Game 130, Royals at Mariners
Meche and Snell were both regarded as head cases in their organizations. Meche was plagued by shoulder issues while the team thought him a whiner for not pitching through the pain, and eventually grew so frustrated they put back him in AAA with instructions to pound the strikezone and turn into a pitch-to-contact guy. The Gil Meche that left Seattle had been turned into an innings-eating pitching machine, who in his last year put together some success, and as Dave said in August
I’ll repeat what I said three weeks ago; Gil Meche is clearly not an ace or any kind of frontline pitcher, I don’t want to give him a mulitiyear contract in the offseason, but I’m also glad they didn’t trade him, because the 8% BB/20% K flyball pitcher in Safeco Field is an effective starter who can help this team try to win the division. He’s going to give up some home runs, but that’s just part of the package.
By the time he left, I was so tired and frustrated with the whole situation (Meche, the team, Meche v the team, “Meche has turned it around”) I wrote things like
I hope the sucker that decides to give Meche a huge long-term free agent deal because they think they can fix him is in our division, because I would love to watch him get regularly shelled by the team for the next 3-5 years.
Ha ha! Good one, Derek.
I should send all our 2004-2006 Meche (heck, our 1999-2006) writing to people who complain we’re too stat-obsessed: it’s a catalog of excitement, complaint, worry, wavering, poring over stats trying to figure out what happened when, long examinations of team and Meche statements to construct injury (and injury denial) timelines.
What’s strange about his Royals lines is that they’re so varied in pitch value. Most pitchers have more or less the same strengths year-to-year. If someone has a good curve, or a fastball with deceptive movement, that doesn’t go away.
Look at Meche’s pitch type values. In 2007, the bulk of his value came from his changeup and his curve, and in 2008 it was by far from his fastball (historically a pretty poor pitch for him). This year, neither are doing well. I can’t think of another pitcher with a run of success with this kind of variance in where the success comes from.
And now, the M’s are starting a pitcher in a situation not that far from in-the-doghouse Meche stuck in Tacoma… and I guy they sought out in trade as an interesting gamble, even though his parent organization had shrugged their collective shoulders and all but given up on him.
I look forward to this game.
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How could you be excited about this game… having to watch this lineup?
Gutierrez cf
Wilson 3b
Lopez 2b
Sweeney dh
Hall rf
Hannahan 1b
Wilson ss
Langerhans lf
Johnson c
The horror…
…That’s a pretty god-awful line up.
I hope Snell feels up to shutting down the opposition for 7 or 8 innings today.
Luckily it is the Royals.
Branyan day-to-day with back issues (and this appears to be one of the “no” days). Street reports that he had an MRI earlier today but not the outcome; he also predicts that he “wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners promote Mike Carp from Triple-A Tacoma in the next few days.” Which is about as cheap/easy a prediction as you could make, given that rosters expand in the next few days.
Also, Felix apparently was pitching last night with “sinus congestion and a headache.” Am I imagining things or does he actually seem to pitch better when he’s battling illness or an injury? It’s like he’s some kind of hero in a Greek myth who can only do his best when he’s burdened with something that would make ordinary mortals fail.
And yeah, I know Beltre has joked he need to hit Felix on the ankle before every start to get his best performance. But both Beltre and I could be imagining the same thing.
Also, while I’m playing the poor man’s msb and linking things: you think you know Jose Guillen? You don’t know Jose Guillen.
Yeah, I think I’ll skip watching tonight’s game.
You know if you don’t watch, it’ll be something special.
(of course, if you do watch, it’ll be Meche vs Snell and two pathetic offenses.)
per Shannon, Russell was put on the DL after the MRI results came back.
I know it sucks to not have Russell tonight, but where’s Junior? Why are we subjected to Sweeney against a rhp? Is he hurt or just not feeling it or what?
Last night they said Jr wasn’t playing because of his knees (I don’t remember the details — either they were thinking about taking fluid off or they did and he was recovering)
alrighty… i kept looking for it out there and didn’t see anyone talking about him being hurt… really, really bad timing on his part. Oh, well. Get ready for double the Wilson, double the fun tonight!
