Tag Archives: Doug Fister

by | May 3, 2010 · 12:43 am

Mariners Recap – 5/2

It was an interesting day in Mariner land.  Some roster moves along with a game make for a lot to cover in shorter post.  I’m going to tell the story of this game largely through my goat and hero:

Hero:  Doug Fister.  Wow, this guy is incredible right now.  He’s been legitimately better than Felix so far this season.  Think about that.  I know this high level of pitching probably won’t last all season but he’s shown that he’s a quality starter and has rightfully earned his spot in the rotation once Bedard is back.  The most amazing thing is he’s doing this with basically one pitch, his fastball.  Fister is throwing with Maddux and Moyer like control right now and is reaping the benefits.  Today he threw 8 shutout innings and didn’t give up a hit until the 6th inning.  He was helped with a beautiful catch by Ichiro that brought a home run back but that’s the benefit of pitching for this team.  For those keeping track, Fister has took no-hitters into the 6th and 7th inning this year.  I was at both games, so naturally I’m going to take the credit.  I keep waiting for Fister to flounder but it hasn’t happened yet and he’s not showing many warning signs that it will happen.  Unfortunately, he didn’t get the win today but this rotation looks crazy good.  Think about this:  Lee-Felix-Fister-Bedard.  I don’t know if it’ll be in that order but, admit it, you smiled when you read that.  After watching this game we all need to smile a little bit.  That leads me to…..

Goat:  Rob Johnson.  I don’t get very vocal during Mariner games.  I mean, I’ll cheer and clap just as much as anyone else but I don’t out many yells, and I hardly ever yell at our own players.  There will always be my sarcastic comments like, “Bases loaded, no out, Eric Byrnes up.  Time to take a nap.”  but these comments don’t usually make it out from under my own breath.  Today was different because Rob Johnson can’t catch a frickin’ ball.  In the top of the 11th, with the game tied and a guy on 1st, Elvis Andrus squared to bunt.  Mark Lowe threw a fastball a little off the plate, but not far from where Johnson set up.  Hips (I’d call him Robo Rob but a robot could catch a baseball better than he could, a dead robot could catch a ball better than he could, my sister could catch a ball better than he could) moved his glove a little bit and then the ball simply bounced off his glove and headed for the backstop.  The runner advances to second.  I yell, “Rob, you suck!” probably scaring the people I’m sitting with.  This pitch didn’t have a lot of movement.  It was a fastball just off the outside corner.  I could write about how much this play changed the game but instead I’ll get on to the next passed ball.  With a run in already and a guy on third Rob made absolutely no effort to stop a slider that broke off the outside corner.  This one was tougher to stop than the prior passed ball but, there’s a guy on third for crying out loud.  Move your feet and block a ball, don’t stab at it.  I let out another, “You suck Rob!” and buried my head in my hands.  Rob Johnson is not a good catcher.  People will argue that he called a good game today but I tend to disagree.  I guarantee you Rob didn’t put much more thinking into the game than, “Hey, people still aren’t hitting Fister’s fastball because he locates better than any pitcher I’ve ever caught.  I’ll call it over 80% of the time because that’s what’s working.”  Stop giving credit to our catchers for calling great games and start giving credit to our pitchers for hitting their spots just about every single time.  Hips did drive a ball to the centerfield warning track which is the farthest he’s ever hit a ball.  Ever.  Otherwise, he was useless at the plate again.  I can’t stand Rob Johnson.

As for the rest of the game, well, it was more of the same.  We didn’t hit very well, caught some bad breaks, and ended up losing a close one.    We did hit some balls hard but most of the time they were right at people or the cold air kept them in the ballpark.  Lopez hit a hard, line drive to the first baseman which got Figgy doubled off second.  Guti hit one to the wall in right that didn’t carry as far as I thought it would.  Rob hit one to the centerfield warning track that would be a home run in most ballparks.  Kotchman hit the ball hard several times but they were all right at someone.  This is more than we can say in the past few games.  Unfortunately, the team doesn’t hit  many balls hard and when they do it’s right at someone right now.  The Rangers’ pitchers were good this series.  Credit where credits due I guess.  The bullpen was a little shaky but not enough to worry about.  Lowe was a victim of Rob Johnson and a perfect bunt.  Aardsma was a victim of a ground ball placed in the right spot.  It happens, and it seems like it happens a lot to this team. 

