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Lookout Landing

9/12: Open Rainiers Game 5 Thread

And this is it. Clay Mortensen vs. Ryan Feierabend in a battle for everything. The Rainiers could be in trouble unless this comes down to a smelling contest somehow.

Audio link

Gameday link

According to Mike Curto, last night's attendance at Safeco was 983, which is just shameful. You guys suck.

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Comments

I was there Friday

Would’ve gone last night, but cannot afford all this baseball right now. Blah.

I would so be there if I weren't 3000 miles away.
Same here. Not a lot of people Friday, either.
Friday was basically Woodstock compared to this.
Yeah - what did they say?

Some 2500? And it still sounded like a library…

What does it cost to go?

Sounds like fun…

Not much. Diamon Club seats are $30, I think.

Pretend you’re a software millionaire for a night.

I think $20 for any seat except $30 for diamond
I would be there were I not three thousand miles away.

Also, the Aquasox are up 1-0 in the final game of the Northwest League playoffs.

But West Tennessee is down to their last inning.

RALLY, GUYS!

A team that's running out Jarrett Grube and Steve Bray in the playoffs can't hope to get very far.
The only way they're going to beat that 983 is if Seahawks fans stumble in looking for beer.

Which could happen. Still, the over/under before the game was 500.

Aaaand tonight's attendance is: 843.

Less than yesterday, but safely over 500.

Seriously, are all of you people watching the football game?

Seahawks are done for the day though....
The Sunday Night Football game.

We’re only at 843 because a hundred odd Seahawks fans came across the street.

I don't care about football and I don't see why anyone else should either.
I'm half joking.
I'd be there were I not 4800 miles away.

No question. Unless that question is ‘what if you were 4700 miles away?’ or similar.

Maybe if they charged $5

they would have gotten more fans. I don’t suppose it would have quadrupled their attendance, but I know I would have gone.

The Mariners should do the same.
Why are people complaining about money?

Great seats, playoff baseball!

I can barely afford to eat right now and I'd still consider going if I were in town.
AAA playoff baseball

I get what you are saying, but still

Felix aside, the Rainiers are probably better than the Mariners right now.
Which makes me torn between rooting for the Rainers to win this game and lose so they get called up and make the last couple weeks of the season a little more interesting.
I get that sentiment, certainly.

I’d kind of prefer that they win though, because it does mean something to the players and who knows when they’ll next have an opportunity?

Tacoma's games are more meaningful at this point

and have the bonus of not counting as service time.

The Rainiers are my bandwagon team.
And they would have lost money.

They’re not stupid. They know how much they have to pay ushers, concessions and the like. They don’t get to use their Minor League vendors.

Wooo

3 up, 3 down! Way to go Feierabend!

I am psyched for this game.
Is there some reason that Smoak is so low in the batting order?

Is that where he has been all season? I haven’t really watched the Rainiers except for the playoffs, but I always assumed he would bat 3rd or 4th. Also, Halman 2nd?

It's just the way they've done things this series.

Also I guess they assume that Halman would see more fastball if Ackley got on, leading to theoretical dingers.

Or actual 3-run homers.
Theoretical dingers are what the Mariners are for

On a side note, it bothers me that theoretical isn’t spelled theorhetical.

Eh, Smoak's been low for a while

May just be trying to take some pressure off him after his struggles in the AL this year.

It really bothers me that Sacramento, not the Rainiers, gets the M's clubhouse and dugout.

Does anyone know why they did that?

Sacramento gets the dugout, but not the clubhouse.

The M’s clubhouse is closed. Sacramento has a tiny changing room – some sort of auxillary locker room.

So do the Rainiers get the away locker room?
That helps, thanks. But why the dugout?
Aquasox are now leading 6-0.
In retrospect, I'm quite glad that all I did in the preseason was claim the team was uninteresting.
No gameday for short-a ball it seems.
It was new in double-A this season.

It’ll be a while before it works its way down to short-season A-ball, I’d imagine.

Well, there goes Feierabend's perfect game....
He has three strikeouts in four innings though.

I don’t understand.

Fast game, I like it.
God, I love the graphics and stuff they use on this MiLB.tv broadcast.

