Yankees At Mariners, Game 52
Vargas vs Sabathia, 1:10 pm.
If the Mariners win and the Rangers lose today, the M’s will stand alone in first place in the American League West. That’s actually kind of hilarious, when you think that:
Ichiro is having the worst year of his career.
Chone Figgins has actually been worse than he was last year.
Jack Cust has one home run.
Franklin Gutierrez has spent 84% of the season on the disabled list.
David Aardsma has spent 100% of the season on the disabled list.
Milton Bradley was so lousy that he got released and his replacements have been even worse.
Seriously, this isn’t an everything-that-could-go-right-has-gone-right situation. The M’s are getting sub-Mendoza line averages from three positions, have already swapped out their opening day left fielder and second baseman for replacements, and are once again putting one of baseball’s worst line-ups on the field. And yet, thanks to ridiculously great performances from the likes of David Pauley (!), the team is a half game out of first place on May 28th. Baseball. It’s awesome.
That said, the team has their work cut out for them today. The Sunday afternoon line-up is in affect, and there’s a lefty on the mound, so Cust, Kennedy, and Olivo are all getting the day off. The guy hitting fifth has three Major League hits, and oh by the way, C.C. Sabathia is pitching. Let’s hope Jason Vargas has some magic in him today.
Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 3B
Smoak, 1B
Gutierrez, CF
Wilson, DH
Ryan, SS
Wilson, 2B
Saunders, LF
Gimenez, C
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153 Responses to “Yankees At Mariners, Game 52”
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I was thinking of Langerhans as well but then was thinking we need a right handed bat in the outfield who does not play defense like they have a two thumbed glove. We have gone down the Langerhans road before and I would like to try something else. I see Halman is back in Tacoma. How is his defense ?
Langerhans fits because he is a veteran who doesn’t need the playing time to develop. He is happy to sit, backup CF once a weak, and get an occasional LF start along with a pinch hit opportunity here and there.
Halman isn’t ready and he needs playing time like all prospects. Mike Wilson is a different story since he is 27 and he is what he will be- a 4th OF.
A guy I liked in spring training was from KC names Jarrod Dyson. He is 26 and can absolutely fly. He was just sent down a couple weeks back and only had a few AB’s but still had 9 steals. A little guy, but fastest I saw this past spring in AZ. He wouldn’t cost much either since he isn’t a real prospect at his age.
Howitzer for an arm, good wheels. Enough to make up for more bad reads off the bat than you’d like, most of the time.
The only thing keeping this guy from the big leagues is learning to hit any pitch with a wrinkle in it. And laying off the pitches he has no right to be able to expect to hit.
Right now, you could yell “slider!” to him as a pitcher and actually throw him one…he’ll still treat it like a fastball that’s somehow missing velocity and be way,way early on the swing.
I was at the game, surrounded by really obnoxious Yankee fans. They were dolts, for the most part. Surprise.