Seattle Sports Insider

M's 3 ...

Posted by

8/27/16

LET MY GLOVE OPEN THE DOOR, Dept.

Three nifty plays by Shawn O'Malley -- one good, one great, one heretofore unseen. And the man does not play third base. The good one: a pulled bouncer takes him over into foul territory; O'Mall sets his back foot and fires a 30.06 that hits Adam Lind chest high. Didn't know he had that plus of an arm.

The great one: a hot, low two-hopper to the glove side spins him around -- and the ball hit just in front of him for a short hop. Good play even by Seager's standards.

The heretofore unseen: bases loaded, one out, swinging bunt, can he get the out at 1B? Probably not ... whoop! Especially not since he went home with the ball, shocking everybody in both dugouts and the postgame broadcasters.

After that play occurred? The M's needed four outs to the wire. They were: foul popup, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, Mariners' playoff chances rise by 1/6 over the day before.

Also had a hit-by-pitch and run scored. This is one of the great disconnects between guys in their basements armed with WAR (like me) and guys in the dugouts, armed with a lifetime of baseball. That your franchise 3B can get hurt, and you can sub in somebody you trust with your playoff chances. Without O'Malley the Mariners don't win that game.

ADAM LIND

Dr. D has been joking about Lind's homer string off of guys you never heard of. Some denizens have been joking about worse. But it ain't like Lind is 0-for-his-career driving in tough runs. Friday night against Sale, LH-on-LH, a 98 fastball and Lind cut down his swing to take Sale up the middle, off the left-center wall.

Scott Servais free-associates (1) ham with eggs, (2) mornings with coffee, (3) Nelson Cruz with power and (4) Dr. Detecto with brilliance. When he was asked about Adam Lind taking Chris Sale!? into the gap, he free associated "Yes, Adam had a good batting practice just covering the ball" as opposed to swinging from his wallet. The necessary inference: that Servais thinks exactly as we do. We're in good hands, babe.

Who knows: maybe the neural pleasure that Adam Lind received on this controlled-swing, huge RBI will click him into synch for the stretch run.

FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ

Another off-field home run, as he is wont to do at this point in his career. You and I care about OPS+ in situations; Scott Servais cares about playoff-type RBI from role players. ... well, that's a bit much; Servais' data is way better than ours is. But y'know.

Guti has an ISO of .210 this year, which is the same as Jose Abreu's lifetime ISO of .215. (Bill James confirms that baseball people spend way too much time worrying about the third decimal place.)

Fascinatingly, the Mariners defensively substituted Nori Aoki for Franklin Gutierrez in the ninth inning. This from a crew that has 9,000 kinds of StatCast era defensive metrics. How does that sub grab you.

THE MEKANEEKS

Generally, Chris Sale is 90% of Randy Johnson. It's not exactly a backhanded compliment to say that Paul Allen has 90% of Bill Gates' wealth. But on Friday he was 100% of Randy Johnson, and this fan has seldom been prouder of an offensive effort. It was a Game Seven pitcher. When it was over he was dead and we were alive.

EDIT TO ADD LATER

Just read our own Shout Box. :- ) As usual you mooks are ahead of me. That's the danger and the thrill of typing up postgames "fresh" with no undue influence, especially no influence from accuracy or currency.

Moe and Bat are way ahead of me on O'Malley; Rain and Matt are ahead of me on Dae-Ho Lee's AAA rampage, we presume; Nori Aoki is being optioned so Bat was ahead of me on Guillermo Heredia, also.

We've been arguing about platoon splits, but not as hard as they've been arguing about it at BJOL. Some wag sent in the 30th comment contradicting Bill and he replied acidly with five words: "Pat Venditte for Cy Young." He's gonna be fun to watch, though. Only such pitcher in history, pretty much.

GOMS,

jemanji

Blog:

Postgame

Tags:

Shawn O'Malley

Comments

O'Malley's play to the plate

O'Malley's play to the plate was stunning. It completely changed the game.

It looked impossible to beat the runner with the throw. The throw itself, having charged full tilt and fielded a difficult tapper, looked impossible to get off with anything on it. And he had to make the throw right-handed, which created a kind of difficult, inside-out angle. Superlatives to capture it fail me.

And if someone just watches it on a highlight reel they would miss the true import of the play. Before it you had the feel the White Sox WERE GOING TO CAPITALIZE and at least tie the game, wasting Felix' effort and Lind's improbable tying double.

My immediate "Whoa! He GOT HIM!" startled my wife, who typically watches the games with more attention to her iPad than the TV.

O'Malley's earlier play to his right revealed a strong, accurate arm I had no idea he possessed.

