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Lookout Landing

15-26, Chart

5_20wec_medium

Biggest Contribution: Ken Griffey Jr., +29.2%
Biggest Suckfest: Chone Figgins, -14.5%
Most Important AB: Griffey single, +29.2%
Most Important Pitch: Bautista homer, -25.8%
Total Contribution by Pitcher(s): -3.2%
Total Contribution by Lineup: +53.2%
Total Contribution by Opposition: 0.0%
(What is this chart?)

0 recs  |  134 comments

Comments

So, Josh Bard the best catcher on the roster?
unquestionably
He was really smokin' the ball today... AND catching it!!
I find it hilarious that Josh Bard might be the best defensive catcher on the team.
No "might" about it
I'm only letting all this slide because Adam is on the DL right now.

I don’t care if he sucks right now, he’s good.

He will (hopefully) be good in the future.

But he needs more experience. His at-bats are painful to watch.

He did kind of turn it around in that game he got injured in

One game only, but its a start.

Career .312 wOBA, so he's clearly playing over his head with the bat so far.

But that’s higher than Roborob’s career or projections, and just by watching he looks better defensively (hard to be worse). But Moore clearly should be better. Just needs seasoning. So if that happens in AAA this year, I’m okay with it.

Finish on a high note!

RETIRE NOW!

Shoulda carried him off the field again. Storybook ending redux!
You mean carry and "accidentally" drop, right? That would work.
Did Griffey hit a dinger?
You may be shocked to hear this, but he hit a single.
Good thing I kept my bacon lube receipt then
I'm sorry....bacon lube?
Two words I wished never to see beside eachother.
There's bacon soap for afterwards.
I want nothing to do with this party
I knew we would win.

Only a matter of time. Today was the day.

You did? I figured we'd lose 148
This team continues to find ways to disappoint!
Do you believe in Griffdawg? YES!
No.

This unfortunately means his leash will probably be loosened a little bit more and we’ll have to experience mediocrity with him a little bit more.

Why is this the predominant emotion after this?

We won the fucking game and did so in a dramatic and heartwarming fashion. Can we cut the “Oh now we have to watch him for 3 more months” stuff until we see that happen? THIS WAS A FUN BASEBALL GAME!

Not trying to jump on you specifically.

Yup, if Wak gives Griffey PT over Saunders then he's an idiot. This walk-off hit shouldn't have an impact on Griffey's playing time.
Hopefully it'll be reinforcement for his job as LH pinch hitter

If he can do stuff like this every once in a while, we could at least get a little value out of him.

Whether right or wrong let's not start criticizing how different people respond to a baseball game
I know, and I sort of dislike the fact that I'm conflicted about the win.

We won, and we needed to win, but this game was as joyless and dull as all the rest up until the point Kevin Gregg absolutely lost his command. It’s great that someone else’s bullpen went kablooie for a change, and it’s great that we get a cool WPA chart for once, but I hope you understand where I’m coming from even if you disagree with it.

Absolutely.

And as an acknowledgment to Jeff above you got it. The last thing I’m trying to do is pass judgment on other folks’ fandom. I just want to be happy. I’m aware of all the potential bad process/good result consequences this result may bring for the rest of the day I’m going to watch that single and the team go apeshit and feel damn good.

Cheers.

I imagine most everybody is feeling pretty good

but people would rather post something snarky than something celebratory, because this is the internet.

Yep. Consider this my feeble attempt to take a step or two against the hurricane.

I shall instead go inside and drink beer.

I didn't post a word in the game thread, and I was legitimately unhappy when we won.

And it wasn’t just Griffey.

I'm too busy judging you to have a comeback for this.

Your feelings should be like mine!!!

Actually sarcasm aside what else about us winning upset you?

I’m honestly interested to know.

I was already pretty sour heading into the game.

The back-to-back bunts to get one run was insanely dumb in the third inning of a game against a team that can hang quite a few runs on you. Then more bunts. I just felt we didn’t deserve to win and I didn’t want to see us rewarded for such nonsense. (I’ve given up hopes of contending this year, otherwise I’d take a win any way it came.) And then the “how could anyone possibly fail here” construction of the Griffey moment . . .

