Friday, March 12, 2004
I WISHED I'D NEVER SEEN THIS...
Edgar's gonna bat fifth. Behind Raul Ibanez. I guess I'll have to raise my expected average of Raul Ibanez by 10 points on the batting average now, bringing him to .240. Sure, it may make some sense, with the righty-lefty switchups between Boone/Ibanez/Edgar in the late innings, but just like my mind still hasn't adjusted to home teams in the NHL wearing the dark sweaters, it's not going to adjust to Edgar hitting anything lower than fourth, especially behind Raul Ibanez, who, though a world-class human being, couldn't hold Edgar's jock. I love the Hickey assertion in the article that "Martinez's power numbers aren't as good as Ibanez's the past two seasons -- 39 homers and 157 RBIs." Ibanez played half his games in what hitters' park? Surely he knows the answer to that question.
Yeah, I've hated what Bill Bavasi's done with this team this offseason. But Bob Melvin is getting pretty high on the infuriate-o-meter with some of the stuff he's said (some would say it's get-off-my-case reporter-feeding fodder) and done this spring. Busting Ben Davis on the Thornton homers the other day wasn't something I thought had to be aired out in the media, unless Melvin is going against the company policy and thinks that chemistry is overrated. I'm sure pissing off Ben Davis makes for great clubhouse chemistry. And now Ibanez fourth? I don't think he could try to make me more uncomfortable about the 2004 season, until I remember the glowing things he's said about Hiram Bocachica and Ramon Santiago, both the hackingest of the hacks. Abhorrent it is. That's what Yoda would say. English: noun/object, verb, adjective. Yodaspeak: adjective, noun/object, verb.
Oh, and would you look at this? We've already seen Melvin snipe at Mike Cameron now that he's gone, and though I agree that John Mabry sucked last year, does he really need to say "I love Mabes, but he needed to be in the lineup more than he was. He is a good hitter, but he had trouble pinch hitting"? Fellow Mariner fans, I give to you Robert Paul Melvin, magna cum laude graduate of the Philip Mason Garner School of Bridge Burning. Melvin's idol is Phil Garner, which we've let readers here know many times. I'll try to sum up Garner's career as a manager quickly here: had a year of beginner's luck with his first year in Milwaukee (1992, 92-70), much like Bob Brenly (ugh) in Arizona, except without Johnson, Schilling, and a World Series. Come on, a monkey could have managed that Arizona team to the World Series, let's be honest here. Garner then was fired in the middle of his eighth year with the Brewers, who had then racked up seven straight crappy seasons and really haven't gotten anywhere close to 1992 since. Garner then went to Detroit, had two crappy years, was canned after an 0-6 start in the third year, and managed to piss off and shame the Tiger organization. When Alan Trammell leaves the Tigers because he has a problem with the manager...you think Tram honestly wanted to leave the Tigers? He'd given a ton to that organization and I can only imagine the degree to which Garner rubbed him the wrong way. ...And this Phil Garner character is the managerial idol of your Seattle Mariner manager, Bob Melvin. You like?
Looks like what the Mariners got in return for Jeff Cirillo isn't turning out to be much. Here's to hoping it results in no wasted roster spots, but I know better. What did I laugh at? "In one of the earliest Seattle cuts in memory, before this year's scheduled first round of roster trims, (Wiki) Gonzalez was sent to the minor-league side before yesterday's workout." Now I don't care if later in the article, Melvin says he was injured. In all actuality, "injured" is probably what Wiki told Melvin about his condition. When I heard a San Diego beat writer on KJR calling Wiki the laziest player in baseball, it gave me all I needed to know about this guy. I think "injured" probably means something along the lines of "my lazy ass doesn't want to work out." If they're stupid enough, the Mariners will baby him and cater to his every need. Again, here's to hoping that doesn't happen. In the boxscore at the bottom of the article, note that Matt Stairs went 1-for-4 for the Royals. Yes, good old power-hittin' Matt Stairs, a great bat off the bench. Sure, he's no Harold Baines. But Dave Hansen is no Matt Stairs.
Oh yeah, just when I thought I had been mostly done with my work for the week (cartography presentation and four-page paper turned in Thursday, isotopes presentation with four-page abstract due Thursday), I forgot I had an isotopes math assignment due Friday, but luckily it's due at 5p, or I'd be screwed. There's definitely going to be some team collaboration, that's for damn sure, because I don't know what the hell I'm doing on the assignment.
