Branyan in the 2 Slot
... 2 slot, both in the batting order, and in the Mariners' 2010 offensive priorities. We hope.
It's been really neat to see Don Wakamatsu use his beefy 1B in the #2 hole -- when his beefy 1B is his only hitter (other than Ichiro). The common idea is to put your Jack Clark in the #4 hole, so that two or three guys can be on for his homers.
But there are going to be 1.7 men on per homer, more or less, whatever you do -- so why not put the Big Gun on Indiana Avenue, where all the RBI situations pop up?
Kudos to Tom Tango's site for pointing out that the #2 hole is the one in which you get the most tokens coming through, and kudos to Wok for acting on it. I love seeing Ichiro get on, and then suddenly realizing there's a howitzer behind him. You get to pretend you have a great offense for one inning.
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If there was ever a TEAM that was made for the 2-hole strategy, it's this one. They have two real good hitters, so batting them #1-2 is gloriously sabermetric (Branyan could get 50+ more PA's in the 2 slot than the 5 slot). There will be MANY games in which Branyan gets 5 PA's instead of 4, because of the lineup switch. That's a great extra dice roll at an HR that decides these 1-1 games.
Ichiro's a speed burner and Branyan's lefthanded. It's tough on the defense.
On most teams, the hitters are more balanced. You move a guy around, you give up 10 RBI here, but gain 10 runs there. Not the Mariners. They have two hitters, and they're going to max their AB's.
You gotta love it.
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=== NINTH INNINGS Dept. ===
Once again, Don Wakamatsu brought David Aardsma into the 9th inning of a tie game on Friday. As we've all moaned about before, previous managers would always "hold" their closers in tie home games... apparently not noticing that beginning with the top of the 9th, a closer can't save a home game. :- )
I doubt that Mike Hargrove had never noticed this. But he evidently liked for his closers to get "Saves" when they came in.
Wok not only brings his closer into tie games, but he does it immediately. He doesn't wait and see if the 10th or 11th rolls around. He brings in his closer and tries to win right there, in the bottom of the ninth.
Have you noticed the clubhouse joke that the Mariners have? Each time a guy gets a walk-off hit, he gets pounded worse and worse. Wok has the M's playing tough in close games. Things like "closer in the top of the 9th" are the reason.
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=== GRAND SLAM Dept. ===
What was it, the 9th or the 10th on Friday? Twins on first and third, 1 out ... PITCHOUT! And slap me silly, the Twinkie batter lunged at the ball to try to salvage a busted suicide squeeze.
Calling pitchout on the very play that the other team tries a squeeze? In extras? To save the game? That's a managerial equivalent of a grand slam home run to walk off.
Wlad botched the fly ball, but that isn't why the M's lost. They lost because the offense puts too blinkin' much pressure on the run prevention unit. Every run allowed is a catastrophe.
We hold 'em to 1 run in 9 innings and don't win, hey. It's Saunders time, baby.
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=== GIVE IT UP Dept. ===
Completing his Tri-Tri-Fecta on the week, Wok was able to bask in Erik Bedard's announcement that he loves Seattle and they now have rrrrrrrrreally good coaches.
I didn't automatically marry Don Wakamatsu just because he came from the A's and is saber-literate. I wanted to know, can he lead men, can he judge talent, is he willing to make the in-season changes that need to be made. I wasn't quick to jump on his bandwagon. It takes a lot to become Walter Alston, as opposed to John McLaren.
After watching him for a few months, I'm tremendously impressed. I am a Don Wakamatsu fan. He looks like a 21st-century manager to me.
Cheers,
Dr D
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