M's 2, Rangers 3 - Slops and Props
PROPS TO FELIX for being a Seattle Mariner. They have a saying in golf, usually applied when assessing new golf courses -- "Par is supposed to be a good score."
If the Mariners come home from Oakland and Texas at 3-and-3, they're shooting par. Par in the best sense of the word.
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SLOPS TO ALEXI OGANDO for being "on" tonight. I thought we were supposed to get a #5 starter somewhere in the first five games?!
First three games were against the AL's best pitching staff. Next two were against two very-up-and-down young SP's who couldn't miss with their curve balls. GRRRRrrrrrrr.
C.J. Wilson will be a piece of cake Wednesday, by comparison. And if you were wondering whether it was Ogando, consider the fact that the Mariners immediately started up the 4-base merry-go-round the second that a reliever came into the ballgame.
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Dr. D knows that you don't think he knows what he is talking about. So here it is in the language y'unnerstand:
- Ogando's FB = 94.0 mph = #5 in the AL last year ... and over 60% strikes
- Ogando's Slider = -15 mph off that ... and 17 of 28 for strikes
If Ogando threw like that every game, he'd be Josh Beckett. The Mariners haven't caught a lot of weak sisters this week.
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PROPS TO THE HUSTLE BOARD, which caught the Mariners cruising through a mere 109 pitches while the Rangers used 142.
The pitch counts so far, through five games:
- G1 - Sea 108, Oak 184 (Cahill)
- G2 - Sea 122, Oak 175 (Anderson)
- G3 - Sea 147, Oak 141 (Gonzalez)
- G4 - Sea 139, Tex 152 (Holland)
- G5 - Sea 109, Tex 142 (Ogando)
Through five games, the Mariners have needed 169 fewer pitches than their enemies. Whatever caveats you want to slap on: Beltre and Lopez, this ain't.
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SLOPS TO BRIAN O'NORA, who blew a strike call on Josh Hamilton in the 6th. Right before Hamilton doubled with two strikes.
And later that inning, with two outs (instead of three), O'Nora blew another strike call on Michael Young, who hit a "3-1" pitch for a double and a second insurance run. Had the count been 2-2, Young would have been desperately trying to avoid a strikeout.
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PROPS TO MICHAEL PINEDA, who ... here, let's split this out.
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SLOPS TO MICHAEL SAUNDERS, who gathered himself and leaped at the wall in the 2nd inning -- as the ball bounced on the track two yards to his right.
Pineda was this gaffe, plus O'Nora's blown strike call on Hamilton, away from a shutout.
We're not making excuses, but it's not often that you bunch 5 hits, and no homers, to score 3 runs. The Rangers had 6 baserunners all night.
You think if the M's have 6 baserunners tomorrow morning, with no homers, they're getting 3 runs out of it? SLLLLLOPPPPPS!
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PROPS TO MILTON BRADLEY, who had a hit, a BB, and who has a 300/400/500 start going for himself.
PROPS TO ADAM KENNEDY, the other M on base twice. Kennedy's double was on a hard-breaking curve that was well inside off the strike zone.
The M's have three good middle infielders right now, none of them thinking about a 9-figure contract as is the kid in Cheney.
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SLOPS TO CHONE FIGGINS, who came up bases loaded 1 out, down 3-2, and who could have scored the runner with an out. He popped up on the infield.
This time there was no excuse; the pitcher was ordinary (Mark Lowe, who had given up 4 baserunners already in the inning). Figgins just didn't execute, and it was the ballgame.
Figgins is 3-for-21 with several plays like that.
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SLOPS TO PASCAL'S TRIANGLE again: on the next play in the 7th, 3 on 2 out, Milton Bradley's humpback liner juuuuust fell within reach of the CF Borbon, or the Mariners win the game.
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PROPS TO MICHAEL SAUNDERS, who had a gigantic base hit in the 7th inning.
Score 3-1, runners at 1st and 3rd, and Mariners fans wondering whether they should get back into the game .... Saunders lined a real tough pitch hard back into CF and in the space of three or four hitters, the M's win expectancy went from 12% to 50%.
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PROPS TO JAMEY WRIGHT, who early on is looking a little bit like Shigetoshi Hasegawa 2003. "Stability" isn't something that shows up in WAR, but the GM's think about it a lot.
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Par's a good score,
Dr D