Game 52, Orioles at Mariners
Hill vs Washburn, 7:10 pm.
So, as you probably know, the Orioles have this center fielder who is having a pretty good season. Unless he falls apart in June, there’s a pretty decent chance that Adam Jones will make his first All-Star team this summer at the ripe old age of 23. He’s one of the core pieces of the Orioles rebuilding process, and if the M’s wanted to get him back, they probably couldn’t, even if they offered up the entire farm system and the deed to Mt. Rainier. He’s that valuable. And, but for some really terrible decision making, he could have been ours.
But you know what? I’m happy for Adam Jones, but I’ve moved on. The people responsible for making the worst trade in franchise history got fired, and the team brought in the front office we’ve always wanted. The people who publicly supported the deal have basically all issued mea culpas, and the most prominent of them has become a supporter of the value of defense. The folks who were oh so wrong about that move have either lost their jobs or learned their lesson.
So, to everyone who wants to use Jones’ return as an opportunity to rub it in and play “I told you so”, please don’t. There’s no point. The deal is done and the lessons have been learned. Let’s all just be happy for Adam that he’s on his way to a terrific major league career, root for Zduriencik to fleece some other GM when we move Bedard this summer, and stop acting like there are still battle lines being drawn here.
Besides, if you really want to judge the trade by the results since it went down (not that you should), then you might want to consider that the Bedard deal was basically the final nail in the coffin of the Bavasi era. It sucks that it took a soul crusher of a trade to provide the impetus for the necessary organizational changes, but it did, and those changes took place.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m happier as a Mariner fan with Jack Zduriencik and my GM and Franklin Gutierrez as my center fielder than I would be with Bill Bavasi as my GM and Adam Jones as my center fielder. Trying to pretend there’s a mythical world where we could have had both is not going to do anyone any good. I’ll root for Jones to play well, but not when he’s playing the Mariners. Tonight, I hope Jarrod Washburn makes him look stupid.
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Yea, in a bizarro roundabout way the Bedard trade brought about good things.
That felt horrible to type. Especially considering Tillman is still rocking in the minors.
And I love how Wak bats our new CF in the nine hole because he thinks Franklin isn’t ready to bat higher in the lineup. That’s just idiotic.
I feel bad for the Orioles, in a few years here, they are going to be on the hook for a huge Adam Jones deal… We dodged that one.
Adam Jones sucks. He’s 0 fer 8 with a walk and a strikeout in his last 2 games!
I guess he was pretty good before that (.360/.411/.634), but anyone can do well in a small 43 game sample like that.
Jarrod Washburn/Wladimir Balentien to the Mets for Fernando Martinez anyone? Or maybe Jarrod Washburn/Wladimir Balentien to the Yankees
for Brett Gardner?
Let’s see…since Hill is a lefty, I foresee Endy hitting second, Griffey third and Branyan cleanup. Of course, no Balentien in the lineup.
And a first inning sacrifice with Ichiro on second! Finally, the finishing touch…let’s intentionally walk the bases full late in the game with a control challenged pitcher on the mound. Please, Wak — win me back somehow.
/vent
[F'ing stop doing that]
Glad someone with authority said it. I came to terms a long while ago that Adam Jones is Baltimore’s Center Fielder. It’s done, it’s over, and no matter how many times it gets brought up nothing is going to change, and everything that needed changing has already happened.
Can’t wait to see Baltimore’s CF and Catcher in action this series.
Someday, youth too will be served here, on a hot and shiny plate. Ahhhh….
Although my last few comments have been a bit grumpy, when I consider all of the agonizing and maddening moments we’ve seen in the first 51 games, 24 and 27 isn’t that discouraging. This can be a .500 team. We’re on a good course.
“Can’t wait to see Baltimore’s CF and Catcher in action this series.”
Markakis and Reimold are pretty special too.
Hopefully, from now on this team can actually develop postion players that they keep and who perform in this oragnization. Ackley will be the first big step in that direction. Zduriencik has shown he knows how to stock the roster up with useful players. He will have players ar several levels of value to deal off for players at several levels of value, and I look forward to see how it works out.
I quite simply lack the capacity to gloat about Adam Jones. The Adam Jones portion of my brain knows only pure, unrequited love.