Tonight might be a contender for worst lineup of the decade.
Branyan on the DL due to a herniated disk, according to the FSN pregame show.
Wow Jr. can’t keep his knees healthy only DH’ing sixty percent of the time. I really wish he would announce his retirement and the team and fans could send him of in style this last five weeks.
The saddest part of the situation is the damage the Kingdome astroturf did to his knees. Those 800 or so games in the dome must of put the wear of a couple thousand on a better playing surface.
Oh, and Jakubauskas was called back up.
Both J Wilsons in the lineup tonight. That’ll make the box score confusing.
Oh, I think ~2006 had some that would disagree with you.
Where the heck is Ichiro?! He wants to play, and with his track record of reliability I trust him. Enough is enough, Wakamatsu.
For most of the first half of the season Pittsburgh had two “A. LaRoache” in the lineup. And they were both corner infielders, so you had a bunch of “Out at first, A. LaRoache to A. LaRoache”
Also, this new Twitter plugin is frightening. Why does USSM use skull and bones as a favicon? Commentary on the Bavasi era from back in the day?
A herniated disk is a serious injury. Especially for a player with as violent as swing as Branyan. Speaking as a man who did manual labor for thirty years and was eventually sidelined by a couple herniated disks I would say the chances of Branyan ever being effective again are around ten percent. This also explains his epic slump of the past two months, you can have this injury for quite a while and just experience moderate pain. One day something just pops and it really is a life changing occurrence.
It’s all about the drama. The M’s website even has an Ichi-hit counter at the top of the page, just in case you’d forgotten the one thing still left to play for. But doing it in 162 games was too easy; even doing it in 154 wasn’t hard enough. It’s turned into Name That Tune: “I think I can get to 200 hits in… 150 games, Alex!”
Uh-oh…Hillman’s hauling out his big guns tonight — he’s got Willie Boom-Boom in the lineup!
yeah, and this just underlines my reservations about offering him a contract for next season (and beyond). I thought he was a fantastic pick-up that showed as well as anything how astute this front office is; he’s on par with any of the scrap-heap gold other teams have found (Frank Thomas for the A’s, etc). But purely in terms of plugging a hole over the short team; a team with as many minor-league 1B types as this one (even with Clement gone) doesn’t need to be offering multi-year FA contracts for that position… and if they are, they should be shooting a little higher.
Tampa Bay won. Texas won. Boston is about to win. At what point do they stop talking about the wild card?
I completely agree joser. I would be skeptical of offering him the same contract he had this year and multiple years are out of the question. One check swing or over-reach could literally make Branyan bed-ridden for months at a time with this injury.
every left-handed bat in the lineup gets hurt or goes on the dl… and you recall Chris Jakubauskas???
As amusing as the Yuni K was, I so wanted to see Wilie face Felix. But tonight, if he gets on base, we have the prospect of him trying to steal on Johnson. Rizzs might have some kind of grit-on-grit cognitive dissonance meltdown…
Hey they are prepping their playoff roster, Jakubauskas is a must.
Left-handed bats can’t help the bullpen…. and Wak suspects the bullpen is going to need help.
Don’t forget rosters expand in three days.
Apparently his “tweak” last night was on a checked swing. Ouch.
I was about to wonder where Mike Carp was…but as Ricky Ricardo might say, that ’splains that.
Sweeney is on fire!
Nice to see Sweeney tearing it up against his old team.
Remember a few weeks ago when somebody commented that the team had started the season without enough LH bats and now seemed to almost be too LH-heavy?
Yeah.
Hey! I remember this pitcher!
Aye…a great piece o’ hittin’ there, Jack!
I would still rather have Meche than Silva.
can’t stop this Mariner offense and our dynamite lineup.
Gil’s a doubles machine tonight.
I have nothing intelligent to say other than hehehehehehehheee….this is very nice after those frustrating years of seeing Meche in a Mariners uniform.
Actually, I think I’d rather have Jim Bouton on the roster than Silva…
Aaaannd…a great piece of hitting by the other Jack as well!
Remember, it’s that “one bad inning” with Meche!
