18-22, Quick Game Notes
by Jeff Sullivan on May 19, 2009 11:31 PM PDT
in Seattle Mariners Game Recaps
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PrintAnd now it becomes imperative for Beltre to snap out of it not so he can help us climb back into contention, but so we can trade him for goodies.
- If Felix's fastball was looking good through eight starts, it was really off tonight. Though 77 of his 107 pitches (72%) were heaters, only two of them missed bats and only 42 of them were strikes. Even more annoying is that, contrary to Dave Allen's suggestion, Felix threw 71% fastballs to righties and 72% to lefties. Of his 47 fastballs to lefties, only 21 - 21! - were strikes. Meanwhile, 14 of his 18 offspeed pitches to lefties were strikes. Those offspeed pitches also missed six lefty bats. When you're giving opposite-handed hitters way too much of your worst pitch and you have no idea where it's going, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise when those hitters end up going 8-15 with three walks. Though everyone will remember Jose Lopez's crippling error, Felix was done in by his reluctance to go offspeed when the heat wasn't working. Surprise!
- Through Kendy Morales' first two trips to the plate, Felix got five swinging strikes on seven offspeed pitches. In Morales' third PA, with two runners in scoring position, Felix issued a walk on four straight fastballs.
- The Angels currently have six switch-hitters on the active roster, with all but Reggie Willits getting significant playing time. Though all of the good one-sided hitters but Bobby Abreu are righties, Mike Scioscia still has an assload of versatility on his hands. The Mariners, as currently constructed, are hilariously vulnerable to sinker/slider righties. The Angels aren't susceptible to anything like that, because in any given game they can stack their lineup with guys hitting from the other side. I feel like this should get more mention than it does, because it's really valuable, especially in games like this.
- Despite a significant increase in his flyball frequency, Jose Lopez has seen his power fall off to such a degree that, even after adjusting for his low BABIP, his offensive numbers still suck. With his range visibly worse than it used to be - he watched a few more grounders roll by tonight that a better second baseman picks up - he needs to sustain most of his 2008 gains to be a decent overall player, and we're still waiting on signs of life. While Adrian Beltre is currently catching a decade's worth of flak (and for good reason), Lopez has arguably been the less valuable player to date.
- Honestly, Beltre just looks lost, and the only thing keeping me from declaring that something must be seriously wrong is the fact that Beltre has a history of looking lost a lot of the time even when things are going well. Consecutive three-pitch swinging strikeouts against Matt Palmer and Jason Bulger are an excellent way to set your confidence back a couple years.
- Ronny Cedeno and Ken Griffey Jr. hit remarkably similar homers to opposite ends of the park. I didn't think I'd ever say that.
- I can't be the only one to notice that, in recent games, Dave Niehaus has sounded angry and Dave Sims has been unusually subdued.
- Mark Lowe is throwing an awful lot of 98mph fastballs.
Jakubauskas against Santana tomorrow. I'm going to be really sad when we stop playing Boston and LAnaheim because that's when the apathy will really set in.
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grr
St. Louis Cardinals... defying win expectancy since 2008
by vivaelpujols on May 19, 2009 11:47 PM PDT up reply actions
If the A's didn't get top prospects for Harden I doubt the Mariners are getting much more for Bedard
True
The Mariners are only in the business of GIVING UP top prospects these days (see Adam Jones for Erik Bedard)
You may have missed that the GM who did that deal got fired.
In fact, the current GM actually gets young players back for veterans.
by eponymous_coward on May 20, 2009 9:12 AM PDT up reply actions
Welcome to a year ago.
Would you like to join the present or would you rather continue to bitch on some other blog about things that are no longer true?
I can't believe we gave up on Luis Valbuena for Aaron Heilman
What a stupid trade by Bavasirencik
by Graham MacAree on May 20, 2009 10:10 AM PDT up reply actions
WHY DOESN'T WILLIE BLOOMQUIST PLAY EVERY DAY?
Nice Guys Finish Third - My semantics are a waste of time.
re: Jr and Cedeno.
The difference for me was the certainty. Though Griff got a touch on top of his (you can tell there’s less than normal amount of backspin), that 2-0 pitch would have been in the Worst Pitches of the Century candidate list and Jr put a classic Jr swing on it. Maybe some of it has to do with a history with a player and seeing far more KGJ home runs than Ronny Cedeno home runs, but I didn’t think Cedeno’s was out until about 15 seconds after it cleared the wall. Jr’s I felt somewhere between .2 seconds after release and contact.
