Game 49, Mariners at Devil Rays
RHP Joel Pineiro v RHP Doug Waechter. Televised on FSN and FSN-HD.
Normally, I’d try to offer some kind of interesting tidbit or something to think about, but only a couple minutes ago I made it back from a 75-mile bike ride, and I’m all grimy, euphoric, cold, and in pain, so I have some things to tend to before the game starts.
I think Pineiro is seriously injured, and he’s going to have Tommy John/rotator cuff surgery before the season’s over. If he doesn’t go under the knife, he’ll go through the season without improving at all from the wild, erratic-velocity Pineiro we’ve seen so far. I have no inside information or medical background, so feel free to discard that prediction.
Game 48, Mariners at Devil Rays
RHP Aaron Sele v LHP Tony Fossas. Casey Fossum, sorry, sorry. 3:15, radio only.
It’s a stunning day out. No television coverage, Sele coming off a complete-game start… even if you don’t get out to enjoy the sun, take the radio out in the backyard, or on the balcony, enjoy a beer or some iced tea. And please, don’t tell anyone outside of Seattle how nice it’s been this week.
Also: if you’re reading this outside of Seattle, it’s been nasty here. You get so used to the horrible weather that you can’t handle a sunny day with temperatures over 70. It’s awful. Don’t move here. Thank you.
Jeff, by the way is here.
Game 47, Mariners at Devil Rays
RHP Gil Meche v LHP Mark Hendrickson. 4:05, FSNW for TV.
Also, since this gets asked every game thread — it’s Darnell Coles in the booth with Rizzs.
This series appears like it’s perfectly timed. After a brutal schedule against other AL East teams, finally a rest against a patsy. The Mariners are 18-28, we’ve got a rotation that’s in deep trouble, a bunch of automatic outs in the lineup, and the big question is whether there’s a 2004-style dismantling in the team’s near future. You would think that Tampa would be a tonic for this battered squad.
It’s not so simple. Park-adjusted, the Devil Rays offense ranks 7th in the majors, the Mariners 24th. Their pitching, though, has been awful awful awful. If you think the Mariners are bad, the Devil Rays are giving up another full run each game, and even if you want to give Safeco some credit, there’s no way that gap isn’t wide. And their starters — 5.82 ERA, 38 HR in 48 games and 262 IP. 129 walks to 151 strikeouts. That their bullpen (4.95 ERA) offers any improvement is a horrible comment on how bad their pitching’s been.
However, particularly relevant to tonight’s matchup, the current Mariner splits
v. LHP: .225/.285/.334
v. RHP: .254/.312/.388
Last time I looked at this, I suggested that opposing teams should consider calling up anyone left-handed from their AAA teams to make spot starts against the Mariners. At this point, I would consider having my right-handed starters throw left-handed to turn the Mariners into the harmless (but cute) basket of kittens that shows up against southpaws.
The counter-argument, of course, is that the team can’t hit either way. 30 points of OBP? Who cares? Have the right-handed groundskeeper relieve, they’ll get themselves out.
Or, to put this another way: against left-handers, the Mariners are nine Royce Claytons, hoping to be nine Adam Everetts. They’re nine Kazou Matsuis.
Against right-handers, they’re nine Chone Figgins. Sure, there’s a bump in OBP and a bigger bump in power, but it’s the difference between a team that scores three runs runs most games (3.3 average or something similar) and possibly four, five a game (Chone Figgins has a RC27 of 4.6, which isn’t the best comp, but it’ll do). One’s awful and the other’s below average, so your choice is “is this lefty’s ERA more than a run and change over the right-hander I was going to spot here?
If you’re Tampa, it’s unlikely any left-handed option would be that bad, given how awful their starters are. I’d throw a left-handed kitchen sink at the Mariners if I was them.
Game 46, Mariners at Orioles
I just got back from the dentist’s office, where they ended up shooting my mouth so full of numbing agents I can’t feel half my nose (that’s not a joke). I hope this will increase my enjoyment of this game.
RHP Ryan Franklin v RHP Daniel Cabrera
4:05, KSTW (11) for TV.
It is my great hope that as Sele tossed his complete-game shutout after I wrote a PI article fingering him as the worst in a stinky rotation, Beltre will tear it up for the remainder of the year after today’s examination of his ill start.
As this question seems to come up repeatedly in every thread, let me say that it’s John Marzano in the booth, offering a weird mix of insight and worn-to-transparency cliche.
Game 44, Mariners at Orioles
RHP Pineiro v LHP Chen. 4:05, KSTW. We get to see the original, and possibly greatest, of the new wave of baseball stadiums. Oriole Park at Camden Yards also manages to be distinctively part of Baltimore in a way Safeco Field is not (what unique feature of Safeco Field would not be possible in any other city?).
