M's 2 …
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Corey Hart and Kyle Seager Go All Earl-Y-Ball on the Pesky Rodent Orcs
No sooner did Matty predict (gingerly) that Corey Hart or Michael Saunders would need to make the difference, than ... Corey Hart made the difference. What a called shot there :- )
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There was a period in the 1960's that James wryly dubbed --- > the "ticking time bomb" era. Teams had a rough time stringing three hits, so you just sat around and waited for somebody to hit a home run. The ratio of boredom to excitement is sky-high. Dr. D would rather watch Tavaris Jackson than watch Ticking Time Bomb baseball.
That said, this was precisely Earl's patent:
- Predictably excellent pitching
- Low scores, games loaded with tension wire-to-wire
- Batters who pulled down his victories with exactly 12 seconds of game action (blech)
"They say managers are hired to be fired, but I was never fired from ANY job, at any level. All it takes is a .583 career winning percentage." Did he really go .583, career?! That is 94.5 wins per season, every season, your whole life. Slap me silly and call me Beimel.
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Sabes figure that homers are nothing more than [fly balls] times [10%]. Yes and no. As with so many excellent ideas, this one got taken much too far.
There are times -- a minority of all HR's, admittedly -- when a batter loads up, gets his pitch, gets the bat head out in front, and deliberately hits the ball in the air to his pull field with authority. Back Leg Specials.
The jacks Wednesday from both Kyle Seager and Corey Hart = swings where they intended to pull the ball hard in the air, deserved to pull the ball hard in the air, and did pull the ball hard in the air.
When two teams with 120 ERA+ staffs square off, you see the difference a homer makes. "The greatest play in baseball," Earl said. "I don't understand why people don't get it."
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McClendon likes Mike Zunino's offense. He is aware of the .200 batting average but "he's a dangerous hitter." McClendon, it sez here, fully groks Earl's theories. Corey Hart was a case in point today.
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Kendrys Morales
You guys "got it" before I did. ... Tuesday, Kendrys loaded up on a pitch, intended to pull the ball hard in the air, deserved to pull it hard in the air, and did pull it hard in the air ... about 285 feet. :: GAGGGG ::
As a minor but completely distinct side issue ... he was on 1B yesterday when Kyle Seager just wasted a pitch, deeeeep into the far Oakland power alley. It took approximately three days for the CF to get over there. Morales took off at the crack of the bat. He barely made it to THIRD!
Watching the replay, I wondered if he is the slowest major league player I have ever seen -- much slower than Edgar or Olerud in their retirement seasons. The dude spent his extra time off, doing something that was not P90X. And it's costing him. He's physically very sluggish. And this isn't an athlete who had fast twitch to spare.
It's me, I pull the plug now. ... Kendrys can serve as platoon 1B, playing 25% of the time. It was a worthy idea. It didn't work out. :: shrug ::
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Austin Jackson
FINALLY! Two games in which Jax:
- Was quick on the fastball, even getting the barrel out in front vs. excellent velo
- Held up cleanly on offspeed = the vaunted "two stage" timing
- Showed the famous ability to square up the ball onto a clothesline
He has looked terrific, for two games Against deadly pitching.
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9-to-Make-5
When Corey Hart swatted the pitch into the LF cheaps, Brad Miller and James Jones (both filling their heinies with splinters on the day) EXPLODED off the bench in joy. The entire dugout was jubilant. Brad Miller spent about the next four minutes in Hart's face about it. Some how, some way, McClendon seems to have the Mariners happy to jobshare.
The M's ability to platoon has mushroomed with the callups. Remember, they had 1 bench player through August 31. Thusly:
- A backup C, unused
- The backup SS
- Chris Denorfia
But today, against Lester, everybody was right handed except the #3-4* hitters -- who delivered extra base hits LH-on-LH. This from a team stacked with LH hitters.
They've even got a late-game pinch runner, and are using him, and he's doin' great. Just like the old 1970's and 1980's National League teams, the M's get into a 2-1 game and get a runner on in the 8th, and here comes a kid to swipe second.
James Jones is 22-for-23 in stolen bases this year, reading the pitchers extremely well and diving in headfirst from 15 feet away. That's a good 20 extra bases to Jones', er, the Mariners' account. Remember, sabes: pinch run stolen bases are offensive events that you choose. They're massively leveraged. Pinch run stolen bases can, and do, decide ballgames.
Pennant races rox,
Dr D