Game 97, Mariners at Blue Jays

Dave · July 20, 2011 at 4:19 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Vargas vs Morrow, 4:07 pm

Normal-ish lineup with Carp in left, Kennnedy at first, and Smoak DHing.

Comments

55 Responses to “Game 97, Mariners at Blue Jays”

  1. Mustard on July 21st, 2011 6:26 am

    Quite the game last night. I was right beside the Mariners dugout. Not a bunch of happy campers.
    Quote of the night:

    “Somebody’s got to step up and do something about it because I know we’re not satisfied with this,” a frustrated Josh Bard said about Seattle’s 11-game skid. “This is not OK, and nobody thinks that.”

    Where is the leadership? Who is the leadership?
    It can’t be Josh Bard.

  2. groundzero55 on July 21st, 2011 6:39 am

    Of course in the two games the M’s can actually score some runs, those will be the two games when the pitching doesn’t show up. Go figure.

    Where is the leadership? Who is the leadership?
    It can’t be Josh Bard.

    Do you have any better ideas? This team really has no clear leader-type personality.

  3. Mustard on July 21st, 2011 7:09 am

    Honestly, I don’t have any better idea’s.
    In the past two games you have had this quote from Josh Bard and a players only meeting called by Jamey Wright and Jack Cust. Do these guys have the ears of the players? I really hate complaining about this team (without a solution in hand), but I just do not see a solution any time soon. We already know guys like Felix/Ichiro will not be speaking up.

  4. make_dave_proud on July 21st, 2011 8:26 am

    @Ichirolling51,

    Heh. It wasn’t one of those intended activities, more a result of just being on after putting children to bed. Switched to Baseball Tonight immediately afterward.

    Where is the leadership? Who is the leadership?

    That’s a funny thing about baseball – the notion of team/clubhouse leadership actually being important. The sabremetricians have panned the idea that intangibles like leadership have any material effect on results.

    Yet contending teams almost always seem to have obvious team leaders. The Yankees have Rivera and Jeter. The Red Sox have Big Papi. The Phillies have Victorino and Halladay. The Braves have Chipper Jones. Take the Mariners squad of 2001: Edgar.

    Those teams also possess(ed) highly competent players on the rest of the squad. Do these teams function any differently than other teams? Aside from winning, I do not know.

    My point is not to prove that leadership has an effect on outcomes. Rather, my point is that good teams often have known, respected team leaders.

    By contrast, the Mariners lack of team leadership is conspicuous. Would team leadership improve the team’s play? Point-blank: no. Would the Mariners benefit, in any way right now, from team leadership? As it stands, we will never know.

  5. Mustard on July 21st, 2011 8:54 am

    Definitely a good point.

    I guess I compare it to someone at work that calls a team meeting about how the team has to do better, work together as a unit and maximize performance but everyone knows that person(s) doesn’t work hard, goes through the motions of getting through a work day, or does not have the abilities/experience.
    The impact of that meeting would seem to fall on deaf ears.
    Obviously being a frustrated Mariner fan, these are some of the things I tend to think about.

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