Good to see Freddy pitch well when he’s not spotted a touchdown in the first inning. The Braves offense has been a machine the past week, making his performance all the more impressive. Hopefully we won’t see Truly Terrible Freddy again for quite a while.
I’m not a big fan of using Hasegawa for one batter in the 8th. With Sasaki on the DL, we’re essentially down to three pitchers you want to use in a close game, and Melvin essentially burned one of them for no real reason. Had Nelson given up the tying run in the 9th, we’d have been trying to win the game with Mateo, White, and Carrara. If you’re going to get Shiggy warmed up and bring him in, use him for more than a batter, even if that means Chipper gets to bat left-handed.
Mike Cameron looked horrible against Trey Hodges. That might be one of the worst at-bats I’ve ever seen him have. At some point, its not just the dimensions in Safeco Field, but the approach he takes while at home. Its hard to tell where the park effect ends and the confidence effect begins.
Tremendous reactions by Jeff Cirillo on that diving stop. Its difficult to explain just how hard that play really is. As Derek pointed out today and I’ve posted a few times here on the blog, Cirillo’s been a pretty solid player for the past two months. I’d argue that he’s the best defensive player on the team, relative to the rest of the league, and he’s pretty easily the best gloveman at third base in baseball.
I’m a big Mike Cameron fan. For one, he has a great last name, and allowed me to finally get an authentic M’s jersey with my name on the back without looking like a total loser. He’s also a drastically underrated player, and few people realize just how good he is. That said, I have some bad news for Mike and his fans; he has no prayer of making the all-star team.
Its not because he doesn’t deserve it. He’s having a fantastic year and has easily been the best center fielder in the American League this season. When you factor in his defense, I think I can make a compelling case that Cameron is having the most impact of any outfielder in baseball this year. Unfortunately, he’s just not going to Chicago in July.
The starters, barring a minor miracle, will be Ichiro, Manny Ramirez, and Torii Hunter, as voted in by the fans. Ramirez definitely deserves it. You can make a case for Ichiro, and he definitely has the star factor working in his favor. Hunter’s going on reputation alone. But, thats who the fans are voting for, and I don’t see it changing.
The first reserve slot has Melvin Mora’s name all over it. Not only is he hitting .370 and is second in the league to only Carlos Delgado in OPS, but he’s a Baltimore Oriole, and they have to send someone, so he’s the obvious choice. At 31, his performance this season is likely the biggest fluke since Brady Anderson hit 50 HR’s back in 1996. That said, you don’t leave a guy with a 1.069 OPS off the all-star team.
The second reserve slot will go to either Aubrey Huff or Rocco Baldelli, in order to get a Tampa Bay representative into the game. Huff’s the better hitter, but Baldelli’s the better story, and I’d expect the rookie to get the nod. There’s an outside shot that both could go, but I doubt it.
Unless Mike Scioscia decides to take Nate Cornejo as a pitcher, Dmitri Young will need to represent the Tigers. Remember when he was hitting .150 and the Tigers couldn’t score? He’s got his OPS up to .843 now. He had a pretty good May.
The Indians obvious representative is Milton Bradley, but he could lose out if C.C. Sabathia gets selected as a pitcher. If they’re going with the Tribe’s best player, though, Bradley’s a lock. He deserves to be there anyways.
That basically leaves one spot for Scioscia to fill, and he’s got to choose between his guys Tim Salmon or Garrett Anderson to make his own club happy.
So, Carl Everett, Mike Cameron, and Eric Brynes, you’re having great years, but I’d start planning a fishing trip. You won’t be participating in the midsummer classic this year.
Also, if you need another reason to go read Rob’s column about Czar Bud (or Budzilla, or Seligula, take your pick), you’ll see that Lumberjack Rob is back. After, what, 4 years of having his picture displayed in a flanel shirt, they finally changed it to a picture of him in a blue dress shirt that made him look like a cross between Pat Boone and John Stamos. Thankfully, Yuppy Rob only lasted a week, and the classic picture has returned.
And hey, while we’re plugging our favorite ESPN columnists, let me nominate Alan Schwarz, who has quickly become my favorite baseball scribe.
Derek and I talked about this a little bit at Tuesday’s game — we really shouldn’t be surprised with the way Melvin has managed this team, because he learned under Bob Brenly in Arizona. When Brenly managed the Diamondbacks to a World Series win two years ago, he became the poster child for the “bad moves paying off; this guy must be a freaking genius” school of managers. Brenly did all sorts of stupid things that post-season in terms of in-game decision making (not to mention batting Tony Womack in the leadoff spot, but that was a season long problem), but somehow his choices worked out more often than not and his team won the whole thing. So he must have been doing the right thing, right? I know some people have a hard time with this concept, but just because you get good results from a decision does not make said decision a good one.
