3-8

Guradado picks up his first save of the year. More to come later, after the Canucks/Flames game (sorry, Sports & B's...) is over.

Many boos were heard upon Jeff Nelson's summoning from the bullpen. That wasn't the fans, though, it was Lincoln with a megaphone.

Scott Spiezio: 2-3, with a double. Been the sparkplug for the offense tonight. Good to see.

Ichiro on third, none out - taking advantage of a bad throw by Laird.

Olerud grounds out.

Edgar pops out.

Boone strikes out.

If you can't rely on the 2-3-4 batters to advance someone 90 feet, then how do you hope to score runs?

Sure enough, it's Wilson who provides the offense with a bases-clearing double. 3-1 M's.

Here's what I'm wondering: yeah, he smashed the ball, but when the pitcher has allowed two consecutive walks and then throws a ball to you on the first pitch, why do you swing on the next offering?

Another walk for Ibanez, on the heels of an Aurilia walk.

Impressive.

Very good AB for Ibanez.

Colby Lewis pitches to Raul Ibanez
Pitch 1: Ball 1
Pitch 2: Strike 1 (looking)
Pitch 3: Ball 2
Pitch 4: Strike 2 (looking)
Pitch 5: Ball 3
Pitch 6: Ball 4

Lousy start...

Deep double, deep fly out, deep fly out.

Not liking Moyer tonight.

Spiezio's in the lineup today, batting fifth. Putz was sent back to Tacoma.

Has anyone else noticed the numbers being put up by crappy catchers? It's not just Dan Wilson. Check it out:

Henry Blanco: .345/.486/.793
Paul LoDuca: .512/.542/.605
Michael Barrett: .313/.361/.688
Mike Matheny: .317/.341/.512
Brad Ausmus: .324/.359/.405
Charles Johnson: .407/.484/.889
Sandy Alomar Jr: .353/.353/.529
Toby Hall: .381/.417/.476
Brent Mayne: .292/.379/.500
Jose Molina: .296/.321/.556
Dan Wilson: .370/.414/.444
Gary Bennett: .375/.412/.625

This is beyond strange; it borders on the unreal. Those numbers are being put up over more than 370 cumulative plate appearances. Looks like we weren't the only ones being victimized by guys like Jose Molina over the first week and a half of the season.

When Pinch-Hitting Goes Awry: 6-3 Phillies, Top 9, Billy Wagner trying to get a save against the Expos.

-J Carroll hit for M Cepicky
-J Carroll flied out to right.
-J Rivera hit for B Wilkerson
-J Rivera struck out swinging.
-L Lopez hit for B Schneider
-L Lopez struck out swinging.

Just when you thought it would end...

Calvin Pickering homered two more times today, in four AB's (he went 4-4 with a double, two homers, and 7 RBI). That means that he has 10 homers in 24 at bats on the year.

Most dominant streak for a hitter in baseball history?

Gotta be up there.

Another re-post:

Fire Bavasi(.) gear can be found here.

The selection is growing by the day, it seems.

Ah-HA!

Inland Empire did, in fact, defeat Lake Elsinore 3-2, in ten innings (contrary to what I said in my last post; the website had incorrect information). TA Fulmer had a very strong start, striking out eight and not allowing an earned run in six innings, but Cesar Jimenez eventually got the win in relief. Notables:

Juan Gonzalez: 1-5, 1 double
Ismael Castro: 1-5, 1 double
Scott Spiezio: 0-4
Matt Hagen: 0-4
Rene Rivera: 1-3
Michael Garciaparra: pinch-runner

Minor League Wrap-up:

Matt Thornton and Tacoma defeated Tucson 4-3. A three-run seventh put the Rainiers on top, and Scott Atchinson closed the door for his second save. Notables:

Matt Thornton: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 1 HR
Ramon Santiago: 1-4
Hiram Bocachica: 1-2, 2 BB
Jose Lopez: 2-4
Bucky Jacobsen: 1-3
Wiki Gonzalez: 0-3, 1 BB
Justin Leone: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 errors (still struggling, hitting .161)

San Antonio used a six-run second in defeating El Paso 9-8. Gustavo Martinez got the start and was effectively wild for four innings, and Emiliano Fruto picked up a rough five-out save. Notables:

Shin Soo-Choo: 2-5
Greg Dobbs: 1-5
Cristian Guerrero: 2-4

Ryan Feierabend and Wisconsin limited Peoria to six hits as the Timber Rattlers won 5-1. Brian Stitt recorded the cheap save by recording a single out with the bases loaded. Notables:

Josh Womack: 1-5
Adam Jones: 0-2, 2 BB
Wladimir Balentien: 0-4
Oswaldo Navarro: 3-4, 2 doubles

I'm tired of waiting for the Inland Empire box to be published. They beat Lake Elsinore 3-2, with the game-winning run coming in the bottom of the eighth. As soon as it's up, I'll let you know.

