Winless In Seattle
Steve Sauro
Elliott SmithHello!
July 26th 2010 05:08
When asked to join "UnSportsman", I jumped at the opportunity. I've wanted a place to vent my sports frustrations for years. From the Super Bowl stolen from the Seahawks to the Bavasi era at Safeco field (my quick take on Bavasi: If Forrest Gump and Nell had a baby and he grew up to run a baseball team. That's the Bavasi era), I've had many gripes. Now, finally, a place to air them.
I've read a lot of different sports writers over the last few years, and few have been as influential to me as Bill Simmons and Jeff Sullivan. Simmons, I'm sure you've heard of. Sullivan you may not have. He writes for the excellent Mariner site Lookout Landing (I'm not sure what's considered good or bad in the blog universe, but I'm pretty sure talking up other sites is on the bad side. Especially during a first post. Oh well. It's excellent and I have faith that you'll still come back to read us). My favorite Simmons articles (when he does his random thoughts, something he stopped doing years ago) and my favorite Sullivan columns (post game thoughts on the Mariners) are reminiscent of my writing style. A few different paragraphs about a few different things. And that's what I want to do here. As many days as I can, I'll be writing a few things I noticed during the game. So, without further ado, a few comments on the Mariner's weekend games against the Red Sox (Numbered! Instead of bullet points! Because my favorite two writers use bullet points. See, original!)
1. Wak makes a lot of mistakes in any given game. Pulling Pauley with 2 outs in the 6th during a 1-0 game was one of them. Not because he wasn't at 100 pitches yet (he was at 97) or because he was pitching well (he was). It was a mistake because pitchers like wins. And by allowing someone else to get that last out meant that if we went ahead in the bottom of the inning (which we did) then the dude who pitched 1/3 of an inning got the win and the dude who pitched the other 17 outs didn't. That sucks for Pauley. I imagine not getting the win is harder on his confidence than another 10 pitches would have been on his arm.
2. Lopez saw 6 pitches his 1st AB on Saturday. I was watching the game with my Pops, and we were both amazed. Like afraid to move or say anything amazed. We concluded that he had finally listened to someone and decided to finally start taking pitches. He swung at every pitch he saw the rest of the game, except for one that was in the dirt about 25 feet before it crossed the plate. Yes, he went 2-4 on Sunday. It doesn't matter. Lopez is terrible. For the last 7 years, at some point around spring time, I always try to grow my hair out. This last Spring, I really committed to it. I let it grow for almost 6 months. Every year it's uncontrollable (It's extremely curly and never grows past the middle of my neck. It just keeps growing out. I always look like a Chia pet that survived a hurricane. Except when I try to use gel. Then I just look retarded.). Every year I try to talk myself into it, and every year I'm wrong. If it hasn't worked in 7 years, it just needs to be cut. That's the best analogy I can make. It needs to be cut.
3. Bradley's triple on Saturday was the worst run triple I've ever seen. He hesitated...twice...for no reason and tripped going around 2nd. At first I was confused, but then I realized Milton Bradley has had something like 2 extra base hits since June. Can't blame a guy who is new at something.
4. I left at some point Saturday to go grab some more beer. I saw a license plate that said MinnWld. Do you think the guy was a little upset when the DMV lady told him that that plate was absolutely available? That not only was he the 1st to ever request it, but that he could abbreviate it any way he wanted to because every variation was available?
5. One of our announcers mentioned that our upcoming schedule had some tough opponents. We have the 2nd worst record in the AL. Every opponent is a tough opponent. He also mentioned that Smoak was looking for his first hit since Monday. Mariner baseball!!
6. The camera was in the crowd to watch some very attractive woman get the rally fries on Sunday. I'm usually a proponent of such things except they spent the entire clip zoomed in on the fries. This angered me a bit, but a little while later they broke into the game to show us a highlight of Arod getting beaned. I've been smiling ever since.
7. Seddon pitched very well both days. It's cool to be able to win back-to-back games during a weekend that featured Seddon, Pauley, Wright and Olson. Downright amazing actually.
