Going up a little late because we had to record a podcast, and also because I didn't know what song to choose. I have chosen this song! With an uninteresting video. As for a prompt, the last five-song playlist idea was terrible so I'm going to re-visit. Five-song playlist, theme "strength". I don't know if that's good or the worst but that's what I've typed!

I was at the game today, and I love the idea of King Felix's Court. It allows a section for people to be vocal throughout the game, unlike the rest of the stadium.

And so it got me thinking, are there a lot of regulars there? And would they be open to be more vocal for players outside of Felix? It seems like there is a lot of dead space in that section during the game, and I wonder if perhaps more could be done there.

I was thinking about perhaps injecting some more life into the stadium by implementing Japanese-style cheers into it. I know noisemakers aren't allowed, so it would have to be people's voices making the melody.

For instance, taking a cheer for Narashino HS (starting at 0:54, going to 1:36) and modifying it so that instead of cheering NA-RA-SHI-NO, you'd cheer MU-NE-NO-RI or KA-WA-SA-KI.

Eventually, it'd expand to all batters with a cheer for each one, and then maybe adding some for rallies, etc. I figure if vocal cheering is expected in that section anyways, why not take advantage of it? It'd be like bringing something like the Emerald City Supporters to Safeco Field.

Plus, they did it last year when they did the "Oh-Oh-O-li-vo" chant. And if they can do it for Olivo last year, surely there are more deserving players who could get a cheer first (though eventually he'd get one, or just the same one).

Edit: I didn't remember that the place I had originally seen the Beyond the Box Score piece was on this site. Apologies to Jeff Sullivan and his original piece, if it made it look like I was bringing original info to the site. Jeff's piece 3+ weeks ago can be found here: Manager Wins Above Expectancy Released. That said, all my opinion and analysis still stands.

To be honest, I was fairly indifferent towards Wedge last year. The team started out well enough, which was obviously unsustainable, and as their luck changed the results started going the other way. The offense was terrible, but there also weren't really a whole lot of options.

But each year hope springs anew, despite the obvious shortcomings of the team. With limited financial options for player acquisition (don't get me started about the ownership), the question becomes: is Eric Wedge the right manager for the team? Is he a good manager in general? Better than average? Worse?

It's somewhat hard to quantify managing ability, since managers don't produce any outcomes on the field directly. All managers make decisions that fans question, and some of them work out better than others. Managing the bullpen, picking the lineups, and calling plays are the only real ways that they can influence the way a game plays out.

I haven't spent any time in a major league locker room. I have no idea about the leadership of a manager, or getting personalities to work together. What I do know is numbers, and thankfully I didn't even have to do the work on this one. Before the season, there was a piece in Beyond the Box Score that analyzed this question. There are two reasonable ways of figuring out how a manager does, compared to the abilities of his players. The first is by Pythagorean win expectancy, and the other is by player WAR. Both give an expectation; by comparing the expected to the actual, and attributing these surpluses or deficits to the manager of the team, we can get an idea of which teams did better than they were projected to, and which did worse.

Is this fair? I'm not sure. In any sample there are going to be data points on both sides of the mean. Maybe it's by chance, and maybe it isn't. Either way, it comes out like this: based on Pythagorean expectation, Eric Wedge is the 6th worst manager in MLB history. Based on summed player WAR, he's the second worst. That's a pretty powerful statement, and strong agreement between the two methods. That wasn't seen for everyone; there was a lot of agreement in general, but some managers went from the top to the bottom, and vice versa.

Not Eric Wedge. Wedge was bad, and worse.

However you look at it, his teams have underperformed their abilities, by a fair margin. 3.5 or 6.5 wins per season below their abilities, depending on which method you look at. The interesting thing is that this type of analysis doesn't take into account the players that didn't make it into a game. If you're sitting a better player, their influence won't be as great on game outcomes, and their WAR total will be lower. This means that playing the wrong guy actually makes you look better, and not worse. Wedge's insistence on playing oh, say, a guy like Miguel Olivo isn't taken into account.

