Tonight, the Chicago Whitesox will send the discouraged Jose Contreras to the mound in what could be his last game with Chicago. U.S.S. Mariner reports that Mariner scouts will be watching closely and if they like what they see, Contreras may switch clubhouses by tomorrow. The 36 year-old right-hander has had a terrible 2007 season thus far and temporarily lost his spot in the rotation. He is 6-14 with a 6.24 era, which is still more than 1.14 points better than Horacio Ramirez. And this is Contreras at his absolute worst. I'm convinced that moving from the blast-pad that is U.S. Cellular Field to pitcher-friendly Safeco could only help him. He won 15 games in 05 and 13 games in 06, with era's of 3.61 and 4.27 respectively. Though he is owed 20 million dollars over the next two years, Contreras is the best pitcher that could be still on the market, having cleared waivers earlier this week. I'm actually rooting for Contreras tonight; I hope he brings his A game to impress the scouts and the front office. Maybe we can win a 1-0 game or something...
8/16/07
Phillippe Aumont
The wait is over; the Mariners finally signed their first round draft pick. With the 11th overall pick the Seattle Mariners took 6'7" RHP Phillippe Aumont from Quebec, Canada.
The 6'7" RHP is 18 years old, and very raw to say the least. He never pitched for a high school, since his school didn't have a team. His only experience basically came as a traveling pitcher. The Mariners followed him x amount of miles just to watch the raw, tall, and lanky pitcher throw heat. His fastball ranges anywhere from 90-95 MPH. Unlike many high school pitchers, he is more than just a 4-seam fastball pitcher. He has shown an impressive 2-seamer which dives hard like a sinker. With his frame, he's also got a feeling for the bottom of the strike zone, another thing very hard to find in a high school pitcher. With his tall frame coming down off the mound at that angle, he isn't just intimidating, but he's got all the make for a power, ground ball pitcher. Basically, with his potential he's got two comparisons. The first, Derek Lowe, whose an EXTREME groundball pitcher. The second, Kevin Brown. Brown was more power than Lowe, and still had extreme sink on his stuff, which made for a very successful career. He has shown a flash of brilliance with his slider, but it still needs a load of work in order to be a effective out-pitch at the highest level. He hasn't shown much with his change-up, which would be a great pitch for anybody who throws around 95.
Had he played more, he might have drawn more attention, and thus been drafted higher. I personally think this was a great pick. Sure, he's gonna be a lot of work, like 3 to 4 years of work. The pay-off, nobody knows. If he pans out, there isn't any limit to what he can achieve. He's got all the potential in the world to be a dominating force to go along with Felix.
I'm yet to find the actual contract terms, but he did receive a 1.9 million dollar signing bonus. I'll get back to you all when I find out more.
Phillippe Aumont is due in Seattle on Friday to finalize the terms of the agreement and meet with local media.
Welcome to the Mariners Mr. Aumont. Please, please don't get injured if you pitch for Team Canada...
Thursday Quote: Mental Edge
The great tennis superstar and civil rights leader Arthur Ashe once stressed the importance of attitude when you're behind when he said this:
"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."
I'm gonna keep thing one short and sweet. The 2007 Mariners have really exemplified Ashe's quote this season. Despite the occassional game where we've been out of the game physically and mentally, which has happened a couple times this season, we have been one of the better teams in the majors at coming from behind to win ballgames. We have shown tremendous perserverance and determination in the face of adversity. We have heard that we aren't good enough all season long from critics and bloggers and ESPN personalities. But we ARE good enough and we have shown that we can compete for the playoffs. When we go down in ballgames, we play hard and we play to win. The mental edge that Arthur Ashe talked about is something that has helped us win all season and has gotten us to this point despite not scoring many more runs than our opponents. If we can keep the mental edge over our opponents, there is no telling what we are capable of the rest of the season but I will tell you one thing; I have confidence that we WILL continue to play hard and fight until the last out of every game.
8/15/07
Nightcap: 8/15/07 vs. Twins
Ouch. This afternoon the Mariners dropped the third and final game of this series against the Twins, 6-1. It wasn't a great one to watch; or atleast I don't think it was... I fell asleep myself. I woke up in the 8th inning to find that the game was still within reach at 2-1, but saw the highlight of the second run that came around to score for the Twins and I was not happy about it. Though a throwing error was charged to Washburn on a play to first base, Jose Lopez, who was covering the bag, actually just flat out missed the ball. The throw was low but still a good foot off the ground and should have been caught. If the game would have ended 2-1, you might point to that play as the reason that we lost. Everyone complains about Jose Vidro's defense at second base but what I've been trying to tell people all along is that errors aren't terrible unless they directly contribute to a loss. Washburn pitched a fine game; seven innings of seven hit ball. He gave up two runs, only one of those being earned, and struck out five. In the top of the ninth the Twins busted it open when Torii Hunter took Sean Green deep after Mauer was walked intentionally to load the bases. Some are going to be critical of this move, but it was the right move to pitch to the right-handed bat of Hunter. He only hits .275 off of righties, whereas the left-handed bat of Mauer hits righties at a .321 clip.
