Game 60, Mariners at Indians
DMZ · June 11, 2007 at 3:05 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Baek v Byrd. 4:05, FSN.
This makeup schedule is just crazy. There’s no good way they were going to re-schedule those games, but I can’t imagine there wasn’t a less-bad way. And to think that this was a compromise! Ugh.
Anyway, the Indians are 37-24 and the M’s are 33-26. The M’s are on a ridiculous tear, and the Indians are playing well, but not as well. Go team.
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so, think Baek is feeling like Groundhog Day?
I mean, I know he hasn’t pitched every game in Cleveland, but it sure feels like it.
So what’s the deal with this doubleheader on 9/26? If it’s going to be a straight doubleheader, it might be worth taking a day off of work. If nothing else, it’ll be weird seeing the M’s be a visiting team at the Safe. I think they should go all out and have the scoreboard root on Cleveland and give the Moose an Indians jersey and so on…
NO. SEATTLE
1. I. Suzuki, CF
2. J. Vidro, DH
3. J. Guillen, RF
4. R. Ibanez, LF
5. K. Johjima, C
6. B. Broussard, 1B
7. A. Beltre, 3B
8. J. Lopez, 2B
9. Y. Betancourt, SS
NO. CLEVELAND
1. G. Sizemore, CF
2. J. Michaels, LF
3. C. Blake, 3B
4. T. Hafner, DH
5. J. Peralta, SS
6. R. Garko, 1B
7. T. Nixon, RF
8. J. Barfield, 2B
9. K. Shoppach, C
Looks like Broussard gets the start at first and GIDP-Turbo DH’s and is batting… second.
We should be able to win based upon Byrd’s MLB photo alone.
Oh, Grover, Grover… You just learned that Lopez is a good #2 hitter, remember?
Was Cleveland the team that Baek faced when Grover left him in too long?
(I know, be more specific)
He was left in after he loaded the bases with no outs in the 7th or something like that I think.
ah, but Byrd is Out For Vengance after losing both the no-no and a win.
Glad to see Beltre back in.
I think Grover had a few lineup cards already printed from a month ago. Or this is the lineup from the cancelled game in Febraury.
maybe he thinks that as it is a make-up game he has to use the same line-up …
According to espn it’s for the 6/11 game.
*shrug* Yahoo has the same lineup posted.
Hope to get a good outting from Baek today. Bullpen could have used the off-day….
The Indians just got punked by the Reds. I’m calling a sweep for the Ms….
Mixing threads a little here, but since Ichiro’s in the lineup this should be reasonably on-topic.
My son and I had great seats yesterday at Petco – about 20 rows behind home plate just to the 1st base side. In the 7th you could see Young getting antsy with 2 runners on – it did not look like he wanted to be left in there. Buddy left him in to pitch to Broussard, and you could sense the unease from the fans around us. When he hit him on an 0-2 count, 3 or 4 Padres fans shouted, in a decidedly un-San Diego-like tone, for Black to pull him. Much muttering and grumbling ensued.
When it became evident he was not leaving the game Young seemed to become even more antsy. His body language all but screamed “Get me out of here!”. Right before the 3-1 pitch that was laced to center to tie the game, the tension was palpable – it’s like everyone – Mariner fans, Padre fans, even Young – knew what was coming.
When it’s YOUR team that delivers the coup de grace, as opposed to being the deliveree (as has been typical for the last three years), in a hostile environment no less, it makes the all too frequent suffering worthwhile. And having a guy up there who you KNOW can deliver the knock-out makes it all that much more fun.
Re-sign Ichiro!
just as i was thinking that grover learned something…lopez switched with vidro…WTF?
Oh, Grover, Grover… You just learned that Lopez is a good #2 hitter, remember?
He wasn’t grounding out to second enough.
There’s a hit
AGH! Reitsma is out again?
GUILLEN!!
just read we called up woods to replace reitsma.
This team is fun to watch
take those hits and shove them Byrd.
I hope Joh ages well.
give the Moose an Indians jersey
That’s a great idea. I’d attend that game. Give him a feather to stick up between his antlers too. Heck, the Indians should have [i]their[/i] mascot fly out for that game. (Do they still have that mascot, or did political correctness send him to the happy hunting ground?) Actually, screw that, they should invite the Duwamish nation to come (they could bring a canoe and be the “Indian Mariners”) — maybe we could get them to uncurse the field while they’re there. All kidding aside, the M’s should have a “first nations appreciation day” — sorry about taking your land, but you can visit it once a year for free.
AGH! Reitsma is out again?
Yup, he plays once every 10 days. It’s still better than Carl Pavano.
love woods…was money for bakersfield college…
Since it is an Indians home game, It should be “Major League” themed. Give out Wild Thing glasses. Make Morrow wear them
Cubs place Aramis Ramirez on the DL
Guess we wont be seeing him.
You lose a ‘u’ for being slow Rauul.
hey bako clown . . . 2 good comments, a treat.
my guess is they won’t release doubleheader times until they determine they can’t do a day-night twinbill.
it was cleveland, when hargrove left baek in to pitch the 7th, with m’s down 2-1, tribe scored 2 off of baek in 7th, then o’flaherty let one more of baek’s runners to score.
25. GREAT idea! I can sit in the CF bleachers and scream BACK UP THE TRUCK! BACK IT UP!
Knock off the name-calling, please.
This inning’s been ridiculously unlucky for Baek, it’s enough to make you wince.
Baek always looks like he’s giving birth out there.
from gameday, looks like he also gave up a couple hard hit balls.
It’ got to be a split doubleheader, doesn’t it? I mean…all the Cleveland Season Ticket Holder’s flown in at the team’s expense have to take their newly assigned seats…right?
-sarcasm
Yup, the Indians are looking very comfortable at the dish tonight.
At least take some pitches, Yuni!
Don’t give Byrd a
Cubs place Aramis Ramirez on the DL
If you believe the rumors, Dunn could be traded by the time Cincy gets here too.
I bet that deep fly looked like it was gone on gameday.
29: maybe we can get Dave Niehaus to revert to mid 2004-esqe boredom for that night.
did baek just survive his one “big inning” per game ?
I missed the weekend games…did Yuni’s hit streak end? At how many?
Yeah, looked like Raul robbed a homer, which seemed a wee bit unlikely.
Nah, that wasn’t a robbed homer. If there’d been another ten feet of distance on it it would have bounced off the wall.
Ichiro with the speeeeeed.
Just when I was grumbling about the M’s not seeing enough pitches, along comes Ichiro. You can always count on Ichiro.
Since Lauren’s not posting, yes, Yuni’s streak ended at 20. He looked like he was pressing and had forgotten the lesson that hitting first pitches generally leads to outs.
