M's Homestand vs. Dodgers, Padres, Giants

Post #1 » by **Bulltalk** » Fri Jun 8, 2012 7:12 pm

Geoff Baker wrote an interesting article basically stating that the Mariners have had about the most brutal travel schedule this early in a season that he could think of. For one, the M's always log a ton of more flight time being tucked far away up here in the PNW. Secondly, they had a very exhausting trip to Japan to play a few regular season games amidst their spring training season. Thirdly, they have so far played an incredibly disproportionate amount of road games to home games so far, 22 home games, and 37 road games.

Let's hope that this 9 game homestand with a day off before it portends for some exciting Mariners' baseball. We've been hitting lights-out in the last few weeks, consistently scoring more runs than we have in a few years. This is quite encouraging as a fan following a team the last few years that was an exercise in futility when it came to timely hitting and runs scored.

Historically, at least in recent years, we have done very well against National League teams. Let's hope we can keep this trend alive.

TTown · Post #2 » by **TTown** » Sat Jun 9, 2012 4:13 am

kevin millwood noooooo!

Post #3 » by **Sweezo** » Sat Jun 9, 2012 5:04 am

Ha...a combined no-hitter. Nice win by the M's. That play by Ryan in the 9th on Dee Gordon was an incredible defensive play, flat out.

Hope Millwood's not hurt too bad. He's not part of the long term future but he's been a good bridge.

Post #4 » by **Bulltalk** » Sat Jun 9, 2012 5:08 am

Ha Ha! A six pitcher combined no-no. Now I've seen everything.

Yeah, Millwood's been great the last month or so. He's been the vet that's made a difference for us this season.

TTown · Post #5 » by **TTown** » Sat Jun 9, 2012 3:55 pm

obviously my post above came moments after millwood was forced to leave. so glad the 'pen came to play today.

i'm 27, so i was 5 and 8, respectively, when randy and bosio threw their no-no's. so for all intents and purposes this was my first mariner no-hitter. pretty spectacular!

Post #6 » by **Bulltalk** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:46 am

Geez. Back to Safeco Field, and our hitting begins to subside. Oh well. Dodgers have been pretty hot this year so far. Not a total loss of a series. Got a no-no in there.

TTown · Post #7 » by **TTown** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:14 am

this is a wicked split:

away games: .257 team average, #5 AL

home games: .193 team average, #14 AL (by a country mile)

we're a downright decent lineup away from home. our "home field advantage" is downright sad, though.

it's not just the dimensions. we rolled through detroit, and they're mighty spacious in their own right. anyone else starting to really hate homestands...?

TTown · Post #8 » by **TTown** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:19 am

is felix just bored? we're coming up on a year and a half worth of so-so (for him) results.

Post #9 » by **Sweezo** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:22 am

A stellar performance from Noesi who gave up a solo HR on one mistake in the middle of the plate. Unfortunately the offense stinks again. We have a monopoly on 'warning track power.'

Slats · Post #10 » by **Slats** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:32 am

Smoak needed that hit!

TTown · Post #11 » by **TTown** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:41 am

nice to see a series win again... especially against a quality club like the giants. yesterday was almost like a dream -- 7 runs? we haven't done that since may 5 (at home).

Post #12 » by **Bulltalk** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:27 pm

Geoff Baker wrote a blog post today commenting on how Montero is starting to turn into the hitter that we traded for the last month and a half, that he may well become that feared middle of the order hitter that we've been craving for so long. Backs it up with some stats. And he's only 22 years old.

A bright spot.

TTown · Post #13 » by **TTown** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:12 am

when's the last time we rang up double digit runs in back-to-back games?

TTown · Post #14 » by **TTown** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:21 am

Bulltalk wrote:Geoff Baker wrote a blog post today commenting on how Montero is starting to turn into the hitter that we traded for the last month and a half, that he may well become that feared middle of the order hitter that we've been craving for so long. Backs it up with some stats. And he's only 22 years old.

