The Bottom of the Ninth
by Matthew on Apr 10, 2010 4:53 PM PDT
in Seattle Mariners Game Recaps
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PrintIt was brief but boy was it packed with meaning.
David Aardsma started off with David Murphy and looked like the closing ace that everyone else saw in 2009, running him to a 1-2 count and then blowing another fastball right by Murphy despite it coming in the same place as the prior two pitches. It wasn't a dominating strikeout like the kind Felix can engineer when he mixes up his pitches, but it's the sort of intimidating strikeout when you can throw the same pitch three straight times and the hitter can do nothing with it.
Time for Elvis Andrus to step up. Andrus fouled off three pitches and worked a 2-2 count before sending a centered, belt-high fastball to deeeeeep right center. It was providence that it was hit to a little outcropping in the outfield wall, allowing Franklin Gutierrez a few more needed feet to keep the ball in the yard. What can be said about that catch? Gutierrez has been on fire with his glove (and his bat) this year and just watching this guy patrol the field makes me feel secure in my faith in his UZR this season. David Aardsma may make us nervous, but Franklin Gutierrez makes me hopeful.
While trying to catch our breath over Guti's play, Aardsma faced Julio Borbon and quickly had him at 1-2. A ball and four fouls later, Aardsma got a foul tip into Rob Johnson's glove on the ninth pitch and the inning, and game, was over. Two swinging strikeouts and one fly ball to the wall. David Aardsma in three batters.
GIFs (caution, they're big files):
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Remarkable.
Just remarkable. I love that man.
At first I thought it would've been a double
But I think, upon further review, that it could have bounced on the wall and went over for a home run.
Amazing either way. Taking gracefulness to a whole new level.
Guti puts the Ultimate in Ultimate Zone Rating
by ralphie81 on Apr 10, 2010 5:07 PM PDT reply actions 16 recs
Please do not make a comment that's just "rec'd"
That’s the same as “+1” or “this” and neither are allowed. If you like the post, rec it. If you have some reason behind rec’ing it you would like to share, feel free, but a comment that’s just “rec’d” is redundant.
Guti puts the boner in Ultimate Zbone Rating
angels fan in seattle
by Eyebrows on Apr 10, 2010 5:24 PM PDT up reply actions 5 recs
Wait I meant Penistimate Zbone Raping
He is not second best.
by OlSalty on Apr 10, 2010 5:27 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Jesus Christ
That might be the best catch he’s ever made. That ball was easily I dunno, at least 80 feet to his left on a line?
Anything that makes Ichiro freak out is special.
Still thought the one vs Minnesota where he robbed Kubel of a 3-run homer by
sailing over the wall and pulling it back, on the backhand was the best.
This was pretty sick though, especially given how this first week has gone.
Watching it again that might've been more difficult because it was over his head
But he covered way more ground in less time with this one.
There was a great quote after the game
Where Drayer had been talking to Ichiro about how he sometimes jokes that he talks the ball into his glove, and she asked him if Guti had done that on the catch. Ichi said something like “No, he just gets there. He doesn’t need to talk to the ball”
Rooting for lovable losers since 1984.
by seattlecougar on Apr 10, 2010 8:06 PM PDT up reply actions 4 recs
That is just ridiculous.
He’s runs at full speed and times his jump just right to make that catch. Unbelievable.
I don't know about that because the people who vote will never recognize defense enough
to properly evaluate Guti. However, if he can take another step forward with the bat, he should start getting the same love that Matt Kemp gets in regards to young stud center fielders
It seems to me like sabermetrics has taken a more mainstream acceptance.
I watch ESPN and Sportscenter quite a bit, and they have been injecting quite a lot of more “advanced” stats into their baseball coverage lately, things like UZR, OPS, WAR, etc. Sure some of the anchors laugh at it, but they’re retards anyway.
With the increased acceptance of “advanced” baseball statistics comes the increased focus on defense. People are finally realizing just how important defense really is, especially in CF.
Of course, to win a MVP Guti will have to hit, and hit really well. But I think that he could eek out a MVP in a year where he wOBAs something like .380-.390 and plays defense out of his mind like 2009. Too optimistic about the BBWAA writers changing their minds about “advanced” statistics? Maybe. But then again, I never thought I’d see WAR on Sportscenter, so who knows.
by Jackle Mackle on Apr 10, 2010 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions
If he wOBAs .385, he's a slam dunk MVP
by seattlebruin on Apr 11, 2010 12:33 AM PDT up reply actions
With the current voters
he’ll probably need 110 RBIs to add enough “traditional” shine to his resume of awesome.
by Sukafish on Apr 11, 2010 1:38 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
I didn't appreciate how
damn far he ran before making that catch until watching that first .gif. Absolutely awesome.
Aardsma is so lucky he got traded to the Mariners.
