Game 107, Mariners at Orioles
Happy Felix Day!
The Boy King takes the hill today against another young pitcher, Erik Bedard, in Bikram Yoga-like conditions. Somebody make sure Felix drinks plenty of fluids, and not those Freddy Garcia-style fluids, either. The M’s went 8-7 against the Yankees, Jays, Red Sox and Indians. They need to make hay against teams like the Orioles to have a shot.
I know it’s too early for scoreboard watching, but I’ll note that Oakland has Esteban Loiaza (who has been atrocious this year) going against the Angels’ Kelvim Esobar. The Rangers are booting Boof Bonser and the Twins around.
I’ll post the lineup when it’s available.
Late edit: Jeff’s such a liar. He never posted the lineup.
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We’re still doing an official day for a guy who is 9-9 with a 4.60 ERA?
I kid! I kid! I’m drinking the kool aid. Go Felix!
Erik Bedard has been lights out for two months now. He has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. Of course, he was similarly tough during the second half last year and then reverted to his walktastic ways early in this season.
I wonder if he finally turned the corner? My guess is that he is now entering elite SP status.
Oh, and WFB starts in CF and RR at C.
Bikram is evil.
And weather like that should be banned. Write your congressmen.
It is a good day to give Jones a rest, and asking Joh to start a day game after a night game in this heat would be cruel.
Also, I watched last night’s game, and the strike zone was generous all the way around. I am going to guess that today’s weather will generate a similar strike zone from an ump who desires a 2 hour contest.
6, yes, that could be an umpiring factor.
On a similar note, someone made an intersting commnet yesterday as a theory about why Moyer didn’t get run support. It was that Moyer got the ump to give him a generous zone, and the opposing pitcher benefitted from that same treatment.
Now, I’ll bet someone will look at PAST seasons and probably disprove this. I sure don’t recall Jamie being so poorly supported in past years.
Oh god. Riviera at Cathcer and WFB in center. It’s like Hargrove is trying to give games away.
I’ll go out on a limb and predict we’ll not only get more than one man past first base, but we’ll even get a few to third!
Seriously though, since Bedard has been dominant the past few months, that only gives me more hope that we’ll hit him decently. If he’d have had a 5-6 era, I’d be worried.
How would you like to be the guy in the Orioles mascot suit this afternoon? Sweltering.
Anyone know what channel its on? Or is it not on TV?
No TV
CSN
We got a hit before the 4th inning! Woo Hoo
Rivera might have a heartattack in the heat as fat as he is!
What’s the reasoning for not being on TV? I’ve never understood how they decide to put what on TV. I dare say I would rather be watching this than the fishing on FSN or the Judge Whoeveritis on Channel 11.
Hopefully we can use the 102 degree heat to get to their pen early as possible.
BEEEELLLLLLLLLTTTTTTRRRRREEEEEEEE
Fly away!
I must be reading Gameday wrong–its says 8 pitch at-bat, not 8 pitch inning.
Good at bat by Beltre so far. great at bat by beltre!
What an at bat by Adrian
what an awesome at bat. lots of pitches, capped by going deep.
Dear East Coast teams: There’s a reason Texas starts their games at 7:05 during August. Like, oh, 102F is A LITTLE HOT.
Yay Beltre!
exactly. 8 pitch at bat is more than we see in one inning, plus he hits a homer!
Weekday day games on the road ( excluding holidays) rarely make TV, since a lot of the people who would watch them are at work.
And somewhere in the dugout Moyer wonders: “Couldn’t you have done that yesterday?”
#4:
“Write your congressmen.”
Ha. Like I expect anything from my congresscritters.
Finally Beltre did something with two strikes on him. Good AB
What are the chances now that Felix gives up at least one run? Seriously it seems like every time we get a lead the next half inning we give up a few.
Adam Jones is not playing today because he is at the featured table for the World Series of Poker main event. Go Adam go!
Gotta add my yay to the cheers for Beltre! Moyer didn’t get any runs but Felix is benefitting today from whatever the team trainers and players figured out from surviving yesterday’s game.
I wonder if Adam has “flu-like symptoms” stemming from his birthday bash…
I was talking to my best pal about this yesterday. People complain of Beltre and his contract. But how is Sexson any better? You don’t pay a first basement that much to get on base under a .300 clip. Hell, not to be negative, but my friend and I came to the conclusion that we only have one player who can draw a walk…Ibanez. Ichiro, Lopez, Sexson, Beltre, Johjima, Bentecourt, and whoever plays center don’t draw walks at all….patient hitting and drawing walks won us 116 games. Ok, I will turn the rambling spigot to “off”.
Jones turned 21 yesterday. Perhaps Grover is letting him sleep one off.
34-perez and broussard can draw walks.
Eight pitch inning — not bad. The more efficient Felix can be, the better.
nice work by Felix. All strikes and kept the ball down in the zone.
Didn’t see the first 2 batters, but Mora and Tejada got first-pitch fastballs down the middle. Glad they were taking. I know there are some Felix-ophiles out there that will say this is not a good thing.
36: Broussard and Perez have a combined total of about 27 walks this year.
3 hits before the 2nd inning is fun.
