Ricky Nolasco 2, Doug Fister 1

Q.  It can't be this yoo-gly.  In 6 of the last 8 games, they've been locked down to 0, 1, or 2 runs.  Bad luck?  "Untimely" hitting?

A.  Luck doesn't have anything much, we could say anything at all, to do with it.  They're this bad.

At first I went, hey, on Sunday they had 8 hits, six walks, and several rocked XBH's.  But only two runs... guess they're just playing in bad luck.

Nope:  Runs Created says that the last week they should have scored 11 runs, not the 13 they actually lucked into...

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Q.  What's the essential problem?

A.  They have three outfielders who hit like 1964 Dodgers shortstops.  

You can't have an OF-less lineup in the American League in 2011.  The other guys' outfielders are going to wallbang.  You'd better do the same.

***

And, they're playing with no DH, so there's a 4th bat gone.  

And they've hit some good (unfamiliar) pitchers ... Sanchez, the Phillies, they drew Haren and Weaver right before that.

No OF's, no DH, a string of good pitchers .... ever been in the shower with soap in your hair and eyes, and the water shut off?

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Q.  Why don't the outfielders hit any more?  We just checked and Carp - Halman - Peguero were combining for like a 130 OPS+.

A.  Eric Wedge pole-axed Carp and Halman like Steven Seagal clotheslining a Rastafarian.  In the last seven ballgames, he's allowed Carp-Halman-Cust a combined 10 at-bats.

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Q.  Why is that?

A.  Maybe it has been the Mariners' high-tech internal data.

I mean, Carp does have 11 strikeouts in 34 at-bats, and Halman has 7 strikeouts in 30 at-bats.  It's entirely possible that their hot/cold zone data, or something like that, has given the Mariners an insight into Carp's and Halman's inability to defend themselves.

Suddenly, in 2011, Eric Wedge and his tech-team are ---> miles ahead of us in assessing hitters' capabilities.  The blog-o-sphere has entirely failed to perceive this.

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Q.  Wedge is GOOD at evaluating hitters?

A.  Extremely.

The blog-o-sphere will object, that the Mariners aren't scoring runs, so how good can Wedge really be at identifying pitcher-hitter problems?

Here, SSI actually will go the academic PHIL 102 bilgewater ... and charge logical fail to the blogs.  Check your premises, Egbert.  What if no Mariner can hit?

Which is in fact the case.

***

But in fact, the M's have done a remarkable job of promoting Miguel Olivo to #4 --- > while Olivo was 2-for-20 ---> and the blogs jumping all over Wedge's back and --- > Olivo then hitting like 7 homers in June and then --- > the blogs hoping that nobody would notice what had just happened.

Wedge is consistently wringing the sponge out of what lemon juice there is, from Ryan or Olivo or Kennedy or whatever.  

Don't blame him for these balsa-wood bats.  He's got the M's at .500 and thinking they can win, despite  the tragedy of an 81 OPS+.

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Comments

1

Seems like when I'm lukewarm on Carp (which is usually) then he goes all gonzo smacking balls all around the yard, and just when you guys talk me into getting all excited about him, he's a complete non-factor.
His two highlight videos on him mlb.com page -- both with the glove.  There's an upset.
We really could use another guy who can get on base consistently and run a decent SLG.  Smoak and Ackley are it right now.

2
ghost's picture

Not playing gotcha...just letting you know...you may want to correct that title. Granted, we almost got beat by Nolasco on Friday and we DID get beat by VOLSTAD (ugh!!) on Saturday...but today, we beat Anibal Sanchez - their ace (1-0*). Fister just can't buy a win with this offense. :\

3

Of course, the interleague timing didn't do anything to help with the PT logjam.
I think the club wants Carp to replace Cust, at minimum, (which he really ought to be good enough to do), and get an idea of what his upside is with a more reasonable audition than his previous cups of coffee.  The bizarro Florida there's-no-place-like-home series just helps to confuse the reality.
My own view is that they judged that Peguero's problems (whatever they may be), are best served working on against MLBers, not in Tacoma.  Yes, he's a project ... but he's still more attractive than another 5 months of Bradley.
Halman came up because Guti "must" have a legit CF backing him up -- (the club saw the horror of playing the non-legit CF Langerhans in April, and the disasterous impact that had on the pitching staff).  I'd bet the club would rather have left Halman down and let Saunders be a #4 --- except Saunders pretty much proved he's not even a #4.
I don't buy into Carp's first 30 PA results any more than I buy into Halman's.  But, how much Carp rises and Halman falls ... only time will tell.  But, time can only tell if they get those 250+ PAs. 
For me, I think Peguero and Carp are up "for the count".  They prove they belong this year (by September), or not.  Halman is the only one of the three I think the club wants in AAA.  I think the Guti situation is the sticking point there.  Then again ... Halman has been great so far ... so maybe they saw something fixed that wasn't fixed long enough to show up in the stats.
Me?  I'd rather see the prospects this year than chase what might be an extra 50 points of OPS from a 'reliable veteran'.  (I really think Jack's 2011 season would be much, much simpler if Texas would just go ahead and run off a 10-game winning streak and remove the temptation --- but I get why it's so tempting).

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