Game 74, Mariners at Dodgers
Hernandez vs Milton, 7:05 pm.
Happy Felix Day, sort of. Because….
Larry LaRue delivers the bad news – Adrian Beltre will have surgery on his shoulder in the next week or so, which will put him on the shelf for 6-8 weeks. That puts him out until September, realistically, and even his performance then would be a question mark, given the missed time.
This, obviously, is a huge blow to the M’s. Even with his offense struggling, he’s still an elite defensive player who has been playing at a +3 win level so far this year. The M’s don’t have a capable replacement in the organization, and the options for how the team will replace Beltre range from bad (Mike Morse) to experimental (Branyan to third, Carp at first).
And, obviously, this eliminates any chance of the team trading Beltre at the deadline. This also should push the M’s heavily towards sell mode, as the team had a slim chance of winning the division with their star third baseman, but this puts a pretty serious crimp in those plans. Minus Beltre, and with Bedard’s health a question mark, this team just isn’t that good.
Zduriencik confirms, via Baker, that tonight is Beltre’s last game. Jack mentioned Chris Woodward and Jose Lopez as options to replace Beltre, but not Branyan. If Lopez moved to third, Cedeno/Wilson would probably share second base after Yuni came back, which would make the dropoff from Beltre to his replacement probably something like two wins over the rest of the season. Those are two wins the M’s couldn’t afford to lose. Sell, sell, sell.
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Well, according to the transcript of the chat Zduriencik had on mlb.com he was asked about trading Branyan and had this to say:
Of course, take that for what it’s worth…
Not for AA though
Nice that Kemp swung at ball three.
Really?
This is the first time I have felt that Felix was s
a pitcher from the 1st inning on. It looked good it felt good and it is a win!!!
Sims said Aardsma got his 16th save, but he entered the 9th with a 4 run lead.
You can’t pitch yourself into a save situation.
But he put two runs on base. Doesn’t that make for a save situation?
If you come into the game in a non save situation in the ninth, then put guys on base so it would be a save situation, you can’t get the save but the guy coming in can.
Gotcha
Aardsma “saved” himself because M’s fans would have rioted if he blew this game.
It doesn’t matter. The Save is BS stat anyway. It was basically created to give relievers huge money contracts or something…
I don’t think thats why it was created, but yes that’s whats become of the rule. K-Rod had his worst season last year but is lauded with praise for his record number of saves, which are basically a by-product of his team winning a lot of close games.
Sorry, I was off doing family stuff and listening on the radio.
Gaylord was quite subtle about loading up. He would brush all over his body, some of it really loading up, some of it not actually touching, just to screw with hitters’ and umpires’ minds.
However, the one time in his entire career he was tossed was when he was with the M’s. I remember listening to the game on the radio and Dave just did an “Ohmigod!” at the way the pitch just dropped like it had hit a wall. The ump had (and under the rules needed) no evidence the ball was doctored, he just pointed to the dugout and Gaylord didn’t argue.
I commend you to “Me and the Spitter,” his autobiography.
If Sims said that was a save he is simply failing at his job. Which is specifically to know these kinds of facts and help keep the listeners informed. Instead he just made people dumber about the rules of baseball, or in the least confused. Thanks for that.
KG:
Felix’s split:
1958 PA, .753 OPS with Joh, 225PA, .580 OPS with Johnson
I think its the language barrier, for instance Joh may call for a 4 seam fastball over the inside corner, but Johnson will call for a 4 seamer over the inside corner with a late break, like that one that got Blake to strike out swinging. That’s a huge difference.
I guess you missed the 1-hitter in Boston a couple of years ago.
Thank goodness Felix has finally stepped up and became the ACE we haven’t had in a long time. The Mariners are winning so consistently because Felix prevents any prolonged losing streaks with his amazing starts. Lets hope Olson doesn’t get shelled and get out of L.A. with a series win!!
So let me get this straight. Beltre is out 2 months. We are without a 3b and the cardinals just picked up Mark DeRosa for Chris Perez! Are you fing kidding me. Why were we not on DeRosa? Perez, I mean we could of gave them Sean White, he is better the Perez. Can someone tell me why the F.O. would not make a deal for Mark. Problem solved. I’m so tired of this organization sitting on their hands. Nick Swisher, Mark DeRosa, …..to be continued.
