PI, Paper of the People
Check out this double-team action:
The Answer Guy, first person in print willing to take up the issue, takes up the fight again:
Q: Joyce Rafferty of Seattle, responding to an item in last week’s column about the new bleachers on the Center Field Landing area of Safeco Field, comments, “People might want to know that those bleachers on the Center Field Landing are covering up a couple of sections of fan bricks at Safeco. It is covering up mine and that is upsetting to me. I have written the Public Facilities District about this matter and it is in the process of talking to the Mariners about this matter, although I haven’t heard back from them yet.”
AG: Kevin Callan, executive director of the public facilities district that overseas Safeco Field, confirms the receipt of Rafferty’s letter and has suggested she and others concerned about this matter might want to speak at the district’s quarterly meeting Monday at 4 p.m. at the Mariners’ Safeco Field offices on First Avenue. Callan says the team has assured him that, if the bleachers are retained next season, the covered fan bricks will be moved to another area of the ballpark. “There is no way that the team will get to keep the fan bricks covered with those bleachers,” Callan said. “We are not sticking our heads in the sand on this matter.”
“Um, I mean, not sticking our heads in the sand on this matter anymore.”
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
If that’s not good enough for you. John Levesque’s column today is “Brick by brick, fans taken for granted” and folks, if you want to see someone give it to the Mariners, and were left unsatiated by the Go2Guy’s weak attempts to talk to the team about beer prices, check this out, and please, set down any beverages you may be drinking
“Covering up the bricks was clearly a mistake on our part,” Armstrong said last night as he watched the Mariners suffer their 90th defeat of 2004. “There’s no excuse for it.”
No, that’s really in the article. You can go read it again. Has Chuck Armstrong ever admitted the team was wrong before, that they’d done something inexcusable? I don’t think he has.
And I don’t want to spoil the end of the article, but Levesque hammers the team at the end, oh, it’s a beautiful thing. Hits all the high points, notes the arrogance inherent in this act, the… just go check it out. It rules.
Now, I don’t know it was people’s emails to the PFD, or the PI, or anyone in particular that got us to this day, but I have to believe that getting the letters out and having one printed — particularly Ken Haselman’s, which ran in the Sunday Times-PI and noted his brick was covered — has made a huge difference. We’ve seen the Mariners write up a form letter to respond to complaints, Rebecca Hale’s made an official and probably annoyed statement to the press, and now the PFD’s up from their refreshing nap and looking into things.
I want to point out too that the PI has now run four different pieces on this, ranging from the first knowing jabs from the Answer Guy to Levesque’s eviscerating column today, and even if you credit the letter to the Times (and I don’t know who handles the content mix on Sundays, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt) they’ve run one, a reader letter.
I’m a happy dude today. Now we just have to get them pulled for next year.
Are You Ready?
A word of warning for anyone planning on attending a Monday Night Football game in the near future; beware the TV timeout. I think we sat through 842 of them. I’m going to have to reprogram my body to not shut down every three minutes for a commercial break. I’m guessing this is one event that is better on TV than in person. Especially when the home team gets beaten to a pulp, then has their star break his leg on a meaningless drive at the end of the game.
Also, the Worst. Fan. Ever. contest is officially over. It belongs to the narcoleptic that was to my left. He was a pretty big guy and apparently hadn’t slept in months. He snored through 98 % of the game, several times ending up leaning on me. We had to prod him whenever people wanted to get by. He did wake up for the cheerleader dances, though.
Angels at Mariners, September 13th
Escobar versus Baek.
Baek looked bad last time I saw him pitch. His stuff wasn’t working and he didn’t seem ready to be starting.
Mariners hitters at home: .255/.323/.432, 68 home runs
Opposing hitters at Safeco: .252/.338/.431, 101 home runs
Part of that is opportunity: because the M’s don’t bat in the ninth sometimes, their AB total would be lower anyway.
So far, Anahiem has whupped up on the Mariners: 5.76 ERA, 3-10 record, 24 HR in 13 games.
