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Ron Fairly told the story about 50 times on the M's network.  His '60's Dodgers teams would trot out for the first with Sandy Koufax on the mound, ready to battle for the lead because once they had it, there was no way he was losing it.

So ..... about the 2nd inning, the Dodgers would grovel a run and then somebody would go tell Sandy, "OK, THERE's your LEAD!"  with the semi-tongue-in-cheek idea that, why's it harder to hold a 4-3 lead than a 1-0 lead.  :- /

The M's inflicted that on Zeus yesterday.  Bottom of 2nd, one out, Kyle Seager blonked a long line drive into the corner for a long single.  Ryon Healy blonked a short single that fell in front of the CF.  And when Ben Gamel shattered his bat on a ball that fell in between the IF and OF ... well, there's your lead.  A soft RBI for sure.  

But Zeus was gettin' any more.  The Royals had some kid with a bad baseball face, throwing really good baseball pitches, and runs weren't gonna be found.

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And didn't need any more.  The remarkable thing about the game, for me, was the 3-pitch mix.  I do believe that was the most comfortable Paxton has been with all three pitches, with the possible exception of the 16-K game.  Would that be a sign of evolution?

He was 9-for-12 with the cutter-slider-fosh-slash and consistently threw it at the knees, to break below the zone, back foot to righties.  Importantly, he LOOKED ready to throw it at any time.  He looked like he wanted to throw the pitch.  On just the 12 of them, he drew 5 swings and misses.  (16/66 with the four-seamer, 2/7 with the 2-seamer, 3/25 with the curve which they consistentenly banged foul into the dirt.  But that's 26 swingthoughs in a single day.)

He was 18-for-25 in total strikes of all kinds with the hook, consistently keeping it either low, or outside.  .... you saw the fastball, averaging 97, max 99.6.  As usual, late in the game he went to his tasty mantra of "challenge at 98-99" and the Royals just kep' on a-swingin' thru.  As you can see by this Brooks map.

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One midgame worry:  he had thrown 71 pitches after 4, or about that, leaving him on pace for .... 6 innings.  How'd he get to 8?  You'll have to figure it out for me.  But when he did, he handed the ball straight to Sugar for the 1-2-3-strikeout inning.

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PLAYOFFS

The pesky rodent Angels, were they relevant, are 43-42 and also -11.0.  Let's hope the M's lay some REAL damage to their playoff 'hopes' this week (TIC)

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ALL-STAR GAME

I don't usually watch this game; do you?  And so confess to have zero feel whatsoever how many players Seattle, as a Big Four team, is going to see bypassed.  Help me out here?

1. Edwin Diaz is like 50 saves ahead of whoever's #2.  You pass him up how?
2. James Paxton is the #5 pitcher in the league, has the #5 FIP and xFIP to show you for it -- and is probably the league's most exciting pitcher.
3. Nelson Cruz looks purty good in cutoff shirts.
4. Mitch Haniger is #2 in RBI, still?
5. Jean Segura is #2 or #3 in AVG, still?
6. Don't forget ... {fill in the blank]

My working assumption is that the local, non East-Cost, Big Four team will see one perhaps two players elected.  But you may be of a differen't mind.

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UND TAKE ZIS MIT YOU, Dept.

Divish says this on Twitter:  #Angels starters for Seattle: Heaney, TBA, Skaggs. That means Barria is being skipped and TBA could be Richards.

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Divish puts another interesting info-graphic on Twitter that we'll throw onto D-O-V.

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So, you think Big Maple is getting betta?

Enjoy,

Dr D