Game 96, Mariners at Rangers
Ramirez vs Millwood, 5:35 pm.
The M’s kick off a four-games-in-three-day trip to Texas with Horacio Ramirez on the hill. Sounds like a game where we’ll need to score a lot of runs. Which, of course, has been something of a problem lately. After yesterdays new line-up got shut out, we get the same old Lousy Line-Up of Doom making a return.
Adam Jones went 3 for 6 with a homer today. I’m just saying.
Frustrated? Yes
After yesterday’s meltdown on the mound, a lot of people expressed frustration with Felix, and rightfully so. He got mad that he didn’t get a pitch that he hadn’t been getting the entire game, and at best, he might get 30% of the time. In that instance, he was asking for the umpire to help him out, rather than just doing the job himself, and when he didn’t get that help, he caved, throwing a pair of bad pitches that essentially ended the game.
It was frustrating to watch. It’s the kind of thing that shouldn’t happen – not in a playoff race, not with our best pitcher on the mound.
But, reading through some people’s reactions, with comparisons to Freddy Garcia and predictions of a guy who will never live up to his hype, I realized that there’s still a need for some understanding of what Felix’s immaturity actually means for his development. So, the following is a list of performances by the 10 best pitchers in baseball today, as determined by me, during their age 21 seasons:
Johan Santana, Minnesota – 86 IP, 6.49 ERA 102 H, 54 BB, 64 K, 11 HR
Brandon Webb, U. Of Kentucky – 112 IP, 4.58 ERA, 123 H, 41 BB, 123 K, 14 HR
Roy Halladay, Syracuse (AAA) – 116 IP, 3.79 ERA, 107 H, 53 BB, 71 K, 11 HR
Jake Peavy, San Diego – 98 IP, 4.52 ERA, 106 H, 33 BB, 90 K, 11 HR
Ben Sheets, Stockton (A+) – 28 IP, 3.58 ERA, 23 HH, 14 BB, 28 K, 1 HR
Erik Bedard, Delmarva (A-) – 111 IP, 3.57 ERA, 98 H, 35 BB, 131 K, 2 HR
CC Sabathia, Cleveland – 180 IP, 4.39 ERA, 149 H, 95 BB, 171 K, 19 HR
Josh Beckett, Portland (AA) – 74 IP, 1.82 ERA, 50 H, 19 BB, 102 K, 8 HR
John Lackey, Lake Elsinore (A+) – 101 IP, 3.40 ERA, 94 H, 42 BB, 74 K, 9 HR
John Smoltz, Atlanta – 64 IP, 5.48 ERA, 74 H, 33 BB, 37 K, 10 HR
Now, I ask you, 24 hours after getting frustrated with Felix again, which of those players showed major league poise and composure at age 21? Only Santana, Peavy, Sabathia, and Smoltz were in the majors, and none of them were matching Felix’s success – Santana and Smoltz were downright terrible. Brandon Webb was struggling to get college hitters out, Roy Halladay was posting pedestrian numbers in Triple-A, and Ben Sheets, Erik Bedard, and John Lackey were all still in various stages of A-ball. Only Josh Beckett was having anything close to a great year, and he was doing it across three levels of the minor leagues. He did make four impressive end of the season starts… and then watched his ERA balloon up to 4.02 in the majors during his age 22 season.
Felix is ahead of every single one of these guys. All of them. At age 23, where Felix will be in two years, Roy Halladay posted the worst ERA in major league history for any pitcher who was allowed to throw more than 50 innings in a season – 10.67. He was so horrible that the Blue Jays sent him back to A-ball, had him start all over, and forced him to earn his way back to the major leagues. You think Felix is never going to get it because of his start yesterday – what on earth would you have thought of Roy Halladay in 2000?
Is Felix pitching as well as we all want him to? No, obviously not. Is he pitching as well as he’s capable of? No. Is it frustrating to watch? Of course.
But keep in mind that you’d have been frustrated watching any of the ten best pitchers in baseball at age 21, too. After a mass exodus from the Felix bandwagon yesterday, there’s plenty of leg room now. I suggest getting back on board and enjoying the ride, because Felix is still going to be a great, great pitcher – we may have assumed that he’d get there faster than he has, but that’s our fault, not his.
Game 95, Mariners at Blue Jays
Hernandez vs Halladay, 10:05 am.
Happy Felix Day, as well as Happy Awesome Pitching Matchup Day. I love games like this. Felix vs Halladay is the kind of thing that makes baseball so much more awesome than any other sport.
After yesterdays shutout, John McLaren acknowledges that the line-up is struggling right now, and he’s made some changes.
1. Ichiro, CF
2. Lopez, 2B
3. Ibanez, DH
4. Beltre, 3B
5. Broussard, RF
6. Sexson, 1B
7. Johjima, C
8. Betancourt, SS
9. Ellison, LF
It’s a decent overhaul from the standard line-up. Vidro and Guillen get the day off, Lopez and Beltre get moved up in the order, but Ibanez continues to hit 3rd and kill rallies at a disturbing rate.