Notes on the roster moves after the jump.  Continue reading →

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by | April 24, 2010 · 6:58 pm

Saturday Recap (Huskies and Mariners)

I didn’t make it to the scrimmage at Husky Stadium today and I didn’t feel like devoting a full post to the Mariners loss so I’ll just combine the two keep things brief. 

First, the Huskies.  It should come as no surprise that the freshman running back, Deontae Cooper, was the star of the day.  He has been the Huskies best running back the entire spring (Chris Polk is sitting out with a shoulder injury).  Today he rushed 114 yards and 2 touchdowns on 12 carries.  The backup running back job won’t be decided until the start of the season but Cooper has the early edge in my opinion.  His style is similar to Polk’s in that he’s a downhill runner. 

Locker had a decent day in ugly conditions.  The backups appeared to struggle but sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story. 

Jesse Callier, Nate Fellner, and Alameda Ta’amu sat out today.  Unfortunately, Callier may be out for the rest of the spring.  He also has impressed this spring.

Now, for the Mariners.  I was okay with last nights loss because they really didn’t deserve to win that game.  Today was a little different.  I don’t get to up and down with my emotions throughout a baseball season but today would have been a nice game to have.  The M’s fought back and, to their credit, got 2 runs off a pretty good pitcher, Jenks, in the 9th.  Then, Aardsma came in and showed why some people don’t want him to be our closer.  I think he threw more fastballs down the middle than Fister threw all game.  Granted, Aardsma throws harder than Fister but he doesn’t get a ton of movement and was facing major league hitters.  Just because you throw hard doesn’t mean you don’t have to locate your fastball.  He didn’t and he got beat.  I think he’ll be okay going forward and I’m not jumping ship yet but he scares me and will continue to scare me no matter how many saves he gets.

Hero:  Doug Fister.  Yep, he was fantastic again.  He needs to be in the rotation.  Right now he looks like Greg Maddux.  Seriously.  He’s throwing his fastball a ton and why not?  He’s putting his fastball exactly where he wants it and is getting some good left to right action on it.  Right now that’s a well above average pitch. 

Goat:  David Aardsma.  Read the paragraph above.  He was pretty awful.

  • After I called for Wak to move Lopez out of the clean-up spot the other night he’s done some good things.  I’m still not crazy about him there but at least he’s had a few decent at-bats.
  • The play where Byrnes kept the ball in the ball park caused a mix of emotions.  On one hand I’m thinking, dang it Byrnes , why didn’t you just catch it.  On the other hand, that was an incredible play just to reach the ball.  He was high on that fence and did save a run.  All in all, it was a good play but really weird.
  • I hope Milton Bradley comes back soon.
  • I saw Byrnes drop more F-bombs today than I’ve said in my life.  He’s annoying but at least he cares.  He did get screwed in the 9th inning when he beat out the throw to first but was called out.  That really wasn’t very close.
  • Don’t get too down about this.  There is another game tomorrow.  And Cliff Lee has a rehab start in Tacoma! Take the good with the bad, things are still looking up in Mariner country.
  • Casey Kotchman keeps hitting the ball hard.  That double in the 9th was smoked.

That’s it for today!  Thanks for reading.

Andrew

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by | April 20, 2010 · 10:25 pm

Game Recap 4/20 – M’s 3, Orioles 1

I said I’d take the recap on this one, and then ended up not being able to watch most of it, so this recap will be short.  As much as any game is in a 162 game season, this is the type of game that the Mariners need to win if they want to challenge for the playoffs.  Facing an incredibly struggling team with an inexperienced and mediocre pitcher, a good team has to take advantage.  Will they always?  No, and if they hadn’t it wouldn’t have been the end of the season or anything.  But with the chance to go above .500, a loss would have been more frustrating than a win is satisfying.

Not to say that this win isn’t satisfying.  The offense, while not scoring a lot tonight, did enough and has a lot of guys locked in pretty well.  I remember being told by a coach when I pitched that the most important inning you’ll throw is right after your offense has scored some runs.  It’s the pitcher’s job to maintain the momentum to some degree.  Tonight in the first, the Orioles couldn’t hold a one run lead, and the Mariners could.  Vargas, from what I could tell, did everything you could want from him.  The Orioles are a terrible team right now, but they have enough guys who could hurt you if you don’t execute your pitches.  I’m anxious to see what Snell will do in his next start.  He’s not showing more than Fister or Vargas right now, better stuff or not.  Fister and Vargas will get hit more than they have when they face better teams, but they’ll minimize some damage through lack of walks.  Right now, I’m not confident Snell can limit walks or hits.  I’d love for him more than anyone to prove me wrong, though.

