Its official; We’re managed by an idiot.
John Mabry just pinch hit for Greg Colbrunn. I have no words for this stupidity.
It’s actually Moyer vs. Pettitte, but it’s going to be M’s bullpen vs. Pettitte pretty quickly here as Moyer is getting shelled in the first inning. 5-0 already and he’s thrown around 40 pitches. Man, the M’s really needed to score a run in the top of the 1st when they had Ichiro on 3rd with nobody out… expected runs for that situation are 1.349. Ouch.
Moyer v Mussina tonight, should be a good game. Moyer historically has been excellent against Soriano, but Soriano hits for good power against him — 3 of his 4 hits are HR, which makes his line v. Moyer something like .200/.200/.600. Meanwhile, park-adjusted, the M’s rank 9th offensively (Yankees, 1st), 12th in starting pitching (Yankees, 1st) — with Moyer and Meche both in the Top 30 pitchers. They’re 4th in bullpen strength (Yankees, 14th).
On the Safeway Million Dollar Magic contest: Buhner, Alex Rodriguez, and Olerud are the only M’s to hit for the cycle, as far as I remember. So, some calculations: that’s about 4,000 games in Mariner team history, 1977-2002, so if you figure that’s representative, the chances that someone will win the contest is about 1/1,000 every game. So every game, Safeway’s punting $1,000 just on that. Now, figure that Safeway does 80 quadrillion jillion club card sales every day, and your chances are actually 0/1,000 of winning.
Minor League Highlights for Super Tuesday, April 29
Tacoma 4, Fresno 1. LHP Craig Anderson, he of the 80 MPH fastball, won his second straight start with a very good outing (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K). After a rough start to the season, Anderson has lowered his ERA to 3.62 and allowed just nine hits and three runs over his last two outings. C Pat Borders continued his remarkable year at the plate with three hits in four trips, including his 5th homer of the season. The ageless one — he turns 40 next month — is hitting an eye-popping .370/.417/.796 on the season, making you wonder what sort of numbers Edgar Martinez could post against Pacific Coast League pitching. CF Adrian Myers and 3B Luis Figueroa each had two hits for the Rainiers.
San Antonio 5, Tulsa 3. RF Elpidio Guzman, signed out of the Angels organization this winter, had three hits including his 2nd homer of the year, stole a base, drove in two and scored four of San Antonio’s five runs. RHP Chris Wright (6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 6 K) pushed his record to 3-1 with the win and was followed by four relievers, including RHP Jared Hoerman (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K) who picked up his 6th save. In a story I should have picked up on earlier — sorry, I’ve been distracted by Wisconsin’s recent exploits — the red hot Missions have now won 11 straight games and are looking to challenge their Texas League record 13-game streak, a mark they set two years ago.
Inland Empire‘s game in San Jose was rained out, leading to a double header between the two teams today. LHP Jared Thomas is scheduled to start the first game, followed by RHP Cha Seung Baek in the second.
Wisconsin 5, Clinton 1. The Timber Rattlers continued their winning ways to pick up their 7th consecutive victory, but this time didn’t need extra innings or a late comeback to do it. C Rene Rivera, who homered twice on Monday, led the offense with a three-run homer in the 4th that proved to be more than enough for LHP Bobby Livingston (6 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and RHP Rene Cortez (2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). Livingston picked up his second win of the year and Cortez was credited with his first save. In a balanced offensive attack Wisconsin had eight hits in the game, each by a different player.
As you might have guessed, the entire farm system — not to mention the big club — is playing some pretty good baseball right now. San Antonio has won 11 straight, Wisconsin seven straight, Tacoma five out of six and Inland Empire four of five. Going back a week to April 23rd, the minor league clubs have won 23 of 24. Add in the Mariners and the entire organization has won 29 of its last 31 games. Wow!
Watching Edgar this year, I have this strange feeling that he’s going to have a sort of 2002 Barry Bonds-lite type of season — really high batting average, tons of walks, power but not playing every day. I know it’s really early, but can’t you see him winding up at something like .350/.480/.550 with close to 100 walks and only 350 or so at-bats? I dunno, maybe it’s just me. Hey, maybe he can win another batting title this season.
Couldn’t really ask for a much more impressive performance from Gil Meche. Facing the Yankees, in Yankee Stadium, with Roger Clemens taking the hill when you aren’t pitching. After tonight, he ranks 5th in the AL in ERA, 7th in strikeouts, and 2nd in K/9. Not a bad first month. It is, however, still just one month. For comparison, as of today, your American League Cy Young Winner is Esteban Loaiza.
Don’t look now (okay, go ahead and look), but the Mariners now have the 4th best record in baseball. Considering their early season schedule, that’s impressive.
That’s good to hear about Nageotte, not because I was worried about his strikeout rate but rather because it should better for him in the long-run. He needs to have command of his fastball, and throwing fewer sliders now should be better on his arm. Incidentally, if I remember correctly Chaves was the one in the M’s organization who really pushed for Rafael Soriano to be moved from the outfield to the mound.
