Tag Archives: Franklin Gutierrez

by | April 28, 2010 · 7:33 pm

Series Recap 4/26-4/28

Due to busy schedules and such the Good Guys haven’t been able to cover the Kansas City series game by game.  So, with that being said I’m going to take this weird series down with one post.  We’ll get back on our game by game schedule in this coming series.

Monday 4/26 KC – 3 Seattle – 1

This game sucked.  You can’t really sugarcoat it.  It was Felix Hernandez vs. Kyle Davies and we lost.  Kyle Davies is not a good pitcher but our lineup had no trouble making him look like a cy young.  He had a no-hitter into the 6th inning.  The one good thing the M’s did against him was get his pitch count up even when they were getting shut down.  This was a common theme this series as they did this the next night against Greinke. 

Felix was a little off his game and that’s all the Royals needed to win.  The King was good but he wasn’t his usual great self.  Felix’s few struggles combined with our lack of offense made this game very frustrating to watch. 

Getting no hit through six is frustrating in one way but what followed in the 7th, 8th, and 9th was even more annoying to me.  The Mariners got a ton of runners on in those 3 innings.  The number was close to 10 (sorry, I can’t remember exactly), yet they only drove in one run in those innings.  This is more bad luck than anything and the same thing happened to the Royals the next night.  This doesn’t make it any less annoying.

If the Mariners had this pitching matchup 10 times I’m confident in saying that they would win at least 8 of them.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be this night.  Baseball is weird.

Hero: Mike Sweeney.  This is by default.  He got a pinch hit RBI single in the 9th and that’s enough to win him the hero award.  He did have a nice little series though so that’s worth noting.

Goat:  There are so many options.  We’ll go with Chone Figgins.  He was 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.  That’s not very good.  Sorry Chone, I still like you.

Tuesday 4/27 M’s – 3 KC – 2

As much as I expected the Mariners to win the first game of the series, I expected them to lose this one.  Of course, they were playing the Royals so anything was possible but it was Ian Snell vs. Zack Greinke.  If there’s one pitcher I’d think about trading Felix for it’s Greinke.  He’s incredible.  And he was incredible on Tuesday.  The Mariners did manage to get his pitch count up and that’s what changed the game. 

Ian Snell was interesting.  The grass is green.  What else is new.  Snell only gave up 2 runs but he allowed an incredible amount of baserunners.  Fortunately, we were playing the Royals and they don’t hit very well so he was able to pitch out of numerous jams.  His stuff was decent and after the game he said that was the best his slider has felt in a long time.  This is good news since the slider is his best pitch.  This was probably Snell’s best start of the season but it’s not good enough to keep him in the rotation.  So the 4.35 million arm moves to the bullpen.  I don’t see how anyone can argue with this move and I’ll be anxious to see how he does.  He fits the mentality of our bullpen: a wild right-hander with a fastball and above average slider.  Snell could still be a valuable asset to the Mariners, time will tell.

Once the Mariners got to Kansas City’s bullpen it was game on.  When a team runs out Josh Rupe, Robinson Tejada, and Bruce Chen in succession, that team is usually going to lose.  That is not a very good bullpen.  With that being said, the Mariners used some annoying baseball to win this game.  The annoying aspect was exclaimed with Jose Lopez’ RBI double off the pitchers glove.  It’s annoying baseball like Venoy Overton being an annoying defender.  It’s annoying like when we play the Angels.  It’s annoying and it’s so much fun to win that way.

Make no mistake, the Mariners should not have won that game.  Thank goodness they did though.  These first two games show just how weird baseball can be.  There is so much statistical analysis to baseball, and I love that, but these two games show that there’s a certain level of unpredictability to baseball and that’s what makes it great.

Hero:  Milton Bradley.  Bradley was 2-3 and drew a bases loaded walk.  I love Milton Bradley.  Lookout Landing said that he realizes his job is to be an entertainer and I couldn’t agree more.  He makes watching games way more fun.  On this night, he played the role of the villain and fed off the crowds boos.  He played right along with them; taunting them back playfully and brimming with intensity.  I was following the game on Gameday so I didn’t get to see any of his antics live but caught his interview after the game.  If you haven’t already, go read some of his quotes after the game.  They are hilarious.  Milton is becoming one of my favorite Mariners and he’s been slumping.  I know he has his share of haters but I think he’s great.

