Game 135, Angels at Mariners
King Felix vs. Dan Haren, 7:10pm
Happy Felix Day! I don’t know if I’ve seen as jarring a contrast between consecutive days’ starters since Livan Hernandez followed Stephen Strasburg in July of last year. Haren and Hernandez are so good, so consistently excellent, that there’s not as much to say. They’re not bizarre like Anthony Vasquez, nor is their story as bizarre as Jerome Williams’. They’re just bizarrely talented pitchers, and thus this game holds the promise of genuine excitement, as opposed to the ersatz sideshow kind of excitement I talked about yesterday. I suppose I’ll make do.
In contrast to the heralded pitchers, two of the more important bats in the game were unknown or actively disparaged coming into the year. Mark Trumbo and Mike Carp are playing 1B due to injuries to the incumbents, both played many years in the minors, compiling a good-but-not-great record, and both players enjoyed break out years in the PCL. This isn’t to same they’re the same type of player exactly; they’re not. Trumbo was more of a Peguero type – someone who had great raw power, but couldn’t produce enough in game situations. Carp was the opposite – a patient hitter with gap power that just didn’t work with his defensive limitations.
Prospects change, hitters develop, coaches….coach. But I still can’t get over how *weird* it is that Mark Trumbo’s been one of the Angels better bats this year, or that Mike Carp is essentially tied with Dustin Ackley as the best hitter on the M’s. The Cardinals’ Allan Craig is another guy in this mold – someone with clear talent, but whose performance record never screamed “MLB starter.” If this was as simple as a scouts-vs-numbers argument, that’d be fine: I’d sincerely love to learn more about how to distinguish the Allan Craigs from the John Bowkers of the world (Philadelphia acquired Bowker today to shore up their bench, incidentally). But I don’t think it is. The tools scouts weren’t putting Mike Carp on any top prospect lists, they liked Greg Halman. Craig and Trumbo were rated C+ by John Sickels, and came in at #10/#11 respectively in their team prospect lists (Kevin Goldstein had Trumbo a bit higher, Craig a bit lower). Carp was a C in 2010, and wasn’t ranked in 2011. All of these guys had K rates between 15-20%, solid power numbers, but they tended to move slowly up the org ladder. Why is Mike Restovich bad (one of the better PCL hitters I saw around 8-9 years ago) and Craig good?
Sample size may be the easy answer, and if Trumbo regresses, I’ll be thrilled to revert to laughing at an Angels team with a 1B with an OBP under .300. But now I’m at the point where seeing Trumbo in the box is genuinely worrying. All I can do is hope that Angels fans are similarly troubled by Mike Carp, and hope that they’re as confused by their fear as I am about mine.
Incidentally, Trumbo against the Mariners: .340/.404/.762. Against everyone else? .249/.282/.458.
The line-up:
1: Ichiro (DH)
2: Gutierrez
3: Ackley
4: Carp
5: Olivo
6: Seager
7: Wells (RF)
8: Ryan
9: Robinson (LF)
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35 Responses to “Game 135, Angels at Mariners”
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Z extension!
I’m glad to see Zduriencik got an extension. I know everything hasn’t panned out… but I do believe the team is moving in the right direction overall.
Jack Z stays!
Jack W goes!
Can this day get better?
Jack Wilson to Braves for PTBNL, per Baker.
Good for Wilson. Let me get a shot at the playoffs and off my TV.
If you value your sanity, don’t switch over to ESPN to watch the Red Sox/Yankees game. That little gopher Pedroia dove face first into first base and Schilling and Normar went on for 10 minutes over replays from every angle about grit and dirty unis, and playing with heart and best boy evah…
Good for Jack Wilson. Jayson Stark says he’s never been to the playoffs in 1313(!) games.
So relieved Zduriencik & Co. are coming back. If they got less years than the Bavasi era I would have broke something.
Nice strike call.
