Ichiro turns back the clock as Yankees sweep doubleheader from Blue Jays
ByDespite all the RISPFAIL, this was an awesome win. The Yankees topped the Blue Jays by the score of 2-1 on Wednesday night, a few hours after beating them in the first game of the doubleheader. Hard to top two wins in one day … or six wins in seven games for that matter.
(Al Bello/Getty)
The Ichiro! Show
As painful as it can be to sit through a fading star’s decline years, there’s nothing quite as fun as watching them turn back the clock for a day. Ichiro Suzuki carried the Yankees all day on Wednesday, going 3-for-4 in the afternoon game and 4-for-4 with four steals (!) in the nightcap. His seventh and final hit of the day plated the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth, a little bloop single to the opposite field to score Curtis Granderson from third. Nothing fancy, which is pretty much the story of Suzuki’s career.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the four-hit game is that all four hits came off left-handers — the first three off Ricky Romero and the fourth against Aaron Loup. The Yankees acquired Ichiro to essentially be a platoon left fielder, but Andruw Jones has been so brutally ineffective in the second half that Suzuki will be pressed into full-time duty going forward. This effort certainly gave everyone some confidence in his ability to contribute against pitchers of either hand. Oh, and Ichiro became the first Yankee to steal four bases in one game since … you’re not going to believe this … Tony Womack back in May 2005. He actually did it twice in the span of four days. Crazy.
(Al Bello/Getty)
Big Phelp
The Yankees needed some length out of David Phelps after running through their core relievers in the afternoon game, and he responded with 6.2 innings of one-run ball on a career-high 110 pitches. He surrendered just three singles and three walks while striking out six, and ended his outing by retiring 13 of the final 16 men he faced. Boone Logan had to bail him out of a bases loaded, two outs situation in the seventh, but otherwise Phelps cut right through a lineup that featured zero players with an OBP north of .325.
I thought the key for David was his curveball, which helped him escape a 35-pitch second inning after allowing just one run. He leaned on the pitch heavily the second and third through the order, throwing it 27 times for 19 strikes. Seven of those 19 were swings and misses, another seven called strikes. That’s pretty awesome, the pitch was definitely working for him. With a Game Score of 67, this was the best start of Phelps’ young big league career (not that Game Score is any kind of definitive stat, just convenient). It’ll get overshadowed because of Ichiro!, but he was dynamite.
Double #Untuck
(Al Bello/Getty)
You really have to give it up to Rafael Soriano. Dude nailed down a four-out save in the afternoon then came back for more in the nightcap, tossing a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning for his second save in six hours or so. I actually thought his stuff looked nastier in the second game than in the first, so maybe that was an adrenaline thing. Either way, majors props to Soriano, who’s been a godsend for the Yankees in the wake of Mariano Rivera‘s injury. He racked up saves #41 and #42 on Wednesday.
I don’t want to leave anyone out, so Logan deserves similar praise for appearing in both games. He retired the only man he faced in Game One before chipping in a scoreless inning in Game Two, including a big ground ball out to escape that bases loaded jam in the seventh. That was the biggest out of the game I think, rather easily too. Cody Eppley got the win by striking out the only man he faced, so hooray for that. Great job by the bullpen to take care of business in two close games.
Leftovers
The Yankees scored their first and only other run of the game in the second, when Chris Stewart doubled in Casey McGehee (remember him?) with a two-out line drive down the line. That was a big and frankly unexpected hit. Stewart also threw out Rajai Davis trying to steal in the third and it wasn’t even close, he had him gunned down by a few feet. Add in two walks and you’ve got a damn productive day from the backup catcher.
I feel like it’s worth mentioning that all three runs in the game scored after the runner reached base on a walk. Romero walked four of the first eleven men he faced and five in six innings overall, but the Yankees didn’t capitalize enough. It was an annoying repeat of the Jon Lester game from a week ago, when he walked everyone but never paid for it. Three-for-14 with runners in scoring position — including multiple fails by Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodriguez — is how you put 16 men on-base in eight offensive innings (and steal seven bases as a team!) and only score two runs.
Jeter singled on Romero’s first pitch of the game, his 200th hit of the season. He tied Lou Gehrig for the most 200-hit seasons in franchise history with eight, and he’s eight hits away from tying Pete Rose for the most hits by a 38-year-old player in baseball history. Wowza. The Cap’n also has a 13-game hit streak.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
As always, MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. The Rays pounded the Red Sox, so they remain seven back in the loss column in the division race. The Orioles are out in Seattle facing Felix Hernandez and the Mariners, so if they win they’ll and their win means they remain one back in the loss column. The magic number is down to 14 and could drop to 13 if Baltimore losses.
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
These two teams will wrap up this series with just one game on Thursday. Phil Hughes will get the ball against former Yankee Aaron Laffey in the nightcap. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch that one live.
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Wow..the Mariners are terrible. Getting two hit by Joe Saunders…
King Motherfucking Felix. COME ON.
