Feierabrand may now have a spot, his outing compared to Weaver's don't compare. Lets hope he Weaver's finished for the year.

Feierabrand may now have a spot, his outing compared to Weaver's don't compare. Lets hope he Weaver's finished for the year.

Should probably skip Weaver and Ho-Ram. I'd much rather see RRS start over Feierabend, although it's probably not all that likely since he hasn't started at all this year.

Forget the three-week slump...that was fun tonight. I was there. Believe me, it wasn't fun the first six, seven innings. But clutch hitting with lousy pitching from the D-Rays equals an unbelievable win. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be and what it felt like. Almost takes the bad taste of the past three weeks away (almost but not quite). Weaver needs to go bye-bye however.

We almost left after the 7th inning, and boy am I glad we didn't! The crowd definitely got smaller after the 7th, but it was lively -- and filled with an energy I haven't seen in Safeco for a while. It was an exciting win. After Vidro hit into that double-play, I thought the M's were out of it for sure. But Yuni came through in the clutch!

Gotta say, Ryan Rowland-Smith was quite impressive tonight. Any plans to turn him into a starter?

My oh my, what a great game to be at! And, the funnest part, besides watching the team make a great comeback, was getting to think of the 80% of the crowd who left early and missed all the fun because they doubted. We remaining 20% had a blast watching it all unfold.
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Especially Yuni's great stop of a hard ground ball that literally knocked him down. But he threw from his seat for the out at second. Too bad Ben couldn't snatch Willie's throw for the double play. Still, an absolutely bedazzingly play on Yuni's part.
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Overall, just a great night to be at the Safe.

Replying to comments from the previous entry

On another note: Did anyone else notice that "Cubby" posts that obnoxious comment in the beginning about Geoff's comments with the million dollar words yet couldn't spell most anything else right the rest of the way? Curious... Posted by Corey Miller at 06:51 PM, Sep 13, 2007

The Chicago Cubs -- you mean the laughingstock of all of baseball, no make that all of sports, no make that all of sports and everything else including everything that's not sports? Steve Bartman!! The Mariners are bad, but not nearly THAT bad. Posted by pk at 09:25 PM, Sep 13, 2007

Greetings from the Bay Area (Northern California). I've been reading Geoff's blog for the whole season, and this is my first post. Some of my fondest memories growing up in Seattle (Bellevue) were of going to the Kingdome with my Dad season after season in the late 70s/early 80s and, in a most empty stadium, watching my beloved M's. We'd catch maybe 10 games per season; I'd listen to the rest of the games on the radio. Much of the time, they lost. But it was still so much fun. They were *my* Mariners! It's heartbreaking to watch the implosion that's gone on the past few weeks, but it's way better that the M's have been in contention much of the season vs. not having a chance right from the get-go. I think our chances are slim, but you know what? I still check out the score throughout the evenings these days and hope for the best. I wish the circumstances were better, but it is what it is. Let's hope for a better pitching staff next year. I'm no baseball expert, but I think our pitching has just pooped out. I listened to the A's broadcast when they played the M's this week, and the overwhelming comment the broadcasters made over and over, every evening, was, "it's difficult to play good ball when your pitching gets you behind in the game in the early innings." That made a lot of sense to me. Anyways, I wanted to post with my thoughts and thank Geoff for his awesome blog (read it every late night and mid-afternoon/early evening). Go M's -- I suspect the season's probably over, but I'll keep rooting till the end and hope for an even brighter season next year!

wow Lance....lucky you....and way to diss all the other Mariner fans. Yeah, those "80%" that left early, really missed something special huh??....they're probably not going to be able to sleep for weeks now, and regret it for the rest of their lives. You must be easily entertained, completely bored, or have amazingly low expectations to even BE at the Safe in the first place. HAVE YOU NOT EVEN SEEN OR HEARD WHAT THE MARINERS HAVE DONE DURING THE PAST 2 WEEKS????....THE M'S SEASON ENDED 2 WEEKS AGO.....NOBODY FRICKIN'CARES ANYMORE!!! So shut the F up about other Mariner fans and their actions. The season already ended, and anyone who shows up at the Safe for the rest of the year (who isn't getting paid) should be ashamed of themselves. What a joke Lance

