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.
Okay, so out of my possible putcoems for tonight's game, I didn't factor in the possibility of the Mariners hitting two big home runs with runners on, and effective pitching from Cha Seung Baek shutting down the Rangers' offense. Yet that is exactly what played out in tonight's game, with Kenji Johjima's fith-inning home-run three-run home-run (after the Mariners were unable to get a basehit through four innings) and Richie Sexson's eighth-inning grand slam (his fifth this year, and his first since hitting one against Tampa Bay last month) accounting for the M's offense.
The game started off with the pitching-match possibility I envisioned, and I had flashback's of the Mariners' 2-0 Memorial Day loss against John Rheinecker and the Rangers. However, in this occasion, the Mariners had the younger pitcher stymying the Rangers' bats, as opposed to Rheinecker out-pitching Jarrod Washburn. Both pitchers came out very aggressive and throwing lots of first pitch strikes in tonight's ball-game- 65 of Millwood's 102 pitches went for strikes; 60 of Baek's 93 were. The M's were very hacktastic early in the ball-game, as per usual. At one point, Millwood had struck out four over the third and fourth innings. Chris Snelling dialed in a Willie Bloomquist-like performance for the evening, as he had problems taking the bat off his shoulder as he was called out on strikes out all three times he was at-bat. (In comparison, Bloomquist only struck out once in three at-bats.)
However, although Millwood was able to take advantgae of the M's free-swinging ways to chalk up seven strike-outs compared to the three that Baek picked up, Baek did a better job limiting the number of mistakes to the Rangers' bats. Indeed, with his seven scoreless innings, Baek has now kept the Rangers scorelss over fifteen innings in the two starts he has faced him. Obviously, that is fantastic and exactly what the M's need from their starting pitcher- not just pitchers who can beat teams in their own division, but preferably pitchers that can dominate and demoralize the opposition!
The only thing keeping this game from being a shut-put was a mild hiccup from Joel Pineiro in the ninth inning, as Joel allowed two runs on three hits and an error in the inning. Still, all-in-all it was a fantastic game, with sorely-needed clutch production from the M's bats with runners on base, and a dominating outing from the sterting pitcher. Hopefully, this game will set the template for many others like it in 2007.
The Mariners face Robinson Tejeda in the second game of the series tomorrow. This will be the first career start for the 24-year old right-hdnare, who sports a collection of off-speed pitches in his repetoire: a sinker, curve, and change. Obtained in the off-season trade for David Dellucci, Tejada has spent the majority of the season in the minors, making this his tenth start of the season. For AAA Oklahoma, Tejeda went 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. To get an idea of how Tejeda has performed so far against the AL West, he has struggled against the Angels, giving up 5 runs in 3.1 innings in his only start against Los Angeles. However, Tejeda has dominated the A's so far in his career, winning both games he has started versus Oakland, and not allowing an earned run in 12.1 innings. No current Mariner batter has yet to face Tejeda, so the team really will be introduced to the young pitcher for the first time- and that rarely works out in the Mariners' favor.
Jarrod Washburn takes the mound for the Mariners as they attempt to take the first two games of the series. Though Washburn has split his last four decisions, he has also allowed 16 earned runs in 25.2 innings over that span for a 5.71 ERA. Washburn has decent career numbers against the Rangers, with a 7-6 record and 4.10 ERA in 19 career starts. That ridiculous shut-out loss at the hands of John Rheinecker on Memorial Day was Washburn's only match-up versus the Rangers this season, and he wasted seven innings of two-hit ball in that outing.
Washburn needsto keep the ball away from Michael Young in tomorrow's game. The All-Star shortstop, who was unfairly maligned by Rangers' owner Tom Hicks on a Texas radio show and criticized for not being a "clubhouse leader", has hit .286 with three home-runs in 42 at-bats for an .843 OPS. Carlos Lee has also hit Washburn pretty well- a .321 average and .845 OPS in 21 at-bats, and Hank Blalock owns a .360 average and .887 OPS in career 25 at-bats off Washburn.
So is it likely for Washburn to repeat his seven-inning two-run performance against the Rangers that he had earlier in the season in tomorrow's game? Given his tendencies to allow fly balls, I doubt it and I think that's what he'd have to do to earn a 'W'. However, does that mean Washburn will be out-pitched by Tejeda? It's dang near impossible to get a read on which pitcher or offense will do better in tomorrow's game, so I'll call it a toss-up. Each time has just as much of a chance of scoing a handfull of runs as the other. It depends on which team can score more than five runs that will become the winner. Yes, ladies and gents, balls will beflying tomorow, so if you're heading to the game at Safeco, be prepared to duck or to push small children aside in desperate hopes of retrieving a ballpark souvenoir.
