By Anthony
Now what language is that you ask? It is Icelandic. I figured the people from the little island needed a shout out since we are super popular there. This time through the rotation, results wise at least, the M’s were not good. Getting swept does not feel good, especially in a four game series, prompting the first Patrick “we suck” comment. For those wondering I will be keeping track all year. He is much more reactionary to the M’s current performance than I am. Yeah the Rays swept us in four games, but the run totals from those four games were 15-10. We lost a few there by one run. We got some really unlucky bounces (sorry Condor). All in all, it was not as bad as it looked and the Rays are one of the best teams in baseball. To the amigos we go.
Hector Noesi
In the grand scheme of things, this was a pretty good start for the young man. It lowered his ERA at least. He seems to be settling down and trying to get off the 2011 Jason Vargas bandwagon. I am in favor of this since I did not like 2011 Jason Vargas. His line was 5.2 innings pitched, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 1 K, 1 line drive. Remember what were the keys to Noesi’s success I outlined? Few line drives, check. Improved breaking pitches, check. He had 4 whiffs on the 24 breaking pitches he threw, a marked improvement. Finally getting strikes with his changeup. Thus he struggled with. In fact he wasn’t great at finding the zone with any of his pitches. He had a 54% strike rate all night and walked 3 people. Walks kill a pitcher, a manager and a fan like me. Please start finding the zone Hector, be more like Blake Beavan, although not like the one who pitched in this round of the rotation. Hector gets a B-. He pitched decently and improved 2/3 of what he needed to improve on.
Blake Beavan
Another Blake Beavan start from Blake Beavan. Oh wait, never mind. I lied. I just get in the habit of writing that for Beavan. Damn, kind of wanted to write about Mariano Rivera. Oh well, that can come later. So Blake was not great this time around. 5.1 innings, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, 1 K, 59% strikes. Say Hector Noesi threw 59% strikes. I would be excited. He has the stuff where he can get whiffs on most of his pitches and fool hitters. Not so much with Blake. He relies on pitching to contact and getting outs in the field. When you can’t throw a lot of strikes, it becomes hard to pitch to contact since hitters are sitting on one pitch and are ready to drive that one pitch. This outing was one to forget for Blake and I expect him to get back in his usual Blake Beavan boring outing routine soon. Its not fun talking about him, sorry Blake. He gets a C-.
Kevin Millwood
I’ve beaten around this bush with this issue before, but now I am calling out Eric Wedge. He claims Millwood gets tough with runners on base. I call bull shit. He gave up all four of his runs in one inning. He allowed 9 base runners all game, but he allowed 6 in a row on base in that inning. So much for getting tough with dudes on base. Sorry Wedge, you are wrong here. Millwood’s line was 6.1 innings, 4 runs, 4 K’s and 2 BB’s. This seems like the stereotypical Millwood line, a few walks, few K’s and some runs. All in all, for a stopgap washed up starter, I am impressed. Not enough to not call him washed up, but he is doing his part as the fifth starter in a rotation that is not very deep. Kevin gets a B- because he is becoming predictable results wise, something I like.
Tip of My Cap
Mariano Rivera- He is the best closer in the game. He is a legend, a hall of famer and an icon of the Yankees dominance in the early 2000’s. To see his career potentially end on a freak injury while shagging BP is a shame. Yeah, I hated facing him. Yeah, I hated most of the Yankees and still do. But I always had to respect Mariano. He was never a show boater, never went to the media whining about some issue. He did his work, was humble and was great. Baseball needs more Mariano Rivera’s and I hope to see him pitch again, just not against the M’s.
Wag of my Finger
Chone Figgins- Big surprise right? He has sucked, sucked and sucked some more. Funny side note, he has more home runs than Albert Pujols. Can we keep laughing at the Angels for a while? I am going to for a few more seconds… Ok, now I am back and got a bunch of weird looks from people in the library. But yeah, if there was someone else to replace Figgins I, like Patrick, would be calling for him to be cut or Silva’ed. But there isn’t. Vinnie Catricala is hitting below the Mendoza line and nobody in Tacoma is playing well enough to deserve a call up. So for now Figgins remains on the roster. But he still gets a wag of my finger! Ye be warned, Chone.
The Word
Canseco-esque- Everyone knows what I am referring to. Michael Saunders helped Luke Scott hit a home run and that run ended up being the winning run in another one run loss. He went up to make a play on the ball; it popped out of his glove and went over the fence. It was not nearly as bad as Ryan Raburn’s aid on a Miguel Olivo “bomb” last year, but it was still pretty Canseco-esque. Sorry Condor
Bring on a worse team than us! Go M’s
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