Game 100, Blue Jays at Mariners
DMZ · July 25, 2006 at 6:22 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
7:05, Halladay v Meche.
Notes: Lopez returns, bats 3rd. Everett’s still the designated out-maker, batting ahead three people who hit better than he has.
So let’s look at the Blue Jays lineup for a second
CF-R Reed Johnson
LF-L Frank Catalanotto
1B-L Lyle Overbay
3B-R Troy Glaus
C-B Gregg Zaun
RF-L Eric Hinske
DH-R Bengie Molina (whaaat?)
2B-R Aaron Hill
SS-R John MacDonald
There are some weird choices in there, too.
Comments
191 Responses to “Game 100, Blue Jays at Mariners”
ask and ye shall receive
There ya go, Impike.
Dave or DMZ or JMB, has USS Mariner ever done a post on swinging at the first pitch? I was wondering about it yesterday when Betancourt was in trouble for it, and I found an article I found interesting about it today on The Baseball Analysts.
I was wondering if you guys had any opinion on it. Just purely individual and situational?
Everett’s seen 10 pitches in 4 ABs.
Wasn’t he lecturing Betancourt in the dugout a couple days ago about taking pitches?
Oh boy.
as an intermediary for Hargrove, as he was for Everett tonight.
sigh.
Did Ibanez just get tackled by the wall in left field? It sure looked that way.
I can handle Mateo being our crappy, garbage-time pitcher, but having Fruto is one too many.
59 – Awolfgang
Turning off the game now?
I still blame Podsednik for that loss, and not guarding the line against the XBH, the triple
Now it’s time for our thunderous comeback.
B.J. Ryan? We complain about managers not bringing in closers in non-save situations, but this is stretching it a little.
B.J. Ryan? We complain about managers not bringing in closers in non-save situations, but this is stretching it a little.
Ryan hasn’t pitched since the 20th. Gibbons likely just wants to get Ryan out there to “keep him sharp.”
A little clutch hitting would have gone a long ways tonight. If it was 8-5, we wouldn’t have seen Fruto go out there.
…Oh, who are we kidding?
Sorry I had that wrong. I think it was Sprague who didn’t guard the line
Crap. That wasn’t nearly as much fun as the 3rd Boston game.
#160 Yes still watching, though in CST.
Re: The Strike Zone and Hargrove’s Getting Ejected
HP umpire Tim McClelland has a reputation as being the gold standard behind the plate. He’s won multiple player polls for best ball/strike umpire in the game.
169 – I was only half watching and I thought it was weird when I came back and heard Hargrove had been ejected and looked at who the umpire was.
That said, earlier in the game Gil got a couple calls he souldn’t have… notably a strike three about collarbone high.
Maybe he just had an off night, happens.
Ok, let me get this straight: John MacDonald (the Jays SS, not Canada’s first prime minister) is the #9 hitter on this team. His career line is .239 / .279 / .309 with all of FOUR HR’s (since 1999!) before this year. And he now has TWO HR’s for the entire year, and both of them are off M’s pitchers? His first ever Grand Slam, in a pitcher’s park, from a guy with .309 slugging? He’s a right-handed hitter!
Whisky Tango Foxtrot?
I just got back from Safeco. Man, what a depressing game.
What was depressing wasn’t that Meche was back to normal, or that Halladay made everyone but Ichiro and Johjima look retarded, or that we got blown out, although those things sure didn’t help. The main depressing thing was the sheer amount of Blue Jay fans at the stadium.
The Mariner fans had to be out numbered. In the early innings the Jays were getting more applause than the M’s. Given they were doing more things to inspire applause, but still.
In the later innings, after the patented Seattle exodus, the Jays fans had us seriously outnumbered. It’s so depressing to go to a game and have the opposing team get all the cheers. I can’t imagine how that would affect the ballplayers.
Some other things I noticed were:
– Gil Meche looking super pissed of constantly
– When Hargrove argued with the ump he really looked like he was protecting Johjima
– Johjima looking SUPER pissed after the Mariners left the field in the eighth
– Jones looking hopelessly lost on breaking balls and very depressed after striking out
– Carl looking like a AA hitter, if that, and not looking like he particularly cared what happened in his at-bats
– And, of course, Ichiro ruling. Oh I love him.
Joser – While I can’t dismiss the possibility that the M’s pitchers have served MacDonald a couple of prime meatballs, the Jays have been really pleased with the work of hitting coach Mickey Brantley this season.
The thing I like most about Brantley, however, is that he refuses to take credit for Reed Johnson. Johnson, hitting a pretty .360/.439/.535 line this year, moved to Las Vegas over the off-season and started working out with the Giambi brothers. Brantley credits the Giambis’ tutelage.
I was at the Rainiers game today and seeing all the AAA guys in action makes Carl’s presence even more mind-boggling to me. I bet any one of those kids could come up, take some solid cuts and bat at least .200. It’s just unbelievable that C-Rex is still being tolerated when he would be outperformed by probably 80% of the guys in our AAA club. And probably about half of the AA hitters for that matter. Sigh.
#174. you were at the tacoma game yet didn’t mention what surely must be mentioned here on this site, this cult of doyle.
game on the line. tied, bottom of ninth inning. clement singles to center, rob johnson lays down a sweet bunt to move him to 2nd. garciaparra walks. runners at 1st and 2nd, 1 out. announcement on the pa, and doyle comes in to pinch hit. first pitch, a strike, but the catcher missed it and runners advance to 2nd and 3rd. second pitch, ball. third pitch, beautiful game tying rbi single over the shortstop’s head. we won the game on the very next batter, oswaldo navarro, with a fluky thing they called a hit, back to the pitcher, but enough to score the winning run.
so sweet to see our man doyle all happy and doing all that teammate post-victory hugging.