The offense that was so good on the road trip has cooled significantly as the Mariners only had eight hits today with only a single run, an Ibanez solo shot, on the scoreboard at the end. Six Mariners struck out today; Lopez (1), Guillen (2), Beltre (2), Sexson (1), Jones (3), and Betancourt (1) for a total of ten. If I were to criticize a John McLaren decision today, which I will, it's the fact that Jose Vidro (who has been on fire) was not in the lineup today. I don't know what the reason for that was since we have an off-day tomorrow, but I would have liked to have one of our most reliable hitters, especially w/ RISP, to be in the lineup in the rubber game of a three game series.
Now we have the off-day tomorrow to think over our two consecutive losses to a .500 team.
Umpires: HP--Gary Cederstrom 1B--Lance Barksdale 2B--Jim Reynolds 3B--Tim Welke
Ejections: MINNESOTA's Gardenhire by Cederstrom (6th) (I was sleeping)
Time: 2:37 (Typical Washburn game)
Attendance: 42,921 (Nice crowd on what looked to be a beautiful day)
Weather: 73 degrees, partly cloudy (Wow. I'm jealous over here in Maryland)
Wind: 3 mph, left to right.
8/14/07
Nightcap: 8/14/07 vs. Twins
A disappointing night for the Mariners has finally ended as we drop the second game in the series to the Twins, 11-3. We knew early that this game would end on a sour note when the Twins were leading 2-0 after the second hitting. At that point, Minnesota had already collected four hits and two walks off Horacio Ramirez. The Twins continued to hit, scoring in five of the nine innings and knocking Ramirez out of the game after five innings. Just when you though Horacio's era couldn't get any worse, it did. He went into the game with an era of 7.12 and it has now inflated to 7.38 after being touched up for nine hits and six earned runs while walking three. The bullpen could not stop the bleeding as RRS was responsible for two more earned runs in two innings. John Parrish, who had a rough first outing at the Safe the other night, continued to struggle in two innings tonight allowing three earned on six hits and walking one. As for the offense, well, there wasn't a whole lot to cheer for. Richie Sexson returned to form going 0 for 4 and striking out twice. The player of the game and really the only one worthy of consideration was Jose Vidro who continued his tear at the plate going 2 for 2 with two walks and two batted in.
Tomorrows starters: Scott Baker (6-5, 4.76) vs. Jarrod Washburn (8-9, 4.30). Tonight we had a chance to take the wildcard lead and to gain a game on the Angels, so it was a pretty bad loss. We've got to take this third game.
Umpires: HP--Tim Welke 1B--Lance Barksdale 2B--Gary Cederstrom 3B--Jim Reynolds
Time: 2:46
Attendance: 33,729
Weather: 77 degrees, clear
Wind: 11 mph, left to right.
Shouldn't I Feel Better About Winning?
Let's face it, this 2007 Mariners club continues to exceed expectations and we are currently tied with the Yankees for the wildcard at 16 games over .500. If anyone would have notioned that we would be talking about the playoffs in the middle of August, I would have dismissed it as a ridiculous claim and would have had a good chuckle over it. Now I talk to a lot of M's fans daily, and the percentage of them who would have predicted the Mariners to be this good is 0%. No one, and I mean NO ONE, saw this coming. In fact the consensus was that our goal should be to finish over .500 and not finish in the basement of the A.L. West. I don't think we have to worry about either of those now, especially the latter because Texas is doing that job pretty well.
But even though we're winning, it really doesn't feel like it. I guess it's because I'm not used to many winning ballclubs, following the Orioles before the Mariners, following the Wizards in the NBA when they sucked, and following the Ravens through the sub-par years after the superbowl in 2001. I guess there is a bit of surrealism that effects my feelings. Check that, a lot of surrealism. It happened last year when I dismissed the Ravens as a non-contender before the season started, predicting we'd go 9-7. Like the Mariners, they exceeded my expectations and went 13-3 and advanced to the playoffs as a #2 seed. I remember that when they clinched the division, it took a while to sink in. I remember questioning myself on why I wasn't as excited as I should be. I guess it's just the fact that I still had my doubts about what was going to happen in the playoffs that kept me from thoroughly enjoying it.
