Game 59, Mariners at Padres
DMZ · June 10, 2007 at 11:59 am · Filed Under Game Threads
Happy Felix Day! 1:05.
I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but this (and Felix’s next start against the even weaker Astros lineup including the shell of Biggio) are a fine time for him to put up some great numbers. Mix pitches early! Seriously! It’s the key to life!
Faces Chris Young, so I’m looking forward to a great pitching matchup, though looking through past game threads, it looks like hoping for great pitching matchups rarely results in them. Still, I always enjoy looking forward to seeing Felix.
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I think something like “Happy Felix Day?” would be more appropriate until he gets back on track. It’s certainly a better reflection of my feelings.
A pox on your house Gerald. Felix rules!!!!
I’ll give him a ! for every groundball and subtract a ! for every flyball. That seems to me like the best way to gauge whether he’s back.
As long as we don’t have to see Raul lunging toward any fly balls, Beltre bunting, Davis pitching, Kenji not sliding, or Guillen in a fog, then we’ll win easily
To truly contend we need Felix and the bullpen to be great, Washburn to be good, and Batista, Baeck, and Weaver/Feirabend/HoRam to be adequate.
Lets see the real Felix today!
Is this game on TV? Channel?
ch.11, according to my magnetic schedule
I hate the Angels so so much.
Burke in the lineup, so no Kenji non-slides. Standard day-after night thing, but a little “rest” is probably justified anyway. And Burke knows how to bunt, which is always a good thing when playing the NL.
#6: Depends on where you are and what you’re watching. Comcast here in Portland has it on Channel 3. The CW. Maybe they’re reaching for the teen audience.
This is a good pitching matchup. We’re just lucky the M’s managed to miss Peavy. The FIP leaders (qualified) go Peavy, Beckett, Bonderman, Penny, and Mr Young here (ahead of Haren). The M’s better take advantage when they can, and try to get to that bullpen again.
And elsewhere RJ is facing Dice-K. Not a bad Sunday for baseball.
MSB – finish our mrs. reynolds last night?
#10. Chan 11 is the CW in the Seattle area (at least OTA). As in the past few years, they have a contract to broadcast some small number of M’s games that aren’t handled by Fox/FSN or ESPN.
Is anyone watching this thing on TV about Kenji? I was surprised to see that he likes his pitchers to pitch good games. I was also really glad that the woman had to demonstrate the difference between over the top and sidearm…
Mix pitches early, mix pitches in the middle, mix pitches late. It’s the key to life and it’s called keeping the hitter guessing.
mix drinks later…
Why do we have to wait to mix drinks? Its Felix Day, let’s all celebrate!
13. ‘Small number’ seems like a lot when you’re in a cable lineup that no longer gets KSTW. Seems like it’s about one game a week. *bitter, bitter*
Dammit, not only are the Angels losing, but no one in the WC race.
Bloomquist in the lineup at 3B again. Beltre must still be hurting. I’m worried this is going to turn into a problem all season — and just at the time when his bat starts to heat up. Plus we’re going to miss his defense. Grit is no substitute.
We’ve never swept our hated rivals?
that should be the Angels are *not* losing, and no one else in the WC race.
Maybe I do need to mix some drinks.
The Wild Card race is only going to get hotter, because the Yankees are on fire.
22 – can you not say things like that so I’m not tempted to try and burn my computer screen? Please?
Games on the CW: five in April, six in May, four in June, four in July, five in August, six in September. So, yeah, about one a week. But it’s still only 30/162 =
If the Mariners win 85 games and miss the playoffs, does everyone get to keep their jobs? I think so. I wonder what minimum number ownership would be satisfied with.
And I wonder if the king will show us why he wears the crown today.
Thanks all…I’m in Seattle…I guess I should have made that clear. Looks like CW is it.
Happy Felix day everyone. Here’s to grounders and knee buckling curves.
GO M’s!!
OK, this is the first Ms game I’ve seen with my new HDTV… I thought everything was widescreen?
How oh how are we going to be able to tell where the pitches are located without Joe’s Tracer?
Cardinals pull ahead of the Angels!!!!
SD has Happy Star pitch locater.
Albert Pujos just hit a 3 run jack to put the Cardinals up by 2 over the Angels. Da*n, can those guys lose once a while?
Are the Yankees on fire because they all deserve to be in hell?
Just a thought. Scarcely an original one either. I think there’s a musical about it.
Did you guys notice that the Padres are now the number one team on the “power rankings” on ESPN…and that we’re about to sweep them at home?
Well, the M’s have been on fire so far this month too. It just hasn’t seemed like it because the Angels and A’s (and Yankees) have kept pace. This shows how nice it is to get an early lead in the pennant race, so you have some breathing room later. Just ask the Red Sox. Or the Brewers (who, by the way, now actually have a worse winning percentage than the M’s, despite leading their division by 5 games. Wouldn’t it be nice to play everybody in the NL Central except the Brewers this year in interleague? Oh, hey, wait a minute…)
Can anyone tell me why Bloomquist is playing? I thought Beltre was OK.
How much of Chris Young’s success is Chris Young and how much of it is Petco? He’s got a good Krate but he’ll also walk guys with pretty extreme flyball tendencies. This seaso he has an insane HR/FB ration and he’s had some pretty high LOB% the last few seasons. To me he’s a good arm that has benefitted significantly from his environment as well as some decent luck. Would he look more like a league average arm if he played his home games in GABP or Comiskey?
OK, this is the first Ms game I’ve seen with my new HDTV… I thought everything was widescreen?
Lucky you. The CW broadcasts are all SD only, sorry. The FSN home games are HD; everything else is a crapshoot.
33 – Damn Yankees – 1954 I believe, maybe 1955. Adler and Ross show. Choreographed by Mr. Bob Fosse. It’s not really about how they deserve to be in hell though, it’s more that this guy who is a fan of the Senators sells his soul to Mr. Applegate (the devil) so he can beat them.
Time to bring the goods Felix
38 – What Comcast plan has FSN HD?
My TV is reporting the broadcast as 1080i, but clearly it’s not
Albert Pujos just hit a 3 run jack to put the Cardinals up by 2 over the Angels. Da*n, can those guys lose once a while?