I doubt there are many people who read the U.S.S. Mariner who don’t read Rob Neyer, but still, today’s Neyer column is some fine ranting, and I highly recommend it. I think Rob Neyer and Jim Caple are two of the best sports columnists working today, and ESPN.com is lucky to have them both.
I agree totally with Dave here. Bob’s been making decisions that please the broadcast booth, even when those aren’t the smart decisions. I like that he’s been resting players more than Piniella did (despite Piniella’s frequent lip service to same). There’s a problem with criticism though, which is that the team is so successful that the defense is “well, it works.” Angry about having Cameron bunt twice in a down-by-two, two-on situtation? Can’t argue with the results, can you? Mad that Carrera’s been so bad? Well, he can’t be that bad, or the team wouldn’t win so much. I feel like I’m arguing against Piniella’s more mechanical traits during the 116-win season (“Boy, I wish he wouldn’t have McLemore steal every time in situations a,b, and c, not only because it’s not a good move, but everyone knows it’s coming and it becomes an even worse move.” “Hey, he’s winning.”). To a point, this argument has merit: it’s like when people say that Barry Bonds would be an even better hitter if he swung at more pitches outside the zone. Barry Bonds in the last few years has been the best offensive player in the history of baseball, and changing anything about what he does at the plate to make him more like every other hitter will almost certainly have the effect of making him more like those other hitters and so less powerful.
That said, for all the gushing praise Melvin’s constant little-ball strategies have earned him from the press box, this is still a team that hasn’t won a game where they score fewer than four runs, while they’re 7-4 in games decided by one run, and 3-4 in two-run games. They’re not winning games where they bunt a guy over early for a run that stands up, they’re winning games where Cameron bails the team out with a dinger late.
Here’s where my worry really comes from: say the team makes it to the playoffs, and in round one, they’re facing a team with comperable talents but a much better bench. I can see Melvin conceding games where the team is behind, saving his best relievers for the next day. I can see where he could be badly outwitted by another manager who traps him into bad matchups based on Melvin’s L/R fixation, or the M’s losing a game where Melvin fails to make good pinch-hitting decisions in a situation where they could have generated some runs. The Torre-Zimmer duo particularly would give Melvin fits.
Down by two in the 9th inning with a righthander on the mound, Jeff Cirillo stepped to the plate. Bob Melvin had three choices:
1. Let Cirillo hit for himself. He’s been a decent hitter for the past two months, but he’s miserable at Safeco Field and not especially good against righties. So, pinch hitting was probably the right choice.
2. Pinch-hit Greg Colbrunn, who is hitting .277/.333/.477. History says he’s better than that, and he sports a .317/.398/.531 line against righthanders the past three seasons. In 8 at-bats (8!) against righties this year, he’s got 4 hits, so he’s not showing any new fangled problems with pitchers who throw from the north side.
3. Pinch hit Mark McLemore. Mac is hitting .233/.323/.367 for the year. Against righties, its .208/.295/.340. He’s clearly the worst hitter of the trio, and inserting him for Cirillo represents no real upgrade at the plate. It also removes our last legitimate pinch runner from the game, since Bloomquist had run for Edgar previously.
So, of course, Bob Melvin chose #3. As he’s done all season long, he simply sent the only left-hander he had up to face a righty, because thats the “percentage play”. Unfortunately, this is just stupid. There’s a lot more to platoon advantages than which side of the plate a player stands on. Using an awful lefty is not more advantageous than using a good righty.
Bob Melvin’s a rookie manager in every sense of the word, so hopefully he’ll improve as the season goes along. So far, his usage patterns with the bench and the bullpen have been nothing short of dumb. The Mariners get strategically outmaneuvered in nearly every close game. Somebody please show this man how to effectively use your reserves.
This just in: Sasaki back on the disabled list, this time because he served as his own bellhop. Hmm. I suppose we’ll see Julio Mateo come right back from Tacoma? I always knew there were benefits to having your AAA team a mere 30 miles away.
Oh, and folks? Derek isn’t kidding about that Puerto Rico story. I heard it too.
Is there any way to get blogger’s fricking archives and permalink to work properly? Seriously, we’re baffled, and since it means people can’t link to us like they want to, it’s ticking off our readers and that’s an easy way to tick us off. Come on, we know you’re all running your own blogs out there, toss us a hint. [update: oh, that’s just great, now that I’m playing around with it, the permalinks are working. Arrrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh. All I want to do is write about the Mariners (sobbing)]
Overheard at Safeco Tuesday, June 10th.
“The Expos are playing a lot of their games in Puerto Rico this year.”
“What? Why?
“They’re almost all Puerto Rican.”
“No they’re not.”
“Seriously.”
“What about, uh… Schneider?”
“He’s German-Puerto Rican.”