Some recent hitting trends

Post #41 » by **Sweezo** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 3:55 am

And Vargas/Wilhelmsen can't hold the lead. Come on...

sharkz · Post #42 » by **sharkz** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:34 am

Man our bullpen hasn't exactly been great apart from League lately eh?

Laffey's had a big time decline and I dont even understand why Wilhelmsen still plays. Why did we release Chris Ray over him......

Post #43 » by **Sweezo** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 4:55 am

Sweezo wrote:And Vargas/Wilhelmsen can't hold the lead. Come on...

I mean, they couldn't keep it tied. I don't think we ever had the lead. Oops...

Laffey against Jose Bautista was a fairly predictable result.

TTown · Post #44 » by **TTown** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 6:28 am

Olivo walked. First time since MAY.

Trayvon's fun to watch. Lots of energy. Really glad he's starting to hit.

How's this for weird? M's were down 12-7 at one point and I figured they could come back and tie it again. Crazy having a bunch of guys who can hit.

sharkz · Post #45 » by **sharkz** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 11:17 pm

Ruffin is our PTBNL, and he's headed straight for Seattle. Laffey DFA'd.

jumanji · Post #46 » by **jumanji** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:30 am

sharkz wrote:Ruffin is our PTBNL, and he's headed straight for Seattle. Laffey DFA'd.

They've pretty systematically wiped out about 50% of the pitching staff in the last month so i guess this is keeping with the pattern. A little surprised to see Ruffin coming up so soon but his innings in the minors this year arent huge so give him some work. Love what's going on here with this talent infusion.

Have to think the Tigers are wondering if the Fister deal was worth it. Better someone else getting had rather than us.

TTown · Post #47 » by **TTown** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 4:05 am

Wells just took a Morrow pitch to the face. That's got to be unpleasant.

Guti with an RBI double, Carp extends his hitting streak. But Morrow's held us to 3 hits through 5.2 so far. And Beavan was not sharp.

jumanji · Post #48 » by **jumanji** » Thu Aug 18, 2011 6:57 pm

No real problem with the League for Morrow acquisition but on a night like tonight it's almost like a double whammy. We take Morrow over Lincecum and then he comes back to shut us down. Not a pleasant evening.

TTown · Post #49 » by **TTown** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:29 pm

Carp took all of one AB to extend his hit streak.

Jack Wilson to the DL, Brendan Ryan is back. Glad Ryan is back, and sorry to see Jack go. Even if he's not in our plans after September, he's been playing really well.

Wells is the DH today. Glad he's okay after taking that Morrow fastball to the face.

Post #50 » by **Sweezo** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:47 am

Felix pitched very well today but his defense didn't do him any favors. Kennedy had three bad plays on defense all by himself. Why is he still getting playing time? He had a good run in the first half but he's come back down to Earth...

jumanji · Post #51 » by **jumanji** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 3:45 pm

Sweezo wrote:Felix pitched very well today but his defense didn't do him any favors. Kennedy had three bad plays on defense all by himself. Why is he still getting playing time? He had a good run in the first half but he's come back down to Earth...

Had to think the constant juggling of the lineup cost Felix tonight. Coming off a travel day you would think that the guys who have been picking it pretty well like Ackley and Segar would have been out there.

Post #52 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:03 am

Strange, but I feel better about the M's now than I did a little over a month ago when they were only a few games back. I feel like we've got options now. Like we can actually make somewhat of a complete team by the 2013 season with a little bit of luck, and if we play our cards right.

I just don't want ownership/upper management to put the kibosh on it.

TTown · Post #53 » by **TTown** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:32 am

I feel a lot better about the offense than I did 2 months ago, that's for sure. It's nice to know we can look internally at some spots like Carp at DH and not need to try to throw a lot of money at a problem spot in the offseason. Guti in the month of August has shown he's still got the tools to succeed with the bat. I've seen enough of Wells and Trayvon to feel comfortable about LF in the future. And know who's even starting to resemble a Major League hitter the last week? Seager. Hit his first HR yesterday, and he's had multiple 2-hit games in the past 7-8 days.

