Game 68, Mariners at Twins
Ariel Miranda vs. Jose Berrios, 10:10am
After yesterday’s win, the M’s go for a 3-1 series win today against the Twins’ young ace-in-training, Jose Berrios.
Berrios made 14 starts last year, but a combination of wildness and HR problems made it a shockingly poor debut. He’d flown through the minors, and unlike so many Twins’ pitchers, Berrios had no problem missing bats. If you’ve seen his curve/slider, that’s probably not a surprise. But Twins fans probably couldn’t feel too confident after his 14 starts produced an ERA over 8.
After all the discussion about pitchers being harmed by pitching in the World Baseball Classic (Drew Smyly), Berrios may be an example of the opposite. He looked dominant in the WBC, staying in the zone, getting whiffs on fastball and slurve alike. He’s maintained that this season, and while his ERA’s much lower than his FIP, he looks a lot more like the pitcher Twins fans have been looking forward to.
1: Gamel, LF
2: Haniger, RF
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Valencia, 1B
7: Dyson, CF
8: Ruiz, C
9: Motter, SS
SP: Miranda
Well this game is going swimmingly…
Mariners are down 6-1 in the bottom of the third inning, with no outs so far – Chris Giminez just homered, for goodness sake!
We have held the fort down so well with the catastrophic number of injuries this year. Now that Haniger is back, Segura is a few days away, and we literally could get Felix, Kuma, and Smyly within two weeks, can we win at a high enough clip to eek out a wild card? Would we have to win at a 60% clip? 65%?
Swapping Bergman, Miranda and Gallardo for Felix, Kuma, and Drew? Geez that sounds so good watching this game right now.
Miranda’s FB has been 88 mph today v 92 average this year so far
That sounds like another DL stint coming our way then. Arm fatigue in June?
I hate to say it, but I’m not particularly bullish on Felix or Kuma anymore. I have a nagging suspicion that age is starting to get the better of them… especially Kuma.
It’s not that I don’t think Felix can still be dominant if he’s healthy… I just think he’s having a hard time staying 100% healthy now. Even more so with Kuma.
With Smyly I am not comfortable drawing conclusions.
But, regardless, I agree swapping out Bergman should improve things.
The trifecta of Gallardo/De Jong/Overton makes me long for an unhealthy King or an over the hill Kuma. 6+ ERA across the three of them. Ugh.
I know it is idiotic, but I have hope about Smyly. Dumb to hope as a lifelong Mariners fan, but I can’t help it.
A team that sits Zunino is a team that does care about winning, obviously.
I echo the sentiments Westy has on our pitching. I do however have a sneaky suspicion that Felix hasnt been healthy for longer than we officially know about. I wouldnt dream of sticking a fork in him until i see what he does the rest of the year.
Kuma knows how to ‘pitch’ so he can battle the effets of aging a bit better. Smyly is never healthy, so who knows there
Ah, the wildcard. Sure, why not? Why the hell not? Although I hate speculating on the how. A quick run up with a winning streak that then stabilizes into medocrity again? Or actual improvement…? bleh
It’s a three horse … uh … walk. LA, Seattle and Texas are currently wobbling through mid season with more or less equal mediocrity with almost mirror image home/road W-L stats. And we don’t know which will/might finally make a real break for a possible wild card run. Texas has been in the injury doghouse like Seattle, and like Seattle is hoping it’s starting rotation will come back to life with, for example, the return of Tyson Ross. Hmmm. As for LA … the wildcard run may be as neat and tidy as hitching a ride with one-man-show Trout, as soon as his thumb’s better. But you know there is something that goes deeper into the Something’s Wrong Vibe, when you hear things like, maybe to help the team, they need to bring up Dustin Ackely from AAA. Yes. Dustin Ackely.
(pause, for gently ironic laughter)
Mediocrity: It’s lonely in the middle.
I’d love to see Felix roar back into this.