Possible bad omen for tonight’s game: It was 17 years ago to the day that Roger Clemens, then a member of the Red Sox and tonight’s starter for the Yankees, struck out 20 Mariners in Boston. Hmm.
A quick followup on Clint Nageotte, for those who may be worried that his strikeout numbers aren’t near what they were a year ago. San Antonio’s pitching coach, Rafael Chaves, has told Nageotte he wants more fastballs and less sliders. Similar to what the Mariners did with Jeff Heaverlo, they feel that he needs more confidence in his fastball and don’t want him always going back to the slider when he needs an out. Nageotte only threw a handful of sliders last night, and they accounted for 3 of the 4 strikeouts. His command of his fastball is making big strides, though. He’s going to take a step or two back in strikeout rate this year, but it will likely be good for his development in the long run.
Also, the Appleton Post-Crescent has a good story on Jon Nelson today. 23-year-old first baseman in low-A with his BB/K ratios aren’t usually on track for the major leagues, but Nelson could be the rare exception.
Minor League Highlights for Monday, April 28
Tacoma 5, Fresno 1. The Rainiers returned home in style — actually, I’m pretty sure they returned in a plane — with a win behind the strong pitching of aforementioned RHP Brian Sweeney (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K). Sweeney went to 2-1 on the season and now has a 1.16 ERA and 25:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 23 1/3 IP. Wow. LF Adrian Myers, 3B Luis Figueroa and CF Chad Meyers each had two hits for Tacoma, and 2B Mickey Lopez and 1B Andy Barket each homered and drove in two runs. RHP JJ Putz worked the final three innings (1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) to pick up a save of the non-traditional variety.
San Antonio 4, Tulsa 0. RHP Clint Nageotte fashioned yet another strong start (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) to win his third game of the year and lower his season ERA to 1.27. It’s particularly encouraging to see him walk only two baters in seven innings, as his command is suspect at times. The offensive star was once again C Jim Horner, who continued his hot hitting with three hits in three at-bats including a double, a homer, two runs scored and two runs driven in. Horner has seven hits in his last seven at-bats and his hitting a robust .467 since arriving in San Antonio. SS Luis “Rule 5 Kid” Ugueto added two hits, two RBIs and two steals. Ugueto and teammate CF Michael Curry are tied for tops in the organization with 11 steals on the season; no other M’s farmhand has more than six. Oh, and Kevin Goldstein of the always excellent Prospect Report notes that Nageotte hasn’t allowed an earned run in four of his five starts this season.
Inland Empire was idle, as the California League did not play a full schedule yesterday. The 66ers are back in action today against San Jose but have yet to announce a starter. It would appear to be RHP Cha Seung Baek’s turn in the rotation, but perhaps they’re being especially careful with him due to his injury history.
Wisconsin 14, South Bend 13 (11 innings). BREAK UP THE TIMBER RATTLERS! Wisconsin won yet another one-run, extra innings game yesterday to continue a run of improbable victories not seen in the M’s organization since “Refuse to Lose” took over the Kingdome in 1995. The hero this time was C Rene Rivera, who went four-for-six with two homers, three runs scored and five driven in. Equally heroic was 2B Corey Harrington, who also had four hits in six trips and knocked in the winning run in the top of the 11th, driving in LF Carlos Arroyo who had tripled to lead off the inning. LHP Cesar Jimenez pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief (3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) to pick up the win, and RHP Bryan Heaston worked the bottom of the 11th (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) for his third save. Wisconsin has now won six straight games, including five one-run games and four in extra innings. Tune in tomorrow to see if they can keep this incredible string alive.
Remember when Bob Melvin was first hired, and he made that comment about batting average and speed versus on-base percentage that made us all feel so much better about his hiring? It went something like, “I’d much rather have a guy who hits .260 with a .360 OBP and doesn’t run well than a guy who runs well, hits .300 but only has a .310 OBP.” Well, get ready to swing back the other way. I present to you this article from the M’s official website about Ichiro’s struggles this season, from which I quote, “The manager pointed out that Ichiro’s on-base percentage remains a respectable .330, which is sixth best on the team and not that much lower than in 2001 (.381) or last season (.388).”
There are all sorts of things wrong with that statement. For starters, a .330 on-base percentage is not “respectable” unless you’re hitting for a good deal of power, which we all know Ichiro is not. The American League had a .327 mark as whole last season, and suddenly .330 is acceptable — nay, respectable — from the guy in your lineup who’s supposed to be setting the table? Second, saying he’s sixth best on the team is both ambiguous and completely devoid of useful information. Does this mean all the guys ahead of him are OBP demons, or that his OBP just isn’t that good? Melvin makes it sound as if it’s the former, while in reality it’s the latter. And finally, since when is 50 points of on-base percentage “not that much lower”? Fifty points! Honestly, I’m baffled by this.
The only explanations I can come up with are: 1. Melvin’s comments were taken out of context; 2. He’s incredibly ignorant about OBP; or 3. He’s so worried about not criticizing his players that he went out of his way to say something nice, even though something nice wasn’t warranted. Please — please — let it be #1 or #3 on that list.
Oh, and Brian Sweeney — that’s a whole lotta tossin’ going on.