Game 156, Mariners at Blue Jays
Yesterday marked the remarkable occasion of Ichiro’s first ever ejection in either league he’s played in. This particular event was triggered by a called strike three that Ichiro did not agree with. Turning towards home plate umpire Brian Runge as Runge was making his signature call, Ichiro seemed to feel slighted, and proceeded to draw a line in the box, either disputing Runge with his own conception of the strike zone or indicating an intention to duel him should he cross said line, either of which would be grounds for immediate ejection. Whether the call was accurate or not, as far as what is typically called ball or strike, is debatable. The will of Ichiro is not. Runge, watch your back.
Snell also threw a good game, which he lost, and Saunders played the field. Further proof that even with a week left, you can still manage to see something new. Baseball: you know you’ll miss it in two months.
Lineup:
RF Ichiro!
CF Gutierrez
1B Lopez
DH Sweeney
3B Beltre
LF Hall
C Johjima
2B Tuiasosopo
SS Wilson
Rowland-Smith, pitching for the #2 spot in the rotation according to the official site, vs. Tallet.
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It’s true I’ll miss baseball in two months, but I’ll miss warm, sunny, sit-at-Alki-with-your-shirt-off weather even more. This is, at best, a radio game for me…
Shannon had a story on the pregame that after the game, the Jays clubhouse got the overhead shot of Ichiro drawing the line in the dirt, and the F/X shot of where the pitch crossed the plate, and noted that they were in the same place.
She said the general consensus over there was “is this guy ever wrong?â€
Sorry to bring up Lookout Landing stuff here, but none of the Sports Blog Nation websites, including LL, have loaded for me for about the last 36 hours or so. Is anyone else having the same problem? I’m overseas right now, but I don’t see why that should be cause any problems. Any word from Graham, Jeff, or Matthew on this? Thanks.
Sadly, I think it is just you, decatur.
Yeah, decatur, I’ve been on LL a bunch this morning with no problems. Sorry.
Kenji!
Actually, LL works on Safari just fine but not on Foxfire for some reason. Why didn’t I think to try Safari before? D’oh.
Tui bomb!
I love Johjima!
re: LL, it’s working fine for me and I’m on Firefox.
So if Franklin leads MLB in put outs, who is the leader in put downs?
Also, free Arby’s burger for everyone tomorrow!
Junior.
How can it be a burger if it has no burger?
So, what does the adrenaline surge from almost losing your face do for your pitching speed?
A most unusual day for the Mariners offense.
Sweeney may talk like he’s coming back next year but even he realizes there has to be a reason.
A reason for him, or a reason for the Mariners? FWIW, on the pregame he phrased it as he would like to play, he had the family’s permission to play, he just had to get a phone call from a team in the offseason asking him to play.
I assume he’s trying to show the Mariners he can still play a role, but I just hope they don’t take the bait.
Really glad he got that run last inning, though.
Uh, and why was RSS sent out again?
If you had to put either Griffey or Sweeney on the team next year, who would you take? Griffey has dipped below replacement level while Sweeney is making a 0.3 WAR contribution.
Leave in RRS to pitch against consecutive righties in the bottom of the eighth, until he’s given up a run and put the go-ahead run on 1st, then relieve him with Miguel Batista?
Is Wak trying to lose this game?
Ugh, Liam, so we don’t get to choose neither? I do think that Sweeney may be at Spring Training, if for nothing else, to dispense hugs.
I just keep praying that Griffey will suddenly announce his retirement for the last home stand, but that certainly hasn’t been the model for great players in recent years, with the farewell tours that put the Rolling Stones to shame.
If loving you is wrong, Batista, I don’t want to be right! (For one batter.)
Colm, I was thinking the same thing.
Okay, back to hating Batista.
Sometimes, these guys really depress the crap out of me.
I would rather have Griffey and Sweeney at .714 and .776 OPS than Hall and Josh at .623 and .651.
Uh, you only need one DH, and you do need someone to play the field well, which neither can do.
People were talking about finishing in second place, but with Oakland going on a roll fourth place is still a possibility.
Did the lead run get charged to RRS?
What a waste of a good pitching performance. It seemed obvious to me in the 7th he was out of gas.
Neither can Hall, by his recent performance.
R
I’d rather have Griffey or Sweeney than Bautista.
