Why the success or failure of our entire season rests on the manly shoulders of Ryan Rowland-Smith

by Smegmalicious on Apr 9, 2009 5:39 PM PDT

After watching the sheer beauty of Felix and Bedard pitching back to back in the first two games, I was overcome with a fairly peculiar thought. I know it's not rational really, but I think there's a certain logic to this.

Unfortunately we know that the King is not infallible. We also know that Bedard is not perfect either, so it would be too simple to say that they are going to win every game they pitch. Even as early as the second game we saw how a good performance can turn in to a loss.

It's also true that no matter how powerful the vortex of suck that surrounds Silva and Washburn, the team isn't going to lose every time they take the mound. So with some major simplifications, the following isn't too much of a stretch.

If we assume that for every game where Felix or Bedard pitch, and the team loses, there will be a game where Washburn or Silva pitch and the team wins. Seems like a fair trade to me given that our top two starters and those clowns are pretty much on opposite sides of the awesome scale.

So if we had only those 4 guys pitching, we'd have a .500 season. Enter Mr. Rowland-Smith. Every time he takes the mound, he holds our season in his hands. If the team goes .500 in his starts, the team goes .500 for the year. For every win the team gets over .500 when he starts, that's a win over .500 period.

If he has 32 starts (160/5=32) all he has to do is get us to win, say, 20 of them. That would put our overall record at 85 wins and, by all accounts, that should put us in contention for the post season in the AL West.

There you go. Ryan Rowland-Smith is really the guy we need to root for. Sure he's got a good blog and a MLB salary and he's 'that cute guy with the accent' according to my girlfriend, but he is the key to our season.

Go Ryan...dominate! As you go, so do the M's!

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Comments

That's a really long title

by SethGrandpa on Apr 9, 2009 6:04 PM PDT reply actions

The Mariners would be very lucky to make it through the season with just 5 pitchers

by ubelmann on Apr 9, 2009 6:05 PM PDT reply actions

He's got some manly shoulders, have you seen this guy? Like a Greek God in Buddy Holly glasses.

by Kermit. on Apr 9, 2009 7:13 PM PDT reply actions

He really does

cute guy with the accent indeed

by darmok on Apr 9, 2009 9:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Dude's a hunk

Who dat says they gonna beat dem Saints?

by Pebohead on Apr 9, 2009 9:51 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

"Hello I love you"

Cool shirt.

"The dark secret of LL is that it only exists so I can one day moderate Graham" ---Robert

by .Taylor on Apr 9, 2009 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions

My.

those are manly shoulder.

by msb on Apr 9, 2009 10:52 PM PDT up reply actions

damn

St. Louis Cardinals... defying win expectancy since 2008

by vivaelpujols on Apr 10, 2009 2:32 AM PDT up reply actions

Washburn and RRS are the same pitchers

Its pretty tough to argue that RRS is much better than Washburn I think.

by Edgar for Pres on Apr 9, 2009 7:55 PM PDT reply actions

RRS has a bit more K potential. That may be the one difference

"The dark secret of LL is that it only exists so I can one day moderate Graham" ---Robert

by .Taylor on Apr 9, 2009 8:41 PM PDT up reply actions

As a starter I think RRS gets pretty close to the same amount of K/9

His RP innings give his strikeouts a boost.

by Edgar for Pres on Apr 9, 2009 9:12 PM PDT up reply actions

Ah. Good point.

I still think he has better stuff than Wash, by juuust this much.

"The dark secret of LL is that it only exists so I can one day moderate Graham" ---Robert

by .Taylor on Apr 9, 2009 9:43 PM PDT up reply actions

More importantly, he's not Jarrod Washburn

Just something to keep in mind.

by Smegmalicious on Apr 9, 2009 10:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Yeah. He doesn't have a red, bulbous nose or a mouse-like visage.

"The dark secret of LL is that it only exists so I can one day moderate Graham" ---Robert

by .Taylor on Apr 9, 2009 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions

He's not much better but he's better.

by Aaron Campeau on Apr 10, 2009 2:44 AM PDT up reply actions

only because he is younger

and has room for improvement

St. Louis Cardinals... defying win expectancy since 2008

by vivaelpujols on Apr 10, 2009 2:56 AM PDT up reply actions

No, he's actually better right now.

by Aaron Campeau on Apr 10, 2009 3:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Why do you say that?

His BB rate is higher, his FB% is just as high, and his K-rate is marginally higher.

He’s cheaper and therefore more desirable and seems like a cool guy. Plus a sweet name always helps but based on skills there just isn’t much there beyond a #5 SP.

by Edgar for Pres on Apr 10, 2009 9:10 AM PDT up reply actions

Comparison...

is difficult because a lot of Rowland-Smith’s peripherals came in the bullpen.

But, RRS’’s got a marginaly higher K&, a marginally higher GB% and lower FB%, a lower LD%, an average fastball speed 1mph faster and average changeup speed 1mph slower. He also has a higher BB-rate.

We’ll have to see how RRS settles in as a starter. The stats that suggest repeatable skills really make them look like virtually the same pitcher, with RRS a little bit better.

by slamcactus on Apr 10, 2009 9:57 AM PDT up reply actions