Goat:  Casey Kotchman.  Kotch had a tough game.  Oh well, he’s been strong this season and after the last game in the series it’s safe to say that his was just a blip on the radar.  Don’t forget that the Mariners were facing Zack Greinke on this night.

Wednesday 4-28 M’s -6 KC -5

The Mariners won a close, weird game this afternoon.  I really enjoy day games.  Anyway, this game was awesome because Gil Meche was pitching, Willie Bloomquist was playing second base, and Yuni was playing short and they all sucked.  I don’t really have a problem with Meche but Bloomquist and Yuni are two of my least favorite Mariners ever.  When they’re at short and second together they may be the worst double play tandem in baseball.  Poor Kansas City.

Hyphen started for the Mariners and had his best start of the year.  He was very effective with his off speed stuff and probably should have only given up one run on the day.  A pop up fell in between Ichiro and Figgins because Ichiro misread it.  Smith still isn’t where he was at the end of last season but he got a little closer today.

The Mariners hit the ball hard most of the day.  It was nice to see the bats come alive before the 8th inning even if it was against Gil Meche.  Ichiro and Figgins both had great days.  The bottom of the order was pretty impressive too.  I konw we’ve addressed this before but Jose Lopez needs to move out of the clean-up spot.  Please.  Put Kotch or Bradley there.  Lopez is a pretty decent 6-hole hitter, clean-up not so much.

Jack Wilson made an absolutely amazing play in the 8th inning.  It’s been described as the Derek Jeter play but with range.  He ranged far to his right, jumped up and threw the ball to first, getting the runner by half a step.  Derek Jeter did make that throw famous but there’s no chance that Jeter would have gotten to that ball.  Yuni wouldn’t have even moved for that ball, he would have just watched it roll through the hole because there’d be no hope of him getting it.  It was an incredible play and saved Mark Lowe some trouble in the 8th.  Wilson also added a double today.

Hero:  Chone Figgins.  Figgins put together a really solid day.  He just missed a home run, which is saying something when we’re talking about Chone.  Figgy tripled, singled and walked.  He hit the ball hard.  Hopefully, this continues and his bat gets a little hotter.

Goat:  Franklin Gutierrez.  Guti just had a bad day.  0-4, it happens.

So, the Mariners are heading home with a .500 record.  This seems fitting because Friday is going to feel like opening day all over again.  This team will be the one we envisioned since December with Lee returning.  Not only does this add a talent boost but it adds a mental boost.  When you get one of the best pitchers in baseball starting for your team your confidence has to go up.  Let the real season begin!

Andrew

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by | April 18, 2010 · 12:33 pm

Game Recap — 4/17/2010

It wasn’t as glamorous as Friday’s 11-3 win, but in many ways last night’s 4-2 win was equally impressive. After all, the M’s were facing Verlander, and our starter, RRS, was facing a tough task against an all right-handed hitting Tigers line-up. Seemed like a recipe for a loss. But Hyphen was up to the task, and except for a hanging curveball to Ordonez and a double to Rayburn in the 7th, that was all the damage.

As for the offense, well they banged 7 hits off Verlander. Seattle made him work especially hard in the 1st and I thought we might work him out of the game early, but Verlander hit his stride and got throught 7 strong innings. Guti went 2-4 again, with 2 RBI. Ichiro came up a homer away from the cycle, and if he was given a decent pitch to hit in his last AB, we might be celebrating his cycle today. We’ll settle for 3-3 and a walk I suppose.

Onto some notes and our hero/goat…

  • Bad call made by the 3rd base umpire in the 1st inning. It appeared Figgins had flyed out in foul territory to Carlos Guillen, which would have been enough to sacrifice Ichiro in, but instead, the ump said Guillen dropped it. On second glance, it was clear that Carlos made the catch, then dropped it on the transfer. Figgins struck out and that play would have been magnified if not for Guti coming up with an RBI base hit the next at bat.
  • Andrew pointed this out, and it is very true. The Tigers left field platoon of Johnny Damon and Carlos Guillen might be the worst defensive platoon ever.
  • The play of the game was the double play that ended the top of the 8th. After walking Inge on a full count slider, (which should have been called strike 3 I might add) runners were on 1st and 2nd, with 1 out. The next batter hit a slow chopper to Lopez who charged, made a nice play to relay to 2nd, and Figgins made the throw falling down to 1st. Kotchman scooped it for the second out, and the threat was over. It was a terrific play and probably the turning point in the game.
  • Hypen was sporting a new 2 seam change-up, which cuts at the end rather than drop like his typical 4 seam change-up. Keep an eye on this going forward, because it could be a nice addition to RRS’ arsenal.
  • Lee Tinsley positioned Bradley very close to foul territory in the 9th inning, when Ramon Santiago was up. Tinsley must have known what he was doing, because Santiago ripped a line drive down the left field line, and 99% of the time that ball is a double. But Bradley caught it with ease thanks to Tinsley’s positioning and advanced scouting.
  • Aardsma looked great tonight. I don’t understand why his fastball, which tops out at 95, is so tough to hit, especially when the batter knows it’s coming. But he places it very well, and it must have some movement that makes it difficult. Still, he worries me, though by now I should probably have more faith in him.
      Hero: Ichiro. It would be easy to give it to Guti for another solid night, but Ichiro flirted with the cycle and that is pretty special. RRS had a good outing as well, despite the no decision.