Felix is getting squeezed a bit according to Gameday.
the ump definitely missed a few, from watching. felix didn’t look too happy.
David Phelps. He’s really stepped it up in his last two starts big time. That is all.
felix with BIG strikeout. damn. really hoping for an effective phil tomorrow. a sweep would be just so nice.
It needs to be said one more time:
MFIKY
Terrific day for the Yankees, but the offense is still concerning, and frustrating, as ever.
Though at least it’s not like watching the M’s offense for 18 innings…
know it, i wrote it.
and bless the hearts of those two dozen m’s fans. saints, i tell you.
So now the OF is set, and Nunez should be the DH.
ugh, i just remembered the o’s record in 1-run/extra inning games.
Wouldn’t have needed all those hits from Ichiro today if we still had D.J. Mitchell and George Kontos in the pen to shut down the Jays.
How do you figure? Do you pull Phelps in the 2nd for Mitchell so the run doesn’t score? If not, more bullpen pitching doesn’t make up for no one in the offense hitting besides Ichiro, who you say wouldn’t be needed if we had more pitching.
Is the problem with the logic obvious to anyone else?
When I think “shutdown relievers,” I know I think of DJ Mitchell and George Kontos FIRST and the rest of baseball SECOND.
Have you guys heard of Sarcasm? Yeah I didn’t think so…
More of “big game relievers” IMO.
Mike, can you really search through all the comments made by a certain person like you said in the Game Thread?
Yep.
That’s pretty cool…I’m assuming only you, Ben and Joe can do it?
I would think they all can since it’s their site.
Nervous? : -)
He did come out of left field w/ that so I’m guessing yes.
I’m also pleased that the Yankees have re-passed the A’s in the standings.
Odd that the Yankees would sweep – doubleheaders usually end in splits (or at least that’s what our resident statistical “expert” says)…
2012: 9 sweeps, 8 splits
2011: 18 sweeps, 16 splits
2010: 7 sweeps, 10 splits
2009: 13 sweeps, 10 splits
(I think it’s been slightly more sweeps than splits over time. which makes sense if you think about it)
If you don’t think about it you are left with the ole I’ll just make shit up and say it’s “statistics” because it fits a narrative I’m feeding people… (aka “Greg’ing it”)
All the sweeps were just luck…
Yeah, in theory, if both games are independent and the teams are 50-50, we would expect the same number of sweeps as splits, but if the teams are at all unevenly matched, the odds of sweep (if we could assume the games were independent) would certainly be higher.
52/48 split – the odds of a sweep (for either team) is
Yup.
.52^2+.48^.48 = 50.1% chance of sweep
53/47 yields 50.2%
60/40 yields 52%
Yet for some reason I think most people think splits are more likely – that’s fine, but when someone starts saying “statistics” tells us this it get annoying (hence my rant)
Editing failure…
Well, to be fair, the 2 games aren’t actually independent, so these numbers probably slightly overstate the chance of sweeping. The way managers manage, you’re likely to use your best relievers in a win, so you’re unlikely to be able to use them to win both games. I doubt it’s a huge effect, because the games might not be close and you might need your best relievers in 1 or 0 of the games, but it’s still probably an effect. So I’d guess a split is more likely than the assumption of independence yields, but it’s probably still around a 50% chance of a sweep.
Anyone have overall MLB stats for probability of a split in a double header?
Yes, but it still biases slightly toward a sweep though (I tend to think like you said it probably undercuts the independent outcome a bit… the other factor is what is 52/48 in the first game is not necessarily 52/48 in the 2nd game due to starting pitchers (in addition to bullpen usage and managerial “content” after winning the first game)
ESPN can sort by doubleheader for the last 10 or so years but you have to manually count.
An example:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/d...../year/2010
Couldn’t find the sort on BBref to do this properly (not sure if there is one for doubleheader outcomes)
it’s not *easy* to sweep a doubleheader. not because 108 win teams win only 2/3 of their games; rather the effect two games in one day has on guys in the field and, especially, a bullpen. if everybody’s a little spent there are more variables, and the better team won’t prevail the same way they would two games in two days.
so assuming above stats are legit, tipping my cap to the 09-12 yanks.
Those are stats for all teams (not just the Yankees)
Both teams in a DH will rest starters, and while some managers may be hesitant to use a bullpen arm a 2nd time after winning the first game(in general), that impact is overstated. This leads to the (incorrect) intuition that doubleheaders are more likely to be split. The starting pitchers don’t feel the effect of both games and the position players get rested on both sides (win or lose)
heh, drunk vicki didn’t blink at 17-32 doubleheaders/season for one team.
Normally I would take wins against mediocre teams with a grain of salt, but these are exactly the teams we are facing (except the A’s) for the rest of the season, so if we can get on a good beat-up-on-the-weak run, we should have a great chance to come away with the division.
As painful as it can be to sit through a fading star’s decline years, there’s nothing quite as fun as watching them turn back the clock for a day.
Especially when they pick a day with two games instead of just one to do it.
