Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Give Your M's Some Love...
Just cruising around the blogosphere and here are some highlights and my thoughts.
Matt at Grand Salami grants Bill Bavasi 12 hours of amnesty because Ibanez, McCracken, and Jarvis were key to the win.
Jeff at Fire Bavasi sounds nearly giddy for awhile, but then can't stop himself from ripping into the M's and a favorite blogtarget, Kevin Jarvis.
Meanwhile, on the good ship, David AND Derek almost fall over themselves with praise for the Mariners. Well, okay, that's a stretch, Derek only says "Nice to see the team take a couple of walks, too", but David makes some very positive points.
Finally, not all bloggers were into optimism after last night's win. Jeff at San Shin used the 2-1 win as an opportunity to analyze M's weak April attendance, rip into Melvin's bullpen management, Ramon Santiago, and several local writers. At least one of the M's bloggers is keeping the faith ;-)
Matt at Grand Salami grants Bill Bavasi 12 hours of amnesty because Ibanez, McCracken, and Jarvis were key to the win.
Jeff at Fire Bavasi sounds nearly giddy for awhile, but then can't stop himself from ripping into the M's and a favorite blogtarget, Kevin Jarvis.
Last night, Kevin Jarvis pitched. He wasn't the last option, either, as Villone was certainly available. Ron threw an inning in the previous game, but given Guardado's usage we may be sure that Melvin doesn't have anything against using a reliever in back-to-back (-to-back-to...) games. Why does Jarvis keep getting thrust into games in which he has no right to participate? The world may never know.Awww c'mon... you were on a roll of optimism. Give Jarvis some love. Other than his first game jitters, he's gotten the job done in every game he's been in, bringing his ERA down from 40.50 to 4.50. In those 4 games, he's given up one run in 7 1/3 innings and earned a win. Those are the kind of numbers you want to see from your long reliever, especially if you are trying to find him a better situation where he can be a starter.
The only real bad news that you can get from last night's game is that McCracken played a critical role in the victory, as he came around the bases to score after reaching on a single. However, for every successful McCracken at bat yesterday, there were six putrid Dan Wilson plate appearances, so maybe this team will realize the uselessness of certain players before too long.And then a gratuitous assault on both Q and Dan the Man. That's uncalled for. Dan has been single-handedly carrying the offense for the team in Spiezio's absence! Notice how his 0-fer corresponds with the M's scoring 2 runs in 14 innings. No one would have thunk it, but give the guy some credit.
Meanwhile, on the good ship, David AND Derek almost fall over themselves with praise for the Mariners. Well, okay, that's a stretch, Derek only says "Nice to see the team take a couple of walks, too", but David makes some very positive points.
It isn't often that a team will score 2 runs in 14 innings, half of them via a gift balk, and actually impress with their offensive output. While everyone else is jumping on the optimsim train at the Freddy Garcia station, last night's game represents an improved offensive performance that should cause just as much reason for joy; the team drew eight base on balls and had eighteen baserunners. That only two of them scored doesn't show a lack of clutchness or any such character weakness, but rather that the A's pitchers are good, the M's hitters are average, and things like that will happen in 162 games. Getting a dozen and a half baserunners against Oakland's pitching, though, that's cause for celebration.John at Sodo Oh No enjoyed the win but had two complaints that I have to agree with. Dan Wilson should not have been first pitch swinging with bases loaded, 2-out, bottom of the ninth when runners were on from a HBP and a walk. And Winn bunting in the 12th without giving Ichiro a chance to steal seems like a waste of an out.
Finally, not all bloggers were into optimism after last night's win. Jeff at San Shin used the 2-1 win as an opportunity to analyze M's weak April attendance, rip into Melvin's bullpen management, Ramon Santiago, and several local writers. At least one of the M's bloggers is keeping the faith ;-)
