Game 15, Rays at Mariners
DMZ · April 22, 2009 at 6:00 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Today’s lineup:
DH-L Griffey & Co.
RF-L Ichiro!
LF-L Endy Chavez
DH-L Griffey
3B-R Beltre
1B-R Sweeney
2B-R Lopez
C-R Johnson
CF-R Gutierrez
SS-R Betancourt
Stacking all the lefties up top! Wow.
It’s shaping up to be another great day in the AL West. Oakland loses 9-7 in 14 and Texas trails the Jays 7-3 after 6. Now if the Angels can follow suit…..
Cedeno-less. Again. So it goes.
Hopefully Verlander doesn’t blow up half way through the game. It could definitely be a nice night.
We need a picture of Junior in a Crown.
All Access has some enlightening moments. Endy Chavez tells us the importance of taking pitches and how it helps his teammates face the pitcher.
Por favor, Endy? En Espanol, go tell Yuni. Gracias.
Silva apparently blames his years long circling of the drain to pitching out of the bullpen in the 2006 WBC. Uh, okay.
So the Nationals-Braves game went 0-0 until the 9th inning, when two different Nats relievers managed to walk three in a row with a man on and two outs. So it was 1-0, and the only run was a bases-loaded walk. That team just keeps finding new ways to lose.
Meanwhile, back on this side the continent — the M’s are facing… Jeff Niemann? Over at Fangraphs, David Golebiewski wrote at the start of the season:
Dang, he’s huge. And — we know what this looks like — a pitcher with a lot of talent who struggles with command. Hey, Mariners: tonight’s a good night to take some goddamn pitches!
So how about a new Yuni-based over/under game? Not how many pitches he sees per game, but how many contests until he *officially* loses the starting gig? I’ll throw this number out there: 8. (Includes tonight)
Wow, this choppy video is terrible.
So the choppy video is not just me? Weather isn’t too good in MA, so I was thinking it was a local thing….
Glad to hear it’s not just me. The HD feed is awful
Phew, yeah, this is sucking. This is like when I try to watch full TV episodes online at home.
Was that Longoria single Betancourt’s ball, or was it a clean single?
It’s weird, like watching movement on one of the flipping books. Something happened to the ump. He has no mask. Beltre lying on the ground. Runner looking smug.
The SD feed is just as bad. I came here just to see if it was just me or not. So out options are sitting out there in the cold or watching that feed. Yay?
Well, on to watching the Rays broadcast… if it’s not one thing with FSN, it’s another.
Hey, Yuni didn’t commit any errors last night and had a few hits (and he took three pitches before swinging on his last at-bat last night). So there.
It was hard to tell from the camera angle whether he should have gotten that one hit up the middle, though.
At any rate, let’s wait for him to do more things wrong before we start whaling on him again.
Shouldn’t Yuni have been way out of position and gotten to that ball that squeaked into left field? (Sorry Lauren, couldn’t resist…)
I think they said something about Beltre not getting it.
Uh, Jak falls to earth, I think, from the occasional image of balls falling around the outfield.
FSN is terrible.
In case no one noticed, I’m getting a message at the bottom of the screen that there is some sort of technical difficulty with the feed? I don’t think anyone knew that was happening? Good thing they put the message at the bottom of the screen instead of fixing it.
Crap. 3-0 already….
Can not even watch this, its so choppy.
They should run that banner when Silva falls apart.
“THE MARINERS ARE EXPERIENCING PITCHING DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY…”
Whoa. Somewhere in the pixels, a visit to the mound.
“Technical Difficulties.” Really.
At least we’re missing the sucking part.
Woo, this is not looking good….
Sunspots? Russian hackers? Fire in the Bellevue office?
FSN’s technical difficulties sign looks like something out of an old SNL skit.
Gotta wonder if the out of towners are watching on MLB.TV no problem.
*Laughs* at Derek… I like that idea. Just cut to the banner when Silva tanks.
OK, some I’m watching the Rays broadcast, and now suddenly, I’m hearing Dave instead of the Rays announcers. Crazy.