The M’s kept the Cards from making a big contract mistake this offseason. They owe us. (Though perhaps the Curse of Spiezio outweighs all).
38 – and don’t be impressed, it’s a 20″ TV I got from Woot!
looks like a lot of fastballs to Giles
I still remember the days when Weaver and Byrd were the top pitchers during the trade deadline.
33
The Yanks feasted on a miseable ChiSox team, an even worse Pirates team and caught Boston during a pretty bad streak too. Oakland manhandled the Red Sox too, didn’t they?
Yanks are definitely playing well, but haven’t faced too tough of a test lately, have they? I mean the Pirates have blow a lead in every game, I think.
Gerald – did he lose a ! for the walk?
Felix didn’t exactly hustle there.
Jose Guillen has looked AWFUL the past 3 games. Truly horrible. How long can Dudley keep him batting third?
That was more like a splitter than a slider the way it dove.
Unless you’re Julio Cruz, you need to go change your display name.
chucking four seamers in a fastball count is not a brilliant strategy. What’s up with the 2 seamer?
6 straight fastballs to Giles for the walk. Awesome.
That’s the Felix I like. K on an unhittable ball, then turn a 2-0 into a 3-1 groundout.
You’d have to talk to Comcast. I just know what their press release said. HD tends to be limited geographically by the physical plant (ie whether or not they’ve upgraded the pipes in the ground, etc) and when it comes to sports there’s contract complexities, too. If you’re not in the immediate Seattle area you might be SOL, I don’t know. Don’t forget the HD channels are separate from the standard ones (more than once in a bar I’ve had to tell them to tune up to 600 whatever because they were showing the SD version on their spanking new plasmas).
Waaah. I want to SEE this one.
50 – I’ve been seeing that slider and thought splitter all year. Whatever it is, its a pretty nasty pitch when he puts it on that corner to a lefty.
BTW, if he’s Julio Cruz, I’m Darrell Waltrip, posting from the Pocono 500.
Young seems to have a really easy going, nonchalant delivery for a guy who’s the height of a house.
55 – yeah, Comcast is weird that way.
Verizon FiOS or Fios or FIoS or however they capitalize it is supposed to be coming to my neighborhood soon. It will be nice to choose.
Hargrove is apparently a big believer in allowing hitters to “battle through” their problems (see also that little horror flick “Richie Sexson and the Line of Mendoza”) so I’d expect we’d get to see Guillen suck for several weeks before he did anything. (Can we have another one of Hargrove’s kids graduate or get married or something so MacLaren can come in and do smart things with the lineup again? Note that Hargrove is still batting Lopez 2nd).
gotta hand it to Giles…nifty play!
LAA just got a run they are only loosing by 1
I’m sorry if I offended you Derek. I’ve used this screen name for years. Julio was my favorite Mariner when I was a kid. Thanks for the warm welcome to the board!!
Beating this guy isn’t going to happen with 9 pitch innings, that’s for sure
I was sad when I had to change my alias from “Austin Kearns, International Man of Injury.”
Is it just me or is Cammy looking gaunt?
Never mind. I’ll just go work on my book project: “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball, Part II”
I trade Felix for Chris Young right now. Maybe you can get Khalil with him. Deal.
Welcome Julio! I don’t think Derek’s offended – it’s just against the rules he set for his site. Also – don’t call it a “board.”
Here’s the rule from the “Comment Guidelines” link at the top…
“Fake names are fine. Offensive names and assuming the names of public figures is not, and will get your posts and account deleted. If you’re famous and want to use your real name, email us, and we can work something out.
In particular, pretending you’re a current Mariner player/coach/front office member is not cool. That includes taking their nickname. No “Felix Hernandez†no “King Felix†or anything. If you pick an obscure former non-M’s player, it’ll probably take us a lot longer to get around to asking you to change, since we have more important things on our plates.”
Hate!Greene!
Its called “sitting fastball”
Note to Burke and Felix…ignore Chaves.
The 3rd base ump has used a lot of conviction during his last two calls (Didn’t go in the bottom of the first, did go in the bottom of the second). I bet he’s making it up as he goes. There’s probably gonna be a pattern. Next one is safe… next on is not…
Julio was my favorite when I was a kid too, so welcome. But see the note on “Identification” in the guidelines. (A friend in college used to call himself Cruelio Juze, but then he was a NY puerto rican jew)
So who’s on the All-Spicoli team? Greene, of course. And Eric Byrnes (who somehow has his own fansite). Watching the A’s yesterday it looks like Travis Buck belongs. Who else?
Felix coming up to the plate soon…how has he done at the plate so far in his career?
Ignition!
When he says one of the things Willie does is hit and run… Does he only mean one of those two? Cuz I’d pick run, personally.
C’mon felix, drive one in!
This is why I like the DH.
Nice!
1/5 all time! Go Felix.
Felix!
Felix RBI on a 2-strike bunt!!!
80… Felix did better than Vidro would have.
Better then Beltre did…
King Felix RBI?
Haha. I so wish I could see Felix running the bases. Carefully.
It’s always good when the pitcher gets a hit or RBI; makes the other hitters try harder.
…or at least that’s what I hope.
Felix’s BA is officially higher than Sexson’s.
88- Ichiro fielder’s-choiced Felix.
Once again, Ichiro’s selfishness shows through.
Seriously, Willie did try hard on that one.
Way to go, Willie!
You are not good Willie Bloomquist.
Does Ichiro stay in his own hotel on the road?
If only I could have seen where that high pitch was ACTUALLY located… but alas, Joe’s Tracer is not here today.
How is Ichiro selfish on that one? He took third base when it was evident Bloomquist was gonna get out. If anything that was a good move for the team, now he is only 90 feet away.
Damn, I was wrong. Only our pitcher showed the grit to get in a run!
97… I wasn’t serious; I was mocking the occasional column or KJR rant about Ichiro!
Spiezio with a two out double!!! 9 – 5 Cards!
Mmmmmmmmmmm, two groundouts.
Spiezio (??!?!?!?) just homered to put the Cards up 9-5 against the Angels…
Oh wait… Homer by spiezio, someone after him must have doubled.
