Game 13, Indians at Mariners
Vargas vs Lowe, 7:10 pm.
I’m going to assume that there’s something wrong with Justin Smoak that hasn’t been made public yet, because he’s not in the line-up a night after going 4 for 5, which isn’t generally how you reward a guy for his first ever four hit performance. In Smoak’s absence, Dustin Ackley is shifting over to first base while Munenori Kawasaki replaces him at second base.
Oh, and Olivo is back behind the plate, so John Jaso is getting another night on the bench, despite Derek Lowe’s career 100 point platoon split. He’s not as drastically anti-RHB as Masterson, but as a sinker/slider right-hander, he’s the kind of guy who will likely eat Olivo alive but Jaso would have had a fighting chance again. But, hey, what do we know, we’re not Big League Managers (TM). We must never question their decisions. They know stuff.
Figgins, LF
Ackley, 1B
Ichiro, RF
Montero, DH
Seager, 3B
Saunders, CF
Olivo, C
Kawasaki, 2B
Ryan, SS
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154 Responses to “Game 13, Indians at Mariners”
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“I agree – and I would like to add that the de-emphasis of taking a walk…”
When the hell has Wedge ever said he doesn’t want them to take a walk? An aggressive approach doesn’t mean to swing at everything the pitcher throws! I’ve always taken his comments to mean that if the first pitch is a meatball in your wheelhouse then you should be coming out of your shoes. Which I agree with. I understand the value of a walk, but I’d rather not watch a team full of guys going up to the plate looking for a walk. The guys should be patient to the extent of waiting for their pitch and when that pitch comes they should “be aggressive” and swing the fricken bat.
Even if he doesn’t outright say don’t take a walk, he clearly rewards guys that don’t demonstrate patience and virtually never walk. And regardless taking players who are naturally patient and telling them to be more aggressive can have a more negative effect than you’re implying.
Look at guys like Montero who has never had any issue at all taking a walk has walked a grand total of 1 walk this year. Carp had great at-bat after great at-bat but hits weren’t falling and he was hitting .200 and he gets sat, then sent down. He comes back swings at everything and gets played every day. Not saying Carp didn’t deserve it then (he was on fire for a while) but I’m just saying that if he was rewarding patience and the process then he never would have been sat in the first place.
Wedge specifically pointed to Miguel Olivo as having “a good approach at the plate”. By name. Google it – you’ll find the quote in a Baker interview from last year.
Tonights another amazing line up. Olivo catching and Jaso DHing…makes sense, put your worst defensive catcher at C and DH your best defensive catcher. I wonder if Milton Bradley was onto something with that infamous shirt.
Fire. Wedge.