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Arrrrggghh!
#@$@#%!!!
#$@%#$^*&$%*((#$@%(@#!! *#$%! Re-$!@##!@-diculous!!
I still can’t believe that game.
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Twittah
I don’t feel good.
I don’t feel good.
I don’t feel good.
Uh. I don’t feel good, either?
I was feeling good, then I heard about how the game turned out.
And the inability to string together 2 wins in a row eludes the M’s.
Oops, let me try that again. The ability to string together 2 wins in a row eludes the M’s (hmm why can’t I edit?)
“I thought I made good pitches tonight,” Lowe said. “It seems they just got lucky. Sometimes that happens even if you make good pitches.”
“I thought I took some good swings tonight,” Lopez said. “I got some good wood on the ball. It seems I was just unlucky.”
Lopez sucks and Lowe didn’t have it. And that’s that!
The Offense needs some big changes because nothing is happening and will happen when half of your lineup consists of right handed hackers that can’t hit right handed pitching.
This team simply does not have the plate discipline to win many ballgames. Look at the roster stats on the M’s site….6 or 7 guys BELOW .300 OBP, including Lopez, Betancourt, Beltre, and other starters. This is just a very poorly constructed team (Bavasi, not Jack Z). Did anyone else notice the 8th inning? First pitch swing, Ichiro, pop up behind the plate (dropped), then out. Chavez gets on. First pitch swing, Beltre, double play.
I thought the Lewis HR was funny
On a lighter note, Derek quoted at length by Larry Stone refuting the idea that RJ tanked in ’98. I might point out that in the dialogue with Joe Posnanski, Bill James singled out Randy’s 1998 season. The whole season, not just the two months with the Astros.
The 98 Mariners had no pitching beyond RJ and Moyer, that was their problem.
Jeez what a turd of a loss.
Seems like Lowe and Morrow together have been dealing us too many of these backbreaker wins-turned-into-losses with their farked up total meltdowns. 5 almost good wins turned into soulcrushing losses by them so far?
Well, Lowe messed up today but at least he’d been pitching well in some tight situations recently. Unlike Morrow, who’s just been a pain in the arse.
And someone complained about Ichiro’s at bat in the 8th which I think is way off base. Rather complain about all the weak reeds on our team whose OBP is less than .300. Ichiro’s approach is the least of our problems.
And Ichiro’s pitches/PA is a good 3.91 this season versus a career of 3.59 which I think is a substantial difference. It looks like he is trying to take more pitches per team philosophy even though it might be detrimental to his way of batting.
I’d rather see him be more aggressive and lash at those first pitch strikes, becasue he has a very high average when he does so.
Requiring Ichiro to be less aggressive is a mistake in my opinion. I’m tried of the TAKE TAKE screaming and wish the media would stop trying to preach hitting to a lifetime +.330 hitter.
Rather focus on the real problems like Beltre, Yuni, Lopez, Johjima, (Wlad).
As regards this game, Ichiro in the 1st, he takes, and watches 2 strikes go by. Can’t be more “patient” than that. Falls into an 0 and 2 count against a good pitcher, Cain, and grounds out. In the 3rd he hits the first pitch for a basehit which helps to lead to our only run of the game scoring. In the 5th, 1 pitch looking for a strike, next pitch basehit. I wouldn’t point to Ichiro’s first pitch swinging (and as it turned out it was a 7 pitch at bat) against Cain in the 8th as one of the reasons we lost this game.
And with our team’s offense I thought we were dead after getting overturned 1-5 in the top of the 8th, before that.
Lowe had an off night, cut him some slack.
But the hitting just SUCKS right now.
This team is getting a little better at working pitch counts and it should improve more in that department by September.
But the fact is, many of the hitters on this team just plain SUCK (including Griffey as much as I hate to say it).
This club needs Michael Saunders, Jeff Clement, Adam Moore and Mike Carp on it very soon so it can create some better platoon situations and everyday lineup production for itself, BADLY.
And that’s just the start of what this club needs to do to improve itself at the plate because there are GLARING holes at 3B, SS and 2B aside from the guys you can potentially call up from Tacoma this year.
Maybe Tui and Trinufel can be, at the very least, “Mr. Reliable” types in two of those positions, but it’s tough to say with both of those guys (considering Trinfuel’s injury) now.
As far as I can tell, the only post that came close to discussing (let alone complaining about) Ichiro’s at-bat in the eighth was mine. If I missed someone else’s, I apologize, but if it was mine, you totally misread it.
My post was mainly about letting Cain off with one run in the third, when Chavez, Beltre and Griffey saw one pitch each after Gutirrez and Ichiro had gotten on base, and then about the seventh, when Gutierrez was thrown out with Ichiro at bat. Ichiro then came up again in the eighth after the game was lost. No way any of that was Ichiro’s fault and my post certainly wasn’t criticizing Ichiro in any way, shape or form.
Again, if I missed someone else’s post about Ichiro coming up in the eighth, I’m sorry.
Four runs in four games. I’m looking forward to the draft. Sounds more and more likely that we will be getting Dustin Ackley to have in the system. With all of our other picks in the first and supplemental rounds, we could (and should) be on the way to recovery.
Also, there are a lot of salaries coming off the books this offseason, whether or not any midseason trades are made. This is going to be Zduriencik’s team in 2010, and I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to seriously compete then. We are one of the lucky teams in baseball to be in the AL West, where you only have to be better than three teams to make the playoffs. We need to take advantage of these years while we can.
Breadbaker sorry, I meant rightwingrick’s post at 11:51 pm. I didn’t take your post in the wrong way.
These recent games are really depressing because I don’t know what Wak or Z can do about Beltre, Yuni, Lopez, Johjima, (Wlad).
Thanks, Tom C. Phew.
Wait, that’s not that. Lopez is SO clutch.
P.S. Ichiro needs to take more pitches.
P.S. Ichiro needs to take more pitches. It’s very frustrating to watch him foul off “ball four” 3 times during an at-bat, or ground out on a 2-0 count, but he’s annually top 20 in the AL in OBP, despite this, so he can get away with it. Ichiro is definitely not the problem with the Ms offense.
One thing we need to remember is that the Ms have excellent defensive players at positions that are traditionally played by big hitters (3B, OF). If they had a more offensive-heavy mix they might be losing games 3-4, instead of 1-2. Hopefully, Griffey will be gone next year, and the Ms can upgrade at DH (he’s my all-time favorite player, but the time has come). Hopefully Balentien turns out to be a legit .800ish OPS guy and hopefully the Ms can get an entirely new middle infield. Those are my hopefullys for the near-future.
I agree with Tom C (note the space between the m and the C – we are not the same person), Ichiro is not our problem.
Let us not confuse results with process. The issue is not pitches per plate appearance – that is a symptom of the problem. The issue is pitch recognition. Just as batters shouldn’t be swing at pitches in the dirt, there is no benefit to a hitter going up to the plate and watching three fat pitches go over the plate. Ichiro has demonstrated he can discern the difference between a strike and a ball. He’s fine.
The free swinging righties in the lineup, however, swing at pitches that vary from marginal to far outside of the strike zone. Opposing pitchers learn this and feed them a steady diet of marginal stuff. The low ratio of pitches per plate appearance is just a sign that they haven’t learned or are incapable of adjusting to this approach.
The question for me is whether these guys can learn or if the organization needs to replace them with people who do have (or can learn) pitch recognition skills.
What is the probability of going 2-2 in 4 games, when only scoring a combined 4 runs?
How about the ability to string together two hits in a row eludes the M’s, too.