Well, two ground balls, three outs.
sitting here with my buddy who is a cardinals fan…he’s talking about how much money spiezio is…
Also note that Jered left the game after three innings with a stiff lower back. Bad weekend for Weaver spines, I guess.
102 – It’s about time he came through in the clutch for us.
Awesome. King Felix is responsible for the only Mariners run so far in this game. And he just turned a kick-ass double play.
What’s hilarious about the Spiezio HR is that Carrasco had just struck out Pujols on 3 pitches.
I don’t know if it’s accurate, but according to the online gamecast Felix seems to start every hitter off with a fastball off the outside corner. I’m not sure if you can call that ‘establishing a pitch’ when it’s a ball in the same spot every time.
106 — That’s an awfully odd coincidence.
110 – we can’t tell without Joes Tracer. :’(
The Padres pitcher is newspaper headline gold: C Young.
not only speizio, but franklin was pitching some good relief…two former Ms helping us out today vs. the angels….
I don’t know if it’s accurate, but according to the online gamecast Felix seems to start every hitter off with a fastball off the outside corner. I’m not sure if you can call that ‘establishing a pitch’ when it’s a ball in the same spot every time.
No, no, no.
He’s announcing his presence with authority!
106. “Also note that Jered left the game after three innings with a stiff lower back. Bad weekend for Weaver spines, I guess.”
Why am I suddenly seeing the two of them going out Friday night and doing some weird sort of surfer dude dance that led to back strain? Something totally groovy.
Aaaaand just as everyone’s talking about ex-Mariners helping us out, Cammy goes yard.
Darn, knew that was gone right away.
Dammit Cammie. I love you, but not when you hit a HR off of Felix.
If someone is going to hit a homer off Felix, might as well be Cameron. Sometimes I still wish he had an M’s uniform on.
Watching the Diamondbacks-Red Sox game at the same time. Randy Johnson against Dice-K, great matchup.
Argh.
Bad Felix is in da house.
Only sometimes you wish? We’ve never adequately replaced Cammy’s glove or bat.
Settle down, Felix.
This is what happens when you start behind on every hitter.
Doesn’t matter, Cammy wouldn’t have caught either one of those.
Felix getting tendinitis or something?
Damnit Felix!!! C’mon man, bring the good stuff.
Are we purposely trying to come from behind nowadays?
Randy has 4 Ks, 2 shy of tying Clemens again.
we’re losing because the angels are…fucking bullshit…
Isn’t Slege used to be a Mariners too?
So is Chavez to blame for Felix establishing the 88mph over the plate ball?
124: Never adequately replaced his .250/.340/.444? He’s great and all, but the bat isn’t Cammy’s strong point
Felix through 4: 6 hits, 3 runs, all earned, two home runs, 63 pitches.
Weaveresque.
And Willie ignites a double play.
“The more playing time he’s had, the more productive he’s been”. This is similar to the process by which a grocer loses a dollar a pound, but makes it up on volume, right? Willie: .616 OPS, 71+ OPS.
Nice gritted into Double Play.
#136 You forget that Weaver has been pitching better than Felix over the past 2 weeks.
An OPS of nearly .800 for a CF in Safeco is pretty damn good. Cammy was a strong hitter. We’ve been over this a thousand times: look past the strikeouts, which don’t matter.
I think Felix has the best plate discipline on the team
Look at Felix battling.
I know people love to hate Arod, but if he hits 63 HRs this year will people argue that he’s the legitimate season record holder? I know people were having that discussion with Ryan Howard last year…
Randy has just tied Clemens again!
144-
The record is 73. By no means am I a Bonds’ fan, but the record is indeed 73. People dismiss Bonds and his accomplishments because he’s such a jackass to everyone, but his records are as legitimate as anyone’s.
A right hander hitting 63 HRs with half his games in Yankee Stadium? Tough to see. And the Yankee fans will argue that none of them mattered anyway.
Can 5th inning Felix go back and pitch the 4th again please.
Looks like everyone is frustrated with the calls behind the plate today.
#146 I don’t dismiss Bonds’ accomplishments because he’s a jerk. In fact, I was rooting for Bonds when he hit 73, but when the evidence started piling up with regards to his HGH use that’s when I changed my view.
If I were fortunate enough to catch his 756th home run I’d store it in my house and not sell it or donate it to the HOF until he admitted to his steroid use.
146: Bonds season HR record is as legit as Ben Johnson’s win in 1988 Olympics game.
132. you don’t think that the mariners losing has anything at all to do with felix giving up 2 hr’s and chris young authoring another strong performance at petco. another typical comment from bako the clown.
Adam Jones: 4-5 a triple and 4 RBI
Also the pitch before the Homerun to Cammy was not only strike three but Cammy also swung.
How many HR did Bonds get because of stuff he used? I need an exact number here.
#154 I’d assume at least 30. Look at his career numbers, he hit over 50 how many times in his career?
Wow, that was fortunate for Ichiro.
154 – ESPN.com did a pretty interesting analysis on that a while ago – looking at how performance enhancers would likely affect his power, his recuperativeness, even his confidence, etc. Interesting food for thought.
The real problem with invalidating Bond’s record is, then, who is the real record holder? Is it McGwire? Sosa? I think there’s little doubt they were both using something too. Roll it back to Maris? Throw out all stats since 1990?
Sadly there’s no easy, good answer.
Also, for decades MLB players have been poppying amphetemines too boost their performance, which are also illegal. Where do we draw the line on what is a valid record?
So wait, we’re wiping away all the players who hit over 61 home runs, then? So that’s McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds? For those of you who don’t respect the record, don’t you have to eliminate all three.
I’m sorry to add to this, personally I’d rather see this discussion center on the game of today.
Anyone remember when McGwire was supposedly only taking Andro? Well, even Andro was illegal in Canada, which means that the Blue Jays and Expos players at the time were at a disadvantage.
I hate losing to a 6’10″ soft throwing rightie with child bearing hips. Really quite annoying.
#144 when it comes to the NYY I root for 3 things this year:
-A-Rod hitting 75HRs.
-Clemens winning all of his starts.
-The NYY missing the playoffs by several games.
I think all those things would be good for baseball.
#160 Yes, I’d erase all 3 of them. But anyway, what inning will we get some runs this game? It seems we like the 7th inning lately.
