Cactus League Game Thread, 3/6/2010
I can imagine, some time, far off in the distance (let us call it Monday), when the Mariners will not be facing the Padres. I know. “Impossible”, you must surely say.
There isn’t much news out of camp early this morning, save that Jack Wilson and David Aardsma are both feeling better. Your lineup for the 12:05 pm PT game:
CF Ezequiel Carrera
LF Eric Byrnes
1B Ryan Garko
DH Mike Sweeney
RF Ryan Langerhans
3B Matt Tuiasosopo
2B Dustin Ackley
C Adam Moore
SS Josh Wilson
RHP Ian Snell
There’s something in the rule books about needing a certain number of regulars in the lineup in any given Cactus League game, so clearly, some of the fellows above have to feel good about their odds.
Death to Flying Things remains MIA 
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Death to Flying Things remains MIA
You know, I heard a rumor that a the airlines have misplaced a couple 727s.
You don’t suppose flying things…
Ackley in as a starter makes this a must-listen game. Interesting to see Tui getting in-game looks at varying positions; it’s hard to believe the “local utility guy” uh, “position” has been left vacant for so long. I was kind of surprised Lopez wasn’t penciled in at 3rd, but Drayer tweets
So maybe they don’t think it’s super-necessary.
Franklin Gutierrez wanted for questioning as a suspect in the recent murder of two commercial jetliners. Last seen in the vicinity of Peoria, AZ.
As joser mentioned, you can listen to this game at the M’s MLB site. And if you’re local, it’s on regular old KIRO, which is nice.
For true baseball nerds, you can follow along with this pitch f/x-enabled pitch-by-pitch…uh, thing.
WGN is carrying Cubs-White Sox game right now. Carlos Silva on the mound and in midseason form … three straight hits, including a two-run homer.
Oops … make it four as Kotsay doubles in a run.
I’ve yet to get audio to work for me from MLB.com. They want me to log in, or buy something.
More sliders, Ian!
Is Snell throwing more two-seamers? Hope someone asks him about it.
Carlos Silva…bahahahahahaha! I still can’t believe this trade happened. Oooh, bunt base hit for Brent Lillibridge.
Aaaand Carlos Quentin takes Silva deep for the 2nd time.
Meanwhile, Sweeney scores on a wild pitch to put a run on the board. HUSTLE 1-0 M’s
Ahh, nothing like a four-game series against the Evil Friars in the early part of ST to stoke the old rivalry…
Somehow, I can just see poor Lou’s BP going up about 40 points every time The Chef takes the mound this season.
Snell has kind of messed this inning up, but there was also an error by Carrera out there. Bonus: someone got caught stealing home!
2-1 Padres.
Why was I so hap[py when Dave announced Silva’s numbers today?
You know, if there wasn’t a Tuiasosopo in that lineup, you’d never know it was the Ms.
Schadenfreude, is probably what you’re looking for.
Well, if worse comes to worse for Silva and the Cubbies wind up releasing him, he could maybe open up a hot dog stand — since there seems to be one on every corner in Chicago, anyway!
There ain’t no freude like Schadenfreude.
It’s hard to make a go of it when you keep losing all your inventory to, uh, “shrinkage.”
Besides, Silva seems more like a candidate for a Cinnabon franchise, don’t you think?
Uh oh. Sean White plunks Scott Hairston, who has to come out of the game. (Jerry Hairston’s on 2nd).
I want to actually see Ackley.
I’d also like to see if Matty Stairs really is 31 lbs lighter.
Sweendog!
Sean White’s FB not getting a lot of sink, but the velocity’s OK. His arm must be better than I thought.
Oooh Dan Cortes.
Cortes’ is bringing some heat.
Enjoy your Yuni, Kansas City!
That’s one hell of an inning!
2 grounders, one strikeout, touched 95.
Perhaps — or at least his “evil” counterpart from the parallel universe might. It seems like you can’t walk within 100 feet of one of those places in a mall without that intoxicating aroma knocking you out…
Well, supposedly he was playing rec hockey before ST began — no doubt inspired by the performance of Team Canada in the Olympics.
Touched 96, rather.
