Your quick Friday night recap...
Rookies have rough lives. If they come out of the gate pretty slowly, then they face an uphill battle in trying to establish themselves at the Major League level. Lacking experience and much of a track record, they can find themselves back in AAA before they know it.
On the other side of the spectrum, though, rookies who start out at the top of their game bring about high expectations, with the inevitable result being a sense of disappointment when they fail to consistently achieve perfection. That murmur you heard when Brian Anderson's second home run cleared the left-center wall was an audible manifestation of said disappointment, as the 40,000+ fans in attendance were all hoping for another sparkling start from Felix, a hope which flew out the window as soon as Anderson made contact. Nevermind that Felix was, yet again, absolutely spectacular (8/1 K/BB, 71% strikes); you're bound to see a few articles tomorrow morning about how he'll hit his roadblocks in the early going, and how he'll need to overcome adversity to become a successful Major League pitcher. Hogwash. While that may very well be true in the long run, tonight, Felix was great.
(Oh, but Eddie wasn't.)
Biggest Contribution: Julio Mateo, +33.6%
Biggest Suckfest: Eddie Guardado, -35.3%
Most Important Hit: Bloomquist triple, +37.6%
Most Important Pitch: Iguchi homer, -44.6%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -11.6%
Total Contribution by Hitters: -48.4%
Fewest Walks Drawn by Players with 75+ Plate Appearances:
0 (Livan Hernandez)
1 (Jose Lopez)
1 (Yuniesky Betancourt)
Yorvit Torrealba has reached base nine fewer times as a Mariner than Miguel Olivo did this year, in 111 fewer plate appearances.
Although you hate to see a #9 hitter end Felix's homerless streak, Brian Anderson isn't really a "nobody" - he's Chicago's top prospect, a 23 year old outfielder who hit .301 in the minors with a .483 SLG and a walk every ten plate appearances. Chris Snelling's home run didn't make Carlos Silva any less of a pitcher, and neither should Anderson's for Felix.
Careers That Today's Mariners Would Have Gone Into Had They Not Become Professional Baseball Players:
Ichiro: Yakuza
Bloomquist: Anchor Blue catalog model
Ibanez: Customer service for third-leading software developer
Sexson: Lumberjack who cuts down trees with his bare hands
Beltre: Unemployed
Dobbs: Bouncer at a gay nightclub
Betancourt: Migrant worker
Reed: Department store entrance greeter
Torrealba: Influential Venezuelan poet in the mold of Rafael Arraiz Lucca
Hansen: Harmless guy in the office who has a crush on the secretary but never works up the nerve to ask her out
Hernandez: God
Putz: Deer in the headlights
Sherrill: Actor/stuntman who takes over pitching scenes for Kevin Costner after production crew runs out of patience
Mateo: Appearing in "Before" pictures for cosmetic surgeons
Nelson: Convicted felon
Guardado: Paul Prudhomme
Can't do anything else tonight. Can't do anything tomorrow, either, as I'll be out of town and away from an Internet connection until midday Sunday. Jose Contreras vs. Joel Pineiro at 7:05pm PDT.