The offense is doing about what we hoped it would, with Ichiro and Figgins on base and a few guys hot behind them.  I’m still not convinced that Kotchman will keep this up or ever hit lefties, but he looks excellent right now.  Bradley swings harder than anyone I’ve ever seen.  He’s a little more contact away from a monster year.  Hopefully he’s alright after leaving the game tonight.  I haven’t heard yet what the injury was.  Franklin is looking like a legitimate MVP candidate.  Once Figgy starts getting a few more hits to go with his walks, they could really have something.  The little hot streak from Wilson is nice too.

Hero, goat, and a few quick notes (after the jump): Continue reading →

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by | April 20, 2010 · 10:06 am

Mariners Game Recap – 4/19/2010 – The Fist and The 3rd!

Enter The Fist

My fellow Good Guy Andrew is scheming to recap every Felix Hernandez game this year. That’s fine, you can have Felix, Andrew, I’ll take Doug Fister!

This is a very simple recap: It’s all about Doug Fister and the bottom of the 3rd inning. Let’s cover both.

Doug Fister: The Fist pitched exceptionally well. Granted it was against Baltimore and everyone is quick to remind folks like me of that fact. I would respond that it doesn’t matter, a win is a win, he pitched against a major league lineup. I know the O’s suck right now, but Nick Markakis is good, Wigginton has been in the bigs for a while, Weiters is a rising star, Luke Scott is no slouch. Fister kept pounding the strike zone forcing Baltimore to swing and forcing the Mariners defense to make plays. This is why I love Fister, I think he knows what he is: He’s not overpowering, he doesn’t have superior stuff, but he knows how to pitch and use all the millionaires behind him. I love how he works fast, keeping the pace up. As a fan that is fun to watch. Julio Lugo (I can’t stand the guy, always has annoyed me…) continually tried to slow Fister down by stepping out, adjusting himself, wiggling around, it was absolutely annoying. No matter, The Fist was having none of it. Lugo was 0-3.

We all know Fister had a no-no going into the 7th, that was fun. Overall, a solid performance from Fister. I feel he has earned his way into staying in the rotation when Cliff Lee comes back. I see no reason not to keep him there, he is doing what he is being asked to do. Let’s not outsmart ourselves here and get all baseball geeky stats and move him to the pen for some reason. The Fist belongs in the rotation until he doesn’t deserve it any longer. It’s really simple!

Bottom of the 3rd: The inning started mundane enough, Rob Johnson flying out to center. It ended mundane enough, Rob Johnson striking out on three pitches. But what happened in the middle was pure baseball goodness, a little bit of everything for every baseball fan.

After the Robo-Rob fly out, Jack Wilson stretched a single into a double by hustling 100% out of the box, forcing a bad throw from left, and sliding safely into second with a double. Ichiro and Figgins then forced walks to load the bases. The Baltimore pitcher, Brad Bergesen, was clearly bothered by Ichiro and Figgins. He was agitated on the mound, was afraid to hit the strike zone, and Ichiro and Figgins were happy to watch him burn. I love the plate discipline both showed, knowing full well Bergesen was stressed. Gutierrez then showed yet again why he is a emerging superstar at the plate. He knew what he had to do, and under control, ripped am RBI single to left. Lopez then grounded to Wigginton who promptly booted a sure fire DP ball. Junior then singled for another RBI. Then came the power. Milton Bradley absolutely ripped a double to deep left center. It was beautiful swing and hit. When Bradley is right, he is extremely dangerous at the plate. Casey Kotchman then followed up with a mammoth home run to right.

The inning had it all: Hustle, plate discipline, a little luck, awesome oppo-field power, and Casey’s bomb. And it was quick too. It was 7-0 within 15 minutes. Game over, Mariners win.

If the M’s can keep the plate discipline going, they will score runs. Innings like the 3rd don’t come around often, so I was pleased to be able to witness it, baseball, in many respects, in it’s purest form.

Hero: Easy, Doug Fister. He came out and did work, and got it done.

