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The Telltale Heart...O yeah, Gotta love the reference. Where else are you gonna find such kultcha, Edith?!
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So this last Friday, the Mariners had things clickin on all cylinders, as much as the 2017 Mariners were going to see, and they headed into Houston to see where they stood. For the twentieth time this year, the time came to "take one and give one" and they went into potato-bug mode.
Usually Scott Servais pleads "It's hard to get a winning streak together when your rotation is bubble gum and baling wire." Thaaaaaaat's a rather broad statement -- let's see you prove that winning streaks are associated with starting pitchers more than they are with slugging percentages -- but let us suppose that Servais was right, and that it is true.
The Mariners went into the weekend with the best forward-projecting rotation they'd had since March. The outcomes being
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9/15 K-Pax 1.1 ip, 4 h, 3 r, 3 er, 2 bb, 0 k .... 27 strikes, 23 bb. Gallardo used as bridge man, M's lose 5-2 to Morton
9/16 Erasmo 4.0 IP, 8h, 6 er, 3 bb 6 k ... 51 strikes, 41 bb. Hodgepodge of RP's as M's lose 8-6 to Keuchel
9/17 Moore 4.2 IP, 7h, 3 r, 3 er, 0 bb, 1 k ... 52 strikes, 26 bb. Long relievers used as M's lose 7-1 to Verlander
9/18 Hangover game Leake 6.2 IP, 6 h, 1 r, 1 er, 0 BB, 5k, 63 strikes, 30 bb. M's come up with nothing off Martin Perez, waste Leake's performance 3-1
9/19 King Felix fails to take advantage of Leake's "stop": 3.1 IP, 2 h, 6 r, 5 er, 3 BB, 4 k, 39 strikes, 28 balls, M's lose to 10-10 Andrew Cashner 8-6
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So there are 10 games left and the teams ahead of the M's have been losing a lot also. With James Paxton pitching tonight:
- Minnesota +4
- LAA =
- Texas -1
- KC -3
- Seattle -4
- Tampa -4
If the Mariners were to go 8-2 from here, and they have evidenced little desire to do so, they would "force" their opponents to go thusly to tie them:
- Minnesota 4-6
- LAA 6-4
- Tex 7-4
- KC 8-3
- Tampa 8-2
But Billy Zoom's questions about Scott Servais start to thump louder and louder in SSI's little Telltale Heart short story.
Bah Humbug,
Dr D
Comments
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The older I get, the less I care about the actual results.. And the more I come to appreciate the community here.
If the Mariners ever develop a championship team, I will cherish it. But in the meanwhile I'm fine just catching a game once in a while.
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Twinkies swooned just as Doc predicted they would. +3 or +4 is going to clinch the berth. It might be those pesky rodent Angels. Bah Humbug.
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Yesterday MLBTR had us interested in Moreland and Duda as 2018 1B. I could easily live with Duda. There has been some wonder if we Carew Cano and move him to 1B. Fangraphs essentially says that Cano is running career norms with the glove this year. He ain'r chopped liver. But TR suggests that Panik could get traded by the Giants.
.355 OBP wouldn't bother me.
We're totally dead this year. Play Vogs for goodness sakes! let's see the kid!!!
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Five of Minnies final 8 games are with Detroit and their lame duck skipper Brad Ausmus, who will not have his contract renewed when it expires after this season. For their part, Detroit, losers of 5 straight and 2-8 over their last 10, are 30 games below .500 on the season and unlikely to put up much resistance playing Minnesota. Unlikely M's could have caught them without running the table anyway. All in all, a dismal finish to a disappointing season, again.
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SeattleNative 57, yes indeed. And the M's have seriously jeopardized their chances of hanging near .500, something they could have hung their hat on given the injuries. I really hope they can get within two or three games. If they have an end-of-season skid and finish -5 or more it will be a shame.
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Will someone please tell me why other teams, like Arizona, can have sudden massive swings in their won-loss record, but the Mariners seem to have to only gradually, incrementally improve?
Will someone please tell me why other teams seem to be able to constantly be able to inject new young rookies every year while the Mariners' best rookies are always "a couple years away"?
Will someone please tell me why we can't seem to judge minor/major league talent? We give away future stars too cheaply (Chris Taylor/Gohara/Choo/Jones/etc.) and are left with mediocre talent.
Will someone please tell me why the last two clubs DiPoto was GM for are doing better than the Mariners (Arizona and LAA)? If I want to be magnanimous (which I clearly have a hard time with), it would be to say that the systems he put in place at those clubs is finally bearing fruit.
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Now, THAT was a season frustrating even by Mariner standards. A week of low engagement did my heart good.
But the sports lounge here is the opposite of frustrating and it's probably tonight that The Usual Gang Of Idiots will return to its morning-java shtick? Undoubtedly with renewed levels of verve in its imbecility. So don't say you weren't warned.
Sports Is Life,
Dr D