| MARINERS (4-4) | Δ Ms | ATHLETICS (3-4) | EDGE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HITTING (wOBA) | -5.8 (25th) | -3.9 | -5.5 (23rd) | Oakland |
| FIELDING | 2.5 (9th) | -0.8 | 3.7 (7th) | Oakland |
| ROTATION (tRA) | -1.1 (18th) | -1.1 | 3.2 (6th) | Oakland |
| BULLPEN (tRA) | -6.1 (30th) | -4.8 | -1.7 (22nd) | Oakland |
| OVERALL(RAA) | -10.4 (28th) | -10.6 | -0.3 (15th) | OAKLAND |
| Explainer |
Yes! We have almost reached the reprieve of Oakland. After this three-game series, do you know the next time the Mariners will play against the Athletics? June 25! That’s so long from now. Over two months of not-Oakland baseball. It’s like the clouds have broken and late Spring has arrived just to celebrate this occasion. I think I might take a picnic.
The Mariner pitchers have allowed 13 home runs in 70 innings, almost twice the expected normal rate. I don’t think there’s anything special about this staff that should put them on an extreme edge of home run susceptibility this season, so I expect that to regress. On the other hand, they currently have a 4.2 strikeout-to-walk rate which is stellar and similarly unexpected to sustain itself. It could be a battle of regressions.
Fri 13 Apr 19:10 |
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| FELIX HERNANDEZ | BARTOLO COLON | |
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A home opener and nearly, or entirely by game time, a sold out crowd. With the King's Court back, it should be a loud and entertaining atmosphere at the park. I have utmost confidence in Felix Hernandez to respond accordingly, but will the offense?
Sat 14 Apr 18:10 |
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| HECTOR NOESI | TOMMY MILONE* | |
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Tommy, or Tom, has an actual full name of Tomaso Anthony Milone which I think is so Italian that he automatically qualifies to be a disgraced ex-Prime Minister (or king?).
Milone came to Oakland via the Nationals in the Gio Gonzalez trade. Milone has a very impressive Minor League résumé that shows solid strikeout rates and impeccable control. Last season, in his first taste of Triple-A, Milone put 17 on base and stuck out 155. And yet, in his one start so far this season he walked three and punched out zero Royals hitters. Anything goes in baseball. Except for hockey sticks. You can't use those for some reason.
For what it's worth (little), in 2010 when both Hector Noesi and Milone were 23 years old, Milone posted a 155 to 27 strike out to on base rate, all in Double-A. Noesi, mostly in the Eastern League but also parts in High-A and Triple-A, had a 153 to 32 rate. However, Noesi isn't named Tomaso. Seriously, Tomaso. That's so awesome.
Sun 15 Apr 13:10 |
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| BLAKE BEAVAN | GRAHAM GODFREY | |
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In 31 Major League innings, Graham Godfrey, who turns 28 in August, has just 14 strike outs. I'm assuming he'll start since Sunday will be his spot in the rotation, but Oakland has also yet to throw a fifth starter and it's not as though Godfrey is actually good or young or promising.
Blake Beavan, meanwhile, had an impressive start against the Rangers earlier in the week, but a note of caution into over-reading that one sample. It appears, also from a small sample but bolstered by prior history, that the Rangers are going to be a swing-and-miss happy offense. They make pitchers pay when contact is made, but they're unlikely to shy away from the strikeouts so perhaps Beavan's eight missed bats are not entirely foreshadowing and improvement.
Series Beer: Oskar Blues Old Chub.
I like beer that comes in cans. Amend that. I like good beer that comes in cans. Well, I also just like good beer. What I'm failing to convey is that I'm a fan of the recent movement of microbreweries to can instead of or in addition to bottle. Oskar Blues has been in the canning phase for a while and frankly all their beers are good. However, as good as Ten Fidy is (quite), it doesn't quite measure up to its price point for me. Old Chub, however, easily exceeds that bar as it ranks as one of my all-time favorite scotch-style ales.
Two other, more local, breweries that make wonderful scotch-styles worth mentioning are Boundary Bay and Silver City. Maybe I probably should have gone with one of those two for the series beer, but I'm 100 words — and two whiskey sours (the irony!) — in and clearly from the first few sentences, I'm not into editing tonight. Oh well, drink those other two as well. Drink them all. Drink everything. Life's too short to not try and make it shorter by haphazardly damaging your body with what's basically poison. Or possibly actual poison depending on how literally you took my "drink everything" command.