Monday, May 31, 2004
JAYLBREAK WITH BUTTERKNIVES
Folks, Bill Bavasi is a happy man tonight. His hackneyed roster did exactly what it was supposed to do tonight: good pitching and a nickel-and-dime-you-to-death/punch-and-judy/predominately station-to-station offense. Such is the only way in which you can win with a contact-hitting offense with no speed, right?
On Bill Bavasi's wish list before the season started: tonight's win multiplied by about 96. Too bad I think it's still quite boring. That's why there's Jamie Moyer to keep the hitters off-balance all night.
Let's take the innings in which the Mariners scored...
3rd inning
- single (Rich Aurilia)
- sacrifice (Dan Wilson, who apparently learned how to bunt again?)
- RBI single (Ichiro)
- RBI triple (Randy Winn)
- 6-2 fielders' choice (Edgar Martinez)
- single (Raul Ibanez)
- flyout (Bret Boone)
Chalk another one up for Jeremy's Win/Lose Mariner edict: isn't it fitting that Winn gets a triple, and the guy on the basepaths is the fastest guy on the team? Just to throw in, I wish I could have seen the play on which Winn was thrown out trying to go home, because just reading it right now, it seems like that's a dead giveaway for a baserunning gaffe.
4th inning
- strikeout (Scott Spiezio)
- double (John Olerud)
- RBI single (Aurilia)
- walk (Wilson)
- flyout (Ichiro)
- RBI single (Winn)
- looking strikeout (Edgar)
Taking advantage of scoring opportunities? Whose team is this? Surely this can't stick around for too long, can it?
8th inning
- walk (Olerud)
- popout (Aurilia)
- walk (Wilson)
- bean (Ichiro)
- RBI sac fly (Winn)
- RBI single (Edgar)
- groundout (Ibanez)
Singles and walks and sacrifices, oh my! Luckily those three innings were really their only legitimate scoring chances of the night, but man...this I guess is the most optimal case for a team that usually needs three singles to score a run, which by logic requires at least three batters. By the same logic, to put up a three-spot in an inning would require sending at least five batters to the plate, and then there's the three outs to play with. Of course, with this team, who knows what happens to those three outs. Okay, take all of this and think about it for a second...the Mariners could conceivably send eight hitters to the plate in an inning and get only three runs. Take a second to think about what the Angels, Marlins, or Yankees would do if they sent eight hitters to the plate. It's almost sickening, isn't it? Of course, those teams either have hitters with a little pop and/or are able to smell blood when they know a pitcher is in trouble. Can you think of an instance this year in which you've thought of the Mariners in the same sentence with the phrase "smell/smelling blood" this season?
Nothing bad-looking on the stat sheet for the pitchers tonight -- Jamie Moyer throws 105 pitches and almost finishes eight innings. Seven hits, two runs, a walk, and four strikeouts. Solid outing, and it's a good thing the defense didn't find some way to not get to some key balls. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in with Jamie's runners on and two out in the eighth (surely making many cringe), and he struck out Josh Phelps, though Shig had to make sure he went to 2-0 and full counts before doing so. He had to throw in that cliffhanger for us all, you know, show us that there's still signs of 2004 Shig.
Eddie Guardado was brought in with a four-run lead in the 9th, which was mildly surprising. Of course, Bob Melvin probably figured JJ Putz' arm was burnt after yesterday. This of course leaves the question of "is a four-run lead large enough to send Ron Villone or Mike Myers out there to get some work?"
Well, from my point of view, this is exactly how the Mariners had it drawn up with this set of guys. Let's see how uppity everyone in charge gets over this one. They'll probably say, "hey, we're 19-31 on Memorial Day...we came back from a huge deficit in September of '95, and we can do it this year, too!! Rah rah rah!! Buy the Mariners' wives cookbook!! Come to Workout Shirt Night!!"
In a related story, the Mariners are 11 games back. The shortest path to .500 baseball involves winning twelve straight games. If only I had the time to do some math, I would have the remaining three teams in the AL West play .500 ball for the rest of the way, and see how long it would take the Mariners to play at their 116-win percentage (~.716) and get to first place. If it never happened in 162 games, then I would have a hearty laugh. If the Angels played .500 ball the rest of the way, they'd finish 86-76.
If the Mariners played 116-pace the rest of the way, that would be an 80-32 pace. Add that to their record right now, and you get 99-63. Does anyone like pie-in-the-sky thinking? Because there's no way in hell the Mariners are going to go on an 80-32 tear. I would soil myself (daily) if that happened. If you have the Angels finish 86-76, the Mariners' finishing 87-65 to overtake the Angels would require them to go 68-44 (.607).
So, I guess if you believe this team can play just-better-than-.600 ball for the rest of the season, they might have a chance at the division title.
But that depends on everything (and absolutely everything) going right that's gone wrong already for this Mariner team.
