Two years into a five-year, $64 million contract, Adrian Beltre has produced a .262 average, 44 home runs, and 176 RBIs. However, after the All Star break in 2006, Beltre slugged .552 with a whopping 18 home runs. Does this strong second half bode well for a turn-around in 2007, or will Mariners fans have to deal with 'A-Drain' once again? This blog intends to follow the 2007 season for Adrian Beltre, and the Seattle Mariners, and promises to hold no punches.
Wait, didn't I say something about how Mariners tend to make subpar pitchers that face them the first time look like staff aces? And how it would be unlikely that Josh Fogg would become the human brick wall and stop the Mariners' winning momentum? Well, the former was proven correct in tonight's game, and the latter was proven wrong as Fogg only needed 91 pitches (58 strikes!) in less than two hours to shut out the Mariners 2-0.
Forget Aaron Cook or Jeff Francis. Obviously it's Josh Fogg, a cast-off by the PITSBURGH PIRATES, who is the ace of the this Rockies pitching staff. And Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny, and Brandon Webb? We can bat around on that troika of dominant NL pitchers, but Josh Fogg's change-up? Far too befuddling for the Mariners' (once) hot bats.
Well, it was a nice month, but now that June is slipping off the calendar pages in exchange for the month of July it appears that perhaps the team might be all too willing to slip back into the woeful offensive performances of May and April. But what a June it was, huh? As a team (and disregarding tonight's ballgame), the Mariners hit .294 with an .859 OPS- tops in the league! Their league-high 10 triples and 39 home runs led to 453 total bases, and scoring 151 runs which was good enough for a 53 run differntial, as the M's pitching only allowed 98! But, alas, June is over. Time once again to be shut-out by the likes of Joe Blanton, John Rheinecker, and, now, Josh Fogg.
Indeed, tonight's ball-game was the ninth shut-out of the Mariners all year. It's amazing to me that the Mariners can have scored 403 runs- eighth in the league and thirty more than their opponents- and still have been shut out nine times. With nine shut-outs in the team's first 81 games, that means the Mariners are on pace to be shut-out 18 times, obliterating the team record of 15 set in 1978, by a team that lost 104 games and, in 1990, by a team that lost 85 games. For a little comparison, I'd just like to point out that the Mariners were shut out less than in the three seasons spanning 1994 to 1996 combined (3 in 1994, 2 in 1995, and 3 in 1996) then they have been so far this season. It's knowledge of facts like that make me remember I had the M's pegged for 90 losses at the beginning of this season.
Also something I forgot to consider in weighing the odds of the M's chances of winning was the fact that Jamie Moyer has been getting lousy run support by the Mariners' bats this season. Coming into tonight's game, Jamie Moyer might have been ninth in the league with his 3.51 ERA, but he ranked third to last in run support, getting only 3.94 runs a game. This explains his sub-.500 record. The M's had been shut-out three times while Moyer was on the mound so far this year and, true to form, they were unable to put up any runs to support Jamie's cause tonight. I'll have to consider that factor the next time Moyer pitches.
Adrian Beltre got one of the Mariners' two hits, a first-inning single to keep his 13-game hitting streak alive. As the M's are at the 81-game mark, we can look at how his stats would be projected over a full 162-game season:
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
610 92 160 36 6 14 68 20 46 120 .262 .326 .410 .736
The interesting thing is, if you look at Beltre's page over at baseball-reference.com, it's not too far off from his 162 game average, disregarding the dip in power numbers. But there's something positively David Bellish or even Jim Presleyish about those numbers that make me feel that Beltre still might be just a little overpaid for his amount of production, hot recent streak notwithstanding.
The Rockies are on a bit of a roll, as they now have a three-game winning streak in the works. They're looking to continue that roll tomorrow night when Byung-Hung Kim takes the mound for Colorado. Kim has been dominating lately, not allowing a run in his last two starts, throwing 13 scoreless innings against Oakland and Texas. Kim has only thrown six innings versus the Mariners in his career, in which he both walked and struck out seven batters. And he has had no problem with Adrian Beltre or Richie Sexson, who both have combined to go 1-for-16 against Kim.
Taking the mound for the Mariners is Joel Pineiro, who pitched decent enough in his last outing against San Diego- 7 baserunners and four runs in six innings- to get a win, yet didn't. In his prior start, he had allowed 11 runners in six innings versus the Dodgers and some how escaped with a victory. However, in his only career start versus Colorado, Joel went all the way, giving up two runs and seven base-runners in a complete-game victory.