I mean, he’s a pitcher who gives up a lot of deep fly balls, and happens to pitch in front of the best outfield defense in the game, in one of the most pitcher friendly stadiums in the game. I wonder how his career would look right now had he been traded elsewhere or stayed in Boston.
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
Don't thank Mr. Gutierrez
Just Mrs. Gutierrez, as I am starting to believe that Franklin was born of a Virgin…
by Andrew E on Apr 10, 2010 5:30 PM PDT up reply actions 8 recs
To me the fact that Ichiro is so far away from that ball
is the most telling thing about how awesome Guti is. That ball was in the zone between CF and RF so you might think they would be at least similar distances away from the ball. Guti has that Mike Cameron-esque ability to just know where the ball is going from the sound off the bat.
I don't think it was between CF and RF
I think it was already fully into RF territory. It was impossible for Ichiro to make, since he would’ve had to run backwards and make some sort of hypothetical flying basket catch.
It was definitely not in CF, unless you consider CF to be 80% of the outfield.
Actually it's kinda still on the borders of CF
Looked at Gameday. Either the Gameday dimensions are wrong, or the catch wasn’t as far away from his original position as I thought it was.
Overlooked in Gutierrez's awesomeness is the fact that Aardsma gave up yet another warning track fly ball.
I'd sleep at the Internet, but I've found servers don't make for good pillows.
Actually, discussed right above this
^
I think this is pretty much what Wak is going on about, real numbers and all that – "We have three guys who between them catch literally everything hit x ft high, so of course I’m ok with having Captain Deepfly closing.
I can't run the live-updating comments without my computer trying to explode, so I didn't see it.
I got up in the middle of my comment to compose myself.
I'd sleep at the Internet, but I've found servers don't make for good pillows.
by thehemogoblin on Apr 10, 2010 6:20 PM PDT up reply actions
I like the zoomed in one the best!
It’s been added to my favorites!
Right now I'm dreaming of Carl Crawford. Maybe next year...(or this year at the trade deadline)...
And that picture is pretty awesome too.
"Why did he run when I was going to throw him out?"
- Ichiro Suzuki
by Slow Country on Apr 10, 2010 10:19 PM PDT up reply actions
Just seeing the catch for the first time as I heard it on radio
and it is every bit as spectacular as Dave made it sound. If there was one clip of Niehaus’ I would show people that have no clue who he is it might be that call. Gave me chills and goosebumps and made me freak out all at the same time. We are lucky people to have Guti in center and Niehaus to call his amazing catches. Can we just give Guti a lifetime contract now?
Just listened to Dave's call
Gameday Audio failed on me in the 8th innings, I had to follow all of this on gameday. The call was great, I freaked out all over again.
Even though he's in the twilight of his career
he’s still the best.
I don't have the bandwidth to use gameday or mlb.tv radio.
Does anyone know where I can listen to the call?
I second this.
Does anybody know where we can find a clip of Dave’s call?
by Matt Erickson on Apr 11, 2010 1:23 AM PDT up reply actions
Corco linked to it below.
by harkening on Apr 11, 2010 1:30 AM PDT up reply actions 2 recs
Thank you!
Right now I'm dreaming of Carl Crawford. Maybe next year...(or this year at the trade deadline)...
Good Gravy
That may be the greatest catch I’ve ever seen. Gutz really came out of nowhere for that.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
The crazy thing is I don't even know if that's the greatest catch I've seen Gutierrez make.
If that ball is a home run then this one gets the cap tip, but the catch in Minnesota last year in the opening series might be better.
Rob Johnson called the pitch that Guti was able to catch!
cERA rocks.
by Jackle Mackle on Apr 10, 2010 6:17 PM PDT up reply actions 4 recs
Eh..
I really don’t think so.
Yankee Hater.
by Ef the yankees on Apr 10, 2010 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions
Since Rob Johnson can't catch a baseball
He might have terrible hand-eye coordination. I wonder if he frequently misses high fives in the dugout.
I think he is just a chicken.
He is afraid of getting his face blown whenever pitchers throw a pitch in the dirt
Yankee Hater.
by Ef the yankees on Apr 10, 2010 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions
I love Guti so freaking much.
Ichiro’s reaction made this catch even better.
The video's up on mlb.com
Watched it like 20 times already… man he’s awesome _
Oh, and best part about the clip
Was the reaction of the fans up over right field.
“Omfg did that just happen? DAM IT!” xD Love it…
The best part
is that in the “Just the catch” clip, half of the fans have their hands up in celebration, yet none of them are moving. It is downright eerie to watch.
That is how fast Franklin Gutierrez is.
That's because his catch was as fake as the moon landings!!
If you watch it at half speed you can easily see the fishing wires moving him AND he outruns his shadow. Clearly these indict a choreographed, previously filmed stage setting that fox, mlb, etc switched to after Elvis Andrus hit the ball.