The Mariners this year have given me the same kind of doubt with a manager resigning in the middle of a winning season, a new manager and his questionable decisions, poor pitching performances, inconsistent play by almost everyone throughout the year, extended scoring droughts, and extended losing streaks. Though our record is drastically better than anyone would have imagined, It's hard to believe that we can keep our pace up to make the playoffs, especially as we are contending with some really good teams. I hear people saying that there is "no doubt" that the Yankees will make the playoffs and I ask myself "Wait they are tied with us so for the wildcard so why do I feel so much doubt?" Only time will tell how the season will pan out. From now on I'm just going to try to enjoy winning and hope that if our team collectively struggles or if a player individually struggles, we can be resilient and bounce back. We've already done it this season. We've come charging out of a few extended losing streaks. Sexson and Ibanez are carrying the team over the last 7 games. Vidro continues to impress though his first half was under heavy criticism. John McLaren's decisions, though sometimes questionable, are not affecting our record. And finally Bill Bavasi's moves, though each is criticized to no end, are actually not turning out to be so bad.
Let's keep up our winning ways and ENJOY IT because we are very fortunate to be where we are today.
8/13/07
Nightcap: 8/13/07 vs. Twins
The success from the road trip has followed the Mariners to the Safe where they took the first game in a three game series against the Twins by a score of 4-3. The colossal matchup between Johan Santana and King Felix was a good one as both pitchers had quality outings. Santana went seven and gave up three earned runs and Felix went six giving up only one. Though Felix did not get the W due to a bad first showing at Safeco for John Parrish, he pitched well enough to deserve the win and got out of some big jams early in the game. Vidro had three hits and drove in a run, but the player of the game was the resurgent Richie Sexson who is finally showing life three quarters into the season. After a good road trip for Sexson, he went two for four and drove in three. Two of those runs were plated on a two out double that almost left the park for a homerun, and his third rbi came in the form of a walkoff solo shot in the bottom of the ninth to put the M's in the win column for the sixth time in the last seven games. We now advance to sixteen games over .500 which I believe is the highest we've been all year, and equally important is Richie Sexson getting some confidence and raising his average to .210; where it hasn't been since July 5th.
Tomorrow's matchup should be interesting. We send out Horacio Ramirez who somehow is 7-3 while posting a 7.12 era and the Twins send out young phenom Matt Garza who is 1-3 with a 1.70 era. So Garza loses when he gives up few runs and Ramirez wins when he gives up a lot of runs... I can't talk about this anymore because I'm too confused.
Umpires: HP--Jim Reynolds (Boring name = 2/10) 1B--Tim Welke (Semi-boring name = 4/10) 2B--Lance Barksdale (Pretty cool name = 7/10) 3B--Gary Cederstrom (Pretty cool name = 6/10) (Overall Umpire Name Coolness Grade (UNCG) = 19/40)
Time: 2:36 (Another pretty quick one, thanks Richie)
Attendance: 37,902 (And some STILL booed Sexson for strikeouts in at bats 3 and 4)
Weather: 70 degrees, partly cloudy (Niehaus was extremely happy, he said he could barely breathe on the road trip... Get this guy some oxygen next time)
Wind: 1 mph, left to right
8/12/07
Nightcap: 8/12/07 @ White Sox
Though the streak of double-digit hits ended, the Mariners ended their road trip with a 6-0 shutout and took fice of six on this trip. Jeff Weaver perhaps pitched his best game of the season in a complete game shutout only five hits, walking none, and striking out eight. He had everything working for him including his breaking pitch that baffled White Sox hitters. Offensively, all but two Mariners (Ibanez and Jones) had a hit. Sexson, Guillen, and Beltre each had a homerun off of the Sox starter John Danks. It was good to see Richie hit his first homerun since July 26th as he took a Danks fastball over the fence in rightfield. Raul Ibanez, who has had what has to be his best road trip ever, went 0 for 4 with four strikeouts; he couldn't seem to figure out the left-handed Danks. Overall it was an outstanding game and an outstanding roadtrip for the team. The Yankees won today so we are now tied with them for the wildcard, with the Cleveland Indians 1.5 back. We now head back home for six games in seven days against the Twins and then these White Sox.
Umpires: HP--Andy Fletcher. 1B--Mike Reilly. 2B--Jeff Kellogg. 3B--Eric Cooper. (This crew did a nice job in this series. This is the crew that had just come from the bean-ball series in Toronto.)