It came as quite the relief to see Junior do that tonight
I can’t count how many fly balls he’s hit recently where I was left thinking “you know, if he were ten years younger…”
About time he really stings one.
by Jeff Sullivan on May 19, 2009 11:45 PM PDT up reply actions
Though nothing about his performance has necessarily been a surprise it's still depressing to observe evidence of decline
by Jeff Sullivan on May 19, 2009 11:52 PM PDT up reply actions
Well, at this point, all I'm expecting is flashes of what used to be.
So I’ll take what I can get, I suppose. I still think he’s going to have a week or three where he makes us smile a lot before the end.
by eponymous_coward on May 20, 2009 12:36 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't recall any of Girffey's homeruns this season being "classic" high arcing shots
It seems to me they’ve all been line drives
His first at home.
And I referred to his swing, not his ball flight, which I went out my way to point out was less than classic.
How the fuck is Matt Palmer 5-0?
Not that W/L record matters.
St. Louis Cardinals... defying win expectancy since 2008
Thoughts from attending the game
-It is sadly fitting the Griffey’s entrance music is so ten years ago
Seriously why the fuck can’t I move up three rows with 7 outs left in the game in the same section-same ticket price—to to take the place of some people who left already and there’s like 10,000 people in the stadium. Fuck Gerry the Mariners employee and I hope his whole family dies of a slow wasting illness, starting with his grandchildren.
-On games where the M’s make a lot of errors there should be a section you can go to that parents know not to take their kids if they don’t want to hear people like myself expressing their feelings about our infield defense.
-Griffey homered in ’93, the first plate appearance I ever saw him live. He homered tonight, the first live PA I saw from him in over 10 years. Kickass.
-On a non-Mariners note I haven’t been in WA for at least 6 months until this week and I had no idea QFC had such a beer selection.
10 years ago?
Didn’t he stop using that around ‘96 or so? And even then it was kind of old. I mainly remember his music being Biggie’s Hypnotize.
Wow, I've never had ushers tell me to move out of niceseats, even before I had season tix. You just got an asshole.
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on May 20, 2009 4:58 AM PDT up reply actions
You still can in most sections. Usually it's around the plate and dugouts that they mind most.
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on May 20, 2009 6:32 AM PDT up reply actions
In other words, the sections where the people who paid $2000+ per seat for season tickets
get mad at the ushers if they allow 19 year olds with a $7 ticket to sit next to them.
by G_ on May 20, 2009 9:24 AM PDT up reply actions
Yet everytime someone relays an "usher made us move" story
it is followed by a “do ushers really do that?” comment.
by G_ on May 20, 2009 9:44 AM PDT up reply actions
I find it really odd that people think they're entitled to sitting wherever they like
If you can get away with it, sure, but it’s it’s not some unalienable right.
by Graham MacAree on May 20, 2009 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions
The ones that crack me up
are the ones that move from the outfield bleachers into sections right above the dugout and then get all indignant when they’re asked to move.
Nice Guys Finish Third - My semantics are a waste of time.
'Round these parts we say INalienable
but you wouldn’t know that… cuz you ain’t got no declaration of independence, do ya fancypants? How’s that magma carta workin’ out fer ya?
by johnbai on May 20, 2009 12:17 PM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Yeah I'm just saying
If the Stadium is mostly empty and it’s late in the game, its pretty lame to not allow anyone to move up.
THAT would be the funniest thing ever...
This signature space for rent.
by PositivePaul on May 21, 2009 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions
Your in the military and last night was salute to the military night.
I would call up the Mariners and give them hell. Maybe you could score some free field level seats.
Felix has Brain Damage. Wak not happy.
“I’m not frustrated,‘’ he said. "For me, I think it was a good performance, I made good pitches, they just hit the ball in the holes. It’s unbelievable, I made great pitches to them. They’ve got a great lineup and I just wanted to go out there and make my pitches. That’s what I did today, but they’ve got a good lineup. It was a good performance from them.’’
Hernandez was then asked what he could have done to prevent some of the stolen bases.
“I’m trying to hold the runners, but they’re fast runners, they know how to steal bases,‘’ he said. "That’s part of this game.’’
As for him feeling pressure to be the stopper, the ace:
“I don’t feel any pressure, no. It’s one of those things where I try to win every game that I can, but that’s not going to happen.’’
Wakamatsu wasn’t as please. Particularly with Felix’s slow delivery times.
