Seattle Sports Insider

M's 7, Padres 0

it's a little late to talk, after you've already done it

Posted by

3/3/16

I thought this was going to be a MATCHUP!? It's a MIS Match! >:- [

Let's see, by my count there are 32 preseason games on this sked rat cheer. Counting the one Wild Card game in which Felix at last does anything to earn his $27M per, that means that the 200th game of 2016 will be the last one before the ALCS. 200, man. That's a lot of baseball, especially putting on our blog pants one leg at a time every morning.

But if the M's get practice reps, why shouldn't we? The Times embedded 7 minutes' (!) worth of video from the game, which include twelve batted balls > 100 MPH (by the Mariners) and two strikeouts (by the Padres). Pop open a second window and bask in the unabashed joie de vivre that is Seattle Sports Insider on any given March the 3rd:

0:05 Robinson Cano softly lines a Boggs style single. Looked hard-hit when it really wasn't. Because he covered it square. It was kind of an emergency swing. :: shrug :: The message? You may put your time in the gym, pal, but we got Robinson Blinkin' Cano.

0:30 James Paxton blows down some Padre or other. Is it our eyes here, or is it the power of suggestion? Because K-Pax did look more "downhill." That would be one way to get your foot down sooner, to stride shorter. Nah, power of suggestion. Still, you've got to admit that Padre is very, very sad at a very, very early point in the season.

Servais was all smiles about Paxton after the game. s' ok by Dr. Detecto. Also, Nate Karns' start on Thursday is okay by him.

0:55 Chris Iannetta takes a half-swing halfway up the berm. Which wouldn't ordinarily be such a big deal. In this case, however, the clip is setting up --- > the triumph of 15 absolutely blasted pitches for one team over 0 of them for the other team. Also, Iannetta is congratulated in the dugout by the Democratic National Convention.

1:35 Robinson Cano backhands a ball up the middle. This play was brought to you by the miracle of modern abdominal reconstruction. That's what they said in the paper.

Which was the only off-note of the symphony. Considering the postgame euphoria on this play in the newspaper text, the actual video was kinda deflating. It reminded Dr. D., however, of the day Lou Gehrig got congratulated for a routine 3U ("nice play, big guy" pat on the fanny) and then walked through the dugout and into the clubhouse, retiring. When they celebrate this, you're in real trouble.

2:05 Franklin Gutierrez effortlessly smacks a high pitch, hard and far, over the fence. Watching Franklin rounding 2B as the ball rolls back towards him, you've got to admit that if all the pieces fit together the way we hope they will, the M's are looking at maybe 140, 150 wins among those 200 games.

2:55 Iannetta with an admirable sac fly to right center, scoring Lind. And, 2 strikeouts on the day for the M's, vs. 8 for the Padres. Stop da fight. Sure, DiPoto's recipe for Controlling the Zone was fun for a while, but it's gotten so you feel sorry for the other teams.

Hey, we read something funny on Fangraphs the other day. Adam Lind has THE greatest platoon split "since we started keeping track of this," which was ... wait, when did they start keeping LH and RH batting averages, like the era of Connie Mack? That Fangraphs bit was probably talking about wRC+ or something.

But yeah. Adam Lind, with a right hand pitcher on the mound, is a certified .300/.380/.525 hitter. As is Jose Bautista, overall; Joey Bat is hitting .266/.381/.521 the last three years and we hear that he wishes to make more than 1/$8M for it. ... Other major league players who have batted circa .300/.380/.525 the last three years: Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton, Troy Tulowitzki, David Ortiz, Andrew McCutcheon. (11 players total have OBP's of .380 or better during that time.)

The M's 1B platoon, I'm TELLIN ya!

3:30 Leonys Martin drills a single through the right side. He gets on top and launches it at the perfect angle, skipping just in front of the cut of the grass. Okay, my bad. He came through in the end and gave you the 4 WAR. But aren't you glad I was wrong.

4:00 Danny Robertson triples. About 140 years ago, they started putting fences between fans and players. In this case, the outfielder gets to the ball no more quickly than if he were still running through picnic baskets and chuckholes. Dr. D naturally assumed that Servais cut Robertson on the spot for pulling up on 3B, but .... huh? Robertson spends about four minutes doing the "hand Acta your pieces of equipment one at a time" gloat dance. So apparently he'll be back Thursday. Hang loose in the box, Danny.