Is this the Fox Sports high definition Amiga 128 graphics department?
I’m watching the game on MLB.tv and I haven’t had any problems.
You’d think that FSN would at least be able to provide audio.
And now the Rays announcers are back. I just don’t get why the M’s broadcasts are so messed up.
How about “We are experiencing audio difficulties” for the 6 innings Dave Sims calls every night.
And what’s happening, harry??
FOR THREE MORE SEASONS…
1-2 on Iwamura, now 2-2. Jak is not finding the plate.
So Tampa is able to get our audio broadcast, but FSN isn’t? That’s brilliant.
Bases loaded. Jak is just wild. He keeps missing up and away, really badly.
Bases juiced, Iwamura walks. 2 down.
Finally got gameday up. Thanks, harry. Just in time for the walk. Jeez.
Bartlett flied out, 3-0 is the total damage.
It’s a shame this couldn’t happen during something like bass fishing.
Out of the inning. Phew.
Hey the audio is back for the between inning warmup (you can hear the ball hit the cather’s glove).
You know, I really hate when I feel as though I can read a bubble over a player’s head, even though I know it’s just my projection of what I’d expect them to be thinking.
“Wow. This is my chance. RSS out for another couple of weeks from the look of things. Defending AL champs in town. Lots of scounts in the stands. Time to impress! …..uh, oops.”
That fly out to DEEEEPP left field must have been a scary moment to see, NOT!
On other stations that actually work, Joel Pinerio is working on his 3rd win in April…
anyone watching Joel Piniero on espn? Looking good!
Audio play-by-play on FSN too.
Piñeiro, peeps.
“WTF?” Trivia:
Who was one of only 3 pitchers in all of baseball to have 3 wins before today…?
The WTF answer: Jarrod Washburn
Agreed about Pineiro. Except he has no strikeouts and 2 walks. But he’s still been very good!
I’m starting to wish Ichiro would take a walk… he just popped out on ball 4. And it seems, merely from ~10 pitches, that Niemann is having as hard a time finding the plate as Jakubauskas.
harry–
that’s sad (niemann’s accuracy not too hot) since he seemed to have a pretty easy inning.
I never got audio. How odd. And now the picture’s back for the commercial. Naturally.
Commercials are back on FSN
Audio but no picture for the game.
Commercials but no game. Cheesy SNL style difficulty logo with radio broadcast at least. mlb.com gamecast for me, yay.
Listening to Niehaus call that Upton double down the line with audio only, he was able to nail it down to hitting somewhere between center field and the 200 level bleachers down the 3rd base side…
“That ball is foul… Or rather 2 feet fair… That ball was WAY fair… And Upton will cruise into 2nd with a double…”
(Shakes head)
Really, Jak? Really?
So does Jak have more than one pitch? Seems like a tight strike zone (I thought he had a strikeout on Upton), so he’s just serving fastballs down the middle. Nothing deceptive.
Writing in from the game and I can report that the game looks just as bad in person. A real lack of energy and any that was here got sucked out in that first inning. The scoreboard info when Griffey was at bat: tied for 16th in the AL with 8 walks. Meanwhile the TBR hit parade continues – over/under on my girls wanting to leave: 4th inning
Thank you Carl Crawford… Thown out tagging and trying to get to second. (Nice throw Guty!)
The picture came back just to show that, and now it’s locked up again.
How odd. I never had audio, but now I got 30 seconds of video, just in time to see run #4 score. That’s worse than just getting the commercials.
Full commercial effect again. FU Fox.
A lot of folks are getting their commercials on FSN tonight for free! (No audio when they cut to commercials)
It’s a good thing there is a great hockey game to watch right now…because this feed/audio only (and bad audio at that) is terrible.
Wow the Aflac video on FSN with the sound of the ballfield between innings. That was really pretty surreal.
Since FSN has the video working fine for commercials and not for the game, I would suggest that they check the cables over at Safeco.
Oh, now they got it fixed. It does work better if you plug stuff in.