Time: 2:13 (The Dream Weaver wove us a quick one... 2/13 is my birthday!)
Attendance: 36,629
Weather: 83 degrees, sunny
Wind: 7 mph, left to right
8/11/07
Nightcap: 8/11/07 @ White Sox
The Mariners took this game 7-6 but it was way too close for comfort. For the fifth night in a row, the Mariners reached double-digits in hits as they scored just enough early in the game to take this second game of the three game set in Chicago. We started it off early with a three-run homer in the first by none other than the Werewolf of London himself, Raul Ibanez. That's his tenth on the season and his fifth in as many games! Talk about a tear! The other four runs came via Grand Salami in the fourth inning off the equally hot bat of Yunieski Betancourt, who raises his average to .293. On the mound, Miguel Batista got his twelth win on the season after going 5.2 innings while walking four, sending six to the dugout, and scattering six hits. He mainatined his composure and pitched his way out of a couple jams and only gave up two earned runs. The game was under control until the ninth inning when the White Sox made a late charge. Eric O'Flaherty began the ninth having relieved Batista a couple innings earlier. He allowed two singles and was replaced by left-handed specialist George Sherrill, who then walked his only batter Owens. J.J. Putz then entered the game to try his hand at putting away the pesky White Sox, but gave up a grand slam to the Mariner Killer Josh Fields, who homered twice in the Chicago victory last night. After the dust settled, J.J. sat down the final three batters he faced and the Mariners escaped narrowly with a 1-run victory.
Umpires: HP--Eric Cooper. 1B--Andy Fletcher. 2B--Mike Reilly. 3B--Jeff Kellogg.
Time: 3:01 (Ah the perfect three hour game)
Attendance: 38,210 (Again, pretty packed for a team under .500)
Weather: 87 degrees, clear (B-E-A-U-TIFUL)
Wind: 9 mph, in from right
8/10/07
Nightcap: 8/10/07 @ White Sox
Though we recorded double-digit hits for the fourth game in a row, this Fryday game in Chicago goes in the loss column, 5-3 Sox. Washburn pitched 6.2 innings and surrendered five earned runs on seven hits (three of them for homeruns, two by Josh Fields) and two walks, and was handed his ninth loss on the year. Newbie John Parrish made his first appearance in an M's uniform and pitched a scoreless/hitless 8th inning. Two of the three Mariner runs were a result of solo homeruns by Kenji Johjima (13) and Raul Ibanez (10), Ibanez homering for the fourth time in as many games. Vidro, the only Mariner without a hit tonight, brought in the third and final M's run in the 5th with a sac-fly.
Though we made no errors on the field, I believe Jon McLaren made a couple in the dugout. One of his errors that turned out to be costly was leaving Washburn in a few batters too long. The 7th inning began with a hard-hit single by Jermaine Dye into left field. Scott Podsednik, a lefty, then lined out to Ibanez for the first out. At this point, I called for Morrow to come into the game to face the right-handed hitting Uribe. Instead, Mac decided to leave Washburn in the game, and Uribe doubled off the wall. To add insult to injury, the White Sox added their fifth run on an Erstad triple that got past Ichiro before Washburn left the game. The second error that McLaren made was letting Richie Sexson hit against the right-hander Macdougal with two on and no out in 8th inning. Down by two, we needed to get Ibanez and Beltre to the plate, and I figured I'd rather have the righty-lefty matchup with Broussard instead of the righty-righty matchup with Sexson. Richie then grounded into a double play, and our chances of winning were severely crippled. Mac is now 18-17 with the ballclub.
Umpires: HP--Jeff Kellogg. 1B--Eric Cooper. 2B--Andy Fletcher. 3B--Mike Reilly.
Time: 2:36 (I love Washburn games)
Attendance: 38,586 (Pretty good for a team 7 games under .500)
Weather: 79 degrees, clear (Perrrrfect baseball weather)
Wind: 6 mph, left to right
Ho's Gotta Go
Horacio Ramirez. We traded Rafael Soriano for this guy. We traded a 27 year old dynamite reliever, who may have had a future as a starting pitcher for Horacio Ramirez; he of the career 1.21 K/BB ratio, the career 5.11 FIP, and the absolutely insane 3.66 home ERA/5.20 road ERA split. What has he done for us this year? 7.12 ERA. 5.38 FIP, 5.49 xFIP. Sure, he's posted a 7-3 record, but by all accounts you can pretty much credit the offense with supplying him with 8.33 runs per nine innings. Here's a log of his starts in which the M's have staked an early lead for him, and he's blown it:
May 3 vs. Boston Red Sox: Mariners jump out to a 5-0 lead in the 1st inning. By the bottom of the 2nd, the BoSox have tied it up. The Sox then add 2 more in the 4th to take a 7-5 lead.
