M's 14, Twinkies 3
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HE WHO PUT HIMSELF SOLIDLY BACK INTO THE RAINIERS DERBY
Sorry, Yovani backers, Dr. D's cable went out at the best possible moment and he missed the first half of the game. Else the Mainframe would render appropriate homage to a 6 IP, 3 ER start that featured 5 whiffs, only 1 walk and (no real surprise here) 0 homers. No, this is not an urban legend. Documentation is searchable on the internet. It includes a ton of hard 2" by 12" cutting fastballs thrown with a big lead. Good on yer. It's a beginning, somethin' to build on.
Edit to add, Bob Dutton relayed a Yo-Ga nickname. Anyone who is able to chill during the flames of a 6.24 ERA richly deserves the nickname. (Sorry, can't help myself! Stop me before I bash again!) No, after last night he is Yo-Ga for four days. Hopefully he'll be Yo-Ga for four months ... well, for six weeks, anyway. Dr. D sees positive Yo-Ga :- ) starts and thinks in terms of drawing hapless enemy GM's in. Like a lurer fish with a dangly on its tongue.
Hey, we don't get anything else right, why would we get fish biology right. What are those fish called again?
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HE WHO GOT FOUR HITS
Mitch Haniger's 4-for-6 night left his OPS at a piddling 1.043. For the Klat non-sports writers who gaze at SSI at an utter loss as to why we dominate, but who like baseball a little bit, here's a primer. "1.043 OPS" means that Haniger is the 5th best hitter in baseball history. This is considered very desirable and is not very usual for a Mariner.
We see that these last two games were plenty to charm Bob Dutton all over again: "It's easy to forget he was the Mariners' best player" ...
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HE WHO SCORED THREE RUNS
Ben Gamel crossed home plate on three separate occasions ... by the fourth inning. This leaves his outcome-based evaluation at .330/.400/.452 as he hits the 1/3 pole, exactly, on a full season's 525 plate appearances. We were looking at Texas Leaguers and noticed the following hit chart:
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Beautiful, is it not? Also the chart makes it appear as if Gamel is 23-for-24 on fly balls pulled to the outfield. That can't be right, but the eyeballs have confirmed something occurring in that general realm, at least. If Gamel gets the ball airborne out in front, and the ball doesn't hit the first baseman or the second baseman, the pitcher is in deeeeeep deep trouble. This may have something to do with Benji's BABIP. This kid is tomahawking some SHOTS over there when he gets his pitch.
Of course, the reason we were at TL.com in the first place was to check Moe's complaint about Gamel and the way he gives away the first pitch every time. Well, not EVERY time: he swings at 13% of first pitches. That's compared to the 46% that is normal for baseball and the 40% that is normal for Gamel. He doesn't give away EVERY first pitch; he swings at one, like, every two or three games.
This actually implies an ability to improve for the young Gamel. Just gettin' started.
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HE WHO IS LIKED BY EVERY BODY
Zunino had yet another three hits and homer. Zoom (not Zuum) offered that he looks like he's getting a bit more control of things at the plate. Dr. D offers that Zoom looks positively QUICK at the plate; his early RBI single up the middle was swatted. That's what Teddy Ballgame would growl at Yaz when Yaz was in a slump: Be quick ... quick.
Honestly, Zunino looks quick to the zone. Not just by his standards but by anybody standards. ?Pitch recog? That's another thing. But Zunino is snake tongue quick right now, as if he's using a pepper swing. Except his pepper swing is hitting the back wall.
You wonder why they stay on this guy.
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HE WHO COULD OUT-HEAVE MATT THORNTON ANY DAY
The M's preview, linked below, points this out regarding James Pazos' fastball:
Entering Monday, Pazos had increased his strike rate (59.8 to 68.8 percent), batting average against (.400 to .221) and swinging strike rate (39.3 to 50.3 percent) dramatically on his sinker.
Give it up for Mel Stottlemyre Jr. This is a big one.
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BERGMAN VS GIBSON REMATCH
Here is the text preview and here is the stats preview. Here are the Shandler Pure Quality Start (PQS) totals for Bergman. These break a pitcher's K, BB, K/BB, H/IP and HR into an 0-5 scale where 3 means a quality start. It was used as a guide for fantasy baseball owners considering a trade and wanting to know if an SP had been throwing well the last month or so. Bergman's:
- 4 on June 8, missing only on IP and stamina
- 4 on June 2, missing on HR mistake avoidance
- 3 on May 28, missing on K's and CTL (hmmmm he got these scores all in different ways) (this was a shutout but not a lockdown in PQS terms)
- 0 on May 23 when he was fricaseed for 10 earnies
- 5 on May 17 vs Oakland when he had that 7.1 2 0 0 2 9 0 line
- 2 on May 12 when he only allowed 3 runs but did little right in terms of K's or hit prevention
Overall it's the picture of a guy you'd trade for to help you as a 3-4 starter in the near term. More than that you'd have to go to things other than PQS. Anyway it's super cool that his ERA is only 4.03 in 38 innings despite that Toronto game.
BABVA,
Dr D