Game 85, Rangers at Mariners
DMZ · July 9, 2009 at 6:41 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Felix Day.
This is going to be an important series. If the M’s do well against the Rangers, particularly if they can sweep, it would nearly eliminate one of their divisional rivals and set the team up to run with the Angels. Which in turn could make the trade deadline reallly interesting.
What better way to start it off than with Felix on the mound for the Mariners?
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Felix Day. Cheezburger Night.
Odds are high for a bizarro game.
Happy Felix Day indeed. Let us hope it is happier than he last.
Does that mean we can has win?!?
By what measure does barely pulling even with the Rangers – assuming a sweep, which is a stretch at the moment – count as nearly eliminating them?
Unless the Rangers are much closer to an epic collapse than I’m seeing here.
Neats-foot oil. Ah, the Bill Krueger–Dave Sims brain trust.
bastante does not mean enough.
I’m rooting for a sweep here too. One way or another. If the Mariners get swept that would help clarify the division too. And there is plenty of time left to get some deals done.
Is Joh ever going to play regularly again?
Google: Bastante
Close enough.
Score early and often, guys. We’re going to need every run in this series.
Sims: “a slow roller”
Was he referring to the ball or Lopez?
Wow, as ballplayers have started slimming down, the Rangers are still so very big, bulky guys.
Look at Blalock, standing next to our ‘muscle’. Yikes.
Wow Junior way to hustle that one out.. Yiiiiikes!
The bunt! The freakin’ bunt!
Wow, talk about clogging up the basepaths, there, Griffey.
Kazinski, I lived in a spanish speaking country for 2 years… bastante was always used as “a lot” and “basta” was enough. However, I won’t deign to question the power of google
Texas isn’t allowed to have good defense too.
Are Woodward, Johnson, and Cedeno the worst 7-8-9 in the AL? They might even rank in bottom 10 including the NL. We should have Griffey DH for one of them and let Felix bat.
One of these swings is going to get over the fair fence. Yikes.
Felix looking very good.
Cheezburger night? Where is Carlos Silva?
You cannot have one without the other.
Now there’s a bunt. Eat that, Saltalamacchia.
Ichiro!
Where is Johjima?
Ew, I’m not comfortable hearing that Sims is checking out Hamilton’s tats in the locker room.
Who were the 5 ex-Tacoma Rainiers to make the AS game? I missed the answer, I only guessed Felix, Ibanez and Adam Jones.
Add Ryan Franklin!!!! and Brian Fuentes.
I think i’m refusing to admit Ryan Franklin is an all-star and thats why I missed him. I’m starting to wonder if I could succeed in the NL if he can make an all-star team.
Baker just reported that Betancourt was pulled from the lineup in Tacoma due to “organizational decision.”
Jesus christ, get that man a Rascal scooter so he make it to first on stuff like that.
If only Griffey had been running there…
I hated Ryan Franklin every moment he was here, but even my cruel, cold heart melted a bit to hear he cried when he made the ASG.
[Betancourt]
I should clarify those ‘!’ behind Franklin were expressions of surprise and amazement. They were not Ichiro! exclamations of excellence.
I don’t want to get crosswise a USSM punctuation usage policy.
So who did Betancourt damage down there?
[Betancourt]
Ron Washington runs to first faster than Jr.
It looks like Felix received a gift double play.
Now I feel bad for asking.
As much as “Go home and pack your suitcase” might be deserved, this team is so short on infielders that it just doesn’t make sense. Maybe for a game, but in that case it would be “managerial decision”.
More Baker:
So, I got hold of Jack Zdurincek, and asked him f
While I feel the same way, Franklin apparently is no longer the “lots of different pitches, all of them crappy” pitcher we remember. He’s a Mariano Rivera Jr now. And Joel Pineiro has become the god of groundballs. Yeah, wouldn’t it have been nice if these guys had figured this out while they were with the M’s? At least Putz learned a new pitch while he was here and the M’s were able to capitalize on it.
Yuni, we hardly knew ye.
Damn! The irony is, I was going to put on that comment, They can’t trade him because I know how to spell his name! I could swear I had that one down!
Anyway, funniest comment in thread tonight:
Ron Washington runs to first faster than Jr.
C’mon Branyan. Let’s get a hit with a runner in scoring position.
Can’t win without a run, boys.