      Goat: Ken Griffey Jr. I love you Jr, but 0-4 with 2 K’s won’t cut it. Griffey only saw 14 pitches in those AB’s also.

    Today we go for the sweep! Snell is on the mound and if he wants to stay in this rotation, he had better pitch well, unlike his last start.

    -Dan

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    by | April 17, 2010 · 12:40 am

    Game Recap – 4/16/2010

    This afternoon I was all set to write a post about hitting with runners in scoring position.  I was going to say that, while hitting with runners in scoring position does take some skill, it’s mostly luck.  A good hitter will hit no matter if there are runners on or not.  I was going to break it down scientifically and with stats.  All this to prove that the Mariners were going to break out at some point with a barrage of runs.  I would have looked like a genius.  Instead, I decided to play Mario Kart…Oh well.

    So, in case you missed it the Mariners dominated tonight, winning 11-3.  The bats came alive and the hits came in bunches.  There was the 3 run 4th, the 2 run 5th, and the 6 run 6th and all of a sudden the Mariners had 11 runs.  Think back a few days to the dismal home opener and 11 runs counts as a minor miracle.  What’s more impressive is the Mariners did it without home runs; they had 11 singles, one triple, and took advantage of a terrible Detroit defense.  (Seriously, if you don’t appreciate the Mariners defense watch the Tigers corner outfielders.  Ordonez takes the worst routes to fly balls possible and Johnny Damon’s arm is worse than mine.  One time tonight he tried to throw a foul ball into the stands except he didn’t make it there.  It was hilarious.)  Jeremy Bonderman, Detroit’s starter, wasn’t very good and gave up line drive after line drive.  His defense threw in three errors that all led to unearned runs. 

    Felix was good as usual tonight.  He had a little trouble spotting his secondary pitches but his fastball was more than enough to get by tonight.  I couldn’t tell from my seat high up on the third baseline if he was getting squeezed by the umpire but it sure seemed like it.   He had one bad inning in which he gave up his two earned runs.  If it weren’t for that inning he would have had a shut out easy because the Tigers didn’t touch him after that. 

    The atmosphere tonight was great.  It was close to a sell out and the crowd made a good deal of noise.  Johnny Damon was heckled to no end, which is just fine by me.  People are catching on to how great Felix is.  He got the loudest cheer during introductions and then was given a loud standing ovation after leaving the game.  The one bad thing about the Mariners blowing Detroit out was that the crowd lost a little bit of interest after the 9 run lead came.  But that’s just fine.  This city is ready to erupt with Mariner fever, the team just has to be in the pennant race for that to happen.  I might add that I don’t usually like the wave but I saw the most successful Mariner game wave tonight.  I was really impressed.  There was a ton of energy in the stadium. 

    So for now, enjoy this victory.  Enjoy this 3 game winning streak.  Unfortunately, Justin Verlander pitches for the Tigers tomorrow but who knows, we could make it 4 in a row.  Baseball is a funny sport and it’s been a funny start to this season but it seems like things are getting on the right track.  So, maybe someday I’ll get to that post about hitting with runners in scoring position but as for now I’m just going to enjoy what the Mariners did tonight.

    My goat/hero and a few other notes after the jump.  Continue reading →

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    by | April 11, 2010 · 5:24 pm

    Game Recap — 4/11/2010

    I’ll just do a quick write-up since I doubt none of the other good guys want to talk about this one.  The M’s lost 9-2 today and finished their road trip 2-5.  Here’s a few quick bullet points for this ugly game.

