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.
Questions to be asked going into the Tampa Bay series
Published 9/01/2006 by true_slicky | E-mail this post
Well, I wrote up a really long post after the Mariners lost the last game of the Angels series 5-3 to finish with a 7-2 homestand, but Blogger decided to freak out on me and not allow me to post it yesterday. So, I'll attempt to re-cap what i had written concerning the questions that need to be answered in this weekend's series against Tampa Bay.
First off, will the Marienrs be able to avoid another mediocre season. At 70 wins, the M's need to dominate throughout September to finish above .500. If they finish below .500, it would be their third consecutive sub-.500 record. Since the M's first topped the .500 benchmark in 1991- their 15th year of existence- they haven't gone three consecutive seasons below .500 since. IF they accomplish that mark in 2006, it will be a dubious achievement on the part of Mike hargrove and Bill Bavasi.
Second, both the Devil Rays and the Mariners are teams on the way up. However, are they both changing and improving at the same pace, or is one team improving at a faster pace? This series may give glimpses into show-downs of two of the AL's much-improved teams for 2007. Sure, the Mariners have been able to dominate the Devil Rays with relative ease (minus the rare intance of pitching dominance by Scott Kazmir) so far this year, winning five of six games. But both teams are much different than when they squared off last May, or even when the M's swept the Devil Rays last month.
When these teams played in May, Tampa Bay had .156-hitting Aubrey Huff. .196-hitting Joey Gathright, and .189-hitting Russell Branyan in the line-up. Those players have all since vacated Tampa Bay, and the Devil Rays bring Rocco Baldelli- who was injured earlier in the season, but is now batting .299- and Delmon Young, who in his first three major league games has proved the hype was warranted, having crushed 8 hits in 11 at-bats for a .727 average and 1.874 OPS, thanks to three extra bases.
At the same time, the Mariners come into town on an emotional high of kicking the butts of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels at home. The team has perhaps the best line-up of the season that hargrove has been trotting out on a regualr basis, with Ichiro now manning cneter rather than the non-bat of Willie Bloomquist and the unready Adam Jones. Chris "Doyle" snelling has taken over ichiro's old position in RF, and doing a servicable impression of Jay Buhner, having batted .371 over his thirteen games this season and belting two home-runs off Jered Weaver in Weaver's first shelling of the season.
When the Devil Rays and Mariners met in March, Carl Everett was hitting .237 as the M's designated "hitter." He has since been replaced by the Broussard-Perez tandem, and admittedly the production from the two-headed DH has been fairly Everettish. Sexson had yet to break .200, and Beltre was just breaking out of his early-season slump as well. And Jeremy Reed, and his .192 average, was also filling a line-up spot.
Ultimately, the current Marienrs is a better team than last May's, and the line-up being used is better than the one Hargrove was using a year ago. However, I think Delmon Young is they key to this series. If the Mariners fail to neutralize him, they fail to win. It's that simple.
Next question: will Gil Meche ever be able to break double digits in victories. The ace of the staff at one point, and looking a big off-season paycheck as a free agent,
Meche hasn't won a game since July 14 versus the Blue Jays. In the seven starts since, Meche has gone 0-4 with three no decisions, allowing 64 base-runners in 33.2 innings, with an 8.02 ERA during that span.
For him getting the first crack at handcuffing Delmon Young, especially considering Meche's career 1-3 record and 7.04 ERA against the Devil Rays, brings a forboding tone to the first game of this series. Meche did win his only start versus the Devil Rays, 6-3 on May 8th, but that required a late-inning rally against the Devil Rays' bullpen, which is the worst of the league. At any rate, I don't like Meche's chances of getting his tenth win in tonight's game.
Last question- will the Mariners be able to generate enough offense to beat Jamie Shields? Shields is a rookie right-hander for the Devil Rays, bringing a 6-6 record and 4.59 ERA into tonight's game. One of those losses included a complete-game 2-0 shutout loss to the Mariners last month, with Adrian Beltre's two RBIs being the difference. That game had Jarrod Washburn on the mound tossing five no-hit innings, and not Mediocre Meche grooving cookies to the D-Rays batters.
