Ms 8, Rangers 1
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ROYALS, RANGERS, RAYS RIPPED
One of two things will occur now: (1) the Twinkies will hit a rough spot, in which case the M's are right there. or (2) the Twinkies will play well and be in the playoffs. The beane count:
- Minny +7
- LAA +3
- Sea = and finish with a series vs LAA
- KC -1
- Tex -1
- Balmer -2
- Tampa -3
Counting our blessings here, would be that the M's don't have to maneuver the car through a pack around the turn. We made it back to Felix and Zeus, chasing one non-Minny team (against whom we finish up).
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MIKE LEAKE
Going to write a post about him later Thursday. The Mainframe is "meh" with him as a #3 starter, but if you can get a solid .500 man going as your #4 guy then that is of course a plus for any team. Leake does +3 things on the mound that Christian Bergman cannot, that Chase De Jong cannot, that Yovanni Gallardo cannot, for that matter. On the other hand there is -1 thing that Mike Leake does WORSE than a good AAA pitcher. Can you guess the +3 and -1? Get all four right and we'll fix the ACTIVE THREADS button for you. Oh, wait! Somebody already got all 4!
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Also, when Leake got here there was a lot made of his 1H and 2H splits the last two years. They looked convincing at the time, but as it turns out it was just one of those things. Check Leake's velocity graph from last night:
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Which is a metaphor for his contribution to this team. One more reminder that --- > when you're shown a convincing-looking stat, don't forget to check the action wit' yer eyes too.
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ZUUMBALL
Four True Outcomes baby. He worked two walks. Also, Martin Perez came into the game on a Paxton-like streak having 7 personal W's in his last 7 starts. He threw Zunino a hard curve ball, knee high, you know how the ball splits the knee line on the tracer. Zunino hit it 459 feet to give the M's the lead.
Later in the game, Zunino saw a 94 MPH fastball and hit it out to right-center on a line. This video gives you both of 'em. Would you believe that his slugging average is .507 on the season?! You do realize that on May 22 of THIS season, he was batting .167/.250/.236 with 0 homers?
Meaning that since his callup May 23, he had batted .262/.338/.553 -- before last night's 10 bases. He's got 23 homers in those 87 games since his callup and even the HR scatterchart is gorgeous.
Stunningly, Mike Zunino's 2017 slugging average is #18 in the league, right behind Marwin Gonzalez and Miguel Sano, just ahead of Manny Machada and Edwin Encarnacion.
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ICHI-BALL
In the critical 7th inning Wednesday, Kyle Seager came up with the bases loaded and battled the count deep. Then he got a low-away fastball, dipped his knees, and lined a shot over the shortstop. A bad throw or two later, the runners were all in and K-Swag stood on third. A giant phantom Ichiro cloud formation looked down from behind RF approvingly.
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MISCELLANY
Mitch Haniger took one of those blurry-fast snap swings and lined a 4-iron off the very top of the 19-foot wall in left. Robbed of a home run.
Jean Segura looks like he's starting to swing the bat well.
Here's an article on Shohei Otani: he wants to be posted, his team says he'll post him, everybody bids $20M, he picks the team he wants, IceX says that means an AL team so he can hit. Otani could make $250M if he waits two years; he'll make the league minimum or so if he comes right away. I believe the contract language can make a free agent out of him after three, so ... point of the article, it's simply up to the Mariners to convince him Seattle is the nicest opportunity for him. Very odd case.
The Astros moved up Verlander for Sunday's game against the M's.
BABVA,
Dr D