Playing bad teams is a lot of fun. Fortunately, the Mariners are next.
86 thoughts on “2013 Game 52: Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins”
Who has two thumbs and will be in a box suite for tomorrow's game?
Jason Bay. huh.
Dick mentions that trading within the division is less common, but I wonder how much of that is due to there only being four other teams compared to the other 25 potential trading partners.
I guess the question becomes are intra-division trades roughly 25% of all trades.
Working on running the numbers.
Based on 1998 to today, I counted 131 out of 1454 trades as being intradivision, or 9%. We would expect roughly 4/29, or 13.8%. Seems like it might be a bit rarer than otherwise expected.
Where's that "Good Guy Sean" image?
BTW, where the hell did I get 25%? I must have done 4/25 instead of 4/29.
4/25 is also not 25% 🙂
Crap, you're right. I have no idea what I was doing then.
Tweaked the algorithm to take into account that Milwaukee and Houston have changed divisions, and changed the years to 1995 to today. New numbers are 180/1759 trades were intradivision for 10.2%.
NBBW watching Prometheus. Lamo film.
That film looked great.
Too much techno/DNA gone bad.
The plot was all sorts of crazy and weird. It still looked really good.
Blech. Blech. Did I say Blech?
Still lamo. Don't watch.
Yeah, the cinematography was spectacular. The story...not so much.
I wish Gibson would replace Pelfrey only because the games will probably move at a quicker pace.
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDES!!!
I hear the Twins got good again while I was gone.
Uhhhh, yeah, sure, we'll go with that.
BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL!!!
I like your optimism.
Chavez gave Pelfrey a free out...I'll take that all day long.
Parm has had a nice couple of games at the plate
Dazzle knows Nippon pitching.
Why isn't Floridan scoring on that?
We're gonna miss Felix starting. On one hand, that's good for the Twins. On the other, I'm 95% sure the Twins will get no-hit this year and he'd be a good candidate for it. I like watching no-hitters, even if it's against the Twins.
Nice play by Ryan. Would have helped if Parmelee at least touched home.
That sucked.
Anecdotally, that seems like one of those times where you want Mauer getting more ABs than Dozier.
Hitting Mauer 3rd should give him more RBI opps in general, though. (Mainly in the 1st. After the 1st, it's a matter of hitting after Hicks/Dozier or Dozier/Hicks.)
Tornado going through StL area right now; went south of us, but Twayn, you might want to check in on your brother -- he'd be closer than we were.
stay safe.
Dick, technically a batter has zero walks in their at bats.
If you're going to have Chavez sacrifice with no outs and a runner on first, why not no outs and runners on first and second? It would set up the sac fly and get a second runner into scoring position. Not that I think giving outs away is really a good strategy in general, but I also see no internal consistency.
I think in Chavez's first at bat, he tried bunting for a base hit. I dunno, the way he bunted didnt seem like a sacrifice.
That could be. I don't trust my judgment now that Punto's bunting has scarred me.
the first run will be scored by someone scoring from 1st base because of an errant pickoff throw ends up in left field somehow.
Time for more AD. Hopefully, it works like it did last night.
Did not work.
I sure could go for one of them fancy home runs.
ACK! bad luck with a ground rule double
Nitpick: that isn't a ground rule double.
what is it? a 'you didnt hit it far enough for a HR' double?
Rulebook double. A ground rule double would be a hit that is a double due to a park-specific quirk/feature.
The rulebook is pretty stupid about holding that runner at 3rd. ChickyParm could've moonwalked home.
The rulebook says it's up to the umps--if they think the runner would have scored, they let him go through 3rd to home plate.
The only time I've seen umps allow the extra base is when fans interfere.
That also sucked.
yuck
That sucked even more.
Raul Ibanez is the position player version of Jamie Moyer.
This Franklin kid looks like a 13-year-old with a beard.
On a related note, I bet cheaptoy had a nice beard when he was 13.
If only
I always figured you developed a full beard while still in the womb.
I had a Spooky feeling as soon as I heard Kevin Gorg say "Mike Pelfrey is on the verge of a quality start." Sigh.
If only there was some young pitcher in AAA pitching well that could take his spot....
Swizzle will get out of it.
...eventually.
Sucre bleu
Do we have any plans of getting three outs this inning? Just wondering
Let the Twins bat?
You know what's tasty and has surprisingly few calories? Fudgesicles.
fudgesicles are awesome.
I've developed an affinity for Healthy Choice Fudge Bars despite their fake-sugar content. About the only place where I will put up with that plastic crap.
Dreamsicles are also excellent for that.
I think he's out if Iwakuma fields that.
going to need some runs this inning
Rally time. 'cuz I'm here.
Jamey Carroll has left like 15 men on base this game.
