Game 76, Blue Jays at Mariners
Dave · June 29, 2007 at 6:59 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Washburn vs McGowan, 7:05 pm.
The Blue Jays are better than people think. This is a pretty big series for the M’s.
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Should be a fun one! Go M’s!
Despite the struggles of many of the Jays hitters (Glaus, Thomas, Wells) this is a right-handed heavy lineup that could easily hammer Washburn. Meanwhile, the Angels have tied the O’s at 7-7.
Good call. The Blue Jays always scare me. Maybe it’s because they always destroy my fantasy pitchers. Either way, every time I look they’re smacking homers in bunches.
Hopefully Washburn can use all the square footage in Safeco to keep some flyballs in play. Pregame show mentioned the roof is open.
At least the air is nice and cool tonight – perfect for dampening HRs. On the other hand, Thomas can still hit it about 500 feet.
Dave, how badly does Vernon Wells’s contract-to-performance gap handicap the Jays in terms of constructing a winner roster and staying market-competitive?
Very badly. Couple it with the terrible contracts given to Burnett and Ryan and you’ve got quite a mess.
I wonder what’s wrong with VW this year. Lingering injury? I was expecting another .300-30-100 type season.
The M’s are not as good as I think… but they do keep on winning enough to remain in the playoff discussion to this point. Going into the home stand I felt they needed to win at least 8 of 12 to stay alive and they have almost done that but I don’t feel good!?!?! This team perplexes me like no other Mariner squad has. Regardless GO M’s!!!!
Ugh. Angels just went up 9-7.
What’s the point in tracking the Angels? The M’s can’t possibly come anywhere close to them.
Interesting Line-up by the BJ’s.
Top HR hitter hitting leadoff. I’ve seen Rios anywhere from 1st to 6th this year. Eventually, it’s like they said, screw it, let’s just put our top 4 hitters 1-4 and get them the most plate appearances.
11: You track the Angels because you never know when something weird will happen, like us sweeping Boston and the Angels getting swept by the Royals
Ha. I’m diggin’ the mutton chops, McGowan.
I wonder if McGowan is a big fan of Wolverine.
And the earth readjusts itself on its axis.
11: Yeah, it would be a miracle to see a five-point swing with only 80-something games to go.
(five-game)
Vidro. Sigh. Emptiest .300 hitter since Enos Cabell.
#11: You mock, but that’s exactly true. Dave and Derek have outlined the research behind this in several posts this season. Like it or not, the M’s are playing for the wild card, and the wild card only.
Say what you want about his sideburns…McGowan is filthy!
Pretty sweet. The M’s get two runs without hitting the ball hard once…
Grover almost has it right (i.e., Broussard batting just *before* Sexson).
Is McGowen really throwing 100? Also, that pitch that Sexson struck out on looked pretty filthy…Who is this guy?
This is 100% stolen from Roto Authority, but it’s something I read a few days ago that I found interesting:
“McGowan has the third-best average fastball velocity in the game at 95.1.
Interestingly, McGowan’s heater has been below average nonetheless because he still can’t command it. His other three pitches, especially his curve, have been the reason for his success. If he starts putting that fastball where he wants, he could take the leap toward frontline starter.”
Well gameday seems to have him 3 mph faster than Safeco, which I thought was 3 mph faster than reality, so nevermind…
Perfect example of how ERA is overrated as a statistic. The defense let McGowan down here. Groundball to the second basemen for a hit should have been an out. Dribbler to Glaus for a hit…Beltre makes that play everyday. He ends up giving up two EARNED runs.
Who thinks the Blue Jays are no good? Probably the same people who don’t think Willie B. deserves a chance to play.
#19: Powerwise, Vidro almost makes Cabell look like Frank Thomas.
McGowan did throw a CG one-hitter his last start.
Great slide!
great slide!
Gotta love baseball, first hard hit ball by the M’s goes for an out.
Great piece on Putz on baseball tonight just now, talking about all-stars…his BAA is .127, 22 saves, .99 ERA.
On the FSN Tracker, “ball four” to Ichiro moved from inside the strike zone, top corner, to out of it.