If nothing else, we have a lot of really exciting young pieces right now to shift through and try to build a productive offense around. I'm not sure how our rotation will fare in 2012 at the onset, but one would imagine by 2013, at least, we should be throwing out Felix, Pineda, Hultzen, Paxton, and perhaps even Taijuan Walker.

TTown · Post #54 » by **TTown** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:37 am

Carp, Ackley, and Seager all with hits in their first go-round through the line-up, but no runs. Ackley had a sweet double. Maybe he did need that extra day off yesterday.

Wells not in the lineup today. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but I don't exactly know how Willy Mo Pena could conceivably fit into our long term plans, nor why he's taking away ABs away from anybody. With Smoak out and Carp manning 1B, we've got a perfect opportunity to be playing Ich, Guti, Trayvon, and Wells all at the same time.

// shrug

sharkz · Post #55 » by **sharkz** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 1:51 am

Carp hitstreak continues, Seager and Robinson look like they're starting to hit.

Meanwhile Ackley is 2 for his last 15 with 6 ks with that double. Meh, the kids are the only thing keeping me watching and not just taking a break late in the season.

TTown · Post #56 » by **TTown** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Swept in Tampa. Pineda was was pretty good. Guti, Wells, Ackley, Wells, Seager, Pena all with two hits in the finale, Carp extends his hit streak to 20. Wells with another HR.

Is Ichiro's 27-gamer the longest in franchise history?

Post #57 » by **Sweezo** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 12:24 am

TTown wrote:Swept in Tampa. Pineda was was pretty good. Guti, Wells, Ackley, Wells, Seager, Pena all with two hits in the finale, Carp extends his hit streak to 20. Wells with another HR.

At this point, there are certain players on the roster [Wright, Kennedy] who really don't fit in with the rest of the roster and get a lot of playing time in high leverage situations. Kennedy's taking at bats that could be going to someone with more of a chance to contribute in the future, and Wright's not exactly shutting people down anymore. I'd rather call Kelley up, move Wright along, and let the younger members of the bullpen get some time in.

Nice to see Pena show some of his power off.

jumanji · Post #58 » by **jumanji** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:29 am

Sweezo wrote:
TTown wrote:Swept in Tampa. Pineda was was pretty good. Guti, Wells, Ackley, Wells, Seager, Pena all with two hits in the finale, Carp extends his hit streak to 20. Wells with another HR.

At this point, there are certain players on the roster [Wright, Kennedy] who really don't fit in with the rest of the roster and get a lot of playing time in high leverage situations. Kennedy's taking at bats that could be going to someone with more of a chance to contribute in the future, and Wright's not exactly shutting people down anymore. I'd rather call Kelley up, move Wright along, and let the younger members of the bullpen get some time in.

Nice to see Pena show some of his power off.

I agree although i like the leadership that Wright brings to that bullpen. Have i mentioned they can jetison Ichiro any time now. When you talk about taking time away from youngsters and not fitting in long term Ichiro is the poster child for that.

Post #59 » by **Sweezo** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:50 am

Getting rid of Ichiro also means waving goodbye to $20 million he is still owed next season. Kennedy and Wright are simply role players who, at their best, will produce like role players. Ichiro is the declining face of the franchise and a future HOF player.

He's not tradeable [he can refuse to accept any trade as a 10/5 guy], and I doubt he'll retire after this year with all that money on the table. Maybe you could trade him but for what...another bad contract like Carlos Zambrano? John Lackey? He'll get a chance next year to show the decline isn't permanent.

If Ichiro fails to do anything next year, they'll still have the same young options they have this year to step in and give it a shot. I'm not excited about Ichiro's prospects of bouncing back but he'll certainly get the chance to do it.

jumanji · Post #60 » by **jumanji** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:56 am

I guess he's earned the right to come back and prove that he's still got it but it's frustrating paying that kind of bread for a guy that wants to bunt with runners in scoring position and the game on the line. Maybe his pride will tell him to sail off into the sunset and retire at the end of this season. (yeah right).