No, Really, Hyphen Time
Dave · July 22, 2009 at 2:40 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Wak didn’t listen to me last week when I declared it was time for Ryan Rowland-Smith to displace Garrett Olson in the rotation. After last night’s drubbing, he came around to the obvious – Olson is out, Hyphen will start Friday night versus the Indians.
And there was much rejoicing.
And the peasants danced! Food, song, wine and lower ERAs abounded!
Now we might be able to win more than three in a row…Woo hoo
So, now we have a fourth starter.
Time to work on the fifth…
I’m sure Wak loves to read the USS Mariner
[feeble cry]hooray![feeble cry]
I assume that will be Vargas when the time comes.
Well, at least we didn’t have to get out the pictures-on-milkboxes. That’s something about this team — they don’t let something obvious go on forever. Even Betancourt only got half a season.
(I still have my Adam Jones “Missing” milkbox jpeg. And he’s still missing, sniff. Though Gutierrez has pretty much made me forget him — though wouldn’t Jones be a treat in LF — but now Guti might be missing for game or more too….)
Dave,
Based on where we are in the standings (5.5 back) and the performance we can safely estimate – based on the large sample size – from our top 3 starters/offense/defense (barring injuries), what kind of numbers do we need from RRS and Vargas to realistically catch the Angels?
Granted there are a lot of moving parts in that scenario, but if possible can you give us a sense of how heroic our 4 &5 starters need to be for us to have a shot?
Ha, that’s kinda funny considering I’m wearing a Monty Python shirt right now.
Anyhow. . .
Pretty obvious decision here, I’m glad it was made. Olson has been more productive for us out of the bullpen anyways. So I hope he stays there for the rest of his career with us.
The only thing is though, if Morrow isn’t ready to start again, this means you have your pick between Jak and Vargas to fill the #5 spot.
Ewwwwwwwww. . .
I kind of wish Aumont was ready right now to be a starter but that won’t be happening until later in 2010 or early in 2011 when they start doing with him what they did with Morrow this year.
It definitely makes you wonder whether or not, dare I say it, if the Mariners should’ve have looked a little more seriously at signing Pedro Martinez for the stretch run since you would’ve only signed him for a low risk, 1 year deal.
Color me excited. I have tix to Friday’s game and was figuring it was gonna be Wash, but this is soooooo much better.
Hope this means a new entry on his blog soon.
Go Hyphen!
Whom does Hyphen replace on the 25 man roster? Is Olson moved to the pen, or Tacoma?
I would guess he goes to the pen and Corcoran is sent down.
And there was MUCH rejoicing.
Link to RRS feed re-established.
*Joh’s cERA rejoices* 😉
Dance party!
Sweet, thanks for the good news. Time for Aussie Rules! Go get em Super Hypen-Man!!
Also, can someone start beating the Angels already, this is tetter-tottering (sp?) here.
Definitely knew we were in trouble last night when I went to the Royals website and saw that Bruce Chen was pitching.
Silly me, I had NO IDEA he was still pitching (or good enough to pitch) in the big leagues.
He’s not.
The criteria for “good enough to play for the Royals and Nationals” versus “good enough to play in the big leagues (other than the Royals and Nationals)” are somewhat different.
40 years ago, two wonderful things happened. One was men landing on the moon. The other was the the surge of the “Amazin’ Mets” from 13 games behind the Cubs to winning the NL East, and eventually the World Series.
This club reminds me a lot of the ’69 Mets. They have the best pitching in the league, excellent defense, a league leading hitter (Ichiro vs. Jones) and a 35+ home run hitter (Branyan vs. Clendenon). I’d even go so far as to say that the 2009 Mariners have a better overall pitching staff than the 1969 Mets, even when taking into account Seaver/Koosman/Gentry/McAndrew/Ryan (who didn’t pitch much that season).
Granted, the Mariner’s AL competition is probably stronger than the Cubs/Braves, but 40 years ago a club that no one thought could contend came from nowhere to win it all, showing that great pitching/defense and passable hitting can be the foundation of a world champion baseball club. There’s something wonderful about this Mariner’s ballclub that makes them interesting to watch — somehow they find a way to win. Who says lightning can’t strike twice?