He’d be cheaper, too. (On a yearly basis, anyway, not even counting buffet costs)
Double your pleasure, double your fun. (Hey, it’s the Double-Play Twins reunion! I bet that wasn’t on the Best Commercials DVD they handed out last night)
Meche could get by with just that curveball a fastball and changeup. I wonder if he will ever realize this.
Most of those hits in the first were off his slider which I guess they are calling a cutter now. No matter what you call it it is a terrible pitch.
I can’t believe what I just saw.
“[Snell] ends up walking Betancourt, which is a feat in itself.”
There’s a candidate for line of the season.
“He ends up walking Betancourt — which is a feat in itself”
I really hate to agree with Bill Krueger.
So Keystone Light is made by Coors. Since they clearly had the budget for this huge media buy that results in us seeing that guy get hit in the crotch and that other guy push/fall over the rack of junk food over and over and over again, couldn’t they have splurged for a few more different commercials? And that’s setting aside the questionable demographics match, given that baseball skews older and Keystone light is a notorious beerpong/beginner’s beer.
I can’t help but think about how many former Mariners are on this Royals team. There are more M’s alumni playing for KC this year than there are M’s that began the season in Seattle on the field tonight. (hope that made sense)
Craziness.
When they make a giant vat of Coors Light, Keystone Light is what is left at the bottom.
Apparently so.
Apparently the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are going to be at an upcoming Mariners games. Did anyone catch if Dave did a promo for their lolcats, “I can has cheezburger” night?
Brannahan!
RoJo Mojo!
I’m glad we’re not paying him $11 million a year.
Oh, that right – but we have Silva.
I trust they brew Molson in separate vats — though it still pains me to think of the oldest brewery in North America being bought out by Coors. >:(
Meanwhile…everybody teeing off on Meche!
Gil is ashamed.
Bad inning number 2. His pitch count is getting up there as well.
Hey, wasn’t that a John Wayne movie where he played a private detective or something?
um, fuck?
7 runs through 4. Who was dogging this lineup? Stand up and be counted.
Oh crap!!!
Heh.
Brannigan is one … fine … motion picture.
Pain threshold: Snell > Meche.
Meche pitched through pain for about 2 years.
I had pain when I watched Meche pitch.
I was being sarcastic. It is nice to see Ian gut it out for a chance at the win.
So a few days ago some guy in KC held up a WalMart in a John Buck jersey… well, he waved a gun around and threatened some people. However, despite the odds (how many such jerseys could be out there?), it wasn’t actually John Buck
Yes…it was a very good one!
I think maybe he’s just confused by the surroundings and thinks he’s still pitching for the M’s. I mean, he has so many of them behind him, and there’s the Hit It Here Cafe up there just beckoning…
Morrow has five shutout innings so far. Only one walk but also only one strikeout.
Morrow pulled from the Tacoma @ Portland contest after five innings and 73 pitches.
I smell a callup.
but nothing can touch … McQ
Speaking of injured, what’s up with Chris Snelling? I see her started this year in the Mexican League and tore it up, went to Pitt’s AAA team and hit squat, and was off that team in June.
McQ was awesome as well, msb!
Ya know, it’s funny how so many people always think of “The Duke” in the context of those old predictable Westerns or WWII flicks…yet, some of his best performances were actually in his later years in some of those action movies.
How many innings will Wak have Batista pitch?
The Shootist was a western but the performance Wayne gave while aware he was actually dying of cancer(movie character was as well) was awe-inspiring.
Morrow’s pitched 51 innings in AAA, and given up 23 BB, 34 K, and 2 HR. A 6.0 K/9 isn’t exactly inspiring.
Until he coughs up enough runs to get Aardsma into a save situation.
Look at his game-by-game results.
The best offense against Mariner pitching is to never swing at the ball.
Though I was actually hoping not to be psychic with that last comment…
Batista is fervently hoping that the training staff gave Snell a sedative.
Will Miguel walk Yuni too?
*cue suspenseful organ music*
I’ve lost sound. I wonder if that’s a good or bad thing.
THAT’S the Yuni we know and love!
