Category Archives: Mariners

by | May 4, 2012 · 8:21 pm

Ichiro!

Listening to KJR in the wake of the Chone Figgins benching, I heard the question asked why Ichiro isn’t moving into the leadoff spot instead of Dustin Ackley.  That’s a legitimate question, insofar as you think batting order matters.  I honestly don’t care much about it.  What is more interesting to me is the conversation on Ichiro.

When it was decided that he would move to third in the order, a lot was made of how he would have to change his approach to hit with more authority.  Fans talked about it, Wedge acknowledged it, Ichiro even came to camp with a revamped swing.  A month into the season, he’s pretty much back to his old swing, and going by what I heard on the radio today, people think that he’s pretty much the same old Ichiro.

I guess if you thought he was going to turn into Barry Bonds or Adam Dunn or something, then he hasn’t changed that much.  If you’re a little more realistic and look into the numbers a bit deeper, we’re seeing a changed Ichiro.  Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Mariners

Tagged as

by | April 27, 2012 · 7:25 pm

The Condor Has Landed!

I was planning to write about Mariner minor leaguers, but after what the big club just did, the little guys can wait.  The Mariners just beat Toronto 9-5, and if you missed it, you missed out.  When I got home from work, Ricky Romero was working on a no-hitter in the middle innings.  Ackley ripped a double to break that up soon after, but the Mariners were still trailing, then it was tied, then they were trailing, and so forth.

I don’t remember the order of everything that happened, so you’ll have to read Geoff Baker’s game story if you want that, but there were a lot of memorable moments.  Jesus Montero hit a homer to left center with an apparently cracked bat.  Casper Wells ripped a double to right center to tie the game.  Ichiro threw a rocket home to get a third out and keep the game tied.  There were two errors at first on pickoff attempts, one by Wilhelmsen that contributed to the Blue Jays taking a 5-3 lead in the eighth.  The other was by Toronto’s catcher and went clear to the right field corner.  Kawasaki was on the ground for 5 seconds before he noticed the error and still made it to third easily.  Then Jaso, pinch hitting with two outs in the ninth, singled him home.  Colby Rasmus lucked into a barehand stop while diving to keep it from going for an inside the park homerun.  Ackley was thrown out at home on an ill-fated attempt to score.

After some nice work by the bullpen to take it to extras, it was Michael Saunders time.  He had already slugged a homer in the ninth to start the inning.  In the tenth, after Smoak, Montero and Liddi all reached base, The Condor stepped in with one out and a lefty on the hill.  One swing later, on a lefty slider no less, Saunders hit a towering fly that carried and carried until it eventually dropped over the right field fence for a grand slam.  Brandon League shut the door and the Mariners had their most memorable win of a young season.  I just reread this paragraph and I did a terrible job communicating how exciting this was.  I’m usually pretty quiet watching games, especially since I’ve had a cold all week, and I yelled at least three times.  This felt like some moment of destiny, a little gift saying, “Here, remember how great baseball is?  Don’t give up!”

This is finally starting to feel like a new era.  The Mariners are 11-10.  I’m not expecting them to contend this year.  I’ll be very happy if they finish at .500.  The Mariners are almost entirely youth now, so winning means that these players we’re banking on are starting to come through.  They’re still going to struggle at times.  Some guys are not going to stick.  This season is still about figuring out who’s a part of the future, about giving the young guys time to develop and mature.  That’s what’s important.  Wins are icing on the cake, and yet they’re necessary to gain any good feeling about this team.  It’s important that they win while doing developing guys.  You don’t want to develop losers.  Players have to learn to win, and they have to develop to the point where they are good enough to win.  It’s a weird circle that’s hard to get into, which is why so many teams are constantly bad and rebuilding.