Looks like FSN is back…
Game’s on! (FSN)
Im supposed to be happy that I can see the game again, right?
Looks like Sweeney strained his back.
Gameday Audio is working fine, for what it’s worth.
MedicineHat – Go Flames Go!
Boy, can this game suck any more?
Sweeney = Old….sometimes things hurt.
I could tell by his face and the way he was moving — I’ve strained my back before and it hurt just watching him.
That did not look good… Time to bring up Shelton!
Is it bad that I’m thinking Sweeney’s injury might be good for the team?
On the human side, It would kind of suck if that turned out to be a career ender. Kind of a whimpy way to go.
Sweeney should call it a career. Props to the guy for being who he is but there just isn’t anything there for him. He’ll be a great coach one day.
Paul B-
Ditto. When Sweeney did that “insta-collapse” stance, I swear my lower back clenched too. I know that feeling too well. And that doesn’t return to 100% anytime soon.
Ow.
wow, great place to tune in this evening… down 4-0 and the guy about to collect his social security check throws his back out.
Given how many concessions baseball has made to Fox, why not have a do-over from the beginning since we didn’t get to see it?
No! Sweeney!
So, Branyan, Kenji, and Sweeney. Can we get Shelton up, and maybe Clement?
**Sound of horns, Confetti falling, Flashing lights**
Breadbaker!!! Congratulations!!! Your idea is the big winner tonight and gets immediately put into action (crosses fingers)
Sweeney was hitting OK, though. Not like he was hitless or anything.
But if neither Sweeney nor Branyan can play tomorrow, the M’s have to put somebody on the DL and bring up another hitter. Don’t they?
Ut-oh, Cedeno’s back hurts too, he can’t bend over for a ground ball… *sigh*
Carp is hitting well, it looks like…
Well technically if branyan is day-to-day wwhy not play lopez at 1st for a game or two with cedeno at second?
Thank Bog for Beltre’s glove.
This is a job for Batista, mop up man!
Jak’s ball seems to be lacking that tailing right motion that I was digging all spring? Everything looks like it’s sitting on a plate, belt high, in the middle of the plate. Not good. (And over 70 pitches in the 3rd?)
Free Mike Carp!
Because there would be no infielders on the bench? The bench would be composed of Burke and Wlad. I guess a team could survive that for a game, but why would you want to?
Honestly, I was kinda digging the dated SNL Technical Difficulty screen more than seeing the actual game tonight.
I was digging those Chris Bosio highlights, and wishing I was watching that game.
One-Pitch Yuni strikes again.
Okay, 4th inning… This is just about the time the “mental” bus has been showing up to the ballpark with the team on board. (Unlike the “perfect game” bus the other team’s starter typically rides for the first 3 innings.)
Now the game starts.
The problem is that if you have two first basemen on the bench who can’t play, and an entire bench consisting of Burke and Wlad, what do you do when you get another infielder injured?
Hey, like Jamie Burke pitching last year, wasn’t Jakubauskas a position player originally? We could have a couple pitchers play infield? Maybe Silva can play first?
It could be like Little League… When Wak comes out of the dugout, the pitcher goes to first base, the first basemen comes in to pitch. How cool would that be? (I know, I know…)
This is getting brutal…
(Watches Longoria’s hit… Shakes head…)
Poor, Jak.
Well, this should tell us who the last pitcher on the staff is. Guess it is White.
Hang in there Jak…
It’s not over for him yet– These days happen, lest we forget:
King Felix:
Sept.09’08 4.1 innings, 6 earned runs
May.03’08 5.2 innings, 6 earned runs
Aug.19’08 5 innings, 5 earned runs
Nice pick! First good thing all night.
Actually, we’re in a period of extremely low sunspot activity. The lowest in almost a century.
And for those of you suffering through the TV broadcast, “Bone” just popped up on the radio.
with all this talk about mariner no-hitters does anyone else get a strange feeling that Niemann is on his way to his own no-hitter?
no.
E-6. Terrible. Take a lap.