Seems like Sexson is finally learning to lay off that darn ol’ splitter.
This has all the makings of another sub-100 comment thread. I guess most of us had better things to do on a Friday night.
The bases loaded walk is suddenly our best offensive weapon.
[i]The Blue Jays are better than people think. This is a pretty big series for the M’s.[/i]
Sorry, can you write that again, my eyes are messing up with me.
Blue Jays are good? Where? When? How?
I can;t decide which quote I like best today:
“Catcher John Buck discusses how the club’s confidence goes up when Gil Meche pitches.”
or
“The whole thing about Willie is that he does his job every day,” Hargrove
said. “My experience in the last 2 1/2 seasons is that Willie is best when
he plays in spurts.”
37 – I work at home, so this is my “escape” whilst slogging away on the PC. Though I still have nothing better to do tonight once I’m off.
He said they are better than people think….
so is it an interesting strike zone tonight?
I think they are pretty bad. Pretty, pretty bad.
35: *Joe’s Tracer
Was Glaus channeling Vidro on that GIDP?
If the Angels continue to play like they are it is safe to say the Mariners will not win the West but at this point it doesn’t seem like it would be much easier to get the wildcard than it would be to win the West of course I could be wrong.
39 – The “where/when/how” would have been the early ’90′s, of course — back in the days of guys like Ole and Kelly Gruber and back-to-back championships.
Then, like the plague, the Yanks again had to go and revive their stinkin’ dynasty. Sigh.
Ah, the fond memories of Ed Sprague and Tony Fernandez. And don’t forget Tom Henke and his nerd glasses.
How do you spell lucky? W-A-S-H-B-U-R-N.
How long has Ichiro been doing that weird turn before he catches flyballs?
I’m glad the M’s are winning, but this game is so dull I’ll probably switch over to Man vs Wild at 9:00.
Apparently, french fries rot your teeth.
#52. Winning is not dull!
Or, since the game isn’t over, having more runs than the opposition isn’t dull….
You know what’s dull? Those 4-1/2 hour marathons in regulation. This game is moving right along.
IMHO: Survivor man >>> Man Vs. Wild.
The best thing about MLB.tv is that I can watch those shows AND the M’s… perfect for the ADHD challenged like myself!
PS- Man vs. Wild is soooo much better
IMHO: Survivor man is crazier than man vs. wild
Jays are trying to make it interesting.
Man Vs. wild has the British accent going and the better actor but let’s be real …. he’s got two cameramen tailing him around, doing much of what he’s doing and that fact never leaves the back of your mind. It’s like the difference between real wrestling and WWE (or WWF, or whatever it’s called).
Man Vs. Wild does things you should never, ever do under a survival situation (climbing down a sheer waterfall…complete with harness you can see in several scenes), and uses obviously planted props (yeah, you found an “abandoned” boat in Alaska, and the grass underneath was still green). Not to mention the whole support crew and staging.
But sometimes they’re both more entertaning than baseball.
Wow, something I posted finally started a mini-debate. I feel like I’ve lost my USSM virginity.
Go Ms! A win tonight seals a good homestand.
Sean Green looking unhittable against their aging stars.
Though he may not be much more than an average pen arm, I love watch Sean Green throw wiffleballs.
During the long stretch with no off-days, Green got called on to pitch one or two innings practically every night. He must have been exhausted. But the off-day seems to have rejuvenated him.
49 – Ken, how could forget “Joltin’” Joe Carter — the man who pretty much single-handedly ended the career of Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams?
Every time I see Bavasi (and they just showed him on the local broadcast) I think that he is one if the strangest looking guys I’ve ever seen. His head has to be at least twice as long as it is wide. Kinda freaky.
That little Bavasi shot of him trying to answer what’s going to happen with all the pitchers coming off the Dl made me realize he has no idea of what needs to be done. I don’t know if it was the stuttering or him not knowing how to put words together to simply make a brief answer of “I don’t know. It smells of horrible moves being made.
67 – I was just thinking that also.
So what are the chances of Morrow walking Thomas? 85%
Yeah, Bavasi is Dick Tracy villain odd-looking.
