1
I' don't have the stat for last 30 days,but after the All Star break Russell is hitting 195 with 11 walks to 48 strikeout, so I guess he can make the list too.
FIZZLERS: Whuff-O-Matic M's Sink without a Bubble
=== Fizzlin' - M's Concentration ===
M's missed a couple of easy runs on Saturday -- notably Branyan fanning with a guy on 3B, only 1 out -- and then it went into extras and a loss. Simple execution.
As well, Saunders has a ball go off his mitt -- while he was planted flatfooted, now -- and later in the inning gets in Gutierrez' way for a throw home. 3-3.
..............
Today's ballgame, Langerhans misjudges a slicing fly in the 1st, playing it into a triple and hurting himself ... and in the early innings, the Mariners again fail to plate two (2) manufactured runs.
Griffey's deep bomb makes it 1-1, whereas it should have been 3-0 Mariners with Felix on the mound.
That's the difference between a team playing well, and a team that has lost concentration. First time I've seen it all year.
The Mariners really are down 22 points in the middle of the 4th quarter now, and suddenly they are playing like it.
Nothing against them. They've got their tongues hanging out and they're sucking air on the 2009 season. ::standing O::
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=== My Kingdom for a Professional At-Bat ===
Go to fangraphs > teams > last 30 days > advanced > sort by BB/K. Don't do so on an empty stomach.
27 of 30 teams have EYEs of 0.40 or better (with .48 or .50 being average).
#28 TEX: 0.38. Terrible.
#29 CIN: 0.36. The Reds have a AAA offense right now, quite literally -- they are -1.6 runs per game worse than average, the last 30 days. Incredible!
#30 SEA: 0.31.
..................
Enemy pitchers are getting >3 strikeouts per walk, day in and day out, against our heroes. Fausto Carmona came into the ballgame with 53 walks vs 46 strikeouts --- yes, more BB than K on the year -- and even he fanned 8 Mariners vs. 1 walk.
It is horrific out there, boys.
....................
Funny thing: it's not costing the M's hugely in the runs column. A lucky BABIP has kept them afloat for the last 30 days, so that they're only -0.5 runs per game below average offensively.
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=== Most Wanted List ===
The worst culprits in EYE, the last 30 days, as the M's heads have sunk below the icy water like Leonardo's in the Titanic:
Beltre - 0/6 walks vs strikeouts (that's no walks in one month)
Lopez - 2/12
Saunders - 4/23
Langerhans - 2/11
Joh - 2/9
Gutierrez - 9/30
...............
In fact, Franklin has 6 walks against 31 strikeouts in his last 25 games. That's a pace for 160 whiffs vs. only 32 walks over a full season.
After his red-hot June (IIRC) we were giddy and Dave Sims took to calling Franklin "by far the best Mariner." Since then, he's been a below-average hitter and the EYE has been really pretty scary.
On the season, his OPS+ is 106, but that's based on lucky results in BABIP (.342, vs .323 life) and in HR/F (14%, vs 10% life).
.................
Am not trying to get down on the lad. A Shandler Scope on Age 26, that finds bad EYE regression in the 2H, is going to be harsh. I'm trying to softpedal it.
Overall, Franklin's "Age 26 With Experience" year has him, right now, looking like he may find his level as an average-solid hitter.
Cheers,
Dr D
Comments
2
Hard to define, but both Gutierrez and Branyan are playing more than they ever had in the past. Wouldn't mind seeing a couple days off down the stretch here for both. I would imagine both guys are hitting a wall at this point, especially given Branyan's back issues, and Gutierrez racing around center fields every day for four and half months.
3
A couple of months now, almost, that he's been whaling away at air since his 320/420/600 start...
We haven't talked much about it, but he's a very difficult call going into his age-34, -35 seasons... of course you want him if he's cheap, but the more the cost goes up, the more you have to ask exactly what you expect in 2011...
4
Start spotting them a little more, resting them against their worst matchups.
5
Cost Branyan the GW HR last night, the high one that went to the warning track.
Not saying it did. But some of these guys are really hurting at this point. Scully used to call a warning track shot "a biscuit short of four bases," or somesuch. Wonder if Branyan's sore back was the biscuit on that one...