I’m sure I’m going to curse him here, but why is Felix always a much better pitcher after he gives upa a big inning?
C’mon M’s. The Angels lost today.
So you’re sure it’s not 29, or 31, then? I’m not saying you’re wrong; I’ll defer to your superior medical knowledge. I’d just like to know for sure. I’d like to know which ones, too. You can’t just take away the biggest record in the sport on speculation. What are you planning to do, go back and take 20 feet off of all his fly balls? Or just on certain dates, or what, exactly?
When do we get to see Adam Jones up with the big club. He is just on fire.
4-5 a triple and 4 RBI’s today
Randy is in 2nd place for all-time Ks once again!
Also anyone notice that they changed Felix’s setup in the windup. Before today he would have his hands together at his belt and than pitch. Today he has his hands at his face and than pitches. The Marienrs might have felt like he was tipping his pitches.
At least the King is eating some innings.
168 — does Adam Jones play any other positions other than CF? If not, we won’t get to see him unless Ichiro leaves (which is unfortunately a very real possibility). Or unless someone gets hurt in the OF.
Hopefully we can get something off of Young here as he gets close to 100 pitches.
Not how you do it Yuni…
great at bat by Yuni…
#167 Here’s the article that someone else mentioned previously: http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hruby/060512
Adam Jones could left field right now
Having RJ and the Rocket both pitching this season with their K stats so closely matched is pretty interesting. Nice of Roger to take those half seasons off so Randy could catch up.
Jones plays the outfield. He could replace Raul (yes please) or Guillen (as long as he continues with the problems he’s having lately). But if they called him up now, odds are Hargrove would just swap him for Ellison, which means he’d basically rot on the bench.
Jamie Burke the greatest bloop hitter of all time.
Giving Vidro a run for his money on cheap singles.
This Burke guy sure can hit
Bud Black just went out to the mound to tell Young that, “Bloomquist sucks”
Reminds me of when Ryan and Carlton traded strikeout leads for a couple of seasons.
Broussard’s about to go deep…
Way to take one for the team, Ben
or not
Deep tissue massage to get ride of that pain?
DOH! That leaves me at .500 calling BB’s ph blasts (I was in Anaheim for his shot earlier this season and called it)
He’s had good success against Ichiro today, I’m sure he just wanted to face him instead.
Nobody in today’s Padre lineup has a BA over .300. Lopez has now dropped to .299, but the M’s still have four players over .300. Although, granted, one of them is Felix who’s at .500
And Burke is small sample size too.
So close.
ICHIRO!
ICHIRO!!!!!!!!!!!
Son of a bitch! Rizz is getting as bad as Dave for those calls that makes your heart leap…and then crash.
OOOOOOO… Burke was soooo Out. Wow that was a lucky lucky play.
I’ll take it!
Bad call but I’ll take it!
BURKE NICE SLIDE!!!!
Jamie Burke, ladies and gentlemen. Greatest backup catcher in the history of baseball.
I’d just like to remind everyone about my comment at #164…
I’ll take it, but I don’t know…
BURKE! The best slide ever!!!!!
That was one of the best plate slaps I’ve ever seen.
Looked like a good call to me.
must be the 7th inning…
My god, would Garcia send a three-legged donkey home on a shallow fly?
Not that it didn’t work this time.
Not a bad call, he was totally in there. You couldn’t ask for a better throw than that, either. He just beat him.
So Burke is the greatest bloop hitter of all time, and now juding the votes so far, the greatest plate slapper ever.
I was just about to comment that I thought Beltre or Ellison should have ran for Burke once he got to second. Any thoughts on that?
Thought he was out on first look, but on replay, Bard whiffed on the first tag…didn’t actually touch him until after Burke hit the plate. Tough call, and GREAT call.
#205 Wow, that’s hilarious. Still got me chuckling about it.
The Padres announcers can’t believe the call. Looked safe to me.
Can we get a petition going to give all of Jeff Weaver’s money to Burke? At least half right?
This talk of wiping home runs by used/accused/suspected steroid users is impracticable, unenforceable, ridiculous. Please knock it off.
One of the best throws in from centerfield I’ve seen and incredibly tight call at home. I’ll take it.
Marco Fucking Scutaro homers to off Cain to give A’s 1-0 lead in 8th.
Yeah, I think the replay vindicates the ump.
I thought he was out on the play as well. But good call by the Ump after seeing the replay. Go M’S!
Wow, Royals 17 and Phillies 5? Is there another Weaver brother?
And just like that, Win Probability goes from 75% Padres right back to 50-50. It must be really depressing to be a Padres fan this weekend.
Crap, Scutaro HR just put the A’s up 1-0 in the 8th.
I’m just as confused as Sledge. How the hell did those crummy pitches strike him out? Reitsma likes it up in the strike zone.
Batista warming up
how much better does the mariners pen get if reitsma is worthwhile ?
no more sean green in the 7th when morrow needs to rest.
batista in the pen ? is grover planning ahead ?
Post DL Reitsma seems much better, he must have had an actual injury.
ESPN.com has both Griffey and Bonds listed as weighing 228 pounds. Does anyone believe that? Bonds looks quite a bit heavier.
Breaking news: Player reported weights, heights often not representative of actual weight or height. Outraged fans call for Congressional investigation.
Dave Sims just said “natch”. That’s the final straw.
If Batista throws is that a possible Weaver to the DL with his back injury and Firebrand gets called back up?
DMZ – lol. I remember years ago getting a Frank Thomas baseball card that had Griffey’s weight/height/handedness on the back of it. That was slightly amusing.
Jose! Congrats you are 1-13 on the series.
224, Griffey is 2 inches taller, BR has him listed as 205, but yeah, Bonds looks heavier.
weaver is still listed as the starter on thursday at wrigleyville
231- Batista still slated?
232. batista vs sean marshall on wed.
Padres announcers are saying Batista is just doing his daily throwing routine.
He plays to win, but he doesn’t try to do too much.
Hitting 8th, batting .417, JAMIE BURKE!!!
Yuni has seen a grand total of 6 pitches in his 4 at bats today…
Burke was destined for this AB. More then Raul was the other night.
#237 Lauren needs to have a talk with her man!
lol bhs, I hope you’re right this time.
