Maybe it means something, probably it don't.
Looking back at Felix yesterday, he was cruising to start the game. Struck out the first batter. Quick fly out on the second. Had Miguel Cabrera down 1 ball 2 strikes. Then Cabrera called time.
Felix obviously didn't see time called, and why would he? It was done at the last possible second. And was almost through his entire motion before slamming on the breaks and falling off the mound like an asteroid knocking the moon outta the earth. Cabrera, who had been barking at Felix prior, stared out bemused.
After the late time call, Felix's next 7 pitches proceeded to be 5 balls and 2 opposite field line drives. Felix never got his groove back. Cabrera and the ump really got in his head.
Next time Felix starts in a big game, we'll see if some hitter tries those shenanigans again.
Oh--and props to Lloyd for standing up for his player like he did. Based on his ejection today by the same ump, he's clearly in that ump's head. "What you going to put in your report" indeed.
.
So the M's take on the Tigers in a playoff atmosphere, their building, and outscore them 17-7.
- Destroyed them in Paxton's start
- Got nipped, under weird circumstances, in Felix' start
- Destroyed them in Chris Young's start
We outhit them 29-23 and, despite only 1 homer in the series, blew past them like they were the Astros.
Granted, Anibal Sanchez might have thrown the ball a little better than did Rob Roy, the tasty Little League drink that quenched the M's thirst for 12-hit, no-homer victories. But hey. The M's now get 9 games against teams that feature pitchers similar to Rob Roy.
......
Another thirty victories by Chris Young, and it might be time for a level 102 scan. If only we had Randy Wolf, we'd be unstoppable.
An' that's all I gotta say about that, Forrest. ... You've noticed how Young resents the insinuation that he's a match for Safeco? For a basketball player with an 84 fastball, the guy has a mean streak. Gotta love it. After he lifts the World Series MVP, we'll allow that he's average/solid.
.....
This postgame recap, from Detroit's point of view, is quite the revelation. It seems we got swept three games straight but it was close "because, to be fair, Seattle has a good pitching staff."
On TV, they had another graphic ... this one said that two teams in the DH era have sported 2+ ERA's. The 1974 Oakland A's, and this M's team. Was this one right, or the one we pegged t' other day?
......
Keeping the shtick to a minimum ... the Mariners have, for about a week or so, ALL been walking up to the plate, ready to do something with "pitchers' pitches." Like Greg Maddux complained about the 1996 Yankees* - "if they're willing to take what you give them, there isn't a lot you can do."
Who said that again?!
17 runs on 29 hits and only Cano's home run. Not a lot of balls were close to the track, either. Meanwhile, the defense was celery-crisp on the part of one of the playoff contendahs.
......
Bouton had a line, in Ball Four, how the Yankee$ hit the end of their 1921-1963 string, but then won 1 more pennant after their talent was gone. "They were the only team that KNEW HOW to win the pennant." That would be a great subject in itself, wouldn't it?
The Tigers have been playing for the World Series the last three years in a row. 2011, 2012, and 2013 they were the constant in the ALCS, going against Texas, then New York, and then Boston. In this series, it was the Mariners who looked like they knew how to win a pennant.
Well, Lloyd knows how to hit 5 homers in 5 swings. Maybe he knows how to win pennants, too.
........
I'll be in the hospital, getting the oil changed, for most of the next week. Maybe I'll be back to blogging by Wednesday, but with any luck at all, you'll get at least until Saturday. You'd better talk Mo' Dawg and Mojician into steppin' in.
Cheers,
Dr D
Comments
Doc, I shall be hoping and praying all goes well. Get well quickly! Quite a series by M's! You got it right. Seattle was the better team. I didn't get to see any as was busy taking son to school. An umpire from the Dark Side? Great to see 2 out of 3 in Detroit.
Sanchez? No doubt that made a difference. But it is not like the M's haven't has their share of troubles. Rather they have fought right through! No letting up!!
This is no time for the generic Doc.. Treat yourself right, and we see you in a week.
I doubt many guys other than Cabrera could get in Felix's head...from the same country and he's the best hitter in the league AND a world class smack talker. Are there any other baseball players who do that sort of yapping while standing at the plate? It seems really unusual, but he surely backs it up.