“Sometimes you’ve got to ask guys to step up,‘’ Wakamatsu said of Hernandez. "I didn’t think he stepped up today.’’
Maybe Randy will do for him what Nolan Ryan did for Randy
Because Lord knows he needs it.
by eponymous_coward on May 20, 2009 1:30 AM PDT up reply actions
That's Carlos Silva talking there ick!
You got slurved!
Free Tommy Hanson! Free Jeff Clement! Free Michael Saunders!
Lowe's throwing 98?
That’s good, right? It seems like it should be good, but mixed in with all that other stuff, it sounded kinda bad.
RE: Lopez blowing it in the first.
I believe it was Napoli who hit a sure double play ball to 2B. Only, Lopez ran, ran, and ran to his left, watching the ball go into RF. Lopez seemed shaded WAYYYY towards the 2B bag.
I noticed later in the game that the next time Napoli came up, Lopez was playing on the SS side of the 2B bag from my vantage point (so he was probably still on the 2B side, but barely), with Russell Branyan essentially playing in the middle between 1B and 2B. It appears we took the lefty pull shift, and made it the righty pull shift for Napoli. It cost us two outs in the first. Is the righty pull shift EVER a good idea defensively?
Disclaimer: I am in no way apologizing for Loafie, who pretty much single-handedly cost us tonight’s game. I wonder how hard it is to un-stitch letters and number off of a jersey…
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
I saw this too
But I thought it was on Torii Hunter. Whichever. Lopez was badly out of position a couple of times. I’m not sure if he was cheating towards second in the event of a pickoff of a runner or stolen base attempt, but whatever it was, it didn’t help.
Fans are typically idiots.
by The Typical Idiot Fan on May 20, 2009 2:42 AM PDT up reply actions
He's been terribly positioned all year, from my seats.
It doesn’t make sense to me to position your low-range 2B so close to the 2B bag, IMO.
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on May 20, 2009 5:00 AM PDT up reply actions
The two grounders in the first were both DP balls if the infield was playing straight up,
but in both cases they were shaded for pulls and the balls were hit the other way. It’s something I’ve noticed them doing a lot this season. No idea if it’s a good plan or not.
RE: Neihaus sounding angry
Absolutely, Dave has been sounding increasingly frustrated with the stupid fuckups and the slow, agonizing disintegration of the Mariner. I think deep down he’s a LLer, he just can’t say “I FUCKING HATE YOU FELIX HERNANDEZ YOU FUCKING RETARD” in all caps style on the air.
by Seattle Rodiners on May 20, 2009 2:57 AM PDT reply actions
Sims, however ...
I don’t listen to because I listen to Niehaus. Maybe Sims is just getting his wrists prepped for the slicing to come.
by Seattle Rodiners on May 20, 2009 2:59 AM PDT up reply actions
I think Neihaus really wants to go out with a winning ball club
Sims has plenty of years left… he can afford to be nonchalant about a losing club.
"I don’t listen to because I listen to Niehaus."
You racist bastard. ;)
"You're so beautiful. You could be a part-time model, but you'd probably still have to keep your normal job."
With Felix, I think the best answer is who fucking knows. Argghhhhh
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on May 20, 2009 6:32 AM PDT up reply actions
I listened to the fourth inning on the radio last night.
Dave had this weird tint to his voice. Even though Ichiro doubled down the right field line, Neihaus called the play with this weird gravely voice usually reserved for 11-0 losses. And Sims hasn’t raised the tone of his voice in practically 4 entire games.
I agree. I’m not sure what’s up with the announcers.
by .Taylor on May 20, 2009 7:59 AM PDT reply actions
Tasteless, maybe
True, absolutely.
"I call the big one Bitey."-Homer J. Simpson
by Willie Mays Haze on May 20, 2009 11:20 AM PDT up reply actions
Sometimes Dave's voice gets a little raw, happens now and then during the season.
Sometimes you’ll notice him take a step back when it’s his turn to do play by play for a bit. Also, he probably has a pretty good idea the capabilities of a team like this, and what 6 games back could mean.
So he knows what a loser looks like?
How bad do you think he wants this year for Griffey? I get the impression Griffey is just about his second son, you know?
Dave Sims not raising his voice is a good thing
I tire very rapidly of announcers who think they need to exaggerate their tone of voice for a routine putout in the fourth inning of a game in March as if it were the final out of Game 7 of the World Series.
Nice Guys Finish Third - My semantics are a waste of time.