The game started off with the pitching-match possibility I envisioned, and I had flashback's of the Mariners' 2-0 Memorial Day loss against John Rheinecker and the Rangers. However, in this occasion, the Mariners had the younger pitcher stymying the Rangers' bats, as opposed to Rheinecker out-pitching Jarrod Washburn. Both pitchers came out very aggressive and throwing lots of first pitch strikes in tonight's ball-game- 65 of Millwood's 102 pitches went for strikes; 60 of Baek's 93 were. The M's were very hacktastic early in the ball-game, as per usual. At one point, Millwood had struck out four over the third and fourth innings. Chris Snelling dialed in a Willie Bloomquist-like performance for the evening, as he had problems taking the bat off his shoulder as he was called out on strikes out all three times he was at-bat. (In comparison, Bloomquist only struck out once in three at-bats.)
However, although Millwood was able to take advantgae of the M's free-swinging ways to chalk up seven strike-outs compared to the three that Baek picked up, Baek did a better job limiting the number of mistakes to the Rangers' bats. Indeed, with his seven scoreless innings, Baek has now kept the Rangers scorelss over fifteen innings in the two starts he has faced him. Obviously, that is fantastic and exactly what the M's need from their starting pitcher- not just pitchers who can beat teams in their own division, but preferably pitchers that can dominate and demoralize the opposition!
The only thing keeping this game from being a shut-put was a mild hiccup from Joel Pineiro in the ninth inning, as Joel allowed two runs on three hits and an error in the inning. Still, all-in-all it was a fantastic game, with sorely-needed clutch production from the M's bats with runners on base, and a dominating outing from the sterting pitcher. Hopefully, this game will set the template for many others like it in 2007.
The Mariners face Robinson Tejeda in the second game of the series tomorrow. This will be the first career start for the 24-year old right-hdnare, who sports a collection of off-speed pitches in his repetoire: a sinker, curve, and change. Obtained in the off-season trade for David Dellucci, Tejada has spent the majority of the season in the minors, making this his tenth start of the season. For AAA Oklahoma, Tejeda went 6-2 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. To get an idea of how Tejeda has performed so far against the AL West, he has struggled against the Angels, giving up 5 runs in 3.1 innings in his only start against Los Angeles. However, Tejeda has dominated the A's so far in his career, winning both games he has started versus Oakland, and not allowing an earned run in 12.1 innings. No current Mariner batter has yet to face Tejeda, so the team really will be introduced to the young pitcher for the first time- and that rarely works out in the Mariners' favor.
Jarrod Washburn takes the mound for the Mariners as they attempt to take the first two games of the series. Though Washburn has split his last four decisions, he has also allowed 16 earned runs in 25.2 innings over that span for a 5.71 ERA. Washburn has decent career numbers against the Rangers, with a 7-6 record and 4.10 ERA in 19 career starts. That ridiculous shut-out loss at the hands of John Rheinecker on Memorial Day was Washburn's only match-up versus the Rangers this season, and he wasted seven innings of two-hit ball in that outing.
Washburn needsto keep the ball away from Michael Young in tomorrow's game. The All-Star shortstop, who was unfairly maligned by Rangers' owner Tom Hicks on a Texas radio show and criticized for not being a "clubhouse leader", has hit .286 with three home-runs in 42 at-bats for an .843 OPS. Carlos Lee has also hit Washburn pretty well- a .321 average and .845 OPS in 21 at-bats, and Hank Blalock owns a .360 average and .887 OPS in career 25 at-bats off Washburn.
So is it likely for Washburn to repeat his seven-inning two-run performance against the Rangers that he had earlier in the season in tomorrow's game? Given his tendencies to allow fly balls, I doubt it and I think that's what he'd have to do to earn a 'W'. However, does that mean Washburn will be out-pitched by Tejeda? It's dang near impossible to get a read on which pitcher or offense will do better in tomorrow's game, so I'll call it a toss-up. Each time has just as much of a chance of scoing a handfull of runs as the other. It depends on which team can score more than five runs that will become the winner. Yes, ladies and gents, balls will beflying tomorow, so if you're heading to the game at Safeco, be prepared to duck or to push small children aside in desperate hopes of retrieving a ballpark souvenoir.
0 Responses to “Home Runs with runners on = win!”
Leave a Reply