8/17/22: SEA at LAA Open Game Thread

I was all ready to lead off this thread by saying today is the season finale of the particularly crappy TV show that has been the Mariners-Angels series this season, but then I looked at the schedule and can you believe we still have another series against these jokers—a four-game set, at that—in mid-September? The consequence of not playing the Angels at all until mid-June, I guess, although it was certainly lucky for the Mariners to miss out on the world-beating Angels and get instead these zombie Angels, even if Trout will likely be back the next time they see the Halos. But not today, Michael Nelson Trout, not today.

Ahh, that’s the zombie Angels lineup I like to see, although honestly, the top three of Fletcher-Ohtani-and-Revenge-Tour-Rengifo, plus a healthy Taylor Ward, won’t be without challenges for George Kirby to navigate. Of all the starters we recap, Kirby is currently my personal favorite, as thrilling as it is to watch Castillo work; it’s fun to watch Kirby figure things out from outing to outing and try different approaches and pitch sequences.

Kirby will be pitching to Cal Raleigh, back in the lineup after getting a day off yesterday, with some other changes to the lineup: Adam Frazier moves into the leadoff spot, pushing Julio, who’s been lightly scuffling, to second and giving the Mariners a wraparound speed threat of Haggerty-to-Frazier. Ty France, who has been really struggling this month despite going hero mode last night, gets a day off. Also, Winker continues to hit above Haniger for reasons I don’t understand—or I guess I understand, righty-lefty and all that, but that doesn’t mean I like them. Winker actually has a higher wRC+ than Haniger over the past couple weeks, 184 to 166, but Haniger’s average is way higher—.351, exactly equal to Sam Haggerty’s, to Winker’s .231. I’d rather have Mitch have more chances to get on-base with his skillset, but if this is the start of a turnaround for Winker and some consistency out of him more in line with his career norms, I will happily eat the largest plate of crow you can find.

Today’s game is a cursed YouTube game, so don’t expect a win, the real win is when the game is over and we don’t have any more YouTube games.

Here’s the link to watch the game, starting at 1:07 PT. The actual broadcast will start at 1 sharp, because YouTube doesn’t bow to the Angels’ branded-start times, for which it earns some grudging respect from me. The broadcast will feature commentary from the Mariners and Angels social teams, as well as selected YouTube creators. I went and looked at some of the pages and I feel pretty convinced in recommending to you that you don’t need to hear what FivePoints Vids, whose featured video is TRIGGERING ALL 32 FANBASES IN ONE VIDEO, has to say about this Mariners-Angels game.

There’s also an Alt-Cast version of this game here, in which you can see Kenny Mayne forced to atone for some unknown sins in a past life by having to share hosting duties with a carousel of D-tier celebrities and influencers. To be fair, there are some people who legitimately know baseball on this one, as it’s helmed by former Mariner Cameron Maybin and Lauren Gardner from MLB Network, but also, YouTube really just turned the box marked “Seattle Celebs - Not Macklemore” over and saw what fell out (apparently Joel McHale and Bill Nye).

Thankfully, and perhaps recognizing that literally No One Asked For This, there are also instructions on how to sync up the radio feed with the game feed, which I’ll copy for you here:

Mobile:

1)In the top right of the video player, click the 3 dot button
2.) Click Audio track (3)
3.) Click the audio track you want (Mariners Radio)

Desktop:

1.) In the bottom right of the video player, click Settings
2.) Click Audio track (3)
3.) Click the audio track you want (Mariners Radio)

TV:

1.) In the video player, click the 3 dot ‘More’ button
2.) Scroll to the right and click the Audio track (3) icon
3.) Click the audio track you want (Mariners Radio)

That’s it! See you all on the other side.