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Assorted Other Notes

  • The home opener crowd was pretty good. It wasn't spectacular - it was very Seattle and did little to provide much atmosphere during the middle bits of the game - but it was numerous, it participated in a couple spontaneous "Let's Go Mariners!" chants that were totally unprompted, and it flipped its shit on the Scot Shields error. Maybe they weren't just there for Griffey after all. Speaking of whom, hey, Griffey.

    Three of the four loudest moments at the game were Griffey-related, but if that's what the city needs in order to get excited about a fairly good baseball team, then who am I to criticize? The more people that come out and get heard, the better. Except for when you have to make weewee. Waiting in line was new.


  • Two starts into the season, Carlos Silva has thrown a total of 24 offspeed pitches. 87.9% of his pitches have been fastballs, and while that sounds ridiculous, he hasn't suffered because of it. It's fun to look at his Zone% on Fangraphs, though - from 65.2% in 2005 all the way to 41.8% so far in 2009, dropping each year. Who knew that a nine-walk season wasn't sustainable? Anyway, despite his predictability, he looked decent from the bleachers on Tuesday, even seeming completely in control at times and responding to our ironic two-strike claps with what had to have been humiliating strikeouts. The punch-out of Kendrick with the bases loaded in the fifth was clearly the biggest, as Silva buried a changeup that looked like it caught Kendrick by surprise. The way Silva responded...he needed that pitch in the worst way. God only knows what would've happened had Kendrick laid off.

  • David Aardsma's splitter is only noteworthy when he throws it, which he doesn't, because he relies almost exclusively on his fastball, which I'm convinced is eventually going to be the cause of our collective death. His heater is a step below Morrow's in velocity and a step below Morrow's in command, which is a concept that works way better in video games against teenage opponents than in actual games against big league opponents. I'm on your side, David, and I want to love you, but before I walk the plank called Desire I need you to prove that you don't take delight in our agony.

  • For those of you who've already grown nervous of our bullpen (and for good reason) Mark Lowe was verging on 2006 territory last night, touching 98 while offering a couple sharp sliders. More important and impressive, however, was the work of Shawn Kelley, detailed by Dave at USSM. Kelley had command of both his fastball and his slider, as only three of his pitches missed the strike zone. And his appeal isn't just that he can throw strikes - it's that he can throw quality strikes, getting up into the mid-90s and then breaking it off with a slider that has a whole lot of break. I get the feeling that we're going to be talking up Kelley as a sleeper so often that people are going to ask us to start talking about somebody else. He might just be the reliever who keeps us all sane.

  • The Mariners value Shawn Kelley so much that they misspelled his name during pregame home opener introductions. They also announced the Angels' starting catcher as Mike Napoii. It's funny that Napoli got two i's when it's evident that the person in charge of writing his name down has zero.

  • According to HitTrackerOnline, the home run Endy Chavez hit last night came off the bat faster than either of Griffey's home runs this season. It follows naturally, then, that Endy Chavez rather clearly has more power than Ken Griffey Jr. I wonder why nobody's made a bigger deal of this.

  • Safeco_011_medium 

  • Fun with chronology:

    Safeco_030_medium
    Put it up! Put it up! Put it up!

    Safeco_022_medium
    It's a new season! Yeah! Here's to a brighter tomorrow!

    __________

    Safeco_022_medium
    FUCK IT GRIFFEY'S BACK

    Safeco_030_medium
    GRIFFEY GRIFFEY GRIFFEY
    GRIFFEY
    GRIFFEY GRIFFEY
    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    __________

    Guess which is the right order!

  • It's hard to watch the video of Ichiro going deep, Sims going crazy, and Griffey laughing while he smacks the back of Ichiro's helmet and not come away thinking it's going to be a way better season.

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Comments

Other notes:

From “What was your favourite toy growing up?”

Chavez: Glove
Washburn: Ball, ramble ramble
Morrow: Something about transformers
RRS: Boomerang
Corco: “Mah favrite toy growin’ up wars muhd”

I love Corco
Each one basically one upped the one before.
I just re-read that and am pissed that I didn't notice RRS' response

A boomerang? How rad is that?