Vidro’s power is astounding…
Unfortunately you can always count on Vidro also.
Does it make me a bad person that the reason I have been looking forward to Interleague play was because it meant Vidro was out of the lineup?
Good to see Yuni get another hit. What do you think the odds are that the Mariners will get a walk today? Byrd’s given up only 4 walks in 64 innings this year. Not bad.
Yuni went 0-4 yesterday, ending his streak at 20. But hey, Felix got his first hit and RBI.
The Cleveland guys just said “If you didn’t know who Ichiro was, and you were in the Mariner’s dugout, you’d think he was the bat boy.”
I hate to lapse into on-line slang, but
WTF?
Regarding gameday: How close are the gameday pitch locations to the actual locations?
50. I think they mean because he’s so weeeee…so unlike that scary hulking Hafner, who I feel should be wearing an Alley Oop costume.
Wow. Who are the Cleveland announcers?
That reminds me of the time a few years back when Harry Caray, in his senile phase, was announcing a Dodgers-Cubs game with Hideo Nomo on the mind and started rambling about how small Japanese people are. And he made the comment “you know, you never see a fat Jap”.
Hideo Nomo on the mound, not on the mind. That reminds me of the song “Nomo on the mind”…
Yuni got skills
“If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself? I would.”
My Gameday’s doing weird things, so I switch to Gamecast, and this thing’s great! With the little ball moving around, I feel like I’m at the game, and the little message bar at the bottom provides insightful facts such as batters’ averages on certain counts and that the “incoming pitch has been hit in play”.
Anyone think its funny that the right side of the infield is covering more ground in the OF then Ibanez?
Wasn’t Nomo sort of big and round? *confused* Not that I should try to make sense out of this….
47 pitches through 2, the bullpen must be squirming.
If you were a hot dog being sold at the Cleveland ballpark, would you punch yourself in the face? I would.
Hey Juneau fan, do y’all get FSN Northwest over there or are you stuck with gameday audio like me up here in Prudhoe Bay?
I think the Cleveland guys just wanted to poke fun at Ichiro for his comments about the city the other day.
Don’t try to make sense of anything Harry Caray ever said.
Irabu was big and round. Nomo was pretty skinny, but tall?
And Guillen smacks one. That deserves a golf clap.
Is Junior coming back to Seattle? I haven’t heard….
62. I bitch about missing a game a week with KSTW, but I’d die without FSN Northwest. That’s just unamerican that you can’t get the games in Prudhoe Bay! You’re up there digging up our oil! Jeez, you can get the games in B.C., for gawd’s sake.
58. Isn’t that left field? I know they all run over to cover for Ibanez, but if Lopez shows up, surely something should be done about Raul playing the field.
sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
IBANEZ!!!! Two in 3(or 4) games!
+UUUUUUUUs
Raul’s bringing the power back.
Ibanez! Gamecast made that one fun to watch.
70. He is really earning his U’s these last few games.
Rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul!
LOL! the Cleveland announcers were just yapping about how Rauuul hadn’t hit many homers this season. Next pitch, dinger!
Nice call on the gamecast, got there just in time for that!
Maybe it was the shoulder.
47 pitches through 2. If Baek is going to go deep into the game, he needs some quick innings here.
The Mariners should consider this Michigan pitcher… just walked in a run. 3 walks and a hit batsman.
Ibanez, June: .343/.410/486
I was hoping a seagull would poop in his face while he was tracking that ball.
I read somewhere that Raul had only recently recovered from a shoulder injury sustained during Spring Traning. I don’t remember this being mentioned in discussions of his sudden loss of bat speed and power. Is it possible his shoulder is recovered and we hope for a return to something like the form he showed last season?
67. Down where my folks live in Palmer the CW11 games are broadcasted on FSN Northwest. The tv listings tell you it is something else but when you turn it on you get the game.
That bullpen’s a bit tired. Baek needs to give them some innings.
its early, but maybe he’s turning it around…
Lopez!
Lopez!!! More runs, more runs! Who knows how many it’ll take to win this one.
ok, a 5 run lead sounds like a relatively safe margin!!!
Gamecast!!!
Jooooooooooose!
This isn’t the Padres, Tak. Cleveland can freakin’ RAKE.
Hey Byrd – it’s a little tougher to throw a no-no when it’s above 32f.
64. I think you’re right, Irabu’s who I’m thinking of. Nomo wouldn’t have been able to do the Herky-jerky with a belly.
66. When *is* Junior coming back? Because, if I have to see many more of these ads, I’m going to go mad. I like how all the footage shows him in Mariners uni. Yeah, it’d be sweet if he’d put it on for the games, but he’s coming in on the opposing team! When he hits a HR, it’s going to be a score against us!
It’s sweet to watch Byrd be slapped around here. He was swearing revenge upon the Mariners for us breaking up his ‘no-hitter.’ Yeah, he’s lulling us into complacency, then his guys are going to come back and toast us…later.
They are wacking the ball tonight! One of those birds is going to get hurt.
88-
The indians can flat out hit…and we saw over the weekend that a light hitting Padres team could climb back from a 5-1 hole.
#91
unfortunatelly very true…
This is sillyfun. I can hardly believe it.
Why did FSN keep showing that guy with the cell phone after the home run?
We can ALL breath easier now:
“It appears that the back problem that ended Jeff Weaver’s Saturday start early isn’t serious. He said he was feeling better Sunday and should make his next start on Thursday, according to the Seattle Times.”
#96 There is also that inglorious day in 2001.
Whose throw day is it today? Unfortunatley, I think it is Weaver.
83. I wish. In previous years, sometimes the game would be on sometimes, even if the schedule said not, but now, it’s always jetboat racing or HS volleyball or bullriding. All so much more important to the viewing public than following our local* team.
*As local as we’re going to get.
Coming into the season, who would have honestly believed our offense would rake at this high of a level?
Did someone order a quick inning?
I know this isn’t breaking news, but the Indians’ logo is outrageously offensive. Seriously, how do they get away with that in 2007?
Guys, the Indians staged the greatest comeback ever in MLB history back in 2001 against the Mariners. It’s only a 5 runs lead now, the Indians are very capable of coming back from that.
nice inning!
That should help with the pitch count
102. If they are going to broadcast every Mariner game on tv and radio up here in AK, I think we can safely call them “our” team as well. Pacific Northwesters need to stick together.
105: When I went to Cleveland a couple of years ago I couldn’t bring myself to by a Chief Wahoo hat. I got one with just the name of the ballpark on it instead.
Byrd doesn’t seem to be dominating the Mariner hitters as he did during that blizzard in April.