And Yuni’s first error of the night, collect them all!
OK. I’m ready to whale.
smart play by Yuni! botching the grounder so we create a force out at 3rd!
*sigh*
Could anyone tell me what happened to Beltre? I can’t watch the game and Gameday notes just scared me. Thanks.
I’d turn the game off, but there is sort of a train wreck fascination with this game.
Guess I will wait to see if Neimann throws a perfect game or not.
Yuni’s evil plan, gunned down at third.
oh no! no more force at 3rd!
*************************************************************************
Corco sighting!
Who was it that thought this game couldn’t suck any worse?
White then Corcoran? Isn’t this a situation for Batista? What does it say that they’re not using him here?
Maybe we can put Silva and Sir Sidney in a room. “Two men enter… one man leaves!”
baserunner!
That’s 3 errors for Yuni in this young season, but who’s counting?
Ah, the sound of silence.
Which sucks more, this game, or the coverage?
I’m liking Cedeño’s patience.
Did I just see a walk?
Jose!
Yeeahhhhh J. Lo!!!
Hey, Lopez was supposed to bunt! Bench him!
Oh hells yeah.
That’s right, it’s the FIFTH inning when we show up… Not fourth… Sorry.
Nice shot Jose!
OK, that ended the no hitter.
Maybe Lopez’ bat will start to heat up, he’s been pretty cold.
LOPEZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!
Does anyone else have sound?
(This is ridiculous)
Wow, baseball can be a strange, strange game.
I have sound. Maybe you hit mute?
great call by the ump. He was in perfect position right on the line and could see that ball was going to land foul.
My sound never went out. Working fine. I ahve Fios.
Okay, that was weird. Changed channels to see if it was just FSN, and when I flipped back, the sound’s back.
Just in time to hear, 3 runs on one hit for the M’s. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em the normal way, get creative.
Wow. This is nutty as all get-out.
It’s suddenly a bit lively here at the ole ball park!
Wow, three fielding miracles for the M’s, in one inning.
Nice dink RoJo… They all count. Let’s do something with it!
Nice AB by RoJo.
Wow, that looked fair on TV… Looked like a 2-run homer to me (hit the aisle, which is inside the foul pole?)
It’s foul. Looked sweet coming off the bat, though, my hopes were up.
The ball sliced into the aisle. If u watch the fans they are attempting to track the ball coming from the right.
Fuck, Yuni. You really want me to abandon you completely, don’t you.
Hey, did I ever mention how much I like Carlos Silva? Nice guy, really.
At this point I would just release Yuni, he is worthless.
When is the next Buhner Buzzcut Night?
What the hell??? We get homered in our own park! I know we probably weren’t going to win anyways, but Crawford was OUT
As they were talking about Gutierrez leading in sacrifice bunts, I thought to myself, “He should probably do that here, to ensure Yuni can’t ground out into another double play.”
Sure enough…
Lauren,
Sit down, take a deep breath, don’t anything drastic (ie- the Silva comment).
I for one am shocked by Lauren’s language!
What else can be added to this game full of wack?
I enjoy being a foul-mouthed harpy. Now let’s score some mother-freakin’ runs.
and we enjoy it, as well.
so, no AL team has scored a run in all 9 innings, sez Dave. That would top off the wackiness of this game.
Classic Ichiro at bat. Foul off pitch after pitch until he got the one he wanted and punched it into left field fora hit.
I was nowhere near a computer when it happened, so this is a bit late, but . . . What the effing eff, Yuni?!? Hey, everyone hits into a double play once in a while. We all know that. But when the pitcher is on the ropes, taking shot after shot, you don’t flail at the first freaking pitch with a rolled up newspaper.
And the error. That ball jumped on you, I’ll give you that, but it’s your fault for settling for an in-between hop on a routine groundball.
Go to the bench you rally-killing chubster.
See, that’s where we’re supposed to get a pay back for that out by a mile of Crawford.
Man this game is frustrating. Why would Ichiro go there? We’re down 5, we need base runners.
