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A quick look behind the Mainframe's compute grok on this kind of fetch. As y'know, we live to serve.
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00100 PITCHING TEMPLATE IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
00200 PROGRAM-ID. TRIANGULATE MARINER STARTING PITCHER PRESENT EFFECTIVENESS - FUTURE CEILING.
00300 INPUT key characteristics Miranda 6.4.17.
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Q. Is Dr. D a fan of sinker-slider pitchers?
A. Quite the reverse.
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Q. Then why eyes slideways on Sam Gaviglio?
A. Because within this template he's got some special things going.
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Jeff G. (RockiesJeff) sends along the following update on his son Jeremy, who he coached in high school and who is now in the Royals' system:
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It is a bittersweet fact of Life, Love and Hope that --- > you don't always get what you deserve. Sometimes you train perfectly all your life to go into outer space and then somebody forgets to check the O-ring on your space shuttle. Other times you're a big-mouthed blogger with nothing much to say who winds up on the letterhead of the best sports site in the Northwest. The race isn't always to the swift, although that's the way to bet.
Christian Bergman pitched kinda bad yesterday, the first three innings, and got a shutout for it. He perked up and threw kinda good the next three innings, and gave up some runs. Overall did he move the needle on his MLB career? No. ... the SSI mainframe gives this one a mulligan.
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TWO SELECTED REPRESENTATIVE PITCH SEQUENCES
The first three innings, Bergman aimed carefully at Zunino's mitt and --- > missed badly over the plate, time after time. Here is a relatively good sequence for him, the first one of the game:
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If you missed the first inning, it was like a 1966 Paul Hornung power sweep behind Jerry Kramer and Fuzzy Thurston. In other words, the X's and O's on the chalkboard came to life on the green grass. In real sports that almost never happens; it's worth celebrating when it does.
Jake Odorizzi is a very fine pitcher, ranked #31 in both leagues combined by BJOL and therefore about #15 or so in the American League. He came into the game on a roll. He threw the ball very well in the first inning. For all that, the Seattle Mariners defended the strike zone like famine wolves on the Alaskan tundra and seven batters in, Odorizzi had 40+ pitches on the odomoter and a look of profound disgust on his face.
Pitch #44, or something, he crossed Taylor Motter up with a 77 MPH curve ball outside. Motter waited, waited, waited .. and then SWWWATTTTTED the ball into the left field coin pouch bullpen for a grand slam. Boom, all at once Motter looked 'unstoppable' again. Blowers pointed out that this occurred AFTER Motter was guaranteed the next ten starts ...
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THREE (LIFETIME MEMORIES) ON A MATCH, DEPT.
The Indians' magic number for eliminating the Mariners is, well, 105. No way Dr. D goes into fire sale mode until the enemy has the five inch death punch down to within about 90 games. Y'feel me? Tonight it's a hot Jake Odorizzi against the pick of the Mariner Scrub litter, Christian Bergman. (Their pick of the litter, not mine.) PREVIEW
Scott Servais had a summary which is of course inferior to one you'd find at SSI, but still and all, it's from Bergman's acting manager so it's worth throwing in alongside the road:
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"The key for Bergman is throwing strikes, getting ahead in the count and using his cutter off the plate and getting guys to chase it," said Mariners manager Scott Servais. "It's interesting, when you watch Bergman pitch from the side, it's often hard to distinguish what his pitches are because the movement is more side-to-side, getting off the barrel. He's in the lanes, in the corners, on the edges. Versus when you watch [James] Paxton, you see the depth of the breaking pitches."
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"James Paxton is a top of the rotation stud." - Scott Servais
"What, you mean before he wins twenty?" - Wiseacre Dr. D
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Baseball is an interesting game. By "interesting" we mean that it arouses our curiosity, that it catches and holds our attention, that it gives the cement mixers of our minds enjoyable themes to churn. For me the most ponder-able theme last night was --- > how do you throw 36 strikes vs. 5 balls in three innings, and waltz off scot-free? I Am Amused By the Simplicity of This Game.
Paxton wound up against Rox leadoff Charlie Blackmon (.326/.363/.621, and 46 RBI hitting behind the pitcher!) and stung a middle-middle 96 lightning bolt for 0-1. Blackmon, a lefty, blinked. Not wanting to repeat himself, Paxton stung a middle-middle 97 lightning bolt for 0-2. The Rockies bench turned green about the gills. Yes, they did. It's a contempt factor.
On 0-2, Zeus threw an unpossible 98 fastball way up and in, barely a strike. Charlie Blackmon unpossibly fouled this pitch off. Which gave us all 20 seconds to contemplate the freakishness of the athletes we watch every night. I mean that foul ball, on 0-2 LH vs LH, was more impressive to me than 90% of home runs.
Again on 0-2, Zeus threw a fosh low in. Blackmon inside-outed it for a harmless fly to left.
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Wednesday M's 5, ROCKIES 0
James Paxton mortifies an elite NL lineup. Also, Steve Cishek throws quite well. With a closer-quality performance in the 6th and 7th, for just a moment Dr. D got a flash of an NL All-Star pitching staff. For a moment, you understand.
Kyle Seager, Danny Valencia and Mike Zunino continued to light the enemy up, with two hits each. The M's went up 3-0 early and celebrated their victory for two hours.
Stanley.,.Cup.,.Finals.,.|.,.Live.,.Stream.,.Game.,.2017
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ARIEL MIRANDA: UNCLEAR
Only saw about 20 of his pitches. Between that and Brooks we could grok that:
1 His "splitter" wasn't cutting or diving much, which, no huge tragedy. But since the change tunnels exactly with the heater, more cut is nice.
2 He wasn't owning the inside third or failing at it. "Unclear" goes the chessplayer's evaluation - not so much a copout :- ) as a statement that "you shouldn't opine with so little data." Or that's the idea-r.
