Whale

Brandon Maurer's Grade A performance Sunday

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Brandon Maurer returned to the Mariners on June 25th, pitching out of the bullpen.  At this link you can review, Dr. D's review, of the Red Sox' hapless review, of Maurer's A+ outing.  Complete with David Ortiz humiliation and all the trimmings.

On June 29th, he pitched again out of the bullpen, this time grading "A" on the SSI meter.  Fortunately for the Indians, MLB dugouts provide "hardened" shelters against such radioactivity.

On July 1st, Maurer butchered the Astros in a 13-2 blowout, but we didn't catch that game.  In lieu of a Detect-O-Scan, we'll provide the stats for his 4 bullpen outings to date:

Dates IP H R BB K HR AVG OBP SLG OPS PIT STR SwS% LD%
This reincarnation 7.0 3 0 2 9 0 .125 .192 .125 .317 93 66 16% 13%

As compared to Hochevar last year, the summary is "better."

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On July 6th, Maurer had his 4th outing.  Your man, my man, the jen-man is here with your recap.  As y'know, we live to serve.

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4th Outing:  Game Plan

Chris Young = 16x swings + misses?

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Solly Chollie, didn't getta see much of the game.  Gotta get a game stub up, with the day off.

According to some wacky-and-wunnerful site called "Brooksbaseball.net," Young whuffed the Astros 16 times in 99 pitches.  This is in market contradistinction to his 2014 average of 6.1 whuffs per 100 pitches and his lifelong bad habit of 9.2 per 100.

According to the same site, Young's slider count was also way, way up -- 41 sliders and curves amongst 99 pitches, compared to the usual 20-22 that are usually thrown outside the zone in "show me" fashion.  According to GameDay, there was nothing "show me" about his sliders -- he threw them for called strikes, both up and down in the zone, right down the heart.

The result was that Young fanned 8 men, walking only 1, and generally sported a Hisashi Iwakuma box score.

Robinson Cano's Power

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Q.  What's this discussion about Cano's isolated power?

A.  Logan a/k/a Thirteen linked us to Jeff Sullivan's article.  Logan graciously called this "a good starting point for a discussion," which made Dr. D smile even before he clicked over.

Nothing Sully, or Logan, for that matter, writes is a "starting point" for a discussion.  Their articles either start and finish a discussion, or maybe leave room for a couple of chapters at the end of the book.

Here's that link again.  Also, if you click the Shout Box index for June 26 you'll find a stimulating debate that does kick the can down the road.

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Q.  What does the Fox article say?  I've only got 5 minutes to read this article and that one.

A.  That Cano never pulls the ball in the air, "with authority," any more.  And that as long as this trend continues, Cano's "isolated power" (SLG minus AVG, essentially extra-base hits) will be zapped.

Among other things.  (Any resemblance of the cartoon to Jeffy's article is purely coincidental.  He isn't bashing.)

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Q.  Does SSI grok that this is (1) true, (2) accurate, (3) true but not accurate, or (4) true and accurate?

Maine day trips

Summer is one of the best times to get out and experience the best that Maine has to offer. Take the day with your sweetie and enjoy our beautiful state! Here are our top three picks for day trips in Maine.

Visit the southern coast

Maine’s coastline is rocky, powerful, and beautiful. Take a day trip to check out the scenery, visit some of our state’s iconic lighthouses, and shop in the charming towns along the way.

Whale watching

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Make Your Next Date a Water-themed Adventure

Seattle usually gets enough water from the sky to make a water-themed date feel a little redundant. Even so, it can still be fun to grab your special someone and find someplace fun and wet to hang out. Head over to Federal Way to check out WildWavesTheme Park. You can spend all day riding the water slides or try out one of their many other attractions. Or get out of the city and onto the water by signing up for any number of fun cruises.

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#2

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#2 Hisashi Iwakuma

The M's record is 25-18 in his starts, 2013-14.  That's a 94-win pace:  Take one terrific starting pitcher, mix in one terrible offense, and what do you get?  94 wins, 68 losses.

He's had less life on the ball in 2014, which is understandable.  Nobody mistook Hisashi Iwakuma for a guy who was going to knock people over for 5 years in a row.  His strikeouts are not in the 6+ range, so if you are into Max Scherzer, Yu Darvish and Corey Kluber, then Iwakuma's approach is not going to Wow you.

Cole Gillespie, Level 201 Scan

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Q.  Why the 201 Scan?

A.  Because he looks so good in the batter's box.  Major league good.

Not Justin Smoak good, like ".320 standing still" type of good.  Cole Gillespie looks good after the pitcher lets the ball go, looks good as he reads the pitch, looks good as he delivers the barrel to the top half of the ball.

He's got a diamond-hard strike zone, and if you look it up you'll see his track record correlates.  His OBP's in the PCL were .390-.405 for 4 years running ...

M's +2 in Wild Card Race!

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Q.  They're on pace for 86 wins, 76 losses.  Would that ever get the second Wild Card?

A.  In the AL, the #6 teams over the past ten years -- the teams the #5 squads have had to exceed -- have been as follows:

Season W's needed to be #5 WC2 Club W's by #6 Remark
2013 91 TB/Tex 91 Playoff #5 vs #6
2012 91 Bal 90, Tampa  
2011 87 Bos 86, LAA  
2010 89 Bos 88, ChiSox 95+ L's  Bal, Sea, KC
2009 87 Tex 86, Det 97-98 L's by 3x clubs
2008 89 NYY 88, Min  
2007 88 Sea/Det   M's made new playoffs
2006 88 LAA 87, Tor  
2005 89 Cle 88, Oak  

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The last two years were the only times, the last decade, when it required 90 wins to make the new playoffs.

Bob Dutton (and Chris Young)

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Didn't know, until just now read it, that Dutton had been the president of the BBWAA.  As professional accomplishments go, that's a cool one.

I like him for several of the same reasons I liked Baker:

  • Excellent feel for the game at ground level
  • Tends to write about the actual pivot points of the season
  • Not self-consciously cynical; doesn't try to establish "journalistic objectivity" through apathy
  • etc

For example, here is his article, "Young adds to Safeco Legend."  It's not dripping with irony.  Something good happens, he's glad to let you know.  ... anyway, Baker is irreplaceable, but it's nice to have Dutton's column available.

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As to Chris Young:  have you ever seen those TV shows, "Epic Yachts," "Epic Beach Houses," "Epic Pools" and the like?  They had an Epic Pools thing... some Texas guy created a water park in his back yard.  They said, Next Up, this major league pitcher created a paradise on a hillside.

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