Also, getting conflicting accounts from readers on Bucky’s Knee. That it’s not that bad, really. Reader Brian Johnson, for instance, writes:
And let me ask a related question — since when have the Mariners trainers ever been this overly cautious with anyone? When Meche was wearing down last year, did they pull him from the rotation to be safe, or let him grind it out? In fact… well, I don’t get this at all.
The new Big Board is up. That’s Jason for you, folks — newborn kid and he’s still keeping an eye on the organization.
And, uh, if anyone out there has experience setting up WordPress, could you drop me a line? I’ve got a question that I can’t figure out from reading the docs (and related stuff).
I’m alive and well, so thanks for caring. I’m not sure the last time I went four days without posting; maybe never. My life is transitioning (in a good way) and I’m rebalancing my schedule, but don’t worry, USSM will still be a part of that balance.
As a peace offering, I give you the first look at the Mariners delegation to the Arizona Fall League. You won’t see this elsewhere for quite a while, as the good ship U.S.S. Mariner continues to provide you with information before anyone else. They have only named 5 of the 6 slots, with a TBA in the last pitcher spot. There’s a chance it could go to Rett Johnson, but that decision hasn’t been made yet. The five named are:
Shin-Soo Choo
Mike Morse
Greg Dobbs
Jared Thomas
Chris Buglovsky
Okay, so it’s not a who’s who of the farm system, but there you go. If you plan on taking a trip down to the AFL this year, you’ll at least get to watch Choo do his thing.
I think I fixed the archive/permalinks issue (there’s a thing with… blogger’s publishing.. it’s one of those errors where you spend way too much time overthinking the problem until you step back and start all over, and bang, it’s a real problem, but simple).
Any win against the Yankees is a good win, but ahhhhhh, a 7-3 victory’s even better. A couple of thoughts:
I don’t care what color men or analysts say about scratching out a run to win a game, because it’s not true. The M’s won today like they used to win when they had league-best offensive attacks: by busting open a huge inning out of nowhere, chasing pitchers off the mound crying, not recording a single out, as the crowd roars for the next reliever to be brought out for the lions.
In almost every game today, the winning team scored as many or more runs in one inning than the losing team scored all game. It was true in every game in the AL: Minnesota over Cleveland, Baltimore over Toronto, Texas over Tampa, Anahiem over Detroit, Kansas City over Oakland, Seattle over New York. In the NL, it was nearly complete: Arizona over New York, San Diego over Cicny, San Francisco over Philly, Pittsburgh over Colorado, LA over Chicago, St. Louis over Atlanta.
Some of those were low-scoring games, but there it is.
Only two games didn’t go like that — Houston over Montreal, Flordia over Milwaukee.
You can win games putting one run on the board every few innings. You win many, many more when your offense can put up a huge number in one inning. I’ve always felt, in the abscence of any evidence at all, that this is part of why putting together good offensive sequences is so important: once you start the party, everyone who shows up should bring something for the potluck.
Unfortunately for us, Melvin seems addicted to the poisonous potato salad of Scott Spiezio. 0-4 for Spiezio, again underscoring why he shouldn’t be in a lineup. Spiezio’s .205/.279/.335 is significantly worse than 2002 Jeff Cirillo and about the same as 2003 Jeff Cirillo, which cost Jeff his job (rightfully). How good does Spiezio’s glove have to be to carry that awful of a bat at first, the least demanding job on the field? Why not just play Bucky there every day? [edit: as our readers note, Bucky’s got a knee fluid problem that keeps him from playing first regularly, which goes to show the kind of thing I miss out on learning by skipping out of town for a week or two]. Or a can of tomato soup? Small strike zone, hard to pitch to, same approach every day, steady contributor….
And he (Spiezio, not the can of soup) is better than today’s third baseman, Willie F. Bloomquist, now hitting a pity-inspiring .239/.261/.291.
What’s it going to take to end the Bloomquist myth — that he’s talented, and can contribute to a contending ball clup? We’ve offered his minor league lines, his major league service… none of it has been persuasive. If he plays almost full-time, as he has lately, from now until the end of the year, will that put this wounded legend out of its misery? Or will a new crop of excuses spring from the ground in this winter’s rain, that he has to begin the season as the starting third baseman if he’s to be expected to live up to that, or that Bloomquist’s still young and developing, and was concentrating on his defensive play this year? Even if those were true, doesn’t that make him such a limited player as to be useless?
Will this myth fade away, its adherents quiet about its former prevalence, and someone new and (I hope) more deserving annointed as fan favorite? Or like many cults of the irrational, will every failure of his talent in every test only increase their fervor and belief that he’s the team’s unjustly maligned savior?
Rett Johnson worked another inning Thursday night: 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.
Baseball America interviews Chris Snelling on his injuries, rehab, and so on. Despite all the crap he’s been through, it sounds like he still has a good attitude about things. The link is here; you’ll need to scroll down to the August 12th entry.
Short-time Mariner Quinton McCracken is hitting .318/.366/.494 in 85 at-bats with the Diamondbacks. Rich Aurilia’s hitting .314/.375/.486 in 35 at-bats since joining the Padres. Aaaaaaah!
This is a pitcher you can trade: 11-13, 3.57 ERA, .251 average against.
This is not: 3-11, 5.13 ERA, .296 average against.
Sadly, they’re both Ryan Franklin.
Looks like the Rainiers and M’s are close to a deal which would keep the M’s AAA affiliate in Tacoma through 2006. The deal includes a reported $600,000 in improvements to Cheney Stadium.