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An NBA player once said he watched Larry Bird miss two foul shots to blow a game.  "It was like watching the sun rise in the East," he chortled later.  A's fans had much the same experience, watching the Orcs score 5 runs off James Paxton.  It was a perfect storm of:

(1) a slimy game plan by the orcs

(2) a day off from foshball command by K-Pax

(3) several other factors converging on the game at the same time

During the game, we thought the A's were "tipping their caps" on anything below 95, and taking "pepper" half-swings on any fastball down.  Almost right; the data the next day show that the Orcs were "tipping their caps" on anything below 95, and taking "pepper" half swings on anything exactly at the waist.  Here is the damning evidence.  

No hits off the curve, "no hits" meaning none.  No hits off the foshball, "no hits" meaning zero.  All hits but one were stinging little pepper-shots off centered fastballs those nassssssty Orcses were cheating on.

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Nathan axs,

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Image: 

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If you can't get enough shtick after a Mariners victory, and who can?!, check out last night's Shout Box and Dr. D's Twitter account.  Better stuff there than here, since Wishhiker, KingCorran and Rick were editing me for accuracy.  Oh, and commenting the game themselves, but who cares about that.

The M's are now +59 runs -58, which is not bad for the worst 2 weeks of your season.  That's better than the Rangers usually do when they win the division.  But you would know that if you were on Twitter with us.

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MIRANDA RIGHTS (to the #5 SP role) DEPT.

We tweeted during the 1st that Miranda was looking like he had a lockdown going.  He radiated ownership of the game from the first hitter, through Stanton and Bat571's boy Ozuna, and navigated the 6th inning well.  Diderot, also in the mezzanine, seconded our emotion on Miranda's vibe.

Bill James has emphasized that --- > when it comes to fringe starters, you are better off "seeing if you can build on" the 30-start guy than just swapping every time somebody makes 4 starts without impressing.  That's true even if the ERA's are 4.95 for the 40-start guy and the 4-start guy.  Dr. D believes this is 100% accurate as a generalization, and it is also the right way to live life.  Not to make a value judgment or anything.  Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.  

Have the Mariners proven (to their own satisfaction) that Ariel Miranda cannot pitch?  Of course not.  So on that basis he is at the head of the Overton/Povse/etc line.

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Here is the official NL-AL game preview.  Remarkably, it is completely info-free.  It does have a mugshot of the NL perp.  The M's do well in interleague games, presumably because the M's are not facing other AL players who have their chess openings booked and refuted.

One guy has faced one of the pitchers; "our" Carlos Ruiz has been mulched by this Tom Koehler guy.  So we're guessing Ruiz won't be playing back-to-backs from the bench.  Hey!  By the way do we have any Denizen (besides TJM who since the election sees Dr D as Inspector Dreyfus did Clouseau, and appropriately enough) who knows the National League.  Like can you tell me something about Koehler.  Like Clouseau, Dr. D takes great pride in never having seen most NL'ers play a single pitch, even on highlights anywhere.

Sabe-ly, we notice that Koehler's CTL has under 7 strikeouts and almost 4 walks, this with a pitcher facing him, so we presume he wouldn't fare well in the American League.  His arsenal is healthy:

• Slightly plus fastball velo
• 2.5 usable breaking pitches:  Slider, a curve (also 20% plus in previous years) and mixes a change
• Therefore his command must be iffy, or he'd be very good