Cactus League Game 17: Diamondbacks at FELIX HERNANDEZ

marc w · March 12, 2013 at 11:30 am · Filed Under Mariners 

King Felix vs. Patrick Corbin, 1:05pm

Happy Felix day. After an off day, the M’s try to regain momentum in their push for the Golden Saguaro by venting their frustrations on the gritty Arizona Diamondbacks. Felix makes his second start of the spring after looking pretty sharp against the Royals. The DBacks counter with lefty Pat Corbin who rose up through the minors and made 17 starts in the big leagues last year. Nowhere near as heralded as Tyler Skaggs (with whom he was traded in the Dan Haren deal), and with less raw stuff than Trevor Bauer, he was something of a surprise last year after dominating in AA and pitching reasonably well in the awful run environment of Reno. He uses a low-90s fastball, a good curve ball and a change-up to get an above-average number of strikeouts. Home runs have been a bit of a problem, but it’s not all a product of his home parks: he pitched much better in Arizona than on the road, and gave up only one HR in his brief time with the Aces. Instead, he’s just been prone to mistakes – he’s given up HRs on his sinker and curve, two pitches that have generated very high GB rates for him overall.

The M’s line-up:

1: Bay, RF
2: Ackley, 2B
3: Morales, 1B
4: Smoak, DH
5: Thames, LF
6: Montero, C
7: Miller, 3B
8: Morban, CF
9: Ryan, SS
SP: FELIX!

Comments

22 Responses to “Cactus League Game 17: Diamondbacks at FELIX HERNANDEZ”

  1. jordan on March 12th, 2013 11:33 am

    Bay hitting leadoff… nice.

  2. ManageWA on March 12th, 2013 1:13 pm

    Any radio or video for this one?

  3. Paul B on March 12th, 2013 1:34 pm

    Radio is delayed, broadcast is tonight.

    Bay is so making this team, isn’t he?

  4. argh on March 12th, 2013 1:50 pm

    mlb.com audio is ‘free’ during Spring Training — although I’d argue that any broadcast that makes you listen to the music they’re throwing out there between innings is in no respect ‘free’.

  5. groundzero55 on March 12th, 2013 1:50 pm

    It’s live on MLB radio.

  6. taylor.mariner on March 12th, 2013 1:55 pm

    Lolol, I like the mlb radio music, it’s better than hearing bob and groz segueways every five minutes. And I definitely like listening to anything other than Noesi try to get a batter out.

  7. groundzero55 on March 12th, 2013 2:02 pm

    Which he can’t do.

    Can we just cut our losses and release this guy yet? Addition by subtraction.

  8. argh on March 12th, 2013 2:12 pm

    I’m worried about Smokey. He seems to be kind of dumb-play prone.

  9. marc w on March 12th, 2013 2:35 pm

    Noesi…
    I don’t know if he’s resistant to coaching, if there’s a confidence issue or if the coaches’ approach just isn’t working, but he’s getting worse and worse. Really hard to watch, and I’m terrified he’ll end up back in Tacoma.

  10. Westside guy on March 12th, 2013 3:27 pm

    Seems like possibly we’ve seen Noesi’s affliction before in another pitcher we got in trade a few years back… A guy named Ian Snell.

  11. henryv on March 12th, 2013 5:03 pm

    marc,

    I am wondering the same thing too, and thinking if he might be better in a long relief/low leverage situation, and hope he can build himself back up.

    Or, maybe, he’s just doesn’t have enough velocity, an out pitch, or enough movement, and he’s getting mashed. But now he’s getting mashed in Spring Training by some A and AA guys.

  12. PBS on March 12th, 2013 6:03 pm

    Contest suggestion:

    Guess the date that the Mariners regular season home run total surpasses the spring training home run total (at the end of spring training). Tiebreaker is first to guess the winning date. Winner gets… um, internet credibility?

    Can’t wait for baseball season!!!

  13. PBS on March 12th, 2013 6:09 pm

    …and my guess is June 12th

  14. henryv on March 12th, 2013 7:34 pm

    September 30th.

    Just made it.

  15. Westside guy on March 12th, 2013 7:48 pm

    July 17.

  16. MissouriMariner on March 12th, 2013 9:25 pm

    Bay hitting lead off is simply amazing to me. This team has potential to be interesting but as long as we have a brain dead manager, I don’t think it will be much different…

  17. Flaco on March 13th, 2013 3:34 am

    Bay was probably leading off to get more ab’s

  18. WalterNeff on March 13th, 2013 7:13 am

    Diamondbacks at Felix Hernandez – that made me laugh out loud. I wanna see that every fifth day.

  19. MissouriMariner on March 13th, 2013 8:26 am

    Why does Bay need more at bats? That is the question….

  20. Westside guy on March 13th, 2013 8:44 am

    There’s this unspoken rule in baseball that veteran players given ST invites must be given plenty of time to display their wares, even if the team plans to cut him, so they have an opportunity to catch on with someone else.

    However in this case I expect Bay will make the team. They gave him money, and Z seems unable to admit fallibility for way too long (see Figgins, Chone; Bradley, Milton; etc.)

  21. gwangung on March 13th, 2013 8:50 am

    They gave him money, and Z seems unable to admit fallibility for way too long (see Figgins, Chone; Bradley, Milton; etc.)

    The $$ are lot higher for Bradley and Figgins than it is for Bay.

  22. Westside guy on March 13th, 2013 10:35 am

    That’s true… but I guess I’m not sure that matters.

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