This is why we aren’t good.
The one hitter was especially sweet, because all the hype going in was DiceK’s Boston debut. Felix spoiled the party.
Just a random note, but Ichiro is on pace for 251 hits this year, even though he missed the first 9 games. WOW
Yes! We havn’t a good ‘Greg Dobbs’ arguement in quite awhile.
Or, havn’t had a good ‘Greg Dobbs’…sorry.
haven’t, actually. haha
Wow too bad DeRosa was traded to the Cardinals today….He would have been nice to have.
The point about Dobbs is he’s a left handed bat sitting on the bench in Philly, not getting much playing time. So he’ll be cheap, and won’t cost us much for a stop gap. There isn’t much of an argument about him, he is a decent bench player and left handed pinch hitter.
Speaking of ex-Mariners I see from the Cardinals box score that Ryan Franklin picked up his 18th save tonight, and is sporting a 0.93era. I can imagine a typical Cardinals game, having the announcers gush about what a sure thing Ryan is when he comes in in the 9th to preserve Joel Pinero’s eight shutout innings.
The only way this team should pick up Greg Dobbs is on the waiver wire.
The Save is BS stat anyway. It was basically created to give relievers huge money contracts or something…
OR SOMETHING:
JEROME HOLTZMAN devised the SAVE rule–probably to give some relief pitchers statistical recognition. I don’t think he had any idea of the albatross it would become.
BTW, I read somewhere that Dave Smith, the founder of RETROSHEET, noted that the percentage of wins when a team was ahead going into the 9th inning was almost identical before the SAVE rule and after the SAVE rule.
In tonight’s game, because it wasn’t a SAVE situation, most managers would not have used their best reliever–their closer. To his credit, WAK did.
It was an easy choice, given the off-day Monday and that he hadn’t pitched since Wednesday. I wish he hadn’t had to throw so damn many pitches. But I imagine I’m going to think that way so long as he’s a Mariner. He doesn’t have the stuff or the makeup to have a lot of six pitch innings.
John D. – You’re right about the history of the save. My post was an attempt at Sarcasm when writing. I obviously need work. It’s interesting to note that the idea of a 9th inning closer really didn’t come about until Lee Smith. There was a time when Closers were expected to go two maybe three innings. From the rule book:
Can you imagine if the closer pitched 3 innings today? People would be screaming for the managers head.
Three more hits for Ichiro, and he is now hitting .375.
Slowly but surely, Ichiro is moving towards the magical .400 mark.
The PI headline on their website this morning says:
In the article they do mention that he hit one homerun, and they also mention some guy named Felix.
Funny how no one really is paying attention to Ichiro’s BA creeping up to .400 because he has spoiled us over the years with his selfishly high batting average.
Maybe Ichiro should take the start of April off every year (historically it’s his worst month by far). He’s got his body in such a routine, perhaps it still thinks it is playing in the shorter Japanese season?
😉
Derosa was known to be available (Swisher, on the other hand, was not — the Yankees were not eager to move him even before Nandy got hurt so the price would’ve been high). I am certain he wasn’t overlooked by the FO. If Zduriencik wanted him, they could’ve had him. But: he’s right-handed, he’s 34, and he’s really an outfielder: he’s -7.7/150 UZR at 3B or 2B (though he’s about average at SS). He’s versatile, yes, and fairly productive (.347 wOBA this year, right in line with the ZIPS predictions; .376 last year with the Cubs). But he’s really just Willie Bloomquist with a somewhat bigger bat (and more miles on the tires). That would be a big step up from the current situation, of course, but I suspect Zduriencik has someone else in mind. Yeah, it would be nice to know what that is, but let’s not overlook the fact that if we woke up this morning to news of DeRosa coming to the M’s, we’d be reading a lot about “He’s not the final answer” — and he isn’t.
Then you need to follow the Phillies a little closer. With Ibanez hurt, Dobbs is more than just a “left handed bat sitting on the bench.” Prior to last night, he’d been in six straight games, including starting four of them (and pinch hitting in a AL parks in the other two).
And this is why we always made fun of all things “PI”
…and what do you know. And Sean White was unavailable last night due to “soreness” so I don’t think the Indians would’ve been eager to get him in trade.