I know we’ve had some bad luck and deserve some good luck, but I’m just in a pissy mood. This team doesn’t make me happy right now. Even when it wins, apparently.

I need a nap.

To be fair

Ichiro and Figgins were bunting for hits, which is completely different than dropping a sacrifice bunt.

I'm happy we won, of course, but...

Griffey has cost us more games than he has won them up to this point. It’s good he finally came through, but I want to be realistic about this.

I feel just like Seiferguy, but I'll admit that I hate that I feel that way.

I should be happy that we won, but one victory from a flawed roster that is probably going to continue to be extra flawed because today’s win will play well to the lowest common denominator of Mariners fans just doesn’t fill me with anything but…dread.

I'm still going to defile my Griffey retro shirt on Saturday.
This WE chart would look much more familiar if it was upside down.

After losing several games where we were 85+% favorites, it’s nice to return the favor for once.

In all honesty when I opened this thread I thought it was another loss

Hadn’t checked the score since the 8th and I’m conditioned at this point.

Yeah I stopped watching then too
I am happy for the win, but saddened that it took a complete pitcher meltdown to do it

(at least, that’s what it looked like by watching Gameday)

It's so satisfying to watch another team's pitcher do it for once though
And Kevin Gregg is a suckass who was pitching way over his head. And I hate him and he smells like

the inside of Beltre’s pants after the nut tearing game.

Yeah he was pretty terrible with the Cubs last year.
I don't want to know how you know what that smells like
So Kevin Gregg smells like good, old-fashioned biscuits and gravy, with a side of homemade flapjacks?

I want to believe that this is what Beltre’s pants smell like.

I kinda want to know *why* you want to believe that... but I really really don't want to know
Because it would stand as completely absurd testimony to Beltre's all-encompassing awesomeness.
Any Mariner win requires a complete pitcher meltdown
Now who's being defeatist?
We need to walk a lot to win!
I think not swinging at any pitches might really be a good strategy.
Bard really impressed me today.

He had some great at-bats. Great results from those AB’s. AND HE WAS ABLE TO HOLD ON TO THE BALL!

Worst game of the season by far
I didn't see the game. Of course I'll like it if they start winning (and hitting) some.

It makes sense that sooner or later Griffey would get a hit. And good for Bard.

Gregg completely lost in the 9th

It was bad.

Barry Larkin
This proves that there is clearly a place for [Griffey] on this team. It’s just a question of: “Is he comfortable with it?”
There is a place on this team for Griffey

In the front office doing PR.

It's somewhat true... PH against righty relievers with mediocre stuff
He was comfortable with it when he signed on for 2010, or at least it was reported that way

It was just bad roster/lineup decisions that have put him in a nearly full-time DH role.

Winning is good

Wak’s decision-making still sucks. Half-expecting him to send Griffey up there to bunt…

Wak had been ejected by that point.
Don't you think he was still calling the shots from the tunnel?
Umm...you can't.
Did we win a game or something?

Huh.

A 1-run game no less
Canada is so bad at sports
Most beautiful chart ever.
Ejection!

Woo!

So Wak got ejected huh?

Was he arguing balls and/or strikes?

Nope!

Arguing a call at second.

Its why we won

That I’m sure of.

The team responded to his departure with their best play in a while.

Ichiro was safe at second on his steal attempt.
He was out.
Who cares?

Wak argued!

Incidentally, it would have been his 100th win as a manager.
Sounds like it counts as his 100th anyways.
That's bullshit
Jeff,

any plans t .gif that ejection? I only heard it via radio.

It wasn't interesting
Lame.
He walked off the field like he was bored.

“Oh, you rejected me? Guess I should leave…”

He argued like John McLaren shouted
He must have said the magic word, because it sounds like he wasn't any more animated than when he was yelling with the HP ump who refused to toss him
With a script in one hand and a perscription bottle of anti anxiety medication in the other?
What would it take for Wak to cuss and get animated?

I mean it would be really interesting to see.

Maybe a direct attack on his family?
Did the Josh Bard sacrifice...

decrease the WE? Is that what that notch is?