The Round Rock game on August 8 was awesome, with 1 BB and 8 K in 6 IP. The Fresno start on August 24 was almost the opposite, with 5 BB and 1 K. I’m not really sure how to feel about the Iowa game. While it was nice that he went 9, there were only 2 strikeouts. I get that he was sent down to work on his control, which he’s improved nicely, but it seems like it’s come at the expense of his K rate and that he’s benefitted from an abnormally low HR/9.
You beat me to it, G-Man!
HA! I’m so glad I don’t have to watch Betancourt do that in a Mariners uniform anymore….
Unfortunately I still have to watch Batista.
I think the bottom line with Morrow is that he is not ready.
Thank goodness for the KC offence
Who was it that asked why we have Jack Wilson?
I really don’t like Batista, but that last ball call was horsecrap.
But I love Kreuger telling us we can’t expect umps to call a pitch a strike just because it is one.
The legend of Miguel Batista. He loaded ‘em up and got ‘em all out.
Okay Miggy, now you have to buy Jack Wilson a beer!
So, does Batista go to the Cardinals in the off season and resurrect his career?
Seriously, that was vintage Yuni.
Watch a strike down the middle and act surprised.
Chase a pitch low and away – look around hoping nobody noticed.
Flail at a fastball over your head, then walk back to the dugout as if nothing happened.
The Padres signed Snelling, traded him to the Pirates, and then “the Pirates released outfielder Chris Snelling to make room on the Triple-A Indianapolis roster for the recently acquired Lastings Milledge.” Haven’t heard anything since then.
Mhm I just noticed.
Team RISP: 3-for-6 o.O
Bases loaded, no outs, 3-0 count, no damage. That has to be unusual.
Geez…Oakland beat the OC yet again…
What’s gotten into the We-Only-Lose-One-Game-Per-Month Angels?
Did anyone notice if Bill Schonely was in attendance? In hindsight, it would have been pretty cool to have him replace Krueger for the 40th anniversary of the Pilots.
Ahh…now there’s our Ignitor!
They’re resting up before coming to Seattle, scott.
I didn’t notice. Did the crowd roar a welcome for Willie?
they were too busy doing the wave.
Well, as previously discussed, Messenger is again attempting to make his statement for the Gas Can Of The Year Award.
Morrow was sent down to work on his breaking stuff, of course we don’t have pitch f/x to tell us what he is throwing down there, but it is not too surprising that if he is throwing more offspeed stuff his strikeouts would be down.
I wanted a triple play there with Willie being gunned down at home.
msb, thanks for the Snelling update.
It’s looking less likely that DA gets a save tonight, though hope is still alive.
Even though I hate the Rangers and Angels I’d like to see them both in the postseason. Mostly because I hate the Red Sox even more, especially their fans.
Cubs fans are always described as lovable and Sox fans are the antithesis of them, at least the ones I know.
True Grit threshold: Willie > Rob
I do like our “terrible” defense.
and an add-on home run.
Welcome to the 20-HR club, J-Lo!
Yeah, Willie would totally have slammed Rob to the ground, showing him who has the true Mariner’s white boy, limited talent, grit.
The usual Lopez dinger: LF line, just a bit over the fence.
Not always.
Though I loathe all of these teams myself, I think Angels fans piss me off more than any of them — not because they’re the most rowdy, but maybe because they don’t even bother to make it out to the game until the third or fourth inning half the time.
If anyone had told you we would be running out a infield of Jack Wilson, Josh Wilson, Jack Hannahan, and Jose Lopez, you would have wondered if they were on crack.
Plus, it’s 4 J’s, which is cool, too.
What’s with Messenger’s hat angle? Is he trying to be to look tough?
I would take the late arriving Angels fans over the early departing Dodgers fans.
Messenger wants Aardsma to get a save.
I think Messenger should be the pitcher for the HR derby at next year’s All-Star weekend.
Those are some no doubters.
Aaaannnd…Messenger picks up two more points in the GCOTY balloting.
Not the prettiest defensive play ever.
The Royals are killing the Messenger.
littlesongs, it is always nice to listen to Elia’s rant at least once a year. Thanks.
Ugh.
Nice little play by Lopez.
If DeJesus had fouled out to Hannahan for the last out there everyone in the stadium would have won a free half-used tube of lip gloss.