Pereze and Broussard combined have less walks per at bat then most everyone on the team. Heck, Ibanez doesn’t draw walks to the clip he has in the past. It’s just odd to see so many OBP at .330 or below in one lineup. This offseason we need to add a few .400 OBP with decent pop.
I have the game on my Extra Innings package
It’s so nice to look in the DH slot, and see a .289 BA!
just so everyone knows Willie Ballgame is on deck
I’m curious to know how many fans turned out today in this heat – did they announce it yet?
I’ll take starting pitching before OBP guys this off-season.
Roll, ESPN Gamecast is giving stats for M’s batters vs RHP, and Oriole’s batters vs LHP. Uuuum, Bedard’s a lefty and King is a righty…looks like they’re missing more than just Gammons and Reynolds.
And the Onion article gets just a little more realistic.
I’m not ignoring SP. We need both. I am talking purely for the offense. Hopefully Jason Schmidt will sign with us instead of using us to drive up the price for another team like the Mets.
so Baltimore likes to swing at the 2nd pitch I guess.
ESPN Gamecast has been doing that for a while now. Nice to see Beltre have a good at bat and with some HR power, too. Quietly, he’s been getting a bunch of XBH, mostly doubles, though.
Is Bloomquist batting 9th rather than Rivera due to Hargrove’s insistance on having a speedy guy in front of Ichiro?
I don’t know how many of you are watching this on MLB.tv, but is there really a soul alive who would fork out $200 to hang out with Brian Roberts, regardless of the cause?
Isn’t Felix a mid to high 90s pitcher?
Speaking of high OBP acquisition guys, looks like USSM had another one pegged:
Brian Giles – .266 / .373 / .373, 27 XBH, 394 ABs.
Wow, talk about dropping off the power wagon. His 3 year average before that was in the high 400s, now he can’t even get to 400 slugging.
Nice pitch.
Somehow he always ends up on my fantasy team and I drop him two weeks later.
Don’t hold your breath, but we might end up seeing Good Felix today.
Go Los Angeles Angels of the Greater Anaheim Area!
22 pitches for Felix so far, 16 strikes.
Goo Minnesota!! (DOH!)
Don’t hold your breath, but we might end up seeing Good Felix today.
Now that you’ve jinxed it…
Make Bedard work! We need to get to the bullpen ASAP!
Anyone ever think that on a day like this we could put Ichiro at center and have Ibanez and a better hitter the Bloomquist (Dobbs, Broussard) at the corners?
Goddamnit Ichiro, take a pitch…
what’s the over/under on the total number of walks today? yesterday was 3 – i bet it comes in under that today.
I couldn’t help it, sorry.
I just dropped Giles from my fantasy team…I had to though, there’s just no production there, sad…
Or dont make him work Ichiro
I say over. We’ll get into that bullpen sooner then they’ll get into ours (at this pace).
Lopez is on fire with singles. Ill take that for now but eventually we need some gap power back.
don’t tell Ichiro! what to do…
On a day like this, I’ll tell Ichiro to make the pitcher work if I want to….
Does anyone else here think that Raul Ibanez looks exactly like The Mummy? Me and my family all call him Imohtep because that is the name of the mummy.
This offseason we need to add a few .400 OBP with decent pop.
Like who? These guys don’t exactly grow on trees.
I have a back yard full of Bobby Abreu’s
Sorry, I don’t quite agree on Ibanez drawing walks better (less worse) than anyone else on the team. His BB/PA is nearly identical to Sexson’s – with the difference being when you look at unintentional BB/PA:
Ibanez: 6.43%
Sexson. 7.99%
That means Sexson is drawing them at a 24% greater clip, relative to Ibanez. He just strikes out a hell of a lot, too, so I guess the walks are unnoticed. Still, it’s not like 8% is a lot, and that just shows how awful our team is in that area – which does affect others. Even Ichiro has a 5.87% unintentional BB rate, which truly is a reminder of how low Ibanez’ 6.43% is.
77 – Ironic timing of your post
sexson hitting .184 against lefties? ouch.
And then… Ibanez walks.
I should say this more often.
75 – sounds like Doyle to me…
Hey, at least the Sexson striking out a lot part remained true in this one AB.
SO Number 110 for Sexson.
Damn it, Richie.
Nick Johnson – .296 / .431 / .523, 49 XBH. Underappreciated everywhere he goes, might be able to snag him easily enough.
No they don’t grow on trees, but you can find them.
Richie has struck out 109 times in 106 games he has played. That is impressive.
80 – (or anyone) Where do you like to look up statistics?
Failure to take walks seems like something that can be tied directly to management/coaching. I mean hell, Sexson has been very patient in the past, no? But I also suppose that when you’re floundering at the plate in general it’s harder to take the walk.
Seems like Sexson loves to strike out looking at pitches right at his knees. Does he not like the bottom of the strike zone, or is his height maybe an issue there?
Sexson’s avg and obp compared to his power makes Jay Buhner look like a HOFamer
Pressure or heat or whatever getting to Bedard, having trouble getting his pitches over, then Richie lets him off the hook and inning over. I can’t say I could spend more than a few minutes in that heat but sheesh it would be nice if Richie would just make contact…
Is this strikezone just tiny or is Felix just really inconsistent on everything but his fastball today?
