Game 107, Blue Jays at Mariners
Blake Beavan vs. Carlos Villanueva, 7:10pm
Hisashi Iwakuma and Blake Beavan both had extremely encouraging (and somewhat unexpected) quality starts against the Rays recently. Iwakuma backed that with one of the great pitching performances of the year the other night – 13 strikeouts and 18 swinging strikes are impressive no matter who they come against. Blake Beavan isn’t going to get 13 Ks, but he too can show his new whiffier ways aren’t the product of a bad opposing line-up.
Carlos Villanueva is a soft-tossing right-hander who’s been forced into the rotation thanks to the injury problems the Jays have had this season. Once there, he’s been very solid, and his season stats look great – sub 3 ERA, 6-0 record. I’m still skeptical, given that Aaron Laffey had similarly gaudy stats despite a sub-90 fastball and so-so command. Villanueva has a good slider, so he’s traditionally had some platoon splits, so that’s why Jaso catches and that’s why Eric Thames makes his M’s debut. Incidentally, I’m glad to see Wells and Thames get a shot in the same line-up, at least for now. While he’s been scuffling a bit recently, Casper Wells has done enough to earn some regular playing time, especially given Gutierrez’s injury. The M’s may yet need to run more of a strict Wells/Thames platoon, but they don’t need to do so before it becomes absolutely necessary.
Lineup:
1: Ackley
2: Saunders (CF)
3: Montero (DH)
4: Jaso (C)
5: Seager
6: Wells (RF)
7: Carp
8: Thames (LF)
9: Ryan
SP: Beavan
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79 Responses to “Game 107, Blue Jays at Mariners”
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This is probably the best possible lineup Wedge could run out there tonight. No Olivo, no Kawasaki, no Figgins, no Robinson (albeit he’s been swinging the bat well in a small sample size).
Wells is getting more time in right field! Right on!
Time to see how our newest OF does. Let’s keep it going!
When was the last time we won seven straight—besides tonight?
5 years ago, according to Jen Mueller.
Crap – and I just sat down.
Wow, is it a form of betrayal to actually LIKE looking at a Mariners lineup and seeing an outfield without Ichiro in it?
I really did love the guy, he was one of my favorite M’s, but it just never seemed like we were seriously rebuilding if we were marching an almost-40-year-old declining star out to right field every night.
It really IS a “new” team now. A team for the future. Feels like an “old door closed, new door opened” kinda thing finally.
Beavan served that one up to Rasmus. Hopefully Ackley can lead off the game with another HR.
Nice catch by Thames.
Coming in a little late – has Villanueva got a perfect game going so far? Seems like old times!
Nice spin by Ackley … And good job by Rasmus to slide between (not at) his legs.
Okay, rally time – boys
Ackley!
(but it was a ball)
Saunders!
Montero?
Montero grounds in to double play but the run scores. Better than nothing.
Jaso struggling so far.
Why did Beavan have to slide to get that ball?
Maybe he thought he could get rid of it faster if he was already on the ground…
Guns!
YEAH!!
Welcome to Seattle, Mr. Thames!
Thames looks like he’s ripped.
I like that Thames hit the hell out of the ball, and didn’t hit a Jose Lopez home run. That looked like 400+, for sure.
That was a bomb by Thames. Have not seen someone hit it that far in a while.
Condor!
Wow – Saunders hit it too much on a line. Nice rip!
I am still not used to Montero’s stance. He looks like he’s taking a dump.
I think Escobar could’ve had Saunders at third.
How is it that the Mothership hasn’t stolen Blowers?
Montero continues his mastery of swinging at breaking shit in the dirt to get behind in the count or to K. If he ever learns to lay off that pitch, he is going to be a real good hitter.
Jaso comes through!
Hopefully, Mike, Monty will figure it out as he gets more exposure to MLB-level pitching.
Man, I know Toronto’s pitching is depleted and KC and all, but – it’s been great seeing our guys hit these past couple of weeks!
Is Wilhelmsen available tonight? Wedge might have to use several relievers to get through 9. Putting Beavan out there for another inning might not be a good idea.
Did his wife have the kid? That’s the determining factor, if I recall correctly.
Man, Wells is not squaring anything up, lately. He’s got that exaggerated back leg slide thing going on again.
I wonder if Montero would be less prone to swinging at the low breaking ball from RHP’s if he was (as Westy pointed out) more upright in his stance. Everyone does things differently, and George Brett used to say that “guys hit like they hit” – but I wonder if they might experiment with Monteros stance a bit in the offseason. Pujols gets down into his legs pretty good, too – but not nearly as much as Monty.
She had the baby, but Saunders caught it and threw it into the stands.
Yank Beavan. Yank him now. Tell him “good job” and get him out of there!
Never mind, but please don’t send him back out there. Playing with fire.
Hehehe Walter. Made me think of the Naked Gun movie (I think), where they did a riff on the famous train station theme from The Untouchables – they save the baby then OJ spikes it.
It seems like Wells has been looking fairly bad lately when he’s had to face righties. Of course that’s going just by my eye, and I could be totally off base.
OJ’s website is http://www.OJ.com back slash slash slash back slash back slash slash heisman
Does Wells do that “leg thing” all the time, or do you notice any splits Mike?
Good solid double by Ryan!
Wow, a sweep is starting to look fairly likely!