Brilliant!

You should get a blog going with this stuff. Call yourself "Daddy Roto" or something. That was TIGHT, man.

AL Wild Card Standings (see

AL Wild Card Standings (see graphic below)

1. 7 teams grouped within 3.5 games.

2. Notice that as of this morning all except one of those teams has a Last 10 record between 4-6 and 6-4. The same is true of the division leaders. They're all treading water right now. Kansas City at 9-1 is, of course, the exception, and could streak by everybody.

3. The M's sit pretty much in the middle of that pack.

Some two teams are going to deserve it

A couple of teams will play like +7 games over .500, I betcha. Nice graphic. I usually settle for Fangraphs' table but that one is nice and neat.

People have compared O'Malley to Bloomquist.

I think that sells O'Malley short. Bloomquist was bad at shortstop and awful in the outfield, the only positions he was competent at was second and third. The reason he was treated as a super utility guy was simply because that was the only way to justify his spot on the roster. O'Malley, on the other hand, is legit at every position. He's a true asset defensively.

I agree emphatically. The

I agree emphatically. The comparison to Bloomquist stops and starts with their both being utility players. Early in his career Bloomquist was great at stolen bases, but other than that (and the years he hit in Kansas CIty) his skills were mediocre at best. He did NOT have O'Malley's arm, as demonstrated last night. He did NOT have O'Malley's range and instincts in the field. O'Malley's bat has yet to be fully vetted, but to me he's shown more promise in that area than Bloomquist ever did, leaving aside his original September callup. O'Malley may be faster than Willie. Willie was a liability in the outfield and at short, neither looks to be true of O'Malley.

I remember Bloomquist

dazzling at times at SS and 2nd in his early 20s. He wasn't consistent (few are, but...) and I think O'Malley is better. At SS alone (where WFB came up groomed as while O'Malley spent more time in the minors at 2nd) O'Malley has 21 OOZ plays in 220 innings, a rate Bloomquist never had. However, with all these shifts what does OOZ mean? How many plays per game is he positioned OOZ to begin with? Standard stats show both of them as about average in their early work. Most years early on Willie was basically average at any position he played. DRS at each position through 2008: 1B -3, 2B 7, 3B -3, SS 3, LF 0, CF 0, RF -3. That's 3136.1 innings in his first stint here where his DRS between 7 positions totaled 1. Pretty average.

Ya, could be we're remembering his later years

Maybe when he was a young kid he was average/mediocre at SS. Last few years were a pretty good stretch when they put him there.

Have not been able to figure out how a public service like Fangraphs figures out OOZ with all the shifts -- just 10' to either side of the player or what? And with a lefty up, it's more unusual for the M's NOT to be shifted.

Wonder if there's a link anywhere explaining OOZ etc. in unusual :- ) defensive formations.

Those of you that remember

Those of you that remember "The Unicorn Song" from the '60's will appreciate my new nickname for O'Malley:

THE IRISH ROVER.

For those unfamiliar with the 1967 song, it was rather unique charting amidst a mushrooming bevy of psychedelic rock songs (e.g. Jefferson Airplane), The Rolling Stones, The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper singles, and the Age of Aquarius.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPsuOEH1fY

Irish Rover

That was quite a vid. My wife is way Irish and she'll get a chuckle out of that video.

Did they have 12-string guitars in the 1960's? Whatever it is, I love the chiming guitar sound. Preferably with a bed of Rockman power chords under it, though :- )

Re: 12-string guitars, indeed

Re: 12-string guitars, indeed they did.

Check out this list of top twelve-string guitar songs of all time, which includes a number of sixties songs:

http://www.guitarworld.com/artist-lists/top-30-12-string-guitar-songs-al...

(1964) The Beatles, "A Hard Day's Night"

(1965) The Beatles, "Ticket To Ride"

(1965) The Rolling Stones, "As Tears Go By"

(1965) The Byrds, "Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man"

(1965) The Byrds, "Turn, Turn, Turn"

(1965) The Hollies, "Look Through Any Window"

(1966) The Byrds, "Eight Miles High"

(1966) The Who, "Substitute"

(1969) Jimi Hendrix, "Here My Train A-Comin'"

Roger McGinn of The Byrds was famous for playing a 12-string Rickenbacher guitar. According to the article he got the idea from watching George Harrison play one in the movie, "A Hard Day's Night."

I have a special affinity for Paul Stookey's "The Wedding Song" (1971) because I sang it for several weddings back in the day, and I love the rich 12-string accompaniment. It is probably a surprise to those here that I sang many a solo through the '70's, '80's and early '90's for churches, weddings, even a funeral.

