8/23: Open Game Thread

It seems Jerry Dipoto was invigorated by this picturesque PNW day, as there were a flurry of roster moves this afternoon. The biggest, and least surprising, was recalling Taijuan Walker to be the Mariners starter for this evening, which subsequently meant last night's starter, Cody Martin, was stuffed into the back of the Tacoma van with nary more than a pat on his very large head. Walker was sent down to Triple A on August 8th after a series of disappointing major league outings compounded by a mysterious foot injury. He's made three starts for the Rainiers going 4.1 innings in his first two outings but lasting 6.1 in his last start, with only 3 hits and no earned runs. Personally I'm a little skeptical about his return, but I'm often wrong and very much willing to be, in this case.

Also packed in the Tacoma van with Martin, his body contorted into a familiar position, is Stefen Romero, to make room for the return of Tony Zych, whom it seemed we might never see again. Fortunately he's back, and he's an exciting addition to the flame throwing Wolfpack (oh yeah, and Nick Vincent too). This also means Adam Lind will be starting against a lefty tonight but if that worries you, MLB media darling Shawn O'Malley supposedly took some grounders at first during practice today.

Also, I dare you to watch this clip of Guillermo Heredia practicing for the water balloon event and not feel overwhelming joy for a man who overcome huge odds and can now happily practice catching water balloons. Maybe we need a competition between Aoki and Heredia, where whoever catches the most balloons gets the starting left field spot…I think we can all guess how that'd play out.

Guillermo Heredia practicing for the water balloon portion of the M Olympics pic.twitter.com/lHkVMBKor0

— Ryan Divish (@RyanDivish) August 23, 2016