Angels Sweep Mariners: Anatomy of a Broom

by Rev Halofan on Jun 6, 2010 11:50 PM PDT in Angels News

Can baseball survive in the Pacific Northwest?

In the cosmology of statistical analysis, there are no emotions, there are only measurements. Since logic and reason follow straight and narrow linear paths, crunching numbers to extrapolate the "why" of something happening... well the comfort of a "this adds up to that" explication satisfies some people. When PECOTA fails to predict even outside its laughably wide window of margin for error, or the 2002 Moneyball draft is mocked or Jack Zdurnieck spends all winter upgrading his UZR and falls on Z-Keister in the standings, well the Statocons do one of two things: They rationalize in denial or they shrug.

The rest of us are left to debate the "why" of the universe with less certainty. We describe the games with what we see and how we feel and when those non-numbers do not add up, we do one of two things: We admit we might have been wrong or we shrug.

But after this weekend, the numbers are superfluous. Logic and emotion meet in one absolute conclusion as certain as the sun rising tomorrow morning: The 2010 Seattle Mariners are as gutless on the field as they are rudderless off it. For you math inclined: Gutless = (Seattle + Mariners) x 2010.

Because, really, analytically, as objective as it gets... when Kevin Fransdsen and Robb Quinlan, Bobby Wilson and Jason Bulger are doing an iota of the bloodletting, you don't even have to look at the rest of your opponent. Forget the team fiercely fighting with .500 and measure yourself by the Quinlans on it - you can see the gutless giving up of the Mariners when the bottom of the Angels' barrel is getting a few good leather snaps of the weekend whippin'.

The Seattle Mariners had just won three straight games going into the weekend series with the Angels. And then they laid down, rolled over and went gently into the draft. The Mariners were outscored 27-7. They turned a game tied 1-1 in the 6th into a 9-run blowout. They turned a 4-4 tie in the 7th into a 5-run crushing. Their starting pitching was mediocre, and their bullpen was embarrassingly indefensible (this after dumping two key chokers in last weekend's series in Anaheim out of their pen and off their team). When yours truly feel bad for a Mariners reliever about his performance against the Angels, it is pretty bad. When he is wearing a 1995 throwback uniform, you know it is the end of the line.

How can one possibly sit back and crunch the numbers? There were no numbers. There were guts and blood and crushed souls splattered about Seattle. They had 7 extra base hits in a three game series, none of which were homers, and scored a total of 7 runs. Their pitching gave up 14 walks in the first two games. It is enough to leave a fan numb to the numbers, and then to the team itself...

There is no light at the end of the tunnel for the Mariners. There is no tunnel. There is just a grave. They have been digging it since about 2003. The Angels rolled over for the Mariners in 1995 and saved baseball in the Pacific Northwest. But a good hard look at the team begs the question: Can baseball survive in Seattle with a franchise beyond repair? If the Mariners cannot win with Junior, with A-Rod and with Randy, if they cannot win with Bretty Batflip on roids, if they cannot win with Sweet Lou, if they cannot win with Ichiro, if they cannot win with Beltre, if they cannot win with King Felix, if they cannot win with Junior again... when will the population turn away? How much more unwinning will it take until the Mariners get outdrawn by PCL ball in Portland?

When Jack Z took over for the wretched incompetent Bill Bavasi, the assumption was that a turnaround had started. It is now apparent that it was just a shift change among the gravediggers at the cemetery.

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Comments

first!

can I haz cheeseburger cat bobblehead?

They want power. We want respect...

by SenorChuckles on Jun 7, 2010 12:07 AM PDT reply actions

does anyone know what exactly a cheezburger cat is?

by Balls and Strikes on Jun 7, 2010 12:16 AM PDT up reply actions

the cute and cuddly bastard who has an appetite for good ol’ fashion american hamburguesas?

They want power. We want respect...

by SenorChuckles on Jun 7, 2010 12:20 AM PDT up reply actions

it is proof

that wars cull idiots and that peace has allowed them to not only survive, but to thrive.

by Rev Halofan on Jun 7, 2010 12:25 AM PDT up reply actions

Truly brutal

and brutally true.

by rspencer on Jun 7, 2010 2:14 AM PDT up reply actions

I can't help but feel badly for two of my favorite ex-Halos

Figgy and Kotch—
They’re having terrible seasons on this team

by Raaddad on Jun 7, 2010 12:13 AM PDT reply actions

Didn't Kotchman just set an errorless chance streak?

