Mariners Insider - GAME THOUGHTS: Mariners vs. Yankees, May 4th

Mariners Insider

Sunday, May 4th, 2008

GAME THOUGHTS: Mariners vs. Yankees, May 4th

Posted by Ryan Divish @ 10:11:12 am

Good afternoon from the big ballpark in the Bronx.

Let's see if the Mariners can muster some offense today off Darrell Rasner, who was 1-4, with a 4.01 ERA in 2007.

It's too bad this guy wasn't suiting up still. There would be no offensive issues.

You watch that and you can't help but miss the Gar.

GAME UPDATES START HERE:

3:24 -- From Snydro: Divish, I've come to the conclusion that you're bad luck. Take a few days off, and let's see what happens.

Sounds like a plan to me. I will be taking Monday off since. I have no idea who's covering the game. They'll get the pleasure of writing about this mess.

3:14 -- Here's a pleasant thought, when the Mariners lose today, and if the Rangers win, Seattle will have sole possession of last place in the AL West.

3:12 -- The playing of YMCA needs to be banned at all stadiums for the rest of eternity.

We've got Ross Olehn-somebody coming in, perhaps the Mariners can get some runs off of him.

2:44 -- It's now 8-2, and I think victory for the Mariners has pretty much packed its bags early and headed for the airport. But if they can't win, they need to at least mount some offense as some sort of moral victory for the bruised psyches.

2:20 -- The Mariners miss out on a major opportunity there. Clement is pressing a little and trying to do too much. Both he and Balentien I think are letting the idea of them being sparks to this offense affect them a little.

2:04 -- Wow, Silva is getting banged around pretty good. It's 5-2, and the Mariners have never come back and won game in which they've trailed by more than two runs this season. And we have back-to-back home runs as Robinson Cano also went yard.

1:58 -- The Mariners aren't going to win this game 2-0, know how I know/. Because the Yankees just scored on three straight singles. Silva is not the type of guy to shut teams out, but he is the type to keep him team in games.

1:21 -- Josh Hamilton won the AL player of the month after racking up 32 RBIs in April. The Rangers got Hamilton in a trade for talented young pitcher Edison Volquez.

Here's my question, in the past offseason, would have traded Brandon Morrow for Hamilton? It would have been a similar deal.

1:15 --- I know some of you may not read Buster Olney's blog on ESPN.com because it's takes the insider fee, but it's a must read for me. He had this interesting note yesterday.

PITCHERS WITH LOWEST PERCENTAGE OF WORKING INTO HITTERS COUNTS
PLAYER PERCENTAGE
Johnny Cueto, Reds 9.091 (13 of 143)
Carlos Silva, Mariners 10.714 (18 of 168)
Andy Sonnanstine, Rays 10.897 (17 of 156)
Roy Oswalt, Astros 11.180 (18 of 161)
Johan Santana, Mets 11.321 (18 of 159)
Roy Halladay, Blue Jays 12.042 (23 of 191)
Paul Byrd, Indians 12.057 (17 of 141)
Greg Maddux, Padres 12.102 (19 of 157)
Tim Hudson, Braves 12.230 (17 of 139)
Brett Tomko, Royals 12.698 (16 of 126)

1:12 -- My God, folks, the Mariners scored more than two runs before the seventh inning for the time in five games. Adrian Beltre with a monster home run to left. Johnny Damon didn't even budge when Beltre hit it.

Categories: Game Updates • 6 comments

COMMENTS:

Comment by snydro22 @ 12:08 - Sunday, May 4th, 2008

Divish, I've come to the conclusion that you're bad luck. Take a few days off, and let's see what happens.

Comment by Squid @ 12:50 - Sunday, May 4th, 2008

It IS pretty sad when you are looking to two guys from AAA to jump-start your offense.

Thank goodness I just enjoy baseball so much. This would be a long season if I was relying on the M's to win to get enjoyment.

