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.
After dropping the first game of the series, the New York Yankees appeared to have collectively said "Oh no you didn'!" and smacked the Mariners around with 22 base-runners in a 9-2 victory in the second game of the series.
My prediciton of a tight-knit pitching match-up was half-correct. Chen-Mieng Wang brought his 'A' game and stifled the M's on a variety of pitches, including a devestating sinkerball. Wang allowed only seven runs and two hits, while striking out five.
Felix Hernandez, who is reverting more from 'King Felix' to 'Boy Prince' with every start, dialed in a very Joel Pineiro-ish start of 13 base-runners- 9 hits and 4 walks- in 3.2 innings. In less than four innings of work, Felix was forced to toss 82 pitches before giving way to the real Joel Pineiro. Joel provided 5.1 innings of decent long relief. Although he allowed nine base-runners- five hits and four walks- only two runs came in to score. It was the most effective performance we've seen from Joel since he allowed three runs in seven innings on July 30 in a no-decision versus Cleveland.
And to top it all off, a day after nearly single-handedly beating the Yankees, Adrian Beltre had to leave the game after two hitless at-bats. AB was being botehred by a sore neck, lingering effects from the dynamite double-play breaking slide he executed in last night's ball-game. At any rate, Beltre's average stands at .266 and it'll be interesting to see if AB will play in tomorrow's ballgame.
The biggest disparity of the game was the lack of patience on the part of the M's bats. While the Yankess walked eight times and forced Felix to labor heavily in the early going, the Marienrs were only able to chalk on base on balls for the whole game. Indeed, in comparison to the number of pitches Felix had to throw, it is positively jaw-dropping that the M's were able to only coax out 90 pitches from Wang in seven innings. With the free-swinging Mariner ways, Wang could've thrown a complete game with little effort.
Indeed, according to espn.com, the Mariners have a 426 walk-to-strikeout differential. If you've thought that the M's have been on base an incredible lack of time, well you're not just dreaming. The 308 walks the M's have received are the fewest in the league, and when you consider the 267 differential the Oakland A's have it's little wonder that the M's can't measure up to Oakland, regardless of whether the A's have an offensive that's similar to the Tampa bay Devil Rays in nearly every other category.
What's really bizarre is when you consider Mike Hargrove's career statistics as a major-league player. 965 walks to 50 strikeouts? Oh really? I don't understand why Hargrove doesn't just print these stats out and pin them on the clubhouse wall, perhaps with a note scrawled across it: "This is how you win ball-games." Instead, his method of 'mananging' must go along the lines of the following advice: "Just swing away. Don't worry about getting on base. That ideology is so thirty years ago...."
At any rate, the Mariners can continue to not get on base tomorrow facing Randy Johnson, who lost 2-3 to the Mariners last July 19. Given that was the only double-digit strikeout start for Randy this year- indeed he went two consecutive starts versus Cleveland and Tampa Bay, over nine innings in total, without striking out any batters- it appears Randy just ran into a bit of bad luck in losing that ballgame, as he was just out-pitched by Good Gil Meche. Look for Randy to strike out at least that much in tomorrow's game, as Randy has a 35-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 32.1 career innings versus the Mariners, to go along with a 3-1 record and 1.41 ERA. Adrian Beltre has the most career life-time hits off Randy than any other current Mariner- 14 in 62 at-bats for a .223 average, with three of them being home-runs. Eduardo Perez has four homers off Randy, and Ichiro sports a .455 average off Randy. Pretty much every otehr Mariner, however, has poor career records versus Randy, with Richie Sexson's- a .208 average in 24 at-bats- being the most pronounced.
Jarrod Washburn, he of the 6-12 record, will put up the futile effort for the M's to win the rubber game against the Yankees. In his last appearance against the Yankees last July 17 Jarrod gave up only one earned run in 6.1 innings and still managed to lose. Jarrod owns a 3-3 lifetime record versus the Yankees and a very respectable 2.55 ERA agaisnt them. Which means the Yankess should score only five runs or so. Alex Rodriguez has loved teeing off Washburn, with a .333 average,five home runs, and 1.150 OPS in 36 at-bats versus Jarrod. For the most part, however, Jarrod has done a respectable job keeping the big bats in the Yankees line-up quiet (Damon is only 4-for-23; Giambi 7-for-30; and Jeter 6-for-23).
Regardless, no way is Jarrod stopping this Yankee locomotive. Final score, 5-1 Yankees with the Mariners' run coming in on a Randy Johnson wild pitch.