(They were going to call that thing a game.)
105. Didn’t Cleveland get a local tribe to tell them their logo was ok to justify it?
Another double digit hit total for the M’s. The M’s can rake too!
105. Please. Had to listen that the horrible ‘war chant’ crap all last night in the Atlanta/Cubs game.
It’s time for the leagues to ‘encourage’ some change. What with Dave’s rambling rant about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, how about that for a source? They could become the Elvises (Elvii?) with a grinning Elvis, complete with pompadour. Or the Berries, for Chuck Berry, since he *really* invented Rock and Roll.
holy!
Well well Raul, getting them all back in bunches eh?
What is up with that uber ugly father’s day shirt? I have one from a few years ago that’s quite cool after all.
AND RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!
RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!
Awesome.
I’d like to buy a vowel, Alex. Another U please.
106 – hmmm – I remember watching that game in 01 against Cleveland on my friend’s boat moored in Roche Harbor. I also remember going 5-2 in the regular season and 3-2 in the playoffs against the Tribe. Thanks for reminding me – that was a pretty fun year.
Ibanez!!!…!!!
I was in the middle of writing “make it two” and whoa! The sillyfun continues…
When can we officially declare Rauuuuuuuul’s power outage officially over? He’s had something like three home runs and at least one double in the last three games.
They are just flying out of the Jake tonight
With Raul bringing his power lefty bat back to this lineup and when Sexson returns to his past self, this offense is going to be ridiculously scary.
105 – fight the good fight!
2006, Jan. 8 – West Georgia University changes from Braves to Wolves.
2006, Jan. 20 – Southeastern Oklahoma State University changes from Savages to Savage Storm.
2006, Jan. 26 – Chowan College (NC) drops Braves nickname and mascot.
2006. Jan. 30 – Muscatine Community College (Iowa) drops Indians nickname and mascot.
2006, March 23 – Kelseyville High School (CA) drops “Indians†nickname, and Mountain Vista
Middle School (CA) drops “Braves†nickname.
2006, April 8 – University of Louisiana-Monroe changes from Indians to Warhawks after being one
of 18 schools on the NCAA list. References to the campus as “the Reservation†also stopped.
2006, Oct. 10 – College of William and Mary (VA) announces it will remove two feathers from its logo
to comply with NCAA rule.
2006, Oct. 20 – Tomah (WI) School Board drops Indian mascot and logo by 4-1 board vote.
2006, Nov. 12 – Newberry College (SC) drops Indian nickname. NCAA removes them from
banned list.
2006, Dec. 14 – Ypsilanti High School (MI) drops nickname Braves on a 4-3 board vote.
2007, Jan. 19 – Salesian High School (CA) changes from Chieftains to Pride.
2007, Feb. 17 — the University of Illinois Board of Trustees announces it will remove Chief Illiniwek from
performing at athletic events after Feb. 21, 2007.
2007, March 13 — the University of Illinois Board of Trustees passes a resolution officially eliminating
Chief Illiniwek, discontinuing the use of its Chief head logo, regalia, and the names “Chief Illiniwek” and
“Chief.” It passes by a 9-1 vote.
Why, why, why, why are they talking about Willie?
How odd, Trot Nixon’s mlb photo makes him look like he should be saying, “Ddduuuudddeee…” while his current shaved head is saying something much scarier.
127. As long as our nation’s capitol’s football team has the name ‘Redskins’ the fight will have not even have begun.
There seems to be a trend in Trot Nixon’s slugging percentages:
2003, .578
2004, .510
2005, .446
2006, .394
2007, .359
Decent walk rate, though.
I’m not watching (yet), but according to ESPN Baek has not given up a hit since the first (and just struck out two straight in the fourth). Are the Indians just that bad or is Baek on fire tonight?
I am not going to jinx this tear by calling it a tear. Let’s just say the Ms are hitting the ball well. “Seeing it well” as they say.
Let’s keep it up, boyos.
I love that Blowers spent that long extolling the virtues of having Bloomquist on the roster, since his versatility allows the team to carry one less position player and, thus, an extra guy in the bullpen, managing in one long, long speech to ignore:
- the actual makeup of the hitter/pitcher split
- whether the team carrying another pitcher is good
- that the team has a backup OF and backup C
And for a bonus, tosses in the “hits better the more he plays” canard.
Wow, the M’s chase Byrd before he has a chance to make it an official game. Reminds me of something . . .
#121: There is a bit of 2001 going on right now. The team is overcoming the odds and each day it feels as if they are going to win.
For what it is worth, a friend taught Navaho and Pueblo in New Mexico. And by far the favorite NFL team for the students (at least as indicated by jackets and caps) was the Washington Redskins.
Im starting to feel its not fair for the Mariners to play MLB teams…maybe they should gather up the NL All-Stars to give it a shot.
133-
I agree…though our subpar record against the Angels is downright disheartening (2-7? I think?)
I don’t think anyone counted the M’s to be 7 games over .500 at any point this season…and yesterday, didn’t it just feel like the M’s were going to win no matter what? How fitting was it that it (a) came off of Hoffman, and (b) they did so without getting a hit in the inning?
127, you left out one of the most visible ones: The St. John’s (New York City) Redmen became the Red Storm. And then there’s the whole North Dakota hockey thing, but I don’t really care about hockey, and anyway, this is a baseball blog.
Out of work and off to have a beer and watch the hottest team in baseball. (Yankees who?)
Niehaus I love you, but you just kill me sometimes.
Derek, nice use of “canard.” One can tell you are a published author.
(postscript: After you posted that link to that idiot on Amazon trashing your book, I went right out and bought a copy. Look forward to reading it, and posting a review of my own….)
One other thing, that with no NBA ‘finals’ to contend with, and this being an off day for most teams in MLB (especially no SOX or YANKS highlights to contend with), I may actually get to see more than 10 seconds worth of Mariner highlights tonight on sportscenter.
Seriously, how can anyone watch ESPN and conclude there is no east coast media bias?
“(Yankees who?)”
They’d be the team that every damn sports show on ESPN has talked about all day long because they’ve won six games in a row. (Three games sweep of the Pirates! Stand back from the heat!)
Forget us, I sense the Mariners could run hot and cold all year, for optimum insanity in the fans, but what about the freakin’ Angels!?
121: They have to figure out a way to beat the A’s and the Angels first.
134: I’ve heard Sherman Alexie make a case that some Native Americans WANT to be called “Indian”. It’s just Cleveland’s logo, it’s such a throwback slap in the face. It’s hideous.
Right now the M’s are 1) Healthy as can be, and 2) Catching all the breaks.
Do they have the makeup of a team of destiny? Too early to say, but it scares me to say that I think they have become a legitimate contender.
