Game 138, Mariners at Tigers
Bonderman vs Woods, 4:05 pm.
Jeremy Bonderman has two knockout pitches, throws a fastball with movement, and has harnessed his command this year while turning into one of the elite pitchers in the game. His reputation hasn’t yet caught up with his abilities, but he’s easily capable of winning the Cy Young award next year. There are basically no flaws in his game.
Jake Woods, on the other, is pretty lousy.
And then, there’s the line-up:
1. Ichiro, CF
2. Snelling, RF (/end normalcy)
3. Betancourt, SS – No, I’m not kidding.
4. Ibanez, LF
5. Sexson, 1B
6. Broussard, DH
7. Johjima, C
8. Beltre, 3B
9. Lopez, 2B
Adrian Beltre is, apparently, getting punished for his ridiculously awful approach at the plate yesterday where he was even swinging at the throws back to the mound from the catcher. It was ugly to watch, but lets be real, he had about 40 of those games in April and May. And really, hitting Betancourt third, I mean, I don’t know what to say.
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126 Responses to “Game 138, Mariners at Tigers”
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Huh??? Why on earth is WFB going in for Doyle?
That new guy at SS needs to learn his position better. That’s 2 horrible plays in the last 15 minutes 😉
OMG, Bloomquist substituted for Doyle on defense! WTF?!?
Alright, Willie Ballgame! His very presence out there is enough to get the team fired up!
(pleasedon’thitittowilliepleasedon’thitittowillie…)
101. to ignite the defense. Duh
101. Because Willie’s Hargrove’s little princess.
With Grover’s demented beyond reason logic, he’ll remember WFB’s four hit night and bench Snelling for the rest of the month for his 0-5 performance tonight.
Princess Willie. Of course.
Re: #104-107
Bah! 🙂
103. They’re just protecting Doyle from injury.
110. I wish it was they were trying for Willie to get an injury.
marbledog: that’s a lot of working out for a blown season. I don’t know if I can handle the fitness.
But you’ll be Lauren, toned chick.
I think I vote for Willie on defense for a half-inning, over Doyle slipping around in a wet outfield…
or Lauren, Aching Chick.
or Lauren, Travis Chick.
Oh, my toned and aching chick…
I think I vote for Willie on defense for a half-inning, over Doyle slipping around in a wet outfield…
That’s an excellent point. In fact, given the standings, I’m fine with Hargrove sending Bloomie out into the minefield in place of Doyle anytime the conditions are treacherous.
Did anybody get a count on how many times Rizzs mentioned Bonderman’s place of origin?
That would require me actually listening to Rizzs, which I’ve been avoiding on the advice of my doctor.
Wouldn’t that require one to listen to Rizzs on TV for one half and then switch over to radio to catch him there? Too much for anyone.
I love the M’s but this is one game I wanted them to lose. I wanted Woods to be pounded to show the front office he shouldn’t be in the starting rotation next year. I wanted the lineup to severely struggle so Hargrove’s inept construction and mis-handling of the lineup could be shown for what it was…crap.
Instead we have to go and get the W. Now Hargrove can say to himself “Well, by golly gee-whiz. It worked. I’ll have to try that again, although with Bloomers in there instead of that strikeout machine Doyle* so we can ignite some more gritty runs!”
*disclaimer…I love me some Doyle.
I don’t know if someone’s mentioned this yet, but I think it bears mentioning that not only did Hargrove offer an explanation for this lineup, he actually suggested that he’ll try it out for a few days. I mean, jesus god.
From the TNT:
“Yuniesky has been as consistent as anyone this year, and he wants to learn – this is a chance to let him try something new,†Hargrove said. “Adrian the last week or so has begun chasing pitches out of the strike zone. He’s a good hitter, a productive hitter, but sometimes he’s his own worst enemy.â€
Betancourt began the day batting .301, Beltre at .259. How long will the change last?
“It’s day-to-day,†Hargrove said. “You can’t score runs unless you get on base, and the top three hitters in our lineup now – Ichiro, (Chris) Snelling and Betancourt – do that regularly. So we’re going to take a look at it.â€
And also from the TNT:
“We didn’t try to force things with men on base, we let things happen,†Hargrove said. “You put the ball in play, swing at strikes, good things happen.â€
Good news, however: Kenji is excited about touring Japan with the MLB.
I apologize if this was covered in the comments, but did the M’s pitching look as good in the 2nd through 9th innings as the Tigers’ box score would suggest? I’m a Tiger fan and was at the game in far away upper deck seats for the first four innings and heading home when it picked back up after the rain delay, so it was difficult to tell if the Tigers were getting themselves out or falling victim to good pitching. I suspect the former, but was looking for input from somebody other than doomsday Tiger fans.
Also, I didn’t get home in time to see Andrew Miller. Did he look as good as they made him sound on the radio? The Tiger announcers were describing almost every strike as either on the corner, at the knees, or both.
As a sidebar: Is anyone else concerned about Jose Lopez’ lack of power in the 2nd half of the season? I started looking at his splits and it’s pretty drastic:
Lopez pre-AS: .280/.316/.454
Lopez post-AS: .278/.311/.308(!!!)
Lopez had 36 extra base hits in 350 AB prior to the All Star Game (roughly 1 XBH in every 10 AB). Since then, he’s had only 5 XBH in 169 AB (roughly 1 XBH in every 34 AB). He went through the entire month of July with 0 XBH and he had a sub .600 OPS in July and August.
Does anyone have a theory or explanation for this loss of power? Is it simply fatigue? Is his approach at the plate different? Have opposing pitchers found (and subsequently exploited) a weakness? Is there cause for concern?
I too have been concerned about Lopez’s recent lack of power. One observation i made was a few games ago when WFB was playing second they showed Lopez sitting on the bench and he had his thumb wrapped.
Remeber right after the break he hurt his thumb and had to sit out for a about a week? Could his thumb still be bothering him? I’ve heard of catchers taking a foul tip on the hand that puts them into a month+ long slump….Could this be a case of injury fatigue?
Keep in mind this was one observation with no other information supporting this.
#122– I want Joh to rest this offseason.