I’d like to see Jeremy Reed get a serious hit, Ichiro! to get a couple, and Baek.. well, I’d like a pony, too, and I’m not going to get that either.
7:30 — Escobar’s not supposed to go to his mouth and blow on much less lick his fingers before touching the ball. Pitchers can’t even blow on their hands unless they’re received prior permission from both managers before the game and it’s a cold game, which it isn’t. You’re never supposed to lick your fingers. If I was managing the M’s, I’d be all over that — every time he licks his fingers the umpire is supposed to immediately call a ball. It’s in 8.02(a)(1) — why Melvin doesn’t want his players getting every advantage he can squeeze out of this escapes me. Doesn’t he want to field a competitive team and try to win as much as possible to preserve the integrity of the pennant races? That’s what he says he wants, after all.
Many fans want Section 101
No, really — if you’ve send the M’s an email, you may get back a response that says “Bleacher seats are extremely popular with our fans as a place to enjoy the game and we have received many requests for these seats in the
centerfield ball catch area.”
You’ll all remember last year the angry fans picketing the stadium demanding that the centerfield landing be filled with bleachers. The angry chants, the petitions… I was scared violence might erupt, but fortunately things were pretty civil. It’s good that the Mariners took the will of the fans into account when they put those things in.
Attendance
Last night was the first time in a while I’d seen an actual huge crowd at Safeco. Interestingly, if you went up to the ticket office and asked for seats they were telling people that there were only scattered singles available, but there were huge chunks of the upper deck with no one sitting in them at all. I’m not sure what happened there, but I wonder if the scalpers bought them all up early in the season and then got hit by busses or something.
The M’s are 10th in home attendance this year, with 36,000/home game (and I believe that’s tickets bought, as we’ve noted before). The M’s are surrounded by teams with better records. The only close bad team is Arizona in 15th place with 32,000/home game.
That seems high, and yet it’s cause for worry for the team. That’s 4,000 under last season, in a year in which season and advance ticket sales were really good, making for a huge base. Even on the worst matchups, mid-week, the Mariners have announced attendance of 28,000.
So here’s where this gets wacky: if you figure that the M’s got $20/head out of the average fan showing up between ticket and everything else, that 4,000 fan drop-off is $6.5m in lost revenue from last year. There are easily that many no-shows in the stands many nights, and if you figure the M’s don’t lose $5/head selling the ticket but not “everything” that’s another $1.6m. I’m surprised the team hasn’t explained that this is where Sasaki’s money went — even though in the past higher-than-planned attendance wasn’t used on payroll.
I haven’t found anything on ratings, but they’ve got to be down — even my wife asks “why bother?” when I tune into games sometimes, and she troops to more home games than anybody I know (not including me). The Mariners were fortunate to negotiate their deals at the height of their success, but the broadcasters are going to bring this up next time.
What’s this project to next year? I notice there’s been a huge difference in tone in the advertising to season ticket holders this year: Lincoln’s no-apology apology letter, for instance, and the constant reassurance that they appreciate season ticket holders (rather than the usual “get deposits in now” strategy). After a year like this the Mariners are going to see a huge drop in season tickets and advance sales will be way down too… unless the team makes some huge moves early this off-season, and I don’t mean Ibanez-style. There are season ticket holders who will bolt if they see a repeat of last year’s off-season. Or at least that’s what I hear… whether or not people follow through on that’s another matter.
If the Mariners win, I think the day-of-game sales will come back up. Safeco Field’s still a great place to see a baseball game in the summer, mingle — whoops, not anymore — and Seattle’s turned into a good baseball town. But season ticket holders buy expensive seats and because they’ve purchased them in advance, are more likely to show up because they’re financially invested. They also give the Mariners their money up-front, which is a substantial amount of float to make money off.