I am fairly sure the Ms need to score a run to win this. Typically there is little chance to win a game with a donut
Blowers is raving about Youngs defensive prowess:
Career UZR/150 since 2002
2b -2.8
SS -13.5
3b -19.7
Felix can do whatever he wants. He’s Felix. Still, a run would be nice.
No one ever said Blowers had to make sense, Kazinski. Or give the actual facts, apparently…
Can’t win without a run, boys.
God damn Rob Johnson can’t catch!
Rob Johnson can go away now.
After reading Baker’s earlier post about Pirates scout in attendence, here is my dream scenario:
Johnson and Betancourt for Sanchez and Wilson. For the Pirates of course it would be a pure salary dump. Maybe we throw in one of our young bullpen arms or RRS.
Wow – looks like I tuned in just in time…
Rob F***ing Johnson.
Why do people go on and on about Rob Johnson’s skills? He hits about 50 points better than Cedeno. If it was the difference between .250 and .300, yippee, but it isn’t. He isn’t much of a backstop, has a wretched arm, and he’s as big a stabber as Kenji. Uggh, I really have come to see him as a less talented version of Willie.
Rob Johnson follows up on his past ball with a dropped foul tip for strike three on Andruw Jones. My hatred grows.
Does Rob Johnson not understand the significance of the word “catch” in his job title?
Wow that whole throwing around situation could have gone south fast
Would have made it into second if he hadn’t been afraid of Johnson’s arm.
Seriously, you hold up there? With Johnson behind the plate?
Except Kenji is consistently more successful with that stabbing if past ball/wild pitch rates are to be believed. He also hits another 50 points better than Johnson, has a passable arm and…oh nevermind. Everyone here already knows Rob Johnson sucks at his position.
Rob Johnson and Jose Lopez both need to go away now. And Betancourt needs to stay away. And a mildly capable shortstop needs to come.
How is Tommy “Canada’s Country Gentleman” Hunter matching Felix K per K? This guy looks like Mark Addy and his stuff doesn’t seem special. I know the M’s aren’t exactly putting murder’s row out there, but seriously… wtf?
Griffey has been stinging the ball all night. I’m waiting for him to sting one with the right timing. Hunter can’t keep getting so lucky against him…
Except Kenji is consistently more successful with that stabbing if past ball/wild pitch rates are to be believed. He also hits another 50 points better than Johnson, has a passable arm and…oh nevermind. Everyone here already knows Rob Johnson sucks at his position.
All agreed. I don’t understand why no Tank McNamara behind the plate. (Ever notice the resemblance?)
Let’s try this again, without the incompetence.
Can’t win without a run, boys.
I count tonight as a win regardless of score, if the end result is Yuni getting traded.
Let him hit. Dude got a grand slam off Johan Freaking Santana. And it’s not like the M’s have been getting mindblowing production out of the DH slot anyway.
If we’re out of it at the end of the season I fully support an inning of Felix playing right and hitting, while Ichiro pitches.
I was at the game when Felix hit the salami off Johan. Let’s just say food was thrown at me.
Anybody got a rulebook handy?
If Wak pencils in the lineup with Felix at SS, Cedeno pitching and Griffey at DH, and then after one pitch (a pitchout), Cedeno and Felix switch positions, will Griffey still DH for Cedeno?
Hey Woodward made that play tonight
You realize that if Yuni is traded, it will probably be for some prospect who grades out as “Chirs Woodward, at best”?
Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but I’m not expecting anything great coming back.
And Johnson is the worst defensive catcher I’ve every watched for an extended period of time.
Wow, good call, I thought he was safe before the replay.
From the online rule book, Rule 6.10, section b:
So no.
Woodward is doing all anyone can ask of him. He’s not Adrian, but he’s been competent in the field and better than our shortstop or catcher at the plate.
Okay. Time to start hitting. Er, the Mariners.
Yuuuuniiii… my heart says NO! but my brain says DON’T BE STUPID HEART, YOU ARE LIKE THE WORST ORGAN.
No, I’m sorry, Rick. It’s not good to see former Mariner owner George Argyros.
Argh! I promise, mods, that I will figure out the block quote function before the end of the thread. Although not necessarily before the M’s score.
SSS Theatre. This isn’t to knock Woodward. I like his production thus far, and I appreciate what he’s contributed. And I think he’s a legitimate bench player for even the M’s. But you can’t expect him to maintain that rate of offensive production. Over 1641 PAs, Woodward has a career line of .244/.300/.374. That’s 2.5 seasons worth of hitting time.