It’s like watching MLB from the early 80’s.

Halman almost took Baisley's arm off with that line drive.

Lots of LDs finding gloves (for both teams, to be fair).

The Aquasox are six outs away from taking their first league title since 1985.
I now have that on audio while watching Tacoma.
That team featured such future big leaguers as...

Joe Kmak and Randy McCament.

Goddamnit, history.

Safeco must be cursed in some way.
Exorcism!
Mexorcism!

So that will haunt my dreams.
The loss of Bullpen Face is one of the worst things about this season :(
Can they use any of those ad's anymore?

Hypehn ad? no

Griffey/Ichiro ad? no

Bullpen face ad? no

39 comments for major league game thread. 60+ for minor league game thread at the halfway point.

Mariners!

This blog is fucked up.
I imagine a not-insignificant number of people were at Qwest today.
Instead of on LL?

I guess I didn’t know there were many football fans here. I mean, in absence of all baseball, sure, maybe. But now?

Are the Mariners worth watching?
Yeah now. Baseball is just so damn depressing.
According to the River Cats radio broadcaster it was 95,000. Ha.
Well that's a few tens of thousands over capacity.
I can't believe it. I'm actually going to have gotten my hopes up for a triple A team.

And then my hopes are going to be dashed. And then I am going to have an emotional reaction to a AAA game.

It's like you're in my brain right now.

Not fun, is it? :(

Aquasox now three outs shy of the title.
I am pumped.
Everyone turn on the auquasox for a half inning. They have almost clinched it.

Listen free here.

Tuned in.
I wish the MiLB.tv subscription I bought for $6 gave me short-a games too.
Thanks!

Positivity!!!

If they lose because I just tuned in, I am never watching baseball again.
Mariners!

By association!

Shoot, Valdez walked the leadoff man.

Not that I know who I’d run out as the closer, lacking Pryor. Seems like they’re getting Burgoon up in the ‘pen and that’s probably the best of the available options.

Come on Valdez, get your act together.

Two walks to start the inning?

I tuned in for this.
DIVING CATCH BY ROBBIE ANSTON!
They have 50 fans fewer than the Rainiers do right now.
It is amazing how like 900 people sounds like a huge crowd coming over a short-A radio feed.
They've actually got well over 1,500 according to Conor Dowley.
He said he was guessing though.
Still, 1,500 would be understandable.

I’d imagine Tacoma would have something like that if they were playing at Cheney – maybe more.

Wow, so Everett apparently had less than 800.

Well, at least the Seahawks drew well.

3 outs till victory

And we just walked the first guy. Sweet.

Runners on 1st and 2nd.

Awesome outfield catch. 1 out.

Two outs to history!

Swinging Strikeout!

Two outs! The entire stadium is on their feet. One out to history!

Pitching change.
This is it! This is it! I can feel it right here.
WHOOOOOOO!!!!1

SWINGING STRIKEOUT!!!!!!!! AQUASOX TAKE IT!!!

Ackley Safeco hit!
Followed by a Halman single.

Let’s have one of those patented Mariner ‘big’ innings where you almost want to apologize after scoring 4-5.

There it is! Another single, and you know what that means?

A motherfucking RUN!

HIT A GOD DAMN HOMERUN HALMAN
Halman too!

CURSE: BROKEN

I LOVE ME A SUCCESSFUL MEXORCISM
Runs!

This is officially the most compelling game played in Safeco since April.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

1-1!

Holy shit! My brain is going to explode from too much Mariner-related excitement!
Aquasox need just one more out!
Cripes, double down the line, 6-1 game.
They're bringing inThe 'Goon.
Mortensen's out, and in comes Lenny DiNardo.
How do I know him?
Played for both the Red Sox and Royals says Curto.
A chance encounter in a remote public men's room?

No, he’s a journeyman MLB reliever. Played for the A’s recently – big GB guy, I think.

SUCK IT, RANGERS!
WHOOOOO AQUASOX WIN!

 AQUASOX WIN!

AQUASOX ARE NORTHWSET LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOO

Wooo Congrats to the Aquasox!
Winning feels...