Who knew the strike zone extended to the middle of the opposite batter’s box?
While Felix is a good pitcher, the fact that he is #3 in wins for the franchise says a lot about this organization.
Specifically, it says that we sucked.
God I hate the Angels.
Their hits have all been grounders or broken bats. The RBI hit had called third strike written all over it before the last pitch.
God I hate the Angels.
And Chone Figgins, you’re not on my happy list either.
Chone,
Was wondering if you still played baseball, or had found a different job.
Love,
Mom
I was thinking of Chone when I saw that the Giants released Rowland and Tejada, with their combined double digit millions salaries.
I love Dave Sims’ utter, complete disgust when the M’s can’t score with the bases loaded.
I was thinking of Chone the last time I watched Waterworld, for some reason.
Question: If Ichiro is clearly not going to make to it 200 with a couple weeks left, are you willing to not run him out there?
Damn, that feels good. I loathe the Angels. Crush their hopes in the eighth, please!
No, henryv.
Carp! I can’t remember him ever meriting a LOOGY (if you call this situation that)., and he comes through.
I don’t care that we’re 30 games out. That was awesome! Go Carp!!! Reminds me why I love my Mariners
henryv, I think it depends on what Ichiro wants. He’d probably want to play, but sitting him would probably not be much of an issue.
Not even to allow him to share time with Saunders/Halman/Wells/Treyvon? There are only 3 OF positions, and we have something like 37 OFs on the 40-man roster.
Wow. We have 11 OF on the 40 man roster. That is kinda crazy.
About damned time Felix got a call on a pitch.
Ichiro can DH.
Great game.
Hell yeah!
One of the best games of the season!
Suck it, Angels.
What do you do with Carp/Smoak, who need MLB at-bats?
Not arguing, just playing Devil’s Advocate (better known as Oil Company Lawyer).
Yikes on that OFer’s route to the ball. Was he just toying with us?
Yeah, DH him. The team doesn’t have a ‘real’ DH anyway, at least until Smoak is back.
Wow, this feels good. Hate the Angels!
Great day for the Mariners!
Smoak only has a few days until he is back. (Unless he is the unluckiest MLB in history, and manages another freak injury.)
Z, check. Felix, check. Carp, check! Off a LOOGY!!
No real DH? Are you implying Carp is a “real” LF? I hope not.
Based on the last month, I’d rather have Carp DH than Ichiro. Just saying.
Carp’s no Edgar. Just sayin’.
Neither is Ichiro 🙂
Carp = possible piece to future championship
Ichiro = future HOF’er, present placeholder
Play Carp first until he fails.
Weird. I don’t get how it can get to be an “Ichiro or Carp” discussion.
Ichiro and Guti/Wells/Robinson I understand. But I think it is a high priority to see Ichiro get back on track for 2012 and onwards.
We’ve seen a lot of rookies look awesome for a couple weeks after getting up here, and some people getting giddy and unrealistic (I still remember some people were acting like Smoak was the second coming of Mickey Mantle back in April), but the main test comes after the league gathers info on the holes in the rookie’s game and starts exploiting them.
Can they adjust and produce or not?
In this sense, I get a little pissed off when some people (thankfully few on this site though) try to write off Ichiro’s 10 full years of excellence like it was nothing. Such consistency (finding ways to adjust to whatever the league throws at you, and keep producing at a high level) is darn awesome.
And I think it is high priority to see him get back on track.
The rookies are getting enough at bats.
It’s not an “A or B, all or nothing” type situation. And I don’t like when some people jump on the “get rid of the veteran (Ichiro)” bandwagon after a few weeks of good performance from a newbie.
Hell, Willie F. Bloomquist hit .400+ during his first stint in the bigs.
With the above said, Carp’s emergence couldn’t make me happier.
I hope it will shut up anybody who’s been screaming for fat Fielder at 100+ million.
It’s only an “Ichiro or Carp at DH” discussion.