Goat: Rob Johnson. He was terrible at the plate. 0-4, 2K’s, 2LOB. On a night when everyone was hitting, it’s tough to excuse this line…

-Joe

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by | April 15, 2010 · 12:39 pm

Game Recap — 4/14/2010

Winner winner chicken dinner! No but really, I just had chicken for dinner…

That was a fun game, especially from the 5th inning on. Stellar pitching met timely hitting again, and the result was a much needed W, a series win, and renewed excitement heading into Felix night on Friday. It would have been rough to be 2-8 or 3-7 today, and after Monday’s let down, I fully expected to be in one of those scenarios. Especially considering our 4 and 5 starters would be taking the mound Tuesday and Wednesday. But one thing I love about baseball is how quickly things can turn around with games almost every day, and the M’s certainly pulled a 180 the last couple nights. Fister and Vargas put great starts together, and the offense finally showed up, albeit in short bursts, to avoid losing this series. Heading into the weekend, you get the feeling the early hole this team dug could very well be history come next week.

The story of the game was probably Vargas’ outing. People in the blogosphere are starting to talk about this guy possibly having a breakout year. If his new cutter is as good as it was last night, this may be true. It can be the perfect pitch to run in on righties. Vargas went 6 innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, and didn’t walk a batter. That’s consecutive nights where our 4 and 5 starters didn’t walk a batter, in a combined 14 innings. You can argue the hits and runs given up ought to be taken with a grain of salt against a poor hitting team like Oakland, but you can’t refute the 0 walks. I especially liked Wak pulling Vargas after 6 innings, even though he had only thrown 89 pitches. The reason I say this is because we have seen Vargas in cruise control for 4, 5, or 6 innings, only to blow up as he begins to tire. By not sending him out for the 7th, Wak ensured his confidence will remain high, and the blow up inning was avoided.

Hero: Jose Lopez. I thought awhile about this but ultimately I’m going with Lopey. Lopez was 2-4 last night with a double, a walk, and the go ahead RBI single. He looked the part of a clean-up hitter, though I’m not sure he is the long term solution in that role. Lopez also made 2 nice plays in the field.
Honorable mention: Adam Moore and Jason Vargas. Moore was 2-4, he had a great throw out on a steal attempt, and he called a great game for Vargas. Some would argue Vargas was the hero, and 6 innings of 2 run ball is good, but not heroic.

Goat: Jack Wilson. Jack was the only starter to not reach base last night. It may just be a slow start, but it’s looking more like Jack won’t have much to offer at the plate this year. Gotta love his glove though.

Onto the quick notes after the jump, which I was jotting down throughout the game.
Continue reading →

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by | April 14, 2010 · 10:22 am

Game Recap – 4/13/2010

Doug Fister: Hero

A night after a brutal home opener loss to Oakland, the Mariners sent Doug Fister to the mound in desperate need of a good outing, not only for the team, but for himself. His last outing at Oakland was not good. (4 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks…). This night though, Fister delivered, and delivered bigtime. 8 strong innings. 4 K’s, no walks. He had pinpoint control, working the counts in his favor, throwing strikes. 100 pitches, 71 strikes. Awesome efficiency. I felt he kept the A’s on their heels all night, not being predictable. This is the type of outing we all hoped for! Ah, but as we know with this version of the Mariners, great pitching is only half the battle. Gotta score runs!

As the game wore on, I grew increasingly frustrated with our hitters, especially with RISP. Rob Johnson looked lost multiple times at the plate, as did Lopez with two men on in the 5th. I think it was the most uninspired at bat of Lopez’s career (ok, total overstatement, but that is how I felt at the time watching it live…). Now, I will say Brett Anderson is a flat out stud. He has wicked good stuff, so chopped liver like Johnson and Wilson will naturally look bad, but Lopez is a decent hitter, and Anderson made him look silly. The thing that really made me mad was just the lack of aggression in Lopez’s at bat. It was infuriating to witness.

The next two innings the Mariners proceed to put men on base. The A’s pitchers repeatedly made mistakes with walks and hit batsmen. But the Mariners could not deliver, no clutch hitting at all. It was a foregone conclusion as I watched this game, I kept telling myself there is no way Jack Wilson can get the ball out of the infield, or Figgins getting caught stealing, it was a trainwreck. Ahh, until the 8th inning…

Milton Bradley: Hero

Lopez got his third hit of the night to lead off (ironic that he looked great three of four at bats, but the one in the 5th was just terrible, odd stuff…), then Sweeney worked the count and drew a walk. Up comes Milton Bradley. (I want Milton to succeed. For him, but mostly for the Mariners sake!). Batting left handed, Milton just looks more comfortable at the plate. Boom. 3 run blast to deep right. I went nuts, like we just won the division or something. I guess when run scoring has become such a laborious task for Seattle, seeing a massively clutch home run late in the game made me giddy with excitement. Welcome to Seattle Milton. You start doing things like you did last night and you’ll be loved here. We are simple folk, really.

