Game 13, Athletics at Mariners

marc w · April 15, 2018 at 1:37 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

King Felix vs. Sean Manaea, 1:10pm

A belated Happy Felix Day to you and yours. Yesterday’s game was a perfect summation of the M’s and A’s path to contention: slug a bunch of dingers, and things will work out. Unfortunately for the A’s, their bullpen now appears every bit as threadbare as their rotation. The low-K, low-BB thing *can* work in today’s game, even if it looks as old school and out of fashion as perms and non-stop sacrifice bunting, but to work, it MUST be paired with HR-avoidance. The pick-up of Emilio Pagan seemed to show that the A’s understood this, and would take the high K-BB%, stick him in a park that limits dingers, and watch as his low-BABIP/fly-balling ways got them out of jams. Instead, poor Emilio’s no longer missing bats, and thus there’s nothing to balance the scales as his HR/FB ratio regresses towards the league mean.

The M’s ‘pen has not covered itself in glory, though. Juan Nicasio and Marc Rzepczynski are not pitching like two of the highest-paid free agents, and even Dan Altavilla, who’s been solid, still gets punished for hanging a slider every now and again. It just doesn’t matter if the bats maintain this pace. They can’t, of course; not even if the entire schedule was made out of soft, supportive Oakland Athletics. But it’s nice to see what the line-up can do now that Dan Vogelbach has awoken.

1: Gordon, CF
2: Segura, SS
3: Cano, 2B
4: Cruz, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Haniger, RF
7: Heredia, LF
8: Motter, 1B
9: Marjama, C
SP: FELIX

Comments

11 Responses to “Game 13, Athletics at Mariners”

  1. Westside guy on April 15th, 2018 2:53 pm

    I didn’t see the first 5+ innings, but just looking at the box – seems like a Felix game of old, white him striking out 9 so far and the team only scoring one run.

    Maybe they want to help Felix feel young again…

  2. Westside guy on April 15th, 2018 2:59 pm

    Oh, 7 Ks. I though Goldy said 9.

  3. stevemotivateir on April 15th, 2018 2:59 pm

    ^He’ll get a loss or a no-decision.

    I’d like to see a new tradition.

  4. Westside guy on April 15th, 2018 3:00 pm

    Good job getting the team out of a jam, Pazos!

  5. Westside guy on April 15th, 2018 3:16 pm

    Of course now we’re right back in a jam.

  6. Westside guy on April 15th, 2018 3:21 pm

    Whew! Still 2-1.

  7. Westside guy on April 15th, 2018 3:51 pm

    Unfortunately, 2-1 is also how it ends.

  8. mrakbaseball on April 15th, 2018 4:39 pm

    The Mariners face the Astros the next 4 games. I hope they don’t fall on their faces.

  9. stevemotivateir on April 15th, 2018 5:16 pm

    I realize it was a day game and the right time to get bench players in and rest regulars. But did Vogelbach really need rest? They took him out early last night.

    I’m not suggesting that cost the game, and I realize Motter had the lone run. But getting Vogey PA’s for a hard look should be a priority before Healy’s ready to come off the DL.

    Unless of course, they’re incredibly stubborn and determined to roll with Healy regardless of the fact that he missed most of spring and has generally sucked and regardless of how Vogelbach looks.

  10. don52656 on April 15th, 2018 5:53 pm

    The extra run courtesy of the false balk call in the first was the deciding run. Vogelbach was on the bench because Manaea is a LHP. I wasn’t in favor of him being on the bench, but since Motter was the entire offense today, I guess it worked out.

  11. groundzero55 on April 16th, 2018 4:42 pm

    I don’t prefer Vogey over Healy at this point. Strange as it is to say this, but we’ve seen more of Vogelbach. Healy basically missed spring, and was thrown into game situations to find his swing. He was just starting to find it and got hurt again. I’m not a fan of sitting him just because. Hopefully he gets time at Tacoma this time around to warm back up.

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