Yep, that Weaver signing was quite a coup for Bonehead Bavasi. Let's see..he couldn't handle the pressure in NY, waived by the Angels midyear, picked up by a desperate Cardinal team and didn't pitch well in the regular season but pitched a few good 6 inning games in the playoffs and then the Cardinals told him to hit the road. Had no interest in bringing him back.
No other team wanted him, yet Bonehead saw fit to give him an 8 million contract. 8 MILLION BUCKS FOR A PITCHER NO ONE ELSE WANTED! Talk about getting schooled by Boras. Naturally, he comes to camp unprepared to pitch..pisses away his first several starts and then gets his own personal spring training in the regular season. Then he pitches well for awhile. Hell, he should have - he had two spring trainings! Of course when that happens all the chirping here begins - " the greatest turnaround in MLB history", "let's lock him up now" etc, etc, etc.
Funny how I haven't seen any of those posts lately. Now when the M's need him most, he disappears. Jeff Weaver is what he always has been - a million dollar arm with a 10 cent head.
The moral of the story is twofold..Jeff Weaver SUCKS and Bavasi is an IDIOT.

Geoff,
I don't want to boast, but, last week in my post, I suggested that Morrow and Ryan Rowland-Smith be 2 of the starters next year. Maybe the front office listened, as they are both being sent to Venezuela for winter ball to be trained to start. We saw a glimpse of the "stuff" that the young Aussie has last night. Great fastball, very well located, unafraid and a gut-wrenching breaking ball to boot. Great job by the lefty from down under. Adios, Weaver, Ramirez and maybe, Washburn, too.

Back to baseball - I am amazed that Weaver and Batista especially, use a high leg kick with runners on. The other team steals them blind. Have we ever heard of a slide step? TB was running with abandon off Weaver. When Sean White came in, used a much smaller motion, they tried to keep running, and got thrown out.
Whatever happened to spring training?
I assume that JMc's answer in response to whether Weaver will miss his next start, "I'll have to sleep on it" means he'll have to wait for orders from the FO. I'd start R-S for Weaver, Feierabend for HoRam, and maybe Campillo for Washburn (Washed-up-bum?).

Geoff, I finally got time to read your previous column, and the responses, and maybe you should amend it. The question isn't who would agree to trade adam jones for Santana, but who WOULDN'T (other than Jones himself and his mother)?

It's not so easy as your making it sound. Wlad and Clement for Santana? I assure you that if every other baseball team got whiff of Santana being available they can easily beat that offer. It will take something along the lines of Jones, Wlad, Clement, and more, probably some established position players.

Certainly if the Twins call Bavasi and ask for Jones, he immediately says, "Where do I sign?"

And I'm pretty sure that if we're talking trades, in this particular market, you're talking Wlad and Clement for a guy like Dontrelle Willis. It is those kind of scenarios that have some of us scared.

Bavasi has his hands full, and tied, by the market.

Not to mention that he flat out sucks as a dealer.

Before last night's start, I was really hoping that Horacio Ramirez will be dropped from the rotation and that Weaver would turn it around. If Mariners are really trying to win as many games as possible to finish the season strong, I think at least Ryan Feierabend deserves a start.

Take the worst part of our team and turn it into the best part. That means increasing the budget in the starting pitching 20M and decreasing the budget in position players 20M. Might take two years but we can do it.
Goodbye to Richie 14M and Guillen 8M = 22M
Goodbye Raul Hello Ken Griffey
Hello Jeremy Reed, Wlad Balentien, Mike Morse
Goodbye to Weaver 8M, Washburn 8M Ramirez 2M=18M
22M+18M=40M
Hello Johan Santana 20M Hello Jake Peavy 20M
Goodbye to Lopez, Adam Jones, Clement (had to trade you sorry, but had to trade something good to get someone good)
OK what do I have left?
Terry's Starting Rotation
Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, Felix Hernandez, Roland Smith, Jorge Campillo
Terry's Bull pen & Long Relief Miguel Batista, Sean Green, Eric O'Flaherty, Jon Huber, Mark Lowe, George Sherrill, Brandon Morrow, JJ Putz
Terry's Starting Line Up
CF Ichiro Suzuki
SS Yuni Betancourt
3B Adrian Beltre
1B Ken Griffey Jr
RF Wlad Balentien
DH Ben Brossard
C Kenji Johjima
2B Michael Morse
LF Jeremy Reed
Hey let's play ball!