What’s up with the blockquote confusion anyway? Isn’t it just “click blockquote button, paste, click close tags button”?
Hark, I didn’t say he was doing anything other than better than Johnson and Cedeno. When he regresses to the mean, that will still be the case.
Click “bquote”, paste the text you want. Click the “bquote” button again, which now reads “/bquote”.
Your message will look like this, less the spaces on the tags:
Now you can type your message OUTSIDE of the blockquote tags:
YADDA YADDA YADDA
The result is this:
YADDA YADDA YADDA
What’s the record for dropped 3rd strikes in one game?
…TypePad automatically deleted the spaces between my open and close tags. Thanks, TypePad. I was trying to be helpful.
Wow I can’t believe the M’s offense is wasting such an amazing start by Felix. This is depressing to watch……
I heart Felix.
SCORE SOME RUNS!!!!!!
When he regresses to the mean, he’ll still be a better third baseman than Rob Johnson is a catcher, and still be hitting 50 points higher than Cedeno. So now I’m disagreeing with you in the opposite direction. Craziness!
You can also click the bquote button a second time (which has conveniently changed to /bquote to remind you that the quote is still open)
Felix at 100 pitches — is he done?
A break!
HOT SEX! Good start Ichiro!!!
I’m still mad at Griffey for turning Gutierrez’s double into a single back in the 2nd. That’s our run right there.
Ichiro! Thank you David Murphy!
Ichiro!
Not to confuse you further, but the easiest way to use block quote is actually to just paste the text you want to quote, highlight all of it, and hit “bquote” once. Done.
Thank you nice people.
Thank you Ichiro!
please DO NOT waste a leadoff double to Ichiro!
Also, I enjoyed how Rob was trying to apply the tag to Andrus at the end of that last inning and had no freaking clue where the ball was.
well THAT tells the story doesn’t it! 0 FOR 8 with men in scoring position!
Never fret. Jose “Clutch God” Lopez is up.
But, but, but, his CERA leads the league, Rick Rizzs told me so.
Btw, JerBear, that blockquote idea works perfectly.
ugh…you better get a hit griffey…im serious
Wasn’t this Texas pitcher in “Dazed and Confused”? Oh, yeah, he was.
HR would be nice here but I’d settle for a walk and give Frankie a shot.
I’m going to go ahead and ask this, and I might get murdered on here for it. And while I appreciate what Russell Branyan has done for this team so far…
Has anyone noticed the last few weeks, it seems like its all or nothing with him? And its been a lot more of nothing lately? Everybody is saying to extend this guy, but is it possible we happened to get the benefits of his best half season of his career?
Baker claiming the Pirates would take Yuni as a “secondary” piece in a trade.
Say Lowe, Vargas/Olson, and Yuni for Wilson and another piece? Not familiar enough with their system to know what the other piece would be. Interesting thought to be sure…
Also, apparently the Pirates scout is also watching the Rangers as they are hot after a Pirates pitcher or two. If they got their hands on a better young pitcher, that could make them a more interesting team down the stretch…
It’s better than the nothing or nothing most of the M’s lineup gives us.
There was analysis that he wasn’t really a .300+ hitter, and that he was going to regress quite hard but probably still be the decent bat (with a low average hiding it) people expected.
Yes! Gutz!
“Felix looking for some offense” (his head was in the towel)
YES!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE him!
I think Felix could figure out the sound of the crowd underneath his towel.
We have a good CF.
HOLY COW!!!!! Guti! Ha. Felix with the towel. Awesome.
Frankie goes to centerfield!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!! I’m officially gonna start stalking GUTI!!!!!
oh. my. guti.
Felix is going to french kiss Frankie when he gets to the dug out. Forget Silva’s pecks.
Señor Muerte!
Frankie!
Guti is pretty. Not cute, not handsome-pretty. (Art History major, sorry).
Franklin you beautiful monster!!!
OMG!
Guti homers!
Speechless joy!
Franklin Gutierrez!! I have nothing else!
oh. my. guti.
The better young pitcher being a starter of course…
Ugh, I’m gonna go to bed now if I’m missing stuff like that… Gotta be up in six hours for work anyhow…
I have noticed his BA drop and his strikeouts go up, I would say he is in need of a good rest. Good thing for the All star break.
Aardsma? Really? Here we go…
Very nicely called, Kazinski.