When we signed Sexson, Buhner was the person I compared him to. Good power, but lots of strikeouts. Not quite the personality of Bone, but I thought they were comparable at the time of signing.
Hey, just like yesterday with Lopez pitching to Lopez. Today it’s Hernandez to Hernandez!
did i just hear robin roberts?
#92 – Felix has thrown 25 strikes and 11 balls. Doesn’t seem too bad to me.
I am being negative today. I guess I am just frustrated that we trade Choo for Broussard and on days like this we have 26 home runs, 89 runs, and 97 RBI on the bench. Isn’t there a better way to manage this team?
Are Seattle players at a disadvantage on the road during the summer. At least the Orioles have some opportunity to adapt to the heat, as do the Royals, the Rangers, etc. Mariners play most of their schedule in much more temperate weather, and I can’t help but think they have a much more difficult time in the heat than the locals do.
Or is it just me? I’d last five minutes in weather like this.
What, Hargrove use a creative lineup? It’ll never happen..
I think we all agree there’s a better way to manage this team…
Uh oh, bases juiced and Tejada up.
Wonderful.
The King has stepped up today!
That’s the way to handle the pressure your Eminence
Way to get out of a jam Felix!
that was great pitching to Tejada.
My Liege!
I think the Orioles are stealing signs. They completely ignore every breaking pitch as if it’s not there, and let it go for a ball, and we know Felix’s stuff means that someone’s gonna swing at at least ONE of his off speed / breaking pitches. I was wondering if the visit to the mound was about that. Of course it could have just simply been Chavez telling Felix to “throw strikes you fat ass.”
Next person who swings at the first pitch to begin an inning is going to get a cockpunch from me.
And me, My gosh make the guy work. Its 102 degrees out there.
Plus Felix just had a tough inning and he needs to be in the dugout for as long as possible.
I absolutely LOVE the hustle that YuBet is bringing to the team.. reminds me of how A-Rod used to do that at the beginning of his career.
Felix could be tipping his pitches as easily as the O’s could be stealing signs.
That error was caused by the blazing speed of one Rene Rivera
I am watching Gameday, and it said that Connine simply just dropped the throw from Bedard right?
Good Job Willie, You Da man
Great play there by Mora..
Y’know, despite the error letting Rivera get aboard, that was still only a 11 pitch inning for Bedard, with five of those going to Yuniesky Betancourt.
Gah!
Rene Rivera needs to catch all of KF games. Nothing against Joh (who’s much better offensively) the kid king just seems to throw in the towel with Joh down there.
ypu know, it is really easy to look things like that up.
They’re saying the temperature is registering 120 degrees on the field! Great DP – now if they can just get a couple more runs the odds are they win. Isn’t four runs the magic number?
man, jim palmer sure likes to blab and blab and blab.
MAKE HIM THROW PITCHES
Ichiro is in a massive slump.
After 6 pitches to Ichiro…. Lopez grounds out on the first pitch.
….
Ichiro, do you care that you are KILLING ME?
1st pitch swinging, and it was out of the strike zone. they need to start fining these guys for this nonsense.
In terms of pitching-taking and OBP issues…
M’s have:
-the 3rd lowest OBP in the league (.321)
-the 8th lowest P/PA in the league
-one batter in the top 30 for BB’s
Numbers like this make it hard to see the M’s as a real contender.
Are they allowed to fine players for poor performance on the field? I’d think that would be against the CBA.
12 pitches the whole inning, when it could have been more if Lopez just… I’m tired of talking about it.
128 – Behind closed doors, yes, it happens alot..
121: Plus, his nickname was “Cakes”
http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/palmeji01.shtml
so, coming into the thread late I learn that although Rivera is fat he makes Felix pitch better, and Ichiro! is in a massive slump.
ok.
There’s the “kangaroo court” and all that, but that is between the players themselves, not on a management level.
Where can you look up stats about batting average against a right-handed or left-handed pitcher?
If Sexson is indeed hitting .184 against lefties, maybe Perez should play first instead of DHing.
At the Break, Bloomquist was .328 against lefties, which might explain his place in the lineup, although I kind of like the thought that Jones may be suffering from his birthday party.
anybody else lose video on mlb tv?
[deleted, banned]
134, go to ESPN.com and go to Sexson’s player card then you can look at splits
Yea I am stuck on the “commercial break in progress” screen on MLB.TV
135-yes. dammit.
That’s the middle of the league; why bother listing it?
Where the heck did the 99 mph FB come from? Felix sounds like he’s dealing right now.
Well that was fast work.
Ok, it annoys me that that whole half-inning appeared in one fell swoop on Gameday, but hey, go Felix!
137,139: at least i’m not alone with this problem…
131-i wonder how that one arose? certainly not due to his love of confections. you can’t wolf down sara lee all day and then do jockey ads.
#119 I don’t think there is much hard evidence to prove the point one way or the other (Too little data). Sometimes you get a sense and an opinion by watching games.
Here’s some anectodal evidence if you want it:
June 11 vs. Angels (Rivera catching)
9.0 IP 2 ER W
July 3 vs. Angels (Kenji catching)
6.2 IP 5 ER L
Bedard has one more pitch than Felix through 5.