Morrow seems to have solved his control problems. 4 pitches, 4 strikes.
Yeah, no he hasn’t.
On the other hand . . .
72 – a couple of those pitches if they weren’t swung and missed at would be balls, Morrow’s all over the place still.
72: You were saying ….. ?
Toronto’s scouting report on Morrow: Put bat on shoulder, leave it there.
68: Bavasi has never been good at speaking in front of cameras.
Let George do it.
60 – The episode in the Everglades sort of cracked me up…he’s searching around for tree frogs to eat in a tropical (well, almost) forest when surely there must be some fruit available somewhere.
The batboy gave Grover the look that said, “Get him out of there.”
Morrow should be sent down to AA, where he should have been all along, to work on his command and develp at least one other pitch.
After flipping around I’ve decided that Dogfights reigns supreme… something about watching other guys brag about blowing other people up…
80 – I wonder how he qualified for the job? Actually I wonder how much that guy gets paid?
It’s “Man” vs Wild. Real men don’t eat fruit.
Matt Stairs must be 60 years old.
oh dear lord….
Grover is pissed.
I seem to remember a time when the USSM was recommending signing Stairs to a one-year deal as a bench player.
Of course, that was before he qualified for AARP.
Putzer for the 5 out save. Oh my.
I’m pissed too… do we always have to let them feel like they have a chance?
How many times can JJ rescue us in such a situation. If he gets us out of this … I nominate him for Survivorman status … way out of Man vs. Wild status. Go Putz!
Mmmm, heartburn . . .
how do you spell relief?
JJ PUTZ
Random question-
Have the last couple games increased our % in the walk category at all… quite a few lately it seems…?
Survivorman, to it’s credit, is much more realistic as far as situations you may find yourself in – biking in the middle of Utah, having to be on a raft that you’d use after your boat sunk, etc.
Man vs. Wild is just silly.
Funk out????
Wow. Death, taxes, cockroaches, Hostess products and J.J. Putz.
When JJ was facing Manny with two outs in the ninth with a one run lead, I thought “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Somehow this isn’t quite as good against Toronto, but it is still pretty exciting.
Hopefully we can score about 8 runs in the bottom of the 8th and use some schmuck instead of JJ for the 9th.
what the…
Hey YuBet – YuSuck.
Or not.
Dang!
That should have been E6.
Yuni – the Dale Sveum years…
Argh, that was a hit? Any stats affected by errors are totally useless.
Matt Stairs has a higher OPS than anyone on our team.
Bill Buckner would have been proud.
Is Gibbons really going to leave Stairs on second carrying the tying run?
The splitter!
tough situations for Putz don’t seem to affect him much. nice SO
thank god
JJ Putz is a lamb of God.
Team MVP—- Mr. Putz
3 more outs please!
110 – Remember, JP Ricciardi (sp) is another “Moneyball” disciple. The use of speed on the basepaths, according to Billy Beane, is strictly prohibited.
In June, Morrow has given up 12 hits, 15 walks, and gotten 27 outs. If my math is right, the league has an OBP of .500 against him this month (I would have guessed higher). At some point, one of three options *has* to happen:
1) He is demoted to AAA or lower
2) He is swapped out with another guy in the pen toward garbage time innings
3) JJ Putz has his arm fall off from pitching four multi-inning saves per week
Survivorman is just a guy with a camera, its boring; utterly, utterly boring… its about entertainment, and Man vs. Wild is just so much more entertaining to watch. Its not like you’re really gonna remember half the stuff they do if you do happen to get in a situation like that (which is unlikely anyways)
Jim,
When are we going to get your next Steve Kelly installment? You’re due.
108. Not true. Washburn’s is higher.
Stairs is actually 39. Toronto’s his 10th team in 16 seasons.
119… I think of it as different. Watching someone survive and knowing that at the same time, they have to lug around a 60 pound camera, that’s incredible and compelling. MvW is the survival equivalent of “Bizarre Foods.”
JJ Putz against all their big boppers.
Man vs. Wild is Miller Lite. Survivorman is a draft Guiness. Yes, there are audiences/drinkers of both. But one is real, the other is pretend.
