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Dr. D Mailin' It In Tonight, But the Mariners Ain't
Just so you have sumpin' to go with your coffee...
That colloquialism reminds me of Leo Durocher's autobiography. (We got a birdwalk in here real quick.) He loved Willie Mays. They'd go on a road trip, on a ... what's the word ... oh yeah, a bus. Willie would pull out one of those old-style coin purses and pass it around the bus, saying "Gonna be a long trip, boys! Put a little sumpin' in for the Kid!"
He'd get it back, there'd be six cents, four ounces of tobacco juice and a horrible mess. "Every little bit helps!," he'd beam.
Everybody likes an irrepressible spirit :- ) think of this postgame thread as a coin purse...
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If the Mariners were the best team in baseball, there'd have been no shame in losing that one. CC vs Felix, titanic struggle, Yank$ came out on top on this one.
They used to have Pedro Martinez' number, the Yankees did. That is because they did not buy in to the mystique. They'd keep it close, and run his pitch count up, and wait their turn, just like the Yankees did today...
A month ago I went up against a really fine wrestler, him 180 lbs., me 225, just out on the grass, you know. I did manage to get a head-arm type hold, put all my weight on him, for like two minutes. He was absolutely calm. I mean like his pulse was 75. He slowly peeled my fingers off, I clamped them again, he peeled them off again... he got the last laugh. He was stalking me.
The Yankee$ do that to Cy Young pitchers. They stalk them, absolutely calm, and then when they get their late rally they have a way of cashing in. Man, they were classic on Tuesday.
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I think it was about the 6th inning, and the M's had out-hit NYY, by like 7-2. And the lead was only 1-0. I'm goin', ahhhhh man. This is what the old timers used to talk about. The Yankees know how to win. The Mariners, two years on, woulda closed that game out. They didn't tonight.
But they are standing in the middle of the ring, going toe-to-toe. They are looking other teams in the eye and challenging them. I've seen a whale of a lot of Mariners teams that would not.
18-21 record or not, this is a ballclub that is fun to watch right now.
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Eric Wedge caught flak for putting Rauuuul in there, in New York. Lefty on lefty!? CC is as good as it gets. ... I mean, if you're so into Returning Castoffs, why isn't this the game that Jesus Montero is in there, right? Like Gordon said.
But the pitch Raul hit out, slap me silly, he looked 32 years old. Wedge made a silly lineup change and ... his man hit the 2-run shot that coulda won it. Give 'im credit.
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Furbush is a little wild right now. This will happen when a guy's underused and rusty. But then why go to him when wild loses the game? I don't get it.
If you're going to underuse Furbush, then hang on until it's lower leverage, and let him go three innings. Not to put out a fire...
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Kendrys Morales has 9 hits and 3 walks in the last week. Michael Morse, for the first time since getting his hand ruined, looked like he had his timing back. Could be that the M's are headed for a hot streak offensively. Now all's we need is a back of the rotation, and it would be time to go to war.
WBC-san to the rescue,
Dr D