On one hand, I’m happy to see McLaren acknowledge the need for some changes in the batting order and the awareness that Raul Ibanez shouldn’t be playing the outfield. On the other hand, this line-up isn’t really any better than the one we’ve been running out there. Ellison can’t hit right-handed pitching and Broussard’s a pretty terrible outfielder, so the Ellison/Broussard corners isn’t really an upgrade over the Ibanez/Guillen corners. There’s an obvious answer to this problem, but whatever, Adam Jones is still in Tacoma, and it’s so ridiculous at this point that it’s not even worth talking about.
Maybe today’s line-up shuffle lays the groundwork for some moves that actually make the offense better. Hopefully.
Game 94, Mariners at Blue Jays
Weaver vs Towers, 10:05 am.
As far as non-Safeco matchups go, this one is pretty Weaver friendly. The Blue Jays best hitters are all right-handers, and Weaver’s traditionally much better against same handed hitters. I don’t expect him to dominate, but if we have to start the back end of our rotation on the road, this is about as good a matchup as we can hope for.
Josh Towers is the Blue Jays version of Cha Seung Baek – throw the ball over the plate and see what happens. He’s a bit homer prone, but he won’t walk anyone, so the M’s will have to earn their runs today.
Game 93, Mariners at Blue Jays
Batista vs Litsch, 4:05 pm.
The M’s head north to take on Toronto as the road trip kicks off. The Blue Jays are pretty much the definition of a league average team, with some good hitters, some bad hitters, and an inexperienced rotation. Jesse Litsch, the kid going tonight, probably belongs in the minors, but he’s also exactly the kind of pitcher the M’s have struggled against the past 18 months. The main thing going for the M’s offense is that Litsch lacks any real outpitch, so with a pitch-to-contact guy on the mound, we should see a lot of balls in play tonight.
Standard line-up for the M’s.
Local Daily Roundup
Offdays often bring a flurry of features in the local papers, and today is no exception. There’s some good stuff to be read this morning.
Dave Andriessen gives us the backstory on Sean Green. It’s a well done human interest story.
Jim Moore tackles the Adam Jones question through the eyes of his mother. To say she’s proud of her son sounds like something of an understatement.
Jason Churchill does the Farm Report, focusing on Adam Moore as well as the potential bullpen arms.
Larry Stone tackles the trade deadline with Bill Bavasi. I’m planning a post on the subject later today, so if you’re one of those who lives for trade speculation, you might want to wait a few hours.
Darrin Beene does a first-half recap through the eyes of a Mariner press kit. He, apparently, didn’t consult with Andriessen, because in talking about the strengths of the bullpen, the words Sean Green never came from his keyboard. If this guy was any further under the radar, he’d be a submarine.
John Sleeper pens a forgetful column about maintaining the status quo. You know how I feel about this, so I’ll just leave it alone.
And finally, just a reminder that I’ll be on KJR with the Groz this afternoon at 2:20.
Rainiers Game Thread
Since the M’s are off today, you have a great chance to listen to Mike Curto as the Rainiers play in the bandbox of Salt Lake. Ryan Feierabend makes his second start since getting optioned back to Tacoma, and I’ve heard that there might be a few good hitters in the line-up for the M’s Triple-A squad.
Dear Orioles
Hey Baltimore,
I just wanted to say I was so happy you could make it this week. We really enjoyed seeing you again. Your generosity really is overwhelming – while you certainly didn’t need to give us an entire ballgame, we really appreciated it. That was really nice of all of you. I wish I could thank Erik, Daniel, and Chad personally, but I trust that you’ll pass the message on. What a kind gesture from you guys!
Anyway, thank you so much for the great gift! We hope we can hang out again soon.
Your friends,
Seattle.
Game 92, Orioles at Mariners
Bedard Cabrera vs Washburn, 7:05 pm.
Erik Bedard scratched with a stiff neck. Or he’s just terrified of Jose Guillen, who is hitting something like .850/.900/3.431 against lefties this year.
USSM roundup
You know, I think in the best interests of everyone, let’s just pretend that yesterday didn’t happen. Deal? Good.
So, since there wasn’t a game last night, that gives me a chance to talk about some USSM things for a minute.
If you haven’t registered for the USSM/LL events in August yet, you better do so now. I’m going to be finalizing the ticket purchases shortly, and those who haven’t signed up will be left out. We have more open spots for the Tacoma game than the Everett game, likely due to the day of the week, but let me just suggest that if you’re thinking about going, you probably should. There’s going to be a lot of people who wish they would have gone once we post the recaps.
Also, for the two of you who wish you had more chances to hear me voice my opinion, well, you’re in luck. KJR is putting me on the air with The Groz on Friday at 2:20 pm, and assuming that I don’t flip out and make a fool of myself, this will turn into a weekly gig. USSM and KJR – a match made in Weird Marriage Heaven.
And, finally, I’m sure most of you have noticed by now that I’ve essentially been running this thing by myself the last month or so. Don’t worry, this isn’t a permanent situation – Derek will be back and we might even be able to coax Jeff and Jason into making an appearance or two at some point. However, for right now, it’s just me, and with the recent attack of trolls we’ve had, well, there’s just a bunch of administrative stuff that has popped up lately. So, if I seem a little snappy or don’t respond to your question as timely as you’re used to, I’m sorry, but just believe me that I’m doing the best I can.