Don't knock those Sexson jerseys, man

At the Mariner’s team shop in Southcenter they have like 5 of them on a clearance rack. Authentic jerseys with the 30th anniversary patches on them. Original price, $250 (or whatever). It has 4 different mark-down prices on it until it hits the current total of $99. You then take 25% off for the clearance, and that’s a $75 Authentic 30th Anniversary jersey right there, my friend. That’s a hell of a deal

Those are clearly replicas
The font's a dead giveaway
Yes, those ones there in the picture are

But they probably bought them back in ‘05 where it wouldn’t be so embarassing to be owning one. The fact that they are at the stadium and wearing Mariners gear of any kind is ok by me. I definitely had a bit of a laugh when looking at the price tags on the ones I saw yesterday. Red pen slash through the original price, new price written in red. Red slash through second price, new price written in red. The whole tag was covered in red slashes and numbers. It’s like they made regular markdowns as he began to suck more and more, and are now offloading them at bargain prices

Sounds like that bar that were giving beers for the price of his Batting Average.
If it were easier to remove the lettering on an authentic jersey I'd totally buy it

That’s a sick deal for an authentic, regardless of whose name is on the back. I should get it anyway and wear it for the irony

Cross out Sexson and write Cameron with a sharpie.
I'll just use a bunch of white out on the "s" in the middle and make it say "SEX ON"
And then somehow turn 44 into 69.
That would be offensive
Anybody wearing gear is cool with me.

I still have a Shaun Alexander Seahwks jersey that I bust out occasionally. When people make fun of it I just remind them that he was pretty damn good at one time.

Speaking of fans with jerseys

I saw a guy with an authentic Jamie Burke alternate jersey. The guy didn’t look old enough to be his dad, so I’m guessing he’s got brothers.

What's weird about that?

Probably cost a lot less than a Felix jersey, and hey, Burke’s awesome. I’d do that.

Totally awesome, but also pretty odd.

Do they sell them for every player on the team?

Burke is back, Kenji DL,Sean White returns?!?!?! Tui back where he belongs.

Baker.

I never thought we’d see Jamie back. I never hoped to see Sean back.

That makes sense to me.

I’m not sure White would have been my first pick, but he’s pretty buried in the bullpen anyway.

At least it's not Rick White.
If it was Ron White that would be funny.
Oh my god.

I completely forgot about Ahab.

I hope Sean Green comes back
Only if we make the trade on a Tuesday
I actually want Sean Green the pitcher back
Dead meme
I think Robert is calling dead meme on me

but I actually want Sean Green the pitcher to come back

I think Sean Green ends up being the real gem of the JJ Putz deal in terms of what the Mets received
Sean Green is a pretty generic righty specialist

but he throws strikes and at the rate our bullpen is going, throwing the God damn ball over the plate every once in a while would be nice

Putz is broken though and Reed isn't good

Honestly- I’ve always been a bigger fan of the Bavasi method of building a bullpen. Junkballers seem more likely to be competent then fireballers who can’t find the strikezone, even though the fireballers have higher upside.

In retrospect, we appear to have come out way on top of that trade. So far.
I'm still bummed we had to give up Valbuena

That aside, this trade makes me smile more and more every day.

Anyone know how Lopez has done in the defensive metrics so far this season? UZR, preferrably?
I'd advise against paying attention to UZR at this point in the season.

He’s looked okay.

Whatever

Cedeno is a perfectly good Valbuena replacement

Flipping Heilman for Cedeno and Olson erased the one reservation I had about the initial Putz trade.
I just don't get why on earth the Cubs agreed to that.
Dave said on the day that we made that trade

that we were going to look back at how much of a steal it was.

Well part of the fireballers and pray method is that you're going to have some early season growing pains

as you figure out who sucks and who doesn’t. Looks like we’ve already found one gem in Kelley, and now we just need for a few of these other guys to step it up and we’ll be fine.

Sean Green is a lot of things, but a strike thrower he is not.
Hmmm

maybe he just seems that way in relation to Aardsma and Morrow

Nah. He'll be like Boris Diaw in the Joe Johnson trade.

Totally undervalued guy.

Yeah, he was

Just thought I’d reverse it back on him

I wonder why they went with Burke and not Clement

He must have really pissed someone off.

Because Clement sucks at everything except being good.
So he's good at being good?
Technically, yes.

In this case.

I guess hitting .053 in Tacoma isn't helping him much.
I would think not.
So, Clement's pretty much a busted prospect at this point, huh?

I mean, really, if you’re a 25 year old in AAA, first round draft pick, and you’re 4th on the depth chart at C, and the guys in front of you are a guy who barely cleared the Mendoza line last year, a AAA catcher, and the new Pat Borders…

Crap. :(

He's on the edge of being busted.

He needs to start hitting NOW.

18 at bats are enough to put him at that much risk?
Add in ST,

and the doubts about his catching ability, and I’d say a slow start isn’t going to do him any favors with a front office that doesn’t seem to like him much already.

Yeah, now would have been a good time for them to show some confidence in him

It seems like the new front office has very little good to say about the previous regime’s draft pics.

I suppose that would be normal.

Two different philosophies.

I dunno, I would think they would still want to make the best of what they have

It seems to me that Z and company are treating the old picks with disdain rather than trying to milk them for everything they can get.

I mean, I give them the benefit of the doubt, but I guess I was hoping for more from our last few good picks.

