Another Box Score

by Jeff Sullivan on Mar 10, 2010 6:26 PM PST in Seattle Mariners Game Recaps

I can't do it man. I'm tellin you, I can't do this much longer. It's killing me.

Final - 3.10.2010	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle Mariners	1	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	6	6	0
Texas Rangers	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	13	2
WP: Cliff Lee (1 - 0) SV: Garrett Olson (1) LP: C.J. Wilson (0 - 1)

Complete Coverage >

Here's the MLB.com box score. If you clicked that link and looked for more than two minutes, I hate you.

Cliff Lee made his Cactus League debut today and threw a ton of strikes - 36 out of 46 pitches. Said he felt good, and while Wak says he was "a bit up in the zone", it was his first game. The PITCHfx information that was available throughout disappeared immediately following the conclusion, which also happened yesterday, and that's weird. Still, I don't recall seeing anything out of the ordinary, so as far as anyone's concerned, all systems are go. Cliff Lee is fine, which should make the rest of the ST coverage about him a real treat. Did you know that Cliff Lee has pitched in the World Series? Did you know that the Mariners have never been? I know, crazy right

Mike Sweeney is hitting .769, which is literally about three times as high as I'd expect over a full season. With ST statistics I'm all about downplay downplay downplay, but Sweeney drilled a pair of doubles off Neftali Feliz, and Neftali Feliz is kind of spectacular, so, what? This is some kind of hot streak. It's like Sweeney's thinking "I'm gonna try my damndest to make that blogger eat his words." That's not a very Christian thing to do, Mike. And you're not supposed to use that word. What's the matter with you?

Pitching in relief of Cliff Lee today: Sean White, Anthony Varvaro, Luke French, Ricky Orta, and Garrett Olson. I just...I just can't. No. There's nothing to say. They pitched, and they're not very good, but they pitched good, except for Orta, who didn't. God. Are there seriously another three weeks of this? Idea: we hand out the sure-thing roster spots and decide the #5 starter and bullpen competitions with tiebreakers from Scene It. Uh oh, looks like Mike Koplove has the ugliest passport photo!

Jack Wilson returned and nothing tore within or fell off of his body.

Participating in today's game for the Rangers: Mitch Moreland, Davis Stoneburner, Taylor Teagarden, Emerson Frostad, and - this one's almost too perfect - Craig Gentry. It's like they all got together to adopt theme-based fake identities and the last guy couldn't think of anything.

Guy B: Hey we should go to the bar and tell all the ladies we're Flemish. Let's hear those names!
Guy A: Frits Geert Van Ambroos!
Guy B: Herman Voor De Peeters!
Guy C: Jan Der Waffle

More Lincecum tomorrow. Don't miss this week's LL Podcast, posted below.

1 recs | 68 comments

Comments

Thank god it's only...3½ more weeks of pretend games

Shit

lemonverbena - March 10, 2010 reply

I looked for more than 2 minutes and I am sorry.

The Typical Idiot Fan - March 10, 2010 reply

Craig Gentry does not appreciate your mockery and demands you back to tilling the fields.

Matthew - March 10, 2010 reply

And on printed type no less!

OlSalty - March 10, 2010 reply

I don't care a whittle about ST games, but I might embroider this post on a pillow.

royalcurve - March 10, 2010 reply

Mike Sweeney is going to make this team. I can feel it in my bones.

I will say that if they are considering keeping him, they need to give him a glove right now and run him out at 1B the next three weeks to see if his old body can handle the position. There is no way you can carry two bench bats that can’t field a positon. Run him out there and if he breaks down then the decision is made for them.

Rudy4three - March 10, 2010 reply

It doesn't matter what Sweeney is hitting at the end of spring training

I just don’t think the organization is going to make that kind of decision based off of a month of performance when the last 4 years say he’s an only slightly above replacement level DH, and you’ve already sunk millions into Kotchman/Garko.

OlSalty - March 10, 2010 reply

Salaries shouldn't be in the discussion of playing time.

If you think Sweeney is going to outperform Garko you go with Sweeney.

Terminator X - March 10, 2010 reply

But again, this is Spring Training and the last 4 years suggest otherwise

That’s a big risk to take based on an awfully small of time (while playing fake baseball, no less) to be making a decision like that, and the money and talent that stands to be lost from the organization if you make that move is a part of that risk.

OlSalty - March 10, 2010 reply

Though the money spent on Garko isn't that much, anyways, so it's a minor point

Since Kotchman probably stays even if Sweeney were to make the team.

OlSalty - March 10, 2010 reply

No, it's not a point at all.

The money is gone either way. Salaries are irrelevant when discussing playing time/who makes the team. You go with the best players you have. Period.

Terminator X - March 11, 2010 reply

I don't disagree with you, but it's part of the consideration when you're going forward with an unknown quantity

The thing is, you don’t actually know if Sweeney is better in this situation, you’re making a move based on a month of fake baseball. And if you’re wrong, you’ve lost Garko and the money you paid for him for a worse player, is my point.

This is a stupid thing to be arguing over anyway, it’s been what, 4 or 5 games of Sweeney being good?

OlSalty - March 11, 2010 reply

I'm not saying that he should or shouldn't make the team, or that the decision should be made based on his ST stats.

But where there’s smoke there’s usually fire. If the guys who are smarter than us decide that Sweeney has actually improved his skillset and underlying ability level and they think he’ll be better than Garko then you go with Sweeney.

Terminator X - March 11, 2010 reply

And I'm saying they're extremely unlikely to think Sweeney is actually better based off of a month of evidence

So…?

OlSalty - March 11, 2010 reply

Never argued against or for that.

My issue was solely with your salary comment. I thought I was fairly clear on that.

Terminator X - March 11, 2010 reply

He did have a strong second half in 2009, and even though our managment group

is very intelligent, Sweeney like Junior, seems to have the intangible angle working for him. I know Jack and Wak want performence not intangibles, but Sweeney has kinda proven to be a favorite of Wak’s. If he continues to smash the baseball and Garko doesn’t distinguish himself this spring, I wouldn’t say it’s that crazy to think that Sweeney could be on this club based on his second half of 2009, his “intangibles”, and a terrific spring.

Rudy4three - March 10, 2010 reply

His "intangibles" and his terrific spring

May get him a nice trade.
The FO likes him enough to work overtime to find him a position… on another team.

wandergeist - March 11, 2010 reply

And he's thinking about it too

According to Shannon Drayer

One more Sweeney note…Mike is expanding his options on where he would play should there not be room with the Mariners. He has said in the past that he would only be interested in a West Coast team. After yesterdays game he said, “If I have a chance to play in the big leagues, if not the west coast, a winning team? I would honor that. As far as they have talked about coaching position or going down to the minor leagues to play, those aren’t options for me. Come Easter Sunday my first option would be here as a Seattle Mariner.”

wandergeist - March 11, 2010 reply

woo! back to .500

we’re only 3 games back of the Cactus League lead. Still in the hunt.

Snuffleupagus - March 10, 2010 reply

Well even if you don't have the team's shittiness to bring out the best in your writing

You have the terribleness that is spring training. Also according to Firefox spell-check, terribleness is a word. Cool.

Mariner John - March 10, 2010 reply

I'd like one of these, please.

“Griffey, using vague sources, came up with a photograph of Rob Johnson being flattened at the plate in a minor-league collision, and immediately seized upon that as something he had to put on T-shirts. "Catchers got to be wearing this," Junior said. "

msb - March 10, 2010 reply