Hey, mlb tv is back! Yay! heh…
136. Thanks
Another walk for the “face of the franchise”
Leadoff Walk. This is very rare indeed for the mariners
140- I typed incorrectly, that’s for the whole league. There are only 3 AL teams with a worse rate (LAA, BAL, MIN)
Big Richie!
Sexson…
Add one more punchout on Sexson’s tab.
10 pitches before Bedard got an out this inning. Now that’s more freaking like it.
wow that was a strike
Well there’s the three walks. One more and I win.
Rene has caught Felix 4 times — a 7-inning loss (5-0), a 5-inning loss (4-1), the complete game win vs the Angels (6-2) and a 6.2-inning loss (4-3).
I can’t believe that Perlozzo took out Bedard to face Betancourt. Bedard was pissed!
He’s been hitless for two games before today. The five games before that, 9 for 20. So, a wee slump, maybe.
Ha ha ha! Julio Manon’s Gameday picture has a blue background! Never seen that before…
Sexson is now 2nd in the AL in strikeouts and 4th in MLB
#161– yah, if you take out the 100 degree weather games, he hit, what .344 for the last week?
152: Ah, thanks.
raul had a look on his face like he was truly suffering in the heat.
See… I know it’s the 6th, but I wouldn’t even have Rivera batting here…
Julio Manon (based on his picture) would make a fine Smoove B.
YAY, for clutch hitting!!
163-But he’s leading AL 1B in fielding win shares
I would not ask Kenji to catch the last four innings. Instead, I would look for a more capable back-up catcher.
I cannot even imagine what it feels like down on the field.
Clutch hitting? In the 6th inning?
This is one reason why “clutch” is a myth, friends. You create your own clutch situations in your head.
you mean a back-up catcher who would do more with playing just 6 times a month? Because I don’t see Hargrove changing his line-ups & usage….
I guess for me “clutch” is getting a guy in scoring position in with two outs in any inning. We rarely do it.
Does are 8-9 hole hitters look like a black hole they are hitting 389 combined..lol
They do have the day off tomorrow, and Johjima had a day off Sunday, right? I’d have pinch hit for Rivera. But the point that a more capable back up is a better idea is well taken.
Mark Lowe coming in very early.
Good move pulling KF out when the heat is clearly beginning to get to him.
Yikes! Speaking of Gameday photos, Lowe’s looks like an ad for a zombie movie.
No, really, this is a substantive post. OPS.
#136, sparky,
You really should run links like that through http://tinyurl.com/ before you post them and break the tables for everyone.
Felix coming out with no out in the 6th despite having a shutout and only giving up 4 hits. I can’t remember the last time that both starters were removed from the game in the 6th or earlier when they’d only given up 4 hits each. Felix was wilder than Bedard, who was trying to be too fine — a couple of the pitches in the walks to Ibanez and Perez looked like strikes.
I know it’s hot, but with 12 outs to go, what are the changes of us NOT seeing Mateo in the next four innings? Will it be Lowe, Green then Putz with Green being used even though he hasn’t pitched since being recalled?
159– Here’s his season line w/ Rene. Still it’s a small sample size. But certainly it doesn’t disprove my opinion:
IP ER SO BB ERA SO/9 BB/9
26-May 7 3 8 1 3.86 10.29 1.29
18-Apr 5 4 9 1 7.20 16.20 1.80
11-Jun 9 2 9 0 2.00 9.00 0.00
16-Jul 6.67 3 4 3 4.05 5.40 4.05
27.67 12 30 5 3.90 9.76 1.63
Any scoring opportunity in a close game is a “clutch” opportunity. Guys who get the job done early don’t have to pull the game out late.
Re Johjima: Capable in what sense? Pinch hitting?
Where’s Sherill against Gibbons, by the way?
Nasty 3-2 pitch for Lowe..
Who knows.
NASTY
B-E-A-UTIFUL! GREAT pitching by Lowe.. He really is somethin special so far
alright Lowe! DP!
Lowe does it again!*
*even though he let an inherited runner score
Mark Lowe rules.
The whole “no inherited runners scoring” thing was not going to last forever, but still a fine job by a top notch pitcher.
Vote Mark Lowe for god
woo hoo, thats a good way to get out of a jam.
interesting pre-game comment — as Soriano is due back at the end of the week, Drayer said she asked Hargrove if Lowe might have (paraphrasing) WallyPipped Sori; Hargrove said that he hadn’t passed Soriano, but had def. pulled even with him.
another question– why does everyone seem so stunned by Sexson’s strikeouts? He lead the league in them last year, and he has been in the top 5 pretty much every previous year — in 2001 he would have led the NL, but for the fabled Jose Hernandez… That is just what you get with Sexson, and we knew that going in.
Chris Britton’s picture on gameday is horrible.
It’s really not very hard to post embedded links (links that are part of the text, rather than sitting in one long line on their own.) Let’s see, does the “code” tag work here?
To make a link to USS Mariner's front page link to the text "USS Mariner front page", use the href tag like so:
USS Mariner front page
It will look like this:
USS Mariner front page
and he walks WFB on 4 pitches! WOW
Walk number 4. I win the over / under. =)
We done been ignited, yee-awl!
Britton is a strike-throwing machine.
How about that Chris Britton Gameday picture!
A walk to the Ignitor? He’s practically already scored!
Ichiro is due. I mean he was due yesterday.