How much worse do you guys think our record would be if we’d been marching Rivera out there as a backup instead of Burke? Such a nice upgrade.
fuck you sims and your dunkeroo
1-0 Beavers!!! Yay local team!!
The destined for line is done, 0-2 is enough.
padres announcer don’t know what they are talking about
Randy has 9 Ks in 5 innings against the Red Sox. Something tells me that Sportscenter won’t be drooling over his performance like they were with Clemens. I guess 7 Ks and 3 runs allowed against the Pirates is rather impressive though.
batista?
Batista? Am I still watching the M’s game?
Wow Batista is coming in, to get his off day work in. Saw one of the NYY pitchers do this earlier this year.
Why is this dude in the game?
Relievers are burned out.
no, i don’t think this is so he can get work in, i think grover is afraid this one might go on & on and he doesn’t want to use up his bullpen
I like using starters as RPs on their throw days. Why not, right? I think a smart team would do that to add another bench bat, defensive whiz or pinch runner to their bench. This, I’m pretty sure, is just an accident or something…
#252 Well by putting Batista in it appears the game may not go on and on…
Is Hargrove on the take?
Note to M’s: when I joked the other day that you looked like you were going to a no-starter, 15-reliever rotation, I WAS JOKING.
I guess Weaver is considered solid now.
WTF? Batista??? Is our relief corps that burnt out?
With a 7 man bullpen, this should NEVER need to happen. WTF?
This is only game 3 of a 10 game stretch, we need our relievers. The move is defensible.
Supposedly the Ms broadcast team told the Padres broadcast team that this is partially because of the Indians game tomorrow. Also, if the Ms would’ve taken the lead in the top of the 8th then Morrow would’ve come in.
good call BHS…especially since he got out of it…WE NEED TO SCORE!
#258 It’s defensible now that the inning is over.
I love the ******** and moaning about the move to Batista but no love when it works out perfectly.
Interesting to see a move by Hargrove that is simultaneously thinking outside the box and incredibly robotic. Nice pitching by Batista though.
Willie and Vidro! USSMariner is excited i’m sure!
Terrific move..why the heck not? He was gonna throw anyway…I love it.
Way to hustle Wille Ballgame!
Nice hussle!
Get outta the way 1st base coach! Thats an extra base.
Vidro is PH?
A boot and a bunt! couldn’t have gone better for those two!
Boy, our hitters strike terror in the hearts of opposing third basemen.
Goff didn’t help, stopping the ball, but I’ll let him off because it was deflected.
PH bunt! Sweet.
Make ‘em pay, Jose
Woh, Turbo couldn’t leg that one out? Took his day off a tad to literal.
Double steal?
C’mon Lopez.
Rizzs would call that a gritty-money bag
WILLIE!!!!!!!
What a player…He would be worth 2 million in the national league
Willie!
Gritty! Ichiro needs to take off now.
Whoah. Nice, Willie.
Huh, the single steal, interesting concept. Was that a free Willy decision? Free Willy, I like that.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Yeah Lopez!
god i love this team…
run willie run!
Ichiro trying to get Vidro’d?
Good enough for now.
Wow, that was a big, big steal by Bloomquist. Very impressive.
Putz closing today even after throwing 35 pitches the last two days?
Who’s closing out the game now? Morrow?
Niehase belatedly realized a run scored. Good times.
Scoring a run that way solves my fantasy dilemma – I have Hoffman, but his stats will not hurt me – 0 WHIP, 0 ERA.
This is so incredible: A team that succeeds very much in spite of its manager.
Putz is so awesome.
Putz tells Padre batters to shut their mouth when they are talking to him.
Putz looked tired the last time out. I wonder how this will go.
So far do good.
Is it too early to start talking about pitchers to target for a trade? Was kind of browsing through the cellar dwellers and had a couple of ideas.
can we gain on the angels?
The Mariners have nothing to trade. One, we’re not dealing the players that other teams want; and two, nobody wants the players we should be trying to get rid of.
If Woody Woodward was running this team, though, Adam Jones would be gone by July 31.
We gain a game on the Angles and get our half game back on the Tigers WC lead.
oh yeah baby! I heart Putz!
M’s win! First three-game sweep of the year?
I’ll be damned. Weird feelings, unfamiliar ones — is this “happiness”? Is this “hope”? This was a helluva game.
booyah!
Fangraphs…good looking graph today
Not even fair; he’s just untouchable.
7 Games above .500?? I think I see Ichiro leading off for us next year already!
So a Matt Morris trade by the deadline would be out of the question you think 302?
chris burke ? san diego broadcast is pretty sharp today
An 11th inning win and two come from behind wins. Exciting series (well, the way it turned out). I remember at the beginning of the season one of the things the Ms had going for them was that all the other teams in the division looked like they had serious problems. Now it looks like we are in maybe the second toughest division in baseball behind the AL Central (althought Angels lost). But Sexson, Ibanez and Vidro can all hit better so maybe hope springs eternal?
305- We swept KC 2 weekends ago. But this was a real team so it feels better.
Hopefully this momentum takes us into Cleveland for a W, catch another half game on the Angels and the Tigers. By Tuesday night we could have a share of the wild card lead!
As of today the M’s win percentage projects to 90 wins over a 162-game season. Just want to throw that out there. Do yourself a favor and don’t look at what the Angels’ record projects to, just enjoy it!
I love that shot of Putz giving Burke some noogie love.
and we’re getting national coverage…gammons was just on espnnews talking about how we are now scaring people and are going to give the angels a run if we get quality starting pitching…
Awesome. Just awesome.
I love this team.
I love this team. I still hate this manager.
We’ve played 5 fewer games than the Angels? We still have a ton of games to make up. You can tell the team is playing confident though and not worrying about if they’re behind by a run or two.
Since Grover got back from his little trip either he got smarter or his moves just seem to be working. I am taking the second one, but I will take luck any day.
APBs have just been issued for Tim Belcher, Andy Benes, Terry Mulholland, Doug Strange, Alex Diaz, Vince Coleman and Bill Risley ….
Weaver, HoRam, Baek, Ferraribrand (I’m on my 2nd drink and I’m not even trying) Batista…. quality starting is a lot to hope for. Still, I’m enjoying the ride.
