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Lookout Landing

3/5: Open Game Thread

Listen live at 12:05. Alternatively you can pay attention to the exhibition between the Astros and team Panama. Panama went 0-3 in the last WBC, losing to the Netherlands 10-0 in a seven inning mercy rule affair, so that game should be pretty even.

Here are your Mariner and Angel lineups. Ryan Feierabend did have Tommy John surgery yesterday, by the way, so he's done for the year. Also, Griffey might be the only person capable of convincing the media that they talk too much about Griffey.

Sitting in front of his locker afterward, Griffey said his first game with the Mariners after being away for 10 seasons "was fine" and he's still "trying to take everything in stride."

He also tried to downplay the significance of his contribution to the festivities.

"I think you guys [media] put too much effort into making this such a big story," he said.

"I understand it a little bit, but the focus should be on this team, not one guy. It's a Spring Training game. It's about doing the little things and getting this team ready to go north. It's not one person. It's 25 guys."

The best part is how this is the one time all year the media won't hang on every word he says.

0 recs  |  318 comments

Comments

Now THAT'S the Griffey I remember

he’s rounding his media distaste into midseason form. Sweet.

Yay Cedeno is getting OF time

Here’s hoping he’s really good out there

Has to be better than Morse and LaHair.
If Cedeno can be an awesome fielding LFer that's all the more reason to never ever put Griffey out there
Unless he becomes part of our starting IF.
Unless Bentencourt does horribly and Cedneno continues his tear he is not taking over for him.
I hope Betancourt returns to his old form,

but if he doesn’t I’ve about had it with him.

2005 defense and 2007 offense would be "returning to form"...seems unlikely...
I know (unfortunately)..
How do you know that Z is sure Betancourt is his starting SS?

He’s a below average bat and defender, Cedeno is a below average bat and good defender. I think Z is gonna take the guy he thinks is best for the job and discuss with Wak who the starting SS is. I’m not totally convinced it’s Yuni’s job to lose….

I agree.

Z and Wak have both said nobody’s job is safe. New regime, we could see some changes.

I'd bet it's Betancourts job to lose, and I doubt 100% of the playing time will go to Cedeno

but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 50-50 split or so at the start of the spring with the better performer gradually overtaking the other

I don't care about ST,

it’s who is the starting SS in opening day…

I mean once the season starts

If Cedeno has a good spring and Betancourt doesn’t I’d bet for the first few months PT gets split pretty evenly between the two

Z turned around and dealt Heilman for Cedeno/Olson to light Yuni's ass on fire

And if it turns out he doesn’t take it seriously, well…there’s always the Royals!

I'd rather he just play SS, honestly...
I'm gonna give the new administration the benefit of the doubt here

and at least wait for confirmation that Yuni is as fat and out of shape as last year.

Just because he's getting the bulk of his PT at SS doesn't mean he can't spot start in LF with Betancourt at SS
If he's the starting SS, does Betancourt even make the team?
I think so

We still need a backup infielder and Cedeno isn’t going to be playing 162 games

Can Yuni play other spots?
Of course he can, he's a SS
He's got a little experience at 2nd

But Cedeno is versatile so Betancourt can play SS and Cedeno can move wherever

I'm sure he can play 2B and he could probably handle 3B as well.
He's got enough arm to play third.
What would they do with him?

I think Betancourt will have to be traded or fail in the regular season to lose his job.

Can he be sent down?

:)

I really doubt it.
He has 2 option years left if I'm not badly mistaken
Maybe some time back at the minor league spread would get him back in shape.

They feed him too well at the major league level.

He was a ~average SS as little as one season ago.

Yeah he sucked last year, but it’s possible he regains some lost value this year.

My felling is that

Betancourt is first in line for the job but he is in no way guaranteed it, and boy i hope we trade him

Samesies.

I still believe that there’s at least one GM out there who could use a MIFer and thinks Betancourt has value.

Cedeno could be a full win better.
Best case maybe, sure.
Best case would be more like 2 wins
That would imply Cedeno is a league average SS and Betancourt is replacement level.

I don’t think either one of those things are true.

Cedeno's Chone projection is quite good

It’s not impossible that he’d be a 3 win player

Using his CHONE and assuming league average defense

I’m getting 1.35.

Hmmm

They must have changed it.

I thought is was something like .280/.330/.420

His CHONE wOBA is .308.
Yeah I just saw that.
Paging Dayton Moore
Aaaand Panama is kicking ass.

