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Series Preview: Seattle Mariners @ Anaheim Angels

Seattle: 18-28
Anaheim: 23-26

MARINERS Δ Ms ANGELS EDGE
HITTING (wOBA)
-40.6(29th) 2.1 -22.2 (25th) Anaheim
FIELDING (UZR) 11.9 (7th) -- -16.3 (28th) Seattle
ROTATION (tRA)
1.1 (18th) 0.9 -13.0 (25th) Seattle
BULLPEN (tRA)
-1.7 (21st) 1.1 -11.1 (27th) Seattle
OVERALL(RAA)
-21.7 (23rd) 4.1 -62.6 (27th) SEATTLE






 

Wooo! A sweep! If we keep it going and take all three in Anaheim, we would claw to within a half game of the Angels. That isn't as absurd a suggestion as it might seem given each team's actual production to date. The Mariners are unlucky to be where they are; the Angels have been bad.

Possibly even more impressive than a two game sweep of the Tigers, the Mariners improved in every category over that span. Hooray for no red! Sort of. I have switched the fielding rating back to just UZR when it had been an average of UZR and DRS. There seems to be something wonky with DRS numbers having a collective sum well above zero for the league and UZR now has a pretty decent sample size to work with when we're talking about entire teams. The Mariners UZR number is higher though this week than it previously was.

Fri May 28, 19:10: Cliff Lee* vs. Scott Kazmir*

Sat May 29, 13:10: Ian Snell vs. Jered Weaver

Sun May 30, 12:35: Felix Hernandez vs. Joe Saunders*

There's a chance that with the off days this week that Felix's start will get bumped up to Saturday and Doug Fister could take his Sunday spot, skipping Ian Snell in the turn through the rotation. It doesn't appear to be on the horizon, but it's certainly a feasible option for Wakamatsu. 

Given the success of the lineup in the sweep over the Tigers, it saddens me to see two lefties on the docket. That makes it far less likely that we get to see either Michael Saunders or Ryan Langerhans in those games and the one righty we face is Jered Weaver who is pretty good. 

Have you really looked at Cliff Lee's pitch profile below? He throws every pitch sans his curve for an extreme amount of strikes. And he uses that curveball to get grounders so it's not like it doesn't have its place either. Cliff Lee is wonderful. That he works fast, smiles a lot and is dreamy looking are like little pieces of Reese's mixed in with delicious ice cream.

Cliff Lee Ian Snell Felix Hernandez
Pitch%SpKBBGB
Fastball 59% 90 70 80 45
Change 14% 83 55 75 55
Sinker 12% 90 45 80 40
Curve 8% 76 55 50 75
Slider 6% 85 35 80 45
Overall -- -- 55 80 45
Pitch%SpKBBGB
Fastball 58% 92 55 35 35
Slider 26% 84 70 55 40
Change 14% 84 45 25 50
Overall -- -- 70 45 40
Pitch%SpKBBGB
Fastball 68% 94 75 60 75
Slider 12% 88 75 65 75
Curve 11% 83 55 45 65
Change 9% 87 70 70 80
Overall -- -- 75 65 80
Scott Kazmir Jered Weaver Joe Saunders
Pitch%SpKBBGB
Fastball 66% 91 80 65 30
Change 15% 79 55 40 25
Slider 14% 82 50 30 25
Overall -- -- 80 55 30
Pitch%SpKBBGB
Fastball 45% 90 65 45 20
Change 17% 81 80 80 45
Slider 14% 79 35 30 35
Sinker 13% 89 60 60 25
Curve 10% 73 45 80 30
Overall -- -- 70 65 20
Pitch%SpKBBGB
Fastball 55% 91 55 45 65
Change 19% 82 55 50 45
Curve 13% 77 25 25 35
Sinker 9% 89 30 65 65
Overall -- -- 35 35 65

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Comments

Finally! This week has crawled by with two off-days.
Does anyone know if you can get Angels games in the bay?

I’d really like to watch Lee pitch for us before he gets traded/leaves in free agency for shiny things.

Meaning on extended/basic cable or broadcast tv, not through satellite or annoying mlb.tv
Fox might show Saturday's game in the Bay Area.

Other than that, no. You need MLB.tv or Extra Innings.

Bah

More radio for me then. Thanks.

Does San Diego get screwed out of these games on FSW?

It’s listed on the guide but I assume there’s some goddamned LA/San Diego blackout rule to screw us over, as per usual.

I've seen two or three M's games on Fox in the past couple of years, but it's rare.

They usually go with a California team or Yankees-Red Sox. But this Saturday, the three Fox games are Mariners at Angels, Rangers at Twins and Cardinals at Cubs. Since we’re the only one with a California team, I’d guess there’s a decent chance Fox shows it everywhere in California. But that’s presuming that Fox isn’t out to ruin my life.

Right

But for tonight my channel guide lists M’s-Angels on FSW, but dollars to donuts the game won’t actually be shown.

Oh, for tonight

I don’t get FSW, so I’m no help there.

You've explained this but I forgot

what exactly is the data set you’re using for the pitcher profiles? It’s several seasons’ worth, isn’t it? I ask because of Kazmir’s 80 rating on his fastball.

Wow, his fastball really fell off a cliff, valuewise

says Fangraphs.

Also speedwise

which is why the 80 rating is odd. And he’s been struggling with control for some time now.

You mean Gobstoppers
That would be horrible
So I know it's kind of a Felix Day thing

But Cliff Lee always makes me think of this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXYRkp2HZto&feature=related

Is it bizarre that I relate our pitchers to various songs?
Non-stop Baseball, Whoooo!
We are so gonna dominate
I predict a sweep
We only actually sweep when I do that
I really want to see Felix pitch

and Sunday is a better day for me overall. I wish the team would hurry up and make the rotation for the weekend official so I could get tickets!

They better keep Felix on Sunday!

But honestly Fister ain’t a bad consolation prize if I have to see him go 8 innings.

Well, balance it against how much you want to see Ian Snell pitch
Snell and Felix have officially been switched.

They just announced it here in Los Angeles.

I can't believe how bad the Angels are.
And they still have more wins than us!
Weaver's changeup is nasty, huh?

I keep waiting for him to fade into average territory and show all those LAAA fans how foolish their confidence has been.

He is a legitimately better and different pitcher now than he was in 2006

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