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4740583
It is time to move on, but Adam Jones’ presence this series can serve as a reminder of how much better the front office is now. Just think what this team will be like in a few years if all Zdurenzcik’s work out as well as the Putz deal.
Belated congrats to Moyer on his 250th win.
What a unique career line he has had.
I wish I could say it’s time to move on, but let’s face it, no one is going to move on about Adam Jones until we win (or go to) a World Series.
The same thing goes with forgetting about Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe, Carlos Guillen, you-know-who in San Francisco, Freddy Garcia, Omar Vizquel, Tino Martinez, Richie Sexson, Carlos Silva, Miguel Batista, et all.
That’s what happens when you root for a franchise that has a long laundry list of bad trades, drafts and free agency signings.
I can just only hope this crap doesn’t last any longer and people like Carp, Saunders, Clement, Moore and Triunfel turn out to be quality major leaguers (if they’re not meant to be stars) when they come up to Seattle and Ackley turns out to be a stud for us when we draft him at #2 this year.
So glad he won a ring last year.
The man deserves it for a lot of reasons.
Putz is rolling along right now.
I predict that Matt Wieters will hit for the cycle tonight. Twice. In the same at-bat.
Speaking of Putz, he just gave up 4 hits and 4 runs to the Pirates and his ERA is 5.08.
Go Z
TomTuttle I blame most of them on Seinfeld. If he hadn’t brought the Buhner deal to national attention…
Man, I wish we could draft guys who would take some bad pitches, then foul off a bunch of pitches to keep an at-bat alive…
I’ve been wanting to ask this for a few weeks, but haven’t seen a better place so here goes!
I’m thinking about getting season tix for 2010, and was wondering if people had advice about what the best strategies for getting the best value seats are, especially any quirks that makes season tix different from single game, which I’m very familiar with.
Thanks.
John
Well, that wasn’t predictable at all.
(I love you Adam)
Putz is looking really done to me, after last year and so far this year. Miyana really is a very silly man.
Watching the center fielder just ambling along to catch a ball like that really does help numb the sting.
I’d rather Jones out there, but things could be worse.
And on Jones…after the Sasaki, Guardado, etc. flameouts we should know that closers are just overpaid relievers. They come and they go.
ICHIRO!!!!!!
Kinda selfish to take the extra bag Ichiro… Wow man. Bet you try to score next too.
Gah, on Putz. Ground the gears on that transition.
I think that’s Ichiro’s way of saying “stop with the stupid bunts, I’ll make my own way to third.”
What’s even better for AJ is that he gets to blossom in the AL East, where his gifts will get noticed.
No one? Speak for yourself. I’ve moved on (well, other than tweaking a friend who was totally in favor of the Bedard deal everytime Jones has a good game). Baseball has a long season, and even the Yankees go years between WS rings. You have to find your enjoyment as you go along, not sit in hole nursing all the injustices like some kind of baseball unabomber. Really, if you’re not going to be happy until the M’s win a world series… well, let’s put it this way: by that accounting I’ve had thirty enjoyable years so far, and you’ve had none.
It’s Ichiro’s fault.
“you have to grit your teeth to keep from saying some dirty words”…….
Gah… so much for a lead-off man on third, nobody down.
Damn Ichiro. Why the hell couldn’t he have turned that into an in the park homer? Or hell, he’s fast enough for a straight steal of home.
Actually, I would love for him to pull off a straight steal of home at some point. The suicide is the smarter play…but I want to see the pure “screw you” of a straight steal.
Oh man. Yuni ‘Flailer’ Betancourt and Adrian ‘Bogus Bat’ Beltre can’t bring Ichiro home from third with 0 and 1 outs.
Sheesh
Now, one ex-Mariner I don’t want to see is Sherrill. Here’s hoping he gets nowhere near the mound this entire series.
Ichiro is on pace to score 64 runs this season.
This offense sucks so bad.
The people responsible for making the worst trade in franchise history got fired
If things go as it looks like they might, you can probably delete “franchise” from that.
Who is this Wieters guy? Never heard of him. Anybody that Washburn can strike out….
Milendriel we’ll never beat the mythos of Ruth for cash.