Jason Bay, Raul Ibanez, Aaron Harang, Jermey Bonderman. It seems like the M's are the stomping ground for veterans that are hoping they play well enough to get traded to a contender in August.
Think I'll go to bed after Mauer's HR here.
*clap clap clapclapclap*
Thielbar continues to rack up strikeouts.
now 8 in 6.1 innings = 11.8 K/9
Thielbar sighting! Gardy must only trust him in mop-up situations.
Years ago, I read a book by Earl Weaver where he said one of the most important decisions a manager makes is who to put in the 25th roster spot. He'd stay up nights going over his roster, trying to figure out exactly what kind of player he needed for that spot to help him win games--a pinch hitter, a defensive specialist, a platoon partner for somebody, etc.
It seems to me to be a major flaw of Gardy's that the Twins so often waste that 25th spot on somebody who won't help them win games. That's not a criticism of Theilbar, who's pitched well whenever he's been given the chance. But if Gardy's only going to use him in games that are already lost, that's not helping the Twins win. You could pitch Colabello or somebody in those games. In fact, the way they've used (or not used) Thielbar, Colabello, and Herrmann, you could say that they're not only wasting the 25th spot, but the 24th and 23rd as well.
Earl Weaver also said that players need one stand out skill. He didn't care if it was fielding, hitting, running, etc. you just needed one and he could then put the player in the right situation to help the team.
And sliding into first doesn't count.
Actually, using Thielbar in situations like this allow him to gain confidence and allows the Twins to evaluate him at this level. Using a guy like Thielbar like that is fine. However, he shouldn't be the one to go when they want to cut down the pitching staff. He's pitching great and he's left-handed. I vote for Roenicke. His ERA looks nice, but his K/BB is terrible. Reminds me of Alex Burnett last year about this time.
one thing Roenicke has got going for him is that he can pitch multiple innings
the problem is that the Twins have about 5 guys in the pen that can do that.
I see what you're saying, and there's some logic to it. On the other hand, I don't know that it helps him gain confidence to know the manager thinks so little of him that he'll only use him when the game is lost anyway, especially when he sees other pitchers struggling.
Edgar Martinez 'wins' day one of the fan DH poll. Bit surprised he beat out Frank Thomas.
Probably because most of Thomas' best years were primarily as a first baseman.
Just one of those games where we ran into a pitcher who was really dealing. He was hitting his spots, moving the ball up and down, in and out. Nothing you can do but tip your cap. We'll just have to settle for 133-29!
That was a lot easier to accept after winning the previous four games.
Who has two thumbs and will be in a box suite for tomorrow's game?
Jason Bay. huh.
Dick mentions that trading within the division is less common, but I wonder how much of that is due to there only being four other teams compared to the other 25 potential trading partners.
I guess the question becomes are intra-division trades roughly 25% of all trades.
Working on running the numbers.
Based on 1998 to today, I counted 131 out of 1454 trades as being intradivision, or 9%. We would expect roughly 4/29, or 13.8%. Seems like it might be a bit rarer than otherwise expected.
Where's that "Good Guy Sean" image?
BTW, where the hell did I get 25%? I must have done 4/25 instead of 4/29.
4/25 is also not 25% 🙂
Crap, you're right. I have no idea what I was doing then.
Tweaked the algorithm to take into account that Milwaukee and Houston have changed divisions, and changed the years to 1995 to today. New numbers are 180/1759 trades were intradivision for 10.2%.
NBBW watching Prometheus. Lamo film.
That film looked great.
Too much techno/DNA gone bad.
The plot was all sorts of crazy and weird. It still looked really good.
Blech. Blech. Did I say Blech?
Still lamo. Don't watch.
Yeah, the cinematography was spectacular. The story...not so much.
I wish Gibson would replace Pelfrey only because the games will probably move at a quicker pace.
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDES!!!
I hear the Twins got good again while I was gone.
Uhhhh, yeah, sure, we'll go with that.
BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL!!!
I like your optimism.
Chavez gave Pelfrey a free out...I'll take that all day long.
Parm has had a nice couple of games at the plate
Dazzle knows Nippon pitching.
Why isn't Floridan scoring on that?
We're gonna miss Felix starting. On one hand, that's good for the Twins. On the other, I'm 95% sure the Twins will get no-hit this year and he'd be a good candidate for it. I like watching no-hitters, even if it's against the Twins.
Nice play by Ryan. Would have helped if Parmelee at least touched home.
That sucked.
Anecdotally, that seems like one of those times where you want Mauer getting more ABs than Dozier.
Hitting Mauer 3rd should give him more RBI opps in general, though. (Mainly in the 1st. After the 1st, it's a matter of hitting after Hicks/Dozier or Dozier/Hicks.)
Tornado going through StL area right now; went south of us, but Twayn, you might want to check in on your brother -- he'd be closer than we were.
stay safe.
