.... M's 7

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DEE GORDON - where do we start.  The entire Mariner offense was the X's and O's you draw up on the chalkboard, the events you are trying to cause to occur during play, but which never happen that way.

Gordon is our centerfielder, leave us not forget.  Anybody remember when we wanted to bid on Michael Bourn and Denard Span and stuff like that?  Anyway.  Gordon starts the game with a leadoff walk :- ) and then draws several throws over to first.  On the first throw home (IIRC) the catcher threw an absolutely perfect pop-and-fire to the bag ... too late for the headfirst Gordon.

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Going to Grad School on the HIT Tool

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PREAMBLE

The sabermetrics tables on Fangraphs, of which my faves (for hitters) include EYE (K/BB), BABIP, WAR, UZR, OSwing%, ZSwing%, among others, and the Mighty StatCast Crew including Average Exit Velocity and Average Launch Angle, are valuable stats and capture, probably, 80-90% of what we need to know about what's happening on the field.

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'Bach Explains His New Approach

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Fangraphs has a nice article out.  In it, Dan Vogelbach concisely explains what his mindset is, and what his mechanical changes are, as he hits for more power (5 homers and 6 doubles in 46 AB).  Since we are getting it straight from the horse's mouth, as it were, we'll trust the information.  How is Vogelbach suddenly trashing enemy pitching to the tune of an .800+ SLG?

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1.  Think Airball.  Vogelbach sez:

“In the past, I just tried to be a good hitter — be a good hitter first and the power would come,” Vogelbach told me while perched in front of his locker at Seattle’s spring-training facility. “This offseason, I made an adjustment to where my intent is to get the ball in the air more often.”

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One-Offs, 3.22.17

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Mike Zunino has a in-born knack for pulling the ball in the air.   In 2017 his grounder:fly ratio was 0.70 and in 2016 it was 0.56; his pull vs oppo last year was 51% to 17%.  If he swings and makes contact, the ball is likely going in the air to the power part of the field.

The Brewers noticed this, as he hit three (3) home runs against them on Wednesday, giving him and Dan Vogelbach the team lead at 5 homers.  Not that it matters, but 5 homers in 36 at bats prorates to 76 in 550 AB's.

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Phelps vs Altavilla

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David Phelps elbow ligament surgery has Scott Servais wondering whether the upside-down M has all the luck pouring out of the franchise logo.  This of course makes no more or less sense than the existence of a being named Poseidon, but that has been part of the charm of baseball over the last 100 years - the way Felix hops over the foul lines on his way back to the dugout.  Oh that Dr. D were a pitcher and could wear the number 13 ...

I do not know whether many Denizens will agree with me, but I also put about as much stock in "franchise injury woes" as I do in Poseidon. To me it's not all so feasible that Jerry Dipoto didn't bring Angels training secrets along with him, that Servais didn't bring Rangers secrets with him, even that Healy didn't bring A's training secrets with him, etc.

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One-Offs, 3.20.17.

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Lookout Landing has a cute theory that Vogelbach's confidence can be traced to an AAA HR derby last season.  My own theories about "turning points" can be traced to 1901, where the boy prodigy GM Capablanca was getting blown out but then his opponent Corzo, Cuban champion, made a move that stunned Capa ... for its stupidity.

From this point on, Capablanca saw the weaknesses in professional players, and he never looked back in his trek to superstardom (to the extent that a chess wizard can be referred to as a "superstar").  I think most pro athletes' "turning points" -- we're talking about the Mitch Hanigers of the world now, not the Felixes or Juniors -- can be traced to some event at which ---- > a fearsome opponent showed his backside.

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Candor from Managers

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This from Bill James in 2012:

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... and if Whitey Herzog got more production out of "pitchability" LHP's than most managers did, do you think that there was anything to this success beyond giving them an opportunity? Perhaps he could pick the good LHP's out of a pile because he had an ability to project intelligence, or grace and balance in their deliveries, or .... ?
Asked by: jemanji
Answered: 9/21/2012
Well, I vividly remember being in Herzog's office on September 26, 1978.   Gura, then almost 31 years old, pitched a 3-hitter that day to beat Seattle 4-1, making him 16-4, and a reporter asked Whitey to what he attributed Gura's success.    Gura was one of those pitchers. . .a guy with a modest fastball; he had waited a long, long time to get his chance, and he had bounced from team to team.     "It's just a guy getting his opportunity and taking advantage of it," Herzog said.
 
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Rob Whalen, 3.19.17.

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But perhaps Jerry Dipoto is.  whooop!  Late word is that Whalen goes to AAA, as Rockies Jeff had forseen.  Dipoto's high words -- "best pitcher in camp" -- were blown sky-high by a single beating by the Indians, and they'll keep him "stretched out" until such time as they need a 9 starter.  Which will be when .... about mid-May?

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ROB WHALEN got blasted against the Indians; time after time he rolled an overhand curve up waist-high, and time after time they lined it on one hop into an OF's mitt.

Don't care.  This is a guy who, the vast majority of the time, has a crackling 12-6 curve that draws large flotillas of swings-and-misses, and in fact the Indians whiffed on it many times yesterday.  He just rolled a few too many.

Whalen spins an interesting yarn about the way his DAD taught him his curve ball spin AT TEN YEAR OLD - Whalen will demo it for the camera and it's a light, airy sports movement that was apparently safe for a 10-year-old's elbow ligaments.  You can draw your own inferences about Whalen's massive 30% usage of the overhand curve and slider.

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Marc-O Is Ours and You Can't Have Him

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So.  In the world according to Garp, er, Dr. D, St. Patrick's Day 2018 was the day on which the St. Louis Cardinals could not have the Tyler O'Neill swap back, even if they asked.  No way, no how.  Gonzales has been screaming his cafe racer past one checkpoint after another, and that was the one he blew by on Saturday.

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What's that y'say, Billy Bob?

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