Game 50, Angels at Mariners
Noesi vs. C.J. Wilson, 1:10 pm
Last season, Fangraphs had Noesi at a 1.22 GB/FB ratio in his limited time with the Yankees. If this was something that he was consciously working on, knowing the conditions he was going to be facing in Yankees Stadium, then that was probably a good idea, but it is not representative of his career arc. According to MiLB.com, Noesi never managed a full season with more ground outs than air outs (MiLB.com includes pop ups, etc with their air outs). The closest he got was 0.93 in 2009. The worst he had was his brief stint in the International League last year when he was at 0.67, which is the same mark that he sits at right now (48.7% FB, if you prefer that metric). Given that the Angels have been knocking the ball over the fence a few times in this series, there’s a legitimate concern that this could turn ugly in a hurry. You’d also presume that with such tendencies, the Mariners would really want to bring their “A” outfield out to give themselves as much of a chance as possible.
2B Ackley
CF Figgins
RF Ichiro
DH Montero
1B Smoak
3B Seager
LF Liddi
C Olivo
SS Ryan
Oh. Ohhhhh.
I guess for this game, we’re going to have to hope that C.J. Wilson doesn’t have his good command and that the Mariners are able to draw some walks against him and do a bit of damage. His ERA right now is much lower than his tRA or FIP, so there is a chance for some kind of regression. On the other hand, Mariners.
In rare good news, Guti has been cleared to go down and work out in extended spring training, and will get his rehab assignment sometime after that. Don’t expect anything soon. He didn’t really get spring training the first time around, so this could take a while.
Comments
67 Responses to “Game 50, Angels at Mariners”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Every time this team goes on a “protracted” win streak, local media members want to declare them play-off contenders. Alternatively, whenever they go on losing streaks, it’s the Bavasi regime all-over again, and we need to fire the entirety of the front-office.
One of the hallmarks of a young developing team is wild inconsistency, and this team has it in spades. I just wish people would figure that out and quit trying to make sweeping proclamations based on what was clearly and repeatedly labelled a developmental year.
People seem to forget that it took a while for Felix to become Felix.
Jay when can we expect some sort of draft preview information?
Figgins and Liddi in the outfield? Maybe the next promotional event will be a blooper DVD, in which today’s game will provide most of the material.
nice to see Pujols pop it up
Olivo… catching again?
Probably wouldn’t have mattered who was in left on that one. Trout was gonna score regardless.
They’re easing Olivo back in, Westy. Haven’t you been paying attention?
This way he can just stay in the crouch, save the wear and tear of standing up?
Really looking forward to the Saunders-Gutierrez-Ichiro outfield.
Everybody should stop bashing Olivo. He’s not going anywhere..if you haven’t noticed.
Ichiro looked terrible on that pitch.
Bashing him and having a little fun are two different things. Technically, the jokes are directed at Wedge, as he said Olivo would be eased back in -which he hasn’t.
If Olivo is terrible and still playing every day – why should’nt we complain? We’ve had ample evidence there are better options on. this. team. already.
When Figgins played everyday, did you think the same thing?
When Guti comes back, I would be very surprised to see Wedge put that outfield in the lineup much. He’ll either stop playing Saunders, or he’ll split time between him and Guti in center – you’ll mostly see Liddi and Carp in left (and maybe Peguero).
Hey, look. George Sherrill! Seem to remember him being on this team at some point.
I agree Westy. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Saunders in RF as well, with Ichiro DH’n or getting a day off.
^Occasionally
Note that I’m not saying that would be the smart thing to do – it’s just what I expect to happen.
Hey, Wilson needs to be more careful with those expensive hands!
Interesting – Divish thinks Olivo is going to play a lot because the team is hoping to deal him.
I guess that’s possible. They could be playing him a lot at first to demonstrate he’s healthy. But a team would have to be darn desperate to overlook that .193/.211/.318 line.
You didn’t have to say that, Westy! It was assumed!
Oh WOW. Just WOW.
Brendan Ryan is AWESOME!
Nice play by Brendan.
Great play by Ryan. He wont be featured in the blooper DVD.
Regarding Olivo and trade potential, if it’s going to happen, I think it will happen soon. The Nationals are still real thin with baackstops, but nobody’s going to give decent prospects for him, unless there’s other prospects being returned. Would be interesting to hear what kind of offers might have been thrown Jack’s way.
I hear that Strasburg guy isn’t working out – maybe they’d be willing to let him go.