The Angels offense is no great shakes; the A’s is worse. There’s no reason the Mariners can’t make this season more enjoyable than the last three combined.
Further proof that Pat Gillick is completely insane: After putting Freddy Garcia on the DL, he just filled the roster spot with …
… Jose Mesa.
gaslampball.com
Pad’s fans are ready to embrace the “rivalry” after this weekend. I think Mr. Z was egging them on too.
Great game. Still, using Batista in the 8th was odd. Reitsma had last pitched on the 6th in Baltimore so he should’ve been good for two innings at least.
and Mesa gives up 2 in 1.1 innings in the 17-5 loss to the Royals.
The M’s should have used Ellison on the mound … he was 20-0 career as a starter for South Kitsap.
isnt it at least nice to know we dont suck? i dont know how good we are, we’re probably not a 90 win team with this SP, but isnt it nice to know we dont suck?
I would rather use Scott Elarton as my closer than have Jose Mesa anywhere in my area code.
325- I like their game thread title with the “Damn Mariners”
The M’s have the 3rd best FIP in the AL, but the 3rd lowest LOB%. If that LOB% regresses to the league mean we are in business big time! No reason we can’t catch the WC easily or the division title.
Something no one has mentioned is that Yuni’s hit streak is now over. I vote that Lauren’s new unofficial should be Jamie Burke. He’s a bit older, but he sure can slide!
Suck on that Padres! That was a great game and series.
I was particularly pleased with Felix’s performance. He may have surrendered some homers but…
Innings: 6
Ground Outs: 9
Fly Outs: 3
Two of those fly outs were in his last inning and at least two of the hits he allowed were ground balls.
Felix earned a bunch of !!! today.
I’m glad everyone knows that Ichiro is God. MY friend from NYC: “He’s going to make a great Yankee.”
The 2 teams with the highest LOB5%?? LAA and OAK. Those regress to the mean also and we are in good shape.
Does Oakland EVER friggin lose? Sweep SF, and are getting Harden back. As good as the Mariners have been, theyve gained nothing on Oakland.
Oakland has gained nothing on us, bet they are pissed too.
#325 Haha, there are some good comments over there. My favorite was: I HATE THE FING MARINERS – GO BACK TO YOUR RAIN YOU AHOLES.
I’m starting to feel a rivalry now. Three 1-run games, what more can you ask for? We’re now 9-7 in 1-run games.
yeeeeeaaaaah!! what a great day at the yard. i got heckled by Padres fans as usual but it was good natured and we got the sweeeeeep… just a couple questions:
what in god’s name was Miguel Batista doing on the mound on my Felix Day?
why does G. Cleveland insist on catching Burke on those night/day starts despite needing him to handle Felix? he should never have given in to Sledge with the pitcher spot coming up.
so stoked overall. did Bloomquist steal 3rd on his own? Ichiro! looked shocked. guess is should look through this here game thread…
needing Kenji, i should’ve said. beer(s).
and interleague play is awesome, so who does espn run out for the Sunday night game? the only NL game, Cubs-Braves. stupid f-ing Bristol.
Wow, another great game…and another 1-run M’s win to complete the sweep…topped only by the Angels losing, too!
One thing I have to wonder, though, is why don’t they utilize Burke sometimes at DH instead of Vidro? Burke’s swinging too good a bat right now not to utilize him more often, and instead of taking out Johjima, why not platoon Burke at DH with Vidro? Seems like a good way to get the guy swinging a hot bat as many at-bats as possible, no?
so much for the AL West being the “weakest” league.
#339 The best part is the fans on that site act like they have some superior team down there. The truth is we are 9-3 against the Padres over the past two seasons. Right now we could easily make a case the M’s would own the NL West if we played in it.
Kinda funny that Batista gets the win.
That is hilarious he gets the win, almost as good as O’Flaherty’s 1 pitch win Friday night.
I think it’s better, since he is a starter and he didn’t start.
why yes, yes I did. you know, she was all naked … and articulate.
based on a very entertaining novella called The year the Yankees lost the pennant, and featuring some fine ballplayer dancing
I think Jamie is my Back-up Boyfriend.
local guy John Moe takes advantage of his national radio gig to do a story for Weekend Edition about Jamie Burke
Anyone notice the article in the Sunday Times by a sports writer we thought was gone for good?
Is he undead?
As to the interesting use of Batista on his bullpen day… just checking the Mariner bullpen and appearances and IP in last 7 days (on ESPN, I assume this does not include today):
Davis: 2 games, 2.1 IP
Green: 2 games, 3.1 IP
Huber: 2 games, 4.1 IP (to DL)
Morrow: 2 games, 2 IP
O’Flaherty: 3 games, 1.1 IP
Putz: 4 games, 4 IP
Reitsma: 1 game, 1 IP
Sherrill: 3 games, 1.1 IP
Doesn’t strike me that any of those guys, possibly excepting Putz, is overused. A couple of them could probably use some work. So I don’t think the Batista thing was absolutely necessary, but perhaps it was a good thing. Hargrove is a little overcautious sometimes with his relievers.
I think Bloomquist stole third on his own.
They showed Grover in the dugout and he was yelling about something. Maybe he was fired up by the ignitor, or maybe he was upset that WFB was running in the situation (that seems unlikely), so maybe he was upset about something unrelated. Maybe his pizza order was late.
They showed Grover in the dugout and he was yelling about something
He hates it when he’s woken up in the middle of a game.
Further proof that Pat Gillick is completely insane:
Don’t you get the feeling Gillick is the Disco Stu of GMs — his brain stuck somewhere in the late 90s? If a name comes up from his days with the M’s, he grabs it no matter how little sense it makes. It’s like he’s certain he was smarter than everyone else then, and despite all evidence to the contrary (and the fact all these guys are now almost a decade older) he’s going to take another opportunity to prove it. I’m sure if Buhner and Borders unretired he’d sign them too.
I vote that Lauren’s new unofficial should be Jamie Burke. He’s a bit older, but he sure can slide!
And bunt. Dude can bunt too, don’t forget. And he hits a little.
Yeah, Lauren needs to give the whole cougar thing a rest — however briefly. The danger with switching to Burke, however, is that we could be witness to an exact Bull Durham re-enactment.
oh, sadly, I knew it wasn’t for good — they had a note online that he was just on leave until June 10th.