Well, that didn’t work.
Mora has saved two runs in the last hour.. almost one helluva double play right there.
Ichiro can’t buy a base hit.
I’m getting really tired of all the webgems coming against the Ms. Thank goodness for Ramon Hernandez, though
did Bloomquist steal second on a pitchout?? LOL
Ignition by the ignitor
That’s what it looked like to me!
Grit steals a base on a pitch out.
Does anyone else hate the huge obvious mancrush Rizzs has on Bloomquist?
As Ichiro failed miserably to get him to 2nd base, the Ignitor does it himself…
For the record…I consider this a “clutch” at-bat if Beltre comes through.
Or, in that case, very “un-clutch” if that is a word.
Man, they got 2 score a run some where. Will a 1 run lead hold up with 3 innings to go?
If you want to demonstrate tags you can use & lt ; and & gt ; (without the spaces) to replicate the lesser-than and greater-than signs.
This post brought to you by my need to occasionally say something useful.
I’d have to say, despite it all, I still like our chances to score against Baltimore’s bullpen better than I like their chances to score against ours.
Nice pic, Chris.
Hooray for three digits!
Hopefully Lowe is out there for the next inning. Then Putz will take one.
So the O’s will have one inning to get it done.
According to the radar gun mark lowe just threw 102. The gun must be broken
102? Can that radar gun be right?
Mark Lowe’s Gameday picture looks like it was taken by himself up against the dug out wall.
The Orioles’ broadcast read it at 101.
I assume the gun is a little off tonight, since Felix reportedly threw at least a couple of pitches at 99. The heat must be doing something to the radar.
Thanks, Lauren!
Wow. That fastball on the corner.. Whew! I am a fan of watching Mark Lowe pitch What a gem!
No way he throws 101. Unless they are reading the tempature.
Gah, don’t walk Fahey with Mora and Tejada on deck!!!
Time to test Lowe again… See how he does when he puts HIMSELF in the jam instead of coming into a jam.
How does that happen. Pitch so well, and the one guy you don’t want to walk….you do. Bleh
Who we got warming up? Wait… I don’t want to know
#218– or check the handy guide at the bottom of the page under the ‘send’ bar
For whatever reason, the O’s announcers (listening on XM) seem to find it humorous as to how many times Chavez has trotted out to the mound today.
If (more like “when”) Lowe gets out of this, he’ll need to go down the records bureau and have his name officially changed to “Money.”
How often do AA pitchers get promoted to the Majors and do this well? Who had the insight to promote Lowe over all those guys in Tacoma? It really seems rather remarkable from a Scouting/Front Office point of view.
Yay groundballs!
Lowe with another scoreless inning.
Once again.. What great pitching. Lowe clearly just wanted better recognition and acclaim, so he wanted to get Mora out isntead of Fahey. It allll starts to come together now
So, who comes in to face Tejada, Gibbons, Conine in the 8th?
Thank goodness.
Lowe will go 3 innings today.
#241 – Why, Mateo, of course! Grover’s been waiting for the highest leverage spot in the game for him…
241 – How about Lowe for Tejada, then Sherill for Gibbons, and Putz to finish out the game? Wishful thinking probably
241
Excellent question. Anyone even thinking of Julio will be summarily executed, lol
235: True dat, but if you wanted to reinforce.
I would like to apply the <lowe> tag to many of our pitchers.
240 is exactly right. Imagine if Lowe was pitching against WFB with Ichiro on deck, He would hit him in the head and strike out Ichiro on three pitches, no make that two pitches because the umpire would be so intimidated by Lowe. He just wants pressure. Guys like Fahey and WFB are just roadblocks.
What just happened with Roberts?
235: That tells you what tags you can use, but not what they do.
241 – I could see Lowe and then Sherrill and then Putz in the 8th inning. Unconventional but very possible
“How often do AA pitchers get promoted to the Majors and do this well? Who had the insight to promote Lowe over all those guys in Tacoma? It really seems rather remarkable from a Scouting/Front Office point of view.”
Agree with you to a point. But his stuff is amazing and had to be noticed by someone. He can throw 96+ with movement and command, along with great change up. Hard not to notice.
No Broussard in this situation? Isn’t this why we have the lefty / righty masher platoon? Guh.
Gameday just said Perlozza was booted. Anybody care to clue us non-radio or TV folks in to what happened?
249 – After Lowe struck him out on an outside called strike, Roberts let the umpire know that he didn’t care for the call. Perlozzo got tossed after the inning was over.
we are being slapped around by 350 pound chris britton.
253, did hargrove fall asleep? anyone see any shots into the dugout?
Why was Perez still in there? Are there any tough lefties in Baltimore’s bullpen? I would have gone to Broussard, though it wasn’t the most important situation.
For what it’s worth, Tejada is better against righties than lefties this year, I might just bring in Sherrill for the whole eighth, if it were up to me.
tomorrow is an off day and Soriano comes back on Friday. We can extend Lowe today.
Can we try using Broussard at some point against a righty? At least make them bring in someone else
Why do we not see Broussard in that situation instead of Perez?
According to the O’s broadcast, Roberts was tossed as well. Perlozzo’s ejection obviously stemmed from the same strikeout.