Wow, Byrd even called out his minions and couldn’t win.
uh-oh
# 134
from http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/1364/nmascots.htm
“Not All American Indians find it offensive!â€
It’s been pointed out several times that not all American Indians agree on this issue. Our answer is, “Of course they don’t!†Do all African Americans unanimously agree on everything? How about European Americans? No! There are 549 culturally distinct Indian nations in this country. Does any one specific Indian nation have the right to speak for all Indians? The word Indians doesn’t affect just one tribe, nor does the word R*dskins, it affects them all.
I’d like one double play to go please. With lite pitch count.
CSB, you have a 7-run lead. Let him hit it.
147: I’ll have one of those too.
Ms have been beating the As this year.
And yeah that Cleveland logo is pretty bad.
I guess what annoyed me was when Seattle U dumped the nickname “Chieftains” on the ground it was offensive to Native Americans. For a Catholic School? Presumably the Irish music group The Chieftains didn’t pick their name to comment on Native Americans? And all the Scottish chieftains in the Walter Scott novels presumably don’t have much of anything to do with Native Americans.
Yuni!
Nice play Yuni! no way you get the dp on that.
What do our dictionaries say about the word r*dskin?
According to WWWebster Dictionary (at http://www.m-w.com) the term r*dskin is defined as “American Indian: usually taken to be offensive.â€
Would you call your baseball team the Anderson N’s? Compare the above definition of the word r*dskin with the definition for the word n****er (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th edition): “a black person – usually taken to be offensive.â€
127, 137. And the Stanford Indians beccame the Cardinal. There was some attempt to change the Florida State team name, but the Seminole Indians said they were proud do be associated with the University.
Uh oh…here’s the caveman himself….and a damn basehit!
This isn’t doing Baek’s pitch count any good.
It’s been so long since the M’s were fun to watch…
They do make me wonder if it is better to be good or lucky.
Baek couldn’t wiggle out of it, oh well.
I just turned the game on…what’s with all the birds???
153: Oh yeah, there are a ton more examples, I just posted the ones since Jan 2006.
How distracting are those birds when you’re trying to field?
First snowflakes, now this!
But might as well squeak the rest of the inning out of Baek; this is too long of a roadtrip to be kind to laboring pitchers.
Time to 2nd guess: Could Yuni turned two on that ball instead of throwing home? With a seven run lead, it was worth a shot.
ugh.
DMZ: Since Ramirez had a history of arm problems, do you think the Marniners took out an insurance policy on him?
154: Hitting’s so easy…a caveman could do it. That’s a perfect nickname for that guy…what a monster.
Some local ties
1973 — Eastern Washington University changes from Savages to the Eagles.
1980 – Southern Oregon State University drops Red Raiders motif.
1998, March 20 – Yakima Valley Community College (WA) drops Indian nickname.
1999, June – Seattle University (WA) changes from Chieftains to Redhawks and drops its Indian head logo.
*Starting* to stir in the Mariners’ bullpen? Yikes!
I swear I read Joh’s lips to be saying, keep the ball down. We’re all saying it, we all are.
That was too close for comfort…
Aside from the high pitch count, how has Baek looked tonight? Is it more luck, bad hitting, or (is it possible) good pitching?
Pumpkinhead
At least our Beavs’ pitching is faring better than Baek
woops… bad timing I guess.
Does Baek ever look good? He always looks like he’s going to burst into tears.
But I guess that’s the difference between being at the game vs. TV. In person, I think he has a presence on the mound; looks much larger and powerful than I’d guess. But TV has all those closeup of the head and he just looks so darned sad.
In tonight’s baseball scores, it was the the Harlem Negroes over the San Francisco Chinks 5-3. The El Paso Wetbacks edged the Boston Micks 4-3. It was the Ypsilanti Polacks over the Hoboken Krauts 6-2. The Coeur d’Alene Frogs jumped all over the New York Kikes 8-1.
And turning to other news items, there was a protest in our nation’s capital today against use of the term “Redskins” for the city’s football team. A team spokesman called the protest absurd, insisting that many Native Americans are proud of the team name.
great base running
Gritty!
Yuni! Hustling!!
Oh, Yuni!
when he went for second, I didn’t think he was going to make it.
good hustle Yuni!
171
Frogs?
I watch enough reruns of All in the Family to see where you’re coming from though
Maybe this is the wrong place for this, but what do you guys think of this jersey? I’m pretty sure it’s fake…did the Mariners ever wear this style with “Seattle” on the front?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Seattle-Mariners-DAVE-COCHRANE-Game-Used-Worn-Jersey-92_W0QQitemZ290126715404QQihZ019QQcategoryZ60597QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
We. Need. More. Runs.
I like seeing Ichiro mess with the pitcher’s mind. “What is he going to do????”
argh! That’s not what I wanted him to do! Read my mind, Ichiro! RBI single was the right move!
Vidro’s usual weak infield single is not going to do it.
Looks like Cochrane would have worn that style jersey in 92:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/uniform_players.cgi?player_ID=cochrda01&teams=1986_CHW-1989_SEA-1990_SEA-1991_SEA-1992_SEA
Thanks Ralph, I have had enough of this PC stuff my self. Go get it done M’s.
#178: you can see the uniform designs for every player’s entire career at baseball-reference.com
And, do you really think if someone was going to go to the trouble of faking a jersey they would pick Dave Cochrane?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cochrda01.shtml
182: My guess is he was pointing out the offensiveness by showing similar possibilities.
And, do you really think if someone was going to go to the trouble of faking a jersey they would pick Dave Cochrane?
That’s the beauty of it.
Can anyone understand that kid in the race car commercial?
The one that sounds like he is chewing on something sticky.
183: You don’t get my point. Look at the Seattle Mariners jerseys from that era. At no time did they wear a jersey that says “SEATTLE” across the front. Or did they? That is my question.
http://baseballhalloffame.org/exhibits/online_exhibits/dressed_to_the_nines/uniforms.asp?city=Seattle&league=AL&sort=year&increment=9&pos=10
I hope Hargrove has a short leash on Baek this inning…
Man, these Cleveland announcers are ticking me off. It’s like they are making a point of only calling Ichiro by his last name.
Yes, use that Baseball Reference link to the other site.
That site shows only “Mariners” on the front of both road and home unis, though, so I wonder.
Baek’s still out there?? Wow.
182. I agree with 184, the poster was supporting simple human dignity being extended to all members of our society.
186. I don’t understand that ad at ALL. Then again, car racing is the most boring ‘sport’ on the face of the earth.
188 – Not short enough, apparently.
FUCK!
time for a change!!
