was in his first year — and factoring in park effects, too, since Safeco’s a much tougher place to hit — the meter has to be edging closer toward ecstatic each day. [And by the way, why does Iguchi get a comically intricate pronunciation guide from ESPN, but Johjima gets “N/A”?]
Right now, it’s difficult to find cause for optimism. The team’s power hitters are hitting like arthritic pygmy marmosets and the ousted closer couldn’t get tough stains out.
It’s in Kenji Johjima, and Jose Lopez, and yes, in King Felix. It’s there, optimism, even if you have to look harder than you’d like. The same way you might, for example, look for a hidden meaning in the beginnings of 10 paragraphs.
Doyle Returns
For those wondering how the young Aussie’s been doing, he’s starting his rehab stint with the Tacoma Rainiers tomorrow. Welcome back, Chris.
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).
Attendance down, dog bites man
The headline is perhaps a little dire: It’s Official: The Wheels Are Off In Seattle but here’s a short summary from Maury Brown, who’s (among other things) the co-chair of SABR’s Business of Baseball committee. Short version: yow.
Also today: the Answer Guy in the PI on the team’s “mental skills coach” plus Jason Churchill’s got a farm report on some of the system’s pitching talent.
Fallout from Everett slagging the team’s offense: Hargrove has a meeting with the hitters! The article manages to get in this subtle jab:
Hargrove is a proponent of a set lineup, but the one he’s gone with is on pace to score fewer runs than any Seattle team in a decade and a half.
Hee hee hee. It also says on the Lawton release issue that now they’re saying didn’t actually ask for a release so much as ask to be moved for an infielder who might help the team, which uh… I don’t think you can trade him yet anyway. But Matt’s happy watching hits drop around him in the outfield now, so that’s good.
There are worse beers
Reader Chris sent us a heads-up on this. Go to this page for Northern League transactions. Scroll down to 5/1:
Assigned the contract of RHP Nigel Thatch (Rookie) to Fullerton of the Golden Baseball League in exchange for 1 pallet (60 cases) of Budweiser beer.
I wonder which M’s players we could get a pallet of beer for.
430 pitches
From Robert Whiting’s You Gotta Have Wa
In 1984, Hiroka ran an “autumn camp” for the younger players on his squad, and some veterans as well. […] Lasting fifty-nine days, from season’s end to late December, […] it consisted of an average of nine hours of daily drills, including 600 swings a day for each batter, 430 pitches a day for each pitcher, as well as swimming and akido – a kind of self-defense- sessions.
Reading accounts of Japanese training, I find it a wonder that any Japanese players survive long enough to make it to free agency or posting.
Game 34, Devil Rays at Mariners
LHP Casey Fossum v RHP Gil Meche.
Offense: Devil Rays 10th, Mariners 11th
Pitching (and defense): Mariners 7th (4.49 ERA), Devil Rays 11th (5.27 ERA)
Yeah, this is going to be a well-played series. And well-attended! Tomorrow’s game has a whopping 28k tickets unsold, and the Wednesday day game has 25k.
Fun facts from the Devil Rays press notes:
– they’re 41-81 all-time on the West Coast
– Gomes/Wiggington are tied for the top home run hitting due in the majors
– Joe Maddon, the Devil Rays manager, is now 44-44 over his career
– His uniform #70 is the highest for a regular manager in major league history
Yup.
Week 5
WLLLLWL to go to 13-20, last in the AL West.
Hitting well: Kenji, Ibanez
Not: the team
Pitching well: Joel Pineiro (!)
Not: the team
When will this end? If there was some end in sight, something to look forward to, I might be able to maintain some optimism, but this is the third year I looked at the team and thought they’d win 80 games, only to find myself a ways into the season asking when this will end.
We all know the things that are wrong. Anyone who watches a few games could make the same list as those of us who’ve watched nearly every one. It’s no secret.
The question is when does this end? The Royals went into the tank in 1995, and they stumbled from bad to bad (their 83-79 finish in 2003 broke a streak of eight losing seasons) and now are looking at their third season facing below .400.
Is that really what we’re staring at? Doesn’t it feel at least a little like it — a team that can’t put it together for a game, much less a series, and certainly not a season, where the pieces don’t ever fit and no acquisition seems to help turn things around?
When will this end?
129 games left.
Game 33, Indians at Mariners
D’oh.