The Mariners beat the Angels 2-1 on a sunny Sunday to move to 36-56. box
Jose Lopez hits the game-winner, via DayLife
GAME NOTES
It’s hard to say much more about Jason Vargas. The guy can really pitch (see below). These are the games we should have been winning all year long, in which one run makes the difference because the pitching and defense held the opposition to a microscopic output. It took some extra time for us to tally the second and game-winning run, but it came from a timely base hit–not a feat of amazingness or a huge tally by the offense. Just a base hit to cover a great pitching performance.
We tanked the series, but at the very least we left it with a good taste in the mouth. Now we go on the face one of the hottest teams in baseball, after losing 3 of 4 from the second place Halos.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE THE GRAY MAKES
On the surface, Jason Vargas and Ryan Rowland-Smith don’t seem so different from each other. They’re both soft-throwing lefties with a little wrinkle in their stuff, working in the 80mphs. But when you zero in, it becomes apparent that Vargas, he’s the real pitcher out of the two. He works around the edges of the strike zone, living in the gray area between strike and ball, playing that daredevil game that you have to in the pros, taunting hitters with good-looking pitches that are just out of reach.
RRS, on the other hand, ends up in the middle of the plate so often they know his name and his drink. He just lacks that high level command. Now a pitcher like Felix, he can get away with a margin of error on account of his awesome “stuff.” RRS has no stuff. His survival–or lack thereof–depends on control. Bad news for him.
OFF BASE
I coached 13-year-olds a few years ago. That’s their first year on the big field, when they can finally lead off the bases and steal at will. They’re like newborn foals, just getting their legs under them, shaky but exuberant.
They got picked off fewer times all season than the Mariners have since the second half began.
I can understand the occasional runner getting picking when stealing on “first move” with a lefty on the mound (which happened against Joe Saunders). But we’re talking about getting picked off by righties here. Baby stuff: Jack Wilson and Ichiro getting pegged at third trying to squeeze more out of a play than is available. Milton Bradley breaking early to steal and getting picked. Chone Figgins getting picked, Michael Saunders getting picked.
If there’s a team that can’t afford to get picked off, thereby reducing the odds of their scoring just that much, it is the team that is 30th in RBI, 27th in home runs, etc. etc.
We’ve stolen some bases, which is nice and it makes for a fun game and there’s been a lot of success lately. But if you add in the pick-offs and the obvious baserunning errors, I’m sure it negates a lot of the positives of aggressiveness.
2012
According to Dave Cameron at USS Mariner, 2012 will be the year. Not in the John Cusack, flying limo sense (not safe for sensitive eardrums), but in the “good” sense, in that that’s the year we will contend again. And by “good” I mean “good if you are a patient, well-balanced person.”