Better than the 20K empty seats the the Mariners usually have.
I missed it, what happened to Snell?
He got hit in his throwing arm by a batted ball. Went toward first to help on the play, (wasn’t needed) and then went down for a minute or two and then finished the inning.
Remember the Angels before their current “dynasty” though? Twenty grand would’ve actually been a pretty good crowd on most nights at the “Big A” back in those days when they weren’t playing worth a crap.
Line drive by Maier hit him on the forearm in the 5th. He finished the inning, but he’s hurt.
You’re welcome mw3. It is an all-time classic. One wonders what Elia might have said candidly about the 2008 Mariners.
A comebacker whacked him on his pitching arm.
Well, hopefully it’s just a bruise and nothing more serious.
We need to resign Snelling so we can have Snell and Snelling!
Snell and Snelling would be a great name for a temp firm…oh, wait.
Interesting post from Torii Hunter’s Blog 11 days ago.
Currently, the standings look like this:
Division, games above/below .500
AL East: 31
AL Central: -39
AL West: 31
NL East: -19
NL Central: -21
NL West: 17
Torii Hunter definitely has a career as an analyst if he wants it. Hopefully he can replace Tim McCarver one day. McCarver might well be the most annoying person in sports announcing.
Or a law firm of Wilson, Snell, Wilson and Snelling.
It is sooooo incredibly painful to have McCarver and Buck in a broadcast booth at the same time…
I remember a few years back when Faux had Bret Boone and Al Leiter in the booth as the “color analysts” for the ALCS and NLCS, respectively. I was kinda hoping that Boonie and Leiter could somehow find a way to gang up on McCarver and Buck sometime during Game 1 of the World Series, pummel them into submission, and then take over the booth for the rest of the series and just do the play-by-play themselves!
Torii Hunter also thinks that he plays good defense.
I can’t even watch the World Series with the sound on.
The crazy thing is that McCarver has been loathed for years yet Steve Lyons is the guy that Fox canned.
Eric Byrnes is also quite the chucklehead during his occasional appearances on Faux as well.
[Piniella]
Adam and Kreuger…what a pair. It’s like geeks and freaks, or the nerd and the greaser….or McLovin and Lurch…
Who’s on first?
Jack’s on first.
I thought Jack was playing third?
No, Wilson’s playing third.
Jack Wilson’s playing third?
No, Josh Wilson’s playing third.
No way Jose!
No, Jose is playing second….
Every time he spins around to watch a solo shot it gets a little further askew… another few dingers and it’ll have gone all the way around and be back on straight. Even a busted clock is right twice a day.
Yeah…Bud and Lou would’ve loved tonight’s lineup!
Say, I wonder if Bud Harrelson and Lou Piniella ever thought about getting together for a stand-up tour?
I think Bill Krueger is a magna cum laude graduate of the Pat Riley Institute For Slicked-Back Hair.
>Morrow’s pitched 51 innings in AAA, and given up >23 BB, 34 K, and 2 HR. A 6.0 K/9 isn’t exactly >inspiring.
Just saw Morrow pitch tonite against the Beavers at PGE Park. He went 5 innings, with 4 hits, no runs, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Since the Beavers are dreadful this year, it doesn’t mean much, but Morrow did throw the curve and changeup quite a bit, though the difference between the fastball and changeup was only around 10 mph.
BTW, the Rainiers are on a hot streak. They lead the PCL in home runs, and after beating the Beavers again tonite, have now won 8 straight games on the road, putting them only a game behind the Colorado Skysox.
Tonite the lineup looked like this:
CF Jerry Owens
2b Tui
1B Mike Carp
3B Chris Shelton
DH Brad Nelson
RF Mike Wilson
LF Brian LaHair
C Adam Moore
SS Oswaldo Navarro
Tui wasn’t very impressive at 2B, but I guess he’s better than Calix Crabbe.
Imagine if Fox and ESPN merged, and there was a baseball game with both McCarver and Joe Morgan doing the broadcast.
Our heads would explode.
Actually, I’m surprised they haven’t by now. They both wind up cheerleading for only the same select large-market teams they like anyway, so they might as well.