Game 23, Rangers at Mariners
King Felix vs. Colby Lewis, 6:10pm
Happy Felix Day!
Sort of odd that it took Justin Smoak of all people to help pull us off the ledge, even as Fernando Rodney tried to shove us closer. The M’s desperately needed a few wins, and they got them, albeit barely.
I saw several Felix jerseys today at the Sounders game; to those about to pull a personal double-header, I hereby salute you.
Lewis has been better than I would’ve expected, especially early on. He’s been a bit unlucky, thanks to a sky-high BABIP – which, come to think of it, is pretty hard to do for a guy who gets so many fly outs. That said, his platoon splits – which were always something of an issue – have widened, hence the M’s lefty-heavy line-up. I’m still struck by Lewis’ ability to avoid the HR problems that plague Blake Beavan (and Erasmo Ramirez) while throwing 89mph fastballs in the zone. As he’s lost some zip on his slider, and as managers stack their line-ups with more lefties, he’s naturally getting fewer K’s. But he’s simply stopped walking anyone to compensate. That sounds good in practice, but I’m just not sure how he can do it without HR/9 rates approaching 2. Whatever he’s doing, Blake Beavan, would love to know how to do it too.
Line-up:
1: Saunders, RF, Holy Crap
2: Almonte, CF, awww, never mind
3: Cano, 2B
4: Hart, DH
5: Seager, 3B
6: Smoak, 1B
7: Ackley, LF
8: Zunino, C
9: Miller, SS
SP: El Rey
I wondered if the M’s might have been trying to stack their line-up with fly-ball hitters against the groundballing Robbie Ross, but if they were, it obviously didn’t matter. Here’s to Neal Cotts for bailing them out with one of the worst half-innings vs. the M’s in recent memory, though to be fair, it would essentially IDENTICAL to Rodney’s if Smoak hadn’t flown to his left to snare that line drive. The M’s are really, really struggling against ground-ball pitchers, and while a good chunk of that is two games against Ross, the problem looks like it runs deeper than that. It’s not an issue tonight, but it’s something to keep an eye on over the course of the year.
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BAM! Says Mr. Saunders… 1-0.
So, how many more of these could we have had…?
Two more Dingers and a double tonight Michael – and you MIGHT get another start tomorrow. Hopefully in CF.
I seem to remember Felix having an out pitch…
I wish we had a Rios.
Condor has had a couple two hit games this season… hasn’t mattered. So the stuff about “the players determining the lineup” stuff is essentially crap.
A Mariner walked!
What is with the turkey leg? Did I miss something?
It’s a Kings court tradition, so you have probably missed 15-20 of them … Give or take.
And then again, you haven’t really missed much
Brad Miller is playing so poorly it’s nauseating.
Yeah, Miller has lost his way. I hope he can find it soon.
Bases loaded, no outs. Ms get only one run in. That’s M power!
And here we go down the Slide of Doom!
Something is wrong with Felix. Is it me or has he not had his changeup all night? (as I type that he finally throws a decent one to get Fielder)
Bases loaded, no outs. Rangers get three runs in. That’s lack of M power!
Strike (looking), Strike (looking), Strike (swinging), A Almonte struck out swinging
Me thinks time for a trip to Tacoma.
Strike 3 to Hart was so outside.
I have to laugh at the Schick Shadel commercial in the middle of the game… It’s like they know what most Mariners fans are doing right now, especially with Felix struggling…
Nephew (and his Dad) are Giants fans. Nephew just pointed out to me that no Mariner is batting over .300 and Cano is the only M hitting above .250. Nephew secretly moved the man cave Mariners Pennant, which is now hanging down pointed down over the back room toilet. I informed him that was not funny. His Dad laughs. I state this will be the last M game we watch together unless it is for the World Series. Dad laughs again “like that will ever happen”. I think I will leave pennant at its new location.
Ok, send Brad Miller down. The umps are starting to take away hits.
Wow, Miller sure looked safe. Replay system failed.
Sims admits his overstatement. It’s a start….
So I guess replay doesn’t matter? Certainly looked like Miller had his toe on the base.
Good hustle by him on that one though.
Good god, Abe.
Have we seen the last of Almonte yet?
Walking Hart to face Seager? Ok.
Bleah.
The non-use of Farquhar is simply amazing.
Lloyd is real stubborn with his lack of use of Farquar when it maters and his perpetual over-use of Almonte. He said to blame him when Almonte fails, so okay … I do.
*sigh*
Odd lineups, bad in-game decisions….
Did Wedge actually leave?
Yeah, let’s use Medina and Beimel over Farquhar
Oh, hey! Our mop-up man that doubles as our most talented relief pitcher!
That was clearly inferior to what we paid more for.
The market has spoken. Where is Fernando?
I will be interested in seeing McClendon’s lineup tomorrow. I’m trying – but failing – to understand what his thought process is on almost everything. It’s like a brain-teaser that I just can’t figure out but can’t put down.
I think I’ve turned on him faster than I turned on Wedge…
“I think I’ve turned on him faster than I turned on Wedge…”
I have. Like all of you, I have suffered watching this team in attempt to stay “True to the Blue” over the past miserable decade. However, our latest manager has seriously decreased my desire to watch much more. A manager’s job is to put his team in the best position to win. Unfortunately, Lloyd McClendon clearly fails to do that with his “from the gut” lineups and bullpen decisions. I’m so tired of all the mediocrity and losing. I don’t see anything changing until we get a brilliant general manager. With Howard Lincoln’s inability to hire one, I only see sustained mediocrity ahead. True to the truth.
Baseball is an Alternative Universe. At a little league game yesterday, talking to a Giants fan, I was told, straight-faced, that a) Morse made any team better, and b) left field, in any case, didn’t matter as a position (center took care of everything). And rubbing (I truly believe it was ignorantly, and not viciously) salt in the wound, he went on to say that Seattle made the mistake of not DH-1Bing him from the start.
I… uh… outside of feeling flabbergasted… had nothing.
You just can’t argue with success.
The worst thing was trying to respond the the question: what was the offseason logic which would result in the (re)acquisition of Bloomquist alongside the acquisition of Cano.
He just wanted to try to understand. Wow, what a lunk, eh?
Loooooooooong season ahead.
Um… is this off topic?
Go M’s.
Miller and Almonte belong in AAA.
Oh, and Saunders…Romero…Wilhelmsen etc
Pretty sure McLendon is not the reason this team is losing… Just sayin’. We’ve had PLENTY of managers have the chance to show that a manager can have an influence on winning and losing in the past 6-7 years, and uh, it’s just been losing… So yeah, Manager is pretty much the least of this team’s concerns. After: 1) GM, 2) Players acquired by said GM…
And the immediate concern… We don’t have a very good bullpen. Farquar, even if given the chance, can’t pitch 2 innings every night.
1) Owner, 2) CEO, 3) GM, 4) Players acquired by said GM..
should’ve given Joe Maddon the quarter billion, bring the goods out of all this “potential”