The ump clearly did reconsider what was going into his report, because the inning after Lloyd got tossed, he started calling that strike at the knees for the rest of the game.
Hey if Felix didn't take that ball off the hip he might have stuck in there and kept the streak alive. Still only gave up 2 runs in 5 innings, that's a pretty good day for Erasmo Ramirez or Taijuan Walker :)
Beltre has practically taken up residence in Felix's head. If there is a chink in the armor, that's it - Felix will entertain that in game banter more than anyone and it does seem to have an impact from time to time.
Rest up Doc!
Have them proceed very carefully with the dipstick when they change the oil on your chassis!
I'll try to get something up, but am heading east tomorrow to take my daughter to her freshman year at the University of Montana!
In a lot of ways this team smoke and mirrored 'em from April through July.
No Walker or Paxton. 'Kuma out for a long while. Some Cuban refugee leftee in the rotation. No 1B or DH bat whatso-freaking-ever. Abe Almonte ('nuff said). A SS with a black hole bat. A LF with a black hole bat. Endy Chavez in a semi-regular role. Maurer imploding in the rotation. Saunders eventually broken. a need for Chris Young to be something...and he had thrown all of 235 innings since April of 2009.
What we had for a long while was Felix, Cano and some huge taters from Seager and Zunino. That was basically it.
And yet we hung around. July's 11-14 record, despite the allergy we seemed to have against HR's and runs, may be the most important month we have all season. We avoided annilihation in July, somehow. It was our Dunkirk, entirely ugly but may have saved the campaign.
Now we've got Kuma and Paxton: They're rested, ready, raring to go. We have a SS with a bat. Abe Almonte has somehow morphed twice and is now an All-Star CF named Jackson. We have a 1B who finally found a bat and a DH who came back home with his bat about to get warm.
And we still have Felix, Cano and Seager. Felix is such a monster in the rotation that it begins to influence every series, even the ones he doesn't pitch....because you know you will let him loose in a couple of games. Cano has brought a calmness that we haven't had before. His pulse rate never spikes.....and that's rubbing off. The great beneficiary of Cano's presence is probably Seager. What a great bat and IF'er to learn from.
And we have Saunders to return sometime. And bats coming down the pike next year. Gimme some Kivlehan, please. Interestingly, the best thing for his development would be to give him 15 games with the big club in September (other teams do that with their AA stars all the time), but we will be in the middle of a grudge match with several bad-tempered teams so he won't get that chance.
But Kelly, a resurgent Romero and Choi are all just lurking down the road, too. And then their's Deej.
We will still have a 3-game dip, but this team is now hardened and battle tested. And all of our big guns are now firing. I wouldn't bet that we catch both the Orcs and Halos, but I might bet that we reel in one of them.
We asked for this scenario, a chance in September, way back last spring. It's here. It's better than a long shot. In any 5 or 7 game series this team will be tremendously tough. Enjoy the next 40 days. The weather and the race is about to heat up.
Finally, as to the Miggy-Felix-Lloyd events of Saturday: Felix is the best pitcher in the game (along with Kershaw). No way should one late, "Hey ump, time out!" by Miggy rock his mojo. In any other game it wouldn't. He was likely a bit too jacked. Miggy beat him in that mini-game. I liked Lloyd's ejection (although I generally hate ejections). He didn't make an arse of himself (which I despise) and he went to the support of his King. In retrospect, it may have been better to say nothing at the time and do it all between innings as Felix didn't likely need any more intrusions into his focus.
But I thought McClendon's carrying the "we got shafted" banner into Sunday's game was a bit too much. He was trying to make his point about the prior day's game and the ump, rightly or wrongly, wasn't hearing any of it. I don't know what will be in the report, but in the middle of a red hot pennant race, I would rather we had this manager on the bench. He isn't Eric Wedge, after all.
Hopes and best wishes are with you from this side of the pond Doc. Here's to a speedy recovery!
Hope All Goes Well, Doc.
This site has the only good Mariner content left. Pressure is on you!