Hopefully, these questions will have positive answers, but I'm not betting the farm on it. I wouldn't be surprised if Delmon ends up hitting a grand slam off Meche. Of course, any offensive output by Young might be neuatralized by the D-Rays bullpen. Too many factos to make a guess at the outcome of this one, but with meche on the mounds I'm not feeling very confident. I'll say 7-5, Devil Rays.
First off, will the Marienrs be able to avoid another mediocre season. At 70 wins, the M's need to dominate throughout September to finish above .500. If they finish below .500, it would be their third consecutive sub-.500 record. Since the M's first topped the .500 benchmark in 1991- their 15th year of existence- they haven't gone three consecutive seasons below .500 since. IF they accomplish that mark in 2006, it will be a dubious achievement on the part of Mike hargrove and Bill Bavasi.
Second, both the Devil Rays and the Mariners are teams on the way up. However, are they both changing and improving at the same pace, or is one team improving at a faster pace? This series may give glimpses into show-downs of two of the AL's much-improved teams for 2007. Sure, the Mariners have been able to dominate the Devil Rays with relative ease (minus the rare intance of pitching dominance by Scott Kazmir) so far this year, winning five of six games. But both teams are much different than when they squared off last May, or even when the M's swept the Devil Rays last month.
When these teams played in May, Tampa Bay had .156-hitting Aubrey Huff. .196-hitting Joey Gathright, and .189-hitting Russell Branyan in the line-up. Those players have all since vacated Tampa Bay, and the Devil Rays bring Rocco Baldelli- who was injured earlier in the season, but is now batting .299- and Delmon Young, who in his first three major league games has proved the hype was warranted, having crushed 8 hits in 11 at-bats for a .727 average and 1.874 OPS, thanks to three extra bases.
At the same time, the Mariners come into town on an emotional high of kicking the butts of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels at home. The team has perhaps the best line-up of the season that hargrove has been trotting out on a regualr basis, with Ichiro now manning cneter rather than the non-bat of Willie Bloomquist and the unready Adam Jones. Chris "Doyle" snelling has taken over ichiro's old position in RF, and doing a servicable impression of Jay Buhner, having batted .371 over his thirteen games this season and belting two home-runs off Jered Weaver in Weaver's first shelling of the season.
When the Devil Rays and Mariners met in March, Carl Everett was hitting .237 as the M's designated "hitter." He has since been replaced by the Broussard-Perez tandem, and admittedly the production from the two-headed DH has been fairly Everettish. Sexson had yet to break .200, and Beltre was just breaking out of his early-season slump as well. And Jeremy Reed, and his .192 average, was also filling a line-up spot.
Ultimately, the current Marienrs is a better team than last May's, and the line-up being used is better than the one Hargrove was using a year ago. However, I think Delmon Young is they key to this series. If the Mariners fail to neutralize him, they fail to win. It's that simple.
Next question: will Gil Meche ever be able to break double digits in victories. The ace of the staff at one point, and looking a big off-season paycheck as a free agent,
Meche hasn't won a game since July 14 versus the Blue Jays. In the seven starts since, Meche has gone 0-4 with three no decisions, allowing 64 base-runners in 33.2 innings, with an 8.02 ERA during that span.
For him getting the first crack at handcuffing Delmon Young, especially considering Meche's career 1-3 record and 7.04 ERA against the Devil Rays, brings a forboding tone to the first game of this series. Meche did win his only start versus the Devil Rays, 6-3 on May 8th, but that required a late-inning rally against the Devil Rays' bullpen, which is the worst of the league. At any rate, I don't like Meche's chances of getting his tenth win in tonight's game.
Last question- will the Mariners be able to generate enough offense to beat Jamie Shields? Shields is a rookie right-hander for the Devil Rays, bringing a 6-6 record and 4.59 ERA into tonight's game. One of those losses included a complete-game 2-0 shutout loss to the Mariners last month, with Adrian Beltre's two RBIs being the difference. That game had Jarrod Washburn on the mound tossing five no-hit innings, and not Mediocre Meche grooving cookies to the D-Rays batters.
Hopefully, these questions will have positive answers, but I'm not betting the farm on it. I wouldn't be surprised if Delmon ends up hitting a grand slam off Meche. Of course, any offensive output by Young might be neuatralized by the D-Rays bullpen. Too many factos to make a guess at the outcome of this one, but with meche on the mounds I'm not feeling very confident. I'll say 7-5, Devil Rays.
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