1 away go M’s
119. I will remember the time Bear drank water he squeezed from a pile of fresh elephant dung. I won’t do that under any circumstances, but I will remember it.
Where the hell was that?
Make up strike.
makeup call
JJ is getting squeezed big time. At least 3 pitches have been called balls that the tracked showed as strikes.
about time ump!
BOOYAH
Quick ninth. Good for the arm.
J.J. is awesome.
JJ Putz does it again!
JJ!!
JJ for President!!!!!!!
We all should go buy JJ Putz a beer then clean his house.
WOOHOO 10 games over .500
JJ Putz: Survivorman.
Wow, 10 games over .500. Sweet!
WOOO hah, got y’all in check.
Go JJ.
JJ vs. Jays: Man vs. Bird?
#120– I think Steve Kelley has been doing his best Steve Kelley imitation since he got back from his leave.
and FWIW, Bavasi never talks specifics about team plans until they happen.
Putz is a manly man, thinking manly thoughts, while doing manly things! Rockin’ win JJ!!
Man vs Wild is a joke, he has a CAMERA CREW, and you know damn well that the camera crew has an RV, and TV, and Air Conditioning, and just about ever luxury you and i have. SUVIVORMAN IS LEFT OUT THERE ALONE meanwhile Man Vs. Wild is eating caviar watching JJ make saves, and laughing all the way to the bank. I could do what man vs. wild does, now Les Shroud (survivorman) he’s a real dude.
After his marriage to Sue Jamison in 1994, the two of them spent one year living in the Canadian wilderness living a paleolithic existence. They travelled to Goldsborough Lake (50°41′55″N, 89°20′46″W) deep in the Wabakimi and built a cabin with no metal, plastic, or otherwise manufactured tools. They took a store of traditional foods and attempted to supplement it by hunting and trapping. Family and medical emergencies brought them out of the bush on two occasions. Their primitive living experience was filmed by Stroud and released as the 50 minute documentary, Snowshoes and Solitude, which was named Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival.
NOTHING IS MORE BAD ASS THAN THAT
I had seats just behind home plate tonight, and it was an odd crowd. Hundreds of Jays fans in the sections to my left and right, chanting like it was the World Series. Including a particularly obnoxious guy who sat down in every empty seat at least once to tell the surrounding fans how garbage the M’s are. I think he finally got booted after taking a swing at Moose Man. I’d actually have rather watched this one on tv.
Every time Morrow pitches is Man vs. Wild.
M’s playoff chances now at 21.1% according to http://www.coolstandings.com.
So the M’s are 10 games over .500 even though they’ve only scored 9 more runs than they’ve allowed. I understand that, given that they win close ones and lose blowouts.
But how is it that the Yankees are 2 games under .500 but they’ve scored 58 more runs than they’ve allowed? That’s just amazing.
To heck with Survivor Man and Man vs. Wild – the real wilderness macho guy is GRIZZLY MAN. He was so awesome, he got EATEN by a BEAR. Case closed!
Great game tonight. The bases loaded walk is deadly.
Every Bobby Ayala or Heathcliff Slocumb outing was Man vs. Wild…oh heck, those were SO rocky, they were the Deadliest Catch!
They originally cast Chuck Norris for Man vs. Wild, but during the filming of the first episode he ate the camera crew…
after taking a swing at Moose Man
I would have liked to have seen that.
Grizzly man was an irresponsible, clueless idiot. I have no problem with him getting eaten — that’s how nature works — but he got his girlfriend killed and eaten too. (On the other hand, Troy Hurtubise of “Project Grizzly” — the suit of armor that made it all the way to a Simpson’s episode — is awesome example of human eccentricity).
Back to the M’s: don’t look now, but if the M’s can sweep the Jays and the Twins sweep the Tigers, the Mariners will be sitting at the top of the wild card standings. Not to get ahead of ourselves or anything (neither of those seems likely, but then again neither did simultaneous sweeps of Boston and the Angels). Of course, the Tigers will be breathing down their necks and the Twins will be close behind, but still, we can dream.
The Mariners are now 10 games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2003 season.