    • Hero:  Chone Figgins.  He looked much better today and might start hitting the ball now.  There wasn’t much of a hero to this game but Figgins had 2 hits and an RBI.
    • Goat:  Ian Snell.  He sucked today, enough said.
    • Don’t judge Ian Snell by either of his starts this year.  He shut the A’s down pretty well but just about every ball was hit hard today.  I think he’s somewhere in between these two performances but we won’t know until he has a few more starts.  He was awful today.  I don’t know what that 88 mph pitch he was throwing was.  I hope that it’s not his fastball because if it is he’s going to have a long year.
    • Guti continues to be hot.  He had two hits and a few more great catches today.  Maybe the off-season made me forget how great he is in center field but he has been amazing to watch this week  and will be for the rest of the season.
    • Jose Lopez does not look good at the plate right now.  I can’t put my finger on what it is but he doesn’t look comfortable at all.  It’s probably just a slump but out of all the M’s players who are in a slump, he’s the one I’m most worried about.
    • Griffey’s bat looked slow the first few games but it’s looked a little better the past 3 games.  He was 1 for 3 today and just missed a home run in one of his outs.
    • If you want good news there actually is some.  Erik Bedard and Cliff Lee each threw 45 pitch bullpen sessions today.  They were both throwing hard and felt good.  Lee is expected back at the beginning of May and Bedard in mid-May if all goes according to plan. 

    That’s about it for today.  The road trip is over and I think coming home will help this team.  I’m not very worried about them but I will be after a couple more weeks like this.  Opening day will be fun tomorrow and hopefully we go out and get a win.

    Andrew

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    by | April 10, 2010 · 8:49 pm

    Game Recap – 4/10/2010

    In my quest to tricking my fellow good guys into letting me cover each Felix start, I get to recap the Mariners second win of the season. 

    For much of the game it looked as if it’d Seattle’s 5th straight loss.  The Mariners scored a run in the top of the first and then the offense went cold.  It didn’t go cold like it did in prior games though.  The Mariners outhit Texas all day long but they just couldn’t get runners across the plate.  Seattle had 12 hits on the day and a good share of those came before the 3-run ninth.  Baseball is a weird sport and the Mariners have been bad this week but luck hasn’t been on their side.  Their BABIP (batting average on balls in play) was way below average for the week and their were a few bad bounces in the field that hurt them.  I’m not making excuses for them but there’s statistical reason to believe things will get much better.

    Anyway, the Mariners might not have had much of a chance in this game if it weren’t for King Felix.  He was fantastic today and if it weren’t for a Figgins throwing error, Felix might have only given up one run.  My favorite thing about watching Felix is that I never know which pitch will be his best on a given day.  Today I think it was his change-up.  His change came in at 86-88 mph and fell off the table when it reached the batter.  It was beautiful.  Another thing that stood out to me about this start was the way Felix handled Guerrero.  He used his two-seam fastball to tail in on the hands of Vladimir and then threw that change into the dirt.  He produced two strikeouts and a groundball to third from this.  Long live the King!

    Despite this outing, the Mariners were still down by 2 heading into the 9th inning.  They scored 3 on a flurry of singles and pesky baseball.  Here’s exactly what happened:  single, walk, sacrifice bunt, single (run scored), single (run scored), single (run scored), double play.  It’s innings like this that explain why the Mariners, Angels, and A’s are described as “annoying teams”; there were no extra base hits in that inning, they just produced runs by playing simple baseball.  The singles were hit hard but watching single after single gets annoying when you’re opposing fans and it prolongs the inevitable agony more so than a quick 3 run homer. 

    In the bottom of the 9th Aardsma looked very good in striking out the 1st and 3rd batter.  But the second hitter, Elvis Andrus, hit a rocket to right center.  Luckily, we have the best center fielder in the game.  Guti covered a ton of ground and jumped up against the wall to take away a home run from Andrus.  I could try to describe this more poetically but it wouldn’t do it justice; just go watch it if you haven’t seen it already (heck, go watch it if you have seen it already).  If he doesn’t make that catch who knows what happens in this game.  I’m glad that Franklin is on the Mariners and will be for quite a while.

    Does this game take away my worries?  No, it was an ugly week (although, not as ugly as many people say) and we were dangerously close to being 1-5.  But, the way it stands now is that if we somehow get a win tomorrow we finish the road trip with a mediocre 3-4 record.  Not good but okay.  It’s not the end of the world if we lose either.  But let’s not worry about tomorrow until tomorrow.  Today was the type of game the Mariners will be playing all season and it was good to see them win. 