May 8 vs. Detroit Tigers: Mariners score 3 in the top of the 1st. The Tigers tie it up in the 2nd. The M's score 1 in the top of the 4th, but the Tigers score 3 more in the bottom half to take a 6-4 lead. The M's creep back by scoring a run in the top of the 6th, but the Tigers get it back by scoring another in the bottom of the 6th to make it 7-5.
July 23 vs. Texas Rangers: Mariners go up 2-0 in the top of the 1st. Ho holds the lead until the bottom of the 3rd when he allows 3 runs. The M's fight back by scoring 1 in the top of the 4th to tie it up, but Ho can't hang on. The Rangers score 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th to knock Ramirez from the game.
August 9 vs. Baltimore Orioles: M's score 3 in the top of the first, and add another in the 3rd to go up 4-0. Ho holds "strong" until the wheels fall off in the bottom half of the inning. The O's put up 5 runs to take the 1 run lead. The M's eventually tie it up and go on to win, but turning a 4 run lead into a 1 run deficit is something we've seen far too often from Horacio Ramirez.
It's not as if Ramirez has been incredibly unlucky this year. He just simply doesn't have the stuff to be a major league pitcher. When facing Ramirez, hitters are putting up an obscene .368/.436/.554 batting line against him (.410/.485/.675 on the road). That's basically like having 9 Ted Williams' facing Ho every game. How have the Mariners given 13 starts to this guy?
With guys like Robert Rohrbaugh, and Jorge Campillo knocking at the door in Tacoma, there really isn't a good reason to keep giving starts to Horacio Ramirez.
8/9/07
Thursday Quote: Leadership is Contagious
"Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders." ~Tom Peters
That quote sums up what Ibanez has done (or hasn't done) this year. He hasn't come up in the big situations and hasn't put up big numbers. His season is just now starting, and I believe it's way too late for him to have a decent shot at keeping his spot next year. He is aging. Adam Jones is here. The youth in this organization is taking over. A few players come to mind...
Meet Yuniesky Betancourt, age 25. He is absolutely tearing the cover off the ball as of late. He's hitting a sizzling hot .349 since the All-Star break. His career line shows he's a 2nd half hitter too. Batting average is an overrated stat though. His RISP, RISP <2> against the Angels the young man is hitting .364, which is what we need when we go in playing the team whose occupying the division lead by 3.5 games.
Nightcap: 8/9/07 @ Orioles
After a weird turn of events that brought Parrish from the O's clubhouse to the M's clubhouse, the Mariners continued their offensive onslaught ending the night with thirteen runs on fifteen hits and swept the three game set with the Orioles with a 13-8 win. It was amazing to be at two Mariner games this series and having them score more than ten runs in both of them. Seven of the nine starters had atleast one run batted in tonight, we walked five times as a team, we smacked fifteen hits, and Adam Jones scored four runs. Yeah the offense is clicking on all cylinders; then again, this is the Orioles we're talking about. Horacio Ramirez had another bad outting despite only allowing five hits in five innings of work. He gave up seven earned runs and matched the five hits he allowed with 5 walks. One of the five hits was a third inning grandslam by Miguel Tejada to put the O's up 5-4. A rain delay of roughly a half hour followed that inning but then the M's tied it back up when the skies cleared. R.R.S., Sean Green, and George Sherrill combined to close out the game allowing a combined three hits and one run, as Sherrill got his first save of the season by recording five outs in a five run ballgame. All around good game, especially since I got signed balls from Garcia, Goff, McLaren, and Rhodes. Lots of fun, can't wait until the M's are back in town next year, hopefully for more than one series.
Note: A Miguel Tejada error in the sixth inning that should have been an easy double play resulted in five Mariner runs in that inning, the ultimate difference in the game. Just goes to show you that while Tejada can look like a hero for hitting the grand slam but really he cost his team the game.
Umpires: HP--Charlie Reliford. 1B--Greg Gibson. 2B--Larry Vanover. 3B--Tony Randazzo. (Reliford's strike zone was all over the place, RAZZLE DAZZLE blew the check swing call that cost us four runs.)
Time: 3:23 (Plus rain delay totaling 23 minutes in the 3rd). (Not too bad for a Hor Ram game plus rain delay)
Attendance: 18,679 (Seems about right, rain sent some people home.)