Reminds me of the Refuse to Lose group
I notice he tends to not make good (or any) contact when his back leg is sliding more than the natural couple of inches that it takes to get on the ball of your foot. It results in an exaggerated drop of the head … Just enough to not square up a pitch. It slides back toward the 3B coach. It goes in the Wrong direction and by an exaggerated amount when he is “off”
He is .100/.100/.100 when he does it. ???
Crap, thought they were going to get a second bloop hit in a row.
Beavan – This does not bode well
Great play by Ryan and Carp!
He did his job ++ today. Gotta give him credit. Wedge too. I do feel a lot better that he is coming out of the game, though. That insurance run by the Mariners was big.
Yeah – I gotta admit I wasn’t sure Blake was going to keep them in the game, early on. But he settled down and did well as the innings progressed.
This past week or so has been crazy…lost Ichiro, got rid of League, have one swept series, and primed for another…wow…
There ya go, Mike – Wilhelmsen is back!
I guess you have your answer about Wilhelmsmen…he’s warming up.
filthy stuff
I love that curve everytime I see it.
I think Wilhelmsmen should come out to the song “Closing Time”
Closing time…one last call for alcohol so finish your wiskey and beers…
Afterall, he is a closer and a former bartender…
dw
Tell me if this sounds weird: Thames looks a little like Greg Halman + 30 pounds of muscle.
Do not walk this man
Halman
Has anyone noticed that Mike Blowers and Dan Wilson are answering each others questions, and having a merry ol’ time replying to one another, and that niether of them have really barely acknowledged Dave? Not that Dave notices, he’d talk over them if he could I’m sure
I just Google’d “Greg Halman” and, in some pictures, I can see what you mean.
Game, Set, and Match!!
wah wah wee wah
Thames – charming guy
Nice win – great homestand.
7-2 without Smoak. Once the chasm in the middle of the lineup was removed, things improved. Plus SSS and quality of opponent.
I know 8-2 without Ichiro. But, Smoak was the “catalyst” for me.
Thames’ voice really is not what I expected.
Yeah Thames definitely has personality – seems like a good guy.
Also articulate, unlike some guys.
Great win tonight. Surprised Wedge pulled Beavan at 82 pitches, I thought he’d go all the way, but glad to have a seven game winning streak!!!
John Jason looks like he’ll be lighting up a blunt later
Jaso’s beard is awesome.
After the interview with Angie, John Jaso drove off in the General Lee.
The apostrophe is wrong, boys
Nice to see young guys starting to come together.,Love Ryan’s defense and his hitting is getting better.
Wow, missed the game and then was watching highlights this morning via Gameday. The Thames homerun was a thing of beauty… Textbook inside pitch power swing…
Smoak could watch the video– a LOT. He got his hands through quickly, in tight, barrel of the bat through the ball, followed through high… Wasn’t even on the meat of the bat and muscled it 405+ into center field. I know he’s nothing major, but a LOT of our guys could use whatever hitting instruction he’s had coming up.
Also, as Shirley mentioned… Ryan’s come through with Wedge’s “I’m sticking with him, he’ll turn it around…” He’s batting .288 since July 1st.
Ackley’s been looking better, too.
Now, if Jesus can start to pull it together, we can look ahead to something fun.
Fun. Interesting word. The Mariners look like they’re having some. They’re having fun ’cause they’ve won seven in a row – or thry’ve won seven in a row ’cause they’re having fun.
Thames was a good trade. A guy who hits them for a guy who gives them up. And we keep Vargas. Sensible. Finallly.
I suddenly lke this team. Not as in, they will contend, but as in, they’re beginning to be fun to watch. That word again.
Now what could be the difference? As in, hmmmmm….
The obvious difference is they’ve gotten to play one crappy team and one team that’s been decimated by injuries.
When they played a good team recently, they won one game and lost two.
A couple weeks ago we came very close to sweeping the Royals in KC. Then they visit Safeco and we swept them.
And did you see who Toronto had pitching for them? And who wasn’t in their outfield?
So yeah – bloody obvious how we beat those guys.
Westy-
Bad pitching from weak teams aside, WOW was it refreshing to see the Mariners score runs at the home stadium. Had gotten pretty scary there for awhile. It was a new weirdness I’d never experienced– hoping for the next road trip so we might see some decent baseball…
Westy-
While yes, the opposing pitching was sub-par (okay actually pretty awful) it’s not like that has been a guarantee for offensive success for this team recently. We’ve made many guys who were replacement level or so guys look like all stars. Aaron Cook would have fit right in with our opponents this week and it could have been deemed bad opposition but he killed us earlier this year.
Even if it’s a super small sample and it was against lackluster pitching, seeing some sort of spark from our offense, particularly in Safeco was such a relief and definitely something we can build on, I think.
Marcus, MrZ –
I don’t disagree with you in the slightest. The real difference has been that we actually saw some hitting from a few infield positions (2B, 1B, SS) where previously we hadn’t been seeing much.
What it isn’t due to, though – the opinions of a couple moronic national writers notwithstanding – is the departure of Ichiro. Right field production has actually gone down since he left, unfortunately. I fully expect Wells to pick it back up, though; and Thames in left most of the time will look much better than Peguero/Robinson.
Overall, as frustrating as this team has been at times… I have still found them mostly watchable this year. I have a much higher tolerance for young guys struggling than I do for underperforming old guys.
And I have high hopes we might actually get to see some exciting, competitive baseball these next two months!