But Clement has been somewhat of a question mark his whole career.

They seem to like Tui though.

Yeah, that's true.

I remember when Clement couldn’t hit AAA and the whole slow bat thing was going on. I think I just got too hopeful that he would pan out.

18 ABs plus being sent to AAA
His offense isn't the issue.
I think it's part of it.

They have concerns about his hitting as well as his catching ability.

I think he's gotten along as far as he has because he 'looks like a ballplayer'

People look at him and he seems like he should make it, but he just doesn’t have the skills to match the ‘look’

He can play on my softball team anytime.
Speaking of which, we should get some softball games going soon.
It's getting to be about that time.
If only there were more people not working during the day, we could play at greenlake

Weekdays there is no one out on those fields.

Most fields are that way during the week.
Seriously?
I don't think he's got the talent to be an every day MLB catcher

I think the fact that people like his swing and what not helps him.

I disagree.

That comment would apply to Greg Dobbs who had “The Swing” but Clement has had successful stints in college and the minor leagues, the latter being a good indicator of major league success, generally.

Most people on here aren’t basing their hopes of Clement on his swing but a combination of his minor league numbers and those tools.

I was more talking about scouts and the organization than here

I just got the feeling that the Bavasi era was more about the feel they had for a guy rather than hard statistical analysis.

Anyway, I could be wrong, it’s just a feeling I get/got.

He was worth 4 wins between AAA and MLB as a 23 year old C.

He was worth 4 wins in a half year of AAA last year, at 24.

Jeff Clement has some tremendous tools and people forgetting them over some opinions on his defense and a handful of Spring at bats is a thought process worthy of some other place.

Ok, given that why do you think Z and company sent him down?

Because they seem like an intelligent bunch and if he was that valuable it seems like a pretty stupid move. There has to be more to it than that.

My guess is

because they wanted to see if they could see if he could finally get down the “catching” part. To do that, he needs to be behind the plate as much as possible. Not that you have to agree with their reasoning – Dave Cameron, Jeff, and most people here certainly didn’t – I don’t think anyone in the org (or on the blogs) has ever intimated that they think his bat isn’t what we thought it was.

I don't know why they sent him down.

And there’s a lot of difference between valuable for the Mariners in April and doesn’t have the talent to be an everyday MLB catcher.

The front office has made several bad moves recently

They’re not infallible

Is there a stat for luckiest team?

Does anyone think that Cordero or Tyler Johnson is going to help this team? This bullpen freaks me out.

And why diddn’t they call up Garret instead of White?

Becauae Garret sucks dome.
Thanks for clearing that one up for me.
drowning your Man City sorrows, are you?
Sucking dome in Man City
I was at the game.

And the sad thing is:

I was more upset when Morrow blew it last week than tonight.

Oh dude, that sucks

I mean, at least they won the game, if not the tie; moral victories suck but at least it wasn’t Bayern/Barca bad.

I think I am pretty much finished with football as my main sport.

I just don’t find it as exciting as baseball, and my love for the Mariners [and hate] seems to be stronger than any other team right now. I was looking around the crowd at the game with 2 minutes to go thinking “none of these poor sods had the joy of watching Ichiro hit a grand slam when they woke up this morning.”

I am a lucky man.

It just would make more sense to me to go with a guy that can pitch in long relief.

And oh yeah, he throws with his left hand. That’s different.

My guess would be that you'll never even see White unless it's a blowout.
Olson's really struggling with his command, just as he was in the spring.

I think the M’s would prefer to bring up a lefty, but Olson’s gotta get right.
If they absolutely, positively had to have a lefty for a few days, I’d think they’d go with Vargas ahead of Olson at this point.

That makes sense.

Now that I looked at the small sample size, Vargas is giving up more hits, but he has the better control so far. I think having a guy that kind find the strike zone right now is more important. Garrett has only given up 4 hits in 8 innings, but he has walked 8 and SO 3. Ouch!

What do you think Burke is for!?
Hmm

Johjima?

Bringing up Burke would be a masterstroke if only he could pitch to himself, is what I'm saying
Oh goodie! The Nationals game just started.

Let’s go 0-8!

I'm watching this as well.

On the other side of the coin, the Marlins won again today, they are now 8-1.

We should be 8-1!
Actually we should be 7-2.
Dunn goes yard, 3-0 Nats.
Washington's WE probability went from 15% to 43%!
Part of me wants the Nats to lose all 162 games this season
Sending Milledge down was a bad move, then.
That would be so awesome
Adam Dunn does not suck as a hitter.

He creamed the holy living crap out of that ball.

When he squares one up, ball go far.
Adam Dunn is the only player to hit a ball into another state.
I swear the man gets into more 3-2 counts than anybody in baseball.
It's the perfect setup for each of the three true outcomes.
Branyan does that a shitload as well
Keep an eye out for Scruffy Lefty

He’s down there in the front row somewhere. Obviously being punished for something

He's at the Nationals game?