Weather: 89 degrees, cloudy (Beautiful night for baseball, rain cooled it off a bit)
Wind: 3 mph, right to left (A slight breeze is always good)
M's Trade for Scrub
The highly coveted John Parrish is now ours, for the low-low price of Sebastien Boucher. Now, Boucher was nothing to write home about (think TJ Bohn, but with more speed), but to just throw him to the Orioles for a goddawful 29 year old reliever is just downright idiotic.
Our bullpen is fine. Seriously, what weakness did it have to make this trade necessary? Hard-throwing, dominant closer? Check. Devastating LOOGY? Check. Hard-throwing righty set-up guy? Check. Groundball-inducing, strikeout set-up guy? Check. Secondary LOOGY? Check. Long relief/mop up duty reliever? Check.
I guess I shouldn't get so riled up over this since it's not going to be a make-or-break move, and it affords the team the ability to send Mark Lowe down to get the amount of work he needs in order to get back to where he needs to be. But, dammit, it just doesn't make much sense. The way this team so easily gives up talent in order to bring in "veteran leadership" or to "build team chemistry" is just so utterly baffling, so completely forehead-smacking stupid.
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Phil, I'm glad you got to this one before I did, but I'll just add my two cents.
So I was sitting at Camden Yards tonight for the final game of the series, and before the game I saw that John Parrish was shaking the hands of the Orioles relievers while wearing a Seattle uniform. I first thought was that this was some kind of awful joke, but then reality sunk in. John Parrish was a Mariner. Very awkward moment there seeing a guy switch clubhouses like that, had to be weird for Parrish.
I can testify to how poor of a pitcher Parrish is, I've watched him for a few years with the Orioles since they are my hometeam. Basically what I've watching is him get blasted for multi-run innings. In fact he had a terrible performance just the other week against Boston, cost the O's the game. Other than this move not making sense because he sucks, it also doesn't make any sense at all to bring in a FOURTH, yes a FOURTH, left-handed reliever (Sherrill, O'Flaherty, Rowland-Smith, and now John Parish-able Food Item). Wait until you guys see him pitch, just wait.
8/8/07
Nightcap: 8/8/07 @ Orioles
The M's win the second game of this hot series in Baltimore in similar fashion to last night's 10-3 beating as they win 8-4 tonight. Like last night, both teams pounded out double-digit hits; the Mariners with 15 and the Orioles with 11. Also like last night, only one Mariner starter did not contribute with a hit, that being Kenji Johjima tonight who went 0 for 4. Jose Vidro, Jose Guillen, and Raul Ibanez (2-3-5) contributed four, two, and one runs batted in respectively, and each added a homerun. Ibanez now has three of his nine homeruns in the first two games of this season. The winning pitcher is Felix Hernandez after allowing four earned runs on ten hits in 6.2 innings, and watched Sherrill, Morrow, and Putz close the game out giving up only one hit. For Putz, who again came in during the eighth inning, recorded his 33rd save of the season.
Before the game, former Oriole World Series MVP Rick Dempsey said how he would pitch to Ichiro. He said that he put a shift on where the leftfielder would play the line, the centerfielder would play in the gap, and the rightfielder would play almost in center. He said he would also put the second baseman behind the bag. When Dempsey's co-anchor asked him if Ichiro was good enough to pull the ball to avoid the shift, Dempsey said NO! I couldn't believe the stupidity of that idea. I understand that Ichiro kills the Orioles, hitting like .380 career, but theres no way that you can put a shift on Ichiro because he can pull the ball ten times out of ten if he wanted to.
Umpires: HP--Tony Randazzo. 1B--Charlie Reliford. 2B--Greg Gibson. 3B--Larry Vanover (RAZZLE DAZZLE BEHIND THE PLATE!)
Time: 2:42 (Nice quick game even with 26 combined hits)
Attendance: 17,511 (Almost 10,000 less than yesterday due to increased heat and no Jeremy Guthrie T-Shirt giveaway)
Weather: 101 degrees, partly cloudy (I wasn't there tonight, but I definitely believe it)
Wind: 6 mph, left to right
Time to Get Well(s)?
All indications are that the Padres are on the brink of either trading or releasing David Wells after four consecutive bashings that Wells took on the mound, giving up an MLB record tying ten hits in a row to the Cardinals in the latest beating. With the Mariners in need of a starting pitcher, Wells seemingly wanting to stay on the west coast, and the numerous trades between the two clubs over the last few years, it seems like a perfect match. Wells numbers this year aren't great, but they are still better than Hor Ram's. In 22 games started, "Boomer" Wells is 5-8 with a 5.54 era and nearly a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Time to make some 07 comparisons.
