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Know Those Mariners -- July 21-23

Frayed Knot Jul 21 2014 10:14 AM

I suspect that because we rarely play them and rarely even see them that none of us know the Mariners all that well. I could check on when we last played them but Gregshould be by shortly to tell you off the top of his head when that was and the details from each game. So (looking things up quickly) it turns out that they're above .500 these days [52-46, with a +56 RS/RA] and in 3rd place in the increasingly tough AL West, despite losing twice via walk-offs to the Angels over this past weekend. Still towards the bottom in run scoring although not as God-awful as in recent years. Where they shine is in run prevention, 3.39 RA/G puts them a shade ahead of Oakland for best-in-AL The good news is that it looks like we'll miss their big gun 'King' Felix Hernandez (pitched Saturday) and ex-NYM Chris Young (sparing announcers any possible Chris Young vs Chris Young jokes) who pitched on Sunday, although it seems to be up in the air as to exactly who we will see past tonight. Monday, 10:10 -- Niese vs Roenis Elias 2nd day in a row for Cuban emigre pitchers, Elias, LHP - 25 y/o, was signed by the M's three years ago but just reached the majors this season. 19 starts, 7-8, 4.54, 1.27 And, yes, Niese has been reactivated for this game with Buddy Carlyle being DFA'd (and most likely returned to LV after clearing waivers) Tuesday, 10:10 -- deGrom vs TBD Wednesday, 3:40 -- Colon vs TBD

Frayed Knot Jul 21 2014 10:37 AM Re: Know Those Mariners -- July 21-23

INFIELD C - Mike Zunino — the hot catching prospect of recent vintage, the 23 y/o in his first full season is slugging a lot (29 of his 56 hits for XB incl. 13 HRs) but is barely off the interstate (.201 BA) and makes a lot of outs (.254 OBA) 1B - Justin Smoak — also a one-time hot prospect, drafted 1st round, 2008 - 8 slots ahead of Ike Davis in a draft full of 1B hopefuls not playing up to expectations five years into his career. .210/.280/.358 - 7 HRs. Just recently off the DL 2B — Robinson Cano — not hitting for the power they paid for (7 HRs) -- and who didn't see THAT coming with the swap of stadiums? Sat out Sunday’s game with “a tight hamstring” SS - Brad Miller — the target of much pre-season NYM trade speculation wouldn’t have been an upgrade, not this season anyway: .203/.272/.324 The other half of the Seattle middle infield trade bait, Nick Franklin, is hitting much better [.300/.394/.481] but is doing so in AAA Tacoma and mostly playing 2B 3B - Kyle Seager — Seattle's 3rd round 2009 draft pick is probably the offensive MVP of the team this year [.275/.344/.484 — 15 HRs]. Brothers Corey (18th overall pick - Dodgers 2012) and Justin (12th round pick in 2013 by Seattle) are currently working their way through the minors (AA and Low-A)

G-Fafif Jul 21 2014 10:43 AM Re: Know Those Mariners -- July 21-23

Lost 2 of 3 in 2008, first Manuel homestand. Felix Hernandez grand-slammed Johan Santana. Some young firebrand named R.A. Dickey made Oliver Perez look bad enough to never think about re-signing. Plus one win whose storyline was David Wright benefiting from an unwanted day off.

Frayed Knot Jul 21 2014 06:16 PM Re: Know Those Mariners -- July 21-23

Special attention needs to be paid to Fernando Rodney, Seattle's closer and member of the crooked-hat club. In Sunday's game vs Anaheim, he made a rare 8th inning appearance and got the final two outs preserving, temporarily anyway, the Mariners' one-run lead. He immediately went into his 'arrow-shooting' routine where he pantomimes pulling an arrow out of his quill and shooting it in the air; it's his signature move when he closes out a game. But not only wasn't this the end of the game but his arrow seemed to be aimed, not into the air in general, but at the Anaheim player who had just made the 3rd out. Not cool dude. Well, karma is a mean bitch and it all came back to bite him after a 9th inning consisting of three hits, three walks, and two Angels runs for the walk-off win. Pujols & Trout in particular (although there may have been others as well) used Albert's game-tying double to return arrow fire at Rodney and again later when the winning run scored. Two pieces of advice Freddie baby. - You're not a bad closer but you're going to have your share of blow-ups like any other. So you might want to think about dropping the whole William Tell bit lest you wind up with as many (figurative) arrows in your hide as George Custer - if you insist on keeping the arrow routine, best to wait until you, y'know, actually win the game before going into it, otherwise you're just going to look like an (even bigger) ass if/when it blows up in your face.