3 pitch K of a damn tough hitter in Cunningham – 96.3 MPH fastball, foul. Curve ball, called strike, curve ball, swinging strike, see ya.
So I guess Ezequiel Carrera’s big jump in BB% wasn’t a fluke.
For some reason, it strikes me that Jerry Coleman would be a hoot doing stand-up comedy.
SWEENDOG AGAIN
SWEENDOG! doubles in Carrera and the lesser J. Wilson. Take that, random minor league scrub.
4-2 M’s.
Wow…the Hug-meister is really trying to make his case for a roster spot today.
Damn; c’mon Cortes. Hang in there.
Aaaaannd they yanked him.
In comes Yusmeiro Petit.
Who promptly gives up the tying run.
Hey! We have a Bryan LaHair sighting!
He’s now playing 1B for the Cubs.
Jerry Coleman and Carmen Fusco.
Now that is a pair.
And the Sweendog strikes again!
We also got a Liddi double in there.
And a Halman triple, before Saunders flew into a DP. 7-4 M’s.
First Liddi, then Halman…
The Euro guys getting the job done…take that IOC!!
Halman doesn’t strike out?
Also, I love the Saunders-Ackley-Moore sequence in the lineup. It’s like getting in a time machine, set to “near future.”
Man, Marc W, that thing is awesome. For those of us who like raw Cartesian coordinates without any schmancy graphics, anyway.
So, what’s the upside for Sweeney here? My understanding was that he was really auditioning for other teams this spring, as we already have Garko. What are some potential landing spots for him? Could we expect to get anything for him in a trade?
I sure hope that Sweeney doesn’t make this team, but he is hitting .857, which worries me!
*strangling noises*
I was at the game today and Stairs looked like he lost every bit of the 31 lbs. I barely recognized him.
Oh, the Washington Nationals…
After all, what have they got to lose (but games)?
Well what’s the point of spring training if not to get Dayton Moore all excited? I agree about the Nats, they seem to be trying to put together an ex-Mariners spring training all star team.
P.S. A random question for anyone here. Everyone seems to agree that the AL West well be tighter this year, with all four teams having some serious upside to them, and much disagreement over who will actually win. Where do you put the odds, however, simply that it won’t be the Angels, winners of 6 of the last 7 titles?
If the M’s don’t win this year, I just kind of hope it isn’t the Angels that do.
We are in Chicago and were having lunch in a place where they put the Cubs-White Sox game on TV in the second inning. My son said, “I think Carlos Silva is on the mound,” just before Quentin’s second home run. “Yep, that’s Carlos Silva on the mound.” True comedy.
There’s something in the rule books about needing a certain number of regulars in the lineup in any given Cactus League game
You’re supposed to start four regulars. I believe the rationale is that if people are paying $$ for these games they shouldn’t see B games or AAA games. Some teams play pretty fast and loose with the rule.
The Mariners have ZERO guys in the lineup who will start opening day and Byrnes is the only player I’d call a regular. With Garko, Sweeney, Langerhans batting 3-5, they should be embarrassed to charge people money.
I’d count Ackley as something I would want to pay money for, and don’t discredit Moore as the mostly-regular catcher… You’ve overstated your position a bit.
I was at the game yesterday and didn’t mind paying to watch a bunch of M’s prospects and utility players. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen tons of M’s games and I’m not really curious how Ichiro or Lopez or Gutierrez are going to perform. Or maybe because it was a beautiful mid 70′s day and I was just happy to be watching baseball again with beer in hand.
Ackley looked solid at 2B in his limited chances, turning a double play on a routine grounder hit to him. He never did connect well in his ABs, though.
Sweeney absolutely crushed the ball yesterday and is making a case for a roster spot with someone.
The other player that stood out in his limited innings was Michael Saunders who hit a rope to rightfield for a triple and covered a lot of ground in LF on several flyballs.
It’s supposed to rain today in Phoenix but weather permitting I’ll be at the ballpark again today.
