Andrew Richards
Sometimes it’s not fun to watch baseball games
Last night’s game was too depressing to write game notes about. Despite not having his stuff at 100 percent (and committing a terrible error in the first inning), King Felix still had us in position to win the game against a bad team in the Royals. Unfortunately for us, our offense loves to go into long stretches where everyone seems to forget how to hit. And so it was that the Mariners lineup made Kyle Davies, he of the 5.46 career ERA and 5.07 career FIP through 103 career games started, he of the 1.43 career K/BB ratio, look like Roy Halladay.
We’re now an eighth of the way through the season. Chone Figgins and Milton Bradley have been slumping for almost a month. If they’re still slumping two weeks into May, I’m going to get mighty close to calling it a drop off in talent level. If those two don’t hit (especially with our black hole of a DH-slot almost making me wish for the days of Jose Vidro), then Seattle doesn’t win. It’s that simple.… Continue reading
Game 19 Notes: Mariners 2, White Sox 3
I’m sure a lot will be made about Seattle losing three games in a row by late inning home runs. Today’s loss should not be blamed on pitching, however. No team, whether it be the Mariners, Yankees, or anyone else, can be expected to win while scoring only two runs. Yes, Brandon League gave up a killer late inning home run to Paul Konerko. Konerko has 334 career home runs. He’s a power hitter. He will hit home runs on occasion. Brandon League is a pitcher. Pitchers in fact do give up home runs from time to time. We didn’t lose because Konerko hit a home run. We lost because our offense isn’t very good. Thank god for Franklin Gutierrez, because if it wasn’t for him our offense would be absolutely terrible to watch instead of just mostly terrible.… Continue reading
Game 18 Notes: Mariners 4, White Sox 5
I’m going to make this short and sweet. That was just a killer loss. I can’t believe that just happened. Losing on a walk off home run is bad enough. For it to be the second game in a row is worse. For it to happen with a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the ninth is too much for me to handle at once. David Aardsma is an extreme fly ball pitcher. U.S. Cellular Field is maybe the easiest park in baseball to hit a home run in. The results shouldn’t be too surprising, but it still felt like a kick to the groin. Especially after how lucky we got in the top of the ninth (the fan who grabbed Kotchman’s single down the right field line is… Continue reading
LenDale White to Seahawks
I’m sure Casey or someone else will analyze this in much greater detail later in the day, but it looks like the Pete Carroll-USC monster has struck as Seattle gave Tennessee their 4th and 6th round picks of the draft for White.
I don’t know the relative value of 4th and 6th round picks, but it seems to me like that’s quite a lot to give up for a guy who averaged 3.7 yards per carry in his first four seasons and averaged only 3.5 last year. Color me skeptical.
Update:
Seattle picked up Defensive Tackle Kevin Vickerson in the trade as well. Vickerson’s played in 24 games for the Titans over a 3-year career, has 45 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and I literally know nothing else about… Continue reading
Game 17 Notes: Mariners 6, White Sox 7
Wow, that was a tough loss. Not just the fact that we blew multiple plays in the field that cost us runs, but that Andruw Jones, who has been essentially a corpse for the last few years, beat us with 2 home runs, including a walk off in the 9th. It’s just one game, so I’m not too upset, and considering how poorly Ryan Rowland-Smith pitched (yet again) it shouldn’t be that bad of a loss. But man, after Lopez hit that grand slam (off of J.J. Putz no less) I thought for sure we were going to win. At the end of the day, it’s a loss that probably should have happened, but it still feels bad because it seemed like it was going to be a win that… Continue reading
Jason Vargas and his Change-up
Through three starts, Jason Vargas has performed noticeably better than last season, despite having pretty much the exact same stuff. Through 18.1 innings, Vargas currently sports a FIP of 3.19, compared to last season’s 5.07 FIP and a career FIP of 4.95. How is this happening, and is it sustainable?
The 2010 version of Jason Vargas is simultaneously posting the highest K/9 and lowest BB/9 rates of his career (7.85 and 1.47 respectively). This, of course, has led to his incredible 5.33 K/BB ratio. Over the last five seasons, the league average K/BB rate has been almost exactly 2.00. Vargas’ current career high K/BB rate is 2.25 (from his 2009 Mariners campaign). Initially, I assumed that Vargas’ insanely high K/BB rate had more to do with small sample size… Continue reading
Game 16 Notes: Mariners 4, Orioles 1
What else can be said about Felix Hernandez that hasn’t been said already? The guy is just phenomenal. Felix completely shut down the Orioles on the way to his 8th career complete game. If it wasn’t for a horrible misplay in left field by Matt Tuiasosopo in the first inning that allowed Nick Markakis to get to second (yet more proof that Tui and defense don’t exactly go hand in hand), Felix probably would be looking at his 4th career shutout. He walked no one (something which Mariners pitchers not named Ian Snell and Ryan Rowland-Smith seem to have in common this year) while striking out 6 (including poor Justin Turner, who the King completely dominated). What truly impressed me yet again, however, was the amount of ground balls Felix… Continue reading
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Seriously, though, national media. Please go away and stop hyping Keith Price. He is supposed to be our dirty little secret.5 hours ago
Ichiro and Mariners Contemplate Self-Inflicted Face Punches in Cleveland http://t.co/9cvbimM85 hours ago
Ichiro and Mariners Contemplate Self-Inflicted Face Punches in Cleveland http://t.co/5hR0Nc2i5 hours ago
RT @Mr10K: Currently turning Northgate into NeemaLand. All the cool kids here talkin bout eighty4Fly. He's the landlord.6 hours ago
RT @Lockedonsports: On Jan 29th #Spurs went to 12-9 since then 43-7 (70 wins pace) , only 3 of those losses had Parker, Duncan and Manu playing in the game6 hours ago
Oh. Because Steve Sarkisian is one of the best quarterbacks coaches in the World. Makes sense. Two heisman winners, 4 first round picks.6 hours ago
It is starting to look like Keith Price is certainly not going to go under the radar. What the hell is it with Sarkisian QBs and NFL hype?6 hours ago
Rather have them follow VN. “@PhotoZach6040: not sure if you all know about this yet but now you can follow vandals with the govandals app"12 hours ago