Navigation: Jump to content areas:

Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: The Most Dangerous Division in Sports

13-21, Chart

Wbc_029_tiny by Jeff Sullivan on in Seattle Mariners Game Recaps

5_13wec_medium

Biggest Contribution: Ichiro, +35.8%
Biggest Suckfest: Brandon League, -70.1%
Most Important AB: Ichiro homer, +24.7%
Most Important Pitch: Scott grand slam, -61.1%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -42.2%
Total Contribution by Lineup: -7.8%
Total Contribution by Opposition: 0.0%
(What is this chart?)

Comment 289 comments  |  0 recs  | 

Do you like this story?

Read More: Seattle Mariners, Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles, May 13, 2010 9:35 AM PDT

Comments

Display:

My initial reaction to these stunning turn of events:

Oh man, we haven’t lost that way in a while! At least it was different.

by ThundaPC on May 13, 2010 12:26 PM PDT reply actions  

My only complaint about this game was that League appeared from the first batter

to not have his good stuff. Would have liked to have seen some back up getting ready in the pen.

But it appears that right now League is the only guy that Wak trusts in a close game. This manager for some reason has real issues with Shawn Kelley.

by Rudy4three on May 13, 2010 12:28 PM PDT reply actions  

I feel like this game needs to be played on a loop in Wak and Z's hotel room

until Rob Johnson is demoted or released. You can make a decent case that if we have (random, semi-competent catcher) in the game we win.

by TheBishop on May 13, 2010 12:29 PM PDT reply actions  

I do wonder what goes through their minds when they watch Johnson fail in very important ways, over and over again.

They’re clearly smart guys. They must recognize that Johnson is terrible. They must want to replace him if they could find a better option. Mustn’t they?

by Chris Hafner on May 13, 2010 12:32 PM PDT up reply actions  

I am yearning for the days of simple poor play behind the plate.

Please just give me bad guys. Not “Got picked last in sandlot games because his friends thought he was retarded” bad.

by TheBishop on May 13, 2010 12:36 PM PDT up reply actions  

no no no

I’m saying that unlike 2008, we have buffer room at the end of the season to win the meaningless series and still get Strasburg!

by seattlebruin on May 13, 2010 12:35 PM PDT up reply actions  

Hope.

Hope in losing, but still.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 12:38 PM PDT up reply actions  

Can someone explain something?

I was of the understanding that we don’t have a first round pick this year.. Is that pick protected or am I just wrong?

by Paseman on May 13, 2010 1:21 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions  

We don't have a first-round pick in this upcoming draft.

We gave it to the Angels by signing Figgins. Because our record put us in the top half of MLB, our pick wasn’t protected.

by Teej on May 13, 2010 1:28 PM PDT up reply actions   2 recs

Thanks

I get confused by the midseason draft, now I see our record can net us a high pick NEXT draft..

by Paseman on May 13, 2010 3:41 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions  

You would think that the sheer scale of awful performance and luck would regress positively at some point.

It’s just really, really unfortunate that it hasn’t happened yet. It would be cold comfort if it everything picked up again when the team was already way out of the hunt.

by Chris Hafner on May 13, 2010 12:33 PM PDT up reply actions  

Sell what?

Used cars? Crack? Amway?

by pdb on May 13, 2010 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions  

Crack is pretty profitable.

Lets go with that.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 12:41 PM PDT up reply actions  

Also, I hate Ken Rosenthal.

I bet he’s sitting back and laughing, thinking that he’s the most clever sportswriter ever.

Got my sig stolen

by Coach Owens on May 13, 2010 12:41 PM PDT reply actions  

GOD.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 12:42 PM PDT up reply actions  

Maybe the season isn't "over" for us yet, but it's starting to look like unless something major breaks our way very soon we'll have no choice but to be sellers at the deadline

We may not technically be out of it yet, and there’s no way this performance is going to continue over a full season, but our playoff chances are getting so low now, they’re going to have to start playing good baseball right now or we’re going to have to take the long-term health of franchise route and sell Lee and others at the deadline. Can we really start playing good baseball and pull to withing 2-3 games of the Rangers by then? We might, but a lot of people think there’s a lot of time to get all of this bad luck sorted out, but there’s really not anymore. They’ve got 1.5-2 months before we need to make an organizational decision to sell at the deadline or go for it. A lot of people need to start playing a lot better and they don’t have that much time to do it.