Bwahahah! Gutz comes through!
700 feet of fly balls = two outs for Texas! Go go go!
and apparently, we’re not going to let them load the bases with no outs. excellent choice.
Gotta love Felix – a good player who shows his emotions. Sometimes it seems to me the players are going to work like some regular job. Their JOB is baseball, show some joy fellas!! Thank you Felix – for the pitching and the joy.
Quiz on baseball rules (10 Qs) if you want – http://www.rulesofbaseball.com:80/quiz1.html
Ichiro and Guti won it for us, woohoo!
YES!
I think yesterday’s closer was someone named ZZrdsma.
6 pitch save. That’s nice to see.
When are we going to move Guti to fourth in the order?
I know what the analysis was on the signing and I liked the move. I’m just not sure I want to extend him 2-3 years. He’s 33 years old on a career year. Historically, I think large contract extensions for these guys usually blow up in the team’s face. That’s the part I worry about, not the regression this season.
I’d rather see a 9-15 pitch save with lots of swinging strikes. Those first two were hit very hard.
Franklin Gutierrez is pure sex.
…who would you put in? We’re going to throw a guy under the bus because of one bad outing?
Well look what happened, sure he got the save, but two of the outs were maybe 10 or 15 feet from being home runs.
Kreuger…are we really calling it slamming the door when DA allows 1000 feet of outs? I’m certainly glad they won, but are we liking the long flyball outs now?
Felix seemed to agree with you. No tongue kissing, but definitely hard hugging. Franklin looked downright frightened when Felix didn’t let go.
So, how good is Aardsma? Is he a hard thrower of the “pitch and pray” variety? Or does he have great movement and/or loccation and is tough to hit? I just get concerned about a 1 pitch pitcher…
Guti = new favorite Mariner
Ahh, ok. I haven’t seen too much talk of crazy contracts for him that I recall, I think most people seem to feel a year or two but not three.
I would agree that tying too much into him would be a mistake, but I think giving him a chance to continue would be smart. I would love to see something like a one year deal with an option for a second for a reasonable price.
Gutierrez: wow, just….wow.
I loved our trade for him, and thought that there might be some upside to his bat, but this is just sweet to watch.
WOW! Complete 180 from yesterday!! Great job Mariners!!
I’d rather see a 9-15 pitch save with lots of swinging strikes. Those first two were hit very hard.
Even with only a two run league let them hit a solo HR. Just don’t nibble around the plate and walk a guy, that is where you start to get on thin ice.
[Rizzs]
Still, who would you put in? He’s the closer, you go to the closer in that situation unless he needs rest. He only threw 22 pitches last night. Undermine the guys confidence because of a blown save or give him a chance to redeem himself? Putting in someone different would have been a horrible decision.
For Branyan? At his age with his history, he is going to want to get as much security as he can, which is why we should try to sign him while we are the only ones that can negotiate with him. If he gets to the end of the season with 35+ home runs, then somebody is going to pay him, why try to low ball him now when you can still get a bargain.
Look at it this way sign him 3 years 21m, and you are paying him less than 1/2 what Sexson got last season. We can afford that, and even though its 10 times as much as Carp or Clement (or even both) would cost you, I think he’s still worth it. And then you don’t have to fill the entire infield over the offseason.
I was suspicious we’d stolen (stolen!) a really good player from Cleveland in Franklin Gutierrez when the Putz trade happened….
Days like today, I’m absolutely positive. It’s gonna be so sweet to have this man as our CF for the next few years.
I loves me some Gutz. I just hope Felix didn’t fracture a rib or two of his with that manly man hug.
Guti is “Da Man”!
Ribs? Felix is a pretty strong lad…hell, Guti might want to get his clavicle checked!
The Yuni news is potentially very exciting, but… am I wrong in thinking that a guy can’t be traded while he’s on the DL?
Aardsma isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread. But, it is pretty amusing how one bad outing and suddenly people are screaming that we’d use them.
Talk about lack of faith…lol
Dave Clapper, I’m think he’s eligible to come off the DL either tomorrow or the next day, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
Well, considering we gave them (gave them!) an entire middle infield and a corner outfielder (and two of those three for essentially nothing in return)…. it’s the least they could do.
Wakamatsu takes his time putting guys into the spots in the order that come with higher expectations. Here’s what Yahoo Sports had to say about Branyan’s move to 3rd in the order last night, for example: