Seattle homestand vs Oakland, Boston & Baltimore

Slats · Post #1 » by **Slats** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:58 pm

Tonight's lineup:

RF Ichiro
CF Franklin Gutierrez
3B Kyle Seager
DH Jesus Montero
1B Justin Smoak
LF Michael Saunders
C Miguel Olivo
2B Dustin Ackley
SS Brendan Ryan

RHP Erasmo Ramirez

Post #2 » by **Sweezo** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:53 am

Wow. This is what Erasmo Ramirez has to offer that Beaven doesn't. 10 K's, 1 BB, 2 hits. It's a shame one of the two hits was a solo HR to CF, but I'll take that sort of performance any day of the week.

Once again, our offense is terrible. Smoak just hit a flyball to deep RF for an out because that's all he has to offer.

TTown · Post #3 » by **TTown** » Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:16 pm

haven't scored more than 3 runs in our last 7 games, but we have taken 2 from boston in our current 4-game series. felix was dominant in a 1-0 win thursday, we got bamboozled in a 5-0 loss friday, and we bounced back with a 3-2 win in 11 innings last night. vargas on the bump today, we could actually take 3/4 from the bosox.

Post #4 » by **Sweezo** » Wed Jul 4, 2012 11:03 pm

That entire series against Baltimore was just death. Batter after batter comes up, flails away, and then heads back to the bench. At this moment there's not one offensive player I can point to and say I am happy with. Wedge had a mini-blowup the other day, and I can't imagine he was happy to see more of the same this afternoon. Maybe Casper Wells...but that's it.

Noesi's performances are incredibly frustrating. His inability to finish when he gets ahead of the batter is confounding. He has great stuff, but it doesn't matter when he throws a fastball down the middle of the plate on an 0-2 count.

They have to do something. This season now feels the same to me as the last two that preceded it, and I find myself losing interest in watching M's games by the All-Star break.

Post #5 » by **Bulltalk** » Thu Jul 5, 2012 2:26 am

Sweezo wrote:That entire series against Baltimore was just death. Batter after batter comes up, flails away, and then heads back to the bench. At this moment there's not one offensive player I can point to and say I am happy with. Wedge had a mini-blowup the other day, and I can't imagine he was happy to see more of the same this afternoon. Maybe Casper Wells...but that's it.

Noesi's performances are incredibly frustrating. His inability to finish when he gets ahead of the batter is confounding. He has great stuff, but it doesn't matter when he throws a fastball down the middle of the plate on an 0-2 count.

They have to do something. This season now feels the same to me as the last two that preceded it, and I find myself losing interest in watching M's games by the All-Star break.

Oh man Sweezo...I just came here to write just about the same thing. WTF! How can they all be so bad at once, especially at home? This "home thing" has got me thinking that they're a bunch of pussies. Just hit the effing ball. F*ck...3 hits today. 3 hits! It's effing boring as hell to watch. Boring, boring, boring, boring, boring... What a BORING team.

I can't wait to watch the Seahawks D smack some arse after yet another PATHETIC season.

What's going on? Can't ANYONE step up and hit consistently amongst our youngins? Even Seager is tailing off to the .240 level.

Wake me up when you're ready to compete, or at least play some exciting ball.

Post #6 » by **Sweezo** » Thu Jul 5, 2012 6:04 am

Bulltalk wrote:How can they all be so bad at once, especially at home? This "home thing" has got me thinking that they're a bunch of pussies. Just hit the effing ball.

That's pretty much where I'm at. This talk of moving in the fences is a red herring...it's false hope. Move the fences in to help Smoak get a few cheap home runs, and the pitching staff bears the burden. The reality is our offensive players just aren't very good.

And they don't adjust. Or at least they don't seem to. How many times have I seen Smoak lift a fly ball to the warning track, drop his head in disgust, and slowly trot towards first? He's been to the plate more than 1,000 times in his MLB career. Huh.

Know what Edgar Martinez' OPS was for his peak years at the Kingdome ['94-'98]? Slightly over 1.000. And for his first three years at SafeCo? Slightly over 1.000. So he switched from a hitter's park to a pitcher's park and he was still good. Amazing.

Maybe because Edgar wasn't the type of guy who sat back and tried to his home runs in every at bat. He knew how to work a count and go the other way. Same with Olerud.

There's a reason this team was great a decade ago. They had an offense that didn't just hit home runs in every at bat, but used the park and knew how to work an at bat.

But now? We have a guy like Smoak who thinks he has power but doesn't. We have Olivo who swings at everything and tries to pull the ball every time. We have Ichiro who has excelled despite swinging at nearly everything [because he could get to nearly any pitch and make something happen] but no longer does due to his age. We have Ackley who made his mark in college and in the minors by being a disciplined hitter and has switched over to a hack-master. Why? Is he trying to hit for more power?