Why is Batista still on the roster ?
Batista is the kind of pitcher who must be weeded out if the Mariners are ever going anywhere. Screw the contract…eat the darned thing and chase it with five bottles of industrial strength Pepto-Bismol.
Sour attitude….unprepared when called upon….takes being in the majors for granted….huge contract….can’t throw strikes….has lost his stamina….basically a dour, washed-up pitcher who contributes nothing to the overall success of the ball club….
At least Sweeney has come on toward the end of the season, and is something of a role model for the call-up kids.
Seriously, I just want to cry when I see Batista start to loosen up in the bullpen. The guy takes it beyond just mailing it in. Please Mr. Z, release the guy and pur me out of my misery!
I hate Adam Lind. And the regression on “one run wins” is a bitch.
So before the game in the “picks to click” Blowers predicted the Tui home run (down to the direction and which at-bat), and Niehaus had a great time calling it. They just re-ran the call complete with the sound of Rizzs and Blowers giggling in the background.
There’s nothing to eat: Batista’s contract expires at the end of the season. Which is a week away.
Silva, unfortunately, is another story altogether.
Thanks Joser….my mistake.
As you can tell, I’ve had it with Batista and am very pleased he almost certainly will be gone.
I feel kind of bad for Wak since it would be a real feather in his cap to finish with a winning record. Let’s hope they get it done.
And let’s not forget, Beltre did his best to blow Thursday’s victory. This series sort of reminded me of the ill-fated four-game set in Baltimore at the start of 2008, when McLaren looked like he was having a nervous breakdown on every pitch in the dugout.
Interesting season, really, since we could list a whole slate of gut-wrenching defeats. Of course the Mariners also have pulled out several improbable wins, so perhaps it all comes out in the wash?
One of the funniest things I’ve heard out of NY Vinnie in a while was where he just referred to Batista as Bobby Ayala about a hundred times in a ten minute stretch on the post-game show.
Interesting season, really, since we could list a whole slate of gut-wrenching defeats. Of course the Mariners also have pulled out several improbable wins, so perhaps it all comes out in the wash?
The Mariners are 33-20 in one run games after today. That’s a .623 winning percentage. That’s almost as good as the Yankees have been all season.
“They’re due” is the wrong way of looking at it (since that’s Gambler’s Fallacy), but all told, the 2009 Mariners have nothing to complain about when it comes to how the close games have broken for them. That, and their Pythag record, also indicates that they shouldn’t be very complacent about their ~.500 record when it comes to planning the roster for 2010- not that there’s any indication that Zduriencik is being complacent about it.
Yeah, as great as this season has been when compared to last, it is worth noting that this team is only about 80 runs better than last year’s. (and a lot of that goodness is pre-all star break)
Yes, it’s interesting to compare this year’s record with 2007:
2007: 88-74 (.543), Pythag: 79-83 (.487)
2009: 80-75 (.516), Pythag: 71-84 (.458)
The 2007 overachieved more, but its real talent level was apparently higher too. And we all know what garden path that lured Bavasi down. Now Zduriencik and his FO, unlike the previous regime, not only knows what Pythagorean Expectation is but understands what it means. But I’m sure they’re also looking at 2nd and 3rd order wins/losses as well, and those numbers are both better approximations of real talent level and not as divergent from the actual record (albeit not very encouraging from a divisional standings perspective).
In any case, as pleased as I’m sure he’ll be to finish above .500, I have no fear that Zduriencik is satisfied with that or in any way complacent (or, conversely, unrealistic about the team’s real talent level).
What can I say about today’s game? I was at yesterday’s and today’s, both equally disappointing.
Why was Batista in that game today? Why did Wak not go to a lefty against Lind? Why is Bill Hall still a Mariner. I was actually cheering for him to add another K to his total, just so he can be a for sure cut next year.
On the big screen when Bill Hall got announced:
Hall was acquired by the Mariner Aug. 19th for minor leaguer Ruben Flores. That is what I saw everytime he came to bat. That is how brutal Bill Hall is. Priceless.
USSM staff:
Do these games aggravate you in the sense that while meaningless they could have helped in the win column and they were lost because of less than stellar use of players? I did not like Wak’s use of pitchers in the last 2 games…was there anything that fans did not know that made the use of specific pitchers necessary?