Poor guy.

That's what I said to him

I asked who he pissed off to get that thrown at him

Off topic kind of but

I just finally shelled out the 15 bucks a month for mlb.tv. Is it worth the extra money per month to go premium? I’ve heard some complaints with some of the new features and don’t really want to spend extra money for shitty extra stuff.

If you're on the monthly package I'd wait a month before dishing it out

But yeah, I’d say it’s worth it

Depends on what you value.

The DVR features don’t really work most of the time but hopefully they’ll be fixed. It’s nice being able to pick the feed you want. Nexdef looks nice, much nicer than the premium feed last year, but you pay a price in lag (you can only really check in on game threads every half inning, unless you enjoy finding out what happens in the game before you see it). You also need a pretty solid connection – I’m running 6000d/450up and it’s been pretty solid for me.

Nex Def looks amazing now that it works.

If you pay every month though it might add up.

It's a shame I'm so damn broke because

you really do get hosed paying monthly.

Nats 6 outs away from a win!
3 outs away!
So disappointed they are going to pull this off.
The order I believe is 3-2-2

Due to the shadows being present in 1 and 2, which are identical photos (you can tell because the guy in the green in the CF bleachers doesn’t move at all)

How lazy of Jeff
Wow, I thought that was Mike Holmgren in the Sexson jersey.
Holy shit

Griffey came out to “Hip Hop Hooray” just like before. Don’t know it should, but that makes me happy.

if*
It should

I loved that when I heard it.

I heard it in the background on the radio Tuesday and just started smiling
WTF are the Nationals wearing?

It’s like Uncle Sam took a dump.

Holy crap.

Those are ugly.

I like pimping the American flag as much as the next guy

But holy balls those are tacky

If the DC was white it might be ok
They are so abrasive that the DC could almost stand for the

Dallas Cowboys.

That blue/red combo

is terrible too.

Gutierrez is sitting tonight :(

Balentien to play left, Sweeney to DH

NOOOOOOO

Game over.

Ok jumping the gun.
Griffey isn't playing?

Ruh-roh

I'd rather see Griffey vs lefties than Branyan
There are going to be some pissy petes at Safeco tonight
Just setting the table

for the Griffey PH walk-off homer.

I guess they really want Jak to earn this one
Chavez in CF, I assume?
Your videos of the intros are a whole lot less shakey than mine.
Lineups from Baker:
Tonight’s Mariners’ lineup

Ichiro RF
Endy Chavez CF
Mike Sweeney DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jose Lopez 2B
Russ Branyan 1B
Wladimir Balentien LF
Rob Johnson C
Yuniesky Betancourdt SS

Chris Jakubauskas P

Angels

Chone Figgins 3B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Abreu LF
Torii Hunter CF
Kendry Morales 1B
Mike Napoli C
Gary Matthews Jr. RF
Juan Rivera DH
Maicer Izturis SS

Joe Saunders LHP

No Vlad for the Angels…

Also, apparently Clement has been taking balls at 1B. I’m not sure if this is news, but I hadn’t remembered anything actually being done about trying out Clement at 1B, just lots of talk.

linky

Clement at 1st is news to me.

Maybe it’s for the best? Let him settle into the easier position so he can focus solely on the hitting?

Clement started taking balls at 1B during the Spring.
Waka is trying to break the record for different lineups used throughout the season.

10 games, 10 different lineups. I like it.

I read something about a week ago about Clement taking GB.

I have a question for Jeff or anyone that wants to answer. Mariners, Padres and Blue Jays have thrown more fastballs than anyone in MLB. Is it dumb luck they have been so successful or is there something behind throwing alot of FB in the beggining of the year, maybe because pitchers are still working on their offspeed? Just curious.

It's weird though.

You take away two changeups from Silva, that’s 4 runs. I’ll take your word for it though, you know a hell of alot more than I do about this. I’m going to look into and waste my time trying to figure out what i’m doing anyway. Thanks.

I sat behind the BIZARRO WORLD Dave Cameron on Opening Day.

The guy even kind of looked like Mr. Cameron. He even had the high voice. He and his friend were wearing brand new Griffey jerseys.

The guy knew and talked about every single topic we talk about here, but it was almost completely different than how the LL/USSM community would say it or thought about it. It wasn’t quite black to white but it was just off.
It was all very weird.

At the end of the game he started talking trash and about Ichiro. So I made a few comments to him.
Guy: Ichiro thinks he is better than everyone else.
me: You’re right. Ichiro! isn’t better than everyone. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Pete Rose, A-Rod Ichiro! isn’t better than any of those guys. He is just in their same class.
Guy: [Argument not suitable for a family blog]

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