Another factor is that games are more fun to attend when they’re well-attended. It’s less fun trying to get your food and beer, but the difference in game experience between having 10,000 and 20,000 is huge, and 20,000 and 30,000 is large as well… and a sell-out packed house makes almost any game worth watching. A large season-ticket base ensures that the stadium’s always got a lot of fans in it, which makes it more pleasant for the casual fan to come out and cheer along.
The Mariners said they’re looking to spend a lot of money this off-season to help rebuild the team. Part of what they may be considering goes beyond on-field costs: if they sign Beltran, for instance, he might be worth overpaying if it staves off the erosion of their lucrative ticket base as they try to build a winning team again.
The New Meche
Man, I switched over to the veggie dogs tonight from the Ivardog, and I think I might have gone a little crazy with the onions.
Anyway. I don’t think it’s as useful to look at K ror BB rate as it is to look at percentage of outcomes. Did anything really change from the early Meche to late Meche?
Yes, clearly.
Meche’s walk rate went from 14% of batters he faced to 4%. His HR rate went up by half, from 3% to 5% though two hundred at-bats in either direction isn’t enough that I’d really want to draw conclusions from it. He’s striking out about 19% of the batters he faces. And that’s in Safeco, too, which makes the HR rate even more eye-popping.
An average pitcher’s rates are (and I’m doing rough estimates here, please forgive me if I screw up) about 8% walk rate, 15% K rate, and 2.5% HR rate.
So Meche has turned into almost a super-powered Franklin. He’s striking guys out with the same curve he’s been teasing us with for years, but not dominating, and he’s walking almost no one. The price he seems to be paying is that when he can’t get the K, he’s coming back over the plate and taking his chances. Sometimes that means the pitch is crushed.
If he can keep this up, munch innings, he’s an average major league starter. A bit of an odd one, but there are many different ways to get to any particular spot. Now, what’s that worth — $2m? $3m? Is the risk of re-injury large enough that it’s too expensive for a gamble?
Bow down to Ibanez
Okay, first — Ibanez looks baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad at first. We can argue about whether he’d get better with regular play, but he’s baaaaaaaaaad right now.
HR for him was his first since Auguest 21st, his second since returning from injury. After the All-Star break Ibanez has hit for average but almost no power at all: his line is .292/.344/.400 compared to .262/. 344/.490 in the first half of the season. If we wanted a hollow OBP left-handed first baseman, we’d have been better off with Olerud.
All hail Gil Meche
Something for everyone tonight.
For the Meche-as-awesome crowd: his first shutout since 2000. Only 1 walk.
For the Meche-as-not-awesome crowd: only 4K in nine innings of work, required a bizarre Manny mistake to get the shutout.
For the organization-as-dumb crowd: threw 129 pitches in the effort.
Your health at Safeco Field
You may remember when Safeco Field opened that it had a little run in with the King County Health Board. Since then, you may not have heard anything.
You might want to bookmark this link. Then look it up before you’re thinking of eating at the park next time. I haven’t figured out how to read the numbers yet (S = suite, HIH = Hit it Here, but C = Terrace Club? M? B?), and connecting where you ate to the report’s not easy.
Like let’s say you got sick after you ate at the hot dog stand in early August.
Routine Inspection/Field Review 08/12/2004
20-Food workers not washing hands after coughing, sneezing, or otherwise contaminating hands.
-Handwashing facilities not maintained, accessible, stocked.
Ugh. That coughing/sneezing bit, by the way — seems to be the most common serious violation I’ve seen looking through these.
I got food poisoning from the sushi stand a year ago, easily one of the worst experiences of my life. Mmm… sushi. Had good seats that day, too. I’m pretty much SOL on days I get a good seat, now that I consider it. I note that last year they were cited for ‘food on floor’ which is where you really want your raw fish to be. And also on this note, I want say that for that particular incident there was no doubt who the guilty party was.
Still, relative to other establishments, it’s not really that bad. Search for local watering holes yourself. I frequently hang out at the King Street Bar & Oven before games, and it just got dinged as badly:
Routine Inspection/Field Review 09/02/2004
12
-Lighting and ventilation not provided, maintained, cleaned.