Every one loss means less time until we have to make the keep or sell decisions on some guys that will ultimately decide whether we’re still going for it or looking ahead to the future.

by OlSalty on May 13, 2010 12:43 PM PDT reply actions   4 recs

Nobody will buy Lee at the deadline

he’s a free agent after the season. Why trade for him in July?

by pdb on May 13, 2010 12:44 PM PDT up reply actions  

Because then you could get the draft picks back.

Sabathia was traded after all. It probably won’t net much, but in theory it should net more to trade him in July than to hold onto him the whole year if there’s no hope

by Matthew on May 13, 2010 12:46 PM PDT up reply actions  

True but

would the selling team be less willing to part with worthwhile parts other than the draft picks, if they know they can just write a check in November? I don’t know, I’m just curious.

by pdb on May 13, 2010 12:48 PM PDT up reply actions  

Playoff runs inspire teams to do dumb things.

The Cardinals gave up their top prospect (and then some) for half a year of Holliday last year.

by Jon S. on May 13, 2010 1:14 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions  

My guesss it is it will net us better than the type A compensation picks for keeping him, and the quality of picks we gave up to get him

Since the team we trade to will get those picks instead, they’ll have to do better than that value to get us to trade him. He would make for a huge bump for pretty much every team in wins, and the better they are not he more valuable those wins are even if you’ve only got him for 6 months, and you can recoup some of those losses with the supplemental picks.

by OlSalty on May 13, 2010 1:59 PM PDT up reply actions  

I checked on the score to see that we were ahead and figured that I wouldn't miss much while doing accounting.

This is the first time I have ever been glad that I did accounting.

"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good and let me be judged accordingly. The rest is silence." ~ Dinobot

by beastwarking on May 13, 2010 12:50 PM PDT reply actions   2 recs

Well then, now I'm glad that I couldn't watch this game.

I’m only sobbing silently at my desk instead of destroying everything in the house.

by drblacknwhite on May 13, 2010 12:52 PM PDT reply actions  

I unfortunately am nearly finished with destroying everything.

My dog ran away. That was probably a good thing.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 12:54 PM PDT up reply actions  

I feel like right now Jack needs to offer Cliff Lee a reasonable extension or trade him.

If he takes the extension, it proves that this year is not our “only” shot. That we’ll have 5 more years of Lee and Hernandez and we can relax a bit more about this year. That we’ll have 5 years to get some hitters on this team.

If he doesn’t sign the extension, lets start the bidding wars.

by Kenny Knows Sports on May 13, 2010 12:57 PM PDT reply actions  

You're right but on the other hand I think every pitcher should always be concerned about blowing out his arm at any time.

Its a small risk, but if 90 million were on the table its something to think about. I don’t think he’s going to get CC money, somewhere between Lackey and Zito.

by Kenny Knows Sports on May 13, 2010 1:02 PM PDT up reply actions  

Sure he would have to think it over. But why not wait and sign a better contract with a good team at the end of the year.

I see what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s enough to get him to sign.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 1:04 PM PDT up reply actions  

I think he gets CC money if he goes to the Yankees.

Of course, if he goes to the Yankees then there’s no reason to watch baseball for a few years.

by Eyeball Kid on May 13, 2010 1:04 PM PDT up reply actions  

Felix, Ichiro, Guti.

If any of those three gets injured or traded I quit. I fucking quit.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 1:06 PM PDT up reply actions  

I agree

I would imagine there’s some sort of extension offer on the table right now. I would up the offer a bit and put a time limit on it (say a month). If he hasn’t accepted and we still suck, trade him.

by Jon S. on May 13, 2010 1:24 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions  

What kind of return can

we expect if we trade him in July?

by Luisam on May 13, 2010 1:05 PM PDT reply actions  

Players that can

make a difference? or is it better we get the draft picks?

by Luisam on May 13, 2010 1:08 PM PDT up reply actions  

and I

mean in the future.

by Luisam on May 13, 2010 1:09 PM PDT up reply actions  

It's Z.

Theres a good chance we can completely rape some farm system.

Everything is Rob Johnson's fault.

by the other side on May 13, 2010 1:10 PM PDT up reply actions  

More than likely a safer bet would be to take players over picks.