Winning is a sign that they’re performing, but it also puts them in the habit of winning.  I’ve been on teams, and watched teams, that expected to win every time they took the field.  Sometimes it’s because the talent is superior, sometimes there’s something magical about it; the best and most memorable (2001 M’s, Tuiasosopo Huskies) are a combination of both.  It always starts with winning though.  You don’t learn to win by losing.  That’s why you can’t completely write off a season, even if you’re rebuilding, and why it’s so hard and dangerous to go without any veterans, even if that veteran is Miguel Olivo.  I have no idea if the Mariners will ever get to that point of expecting to win, but nights like tonight remind what it feels like.  This is a team of likeable, competetive guys.  They have talent, and for the first time in a while, they’re starting to have personality.  There will be some tough nights in Texas in July, but take tonight as a sign that we’re going to have plenty of fun this summer and for a long time to come.

-Matthew

1 Comment

Filed under Mariners

by | April 19, 2012 · 12:14 pm

Are the M’s an 80 Win Team?

The Mariners are only 13 games, or 8% into their 2012 campaign. It is hard to make many conclusions yet, other than the obvious ones like Ackley is a budding star, and Olivo should be in another profession. Again, its just too soon to guess what the remaining 92% of this year will hold. But already we are starting to see the identity of this team, the good and the bad. In short, I like what I see. I’ll take it one step further and suggest, albeit prematurely, that this could well be a team that wins 80 games, just as I had hoped when I wrote about my expectations for Year 4 of this rebuilding process.

My optimism is rooted in 3 observations.

1-The top of the order has been solid. Figgins, Ackley, and Ichiro are all stinging the ball with consistency. Hitting the ball hard does not guarantee results, but it means the batter is not being fooled, he is using is lower half to generate power, and he’s getting the barrel on the ball. I’m seeing this out of all 3 guys, which is extremely encouraging.
2-The starting pitching is just fine. All 5 guys have had at least 1 great outing, and only twice has a starter been pulled before the 5th inning. I was especially worried about the back of the rotation, and my fears still remain, but I think our 3-5 guys will be alright, at least until help arrives in the summer…Paxton! Hultzen! The exception may be Millwood, who I could see getting torched on any given day.
3-No insurmountable weaknesses. If the M’s win 80 games, it can’t have a glaring weakness. Okay, so the offensive woes we’ve watched for the past years have not been totally solved. The M’s are still 14th in average and OBP in the AL, but they are 14th in MLB for runs, and that’s what counts. The offense is still the single biggest reason why this team won’t contend for the playoffs, but when Carp returns and the weather warms up, this is a middle of the league line-up. The rotation, defense, and bullpen are also not glaring weaknesses.

Most of us would be pleased with 80 wins, maybe even ecstatic, given the 67 and 61 win Mariner teams of the past 2 seasons. Others would say 80 wins is not a playoff team, therefore not relevant. These are mainly casual fans, but their perception matters a ton to the M’s, because these are the bandwagon fans that fill Safeco when the team is winning. Side note: M’s average attendance is 22,110 according to ESPN, which ranks 28 out of 30 teams. Oakland is ahead of us, averaging 24,630 but I’m assuming that counts the Japan games which Oakland was the home team. Anyways, the point is, 80 wins does not mean you are a good team, but it also does not mean you a bad team. For me, that would be progress, and more importantly, it would keep the plan on track to contend as soon as next year. It’s always next year isn’t it?!

Finally, we can turn on ROOT each night and watch a young, promising Mariner team. This team is not build on sand like the ’08 squad, nor are they world beaters. If you ask me (and admittingly I’m a homer), they are an 80 win team on the rise. So go Enjoy Felix tonight, seriously, tickets are dirt cheap. Just bought me a seat for $20, 12 rows up behind first base. You might see me when a lefty comes to bat, I’ll be the guy drinking the Mariner Kool-Aid!

Leave a comment

Filed under Mariners

Tagged as , , , ,

by | April 16, 2012 · 10:21 pm

Review and Look Ahead

Last time we met, Dan was talking about how the Mariners pulled off a minor miracle in Texas.  Since then, nothing too exciting has happened.  The club did what we expected (maybe even hoped for them to do).  With that being said, I think we all have different feelings about the team right now.  I’m encouraged because the team won the games they were supposed to and that’s with the bats not being close to where they’ll finish the season (although, how many times have we said that in the last few years).  Dan is slightly happy with the team but can’t get over Miguel Olivo’s inept play.  They’re the team Matthew thought they’d be but he’s still annoyed about seeing his 3rd abysmal home opener in a row.  Joe?  He’s trying to hunt down Chuck Armstrong and make him write a letter that says if Seattle doesn’t have an NBA team within a year that he has to sell the Mariners immediately.*  So, with all of those different opinions in mind I’ll try to write a quick review of the Oakland series and a preview of the next one.

