Game 56, Mariners at White Sox
Kevin Millwood vs. Chris Sale, 11:10am
The M’s get another crack at Chris Sale, who struck out 11 in 6 1/3 IP in Seattle in April. The lefty’s transition from the bullpen has gone about as well as anyone could’ve hoped, as lower walk rates have brought his FIP down into the mid 2’s. I think the Sox would’ve been thrilled with the kind of season that CJ Wilson gave the Rangers in his first year in the rotation after coming up as a lefty bullpen arm, but thus far Sale’s blown any of Wilson’s seasons out of the water.
WIth a lefty on the hill, the M’s swap out Kyle Seager in favor of Alex Liddi and – deep breaths now, everyone – Miguel Olivo at DH. They can’t send up their old right-handed line-up having banished Casper Wells, so Chone Figgins starts in left and….I’m really not selling this game, am I?
1: Ichiro (RF)
2: Figgins (LF)
3: Montero (C)
4: Smoak (1B)
5: Ackley (2B)
6: Olivo (DH)
7: Saunders (CF)
8: Liddi (3B)
9: Ryan (SS)
SP: Millwood
Felix Hernandez tweaked his back on Friday, so the M’s aren’t 100% sure he’ll make his scheduled start on Wednesday. Something to keep an eye on.
Stephen Pryor certainly had an interesting debut, striking out the league’s hottest hitter before giving up a big HR to Dayan Viciedo. Still, he flashed the kind of stuff that shows why the M’s felt they needed to make a move.
Manny Ramirez came to Cheney Stadium last night with the Sacramento RiverCats, but left the game early with some kind of injury. We’ll see if he plays today in an afternoon game; Andrew Carraway starts for Tacoma.
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This line up is an insult to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.
Justin Smoak has posted a gorgeous .578 OPS against lefties. And a wOBA of .256.
Figgins sits at a wOBA of .254.
But Miggy’s .225 wOBA makes that look quality.
And these are NOT your 7-8-9. Oh, no. They’re you’re 2-4-6 hitters. Yeah.
“Take that, logic!” -Eric Wedge
Okay, I’ve suddenly become obsessed:
Here is the wOBA of the order, vs. lefties:
1. .259
2. .254
3. .472
4. .256
5. .264
6. .196
7. .363
8. .289
9. .268
P. .287 (last year with Colorado, sorry no splits)
So, in conclusion, only 3 of our 9 hitters have better wOBAs this year than our starting pitcher had last year, and they are hitting 3, 7 and 8.
Perhaps Eric Wedge is trying to prove that batting order really doesn’t matter.
in Tacoma:
Casper Wells .314
Yeah. Yeah.
Carlos Peguero: .308 (in 2011)
Mike Wilson: .317 (2012 in Tacoma, no splits)
Guillermo Quiroz: .441 (2012 in Tacoma, no splits)
I know, small sample size, AAA… But seriously, if you give me Tacoma’s roster and Saunders, Liddi, and Montero, I think I can put together a better team than what is on the field.
Why does this game not look very promising? Oh yeah, it’s because there is a good lefty on the mound. And we are keeping veterans in the lineup and sticking better hitters at AAA. I would rather watch Peguero’s ridiculous swings than Figgins.
Me to-Figgins and Olivo should not see the field for the rest of the year.
Olivo!
Very mixed feelings. Nice to get the runs, but we are stuck with him until late August at the minimum now. Sigh.
Miguel Olivo can hit a mistake pitch very far.
One could ask why any pitcher bothers to throw him strikes, but hey.
That was a handy little pop up by Miggy. 448′.
Useful, very useful!
We need a long game from Millwood today with yesterday’s pen use.
I guess the good news is he can’t drop any balls if he is only DHing. Progress?
I will have no problem with Miggy if he does that. Just less games of him catching please as Jay said. Then some sanity might prevail.
That was such a classic Miggy move… I forgot for a second that Montero is the one catching.
Glad to hear Blowers acknowledge that Jesus has generally done a good job of “keeping the ball in front of him”.
Man that looked good to me
Pitch count issues forthcoming. All hands on deck day.
Yeah Millwood is getting nothing on the outer part of the zone. That last pitch was a definite strike.
I guess the good news is he can’t drop any balls if he is only DHing. Progress?
He can’t drop any balls from Oakville, California, either.
Joe West is the classic “Well, at least he’s calling a horrific strike zone for both.”
But, man, that guy needs to retire.
Joe West once threw out a camera man for showing the opposing manager a replay of Joe’s missed call.
I’m going to reiterate my desire for an overlay of called strikes by the ump over the actual zone, to see how messed up the calls are. Joe West’s zone would look like origami.
Sale is so tough. Gotta find a way to get into their bullpen
He’s tough, and the ump is erratic….extra trouble for a team struggling to hit consistently.
Well, Ackley made contact and won’t likely end up with another 4 K game. Woot?
You have to wonder if they just aren’t seeing the ball very good coming out of the pitchers hand? Something…Sale must be good at masking the release.
Having too much to drink…what’d I miss?
Uh, an Olivo HR, Chris Sale looking very tough, and Millwood having poor command and a case of the Country Joes.
Spatch miss very little. Millwood got into and out of trouble quite a bit and racked up a high pitch count and a few runs along the way. Mariner offense has been limited to its customary extent with an uncustomary Olivo bomb. All in all, drinking is probably the best route for you to have taken, today.
Not scoring any runs is certainly one way to save the bullpen from an inning of work.
Mike, true dat!
Isn’t Sale getting tired yet?
Really thought Smoak was going to beat that out (tryna keep a straight face). Nice to see Ackley keepin’ them alive.
Still have a chance – And With Olivo at the plate …..
Geez, Sims…..
Yep, that’s what I thought. It just took a little longer than usual.
Yeah Sims … Premature enunciation syndrome rules.
It’s probably just my biased perception, but – it sure seems to me as if Olivo gets even more hack-happy the rest of a game after he’s gotten a big hit.
Baltimore 30-24, 236 RS, 236 RA
Seattle 24-32, 234 RS, 235 RA
ugh…
Baltimore 30-24, 236 RS, 236 RA
Seattle 24-32, 234 RS, 235 RA
ugh…
Yeah, but remember the M’s scored 21 runs in a game. Orioles haven’t come close.
That one game is literally going to skew the statistics of this team for a couple weeks. But I have full confidence they will regress and be back on pace for 3.5 runs a game.
Glad I didn’t watch this one… Millwood needs to go to a wood mill and see if he could get a job there…
It’s probably just my biased perception, but – it sure seems to me as if Olivo gets even more hack-happy the rest of a game after he’s gotten a big hit.
So he swings at 99% of the pitches he sees out of the zone, rather than 95%?
If you remove that one game from the equation, the team is averaging 3.87 runs a game.
Whose side is Wedge on? First, Figgins (2) and Olivo (6) in the lineup. Then, the (random) batting order. The good news I suppose is that the poor performances mean that improvement can be easily had by substituting replacement-level players instead. When we DFA Figgins, why not bring up Rodriguez? The combo of Ryan and Kawasaki does not provide much run support. I am fine with Jaso and Montero, so if Olivo stays on the bench (or is DFA’d) it wouldn’t bother me. Would be nice if Carp could get on track; I don’t look forward to seeing more of Pegero or Robinson (who is still not making enough contact). I fear Noesi is headed to the bullpen. Who will replace him in the rotation? Ramirez? Furbush?