Cactus League Game Thread, 3/11/10

marc w · March 11, 2010 at 12:07 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

M’s v. Giants, Snell v. Lincecum

M’s line-up thanks to Ryan Divish at the TNT

1: Ichiro!
2: Figgins
3: Kotchman
4: Lopez (3b)
5: Garko
6: Byrnes
7: Langerhans (CF)
8: Moore
9: Josh Wilson

In the ‘pen: Kelley, Colome, Koplove, League, Lowe, Cortes.

Would be great to see some pitch fx data on Snell and Cortes (if he pitches), but playing outside of Peoria means no Griffey, no pitch fx.

Comments

20 Responses to “Cactus League Game Thread, 3/11/10”

  1. marc w on March 11th, 2010 2:04 pm

    Hey! We’re winning! The game is going swimmingly!

    Snell 3IP 1H 2K 1BB 0R. Moore 1-1 with 2 BB and he caught Aaron Rowand trying to steal.

    Snell’s got 4 ground outs to 1 fly out which is nice, and continues a trend this spring (very small sample, so we’ll call it a trendlet). Developing a 2-seam or any sort of sinking fastball might really help Snell. His FB has gotten progressively less sink in recent years, which mirrors his GB/FB ratio, and a general decline in his FB results.

  2. JH on March 11th, 2010 2:18 pm

    Speaking of teams run nearly as badly as the Ms were under Bavasi, everyone is expecting the Giants to jettison Fred Lewis at the end of spring training in favor of Eugenio Velez. Lewis is no star, but some team is going to get a huge bargain at the end of this spring.

  3. robbbbbb on March 11th, 2010 2:24 pm

    Lewis looks like a mild upgrade over Ryan Langerhans. Better stick, lesser glove, but the stick outweighs the glove.

    If he could be had for cheap, I’d bet that Zdruiencik would be in on it.

  4. JH on March 11th, 2010 2:29 pm

    Eh, I don’t really see a fit there (if I did it’d be its own post). The key part is the “lesser glove.” Lewis isn’t really an option in center, which makes Langerhans the superior option as a bench outfielder. I see him as a very nice starter for a 2nd-division team or one of the central division teams that has an outside shot at contention.

    My favorite undervalued Giant is Andres Torres. Has some pop, he’s a switch-hitter, plays all 3 outfield positions well and has great speed. He was my top off-season trade target to fill the LF spot. The Giants are planning to have him split time with Velez, with Velez getting the lion’s share of the playing time. I think that’s a very bad decision.

  5. Jay Yencich on March 11th, 2010 3:33 pm

    Texeira with another three groundballs. Intriguing. Go on….

  6. Logger on March 11th, 2010 3:42 pm

    Moore appears to be playing very well. I really hope he gets the nod over Johnson.

  7. Jack Swan on March 11th, 2010 4:03 pm

    Kelley finally showing that command he had before the injury last year.

  8. joser on March 11th, 2010 4:19 pm

    Johnson will probably be held out of at least a couple games a week at the start of the season regardless, just based on his progress and Wak’s comments. It’s going to be a “co-catching” situation, at least at first. The only question is how much time Johnson gets later in the season. Meanwhile, the pitchers have more time to get as comfortable with Moore as they apparently are with Johnson. If Moore can Wally Pipp* him out of a job, I certainly won’t complain.

    * Yes, I know the popular version of that story is incorrect; it’s still a useful meme.

  9. joser on March 11th, 2010 4:26 pm

    Hey, look: turns out Branyan is still out with a bad back.

    “He’s still not doing full-scale baseball stuff,” said Acta. “He takes ground balls a few days a week and he hit a certain amount of time. It’s gradual.”

    Not a surprise to the M’s front office at least, right? And now somebody else gets to pay for the rehab.

  10. wabbles on March 11th, 2010 4:30 pm

    “* Yes, I know the popular version of that story is incorrect; it’s still a useful meme.”

    Yeah, apparently Pipp didn’t have a headache, he had a fractured skull. YIKES!

  11. LanceWWU on March 11th, 2010 4:42 pm

    Joser, I just saw that story as well. Jack Z keeps on looking smarter everyday.

  12. joser on March 11th, 2010 5:16 pm

    Yeah, apparently Pipp didn’t have a headache, he had a fractured skull. YIKES!

    Except that version is wrong too: Pipp got hit in the head by a pitch (in batting practice) a full month after he’d already lost his job to Gehrig.

  13. joser on March 11th, 2010 5:33 pm

    More on Moore, from Drayer:

    Star of the game according to the skipper? Adam Moore.

    “I really like what is going on behind the plate throwing the runner out, the way he is moving back there. More importantly the situational stuff, he is on top of.”

    A bunt to down the third base line bare handed by Moore and then fired to first was about as pretty a play you are going to see. How pretty?

    “The bunt play?” Snell marveled. “I had to give him a kiss.”

    Add to that what Wak calls “three real quality at bats” it is safe to say Moore is impressing all round.

    “He’s got a lot of talent,” the skipper said.

    Moreover, Moore is going to catch Felix (for the first time) in his next start. Hmmmm!

    Speaking of Snell, I’m starting to worry that he is a little bi-polar. He was depressed the whole time he was with the Pirates; now he’s “giddy”

    Ian Snell made a second strong start going three innings, allowing one hit, no runs, one walk and two strikeouts. The performance left him giddy. Hey, I am just quoting him.

    “I get giddy now, wanting to be out there.” Giddy, really? “Yeah, happy. Ready to go.”

    But maybe that’s just the difference of Seattle vs Pittsburgh.

  14. wanderinginsodo on March 11th, 2010 6:11 pm

    I have a good friend that’s talked with Snell at length. Basically he really likes Seattle and sees it as his new full time home instead of just a place to play. For what it’s worth, if anything…

  15. IwearMsHats on March 11th, 2010 7:14 pm

    As long as Snell is manic and pitching well in Seattle, who gives a shit?!

  16. DMZ on March 11th, 2010 8:42 pm

    Wow.

  17. Marinersmanjk on March 11th, 2010 9:49 pm

    Good to see that Snell’s pitching well. Hopefully he can return to the ace form Pittsburgh thought he was going to be. Hey guys, single day tickets go on sale the 13th, and I was planning on buying tickets for Lee’s home opener. Would it be safe to say that the 5 man rotation will be followed and he’d open April 17th? I live way up north by the border so I can’t really buy tickets again if I mess up the day.

  18. wanderinginsodo on March 11th, 2010 10:52 pm

    If you sign up for Mariner’s mail, you can buy the tickets now online. Might be worth it.

  19. IwearMsHats on March 11th, 2010 11:11 pm

    I don’t know, I would say it’s a risk to try to get tickets for a certain pitcher this far in advance. But maybe you will get lucky and be able to see Lee, or maybe you will be unlucky and be there on Felix Day!

  20. Marinersmanjk on March 11th, 2010 11:25 pm

    Haha how unlucky that’d be having to see Felix. I might do it, it’s early in the season and there likely won’t be any rotation hiccups then. If not, then it’s RRS or Snell, and neither would be bad. I just hope Bradley plays.

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