4:40 CHRIISSSSSSS!. Classic Taylor frozen rope, short to the ball with a Praying Mantis / Leonys Martin followthrough. Amusing, though, watching him pull up after the extra bags ... looked left, right, left, right for somebody to hand his gloves to and suddenly realized that he wasn't yet on third. For a moment your mind wandered back to the multiple 15-game win streaks in 2001.

5:15 Romero shows the wrists. There are really only a few things left for Stephen Romero to do. 1. Impede Dae-Ho Lee's work visa. 2. Order ice cream sandwiches all around. 3. Take 300 AB's worth of pitches to right-center. Ah, well. Some things just weren't meant to be.

Notice that Acta, in the 3B coaches' box, is showing the soft hands on the low fives by this point.

5:40 Boog Powell does a Robinson Cano imitation, slowing up through an offspeed to clock a screaming meemie down into the corner. And Boog takes off his gear at 2B the right way, showing respect for the game. ... :: blinks ::

6:30 Ryan Cook fires a high, hard 91 fastball for strike three.

Let's hope the Pads show up Thursday,

Dr D

Blog:

Postgame

Tags:

Boog Powell

Comments

Stuff:

1. Powell looks less "slight" than I thought he might. I like that. But drop the chaw kid. C'mon, this is a family show.

2. Did Romero look a bit "stiller" at the plate? Not that he was ever all elbows and motion but he seemed to be quiet. And (I think it was Blowers) one of the announcers said (you have to listen close) that he was a "sleeper" to make the team out of ST and he would bring "versatility." My thoughts exactly. I still think he will wear a 1B glove for a bit this spring. May even get an inning or two in CF.

3. Both the Romero and Guti rockets were against RHP, not quite their specialty. I like that, too.

4. Uh, Paxton isn't going to the bullpen.

5. I like Chris Taylor.

6. Go team.

1 Powell remind you a bit of Snelling in that little clip?

Kind of pictured him as some kind of Endy Chavez type kinda, but first impression he moved more like a Jeremy Reed or something.

They've been saying that the deal was more than Logo for Karns. Hm.

2 Romero

... WAS eerily quiet. Leave it to the golfer.

If there's one player you feel bad about in the crunch ... well, maybe he's not the One but it's kind of a shame. Like Mike Carp. You know he's not going to make $50M but it still seems like you're missin' out on somethin'.

Well lookee here!

(Patting myself on the back) Romero wore a 1B glove today (even started/finished a 3-6-3 DP)!! I didn't realize that he did have 3 starts in Tacoma at 1B last year. 1-1 with a BB on the day, following his oppo-HR yesterday.

(Drats) Pizzano 0-2

(Told ya) Tyler Smith 1-3 with a 2B, seeing 16 (!!) pitches in 3 AB's.

(Micky Mantle??) Robertson now 3-4 in two games.

(Rumors of my BP assignment may be premature) Karns throws 2 innings, 1 hit. Ah...he's still not moving past Paxton.

Romero

Gentlemen!! MLB today listed Romero at RF/1B. I have never been able to see Romero live but appreciated the simplicity of his swing out of OSU. He ability to play positions should pay off. And yes Jeff....in golf you are hitting a ball that is not moving so don't go moving your body everywhere. At the plate? You are hitting a moving ball so don't go moving your body everywhere! Well, unless you are Bubba Watson. Could he hit a baseball though?

Romero at 1B

If Shannon Drayer's opinion is accurate -- she thinks the M's will prioritize defense at 1B -- he may have more of a shot than expected. Whether he's new there or not, he started out in the middle infield.

Thanks for the thoughts on Romero's swing Jeff :- ) the powerful wrists must make life a lot easier for a baseball hitter, no?

Ouch!

I put the jinx on Romero as he gets a creative assist and put out on the double play. Off the knee. That has to hurt!!!!! Strong wrists help in many sports. I had my sons do the rice bucket to build the hands and wrists. Didn't want them to be weakling like Dad! And you are right, many forget that Romero played at 2nd for OSU. He is athletic enough to adjust.....just needs to break through, hopefully with the M's.

Keep it comin' Moe

I think we need an Adopt-a-Player page here ... and boy have you stuck to your guns on Tyler Smith ...

....

I'd love to see Nate Karns in the bullpen, as opposed to a waiver claim, but I've got to admit that if it's him or K-Pax, then Paxton has some pretty bullpen-suitable stuff. It's a LITTLE harder to visualize a curve ball guy coming in cold and setting the innin' on fire...

Or not. :: shrug ::