So selfish of Ichiro to not score there on his own. He put too much pressure on his teammates.
blockquote>
Actually, I would love for him to pull off a straight steal of home at some point. The suicide is the smarter play…but I want to see the pure “screw you†of a straight steal.
I would love to see that. It’s one of the few things he hasn’t tried in his career here. Maybe he’s been keeping it in his pocket waiting to do it in the playoffs. Or maybe he’s waiting for the right matchup with a pitcher. Psst, Ichiro, our hated, hated interleague rivals have that guy.
Man, the stands really are empty.
Wow, what a strange night. Ichiro and Branyon are the only ones worth a damn on offense.
Branyan too.
Sorry. Thank you for sparing me the “Pin[ie]lla” etc. mods.
Just learn to spell their names and you won’t ever have to worry about it again!
Ugh. That’s what I get for thinking “Hey, that was a good play by Yuni” before the play was over.
Frickin Yuni…
And poor Dave N… we need to win a championship soon, while he’s still able to call it.
Nice play, Yuni…wait, I mean, way to backup that throw, Rob!
I’m not sure whether to be happy about that shocking display of range behind second by Yuni or frustrated with his continued inability to actually make the play.
I don’t dwell on the loss of Jones, because he could have been poorly managed here and been doing nothing. Probably in some platoon with Ibanez.
Okay, now the ‘Beltre’s bat is heating up’ has extended to everyone hitting poorly on the team since they managed to score eight runs in one game. Come talk to me about hot bats in two months, you annoying yappers.
“I’m thinking about getting season tix for 2010, and was wondering if people had advice about what the best strategies for getting the best value seats are, especially any quirks that makes season tix different from single game, which I’m very familiar with.”
@jld: I have full season tickets. This year (and probably next if season ticket sales continue to be down), if you buy 2 full season tickets in the terrace club, they will give you two extra free. This is a steal of a deal. If you just wanted two then you can sell all the others and also sell all 4 for the one’s you aren’t going to and make all your money back easily and probably a profit depending on how many you go to.
The terrace club is really nice, if you’ve never been. Best food in the park there and nice for super hot days or super cold, because you can go inside. They also deliver your food right to your seat if you want (with menu).
Last year because of the let-down they let all season ticket holders upgrade one game to Terrace club. It was really nice.
They also let you exchange tickets at no charge for about a week before the seasons starts so you can stock up on Boston / Yankee games to sell.
After that week it costs the difference between the regular price and the price you paid as a season ticket holder to exchange for a different game.
My favorite seats in the park that are gettable are in right field (that’s where my seats are). They are also pretty cheap. In right field you get $5 per ticket off the normal price.
You can sell any of your tickets on stubhub and it will just invalidate your tickets and the people who buy them will just print new ones. So no mailing or anything involved. Stubhub takes quite a cut (from you and the buyer both), but you can still make more than your money back on weekend or big-name games (Boston / Yankees / special occasions). I typically sell all those tickets and go to weekday games (i work for myself so this isn’t a problem). For 2 full season tickets in right field it costs about $3600 total. I can typically make about $2800 of that back and still go to about 30 games (so roughly $14 per ticket instead of the normal price of $27).
Back when the Mariners were good and they used Ticketmaster instead of Stubhub i could make a nice profit (as much as $4000 back before on my $3600 investment) and still go to 30-ish games. Stubhub though takes a drastically larger cut than ticketmaster (and takes more from the buyer) and the M’s haven’t been good for a while.
The best way to find great seats is to go to the Mariners annual season ticket holder seat finding thing they do for about a week every year. They slot you in at a specific time based on how long you’ve been a season ticket holder. Then you go and pick out your seats in that time.
To maximize ticket sales for games you don’t go to, it’s best to be as close to the action as possible. Back when I was 13 rows off the field my tickets didn’t sell nearly as well or for as much (though as i said, back then the M’s were good and Ticketmaster didn’t take as much as Stubhub). Now that i’m 2 rows back, I’ve actually had to adjust my selling to not list all my tickets at the start of the season because I end up selling all of them. So now i just pick the games i’m going to for the year at the start and don’t list them.
