Mariners Analysis

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Ugly game last night

A few quick thoughts on watching the M's lose 10-2 last night to the Rangers:

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My jaw dropped when I saw Ichiro try to bunt his way on with a guy on second. Has Melvin actually talked to Ichiro about what his role with the club is supposed to be when he moved him down in the lineup? I don't understand how Melvin can think this is working.

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Watching Randy Winn take balls right down the middle of the plate is enough to drive you crazy. I think he picked it up from Olerud (veteran influence you know).

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When the M's actually broke up the no-hitter and got a few hits, the announcers made a point of saying they got pitches up in the strike zone, and were able to do something with it. Of course they completely ignore the fact we had just watched 4+ innings of M's hitters get a ton of pitches "up" and "over" the plate that the M's either missed or didn't even bother swinging at. Oh, maybe a foul ball or two here and there.

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It's hard to judge the Rangers as a team when they play the M's (since we suck and all), but Texas is clearly a fascinating team. By all accounts their pitching should stink, and they should not be leading the division. They trade the best player in the AL, reduce payroll and are in first place.

I keep expecting them to fold and they just keep winning. Maybe I need to think opposite.

I now predict the Rangers will win the division by 12 games.

There, that should get us a victory tonight...

It's hard to not comment on Bavasi's drivel in both local papers today- example

I'm glad I didn't make a trade, I'm glad I'm content to watch this team flounder, I'm pretending Lincoln never mentioned changes were coming. By golly, we have those AL West clubs right where we want them. Bavasi in a nutshell.

And what is this crap about trades that would require a lot of work?? I've never heard of a GM talk about a trade being a lot of work. Maybe he picked this up from Gillick, who was probably talking about trying to make a trade from his deck in Toronto being harder than he thought.

Oh and Bob, way to go all out on the hair. Way to motivate the team, way to get everyone fired up.

Bavasi and Melvin- how lucky we are to have these two paired together.