Game 62, Dodgers at Mariners
Blake Beavan vs. Chad Billingsley, 1:10pm
A day after facing Clayton Kershaw, the M’s face another Dodger pitcher who racks up strikeouts. Chad Billingsley’s been a consistently good starter since 2007, relying on a straight four-seamer, and mixing in a two-seamer and cutter. He also throws a slurvy breaking ball – it’s classified as a slider, but it’s thrown at curveball velocity and he uses it more against lefties than righties.
Blake Beavan’s pitching for his job once again. Erasmo Ramirez took a no-hitter into the 8th in his last start in Tacoma (when he was upstaged by the M’s combined no-no), and Danny Hultzen seems to be utterly overpowering the Southern League. Hector Noesi seems likely to yield to one of the minor leaguers, but Blake Beavan may make it hard for the M’s to keep Hultzen in the minors if he pitches like he did in his last start.
The M’s line-up’s got six lefties, but Billingsley doesn’t have big platoon splits, so while it’d be nice to see Jaso, this isn’t a terrible line-up. Mike Carp needs to pick up the pace with Casper Wells and Franklin Gutierrez in Tacoma – when Guti’s ready, he’ll either force Saunders to LF full time or be yet another so-so corner OF, something the M’s aren’t short of. Carp’s injury may have prevented him from getting a real shot at the starting job this year, but his K rate isn’t helping things either.
1: Ichiro (RF)
2: Ackley (2B)
3: Seager (3B)
4: Montero (DH)
5: Smoak (1B)
6: Saunders (CF)
7: Olivo (C)
8: Carp (LF)
9: Ryan (SS)
SP: Beavan
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141 Responses to “Game 62, Dodgers at Mariners”
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Gwynn should be penalized for that dirty uniform. Just call him out.
BTW the Dodgers aren’t having any trouble with Safeco’s current dimensions…
Mike, I don’t know if I want Beaven even in the pen – unless he’s the new Iwakuma (as in “never used”).
The guy’s just bad.
@Westy
Right but they also got the advantage of facing Blake Beaven :\
So let me get this straight – Junior is on the team payroll, but almost never comes to these special events?
I noticed his name wasn’t included in the list of who’ll be present for the Randy/Dan Mariners HOF induction.
Ackley!
It’s amazing how much your chances of making contact are increased when you are not pulling your head. Nice swing by Ackkey. His Best swing in the past week.
Junior is on the payroll and is in charge of hitting the buffet circuit pretty hard. He has got to be 60 lbs overweight and looks like Jabba the Junior. In other words, he is approx 25 above the last time we saw him in uniform.
Mike, I noticed the same thing. Pulling his head at the last second. He doesn’t pull the head and magically makes good contact!
^ yep
Maybe Chambliss was reading USSM from the dugout.
All right Condor!
Now we just need
67 more. 😀And there’s Olivo, being Olivo…
That was a screaming line drive. Just think, If the fences were moved in, Smoak would have been stopped at 3B. That would have been great to
See!
Anyone else more than slightly irked at Jaso not getting a PH opportunity there?
Man, I get so sick of watching Olivo swinging at those balls low and away – that was basically in the other batters box.
Nickman66 – yes, for sure.
Judas priest Carp – you look like the LH version of Ryan.
Yeah, I don’t know what the team should do with Carp at this point.
Florida won.
Thank you cable splitter.
Good pitch recognition there Ryan.
Judas priest Ryan, you look like the RH version of Carp.
hehehehe Mike
I am totally speculating here as to all things “psychological” – but having lost a good buddy might have had more of an impact on Carp than any of us can comprehend.
That’s a good point, Mike. I’ve actually wondered if that was what was happening with Saunders last year, losing his mom.
But unlike Saunders, Carp’s value is pretty much only with his bat; and we’ve got a surfeit of mediocre left fielders – so there’s perhaps less reason to be patient with him. That “no options left” thing is probably the real problem here.
Okay, Olivo leads the majors with 12 “caught stealing” this year.
How many “runners advanced when Olivo couldn’t corral the ball” does he have?
