5 Homers? Really?
=== Had You Noticed ===
The M’s have hit 12 home runs, and their opponents only 5 !
……………..
I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the only time in 30-odd years that the M’s pitchers had given up only 5 homers in their first 15 games. That is an extremely low number. That’s 560+ batters faced and only 5 homers?! That’s as if the average AL hitter got only five homers in a full season.
Average would be to have given up 17; The Orioles have given up 25, the Indians 24. For every 10 homers the league-average staff has given up, the Mariners have given up only 3 homers. The #2 team in the AL in homer prevention has given up about twice as many as the M’s have.
One very weird thing about the baseball we are watching, is that the other guys haven’t hit any balls over the outfielders’ heads. The other lineups are playing skee-ball :- ) … if the M’s hitters had performed to their career averages, the M’s would be about 12-3 right now.
……………..
If you knew exactly one thing about tomorrow afternoon’s game — that their opponents would not hit a home run (without knowing whether the M’s would or not) — you could bet the M’s as big odds-on favorites.
.
=== Is It Sustainable? ===
The last team to allow 0.3 homers a game in the American League probably played without mitts :- ) but Felix and Bedard are high-K ---- and ---- high-GB pitchers. The bullpen has hot arms, too.
Silva is historically about average in this category, not lousy, in part because he's a groundball pitcher. Washburn gives up homers, but doesn't have gopheritis. Unless the #5 SP (hopefully Jaka) personally cancels out Felix and Bedard, this is an HR-stingy pitching staff from the word Go.
The M's are #3 in strikeouts and also #3 in fewest walks, meaning they are throwing some seeds up there. The park helps, obviously.
It's going to be melancholy when other teams start hitting 3-run bombs :- ) and we revert to normal baseball, but with Felix and Bedard and the park, the M's could finish top-3 in the league in HR prevention. And that goes an awfully long ways towards winning games...
.
=== AL West ===
Oakland lost a crushing 5-hour game on a walkoff HR in the 14th.
Anaheim was up 8-7 late, but got pounded for a 5-spot in the 7th and lost almost as painfully as Oakland did.
Texas lost 8-7 in extra innings. Don’t you hate scoring tons, scoring inning after inning, getting excited and rejoicing in the pending win several times, and THEN losing?
So, the M’s had by far the best night in the division. :- ) They were losing in the top of the 1st and slowly pulled behind. Old Yeller didn’t suffer at all, Becky. His friends did get chewed by hydrophobic raccoon packs, however.
………………
It IS looking like 85-90 wins might take the division, and there’s not a thing wrong with that. Good teams lose games, slug it out, try to lose a coupla fewer than the other guys. The M’s are losing fewer than the other guys are.
See you at the ballpark,
Jeff