The Seattle Mariners in 2014

How hot is Dominic Leone in person?

important question

kinda thought they'd wait until May or June to extinguish all optimism for the season.

congrats to robbie canoe on his second home run

so, i only just realized now that the M's are 45-38.
how are they doing this?!

Overall pitching numbers pretty similar to A's; best relievers in the league. Offense scores 4.04 runs a game, 1/4 run below avg.

so can their pitching keep this up? outside of Iwakuma and Hernandez I would not have had high expectations.

Well, Taijuan Walker just arrived, so that helps.

and Paxton should be back soon too. but with young guys you never know... and they've done this well without them, which is kind of mind blowing!

The other guys have been better than you might have expected, but mostly its been the Felix show.

Quality Starts
F Hernandez: 16
C Young: 8
H Iwakuma: 6
R Elias: 6
E Ramirez: 4

Kyle Seager has been phenomenal as well. 3.1 fWAR, between Heyward and Miggy. Saunders and Zunino have been pretty good.

five two-out doubles in the 6th inning. what's even happening? (the astros, obv, but still)

So is "Taijuan" pronounced like "Taiwan"?

lose at home on an overturned safe call, v depressing way to go

hisashi iwakuma has 8 walks all year, on pace for better than anything cliff lee ever put up

feel like this is a place where WAR fails pitchers with its park adjustments (at least i assume it's mostly a park adjustment keeping him at 2.1/2.2) as the things that make him good aren't too park-dependent, he's got an above-average HR/FB, hits aren't suppressed etc.

fWAR only counts strikes, walks and HR, iirc.

12.5 % HR/FB is pretty high. Only 16 starters have worst HR/FB.

park adjustments adjust everything, not just strikes, walks, HR

"above-average" doesn't mean "better than average" in this case i mean it's higher than average

Ok now I get it!

Matthew Kory:
"How bad are Seattle’s hitters? The Mariners lead baseball in Defensive Efficiency and are seventh in pitcher VORP, yet they’re in third place, six games out. Answer: Not good!"

haha VORP

nerd

Seattle's Jesus Montero was involved in an altercation during short-season Everett's game at Boise on Thursday. The first baseman exchanged words with a Mariners cross-checker and reportedly had to be physically restrained while attempting to enter the stands with a bat during the argument.

Montero was coaching first base, and at the end of an inning, the unidentified cross-checker yelled at him to hustle off the field, according to Boise official scorer Liza Safford. Montero then headed to the AquaSox dugout on the third-base side.

According to a game offical, the cross-checker then ordered an ice cream sandwich and had it sent to Montero in the dugout, escalating the confrontation further. The official said Montero -- who arrived at Mariners Spring Training 40 pounds overweight this season -- approached the stands with a bat while screaming profanities and threw the sandwich at the cross-checker. Montero had to be pulled back from the stands by Everett pitching coach Nasusel Cabrera, Safford said.

I had to research what a "cross-checker" is. Besides a guy who doesn't wanna keep his job.

kinda the middle-management of scouting. lotta travel

ha ha wow!

lols

oh yeah extra detail now: @SportsCenter: Mariners say Jesus Montero will not play again this season after he reportedly threw ice cream sandwich at scout.

that is some fuckin bullshit tbh

montero has actually had a pretty good season in triple-a (it's the pcl, but still). he was in boise, idaho to rehab an injury and wasn't even on the roster last night, so there was hardly a need to hustle, and it speaks well of him that he was willing to go out and coach first base anyway for a short-season team

also i don't even know why the crosschecker was there, as they scout amateurs, not first-season pros.

the minor league season ends on monday, so it's not like 'shutting him down' is this big thing, and if the mariners want to rob themselves of a potentially useful expanded roster player to protect an asshole scout, i guess that's to be expected by now

i mean https://twitter.com/bbaccala

https://sports.vice.com/article/the-seattle-mariners-are-still-a-behind-the-scenes-shitshow

and yet, all they have to do is make the WC and they get to throw Felix against the A's.

Butch Baccala? what is with this Sopranos crossover

Pretty happy that they're staying alive, also happy that they ruined a bullshit resurgence-after-manager-tirade narrative for the A's

wow, Kendrys Morales is really swinging like shit

god, this fucking team

game tonight vs the Angels is going to be a doozy.

Rickie!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-T_dXuIIAAGZn4.jpg

ice cream sandwich incident appears to have inspired montero -- lost 40 pounds this winter

I should try to lose 40 pounds this winter.

i can come throw ice cream sandwiches at you, if you like.

only if you can also make me 25