Don’t even get me started on Ichiro’s area 51 or Felix pitching from the grassy knoll.
by John Edwards on Apr 11, 2010 5:20 AM PDT up reply actions 5 recs
The best part is the guy in the green pointing the ball into DTFT's glove
Lower left in the stands… middle in the gif.
by Robert Lintott on Apr 11, 2010 8:15 AM PDT up reply actions
I like the guy in white next to said guy in green who has his hands up.
Only to put them behind his head in disappointment.
Also a die-hard Hawks fan.
by Hopefulmsfan on Apr 11, 2010 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Just watched the "Felix Strong Start" video. A third of those had Rob Johnson dropping a pitch. Yar.
Hard work never killed nobody, but I won't take my chances.
Our center fielder is better AND more attractive in a sexual way than yours.
by DrunkAmerican on Apr 10, 2010 6:33 PM PDT reply actions
I am implying Michael Jordan.
Well, I know it’s a close call
Yankee Hater.
by Ef the yankees on Apr 10, 2010 10:05 PM PDT up reply actions
I love how he like punches Ichiro with his glove.
A Mariners fan in Seattle
by Coach Owens on Apr 10, 2010 7:16 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Well
“Swung on, fly ball hit to deep right center field, back on the ball is…MAKING THE LEAP OUT THERE AND THE CATCH, FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ! DEATH! DEATH TO FLYING THINGS! AS HE MAKES THE LEAP, UP AGAINST THE WALL, AT THE 377 SIGN, AND TAKES AWAY, A TYING HOME RUN! MY, OH MY!”
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on Apr 10, 2010 9:57 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Not according to Dave Niehaus
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on Apr 10, 2010 10:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh it probably was the section number.
by DrunkAmerican on Apr 10, 2010 10:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Don't believe Niehaus
He is clearly losing it. He gets about 5 to 10 calls wrong every game. “He swings and misses on a Change” and the gun says 93mph.
I'm not saying it was'nt 377
Just saying he gets a lot of calls mixed up. He reminds me of my grandma who recentley has been calling me Anthony even know she knows my name is Andrew…
But shes still your grandma
and likewise Niehaus is still the voice
by KarateManChan37 on Apr 10, 2010 11:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh, I think it is.
We on LL have an unspoken rule to not discuss problems with Dave Niehaus, since he has earned the right to have all of the problems he wants.
...and now I'm here
You are pretty much alone on that opinion here
Because Dave Sims is fucking awesome and you should love him
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on Apr 10, 2010 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions
When you say things like...
“Thats why you Mariner fans……” He does’nt seem like he considers himself part of this team. I don’t like that about him. If he said that once I would be fine with it. I’ve heard him say it far more than once though…
Dave Sims seems to genuinely enjoy himself in the booth.
I like that in him. Add to that, he isn’t a blatant homer but can really get into a call when something good happens.
I’d take him over most broadcasters out there and I’d definitely take him over Rizzs.
I think what makes me want to NOT hear Sims is his passion for the Mariners.
Sometimes you hear him during games when we are losing you can hear him going ho-hum but I guess that grows with time.
by KarateManChan37 on Apr 11, 2010 1:14 AM PDT up reply actions
Although I hate to hear him say it because we're losing when he does,
I like his delivery of “oh brother” when something bad goes down.
Batted .393/.614/.464 for 2009 Diablos, #5 in OBP for PSSBL Rocky Division.
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Apr 11, 2010 2:06 AM PDT up reply actions
I suppose as my grandmother's grandson I don't really want to hear people talk about how she's losing it
and the same thing would apply to Niehaus. We all know it, no reason to talk about it.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
I maintain that while Dave may not handle the play action as well as he used to
he still handles the large amounts of time between pitches and at bats better than the majority of broadcasters in baseball. As long as he’s willing and capable of telling stories and painting pictures with words, I’m more than happy to sit by and listen.
by BrianL on Apr 10, 2010 11:16 PM PDT up reply actions 6 recs
Exactly
Niehaus is a large part of why I still enjoy listening to baseball on the radio- he is like a grandparent- chock full of old stories and vivid imagery. He’s still a ton of fun to listen to.
As much as I may like Hawk Harrelson’s TV style and random cliches, there’s nobody better at making baseball sound majestic and sacred like Niehaus does.
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
WOW. I never said anything bad about him.
And NO, I don’t mind hearing about my grandma. I love her and the fact that she’s “losing it”. A lot of my friends think she drinks when shes never had a drop. As far as Dave, I would’nt want anyone else calling a game other than Dave and I did not know it was some sort of unwritten rule not to talk about him. Sorry…
Here
Not such great audio and it’s WMA, but it gets the job done
http://www.davidjcorcoran.com/gutz.wma
Determined, Jonesing Commentor
by Corco on Apr 10, 2010 10:03 PM PDT up reply actions 10 recs
Call your doctor if you experience an erection lasting longer than 4 hours.
by harkening on Apr 11, 2010 1:09 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Or call Guti.