-Foods not protected from actual and potential contamination (uncovered, double stacked, or not under a sneeze guard).
-Food stored on floor.
-Floors, walls, ceiling improperly installed, maintained, cleaned.
My favorite violation is the visiting clubhouse kitchen:
Routine Inspection/Field Review 08/12/2004
58-Improper hot holding of potentially hazardous foods because of poor equipment design or maintenance, or not being operated correctly (129 degrees F and below).
-Hot potentially hazardous foods not properly cooled.
-In-use utensils not properly stored.
What’s the big deal, the Yankees get some bad meat, right?
Anyway, the site’s frequently really slow or down (mmm.. tax dollars at work…), but it’s worth checking out.
I should also point out that one of the reasons food isn’t safe at Safeco is that volunteers staff so many of the stations. If you bring in the Prisoner’s Friend Society to run one of the stands, the volunteers are probably going to get a crash course in food safety and then be put into an extremely high-pressure, high-volume job in which they have no long-term interest in the business itself. And while I’m reluctant to say that restaurant workers in general are dramatically more dilligent about safety, it’s their ass on the line, their job, and they should be regularly updated on regulations, etc (I’m sure now someone’s going to comment in the threads about their teenage recklessness in not cleaning the shake mixer at McDonald’s).
Off-topic ranting off-site
After the whole Transformers thing, and considering the problem of topicality in general, I’ve posted my latest thing on debate and belief (about how weird it is to see unreasonable opinion arise out of complicated questions, w/r/t this week’s CBS report) elsewhere. However in extending on my point about how the stathead debate uses a particular kind of triple-attack that generates hostility, I’ve moved off baseball entirely, so I moved the piece off. I don’t know if this is going to be the start anything.
I mentioned in the Transformers post that I was opposed to posting it and allowed myself to be talked into it. I’m still not sure that was the right choice. I think fundamentally there’s a point where off-topic stuff interferes with on-topic stuff (I could write a long story about why I have an emotional reaction to the word ‘interfere’ for instance).
I want people to read USSM because they think we’ve got something interesting to say about the Mariners. I think some amount of short off-topic rambling is perfectly fine (“I’m not posting because my computer’s on fire”). I also think it’s cool for us toss in random stuff while talking about something M’s related. If my criticism of the Mariners is tied into my larger concerns about the state of Seattle politics, that seems fine to me.
But I’m worried, probably more than is reasonable, that someone’s going to come by because they heard there was good M’s discussion here, and be turned off because I’m rambling about how Robotech was the best childhood cartoon I got to see, or… or whatever. There are blogs I actively avoid because the posts run:
Pinstriped Bible: Sheffield greatest RH power bat in Yankees history
Bush 0wn5 Kerry: 40 point lead in latest poll by NRA
Crazed man bites dog, voted Democrat in 2000
Where I think “that’s an interesting baseball point… you’re clearly wrong, that poll was discredited.. what does that have to do with anything?”
However… true objectivity is a myth. As much as I try to keep any post on an even keel, my conclusions are the product of reasoning and perceptions that are tinted by my belief and background. It’s reasonable for someone reading a long piece on how I think the Mariners abuse the public trust to know that I oppose public stadiums in general, that I hold certain views about what the government should be involved in anyway, and sports isn’t on that list. Or that my criticisms of local media and their coverage of the team comes from a larger belief in the ills of modern journalism and beyond that, media consolidation. Without putting up a brief bio with “relevant political and social views” the only way that a reader would learn any of that would the off-topic stuff.
Maybe then it’s worthwhile to provide a background. If you think I’m a nut to worry about media consolidation, maybe you’d decide what I had to say about the Mariners wasn’t worth your attention. It’s exactly the choice I’ve made with other sites: if your posts are examples of your thought process, then I can at least tell from them that you’re not open to debate, much less the complexities good analysis requires.
And now I’ve produced an off-topic rant of exactly the sort I’m worried about.
I don’t know. I’ll leave commenting open, or you can drop me a line.