And he came back with a column just chock full o’ wacky humor.
i don’t know how to link on this mf, but Gaslamp thinks we’re like, a Rival! au natural. http://www.gaslampball.com/story/2007/6/10/185942/896
‘I will not stand for getting swept by another one of our rivals…’
Watched the game on UPN 11. Gotta say, Bloomquist is pulling his weight (great steal), Burke is pulling his weight (great slide!), everyone is contributing. Felix was OK, certainly not the dominant pitcher we saw in his first two starts this year, but good enough to keep us in it…just like…Jeff Weaver(!!??) was yesterday. This sweep was a true team effort. Now lets get one out of Cleveland.
No reason we can’t catch the WC easily or the division title
Dude, this team once won as many games as any team in the AL ever did, and they couldn’t “catch the WC easily.” If it was easy to catch, they would’ve got one sometime in the last 30 years. It’s not easy. It’s never easy. Grabbing a wildcard or getting out of a 4 team division is one thing; the postseason is something else. Not trying to harsh your mellow or anything; I’m pleased with the way this team is playing too. But the 2001 team had better pitching than this one and it let them down in the postseason. Of course any team can catch fire and whistle their way through October — just ask Miami. But it’s never easy.
Anyone notice the article in the Sunday Times by a sports writer we thought was gone for good?
Yeah, and he managed to suggest Hargrove deserved “Manager of the Year” in the first couple of paragraphs. Good to see the time off hasn’t harmed his cluelessness. The less said about that column the better; the last thing we want is to encourage more of them.
WC = Wild Card, I think you read WS
The best thing on that padres fan site (well, other than all the hollow boasting followed by semi-articulate expressions of pain and rage) is the picture of the Mariner’s cat. (Scroll down). Cats in hats are funny in general (just ask Dr Seuss) but that pic in particular is hilarious. And a little disturbing. Suggested caption: I don’t know what a “padre” is but I think I just ate a whole team of them. Tastes like chicken.
#315 Zero Gravitas Says: As of today the M’s win percentage projects to 90 wins over a 162-game season. Just want to throw that out there. Do yourself a favor and don’t look at what the Angels’ record projects to, just enjoy it!
“SG” over at the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog has a handy dandy table to calculate the “Pythagorean winning percentage of the team…to determine [theoretically] how many wins they should pick up over the remainder of the schedule.”
The Mariners currently stand at a possible 87 wins using that calculator. Either way, it’s a winning season.
The M’s are 3 wins, zero losses back of Detroit for the WC (with Oakland right on their tail).
Would now be a bad time to mention the shock that I felt when looking at Greg Dobbs’ line with the Phillies this year? .284/.325/.541(!!!!) in 109 AB’s thus far.
WC = Wild Card, I think you read WS
Yeah, I did, sorry (actually I read it as “World Championship” since my brain wouldn’t parse it as anything but World something). In that case, yeah, you’re right. And after that, well, who knows. The good thing about there being two good teams (and possibly 3) in the AL Central is they may pull each other down. Plus the M’s get to play the NL Central in interleague, but miss the Brewers. Who are the class of that division… and yet are on the verge of getting swept by Texas.
Bautista deserved the win; he was robbed the other night.
This is the first time the M’s have swept the Padres in San Diego? Ever?
Beware the, uh, moose!
363 This is further evidence (Spezio and Weaver being more) that it is easier to succeed in the National League.
Looking at the schedule for the next 13 games: besides the makeup game at Cleveland tomorrow, the other 12 games are against NL central and east teams that are WAY under 500. The M’s need to at least go 8-5 in those 13 games to get to 10 games over to have a chance to make the playoff. The rest of the schedule are pretty tough. These 13 games will make or break the M’s season.
I am just counting tomorrow’s game as a loss to CLE. The M’s will need to go 8-4 against the NL teams.
I love the Mariners, but I am a Cubs fan first and foremost. I live by Wrigley Field and will be at Tuesday’s game. That’s the first time the M’s will play at Wrigley. Not to get too much ahead of myself, but the Cubs are a better team than the M’s.
Based on coolstandings.com, even though the Cubs currently are 6 games below 500, they have a 56.8% chance to make the playoff, more than 3 times as likely to make the playoff than the M’s, who’s at 18.1%. Also, based on RS/RA, the Cubs sould be 33-27, 6 games over, where the M’s should be 31-28, 3 games over. So clearly, the Cubs are the better team.
366: i’ve been going to these games since they started playing interleague, and this is definitely the first sweep here. don’t think they had ever swept them period, actually.
‘On a sunny Sunday afternoon, they hung in against a starting pitcher that has the lowest home ERA in the Major Leagues, overcame a two-run deficit with another productive seventh inning, used Friday night’s starting pitcher as a reliever in the eighth inning of a tie game, stole the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth against history’s only 500-save closer and handed the ball to their own dependable game-ender to put a bow on the Interleague series.
Add it all up, and what the Mariners received was a 4-3 victory over the Padres in front of 35,950 and the first three-game sweep by an opposing team all season and the first-ever for the Mariners in San Diego.’
pretty damn cool.
‘Based on coolstandings.com, even though the Cubs currently are 6 games below 500, they have a 56.8% chance to make the playoff, more than 3 times as likely to make the playoff than the M’s, who’s at 18.1%.’
lies, damn lies, and statistics. Cubs 3x more likely to make the playoffs as the M’s? that make sense unless you, like, watch baseball.
#372: here is the link: http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_standings.asp?i=1
The reason Cubs under-performed so much was because they are 3-12 in 1 run ball game, which is about to go 3-13 now. We know this type of thing will even out over the course of the season. Winning 1 run game, which the M’s do really well, while the Cubs do poorly, isn’t a repeatable skill.
This recent hot streak, particularly the sweep in San Diego, shows that the Mariners can play something resembling championship level baseball. All of a sudden my 80-1 bet in Las Vegas in February that this team will win the World Series does not look so crazy. Maybe Grover was right: that this team has talent on a par with his AL Championship Indian teams. Let’s keep in going.
Pardon me: Let’s keep IT going.
