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.
Thursday morning unrelated story coolness
I’m five weeks in at Clarion West, but I’ve been let out of my cell for a minute because my short, “Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush” went up on Escape Pod today. Check it out.
(And it’s “as mentioned on Boing Boing!”)
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.
Game 91, Orioles at Mariners
Guthrie vs Hernandez, 7:05 pm.
The same line-up that couldn’t touch Horacio Ramirez last night now gets to deal with King Felix. This should be fun.
Thoughts From Last Night’s Game
Good to see the M’s taking care of business against an inferior club. The Orioles aren’t a good team when healthy, and when you take Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada away, well, they just stink. Picking up a game on Cleveland in the wild card chase, and half a game on the Angels, is exactly what the M’s needed to do last night. Their playoff odds, depending on which of the mathmatical models you want to buy into, are sitting somewhere between 35-45% right now. Nothing wrong with that. So, how about the game itself.
Horacio Ramirez threw the Jarrod Washburn Special, putting the ball over the plate against a lousy team in Safeco Field and watching them get themselves out. He did exactly what he should have done – realized he was facing a line-up of talentless hacks and gave them the opportunity to put the bat on the ball, knowing they aren’t good enough to do anything with it. Against this kind of team, it’s the right gameplan. But, as I’m sure regular readers know by now, this is also not any kind of recipe for continued success. If he pitches the same way in Toronto next Sunday, he’s going to get torched. I’m encouraged that we won a game where we started one of the worst pitchers in baseball – I’m not at all encouraged that this was any kind of indicator of Horacio Ramirez’s future performance level.
Jose Lopez bunting in the first inning – yuck. I know Ichiro loved it, and Lopez’s selflessness motivated the MVP to steal 3rd on the very next pitch, but that’s still a lousy tactical decision.
8th inning, 2 run lead, we get Sean Green and George Sherrill. Awesome. Those guys are the two best non-Putz relievers in the pen, and for a team that is dead set on defining predetermined roles for their relievers, those two should be the ones being used in that spot.
J.J. Putz is on pace to finish the season throwing 79 2/3 innings and allowing 7 runs. The whole year. Seven runs. Jeff Weaver has given up 7 runs in a single game three times this year.
And, on a final note, Happy Felix Day.
Game 90, Orioles at Mariners
Burress vs Ramirez, 7:05 pm.
Horacio Ramirez is not a major league quality starting pitcher. The Baltimore Orioles aren’t a major league quality team. Resistible object, meet the movable force.