A bright spot.

i'd like us to hang onto montero, seager, ackley, jaso, and saunders. after that, i'm not married to any of our position players. i know ackley's struggling, but i have a feeling he'll bounce back in a big way in 2013. he's too much of a natural hitter to hit like this for long.

i know we have seager under control for, like, a million more years, but man, i wonder how much he wants out of seattle.

home: .180 BA, 2 HR (29 games)
away: .327, 8 HR (35 games)

Post #15 » by **Sweezo** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:41 am

Bulltalk wrote:Geoff Baker wrote a blog post today commenting on how Montero is starting to turn into the hitter that we traded for the last month and a half, that he may well become that feared middle of the order hitter that we've been craving for so long. Backs it up with some stats. And he's only 22 years old.

Any thoughts on him as a catcher? I think he's slowly becoming less noticeable behind the plate, and the way he handles pitchers now seems more natural.

Do I place any importance in cERA as a stat? Not really. It doesn't account for variables and means very little to me. If one player catches mostly home starts for Felix while another catches road starts for Noesi, I'm pretty confident the latter will have a higher cERA regardless of which catcher fills either role.

That said Monter's cERA is 3.90. Olivo's sits at 4.48.

Montero caught the no-hitter the other night, and Noesi seems to pitch better with him behind the plate as well.

TTown wrote:i'd like us to hang onto montero, seager, ackley, jaso, and saunders. after that, i'm not married to any of our position players. i know ackley's struggling, but i have a feeling he'll bounce back in a big way in 2013. he's too much of a natural hitter to hit like this for long.

I wouldn't mind giving Casper Wells a look as an everyday outfielder. His triple-slash for his career is .271/.338/.471 over 415 plate appearances. Nothing about him screams 'star in the making' but he's got a good skillset overall. He was hitting the hell out of the ball last year until he got beaned in the face by a pitch. He has decent speed, has good range in the field, and might have the strongest throwing arm on the team. I doubt he'll hit 30 HR a season or hit over .300, but a decent average, decent power, and good defense equals a pretty good player.

What would an OF of Wells/Saunders/Guti accomplish? That's top notch defensively, and could be effective on offense if Guti can get it going.

I cannot see the team handing out an extension for Ichiro given the current state of things, and Carp's offensive struggles make it very tough to justify playing time in the OF where he's always a bit of an adventure.

TTown wrote:i know we have seager under control for, like, a million more years, but man, i wonder how much he wants out of seattle.

home: .180 BA, 2 HR (29 games)
away: .327, 8 HR (35 games)

[/quote]

Smoak may be a guy that will never hit at Safeco due to being an almost power hitter, but Seager's a guy that seems like he can take advantage of the gaps in the OF. I think that disparity will close a bit over time.

Post #16 » by **Bulltalk** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 12:00 pm

Sweezo wrote:
Bulltalk wrote:Geoff Baker wrote a blog post today commenting on how Montero is starting to turn into the hitter that we traded for the last month and a half, that he may well become that feared middle of the order hitter that we've been craving for so long. Backs it up with some stats. And he's only 22 years old.

Any thoughts on him as a catcher? I think he's slowly becoming less noticeable behind the plate, and the way he handles pitchers now seems more natural.

Do I place any importance in cERA as a stat? Not really. It doesn't account for variables and means very little to me. If one player catches mostly home starts for Felix while another catches road starts for Noesi, I'm pretty confident the latter will have a higher cERA regardless of which catcher fills either role.

That said Monter's cERA is 3.90. Olivo's sits at 4.48.

Montero caught the no-hitter the other night, and Noesi seems to pitch better with him behind the plate as well.

Well I certainly hope Zunino becomes our everyday catcher and hits the hell out of the ball. Then you could have Montero as our backup catcher/DH, even IBman if we end up moving away from Smoak. I'm still not sold on Smoak. This was the year he was supposed to break out, and his breakout hasn't been that impressive. Saunders has been the guy that has impressed in that way this year.

I agree that Ackley is most likely going to be a much stronger hitter in the future, and I consider him a fixture in our longer term plans of position players, along with Seager, Montero, Franklin, and hopefully Zunino. I'm still not sure what our outfield is going to look like art the start of the 2014 season. It could still be quite different. I'd like to think that Saunders is going to continue to surprise, but we'll see.

I don't know. There's definitely some real hope for a competitive lineup taking shape. It's still going to take the rest of this season and next to get the majority of it nailed down.

Post #17 » by **Bulltalk** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:32 am

We've reached that point again as fans where I feel like saying "enjoy the rest of the summer out here till football season begins." 8-)