Ace pitchers are valuable in playoff runs, and teams pay (hopefully overpay) a hefty price for such a commodity.

by Ballard Erik on May 13, 2010 1:11 PM PDT up reply actions  

Its hard to say

The trade probably has a better chance of paying off but its just not realistic to expect to get a top prospect for a guy who’s contract is up, more than likely you’d get 3 or 4 mid level prospects with chances of maybe becoming major league players some day.

by wetzelcoal on May 13, 2010 1:14 PM PDT up reply actions  

We can get plenty

In the Holliday trade last year, the A’s got Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen and Shane Peterson. That’s one top prospect and two solid ones. All of these guys should be major leaguers (Mortensen and Wallace as early as this year) and Wallace has All-Star potential with the bat. And by most accounts the trade was even, and that’s before Holliday re-upped with the Cardinals.

by Jon S. on May 13, 2010 1:37 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions  

How the As managed that trade is still a mystery to me

But the better comparisons in this case are C.C. Sabathia to the Brewers and Lee last year to the Phillies since we’re dealing with pitchers rather than an everyday player. Of the 8 players Toronto and Cleveland got in those trades 2 are currently in the majors and both are hitting bellow .200 they could still turn out to be good and the chances of somebody out of the group of prospects turning into something was certainly better than the chances of the draft picks those teams would have gotten panning out but the fact of the mater is that its rare for a team to get a guaranteed impact player back as part of a trade at the deadline. So while trading Cliff Lee at the deadline would make sense if the Ms are out of the race don’t expect that trade to turn around 2011 or even 2012 for this team.

by wetzelcoal on May 13, 2010 1:50 PM PDT up reply actions  

Well trading for players, even just two players, you know what two players you are getting.

Waiting for type A, you dont know which draft picks you are getting or which two players. So its ALWAYS safer. But that doesn’t mean you trade just to make a trade.

The previous two Lee trades didn’t net those teams any apparent future stars. However, it doesn’t mean that the M’s couldn’t get one or two now. There’s no telling if its going to be a Teixeira deal, Bartolo Colon deal, or a Cliff Lee to Philly deal.

by Kenny Knows Sports on May 13, 2010 1:21 PM PDT up reply actions  

Remember how Chicago ruined our hopes and dreams last season too?

And to think we could have won all three of those games, and two of the three against Texas…Fuck ifs, there are WAY too many when you’re a Mariners fan.

Carlos Silvelite

by OceanBird on May 13, 2010 1:12 PM PDT reply actions  

It sounds like an obituary over at USSM right now.

Being a Mariner fan, it’s hard to give up when the season that saved baseball in Seattle had the M’s 13 1/2 back in August.

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 1:25 PM PDT reply actions  

I know, but the feeling of winning that tie-breaking game was enhanced by the fact we thought the team was done.

I might watch less games, lose a little hope, but I will never say a team is absolutely out of it in May in a weak division. Remember the Twins came back from a hole late last year. Or a few years ago when Houston was 7 back of St Louis with a week left. Houston won 6 in a row, St Louis lost 6 in a row, and it came down to the final game. St Louis won, but teams can cover some ground quickly.

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 1:30 PM PDT up reply actions  

The season that saved baseball in seattle was 15 years ago and none of those players are still with the team

Yes, I said “none of those players are still with the team”. I don’t know who the current #24 is but it’s not the 1995 one.

by pdb on May 13, 2010 1:27 PM PDT up reply actions   2 recs

Colorado was

20-30 on June 1st last year and won 92 games. Anything can happen.

by Luisam on May 13, 2010 1:27 PM PDT up reply actions  

Well it's May, so coming back from 5.5 games is not as improbable.

All I’m saying is teams make the playoffs with more games to make up than we have now, and it often happens at the end of the season enough that I have to challenge Dave’s assessment of this game. Hell if Oakland wins, we’re still 5.5 back. It’s not like we are chasing wild card teams. We have 4 more series against the A’s and Rangers, plenty of chances to gain ground. I know we all have 3-4 games in our heads that should have been wins. We could easily be a 16-17 team right now. I think regression will knock the A’s out, and the Rangers often fade in the Texas heat. If the Mariners can be within 4 on September 1st, well that’s striking distance.

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 1:44 PM PDT up reply actions  

I just don't want to be the guy that said the M's are done if they sweep the Rangers next month and we're only 2 back.

I don’t disagree with the probability, but as a fan we all are hoping to overcome the odds and win a championship. Even the Rays and Yankees will need some good fortune to go all the way. Yes, the odds are lower now, but things can change quick. If all I cared about was playoff odds, the Mariners wouldn’t be my team.