Oh and if the Mariners make a profit, they tend to send a M’s giftcard for $25-$50 for Christmas and another at the start of the season. I don’t know if they do this for non-full season ticketholders. If they don’t make a profit, they don’t send gift cards out though, such as last year.
They also have a special season ticket holder night where you get to go a couple hours earlier than anyone else and actually get to see the M’s do all their workouts and batting practice. Ichiro puts on quite a home run display these nights (even more than normal according to Shannon Drayer). And most of the players will sign autographs for a while before the general public comes in and swarms them. And a free soda or two.
It’s actually pretty fun being in the mostly empty ballpark though.
I think that’s about everything…
Husky’s woman softball team beats number 1 ranked Florida 8-0 in the first game of best of 3. Yuni is on great!
I wonder if there are records kept for “times on third with less than two out and not scoring”?
2009 Washburn makes me happy…
We’re all paralyzed. The offense, the defense, the posters here…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……
Take that, guy who was behind me on the org chart.
Ugh…what a lackluster tag attempt by Lopez. AJ should have been out with that throw and Jones’ slow start…
Can we just call him Lazy Lopez? What the hell effort was that?
Haha, I love the half smirk and slow walk Ichiro! made after the throw.
Leadoff double followed by a single and only one run. That was some nice pitching out of trouble, Jarrod.
I sense that The Bus is thinking more about how Jones should have been out at second and thus there’d be no run.
Just call him “Cy Hill”… or the M’s offense awful. Either way… *sigh*
Guti makes that catch look easy, but yeah, I’m surprised there aren’t more [edited] comments about the opposing team’s CF. BTW is this a quick game or is it just me?
Wow, I bet Washburn can’t wait to be traded.
OMG! LITTLE LEAGUE WATER BOTTLE DAY IS COMING UP!!! – voice in Dave Sims’ head.
If it’s the seventh inning, then someone who is warming up isn’t pitching long relief, is he?
Just watch that ball roll on past, Yuni. Glad you’re enjoying the view.
Nice job by Wash yet again tonight.
Sims quoting Hardball Times zone rating on Gutierrez… Nice.
I’d just like to point out for the record that if Ichiro hadn’t been so selfish in the first inning, choosing not to steal home, the game would be tied right now.
I think a tally should be kept for how many times Branyan leads off the next inning!
Russell Branyan, Gold Glover.
What do the M’s offense and Bob Dole have in common?
Branyan!!! It wasn’t pretty, but it was sweet!
Ouch. That had to hurt the man bits.
They both can’t score???
http://www.instantrimshot.com/
Some good news. Joh should be back in a week or two, not a couple months as first thought.
I’m looking forward to the Quiroz/Burke platoon.
The Curse of Jeff Clement: every catcher in the organization will be injured until they call Clement up.
I don’t think Jones and Sherrill for Bedard was the worst trade in franchise history. At least Bedard has some value when he’s healthy.
My candidate for worst trade was Jason Varitek and Derrick Lowe for Heathcliff Slocum.
Gameday viewer here: what has occurred with Johnson?
I don’t think I can picture Branyan diving; I’ll be looking forward to the post game highlights for that!
The M’s should pile all their bats together on the field and offer Yuni up to the baseball gods as a burned sacrifice… any takers???
The crowd is selfish enough to want Ichiro to hit a home run. Or desperate.
or more rum to jobu…
How bad is this offense?
Overall .258/.311/.387 = 11th/14th/13th in AL.
Total bases 673 = 12th in AL.
Walks 130 = 14th in AL.
Runs 197 = 14th in AL.
It’s like a nightmare. Just keeps gettin’ worse.
Take Ichiro and Branyan out and it looks a lot worse…
At least the bullpen more or less got a night off (assuming we don’t tie it of course)
Ugh and they are about to get burned by another former Mariner. Sherrill, damn Bavasi I actually liked Sherrill too!
Sherrill hasn’t given up a run in 10 consecutive innings. Nice to see former M’s doing well. Especially a former independent league guy like him.
Luke Scott makes me realize that you don’t see players built like this any more–muscular, with the broad chests. It’s as though everyone deflated slightly.
