=== Wally Pipp dept. ===

For those of you who were born after the era of Super Mario Bros. ... in 1925,  Wally Pipp was an aging, 32-year-old, MLB(TM)-entitled first baseman for the New York Yankees.  He'd had some good years in his 20's, but had been mediocre for several years and at 32 was off to a slow start.

Stories vary as to whether Pipp went to Miller Huggins and asked for a "flu symptoms" day off, or whether Huggins wanted to shake things up.  Seeing that the Yankees were 16 wins, 26 losses in the middle of Babe Ruth's prime, I'll take the second explanation.

Anyway, Lou Gehrig stepped in for Pipp on June 2.  ... it's one thing to be a backup; it's another thing to back up a guy who always starts.  Gehrig didn't miss a game for 13 years...

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

You and I wouldn't decide a roster spot based on a two-week injury.  But pro teams do.  They're down there; we're up here.

Word on Jack Hannahan's groin is 7-10 days at least, maybe more, and he's supposed to be nailing down the backup SS job.

Dire for Hannahan?  It's not a death sentence, but it's very alarming from his point of view.  Enough so, that the writers' reaction is that Josh Wilson is now the frontrunner for the backup SS job...

Josh Wilson now bats for -20 runs per year below replacement.  Not below average:  -20 runs below Willie Bloomquist.   We're going to need some irrational numbers here to represent the offense, SABRMatt.

It's not like Josh Wilson is Pokey Reese out there.  But even if Josh Wilson were a tremendous defensive SS .... 20 runs better than a quality AL SS ... that would make him replacement level, now wouldn't it?

.

=== Your Serve, Josh ===

Tui hit two home runs today, one of them intercepted by a silly 30-foot-high wall in center field.  Well, I guess if you can't afford the two thousand bucks for a batter's eye behind the wall...

GameDay was working.  The first homer, the one that went off the batter's-eye-in-play, came off a 91 fastball on the inner third and was dispatched out of the ... um, playing field ... to center field. 

Read:  Tui did not get his arms extended.  You can get the barrel on the ball if you lean back and pull it.   How do you hit an inside fastball out to center?

...

The second homer, according to GameDay, was a true jam pitch:

• On the inside 4 inches of the plate
• Slightly ABOVE the waist
• >90 mph
• Second pitch following a 77 mph breaking ball

The pitch was executed perfectly.  Tuiasosopo didn't get his arms extended on this one, either.  Didn't matter.  Four more bases.

Recent Mariners have not been able to hit pitcher's pitches for singles.  Tui hit a gorgeous pitcher's pitch for a home run.  Physically and mentally, I trust the Tuiasosopos to battle.

I'm not saying one good game ices the roster spot.  But somebody count the number of current Mariners capable of this performance, on a good day.   Tui is capable of things that ordinary major leaguers are not.

.......

The classic whipsaw that ML vets use against young power hitters, the one that Jay Buhner and Jim Lefebvre fought so viciously about, is .... soft stuff outside edge, hard stuff inside the barrel.  The hitter has to slow down his bat to catch the outside stuff, and speed it up to do anything with the inside stuff.   Just when the hitter gets the feel for waiting to hit the slow-away stuff hard, BOOM the jam pitch is on him way too fast.

You see why it's important that Tui is blasting hard stuff inside.  He's proving that the standard antidotes are no avail to the poison in his bat.

.

=== Chad Cordero ===

Not meaning to be a wet blanket, my complaint about Mr. Cordero is not that he's hurt.  It's that Boyz II BABVA would not have drafted him in his prime.  Some closers are mirages.

SSI would move on, here.  My opinion, plus five bucks, will get you any drink you want at Starbucks.

Cheers,

Dr D