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It’s baseball. You gotta lose sometime. Like yesterday, losing 7-5.
Mike trOUT is back. His WAR has actually gone down as he has been 2 for 19 over the last 5 games. But leave it to Mike to always go big. Even in fail he is big. That 0 for 5 yesterday with 8 LOBsters was stunning. Maybe instead of concentrating all his bad weeks at the end of the season, he is just spreading those weeks out throughout the entire season.
It’s Andrew Heaney versus Wade LeBlanc up in Seattle tonight. Gut-check time.
Have some Sink-The-Mariners-Links:
A Little Bit Of Shohei Ohtani News
Oh time. After learning that Ohtani’s ‘blister’ turned into Ohtani’s ‘UCL sprain’, with Shohei out for at least three weeks, the Baseball world was full of Shohei lamentation.....Bob Nightengale makes us realize that losing Ohtani is a loss for more than just LAA fans............TheRinger realizes that without surgery, Ohtani is pitching on borrowed time. I would agree except for what we have seen from Garrett Richards Therapy.....SportsIllustrated sees their Great West Coast Story evaporate on them.....ESPN gives a long review on what it all means.....Jonah Keri gives a short review on what it all means..........And Jeff Passan spends a couple thousand words telling us except ‘I told you so’, just so you know that he told you. So there...........In the end, Baseball remains stupid and depressing............
A Little Bit Of Mike Trout News
The past week notwithstanding, Mike is the Best Of All Time, and there is a lot of valid reasoning this article . Come fight me. ..........
A Little Bit Of Angels News
Congrats Albert, passing Stan ‘The Man’ Musial............He is a little over a week away from surpassing 10,000 AB’s...........
In this quote from Billy Eppler, “It’s tough to get that starting pitcher. It’s tough to get that everyday bat, or impact bat. Those are harder to acquire.” On the other hand, Eppler noted that the trade market’s typically “flush with relievers whose contracts are expiring at the end of the year.” ,it smells like he sees getting some bullpen help, at least a rental, without taking a big hit in prospect price............
The Halos needs to hold a closed-door meeting and conduct some remedial coaching on how to walk up and down stairs. After the Andrelton Simmons mis-step, you would think that Kaleb Cowart would be especially careful to remain healthy and take advantage of his roster time. But nope..........
Jeremiah Jackson has agreed to a deal............
David Fletcher continues to shine. But you aren’t going to get him. You are going to get Miguel Fernandez.........Jo Adell may be turning a corner at Rancho Cucamonga............Matt Thaiss and Taylor Ward combined for a good game............
Everywhere In Baseball
Cal State Fullerton ran out of gas in the NCAA playoffs last night. It was the rubber game of a 3-game series with Washington to advance to the CWS. Going into the 9th inning CSF was down 3-1. But they ripped off 3 runs to take a 4-3 lead. Advancement was in view. Nah. Too easy. Washington tied the game in the bottom of the 9th and the match went to extras. The Titans scored a run again in the 10th and again had a win in sight when the Huskies ruined the night and scored a pair, walking off with the magic ticket to Omaha 6-5............
The Mariners are doing it with smoke and mirrors. Even when they screw up badly, they can count on their opponent to screw up even more badly. Good for them to be taking advantage and tallying up wins when the luck is too good to be true. But the luck is off the charts good. Hell, they got outscored by the Rays across 4 games and won 3 of those 4! (From here: “According to baseballreference.com data dating to 1908, the Mariners are the only team with 21 one-run wins through the first 65 games of a season.”)............
I love it when a trade works out well for both sides. Especially when that trade is between teams that don’t play each other and nothing can come back to bite you in the ass. Such is the trade between the Braves and Angels that brought us Andrelton Simmons and Jose Briceno and gave them Sean Newcomb (and Erick Aybar and Chris Ellis). Newcomb is really coming into his Big League career...........
Chris Davis might be having one ultra sucky season, for sure. But let’s not forget Kole Calhoun before handing Worst Season Ever Award to Davis...........
Patrick Corbin has become a damned fine pitcher...........It’s fun to realize that Corbin was part of that same 2009 draft that brought us Mike trOUT. Sure, great draft and Eddie Bane and Tony Reagins thinking it wasn’t a good crop, etc., etc., etc. It’s less fun to realize that Corbin didn’t need to stay in Anaheim to become included in the Angels’ TJ plague.............
This is my Holy Shit moment of the weekend. After Keone Kela of the Rangers got Evan Gattis to flinch hard on a ball in the dirt, an appeal to the 1B ump resulted in a mind-boggling no-swing call. I have never seen such an offer from any batter wearing an Angels uniform NOT be called a strike. But that was not enough handiwork by the umpiring crew in the Astros favor for Houston skipper A.J. Hinch. He used that good news as an excuse to come out and be the 5th member of the Blue Crew, informing them that they should call for a balk on Kela for serving up a quick pitch with runners on base. “Oh, thank you”, said the entire crew! “We must have missed that. We are so appreciative for you to help us out. Yeah, let’s call a balk and get that go-ahead run across home plate for you right away.”...........
Curt Schilling, Pitching Coach? Oh, most certainly. Because we all know what a great communicator Schilling has proven to be.............
Jose Torres of the Padres just took himself out of Baseball. Idiot............
MLB Health Report: Just look at this (incomplete) roster of talent that also includes our own Andrelton Simmons and Shohei Ohtani: Masahiro Tanaka blew up both hammies simply running the bases, and will be out for weeks............Stephen Strasburg has hit the DL with an inflammed shoulder..........Noah Syndergaard strained a finger ligament............Baby Vlad is officially out for at least 4 weeks............Yeonis Cespedes made it back for a rehab game, failed, and is now back to the minors to keep trying to rehab. Nobody has any idea when he will be OK..........Yu Darvish remains on extended DL, but the Cubs are doing better off without him............Aaron Judge: jammed thumb. It takes a lot of thumb strain to swing and miss at so many pitches...........Almost ready to return are Zack Britton maybe back Wednesday...........Josh Donaldson is still trying to get back onto the field............Dustin Pedroia is far, far away from returning............A.J. Pollock, out for 6 weeks already, is undergoing a CT scan and might be getting his cast off this week............Mookie Betts is making good progress............It’s going to be hard to market MLB to any generation if you cannot keep your stars healthy enough to market to anyone...........
This injury is too full of soap opera stuff the get buried above. The Mets lost Asdrubal Cabrera with a hammie.............Except that the Mets appear to be wanting Reyes to retire so that they can move on..........With Cabrera out, the door is open for Jose Reyes to step up...........The NY media doesn’t think that the Mets should be so kind.............And the NY fans now are thinking that the Diamondbacks would be happy to take Cabrera and give them back Ketel Marte.............
The Duffle Bag
As a dude, all I can say is ouch!...........A Lenny Dykstra life just has way too much Lenny Dykstra in it...........Michael Conforto apparently forgot to close the outhouse door, and the Yankees went right through it. Failure to close the lid on the toilet means immediate demotion............How many watches does an average MLB player need when they are on a road trip that lasts only 7 days? Anibal Sanchez is clearly not an average MLB player............The Oakland A’s have always had special coaching techniques for outfielders............Because counting to three is too much to ask for a plate umpire..............One’s pride should be worth more than an $8 used baseball. But the guy does deserve some beer sponsorship............And that last guy is sure gonna hate how easy this next guy had it............