M's 6, Braves 5
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ANDREW ALBERS
There is one (1) blog in captivity, at which you can say --- > a cliche spoken is a truth spoken. And here's the cliche: Andrew Albers commanded his slowball. Here, dig this Inside/Outside strike zone:
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In other words, if you turned the left hand batters around as if they were hitting from the right side, this is the catcher's point of view. Another way to say that is: the above is catcher's view on the RHB's and it's pitcher's view on the LHB's. That's quite the plot of slowballs that are (1) low-away or (2) in on the hands, backing the hitters up, so they can't just lean out to adjust the vision on the away pitches so they're centered.
The plot is the more glee-inducing when you consider that it includes not only the 54 slowballs but also
√ 16 sliders at -9 MPH
√ 7 eephus curves at almost -20 MPH
√ 9 changeups at -9 MPH
It cracks me up. If Andrew Albers were to throw those pitches every time, he'd get through the lineup twice every time. Included in that guarantee, gentlemen, are playoff games. The Braves needed 4-5 errors (scored and not scored) in order to even get the runs off Albers that ithey did. I got your blonkable pitches right here, b'wana.
Hey, don't get the 'Frame wrong. It ain't saying Albers would throw like this again. But we needed 2-of-4 in Paxton's stead, and here's 2-0. Complaints? None, sir? In that case, the mandatory gratuity is 25% for all tables of eight plus, and for all tables requesting competent fillin for James "Zeus" Paxton.
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JOHNNY BULLPEN
Dr. D could also get used to this Tony LaRussa hyper-hook shtick. It's got him seriously wondering. Would you rather have (A) a quality starter like Sonny Gray? Or would you rather have (B) a stealth unscouted scrub 4.0 plus innings and then 12-15 outs from a flamethrowing bullpen?
You realize there has been the odd elimination playoff game where a manager ran a surprise AAA scrub out to start, and then bullpenned his way through the rest of the game. This starter would be called "Johnny Bullpen."
We're not exactly sure where Johnny Bullpen would be rated in BJOL's Starting Pitcher Rankings. Dr. D only knows he is thrilled with it. ... the more credit to Dipoto and Servais because in principle, they are biased towards LONG starts.
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Hey, youse guys help ME out here. Can the M's ride this bullpen for 30-odd games? In view of the Cheney Carousel, in view of Zeus' and Felix' possible returns, in view of the fact that RP's like Scot Shields used to go 100 innings? Is it a shibboleth that the modern short man must be limited to 60 innings, a shibboleth the M's can now bust to their advantage? Or you think Nick Vincent will flame out?
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David Phelps is supposed to be imminent, correct?
I didn't hear why Mr. 100 MPH Vieira was sent down after his successful debut. Just rotating? Or what was the deal there?
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YONDER ALONSO
First two pitches on this vid rat cheer, he effortlessly pulls two high-90s fastballs for smoked doubles. High-90's. Effortlessly. His talent was always pedigreed; the question has been, can he get some air on the ball. His swing's a little top-swingy, back hand coming off like a tennis player.
I don't buy launch angle (much), but do buy into intent. Alonso's stated intent (now) is to get some air. Is that something you can intend to do? You be da judge. But Dipoto did swap for Alonso to this end, to do some damage, and without him we're brooding about a loss this a.m.
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MISCELLANY
The AL Wild Card 2 totem pole has 5 teams perfectly lined up by 1/2s from +4 games to =0 games. Very feng shui.
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The Twinkies are the +4 team, and are the team we M's fans would PREFER to chase. True, the White Sox are forty or fifty below 500, so nominally we'd rather chase them. But the Twinkies are -44 runs differential'ed and that ain't bad either.
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The last month, Guillermo Heredia is the M's most productive hitter after Boomstick. Leonys Martin continues to annoy not only Mo' Dawg but all true lovers of the game with his missing-the-cutoff-man, swing-through-fastballs routine. He's a great guy we're sure but Haniger's back, right? :: shrug ::
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On Tuesday, Marc-O Gonzales will try to give us 2.1, 2.2 IP minimum and I like his chances, especially if he follows up on last start's 50% offspeed ratio.
Play ball,
jemanji