The Canuck recap for the Minnesota game will be up later today, as will some hopefully decent thought on the Bertuzzi open-ended suspension (which I think is open-ended both because of the severity, and because of the impending labor impasse). For now, I refer you all to Joe Tasca, who has probed through the sports pages across Canada and the States, and asks some interesting questions regarding the Bertuzzi scenario, and hockey violence in general.
Yeah, I've hated what Bill Bavasi's done with this team this offseason. But Bob Melvin is getting pretty high on the infuriate-o-meter with some of the stuff he's said (some would say it's get-off-my-case reporter-feeding fodder) and done this spring. Busting Ben Davis on the Thornton homers the other day wasn't something I thought had to be aired out in the media, unless Melvin is going against the company policy and thinks that chemistry is overrated. I'm sure pissing off Ben Davis makes for great clubhouse chemistry. And now Ibanez fourth? I don't think he could try to make me more uncomfortable about the 2004 season, until I remember the glowing things he's said about Hiram Bocachica and Ramon Santiago, both the hackingest of the hacks. Abhorrent it is. That's what Yoda would say. English: noun/object, verb, adjective. Yodaspeak: adjective, noun/object, verb.
Oh, and would you look at this? We've already seen Melvin snipe at Mike Cameron now that he's gone, and though I agree that John Mabry sucked last year, does he really need to say "I love Mabes, but he needed to be in the lineup more than he was. He is a good hitter, but he had trouble pinch hitting"? Fellow Mariner fans, I give to you Robert Paul Melvin, magna cum laude graduate of the Philip Mason Garner School of Bridge Burning. Melvin's idol is Phil Garner, which we've let readers here know many times. I'll try to sum up Garner's career as a manager quickly here: had a year of beginner's luck with his first year in Milwaukee (1992, 92-70), much like Bob Brenly (ugh) in Arizona, except without Johnson, Schilling, and a World Series. Come on, a monkey could have managed that Arizona team to the World Series, let's be honest here. Garner then was fired in the middle of his eighth year with the Brewers, who had then racked up seven straight crappy seasons and really haven't gotten anywhere close to 1992 since. Garner then went to Detroit, had two crappy years, was canned after an 0-6 start in the third year, and managed to piss off and shame the Tiger organization. When Alan Trammell leaves the Tigers because he has a problem with the manager...you think Tram honestly wanted to leave the Tigers? He'd given a ton to that organization and I can only imagine the degree to which Garner rubbed him the wrong way. ...And this Phil Garner character is the managerial idol of your Seattle Mariner manager, Bob Melvin. You like?
Looks like what the Mariners got in return for Jeff Cirillo isn't turning out to be much. Here's to hoping it results in no wasted roster spots, but I know better. What did I laugh at? "In one of the earliest Seattle cuts in memory, before this year's scheduled first round of roster trims, (Wiki) Gonzalez was sent to the minor-league side before yesterday's workout." Now I don't care if later in the article, Melvin says he was injured. In all actuality, "injured" is probably what Wiki told Melvin about his condition. When I heard a San Diego beat writer on KJR calling Wiki the laziest player in baseball, it gave me all I needed to know about this guy. I think "injured" probably means something along the lines of "my lazy ass doesn't want to work out." If they're stupid enough, the Mariners will baby him and cater to his every need. Again, here's to hoping that doesn't happen. In the boxscore at the bottom of the article, note that Matt Stairs went 1-for-4 for the Royals. Yes, good old power-hittin' Matt Stairs, a great bat off the bench. Sure, he's no Harold Baines. But Dave Hansen is no Matt Stairs.
Oh yeah, just when I thought I had been mostly done with my work for the week (cartography presentation and four-page paper turned in Thursday, isotopes presentation with four-page abstract due Thursday), I forgot I had an isotopes math assignment due Friday, but luckily it's due at 5p, or I'd be screwed. There's definitely going to be some team collaboration, that's for damn sure, because I don't know what the hell I'm doing on the assignment.
The Canuck recap for the Minnesota game will be up later today, as will some hopefully decent thought on the Bertuzzi open-ended suspension (which I think is open-ended both because of the severity, and because of the impending labor impasse). For now, I refer you all to Joe Tasca, who has probed through the sports pages across Canada and the States, and asks some interesting questions regarding the Bertuzzi scenario, and hockey violence in general.
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