| MARINERS (56-76) | Δ Ms | ANGELS (72-61) | EDGE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HITTING (wOBA) | -131.9 (30th) | -10.5 | -15.0 (16th) | Anaheim |
| FIELDING | 17.5 (8th) | 2.5 | 6.7 (11th) | Seattle |
| ROTATION (tRA) | 19.3 (9th) | -0.5 | 36.8 (5th) | Anaheim |
| BULLPEN (tRA) | -14.6 (27th) | 1.8 | -5.3 (17th) | Anaheim |
| OVERALL(RAA) | -109.7 (26th) | -6.7 | 23.3 (13th) | ANAHEIM |
Mariners current draft spot: 5th
The offensive resurgance may turn out to simply be the baseball equivalent of the Battle of the Bulge, a hopeful turn of events (for some people) at the beginning which quickly collapsed and exhausted what little morale remained. Yeah, this team -- any team -- is hard to watch when they just completely fail to hit.
No matter though, that is past. This is a four-game series against the Angels who are trying to hang in the AL West race with the Rangers. If the Mariners can stymie the Angels' efforts, that would be a most effective example of playing a spoiler. And helping the team is that this time around they get to avoid facing Jered Weaver.
Mon 29 Aug 19:10 |
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| BLAKE BEAVAN | JOEL PINEIRO | |
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Blake Beavan is much better pitcher when he doesn't give up three home runs a game. See how you were more effective last time, Blake? Try that more often. Try not giving up three home runs in a game. I don't know why you tried that in the first place and I commend your commitment to the scientific process, but at the risk of overemphasizing a small sample size, I think the three home runs a game strategy is sub-optimal.
Tue 30 Aug 19:10 |
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| ANTHONY VASQUEZ* | JEROME WILLIAMS | |
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I associate Jerome Williams very strongly with the Giants even though it turns out that he hasn't pitched for them in six years. The Giants traded him (along with David Aardsma!) to the Cubs for LaTroy Hawkins and ever since then, Williams has bounced around not making much or any Major League impact. He does have this hilarious string of transactions this season:
- June 16, 2011: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
- June 17, 2011: Granted Free Agency.
- June 20, 2011: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Wed 31 Aug 19:10 |
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| FELIX HERNANDEZ | DAN HAREN | |
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The marquee match up for sure. Except it's not the closing act. That makes this one awkward concert. I hope all 100,000 of you enjoyed U2's set. Now here's Fuel!
Thu 01 Sep 19:10 |
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| CHARLIE FURBUSH* | ERVIN SANTANA | |
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I didn't really want Charlie Furbush to deliver more starts in quality between his first two efforts. I wanted him to deliver more excellent starts, but that just wasn't likely. I was looking forward to more starts from Furbush so that we could have more data on which to ponder his skill set and development path. I hoped it would render a positive view for next season.
Instead, Furbush has been more like what I expected, which is slightly unexciting. He has some legit tools and some real flaws so, as Jeff mentioned, it's still easy to envision him going one way or another. Or neither. He could stay right in the middle. In this boring and bland land where Furbush's bookends are filled with a variety of fiction books from down the New York Times' bestseller list.
Generally, I don't find fiction all that interesting of a genre. Have you ever had someone spot a book in your domicile and ask what it's about? With non-fiction, it's usually a straight forward answer. "It's a book about the history of chemistry, traced through the development of the periodic table," you could say and the other person or persons has an immediate, almost tactile grasp of the book's purpose in one sentence. Try that with fiction and see how often you don't get a follow up question asking about the quality of the writing.
None of that has anything to do with Charlie Furbush but thanks to this, he's going to be associated with John Grisham in my mind.