By Anthony
For those of you less sophisticated than me, you may think I made a typo in the headline there. I did not, I merely wrote the title in Galician instead of Spanish, duh. Anyway, this is once again the great part of my job where I get to talk about the three people on the M’s rotation that aren’t Felix or Vargas. I also get to tip of the cap wag of the finger though, and talk about a word. Huzzah!
Hector Noesi
This was a really funny start for me personally, mostly because I was unable to watch it and just looked at the box score. What I did not realize until I texted Patrick later was that he was unhittable for a little over 4 innings. Then he imploded and couldn’t get an out. I will be writing something about Hector shortly and comparing him to Jason Vargas from last year in their maddening inconsistency. His line sucked pretty much. But for those 4 innings we showed the potential he has. This is frustrating. This is also why I didn’t like Jason Vargas before this year since he is finally pitching consistently. If Noesi can go out everyday and pitch like he can, he could be an ace, which with the talent we have in the system, he's a fifth starter. Noesi threw about 66% strikes, which isn’t quite Blake Beavan numbers but is pretty good for him. I would love to see Felix take Hector under his wing and try to teach him some stuff because he has the talent. All he has to do is put it all together, which is the hardest part but if he can do that our rotation could be awesome. He gets a C because he showed his talent and then fell apart.
Blake Beavan
Wow, Blake Beavan had another Blake Beavan start. Except this time he wasn’t going up against Phil Humber who somehow can throw a perfect game one day and then get shelled the next. Anyway, something I will now talk about as opposed to Blake Beavan because he is super boring to write about, no offense Blake, is John Jaso. I still don’t understand how he has not become a cult hero amongst Mariner fans. I literally cannot describe an at bat I watched of his where he looked terrible. Whenever he gets to hit, I feel comfortable with him either getting a hit or at least making the pitcher work. This is miles different from Miguel Olivo, who looks like a complete idiot in at least one swing a game. In the Michael Saunders is a hero game, I watched most of the end of the game and came to the conclusion that Olivo decides whether or not he will swing before the pitch is delivered. For pitchers, this makes life really easy. Throw breaking pitches and let him get himself out. John Jaso rarely does this; he makes the pitcher throw him strikes and doesn’t get himself out. Play him more Wedge! Please! So yeah, Blake Beavan gets a B, again. Shocker, I know.
Wow, Blake Beavan had another Blake Beavan start. Except this time he wasn’t going up against Phil Humber who somehow can throw a perfect game one day and then get shelled the next. Anyway, something I will now talk about as opposed to Blake Beavan because he is super boring to write about, no offense Blake, is John Jaso. I still don’t understand how he has not become a cult hero amongst Mariner fans. I literally cannot describe an at bat I watched of his where he looked terrible. Whenever he gets to hit, I feel comfortable with him either getting a hit or at least making the pitcher work. This is miles different from Miguel Olivo, who looks like a complete idiot in at least one swing a game. In the Michael Saunders is a hero game, I watched most of the end of the game and came to the conclusion that Olivo decides whether or not he will swing before the pitch is delivered. For pitchers, this makes life really easy. Throw breaking pitches and let him get himself out. John Jaso rarely does this; he makes the pitcher throw him strikes and doesn’t get himself out. Play him more Wedge! Please! So yeah, Blake Beavan gets a B, again. Shocker, I know.
Kevin Millwood
Whenever I watch Kevin Millwood pitch, I get really surprised about how his pitches move. His fastball has a lot of run on it, which means it tails toward right-handed hitters. He also almost never hits his spots. His career BB/9 innings is 3.22. That is not good, especially when you are old and don’t have great stuff anymore. This time around, Millwood did a good job, 7 innings, 3 runs, about 60% strikes. As an old washed up guy pitching in the fifth slot of the rotation, that’s pretty solid. I will take that from Kevin Millwood for the rest of the year. But I also want to examine Wedge’s claim that he gets tougher when people get on base. His left-on-base percentage is 57.8%, and he has averaged 71.8% in his career. He is leaving fewer people on base, which means they are scoring more. Not that there is anyone waiting in the wings to replace Millwood yet. So he has a little time to bump up his number and performances like the one he had against the Blue Jays are a good start. I’ll give him an A-.
Whenever I watch Kevin Millwood pitch, I get really surprised about how his pitches move. His fastball has a lot of run on it, which means it tails toward right-handed hitters. He also almost never hits his spots. His career BB/9 innings is 3.22. That is not good, especially when you are old and don’t have great stuff anymore. This time around, Millwood did a good job, 7 innings, 3 runs, about 60% strikes. As an old washed up guy pitching in the fifth slot of the rotation, that’s pretty solid. I will take that from Kevin Millwood for the rest of the year. But I also want to examine Wedge’s claim that he gets tougher when people get on base. His left-on-base percentage is 57.8%, and he has averaged 71.8% in his career. He is leaving fewer people on base, which means they are scoring more. Not that there is anyone waiting in the wings to replace Millwood yet. So he has a little time to bump up his number and performances like the one he had against the Blue Jays are a good start. I’ll give him an A-.
Tip of the Cap- Michael Saunders
Boom! Suck it Patrick! The Canadian Condor went crazy on his countrymen from the Great White North. The grand slam and solo home run were pretty sweet as in they won the game for us. But I want to look a little deeper than just the cool stuff. Saunders is still striking out about 25% of the time. But he is now walking over 10% of the time, which is much better than usual. He also is slugging over .500. This is a huge turn around for Saunders and means that once Guti gets back, if he ever does, some tough decisions to be made. Side note: Guti has plantar fasciitis and his recovery has been delayed further. THAT SUCKS!!!
Wag of My Finger- Hisashi Iwakuma
If you notice a theme here, it would be taking advantages of the opportunities given to you. Saunders did it and could end up as a legitimate major league player. The "ghost of the bullpen" is absolutely not. He finally got a chance to pitch against the White Sox and did a pretty solid job. He got a second chance against the Blue Jays and was terrible! A grand slam on a pretty terrible pitch and two hard hit balls and an intentional walk. That is not good Hisashi. Also your pants look very tight on your calves. So you get a wag of my finger.
The Word: Hellacious
I chose this word mostly because it sounds awesome. I then had to look it up on my phone but it turns out to work pretty well for what I wanted to describe. It means astonishing or remarkable. A few days ago, the M’s swept the Tigers, one of the best teams in the league with one of the best offenses in baseball. That is not hellacious. The pitching for that series was pretty awesome, considering they were going up against Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera and company. The bullpen was great, especially the now closer in waiting, Tom Wilhelmsen. His line from the series, 2 innings, 3 K’s, 0 BB’s and zero runs. That is not hellacious, what is hellacious is the 3-2 curve he threw to Prince Fielder. That pitch was absolutely nasty. It froze one of the best hitters in the league and the prize free agent of the year. I saw a replay of it and was astonished, it was indeed remarkable. It was hellacious. Go M's.
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