=== The Lowe Down ===

Does somebody wanna explain to me how this guy struck out 3 men in 12 preseason innings?  I mean, HOW?

First two pitches from Mark, we couldn't believe our eyes.  Sat up in our chairs, and then it got more filthy from there.

Lowe, when he came up, rained bloody death on the league with a whippy-armed 97 mph, backed by a -12 mph slider that came out of his hand looking just like a fastball.  One swing and miss after another.

Lowe, when he came into the game Wednesday, rained bloody death on the Twins with a whippy-armed 96 mph, backed by a -12 mph slider that came out of his hand looking just like a fastball.  One swing and miss after another.

Here are the pitches from Wednesday:

JASON KUBEL, LH

Swing and miss - SL

Flyout - FB 95

JOE CREDE, RH

Swing and miss SL

Swing and miss SL

Ball - FB 96

Swing and miss SL

CARLOS GOMEZ, RH

Swing and miss - SL

Ball - FB 96

Swing and miss - SL

Swing and miss - SL

That, my friends, is the Mark Lowe that first came into the league.  He had a foot more back then, and a third pitch, but those are quibbles.  You won't see a line of swings-and-misses like that this side of Stephen Strasburg and Tim Lincecum.  Ridiculous!

So the Twins swung 8 times, and missed 7.  I'm not much up on this sabermetrics stuff.  When you get 87% misses on pitches swung at, is that good?

Dr. D jumped the gun in writing off Lowe; the Mariners obviously felt that this was coming, as G-Moneyball always did, and what if they're right :- )

Two more outings like that, and the Mariners made one of the biggest offseason aquisitions of the winter.  Lowe's outing was the best news of the series.

.

=== Chris Jakubauskas ===

Anybody NOT converted?

We don't say he's a star.  We say he's looking like he has a VERY intriguing chance to contribute to a winner.  On those terms, I hope nobody watched his performance and came away skeptical.

Somebody buy that Marc W guy a sody pop.  :- ) He called this one about four miles early.

.

=== Carlos Silva ===

Have watched this game since well BEFORE the 1977 Mariners.  They say alllllllll the same things about Senor Silva that they used to say about guys like Gary Wheelock and Frank McCormack.   The dialogue surrounding him (he needs to do this, he needs to do that, he's lost weight, just needs to stay ahead in the count, yada yada yada) is taken, verbatim, from the days of John Montague and Mike Parrott.  Meanwhile, the batter fight to get to the plate against him...

We talk about eating Washburn's contract?  Silva's is the tough one.

For all of the hand-wringing, the Mariners have never had a true Darren Dreifort, Mike Hampton, Chan Ho Park albatross contract -- several years left of big money on a contract that was genuinely a writeoff -- but this one comes closest.

Sexson was a whipping boy who had an unlucky BABIP season in year 3 and then a bad year in year 4 before he was gone.  Washburn is making league-average money when he is, at best, an average SP.  But those aren't Darren Dreifort situations.

This one isn't, quite, either -- $12M isn't huge money these days -- but Silva represents probably the first real contract catastrophe for the M's.

Personally thought Silva might show a BIT more than he did.  That was 1978.  Sigh.

.

=== Brandon Morrow ===

Walked the first guy on 4 ...

Did you think I was exaggerating the scare?  Rob Johnson jumped up out of his crouch after 2-0 to the leadoff hitter.  Adrian Beltre came over too, and had a long conversation with Morrow.  No, the M's were every blinkin' inch as scared as Dr. D was.

..................

Threw 4 pitches to Morneau next up, 3 of which were balls way outside the zone -- but! .... Morneau swung at two of those and bailed out (possibly) Morrow's whole season.

But, granted, when you throw 98 you do get swings outside the zone.  Okay.  But that's very stupid on Morneau's part, though, and it's selfish.   He wanted the glory shot into the upper deck, when he could EASILY have walked, 2 on, 0 out, and Morrow might have lost his nerve right then and there.

.....................

After Morneau's greedy fishing for balls, Morrow relaxed a bit.  Once he settled down, Morrow was hitting 98 -- on the black.  You're talking PAST Rivera and Papelbon territory THERE.  There isn't any such thing as hitting a 98 fastball that is located.  Literally.

Morrow does have a (2%) chance to be, like, the best closer who ever lived.  He has the mechanics and the arm to throw 98 located, something that has never really been done before, to my knowledge.  You would strike out 15 per game in relief, if you did that.

As Taro pointed out, our of the pen, Morrow was 47/15 last year for control ratio.  So maybe he'll settle in, and if he does, he'll help establish a Cinderella atmosphere.

Papelbon shoulda started, but he was SOOOOOO good as a closer, that it was okay he didn't.  Again, let's not speak in absolutes.  If Felix became Dennis Eckersley, well, okay, we'll talk.

Maybe Morrow will repeat the Papelbon Experience, we sigh wistfully.  Can he riverdance?

Cheers,

Dr D