Comment by SharkHawk @ 13:35 - Sunday, May 4th, 2008

Good news again... one day closer to the end for McLaren. Now the bad news..... we know that Bavasi and Lincoln will screw up whoever the replacement is. Bring back Bob Melvin. That guy seemed downright wild compared to the sheer boredom that is Mac.

Speaking of Mac... bring in a former player who gave a crap like Mark McLemore. He won't let guys sit on their thumbs all day. This team looks like 11 Sterling Hitchcock's on the field. I will never forget Sterling walking into the dugout after 5 innings and saying "I did my job."

The guys now get up, take a few weak hacks and sit down. Pathetic.

Comment by moo @ 14:26 - Sunday, May 4th, 2008

On paper, with the exception of losing Jose Guillen in right, this team should have been significantly better then last year. The only major subtractions were Guillen (Thanks Bavasi YOU IDIOT) & George Sherill.

While their have been short term injuries to Bedard & JJ, it's more & more looking to me like we have a managing/coaching disaster. I've never heard of an entire coaching staff being let go in mid season, but with a couple possible exceptions (Lee Elia & MAYBE Norm Charlton), it would seem to make sense here).

Obviously that's not going to happen, but I'd like to see Elia at manager unless there's someone out there unemployed I've forgotten about (MIKE HARGROVE???!)

NOW is definitely the time for some sort of change, though it may already be too late to have a chance at the division. Each day with another loss comes closer to dooming this team.

Comment by dave8557 @ 17:54 - Sunday, May 4th, 2008

Overall, a good series for the Yankees. I think they are a little smug with their revolving door pitching policy. I would have preferred to see Hassner go the distance. The Yankees get away with groupthink because they have such a good hitting team. When they score a lot of runs, it makes up for a lot of mistakes and weaknesses. The Yankees do not have a good bullpen. Rivera is the only decent player, yet they insist on using all of them virtually every game. If they had the Mariners' problems, one would really have to question why the starter is pulled after 6 innings each start, and then 3 or 4 relievers come in to mop up. They do the other team a favor by pulling an effective starter (generally speaking - not in the Mariners case because they are in a team slump).

I miss Guillen, but I can't root for a steroid abuser, and cheater, whether or not baseball approves of it's use. I don't want to root for cheaters. Which is why I don't want to root for Bonds. That would be terrible if he were on the team.

Whatever Reed's history is with Mariners, he should be brought up. If he catches fire, they can trade him if they really don't want him. But he deserves a 2nd chance. I don't know what it is about baseball that certain players are not given a 2nd chance. Bring him up, let Ichiro sit a couple games if he's not hitting. When using Balentine, you can't do a normal platoon (playing against lefties or righties) because there are a lot less lefties in the league. You have to pick and choose where to play him, so he can get his confidence. Same with Clement. Play him a few games, then Johjima. You can't bench one person indefinitely for not hittting. Otherwise how is he going to break out of his slump?

The bats should wake up against Texas pitching this week.

Comment by Squid @ 18:04 - Sunday, May 4th, 2008

You guys want a grittier team to root for? How about one whose starter today spotted the opponent six runs in the first inning, then they come back to win 7-6 after the starter bears down and throws five innings of shut-out ball after the first inning debacle. This a team whose projected #1 starter has been so ineffective that he started the season in the minors and was recently sent back down there.

Minnesota Twins. 16-14.

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Mariners Insider

Ryan Divish has been with The News Tribune since 2006, covering the Tacoma Rainiers and high school sports. Divish played baseball at Dickinson State University and also earned a journalism degree from the University of Montana. You will find news, observations, anecdotes, analysis and photographs on this blog. The purpose is to keep readers informed, but also give them a feel for the team and its players, and a place to go to read about baseball.
E-mail Ryan.

Larry LaRue, who has covered the Seattle Mariners and Major League Baseball for The News Tribune since 1988, is taking some time off for personal reasons.