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If I did not fear involuntary incarceration, I would terminate your life functions by applying sufficient force to your cranium to cause its collapse. So just tell me what's goin' on in Jackson, doc.
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=== Gameflow ===
In the top of the first, Yu Darvish was nervous and wild. You could see he had great stuff -- he's liable to finish with a top-10 fastball -- but he fell behind constantly.
The Mariners' new-look offense took full advantage. They accepted the invitations on every 3-1 count, and they whipped the bats through the strike zone like the 1998 Yankees. Sharp line drives and doubles all over the park.
For half an inning, it looked like the New Mariners were serving notice on the Rangers. Beautiful!
.........
Hector Noesi came out very nervous, yanking several pitches three feet left, but ... settled in with a strikeout of Josh Hamilton in the first. He'd have gotten out of the inning, and maybe won the game, except that Brendan Ryan's DP throw was wild.
The Rangers went on to score 2 in the bottom of the first, and precisely because of that free two runs, Texas was the one who served notice. 4-0 would have been one thing. 4-2 is just a street brawl.
.........
From there, the Rangers simply applied inning-by-inning pressure and after four innings, had applied sufficient pressure to Noesi's cranium to cause its collapse. After the 4-0 lead had evaporated, the rest of the game featured "soft" play in which both teams went through the motions, well aware of who the better team was.
By the end of the game, it looked like (1) a talented, up-and-coming ballclub vs. (2) the 1975 Cincinnati Reds.
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=== Lesson Learned #1 ===
In Texas, you've got to get a well-pitched game, period. Your pitcher leaves pitches in batters' hot zones, the ball gets up in the air to the 2B half of the field, the Rangers gonna get their three, four homers.
That was the way on Monday. The four home runs were pretty well-struck, but still, three were to the golden Ballpark float zones and another one was about 340 feet into the LF corner. The Rangers know these flyballs go out, and they go up there looking for those fly balls.
Halfway through the first ... the Rangers applied so much pressure, so effortlessly, that every Noesi pitch felt like the dentist's drill hitting home again. WhhhhrrrrrEEEEEEEIINNNGNNNGGGG! Okay, 1-0 count, checked swing. Lucky it wasn't a strike.
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=== Lesson Learned #2 ===
The Rangers can be beaten, but you're going to have to be celery-crisp. Throwing away a DP ball, taking quick swings during several AB's after Darvish needs 40+ to do the first inning, stuff like that, sure, you're going to lose. You gotta play great to beat them.
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=== Lesson Learned #3 ===
The M's hitters will be only too glad to compete this year, assuming of course that you're not going to spot the other lineup 4 home runs on them.
Figgins and Ichiro followed up on the strike zone exploits that we discussed last night, even turning UP the heat, and Seager was hot on their trails. With every ballgame, Kyle Seager gains several more yards on that lineup card. It ain't just the results. It's Chris Snelling playing third, baby.
Justin Smoak blistered a 94 Darvish fastball to RF, showing exactly what we'd wanted to see, the bat head out in front. With two out and runners on, Ackley screamed one to left-center, but it juuuuuuuuust stayed down enough to rip Andrus' glove off. THAT would have been 6-2 M's, runners on 1B and 3B, Ichiro coming up who was to get 3 good hits on the night.
It's lefty, it's rawhide-tough, and it's ready to roll. I'm likin' it.
Hey, man. Five runs, 10 hits, and about 80 line drives off Darvish ... had the M's staff given up 2 or 3 we'd be basking in their glory.
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He's just a ripper, with the bat.
OK...Here's the question. Carp is ready pretty durn soon. He's going to get his whacks. It looks like Liddi is the guy to move down. Or is it Wells? Or is it....?
BTW, has Figgins shown enough to get a decent bite?
I still like what we've got.
And Sherrill is doomed. Over/Under is May 1st. Place your bets.
moe
And I would start Erasmo in place of Noesi next start too.
I'm leaning toward 18 months for Noesi, and I'd give him 70-100 innings in the pen this year, then worry about stretching him out for next year if necessary. He's got a really interesting arm. I just don't think he's ready right now - and Erasmo is.
Erasmo can go 170 starting in 5 days. He's exactly what I thought he was, and I want him in the rotation. It's just weird to me that we have so much talent around, and so much of it isn't included in the major league staff.