…alien. Strange. Foreign.

I'm feeling something other than apathy now.

I don’t know what it’s called.

Boredom?

Disappointment?
Resentment?
Bitterness?

It is...

Optimism?
Hope?
Enthusiasm?

I think it's more positive than that.
A tingle in the dingle?
...?

(deedle deedle dee)

Oh right so back to this game. It's tied. Go Rainiers.
WHY ARE WE BUNTING.

WHERE IS WAK.

Yepez. DiNardo. These are beyond journeymen. This is beyond baseball.
There's only one.... September?
Theres been a like a lot actually.

Sounds like it’s gonna happen next year too.

If only there were some way of keeping track of these changes.
We should work on that.

Sounds like theres money in it.

DiNardo has an absurd leg kick. Like a showgirl or something.
Ha, Everidge just went Milton into the stands-hilarial.
Puzzling and awesome!
What the fuck is going on.
What's happening? The audio won't work for me and Gameday is stuck.

PLAYOFF FEVER OVER HERE.

Only two outs and Everidge threw the ball in the stands-Wilson awarded home on the fuck up.
In play: run(s)
See, I beat you by not bothering with accuracy.
The thread's loading a little slow for me and says I won?
Oh shit, you did win.

Tough night for me.

6-4-3 fielders choice.

Mike Wilson safe at 2nd, Yepez out at first. But Tommy Everidge didn’t catch that Wilson was safe. Thinking there were three outs, he flipped the ball into the crowd. That’s a two-base error, and Wilson scores.

If we win this series because of a doily I am going to punch somebody.
Now I wish I was there tonight.
I just realized Everidge is on their team.
It took me until halfway thru the second game to realize this myself.
There has been way too much football to actually pay attention.

Playoffs!

Damn

I feel kinda bad for the guy.

Jeff is some kind of psychic if Everidge's early leaving led to the Raniers winning.
I propose we rename the Mariners the SuperCuteUnicorns.
Wow. What an inning for Feierabend.
So Ryan Feierabend's been pretty good.
Pretty good?
2 hits and 1 run.

Pretty damn good?

Italicized?

Damn.

Respect where it's due.
hell yeah. Go for the CG.
Ackley jacking up that OBP.
Lueke warming up-bye Carmen. :(
Halman swinging strikeout.

I hope we all appreciate this rarity we have witnessed.

CALL UP MATT MANGINI
Wooooo Mangini!
SUCK IT RANGERS, SUCK IT ATHLETICS!
That makes me laugh.
Has Mangini earned a few weeks of playing time over Jose Lopez yet?
Over the clutchest player in the MLB?

Fuck no.

I don't trust AAA clutch stats.

Sure, they numbers say he is 12% more clutch than lopez, but that shit is from the minors.

Fucking right.

We could miss some Loafie magic.

How do you feel about defense?
I'm feeling defensive.
We could attach a glove to one arm of a windmill and have about as much success as Mangini.
But windmills are notoriously terrible at bunting.
Mangini is about as proficient as a windmill when it comes to fielding bunts.
I was referring to offense.

I feel this organization has a lot of bunting in its future.

Sodo Mojo!

I knew, I just felt like driving the point home.
Why are you right?
I'm aware he'll never stick at third.

I’m also aware that Jose Lopez is a useless piece of shit that is doing nothing of value and will mean nothing to the future of this team.

Mangini probably won't either, but he has a nonzero chance.

And might actually outperform Lopez’s ~average glove/nothing combo.

Probably in a nothing glove/average bat sense, but hey.
Lopez's glove is actually above average.
Maybe a bit above average

We don’t have a great sample size.

Dingers!

Hey, somebody should hit home runs at this park.

Looks like Lueke's sitting down.

Feier may go for the CG, unless Lueke’s ready.

Goddammmmmmm I wush I was there for this.
Cancels out the Everidge error

which is nice.

Lueke's back up. Let's see. I think he's coming in.

Yep.

Dammit Lueke

throw strikes!

