Game 113, Mariners at White Sox
Washburn vs Vazquez, 5:11 pm.
John McLaren hates us. And winning, apparently. Sexson at first, Ibanez in left, Jones and Broussard to the bench.
If the M’s were an NBA official, we could convict them of throwing games with ease.
Scheduling Change
If you’re planning your day around listening to my weekly segment with Groz on KJR, well, first off, that’s rather sad, but secondly, you’ll want to move your listening time back a few hours – this week, we’re doing it at 5:05 pm pacific time to accommodate… I don’t know, honestly, but something else.
So, we’re still doing the USSM on KJR gig today, but just a few hours later than normal, and it will almost overlap with tonight’s first pitch. So just start your baseball listening a few minutes early tonight.
Hi John
Mr. Manager Sir,
In case you didn’t notice, I just went 3 for 4 with a double, a walk, scored four runs, and added an outfield assist just for fun. Please play me more often.
Thank you.
Adam
Game 112, Mariners at Orioles
Ramirez vs Cabrera, 4:05 pm.
So, the line-up is today’s story, as it’s essentially a rehash of the one they ran out there on Sunday against Josh Beckett.
The good: Adam Jones in left! Ben Broussard at first!
The bad: Jose Vidro at second! Raul Ibanez hitting cleanup!
The M’s vastly improve their outfield defense by sticking Jones in left… and then give it all right back by putting Vidro at second. Turbo should never take the field in any scenario that doesn’t involve an 18 inning game and multiple injuries. He’s that bad defensively. The Lopez-Vidro downgrade might actually be larger than the Ibanez-Jones upgrade. Despite Adam Jones being in the line-up, the defense isn’t any better, and we’re throwing a contact pitcher who has been destroyed outside of Safeco. That’s not good.
Look, obviously, we’re all happy that Adam Jones is playing today, and this might be the best offense the M’s have put on the field this year. But they’re still punting defense behind a guy who needs defense to succeed.
Let’s hope AJ has a huge night offensively and Turbo makes a few painful defensive plays that don’t cost us any runs but highlight his inability to field, allowing future line-ups that include Adam Jones to also include Jose Lopez. Hitting or not, the M’s need Lopez playing second base, especially if the alternative is sticking the potted plant known as Turbo out there.
In Other News
Edit: Mariners have acquired John Parrish from Baltimore, reportedly for non-prospect outfielder Sebastian Boucher, and optioned Mark Lowe to Tacoma. This is probably a good move for Lowe to get more regular work in low pressure situations, but Parrish won’t help this team. He’s now their worst reliever and they’re very unlikely to realize that.
And, if you wanted an alternative, the Indians released Fernando Cabrera today. Cabrera > Parrish, and he’s now available to anyone for a minor league contract.
Here’s a new thread for discussion of the team before the game thread goes live later tonight. However, this thread comes with rules. The following topics are off limits:
1. Jose Vidro
2. Chemistry
3. Clutch Hitting
If you want to talk about any of those things, your thread is below. Call it segregation if you want, but we’re serious about trying to get this place back to being something better than what it has been lately.
Wild Card Leaders
M’s are .001 ahead of the Tigers in the wild card race. Huzzah.
Congratulations to Jose Vidro on your recent hot streak. Congratulations to Raul Ibanez on hitting home runs in back to back nights. Congratulations to the Orioles for being a disaster of a franchise.
I had a few interesting ideas kicking around for a post, but I’ll save them for another day, because I have a feeling that no matter what we put up, the comments are just going to turn into more of the same tired arguments that I just can’t have again without putting my head through a window. So, if you really have to talk about how awesome Vidro is or how chemistry is the secret ingredient to winning or how Adam Jones can’t help this team or how Ibanez’s defense isn’t that bad, knock yourself out down below. The rest of us – we’ll resume intelligent commentary another day.
Game 111, Mariners at Orioles
FELIX DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
4:05
Felix versus some Guthrie guy. Whatever.
No Jones in the lineup! Yeah! We get Sexson! And Ibanez! Woooo!
Have you seen this man?
Have you seen this man?
If so, please contact the Mariners immediately, as they are needed for tonight’s game.
Pitcher Available
The M’s need a starting pitcher. David Wells is reportedly going to be designated for assignment by the Padres later today.
