Game 38, White Sox at Mariners

DMZ · May 10, 2008 at 6:10 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Vazquez v Washburn, 7:10.

I looked at the mini-schedule on the M’s home page today and saw that they were headed to Texas after this series. It gave me a start — I’d forgotten, and being reminded that the team the M’s just went 1-3 against would be their next opponents caused my heart to fall. “Can we just skip ahead to divisional rivals the Padres?” I thought.

Anyway, as this posts I’m likely trudging down Occidental smiling on my way into the game.

Comments

296 Responses to “Game 38, White Sox at Mariners”

  1. juneau_fan on May 10th, 2008 9:45 pm

    I mean, ‘could have slipped by the swipe tag.’

    (Step away from the bottle…)

  2. Benne on May 10th, 2008 9:46 pm

    Can someone please enlighten me to as why that was not called a balk?

    It looked like the pitcher stepped off the rubber first, but I couldn’t tell because I was too busy screaming obscenities at McLaren and Boom Boom.

  3. BillyJive on May 10th, 2008 9:46 pm

    He was safe!

  4. pumpkinhead on May 10th, 2008 9:47 pm

    Every day is a new game. I’m just looking forward to the next win, whenever that happens. Just because the Mariners aren’t headed to the post season doesn’t mean there’s not a chance to see good M’s baseball from time to time =)

  5. Flowin on May 10th, 2008 9:47 pm

    yeah… I mean, it was close either way, and when it happened live, I thought he was out by a mile. But the replay showed that the catcher tagged Ichy as Ichy was touching the plate. It was bang-bang, but after looking at the replay on my computer now, I think he was safe by a hair.

  6. Rick L on May 10th, 2008 9:47 pm

    Clement has been a total bust so far.

  7. Benne on May 10th, 2008 9:48 pm

    That flyball would’ve been a homer in every other ballpark not named Petco.

  8. Flowin on May 10th, 2008 9:50 pm

    well.. this game is over. That play at the plate was the game. If Ichy is called safe, then it is 7-5, with Beltre up and Boom Boom is scoring position. Dotel was struggling, and Beltre may have tied the game or continued the inning. Then, instead of a 3-run game, it is a 1 or 2 run game, and everything changes. But whatever… that is the way the breaks have gone for the M’s this season.

  9. Rick L on May 10th, 2008 9:52 pm

    RRS Warming up. This really leaves us without a long man for tomorrow’s potential Batista meltdown.

  10. PaulMolitorCocktail on May 10th, 2008 9:52 pm

    I would like to apologize, my math was wrong. Even if/when the Ms lose tonight, they still will have a better record than the Padres.

  11. PaulMolitorCocktail on May 10th, 2008 9:53 pm

    259… you gotta be kidding me, right? WHY? We ain’t winning this game anyway, let Green finish up.

    @$#@$#$P$%#$ McLaren!

  12. MyOhMy on May 10th, 2008 9:55 pm

    So, the White Sox add Swisher, Quentin, & Cabrera this offseason to get more ‘O’ and the M’s add Wilkerson, Cairo, & Norton. Lovely!

  13. juneau_fan on May 10th, 2008 9:55 pm

    Is it me, or do the opposing hitters seem to aim for left field? Raul just keep running around out there, chasing a ball already on the ground.

    There was some irony in that ball Ibanez hit to left field earlier, that if he’d been fielding, would have been an easy double, but was caught handily by Quentin.

  14. justinh on May 10th, 2008 9:56 pm

    Why it wasn’t a balk – – –

    You can fake to 3rd and then go to 1st when runners on the corners. No balk.

  15. G-Germ on May 10th, 2008 9:59 pm

    To me it didn’t look like he was faking to 3rd… it looked like he was going home until the catcher popped out and then he went to first.

  16. Flowin on May 10th, 2008 10:00 pm

    wow.. they are pulling Green.

    NOTE TO MCLAREN: This game is over. The Mariners have scored 4 runs all week, how are they gonna score 4 more in one inning. Cut your losses, let Green finish his own mess, and save Rowland for the 2nd inning tomorrow, when Batista is yanked after letting up 6+ runs again. We already wasted Baek, we need RRS.

  17. Rick L on May 10th, 2008 10:03 pm

    Holy Cow, Matt Thornton is still alive.

  18. justinh on May 10th, 2008 10:05 pm

    266 – We won’t need our bullpen tomorrow, Batista is throwing.

  19. PaulMolitorCocktail on May 10th, 2008 10:05 pm

    and he has a good ERA. Glad we got, um, whatsisname for him.

  20. justinh on May 10th, 2008 10:06 pm

    Former Mariner #1 draft pick Matt Thorton.

  21. msb on May 10th, 2008 10:06 pm

    what? you don’t think Joh, Wlad & Cairo can’t take Matt Thornton?

  22. MyOhMy on May 10th, 2008 10:07 pm

    Thorton, and yet another guy we gave away for a guy, Borchard, who lasted approx 11 AB’s for the M’s before they cut him.

  23. dsmiley on May 10th, 2008 10:07 pm

    At least Joh’s bat is heating up.

  24. dsmiley on May 10th, 2008 10:09 pm

    “And Miguel Cairo — last hope.”

    What hope?

  25. juneau_fan on May 10th, 2008 10:09 pm

    “Miguel Cairo–last hope.”

    Now, those are words to have me reaching for the bottle again.

  26. msb on May 10th, 2008 10:09 pm

    “Miguel Cairo, the last hope” is not a phrase you want to hear.

  27. PaulMolitorCocktail on May 10th, 2008 10:11 pm

    Why is Peter Parker working the post-game show?