* I don’t actually know if that’s how any of them are feeling.  It is a fairly educated guess except for the part about Joe.  That’s what Joe wants to be doing, not what he is doing.

The Mariners took 2 of 3 from Oakland this weekend and won’t play them again until late June.  Some people think that’s a good thing.  It’s a good thing for entertainment reasons.  For winning purposes, this is a terrible thing.

On Friday night the M’s lost to Oakland 4-0.  I’ve heard the pre-game ceremonies were classy, as usual.  The video of the boy stealing 2nd base and finding his dad home from Afghanistan is touching and extremely well done by the organization.  Otherwise, it couldn’t have gone worse for the home team.  This is three years in a row that Seattle has played a terrible game in their home opener.  The stadium also had their debit/credit card system break down and could only accept cash for a large portion of the game.  These things happen but it was an unfortunate night for it to happen.  Otherwise, Felix looked pretty good.  His groundball rates still aren’t where they usually are but they progressed as the game went on so lets hope that trend continues.  I still think he’s perfectly fine.  The offense disappeared so there’s nothing to recap there.

On Saturday nights game, it was the Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi show.  Also, I guess it was the Michael Pineda show because without him the Mariners wouldn’t have those guys.  Maybe anytime Jesus or Hector do anything good the Mariners should flash Pineda’s picture on the big screen with the word “THANKS” written across it.  Or they could do that with the Yankee logo instead.  That’d be cool.  It could be done for all trades even.  I’d laugh, along with 3 other people in the stadium.  Anyway, Noesi pitched 8 shutout innings with 6 K’s.  When he came over, it seemed like he’d be a fastball/slider guy but it’s easy to see his 2nd best pitch is his change-up.  His fastball velocity is good and I think he’s going to be just fine after that rough, first outing in Texas.  Jesus hit his first home run as a Mariner and added a double just for kicks.  His home run was a shot to straight-away center showing off his power.  The guy can hit and he’s only going to show off more power as the year goes on.  He also looked good defensively behind the plate.

On Sunday, it was the Cliff Lee trade that paid off.  Justin Smoak homered.  Blake Beavan pitched pretty well.  John Jaso sat on the bench (he’s a product of this Lee trade if you pay close attention.  Josh Lueke for John Jaso!).  Those were the storylines but Brendan Ryan homered and Ichiro doubled home the winning run.  It’s good to see those guys do things.

So all in all, it was a successful weekend.  These are the series that the Mariners have to win and they did.  Sure, a sweep would be nice but we can’t really complain about a series win.

Some actual thoughts instead of a recap and a preview after the jump.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under M's Game Recaps, M's Series Previews, Mariners

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | April 12, 2012 · 9:13 am

Mariners Win in Texas, Which Does Not Usually Happen

We don’t do game recaps at the GGS Blog, because quite honestly it takes a huge committment, and when Jeff Sullivan at http://www.lookoutlanding.com writes pure gold after every Mariners game, why try to top that? But after last night’s win, I have to do a mini recap because all things considered, it may be the sweetest victory we have all year.

Entering the 8th inning, down 3-0, the Mariners win expectancy was around 8% according to gamecast. Overcoming those odds is hard enough, but to do so in Texas where you’ve won once in the past dozen games, against perhaps the best team in baseball, that win expectancy may as well been 1%. But, the M’s got a run in the 8th, and in the 9th a single by Smoak, doubles by Seager and Saunders, and finally a bloop single by Jaso after a gutsy stolen base, was the recipe for 3 runs and an improbable 4-3 win was ours after BLT shut em’ down in the 9th.

Mariners Win!