Ok, on to the Heroes and Goats!!!! YEAH!!!

Hero(s): Doug Fister & Milton Bradley. Not sure if I can pick two, but these guys are the clear cut heroes of the night. The M’s needed Fister to step up, and he did, as well as Bradley. Well done fellas.

Goat: Rob Johnson. 4 LOB, 3 K’s. What else is there to say. He did call a nice game with Fister, but at some point that excuse wears terribly thin, we need hitting from the catcher spot, and Johnson was a complete bust at the plate last night.

–Joe

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by | April 12, 2010 · 12:12 pm

M’s vs. A’s Series Preview- 4/12/2010

Just a quick preview here, since these teams just played last week.

Pitching Match-ups:

Monday  Ryan Rowland Smith vs. Justin Duchscherer

Tuesday Doug Fister vs. Brett Anderson

Wednesday Jason Vargas vs. Gio Gonzalez

For those who missed the first series, Duchscherer is making his second start after missing all(?) of last year due to injury and depression, I believe (maybe it was anxiety).  He’s a bit of a junk-baller, fastball in the high 80s, mixes his pitches well.  He was a solid pitcher in 2008, but I’d say the jury’s still out on this year.  Looked okay in his first start.  Anderson was pretty dominant last week against the M’s and stands to become one of the better pitchers in the league in short order.  Still he’s in his second season, so we’ll hope to benefit from some early season inconsistency.  If he’s on, he’s tough to beat.

Gio Gonzalez is the new guy, a young lefty who gave up a couple of runs in six innings in his first start this year.  Spotty command, decent stuff, especially a curveball that gets him a lot of ground balls.  He had mediocre results in about 100 innings last year, but he’s been a top prospect for while.

It’s looking like a gray, rainy week in Safeco.  Hopefully a return home will be good for the Mariners.  I’d honestly be surprised if they don’t win this series.  The bats are in a terrible slump, and Oakland is pretty dependent on its pitching.  Things should start to even out soon.  It’s the bottom of the order throwing for the Mariners, but outside of Felix, I don’t think there’s much difference between the other four pitchers right now.  Snell has left the team for family reasons, by the way.  No other info currently available, but Wak said he doesn’t expect him to miss a start, so it shouldn’t have much effect.

Enjoy the games!  Hope to see you at Safeco.

-Matthew

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by | April 8, 2010 · 3:11 pm

Game Recap – 4/8/2010

I will make this as short as possible, because frankly I am not sure how many folks actually watched the game (day game), and it was brutal to listen to and follow.

Doug Fister started the game and only went 4 innings, 96 pitches. That tells the story right there. 56 strikes, 40 balls, not many swings-and-misses. Oakland was able to put the ball in play and force the issue offensively. Now, Oakland has no power, it was a lot of singles and doubles, and running the bases (sounds like what the M’s would like to do…). Davis, Barton and Ellis did all the damage for Oakland…

The Mariners on the other hand struggled yet again offensively. Brett Anderson took a shutout into the 7th inning. (An aside: If you look at Fister’s and Anderson’s lines for the game, they are also identical, yet Anderson was much more effective. That speaks volumes to how bad the Mariners hitting is right now…) Tuiasosopo played well at 1B, had 2 hits and an RBI. That’s a GREAT day for a Mariner right now. Good for him, I like his bat in the M’s lineup. Hopefully Wak can fit him in more. Gutierrez and Sweeney had the other RBIs. I like what Guti is doing at the plate. Overall though the offense sucks right now at generating runs. Trying to tag Figgins up at 1B to 2B on a fly ball to right really shows the hand Wak is playing, and what he is saying to the team: I know we will struggle to score so Ichiro and Figgins must steal and tag up all the time or we’ll never score. That’s a tough spot to be in. Other teams know this and are very aware of the steals and tag-ups.

Hero: Matt Tuiasosopo. He had two hits, an RBi and played 1B well. Sounds like a good day. (Jesus Colome is a close second, 3 very solid innings out of the pen…)

Goat: Doug Fister. Gotta go more than 4 innings. We all know the bullpen will be (is?) over-worked, so Fister only going 4 really sucks.

There is nothing else to observe from this stinker. (I really want to be optimistic, but this game set me back a bit…)

–Joe

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