But, I too feel bad for them. Especially when Figgins apparently listed his favorite restaurant in Seattle as “The Visiting Clubhouse”.

by AlanFalcon on Jun 7, 2010 9:35 AM PDT up reply actions

Not to pile on

But even the PCL team in Portland can’t draw a crowd. They’re most likely moving as the owner is trying desperately to sell them.

Defending maligned chants since 2009

by Gorbachav5 on Jun 7, 2010 12:33 AM PDT reply actions

wow, really?

Over the years, locals from Portland have assured me that the city could support MLB team.

by Rev Halofan on Jun 7, 2010 12:46 AM PDT up reply actions

Isn't that the team that was once the PCL Angels?

by rspencer on Jun 7, 2010 2:15 AM PDT up reply actions

I think the Angels became the Spokane Indians in the PCL

When Walter O’Malley sold the Angels name to Gene Autry, the team itself was moved to Spokane and became the Dodgers AAA team.

But the Angels’ history in LA goes back into the 1920s, I believe. If they began in Portland, it was a looooong time ago.

"I can't tell people what to think or not to think. Their perceptions are their perceptions. We just feel we've taken a step forward. At the end of the day, we have to play 162 games. Once that happens then we'll be able to evaluate the offseason moves."~Tony Reagins, on the Angels' offseason

by George Kaplan on Jun 7, 2010 3:37 AM PDT up reply actions

Portland?

I think they used to have an NBA team also…na i must be thinking of dallas

by IWishWeStillHadTimSalmon on Jun 7, 2010 12:48 AM PDT reply actions

Matthew's stats showed the Mariners were supposed to be just a little bit better than the Angels in

in fielding, rotation and bullpen but not as good in hitting where it counted in this series. Our bullpen was better than the Mariners and our rotation as it turned out was better. Matthew’s conclusion was that overall Seattle had the advantage going in to the series. What do you want to guess Matthew would come back with, “the Angels were lucky” or “the Mariners were just very unlucky this series?”

Series Preview: Anaheim Angels @ Seattle Mariners
by Matthew on Jun 4, 2010 4:00 PM PDT in Series Previews 59 comments

Seattle: 22-31
Anaheim: 28-28

MARINERS Δ Ms ANGELS EDGE
HITTING (wOBA)
-47.5 (28th) -4.1 -17.5 (24th) Anaheim
FIELDING (UZR)
11.9 (7th) 0.0 -16.3 (28th) Seattle
ROTATION (tRA)
2.9 (14th) 0.1 -10.0 (22nd) Seattle
BULLPEN (tRA)
-4.4 (20th) -2.5 -7.0 (22nd) Seattle
OVERALL
-37.1 (24th) -6.5 -50.8 (26th) SEATTLE

All right! Everyone back on the pile! Wooo! Playoffs! Disregard that the series was at home and that we got to use both Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee and that we won one of the games in part thanks to an umpire mistake. Playoffs!

Too bad about Erik Bedard. He’s still not even back to throwing bullpens yet so you can imagine the time frame that he still have to overcome.

Fri Jun 04, 19:10: Ian Snell vs. Joe Saunders*

Sat Jun 05, 13:10: Doug Fister vs. Ervin Santana

Sun Jun 06, 13:10: Jason Vargas* vs. Joel Pineiro

Not that Doug Fister or Jason Vargas have been unimpressive this season, but this is certainly an uninspiring stretch of pitchers to run out there against a divisional foe that we badly need to reverse the latest trend against. Then again, neither are their pitchers. Joe Saunders again? Thanks, Anaheim! And hey, the return of Joel Pineiro

I'm not as bad as all of you.

by 44FAN on Jun 7, 2010 12:48 AM PDT reply actions

Who is Matthew? I am really confused.

I love this team.

by Downing Rules on Jun 7, 2010 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions

dude at Lookout Landing

Seriously, saying your name is Matt or Matthew is more invisible than saying your name is anonymous or “Face in Crowd”…. It has only been one of the ten most popular names for 42 years…

by Rev Halofan on Jun 7, 2010 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions

Do you like your hyperbole half-baked or overcooked?

