Q.  Is Don Wakamatsu a third-order thinker on his "productive outs"?

A.  Bill James' and Baseball Prospectus' and Tango's and Etc.'s Run Expectancy charts are such simple data that it is impossible to imagine that Wakamatsu, or any ML manager, is oblivious to them.

Again, Baker relays to us that Wak is trying to persuade his hitters to make productive outs:

What we're talking about here, and what frustrates manager Don Wakamatsu, is situational hitting. Because if you get a guy to third base with only one out, there are ways to score that runner without a hit.

I would bet money that Wakamatsu and every other manager applauds a RH Milton Bradley for grounding one to the right side although he knows it cost him runs, because he believes in the long term he gains the runs back by maintaining a focused approach to the game.

I think both things are true:  that Wok understands that a groundout costs him -0.2 runs every time it happens, and that he's angry when it doesn't occur.

Wacky and wonderful, isn't it?  Wouldn't you love for Ichiro, or Cliff Lee, or ... Felix! ... to say cheerfully to Wok, "Hey, what about the fact that we just lost runs there!"  Never happen, but Baker could ask Wakamatsu about it.

..........

And here's a snippet that suggests, to me, that this is exactly the game that Wok is playing:

Tonight's game turned in the second inning, when the Mariners loaded the bases with none out and didn't score. Wilson struck out and then Jack Wilson popped out.

But the big situational miscue was on Josh Wilson, not Jack Wilson.

So, what happens in those cases?

"You look at that first bases loaded situation, that whole inning, we talked about it in the dugout afterwards,'' Wakamatsu said. "We're just swinging at pitches out of the zone in situations where we don't need to.''

The Mariners have been preaching a disciplined plate approach all year. The common misconception some fans have is that a disciplined approach means taking the first pitch. It doesn't. Because if that first pitch is the best one you'll see all night, you're best off swinging.

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Q.  Leaving the 2010 Mariners where?

A.  The Texas Rangers don't score more runs than the M's because they like to swap outs for bases.

But that metric sure as shootin' does tell you that the Texas Rangers' hitters are putting pro at-bats on enemy pitching.  The Mariners?  They're not cold-bloodedly following RE charts in the face of baseball tradition.  They're just putting tons of lazy at-bats out there.

Geoffy has been warning, all year, that the chemistry on this ballclub is sour.  The lazy AB's that they are giving us is one more indicator of how bad it's been.

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Q.  Is there a 4th-order thinking?

A.  Baker's column is one more thumb on the scale for getting the kids up here sooner rather than later.  Hey, Ackley's OBP is almost .400 in the PCL.  :- )  So is Tui's.

There's no rush, I know, but Mangini and Wilson and Halman and Tui and Ackley are talented.  It's not like you've got Hunter Browns and Greg Dobbses down there:  you've got talented players.  You think Michael Wilson won't give you his best at-bat -- with or without the sham requirement to move a runner over?

I look up and watch the game when Michael Saunders is at the plate.  Would be glad to see a coupla more like him.  Better than what I'm seeing right now.

Any infielder Z could move the 31st, or August, any way any how, would be great by me.

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Cheers,

Dr D