Geoff, back in July you talked up Dontrelle Willis, Jon Garland, Livan Hernandez, Matt Morris and Jose Contreras as five starting pitchers for whom you would trade Ms' prospects. Have you checked their post-All Star Game stats?

Willis is 1-8 w/a 6.19 ERA (7.84 in September); Garland is 3-5 w/a 5.68 ERA (8.49 in August but rebounded in September); Morris is 2-4 w/a 6.27 ERA (7.36 in Sept); Contreras is 3-6 w/a 7.13 ERA (teams hitting .347 off him in Sept); Hernandez is the "big winner" with a 5-4 record and a 5.16 ERA (6.55 in September).

And virtually all five guys were having subpar years before the All-Star break. Would you really have traded top Ms' prospects for any of these guys on the "hope" that they would revert to their performances of past years? That's way too close to the "Bavasi Strategy" for comfort.

Look, my take on the July 31st trading deadline was that I didn't see nor did I read/hear from any sportswriters (most of us DO read other papers besides the Times and/or listen to other stations) identifying additional, effective starting pitchers on other teams who might, just maybe, be tradable for the right combo of players. If you have information to the contrary, dish. Because I don't see that you did back in July.

I agree that the Ms need to be extremely aggressive with other teams this year and try to pry decent starters from other teams by offering up some of our AAA "gold" - that's probably going to be the only way we improve the SP on this team, if we do at all. I don't feel that Bavasi is the guy to lead that charge. The FO has got to take a long hard look in their gilded mirrors and see that effective leadership leads to contending teams. We lack both right now.

First Post to this blog. I have been pretty down on Adrian Beltre for some time on his inability to get 2 out hits with runners in scoring position. It was great to see his success last night. Before that I just can't remember another key hit. There are lots of hr's and rbi's but not many key hits I don't think. It would be interesting to see stats on each player batting average with two outs and runners in scoring position. I do suspect that Adrian would be quite slow and Yuni quite high. I suspect Kenji would show pretty good. How about getting said stats for us.

Query: What, exactly, has Ramirez done to deserve another start that Weaver has not?

FIRE JOHN MCLAREN

from GEOFF: "Down 6 1/2 games with 18 to play and two teams in front of them (in the wild-card race) will be too much to recover from 99 1/2 times out of 100. Probably worse than those odds."

So GEOFF, down 5 1/2 with 17 to play, do you care to improve the odds for the M's?

I give the M's a 5% chance of catching the Yankees now. (5 times out of 100 for a team like ours to come back, to put it in Candadian terms). If the M's go 14-3, the Yankees 7-9, and the Tigers 9-6, then we are in. Not likely, but weirder things have happened.

(1). We need a patented win streak like those that have defined the best of this season. We are at two games in this streak right now. We need to sweep TB and hope that Boston steps up and does the same. The Yankees have Boston/Toronto/Baltimore in 2 series/and Tampa Bay to finish out. These teams all know how to win against Steinbrenner's chumps. After TB, the M's have Oakland/LAA/Cleveland/Texas left. Not easy, but doable.

(2). Weaver, HoRam and Washburn need to MAN UP and earn their friggin pay. Give JJ permission to to use his size 12 cleats on his teammates in any way necessary to wake up these three slackers.

What a finish last night! I would still like to see the M's play Jones and Balentin every day. At this point I think fans would get more excited about the future of the team than watching the same guys play every day with nothing really on the line.

I could very easily see an OF of Ichiro, Jones, and Guillen next year, with Balentin being the 4th, or even starting in RF if the team decides to let Guillen go (which would be a bad move, IMO).

I get excited about the future of the team if it includes all 4 of those OF's, Beltre, Yuni, and Kenji. Hopefully Lopez can turn things around and we get a good season out of whoever plays 1B next season. I hope Sexson is gone and I tend to think Ibanez is done. I just don't see him hitting 25 HR's and driving in close to 100 runs again. Maybe keep him to DH along with Vidro...and get better pitching.