Rats, I was hoping not to be prophetic.
*Now* it’s the end of Baek’s night? What did Hargrove think was going to happen, after he labored through the 5th.
ACK! That damn kid and the car ad again!
My hope was once again misplaced. $5 to whoever finds it.
You know, there was a team at a school in Colorado that changed its name to the “Fighting Whities” (the team was mostly native and hispanic).
Some people were upset. I thought it was hilarious. But then I’m a whitie.
Back in the old days there was a team in Atlanta called the Crackers (in a completely unironic way — this was the old days). But, as in many cities in those days, there was a parallel team in the Negro League, and they were called the Black Crackers. What’s great is that you can still get their logo on shirts and stuff.
So much for resting the bullpen
sigh. standing all the way home on the bus, listening to the 5th.
so you wouldn’t agree with the article this morning that Roger coming back has turned the tide for the Yanks?
The highlights of Dave Cochrane’s career…..lol
July 24, 1991: In a game against the Mariners, the Yankees score three runs on a ground ball hit back to the pitcher. With runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out in the 4th, Pat Kelly hits a comebacker to Erik Hanson. The Seattle hurler traps Kevin Maas in a rundown between 3rd and home, but Maas scores when 3B Edgar Martinez’s throw hits him in the back. The ball rolls up the 1st base line in foul territory where it is recovered by C Dave Cochrane. Cochrane throws home to head off Alvaro Espinoza who is also attempting to score. The throw goes into the Mariners’ dugout allowing Espinoza and Kelly to cross the plate with the 2nd and 3rd runs.
» June 22, 1992: Mariners OF Dave Cochrane ties a club record for most assists by an OF in a game with 2, and sets a club mark for most errors in a game with 3. The Athletics defeat the Mariners, 7–2.
193. good insight. i’m thinking the schedule may be catching up to these guys, we still need four outs to get to sherrill and morrow.
183: I used that link to search for Mariners’ uniforms from 1977-1985 and the road unis had “Seattle” on them from ’77-84.
For those not old enough to remember, 1991 was the year the Mariners had a winning record. This was the first year ever that they had a winning record. After 14 straight losing seasons.
Ah, the memories. Those were the days.
Cochrane was an outfielder and a catcher?
We’re going to need some more runs.
Is there any reason other than chance that 15 of Green’s 17 ip were away?
205, yes. And an infielder, too. Think WFB with no speed.
Hargrove is going to burn out the pen pretty soon.
With the way the game is going, might as well ask this now: is there a chance Putz comes in AGAIN tonight? Most usually don’t send a guy out there 4 nights in a row, but this IS Hargrove.
Do I even have to mention what Mariners/Indians game I am thinking of right now? It’s not exactly the same, but this chipping away is quite familiar.
200. As my mother, Crazy Yankees’ fan since the ’50′s said, He’s fat.
Even with taking 1/3 of the season off, he’s not going to make it through.
I look forward to The Rocket’s red glare going over the outfield fence.
Ich really needed to get that run across last inning.
MY GOD, THE HUMANITY! That damn car racing/kid ad AGAIN! If Geico was the last insurance company on earth, I wouldn’t use them.
Maybe I’m just crazy, but was Joh’s pitch selection kind of wack, I mean maybe I was seeing things wrong but Baek’s Fastball seemed really flat and his breaking stuff was getting strikes, yet Joh kept calling for a Fastball even when Baek was ahead in the count.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impossible_Return
That damn game was nationally televised. I saw it when I was living in VA.
Get it done George!
Yay for the high-leverage use of our #1 LOOGY!
Is this a prime example of Grover reacting behind the curve or what? Typical idiot moves. He always waits TOO LONG, instead of being somewhat PROACTIVE.
I think Sherrill is one of my favorite Mariners this year.
OK, we got 3 more innings to go, who’s going to pitch next up by 2 runs?
Of the 22 pitchers on the 40-man, 7 are on the DL. The only ones not in the bullpen now are Feierabend, Huber, Mateo, and Campillo. I wonder if they will bring Mateo back up.
218. I think Sherrill will probably pitch the 7th and Morrow the 8th.
I thought Huber was on the DL?
sherrill for bottom 7th, morrow closes for 2 ip, pending a lefty batter that might cause sherrill to face one guy in the 8th. or the m’s could score 5 more then turn it over to jake woods.
I always remember that painful game whenever guys bring up the “unwritten rule” about not stealing bases or stretching a single with a large lead. When guys bring that up I say, “Bullshit! August 5th, 2001!” That game cost them the all-time record for wins.
Huber is on the DL
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Raul is having a good day. It’s true!
Rauuuuuuuuuuul
How Raul got his U’s back.
Yes, I really did think about picking up Rauuuul for my fantasy team, tonight.
RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!!!!!!
RAUUUL, one for each base!
Raul! His OPS is gradually back up to a very respectable level now.
what a slugger!
I always feel like unless the other team agrees not to try and come back, it’s okay to keep pounding them however you can.
we have to score one…c’mon..
All we need is a weak ground ball. Where is Vidro when you need him?
I like what Whitey Herzog said about that unwritten rule: “we’ll stop stealing bases if you agree to stop trying to hit home runs”.
Baek is the perfect 4 inning pitcher we always needed.
ok, now let us get him, in, please. He’s just down there at 3rd, you know.
i’m going against Raul in my fantasy league this week…but i’ll take the real life win any freakin day!
“if the Mariners score 7 runs in this inning” I will be very happy.
well, crap.
Sigh.
unfuckingbelievable…
Well, that sucked.
Well, so much for that then.
that inning reminded me of the april mariners…
this is really starting to stink like that game back in ’01
UHHH! What a kick in the nuts that is.
Raul is slugging 2.750 for this game.
Maybe Sherrill, Davis, Morrow.
we do NOT want to see Davis tonight…
252. The only alternative would be Woods. Unless Morrow goes two innings.
At least Jo and Beltre hit the ball hard…no weak swings or groundouts. Just crummy luck.
Now, get the lefty, don’t ease up ——— Got ‘em.
That’s what we like to see! Nice job George!
tomorrow would be a good day for Washburn to have another CGSO.
As much as I hate the kid and race car, I would watch that goat that’s not a duck ad a thousand times a day.
But I like goats. And ducks, for that matter, although the AFLAC duck’s awfully pushy.
Go M’s!
Darn, if we were the lousy Mariners of April, we’d have been trailing by 5 runs in the 4th, Grover could’ve just shoved Woods in there for 4-5 innings and the pen would be fine for tomorrow. It’s these strings of close wins that make it a struggle to rest those guys.
