Game 157: Rangers at Mariners
JMB · September 27, 2005 at 6:41 pm · Filed Under Game Threads
RHP Kameron Loe vs. RHP Felix Hernandez, 7:05pm, FSN & KOMO.
Wherein, King Felix enacts his revenge upon the hated Rangers of Texas for their refusal to kneel before his throne ten days ago. Justice will be swift, but painful.
Loe, who stands a healthy 6-8, made his major league debut one year ago yesterday. Ah, good, the lineups are up. So now I can stop boring you with useless information like Kameron Loe’s major league debut. Thanks for pretending to be interested.
RF Ichiro!
CF Reed
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
3B Beltre
“DH” Dobbs
2B Lopez
SS Betancourt
C JoeJessica
Comments
416 Responses to “Game 157: Rangers at Mariners”
401, just to make it past 400. (4 games: 1.5 runs per game — Hargrove seems to rolling over too).
Like Buck Showalter, I missed a good game tonight. But I will miss anything for a televised documentary on Bob Dylan. I’m a journalist and those interviews with Dylan were hysterical. Maybe the M’s beat writers learned to ask questions from those guys. Favorite part of the film though was the footage of him and Johnny Cash at the piano singing the Hank Williams tune “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” What any music fan would’ve given to be in that studio on that day with two of the greatest to ever enter that field.
Anyway, congratulations to the Angels and (I guess) the Braves on winning their divisions. Goodbye baseball saying goodnight all.
#397. WOOHOO! A batgirl link! I LOVE BATGIRL!
I was directed to her earlier this year.
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I left the game somewhere in the 6th? But the comments helped me figure out what was going on after words.
The comments also made me excited for the day when the team is good and every game can be talked about as passionatly as, … well the burrito talk was at the start of the game.
Trade King Felix now before we royally screw up his arm!! Lets offer King Felix for Travis Hafner!!
2 run complete games will get you a lot of wins in the bigs.
Except when you pitch for last-place teams.
Looking 3,000 miles from Seattle to Florida and what is happening with AJ Burnett’s and Miguel Cabrera’s attitude this season gives me pause for reflection about our own budding uber-star. I’ve posted several comments around saving some dry powder in 2006 to compete head long in 2007. Now I’m not too sure that would be wise.
Keeping Felix healthy is the most important priority, but keeping him happy is #2. And I don’t think he stays happy on a last place team with lousy run support. The franchise gets a mulligan from him this year. This year he isn’t going to mouth off like AJ, and he isn’t going to start screwing off in the clubhouse like Cabrera. But next year…
I now think it’s imperative that we improve the offense. It’s one thing to finish short of the playoffs or even short of .500 in 2006. But it’s another thing for Felix to finish 11-14 next year with pathetic run support. One thing Randy Johnson could always count on was some lumber from Griffey, Buhner, Edgar and the boys. It kept Randy’s competitive attitude intact as he strove to win more than he lost. I think the M’s need good wood behind Felix, too, for the same reason.
So I guess I’m willing to shoot high on that left-handed bat. Giles, sure. Dunn, you bet. It might be more important than getting 2 arms. We need one good arm, to be sure. But if we have to scrimp on the 2nd arm to afford a “good” bat, then so be it.
you know, you don’t have to be on a last-place team to have poor run support. Ignoring the whole Ryan Franklin run support drama, every pitcher has a year when they get no run support. It is just one of those fluky things…. back in 2000 when Sele would get what seemed like 10 runs every start, Meche who had the lowest run support in the league. The M’s need to fix the offense, but not just to make Felix happy; Felix needs to know that he may pitch his butt off and it’ll still happen to him sometime (see Clemens, Roger)
How close to home was Lopez when Teixeira made the final out? I had the funny thought right after the play ended that Ichiro’s best strategy in that situation may have been stalling the tag (like he did), and then trying to run into the tag, hoping that Lopez was quick enough to cross home before the non-force out was made. I’m not even sure there was enough time for Lopez to make it, since I was watching on TV, I couldn’t tell where Lopez wound up, but Ichiro’s long stall at least made it seem remotely plausible.
From what I overheard, I think I sat behind Bob Finnegan last night.
Betancourt comes to the plate. “.258! We need some hitters. Let’s bring back Boone.” Boone was hitting .231 when released.
Lopez comes to the plate. “2 homers? We get rid of Boonie for this guy?” Lopez doubles off the top of the leftfield wall.
Gonzalez lines a single about five steps to the right of Sexson. “If Boonie was still here, he would have had that one.” Boone is at home with his kids, watching Fraggle Rock on DVD.
Sexson comes to the plate. “Where the hell is Bucky? We need someone who can hit.” Bucky is home, asleep in his recliner, surrounded by Taco Bell wrappers.
Lopez comes to the plate again. “We need a real slugger. If Baltimore does not re-sign him, we got to get Sammy Sosa. Sluggin’ Sammy Sosa! That’s what we need.” Lopez doubles again.
MATH – If Boston goes 1-1 today, and NY and Cleveland go 0-1, can the three of them still be tied? Dave says they are.
Yes, Boston was a 1/2 game behind NY & CLE.
Winning the first game, tied them with the other two. All three lost, so they remain tied.
Bucky cleared waivers. Sic transit gloria Bucky. Maybe he’ll go to the Barry Bonds fitness program this winter.
408: Even if the tag is made it’s still a force out. Regardless of how the out is made, it’s always a force until Ichiro touches the bag. I don’t have time to look up the rule right now, but I read it earlier this year for a similar situation.
If Ichiro had stopped coming up the line, Teixeira could have walked slowly over and stepped on first. It wouldn’t matter if Lopez was already in the shower by then, the run wouldn’t count.
412: Yeah, that makes sense to put a sort of clause like that in there. I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that exists.
413: You seem to have misunderstood my point. I was advocating that, after Teixeira starts walking slowly up the line, Ichiro could potentially run into Teixeira’s glove before Teixeira touched the base (and after Lopez touched home), making it a tag out. Of courrse, as Yet Another Paul suggests, that is probably still a force out as first base may be a special case.
414: OK, I did misunderstand. Here is MLB Rule 4.09(a):
A run is not scored if the runner advances to home base during a play in which the third out is made (1) by the batter runner before he touches first base; (2) by any runner being forced out; or (3) by a preceding runner who is declared out because he failed to touch one of the bases.
So you’re right, a tag-play before the batter reaches 1st is treated the same as a force for this purpose.
Thanks for the rules cite.
That’s too bad, really, though. I love baseball for it’s quirky rules, like being able to advance to first on a strikeout/passed ball or strikeout/wild pitch. Maybe it wouldn’t really come up much, but I think allowing the option of the batter playing cat and mouse with the fielders would be kind of fun.