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Spoints for the "Keep On Truckin'" picture.
CB radios. Sunglasses. "Smokey." Kris Kristofferson in "Convoy."
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HOORAY FOR THE TIMES! paid for by Newspaper Lives Matter
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M's add Efren Navarro. Does this mean that the 'loser' of the Dae-Ho Lee / Jesus Montero staredown ain't gonna be around long?
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Hey! The Times had coverage of a baseball game! I din't know they played today! REALLY hooray for the Times, boys. And 6-0 M's in the sixth. Chris Iannetta hit the first of what will be many, many homers. Franklin Gutierrez hit another in what has been a long, long string of homers. James Paxton tossed 2 scoreless but his K-B ratio was only 19-15. Must be the umps can't call 3-foot curve balls the first day of spring training, ya?
Joel Peralta and Ryan Cook with perfect innings, but we've already been strictly warned that in their cases, this is irrelevant.
Situational hitting award! Iannetta also knocked in Adam Lind from 3B on a fly ball to center field.
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The Times has a poll: When Do You Start Seriously Paying Attention to the Mariners? The earliest option you have is "Cactus League Opener," with the other two options being "Final week in Peoria" and "Opening Day." And Dr. D finally realizes it's time to take a long, hard look at himself in the mirror.
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Nelson Cruz already has a sore leg. If your glass is half empty, you might notice that the season has a good ways to go yet. If your glass is half full, you might notice that Servais is now richly entitled to DH the dude. A lot. And wherever your glass resides, you're glad that it's not the back leg that hurts.
Sez he also "battled quad issues" late last season, when his fly-ball distance was 1/3 of 1000 feet per swing. Rub some dirt in it, Nellie.
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Taijuan Walker overcame his 2015 bad start with visualization. There are precious few things that can't be done better, if we rehearse them mentally before we start. Granted, SSI shtick is a walking sales pitch for ad hoc. But if all you've got is a 96 MPH downhill fastball, you're going to want to deploy it with care. All we need now, is to rehearse that splitfinger dropping down below the knees.
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Nate Karns (1) feels comfortable with the M's, or (2) is a better athlete than people expected from a curveballer, or (3) is still trying to break into the big leagues after 150 K in 150 IP, or (4) carries himself like he has a college degree, or (5) oh well whatever nevermind. Dr. D remains disoriented on this one. He remembers all the years the Mariners dreamed about a trade like this one, and now it doesn't really matter.
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Wow. M's now up 7-0 on a Stefen Romero jack. Embarrassment of riches, we tells ya.
Enjoy,
Dr D
Comments
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Interesting things from today:
1. O'Malley (3B), Taylor (2B) and Sardinas (SS) all got multiple AB's off the bench: Let the Utility Guy Battle Royale begin!
2. For some reason, with eveerybody else in his template type gong down the road, Romero is still a Mariner. And today he jacks one. Will bet you he dons a 1B glove at some point this spring. Just as look see, you understand. But he would be a versatile bench guy that way.
3. If Romero does that, and does so early, you can lay down the Over/Under date on a Montero swap out.
4. That was a 4-hit shutout, in case you missed it. Imagine the new Paradigm: A heat throwing lefty should throw up in the zone!! What will they think of next.
5. (Not from today) C'mon Pizzano! Whenever you get your chance, get some knocks for me! My reputation depends on it! :)
6. And for Daddy: "Ah, breaker, Pig Pen. This here's the Rubber Duck!"