ERA:
Wells: 5.54
Ramirez: 6.68
Weaver: 6.20
WHIP:
Wells: 1.59
Ramirez: 1.84
Weaver: 1.62
Quality Starts (6.0 innings or more, 3 ER or less) / Total Starts
Wells: 9 / 22 (.409)
Ramirez: 6 / 12 (.500)
Weaver: 6 / 17 (.353)
K:BB
Wells: 63:33 (1.91 K's per BB)
Ramirez: 25:24 (1.04 K per BB)
Weaver: 46:24 (1.92 K's per BB)
I really don't know what to think, but Wells is only making 3 million dollars this year on a 1 year contract. Is he worth a prospect? Possibly.
8/7/07
Nightcap: 8/7/07 @ Orioles
We've just climbed aboard the Dream Weaver traaaaain. Yes, I am actually listening to the song over and over again as I type this entry. I got back a couple hours ago from the M's and O's game at Camden Yards and boy did we put on our hittin' shoes tonight. The efforts of Dream Weaver on the mound and the Werewolf of London at the dish propelled us to a huge 10-3 victory in the first game of this 3 game set in Baltimore. Ibanez crushed homeruns seven and eight of the season in his 3 for 6 effort while driving in four and scoring three times. Increasing your season homerun tally by a quarter in one night in August, well, thats sad yet refreshing. Something to note about the offense is that we only struck out twice tonight, both by Beltre, who did have two hits as well. Weaver pitched himself out of jams and only allowed three runs in six innings while surrendering eleven hits and the bullpen pitched the final three innings giving up no runs on four hits. I was also impressed that Weaver walked NO ONE! I was disappointed at not winning rally fries, especially after I met one of the M's cameramen before the game. Overall a very satisfying night at the ballpark, I'll be there again Thursday.
Umpires: HP--Larry Vanover. 1B--Tony Randazzo. 2B--Charlie Reliford. 3B--Greg Gibson (Randazzo is so Hollywood... Razzle Dazzle!)
Time: 3:38 (Thanks to Steve Slowest on the Trach-sel and a combined 34 hits)
Attendance: 25,060 (most probably because it was Jeremy Guthrie T-shirt night)
Weather: 95 degrees, overcast (Ugh maybe 95 on a black metal surface, but not in the stadium)
Wind: 7 mph, right to left
Catching 2 of 3 in Baltimore
Finally the time has come when the M's come to Baltimore for their only trip of the year. I will be at the Tuesday game (section 46) and the Thursday game (section 30) to cheer on Weaver and Ramirez respectively... greeeeaaaat. I've got a Rally Fry sign to take to tonights game and I think I have a pretty good chance of winning, since Baltimore is practically on the other side of the planet and half the people in the stadium probably don't know who the Seattle Mariners are. Lets just hope Blowers and Co. keep their eyes open!
8/4/07
Sexson's Demise
I thought about what I could blog about tonight and I decided I wanted to speak my mind about Richie Sexson, who has been mired in a prolonged slump this season. I wanted to try to find some other occassions in baseball history where power-hitters fell off the side of the earth and into the abyss. I was thinking maybe there would be some logical explanation for why this happens or how it can be fixed. So I went to my trusty Yahoo! search engine and searched for "struggling sluggers". The first link on the results page was an article put out by the Arizona Daily Star and the irony that ensued when I clicked on that link surprised me...
Go ahead, read the article: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/77250 You may find some of the quotes in there interesting.
Anyway onto my rant.
As of tonight, Richie Sexson is hitting a miniscule .196 on the season. He's leading the club in homeruns, but only with 17. There has been a lot of talk among fans about what to do with Sexson and his grossly enormous contract. Can you sit the guy or even platoon him while he's making 14 million dollars? It's a fair question, and I used to ask it whenever the situation was brought up. But now, as far as I'm concerned, the answer to the question is a resounding yes. There is a very simple explanation for what has turned into a complicated situation. Would you rather pay him fourteen million dollars to play but hurt the team's chances of winning night in and night out or would you rather pay him fourteen million dollars to ride the pine and have minimal effects on the team? Since I like to win and I want to win, I'll easily take the latter. There is always that "what if" factor that comes into play. What if Richie starts hitting the ball? Well, to be honest with you, it doesn't look like theres much more that we can hope for from him. He hasn't been hitting homeruns lately, his average has been in decline since the season started, and he's striking out against righties and lefties. It's not looking good.
Now I want to do some number crunching because after all, numbers don't lie.