M’s minor leaguer Manuel Campos hasn’t pitched in the game, however.

Joba rocked by Canada

0 innings pitched, 1 hit, 4 BBs, 5 runs, all earned. Wow.

This pleases me
Mark Teahen is Canadian?
I was under the impression he was a Californian.
He is.

Canadian parent, I think.

The rules are really loose.

He could have a Canadian great grandparent or something. I think Caple did an article on espn.com about it.

Did Piazza ever end up playing for team Italy the last go around?
I think he played for them in the Olympics, but not in the WBC.
Ahhh I see.
It's probably his impersonator

Joba is still sleeping at the hotel because nobody told him he was pitching today

Is the game on the radio today?
Nope, but will be tomorrow, I think.
This makes many words come to mind, and none of them should be used in polite company.
Is the internet an option?
It is if I don't have to subscribe to anything.
Jeff linked to it
Thought you had to be signed up for something to use that.

I’ll go check it out.

All I'm getting is a bunch of background noise...
That is what is known as a commercial break
Yeah

That was a little weird. I’ve never listened to a game in this format before…and you can still hear that damn horn.

So no commercials, the mic is just always on...
It leads to occasional hilarity
I'm getting the game

Announcer got quiet for a second. Listening to the beer guy yelling “ice cold beer here” while it’s raining and overcast sucks

I got it now,

but still crappy sound quality. Better than nothing though.

Whoa

I had no idea you could get this without paying. Well this is annoying, I have to have the window in the foreground for the audio to stay on.

Really?

Mine’s hidden and I still get audio.

Linux FTL
I used to be a Linux person

then I decided that I was lazy and didn’t want to tinker that much.

It's gotten much better

I used to be a big Gentoo person, but that definitely requires tinkering. I now have Ubuntu on my laptop and it’s much easier, and most things “just work.”

I have ubuntu

on my Dell Mini 9 and it “just works”.

It seems to depend on the game, and the broadcaster.
It does indeed

I’d kill for some Rice n’ Roll about now…

I don't know what that is,

but for some reason it made me hungry.

Cool, thanks.

I was having the same pityparty re: the broadcast. Although, does this mean we’ll have to hear Rex Hudler?

the radio/tv broadcast schedule is here

No Hudler

but Physioc.

Did anyone catch during the China Japan game

how the announcers talked about Ichiro stepping up and being a leader in the team Japan club house. I found this amusing.

Eh.

It’s probably just cultural differences – what is defined as leadership might be different in Japan…

Except these announcers were Americans.
Yeah, but I'm sure they were getting their info from the team.
Steve Physioc!
...as the color guy!
Ibanez is gone?!?!?!?!?!

Boy I sure hope that Griffey and Branyan can combine to hit 20 HRs

Ow goddammit my ears watch your audio levels you MLB.TV jackasses
*mlb gameday
Anybody watching this (if it's even being broadcast)?

How’s Bedard looking?

Ask Physioc
All he's interested in is Wak's heritage, wow.

I’m not expecting much after he called an offspeed pitch ‘a nice offspeed pitch by Bedard’. C’mon already, changeup, curveball, give me something.

Assume curveball
His curve is so pretty, I'd let him eat crackers in bed
Rec'd for eat crackers in my bed.
♪ Set on you ♪

♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ ♪ Set on you ♪ etc.

This is a new kind of comment
Welcome to my internal monologue from 5 minutes ago
Damn you George Harrison get out of my head
Something new for us to rape!
標準語
Nice job Kendrick.
Physioc and the other dude

sure are in love with Tui.

Even if stumbling over his name
Physioc is surprised that Chris Woodward is a NRI?
These guys have 0 clue

about our roster construction.

"It had a chance to be damage"
CC % Texiera are always slow starters

Prove him wrong kids, prove him wrong

Wow

The Lady Bedard is in his third inning!

Bearded lady?
Couldn't make it 3

what a Vagina.

The Angels say Cedeno sucks defensively
The Angels have the most hilariously bad OF defense in the majors.
The sky is blue
Roses are red
I hate that phrase
Yep!

I’m looking forward to really seeing it in action. Cedeno might be a better corner OF than anyone they’ll be running out there.

Did they just say Washburn is a question mark for the fifth spot?
I think they said

Felix, Bedard, Washburn, probably RRS, and a question mark for 5th

Announcers must haven’t have heard of Carlos Silva or Brandon Morrow.

