Game 28, Mariners at Angels
Roenis Elias vs. CJ Wilson, 7:05pm
I talked about the Angels’ rotation’s downside risk before the year, and Matt Shoemaker and Jered Weaver have obliged. Wilson, though, has been strangely successful, as he’s given up just a single HR this year after battling serious gopheritis last year. His problems with righties had grown over time, and seemed like a harbinger of decline, but he’s been ok thus far. He shackled the M’s in the first series of the year, and he’s kept up a good string of results, giving up 2 runs or less in 4 of his 5 starts. Maybe the M’s learned something?
1: Weeks, DH
2: Bloomquist, LF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, RF
5: Seager, 3B
6: Zunino, C
7: Morrison, 1B
8: Ruggiano, CF
9: Taylor, SS
SP: Elias
Hmmmm. Or, you know, just throwing it out there: the Rainiers take on Salt Lake at 5:35. Justin Germano faces the Angels big pitching prospect Andrew Heaney (the return for Howie Kendrick). The R’s beat the Bees 5-2 behind Jordan Pries and two HRs by Franklin Gutierrez (my kingdom for a healthy-legged Franklin Gutierrez).
Jackson’s facing Chattanooga, with Jimmy Gilheeney facing Alex Wimmers, a former 1st round pick (2010) of the Twins.
Bakersfield has Ryan Yarbrough on the hill against Modesto.
Peoria blanked Clinton in Daniel Missaki’s first start since starting that team no-hitter on the weekend.
Hey, I just wrote about the Brad Miller position change, so scroll down and read that if you’re so inclined.
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My first thought about Miler/Taylor is that at least you can have your best 25 players on the ML roster, if you drop Bloomquist. So Willie batting second…
That escalated very quickly.
That got ugly fast.
What Grayfox said.
Woo hoo! That helps.
One reason I think the Mariners are not as bad as they have looked is that Cano and Seager have collectively played at replacement level. that can’t last.
The M’s have bigger problems than Nelson Cruz playing RF.
The M’s have bigger problems than Nelson Cruz playing RF.
Running the risk of being banned for life. But why not just bat Cano-Cruz-Seager 2-3-4. Having utter dog crap in the two hole for 8 seasons is beyond stale.
I mean it doesn’t matter if Cano starts hitting home runs in the 2 spot, nobody is ever on base in front of him now anyhow.
This lineup is awful. How much worse off could the Ms be if they called up Montero and Gutierez?
Ha! I was thinking the same thing about the batting order
And double Ha! I have had the same thought about Guti and Montero. More Guti than Montero, but still … This team can score 2/3 runs regardless of who they run out there. Might as well be some guys worth rooting for.
I was reading some story on Montero, all grown up now, mature, svelte etc.
With quotes from Rainiers coach CORY SNYDER. The .291 career OBP Snyder. The 200 career walks to 1000 k’s Snyder.
That explains just about everything about the fail we call up every time.
Elias has really been about as good as you could have hoped since taking Iwakuma’s slot in the rotation.
So the Angels show us what life is like with a good center fielder.
I love me some Seager.
LoMo needs to make something happen. There is a double play waiting on deck.
Regardless of how this shakes out (and well, I hope for the best), I hate having to rely on Ackley.
oh god…. who let Ackley into the stadium!
I’m gonna cry if we get walked off on again…. this is unbearable!
Taylor needs to stretch out with his glove side leg to catch that throw. It Shortens the distance from the thrower – and can be the difference on a close okay. That’s the second time he has done that tonight. Bad Fundies.
And fuck – game over.
What a shocker.
Son of an Aybar.
Dare I ask: how many 1 run losses have the M’s had this year?
Close *play*
Nice… real nice… fire sale!!! its probably to early for that, but something has got to give!
Wow, I haven’t really been watching – but I just saw the Trout catch on MLB.com, then saw the Ruggiano failure at trying the same thing on a much easier hit.
That was depressing.
Mariners sweep Texas, get swept by Houston. Texas sweeps Houston, go figure.
Perserverance pays off. They’ve managed to get their foot firmly out the door.
One word: Bullpen
martini-
Well when your bullpen gives up walkoffs just about every other night, that’s a LOT of 1 run losses… I haven’t studied advanced math in a LONG time, so I can’t even give an accurate guess. Seems like maybe 60 so far?
M’s bullpen… 2 – 9 on the season. (They have a 3rd win, but I’m not counting it,’cause it was Rodney who got the win after blowing the save.)
AL+NL stats:
————–
9th worst in ERA, at 4.01
2nd worst in BBs, with 43
9th worst in BA, at .251
2nd worst in OBP, at .344
4th worst in OPS, at .741
2nd (tied) in Blown Saves, at 5
2nd worst WHIP, at 1.47
2nd worst Wild Pitches, at 7…
This is NOT the 2014 Mariners bullpen, not even close…
@MrZDevotee
It does seem like 60–at least in the pain factor.