This team doesn't need stars to win. It needs competence. Guys like Casper Wells and John Jaso aren't stars, but they're both putting very good at bats together and helping this team win. If we had 4 Casper Wells and 5 Jaso clones in the lineup we might have something.

I don't know where the blame lies, but Wedge seems to love his aggressiveness and 'getting after it.' I don't know what the hell that means, but if he and his staff are preaching aggressiveness at the plate over all else, then they're hurting this team. Preach patience and getting on base. Preach productive at bats. The power will come for some of these guys, but not if that's all focusing on.

BayAreaMadSkill · Post #7 » by **BayAreaMadSkill** » Fri Jul 6, 2012 12:43 am

I'm going to see the entire Yankees-Mariners series here in a few weeks and I'm not very excited, haha. This team is pathetic.

The offense is just....wow. Pathetic. First off, get rid of Wedge. I'm beyond tired of his act. Then, drop all of the bums. Smoak, Olivo, Figgins, Ryan, etc. Just cut them and call up minor leaguers. I dont care. This is sad. We have the most undisciplined team ever. They hack at anything and everything.

I have been pleased with Casper Wells. And Jaso. That's it.

Post #8 » by **Sweezo** » Sat Jul 7, 2012 12:42 am

BayAreaMadSkill wrote:I'm going to see the entire Yankees-Mariners series here in a few weeks and I'm not very excited, haha. This team is pathetic.

The offense is just....wow. Pathetic. First off, get rid of Wedge. I'm beyond tired of his act. Then, drop all of the bums. Smoak, Olivo, Figgins, Ryan, etc. Just cut them and call up minor leaguers. I dont care. This is sad. We have the most undisciplined team ever. They hack at anything and everything.

I have been pleased with Casper Wells. And Jaso. That's it.

If the M's had competence at the other offensive positions, I don't think anyone would have a big problem with Brendan Ryan. He's probably the best defender at his position at a position where that means something.

Post #9 » by **Sweezo** » Sat Jul 7, 2012 2:36 am

Ha. So Carlos Peguero was called up and he's starting in LF. So far, he took a poor route on a routine fly ball that made it a very difficult play, and then he hacked like a mad man in his first at bat. Cut and missed at a pitch well low and inside.

HE'S NOT A MLB CALIBER PLAYER. Christ...who cares if he hits home runs in AAA? His strikeout rate is just as bad this year as it was last year. He has no plate discipline, no ability to make contact, and poor pitch recognition. If anyone ever wished Miguel Olivo was an outfielder, well...there you go.

The team's approach at the plate is bad, so they shake things up by promoting a guy with an even worse approach. Brilliant.

TTown · Post #10 » by **TTown** » Sun Jul 8, 2012 11:11 pm

didn't feel like starting a new thread for a short trip to oakland just prior to the break, so...

charlie furbush just threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk attempt, putting an oakland runner on 3B in the 10th. the a's didn't score (and the game's still going), i just thought that was a nice "mariner moment" for the weekend.

oh, and we once again wasted a felix start. he gave up a run, which was all we could match in 8.2 innings against bartolo colon.

Post #11 » by **Sweezo** » Mon Jul 9, 2012 12:25 am

TTown wrote:charlie furbush just threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk attempt, putting an oakland runner on 3B in the 10th. the a's didn't score (and the game's still going), i just thought that was a nice "mariner moment" for the weekend.

He'd thrown the pitch before the wild pitch wide right, sending Olivo running after it as it rolled around on the grass.

That game was terrible. Nearly four hours of dull, inspiring baseball. Supposedly there's going to be a team meeting directly after the game, so I think it's safe to say we can expect some movement rather quickly.

Post #12 » by **Bulltalk** » Mon Jul 9, 2012 3:06 am

I'm trying to figure this out and I can't. At least not as of yet. I mean...I get most all of the excuses and rationalizations for our lack of hitting. I won't even mention them here. What I'm worried about is that maybe these young players aren't going to be very good hitters. *Gulp*

I've pretty much given up on Smoak, at least in a Mariner uniform. But I want to believe that Ackley, Montero and Seager are going to be productive ML hitters, maybe even strong ML hitters, at least two out of three.

These horrid stretch of games in the lack of hitting this year has made me wonder about this. I want to believe. Give me something to believe.

Hultzen may turn out to be a very good pitcher. But if Rendon turns out to be a very good hitter, was that not the better pick given what we're seeing at the plate...again...

I don't know...it's just too hard to watch now.