Interesting pitching matchup — Pineiro’s coming off his “minor league assignment” (cough) so we’ll all be watching closely to see if he’s made the improvements in his mechanics that the time off was supposed to get him. And we’ll be watching Bruce Chen, who for once may evade the second of his twice-a-year trades by being too effective to trade. Dave mentioned that D’Angelo Jiminez has left two teams under strained circumstances, but if you want bridge-burning goodness, check out Chen’s career. Team after team bites on the promise and spits out on taste.
I predict that the Ricoh scouting report will be as generic as ever. Both pitchers need to get ahead in the count early and avoid (the big inning and/or the home run), which can come if both keep the ball down in the strike zone.
How hard would it be to put together a couple of interesting, short tidbits on pitchers to make the game more interesting? Here’s the USSM scouting report:
Pineiro: Watch for a more fluid, consistent delivery and release. He’s been working on moving the ball around the plate, so look for him to throw a lot of strikes. If he’s succesful, we should see some strikeouts and also a lot of balls in play.
Chen: He’s been mixing his curve and his fastball when he’s effective. He’s supposedly paying attention to scouting reports now, so watch him try and work Mariner hitters by the book.
Game 41, Padres at Mariners
RHP Peavy v RHP Franklin, 7:05, FSN. Tonight is “Mariners Collector Train Night — Moose Caboose” which reminds me of an off-color Mariner Moose story.
Ahh, the historic rivalry of the Mariners and Padres (btw, note that this exact matchup, Peavy v Franklin, is a repeat of a game I preview in that two-year old post).
Even the teams that looked like they were going to be easier in this May schedule turned out to be tough: Baltimore, the Padres are both playing well, and only Tampa Bay remains as an opponent we can look down on.
The M’s moved LHP Bobby Madritsch to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man roster for C Pat Borders, sending C Rene Rivera down.
I saw the new Star Wars movie today, and I bring this up not to spark a long off-topic thread (Has Mr. Corcoran seen the movie? Does he have anything to say about movie theaters in Idaho?). Instead, I felt something familiar today. I enjoyed the first trilogy in my younger years, and saw Lucas loot and pillage his own work pointlessly, disappointing with poor decisions and two deeply flawed movies.
Today I didn’t expect to like the movie. And yet I was swayed. It is flawed, as any good review will tell you, but I liked it a lot and for the first time, felt like I’d seen something at least up to Return of the Jedi standards.
This is a lot like I think Mariner fandom is like for us right now. Success and enjoyment of the boom years, even as we might not have been wholly satisfied with what we got from so much potential. After that, tremendous disappointment (Phantom Menace as 2004 season) and now, bafflement (can they be this bad twice in a row?). But even as we contemplate things like “is this season salvagable or should the team punt?” we can enjoy a well-played game that the Mariners come out on top.
Normally, I’d play this into a Doyle reference, but instead — is Borders a Vader character? Is there any other way to explain his ability to play catcher this long than to suppose that every season he has a knee, or an elbow, or a shin, replaced with a cybernetic replacement?
Game 39, Yankees at Mariners
Pavano v. Mateo! 7:05, FSN.
I like they they put up the wrong “Scouting Report” and Fairly kept on “Uhh.. he’s not Ryan Franklin, but hopefully he can go deep into the game…”
Game 38, Yankees at Mariners
RHP Wang v RHP Sele (Sele’s still on the roster? What?) 7:05. KSTW.
Campillo got pulled from a start a couple days ago, was supposedly congratulated by his teammates, his manager would say nothing, and now… nothing’s happened. I’m as baffled as you. Maybe if Sele really gets hammered today at home, Lincoln’ll do that thing where he calls Bavasi and asks him what it’ll take to make the guy disappear the way Spiezio did.
What’s really stunning is that the Mariners have 11k tickets left for Tuesday’s game and 9k left for Wednesday games. This means that not only did season-ticket sales dive this year, but that single-ticket sales didn’t even make up the gap for a New York series (midweek though it is). That’s trouble.
Game 37, Red Sox at Mariners
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
In May, I was supposed to be at the Kentucky Derby with Peter, rocking an ice-white suit, sipping a mint julep and rooting for Steinbrenner’s horse to trample its owner. In May, the Mariners were supposed to be proving much better than the 2004 team.
Both happenings have, so far, been overtaken by events.
At this point last season, the M’s were 13-23, just one game worse than the team we’re watching now. Not what any of us had in mind. To watch for today: Manny Ramirez needs one home run to reach 400. Gil Meche has given up one home run in each of his last five starts.
My spreadsheet says: do the math.
Take heart, though: if you miss the Derby, you’re out of luck until next year. If your baseball team gets off to a slow start, there’s plenty of days to turn it around. Today’s as good a day as any.
Game 36, Red Sox at Mariners
I’ll start this one just in time for us to all say that ball might have been foul.
Also, I swear I didn’t have anything to do with Mateo making the rotation. (Evil laugh)