Series Preview: Toronto Blue Jays @ Seattle Mariners
by Matthew on May 19, 2010 1:30 PM PDT
in Seattle Mariners Previews
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PrintSeattle: 14-25
Toronto: 24-17
| MARINERS | Δ Ms | BLUE JAYS | EDGE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HITTING (wOBA) |
-39.9 (29th) | -4.0 | 6.9 (10th) | Toronto |
| FIELDING (?) | 17.3 (5th) | -1.0 | 5.3 (19th) | Seattle |
| ROTATION (tRA) |
-3.7 (19th) | -3.4 | 10.2 (15th) | Toronto |
| BULLPEN (tRA) |
-3.5 (23rd) | 1.9 | 9.4 (7th) | Toronto |
| OVERALL(RAA) |
-29.8 (25th) | -6.5 | 31.8 (9th) | TORONTO |
I hate defeatism. I find it incredibly pointless and depressing. It baffles me why anyone who is convinced that the team or game is hopeless still feels the compulsion to let others know that he or she feels that way. What are you trying to accomplish? Do people realize that you don't get extra credit for being the first to call "game over"?
I don't mean jokes about how bad this team is. Funny is funny and I'm firmly in the camp that if you can make it funny then anything goes. Furthermore, humor has healing properties and there's really not much else to do when faced with watching this team day in and day out other than to try to find the humor in it.
I don't mean comments critical of the team either, but criticism can be framed in such a way as to not invoke a feeling of everlasting loss. There's plenty to be critical of and most of it valid.
This is not a consensus mandate from the LL Powers, but rather a personal plea from someone who tries his best to help moderate the site and game threads in particular. Wading through thousands of comments each day for a team that is 14-25 is disheartening enough, so please do me a favor and search for the lighter side of this massacre of a season. Frustration at the team is to be expected, as is anger and even indifference. But not despondence. It's not healthy to wallow, so lets try to stay away from that.
Wed May 19, 19:10: Doug Fister vs. Brett Cecil*
Thu May 20, 12:40: Jason Vargas* vs. Ricky Romero*
There's something funny to me about a two game series in mid-May where we throw Doug Fister and Jason Vargas. Neither of the two garnered much consideration for our rotation plans just two months ago. We figured one might be holding down the fifth slot until Erik Bedard came back and we debated some on which of the two, plus other candidates, would be the best choice.
When it comes to TV shows, movies and the like, I am drawn more to stories and writing that I find interesting or thought-provoking. One of my favorite show concepts was Sliders, about a guy who discovers a way to travel through to alternate universes each with its own small historical change. The show itself wasn't all that great, but I love the idea and sometimes the success of Fister and Vargas so far this year feels like an alternate universe. If only escaping were as easy as it was on the show.
| Doug Fister | Jason Vargas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Brett Cecil | Ricky Romero | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Comments
I luckily stopped watching before Jerry O'Connell was replaced by his brother.
As said originally, great concept – but the show itself was always on shaky ground.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 3:17 PM PDT up reply actions
Thanks so much for the cry against defeatism.
One of the truly pointless exercises in this world. I’m at the point where I’m ready to enjoy this team regardless of its final record. I am quite frankly completed exhausted emotionally from rooting for a team that seems to cycle through so many players that serve no purpose (Everett, Vidro, Cairo, Player A, Griffey, Tui, etc. etc.). I just want them to make the changes needed to keep the lineup from being an abortion and go out and take their best shot the rest of the season. I won’t be pissed if we can’t make up for this shitty month and a half. Just make the team enjoyable for the rest of the year. Please.
Defeatism is the ugly stepchild of realism.
I know that there is a very small chance the M’s can come back from the hole their in. I don’t expect them to but I’m going to root like hell for it to happen and I will still be sad when it’s mathematically impossible for them to do so. Defeatism seems like it would involve more emotional detachment. At least from my view. Does that answer the question?
I would just have liked the question "Will this team make the playoffs?" to have been definitively answered in mid-May
If knowing that it has and being bummed by that make me a defeatist, well, I’m sorry. Expectations were far too high, apparently. I remember in 2004 I watched most of the end of the season just out of interest over the callups and how they were performing at the big league level. I can’t bring myself to be interested in dazzling pitching performance after dazzling pitching performance in 3-2 and 2-0 games.
Exactly.
I hate watching a lot of the players on this team. I just want to watch players who are fun to watch.
by Cantu Easley Winn on May 19, 2010 1:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Just give us the best team you can with what you have.
I’m not asking for trades. Put the best roster on the field. It feels like it’s been forever since the M’s tried the simple concept of letting the best talent play. I would like to see that happen and see what the results might be.