(and by the way, a very impressive dan wilson sliding into the dugout kind of attempt on a foul ball made by our own jeff clement, who came slamming, sliding, facemask off into the fence about 5 feet away from me. he didn’t get it, but it was one helluva attempt.
FWIW, there have always been a lot of Jays fans at the Mariner games….
Sometimes I’ve got to shake my head at Hargrove’s decisions. This was probably missed because of Hargrove’s ejection after the next pitcher, but can anyone give a rational explanation on Hargrove’s decision to intentionally walk Aaron Hill in the top of the 5th?
At this point in the game, the score is 6-0 with runners on second and third. Woods just came into the game and got Molina (who kills left-handers to a tune of .323/.356/.505 this year) to fly out to Ichiro for the 2nd out of the inning. If the score were close I would have brought in a right hander to face Molina, Hill, McDonald, all right handed hitters. Meche definitely had to come out since he had lost his control. However, the score is already 6-0 against one of the best pitchers in the league. So Hargrove went with the decision to bring in his mop-up guy Woods. I’m fine with that, the game has basically been decided, so this now becomes time to work on player development.
The next batter is Aaron Hill who is hitting an impressive .340/.398/.406 against left handers this year, about the same as his rookie year last year – and only .287/.339/.396 against right handers this year. So basically you’ve got a high OBP guy without much power. If Hill walks, you’re in the same boat as an IBB. If he singles, it’s likely to only score one, even with two outs, since Hinske is at second base and he doesn’t run particularly well anymore. If Hill gets an extra base hit, well then it’s 8-0 against Halladay, which isn’t that much different than 6-0.
Granted, the following batter is John McDonald who is hitting .244/.308/.356 against left handers and significantly worse against righthanders. So I can sort of understand IBBing Hill if the score were close. But it’s not. You’ve already made the decision to bring in your mop-up guy Woods, who has walked 25 batters in 39 2/3rds innings at this point in the season. It seems like you would want to work with Woods to try and get him to succeed in this situation so that he might have more confidence for situations in the future when the game is actually on the line. So to me it doesn’t make sense to load the bases with your high-free pass rookie pitcher even to face the weakest hitter in the line up. The game’s already out of hand, you might as well let Woods rear back with first base open and face Hill directly. There just isn’t really any point in giving out intentional walks when you’ve basically already lost the game. It certainly doesn’t help in the development of young players with control issues.
ESPN Analyst, former Mets GM and complete moron Steve Phillips during the Tigers-Indians game this morning:
“The Reds got Eddie Guardado from the Mariners, which I think was a STEAL.”
The moral of the story: don’t listen to anything Steve Phillips says.
just came across Bavasi in mid-interview on mlb radio, on the GM’s corner with Fred Claire (FWIW, they usually have a link to the interviews later for re-listening) Briefly paraphrasing:
they are not willing to move one of their best prospects, so really more in the market for a 2nd-tier guy; he pointed out that they really need to improve on the left-handed side of the DH platoon 🙂
If offered prospects for one of their veteran guys? Taking into account both the team (structure & morale) & the fan expectations, they’d prob. only move one of them if it was part of a series of other deals that would make end up making the club better
They would like a 6th starter, but it’s not a high priority– as it stands now the 6th starter would be Jake Woods or Cruceta
Adam Jones? “one of the most interesting kids I’ve ever been around”; his first big league spring training camp was the same year as Bill’s — thinks he’s really inquisitive, see’s what every ones does, see’s everything, and does it all with his mouth shut. A perfect storm for his debut in Toronto, with two balls directly over his head, but he is a fast listener, and a good athlete
Discussed their scouting/signing international players — relying on Bob Engle & Bob Fontaine, two guys he’d long looked at as scouts who looked for the same kind of players he would look for– their instincts for ‘baseball players’ over ‘big athletes’. South African Anthony Phillips? Told he is a tools guy, great instincts; Bill has not seen him, going on faith with Engle
Okay – after two innings in Tampa Bay the Angels lead 12-5. After two innings.
And Colon left the game with an elbow injury.
KJR IS REPORTING EVERETT IS GONE. GONE!!!
they are not willing to move one of their best prospects, so really more in the market for a 2nd-tier guy; he pointed out that they really need to improve on the left-handed side of the DH platoon
So I take it that means that they are hanging on to everett up to the point at which they execute a trade? I assume that everett’s roster spot will either get taken by a traded-for player or by a call-up if they are unable complete a deal, is that correct?
Nope, everyone’s favorite Aussie is taking his place on the roster.
KJR is saying that Everett has been DFA’d. Snelling is up!
Sry. Lost my mind with excitement. Doyle is up.
KJR is saying that Everett has been DFA’d. Snelling is up!
reasonable or no to assume that there won’t be a walker/delucci trade then? i would think they wouldn’t want to use up an option if they are going to turn around and fill the spot with a trade.
HOLY SHIT! YES!
So that’s why all the church bells around downtown are ringing.
The M’s already used the option on Snelling this year, so they can send him up and down as many times as they want.
Who’s buying beer!!!???!!!
That’s the best frigging news I’ve heard the last 3 years as a M’s fan. It’s right up there with Ichiro’s 262 hit season.
Aaaaahhhh, sorry #174, I forgot about the Doyle fans (that is, everyone) here. Beautiful pinch hit single, yeah. I was actually hoping he’d be playing DH or something but I guess they were resting him for his promotion. 1 for 1 with a RBI ain’t bad.