8. They gave Smoak the green light Sunday with a 3-0 count. I'm all for the aggressive, and that was the right idea to try and get a young kid some confidence. Two AB later he got a base hit. I liked that.
9. The 8th inning where the Red Sox couldn't field any of our bunts was awesome. We usually score with a bunch of singles, and having it be a bunch of bunt singles was poetic. Beautiful and poetic.
Overall, we won two games against a struggling team, but it was the Red Sox! That's awesome. Figgins looked great coming off that melee in the dugout, our pitching was fantastic, and we rallied in two different games. It's been a long season and games like those two really feel good.
I've read a lot of different sports writers over the last few years, and few have been as influential to me as Bill Simmons and Jeff Sullivan. Simmons, I'm sure you've heard of. Sullivan you may not have. He writes for the excellent Mariner site Lookout Landing (I'm not sure what's considered good or bad in the blog universe, but I'm pretty sure talking up other sites is on the bad side. Especially during a first post. Oh well. It's excellent and I have faith that you'll still come back to read us). My favorite Simmons articles (when he does his random thoughts, something he stopped doing years ago) and my favorite Sullivan columns (post game thoughts on the Mariners) are reminiscent of my writing style. A few different paragraphs about a few different things. And that's what I want to do here. As many days as I can, I'll be writing a few things I noticed during the game. So, without further ado, a few comments on the Mariner's weekend games against the Red Sox (Numbered! Instead of bullet points! Because my favorite two writers use bullet points. See, original!)
1. Wak makes a lot of mistakes in any given game. Pulling Pauley with 2 outs in the 6th during a 1-0 game was one of them. Not because he wasn't at 100 pitches yet (he was at 97) or because he was pitching well (he was). It was a mistake because pitchers like wins. And by allowing someone else to get that last out meant that if we went ahead in the bottom of the inning (which we did) then the dude who pitched 1/3 of an inning got the win and the dude who pitched the other 17 outs didn't. That sucks for Pauley. I imagine not getting the win is harder on his confidence than another 10 pitches would have been on his arm.
2. Lopez saw 6 pitches his 1st AB on Saturday. I was watching the game with my Pops, and we were both amazed. Like afraid to move or say anything amazed. We concluded that he had finally listened to someone and decided to finally start taking pitches. He swung at every pitch he saw the rest of the game, except for one that was in the dirt about 25 feet before it crossed the plate. Yes, he went 2-4 on Sunday. It doesn't matter. Lopez is terrible. For the last 7 years, at some point around spring time, I always try to grow my hair out. This last Spring, I really committed to it. I let it grow for almost 6 months. Every year it's uncontrollable (It's extremely curly and never grows past the middle of my neck. It just keeps growing out. I always look like a Chia pet that survived a hurricane. Except when I try to use gel. Then I just look retarded.). Every year I try to talk myself into it, and every year I'm wrong. If it hasn't worked in 7 years, it just needs to be cut. That's the best analogy I can make. It needs to be cut.
3. Bradley's triple on Saturday was the worst run triple I've ever seen. He hesitated...twice...for no reason and tripped going around 2nd. At first I was confused, but then I realized Milton Bradley has had something like 2 extra base hits since June. Can't blame a guy who is new at something.
4. I left at some point Saturday to go grab some more beer. I saw a license plate that said MinnWld. Do you think the guy was a little upset when the DMV lady told him that that plate was absolutely available? That not only was he the 1st to ever request it, but that he could abbreviate it any way he wanted to because every variation was available?
5. One of our announcers mentioned that our upcoming schedule had some tough opponents. We have the 2nd worst record in the AL. Every opponent is a tough opponent. He also mentioned that Smoak was looking for his first hit since Monday. Mariner baseball!!
6. The camera was in the crowd to watch some very attractive woman get the rally fries on Sunday. I'm usually a proponent of such things except they spent the entire clip zoomed in on the fries. This angered me a bit, but a little while later they broke into the game to show us a highlight of Arod getting beaned. I've been smiling ever since.