Hasn't Campillo earned a shot at the rotation now? He's a veteran, having toiled for years in the Mexican League and led the PCL in ERA this year. He's pitched effectively so far out of the bullpen. I keep hearing how tired the pitchers are getting. So give Campillo and Feirabend a shot in place of Weaver and Ho-Ram.

I'm tired of hearing that we need to stick with our veterans to repay them for the 5 1/2 months of service they've done. There a veterans that the Mariners have no intention of bringing back next year anyway (Weaver, Broussard, Burke, maybe Guillen) that you don't need to show loyalty to. Let the rookies have a shot at those spots to see if you need to re-sign them or if you have a better replacement in house.

Let Campillo pitch for Weaver, let Ibanez play first for Broussard so Jones can play left. Let Balentien play for Guillen. Let Clement get all the backup catcher starts that Burke is getting. Now is the time to see what we have before we trade it away and watch them flourish on another team.

Terry,

Love that starting rotation, but who are you trading to get Santana and Peavy? I'm sorry, but it just ain't happening. We probably don't have enough to trade to get either one of them, let alone both.

(I wish it would though - likely NL CY winner (Peavy), arguably best pitcher in majors (Santana), and the King all in one team. That would rock)

Interesting stat of the day:
In the Batting Average with RISP category, Magglio Ordonez leads at .426, with Ichiro in 3rd at .394. What's interesting is that Yuniesky Betancourt is 14th in the AL at .351.

I wonder if Yuni should be moved up the batting order to get more RISP opportunities?

Given the recent resignation of Twins GM and Dan Evans previous GM experience I hope the Ms front office is considering making a move with Bavasi. He's proven that he's mediocre at best as a GM and unwilling to take chances to improve the team. Dan Evans would be the best fit for Ms since he knows the organization. He did a great job as Dodgers GM (I know because they are my team; Ms are my second team). Dan Evans turned around the Dodger farm system and I was disappointed that the new ownership didn't keep him around. M's would be fools to let him get away. As far as Managers go I'm not impressed with McLaren, but I'm sure they'll keep him. I don't think he has what it takes to make the tough decisions on players. He's too loyal and that will cost you games. Example would be his patience with Jose Lopez. I also think the Ms should trade Jones/prospects for pitching since there is nothing ready in the farm system. If they could land Santana and sign him right away that would obviously be great, but that would take guts and Bavasi/Ms ownership have a track record lacking in such. Maybe Dontrelle Willis would be good alternative. He's young, a lefty, and a West Coast guy. Wouldn't be a bad gamble. Anyway, if M's get don't get pitching for next year in the off season 2008 will be another disappointing season.---Capmoon

Alas, no way the Mariners make it this season. I think I'll get on the Cardinal bandwagon.

Oooops. They lost seven in a row. Is this a virus?

What do people think will happen tonight? I think Hernandez is primed for a great start of at least 7 innings and 2 runs or less allowed (at least earned). Thoughts?

Mike, why all the venom? The game was part of my 16-game package, I'd already paid for the ticket, so why not go?
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Were you among those 80% and felt a need to take the anger that's really directed at yourself out on me? Judging by your posting time, you do seem to be having trouble sleeping this morning.

Capmoon, you just advocated what some of us fear, a trade of the great prospects for the hope of recreating Bret Boone among pitching (Dontrelle Willis).

You should LOVE Bavasi as your current GM, and not want to see him replaced if you want trades that you just advocated.

Hey Lance. There's plenty of odd venting in this blog. That was the kind of game last night that makes Baseball such a fun sport to watch. It's like being down 49 to 7 in a football game and coming back. Wish I could have been there. However, every M's game I've gone to in person this year, the M's have lost. For the sake of our upcoming miracle comeback, I should continue to watch on TV.

Cubby -- sheesh. No one i know is stalking you... but if someone is, then maybe you have reason to be paranoid. But hey, have fun with it, if that's your deal. Now if the subject is laughingstocks, all I'm saying is that the Cubs have no peer as the butt of all jokes, surpassing all futility known to mankind, including the Boston Red Sox, which finally won a world series as you know, and the Cubs didn't, and all that Steve Bartman fun to boot. Though it seems possible that this could be the Cubs year so long as the NL Central remains pathetic and the Brewers continue to eschew Veteran Experience, as it's known in these parts, and which, as everyone knows, is a big part of why the Mariners suck.

