Game 69, Rangers at Mariners
Hisashi Iwakuma vs. Nick Martinez, 1:10 pm
RF Endy Chavez
CF James Jones
DH Robinson Cano
1B Logan Morrison
3B Kyle Seager
C Mike Zunino
LF Dustin Ackley
2B Willie Bloomquist
SS Brad Miller
Perhaps you didn’t get enough Bloomquist or Endy Chavez last night.
Nick Martinez is another mysterious late-round pick (18th round, 2011) who is now starting for the Rangers. You know who else was an 18th-round pick? Anthony Vasquez. Martinez is somewhat new to the pitching thing after being mostly a shortstop in college. After years in the minor leagues, he worked some things out and ended up throwing in the low-to-mid-90s with a curve ball and a change. This year, he’s gone pretty heavily in the direction of flyball outs and the odds aren’t bad that he’ll leave one high enough to knock out of the park. Of course, whether it’s weather conditions or merely not good baseball players, we haven’t succeeded in doing that much over the recent games.
I don’t really feel like dwelling too much on this game or yesterday’s game or Mariners! so I’ll make note of some minor league news. Ji-man Choi is back in Tacoma, taking over Montero’s spot, and he’s joined by right-handed pitcher and fringe bullpen candidate Stephen Kohlscheen. Logan Bawcom went to the DL to make that spot available. Taijaun Walker had a no-hit bid last night and I would guess that he provides a more appealing option than seeing how many walks Erasmo can give up without allowing a run (the strike zone was a little wonky last night from my vantage and Erasmo seemed to be pitching well by his own standards). McClendon has suggested that Smoak, Hart, and Saunders could all rehab by the end of this week, so, that’s a thing that may happen.
Today in minor league baseball match-ups, we have Forrest Snow starting for Tacoma in Nashville, the sort-of-disappointing overslept sleeper Trevor Miller pitching for Jackson against name-rivals Jacksonville, High Desert has the day off, the pitching Jose Flores we still have starting for Clinton in Peoria, and Ramire Cleto will take the mound for Everett in the lone evening game, pitted against the Hillsboro Hops, the only known competitor to the Montgomery Biscuits for best team name.
Happy Father’s Day.
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26 Responses to “Game 69, Rangers at Mariners”
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I’m sadly not excited at all about the prospect of Smoak, Hart, and Saunders returning from the DL. It’s hard to get excited about a combined 0.4 WAR.
Well, maybe Saunders a bit if I think about it and exclude the other two. At least he can run and was hitting before the DL stint. And replacing Endy’s -0.4 WAR with Saunders’ 1.1 WAR is a definite improvement.
Five lefties in a row, but trying to L5OGY us will likely bring out some pinch-hitters.
Bunting with no outs in the first inning. On a 2-0 count to make it even worse.
There goes the game.
Taijuan Walker pitched really well last night. Will he replace Erasmo on his next start?
*digging grave deeper*
Saunders is a notorious streak hitter, which doesn’t bode well for his effectiveness coming off the DL.
I suspect Walker replaces Erasmo next outing. Potentially a big upgrade.
Nice day for Seager. Offense has produced 2 runs, what more can you want Iwakuma? Just have to shut them out the rest of the game.
I walked away for an inning and Buck is playing first? What happened to LoMo?
They said Morrison has a laceration on his forehead.
After head-butting the bat rack … Proving he can actually hit something?
I ended up hearing about the laceration, did he really hit his head against the bat rack though?! I always thought that guy was a tool but that would prove it.
I never hear this from the national media, but it’s time to admit the Mariners probably have the best starting pitching duo in the league.
If Saunders is a “notorious streak hitter”, why do you think a hot streak is less likely than a cold streak? A streak is a streak.
I’d be more concerned with whether or not his shoulder is actually fully healed – that seems like a more reasonable thing to worry about.
This team is very fortunate Kuma hasn’t been giving up more than one run per start lately. Scoring 2 or 3 runs isn’t a recipe for winning many games.
Who is the emergency catcher this year – Willie?
I ask because trying the suicide with Zunino the runner and Buck out of the game wasn’t my favorite idea. Risk of injury when the game was already in good shape.
Jones slightly misjudges another one, making it look harder than it was.
Above .500!
I think Montero would be the emergency catcher at this point, but Willie would probably be better after 2 innings of practice.
I have no idea if LoMo cracked the bat rack with his head. I was just surmising. He undoubtedly did something stupid post pop-up. Head butting something is a strong possibility.
That’s what I figured, I took it seriously because I wouldn’t put it past him to do something that stupid.
Close!
Willie, for me, is beginning to be the Poster Boy for this team. In just about every category, he’s consistently always found somewhere around #11 or 12 … in the deepest depths of mediocracy. And what nails it, is that in terms of BA, he’s somewhere around #5 … meaning that his perfecto of mediocracy very nearly is leading the way.
This season is becoming a Battle of Titans between Texas and Seattle, to see who can win the right to plant the flag of victory in the Middle of Nowhere.
So as much disdain as there is for Smoak around here, he’s clearly a better defender than LoMo, it looks like he’s probably a lot more sensible and based on performance, likely he’s a better hitter….
… which still makes Smoak complete garbage, since he’s 2000+ plate appearances into a major league career of not being able to slug .400, and it’s not like he’s Keith Hernandez or Mark Grace with a great glove and high batting average/OBP, either.
FWIW, LoMo DOES have a career SLG over .400.
Anyways, neither of them are worth a damn except as longshot lottery tickets to have a Carlos Pena-style late developing career. Smoak’s making 3.65 million in 2014, and he’s a replacement-level 1B (who will end up with a raise in 2015 if he stays a Mariner). We could grab any number of LoMo’s off the scrap heap and see if we get lucky for those prices.
LoMo has a statistical career arc that is steadily downward, implying that pitchers figure him out and he can’t adjust. Smoak is what he is, at his best an average bat with a good glove. His statistical arc goes up and down implying that he can adjust at times. No one on the 40 man that isn’t firmly set on another spot has shown that he is better than Smoak, so any improvement would have to come from outside. It’s not so much that Smoak is actually good as that LoMo appears to me to be somewhat (significantly somewhat) worse as he isn’t nearly the glove and the hitting is only going to trend down, which will be further damaging to the furniture…. ;o)