A Few Things From Last Night

by Jeff on Aug 6, 2008 11:38 AM PDT in Game Recaps

I'm beginning to think that Raul Ibanez might as well lay claim to being the most consistent player in baseball. Since becoming a fairly regular player with Kansas City in 2001, he's hit .290/.351/.482, with a BA range of .280-304, an OBP range of .345-.355, and an SLG range of .436-.537. The relative standard deviation of his EqA over those ~eight years is a meager 3%. I'm not going to go ahead and calculate eight-year relStDev's for every player in baseball to figure out if I'm right, because that would be a massive waste of time, but 3% is remarkably small, and a hair better than Ichiro, who many consider to be a dependable, consistent hitting machine. Every year people like me warn against Ibanez's impending collapse, yet the man has built a career out of making us look totally stupid. My only intellectual consolation is that eventually I'm going to be right. I just have to keep trying. Say, have I told you what I think about Ibanez's 2009?

For a man about whom you wouldn't think twice if you just saw him on the street, Raul's used his comically awkward swing to turn himself into a heck of a hitter. With luck he's sufficiently aware of this to turn down arbitration this winter in pursuit of a multiyear contract from someone competitive, but when he's gone, his bat really will be missed. His will forever be the first name that comes to mind when discussing the sort of player that can get by despite Safeco's dimensions. Not bad for a guy drafted two rounds after Tim Harikkala.

Jose Lopez didn't just hit Joe Nathan - he hit arguably Nathan's best pitch. Granted, that 3-2 slider caught an awful lot of the plate, but that pitch has generated swinging strikes twice as often as any other in Nathan's repertoire, and Lopez hit it hard. A solid at bat for someone who seems to be getting more and more of a clue with every passing day. Mind you, I have absolutely no idea how Raul came all the way around from first to score on that hit, but I can only imagine it's because Delmon Young did something silly.

It's a good thing the team sent Morrow down yesterday afternoon, because had they waited until after the game to hold the same discussion, they might've arrived at a different answer. JJ Putz still isn't right. That three-pitch strikeout of Punto was vintage JJ, but the rest of his outing was difficult to watch, as he alternated between missing the zone and catching far too much of the plate. I have no idea how Mauer swung through the pitch that he did - that was the same pitch that Kubel drilled into left - and if Mike Redmond were a better hitter, he might've been able to do something more with the fastball on the inner half that he lined into right to end the game.

JJ's biggest mistake of the game was, rather obviously, the 2-0 fastball he threw to Mike Lamb. Having fallen behind on two consecutive outside fastballs, JJ tried to paint the corner, but you'd be hard-pressed to find too many other pitches that so egregiously missed their intended location:

Clement set up down and away, but JJ's fastball wound up middle-in, missing its spot by an estimated 17 inches. And, as you can imagine, 17 inches can make a world of difference. If that pitch ends up where it was supposed to end up, Lamb can't do anything with it, and it's either a 2-1 count or the end of the inning. But because JJ missed by so much, it wound up being nothing more than a 95mph meatball to an opposite-handed gap hitter, and not too many Major Leaguers are going to miss that pitch. Sitting dead red, Lamb predictably killed it, and the damage was done.

The only real way to conquer this sort of struggle is to pitch your way through it, but let me tell you - if JJ doesn't get it right, and the next seven weeks are more of the same, then this is going to be a nervewracking offseason.

Sean Green was given his third consecutive day off by Riggleman, presumably out of precaution. His 54 appearances are one behind the AL lead, and he's warmed up in countless other games in which he didn't appear. Green may have a rubber arm, but rubber has a snapping point, and it's better not to push the envelope over the final two months of a lost season. At this point, I'm all for being careful.

Speaking of Riggleman, the Mariners in one sentence:

"I couldn't believe the phone wasn't ringing for someone to take Jose Vidro,'' [Riggleman] said.

Over 856 at bats as a Seattle Mariner, Jose Vidro hit .285/.344/.374 with a line drive rate of 19.4% and a .308 BABIP. This is why it's important to look at the whole picture, instead of breaking things down by season. It's easy to say that Vidro had a good 2007 and a bad 2008, but individual seasons attach artificial endpoints to groups of data, endpoints that, for the most part, don't serve any purpose. The fact of the matter is that Vidro was neither as good as he looked a year ago nor as bad as he looked over the past four months, and overall as a Mariner, he was exactly what everyone thought he'd be from the beginning - a guy with a decent batting average and passable eye with absolutely zero power, a guy who was badly miscast as an everyday DH for a team with dreams of contention. Thankfully this dreadful chapter has finally come to a close, but it will not soon be forgotten. What a horrible mistake.

