.

Last night's game was ugly on 9,000 fronts.... here, let's split this out.

The ump was partial to the Mariners, as the data confirms, and it helped doodly squat.  Maurer's command is ... not.  The AB's were mailed in.  Morse's out at home plate was beyond pathetic - and then he got tweaked, sliding into a hickory stump that was planted in time for his arrival.  They played a weak team that came in flat.  It was horrible.

...........

There was one front on which the game wasn't ugly.  Jesus Sucre framed many pitches and got many calls.  The early returns are mixed, which is to say at SSI, hopeful.

............

Maurer, by the way, hit 97 MPH, threw "change-sliders" right by lefties down-and-in even, threw a 74 MPH Aaron Sele curve ball that froze hitters solid.  His command was a joke.  

That's not hyperbole.  He had no idea where the ball was going; for example, the first homer was a slider meant to break outside the zone, and it spun lazily into the up-and-in sector.  The righty hitter leisurely swatted it into the seats.  

Command does not get any worse than that in a major league baseball game.  Control does, yeah; command doesn't.

John Madden used to talk about broadcasters who brought their pregame scripts into a football game, and forced the game into that script.  He preferred to actually watch the action, to develop the script from what was going on.  That'll do for us too.  If you want to stick to your "Maurer is a slider pitcher trying to get lefties out," be my guest.  I prefer to watch the games.

Bah humbug :- )

... Objectively speaking, I'd say that Maurer at this point could use a month or two in Tacoma, or in the 'pen, to work on his COMMAND.  ... Erasmo is scheduled to move from Jackson to Tacoma for his next start; the Mariners HAVE to be thinking in terms of getting him in there ASAP.  

..........

Kudos to Geoff Baker, who said right out of the chute "I don't expect much from Maurer this year."  He called it, he gets credit.  Next subject.

You know another thing Geoffy said, last week of spring training?  The lineup will be fine.  The back of the rotation will probably sink the ship.

People (on other sites) don't want Baker to be right, don't want him to get credit for being the Wise Man of Seattle sports coverage.  If they'd pay attention, they'd realize that he's got a feel.  He does.  Geoff Baker has as good a feel for the game as any sportswriter I've seen.  Frank Hughes was real good too.

When a city has a Baker, a Hughes, a Clayton, a Calabro -- somebody (1) truly talented, who is (2) on-the-scene, who (3) likes sports fans, the city should (4) rejoice.  The blog-o-sphere is far too busy competing with Baker.  It should make friends with him; it would be to its own advantage.

..........

Next start, Maurer probably is pitching for his job.  I don't expect him to figure out his command just by wishing it were so.  Young pitchers are in transition with their mechanics.  You want somebody predictable, go get Joe Saunders.

There is good news.  Maurer's stuff is a whale of a lot better than I thought it was.  That fastball can be overpowering, and the slider pops a parachute, and the yakker has at times looked like Josh Beckett's.  The change has looked mediocre to me... Seattle saberdweebs aren't familiar with young pitchers like Brandon Maurer.  They can be forgiven for being disoriented about him.

.............

Nick Franklin got royally ripped off on a 1-1 pitch his first AB, putting him in a hole 1-2.  Then he got ripped off again, big time, on one critical pitch his second AB (the one he was rung up on).

He took one-handed swings at pitches, sort of nervously making sure he got the barrel on the ball, which is certainly understandable.  It didn't look like nerves; it looked more like Ichiro making sure that he didn't get thrown out on his first few SB attempts, or Ichiro taking that pepper swing during his first spring, and first week, in the bigs.

Kid's got a great eye, and a real quick launch, and his first coupla games the umps have done everything they could to get him confused about what a strike zone is.  Let's hope that he just keeps letting the umps call what they want, and sticks to his own zone.

We hear that it can be disastrous to let people into your head.

Cheers,

Dr D