Dick, technically a batter has zero walks in their at bats.
If you're going to have Chavez sacrifice with no outs and a runner on first, why not no outs and runners on first and second? It would set up the sac fly and get a second runner into scoring position. Not that I think giving outs away is really a good strategy in general, but I also see no internal consistency.
I think in Chavez's first at bat, he tried bunting for a base hit. I dunno, the way he bunted didnt seem like a sacrifice.
That could be. I don't trust my judgment now that Punto's bunting has scarred me.
the first run will be scored by someone scoring from 1st base because of an errant pickoff throw ends up in left field somehow.
Time for more AD. Hopefully, it works like it did last night.
Did not work.
I sure could go for one of them fancy home runs.
ACK! bad luck with a ground rule double
Nitpick: that isn't a ground rule double.
what is it? a 'you didnt hit it far enough for a HR' double?
Rulebook double. A ground rule double would be a hit that is a double due to a park-specific quirk/feature.
The rulebook is pretty stupid about holding that runner at 3rd. ChickyParm could've moonwalked home.
The rulebook says it's up to the umps--if they think the runner would have scored, they let him go through 3rd to home plate.
The only time I've seen umps allow the extra base is when fans interfere.
That also sucked.
yuck
That sucked even more.
Raul Ibanez is the position player version of Jamie Moyer.
This Franklin kid looks like a 13-year-old with a beard.
On a related note, I bet cheaptoy had a nice beard when he was 13.
If only
I always figured you developed a full beard while still in the womb.
I had a Spooky feeling as soon as I heard Kevin Gorg say "Mike Pelfrey is on the verge of a quality start." Sigh.
If only there was some young pitcher in AAA pitching well that could take his spot....
Swizzle will get out of it.
...eventually.
Sucre bleu
Do we have any plans of getting three outs this inning? Just wondering
Let the Twins bat?
You know what's tasty and has surprisingly few calories? Fudgesicles.
fudgesicles are awesome.
I've developed an affinity for Healthy Choice Fudge Bars despite their fake-sugar content. About the only place where I will put up with that plastic crap.
Dreamsicles are also excellent for that.
I think he's out if Iwakuma fields that.
going to need some runs this inning
Rally time. 'cuz I'm here.
Jamey Carroll has left like 15 men on base this game.
Jason Bay, Raul Ibanez, Aaron Harang, Jermey Bonderman. It seems like the M's are the stomping ground for veterans that are hoping they play well enough to get traded to a contender in August.
Think I'll go to bed after Mauer's HR here.
*clap clap clapclapclap*
Thielbar continues to rack up strikeouts.
now 8 in 6.1 innings = 11.8 K/9
Thielbar sighting! Gardy must only trust him in mop-up situations.
Years ago, I read a book by Earl Weaver where he said one of the most important decisions a manager makes is who to put in the 25th roster spot. He'd stay up nights going over his roster, trying to figure out exactly what kind of player he needed for that spot to help him win games--a pinch hitter, a defensive specialist, a platoon partner for somebody, etc.
It seems to me to be a major flaw of Gardy's that the Twins so often waste that 25th spot on somebody who won't help them win games. That's not a criticism of Theilbar, who's pitched well whenever he's been given the chance. But if Gardy's only going to use him in games that are already lost, that's not helping the Twins win. You could pitch Colabello or somebody in those games. In fact, the way they've used (or not used) Thielbar, Colabello, and Herrmann, you could say that they're not only wasting the 25th spot, but the 24th and 23rd as well.
Earl Weaver also said that players need one stand out skill. He didn't care if it was fielding, hitting, running, etc. you just needed one and he could then put the player in the right situation to help the team.
And sliding into first doesn't count.
Actually, using Thielbar in situations like this allow him to gain confidence and allows the Twins to evaluate him at this level. Using a guy like Thielbar like that is fine. However, he shouldn't be the one to go when they want to cut down the pitching staff. He's pitching great and he's left-handed. I vote for Roenicke. His ERA looks nice, but his K/BB is terrible. Reminds me of Alex Burnett last year about this time.
one thing Roenicke has got going for him is that he can pitch multiple innings
the problem is that the Twins have about 5 guys in the pen that can do that.
I see what you're saying, and there's some logic to it. On the other hand, I don't know that it helps him gain confidence to know the manager thinks so little of him that he'll only use him when the game is lost anyway, especially when he sees other pitchers struggling.
Edgar Martinez 'wins' day one of the fan DH poll. Bit surprised he beat out Frank Thomas.
Probably because most of Thomas' best years were primarily as a first baseman.
Just one of those games where we ran into a pitcher who was really dealing. He was hitting his spots, moving the ball up and down, in and out. Nothing you can do but tip your cap. We'll just have to settle for 133-29!
That was a lot easier to accept after winning the previous four games.