In the early 1990's our church put on a talent show for fun. I got together with some fellow children-of-the-'60's and we formed an impromptu group we dubbed, "Yo Mamas and Yo Papas." We dressed up in '60's band getup (my friend found a tall fur hat like John's from the original band) and performed two songs, "California Dreamin'" and The Everly Brothers' "Summer Song." We won the competition, beating out the heavily favored '50's-style band, whose act was really a hoot. Just a little vignetter from the life of DaddyO.

Right on! Right on!

I'm a big Mamas and Papas fan. Cass Elliot could flat out sing! What a voice.

But Daddy, you guys had the name of your group for the church talent show competely wrong. You should have been "Yo Mamas and Yo Daddies!!!"

Stick with me Daddy; I'll be your Brian Epstein and take you guys places! We can negotiate my cut later. I'm thinking that your first album cover should have the Yo Mamas and Yo Daddies crossing Edgar Martinez Drive and you can be barefoot!! It will create a ton of buzz as everybody will wonder if your barefootedness is cryptic. "Daddy is Dead!!" will be all over social media and the album will go triple platinum!!!

I don't know where I got that idea but it's genius!!!

MoeDaddy

You made me laugh BIG TIME,

You made me laugh BIG TIME, Keith, er, Brian, or is it Mayor Epstein?

My big health event in 2002 led to me pretty much losing my ability to sing well. You know how those old sixties band leads sound now that they are aged and still plying the circuit? That's me now, maybe worse. If you can sell an album sung by a beached whale, you might have a chance to sell mine. If you can, you will have earned a 50/50 split.

Love your album cover idea. We'll do the classic "I buried DaddyO" thing barely audible at the end of a song called "I Am The Beached Whale."

:)

Hey Daddy, we aim to please! Goo goo g'joob!

(which still always sounds to me like coo coo ca choo)

So here's to you Mrs Robinson.........

(and since I'm wandering amuck I had better get this back to baseball) Joltin' Joe has left and gone away, hey hey hey.

Moefunkel

The difference at SS hadn't really occurred to me

like, all my life. It's a heavy point.

The super-sub who challenges your starting shortstop for best infielder on the squad. THEN the variety stuff provides the background scenery for somebody who really helps you.

Hadn't realized, until yesterday, how nice it is to have O'Malley on the infield. And of course he brings the "Loyal Org Soldier" in the clubhouse, some nifty switch hitting ...

You guys think O'Malley will be around for a couple of years, it seems. And we're growing fond of him. Nice that we don't have to talk ourselves into it starting with the player's chemisty first; if O'Malley is a quality bench SS then there y'go.

Maybe that's the kind of decision that separates St. Louis type GM's. Dunno.

O'Malley

What hasn't he done this year, really? He's played a decent CF, when there. Has become the RF defensive replacement for our defensively challenged RF's (we have a bunch of them), he played a really good SS when handed the job for a while and now makes the play of the game at 3B. And he's gone just fine (for a UT guy) with the bat. He's due a raise.

Interesting that Aoki is being sent down; he's been hitting pretty well, you will remember. It does indicate just how fragile the back end of the BP has been, for sure....but I think it also indicates that Servais is assuming that Heredia's bat is nearly Aoki's AND that his glove makes us a better team in a playoff run.

Roomero was 3-5 with his 21st HR last night. Vogelbach and Lee both had 2 knocks. Lee is over .500 in his 29 AAA PA's. Vogelbach is walking nearly 160 pts!! He's had 33 BB's in 160 Tacoma PA's. Something clicked in him last seasona nd he's now a BB'ing machine.

In his one "extensive" AAA season (212) PA's, Brandon Belt was .309-.448-.527. That has translated to a .272-.356-.459 (127 OPS) MLB line. Vogelbach is a AAA .298-.419-.505. Belt K'ed in about 23% of his AAA PA's and that number runs true in SF. Our big guy (How about the "Vogswagon") has whiffed in 18% of his AAA PA's.

I have no doubt that he could hit in the bigs right now, especially vs. RHP.

How IS O'Malley in CF, does anybody know?

And you list the extended 32-man roster ... I got yer "layering" right here, cupcake ...

He'll always be 'Bach to me. An artist, not a ballplayer. Next March should be pretty fun on that end.

CF

3 CF starts this year....about the league Average rf/9 in that limited showtime. 4 starts last year....a little less range. He hasn't been Paul Blair, but he hasn't had to be...he's reserve. With Heredia in LF (next year) and O'Malley on the bench, we have a pretty rangy OF.

Interestingly, it is worth wondering if Boog Powell has a role.