Lowe it is.
re: Lowe, according to the Times on Monday it was Chaves …
“In reality, he came from a serendipitous visit Rafael Chaves decided to make on an off-day to see the San Antonio team.
“We were in Dodger Stadium in June when I looked at the schedule and saw we had the next Monday off with the team in Arizona, and I knew everyone would be playing golf,” the Mariners pitching coach said. “I thought it would be good for me to see some of the pitching on our Double A club and be good for the kids to see the interest in them.”
“I had heard he was throwing the ball good,” he said. “He picked up the save that night and he had tremendous stuff.” Chaves rejoined the Mariners in Arizona and reported what he had seen to manager Mike Hargrove.
“It was ironic,” Hargrove said. “I had been talking with Bill [Bavasi] earlier in the season, saying how much I’d like to have one more hard-throwing right-hander out of the bullpen. When Chavvy came back and told me about Lowe, I thought he might be a possibility.”
Well.. Hargrove is not asleep, I guess he will once again plead ignorance in regards to not bringing in Broussard. Fire. Hargrove.
Lowe has gone long enough, but with Sherrill coming in, won’t the O’s go to Javy Lopez or someone to PH?
Sherrill inbound.
Let’s hear it for Mark Lowe everyone.
261 – Maybe Hargrove is waiting to pinch hit Broussard for Rivera, then he could go with Kenji if the O’s put in a lefty. Its easier just to call the grover stupid, though.
Radio said that Roberts got tossed too, though Sportsline shows him still in there.
Well, looks like they didn’t counter with Javier. Go Gorgeous George!
And we do get inspired bullpen use! Wow!
269
That’s probably what he’ll do. But with Kenji obviously having to go in to catch, wouldn’t it be easier just to ph Kenji in the first place and not waste an extra player?
Well that was quick… Thanks alot Sherrill (PS, Look at 251
)
Cool, let Putz get the last 4 outs.
And now J.J. inbound.
Ladies and gentleman the one and only George Sherrill, lets hear it for him.
269 — We’ll see if that happens, but don’t hold your breath.
Another first rate outing by Lowe, even if he did let one inherited runner score. One question, though. The PI had a list of other rookies who also opened with a stellar succession of appearances. Other than Brain Fuentes, lost to Colorado for Cirillo, none amounted to anything, which isn’t a great precedent.
It seems like Lowe has legit power stuff…but again I’d love a separate thread that really assesses his potential, including as a starter
I vote the author of 251 for manager.
Holy poop! Perhaps we need to hyp-mo-tize Hargrove into thinking that Mateo has always just been used for the previous three days.
Three pitched to get the final two outs. Nice.
MSB – Thank you for the insights on Lowe’s promotion to the bigs
273 – How about 245, beat ya to it!
277 – I’m not, I’ll assume Hargrove is a moron until proven otherwise.
excellent bullpen management by Grover in this game. Going with Lowe in the 6th and leaving him in for 2.1 innings, than the 8th is Lowe v Tejada… out… Sherrill v. Gibbons… out one pitch… Putz v. Conine… out two pitches.
With nobody on and 2 out I can understand not going to Broussard. I doubt that was Hargrove’s line of thinking (for lack of a better word) though. It’ll probably occur to him on the plane home that he could have done it…
Did Grover just bring in Putz to get 4 outs?
Did someone fire Grover and not tell us?
Well, between the two pitching changes this half inning took four pitches for Lowe, Sherril and Putz. I imagine the game thread at the Orioles’ equivalent to this site might be steaming…
Unbelievable. Leaving Rivera in. Zzack, care to retract that comment?
#284 – but only because he’s used up his favorite toy the last couple of days.
does Hargrove understand anything about pinch hitting? God damn i swear he is retarded
C’mon, Willie. Get on base so Ichiro can start a hitting streak.
The clear lesson here is that Hargrove will never, ever pinch hit without a runner on base.
Felix Hernandez had 9 GB outs to 2 FB outs. That is very good to see.
288 – Hey I qualified it by saying he was stupid didn’t I. At least he got the bullpen right, today. We can’t have everything
Whew, our first hit since the 3rd.
I love it when they bring in lefties to face Ichiro. Doesn’t everyone know he has higher career numbers vs. lefties than righties by now?
Hargrove’s brain is so tired right now from having to manage a bullpen today that there is no humanly possible way we could expect him to do a good job with the pinch hitting situation.
Zzack, yeah, I was just kidding, though I misread the intent of your “easier to just call him stupid,” thought it was aimed at the complainers.
that’s good to see
YEEAAHHHH! ICHIROOOOU!
So, if there was less than 2 outs here, would Lopez be bunting against Ray?
(Can I make this work?)
How To Post A Long Link And Not Get Banned Without Using Tinyurl
Let’s pretend that the URL for the USS Mariner front page is obnoxiously long.
Okay. Suppose you want to post a link to the USS Mariner front page, but out of kindness to everyone reading the page after you, rather than leaving the link out there hanging in the breeze bare-ass naked, you want to make the words “USS Mariner front page” contain the link for the USS Mariner front page. You use the href tag:
<a href=”http://ussmariner.com”>USS Mariner front page</a>
And it comes out looking like this:
USS Mariner front page
(Did it work??)
I just want to say that if I were even just sitting in 115 degree weather my brain would have stopped about 2 hours ago.
