Biggest Contribution: George Sherrill, +9.4%
Biggest Suckfest: Gil Meche, -27.7%
Most Important "Hit": Beltre DP, -10.8%
Most Important Pitch: Wilkerson grand slam, -23.9%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -16.0%
Total Contribution by Hitters: -71.0%
So let's summarize:
- the Mariners go 1-7 during my Washington vacation, dropping another four games behind Texas in the process
- two of those losses are shutouts at the hands of Rodrigo Lopez and John Rheinecker
- clearly frustrated with the way things are going, Raul Ibanez flips a tizzy after a total bullshit call in the first inning today, using many big people words and eventually getting himself tossed
- Mike Hargrove is thusly left in the unenviable position of having to bat Willie Ballgame cleanup for the rest of the game (this is an even less enviable position than being Mike Hargrove in the first place)
- Willie responds by doubling and walking on a day when Jose Lopez goes hitless, which is pretty much the worst possible time for Willie Ballgame to double and walk
- Gil Meche fails to put everything together
- and how
- the M's lose again despite Texas' best efforts to give the game away
And that's just the short of it. You want to know how bad the Mariners were today? Given that any two teams begin a game with equal odds of winning, a team needs to collect just 50% of Win Probability Added to come out on top (50% at the start + 50% during the game = 100% = win!). With that in mind, the Rangers gave Seattle 37% via errors, passed balls, and wild pitches. 37%. Texas was three-quarters of the way to losing today's game without the Mariners having to do anything. And the M's still blew it. With a total team WPA of -87%, they practically lost twice.
Anyway, tomorrow's a day game (11:05am PDT) featuring Felix Hernandez and John Koronka. Koronka isn't good, but he writes, gives high-fives, and picks things up with his left hand, so you know what that means.
As for today, this is the final edition of You Write The Recap! At least for the time being, anyway. I know a ton of stuff went down during the game, so let's hear about it.