The Mariners Find Their Ballclub - about 145 games late

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All right, so this is the baseball team you wanted to see, Jerry.  Just a leeeeeetle bit late, huh.  Let's hope not tooooo late.

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WILD CARD

So the M's season is coming down to one question:  can the Twinkies find it in themselves to lose 3 in a row?  Or, preferably, 5-of-6 or somesuch?  

They're playing well right now, so good on them.  Then again, the Mainframe would be a lot more shrill about a 3-game deficit if there were six or seven games left - or if it were the Yankee$ we were chasing.  Three games back, 17 left, chasing a weak team, that's not too tragic.  (It's not that Dr. D couldn't write Eeyore shtick if he wanted to; baseball is for fun, so he tends to select those real parts of it that he enjoys.  Lucky you.)

Let's see, how many times has this 2017 Twins team lost 3-4 in a row ... , 

  • x4 from April 16-20
  • x3 from May 14-18
  • x4 from May 28-31
  • x4 from June 16-18
  • x3 from June 29 - July 1
  • x3 from July 8-14
  • x4 from July 23-26
  • x3 from July 29 - Aug 1
  • x3 from Sept 3-5

So, nine times this year but only once the last month-and-a-half.  Oookkaaayyyy!  They're due!

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Korner: Sports Is Life

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It is one thing to say, "a wise man knows his limitations."  Recently, MrJonez and I shared a few quotes to this effect on Twitter:

"It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"The wise know too well their weakness to assume infallibility; and he who knows most knows best how little he knows." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing." ~ Socrates

My assumption is that Socrates, Gandhi and Jefferson >>> Dr. D and Mr Jonez; I don't know how you feel about the matter.  :- )

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Ms 8, Rangers 1

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ROYALS, RANGERS, RAYS RIPPED

One of two things will occur now:  (1) the Twinkies will hit a rough spot, in which case the M's are right there.  or (2) the Twinkies will play well and be in the playoffs.  The beane count:

  • Minny +7
  • LAA +3
  • Sea = and finish with a series vs LAA
  • KC -1
  • Tex -1
  • Balmer -2
  • Tampa -3

Counting our blessings here, would be that the M's don't have to maneuver the car through a pack around the turn.  We made it back to Felix and Zeus, chasing one non-Minny team (against whom we finish up).

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MIKE LEAKE

Going to write a post about him later Thursday.  The Mainframe is "meh" with him as a #3 starter, but if you can get a solid .500 man going as your #4 guy then that is of course a plus for any team.  Leake does +3 things on the mound that Christian Bergman cannot, that Chase De Jong cannot, that Yovanni Gallardo cannot, for that matter.  On the other hand there is -1 thing that Mike Leake does WORSE than a good AAA pitcher.  Can you guess the +3 and -1?  Get all four right and we'll fix the ACTIVE THREADS button for you.  Oh, wait!  Somebody already got all 4!

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Wild Card: M's -1.5 behind Angels, -3.5 to Twins

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ASTROS 1, PESKY RODENT ANGELS 0

Brandon Phillips led off the ballgame with a sharp line-drive double off Justin Verlander's 95-MPH center cut, 1-1 fastball.  From there to the closer in the 9th, Verlander deliciously NO-HIT the Angels.  How sweet it is, and the Astros' rotation against us this weekend is now Charlie Morton, Dallas Keuchel, TBA.  

Lance McCullers was just scratched from a start with arm "fatigue" and if that hinders him in the playoffs, what a blow to Houston.

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M's 10 ...

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BEN GAMER

There was a heartening discussion on the telecast today.  We had noticed that the Mariners do not take Ben Gamel out of the lineup whatever his results.  Blowers relayed the Mariners' view that Gamel will definitely hit well in the big leagues, and "there isn't any question about that."

He relayed his and the M's (reasonable) view that his slow month-or-six-weeks was due to several things, bad BABIP luck being one of them.  But also, Gamel enjoys fastballs (especially HIGH fastballs, unusual for a lefty, we might add) and the league had softened up on him.  Gamel has recently adjusted back by simply adjusting his vision to a farther-forward point in the tunnel.  The adjustments go on.

Blowers also decisively opined that Gamel will hit 20 homers, which, to me that would be a dubious claim ... except for the fact that he's visibly gone Kyle Seager Yank Mode the last week or so.  It's not impossible.  He and Sims finished by opining that you'll see 15-20 stolen bases.

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... Rangers 3

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To my eye, Marco Gonzales has been a classic "Changeup Lefty" who has been doing battle without his good changeup.  That is a hopeful take on life for him, because if he ever gets back his St. Louis changeup he's got miles of upside.  From where he's at now.

Again Tuesday, he threw a Duncan Yo-Yo box full of "changeups," 23 of them against only 25 fastballs and 13 fastballs.  That's the right idea for him in the 10-year scan, a Japanese pitch mix.  But the changeup still has little velocity separation from his fastball - about 7 MPH, the equivalent of only about 4 feet worth of parachute.  The batter can just drag his bat a little and cover that.  

Even worse, he consistently leaves it high.  As much as we've been admiring Andrew Albers' gorgeous strike zone plots, this one is Yoo-Glee:

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K-Swag

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WILD CARD 2

Last night was what, Erasmo Ramirez' 6th straight quality start since adding** his "keep 'em honest" cut fastball?  I can safely say it's the best I ever saw him throw the ball.  That's exciting, don't you think?  For this year and next.

Shame that the M's botched a big chance.  In the first six innings they must have had 8 hard fly balls that found outfielders' mitts.  Baseball has a lot of luck in it.  Anyhow, with 19 games left:

(Min +5)

LAA +3

KC =

Tex =

Sea -1

Bal -1

Tampa -2

I was amused and delighted to see that Felix goes first this week, then Paxton, which puts Paxton in line for the Yankee$ play-in game if we got there.  Heh, heh, HEH!!  ... Iwakuma lurks also.  Two (three) games back with 19 to play is not dead.  But the M's would need a couple other teams to lose (very, very feasible) or for themselves to get a win streak (less feasible).

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M's Not Dead Yet, by a verdict of 8-1

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If you were to assume a Twins fade at all -- even assume they went 8-10 or something -- then in your assumption world, the Mariners would be only -1 game out of the WC2 with 20 games to play.  True, that stipulates that the Mariners don't control their own fate.  But it's hardly a stretch of the imagination for Minnesota to have a few issues.  They've got the Indians and Yankees left .. he says hopefully.

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