Shucks, Oakland just took the lead. As much as I love to see the Angels lose, it would indeed behoove us if they won today.
Lopez has 10 assists today. What is the record for the Mariners?
I’m not sure. I think Oakland is the weaker team, so just because we don’t gain a game in the standings today doesn’t mean to me that it isn’t maybe better for the Angels to lose.
Way to go, Scraps.
I have a text file on my desktop with that very expression in it, should I ever need to use the href tag.
Now all we have to do is sweep the A’s this weekend and we are golden. Except we are 1-9 vs. the A’s.
Putz in.
Game OVER.
Ah, J.J. Putz it away again.
Man, he’s good. So is Putz’ only blown save since his reinvention that ridiculous thunderstorm in NY?
Wow. JJ is money.
Woo Hoo. That was a hang on game if I ever saw one. Game ball too Beltre and Lowe. and a quarter to Felix.
Nice work Scraps. Maybe we should make a posting FAQ….
Hooray! It is a good King Felix Day.
Late in the game fireworks in that OAK Vs. Angels game. Payton got beaned to load the bases and then started to charge the mound.
Whew! We’re getting to be real pros at this 2-out-of-3 thing.
Tremendous job by the bullpen today. With a healthy Soriano, is there any better pen in baseball?
Yes Felix pitched very well today, especially in such crazy weather. 9-2 gb-fb outs is very good for him.
317. The Chicago Cubs have a better pen than us. I live 1 mile from Wrigley and I see their games all the time.
Tremendous job by the bullpen today. With a healthy Soriano, is there any better pen in baseball?
Is Mateo DL’d or DFA’d in this scenario? If so, then yes.
320 – Yeah, hard to have the best bullpen in baseball when you’ve got Julio in there. Maybe with his new arm angle though… nah
I really doubt there is a bullpen that has three guys better than Lowe, Soriano, and Putz.
#311: It was a monsoon. And the umpires cheated in that game because it was the Yankees playing in The House That Ruth Built and NYC Rebuilt In Place. You’ll never convince me otherwise.
A’s/Angels are in HD right now on DirecTV channel 995 for those of you with the EI package.
I’d hazard that Putz’s blown save in NY was caused by more than rain delay. Hargrove’s usage of him in the preceding series was abominable (up and down over and over without getting live action).
In contrast, I would’ve used the pen almost identical today, given the climate and game situation. Since Toronto, things have gotten better.
I haven’t read all the entries today: did anyone happen to mention who the PTBL is for the Choo/Broussard trade?
Rain on the parade – according to mlb.com, Blanton is starting Sunday after all.
317. The Chicago Cubs have a better pen than us. I live 1 mile from Wrigley and I see their games all the time.
Yet Baseball Prospectus’s Relievers Expected Wins Added shows four Mariners in the top 42, and only one Cub.
Man, he’s good. So is Putz’ only blown save since his reinvention that ridiculous thunderstorm in NY?
Of Putz’s four blown saves this year, the first came in Boston on April 17th (my birthday), which is a weird blown save for him. The Mariners had the lead, he allowed the tying run to score, then the Mariners got the lead again, and Guardado gave up the homerun to Loretta to lose it.
The second one was bullcrap based on how the “saves” stat works. That was the game Washburn got the bases loaded with nobody out in the 7th, Putz came in and got three outs but gave up one run on a sac fly to tie the ballgame. Guardado lost it for Mateo in the 9th.
The third one is the infamous Yankee Stadium BS, and that’s not “blown save”.
The fourth one was legit. Varitek homers with two outs and nobody on to tie the ballgame in the 9th. Mariners won on a walkoff by Richie Sexson in the bottom of the 9th.
From the raves I hear, people are WAY too high on Lowe. I’m probably more guarded than most, granted, but this is much too soon to anoint him anything. First, I want to see what his next two months is like. Then, I want to see what the guy does over the course of a full season, and then I want to see him keep healthy at least halfway into a thrid season. Then I might get excited.
#224– word from Baltimore is it was not 102mph.
From the raves I hear, people are WAY too high on Lowe. I’m probably more guarded than most, granted, but this is much too soon to anoint him anything. First, I want to see what his next two months is like. Then, I want to see what the guy does over the course of a full season, and then I want to see him keep healthy at least halfway into a thrid season. Then I might get excited.
And even then, I’ll wait until he has a HoF plaque in Cooperstown before I will become excited more than not, and then only be excited for sure if he’s considered one of the greatest men to have ever picked up a baseball….
Just accept him for what he is — a hard-throwing guy in the mold of Soriano who can come out of the BP and get outs. There are a lot of these hard-throwing guys out there, for sure, but he’s doing a good job, and as long as he has a fastball in the upper 90s and a curve ball he’s going to have value as a out-getter.
I’m not going to throw $10M/year at him and call him the next Mariano Rivera, but he’s damn nice to have.
From the raves I hear, people are WAY too high on Lowe… Then I might get excited.
Before today:
Mark C. Lowe:
ERA – 0.00
FIP – 1.73
xFIP – 2.94
Considering his LD% is an average 19%, GB% is an average 42%, but his K/9 is 12 and his BB/9 is 3, I’d say that.. yes.. Mark Lowe will eventually give up a run or two and be worse then he is now. Small sample size aside, Lowe is damned impressive.