Gotcha. I read a sports article the other day said Silva!/Bedard were going to lead the staff.

No mention of Felix, or anybody else, couldn’t believe it.

Who the hell is Tyson Gillies?
Some really fast dude we don't need to care about

He’s been pinch running a lot- he’s not an NRI

Gillies is a Cfer for the aquasox. He is a decent prospect with good athleticism, but much like all the mariners prospects lacks plate discipline. As a side note he is also totally deaf. I believe he is currently 19 or maybe 20

Is he actually a prospect though?

I think he’s just young very long shot roster filler

He's not making the team out of ST is that's what you mean.
No I mean I don't think there's more then a 1% chance he ever makes a major league roster
He's on the Future 40.

Under the heading “Projects — Projected Contributors, Several Years Away”

Interesting

I guess I’m underrating him then

The odds are still stacked against him ever making the majors though.
Good thing he didn't hear you say that...
Gillies in LF? Why? Is Cedeno OK?
Wow...

that last play (not the base hit) sounded damn near disastrous…

Announcers

Are making me sleeeeepy……zzzzzzzzzz………..

Does Gootch play a shallow centerfield?
I approve of this nickname.
Is this a reference to Scrubs?
Nah, went to H.S. with about 5 kids named Gutierrez

The one that played on the baseball team was nicknamed Gootch, and I’ve started calling our guy that in my head.

I see,

Every time I hear the name Gootch, I associate it with a ukulele playing girl dating a very sad lawyer

it appears...

that you are correct…good lawd, these announcers have voices that’ll put me to sleep!

I wish the MLB would allow for the trading of draft picks.
Fans don't care about the MLB draft because players who get drafted don't make it to the majors for a couple years

Nobody cares about trading draft picks

Pretty much

in the NFL and NBA you get a guy who almost always is going to be contributing the next year. At least with your top 3 picks in the NFL.

I'm not so hot sorting stats, but dang if I can find a worst defensive outfield
Crap, reply fail to acblue on Angels outfield
I read that as "I got so hot sorting stats..."
Only out of rage because I'm so slow at it. Everybody makes it look so easy all the time

I keep dinking at it, figure repetition will make it easier.

Um, yeah...

I read it as “I’m not so into sorting hats”…..

Jesus. Am I still drunk?

The Rockies are pretty bad, depending on who plays LF.

Tigers are no great shakes either.

It could be Ian Stewart to start the season, so who knows how that will work out?
Giambi, Long, Justice?
Grieve, Long, Stairs?
Wise, Griffey, Dte?
The A's are so stupid
They were leave average players!
Terrence Long was a pile of dookie
Well sure, in the years he was terrible.
Is that the '01 A's? I was only looking at this year.
2002

Damon was there in ’01

How about Ibanez-Long-Giambi? There's a natsy combination.
It probably about the same as having Greive or late career Justice
There's no Justice.

It’s just us.

I would argue he is indeed real.

This is blocked for me, but I think I know what it is.

Cock.

I hate you.
You love to suffer
I have a full length version lying around somewhere
Aha!

Ibanez-Greive-Cust

Martinez, Ortiz, Thomas,
Ortiz plays the outfield?

That is pretty vile.

I figured as long as we weren't talking about real outfields...
except replace Edgar with Mo Vaughn
Late-career Tony Gwynn.
Then you may as well throw Bartolo Colon circa 2006 out there.
Silva-Silva-Silva?
How about 9 Silvas?

And Silva DHing.

This is the second time

I’ve heard announcers NOT involved with the Mariners be so preoccupied with Jakubauskus’ name. It is also the second time I’ve heard them spell it…and then completely mangle it.

People's inability to pronounce names of (what should be) fairly familiar origins baffles me.
This, in addition to the on-air act of xenophobic ignorance are very obnoxious.

I am especially bothered by the fake stabs at pronouncing names as a joke “Let’s see now, what is this kid’s name, Jacoobisklausklas?” ::Announcing partner chuckles::

Perhaps having an easy to pronounce but constantly mangled last name has made me a wee bit twitchy about this

but it’s one of my biggest pet peeves.

Well my last name is Bender, so that's never been screwed up.

I just can’t stand to see people reinforce the stereotypes of xenophobic Americans.

You're a robot?
I think you mean robit
Bite his shiny metal ass.
Yup. I'm an alcohol swilling, cigar smoking kleptomaniac robot.

