Stoploss
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STOPLOSS, adj.
Finance denoting or relating to an order to sell a security of commodity at a specified price in order to limit a loss
Military denoting or rleating to a policy of forcibly retaining members of the armed forced on active duty beyond their orginal agreed period of enlistment
Baseball making sure that silly slop doesn't happen, like Jesus Sucre pitching in the middle of a real baseball game, or having four passed balls in a row, or a routine 6-3 grounder turn into a 3-run homer, or seeing 8 runs in the first inning of a Felix start, or such like
Entertainment anticipating the lack of success of a local franchise, and transferring emotional attachment to those areas of life more likely to reward investment
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In Friday's game:
1) Felix threw two fastballs to Jose Altuve for an 0-2 count. He then threw an 0-2 changeup that broke down from knees to middle of shins, as shown by the lead pic off MLB.com game view.
1a) Altuve rolled the ball -- he didn't ground-ball it; he rolled it -- out to Willie Bloomquist at short. Had Willie been gazing off into the stands at a Colt .45 vendor, the ball would have rolled into his left ankle.
2) What Willie actually did was -- nervously -- schhhoooop the ball up with one hand, take 2.5 crow-hops toward first, and side-arm a short one-hopper to Logan Morrison.
2a) The reason you take an extra crow-hop is to provide extra insurance on the throw: with your body aligned perfectly, your chance of throwing straight goes up a bit.
2b) If I recall correctly, Willie had thrown a couple away lately.
3) At any rate, Altuve was safe. Running from the far batter's box, he was safe by at least a step.
This is the kind of play where, if it is happening in high school tryouts, you make a tight red little line through the player's name: not enough arm for shortstop.
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Felix, who had thrown 3 excellent pitches to Altuve to open the game, then walked Preston Tucker on four pitches nowhere near the strike zone. The idea here, amigo, if you're slow on the uptake, is that Felix is thinking 'WHAT IF THEY HIT ANOTHER BALL TO SHORTSTOP? WHAT HAPPENS THEN?'
Felix threw two more pitches to George Springer, both WIILLLD, and Mike Zunino made the amazing decision to visit the mound. In the third batter of a Felix start. With one ground ball batted into fair play against him to that point.
Felix' next pitch was hit past Logan Morrison for a double. Another 1B might have had it. Make a note; we'll come back later.
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Evan Gattis then bounced one over Felix' head, which Felix JUMMMPED for and glommed on to. Then he whirled and fired in the general direction of home plate. "Preston Tucker scores. George Springer scores. Evan Gattis to 2nd. None out."
Rick Waits visited the mound. Didn't help. Colby Rasmus walked. The 3-2 pitch missed by the width of home plate.
A batter later, Luis Valbuena (.181 AVG) hit a 3-run shot and from there, the Mariners were waiting for it to be over. On Thursday, the Mariners mailed in the getaway game and on Friday, they mailed in the game after the 1st-inning deficit.
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SAID ALL THAT TO SAY THIS
Managers and coaches do a whale of a lot of invisible stuff for you. On the odd days the stuff becomes visible, it makes you appreciate them that much more.
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SUBPLOTS
It was interesting that on the day Willie Bloomquist got the start at "shortstop" -- so Brad Miller could avoid a left hand pitcher -- McClendon also selected Rickie Weeks for LF and Mark Trumbo for RF. This has happened many, many times that I have noticed, that no-glove bat-first lineups have been deployed together.
Right now the Mariners are at -14 runs saved in the outfield, although they are at =0 in right field specifically. (We're going to assume that nobody cares enough about the argument that 'Cruz was worthless in May' enough for us to spend a post on it.) The M's have bat-first complexes to deal with, and it takes a delicate touch to make it work out against your groundball / flyball pitcher and the lineup he's facing.
But the defense does bear watching. Keep your eye on whether the M's have 1.5 good defensive OF's on days Taijuan is pitching, on whether the infield is sturdy when Felix is out there, stuff like that.
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The fact that the M's slumped, and their chests collapsed, so easily on both Thursday and Friday wasn't a good sign. They've got an air of "What's going to go wrong next." Perhaps this whole attitude -- expecting things to foul up -- was catalyzed by Cano's frustration with his own strike zones and his line drives into leather. The M's were awfully unlucky for two months, and it's not going to be easy to shake it off.
I'm not calling for the firing of Lloyd McClendon, and it wouldn't matter if I were. It's just that at Boeing, they don't care whether it's your fault. You bring in the results, on time, on budget, or they swap you out. No moral implications need apply.
BABVA,
Dr D