Q. from Itto in Italy. Why are the M's the AL's 3rd-best road team? Don't you all talk about how the team is built for the park?
A. Hiya Itto!
Right now the Mariners are 30-32 on the road, compared to Boston at 31-33 ... only two teams have strong winning records on the road: NYY +8 and LAA +13.
The M's haven't been great on the road, but they have indeed been .500, and that's a very interesting fact that I hadn't noticed at all.
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I agree with Matt's reply to this in the comments: it's the RH batters.
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True, we do talk about WANTING to build the team to take advantage of Safeco, but in the first half, we were still playing with a terrible lineup for the home park.
As you know, Safeco Field is probably the most extreme park in the American League, as far as punishing RH batters and being more kind to LH hitters. As an avid fan of Bill James' writings re: the historical Yankees, we've been moaning and groaning for years about the lack of "Three True Outcomes" lefty hitters on the ballclub.
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Q. How extreme was the right-handedness of the 2009 M's?
A. Very. NOT in terms of having 6/9 righties -- but in terms of having 5.5/9 RH pull hackers.
In the first half, the Mariners had all of these players in their 9-man lineup:
1. Betancourt
2. Beltre
3. Lopez
4. Gutierrez*
5. Johjima
6. Wlad Balentien
Every one of those six players is an extreme RH hitter (pulls the ball a lot) and an extreme hacker, except Gutierrez. You're not going to find any Derek Jeter scattercharts for those guys.
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Q. These guys are all verrrrry similar hitters, aren't they?
A. And when you break down their "hot zones" they are EERILY similar. ... in fact, let me split that out... Two-seam RH fastballs in Safeco
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Q. How'd the Mariners get these six guys together?
A. I have to say here, that I believe the old regime emphasized low-BB, low-K hitters because of their unfounded fear of strikeouts. But this lead to an accumulation of free-swinging international players who couldn't hit in Safeco to save their lives.
Also, the Mariners have always been strong internationally. Notice anything geographical about these guys?
You can't draft a hacker and teach him to walk. The Oakland A's and Boston Red Sox *draft* hitters who can tell a ball from a strike -- as Zduriencik just sold the farm to get Dustin Ackley.
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As you point out, Itto, the Mariners have been very good on the road.
It makes you wonder what might have been, if the M's had had the same quality hitters, only lefthanded.
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If Jack Zduriencik brought nothing else to the game, other than his focus on LH offense in Safeco, that alone would justify his salary.
Cheers,
Dr D
Finally.
It was really frustrating how Bavasi and Co. seemed to go out of their way to bring in players that were a bad fit for this park... RH pull hitters, hackers, poor defense in the OF, RH pitching. Very frustrating.
Its amazing how much Z has already changed in less than half a year.
I'm happy you don't just reply to my question but also started a 3d about it.
The next question may be:
if we are better than average on the road, building a team made for Safeco (more LH hitters less RH pull-hitters) will affect their play in other parks? What are the chances that adding Safeco kind of hitters will fix our offense at home but make us a worse team on the road?
Thank you
Zduriencik has prioritized the park fit so much that he brings in *questionable* players in order to accomplish it.
It's not like he replaced Kenji Johjima with Mickey Tettleton or even with Jeff Clement. He got him out of there for a rookie who isn't as pull-hack-happy.
Same with Betancourt: the previous regime would have waited until they got the SS of their dreams. Zduriencik just looks around and says, OK, we're changing out here, what's the best option.
If Juventus gears their side extremely towards playing in Stadio Olimpico di Torino, how much does it hurt them in San Siro? :- )
I usually refer to soccer as a fantastic pinball........strategy is allowed but really not as important as in other pro sports. After all you're playing with your foots not your hands.
Stats other than goal scored have no value at all.
I try make an example:to play fantasy soccer you need to just refer to grades the player got in newpapers for their games.Grades goes from 1 to 10 but are usually just from 4 to 8 and you add 3 points if the player score a goal, 3 if your goalkeeper save a penalty and lose half a point for every yellow card, 1 point for every red card , 1 for every goal allowed by your goalkeeper and 3 if your player misses a penalty kick.See the difference with fantasy baseball?It's like if we play a league where you have a score for your players based on grades by a journalist and you add some points for every HR, some points for every strikeout and lose points for errors and base on balls...........
