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Out of town here for a coupla days amigos. Imperative to manicure the SSI grass for the afternoon's cricket match, what say. Cheerio.
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Brock and Salk ask, "What do the Mariners have now in Felix Hernandez?" They lament the possibility (?) that he's not Ultra King Felix (TM) any more. :: blinks :: The question at SSI has been, for about a year, whether he's going to be a quality #2 (top end) or whether he's going to limp along as a #4.
Felix' last outing, and his season-long 7:1 control ratio, give real hope that he's got some years of #2 in him. Dr. D has always bet the over with Felix, if the wagering pertains to where he'll fall in the #2-#4 territory. His offspeed is (still) way too good for a #4 starter. And he does a great job using his large muscles. He'll get it figured out.
THAT SAID we've always had an inkling for the Justin Verlander career path: (1) Cy Young (2) a couple years of soggy arm from the rain (3) once given a chance to bounce back, Opening Day again. The Felix we saw last outing had a wipeout change back, mostly, and his paintballs back, mostly. 'ere's 'oping, lads.
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The M's now have 12 games, mostly at home, against bad-or-beatable teams. They'll be using their Big Four :- ) which means K-Pax in three of those 12 games. It also means 9 tough hitters and a superstar closer each day in those 12 games. Jim Moore has an article.
DaddyO and I have talked about how this team reminds us of the 1972-76 Reds, stylistically -- tag-team lineup, scary bullpen, questions in the rotation. If the Big Red Machine had gotten a long string of quality starts, whew. But Felix and Miranda are both looking hopeful, we've got Andrew Moore in there ... any day now, mates .... (?)
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Ryan Divish's twitter feed has a nice video of Kyle Lewis tripling off the wall in his first AB. It also retweets the kewl Mike Curto, noting the Rainiers' comeback from 8-0 in the 6th Sunday night.
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If you set the qualifiers to 220 PA's, the first two players in the AL for batting average are Jean Segura and Ben Gamel, who hit 1-2 in Safeco tonight. Maniger #7. Admittedly, if you drop the qualification to 200 PA, Mike Trout sneaks in between the two. Probably just a lucky couple of months for Trout, though.
Mike Zunino's season batting totals leave him as, basically, the #5 hitting catcher in baseball. Not the hot Zunino. That's the Zunino since callup, the Zunino of early travail, every Zunino in a blender and hit frappe' - he's #5 in both leagues.
Russell Martin is #6 for OPS/wRC+, batting .220. The bar for catchers isn't real high, so when Zuumball's a threat the M's definitely have a uniquely deep lineup. Them and the Yankee$, Astros. ... Zuumball needs 4 more RBI this month to catch Edgar and Blowers for most RBI in a Mariners month, ever.
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K-Pax had two games there where his long-arc golf swing got out of rhythm, but he was 70% back to form last outing and hopefully it will be 80-90% tonight. 80% or more of James Paxton is a cakewalk victory. Here's tonight's preview..
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See you at the ballpark,
jemanji