Average:
2007 Monthly High / Low:
April: .333 (4/2) / .136 (4/28)
May: .196 (5/31) / .143 (5/2)
June: .213 (6/26) / .194 (6/12 and 6/16)
July: .209 (7/7) / .199 (7/18)
Note: Barring the first 5 games of the season, Sexson's average has not reached above .222
Career Averages on August 4th / Season Average / + or -
1999: .252 / .255 / +.003
2000: .254 / .272 / +.018
2001: .248 / .271 / +.023
2002: .282 / .279 / -.003
2003: .271 / .272 / +.001
2004: INJURY
2005: .266 / .263 / -.003
2006: .223 / .264 / +.041
2007: .196 / -- / --
Note: On average, Sexson raises his batting average by .018 from August 4th to the end of the season. That would put him at a 2007 average of .214, the lowest of his career and by far the lowest excluding 2006.
Homeruns:
Career Homeruns on August 4th / Total for the Year / + #
1999: 22 / 31 / +9
2000: 18 / 30 / +12
2001: 26 / 45 / +19
2002: 23 / 29 / +6
2003: 29 / 45 / +16
2004: INJURY
2005: 26 / 39 / +13
2006: 24 / 34 / +10
2007: 17 / -- / --
N0te: On average, Sexson hits about 12 homeruns from August 4th until the end of the year. That puts him on pace to hit 29 homeruns in 2007, tied for lowest of his career.
Runs Batted In:
Career RBI on August 4th / Total for the Year / + #
1999: 69 / 116 / +57
2000: 50 / 91 / +41
2001: 71 / 125 / +54
2002: 77 / 102 / +25
2003: 79 / 124 / +45
2004: INJURY
2005: 82 / 121 / +39
2006: 73 / 107 / +34
2007: 54 / -- / --
Note: Sexson has only had one season where his RBI total on August 4th was lower than the 54 he has this year. At career average RBI's acquired after August 4th, he is on pace to have 96 RBI's, only the second time in his career where he would be under 100 for the season.
8/2/07
Thursday Quote: Dangerous Decisions
The quote this week comes from American economist and political writer Thomas Sowell. He once said:
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."
Lately, the in-game decisions made by Mariner's manager John McLaren have come under close scrutiny and have drawn criticism from the Mariner faithful. But this week, John McLaren has made an even more crucial and controversial decision to bring Adam Jones up from Triple-A Tacoma tomorrow after saying that he doesn't want Adam Jones up with the big club until there is a place for him to play everyday. Speculation is that Jones will be used in a utility role, playing all of the outfield positions when players need rests or pinch hitting later in games. However, this would contradict what John McLaren said before about only promoting him when there is a starting spot open for him. Thinking that McLaren wouldn't intentionally contradict himself, it is obvious that McLaren is being pressured by the front office to bring Jones up, and it seems like he has folded under the pressure and yielded to the front office. To add to the confusion, McLaren has also stated the old adage that "if it ain't broke [the team], don't fix it." But it seems like the front office has went against that wisdom and will bring Jones up for a quick fix.
Several players, including Jose Guillen, have made it clear that the team chemistry right now is very good and the morale is high. Not surprisingly, the rumblings in the clubhouse seem to be that the team is not all in favor of the Jones promotion as they feel it will disrupt the chemistry. A valid argument indeed and one that Bill Bavasi should realize. In the scheme of things it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to bring a rookie up in the middle of a playoff hunt. It would most certainly mean that guys like Jose Vidro and Raul Ibanez, solid veteran players who prove their worth consistently, will be forced to yield at bats to Jones, and in Ibanez's case, duties in the field as well. That is precisely why the move is going to hurt team chemistry, guys are going to arrive at the ballpark wondering if they will be playing that day, and if they're not, trying to figure out how to stay sharp for when they are called upon next. That uncertainty is not something that should be floating around in the club house at this point in the season.
Now we will see how the Jones promotion will pan out. Obviously I'd like to see it work but I can't say I'd be surprised if it contributes to missing the playoffs. I wish the front office and John McLaren would get on the same page with this, but it doesn't seem likely. When you step back and look at the situation, McLaren has to protect his job by satisfying the people above him, the front office and Bill Bavasi. Bill Bavasi has to protect his job by satisfying the owners and the fans. When nearly the entire fan-base is screaming their lungs out to bring Jones up and when the management and ownership above him wants the same thing, he's going to appease them in a heartbeat. Whether the move ends up being a positive one or a negative one, Bavasi can't be criticized for the decision since an overwhelming majority of people want the move to be made. In other words, he won't pay a price for being wrong. And as Thomas Sowell tells us, that way of decision-making, practiced by people who can't be blamed if something turns out poorly, is the most dangerous way to make a decision.