Can you see that happening?
Halladay. Meche. Tomorrow.
[Edit Tue ~3:45a -- added vital word "if" to .600-ball paragraph toward end of post]
On Bill Bavasi's wish list before the season started: tonight's win multiplied by about 96. Too bad I think it's still quite boring. That's why there's Jamie Moyer to keep the hitters off-balance all night.
Let's take the innings in which the Mariners scored...
3rd inning
- single (Rich Aurilia)
- sacrifice (Dan Wilson, who apparently learned how to bunt again?)
- RBI single (Ichiro)
- RBI triple (Randy Winn)
- 6-2 fielders' choice (Edgar Martinez)
- single (Raul Ibanez)
- flyout (Bret Boone)
Chalk another one up for Jeremy's Win/Lose Mariner edict: isn't it fitting that Winn gets a triple, and the guy on the basepaths is the fastest guy on the team? Just to throw in, I wish I could have seen the play on which Winn was thrown out trying to go home, because just reading it right now, it seems like that's a dead giveaway for a baserunning gaffe.
4th inning
- strikeout (Scott Spiezio)
- double (John Olerud)
- RBI single (Aurilia)
- walk (Wilson)
- flyout (Ichiro)
- RBI single (Winn)
- looking strikeout (Edgar)
Taking advantage of scoring opportunities? Whose team is this? Surely this can't stick around for too long, can it?
8th inning
- walk (Olerud)
- popout (Aurilia)
- walk (Wilson)
- bean (Ichiro)
- RBI sac fly (Winn)
- RBI single (Edgar)
- groundout (Ibanez)
Singles and walks and sacrifices, oh my! Luckily those three innings were really their only legitimate scoring chances of the night, but man...this I guess is the most optimal case for a team that usually needs three singles to score a run, which by logic requires at least three batters. By the same logic, to put up a three-spot in an inning would require sending at least five batters to the plate, and then there's the three outs to play with. Of course, with this team, who knows what happens to those three outs. Okay, take all of this and think about it for a second...the Mariners could conceivably send eight hitters to the plate in an inning and get only three runs. Take a second to think about what the Angels, Marlins, or Yankees would do if they sent eight hitters to the plate. It's almost sickening, isn't it? Of course, those teams either have hitters with a little pop and/or are able to smell blood when they know a pitcher is in trouble. Can you think of an instance this year in which you've thought of the Mariners in the same sentence with the phrase "smell/smelling blood" this season?
Nothing bad-looking on the stat sheet for the pitchers tonight -- Jamie Moyer throws 105 pitches and almost finishes eight innings. Seven hits, two runs, a walk, and four strikeouts. Solid outing, and it's a good thing the defense didn't find some way to not get to some key balls. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in with Jamie's runners on and two out in the eighth (surely making many cringe), and he struck out Josh Phelps, though Shig had to make sure he went to 2-0 and full counts before doing so. He had to throw in that cliffhanger for us all, you know, show us that there's still signs of 2004 Shig.
Eddie Guardado was brought in with a four-run lead in the 9th, which was mildly surprising. Of course, Bob Melvin probably figured JJ Putz' arm was burnt after yesterday. This of course leaves the question of "is a four-run lead large enough to send Ron Villone or Mike Myers out there to get some work?"
Well, from my point of view, this is exactly how the Mariners had it drawn up with this set of guys. Let's see how uppity everyone in charge gets over this one. They'll probably say, "hey, we're 19-31 on Memorial Day...we came back from a huge deficit in September of '95, and we can do it this year, too!! Rah rah rah!! Buy the Mariners' wives cookbook!! Come to Workout Shirt Night!!"
In a related story, the Mariners are 11 games back. The shortest path to .500 baseball involves winning twelve straight games. If only I had the time to do some math, I would have the remaining three teams in the AL West play .500 ball for the rest of the way, and see how long it would take the Mariners to play at their 116-win percentage (~.716) and get to first place. If it never happened in 162 games, then I would have a hearty laugh. If the Angels played .500 ball the rest of the way, they'd finish 86-76.
If the Mariners played 116-pace the rest of the way, that would be an 80-32 pace. Add that to their record right now, and you get 99-63. Does anyone like pie-in-the-sky thinking? Because there's no way in hell the Mariners are going to go on an 80-32 tear. I would soil myself (daily) if that happened. If you have the Angels finish 86-76, the Mariners' finishing 87-65 to overtake the Angels would require them to go 68-44 (.607).
So, I guess if you believe this team can play just-better-than-.600 ball for the rest of the season, they might have a chance at the division title.
But that depends on everything (and absolutely everything) going right that's gone wrong already for this Mariner team.
Can you see that happening?
Halladay. Meche. Tomorrow.
[Edit Tue ~3:45a -- added vital word "if" to .600-ball paragraph toward end of post]
/ Click for main page