I haven’t lost faith in the roster. But man, these guys need to buck up in close games, especially the bullpen.
At this point, I’m for a minor shakeup. Cut Ruggiano, deal Ackley, and bring up Guti. Play Miller in the OF on a regular basis cold. We are already a sub-.500 team. Take a chance. Shake it up.
Z. Not a mistake? I think you’ve accidentally posted the line for Bobby Ayala.
Seems like Bobby Ayala, but nope… And to recap…
M’s Bullpen:
28 games into 2015 – 9 losses
162 games into 2014 – 20 losses
What’s really sad is Felix would be 6-0, in 6 starts, without a blown save already…
As I was listening to the radio tonight, I heard talk of “it is early in the season.” Well, the team missed the playoffs by one game last year. What happens in April and May matters. It is that way in other months too. Every game counts, of course.
This roster should not have a .393 winning percentage. They are better than that. They will go on a few good runs, but I have concerns about how good this team might be.
Weeks and Bloomquist at the top of the order. Really?
I fully agree with Martini, every game counts, and the people saying it’s early have no clue.
If you have any doubts about this team, just look at the line-up…or maybe it’s better not to.
There is plenty of blame to go around, beyond the bullpen … the team is scoring 3.64 runs per game compared to 3.91 last year… the team is hitting .219 with runners on base!?… without Cruz this would be the worst offense in baseball … bad lineups like yesterday’s … I was hopeful for at least a competitive year and a potential for October baseball. Too many winnable games have already slipped by.
Marc: When you wrote “a team that’s starting to feel a bit desperate”, it got me thinking.
Forgetting the first 28 games (of which, of 11 wins, 5 belong to Felix), they’ve got 134 left. If Felix repeats 2014, just for argument, he’ll contribute 10 more wins, and to keep things honest, 6 losses — which may or may not be his fault, but that’s another story for another day. In any case, that leaves the team, minus the Felix-Factor, 128 games. To get even to the magic number of 81 for a .500 season, which won’t be relevant for the post-season but which would at least be watchable on non-Felix days, they’ve got to come up with, all on their own, 66 games. Um, that means, the sans-Felix squads, from here on out, have to play .516 ball.
I haven’t worked out, yet, what it would take between now and July 31 to have a team relevant enough to do anything in the Trades, but it would obviously have to be higher than that.
And they don’t even have a drawing board to go back to at this point.
I took a quick glance at our record, and made this breakdown of our games so far:
3 run wins: 1
2 run wins: 4
1 run wins: 6
1 run losses: 7
2 run losses: 5
3 run losses: 3
7 run losses: 1
12 run losses: 1
I knew we were in a lot of close games, but didn’t realize it was almost all of them. And we haven’t won by more than 3 runs (which only happened once). 13 games have been decided by 1 run!
My wife told me yesterday as I turned on the game – “you know there is just sadness there” and I laughed her off. I look at the list above and think about how many winnable games there have been, and how there is a lot of time left in the season…
I’ve been following this team since I knew what baseball was, and I’m finding this season more painful than other years we were even worse. Its the potential of the team and the heightened expectations I think. They make the losing that much more painful each day.
Anyway, I think I’m mostly just venting. I’m sure I’m not alone when I wonder why I care so much.
During numerous past seasons I’ve been in your shoes, jorax, and asking the same questions.
But during last season, after getting fed up with yet another stupid thing Zduriencik said or did (not sure what it was anymore) I made a conscious decision to stop getting so invested in this team. It took a while and some intentional decisions to keep the TV/Computer off at times; but by the time he traded off Saunders during the off-season it had pretty much worked. I still am mildly interested and follow them, since they’re the local team; and I still get mildly irritated when he or Lloyd say or do something particularly dumb; but rather than being a fan I think of the Mariners as more of an entertainment product like a movie. When they’re unwatchable, I just turn it off or I switch to some other team’s game (I’m also loosely following Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Toronto as well – although so far this year there’s not much relief from the stink with any of them!).
I suspect if Zduriencik ever gets canned I’ll probably gradually start caring more again – so it might not be so much the Mariners as their front office. But this bad start hasn’t really bugged me too much – and it’s freed me up to get out in the unexpectedly nice weather we’ve had!
Cut Ruggiano and trade Ackley? Hell, Ackley’s trade value is so low you’d be lucky to get Ruggiano for him.
I think part of the reason I’m getting upset about this season is that with the Hawk’s doing so well, and being a fan of Seattle sports I’m now clamoring for more glory. Also its been so long since we as Mariners fans have felt what its like to be in the playoffs! I was 18 back then and barely remember the feeling now.
The offseason hype was so huge with this team, I think this start would of been easier to deal with if there was no hype.