The best talent on the 40-man roster is not very deep or talented.
Seriously if you actually picked the players on this 25-man roster that you thought were going to help this team today and in the future, how many guys would you keep?
Ichiro
Gutierrez
Saunders
Felix
Lee
Vargas
Fister
Figgins
Aardsma
League
RRS
Lopez?
Jack Wilson?
Adam Moore for the future, not now.
Kelley
I’m sure I’m forgetting someone and everyone has their own opinion, but I’d keep half this roster maybe and replace the rest but we don’t have in-house replacements.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:01 PM PDT up reply actions
Can I still hate on Rob Johnson and Sean White?
"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
In a fun way. Not dread about it if that clears anything up
"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 19, 2010 2:11 PM PDT up reply actions
I dread Rob Johnson all day, everyday. He is a soul sucking, mind numbing tragishamockery of a baseball player.
And a worse human being. I’ve heard he gets his kicks from giving old ladies paper cuts between their fingers with paper dipped in lemon juice.
Wouldn't dipping paper in lemon juice make it soggy and impossible to give paper cuts with?
Rob Johnson invented AIDS
by I Lick Squirrels on May 19, 2010 2:18 PM PDT up reply actions
You're getting caught up in little things like this
when you could be helping spread the Rob Johnson smear campaign.
Your information is just a little off.
Rob Johnson definitely dips the old ladies’ hands in lemon juice after giving them paper cuts in between their fingers.
Rob Johnson invented AIDS
by I Lick Squirrels on May 19, 2010 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions
Hey did you guys hear about Rob Johnson?
Somebody told me he goes down to Home Depot and pays the migrant workers to go to his house and choke him in the shower.
by Mind of no mind on May 19, 2010 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Complaining about specific people or events is not defeatism.
Defeatism is an “all is lost” and “season over” mentality that goes into each and every comment someone makes.
...and now I'm here
Also, it should be noted that "Season Over" type comments are never funny and don't really add to the conversation.
So it’s not even defeatism itself that’s an issue, but rather the lack of originality that makes the comments boring and useless.
...and now I'm here
I've seen it done funny one time, Bill Paxton.
That was about it.
by Kermit. on May 19, 2010 3:04 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
"Season over" and "all is LOST"
This is like some weird omen.
Maybe the Mariners plane should crash land into an island.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Oh crap, that's negative.
I promise, they’ll find enlightenment there.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Yesterday he proved that even on his best days, Rob Johnson will help us lose.
Maybe if he faced Ben Sheets everyday as a DH, he’d be a replacement level player.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:20 PM PDT up reply actions
Just a few months ago Dave was so happy.
Poor Dave.
I think on April 21st we were all pretty happy.
And then the M’s traveled to Chicago.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions
Sometimes I think Dave goes a tad overboard, but I'm completely with him here.
If the lineup isn’t drastically different today, I’m gonna go be a Pirates fan. At least they don’t have this silly thing called “hope”.
Rob Johnson invented AIDS
by I Lick Squirrels on May 19, 2010 2:25 PM PDT up reply actions
Don't do that
I’d have to hate you for supporting a team from Pittsburgh. Go with the Royals or something.
Even in terms of Sliders, its like a David Eckstein walk-off home run.
This will occur in only 15 of every 10,000 parallel universes.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:32 PM PDT up reply actions
In how many of those universes did we win it all in '01?
Because my roommate is going to come home to me taking apart the remote and I want to be able to explain what I’m doing.
by FairWeatherFred on May 19, 2010 6:12 PM PDT up reply actions
Does keeping track of the Rendon sweepstakes count as defeatism?
by Cantu Easley Winn on May 19, 2010 2:33 PM PDT reply actions
Mentioning it over and over in game threads absolutely does.
...and now I'm here
So generally speaking
defeatism = being an obnoxious, repetitive, unoriginal fucker?
Especially about negative things, like losses and trying to lose and talking about how we'll almost be the number one pick
until we win 3 games to end the year, etc., etc.
...and now I'm here
But to be fair, I really don't like speaking for Matthew as though I'm a mod, so disregard everything I say if he disagrees.
...and now I'm here
Well seeing as how he's apparently working or some other unforgivable bullshit
I’ll take your words as gospel thank you very much.
Is Rendon that far ahead of the competition thus far?
Oh wait, just as I write this I see CapSea’s comment. Is Rendon talk overdone?
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:35 PM PDT up reply actions
Why this season is agnoizing and why people feel more negative than apathetic:
Since April 22nd:
The Mariners are 5-18.
They are 0-4 in extra inning games.