    My hero/goat and a few other notes after the jump.  Continue reading →

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    by | April 9, 2010 · 10:29 pm

    Game Recap — 4/9/2010

    An anatomy of two half innings: 

    Top of the first, Mariners up, Colby Lewis on the mound.  Ichiro doubles to lead off, Figgins walks, they go to second and third on a wild pitch with Kotchman up.  Kotchman drives in Ichiro with a groundout, Figgins is at third with one out.  Bradley strikes out, Griffey flies out.  Mariners up 1-0.

    Bottom of the sixth, Rangers at-bat, a tiring Jason Vargas on the mound.  Young grounds back to Vargas for a quick first out.  Josh Hamilton walks, then Vlad scorches a pitch on the outside corner for a double, scoring Hamilton.  Cruz singles to score Vlad, on another decent pitch.  Chris Davis gets an infield single when Kotchman dives and has the ball go off his arm and bounce into foul territory.  First and second, one out, Shawn Kelley in for Vargas.  Teagarden strikes out, but Arias sneaks a single past the diving Lopez and Wilson, scoring Davis.  Borbon flies out to end the inning.  4 runs in, Rangers up 5-1.

    **********************************************

    The first inning started exactly how the Mariners would love to start every game, with Ichiro and Figgy on 2nd and 3rd with no outs.  It’s the linchpin of the Mariners’ offense.  And really, they’d be pretty happy to start every game 1-0.  They should have gotten Figgins in, but it wasn’t a bad start.  In comparison, the Rangers got Hamilton on because he’s scary to pitch to, then they smoked a couple of tough pitches and had two runs in three batters.  Not real different from the Mariners’ first at that point.  They scored in drastically different ways, but there was only a run difference.  At that point in the sixth, luck kicked in for the Rangers, with a couple of weak hits to score the final two runs.

    I don’t have a lot of point in this, except that those two half innings exemplify the current difference between the Rangers and Mariners.  They were similar innings, except that the Rangers had a couple of huge hits from the middle of the order with a runner on, and then the bottom of the order kept the inning alive for an extra couple runs.  The Mariners only hit of the first was Ichiro’s leadoff double, it took a lot of work and a wild pitch to score him, and then the middle of the order couldn’t come through to add on any runs.  Both pitchers threw similarly, well enough to win if they got a few runs or were facing a weak offense.  Unfortunately, both of those were the case for Lewis and neither was for Vargas.  Will it stay this way for the Mariners all season?  It shouldn’t.  They have good hitters who just aren’t hitting.  Still, without some major line-up changes, they’re not ever going to come close to what the Rangers can run out there.  Whether that will be the difference in the division remains to be seen.

    There were some positives.  Vargas looked solid until the sixth, when he ran out of gas a little and the Rangers figured him out a little.  Before that, he looked pretty similar to Braden for the A’s on Tuesday: solid command, good change.  Franklin continues to swing the bat well.  He needs to be hitting higher in the order against righties and lefties.  Kotchman hit his homer farther than he’s probably ever hit a ball before.  I’m not convinced on him by any means, but you can see the potential for him to blossom into a threat.  He’s shown more than I expected, so far.  Sean White looked solid, although it didn’t really matter by then.  Franklin had a couple of excellent catches.  And that was the game.  Better luck tomorrow.  It’s still plenty early, but they could really use a win with Felix throwing.

    Hero:  No one stands out, but I’ll give it to Franklin, as the only guy who looks like he’s in midseason form.

    Goat:  Milton got the biggest suckfest at LL, so we’ll give it to him.  A double, or even just a single, in the first could have made it a different ballgame.

    -Matthew

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    by | April 7, 2010 · 12:09 am

    Mariner Recap – 4/6/2010

    The idea that the season really starts with Game 2 is common with baseball fans and writers.  Opening day has all the ceremony and a couple of aces throwing (theoretically for some teams), but the next day brings a little more routine and Ian Snell vs. Dallas Braden.  Braden was excellent.  The first couple of innings, he didn’t seem like much, but the Mariners weren’t hitting him either.  By the third or so, he had them in-between on every pitch.  Not sure he can do that every game, but he was impressive, just one well-hit Franklin Gutierrez double away from a shut out.