I’ll take this problem, thank you.
bako, we finally agree, 252. that is
Jesus we are mashing the ball right at people. Thats awesome but just bad luck.
Bad luck line drives
i would rather see woods than davis…
Roberto Hernandez was a pretty good pitcher back in the day.
If it goes extra innings, Raul could hit for the cycle.
if it goes extra innings, we’ll add three more pitchers to the DL…
Ichiro is waiting for Hernandez to make a mistake…4 foul balls, 1 strike, 3 balls…
I don’t think he’ll get the cycle, but as Kenny Mayne used to say on SportsCenter, “He’s gonna get him name in the paper.”
can’t remember the last time i saw ichiro strike out twice that badly in one game…
Oh, well. Hold that line!!!
Man I hate it when Ichiro strikes out
If it goes extra innings, WFB can pitch.
so much for waiting for Ichiro waiting for that Hernandez mistake.
Bad grammar on my part.
How come you never see LH closers?
Ellison is a former pitcher.
Can someone watching the game tell me who’s warming up in the bullpen if possible?
Brandon To-Morrow at your service.
As in, turn out the lights, we’ll see you tomorrow.
– he says projecting 2 years down the road to Morrow’s closer days.
275- Like BJ Ryan?
i’d rather see ellison than davis…
275- Like BJ Ryan? Brian Fuentes?
Bud Light really needs some new “Real Men of Genius” commercials. You know, I always thought it was better as “Real American Heroes” but they dropped that after 9-11.
#273
nothing wrong with that gramatically, depending on what you meant–kind of Faulknerian, really
Oh damn, first and third with no one out
Wagner wasn’t too shabby either.
Although Morrow didn’t pitch yesterday, he did spend a lot of time warming up in the pen.
3rd place on the all-time save list belongs to a left-handed closer (John Franco). Other left handed closers I can think of are Randy Myers, Dan Plesac, Mitch Williams, Dave Righetti.
Come on rookie, I know you can do it!
Thanks MedicineHat, one day I’m going to ask you about the name.
#275 Remember the Arthur Rhodes experiment in Oakland?
how about every day eddie? how soon we forget…
283, you know I kind of noticed that too after reading my post a couple of more times.
I haven’t watched the whole game, but it looks like the Raul Ibanez show offensively (and no-show defensively).
Does it look like opposing hitters are actually TARGETING left field?
i feel like throwing up…
Dammit. This kid only throws one pitch and he has no clue where it’s going.
This is really ugly.
Just, . . . Wow.
Kenji just sets up in the middle everytime.
No play at home? He smoked that thing!
Maybe we can get out of this with only allowing one run.
As a famous announcer used to say…’holy cow, what a baseball game!’.
A good throw would have had the third out.
Hooray for blowing 7 run leads.
WHERE WAS THAT PITCH?
This not good for the bullpen if this goes extra innings headed into a 3 games series with the cubbies.
Ah… that would have been strike four for Moyer; make those rookies work.
Ok Raul, give us one more.
I’m still thinking, we’re tied 7-7 going into the ninth against a really good team, one of the top four maybe, and we’re in a pennant race still in June, and it’s been a while since a game like this matters, so go Mariners!
Wow, so not good with JJ having pitched in 3 straight games. I want more Us.
O’Flaherty threw what, 1 pitch tonight? He can probably pitch a few innings tomorrow. And they just called up Woods, he could do long relief.
Morrow was wild, but he was getting squeezed big time, I think. He could’ve struck out Sizemore on the 3-2. The 3-0 to Perrata was also ridiculous.
Blooooooomquist!!! Time for an injection of grit.
Wonder what Vidro’s average is when the bases are empty. Seems pretty good lately.
Guillen just imagine they are Angels! Red and white, they are close enough.
I’ll give Raul U x 10^5 if he knocks one here.
RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL
That was awesome.
RAUUUUUUUUUUL
I gotta ask again but who’s warming up in the BP now or is Morrow coming back out for the sequel?
RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL!! Holy Christ on a cracker. Damnit, one single away.
So does Raul actually end up with LESS credit due to hitting TWO hr’s to go with his double and triple rather than if he’d have the cycle?
Who the heck pitches the ninth?
Are you kidding me? RAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL! What a man.
I got my wish, hell yes!
I heart GRITTY U’s!!!!! What a F’ing fun team to watch!!
10^3 U’s for Raul
Putz time? Could it be 4 in row?!?!
It’s purely coincidence, but this team has been gravitating toward tie ballgames a lot lately. Everybody knows the bullpen needs a break, yet they’re always making the score close threatening to go extras.
I appreciate the late-inning rallies, but the sieve-like pitching is maddening.
With that double, Raul’s slugging percentage for today dropped to 2.6.
Come on, we gotta bat back around to get Raul up one more time!
sorry, it just has to be done…
rrrrrRRRRAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See, this is why “the cycle” is such a dumb thing.
Since a cycle = 10 total bases, they should make a big deal about any hitter that gets 10 or more total bases in a game.
Raul has 13 total bases tonight, so I’ll make that even better than a cycle.
The graph for this game is just crazy.
http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?gameid=270611105
Gotta Love This Team! But hate Carlos Garcia…
I do no like this umpire.
I think he does not like the Ms.
How many runs is a willy bloomquist steal in the 9th with the score tied worth?
1 more Morrow! Live like there’s no to”morrow”!
This ump really sucks…that was a strike!
just got screwed on that call…game should be over…
Hargrove thinks he’s still playing a NL team, with the double switch.
Can’t Putz pitch for just one out? I can’t take the Morrow stress.
Brandon is getting screwed by the home plate ump. Period.
Throw it hard down the pipe, Brandon.
No, no.
My heart!
Good thing Sizemore gets 4 strikes apparently. Way to screw the pooch blue.
M’s!!! Frick, it shouldn’t have been this close.
Go jobs though guys.
These one run victories are aging me like Dorian Gray’s favorite snapshot.
man…freaking heart attack…
i’m f-ing dyin’ here!
YESSSS!!!!
yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
Great win! A lot more exciting than it needed to be, but great win!
Watch out Cubbies–you’re gonna be keel-hauled.
I screamed “Mariners W…” during the non-strike three call, I was so excited. We win anyway. Good thing we went for two on the TD.
I gather from Neihaus earlier that this was the 2nd appearance, and first one behind home plate for this vacation ump
i’m worried about the rest of the road trip…gonna be tired…bullpen is shot…tons of emotional stress…making mental mistakes…due for a let down…
Brandon Morrow = vulture
Bako! And we’re the negative ones? Dang! I would think they need to give Jake Woods a spot start perhaps get him to eat some innings in an NL park.
Also, I expect Felix has turned a corner, so hopefully our starters can go for more innings in the next 6 games.