They are 3-8 in 1 run games.
This season:
They have been the victim of a walk-off 11 times in 39 games. 11 times!
At least with the Seahawks, I lost hope early. Baseball games are long, and oftentimes can be boring if there isn’t a lot of scoring, and the old man is snoring (Griffey) So you just feel even more defeated when you invest all that time and lose. And you want to take it on somebody more than investing 3 innings in a game and being down 7-0, then making it to the 11th and losing on a passed ball.
Losing in the other team's last AB does not mean walk off
We haven’t been walked off on 11 times
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on May 19, 2010 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Somebody told me that stat and I went with it.
But I’m curious as to what your statement means… losing in the opposing teams last at-bat does sound like walk-off to me. Other than maybe a passed ball I guess.. though the emotions are the same or worse.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions
If we're at home and the visiting team takes the lead in the top of the 9th (or in extra innings)
They won in their last at bat, but it isn’t a walk off. That’s happened several times.
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on May 19, 2010 2:56 PM PDT up reply actions
I see what you're saying. Though technically it wouldn't be their "last at-bat" unless they recorded an out while scoring the go-ahead run.
But its a moot point. I don’t know how many times they’ve been walked-off, I know that they’ve lost in the 8th inning or later a lot though.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 2:58 PM PDT up reply actions
The *team*'s last at-bat
The last inning they were at bat. One of the losses in Tampa, the Rays scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 8th. That was their last at-bat.
I didn't invent the terminology
It’s the team’s last at bat – i.e., the last inning that they bat in.
My Mariners blog SodoMojo, My Twitter Feed
by Griffin Cooper on May 19, 2010 3:15 PM PDT up reply actions
Is that the official terminology?
They should call it the last half-inning and avoid all the confusion.
those things that go over your feet.
Yes, that's the official terminology.
And the Cincinnati Reds are apparently the opposite of us in this regard.
Which in the Luke Scott Grand Slam example was the bottom of the 8th.
But the point remains here. The M’s lost either two or three walk offs now in Oakland, plus two more in Texas and wasn’t it all three in Chicago? And haven’t won any of those games either? That’s ridiculously bad luck.
Charter Member: Dave Sims Sweet Hat Club
by Two Rs and Two Ls on May 19, 2010 3:26 PM PDT up reply actions
Even still.
Holy shit that’s a lot of pain. Almost exactly the opposite feeling of last year when we had so many close wins.
The part of this team inaction that really bites
is that people who comment on this blog are asking for so little. We just want to stop watching players who do not belong on a Major League roster like Griffey and Sweeney. We want the flexibity of a roster without a twelfth pitcher that is not needed anyway. We ask for players who other teams are throwing away or who are already on our roster. This includes more Langerhans and Saunders and Hannahan, and acquiring players like Ryan Rayburn or Chris Ianetta who have been sent down by their teams. We know there are people in the M’s front office who get this concept but we have to watch the results of the same bad decisions over and over. This team is only bad because the choose to be.
by Droid Rage on May 19, 2010 2:42 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
They escaped in Sliders by waiting until a certain amount of time had passed
and they had to be in the right spot. Then they would slide to another universe. So, clearly all we need to do is wait until some time has passed, and GMZ will have fixed our team and we’ll be good (ie another universe!).
Now with more lemon bars!
Someone who's name rhymes with
Whooey he’s an awful hobo?
by TheBishop on May 19, 2010 3:27 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Divish says Tui's out for BP.
Down goes Sean White!! Please please please.
Bradley playing LF tonight and Sweeney DHing
Glad to see we aren’t going to be trying anything different.
You can get tickets on Stubhub for tonight's game for $2.50 each!
It’s possible that it could be the least attended game in Safeco history, what with the shitty weather and the losing, but the Jays fans might prevent that.
by Eyebrows on May 19, 2010 4:30 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
"Sliders...The show itself wasn't all that great"
You, sir, are a square. That show was great until the mid to late third season. After that, it went downhill fast and ended up mired in an ocean of diarrhea by the fifth season. But for the first couple years it was an awesome show.
How did it end?
I hope not like Quantum Leap.
by Kenneth Arthur on May 19, 2010 8:03 PM PDT up reply actions
They slowly replaced the entire cast with new actors.
Most egregiously so when Jerry O’Connell left the show and they replaced him with another actor who played his same character. But even more damaging to the show was that they made every episode about the freaky high-tech-cave-man-eyeball-eating people rather than the original premise of alternate earths and then ended the series with a cliffhanger episode even though they knew they had been canceled.
I would say that Sliders’ last couple seasons were a case study in jumping the shark.
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