74-63

by Jeff Sullivan on Sep 5, 2007 2:07 AM PDT in Seattle Mariners Regular News

The advantage of keeping Horacio Ramirez in the rotation is that I can plan to go do other things on nights like this without feeling the least bit guilty. Yeah, I know this one wasn't really his fault, but with a Ramirez/Wang matchup on the mound, we never had a chance. Aside from Wlad's double, I'm not sorry I missed this.

Win tomorrow. The season depends on it.

Biggest Contribution: Ben Broussard, +7.4%
Biggest Suckfest: Jose Guillen, -17.3%
Honorable Mention: Carlos Garcia, -17.2%
Most Important Hit: Guillen DP, -14.2%
Most Important Pitch: Rodriguez homer, -11.3%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -11.8%
Total Contribution by Hitters: -21.0%
Total Contribution by Opposition/Garcia: -17.2%

(What is this chart?)

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i can't really blame anyone for this loss...

we just sucked.

Yu Bet! Cuba, si! Yanqi, NO!

by Patrick517 on Sep 5, 2007 2:18 AM PDT reply actions

So yea,

All three AL Division leaders have at least a 7.0 game lead over the runner-ups, making it so there's less than a 5% chance that anyone other than Boston, Cleveland, and LAAnaheim walk out with the the Division title.

We, of course, get the unfortunate pain of having to face two of the above teams back-to-back near the end of the season.

At least the Wild Card is not overcrowded. Yankees, Mariners, and the Tigers are the serious contenders.

by ThundaPC on Sep 5, 2007 3:55 AM PDT reply actions

Maybe that's ok

Teams with that much of a lead have less to play for and might rest some of their better players. I can hope, right?

by phil333 on Sep 5, 2007 5:04 AM PDT up reply actions

I still see no way the Tigers come through

it's us or the Yanks.

by Matthew on Sep 5, 2007 8:36 AM PDT up reply actions

After this debacle

I'm scared to watch tonight's game with the season on the line. Make no mistake folks. We cannot gain 3 games on the Yanks in 3 weeks with their easy end of the year schedule.

by phil333 on Sep 5, 2007 5:05 AM PDT reply actions

Glad to see Garcia getting some suckfest.

That was a critical juncture of the game. We would have at least come away with 1 run, if not more. After that the "Veteran regulars" just seemed deflated.

I hope WLAD hits the snot out of the ball every chance he gets for the rest of the year, just to stick it to McLaren and his ilk. But saying that, If WLAD is getting alot of PA we are tanking alot of games, which in retrospect, is a bad thing.

by Ben in Va on Sep 5, 2007 5:56 AM PDT reply actions

I'm glad we got to see the callups

But otherwise, yeah, that was awful.

The best part: I turned on the TV when it was 5-1. BEST TIME TO WATCH.

by Gomez on Sep 5, 2007 8:18 AM PDT reply actions

How sad is it...

That after having a 2 game lead in the wild card our season comes down to counting on Washburn in Yankee stadium.

We're boned.

by PDXTai on Sep 5, 2007 8:54 AM PDT reply actions

We were boned days ago

It doesn't come down to this if 9 straight didn't go down the chute.

by Gomez on Sep 5, 2007 9:00 AM PDT up reply actions

Pretty much

This season is looking like it will boil down to management's love affairs with Ho, John Parrish, Rick White, Richie Sexson, Raul Ibanez and Jose Vidro, and the missed opportunities that led to.

by eponymous coward on Sep 5, 2007 10:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Vidro?

was there really a viable alternative to Vidro?

by Matthew on Sep 5, 2007 1:22 PM PDT up reply actions

Sure.

Consider that the money spent on Vidro could have picked up a pitcher at the deadline, and DH is a ridiculously easy position to fill for cheap. Matt Stairs, for instance? Lifetime high in salary = 3+ million. And multiply that by Carlos Pena, and so on...

There are all sorts of ripple effects from the offseason roster moves: not having Soriano meant we stuck Morrow into the bullpen, instead of letting him pitch and MAYBE having a flashy, unscouted arm show up late in the season for a quick boost, plus we wasted time with Reitsma sucking. Going with HoRam meant ditching a pitcher who is arguably better (yes, I think you can argue Joel Pineiro > HoRam).

Then there's the shame of the Mariners being 13th in the AL in defensive efficiency (.674), while playing boat anchors like Raul, Richie and Vidro in the field, and refusing to improve the defense by using a solid defensive upgrade in Adam Jones, and continuing to use Raul in critical roles while ignoring his weaknesses (inability to hit LHP). And then there's the annoying tendency to use bad veterans in close and late situations in the bullpen (Reitsma, Parrish, White) on account of their magical war veteran powers.

I could go on, but this is looking like a season where we miss a playoff berth by a fairly close margin, with a number of unforced errors in offseason roster management and inseason roster usage that are going to contribute heavily to this, and some fairly big question marks in the offseason (Can Bavasi find someone to take Richie without screwing up the roster, can the rotation get patched, what do we do with Jose Lopez, can we keep Bavasi from going with ANOTHER war veteran when Morrow goes to the rotation in winter ball, and so on).

The thing is, New York looks like they are reloading with kids. Boston's still looking pretty good; so's Anaheim, so's Cleveland and Detroit. Billy Beane's going to want to reload in Oakland. 2008 doesn't look like it's going to be any easier than 2007 was.

by eponymous coward on Sep 5, 2007 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions

I agreed about all the rest

I asked about Vidro only.

Did anyone predict Carlos Pena to do what he did? Before this year he looked like a malcontent 1B with terrible contact skills that didn't walk nearly enough to overcome them.

Matt Stairs was 38 and had just shown a precipitous dropoff year in 2006 (88 OPS+).

What pitcher should the Ms have picked up at the deadline that they didn't because of salary issues? The best you could argue is that MAYBE the Ms would have been more likely to gamble on Contreras, but that's a weak argument.

by Matthew on Sep 5, 2007 2:38 PM PDT up reply actions

Garcia should have known we could have only scored

if Damon was out there. Seriously, Rauuul would have made that throw. I'll take bases loaded with no outs rather than run into a dead out every day. ESPN was giving so much credit for the throw and 'Posada's GREAT scoop', don't catchers block one hops hourly? It wasn't that good of play by either team, oh, especially our team. Matsui was basically playing the rover for a McGwire shift. It was dead duck like this dead horse.

I walked away right AFTER the Abreu HR, which made it 5-1, to go do some errands. I was gone for about (I thought) 30-35 minutes. I figured the game would be over or nearly there when I was finished. Instead, upon my arrival, it was still the same inning and now 11-1, THRILLING. Gotta love these guys; somebody evil once said that.

WHY!?! GARCIA!! WHY?!

by Montucky on Sep 5, 2007 9:04 AM PDT reply actions