Yep

According to fangraphs, it dropped our WE% from 73.0% to 69.8%.

Thanks

Didn’t know where to look. I would have thought the positive of the tying run would have outweighed the negative of the out … but I guess my intuition is wrong.

It knows how bad we are in extra innings.
I've decided it is fun to go to games when you become pessimistic.

At today’s game my buddy and I were guessing how they’d “almost win.” Would they have the lead going into the 9th before they blew it? Would they have the bases loaded down by 1 and no outs and hit into a game ending triple play? Even though you become pessimistic though, you still want to win, and seeing a win like this is just as exciting possibly even more so.

Remind you of a game against the A's in 2008 at all?
I remember being conflicted because we wanted a win but a loss was so much fucking better.

Then they won and it was like “Wow, they can literally do nothing right.” I forgot a lot of the play by play of that game though. Still, if I remember right that was the only decisive victory of the series.

Details are fuzzy for me also.
We drank at 11am.

I woke up ~30 minutes before that one like 3 hours of sleep. Mariners baseball!

By the way, Mariners have a 1.000 win percentage without Don Wakamatsu.
So we should fire Wak then, right?
Maybe! =D.
I think they lost a few between 1977 and 2008

Not sure though. I’ll need to do some research.

You'll find that you're wrong.

I’ll wait.

Is anyone still continuing with their Griffey Challenge?

And does it void if he is released?

Subliminal message much?
I gave up a while back

And yes, under the rules I believe that the challenge is voided

Can we keep Josh Bard (Jeff was calling it correctly right from the beginning) and make Rob Johnson and Adam Moore go away?

Well, one of the terrible two as backup.

I'd be behind getting rid of Rob Johnson, but it's waaaaaay too soon to give up on Adam Moore.
Adam Moore seemed to be coming on a bit when he got hurt.

I’m not out on him yet.

Moore shouldn't go away entirely.

Tacoma shouldn’t hurt him if he’s working on certain things, but I think his overall skills are probably a touch better than Johnson. He can hit the other way, for example, while Rob is more inclined to pull the ball, not good for a RH in Safeco.

Don't want to be a downer but Bard isn't this good

I’ll take it while it lasts but all three of them are ~ replacement level catchers.

Switch-hitting bad!
I tuned in in the seventh to see Bard double and get stranded.

Now to figure out what in the blue blazes just happened…

I have watched the videos.

I have seen Ichiro run out to high five Milton Bradley, which apparently took camera priority over the Griffey mobbing.

Good I'd rather watch that anyway
Well, THAT was an unexpected outcome.

I’d last heard they had a baserunner in the 9th, and you know that wasn’t going to result in anything.,

I wonder if any Mariners considered bringing a shank to the Griffey mobbing...
Hey, the repeat is on already-- just I'll leave it on
Two on, nobody out in the 5th, huh?

Classic. Know how this plays out.

Wak said Wilson was bunting on his own with two strikes.

So I guess he’s off the hook on that one.

So it wasn't the coach, just bad coaching.
Or a bad player being both bad and stupid.

There’s no need to blame the coaching staff for the bad bunts they didn’t order when there are other bad bunts that they did order. Players are perfectly capable of doing stupid things regardless of the quality of their coaching.

So, why is it faster to run through the base than dive for it?
As soon as you dive, you slow down
Right, but you're horizontal

So your lack of actually speed is more than made up for by your new position in space.

This would be an interesting science thing. One other thing is, you can't go to second on a bad throw if you're on the ground.
Consider how far forward you can stretch your leg when you're running

I don’t know the science or math behind this, but I’m pretty sure diving blows.

I'm pretty sure running is faster because you are able to apply force the whole time

Maybe it might barely be worth diving but when you dive, you’d have to do it so that you don’t hit the ground before you get to 1B. If you hit the ground I imagine the friction would slow you down alot. Nobody would slid like this because you’d probably break your hand.

Diving to first isn't useful because extending your leg is simply more effective

Other kinds of diving make sense because you’re trying to get your hand to the point of contact instead of your foot.

Allow me to say

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

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