7. Seddon pitched very well both days. It's cool to be able to win back-to-back games during a weekend that featured Seddon, Pauley, Wright and Olson. Downright amazing actually.
8. They gave Smoak the green light Sunday with a 3-0 count. I'm all for the aggressive, and that was the right idea to try and get a young kid some confidence. Two AB later he got a base hit. I liked that.
9. The 8th inning where the Red Sox couldn't field any of our bunts was awesome. We usually score with a bunch of singles, and having it be a bunch of bunt singles was poetic. Beautiful and poetic.
Overall, we won two games against a struggling team, but it was the Red Sox! That's awesome. Figgins looked great coming off that melee in the dugout, our pitching was fantastic, and we rallied in two different games. It's been a long season and games like those two really feel good.
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Comment by The Cuz
FIRST! YOU SUCK! NO U!
Now that I've got the blogger shenanigans out of my system, let's see my real response. Good start mang. It'll get easier and funnier as you get a rhythm. With that said, here's my suggestions for a great run of mass entertainment.
1.Please, for the love of fluffy sheep and Velcro gloves, don't go the Steve Kelley route and make single-sentence paragraphs. I'm still not sure how that guy keeps his job.
2. "Ow My Eye" will be the funniest story never told- but tell us everything else.Sheer comic genius.
3. Never love the game more than you love the team. If you love the game more than a team, go umpire and leave the rest of us to blast you when you blow a call.
That is all cuz, continue on.
Comment by jesse-podoll
UnSportsman
I agree with you on a majority of your points, except for one - which I am 100% the opposite on. Not to mention they all kind of tie in with your #1...
Here we go:
#1 - Agree. Wak makes a lot of blunders and questionable calls during games for sure. However, his biggest blunder may have been moving Figgins to 2B - or more accurate - keeping him there. Once it was evident Figgins was way out of his comfort zone he should have made the switch back - period. Doing that probably wouldn't help him hit better while not at the leadoff spot - but it would at least give him some familiarity back. I'm sure it would have gone a long way in preventing the little skirmish last week too...
#2 - Agree. Ugh. Lopez. As mentioned above - he should be playing 2B. But, again, to be more accurate - he should be playing 2B/3B for another team. He's a 7,8 hitter at best - clearly the pressure to be counted on anywhere from 3 to 5 is too great for someone with his patience.
#3 - Agree. Baserunning is pretty basic. I have to put a lot of the baserunning errors we've seen since the break, again, right on Wak's shoulders.
#4 - Agree. Fitting that Todd Leiweke just up and quit for the Tampa Bay Lightning? Partial ownership will do that to a guy I guess...
#5 - Agree. On both counts. At one point last week, Jesus Montero (the guy we supposedly DIDN'T pull the trigger on - being a prospect catcher and all...) was 16-33 at the plate. Smoak had 16 k's in 34 AB's as a Mariner. Not even Blowers talking in a condescending tone to Niehaus could announce his way out of that.
#6 - Agree. Rally fries are overrated. There hasn't been much rallying lately. Why waste a gratuitous babe TV time on them? In addition, Arod just passed Ken Griffey Jr (17). with his 18th AB in-between HR's #599 and #600. Eat that Arod.
#7 - Agree. Seddon did great. So did Pauley, Wright and Olson. However, back to Wak's mistakes - how do you not pitch Felix to start out of the break? He'd have pitched in all of the first three series. There is a Lou Piniella quote about throwing the 1st game of a series... it fits here.
#8 - This is it. Disagree. Dice-K was struggling with pitch count and walks. He's a pitcher that is known to get to the 100 pitch mark early in games. Wouldn't you want to get to that struggling bullpen sooner than later? We had 1st and 3rd, with 1 out. Take a strike at least. I guess with Lopez following - did it matter?
#9 - Agree. Mariners baseball!!
Again - welcome aboard - let's get this thing rolling and move on up!