#373
Basing projections for the rest of the season on just the Pythag theorem is crazy.
The M’s are no longer the team that started the year (thanks to injuries beyond Hargrove’s control), whereas the Cubs are still floundering.
Cubs by month:
10-14,12-15,5-5
Mariners:
10-10,16-14,7-2
And one run games aren’t entirely luck. Quality bullpens help that a lot.
Question of the night:
At what point do I go from rational skeptic to curmudgeon for insisting this team doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting out of the first round of the playoffs?
I’m not quite a fan-tanker, but all this unlikely winning is creating, in my opinion, the illusion of a team to really be excited about.
I don’t mind asking myself this, because less than a month ago I would’a swore we didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of even making the playoffs. Don’t get me wrong…this team is actually fun to watch right now, and I am grateful for that at least. Nevertheless, we sure look like the ChiSox team we swept in the first round of the ’01 playoffs, no?
The ’95 M’s provided one the most exciting sports experiences ever and never gave the impression of being dominant. At some point you have to put aside all the skepticism and just enjoy the ride.
Here’s me in the M’s 9th:
– Way to get on board, Bloomy.
– Bunt by a pinch hitter? RETARDED!!
– Of course they walk Ichiro…Nice Call Hargrove!!
– OHMYGODWHYAREYOUSTEALINGTHIRD??….YES!!!!
– DON’T SWING AT THAT CRAP JOSE!! YESS!!!
I would have enjoyed the inning a lot more if I was a completely ignorant fan.
I’d guess that over a large enough sample size teams tend to win one run games at about the same rate that they win the rest of their games.
Also I’d take issue with: “We know this type of thing will even out over the course of the season.” Umm, that’s optimistic. We know they should, but that’s not the same as saying they WILL.
Here’s a note from Rob Neyer’s blog from last year: “But this season the Royals are 10-18 in one-run games. Call that bad luck if you like; just remember that over the previous 10 years the Royals had the worst record in one-run games in major league history, and they’re doing it again this year.” http://www.robneyer.com/robrany.html
All the same, power to the Cubbies.
SMB – that was 2000 and that White Sox team one over 100 games that season. Of course their rotation went something like James Baldwin, Cal Eldred, Jim Parque so maybe their eventual collapse should have been expected.
And didn’t the umpire fail to notice Carlos Guillen step on home plate while executing the suicide squeeze that won Game 3 at Safeco?
“won over 100 games”, not “one over..”.
What a goof.
#370 – brian_sun:
Those are useless stats. I have watched the Cubs more than any other team this season, since their games, unlike the M’s, are on a channel I receive. The Cubs stink. They’ve had a couple big blowouts, which skews their runs scored/runs given statistic towards the former. Most of their pitching is inconsistent, and so is their hitting. If you watch the Cubs you’d realize there’s no way the Mariners could even be considered to be worse than them.
I just read the game threads for the last two days in their ENTIRETY. Does that make me an obsessive USSM fan? Mebbe so. Or maybe it’s just becaue this weekend was an absolutely incredible display of clutch hitting and somewhat clutch pitching (bullpen). And winning the Weaver start was downright miraculous. I oculdn’t watch today’s game because I was at my son’s Cub Scout picnic, but I snuck away to listen to the later innings (I just knew it would be another good game). BUt unfortunately they started the special ceremony right as the Ms ninth was starting. Came back in 30 minutes or so and heard Rick Rizzs utter those two sweet words: “Mariners win.”
What a weekend. What a team. Don’t pinch me, please, because I don’t want to wake up.
oh, and I just wanted to get the last word in on this thread
#370
Sorry, but that is a pretty bad argument. I am not necessarily saying that the Ms are better than the Cubs, but bringing up stats which are highly dependant on your league/division (like RS/RA and Playoff %) is a very bad idea. No offense, but most people believe that the NL central is the worst division in baseball by far.
Winning 1 run game, which the M’s do really well, while the Cubs do poorly, isn’t a repeatable skill.
Uh, no. The M’s are 9 and 7 (.563) in one run games, which is exactly in line with their winning percentage (.559) — it’s not something they do “really well.” There’s no skill here to repeat: the Mariners are doing exactly as you’d expect.
Not to get too much ahead of myself, but the Cubs are a better team than the M’s. Based on coolstandings.com…
Hoo boy, I knew Cubs fans were delusional (how else to survive as a Cubs fan?) but that’s some seriously stretched logic.
Cubs vs NL East: 9-13; vs NL Central: 13-15; vs NL West: 3-5 (including 1-2 vs SD).
The NL Central, which has only one team over .500, as a division is 31-39 (.443) vs the NL East and a woeful 25-52 (.325) vs the NL West. The Central is inarguably the weakest division in the NL, and the Cubs are under .500 even there. The Cubs aren’t the strongest team in the NL Central; the NL Central is weaker than the NL West; the Padres are the division leaders in the West; the Mariners just swept the Padres.
All coolstandings.com is telling you is that the Cubs play in a weak-ass division. Look at it this way: you have a much clearer path to qualifying for the Winter Olympics if you’re Jamaican than if you’re Austrian, but that says nothing about who is more likely to win gold when the Jamaicans and the Austrians go head to head.
Now, I suppose you could try to argue that even the weakest division in the NL is stronger than any division in the AL, but the history of interleague play certainly doesn’t support that — including history as recent as this weekend. Texas is inarguably the weakest team in the AL West, and they just took two of three from the only team in the NL Central with a winning record.
Of course the Brewers don’t appear to be the team they were a month ago, and maybe the Cubs are getting it together (though losing 5 of the last 10, maybe not). Yeah, the Cubs figure to win a few more one-run games — but there’s no reason to expect the M’s will start losing more of them. Yeah, the Mariners are certainly not a great team: they have a rotation with more holes than arms, they’ve been lucky, and they often succeed in spite of their manager. So, yeah, anything can happen in a three day series, especially for a team playing for the first time in a stadium as quirky as Wrigley. But there’s no way you can argue that the Cubs are a better team than the Mariners. And neither ESPN nor SI think so either.
“To tell the truth, I’m not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to,” Ichiro said through an interpreter. “If I ever saw myself saying I’m excited going to Cleveland, I’d punch myself in the face, because I’m lying.”
i love that guy.