That was stupid baseball (Ichiro’s failed steal). Five runs down? Middle of the order coming up?
Huh? I mean, HUH?!?!
Thanks Ichiro… Two on, nobody out??? (Nope, not now.)
Funny (the FSN mention of “Turn Back the Clock Day”), I was just thinking tonight felt a bit like turning back the clock to 2008?
Well at least the Angels are throwing away their game.
He was stealing the same reason he was bunting with a runner on third the other night… and it I really want to start a fire… the same reason he is the single season leader of garbage hits…
Still a great player but you have to question why he makes decisions that are more for personal benefit than WINNING.
He is still the least of this teams worries.
Want to know what the team sees as your role, Batista?
Look at when they’re putting you in the game here.
Three more runs coming?
San Diego Mariner Fan–
Actually Wak said that Ichiro was supposed to bunt the other night, and Yuni didn’t get the signal. It was a suicide squeeze play and Yuni didn’t break for home.
I’m not disagreeing with your point, but that anecdote doesn’t work– Yuni didn’t get the Suicide Squeeze sign.
Juneau fan–
Tampa wants the “a run scored in every inning” record, so they traded us a player to be named later, in exchanged for us putting Batista on the mound for the rest of the game.
(True story.)
(Okay, maybe not.)
I also note how often Yuni double-clutches the ball before throwing to first. One of these days, buddy, you’re going to not get the runner.
I could see it, UpOrDown.
My bad… I missed Wak’s comments… and underestimated Yuni’s stupidity… Just making a point… the guy bunts when it is not the best option for the team…Ichiro seems to care very much about his personal statistics and records when he should be thinking team work…
Sometimes I think with Ichiro he got into the habit of doing all these little amazing things he could do, that people ooh-ed and ahh-ed over for so long, that he lost sight along the way of being part of the larger “team strategy”. It’s always been “Ichiro gets on and then we figure out how to score him…” And batting lead off has always lended more importance to getting on base, than contributing in any other way.
All part of why I’d really like to see him bat 2nd or 3rd and be forced to take on the mentality of a batter with more responsibility than simply to beat the ball to first base.
And we were 5-2 with Endy batting lead off.
It’s good to be in MLB’s worst division.
Texas LOST
Oakland LOST
Angels LOSING (in the 7th)
Sure,Ichiro would look better in the 2 or 3 home… if we had a stud OBP guys with a little spead… Not sold on Endy’s OBP skills but his stock has risen in an every day role…
Batista’s extra big sideburns have been bugging me all season.
I know I should have something weightier to bug me about this team, but I’m going to go with that right now.
So do you guys think Sweeney goes on the DL? I don’t want to say I hope he does but I wouldn’t mind seeing a guy like Shelton get called up to see if a new bat can jump start the offense.
Meant to say if we had a decent OBP leadoff guy with a little spead… not guys
Smatbte-
I would think it kinda forces the hand for Sweeney, or Branyan, to go on the DL, so we have at least one healthy reliable option.
I remember many a discussion opening weekend of just this scenario (either or both of our 1st basemen being down). I would think with 19 straight games ahead of us, and nobody healthy at first but Lopez, it would be the smart thing to do too.
To early to say on Sweeney… but at his age I think 15 day DL just to be safe… and yes, too bad for Sweeney I prefer Shelton too… and if Branyon doesn’t start hitting you can add Carp.. If the younger upside guys can perform at the same level as the grizzled replacement guys then lets see what we got for our future.
If Carp can produce at the ML level how much more does the “Putz” deal look like a steal…
Its just pipe dreams now… whispering… Z, GM/Executive of the year…
If the M’s play 500 the rest of the year we have a shot at the Pennant.
Oops, trusted the FSN guys too much… They said we were in 19 straight games, but actually checking the schedule, it looks like we have the 30th off.
Ichiro’s last two-at bats have been long and he’s ended up with hits in both of them.
Ichiro!
I think he does what he does to satisfy the drive that makes him play baseball in the first place. So there’s no changing him, really.
