MLB Tue, Aug 3, 2004
Mariners don't dig the long ball
Jason Lake
No, those aren’t the dreadful Seattle Pilots coughing up the cash at Camden Yards. But you’ll forgive Baltimore Orioles supporters if they’re partying like it’s 1969.
Way back when, Orioles manager Earl Weaver was taking his club to the World Series on a regular basis by playing station-to-station baseball, assiduously avoiding bunts and waiting for guys like Boog Powell and Frank Robinson to put some crooked numbers up on the board.
Fast forward 35 years, and the O’s have a way to go still, but they're starting to look like the team of old. Baltimore swept Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader with the Seattle Mariners, pounding the M’s for three home runs and five doubles in the process. The matinee saw the Orioles win 9-7, while the nightcap was a 5-4 victory for Baltimore.
According to ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer, the Mariners are threatening to become the third team since 1900 to go from winning at least 90 games one year to losing at least 100 games the next. The offense’s rapid decline (from .752 to .715 OPS this season, fourth-lowest in the majors) and manager Bob Melvin’s questionable strategies have taken much of the blame, but the club’s much-vaunted pitching staff has also fallen off the rails.
The Mariners used the same five-man rotation all last year. Now, after the Freddy Garcia trade and the Joel Pineiro injury, Seattle is down to three of those stalwarts, and one of them is Gil Meche. He’s clearly not the same pitcher he was last year, thanks to ongoing shoulder problems, and he’ll be making just his second start in two months when he faces the Orioles.
Meche has led the Mariners to a 2-9 record in 11 starts, dropping over eight units. In his comeback start last week, he gave up two home runs to Anaheim in a 6-5 loss, an all-too familiar pattern for Seattle supporters.
The light-hitting M’s were near the bottom of the majors with just 86 dingers heading into Tuesday’s doubleheader (only the Padres had fewer with 77). But that can’t be blamed purely on pitcher-friendly Safeco Field. Opponents had gone deep 140 times off Mariners hurlers, more than everyone except Philadelphia.
With that kind of disparity, it’s easy to see how Seattle can keep losing despite Ichiro’s tremendous work at the plate. He was hitting .459 since the All-Star break before going 6-for-6 in the doubleheader. However, 41 of his 45 hits have been singles. With the way his pitchers are allowing home runs, that’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Oddsmakers have the Mariners as big +175 underdogs against the sizzling Daniel Cabrera. The total is set at nine.
Mariners don't dig the long ball
Jason Lake
No, those aren’t the dreadful Seattle Pilots coughing up the cash at Camden Yards. But you’ll forgive Baltimore Orioles supporters if they’re partying like it’s 1969.
Way back when, Orioles manager Earl Weaver was taking his club to the World Series on a regular basis by playing station-to-station baseball, assiduously avoiding bunts and waiting for guys like Boog Powell and Frank Robinson to put some crooked numbers up on the board.
Fast forward 35 years, and the O’s have a way to go still, but they're starting to look like the team of old. Baltimore swept Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader with the Seattle Mariners, pounding the M’s for three home runs and five doubles in the process. The matinee saw the Orioles win 9-7, while the nightcap was a 5-4 victory for Baltimore.
According to ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer, the Mariners are threatening to become the third team since 1900 to go from winning at least 90 games one year to losing at least 100 games the next. The offense’s rapid decline (from .752 to .715 OPS this season, fourth-lowest in the majors) and manager Bob Melvin’s questionable strategies have taken much of the blame, but the club’s much-vaunted pitching staff has also fallen off the rails.
The Mariners used the same five-man rotation all last year. Now, after the Freddy Garcia trade and the Joel Pineiro injury, Seattle is down to three of those stalwarts, and one of them is Gil Meche. He’s clearly not the same pitcher he was last year, thanks to ongoing shoulder problems, and he’ll be making just his second start in two months when he faces the Orioles.
Meche has led the Mariners to a 2-9 record in 11 starts, dropping over eight units. In his comeback start last week, he gave up two home runs to Anaheim in a 6-5 loss, an all-too familiar pattern for Seattle supporters.
The light-hitting M’s were near the bottom of the majors with just 86 dingers heading into Tuesday’s doubleheader (only the Padres had fewer with 77). But that can’t be blamed purely on pitcher-friendly Safeco Field. Opponents had gone deep 140 times off Mariners hurlers, more than everyone except Philadelphia.
With that kind of disparity, it’s easy to see how Seattle can keep losing despite Ichiro’s tremendous work at the plate. He was hitting .459 since the All-Star break before going 6-for-6 in the doubleheader. However, 41 of his 45 hits have been singles. With the way his pitchers are allowing home runs, that’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Oddsmakers have the Mariners as big +175 underdogs against the sizzling Daniel Cabrera. The total is set at nine.