117: I really hate to resurrect a comment this old, but:
Dude. Go read “Moneyball” again. You’re as wrong as Joe Morgan.
156:
Never read Moneyball. Don’t know that I ever will. Any baseball book with the word “Money” in the title (especially the first word) is not my kind of book. I’d rather go read Ball Four again (read it two or three times, still hilarious).
Other great baseball books I’ve read that are actually about playing the game:
-October 1964; Summer of ’49 – two awesome books by David Halberstam (RIP)
-Men at Work – I don’t like George Will’s politics, but this is an interesting book about the inside stuff of baseball.
-Boys of Summer – Roger Kahn – a classic
-Late Innings; Five Seasons; The Summer Game — all Roger Angell (the “other Rogers”), one of the best baseball writers ever. Writes great stuff a couple times a year for the New Yorker, especially about his beloved Red Sox.
-Wait Till Next Year – Doris Kearns Goodwin. A memoir about growing up a Brookly Dodgers fan. Ok, she later was caught plagiarizing, but that wasn’t for this book and she’s a good writer (Presidential scholar).
Never read these, but I’m sure they’re good:
I Had a Hammer, by Henry Aaron; My Own Story, by Jackie Robinson (with the recent anniversary of his breaking the color barrier a whole host of JR autobiographies just came out); etc.
You guys might want to try reading a baseball book that’s not about statistics sometime. It’s good stuff.
Speaking of history-filled baseball books: I just finished speedreading through Peter Golenboch’s “Red Sox Nation: An Unexpurgated History Of The Red Sox” updated from 1992 after the World Series win in 2004. No wonder Red Sox fans have been depressed for so long. You talk about a legacy of stupidity for a franchise — from the owners, the GMs and FO people to the managers — it’s no wonder the Red Sox went 86 years between WS wins.
157: You might want to reconsider. It’s not exactly “about statistics”, it’s about running a baseball team (as opposed to directly about playing baseball), making the most of a limited budget.
Doyle update from rotoworld:
“Athletics transferred outfielder Chris Snelling from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list. Snelling will still be eligible to return right after the break. How many more setbacks he has with his knee will determine how realistic that possibility is.”
159: Granted, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that philosophy…and in fact, some teams have had to go that route out of fiscal necessity. It just seems to lend itself to a more “station-to-station” style of play where things like team speed are not emphasized…for example, besides Johnnie Damon’s one season there back in ’01, Oakland hasn’t had a whole lot of guys in recent years who were legitimate base-stealing threats. I’ve got to think that’s by design – and it’s been quite evident there ever since Beane took that team over.
Y’all should reconsider. Might discover what you THOUGHT the book was about ain’t what it is a’tall.
man, if Chris didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all. what are the odds that the first baseman kicks you in the knee as you run past him?
B. Giles just came back from much the same injury, his caused by smacking his knee into the Wrigley bricks … his took about 70 days, not all of it on the DL.
#162– just remember when reading it, that Lewis tends to fall hard for the subject he is currently writing about, and during that time it can do know wrong
157: Here, here on G-Will…don’t like his politics much, either, but the man knows his stuff on the game.
BTW, thanks for this list!
The one book I’d add as a must read is Glory of their Times by Lawrence Ritter. It’ll bring a tear to your eye.
161: Right symptom, wrong reason. Speed, as shown by the Juan Pierre signing by the Dodgers, among others, is generally overpriced relative to its value. Billy Beane, and by extension, the Moneyball guys, as they’re termed, have nothing against stealing bases. The problem is that the payoff is generally not worth the risk. Check out Rickey Henderson’s record season and you’ll notice that his stolen bases ended up being practically worthless.
The guys who run this place probably already know, but…
Jacoby Ellsbury, of Madras OR and Oregon State (although a year before they went back-to-back in the CWS), just got called up to patrol the outfield for the Red Sox while Coco Crisp gets healthier. To make room, none other than the slightly hobbled(?) Joel Piniero was put on the DL (saving him from possible further embarrassment?).
He was one of the top prospects in the Sox farm system this past couple of years, and a lot of Red Sox fans have been looking forward to seeing him in Fenway. Good luck, kid.