Cameron Wong on FSN (who I’m sure wore more than his share of “kick me” signs while being milk monitor) actually said “not a bad performance” by Baek.
Uh…yeah it was. Bad enough to start the bullpen musical chairs, far earlier than they should’ve had to with a touchdown lead.
Five earnies and NINE hits in less than six innings is not “not bad”
Baek….I can’t believe that guy doesn’t know how to pitch with that big of a lead? Can it be that difficult for an MLB starter?
350- Tons of confidence, Raul is hitting again, On a win streak, 1 Game our of WC, 4 from the Angels.
There is a lot to be happy about to. We take 2 of 3 from the Cubbies and sweep or 2 of 3 from the Astros. We get a day off and back home for the Pirates.
not trying to be negative, but you got to admit that while the offense had been of fire, the pitching has been lucky…how long can it last? i’m just worrid we’ll drop one or two to an inferior team soon…that’s all…
I think God is on our side now. I am not worried at all anymore. I think God really likes Raul Ibanez and with Raul on our team now we have divine intervention that will overcome all sabermetric probabilities, Hargrove blunders etc.
I’m still not quite sure how we won that game (with the exception of Raul’s heroics–nice to have him back!), but I’ll take it. The bullpen does look tired though; it’s the team’s strength, but we’re not getting enough innings from the starters, and it’s starting to show.
.299/.353/.454
I think Raul’s back. Just in time, too.
It does help that we’re now going to face the Cubbies, who’ve made a career this year out of losing games they should have won. (I’m from Illinois, and grew up watching the Cubbies shoot themselves in the foot–over and over and over and over….)
not trying to be negative, but you got to admit that while the offense had been of fire, the pitching has been lucky…how long can it last? i’m just worrid we’ll drop one or two to an inferior team soon…that’s all…
Sure, but look at it this way- at 8 above .500, this team goes .500 the rest of the way and STILL wins 85. They go 8 games above .500 the rest of the way (cool off some, but not a ton), they win 89.
Felix isn’t pitching like we know he can, so things CAN get better.
What in the world has Hargrove done wrong this year? Sure we may not like the hitting decisions but this team is 8 games over .500 and in serious contention. If it weren’t for his magic juggling of the bull pen we might be .500 right now. Quit complaining all the time. It’s really really annoying.
Hitters are carrying the team. Time for a pitcher to step up and throw a complete game shutout. That’s not impossible . . .right?
in the end, i think we’ll be fine…just worried about this trip…
353- I shudder to imagine Cameron Wong’s high school nicknames.
#362
Hargrove has gotten better only because he doesn’t have Mateo as an option anymore.
Raul’s OPS went up by 50 points after this one game. It’s at 799 now, about what we’d expect from him this year. I guess his contract is turning into one of the best bargains now.
Well, looking at the schedule, the M’s aren’t going to face anyone good before the end of the month with Boston.
We’re in good position to be 10-12 games over by the end of the month, coming up on the halfway point of the season. Then July gives us 8 games with Oakland and 4 with Detroit.
By the Angels series at the end of July we should have a pretty good idea where we stand, I think.
Oof, I feared we’d melted another server there.
355, I am not counting any wins in Chi-town or Houston until three outs in the ninth.
What was with Jason Davis tonight – I never heard mention of him being available.
362
You are joking about wondering if Grover is good or not, right?
Hopefully its not like last year when the Mariners battled all the way up to a tie for first in the division in late July then lost that extra innings game when they had the chance to take the lead in the division. I think Hargrove had Mateo in there at the time if I remember right.
Shortly after that the Mariners lost like 20 games in a row against the AL West.
370-
Well, he didn’t stop the Indians from winning, so it’s not as if he’s Teh Worst Manager EVAR.
Basically, he occupies the muddled middle of undistinguished managers, I think.
Hargrove’s bullpen “management” tonight was brutal. 2 pitches for O’Flaherty, burning him and Green so he was out of options too early. The only thing he did right was leave Sherrill in for more than one out.
Our best hitters right now are at CF, C, 2B, and SS. Ibanez finally got it started; if the guys at the regular offensive positions can get it going, the Ms can REALLY intimidate other team’s pitchers
370-
No, I’m sick of people like you complaining all the time. The Seattle blogosphere has this uncanny ability to whine even when everything is going right. Not everyone, but certainly the majority.
Anyone watching FSN Live? That was the greatest Vern Fonk ad of all time, hands down!
I think this team can contend all year.
To do more than “contend” the starting pitching has to get better.
This is fun. How about we just enjoy it?
I’ll say this in Hargrove’s defense. It simply was not his fault that his starter can’t get 21 outs with a seven run lead.
Maybe we (most of us, anyway) were wrong; maybe, just maybe, Bavasi and Hargrove know what they are doing. (God, that last sentence must mean the coming of the apocalypse.) Until then, let’s enjoy this incredibly exciting baseball. Unlike 2001, when the Mariners made winning “commonplace”, this team has that swashbuckling style of, dare I say, the 1995 M’s. Let’s keep it going.
377
Every time in the past few years I have just kicked backed and tried to enjoy it when the Mariners were trying to break out of the precipice of mediocrity to actual possible contention I have seen Mike Hargrove seemingly kill all the mojo by bringing in Mateo in clutch situations that turned into disasters. So I keep expecting soemthing similar to happen again but I am beginning to think there is something different about this year. I think that this is the year that God rewards Raul Ibanez for being the fine person that he is and not even Mike Hargrove can mess this up.
this is the most excited i’ve been since 2001, but i doubt god likes raul and the Ms more than any other team…
Hargrove, when awake knows what he is doing. I am guessing about 60% of the time he is awake. Bavasi still has no clue what he is doing and I am afraid of any trade deadline moves.
The team is doing great. Maybe we are just not the kind of team who’s starters go 7 innings every time. The bullpen is a strength, it’s ok to need it. We are now what 29-0 in games after leading in the 7th? No reason to bitch. There is room for improvement for sure but tonight is a good win. We take that game on Sep. 26th and we split the series!
How effective do you think Mark Lowe will be when he comes back? Will he immediately go into the bullpen? I am sure he will make a few appearances at Tacoma or West Tennesee.
Also whos place does he take in the bullpen?
Yea, He’d probably prefer that team in Anaheim…
we do need another quality starter, but like bhs, i’m afraid of bavasi fucking it up…
lowe will start in the minors and come up if he’s ready…will all the injuries the ‘pen is having right now due to fatigue, hopefully he’ll be ready soon…and maybe let’s morrow be a starter next year : )
Hargrove’s done a great job with Willie this year by minimizing his deficiencies (bat) and maximizing his abilities (baserunning, occasional glove).
zambrano was dominant tonight and hit a home run…good thing we won’t see him or lilly…hopefully we take two from the cubbies, and a sweep if weaver was as good? as he was his last time out…
Who would have imagined 3 teams would rank in the top 10 of SI.com Power rankings?
from the AL West that is
Cubbies just put their expensive 3B on the DL, good time to head to Wrigley.