325
I gotta believe that unless Blanton is either in prison or hospitalized, he WILL take the mound Sunday.
319, if they do it isn’t showing up in their performance:
BP bullpen rankings by WXRL
Ranked 19th…
“From the raves I hear, people are WAY too high on Lowe.”
It’s MarkLoweMania. It’s unstoppable. You cannot deny the inexorable pull it has. Catch the Fever!
Good to see King Felix get his command back.
Good to see King Felix get his command back.
Sarcasm Police! You’re under arrest! Up against the wall and spread ‘em, and if I here one more ironic remark from you I’ll bust out the tazer!
336. What I ment was that yesterday he had a 53-35 strike-ball ratio while his last game was a 55-53 ball-strike ratio. (Kinda weird that he pitched the same amount of strikes two starts in a row, isn’t it?)
I think it just means he threw less balls, or non-strikes, as opposed to more in the previous start. While maintaining the same number of strikes.
In conclusion, this merely makes him more ‘ efficient’ from a pure numbers standpoint.
However, if you watched the game it was clear his control wasn’t great and he got crossed up with Rivera WAY to many times. Maybe it’s just a concentration thing, as he is only 20 years old.
I think it just means he threw less balls
Since proper grammar is one of the local house gods let me just point out the frequent missuse of ‘less’ and ‘fewer’ around here.
Getting it right is really very simple. When describing things that can be (and usually are) individually counted (like balls, strikes and fans at the game) ‘fewer’ is the proper usage. Thus, “Felix threw fewer balls and hitters swung at fewer strikes in a game where fewer fans showed up.”
However, if describing more indeterminate quantities, “less” is the proper word to choose. Thus, for fluid consumption (for example) at that game you would say “It being a cool day, Felix drank less water than normal and the crowd drank less beer. We know this because Felix went to the cooler fewer times and and we sold fewer cans of beer.”
There are a few areas where the usage can be somewhat confusing but for the most part following those basic rules will stand you in good stead.
For those who want a quick course in writing as if they were educated at a snooty east coast day school, the classic guide to grammar and ussage “Elements of Style” by Strunk and White is available online here.
Augh! Not the prissy and outdate Elements of Style, please! That book has done more to give half-educated pedants (not meaning you, my dear argh, and of course you’re right about fewer and less, for what it matters, inasmuch as losing the distinction doesn’t confuse anyone) a license to lecture than it has taught people to write well.
You’d be better off, in my goddamned opinion, with Fowler’s Modern English Usage (also outdated, but far more comprehensive and sensible). Unfortunately, I don’t know of a good modern book on style, although for grammar you can’t beat Karen Elizabeth Gordon’s The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed.
“outdated”. sigh.
Heh. I always recommend Strunk & White to the uninitiated not because it’s so good but because it’s so unintimidatingly short. And there are a few useful points in there, still.
My personal favorite for in depth coverage is Lunsford’s ‘St. Martin’s Handbook’. I picked up a older edition on the dollar table at B&N a few years ago and it’s very good.
342: You’re getting on people for less/fewer mistakes and yet you don’t know the difference between a/an?
So shoot me for the typo. Just do it fewer times than you would for someone misusing ‘less’ and ‘fewer’, please.
344: Agreed.
As long as we are on the subjects of grammar and word usage, I recommend thisinformative and invaluable resource.
That criticism of Strunk & White is dreadful. Characters in works of fiction cannot be held up as examples of excellent grammar. There is no reason to believe that those characters speak well.
And “I could care less” is a mystifying mistake. It’s a direct contradiction of what it’s supposed to mean.
I highly recommend Eats Shoots & Leaves as an introduction to proper English grammar. It’s an entertaining read and it covers all the basics.
Failing that, copy Charles Dickens. That man knew how to wield a comma.
This thread must be dead.
Auugh, Eats Shoots & Leaves is even more full of received misinformation handed down by self-appointed authorities and never questioned: another great prop for pedants who enjoy correcting people, but lousy on actual history of usage and genuine effective writing (in my, as always, goddamned opinion). It is entertaining — so is The Elements of Style — but neither of them have the grace or (crucially) the perspective and humility of Fowler.
You’re right about characters in fiction, but the author’s criticism of Strunk & White still looks good to me. But then, it wouldn’t be necessary to get excitable about Strunk & White if so many people didn’t treat it as a reference book — an authority — which it manifestly is not.
Criticizing “I could care less” is one of those hobbyhorses that baffles me. Idiom is almost always non-literal; the chances are that a person who says they could care less — but probably not much — is being more literally accurate than the person who says they couldn’t. In an case, people use expressions like that constantly without being scolded; it’s just that pointing out the “error” in most idiom never becomes trendy enough to be a step in someone’s superiority dance.
My favorite recent example is the people of older generations who get worked up about “It’s all good,” but use “All right” with no self-consciousness at all.
I, um, love language. Sorry.
Tell me again why you showed up at 10 in the morning for a thread that started yesterday before noon?
I’m sick!
I am more concerned about Doyle’s 238/350/366 line than I am about these minor points of language usage.
I can think of a situation where “less balls” would be the correct usage.
Eats Shoots and Leaves commits more errors than it does correctly-fielded chances.