Austin

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Angels 3, M's 2

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Sunday afternoon, some left hand sidearm b'wana was throwing bullets for the Angels.  Lloyd, properly, set the Mariners up to punish said lefty by deploying Franklin Gutierrez and Nelson Cruz to counter.  

In some inning or other -- if you tell me you care, you can have the keys to the taco stand -- Guti and Cruz launched a pair of consecutive heat-seeking missiles, sandwiched around a $25M walk.  Felix was ahead in the game 1-0, AND runners at the corners, 1 out.  Croissant and marmalade.  mmmmmmm Felix and a lead.  No way to botch this one.

But something was going to happen, something wonderful:  Kyle Seager smoked a left-vs-left sac fly to right field ... and Robinson Cano, forgetting approximately 20 years' worth and 9,000 sac flies worth of Yankee Baseball, played the fly ball halfway up the line.  You know, just in case ... 

... um ...

Usually Dr. D would tell you kiddies to take out a #2 pencil.  Fill in the blank as to why Robinson Cano would play a 1-out SF by taking a "secondary lead" halfway up the 3B line.  However, as blanks go, Dr. D is drawing a lot of them lately.  He does know that if Lloyd McClendon doesn't get his players focused, somebody is going to get brained by a random infield toss into the dugout.  We doubt that Rick Griffin possesses Dr. Grumpy's field surgical skills.

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Random thought:  has a person like Edgar Martinez ever been deployed as hitting coach, 10 days before he took over as manager?  Just hypothetically, would you secure Joe DiMaggio's consent to be hitting coach by saying something like, "Knowing what we know now, we're considering a 3-mile-deep powerflush of the guy ahead of you in line?  It isn't like he's ever won anyway."  It wouldn't have to be THAT specific verbiage.  Just something to that EFFECT.

:: shrug ::

Would give you a Buffalo nickel to name some guy who was brought in as bench coach, hitting coach, or Dubble Bubble restocker shortly before being installed as manager.  Didn't George Steinbrenner and Charles O. Finley used to do stuff like that?

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Shout - DaddyO - 6/26/15 9:15pm

<p>Mariners 7th. How do you strategize your inning to get a runner on third with less than two out, presumably to be able to score a run with an out if necessary. Then with the bases loaded, #Austin #Jackson takes two pitches for strikes, one an inch off the outside corner and the other in the heart of the plate. Not even a swing, and he's down 0-2. I don't get it. If he's going to do that, why not have Zunino swing away instead of bunt. This team simply does NOT play sound fundamental baseball. It's a joke.</p>

Dr. D's Lab Notes (M's 2, Astros 6)

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Success in the Sunday experiment would have cut deficit to -6.5 games behind the Astros.  Instead we are now -8.5.  On the plus side, we could have been down -12.5.  The 1995 miracle run that saved baseball was staged from -13.0 games back and was an electrical miracle unlikely to recur.  

Two thousand mineral compounds have been attempted in finding the filament to light up the corpse.  As Dr. Edison said, that is 2,000 filaments that we now know to be useless.  Of course, this remark came from a mind so insane that it would publicly execute giant elephants via 6,600 volts of alternating current.  Cannot predict whether my own enthusiasm for baseball will withstand similar treatment.

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Record is 8-7 over last two weeks plus.  Only feels like 2-13.  Progress is documented but painful.  Unfortunately, I have nothing better to do with my life than to continue the experiments.

Take heart from Dr. Cobain's first great experiment.  "About a Girl," he said.  However, females are far less confusing branch of science than reanimation of local ballclub.  Dr. Cobain's frustration and elation over his baseball/female relationships provide comfort in darkest hours.

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MadBum 2 ...

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MadBum and Felix came into the game #5 and #6 in the BJOL Starting Pitcher Rankings.  The shape of their performance triangles was neither tall/thin nor short/squat, but that of a D&D 20-sided die.

Bumgarner's performance on the evening?  Heavens to murder-troyd.  

The first time through the lineup it was 9 up, 9 down, 6 by strikeout.  This might have been done in the Clemens 20K game?  I dunno.  I do know that in boxing, you stop the fight.  In football, you start running the ball, eating clock, and playing for a 27-7 score.  In English soccer, you "park the bus."  Ten men into the goal box and hope for a 2-0 loss.

It harked ye back unto the Michael Spinks - Mike Tyson fight.  You looked over at the undefeated light*-heavy in the left corner, and you looked over at the whatever it was in the right, and you thought "please don't let them find the bell, please."  Spinks had a perfect record.  They rang the bell and Tyson went over and threw a Bas Ruttan Liver Shot Left Hook.  Spinks went through the ropes, convulsing.  He never (yup) fought professionally again.  

The pernt is, as Bumgarner took his first windup, you had that same little slow roll in your stomach, please don't let this game take place, please.  There are a few sports contests that take on this pre-game air of inevitability.  Probably the Hawks-Manning Super Bowl.  Usually any Arsenal Gunners games, which are normally "won in the tunnel."  Certainly any public debate that a random beat writer wished to chance against SSI.

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M's 5 …..

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No sooner do the Mariners utterly humiliate themselves against the Lastros --- > than they roll out in San Francisco and eggsecute the world champs gangland-style.  When they tell you to kneel down and put your hands behind your head, Buster, go ahead and grab a letter opener and slash your way out in style.  No, seriously.  Dr. D will cooperate with criminals right up until they tell him to get down on the ground; then he's going all SSI-nutso on their sorry keisters.

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Still Life

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"Still Life" art has been around since, oh, about the time the alligators were chasing the Egyptians back into the pyramids.  In fact if you want interesting Still Life, that's about how far back you have to go.

Personally I never cared for "Still Life" art much, as it is based on the artist's own arrangement of life components as he wishes them to be.  I especially don't care for it as it pertains to postgame blogs, wherein the article pretty much consists of a simple description of what we all just watched.

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Shout - G_Money - 6/9/15 12:08pm

Don't get me wrong, the kid has an absolute cannon. If he could hit at all, he'd be a decent prospect. I don't think he can, but hopefully he can prove me wrong. If not, convert him to the mound. I don't like drafting non-hitting Juniors I'll have to pay actual #Money to in order to attempt a mound conversion to get any value out of em. If we'd fixed #Austin Wilson's issues with the Stanford Swing I'd be more likely to believe we could get a little something out of Drew. We haven't, and Drew is nowhere near the talent.

Shout - G_Money - 6/9/15 10:40am

Braden Bishop is basically a duplicate pick to #Austin Cousino from last year. Also a college CF, also a guy who should hit some but doesn't, and hasn't, but can defend. Bishop I mentioned Skye Bolt earlier and not really in jest - seriously we love CF picks who can't hit. Bishop's a junior so we can't even low-ball him, really, to save #Money for someone else. Dude can defend, though, and he can run. Seems a few rounds too high to me, but like I said - we are fond of these guys. Sometimes they turn into Chris Taylor. Sometimes they turn into Jack Reinheimer.

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