Because it’s all going on here. So the Mariners got killed in a three-game series. It happens. They’re not very good anyways, and everyone this side of Dave Cameron knew it before the season started. Even the dread lord PECOTA projected them to finish 75-87. If you go back and look at those projections again, they do look a lot like the current standings, with the exception of the Angels and the Padres. So where was the chest beating one month ago when the Angels were being run out of Boston?

Seriously, the end of baseball in Seattle? A long march of doom? The Mariners are doing fine with attendance: they’re 7th in the AL, just like they were last year. As for Zduriencik, it takes years for a managerial team to fully remodel a franchise. You can ask Joe Maddon and Andrew Friedman about that. Maybe Zduriencik pulls it off, maybe he doesn’t, but it’s just too early to tell until at least a few of his draftees land on the big-league roster. Right now the Mariners are playing with the best pieces that Bavasi’s used parts could fetch on the open market. The Angels have their own problems to worry about.

These op-eds are becoming rather formulaic. Condemnation of numeracy, ridicule of the opponent, emphasis of the intangible. The only missing elements here are allegations of conspiracy and mocking of print media. This smacks of blog warring to me: an HH vs. LL grudge match determined by each team’s relative win-loss record, with the legitimacy of statistical analysis on the line. This is a world disconnected from the actual game on the field. I’d like to hear more about balls hitting bats and glove leather and two-seam fastballs instead of “guts” and pencilnecks and the OC Register.

by Suboptimal on Jun 7, 2010 12:55 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

You're welcome to write a FanPost aboug balls hitting bats and glove leather...

….and two seam fastballs. After a week’s worth of Abe Flores interviews among other stuff, if you cannot enjoy the diversity of the content we offer here and don’t want to contribute to improve it in your own way, all I can say is that your criticism has been duly noted. Thank you.

by Rev Halofan on Jun 7, 2010 1:00 AM PDT up reply actions

Rev's post here and the following comments represent about .0025% of what Lookout Landing

puts out on a daily basis about the Angels. We are certainly no match for the boundless creativity of their members that strive to think up new and different Nick Adenhart jokes and Kendry Morales broken leg jokes all the time. It is just a little friendly payback to the fans of a divisional rival and celebrating a well deserved sweep the Angels had over the Mariners this weekend.

I don’t hate the Mariners or their fans at all, and somehow manage to get along with them. Jeff Sullivan is probably the best writer on any SB Nation site I have ever read. We poke fun of them and they poke fun of us, we are rivals, it is no big deal. Mariners fans hate the Angels more than any other team which is understandable, but arguably Angels fans would put the Red Sox and the Yankees way ahead of the Mariners on their hate list. This is a rare occasion when we have dished the Mariners for anything because hey we always beat them and the bottom line is they just don’t really matter that much. The Lookout Landing folks are actually going to be proud and excited they have received this much attention from us this weekend.

I'm not as bad as all of you.

by 44FAN on Jun 7, 2010 1:23 AM PDT up reply actions

We are certainly no match for the boundless creativity of their members that strive to think up new and different Nick Adenhart jokes and Kendry Morales broken leg jokes all the time.

That’s because we have this thing called SUNSHINE.

If ain't nothing wrong, something just ain't right.

by Funke5ive on Jun 7, 2010 3:39 AM PDT up reply actions

I beat my chest daily

It’s good for your upper respiratory system.

"You gotta have nuts." / "Coming Around 3rd, especially if I'm ticked off, that's going to happen." - Torii Hunter

by Commander_Nate on Jun 7, 2010 12:10 PM PDT up reply actions

You know what I wish?

Seattle and the Angels would invest time, money and energy into building these two teams into a great and hated rivalry. I don’t mean the type of rivalry that exists between us and Oakland, I mean a rivalry a la Doyers/Giants or something. I don’t know if it can be done (I’m not a marketing major) but I sure would love that. I imagine it would really help baseball up in Seattle.

Red Hudler > Rodger Lodge

by Teixeira Who? on Jun 7, 2010 1:49 AM PDT reply actions 2 recs