This is a good start.
I don't know how current his gameday photo is, but in the interest of PR,

Lueke is a guy who should really go clean-shaven

This comment caused me to laugh very hard.
I think it shows a kind streak that he's loaned the rest his beard to Everidge.
Like community service, almost.
I was gonna mention something a little more blunt than that and decided against it.

Totally right.

OMFG. OMFG.

Why are we giving up 4-pitch walks in the top of the ninth with a short lead. I do not understand this strategy.

It's a playoff strategy. Don't worry, you'll get it someday.
This sounds like that Believe Big thing.
Three pitch strike. It's all good.
I think it would be hilarious if Tommy Everidge knocked us out of the playoffs.
Right on cue!
Like I said.
On the plus side, could be easy to double up Everidge.
In play, no out.
Play by play isn't really needed.

Anyone who is reading this can load up gameday for themselves

On the one hand, I knid of bristle at something like this, but on the other hand, McCovey Chronicles game threads are miserable.
Rules are rules.

Don’t like them? There’s an e-mail link down below.

I apologize if my comment seemed at all hostile.
I hate how hard it is to judge tone and intent via rapid text dialog.
All managers suck.
Is Cortes still an option?
Threw last night?

Imploded a bit?

I just meant as far as other relievers go.

I’m not as up on the Tacoma bullpen as I should be, sadly.

No. We are all way too familiar with our AAA affiliate.

Most fans just watch their major league teams.

Yeah, Cortes as a reliever is pretty awesome.
We're going to Memphis!
Will Memphis then be coming to Safeco or will Cheney be sorted out by then?
I think the rebuild will be going on for some time.
Cheney is a massive rebuild.

That will take months. I don’t know how they determine who plays where.

But they can't play at Safeco. I heard it's like the American something something ballpark.
All of the games will be played in Memphis.

The Rainiers will be the home team for a few of the games, but it’s all in Memphis. There’s a scheduling conflict with the Mariners homestand and the league office would not approve Everett as an appropriate triple-A venue.

That is bullshit.
What about the Tacoma dome?
Can't we just move the Mariners games out of the way?

Nobody gives a shit about those anyway.

Forfeit the games, give Ichiro an appropriately estimated number of hits, call it even?
So long as it didn't interfere with any Felix Days...

yeah, I’d say you have yourself a deal.

I don't see why the Rainier games can't be played early.

Mariners have an off day Thursday so no conflict, then early games Fri-Sat if need be.

I just like that the Mariners still somehow managed to fuck this up

and they are in an entirely different league.

I officially hate the Mariners now.

(Fingers crossed.)

Having never paid attention to Minor League playoffs, is it 5 games again?
Yep.

At other levels it’s only a three-game series.

You can check out the offical PCL playoff procedures

here.

What are you talking about?
Rainiers face the Memphis Redbirds for the PCL Championship?
HA! I thought we just won it!
Nope, we just won the first round, or the Pacific Conference if you will.
I can't stop laughing.
They're going Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee.
YEEEEE HAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW!
I like how Curto calls the games.

Thoughts?

He's awesome.
This can't be emphasized enough.
We got 250+ comments for a minor league thread.
After 38 on the major league thread.
(see above comment)
Meanwhile, at the blog the both of us write for,......
No, seriously, there are post-game pictures at USSM now if anyone care.
Man, Pineda cannot believe the deals at the Seattle Team Shop.
THAT'S A LOW PRICE
There were still more comments in the minor league thread?

It’s just the way things are. USSM gamethreads always get fewer comments.

Also, and don't take this personally, I feel like USSM commenters are just generally aggravating as hell.

It feels too much like Fangraphs spillover. I’m sure there’s a lot of overlap between LL and USSM, but there seems to be tighter control on stupidity over here.

(This is based on very limited experience with USSM threads, for what it’s worth.)

Fangraphs spillover leads to stupidity?

That’s…. weird… but conceivably, you could have a point.

It’s a different community to be certain, but you get weird questions everywhere. Of course, at the moment I’m only remembering the “Is Taijuan Walker a reliever now because he’s only made relief appearances in Arizona and do you think he’s going to pitch in the Arizona Fall League?” type questions that I get at USSM. It could just be a simple difference of how savvy on these things each group is, but I just do what I can do with it.

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