Today the Rangers and M’s meet again. Once again, Texas will have the edge in nearly every category. A win today would mean a 2-2 split and I’d probably do something drastic like buy a Figgins jersey. Either way, the M’s will finally arrive in Seattle tonight, with no worse than a 4-4 record. This is pretty great considering those 8 games were in 3 time zones, spread across 2 weeks. This team intrigues me, which I was expecting, and because it is still only April, I can’t resist thoughts of contending into the summer. I doubt this will happen, and some fans will hit the point where investing their time, money, and emotions is not worth following a .500 or below team, but I don’t see myself losing full interest, because the youth is just so dang fun to watch. This statement will upset my wife, who is way too rational to get excited about 1 game in a 162 game season. To her I say enjoy your hockey, where half the league makes the playoffs and yet they still play 82 regular season games. And then she’s like, ya well baseball is boring, and I’m like well at least its played outside! Thats typically how it goes 🙂

Lastly, there aren’t many guys on my bad list right now, although it doesn’t take much to get on it quickly. Currently, Miguel Olivo has a permanent spot reserved, Chone Figgins is working his way off it, and Brendan Ryan is somewhere in between. Steve Delabar gave up back to back jacks last night, but come on, its Delabar, you have to be cold to have him on your bad list. Back to Olivo, why is he on this team? I understand he led the team with 19 HR last year, and he has good repoire with the pitchers, but lets quickly review who Miguel Olivo is at this point. He is a 33 year old .220 hitter with zero plate discipline, bad defense, and in the final year of his contract. He’s a nice guy and all, but should he be occupying a spot on this roster, when you have Jaso, Montero, and Adam Moore that could handle the catching duties? Am I missing something? Back to the plate discipline. Since 2010, only Pablo Sandoval has a higher swing %, and only Mark Reynolds has a lower contact %. Miguel Olivo swings and misses at 20% of the pitches he sees. That leads all hitters and its not even close. Olivo strikes out in 28% of his at bats, and draws a walk 4% of the time. Both rank in the bottom 10 in baseball. Miguel Olivo, why are you on this team??!!!!

Sorry to put a stain on this post, but it felt good to express my joy in last night’s game, and also my disgust for Miguel Olivo, and this blog post is all about me and I’m a good guy and so deal with it. Enjoy the sun today and hopefully a Mariners win!

Leave a comment

Filed under M's Game Recaps, Mariners

Tagged as , ,

by | April 9, 2012 · 3:10 pm

Down On The Farm

Have you ever thought about the confusion that most come with farmers who follow minor league baseball closely.  They might ask, “What’s going on down on the farm today?”  How does the farmers confused son answer?  It could be, “The cows are milked, the chickens are laying eggs, and the sheep dog is having a good time.”  He could also say, “James Paxton looked awfully good in his debut and Nick Franklin has started the season on fire.”  Both answers are correct, assuming the farmer has kept his farm in good health, but the father’s probably only looking for one answer.  Man, that would get confusing.  Of course you haven’t thought about that.  No one has because that’s stupid.  Well, maybe the select farmers who follow baseball make a good wise crack about it sometimes.

Hultzen, Paxton and Walker - The Big Three

There's our boys!

The Mariners farm has been making a good amount of noise in the last year.  How’s that for a transition?  Say what you want to about Jack Z, but he has truly brought the farm system to one of the highest levels it’s ever been at in organizational history.  Yes, that doesn’t mean definite success but that’s one of the reasons why Matthew, me and many others are big fans of his.

The minor league teams opened the season Thursday and I thought I’d give you a quick rundown of players you might be interested and where they’re at.  I’ll just go team-by-team through the system with the players I find the most interesting.  I will skip over some players because, either, I don’t find them interesting or I just simply miss them on accident.  Leave any player questions in the comments and I’ll get to them.  Also, Jay Yencich from USS Mariner has written a preview for each team that will be much  more detailed than my rundown so I’ll link it by the team name for all those hardcore fans  like the farmer in the first paragraph (ha! You thought I couldn’t tie that back in).

Tacoma Rainiers (AAA) USSM Preview

Triple-A teams often don’t have top prospects in them, at least for long.  It’s thought that AAA teams store all the depth for the big-league club and that includes many AAAA players (what I mean by that is players who have mastered triple-A but can’t quite cut it in the majors for the long haul).  No offense, Mike Wilson.  That holds mostly true this year.  The Mariners double-A team may have more talent on it, but Tacoma still has some very interesting names.  Here are the names that intrigue me the most in Tacoma.