    I’m not quite sure what Ian Snell was.  I guess you take 6 innings, 1 run, 3 hits and 2 walks however you can get them, but he just makes me nervous.  Actually, it’s not so much that he makes me nervous, it’s that I feel no confidence when he’s on the mound.  It looked a little bit like smoke and mirrors today.  Maybe he’ll get better.  I’m not writing him off, and I’ll take that outing anytime.  The problem is that if he throws like that against a better offense, the results will not be anywhere near as good.  Can he improve?  I’m not holding my breath.  His stuff looked decent at times and very hittable at others.  I guess I’ll just be happy that he didn’t get crushed and not make any judgments until we see a few more outings.

    Unfortunately, the offense was everything we feared it might be tonight.  They certainly ran into an unexpected buzz-saw in Braden, but without Ichi and Figgy on base as much, with Kotchman struggling against lefties, Bradley just struggling and nothing from the bottom of the order, well that’s pretty much everyone.  Guti had the lone good day, and it still took a balk and wild pitch to score him.  It won’t always be this bad, but we’re going to see a lot of these types of games.  Some will go the M’s way, some won’t.  No reason to panic, but anytime they want to trade for a big bat, go right ahead.

    Hero: Ian Snell. It wasn’t very pretty, but you have to give credit to Snell, who pitched 6 innings, and only gave up 4 hits and 1 earned run.

    Goat: The Offense. 5 hits in 10 innings won’t cut it. Guti had 2 of those hits so maybe he should be exempt.

    Some bullets:

    • I told Andrew a couple of times Monday how natural I thought Jose Lopez looked at third, but tonight brought a few hiccups.  Still, he didn’t make any mistakes due to a lack of tools that I could see.  That spinning throw is something he’ll get better at.  No reason to worry, I’d say.
    • We definitely saw the value of Kotchman’s defense today.  He gave no signs of being able to hit lefties at all, but he dug out a couple of tough throws, and that short-hop play he made was excellent.  Still, amazing how much worse he looked against a lefty, rolling everything over for weak grounders.  Then his first at-bat against a righty, he smoked a line drive straight to Ellis.  Time to see if Sweeney can still play first on occasion?
    • Bradley looks extremely uncomfortable at the plate, like he’s guessing on everything.  He seemed to take better cuts later in at-bats, especially in the ninth.  I’m betting once he gets a couple of hits he’ll lock in pretty good, but I’ll be anxious until that happens.  The longer he goes without success, the better the chance of something bad happening.
    • Welcome to the big leagues, Kanekoa Texeira!  Looked nervous, but that slider/sinker/whatever is nasty.  He looked a lot better than Sean White, not that that’s saying much.  Getting out of a bases loaded one out situation is no small feat, especially in your debut, even if he put himself in the situation.  Too bad he couldn’t do it again.
    • Shawn Kelley and Mark Lowe, on the other hand.  I like those guys.  Kelley is a much better pitcher than Ian Snell right now.  Just not sure that would hold true if he moved to the rotation.

    Game 3: Justin Duchsherer vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith, 7:05

    -Matthew

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    by | April 5, 2010 · 4:59 pm

    Happy Opening Day!

    One of the best days of the year, but there’s really not that much to say. If you don’t know everything there is to know about this team at this point, you probably don’t care all that much. So, enjoy the game and we’ll have something new to talk about afterward.

    In the meantime, let’s play the always enjoyable, Which Player Would You Rather Have Game, wherein we compare each position in the Mariners’ and Athletics’ starting lineups and pick which player we’d rather have.

    C: M’s Rob Johnson A’s Kurt Suzuki
    Pick: Suzuki

    1B: M’s Casey Kotchman A’s Daric Barton
    Pick: Barton, but that’s a currently pretty sad set of 1B with decent potential

    2B: M’s Chone Figgins A’s Mark Ellis
    Pick: Figgins

    3B: M’s Jose Lopez A’s Kevin Kouzmanoff
    Pick: Lopez

    SS: M’s Jack Wilson A’s Cliff Pennington
    Pick: Wilson. (I know absolutely nothing about Cliff Pennington. Nice name though.)

    LF: M’s Milton Bradley A’s Travis Buck
    Pick: Bradley

    CF: M’s Guti A’s Rajai Davis
    Pick: Guti

    RF: M’s Ichiro! A’s Ryan Sweeney
    Pick: Ichiro

    DH: M’s Griffey A’s Eric Chavez
    Pick: Wow. Slim pickings (no pun intended). Chavez

    P: M’s Felix A’s Ben Sheets
    Pick: Felix

    Mariners win, 7-4!

    A few quick notes after the jump! Continue reading →

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