Are we really prepping that hard for next year? The offense is showing up this year...can't we compete this year AND next?
C'mon Jack...do me a solid. Be really agile.
~G
Why is everyone saying Noesi should be in the pen? With his inconsistent mechanics, he'd be Bobby Ayala mark 2. I don't want Bobby Ayala in my bullpen. Send him to AAA and let him learn how to pitch, please.
Call up Carter Capps for the bullpen, put E-Ram in the rotation.
As for the bats...Carp comes back next week...Liddi goes down to AAA to start at first (because you can't get in Catricala's way) and you start giving Montero more PT behind the plate so that you have DH at bats to give to Carp when you want Figgins in the outfield or to Seager when you want Figgins at third. The real question is..what the heck do we do when Gutz gets back? He's GOING to get CF starts...where does Saunders go? Left? What about Carp? He's DHing then full time? Montero the full time C? Talk about a traffic jam...and you can't even find ABs for Figgins in that arrangement...LOL
is supposed to be what it takes for a new scouting report to get around the league. Some scouts will be skeptical, but others will recognize Figgins' new approach real quick.
There will be GM's getting reports that Figgins is looking rejuvenated, and they know he can pick it at 3B ... that $9M per year throws the wrench into the works...
Could be that Zduriencik gets a countdown of sorts... OK, we'll take on $2M of his salary this week ... OK Figgy still available this week, what if we take $3M and you take $6M per year? ... May 2nd, hm, howzabout we go ahead and split it....
Your guess as good as mine amigo what the spot market will bear after five great games... and where Jack wants to let the stock tick go to before he cashes in... for us, it's like day trading when our monitors are all dark :- )
If the generals aren't more in than the soldiers are?
Those kids in the lineup are playing their keisters off. Don't want to let that April gusto slip through the grate...
Capt Jack of course more sensitive to that than we are, but hope that he isn't too married to that "shoot for 2013" target that you mention G...
Not that he lost, but that his release point seemed SO unpredictable. Even Brooks showed a loose "group" on the release point, and it doesn't catch front-to-back slop in the steering wheel.
Pulled his head and shoulder off to the left, missed the mitt constantly... no, rephrase. Seldom was near the mitt.
Kid's got quite an arm, but can anybody here argue that he's got a short path to consistent command?
............
If the M's were somehow willing to do a Sale / Morrow timeline on Capps, great, but if not you've still got a possible Furbush / Ruffin swap for Noesi. That would give Noesi more reps in Tacoma too.
Tough decisions for the M's. All sorts of players and pitchers in Seattle and Tacoma and none of them clearly separate from the others ... unless you go to the guys in Jackson :- )
Careful balance must be struck between Figgins worth (current stock), how long his hotstreak will last, our replacements for him, and how much we pay for what he is owed. By the way, what do we need in trade? I only see the need for relievers.
...and still hasn't thrown 400 innings total. He strained his shoulder twice, violated the substance abuse policy to lose a bunch of games, got tendonitis, FINALLY pitched a whole season in 2010 and then pitched mostly from the pen in 2011.
He's got a pretty decent fastball and I like his offspeed game. Mechanical issues are much easier to deal with in the pen when you only have to do one or two things, not worry about getting through the lineup 3 times. He doesn't have to be able to throw for 200 innings either.
He says he likes to start and that's all he ever did in the minors. Well...he didn't do it often. He might well turn out to be a great starter, and I like his stuff quite a bit. I'm willing to wait a little bit to see what he might do in the rotation.
But he's not good enough to keep Erasmo in the pen, IMO, nor to hold off Paxton and crew. If Vargas stays, then Noesi might best be deployed in the pen.
He'll get a couple of months, no doubt, to prove he can clean up his inconsistencies and get over the nerves.
He'd better learn fast, though - the guys behind him won't wait. Nobody's getting the 2 year adjustment plan from here out. They'll need to be at least adequate on a much faster timeline.
Though Beavan is still starting, so maybe I'm mistaken on that. We'll see how long he can cling to the rotation.
~G
The idea on a Figgins trade is simply to shed salary and clear the decks for PYCWYNPW.*
*Win next pennant with.
The vets who are in there will have to contribute, and contribute immediately. Kids behind them want their jobs.
I think he means it, don' you?