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GameFlow

There was a great old black-and-white Conan comic that Dr. D remembers, 30 years on.  Our hero was stuck in a cave, battling a ginormous spider, trying to keep a wench safe behind him.

The spider -- it made Shelob look like a daddy longlegs -- couldn't be harmed (much) by Conan's little blade.  It would lunge, take a piece out of the Barbarian, who would flail away and nick it here and there.  Then he'd scramble back, set his feet again, and raise his blade in defiance again.

There was one drawing -- wish I had it now -- showing Conan about to die, sweaty but unbowed, with the sword held waist-high but raised, splitting his face in a front-on shot.  I've always loved this theme in escape fiction:  the hero retreating to the last foxhole and then emptying his clip, as it were, tossing the gun away and drawing a pen knife before the end.

That was what Sunday's game felt like to me, the Mariners facing a (bafflingly) irresistible opponent ... and putting on the "snake eyes" so they could die without apology.

Conan escaped, as did the local ballclub.  I don't know about you, but I was moved by the grace and courage under fire.  At my age, sports are more interesting for the human drama than for checking to see where the ball winds up on the field.  There's quite a bit of it going on in 2014 in Seattle.

Not as much as will be going on Thursday night in Green Bay, admittedly.

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WBC-san

Had a perfectly ordinary coin-op day for him.  One strikeout per inning.  Zero walks.  Six innings, only five hits.  And, of course, a win, for the team and for himself:  he's 13-6 this year, 35-16 (!) lifetime in 72 starts.

He did give up three homers:

•  A hanging curve ball that Hobbs hit off the Cafe

•  A quite decent splitter that Hobbs, unbelievably, hit out to straightaway center

•  A lousy 86 fastball, out and up, that some scrub hit out

But it happens.  WBC-san's pitchability isn't quite as lethal against Japanese-style hitters.

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Furbush

After Roy Hobbs' 2 Homers Sank Iwakuma, the human pretzel came in and blew him away, left on left.

I've been a little slow to come around here.  But Furbush has cut his BB rate from 4.1 all the way down to 1.9, and he spins those Frisbees in there every inch as nasty as ever.  With the 10+ strikeout rate to match.

He has 24 strikeouts and 1 walk against lefty batters this season.  I'd be fascinated to see him finish the year with 1 walk total.

So what is this guy, like an elite short man now?

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Yoervis Medina

Came in, in the 8th, to face Anthony Rendon:

•  96 MPH jam pitch, called strike one

•  Vicious 86 MPH drop pitch, right at the knees, called 0-2

•  86 MPH curve ball outside on the black, called strike THREE!

When's the last time you saw a MOTO hitter take three pitches, and go sit back down?

Medina's next four heaters were 96 ... 96 ... 97 ... 97 ... and the first ten pitches, his location was there too.  We'd been keeping an eye on Medina's freshness -- two full days between outings, it sez here.  (He throws both fastball and curve ball with all his might, every muscle in his body.)

And was this deadly outing, one that followed a nice rest?

It 'twas.  He'd had three full days off beforehand.  If he's had 2-3 days, apparently he's a legit 8th inning setup guy in a big game.

BABVA,

Dr D