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 1:52 PM PDT up reply actions  

Its not that coming back is that improbable

Its that the longer the Ms keep losing the more the chance of making a comeback is taken out of their hands, with every additional loss it becomes more important not only for the Ms to start winning but for Texas to start losing. Even if the Ms turn it around tomorrow and play up to their ability for the rest of the season we are at the point now were that alone wouldn’t be enough, it would have to be accompanied by at least a minor collapse on the part of the Rangers in order for this team to get to the playoffs.

by wetzelcoal on May 13, 2010 1:54 PM PDT up reply actions  

I just think it's too early. We were 2 1/2 games up last year on May 3, 15-10 record.

Then we slowly lost ground. I don’t know if they can do what the Angels did last year, but I also don’t think they need to.

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 1:59 PM PDT up reply actions  

They're both already dead

oh you meant their lives, not their careers.

by pdb on May 13, 2010 2:03 PM PDT up reply actions   1 recs

Broken clocks, blind squirrels

doesn’t change the fact that Sweeney’s a dead man walking, career-wise

by pdb on May 13, 2010 2:06 PM PDT up reply actions  

Pretty sure the only reason that homer happened

is because he heard that Kevin Millwood’s fastball leaked the Griffey napping story.

by TheBishop on May 13, 2010 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions   2 recs

Yeah, but he has bat speed still.

If he’s a dead man walking, then Griffey is a Zombie. Griffey got all of a pitch last night and couldn’t hit it into RF seats. Sweeney drove the ball to center and. I think Sweeney got himself in shape and is getting all he can out of his body. Griffey do a damn thing to get ready.

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 2:09 PM PDT up reply actions  

Whatever.

Go Langerhans, go Saunders, go Felix, go Ichiro. The sign of being a Mariners fan is that I’m already over this loss and if the season is going to be filled with losing I find it’s (sadly?) really easy to just flip the switch to rooting for my favorite players and enjoying the baseball season.

by TheBishop on May 13, 2010 1:33 PM PDT reply actions  

yeah

What’s up with Saunders? I was about to drop him in my keeper league before he got called up. I activated him a few days ago due to some injuries and thought I’d ditch him once guys got back, and boom, after a lousy start to AAA, the guy is en fuego. Always talented but i thought something was wrong with him given how he struggled in the minors this year.

by wobatus on May 13, 2010 1:36 PM PDT up reply actions  

Brandon League/Hr-FB Rates

The idea is that generally a pitcher’s hr/fb rates should average about 11% and is mostly luck, park effects, etc.

Brandon League has pitched 222 1/3rd major league innings. He has never been below 12% in a given year (some very low innings years in there). He has given up 25 home runs and 133 flyballs, I believe, for an 18.8% career rate.

Since 2004, per fangraphs, only 3 pitchers in any given season of 100 iniings or more has given up as many or more homers/flyball than league in his career.

Brandon Webb in 2005 at 18.8%. Derek Lowe in 2005 at 18.9%. And Josh Geer last year at 19.3%.

Brandon Webb, Derek Lowe and Brandon League. 2 guys named Brandon. All 3 extreme groundballers, over 60%. All 3 above the 11% “average” on home runs to flyballs. League is at an extreme in that regard.

Oh, and I have Felix Hernandez and Brandon League on my fantasy team (holds count in our league). Aaaaargghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

by wobatus on May 13, 2010 1:33 PM PDT reply actions  

Understandably

And I will drop it. But I figured you might care about his extreme home run rates. It is kind of freakish. That’s an extremely high career rate.

by wobatus on May 13, 2010 1:39 PM PDT up reply actions  

Stuff like that is fine

as long as it doesn’t involve talking about fantasy teams – that’s a pretty strict no-no ’round here.

by pdb on May 13, 2010 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions  

Got it

Should have brushed up on the guidelines.

Saunders, i don’t know. It’s like a light switch went on. Small sample, i know, but he K’d a ton in the majors last year and it seemed to carry over to his start to the year in the PCL. I was wondering if he had changed his swing, had an injury or something.

by wobatus on May 13, 2010 1:44 PM PDT up reply actions  

Worth noting that innings may not be the best measure for League, since he's an extreme groundballer

He’s thrown more than 200 innings, yes, but he’s only allowed 133 fly balls over that span. That’s a pretty small sample. As a random example…Joe Saunders allowed 467 fly balls between 2008-2009.