Players to watch:

Maurico Robles and Forrest Snow (SP) – Tacoma’s starting rotation leaves a bit to be desired but these are the two most interesting prospects here.  Robles is a lefty who has a low-90’s fastball.  If he’s going to make the majors, it’ll be as a reliever.  I’m not sure why he isn’t in the bullpen already.  He struggles with control.  Forrest Snow is a UW alum and stands a bit more of a chance to get into the M’s rotation at some point.  He’s basically skipping the double-A level.  He doesn’t have the best stuff (good change-up but everything else is about average) but could be a decent back of the rotation starter.  Anthony Vasquez is in Tacoma too but he should never start a game for the M’s again.  Please.

Charlie Furbush – You know about him.  He’s a lefty and was with the Mariners most of the 2nd half last year.  He is in the bullpen but he could make a spot start here and there.  He has decent stuff and sometimes it’s even pretty good.  If he keeps the home runs down he’ll find his way up soon.

Chance Ruffin – Tacoma’s strength is their bullpen.  Ruffin is a righty with a mid-90’s fastball and good slider.  He was with the M’s at the end of last year and will be again, I imagine.

Shawn Kelley – Another good righty in the bullpen.  He lost a little velocity from Tommy John surgery and maybe they sent him down to try to get it back?  I don’t know, but he’s probably better than some of the guys in the Seattle bullpen.

Cesar Jimenez -Cesar is a lefty specialist and there’s usually a place on big-league clubs for players like this eventually.  He has gotten a little worse with his control and overall numbers the last couple of years.  Still, he’s worth keeping an eye on.  All four of these guys aren’t far from making the Mariners and I bet some of them will be up before the end of the month even.

Vinnie Catricala (3B) – Position players!  Vinnie is probably the best, actual prospect on Tacoma.  He can hit really well.  Vinnie made a push for the 3rd base job in the spring but lost out.  That’s probably good since he’s hardly played in AA, and has not played at all in AAA.  He has improved his strikeout numbers last year and hopefully will do so again this year.  He needs to improve his defense too.  The guy can hit and will find a place on the M’s soon if he can find a true position.

Carlos Triunfel (2B, SS) – Triunfel will probably play shortstop for Tacoma most of the time.  He used to be the prized prospect in the system but a broken leg kind of unhinged him and he hasn’t really regained his top status since.  His hitting numbers went down and his defense at shortstop is questionable.  He’s still pretty young and had a large improvement last year so maybe there’s still hope for him.

Carlos Peguero (LF) – Maybe I shouldn’t put him in here because if you follow what I write you know that I’m not a fan of his at all.  He swings and misses way too much, sucks at defense, and has no plate discipline.  That being said, he hits the ball a country mile and has started off the year on fire.

Trayvon Robinson (CF) – Trayvon strikes out too much but he hits for some power and has a good amount of speed (although his stolen bases have gone down a lot for some reason).  If he could up his contact rate, he’d be a really interesting player that would be fighting to the top of the centerfield pile.  Lets hope for some development.

That’s it for Tacoma, and I’m already over 1000 words.  Check out the most talented team in the minors after the jump!  I’m not kidding, extremely talented!

Continue reading →

14 Comments

Filed under Mariners, Working On the Farm

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | April 7, 2012 · 11:32 pm

Cautiously Optimistic?

Last year the Mariners started 2-0.  Then they lost 7 games in a row.  In 2010, the Mariners won their first game and then lost 6 of their next 7.  In 2008, Seattle won their first game and then lost 5 of their next 6.  I’m going to stop there.  The point is the Mariners have started every season since 2007 by jumping out to grab at least a share of the division lead and then promptly losing it.

Now, keep that in mind while you read the rest of this post so I don’t look like a fool once the Mariners go get swept by Texas.