Tonight, I would have loved to see a lefty come in for the ninth instead of watching Brandon League pitch against a string of lefties, a group of guys who have murdered him in the past. Maybe that was just me. But it's the kind of thing that Eric Wedge wouldn't do, and more's the pity.

Recently moved to a town with no wireless 4G options until next year and living in an RV. My 3G internet connection (Sprint SmartCard I plug into PC or laptop) has less than 200 kbps where MLB.tv needs 700+ for video and 500+ for audio. I've searched LL for ideas and have read all posts relating to this but found no answer.

Also have tried buying a smartphone but bandwidth is still way too low even though the salesperson said It'd be fine. Verizon, RadioShack, Best Buy kids have no answer unless I move into a house with cable or high speed internet wired into it. Even looked into an RV dish (both Direct and Dish) but they say high speed internet is not an option. Have stayed in some expensive RV resorts with WiFi powerful enough to get the video, no problem, but I'm not at one currently that has WiFi.

I know some people can get away with below minimum bandwidth and still get audio and/or video okay but don't want to buy MLB.tv (either audio or video) and not get it (thus losing the $$). Tired of looking at stupid GameDay animation. Any ideas out there?

I have been following LL for a couple years now, and this is the first time I have posted something in the Fan Post section. Anyways, for my History of Baseball class we were asked to write a poem that was two stanzas in length that dealt with anything Baseball. I have not written a poem since my heydays of elementary school, and its pretty obvious I'm no second coming of Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. However, given the topic in which I wrote it (Mariners of course), I thought I would share with all of you.

Continue reading this post »

I don't post here as much as I used to, so I don't know how many people recognize me, but I just want to let those of you know me here (and don't already know this through Facebook and/or real life) that I'll unfortunately be away from the community until January or February as I'm taking my platoon to Afghanistan this Friday. So at least I get a King Felix start to send me off Thursday night. Hopefully I get some form of sporadic internet enough to check up on the Mariners' season but either way I don't expect I'll be on LL.

Also, cool story, I got in contact with the Mariners telling them I was a lifelong Mariners fan and wanted to throw out a first pitch before I deployed, and they said that while they were booked in that department, I could get 4 tickets behind home plate to a game of my choosing (I picked Saturday's since I already had tickets for Friday and Sunday). They gave me a bunch of promotional items in the game that they'll be handing out later in the season, along with putting something pretty cool up on the board between innings:

So I say, thank you Mariners and stay classy. Any luck you all plan on wishing me I suggest you instead save for the Ms, they'll need it. If you remember me by anything while I'm gone make it Jack Z's Brain Spiders.

Kyle Seager is good. In his first time starting a season with a big league club, Seager has batted .281/.303/.438 with an OPS of .741. All of these numbers would surely be higher if a certain second base umpire hadn't called a ball caught off a bounce by Yoenis Cespedes an out, but that sort of stuff happens often in the game of baseball. Fans just have to live with it and move on. No good to dwell on a lost problem, even if the stats would be higher if Seager had gotten the call.

Mike Carp is the starting Left Fielder for the Mariners, and his defense is below average. Chone Figgins has been the primary Left Fielder in his absence, though at the time of writing this, Figgins has been scheduled to start in Center for Saturday's game against the A's. Casper Wells is in Left, and Seager is in the lineup, playing Third Base, Figgins' primary position. Though Figgins is a utility player, who has been touted to be able to play all positions except Catcher, First Base, and Pitcher, Third Base is Figgins' comfort zone and where he has started for most of his career with the Mariners, when he has started.

However, Carp's absence has let Figgins play Left Field and Seager to play Third Base; When Carp comes back to the lineup, Wedge will not sit his leadoff man Figgins. Figgins has simply too much "veteran grit" and, while he has been successful, Seager obviously has the brighter future with the club. I'm not calling for Figgins' head here, though I might have been singing a different tune a couple seasons ago (see 2010-2011). Contrary to his past seasons with the Seattle Mariners, Figgins has hit .270/.308/.378 with an OPS of .686, doing much better at getting on base and drawing walks than his last two seasons. Carp will start in Left Field, as he has only played in one game for the 2012 season at Left Field, half of which he played injured.

