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As you know...

… (well, you know the rest)

Awwwwww

There is exactly one (1) reason we're postgaming this one. Sometimes service requires sacrifice. Well, unless you're having Dinner-and-a-Disney-Movie, but then again, any resemblance between Disney movies and Mariner baseball is strictly coincidental.

/ Gahhhhhh

Did you know some infinities are "denser" than others? Do you believe that the infinite series (1, 2, 3 ... etc) contains fewer numbers than the series (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 ... etc)? Matt could answer that, but for now just chill.

....

Dr. D read nothing about the game, as usual, so does not know the answer to this question: How often, in a baseball game, does a run score on a leadoff at-bat, and on no other at-bats?

A friend of ours -- this is a soccer fan, now, from England -- once described this as the dreariest evening POSSIBLE: a baseball game, with one solo homer.

And in this case, the solo homer occurred with about five hours left to play. So the Mariners one-upped my friend's hypothesis. They played a game drearier than he believed possible.

There are infinitely exasperating games, and then there are Mariner-dense infinitely exasperating games.

.......

The moral of the story: it feels worse than it is. We have little doubt that Iwakuma was doing that spin-on-his-head-no-hands breakdance ~~after the game~~ between innings. There are times when insanity is your best friend. Trust me on this one.

PSST ..

Baseball is cyclical. Benjamin Franklin noticed that about it while he was compiling his Farmer's Almanac. Also, it's a point that SSI is going to run with. Buckle in.

'Is cause 99% of baseball's smartest SABR minds believe there is no such thing as --- > "The Zone" in baseball, no such thing as hot and cold streaks.

On this point, gentlemen, they are mistaken. They haven't found it in their measurements, yet, but that's true of the 12th planet, right? Saber's greatest conceit is that If I Haven't Measured It Yet, You Believe In Tiny Fairies Who Hide Your Car Keys. ("I can't disprove it, but all scientists agree. You're an old grandma who looks for 4-leaf clovers. Please leave and allow the adults to talk.")

.....

Kyle Seager is on a bit of a dip in the sine wave, and has been for a month.

Kendrys Morales has not yet contributed to the M's. Neither has Austin Jackson. Two words: At. All.

You've got 5 legit hitters, if you count Ackley, but three of them are AWOL as to the question of pulling the July hitting slump to the side of the pool and pounding its chest madly.

YAY -

The Mariners have already far outlasted the 2011 implosion, which began on July 4th and introduced itself with an 0-and-17 record.

Here we are, one full month later, and the 2014 version of [120 ERA, 89 HIT] is still huffing and puffing after the lead horse.

It isn't that the M's have thrown in the towel. It's that the half of their lineup is outmanned. There's a diff'rnce.

Whew!!

Sez Jack, who spoke after the deadline as though he has (in calendar year 2014) done way more than enough to return in 2015.

Undoubtedly he knows things we don't. SSI has a new operating assumption here.

And, actually, that's probably fair.

EEEEeeeeeek;

We have no idea why it is so HARD for the Mariners to find 110 OPS+ hitters to play RF, DH, that kind of position. See Mo' Dawg's article on LoMo. He was swinging great for three weeks, but the shift and Safeco smothered the results, and now somebody has licked the red off his lollipop.

....

Chris Denorfia, age 33 and performing (all year) as though he hit the famous "I Was Only Okay at Age 27 and Now I'm Older Than 32" baseball windshield, is the starting right fielder.

Color Dr. D --- > 64 kinds of skeptical on Denorfia. But he cost nothing. It ain't every August you get to see spaghetti thrown against the wall in quite this manner.

Some amigos, you would swear they were time-teleported off the 1977 expansion team -- physical appearance, position/skillset, age, future, the whole 9 yards' worth of ammo. (We're kidding him; baseball players are supposed to be used to that.)

OOOOPS?

Forgot to mention that there is a (free) BJOL article up, explaining why MLB batting average on balls in play (BABIP) is unaffected by the explosion in defensive shifts.

Let me read that sentence again. 'Cause it doesn't apply to the M's ...

(Tsk, Tsk)

Dr. D has delayed the onset of the Austin Jackson POTD blizzard, that he might eyes-slideways the dude first.

Plot spoiler:

He's a league-average hitter, both in actual performance and to the scouting eye
With legit CF defense
Whose legs are a considerable plus, on the bases
3 WAR ain't 3 WAR when you started at -1 WAR
It's fascinating how level he hits the ball
He could get better; foretelling the future is basically what you'd need 6 POTD's for
If you have to ask why I didn't write "levelly", you wouldn't understand

GRRrrrrrrrr:

The Mariners are going with an extra pitcher, above and beyond the 2 extra pitchers that all MLB teams already carry. Three benchies!

Anybody can see that all extra ballast must be devoted to the team ERA.

In other news, there are several Chris Taylor types who are in Tacoma, while Joe Beimel anchors the pitching staff.

"D'oh"

It's funny, because Kendrys and Austin Jackson have not yet chipped in, but ... Dr. D does have to admit that the M's have put in some serious hustle in their attempt to trim the sails of their lineup ship.

On paper, this kind of roster is easily capable of winning a championship: