=== Wade LeBlanc, Pros vs Joes ===

That might very well have been the weakest inning I've ever seen thrown in the majors.

The one that Johnson (?) lined for a bases-clearing double was 83, up, and outside third of the plate for an "out-and-over-the-plate" error -- a true batting-practice pitch. 

You can't possibly invite a 'tater any more generously than that.   If you threw slower, it would wreck the hitter's timing.  83 out-and-over, coming from LeBlanc's lefty angle, is the dream pitch.  There's no such thing as worse pitches than some that LeBlanc threw.

If he wants to be Jamie Moyer, he'd better start throwing like 0 of those per game, not 8 per inning.

...............

We often say sardonically, "that was a batting-practice pitch," but coaches and scrub pitchers don't actually throw 87 in practice.  However, they do throw low-80's.  LeBlanc's pitch to Johnson would quite literally have been an ideal Home Run Derby serveup.

.................

When you think an ML offense looks pitiful, keep it in perspective.  They're pitiful only relative to the state-of-the-art.  ALL major-league offenses are wonderful, in absolute terms.

Mr. LeBlanc wears Matthew 6:33 on his glove, so I sympathize.  But yesterday he served as the backdrop for the M's showing how good they are in absolute terms.  Pros vs Joes.

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=== M's Offense ===

Has a 147 OPS+ the last week, raising their season OPS+ to 91.   91 is terrible, but not worthy of relegation to AAA.  If 91 were an EPL team, it would finish 17th of 20 and play in the same league next year.

Those earlier 84's would have gone about 2-30-6 in the EPL and been relegated to finish about 12th in the First Division next year.

We'll see where their OPS+ is after the Dodgers and Sox.

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=== Speaking of Which ===

I can only imagine what they're doing over at Sounder at Heart, following the U.S. team's bouncing of Fabregas and Torres, and following the callup of that Sounder midfielder to play in the FIFA final.

Link in the sidebar.

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=== Griffey ===

Had a couple of good games, including a dramatic game-tying HR which was:

1) Not off a weak pitcher

2) Off a high-90's fastball

3) Not pulled to RF

Griffey's good week now has him once again the M's 3rd-best hitter, by far:

164 - Branyan

140 - Ichiro

99 - Griffey

93 - Gutierrez

81 - Beltre

Lower - Everybody else

So once again, a stats geek can scan the stats page and give thanks for Griffey on purely mathematical terms.

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=== Ichiro ===

Is hitting 370/400/500.   Has struck out 23 times, and has 22 extra-base hits.  Continues to give the Mariners, as far as I can tell, the only true ML stolen base king who has ever played right field (and therefore the only plusCF-plusCF combo to ever play CF-RF).

On TV, Neihaus reported that he ran into Jim Lefebvre and asked him, "so, whattaya think about Ichiro?  What's everybody saying?"

Lefebvre:  "I don't know what everybody's saying.  I can tell you what I think."

"?"

"He's the best player in major league baseball."

.............

On the HOF Monitor list, a points scale for achievements like 200 hits, 100 RBIs, All-Star game starts, etc., Ichiro now has 182 points, 100 being likely HOF'er.  That's for his American play alone.

This reflects the fact that in the 1970s and 1980s, sportswriters looooovvvvved 100 runs and 200 hits.  I don't know if that will continue to be true. 

But what will continue to be true, is that sportswriters will continue to love to be identified as non-Americo-centric.  Ichiro was the trailblazer for Japanese integration.  That's a mini-Jackie-Robinson episode, and that would be more than enough to kick Ichiro past any sportswriter who was hesitating.

If Ichiro decided to go play in the NFL tomorrow, he'd be a first-ballot HOF'er.  Put the gold trim around his jersey sleeves and enjoy the rest of the victory, fans.

.............

Ichiro doesn't seem to be directly helping Branyan any; they're still shifting him and throwing him plenty of slop.

The M's saberdudes have to be screaming bloody murder about Branyan's refusal to bunt the shift, and yesterday he showed bunt once.  ... but I wonder if he is *capable* of pushing a punch-bunt past the pitcher.

..............

Again, if the Mariners weren't playing well, having fun, and refraining from jealously burning voodoo dolls of Ichiro in each others' lockers, then Ichiro wouldn't be hitting 370/400/500.   And if Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Sweeney weren't here, the locker room wouldn't be what it is.

Sabermetrics never asks, "what CAUSES a player to have an up or down year?"  *Capt Jack, Wok, Griff, and Sweeney* are causing the other players to have up years.

Cheers,

Dr D