From Ziasudra - Larry: not bad, keep it up. St. Patrick's Day does call for Limericks, anyway.
If Morse doesn't make the squad, I'm switching alegiance to the A's (either one).

Not that anything but that, don't do it nameless poster, only bad things happen to those who turn to the Dark Side! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO(as said by James Earl Jones)

your loyal blogger
Get Griffey

Ok, that haiku was pretty spiffy. It's like you write for a living, or something. :)

Still wish we had Balentien in right instead of Wilkerson, seasoning-be-damned.

- Chris from Bothell

On the bright side, in the other split squad game the Mariners are leading 5-0 in the 9th.

Had to try one for Larry:

So the air in the desert is frying,
And the blogosphere banter is crying:
"If C. Silva gets rocked,
And our bats are shellshocked,
Then our playoff hopes likely are dying!"

Here's hoping the M's get it going this last to weeks, for a hot start in April.

-Saint

In the other game, O'Flaherty is really struggling. Just got pulled with the bases loaded and one run in. 5-1 Mariners in the bottom of the ninth.

In the other game, it's a final. 5-2 Mariners. Cesar Jimenez came in and gave up another another run with the bases loaded, but then shut them down. O'Flaherty (you'd think he'd do better on St.Patrick's day) got charged with both runs allowed.

Cha Seung Baek was impressive today. No runs allowed in his appearance.

-scrapiron

Larry - We are all just glad that you didn't attempt a limerick about Kaz Matsui's medical condition (there once was a man from Osaka...)

Can we all just agree that Mike Morse is on the team? No way Mac can cut him now. I'll put 3 to 1 odds on us starting the season with a 6 man pen too, which is a good thing. Balentien and Clement have to be in Tacoma to start too. Scrapiron was dead on in the last thread.

-Donovan

There's the team from the northwest
That we all love the best
With aging vets oft taken
And youth generally forsaken
Yearly puts our loyalty to the test

By the nameless blogger???

There once was a player named Richie,
Whose swing was often quite hitchy.
He sobbed and cried 'how they boo,
when every ten ups I hit two'
Please cheer when I whiff was his plea.

I forgot to write "Who was that masked blogger anyway?" lol

P.S. (to AKM's fan) I might change my name to the Masked Blogger, how's that?

your loyal blogger
Get Griffey

To Adam from a previous thread:

For some reason you keep confusing base stealing with baserunning. Two different things. If you need an explanation, I'd be happy to oblige, or I'm sure someone else might beat me to it.

Sincerely,

Mr. X

Hurrah for Jo, going 3 for 4, and Sexy, going 2 for 3 with 1 walk.

your loyal blogger
Get Griffey

And your criticism of Ichiro's baserunning is based on what? Being too aggressive? Not aggressive enough? Getting thrown out in non-base stealing situations? Not scoring enough?

I watch a lot of baseball and Ichiro's baserunning has never been a worry to me. What am I missing?

Mike

Has Ichiro ever struck out 3 times in a game? They need to bench him.

your loyal booger
Get Griffey

Unless my sources are incorrect, Ichiro led the majors in "baserunning outs" in 2006. I haven't seen any numbers on 2007 yet. Baserunning outs are mental mistakes 99% of the time. I could go into the anecdotal stuff and talk about the dozens of times he wasn't prepared to "tag up" and advance on fly balls, but I don't have any real numbers on that. I do rember him doing that twice in one inning though, which cost us that game.

Now THAT was not me

To answer "my" question, yes Ichiro has stuck out three times in one game before, but he has never posted an AVG. below .312 or had fewer than 200 hits in an entire major league season so I don't think they will bench him if it were to happen again during the coming season.

your loyal blogger
Get Griffey

agreed, ichiro is an awful baserunner. One of the few players on the team i'd love to have willie PR for any time he is on base.

PS. Try something better next time dude.

your loyal blogger
Get Griffey

You forgot to add
“so that Ichiro will never have more than one hit a game, and Willie can get in more AB’s to improve his numbers”

The Masked Blogger

This article:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:zUxgqcwXYkoJ:www.baseballinfosolutions.com/images/BaserunningIntro2007.pdf+baserunning+outs+ichiro&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

by Bill James identifies Ichiro as a great baserunner until 2006, when he made 8 outs on the bases, the most in baseball. However, 5 of those involved being doubled off. That seems a bit fluky to me.

He did take an extra base more than anyone in the game in 2006.

And, again, his SB% over the last three years was better than 86%. So if you want to point to 2006 and call Ichiro a problematic baserunner, that's your perogative. I would not go that far.

But X - tell us what your own personal observations say. They are, after all, most relevant...

Adam

There once was a tall guy named Rich,
who's career was off in the ditch.
If he can't hit this spring,
he should give up hitting,
and for fourteen million can pitch.

A wise man once thought
About baseball a lot
He just couldn't see
How it could be
A man with four balls cannot walk!

Again, base stealing is not baserunning, is not base stealing, is not baserunning, etc. Two different animals. Baserunning is something that is done while the ball is in play. It's a totally different skillset, and requires more of a "baseball IQ", so to speak. It's also something that every (offensive) player participates in. Not everyone has the "green light" to steal. A player with good speed can become a good base stealer, but not necessarily a good baserunner.

Ok got all that, very well stated, now give us the point!