League’ll average out. He may give up more HR/FB than the average guy, but this rate will regress.

by Jeff Sullivan on May 13, 2010 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions  

Duly noted

I mentioned the low flyball rate. That’s why i thought it interesting Lowe and Webb came up on that list of high hr/fb rates. It is interesting that over their entire careers (and some of Lowe’s precedes the data), all 3 of them are above that 11% average and are all extreme groundballers. But I can see your point. All 3 of them have smaller samples in that time than most because there are so few flyballs.

I am not sure of the latest thoughts on pitcher effect on this anyway. Pat Andriola had an article on Scott Olsen in hardball times which suggested his former over-reliance on his fastball may have led to higher homer/flyball rates. I kinda thought there was a body of thought that pitchers had little effect on this rate.

by wobatus on May 13, 2010 2:02 PM PDT up reply actions  

Am I the only one who doesnt really sweat this loss because Michael Saunders is showing

signs of being the long term answer in LF? I kinda don’t care that we lost given how well Saunders played today

by Rudy4three on May 13, 2010 1:56 PM PDT reply actions  

I'm glad Milton is fixing his issues and giving Saunders a chance.

We didn’t have to lose though. If we win, they still say “I like this kid in left, let’s get rid of a DH when Bradley gets back.”

by refuse2lose2010 on May 13, 2010 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions  

No, you're not. It's clearly the best thing to come out of the game.

But of course, Saunders being the long term answer in LF doesn’t really affect the team’s chances of competing this year.
I’m really pissed off because I think the team couldn’t afford this loss, but moderately hopeful that they’ll have less work to do to compete in 2011.

by marc w on May 13, 2010 2:46 PM PDT up reply actions  

So I just watched a replay of the Scott granny and how the hell wasn't that fan interference?

Saunders was within a few inches of the ball and then a fan just got his sausage fingers out there and knocked it away.

by abender20 on May 13, 2010 2:10 PM PDT reply actions  

Over the wall horizontally though.

That is, the plane of the wall extending vertically into space. I know Saunders was over the height of the wall, but I’m not sure he reached past the wall.

If that makes sense.

by Matthew on May 13, 2010 2:13 PM PDT up reply actions  

Ichiro is on fire!

Ichiro’s last 5 games
5/13-3/4
5/12-2/4
5/11-2/4
5/9-3/5
5/8-2/4

0.571 if my math is correct.

by level on May 13, 2010 7:06 PM PDT reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed

Search

User Tools

By reading a game thread of your own volition you agree to accept all liability for any and all damage done to your delicate sensibilities.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
Starlin Castro's fit with Seattle

by styks 3 days ago

28 comments

Kawasaki80_small
Lists! So many lists!

by J0SER 3 days ago

6 comments | 1 recs

M_s_hat_copy_small
OT -- May 22nd In Memoriam

by seattle_since_81 4 days ago

246 comments | 2 recs

Ichiro_small
Why do managers and media members hate walks?

by Smegmalicious 8 days ago

21 comments

Wbc_029_small
Friday Morning Music Thread

by Jeff Sullivan 8 days ago

49 comments

Small
Dustin Ackley BP swing vs game swing

by grante2 9 days ago

7 comments

Beastquakerwallpaper_small
More on the Struggles of Smoak

by Ben Knibbe 10 days ago

5 comments | 1 recs

Randy2_for_sbn_small
Albert Pujols 2012: Three Retrospectives

by fiftyone 11 days ago

3 comments | 1 recs

Small
On Batting Orders

by riverdog 11 days ago

23 comments

Niehaus_small
More on Dustin Ackley and the strikezone

by JLC 14 days ago

6 comments | 12 recs

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Recent Posts

Yahoo_full_count

In Association With

Baseball Nation Recent Stories

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies throws a pitch against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of a MLB interleague baseball game. Lee took the loss as the Red Sox defeated the Phillies 5-1. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

The Good And Winless

Third baseman Chone Figgins of the Seattle Mariners misplays this grounder by Jeff Mathis of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Safeco Field on in Seattle, Washington. Figgins was charged with an error on the play. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Chone Figgins: M's Won't Play Him, Won't Dump Him

Clearwater FL, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Nate McLouth (2) before the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Bright House Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE

Pirates DFA One-Season Wonder Nate McLouth

More from Baseball Nation >

Sexy People

Wbc_029_small Jeff Sullivan

Small Matthew

Claw_small JY