You must not listen to the radio broadcast
or, more specifically, every other inning of the radio broadcast.
by G_ on May 20, 2009 9:16 AM PDT up reply actions
I don't.
I usually watch on TV, only occasionally do I hear the radio broadcast.
Nice Guys Finish Third - My semantics are a waste of time.
It's important for a radio call of the game, and that's why Niehaus is a legend.
The TV broadcast, however, requires a lot less showmanship.
Funny how when you listen to him long enough, you can tell right off the bat if it's a homerun or just a moonshot to the warning track.
The part that gives me the heart attack is when he draws his breath for the call, you can hear the sharp intake over the mike. A split second of speech and I can almost always tell if it’s a hit or an out.
I think there’s some nuance to radio only games you only pick up over time, it’s nice though. You can tune out the game completely until something important is happening, the sound of the announcers voice brings you back when it matters. Daves voice works the best for me, Rizzs not so much. Simms is going to be a good one, and I think there’s a good reason why Blowers is tv only.
That's an interesting point. You really do get to understand his tones and pauses,
and it completely colors the way you think about the action. Niehaus does a great job of creating the baseball game around you, where other radio guys really do not.
I've only noticed it this year
but when they go through the league scoreboard on the post-game show and play clips of other announcers, it sounds like a lot of them don’t give a good god damn about a HR or a nice defensive play. Dave is awesome even in his senile years, and even Rizz sounds better than most of those guys in my opinion. I think we’re pretty lucky on the radio here.
by appleshampoo on May 20, 2009 12:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Honestly I think I've noticed more mistakes on HR calls at Safeco than just about any other stadium.
From the seats up there everything in the air looks good to go right off the bat. Which stadiums have the press boxes on similar angles or more to the sides? I have no idea. I only mention HR calls since they seem to draw the most ire, I don’t know what to think about mixing up players etc.
Only this year?
I’ve noticed it for a long, long time. Every year between ‘96 and last year that Niehaus didn’t win the Frick award left me wondering who in the world was winning them. Niehaus has a true gift and yes, even “happy totals” Rizzs is better than most. Broadcasters everywhere else in the nation tend to either piss me off or put me to sleep.
This actually extends beyond baseball too…Raible, Callabro, Bob Rondeau. How is it that such a crappy sports city has such great broadcasters?
I'm more like I am now than I've ever been.
I suppose I should have said that his tone lacks any sort of inflection.
It’s practically a monotone. A little color now and then can’t be a bad thing.
by .Taylor on May 20, 2009 9:42 AM PDT up reply actions
However it is very uncharacteristic for Sims
which makes me wonder what the deal is.
by Jeff Sullivan on May 20, 2009 1:48 PM PDT up reply actions
I hate Sims. He makes so many dumb comments such as
Runner on 3rd, 1 out the other night.
“Gutierrez hits it deep, this will get the run home and then some”
No Dave, there was no “then some”. It was a sacrifice fly routinely caught. You knew it was going to be caught, so what is this “then some” you are referring to?
I love Dave Sims because he's a goofball
by Graham MacAree on May 20, 2009 10:07 AM PDT up reply actions
I agree
He doesn’t take the game or himself too seriously, and I love that. I just tire of the volume, but that’s by no means exclusive to Sims.
Nice Guys Finish Third - My semantics are a waste of time.
Dave Sims is a good sport and, as Poochie said, goes on far less antiquated and completely wrong BS rants
about things like ‘establishing the fastball’ or whatever that Mike Blowers says with every other sentence. And he’s not a forced spray can of personality like Rizzs.
I don’t need the announcers to try (and fail) to explain baseball to me. I just need them to not annoy me. Dave Sims is perfect.
And to be fair
that call on Guitierrez was made because it was NOT a routine pop up… It was a pretty well stroked ball that looked like it might be a double for a second there.
I really like Sims
I realize that his baseball IQ isn’t that of other play by play guys, but he makes a lot of amusing comments and doesn’t rant about useless bullshit.
He said that because the ball started carrying and the OF kept drifting back toward the wall.
and could have looked, especially to someone with not tons of baseball viewing history, that it had a chance to be a home run.
It wasn’t a particularly dumb comment.
To be fair to Sims, I wasn't watching the play at the time and just listening to him.
So maybe if you’re watching the game, it’s not a big deal because you can see where the ball is going, but if you’re just listening, you would have expected a double or homer from his call.