Wells: 2.4 BB/G, 4.6 K/G, 41.7% GB%, 4.78 xFIP
Ramirez: 3.2 BB/G, 3.3 K/G, 45.6% GB%, 5.41 xFIP
Even accounting for the change in leagues, Wells is obviously a far better pitcher than Ho-Ram. The Padres are dumping him because he’s posted a 14.04 ERA in his last 4 starts, but a huge amount of that is due to an insane batting average on balls in play. This is an obvious buy low situation, as the problems that have plagued him the last couple of weeks won’t continue at the same rate.
Wells wants to play on the west coast. He won’t cost much and he should make it through waivers. He’ll make the team better.
Make it happen, Bill.
Game 110, Mariners at Orioles
Weaver v Trachsel, 4:05, FSN.
Can we pretend Trachsel’s a left-hander for purposes of getting Jones into the lineup? Please?
Weekend in Seattle roundup
I have to be up in 5 1/2 hours to catch a flight back to the east coast, so this won’t be a comprehensive wrapup of everything that I saw the five days I was in town, but here’s a quick recap.
Thursday’s USSM/LL event in Tacoma was a lot of fun, and of course, a big thanks goes out to Bill Bavasi for spending over an hour of his time on a day off hanging out with us and answering almost every question we threw at him. Part of the reason he’s willing to keep doing this with us (this is the third time we’ve had Bavasi for a get together) is because the chats are off the record, so some of the stuff will just stay with the 45 people who were around for the Q&A, but he did give us some interesting answers about different things that I’m okay sharing – namely, that we’ve been totally wrong about Wladimir Balentien’s option status.
I’ve been telling anyone that will listen that he’s out of options after this year and would have to stick on the 25 man roster next spring, but that’s not true – he qualifies for the fourth year option exception, and if the Mariners don’t trade him this winter, they can send him back to Tacoma next spring. And yes, Bill confirmed that there is no chance whatsoever that they begin 2008 with two rookies in the outfield (as we’ve believed all along), so you can stop wishing for a Jones-Ichiro-Balentien outfield next year. It won’t happen.
There was also the great humor of watching the people arrive about 15 minutes before first pitch only to find Bavasi standing in their row blocking their seats. Having no idea who he was, they actually asked him to move, then proceeded to completely ignore what was going on around them. Hilarious.
The game in Cheney was fun, though I spent most of my time answering questions rather than intently watching Robert Rohrbaugh shut down the Memphis Redbirds. A couple of guys definitely got their $25 worth. As Devin noted, I should have charged by the hour. But I was happy to do it, and hope those guys enjoyed it as well.
The Friday night event up in Everett was just as enjoyable, though for totally different reasons. The pregame Q&A guest was Bob Fontaine, the Mariners scouting director, and we got a solid half hour of his time before the season ticket holders booted us from their seats. Bob was great, and if you were there, you could tell he really enjoyed it as well. We’re definitely going to have him back for another (longer) Q&A at some point in the future, because as Derek noted right after it ended, we could have picked his brain all night.
The Aquasox then treated us to a night of interesting events, from the monstrous home runs from Gregory (don’t call him Greg) Halman and Kalian Sams to the physical assault of Jeff Sullivan by a yellow inflatable bird. I won’t spoil you with the details, as I’m sure Jeff will provide his own account, but let’s just say that we got pretty close to having to break up a fight between a 6’5 20-something and a mascot wearing glasses full of compressed air.
Saturday night saw Derek, Jeff, Devin, and I hitting up the Mariners game at Safeco. Best story of the night, among many – during Beltre’s first at-bat, a six or seven year old kid starts an “O-ver-ra-ted” chant, which didn’t particularly endear himself to any of us, all dyed-in-the-wool Beltre fans. About twenty seconds later, Beltre deposited a Dice-K fastball into the center field seats. Needless to say, we didn’t let the aforementioned child off the hook without retribution, and it’s unlikely he’ll be casting aspersions at our third baseman any time soon.
I also got the pleasure of meeting a good number of the commenters from both here and Lookout Landing and enjoyed the company of many good people. All in all, it was a successful good trip to the Northwest, and if you missed out on either of the USSM/LL events, you should make a point to come to the next one. We do our best to make sure you guys get your monies worth, and I don’t know of too many other teams that get to regularly sit down with their GM and Scouting Director and ask them anything they’d like.
Ugh – less than 5 hours before I have to get up for a day of cross country flying. I’m glad the last five days were worth it.