Game 77, Mariners at Yankees
Washburn vs Pettitte, 4:05 pm
Wak returned to his senses today, so we get the following line-up.
Ichiro, RF
Branyan, 1B
Lopez, 2B
Griffey, DH
Gutierrez, CF
Balentien, LF
Woodward, 3B
Johnson, C
Cedeno, SS
I will say that it’s a little strange that Sweeney played last night, against an RHP, but is sitting tonight against an LHP. Wak put Junior in left field last night in order to get Sweeney’s bat in the line-up, so there has to be something there offensively that he likes, but why would he like it against an RHP and not against an LHP? You got me. Oh well. I still like Wak, and I think he’s doing a terrific job overall. He’s just made some strange line-up decisions lately.
This is a big start for Washburn. If he can hold down a good Yankee line-up in a good hitters park, you better believe that contenders looking for pitching will take notice. Thankfully, his lefty killing two-seamer should help him against Cano and Damon, at least.
The M’s need this one. Vargas vs Sabathia tomorrow is another mismatch, so this is the one they have the best shot of winning. If they’re going to avoid a sweep, it’s probably because they play well tonight. If they don’t, the trip to Boston is probably full of “how do we turn this around?” cliches.
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39 Responses to “Game 77, Mariners at Yankees”
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Is Johnson Washburn’s designated catcher? The M’s need all the offense they can get, and Kenji’s a fair improvement over Rob J. Seems odd Kenji would get a night off so soon, considering Monday was an off-day and all.
They appear to be playing every other night.
Free Langerhans! Well, I know…not tonight, against a lefty.
Let’s hope Pepe Washburn shows up today!
Not related to this game, but Shannon Drayerjust tweet’d that Bedard’s start in Boston has been pushed back.
At least it’s good to know Bedard will make two starts before the break.
And tonight might be a homerfest.
Baker has more info
I like Wak but this is worrisome.
I guess all managers have blind spots. Does Rob remind Wak of himself as a young player?
Will we ever see Clement in Seattle?
The pictures on Baker’s Blog show how big Felix really is. And from the blog, yes, it appears Johnson is Washburn’s Caddy, or at least Wak thinks so.
Balentien got hosed on that strikeout call with the pitch way inside.
Beltre who? lol…
Washburn thinks so, and that’s all that really matters. If he tells Wak, “I don’t want to throw to him. I’ll do better with someone else”, then Wak can either make an issue of it, or come up with crap like, “Johnson is a tough guy back there”–as if Kenji weren’t.
I’m not knocking Wak. This is part of the process of managing head cases, isn’t it?
Gameday just deleted Ichiro’s at-bat.
Obviously, Johjima called that last four-seamer.
Damn that Johnny “throws like a girl” Damon!
I’ve often wondered if Damon would look better throwing right-handed. He could hardly look worse.
Umpire has quite the wide strike zone tonight. Going both ways though..
Looks like it glanced off the “fair” pole to me (I hate it when they call it a foul pole…if it hits it, it is fair)
Griffeyyyyyyyy!!
Where is everyone tonight? 20 comments and over half way through the game?
Been a pretty boring game…except for Griff’s bomb…
It’s a beautiful evening and the game is early. I imagine a lot of people are enjoying the outdoors.
I’m stuck at work, so let me say this, “Can we please stop farting away baserunners against good teams?”
Yankee stadium, tie game, can M’s pull it out? Not at all boring.
I think this is what they call regression to the mean in terms of Jarrod’s HR/FB rate?
P.S. I hate Alex Rodriguez. That is all.
The game is on during the commute … and FWIW, per Drayer, Wak says there will be no ‘personal catchers’. It will be interesting to see if he keeps the ‘every other day’ rotation with Joh & Rob.
Pettitte has always had a good pickoff move. He must be holding runners on infinitely better than Joba last night, when Ichiro was stealing at will.
I fucking hate that douche…and I’m talking about Rodriguez, not Wash…
Bye, bakomariner. It was fun.
So much for the tie…Comeback?
Is today’s performance helping or hurting Washburn’s trade value?
I dont know what to say about the Mariners.. Kind of an enigma to me. I believe ultimately selling would be the better option here.
Thanks for a great site DMZ and Dave 🙂
Helping. I’m new to this blog, I’m a former Seattle resident and now living in NY. I was at the game last night, and will be tomorrow. Very impressed with Gutierrez in person. Great to see Junior go deep tonight. I am so tired of seeing A-Rod beat this team. Michael Kay is just all over him and how he owns his old team. 31 homers for him against us.
Going to need somethingout of Branyan or Ichiro before the night is done for this to happen.
Looks the same to me tonight as he had the rest of the year, just the fly balls are turning into homeruns. I say neither helping or hurting.
Branyan has not looked right the last two nights.
Rivera comes in for the 9th inning with no less than a 2 run lead.
Good night, everybody!
Branyan is having a terrible night
Washburn walked only 1, with 6 K’s against an offensive beast. Really, not too bad. Collectively, their hitters are just plain hands down better than ours.
Let’s just hope Sabathia is strangely off tomorrow. Could happen!
Franklin Gutierrez is good at baseball.
Wow, I kept hearing how attendence was down at New Yankee Stadium, and look at this – only 38 comments in the game thread (okay, 39 with this one).