I just think he jumps the gun on stuff. Don’t tell me that Balentien’s homer “is gone” when it hits the wall. And don’t tell me that a ball hit to the outfield is going to result in an extra base hit, when the guy eventually catches it and it’s just a sac fly.
It’s not big deal really, but he should wait to be reasonably sure of what is going on before making comments like the one above.
But he is goofy. The other night wearing an M’s cap in the booth when they cut to him. I don’t know if that’s common or not, but I cant recall any other announcer wearing the team cap or shirt when calling the game.
My favorite Sims moment was the other night...
When he said “GONE!” right after (I think it might have been) Balentien’s swing….
…It was not gone.
"You're so beautiful. You could be a part-time model, but you'd probably still have to keep your normal job."
Sims got excited on the Guti walk off single, but that's about all I can think of since the first game of the Red Sox series
"Get up you crazy black man, I'm gonna make you drink my piss!" - Will Ferrell.
Remove Brandon Morrow and this team is .500
This is a stupid conversation
by Graham MacAree on May 20, 2009 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions
And, since Branyan has been worth 1.3 WAR, if you remove Branyan, the team is 17-23 or 16-24.
Last year on this date the M’s were 15-25. And that’s only if you replace Branyan with a replacement level player. If we didn’t have Branyan, we’d probably have LaHair or Carp at first, neither of whom are replacement level (well, maybe LaHair is).
I will smash your face into a jelly.
by Phil Hatzenbuehler on May 20, 2009 8:57 AM PDT up reply actions
Take the Ichiroth root and I'm not sure what would happen
by Dewey N on May 20, 2009 9:16 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Obviously we need to take the integral of (Yuni)dy.
That would solve our problems.
by .Taylor on May 20, 2009 9:46 AM PDT up reply actions
Yuni's definite integral is probably just his volume
Take density of human body = density of water ~ 64lb/ft^3
Take weight of Yuni as 190lb (from BR)+30lb (because BR is lying) = 220lb
As density is mass/volume and standard unit weights can be treated as masses under Earth surface gravity:
Volume = 220/64 = 3.44ft^3
My problems are not yet solved. What am I doing wrong?
by Graham MacAree on May 20, 2009 9:58 AM PDT up reply actions
If we keep that up the rest of the season, we'll lose 144 games
but only score 153 fewer runs than we give up.
I'm more like I am now than I've ever been.
Maybe Felix is blowing it on purpose.
He wants to stay with the Mariners so badly he is helping justify an under-market long term contract.
...and now I'm here
Why do I feel like I am playing Where's Ronny?
by Kirsten Schlewitz on May 20, 2009 11:43 AM PDT reply actions
Heh.
very, very back, behind the blond in the lime-green shirt, is either Ronny or a very large primary school child.
Or some random adult that isn't Ronny
"Get up you crazy black man, I'm gonna make you drink my piss!" - Will Ferrell.
I thought the kid in the blue hoodie
Was clutching some sort of superhero doll.
Ronny.
by Kirsten Schlewitz on May 20, 2009 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions
That's Reggie Willits...
This signature space for rent.
by PositivePaul on May 20, 2009 1:22 PM PDT up reply actions
It may have already been brought up a while ago
but have people seen this Cheezburger promo on the M’s website. My friends are making fun of me. M’s what are you thinking?
Oh dear lord.
They’re trying to make me forget about my hatred of the wave by introducing something 1000x worse to baseball.
angels fan in seattle
Great. Get ready for LOLRallyfries.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
That might be a good night to bring out the banhammer for a public appearance.
It's hard to convince people to let you eat them if you're an asshole. - Thingray
It’s a Cheezburger Night wif the Seattle Mariners(Safeco Field on Thursday, July 9) Bring awl of ur frends and familee 2 dis fun event. We will haz sum awesum pre-game festivitiez and u can meet sum noo Cheez Frends! And if u buy ur tickets thru dis speshul offer, u git a FREE Cheezburger Nite t-shirt! Woo hoo
C u awl der!
God yes
Lineup
Ichiro RF
Beltre 3B
Griffey Jr. DH
Balentien LF
Russell Branyan 1B
Kenji Johjima C
Jose Lopez 2B
Yuniesky Betancourt SS
Franklin Gutierrez CF
Goodness me.
Hmm, normally slumping players get moved down in the order, not up.
Oh wait, this whole lineup is slumping, sans Branyan. Never mind then.
I'm more like I am now than I've ever been.
Uhhh, Guti is batting 9th?
He’s 4th in OBP and 5th in OPS
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