Game 101, Angels at Mariners
Matt Wisler vs. Griffin Canning, 6:10pm
After a near perfect game on Friday and Edgar’s HOF induction tomorrow, the M’s get something really rare for tonight’s game: a chance to celebrate. It’s a lost season, and *any* celebration of a retired icon includes plenty of nostalgia, but what makes this rare is that it isn’t forced; it’s more than nostalgia.
This ought to be fun, and I’m looking forward to going tonight. Edgar is remembered for 1995 and the 2001 season, but Edgar toiled for years for go-nowhere M’s clubs, and failed to MAKE said clubs, though that had more to do with the M’s than Edgar himself.
That he stayed, that he took the club from nothing to dominance is one of the many reasons he means so much to M’s fans, as Ryan Divish’s story details. Talking about that with my kids is going to be a highlight of the evening.
1: Smith, CF
2: Crawford, SS
3: Santana, RF
4: Vogelbach, DH
5: Narvaez, C
6: Seager, 3B
7: Beckham, LF
8: Nola, 1B
9: Gordon, 2B
SP: Wisler
It’s the first ever LF start for Tim Beckham: he’s played a single inning in LF in his big league career, and that came earlier this year.
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4 Responses to “Game 101, Angels at Mariners”
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At this point, I guess the Mariners just eat the last couple years left on Seager’s contract and send him on his way. It’s not getting any better.
At this point, with most of the team ticking along with personal WBR-2, and many weighed down with being beyond any reasonable Use-By, or even Pull-by or Sell-by date they might have gotten away with two months ago, the Trade Deadline is going to seem more like a hazmat cleanup than an adjustment. Maybe, in August, instead of bobbleheads, they should have things like Water Pistol Night, and the fans could at least have fun up in the stands, or Lawn Darts Night… and chalk circles in the outfield? Or maybe put Netflix or HBO up on the big screen? Seriously: can anyone imagine August?
In theory, we should watch so we can see exciting new young players and watch them develop into major leaguers the next couple of years.
The Ms have even been explicit that this is the plan, it’s how rebuilding cycles work.
In reality, I have little faith in the Ms’ ability to find, develop, and/or hold talent. The historical cycle that I see is not a rebuilding cycle but instead the entire Ms’ history, a team that for over 40 years has usually been at the bottom tier in terms of competence with a blip of decent teams from 1995-2003. Other than that, mostly crap.
If it were say the Astros when they first joined the AL West, or the As in the Billy Beane era, I’d say okay short-term pain but they’ve got a plan to regain competitiveness.
With the Ms, I know what their history shows: long-term pain. And a cycle of once every 20 or 40 years having four Hall of Famers fall into their lap — and still not being able to achieve much.
The fact that they are attempting a rebuild and have an entirely new developmental system in place should be telling that this isn’t part of the same, boring cycle.
Fangraphs has the farm ranked 8th and BA at 11. I would say things are coming along well, all things considered. Quite the change from a year ago.