386 He is being used perfectly…He is a useful piece in this system. With a deep lineup like ours pinch hitting is unnecessary so he is quite solid in his role.
Cubs have good starting pitching, but blow games in obvious ways. We have been getting to good starting pitching lately. They can throw just about anyone at us right now and it wouldn’t matter.
Byrd failed to reach the 6th for the first time this year. Chris Young gave up 3 runs at Petco, which was his total for the whole year.
384
Maybe so, but being a Seatlle sports fan I now pray for divine intervention because I have never witnessed a championship of any sort and the years of my life are ticking away. Wasn’t paying attention to the 79 Sonics.
392- and we will miss zambrano and lilly…their two best pitchers…nice…
Hargrove’s done a great job with Willie this year by minimizing his deficiencies (bat) and maximizing his abilities (baserunning, occasional glove).
Yeah. We can (and should) rag on Grover’s gaffes, but we should give him the kudos for his handling of the bullpen and using Bloomquist well.
375
If you like Hargrove and think we couldn’t have won even more with a better manager then that’s your right…misguided as it is.
Don’t take it personally that a majority (by your own admission) knows the team is playing so well that even Grover’s obvious mistakes aren’t hurting us right now.
You can love the M’s without turning a blind eye to Hargrove. Really you can.
About a month ago I kind of had something similar to Stockholm Syndrome with Hargrove, Vidro, and Bloomquist. I started feeling really sympathetic to them all even though deep down inside I still think Hargrove is an idiot.
Well, there are warning signs and things to be concerned about.
But it’s a HELL of a lot more fun to be grousing about that when the time is winning and above .500.
I got to get back on lithium. This team is giving me a manic high.
I’d love to know where this much coveted quality starter is to be found and obtained …
Rau(x13)l with a .591 WPA (!)
Baek helped immensely by the touchdown, .013 WPA
Morrow, -.040 WPA, which is actually pretty kind considering he walked 4 and gave up 3 hits (7 baserunners!) in 2 innings yet somehow only gave up 1 run.
(watching replay)
Wow, Raul’s swing on the double looked good. His head didn’t flail around or anything.
Yah, maybe he really was hurt. Perhaps Weaver was injured, also, in a way that made his fastballs inevitably straight and his other pitches equally meatbally.
Another sweet win with the M’s yet again pulling it out like Jim Morrison in Florida. It’s almost like the 2001 feeling–they’re bound to win all close games in the late innings.
And Raul Ibañez, you are the man today. What a game!
I will be at Wrigley tomorrow. Z pitched a great game tonight + hit a HR. The M’s are lucky to miss him. The Cubs pen are also burnt out a bit, after Lilly’s ejection on Sunday. It should be a good series. I hope the Cubs take 2 out of 3 at the very least, and then the M’s can go on and beat up the Astros.
394 – their best pitcher is probably the guy going tomorrow night
planB
Is that damning with faint praise or what?
I have missed much of the live action the last week due to traveling and think I should maybe stay away (given the likely correlation between my viewing and the M’s success, this is necessary). The thing that really troubles me is that the starting staff is all smoke and mirrors, and the run differential does not warrant being eight games over .500, and I’m sure their pythagoran record doesn’t warrant it, either. So, assuming they’re vastly outperforming expectations, who gets credit? Hargrove or Bavasi? My head is going to explode. If the M’s go to the playoffs, what’s next? I get raped by Jessica Alba? We win the war in Iraq? Eddie Murphy gets another chance at Oscar? I don’t know if it’s too early to say this is 1995-ish, it probably is, but the one thing that is reminiscent is my total lack of confidence thru this point in the season. Lowered expectations will do that. But here we go.
Well, one reason for the run differential being so bad is that Weaver had 6 horrid starts to open the season. He gave up 36 runs in the 7 games he has pitched in (26 innings), and that includes the 1 run he gave up in his last (4 inning start). So the M’s have had a number of blowouts (including Ramirez’s starts) which skew the pythag record quite a bit, in my opinion. I personally think that Weaver and Ramirez deserve the credit for making the RS/RA ratio as bad as it is. Since those two have been out of the lineup, and I’m assuming that Weaver has a very short leash since he has come back, the numbers don’t quite work out. Obviously, you can’t take the games away, but by limiting the appearances by the players in question, the expected results should differ from the pythag record.
If I am making poor assumptions about the data, please let me know.
We’ll know whether this team is for real by the All-Star break. Everything before that is just speculation. But I ain’t gonna complain at where we are right now.
I’m having too much fun to complain.
Although, it would be kind of nice if we could hold down a lead occasionally.
Theres no denying that Ibanez’s bat had slowed significantly in April and May, this was proved by A.) Visual evidence B.) Huge crash in .slug% and C.) Ibanez changing his approach at the plate. It seemed reasonable to attribute this to age, since Ibanez (just turned) 35.
And granted, tonights performance gave a herculean boost to Ibanez’s OPS, but looking at the stats page, he’s been better than I thought he was. He’s on pace to hit 41-42 doubles, which is almost 10 doubles over the consistent 31-33 doubles he hit from 2003 to 2006, and if he gets there would beat his career best 37 (2002). His batting average is higher than its ever been other than 2004 (and it was only that high because he hit close to .450 in Aug and Sept that year). He’s even on pace for 9 triples, which I highly doubt he’ll get, but that would be a new career high too. His current OBP is .350, which is right in line with the .346-.355 OBP he’s maintained since breaking out in 2001.
His only glaring weakness has been HR. He’s not going to hit another 33 this year, but if he gets back on track and manages 16-20, while maintaining his 2b and 3b rates, thats a .500 slug and an .850 OPS from a badly needed left-handed bat.
Like many of you, I had assumed that Ibanez’s power stroke was history, that age had taken too much off his swing. But these last few games have given me hope. After all (considering that Ibanez doesn’t appear to be on HGH or steroids, like up and down Brett Boone (allegedly) was), doesn’t it seem odd that he would collapse this hard 7 months after completing a career year, and after he raked the ball like none other in Spring Training? Obviously, ST stats are not useful, but it seems odd that Raul had plenty of bat speed and power in Spring, but lost it suddenly to “age” the next month. The shoulder injury angle seems much more believable than aging 3 years in 30 days (or at most, 200 days).