Facing the media after each game – there’s one part of Wedge’s job I don’t envy.
Silver lining: Beaven is clearly not a major league pitcher, and either goes to the pen or optioned to Tacoma. Ramirez then takes his place and Hultzen moves up to AAA? Iwakuma and Noesi then trade places. Sound good?
^^ Works for me.
Surfeit!? Good God man – I have to now scurry for a dictionary. Dumb it down a bit, please. Pretend this is a dugout … Or a talk radio program.
Can someone please explain to me how Blake Beavin was a first round pick? I don’t care how “Signable” he was. A bonus of $1 would have been too much for him.
Good question. He’s large? Broken radar guns? Bad scouting? Planets aligning just right? Going with the latter.
Watching Wedge’s post-game Q&A… parts of it anyway.
One thing I actually appreciate about the guy is he seems rather protective of his players (well, unless he completely blows up – which has happened). He doesn’t throw Beavan under the bus, for example. He acknowledges the bad results, but still seems somewhat protective. He could be totally fed up, but he’s not saying that to the reporters.
You guys all know I’m not a fan of Wedge as a manager – but I do think he does the people part pretty well.
(How’s that, nickster? hehe)
Got it … And I can now use it within a sentence:
This team does not have a surfeit of offensive talent or of run scoring abilities. Thine surfeit has plummeted to regressionary levels of abnormally redundant levels of suckitude. .
One thing I actually appreciate about the guy is he seems rather protective of his players (well, unless he completely blows up – which has happened). He doesn’t throw Beavan under the bus, for example. He acknowledges the bad results, but still seems somewhat protective. He could be totally fed up, but he’s not saying that to the reporters.
I think some fans forget that this is part of the manager’s job: getting them focussed on doing their job without getting distracted by media and fan complaints. What Wedge says here is kinda a big part of that, and fans shouldn’t complain when Wedge shields them like that.
Let’s expand Mike’s lexicon with a surfeit of new words.
Man, it’s hard to think of unusual words when you’re consciously trying to do so…
Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Try those.
^Don’t make me get out my thesaurus.
If ontogeny truly recapitulates phylogeny, we would expect each Mariners player to develop at exactly the same rate as every other Mariners player – indeed, at the same rate as every Major League Baseball player currently active.
Clearly, this is not the case – so I reject the theory.
(thank you Wikipedia)
Geez, I fall asleep in the 8th inning, and wake up to find everyone has lost their minds! Or found them.
Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Try those.
Which was proven to be false, but have an interesting basis which showed that earlier evolutionary traits were likely to be conserved in earlier stages of development.
It was a Frazier Crane quote from an episode of Cheers. Most of my education came from television programs and Dr Seuss books (regrettably). I was, after all – a baseball player.
I ultimately concluded (after more research than i should ever admit to having to conduct) that the statement meant everyone is a concise summary of their ancestors racial history … At least within the context that I believe Frazier Crane used it within the episode where Sam Malone got laid. Who am I to argue with Frazier Crane logic?
In regard to this team, it’s ontogeny has perpetuated a phylogeny of suckitude for 7 of the past 9 seasons. If this statement is intellectually inaccurate or completely mis-stated, I have the firm privilege and deep affirmation of not giving a crap. I will simply chalk up the statement within some other recent century lexicon related to “tortional rigidity” and “fine Corinthian leather”
How-chuck have been around for quite a while. They are the common link of genetic team dysfunction. The only thing that changes are the players.
Man, these “intellectual discussions” are fun. Especially when they are baseball related.
—he (Wedge) seems rather protective of his players (well, unless he completely blows up – which has happened). He doesn’t throw Beavan under the bus, for example.—–
I have to disagree with you here, because to me it looks like Wedge is just overprotective of some of his favorites who suck and hurt the team’s chances; like Peguero last year, Beavan, Olivo, etc.
On the other hand, he has complained to the media about Ichiro not hitting enough with RISP, and publicly called out some other guys, and has basically mis-used (under-used) Iwakuma because of some bias.
I have to say that Wedge’s act is getting a bit old.