  28. praetor on May 10th, 2008 10:11 pm

    [what? no]

  29. MyOhMy on May 10th, 2008 10:12 pm

    “Miguel Cairo” period! Not the phrase you want to hear …

  30. justinh on May 10th, 2008 10:15 pm

    McLaren in his interview tonight:

    “Well we got dug ourselves into a whole early.”

    “Our bats got going a bit.”

    “Beltre had some nice swings.”

    “Yeah Willie was going on 3-1 count and it was just an unfortunate play.”

  31. don52656 on May 10th, 2008 10:16 pm

    Listening to the post-game on Fox….they are trying to make it sound like this was a good game because we scored 4 runs, thanks to Beltre. The fact that we lost 8-4 seems to be lost on these clowns.

    Sigh…

  32. don52656 on May 10th, 2008 10:17 pm

    Does anyone ask why Willie was going on a 3-1 pitch with Beltre up on a 3-1 count and down by 3 runs?

  33. rcc on May 10th, 2008 10:18 pm

    Who is the hottie on FSN Mariners post game….smoking hot! She is the best part of watching the Mariners fail once again.

    I wonder what game the official scorekeeper was watching to not give that slick outfielder Rauuuuuuul a much deserved error.

  34. Steve T on May 10th, 2008 10:18 pm

    Four runs is still below the league average.

  35. msb on May 10th, 2008 10:23 pm

    Mac is a proud subscriber to the Cliche of the Month club.

  36. justinh on May 10th, 2008 10:25 pm


    Does anyone ask why Willie was going on a 3-1 pitch with Beltre up on a 3-1 count and down by 3 runs?

    Down three with 2 innings left you want to get both runners in scoring position if possible. With 3-1 count usually what teams will do if guy on first can run.

  37. Benne on May 10th, 2008 10:32 pm

    Down three with 2 innings left you want to get both runners in scoring position if possible. With 3-1 count usually what teams will do if guy on first can run.

    There’s no way to justify this. It was 2 outs in the most high-leverage situation in the game, with your best hitter at the plate in a very favorable count. The risk of ending the inning is not worth the benefit of an extra base.

  38. don52656 on May 10th, 2008 10:58 pm

    Down three with 2 innings left? There’s no way you are running on a 3-1 count. That’s bad baseball. Period.

  39. don52656 on May 10th, 2008 11:02 pm

    Plus, I’m getting a little sick and tired of hearing about how good a base stealer Willie is….he was 7/12 last year and is 3/5 this year. His base-stealing percentage is a net loss for the team in the last year and a half. He would have been out tonight if Dotel would have made a halfway decent throw.

  40. smb on May 10th, 2008 11:27 pm

    I’ve been a regular reader of this site for a couple years now, and to me the most telling fact of how bad things have gotten lately is that readers are now openly advocating Jeremy Reed as a step in the right direction. And they have a point. I am going to go cry now.

  41. CC03 on May 10th, 2008 11:35 pm

    I can’t believe 33k people were in attendance for this crap. That’s surprising.

  42. Rydogg2122 on May 11th, 2008 12:10 am

    I’d rather have Reed play 1B rather then Cairo. I mean it would make alot more sense bringing Reed up. Have him play LF, Ibanez plays 1B or have Clement play 1B and Ibanez DH. At least you have options. Cairo offers absolutely nothing.

  43. Breadbaker on May 11th, 2008 12:43 am

    Some impressions from Section 127, Row 13 (thank you, friends who got season tickets in 1977 and let me join the group):

    The reason it was such a large crowd is there were a large number of groups, in particular state government groups and elementary schools. Plus it was mom t-shirt night.

    The guy sitting behind me noted, after the first hit of the game, that Washburn was a completely different pitcher with men on base. He had breezed through the first and then the first hit led to the floodgates. Point made.

    Anyone with any eyes at all realizes that Ibanez is just killing us in left. Anything hit into the corner has the potential for being an inside the park homer. The suggestion someone made to send Clement down, bring up Reed to play left and have Raul become the fulltime DH makes so much sense that I assume McLaren and Bavasi are rehearsing their BS responses to it as this very moment. “We have statistics showing Raul performs worse when he’s the DH.”<—expect to see this comment. Try not to snigger too loudly.

    While my gut sense (seeing it in three dimensions though it was obviously a bang-bang thing) was that Ichiro was safe at home, I still don’t understand why he went. If he scores, they definitely walk Beltre and put in a leftie to face Ibanez. If he stays, there’s a slightly larger chance that they give Beltre a nice fat pitch to hit 3-1 (which was the count at the time). When you add in the possibility (as happened) that he’s called out, and look at the bottom five of the lineup, it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to take the bat out of the hands of the guy who had already driven in three of our four runs with two runners in scoring position.

    And if we’ve got to the point where we have no option that includes pinch hitting for Miguel Cairo with two out in the ninth, what have we come to? Is Jamie Burke incapable of picking up a first baseman’s glove? WFB has played first before; is Yuni completely out? There’s gotta be a better option to at least give the fan’s the appearance that you aren’t already playing out the string on May 10.

  44. Benne on May 11th, 2008 12:51 am

    Are people giving up on Clement? On one hand I can understand–his line of .138/.286/.138 with an atrocious strikeout rate is hard to swallow, and at times he looks like he’s completely in over his head. On the other hand, if he goes back to the minors, it will probably mean more Turbo time.

    Personally, I’d rather watch him play and take his lumps than watch a washed up has-been phone it in.

  45. BillyJive on May 11th, 2008 3:19 am

    No drinking games tomorrow…
    Damn Mariners
    *sigh*

  46. currcoug on May 11th, 2008 12:14 pm

    It is interesting that Clement is struggling at the plate, but doing a solid job behind it.

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