But that's another story.

Regarding leaving early....

I was taught by my dad to never do it. He learned the hard way when we were living in Detroit. He and my mother attended a game that had the Tigers down by many going into the 9th. They left early to 'beat the traffic' and while they could still see the light towers on Tiger Stadium in their rearview mirror they listened to Ernie Harwell call an 'amazing comeback' by the Tigers in the bottom of the 9th. It was one of the best games of the year and they ended up listening to it on the radio while holding tickets in their hand.

In the mid 80's I attended an Angels/Tigers game at Anaheim Stadium. The Angels were down by 7 or 8 runs. The fans left. My friend and I stayed. In the bottom of the 9th the Angels rallied and ended up beating the Tigers on a Dick Schofield grand slam with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th. The homerun landed just to our left and into the Tiger bullpen. We were sitting two seats in from the Tiger bullpen and watched reliever after reliever warm up and head into the game to try and stop the bleeding. This was the year after the Bless You Boys Tigers that had won the championship. In a biography that Sparky Anderson wrote years later, he recounted the game and called it one of his worst losses ever.

Every once in a while I see the highlight of this grand slam (it is one of only about 15 or 20 games in the history of baseball that has ever been decided on a grand slam walk off) and I can see my friend and I sitting there next to the bullpen.

The reason I bring all this up is because my family and I traveled to Chicago this past June and went to a Cubs game at Wrigley. The Cubs were winning by a handful of runs going into the 8th so a bunch of fans left. Then the Rockies rallied to score something like 6 runs in the top of the 9th to put the Cubs down by a few runs. Several fans left. My 7 year old daughter asked why people were leaving. I explained why some people would do that and then told her that my dad had later told me/taught me to NEVER NEVER NEVER leave a game early. I then related the stories that I just shared. She declared that we would 'stay to see what might happen'.

In the bottom of the 9th the Cubs rallied WITH TWO OUTS and after an error by the Rockies 2nd basemen that would have ended the game, up came Alfonso Soriano. He got hit with TWO STRIKES that scored the tying and winning runs. The remaining fans went nuts. It was one of the greatest games I ever saw and the Cubs have referred back to it many times over this past summer as they've fought for 1st place in their division. You can see the game on mlb.com. It was a Monday night game and I think it was the last Monday of June.

How electric it was to walk out of Wrigley that night. We rode the subway to our downtown hotel and the crowd on the train cheered and screamed the whole way. It was incredible and all those early departers missed it. What a shame.

So...after last nights game....people.....PLEASE.....don't ever evER EVER leave a game early. You have no idea what you might miss.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=3017690

Good teams do use rookies in tough spots...

TO LANCE.....no, I was not part of the 80% that left early....in fact, I actually had tickets to the game, and didn't even bother to go. You know why?? I happen to be one of the fans that has witnessed the disgraceful collapse of the past 2 weeks, and I REFUSE to continue to support a franchise that tricks us into thinking they are dedicated to winning a championship. Am I going to pay ridiculous prices at an over priced ballpark to support a management and team that doesn't even go out at the trade deadline and get SOMEONE, ANYONE to help us make the playoffs??? --We've all seen the results of them doing NOTHING--how do you lik that? I'd rather just flush my money down the toilet....you talk about this miracle comeback like it was the 7th game of the World Series. Ahhh...guess what Lance....it was the D Rays!!..the FRICKIN' D-RAYS!!....not the Yanks, not the Red Sox, the D RAYS!!!....also, you act as if the game truly meant something. What did it mean?? Was it like Edgar's double that sent the M's to the ALCS?....did it win us a Game in the World Series? No, Lance, it meant nothing...absolutely NOTHING.....the season is OVER...nobody cares about these outcomes except the plyers-- just so they can pad their stats. So you going off on Mariner fans that left early is a joke....and no, you're not any better than anyone else because you were lonely/bored enough to sit through 9 innings of this garbage time part of the schedule. The season ended 2 weeks ago...accept it Lance.

Cut Jeff Weaver NOW. Then Johnny Mac will not be able to use him! Continuing to send him to the mound is an afront to Campillo and Fierebend--not to mention the rest of us season ticket holders.