Also a die-hard Hawks fan.
by Hopefulmsfan on Apr 11, 2010 1:33 AM PDT up reply actions
Baseball can't give you a hard-on.
That’s just science.
by DrunkAmerican on Apr 10, 2010 10:29 PM PDT up reply actions
Watching it over and over again
That catch was definitely more impressive than I had initially thought. The way Gutierrez covered so much ground and made a catch mid-leap…the timing of that play is simply astounding.
Especially the grab itself. He goes up and grabs it down in an instant
It happens so fast, most fans misjudge the difficulty of it. Some players make easy plays with huge over dramatic dives and showy grabs, and most fans go “omfg he looked awesome”.
I hated that play in 2003 where Jeter dove into the stands.
He caught the ball almost 5 full strides from the seats. There were all sorts of things he could do, but he chose to dive into the seats to show us all how hard he plays.
I like using semi-colons; they make me feel smart.
I really love that play.
Right now I'm dreaming of Carl Crawford. Maybe next year...(or this year at the trade deadline)...
Only Jeter play actually worth noting
Was when he flipped the throw to get Giambi out at the plate back in the 2001 ALDS. Not a catch, but probably best play I’ve ever seen. So heads up.
Wow
wow wow
I want to poop at your house - Thingray
by tootthekazoo on Apr 10, 2010 9:34 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I liked Aardsma's quote..
“I thought it was long gone, but if it’s in our hemisphere, Franklin can catch it”
Am I the only that feels sorry for Rob Johnson?
I mean the guy is doing his best. I get that he is a mediocre catcher all-around and that he doesn’t contribute that much. But, does he really deserve all the hate considering Jack Zduriencik and Don Wakamatsu are the ones who are putting him on the field?
I fail to see how he's a mediocre catcher all-around.
He can’t hit (or hasn’t shown he can hit) and he can’t catch the baseball.
He’s a good game caller, solid thrower, and seem to have a good repore with the pitchers which is good, but I really can’t get over the amount of balls he lets bounce out of his mitt. He was god awful today in that area.
Catchers usually don’t hit a ton but he’s still seems to be behind in that area, and I don’t care how well you call a game, you can’t consistently drop pitches and let pitches get away the way he does and be considered a good defender.
Wak calls the game, you can see Rob looking in the dugout and sometimes see Wak sending pitch signs.
True.
This actually bugged me a lot last year when people were giving Kenji crap for “calling a bad game” and not handling the pitchers. It’s clear that Kenji looked frequently toward the dugout to get instructions on the game plan or pitch sequence.
It makes me wonder what would happen if Wak decided to stop micromanaging for a few games; who would be a better catcher then?
It isn't his fault necessarily that he's getting playing time, and I don't think any of us would turn down a major league paycheck if offered to us, no matter how bad we suck
And I think to a point we are angry at the management for making the decisions that allow bad players like Rob Johnson to have the opportunity to lose us games. But when it really comes down to it, these are major league baseball players getting paid millions of dollars, and they shouldn’t be consistently fucking up the easiest part of the game. Also, the concept of a catcher who can’t actually catch the ball is just all to ironic and ridiculous.
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on Apr 10, 2010 11:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Too*
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on Apr 10, 2010 11:47 PM PDT up reply actions
Great Call,
I like how he said it, it was almost like a speech the way he paused.
by WestCoastBias. on Apr 10, 2010 11:47 PM PDT up reply actions
It was like almost like Theoden's pep talk before the big battle in the Return of The King
DEAAAATTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 minute-ish in in this video.
And Gutz’ catch of course on mlb.com’s highlights, in case anyone didn’t see it
by Decatur on Apr 11, 2010 12:20 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Number 5 on Sports Center Top 10.
Really? Only number 5? If he dove it would’ve been number 1. But then again, Friday’s catch wasn’t even in the Top 10.
Also a die-hard Hawks fan.
Number 2 Web Gem
The number 1 was a dive….
by Snuffleupagus on Apr 11, 2010 6:51 AM PDT up reply actions
Of course it was. Sigh...
A Mariners fan in Seattle
by Coach Owens on Apr 11, 2010 8:12 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don't get BBTN.
Dives are so boring and ugly and a demonstration of a lack of range. And usually completely unnecessary.
To be fair to that play
It was basically a do or die play. Two outs, bottom 9, bases loaded, one run lead. Either Harris makes the catch and the Nats win, or the ball drops and they almost certainly lose.
DTFT’s catch was more difficult, and almost as “important,” but I can see the logic.
Oh, and it was an East Coast game, so…
I'd rather know a little about a lot than a lot about a little
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