I suppose some people view ST as a cheaper way to see the regulars, but that’s not my interest. I’d definitely pay ST game prices to see the Saunders-Ackley-Moore sequence they put in the lineup. That’s potentially your middle of the order of the future. That’s exactly what you go to a spring training game to see. You’re going to get about 81 chances to see the other guys at Safeco. (Granted, given how things seem to be shaking out, you may get to see that sequence a fair bit in Tacoma this year).
Are you sure it’s four? I thought it was two position players, which matches pretty well with my long, long experience going to those games (and I believe I read a story about this once, where the two weren’t ever happy because it meant they’d get on the bus for the away game while everyone else could hang around the home park).
Also, I’m with joser. The problem though is I’ve ended up seeing games (especially really late in ST or really early) that consisted almost entirely of the dregs of the roster, guys who might fill out the AAA affiliate if you’re lucky. At that point, the novelty’s not there: you can’t convince yourself you’re seeing interesting prospects, even.
I can definitely take seeing prospects – its the random org fillers that aren’t so much fun.
On another note, from another Jim Street mlb article re: Steven Baron:
“The kid can catch,” Wakamatsu said. “To think that he’s a year out of high school, it’s amazing. You watch the guy catch, and you see a belief system. Sometimes it gets broken as they go along, but he’s a pretty confident kid.
Time for the Mariner drinking game again!
But really, why isn’t Gutierrez playing?
Don’t know really, but he was slated to be in today’s game before the rainout.
Ah ha! I got it via Baker’s blog, which has had someone else updating it of late. Guti hasn’t been playing due to a sore right shoulder.
Mariners vs Brewers on MLB channel tonight at 7pm EST—cant wait to see them play live. Who is the starting pitcher for the M’s tonight?
Mariners vs Brewers on MLB channel tonight at 7pm EST—cant wait to see them play live. Who is the starting pitcher for the M’s tonight?
FSNW is going to replay one of today’s games on TV tonight. I assume that is what MLB will be doing?
Actually both games today start at noon Pacific time. Been following Shannon’s tweets as she tries to figure out which game to attend.
DMZ:
Yup. Anyone that wants a good chance at seeing lots of the regulars in a spring game should head down there about halfway through the Spring, missing the early games when there are split squads, 60 man rosters, and regulars that only play 3 innings or throw 30 pitches. And avoid the last game of the spring.
In the really old days, way back around 1980, Spring Trainnig wasn’t popular. Weekday game attendance was limited to a few retired folks and maybe a college kid or two skipping classes (don’t ask how I know this). Back then, many teams didn’t have all those practice fields, and by the 5th inning there would be players running (foul line to center field and back) in the outfield, getting in their exercise, during the game! It was a different time.
The TV schedule for FSN has Rangers at Mariners. They’ve been replaying games from last season on Monday nights.
OK, I was confused.
So I guess I can watch the Mariners on TV on MLBN at 4 PM Pacific?
The game is live on Fox Sports Wisconsin, DIRECTV Channel 669.
The game is on MLB.TV right now. Ackley has had a rough game so far. K’ed looking on curve after being buzzed with an up and in fastball, and an error at 2nd. Fister got hammered in his first frame.
Gee, thanks a lot, KIRO…really appreciate you not carrying either of these games live on the radio today.
What happens if Tui keeps hitting the cover off the ball. Does that make Lopez expendable or trade bait? What are Tui’s defensive numbers at third vs. what would be projected for Lopez at third?
Anyone else worried about our pitching? I know its early, but man has it been bad.
Go Tui go. He’s a spring tr machine of late eh.
No.
I just heard a real dumb statement by a Brewers announcer (replaying today’s game on MLB). He made quite the deal of explaining that the Jack Wilson will really help the Mariners because they had the 4th worst defense in the league last year, and the best pitching.
Talk about making strangling noises…
How good do you expect him to look, at this point?
Going to throw this out there:
Is anyone here going to be at spring training from March 12-16? Better if it’s the 13-15th, since I won’t be flying those days.
Going to be down in Tempe/Peoria for a few days and would love to hook up with some USSM crew while down there.
P.S. 28 year old bartender here. Just to give ya an idea who I am.
For what it is worth, Drayer opined yesterday on air that that was the poorest she’d seen him play at third, thus far. She has a blog post up.