My prediciton of a tight-knit pitching match-up was half-correct. Chen-Mieng Wang brought his 'A' game and stifled the M's on a variety of pitches, including a devestating sinkerball. Wang allowed only seven runs and two hits, while striking out five.
Felix Hernandez, who is reverting more from 'King Felix' to 'Boy Prince' with every start, dialed in a very Joel Pineiro-ish start of 13 base-runners- 9 hits and 4 walks- in 3.2 innings. In less than four innings of work, Felix was forced to toss 82 pitches before giving way to the real Joel Pineiro. Joel provided 5.1 innings of decent long relief. Although he allowed nine base-runners- five hits and four walks- only two runs came in to score. It was the most effective performance we've seen from Joel since he allowed three runs in seven innings on July 30 in a no-decision versus Cleveland.
And to top it all off, a day after nearly single-handedly beating the Yankees, Adrian Beltre had to leave the game after two hitless at-bats. AB was being botehred by a sore neck, lingering effects from the dynamite double-play breaking slide he executed in last night's ball-game. At any rate, Beltre's average stands at .266 and it'll be interesting to see if AB will play in tomorrow's ballgame.
The biggest disparity of the game was the lack of patience on the part of the M's bats. While the Yankess walked eight times and forced Felix to labor heavily in the early going, the Marienrs were only able to chalk on base on balls for the whole game. Indeed, in comparison to the number of pitches Felix had to throw, it is positively jaw-dropping that the M's were able to only coax out 90 pitches from Wang in seven innings. With the free-swinging Mariner ways, Wang could've thrown a complete game with little effort.
Indeed, according to espn.com, the Mariners have a 426 walk-to-strikeout differential. If you've thought that the M's have been on base an incredible lack of time, well you're not just dreaming. The 308 walks the M's have received are the fewest in the league, and when you consider the 267 differential the Oakland A's have it's little wonder that the M's can't measure up to Oakland, regardless of whether the A's have an offensive that's similar to the Tampa bay Devil Rays in nearly every other category.
What's really bizarre is when you consider Mike Hargrove's career statistics as a major-league player. 965 walks to 50 strikeouts? Oh really? I don't understand why Hargrove doesn't just print these stats out and pin them on the clubhouse wall, perhaps with a note scrawled across it: "This is how you win ball-games." Instead, his method of 'mananging' must go along the lines of the following advice: "Just swing away. Don't worry about getting on base. That ideology is so thirty years ago...."
At any rate, the Mariners can continue to not get on base tomorrow facing Randy Johnson, who lost 2-3 to the Mariners last July 19. Given that was the only double-digit strikeout start for Randy this year- indeed he went two consecutive starts versus Cleveland and Tampa Bay, over nine innings in total, without striking out any batters- it appears Randy just ran into a bit of bad luck in losing that ballgame, as he was just out-pitched by Good Gil Meche. Look for Randy to strike out at least that much in tomorrow's game, as Randy has a 35-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 32.1 career innings versus the Mariners, to go along with a 3-1 record and 1.41 ERA. Adrian Beltre has the most career life-time hits off Randy than any other current Mariner- 14 in 62 at-bats for a .223 average, with three of them being home-runs. Eduardo Perez has four homers off Randy, and Ichiro sports a .455 average off Randy. Pretty much every otehr Mariner, however, has poor career records versus Randy, with Richie Sexson's- a .208 average in 24 at-bats- being the most pronounced.
Jarrod Washburn, he of the 6-12 record, will put up the futile effort for the M's to win the rubber game against the Yankees. In his last appearance against the Yankees last July 17 Jarrod gave up only one earned run in 6.1 innings and still managed to lose. Jarrod owns a 3-3 lifetime record versus the Yankees and a very respectable 2.55 ERA agaisnt them. Which means the Yankess should score only five runs or so. Alex Rodriguez has loved teeing off Washburn, with a .333 average,five home runs, and 1.150 OPS in 36 at-bats versus Jarrod. For the most part, however, Jarrod has done a respectable job keeping the big bats in the Yankees line-up quiet (Damon is only 4-for-23; Giambi 7-for-30; and Jeter 6-for-23).
Regardless, no way is Jarrod stopping this Yankee locomotive. Final score, 5-1 Yankees with the Mariners' run coming in on a Randy Johnson wild pitch.
0 Responses to “Let the next losing streak begin!”
Leave a Reply