Good idea to send Olivo, because he’s fast for a catcher.
Before spring, I was hopeful there was a chance in hell they wouldn’t be able to re-sign (note the spelling?!) Zimmerman, and that somehow he would have be dealt to Seattle. It’s hard not to like that Nationals team. Lot of great players.
Kendry Morales probably hates us. He certainly bats like he hates us. And knows how to channel the hate.
Yeah, it doesn’t come into play very often but – Olivo is reasonably fast.
I joke about spelling, then make a mistake
Jaso’s fast too.
Technically it was a grammatical mistake, Steve – not spelling.
Oh, and Montero’s got a set of wheels…
*SNORT*
haha, yes, and I actually considered correcting THAT one too! Doesn’t really matter though. I’m comfortable looking silly now and then
I wonder if Edgar Martinez could beat Montero in a footrace – today.
I forgot to delete “have”. That’s what I get for being lazy.
Smoak could be in that race as well. Could it really be called a “race”?
Monty!!
He’s going to own that gap in a couple of years.
Woo hoo! Come on Justin!
Smoak!
Smoak!
And we got lucky, sending Montero on that hit. That was “bad process, good result”.
Montero would have meat if that throw was on the money.
<Oh, and Montero’s got a set of wheels…
<*SNORT*
– Well, he does, 'cept the wheels aren't round, they're oblong…
(Good enough to score on Smoak's hit, though! 
)
Any time I see Figgins’ and Olivo’s names in the starting lineup, that tells me that Wedge and co. are trying to lose. Seriously folks, why is it that this team still has any fans?
Hehe, r-gordon-7. Now I have a mental picture of his feet moving as if they were attached to an egg.
My last comment is supposed to end with the word, “barely”!!
Westside – exactly!
We actually seem to have a couple decent third basemen in the works.
Hey, Nationals! Olivo’s making good contact today! You should hurry and pounce on him before some other team does!
Nice, but awkward, catch by Ichiro!
And uh-oh… it’s that GUY again.
Is Ichiro approaching the same level of production he had in May ’11?
Uh… Angie needs to rethink that wording.
“As soon as I got the top off, he was diving into it.”
In high-leverage situations this year, Ichiro has a BABIP of .150. So a lot of his problems this year have actually been just bad luck.
But I do think it’s probable his age is becoming a factor with regards to the overall trend. He’s simply not as good as he used to be.
And we need to hope that huge helping of garlic fries doesn’t impair that gentleman’s likelihood of reaching age 99…
“I never, ever eat fried food!”
– Mel Brooks as The 2000 Year Old Man, explaining the secret of his longevity
Okay, Smoak, do it again!
Just imagine if she had said “bottom”
yeah!!
We’ll whimper away with a swinging strike 3…
Ok…dribbler to first. My bad.
The game, and perhaps the season, in a nutshell:
When behind in the count, the Angels looked for a big fat pitch to hit, and hit it.
One a 3-2 count, the Angels knew the M’s would swing at anything and gave them nothing to swing at.
I would say that is an organizational flaw in strategy. I don’t know whom to blame, but I do know they will never succeed if they don’t change it.
The announcers on the Fox game Saturday spent a lot of time about moving the fences in. The fences in old Sick’s Stadium (before the Pilots) were Left and Right field line (325 feet) Left and Right center gaps (355 feet)and Center (400 feet.) Make these changes and Safeco will be fairer for our hitters.
Given our hitters, we’d need softball fences, whil also favors every other teams hitters…if you’ll remember, there were a few homers in the last series hit inthe second deck, or off the facing…moving the fences will not help that.
Good thing we’re playing Olivo every day – we want to be sure any potential trading partners get constantly reminded about that .189/.207/.311 line.
Okay, at least some of that is BABIP driven… but is there a team out there that’ll even look at that?
I just saw the starter for Oakland in tomorrow’s game: Travis Blackley. First start since he was a Mariner, I believe.
One of the hallmarks of a young developing team is wild inconsistency, and this team has it in spades. I just wish people would figure that out and quit trying to make sweeping proclamations based on what was clearly and repeatedly labelled a developmental year.
The problem is I’m not sure this team is that close to developing into something interesting. OF and 1B are still a talent vacuum outside of a 38 year old, with various “not terrible, should get some playing time as role players, but not very good” players bouncing around. There’s still some development that’s going to need to happen here. I wouldn’t blame anyone for being a bit tired of waiting.