It’s just frustrating when he’s cold, and doesn’t take walks.
Harry-
I agree. It’s tough to not be happy with 200+ hits, 100+ runs, and 30-40 stolen bases a year. And a gold glove.
I think we’ve come to take it for granted. Ichiro is really a victim of his own success… Our main complaint with him is that we’re all convinced he can do more. It just seems true somehow. It’s gonna be weird to see how we handle it when his numbers start declining…
(Nice play Endy!)
Endy with the sweet catch. Love this outfield.
Sweet.
And not so sweet.
Damn these guys are dull tonight.
Ugh. Beltre.
Double Ugh. (From Beltre? Weird…)
Three errors this year already.Please tell me this is small sample size theatre and we don’t have to get used to it…
I’m having some scary flashbacks tonight… Yuni, Beltre, and Lopez have all had those “deer in the headlights” lost looks in their eyes that we grew too accustomed to last year. Scary stuff. (Shivers.)
hark-
“this is small sample size theatre and we don’t have to get used to it…”
I promise.
I’m a fan of watching Ichiro catch a flyball, even the routine ones. Watching the average outfielder–even gold glovers like Torii Hunter, Mike Cameron and Griffey in his heyday–is totally different. He holds his glove hand vertically instead of horizontally and lets the ball fall into the pocket instead of into the thumb, positioning himself at a 90 degree angle to the applicable throwing play, croushed and totally ready for a throw.
It’s a thing of beauty the way he approaches the ball.
Game 15, and we’ve been in all but two of them. I’ll take it, though I’m glad I had tickets to last night instead of tonight.
Hark–
Yeah, I love the Ichiro catch too, he sets himself up to take the ball out of his glove like a pitcher almost… It’s like a running windup.
Agreed Bread. We’re ahead of where I had convinced myself I’d be happy at this point in the schedule. Definitely. (Not to mention being the only team above .500 in the West is a nice bonus.)
We’ll get ‘em tomorrow– and baseball is a weird game. Ask the team that lost 22-4 to Cleveland the other day.
Ichiro needs to hit 3rd on this team in my opinion.
When the M’s had Boone/Edgar/Olerud/Cameron in the middle of the order it made all the sense in the world for Ichiro to hit leadoff.
But the current team has very little power and Ichiro is by far and away their best hitter. Best hitter should hit 3rd in the lineup.
Chazez could hit leadoff with his speed and I would hit Gutierrez 2nd to break up the lefty bats and Gut does have speed. Also, hitting in front of Ichiro, maybe he gets better pitches to hit.
If Ichiro has Chavez and/or Gut on in front of him that is great speed. But the bottom line to me is a base hit with runners in scoring position scores runs just as well as HR does (save for the batter scoring).
Minnesota has had Mauer hitting 3rd for many years as a high avg / low HR guy and it has worked fine. Why can’t the M’s do this with Ichiro?
Time to think outside of the box and give the best hitter more chances with guys on base.
Move Ichiro to 3hole like Tony Gwynn w/ Padres. Maybe a good idea…..though generally speaking to the extent that batting orders make a difference, you want your obp/noodle bat hitting first. Ich is a near ideal leadoff man, it’s just the lack of other batters that would possibly make him best suited for 3-hole.
career stat guy in me wants to keep him lead off to improve the likelihood of another 200 hit season.
Why do people keep bringing up this idea of moving Ichiro to the 3-hole? I swear it’s popped up once a day lately.
He is a better asset to the team in the leadoff spot, and he is happier there. Ichiro is not a problem this team should be trying to solve.
yeah, there must be some more “mainstream” sports opinion outlet that is promoting this idea. Along with the stupid “Ichiro just tries to get hits to pad his stats, he doesn’t care about the team” meme. As if Ichiro not getting hits would somehow make the team better.
Jeff, I think you misunderstood the point I was making.
I am not saying Ichiro is a problem to be solved, far from it. I think he could be part of the solution in the 3-hole to help score runs via how great a hitter he is.