It was a stupid question I made :)
Didn't see the smile on your answer Doc, so I automathically replied seriously and with Italian League starting yesterday soccer is what everybody's talking about here.
The Italian baseball league ended last week with my hometown team winning their 8th title behind a full ballpark (more or less 1 thousand people and I'm being serious): the 1st game of my hometown soccer team attendence was of more than 20 thousand (and it's not Juventus or Milan).
Fantastic pinball...that may be the best name for soccer I've ever heard. You go Itto! A long time ago in the Mariner blogosphere I seem to recall running into an italian fan...are you new to baseball commentary or have you been around a while...I think that gyu went by the screenname Luigi...I'm wondering if you're the same guy.
Soccer just bores me...I am useless for understanding it...you can't analyze the play by play and learn something about the strategy...it's all athleticism and very little thought...and there are probably 3 or 4 significant plays in any 90 minute game. I just cannot bring myself to care.
No, it wasn't a dumb question at all...
You can build to your home park, but not to extremes. If the M's had 7 lefty hitters, they'd stomp people in Safeco, but pay too heavy a price on the road.
On the road is where you find out how good you "inherently" are ... if the M's 9 hitters, 5 left 4 right, are 100 OPS+ then they will hit that on the road, but might be 112 OPS+ in Safeco.
If the M's Safeco players are actually GOOD players, they'll be fine on the road. If they're Safeco-gimmicky players, then no.
Keep postin' my friend!
I'm a fan of american sports, but didn't know much about MLB, only some italian baseball (and I can tell you it's another sport :)
Last year my dad added some cable TV to our pack and ESPN America was included and I started watching some MLB games;at first I was for the Yankees cause they're always on Tv and the only name I already knew, but after learning about a guy from Italy (Alex Liddi) in M's farm I started being a M's fan.
I'm getting more involved and starting to understand something about the game even if all the stats you talk about are a bit difficult to me and I don't know the players of the past you talk about.
that the arguments you make against soccer is the same I hear from my friends everytime I mention baseball:boring, long game and you wait hours for a single moment of entertainement (being it a Homerun or a great defensive play).
I'm a goalkeeper and I love playing soccer, but honestly I can't say I love watching one sport over another.
I find some soccer game boring, but I also find some baseball game or basketball game boring.Personally I hate high scoring games, whatever the sport (maybe because I'm a goalkeeper).
A pitching duel with great defense is the best game in my opinion, while a home run barrage with bad defense is really boring to me.The same in basketball, I hate All-Stars game and all offense and dunks and no defenses games.
That they find soccer boring because they can't "see" the action.
Same thing with baseball. Something as simple as a 1-0 or 0-1 count on a batter can hold a hardcore fan's interest, whereas to a more casual fan they're just playing catch until the batter puts it in play...
A typical American can't begin to discern whether a midfielder is having a very productive day or a very unproductive one. :- ) Our loss.
is play the game.
You understand what's behind any move in a game you played, you just see some people running with funny gloves if you haven't.
I never played baseball so even if I really like it, I can't say if a pitch is a slider or a change or understand if a guy have a a weakness against some pitches.
I play soccer since I started walking so I can tell you if a midfielder is having a productive day without having any stat to support me.
Though I played neither sport well, I understand baseball a LOT better than soccer. Soccer looks, to me, like a bunch of guys standing on a field and about once every 3 minutes having to run like a crazy man to be in the right position to set up some kind of swarming play on the ball as it moves by.
I understand strategy very well in hockey, lacrosse, basketball and football...all of which are just as team-oriented as soccer. And yet I can't understand soccer strategy. There's something missing about how soccer is televised/presented to me.
You don't need much strategy, just hope the ball bounces the way you like and run like a crazy to get it :-)
Unless you are the goalkeeper and you just try to block everything thrown your way, possibly without breaking your nose........