While that would really require my last name to be Rodriguez, but I won’t split hairs.

Dave really struggled with the Korean names yesterday.
I'm willing to make more of an exception for Asian names

because they’re far less common than Polish names. And when Dave can’t pronounce a name, he sounds embarrassed.

He definitely wasn't playing it for laughs or anything.

But the name wasn’t that hard. Out here, I think Asian names are much more common than Eastern European ones.

My last name is Wood

And people constantly manage to mess that up (usually as Woods, but there have been some bizarre abuses). I think people just like to mispronounce names subconsciously.

Wooed
I once had a teacher ask me how to spell it

W-o-d-e or W-o-o-d. I’m sure if it actually was Wode I would have been incredibly impressed, instead I was befuddled

Oh well, we should all just go home, then.

Apparently, no one thinks they will pass either Oakland or Texas this year. And they did nothing much over the off-season. Aside from all those new people they brought in.

I don't know if it's THAT bad, but you guys definitely have an uphill climb.

Still, there’s no reason you couldn’t compete if things shake out right. You have a solid 1-2 if Bedard’s healed up (and he sounded good today). Your bullpen’s OK. Your lineup could end up being pretty good, especially if Clement is given the green light and he finds his bat.

Wow way to make losing Sexson and Vidro sound like the worst thing ever
These guys are ass hats.

Talking about all the players we lost and not giving any props to who we got back in the trades. I don’t usually listen to out-of-market feeds though, so maybe it’s normal for the home announcing crew.

HA!

I was noticing that, too – like it was such a shame that we don’t have either of them anymore.

So if the M's don't have a dedicated closer, do they have to carry an extra bullpen arm?

If they go the route of bullpen by committee. If the answer is yes there will be a follow up question.

I think someone in the stands

is heckling ‘reeeeeeeeeeee-gie’ (emphasis on the long e).

They sell cocktails at the Sports Complex.
They sell giant Coronas for $10
Who's pitching right now?
Chris Jakubaukus?
*Jakubauskas*

It’s Lithuanian.

Lithuanian. I'll be jiggered.
No one seems to have a problem with pronouncing Ilgauskas. This is no harder.
It is if you're from Los Angeles....

Apparently…

Illgauskas has less syllables.
One less syllable.
"Past a diving Tuiasosopo"
Matt "Cannonball" Tuiasosopo
Reverse one and a half somersaults with three and a half twists, in the Free position.
Who is Vega?
I was noticing his name on the roster yesterday, too.

Dunno.

I think we aquired him in the Putz deal
Nope

He’s been around for a long t ime it seems like

Marwin Vega?

He’s been around a while.

I thought so

I remember seeing him ont he minor league side of Spring training in 2005 or 2006

The guy with the Wolverine claws and the corny mask.
Yay I haven't heard anyone talk about Texarkana in several months
As in the town?
yes
Why would anyone bring up Texarkana?
Talking about some Angel pitcher's home town
I think I would actually rather live in Texarkana than Anahiem.
I would rather live anywhere on the planet outside of Ann Arbor, Mich. than Anaheim
South Central?
Fresno?
I'd rather live in Anahiem.
Anywhere on the planet

My bottom two places are Anaheim, Calif. and Ann Arbor, Mich.

South Central California or Fresno are pretty far down the list though

Depends upon where in South Central

the further south you go from USC the less I would be willing to live there.

Also it technically isn’t called south central anymore.

We may very well be in agreement on this.

Although Ann Arbor doesn’t bother me.

That's where you pick up the beer!

I love Hal Needham.
I'm pretty sure I go for years at a time without hearing people talk about Texarkana.
20,000 miles to an oasis?
First Cactus League loss looming closer.....
The Angel broadcasters are laughing at the plight of Seattle sports.

“….then the Sonics left town”
“hahahaha…….how did Seattle Pacific do? haha”

Not cool.

Oh

apparently they’ve been doing this for a while. Guess I should read the rest of the thread before I post.

Yeah

They’ve been taking little jabs the entire time…

They do have to live in Anahiem though.
No there's plenty of other options nearby...
All of them are terrible.

you’re right: Everett ~ Newport Beach.

I hate Southern California with the exception of San Diego.

I wouldn’t live in Everett if you paid me either.

You probably just need a better tour guide

Laguna Beach can be rather charming too.

Huntingon Beach is cute too.
Nope, I just really don't like Southern California.