Speaking of which, one thing to be glad of–Baltimore got rid of Tejada. He looked exactly like a snapping turtle to me, with that flapping mouth going all the time. Used to drive me crazy.
Nice work Jakubuishdsuikas
I’m hoping for one independent guy to take the loss and give the other one the win.
If Jak could more consistently locate his fastball and that crazy good looking curve, it seems like he could be really really good.
This inning is going to be humiliating, isn’t it? I mean, more humiliating than this game has been so far.
Amazing. Yuni took four pitches in a row.
At least the M’s are in most of the games this year. This is a marked improvement over last year.
What was I saying about humiliating? Fly balls from Sherrill to Jones.
The one part of the Bedard trade I didn’t mind at all was trading Sherrill. It was exactly like trading Putz, getting value for a reliever you can replace is a good idea. It was the adding of all that other talent (not just Jones but leaving the system bereft of rising starting talent) that made no sense.
20 consecutive Mariners retired to end the game.
Anyone get the irony here? We lose a 1-0 game in which Adam Jones scores the game’s only run, and George Sherill comes in and slams the door in the 9th.
Kinda depressing..
!#$* this offense.
At least it was quick.
Our offense is more anemic than all the patients at Schick Shadel combined.
This whole game was so fitting.
Quick, $100 to anyone who can explain to me from a standpoint of winning/losing why we don’t just release Jr/Sweeney and replace them with Clement and Shelton. Both are killing AAA pitching and have no place there while Griffey/Sweeney are done–plain and simple. If we like them in the clubhouse why don’t we just hire them as coaches/mentors for the rest of the year?
On the plus side: Ichiro extends hitting streak. Wash continues to be awesome. Jak looked great. Bullpen more or less got a night off. The Mariners lose, thus increasing the odds of JZ getting to make the moves he needs to make.
If Wash can keep this up, he’ll actually be a valuable trade piece too. The M’s are very close to having a stocked farm system between the draft with someone who knows what he’s doing and the extra 2 picks, and of course trading Beltre, Bedard, Wash, and maybe Branyan and a reliever or two.
Sims going on about the Oriole pitching. Hey Dave, they’re not that good. We ARE that bad
Griffey sells tickets / Sweeney keeps the clubhouse loose. In the latter case, I’d guess Sweeney will be packaged in one of the trades coming up.
I wouldn’t mind seeing ‘Gar back too… I think that some of these vets can get some of these young’uns (with the exception of Mr. DFA aka Yuni) into shape…
there is no way anyone will take Sweeney as part of a trade, he has zero skills left now and can only physically play about 2 times a week. It’s fine if the M’s don’t like Clement as a catcher but he has nothing left to prove in Tacoma. While they’re at it I hope we can flip Endy soon so Saunders and come up and platoon with Balentien.
After the prospects develop the Bedard trade may yet turn out to be the worst in franchise history, but the reigning champion of self-destructive Mariner trades must still be Varitek and Lowe for Slocumb. With the benefit of hindsight, giving up two good-but-not-great future players for a completely fungible relief pitcher was quite, quite awful. Getting hosed by the organization that traded Bagwell for two months of Larry Andersen earns extra style points.
Anyone else notice the contrast between how the Baltimore manager and Wakamatsu dealt with the following situation:
Baltimore sixth inning. Jones leads off with a double. Subsequent Baltimore hitters….all hit away and the Orioles score the winning run.
In the Angels series, in both game 1 and game 3, the M’s led off an inning with a double in both games, and the M’s gave up an out by sacrificing the runner to third. Stupid! The M’s scored a run in only one of the two times they gave up an out.
And the pantheon of Oriole pitching legends grows by one tonight: Palmer…McNally…Cuellar… Mussina…Rich Hill…
Oh, wait.
I was thinking the same thing — and wondering how many years it’s gonna take this organization to finally exorcise all of Bavasi’s stupid moves.
If this level of suckitude by the M’s keeps up, we may all be headed for Schick Shadel by the end of the summer.
I’m so glad someone else noticed that. It might’ve been just the way the camera caught him for that instant, but it totally had the vibe of
“Perhaps you forgot I was out here. Perhaps you forgot about The Throw, or just think my arm is no longer what it was. Well… say hello to my little friend.”