Impromptu role reversal Dept.

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One more win, and we're back to the Big Three.  I like baseball.  It makes me happy.

..........

For some reason it got to 4-1 and I couldn't enjoy the game - well, couldn't enjoy it as much as I could the wins over the rodent Angels.

Wasthinking about the big Killebrew crowd, and the M's machine-like execution of the hapless hometown nine.  I honestly don't think I'd enjoy being a T-101 Terminator.

Fortunately for the crowd, they had a great night.  A non-catcher was calling Jason Vargas' game, so the Twins got back in it.  You ever think about the fact that when you lose real late, you spent 2:58 being happy, and only 0:02 being unhappy?

So Linda Hamilton put several dents in our alloy chassis, and the movie ended happily for the Terminator anyway.  That's what I call a chick flick.

See, now we're going rope-a-dope against these chumps.  We spot 'em five or six rounds rounds, give the crowd a little show, and then knock 'em into the cheaps.

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=== Ichiro ===

Now looks dialed in to me.

When Ichiro is on, he rips off long streaks of 2- and 3-hit games.  He leads with his knees, squares the ball to 1/1000 inch tolerance, and cracks the ball all over the yard.

May 2009, for example, he got rolling and batted .380/.400/.515, racking up 49 hits, with eight doubles/triples and three homers. 

We could use a couple of those months.  Guess here is that they are about to occur.

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=== Figgins ===

The SSI Think Tank has agreed on the Figgy Flush Petition.

Here's one more thing to take with you:  the last week, he has 1 walk and 7 strikeouts ... whoops, now 2:7, after tonight.  The last remaining part of his game...

Agree with Zum-bro'.  It has gotten grotesque.  Watching the M's hit is like eating an apple with a big bruise on it...

15 hits for the M's Monday in a climate that was obviously a hitter's dream, but Figgy was 1-for-5 with 4 men left on base.  Coulda been the ballgame.

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=== Smoak ===

Probably seems ice cold.  Guess what his OPS+ has fallen to?  149.  Still 9th in the league, after his growing pains the last couple weeks.

Smoak is on an arc up, gentlemen, not at the peak of it.  But this is the Edgar-like quality, the game-in, game-out contribution whether hot or not.

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=== Cust Takes Dr. D Deep!! ===

Crushed a long home run the other way.  Denard Span took two steps and stopped.  Wowza.

1) Does one long HR prove that Cust has gas in the tank?   Well, no, but it's suggestive, maybe.

We didn't doubt that Cust could physically hit a ball 420 feet, in batting practice, or once in 500 game pitches.  The question is whether a hitter can be strong and quick under game conditions.  Strong and quick is a young man's game.  Mike Schmidt hit six or eight homers the year he walked out during the ballgame...

2) Or ...... does one HR erase a season-long .291 SLG?  No.

3)  Or ..... if Jack Cust could hit okay, would that mean the M's should block Carp and Mike Wilson?  No.  Even Good Cust is nothing it hurts you to lose.

4) Or .... is Cust smoking hot right now?  No.  He's 278/318/444 the last week.

5) Or .... would it be okay for Cust to OPS+ 100 ... but drive in 55 runs and score 45?  It would not, no.  The team with the most bases doesn't win.  The team that touches home the most times wins.

Don't think in terms of bases for Cust.  Think in terms of his contributing to people touching home plate.

"When in doubt, think runs -- ERA, runs scored, runs anything." -- Bill James

......

But!  Cust has taken some swings that showed some signs of life, and SSI isn't dogmatic about Cust being done.  I think he is, but I could be wrong.  Cust could have a year or two left.

Last year, Cust hit .270/.395/.440 in spacious Oakland-Alameda -- for a 128 OPS+.  (That was still only worth 75 runs and 75 RBI per 155 games.)  

If he could do that here to the wire, that's 4-5 team OPS points for the M's right there, and several yards towards their coveted 95 offense.

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=== Gutierrez ===

Hit a ground ball back to the pitcher, catching Michael Saunders off second base.  The pitcher faked, and faked, and faked again, and then threw to first base late...

No!  He got Gutierrez by a long way.  

Always seems to me that Gutierrez must be slipping two or three times getting out of the box.

But I'll tell ya, even Dr. D is glad to have the dude back.  He wouldn't be hitting 5th, maybe, but he'd be in there in a 5-to-make-3.

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=== LRod ===

Battled a long, tough AB in the 10th.

His concentration level was off the dial.  Finally he got a half-decent pitch, sunk his weight, hit a rising line drive to CF for a fly ball out ... and as he dropped his bat, was instantly clapping his hands, exactly as if he'd just hit a home run.

We could also talk about the team-oriented relief and happiness that Cust showed, after his home run got him off the shneid, and the genuine comaraderie in the M's dugout as they supported him when he got back to the dugout.

The M's execution right now, the tightness of their attention and their clarity of intent, is a joy to watch.

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