Whale

State of the Mr. Magic Closer

.

(That's Robinson Cano behind Rodney.  Cano slugged 5.000 during the WBC.  The Mariners also have Hisashi Iwakuama.  And Michael Saunders.  And I bet James Jones hit six homers for Brooklyn.)

("Mr. Magic Closer," a term that Dr. D has used for 20 years to deride the weird ideas that have developed around baseball's 9th inning.)

.

White Knuckle, Bab-Eh.  And Lovin' It

You guys know where the scouts sit in the stands at Safeco, right?  If they're not behind the plate, they're (often) back on the concourse, directly behind home, where they can see the ump and the tiny monitor they've got.  Like Dr. D, they keep one eye on the players 150 feet away, and one eye on the CF camera.

The Mariners keep those five seats clear, in case opposing scouts want them.  In addition to the tablets and/or scorecards, they're usually wearing giant badges that say, proudly, ML SCOUT.  Hey, man.  Small enough props for a life's work.  Give it up for 'em.

.........

So Iwakuma blisters the Royals for 8 innings and then blithely informs McClendon that he's out.

Dick Williams (M's manager in the 80's):  never speaks to Iwakuma again, other than to sourly take pot shots walking by.

Lloyd McClendon:  "Having a legit #2 like that is like having your feet in a warm pair of bunny slippers."  Or something.

Give Lloyd credit.  He's done a whale of a lot of things right, too.

......

Back on point.  In the 9th, there were three scouts sitting back there in Row 32, the most I've seen.

Mark Langston and Roenis Elias

.

We'd been casting about feebly for a halfway-convincing comp to Roenis Elias, when MLB Network inadvertently helped us out.

.....

A quick foreword:  it's not necessarily overreacting, when you go "HEY DID YOU SEE THAT ROOKIE FAN 10 GUYS?"  It's a topical discussion at BJOL.  Extreme pitching performances tend to rule a young pitcher out of the "lousy but lucky" category.  For instance, there will never be a major league game in which Anthony Vasquez strikes out 12 men.

Roundtable on Ramirez' Makeup

.

Last time at-bat, Dr. D gave you his own barometer on "makeup."  An athlete with good makeup --- > is one who responds to things going wrong by --- > getting more competitive.  As Al Pacino told Keano Reeves, "Under pressure, some focus.  Others fold."

Felix Hernandez has pitched in a whale of a lot of 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.  He reliably goes into Nasty Mode.  

Shall I tell you what I find beautiful about your species, sez Starman?  You are at your best when things are worst.  Felix is automatic this way.  Keeping my own definition of "makeup in mind, the anti-bully personality ... name me a finer competitor than Felix Hernandez.  See?  There is no such thing.  Which is why we want a Game Seven for him, man.

50 words in, I'm already off topic... 

...

G-Money came back with a response to my accusations of possible makeup issues for Ramirez.  His response was the ideal one from my point of view, that being (1) a guy who knows more about it than I do, tell me that (2) I got nuttin' to worry about.

...



He's always been a fighter.  He has a couple problems:

1) His way of being a fighter and not giving up looks like bland-faced sweating to a lot of people. Michael Jordan had a GREAT AngryFace.  His AngryFace made grown men wet themselves. Erasmo has more of a Japanese disposition out there, blank-faced, searching for zen in angry moments.  He's a fighter, I promise - I've seen enough of him getting worthless strike zones in the minors or pitching at altitude where his changeup doesn't dive and his curve and slider are useless to know that.  Being a sweater doesn't make him less warrior-like. His problem yesterday was the next problem.

This is an interesting point.  

Walter "Sweetness" Payton cracked me up this way.  He'd tear around the corner, bounce off two linebackers at opposing angles, go down in a pigpile, lay there for 8 seconds on his back ... wobble back to the huddle like he was KO'ed .... trudge to his spot at I back ... and then rip off another 15-yarder.

I'm going to have to re-visit.  In the mind's eye, after you ignore the "Siiiiighhhh, when do they let me go home" facial expression .... his body language is still erect and leaning into the action (shaddup, Beavis) but his pace does seem to drag.  I dunno.

Pick Yer Poison

.

Howzit gow'n, 'migos :- )

The day-night surgical doubleheader was called after 5 IP in the first game, so had less impact on my blogging OBP than expected.  Though woozy, we've got a quiet coupla hours here and are in the mood to ... gulp ... blog for fun, rather than for blood.  Apologies ahead of time for the appalling lack of quality the next several days.  Just pretend this isn't SSI.

.

Q.  The A's kinda had the better of that series.  Maybe the M's just looked good against the Angels?

Erasmo Ramirez vs C.J. Wilson

.

Dr. D was quite taken aback Monday night, when the M's took over the game and the national TV color guy started whining about the lefty hitters.

SSI thinks that this was more than a throwaway comment.  Like, when Peter Gammons called Brad "Logo" Miller the best player nobody has heard of, I think that was more than just a throwaway comment.  Behind that comment is a "buzz" among the industry's scouts, that they are seeing something really special in Miller.  (So is Dr. D.  and so DID Gordon and Spec.)

Before Opening Day, we had done a 30,000-foot view courtesy of BaseballHQ, and warned y'all "Hang on, hang on.  The prospectus is kinda scary for the league's RHP's here."

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Whale