51-80, Game Thought
by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 31, 2010 12:31 AM PDT
in Seattle Mariners Game Recaps
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PrintThe Angels come in having gone scoreless for 26 consecutive innings.
Angels: I bet we can do this better than you.
Mariners: I bet you cannot.
Angels: I bet that we can.
Mariners: I bet you cannot.
Angels: You don't know what we can do.
Mariners: You can't do this as well as us.
Angels: You want to put something on it?
Mariners: Gentleman's bet.
Angels: Right, right, budget.
Mariners: Budget.
Angels: Then let's do it, starting now.
Mariners: Very well.
Angels: GO!
Mariners:
Angels: mrr
Mariners:
Angels: mrrrrr
Mariners:
Angels: mrrrrrrr
Mariners:
Angels: urrrrrr
Mariners:
Angels: urrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Mariners: :taps fingers on leg:
Angels: You're gonna give, man, you're gonna give
Mariners:
Angels: We got this, just give up right now
Mariners: :rolls eyes:
Angels: URRRRRRR
Mariners:
Angels: AHHH
Mariners:
Angels: :dinger:
Mariners:
Angels: :dinger:
Angels: :dinger:
Angels: wait
Angels: noooooooooooo
Mariners: bitch please we're the king of not scoring
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The bottom of the ninth was interesting. Not because the M's came back, or almost came back. Not because it mattered. The bottom of the ninth was interesting because Jerry Meals blew a call at second base.
With one on and none out, Franklin Gutierrez lined a low drive into center, and though fast and awesome and annoying Peter Bourjos was able to cover enough ground, he wasn't able to make an awkward catch in front of him and the ball got by for extra bases. Casey Kotchman rounded second and held up at third, and Franklin Gutierrez turned back to second after rounding once he realized that Kotchman had come to a halt. Gutierrez got back to the base safely ahead of Juan Rivera's(ed. note: what?) tag, but Meals ruled him out, to much protestation. Rather than having the tying run at the plate with nobody out, the M's had one out and the tying run on deck.
The blown call was immediately egregious, and it gave all of us something to be mad about. More, it gave us something new to be mad about, instead of the familiar bad pitch or miserable baserunning or hopeless flailing at the plate. As soon as that blown call happened, it didn't matter that the Mariners still probably weren't going to tie. It didn't matter that the odds were against them, and it didn't matter that a win would serve little purpose. The greater context became irrelevant. We tuned in, we saw the M's get screwed, and we thought it a grave injustice.
It sounds silly now, since we all know the wins make no difference, but when Meals made his call, I was shocked into an angry reaction, and judging by the game thread, many of you were in the same boat. Somehow, that call found a nerve that hadn't been dulled.
That's interesting to me. I didn't know such a nerve could still exist. For injuries? Sure. For regular gameplay? That caught me off guard. I wonder what the response would be were the same thing to happen again tomorrow.
Tonight, for the first time in months, we get to sleep the sleep of a fanbase done wrong. In a sick, weird way, this is a rare treat for a fan of a team in the basement. I know a lot of it's worn off by now in the hours since, but the anger still lingers to some small degree. And that anger - that's emotion. That's real, sports emotion.
It's nice to discover you're not just a robot.
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The whole play was weird
I was at the game and I looked to see what 3B coach Tinsley would do with Kotchman…. only to find him all the way down the line about 5 feet from home plate. I wonder if him being so far out of position made it hard for communication and led to the logjam of Kotchman going back to 3rd and Guti having to scamper back to 2nd?
I would have preferred that Kotchman had gone for home as it appeared he had a decent chance and Guti would have ended up on 3rd anyways.
Maybe I am a robot...
While for a very brief moment after the call I said, “come on he was safe”, I went to not caring again when the next guy came up to bat. Maybe I’ve just become the cynical “lose for the high draft pick” guy? I don’t know. Normally blown calls do irk me, but this one just didn’t for some reason.
What if you're the guy that didn't bother to watch the game, and when told of the blown call, just shrugged your shoulders
and said “Whatever.”
You're dead to me.
I don't think that means you're a robot.
I think it’s a case of “you had to be there.” None of us are angry about it now.
Charter Member: Dave Sims Sweet Hat Club // Batting .400 in 30 AB for Rocky Diablos, PSSBL.
by Two Rs and Two Ls on Aug 31, 2010 4:34 AM PDT up reply actions
My anger toward Jerry Meals is only surpassed by my anger toward Kotchman.
It might be pointless to be angry at someone for being too damn slow but I just have a feeling in my gut the Kotchman was half assing his way around the bases. And no matter what the Mariners record is it is things like that that literally make my blood boil.
It's true, I saw it on the X-Files once.
I am going to come into your house at night and rec up the place.
Yeah, totally.
I mean, why should Casey Kotchman try hard? It’s not like he needs to worry about his job security.
He can totally afford to half ass it.
This is a healthy and accurate perspective
by Jeff Sullivan on Aug 31, 2010 10:04 AM PDT up reply actions
You can hate whomever you want
but there’s no need to try dressing it up as a byproduct of rational analysis. At least be honest when you’re making shit up.
To me, Kotchman really looked like he was running at about 70-80%.
Having said that, I readily admit that I could be wrong.
I think that's what Kotchman looks like when running 100%
Morgan Ensberg for Manager 2011!
AL Scout on Rendon: "I would peg him as a poor man's Jose Lopez."
Kotchman's baserunning is awful
But awful in the way that he’s too aggressive, not too lazy.
by Fuckmikereilly on Aug 31, 2010 12:56 PM PDT up reply actions
All my rage was directed at Guti.
Getting to third doesn’t help the team – we need the next batter to score as well. It’s an unnecessary risk, and one that he already had been caught on that game. Maybe if it was an average runner ahead of him he could have been reasonably confident, but Kotchman?
It just didn’t make any sense to push it like that.
That was such a funny messed up play epecially since Juan Rivera was involved.
But the experience of being a fan and watching it happen was not complete until I logged on to LL for the complete game thread emotion that went along with it. I was laughing right away when Fleet Pete Bourjos misplayed the ball then choking when Rivera, who has no business what so ever playing first base, tagged Guti and he was actually called out.
I hate the Texas Rangers
What if we don't care
because we’ve seen umpires miss so many calls — 30% of the close ones — that we’re used to it? Terrible base running play, great hussle by Rivera, incompetent call.
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