You know you're officially an adult when you get summoned for jury duty. Good times. Anyway...

As I begin this post, the game's still going. It's 5-0 Texas in the bottom of the ninth, and Dan Wilson has just reached base for the fourth time on the same night than Chan Ho Park shut us down. Weird game. And there's Cabrera grounding into a double play that just about ends it...yes, Ichiro grounds out to first, and it's over.

Brilliant!™

2-8

It was never supposed to come to this. We were supposed to be worse, but not terrible, and every passing day makes it more difficult to pass it off as a fluke, as bad luck. After showing signs of life against Anaheim, you couldn't help but think that this team had turned the corner, but tonight's effort didn't only do away with that idea, it stepped on it and ground it into the dirt with such force that little pieces of Idea are forever embedded in the sole of the metaphorical shoe.

Who gets shut out despite putting 12 runners on base?

Only 59% of Park's pitches tonight were strikes. In past years, that rate has been 55.8%, 59.4%, and 60.9%. He threw a bunch of strikes in his first two starts this year, but he wasn't hitting his spots tonight. We helped him out.

Park faced 31 batters in the game. Those 31 batters waited on 51 total pitches before swinging. That's not so bad, right? Well, John Olerud was responsible for 15 of those pitches in 4 plate appearances. Take away his performance and you see that the other 27 batters waited on 36 pitches before swinging. In the first inning, Edgar swung at the first pitch after Olerud walked on four straight balls. Despite trailing by five runs in the fifth, Park needed just three pitches to retire Edgar and Olerud. In the seventh, Edgar again swung at the first pitch immediately following an Olerud walk. Six times Mariner batters swung at the first pitch of an at bat; when they didn't, 13 of those 25 "first pitches" were balls. Sure, we got eight hits off the guy, but we couldn't put a rally together because the team was generally undisciplined. Kudos to John Olerud for having the best plan going into the game; at least someone in the lineup was prepared (Wilson was good, too).

I don't know what Molitor is trying to do - make our best hitters more aggressive? - but it isn't working, and he needs to seriously re-think his strategy. I'm not one to place the blame at the feet of a hitting coach, but this is a professional lineup that should be drawing more walks than it is, and by swinging earlier in the count, we're limiting our opportunities at big innings. But I digress; this isn't the first time that Park has frustrated us.

So, what else? Well, Meche was bad. At least, for the first two innings (it must be difficult to pitch, knowing that allowing one run could mean a loss). He allowed two homers and four extra-base hits in all, a trend that needs to stop. His command came and went, but he was the unlucky victim of a big inning that ruined his outing. Still, these big innings aren't anything new for Meche, and you'd like to see the habit fade away over time.

Melvin brought in Kevin Jarvis to pitch the sixth. And the seventh. And the eighth. He didn't allow a run, but this raises a question:

Does Melvin think that Kevin Jarvis is actually talented, or does he believe that a 5-0 deficit in the sixth inning is too large a gap to attempt a comeback? Neither option is particularly rosy. Either Melvin likes Jarvis, and will pitch him often, or he has absolutely no confidence in his lineup's ability to score runs. Now, I don't think this offense will score five runs in the last few innings of a game very often this year, but I also don't think that such a deficit in the sixth inning is a blowout - especially against Chan Ho Park - so where was Ron Villone?

At least JJ Putz saw some action.

Did you know that Raul Ibanez is hitting .242/.316/.364, or that Rich Aurilia has a .300 OBP?

A very, very, very disappointing game, to say the least. Save for Olerud and Wilson, there were absolutely NO positives. Will things improve? There's nowhere to go but up. Still, until now, I didn't think I'd ever consider the possibility that we could be a worse team than Texas.

Tomorrow: Colby Lewis vs. Jamie Moyer. Given that I now have zero confidence in this team's ability to display patience against a wild pitcher, I'm going to predict that Lewis has a strong game and picks up the victory tomorrow in a 6-3 Ranger victory (I'm 7-3 on the year).

Up next: Minor League Wrap-up. Hopefully it will bring some good news to a terrible day.

What was already a disastrous sports day for Jeff has gotten astonishingly worse in the first two innings of this one. ):<

Looks like my prediction was wrong, again.

Jack Cust cleared waivers.

How the hell did that happen?

I don't know how I missed this eight days ago, but everyone should read Michael Wolverton's article on earned runs.

Replacing ERA with RA (or some similar, slightly more complicated metric) would only serve to improve things.

In case you ever needed more convincing that fielding percentage is a misleading and essentially worthless statistic, then here you go:

Kind of hard to believe, but the Mariners are the best defensive team in the AL, committing just three errors in 280 total chances in the first eight games, a .980 fielding percentage.