The Seattle Mariners have scored 15 runs in the last 2 games.  Yes, they won and that’s the most important thing but take a second to reflect on all of the times in the last 2 0r 3 years that this team has been on the verge of unwatchable because of the inept offense and that will make you appreciate these last 2 games even more.  Everyone got a hit.  Chone Figgins had 6 hits, and 2 of them were for extra bases.  Michael Saunders hit a double and a home run.  The bottom of the order was good.  The top of the order was great.  The middle was decent but it didn’t have to be anymore than that.  This won’t continue but these 2 games showed us what the offense could be.  Singles galore with a few extra base hits thrown in.  If Montero and Smoak show off some of their upside this offense could be (dare I say it) good.  Not great, or anywhere close to it, but good.

I’m going to go player-by-player in the lineup, tell you what I see and then jump to the bullet points.

Chone Figgins looked like a completely different hitter.  He hasn’t swung with that much authority since his days with the Angels.  Yes, the bunts were nice and well done but that’s not what had me excited.  At times in the last 2 years I honestly couldn’t picture a hard hit ball coming off of Figgins bat.  Chone hit 5 line drives in 2 games.  Not soft liners either.  He tucks his shoulder in, loads up and swings hard at hittable pitches.  He was measly swinging through pitches right down the middle last year but the last 2 days there was no sign of that guy.  I’m not saying this is a turning point or even close to it.  It could just be apparition in the Figgins awful span as a Mariner.  His last gasp of trying not to get cut.  But, confidence is an impossible thing to gauge and this psychological move to lead-off (because surely you wouldn’t  move him there for any other reason) may actually work.

I could write a whole post on Dustin Ackley’s swing alone.  It’s a thing of beauty and sooner or later, all left-handed hitters will begin to take his approach to hitting.  Instead, I’ll just leave it at this.  Dustin Ackley is really good, and will probably be great before too long.

Ichiro is Ichiro.  I was never too worried about him and I’m still not overly concerned.  His line drive rate last year was a bit alarming and it seemed like he hardly ever hit the ball hard.  But, for all the people who say that he’s selfish, Ichiro is one of the hardest workers in the majors and he’s not going to be held down like he was last year.  It doesn’t matter what Jon Heyman, talk radio, and fans who don’t pay attention to actual baseball say, Ichiro is good and has been so valuable to this franchise.  I don’t see that changing this year.

Justin Smoak is having a little trouble with the inside fastball.  I’m fine with this.  I know it sounds weird to say that it’s okay that the teams cleanup hitter is getting jammed by 90 mph fastballs because he’s behind them but stay with me.  Smoak would get in trouble last year because he would pull off of pitches and be way out ahead.  He wouldn’t make a commitment to hitting to left field and wouldn’t stay behind the ball.  We all learn in little league that you need to hit the ball where it’s pitched and that’s what Justin Smoak is doing, or trying to do now.  He’ll get around on the inside fastball soon, but I’m happy to see him hitting line drives to the left side of the field (which he’s done if you go back and look).

Jesus Montero is hitting the ball fairly hard but it seems like he may be out in front of the ball a little bit.  I think he grounded out to the shortstop 4 times in the last 2 games which happens while trying to pull an outside pitch.  Could he be a little anxious?  I think it’s likely.  His power is there, you can see it, but he just needs a few games to calm down and remember he’s going to be the next Edgar because he drives the ball to right center.

Kyle Seager is good too.  He’s like Dustin Ackley in that he’s drilling line drives everywhere.  He may not have the power Ackley has but he’s going to hit the ball and hit line drives.

Miguel Olivo is still Miguel Olivo but I’m okay with that.  He’s valuable in his own right  just not as valuable as some catchers.  I like the guy as frustrating as he can be at times.

Michael Saunders is… Wait, that was Michael Saunders?  He can’t hit home runs off of lefties.  Tonight Saunders worked the count against good ol’ Jerry Blevins and then drilled a home run deep to right field.  His swing is a little shorter and a little more compact but the key really is that he’s more aggressive when he’s in the right count.  His double to center last night was a beauty and just another example of him taking advantage of a hittable pitch.  Him being aggressive with hittable pitches is the biggest change I saw but I’m no scout.