Carp, if last year is any indicator, can provide the power needed to give this lineup a needed boost. At one point in last year's season, Carp exploded for a twenty game hit streak, in which he was basically the entire Mariner offense, concluding the month of August by winning the Rookie of the Month award. Let's run down the starters that Wedge likes to run out there on a consistent basis in Carp's absence.

Typical Lineup:

Figgins LF (S)

Ackley 2B (L)

Ichiro RF (L)

Smoak 1B (S)

Montero DH (R)

Seager 3B (L)

Saunders CF (L)

Olivo C (R)

Ryan SS (R)

And the lineup guys on the DL:

Carp LF (L)

Gutierrez CF (R)

This means we have two guys filling in for Carp and Gutierrez, and those are Chone Figgins and Michael Saunders. Saunders will probably be back on the bench when Gutierrez comes back, unless Saunders can get hits more consistently. Chone Figgins, for reasons mentioned above (see leadoff man, veteran grit, utility guy), won't be going out of the lineup; instead, someone else will be. As Kyle Seager occupies Figgins' primary position at Third, Seager may look like a candidate to go. But Seager has outhit most of the Mariners this year, and has yet to slow down. If Seager can maintain his hot streak through Carp's rehab stint in Tacoma, which I expect will last around one to two weeks, Seager should rightfully keep his starting job. But, if Carp comes back, where would Wedge play him? I will analyze this after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Starting 5:

1. Randy Johnson

2. Felix Hernandez

3. Gaylord Perry

4. Freddy Garcia

5. Jaime Moyer

Relievers:

1. Norm Charlton

2. Kazuhiro Sasaki

3. Arthur Rhodes

Starting 9:

C. Dan Wilson

1B. John Olerud

2B. Brett Boone

SS. Alex Rodriguez (but i still hate him)

3B. Adrian Beltre

LF. Mark McLemore

CF. Ken Griffey Jr.

RF. Ichiro Suzuki

DH. Edgar Martinez

Bench:

Jay Buhner

Mike Cameron

Harold Reynolds

Alvin Davis

Omar Visquel

Additions? Changes?

Hear ye, hear ye, Landers of the Lookout, for I have come to tell you a story. A story of woe and loss, of anger and betrayal, of the foolish pride of a foolish man, and the curse he brought forth to many a fan. Now sit yourself, grab a beer, and listen with your best reading ear, for the time has come to regale you with a sad tale, a tale of how the Seattle Mariners abandoned the man with a wondrous bat that went wammy, and found themselves stuck, with the Curse of the Cammy.

Continue reading this post »

Perhaps with the 2012 season now two games in the books, we can light the fires and burn the tires on a brand new OT. Things sure did get slow there during the off-season, but they're heeerreee. The Mariners that is. And us, the fans!

What to talk about in this OT? Besides whatever is in your heart of hearts? Here's some thoughts:

• I just edited a Wikipedia page for the first time ever. It was nothing major, except for a typo in Steve Delabar's page that said "Homtown" instead of "Hometown." If Delabar is from a homtown, then my sincerest apologies. Does anybody here edit Wiki often? Have you ever created a Wiki page? There isn't a LL wikipedia page. Should we create it? If you search for Lookout Landing on Wikipedia, the first hit is for Phineas and Ferb with a reference to this game thread: this.
• It's a new baseball season. Are you planning on heading to any stadiums this year besides Safeco or whatever your local stadium is?
• Speaking of baseball and a new season: Who do you think will win the World Series this year? Any outlandish predictions, overall? Will a deflated Ryan Braun hit 10 HR? Will Yu Darvish strikeout 300? Will Jamie Moyer have a faster FB than Michael Pineda?
• It's also a new season of Mad Men. We don't have to talk about Mad Men specifically, but how about amazing TV in general? Vulture ran a bracket of "Best TV Drama of the Last 25 Years" and I'll just tell you that the final four was Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Mad Men, and The Wire... Thoughts?
• Game of Thrones is back in a few days!
• I'll leave the rest of the topics up to you.