Just personal preference.

Not a fan of the Sprawl???

I guess I can’t blame you. I spent a few years in Costal Oregon, and my brother lives in Snohomish, I can see how a life time Pac NW’er would have a hard time loving it down here…

Not a lifetime PNWer, but yeah. I can't deal with sprawl.
Have you spent a lot of time there?

As a NW guy, I always detested the idea of it, and going to college in the midst of The Sprawl made me happy to move away, but there really are some decent aspects to the place.

There are decent aspects to Nebraska too.

Doesn’t mean I want to live there.

I dunno

after listening to my GF there doesn’t seem to be anything good about Nebraska except some of the scenery.

I like living in SoCal, but I don’t get out much. I think I enjoy the weather more than anything else.

I can understand why people would like living there. Just not for me.

Parts of Nebraska are gorgeous, and there are still some neat small towns untouched by suburbanization here and there. Harold Warp’s Pioneer Village is also awesome.

Holy cow,

I’ve actually been there! Had to drive through Funk, NE to get there from Oberlin, KS.

Never a dull moment in Funk, NE.
it's always a blast
Pioneer Village is fucking awesome.
Pending my tax return I might take a day trip out there pretty soon actually to check that place out
Nebraska just seems to fuck people up

even my girlfriend has some pretty long standing issues.

I have only live in Northern California for seven months and I already have some sort built in hatred for Southern Califorina
Ouch.
I love living in Everett.
And the streak continues!
BrianL and AC

Two guys who agree about nothing. I’m waiting for FOX to contact us on the sitcom rights.

"AC, did you put you beer on ice in my saxaphone! AGAIN!"

(Laugh track)

We might get to four episodes before we get canceled.
It is FOX.
So the worse our show is, the better the chance we're renewed for six seasons?
You will be Matthew's House! version of Joey.
The only time I have ever been in Everett for any other reason but visiting family

I went to see the Rat City Rollergirls at Everett Events Center. The staff at Everett Events Center is collectively the biggest pile of human garbage in the entire world and seemed bound and determined to ruin everyone’s fun, so we bailed and went to Gorditos.

I was with my girlfriend and a female friend of ours, and when we walked in every poor pathetic drunken sap in the place lit up like some sort of Christmas tree of failure. I went out to have a smoke and when I came back in, there was a circle of six dudes crowded around my girls, “playing” inflatable plastic instruments and lip synching to horrible, horrible Top 40 R&B. It was hilarious, but it is a sight I never wish to see again.

Wait, that happened at Gorditos?
I'm not really Newport Beach person, but point taken.
Shelton! My man!
Go Shelton! It's yer birfday!
Shelton

pays them off for mocking our pain

Sean White?
He's been around for a while too.
Actually I thought he had left at some point.

He’s still with us?

Yes.
Didn't make the club last year

But stock around in AAA, if I remember.

For some reason I thought he had been released.
You're not wrong.

He was removed from the 40 man roster (remember, he was a Rule 5 guy so had to be on the 25 man for all of 07), then signed back on with the M’s on a MiLB deal. The same thing basically happened with Mike Wilson last week – removed from 40 man, passed through waivers, re-signed minor league deal with team.

Good, I haven't gone crazy then.
Right. He and Andrew Baldwin anchored the rotation down there.

That will not be the case this year. The positional battles in minor league camp may be just as pitched (ha!) as in major league camp.

Well played.

And now that you mention that I remember seeing him on the minor league updates.

Wilson's defense in RF

I’ve heard MIke Wilson’s defense disparaged a bit, but from watching last night and listening today it doesn’t sound abominable. I’m thinking he’s better than Morse (harder to be worse), but is he on par with, say, Wlad?

He had some lousy routes and terrible jumps.

He wouldn’t have needed to make a diving catch last night had he gotten a halfway decent read on the ball.

Sounds like half the guys on my softball team.
Behind Wlad.
Just imagine a linebacker playing the OF.
A-Rod has a torn labrum?

4 months?

Wait what?

I heard ten weeks for a cyst.

Angels announcers said there was an update

and now he has torn labrum that he’s going to rehab/play through but he could miss 4 months.

In other news, fuck you Yankees.
Triple for Carp.
SEASON'S OVER!

WE LOST A SPRING TRAINING GAME! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! BURN THE TREE!

We're going to get relegated
Oh God not this again.

Defeat by those reprobates is always unacceptable. :(

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