Brendan Ryan had to use the uncomfortable hotel pillow last night and hurt his neck but before that he was tucking his front shoulder in and drilling the ball to left field.  He was also swinging with authority and just looked good.  If he can hit .280 or close to it and play 120-135 games he’s going to be a huge asset.

Munenori Kawasaki is kind of cool.  Jeff Sullivan said he could be a bad version of Ichiro which is just fine.  That’s valuable for a middle infielder.  Plus, did you see how slick he is with the glove?  He looks good and I think the M’s will try to find him more at-bats as the season goes on.A few bullet holes after the jump.  Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under M's Game Recaps, Mariners

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | April 7, 2012 · 10:34 am

Keep on Showboating! and other Mariners Thoughts

The Mariners won their North American opener last night by the Mariners-relative blowout score of 7-3.  If you watched the game, you saw The Home Run.  Yoenis Cespedes, the Castro evader now worth $36 million, blasted a ball so far out to center field that there aren’t really words to say about it.  It was magnificent.  It was maybe the most impressive home run the majors will see this year.  Jeff over at Lookout Landing has about 500 more words on it, so find a replay and then read those.  What’s gotten almost as much play is the fact that Cespedes stood watching his home run for a bit, and Jason Vargas didn’t care for that.  Showboating is one of those longstanding baseball things you just don’t do, but that’s dumb.  Everyone else got to sit and watch the home run, so why shouldn’t the man who hit it?  If Vargas doesn’t like it, he or another Mariner can plunk Cespedes in the ribs sometime in the near future.  We certainly play him often enough.

Keep watching those home runs, Yoenis, if you can keep hitting them like that.  I’d stand there watching too.  Now, a few more notes:

  • Bill Krueger pointed out immediately after the home run that it’s becoming clear that Cespedes has a slider-speed bat (meaning he can’t hit an above-average fastball, for those who don’t speak baseballese).  Whether this proves to be true or not, I thought it was a good glimpse into the mind of a pitcher and one of the only insightful things I’ve heard Krueger say.  While everyone else was in awe of the homer, Krueger, and probably the M’s staff and all the scouts in the building, realized it came on an 84 mph fastball down the middle.  It was obviously a mistake pitch and any big leaguer would have hit that a long way.  Tom Wilhelmsen and Steve Delabar bore out Krueger’s analysis later, sitting Cespedes down on mid-90’s heat.  With Cespedes being new to the league and to America, the book on him is being written on the fly.  Mistake pitches happen on occasion, but I can guarantee anything that’s not thrown in the 90’s will be well off the plate until he shows he can lay off it or hit the hard stuff.
  • The other big story was Chone Figgins looking like the Figgins of Angels’ lore.  He had a couple of solid singles, two beautiful bunts that brought in runs (one on an error), and seemed much more likeable than at any other time in his Mariner career.  It probably won’t last, but let’s pretend this is a rebirth, at least until tonight proves otherwise.  He also lost a ball in the lights, but that happens.  It should only remind us that being small and fast does not necessarily make you a better outfielder than, say, Mike Carp.
  • Great production from the bottom of the order.  Brendan Ryan hit the ball hard and made a beautiful slide to score on a sacrifice fly.  Michael Saunders smoked a ball to dead center.  I thought Cespedes would track it down, but it rocketed over his head for a double.  We keep saying that we have to wait and see on Saunders, and we do, but he looks so much better.  The swing is good, and his body language is great.  He looks like he belongs and he knows it.
  • The bullpen looked a lot better tonight, sort of.  Steve Delabar looked great in getting five straight outs.  Wilhelmsen had a few issues, one being the aforementioned ball dropping in front of Figgins, but he came out of it fine.  I have no idea what League looked like because Root lost its video feed.  Annoying.  The bullpen will be a work in progress all season, but seeing Delabar throw like he did was encouraging.
  • Dustin Ackley’s the man.  Kyle Seager might reach that status soon.  Montero and Smoak look like they’re scuffling a bit, but it’s only been three weird games.  They’ll come around.

I’ve got to run, but Felix is on the hill tonight.  Happy Felix day!  How about a no-hitter?  That’d be fun.  Have a good weekend!

-Matthew

Leave a comment

Filed under Mariners