So tomorrow's game? Two words: pitcher's duel. I see Joel throwing enough junk to keep it in the confines of Safeco and Kim's funky delivery driving the Mariners' hitters batty. (Of course this mean it will be an 11-10 slugfest by the third, but you know, whatever...) The winner? It's too close for me to feel comfortable picking one, so I went to an online magic 8-ball and typed "Will the Mariners beat the Rockies tomorrow?"
And what did the 8-ball say in reply?
"Answer unclear."
Forget Aaron Cook or Jeff Francis. Obviously it's Josh Fogg, a cast-off by the PITSBURGH PIRATES, who is the ace of the this Rockies pitching staff. And Jason Schmidt, Brad Penny, and Brandon Webb? We can bat around on that troika of dominant NL pitchers, but Josh Fogg's change-up? Far too befuddling for the Mariners' (once) hot bats.
Well, it was a nice month, but now that June is slipping off the calendar pages in exchange for the month of July it appears that perhaps the team might be all too willing to slip back into the woeful offensive performances of May and April. But what a June it was, huh? As a team (and disregarding tonight's ballgame), the Mariners hit .294 with an .859 OPS- tops in the league! Their league-high 10 triples and 39 home runs led to 453 total bases, and scoring 151 runs which was good enough for a 53 run differntial, as the M's pitching only allowed 98! But, alas, June is over. Time once again to be shut-out by the likes of Joe Blanton, John Rheinecker, and, now, Josh Fogg.
Indeed, tonight's ball-game was the ninth shut-out of the Mariners all year. It's amazing to me that the Mariners can have scored 403 runs- eighth in the league and thirty more than their opponents- and still have been shut out nine times. With nine shut-outs in the team's first 81 games, that means the Mariners are on pace to be shut-out 18 times, obliterating the team record of 15 set in 1978, by a team that lost 104 games and, in 1990, by a team that lost 85 games. For a little comparison, I'd just like to point out that the Mariners were shut out less than in the three seasons spanning 1994 to 1996 combined (3 in 1994, 2 in 1995, and 3 in 1996) then they have been so far this season. It's knowledge of facts like that make me remember I had the M's pegged for 90 losses at the beginning of this season.
Also something I forgot to consider in weighing the odds of the M's chances of winning was the fact that Jamie Moyer has been getting lousy run support by the Mariners' bats this season. Coming into tonight's game, Jamie Moyer might have been ninth in the league with his 3.51 ERA, but he ranked third to last in run support, getting only 3.94 runs a game. This explains his sub-.500 record. The M's had been shut-out three times while Moyer was on the mound so far this year and, true to form, they were unable to put up any runs to support Jamie's cause tonight. I'll have to consider that factor the next time Moyer pitches.
Adrian Beltre got one of the Mariners' two hits, a first-inning single to keep his 13-game hitting streak alive. As the M's are at the 81-game mark, we can look at how his stats would be projected over a full 162-game season:
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
610 92 160 36 6 14 68 20 46 120 .262 .326 .410 .736
The interesting thing is, if you look at Beltre's page over at baseball-reference.com, it's not too far off from his 162 game average, disregarding the dip in power numbers. But there's something positively David Bellish or even Jim Presleyish about those numbers that make me feel that Beltre still might be just a little overpaid for his amount of production, hot recent streak notwithstanding.
The Rockies are on a bit of a roll, as they now have a three-game winning streak in the works. They're looking to continue that roll tomorrow night when Byung-Hung Kim takes the mound for Colorado. Kim has been dominating lately, not allowing a run in his last two starts, throwing 13 scoreless innings against Oakland and Texas. Kim has only thrown six innings versus the Mariners in his career, in which he both walked and struck out seven batters. And he has had no problem with Adrian Beltre or Richie Sexson, who both have combined to go 1-for-16 against Kim.
Taking the mound for the Mariners is Joel Pineiro, who pitched decent enough in his last outing against San Diego- 7 baserunners and four runs in six innings- to get a win, yet didn't. In his prior start, he had allowed 11 runners in six innings versus the Dodgers and some how escaped with a victory. However, in his only career start versus Colorado, Joel went all the way, giving up two runs and seven base-runners in a complete-game victory.
So tomorrow's game? Two words: pitcher's duel. I see Joel throwing enough junk to keep it in the confines of Safeco and Kim's funky delivery driving the Mariners' hitters batty. (Of course this mean it will be an 11-10 slugfest by the third, but you know, whatever...) The winner? It's too close for me to feel comfortable picking one, so I went to an online magic 8-ball and typed "Will the Mariners beat the Rockies tomorrow?"
And what did the 8-ball say in reply?
"Answer unclear."
0 Responses to “Meet Josh Fogg, Mr. Human Brick Wall”
Leave a Reply