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The MLB.com one-page snippet on tonight's ballgame. The batter-pitchup matchups don't exist but
1) Miranda is perfectly fine as #4 starter provided? The 2-3 deep flies in the game don't go over the wall. Here's the ultimate synergy situation with three CF's and a big cold park. (My friends had to leave Monday's game early because of the weather.)
2) Musgrove is a promising sinker/slider guy in the good sense. His sinker looks harder than usual to barrel up and he mixes his slider effectively. Also he has the benefit of novelty. In a super loose sense you could think of them as their Povse, if Max Povse had a dozen pretty good starts in the majors.
3) That said, the 2 Astros SP's we miss this series are Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers. Dr. D has it on good authority this is a positive thing.
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Brent Stecker commits to the idea that the M's bats might have thawed beginning Sunday. That is what it looked like to us in the Shout Box Monday too. A quick reminder that Cruz and Seager are not one year wonders crashing back to earth based on scouting reports that booked them.
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Bob Dutton points out that if Robinson Cano had been hurt worse by that HBP in the ankle, and with Jean Segura gone, then Carlos Ruiz would have been our last remaining infielder. After him, Dan Altavilla maybe? Nah, we assume Valencia 3B, Motter SS, Seager 2B, catcher plays 1B. No, not the Servais guy. The active guy.
I hadn't thought a that. Mebbe Moe Dawg was right about needing Freeman up here instead of Heredia, if you're going a 3-man bench. Meanwhile both Scrabble and Scribner had 1+ inning each, total, going into Monday and that doesn't even count Overton as the tailender who could take the ball for 4-5 innings any time if we weren't so into the pitching side of the matchups. Siiiggghhhhh.
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The Sporting News is considerably more willing to talk about James Paxton as BEING one of the game's hot young SP's than the local writers are. :: smiles :: Dr. D wishes he knew what was going on back channel. It's not big thing, but it's also not entirely explained by "wanting to keep the pressure off" K-Pax. Just idly curious whether it's because Paxton was Zduriencik's baby, or what.
But of course as K-Pax keeps stopping losing streaks, and countering gutpunches like Sunday's with his own majestic lockdowns, that will all be history in about a month. Even Dr. D continues to marvel about the importance of momentum in the dugout during a SINGLE game. A couple of Mariners said Monday night, as they often do, that "the confidence in the dugout" skyrocketed after Boomstick's RBI single. Say what? You believe in a game or don't, based on a pivot play? That's what they tell you. Consistently.
Logical, then, that a Randy Johnson* changes a club's self-belief on a more macro level.
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Wishiker had an interesting comment about Paxton's uniqueness. Hadn't especially thought of it, but he developed his foshball (89 MPH hard slider) as a survival pitch, and now that the curve ball is there he's got a weird 3rd weapon. Maybe there IS nobody recent who looks like Paxton.
Zeus is again more than 2 MPH faster than the #2 lefty in the AL, Chris Sale. And he looks like he's having a catch with his kid.
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Jeff Sullivan with an epic 14-gif tribute to The Trout At Bat. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/lets-watch-felix-hernandez-and-mike-trout...
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Nelson Cruz said it was one pitch Sunday that gave him the gift again. This makes sense. If I'm out of practice in chess, I'll flail for 50 hours trying to find "it" and then it is exactly one move that brings the "Oh, that's right. That's how you do it."
Here's to several more RBI from Boomstick this year.
Stay cool,
jemanji
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*I know, I know, Paxton does not = The Big Unit. You think I was brought to town on a turnip truck.