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I miss Slampig already

tonight I will raise my glass to Jose Vidro, just like I did to help me forget all those times he was batting

The Jose Lopez Watch - 140 H, 16 BB, 49 G Left

by seattlebruin on Aug 6, 2008 11:45 AM PDT 0 recs

The Vidro era is over.

by ThundaPC on Aug 6, 2008 11:53 AM PDT up 0 recs

Jose Vidro will soon be forgotten

when the M’s pull their next stupid blunder in roster construction. That’s the good thing about his team, they’re always finding ways to trump their last dumb mistake.

Midnight Baseball - No Lights - Only in Alaska!

by MfaninAlaska on Aug 6, 2008 11:55 AM PDT 0 recs

Now Vidro is gone, who is next on the hate-hierarchy?

Cairo? Willie? Yuni? It feels strange having no Richie/Vidro to haze on.

I was at Shea for the Felix-Slam!
Personal M's record: 5-4.

by EnglishMariner on Aug 6, 2008 11:57 AM PDT 0 recs

Batista

The Jose Lopez Watch - 140 H, 16 BB, 49 G Left

by seattlebruin on Aug 6, 2008 11:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

Silva

by Jeff on Aug 6, 2008 11:58 AM PDT up 0 recs

I would agree,

except for his hilarious interview on Mariners All Access with Felix.

I'm back to liking midgets too much.

by Thingray on Aug 6, 2008 12:28 PM PDT up 0 recs

That was the most humanizing, self-deprecating thing he could’ve done, save from donating a kidney to a dying child (thereby missing the rest of the season) and then donating the balance of his contract to cancer research.

by marc w on Aug 6, 2008 2:14 PM PDT up 0 recs

Washburn.

Midnight Baseball - No Lights - Only in Alaska!

by MfaninAlaska on Aug 6, 2008 12:00 PM PDT up 0 recs

Incredible, Jeff.

This is why it’s important to look at the whole picture, instead of breaking things down by season. It’s easy to say that Vidro had a good 2007 and a bad 2008, but individual seasons attach artificial endpoints to groups of data, endpoints that, for the most part, don’t serve any purpose. The fact of the matter is that Vidro was neither as good as he looked a year ago nor as bad as he looked over the past four months, and overall as a Mariner, he was exactly what everyone thought he’d be from the beginning – a guy with a decent batting average and passable eye with absolutely zero power, a guy who was badly miscast as an everyday DH for a team with dreams of contention.

This is why I read Lookout Landing everyday.

by andrewgolfsalot on Aug 6, 2008 12:05 PM PDT 0 recs

I fear that if JJ doesn't rediscover how to control his fastball, we're going to see Morrow back in the pen next year.

That aside…He did have some splitters last night that looked pretty good.

by BrianL on Aug 6, 2008 12:10 PM PDT 0 recs

I'm hoping that Fields would step in as closer were that to happen

by OlSalty on Aug 6, 2008 12:18 PM PDT up 0 recs

In which case we will praise the old FO to the stars for their incredible foresight...

The Jose Lopez Watch - 140 H, 16 BB, 49 G Left

by seattlebruin on Aug 6, 2008 12:20 PM PDT up 0 recs

Have we even signed Fields yet?

I'm back to liking midgets too much.

by Thingray on Aug 6, 2008 12:31 PM PDT up 0 recs

I don't think he's much of a non-sign risk given that he's a senior and really doesn't have anywhere else to go

The Jose Lopez Watch - 140 H, 16 BB, 49 G Left

by seattlebruin on Aug 6, 2008 12:36 PM PDT up 0 recs

I know, I wonder why it's taking so long.

His only other real option is to go play in the independent leagues, correct?

I'm back to liking midgets too much.

by Thingray on Aug 6, 2008 12:38 PM PDT up 0 recs

That's my understanding

I doubt they would even throw him this season anyway – threw a TON of innings for Georgia IIRC

The Jose Lopez Watch - 140 H, 16 BB, 49 G Left

by seattlebruin on Aug 6, 2008 12:39 PM PDT up 0 recs

Maybe a little winter ball or something to tune up for ST, but I doubt he's going to pitch in AAA or anything.

I'm back to liking midgets too much.

by Thingray on Aug 6, 2008 12:41 PM PDT up 0 recs

Uh, he's a reliever. How could he throw a TON of innings?

37.333 this year, incidentally.

by marc w on Aug 6, 2008 2:16 PM PDT up 0 recs

Interesting.... I seem to remember him throwing a lot more than that :(

I guess I was under the impression that since they played a ton of games that he had closed a lot, and thrown a lot of innings that way (like 70.) My bad

The ♥ Jose Lopez ♥ Watch - 140 H, 16 BB, 49 G Left

by seattlebruin on Aug 6, 2008 2:19 PM PDT up 0 recs