…and I’ll add, it would be great if this fading star can have a turn-back-the clock month.
Especially if it’s October.
Hitting over .500 his last 12 games now. There is hope there at least.
spidermonkey!
Montero looks terrible in seattle. It’s like the Mariners don’t bother trying to teach their hitters what to do at the plate or develop them at all.
Can the Mariners just sweep across a single run for Felix please?
It would be nice, but this feels like last night’s game.
btw, That’s the happiest I have seen Ichiro look as a member of the Yankees.
I’d imagine to be a star player and recognize you’re fading, but not quite accepting it, has got to be difficult. I’m sure Jeter was going through the same emotions last year. I don’t think Ichiro will be able to stare death in the eye and revive himself like Jeter has, but it must feel good to recapture some of your former greatness, even for a day.
this is how i feel about arod.
but jeter does have your proverbial laurels to rest on. whereas proud ichiro is playing meaningful september baseball for the first time in a million years. this is his moment.
True. He also doesn’t have the fan support that Jeter has, the ones who will be more forgiving. Ichiro left them behind in Seattle. It’s one reason I wonder how Pujols feels with the Angels. His decline years in St. Louis would have been celebrated. He might be viewed as the scapegoat in Anaheim when in three or four years he’s mediocre and they’re paying him $30M a season.
yep. and this hater looks forward to it.
do bear in mind the stadium’s immediate celebration of ichiro. he’s a marquee name and you know the turnstilers love that, plus i think there’s some value in his ego at this point. he’s All In. he’s never been my kind of hitter (chicks, longball, you know the rest) but i feel very romantic about his story right now.
Romance aside (not that I am immune to its allure), his contact skills are exactly what this team needs, and in a big spot in the playoffs, especially with RISP and less than two outs, there are few other Yankees (Jeter, Cano, A-Rod) I would rather have up.
Absolutely correct.
John Smoltz-”Baltimore has IT.”
Oh, OK. Thanks for nothing, Smoltzie.
Smoltz is one of those guys who passively-aggressively roots against the Yankees.
But I knew for sure he was a shit analyst earlier this year when I heard him say, “If you believe in run differential, which I don’t…” and then he went and cited that team’s, I believe it was the Twins’, run differential as a reason that they probably wouldn’t get back into the race.
not joe morgan bad, but bad.
I don’t even know what that means, to “not believe” in run differential. What is there not to believe in?
ohhhh, tom wilhelmsen. there’s a welcome sign.
This is where it fell apart last night, although if he doesn’t do his job tonight, the game will not go onto to 4am.
my liver is scared
Was wondering if Dylan Bundy would appear tonight, but guess not.
A Jesus walk-off would be mighty nice.
I was just about to call it. I feel it in my bones.
Might need to convince Buck to bring in a lefty though.
He looked amazingly bad against O’Day last night. Kind of the worst RH’d for him.
I was pretty bummed that he didn’t get to face Johnson last night.
Poor Pittsburgh. Their chances of finishing above .500 are fading away quickly.
Saw a blurb in Olney’s blog today that their owner wants answers for why they have faded down the stretch. I hope someone in their front office comes out and says, “We just weren’t good enough because we have a bunch of kids in the lineup, and a bunch of retreads everywhere else. We’ve made progress, we’ll make more if Cole and Tallion hit it big. Asshat.”
Yeah, the question should be why were we so good early on when we shouldn’t have been, and what do we have to do to replicate that. They didn’t really think AJ Burnett was that good, did they?
He’s certainly fallen back to earth over the last several weeks. He’s still useful, probably, but they clearly have a bunch of holes.
all that, yes. but i think negative self-talk too.
who here plays golf? say you’re a 90 shooter (off the ladies’ tees?) and one day you score a 35 on the front nine. in a vacuum you’ll shoot your average 45 on the back and record the round of your life. but that’s not what the pirates would do. nor me in ninth grade.
“Evil Spock” Montero keeps it alive.
and crappy Smoak sends it to extras…
Ha! I knew that thing of his face look familiar.
Single by Jesus…Winning run on base.
Alright peoples, let’s see if we can avoid another late night. Double into the gap, Jesus does his weird looking run from 1st to home.
Smoak is fucking terrible.
so many things to lol at, but .269obp is pretty sweet.
Justin Smoak is terrible at baseball.
We want him instead of Montero for Cliff Lee! Sure, we’ll take a kidnapper/rapist, too.
And we’ll end up with Montero anyway!
And we’ll still largely suck outside of one pitcher who’s bound to leave us just like every good player in our pathetic history leaves us!
I’m still pissed he hit a homer off of Andy in his first game back.
Really? This again?? Extra innings???
Seattle needs time to mix in a few bunt popups.
i lol’d.
this seems familiar… i’ve got my bota box :/
thank god my roommates are gone for the weekend.
The weekend? It’s Wednesday.
their weekend started today.
Lucky them.
no kidding. i’m only appreciative since i don’t have to hear their celebrating tonight.
So Tuesday night was really Friday night for them. No wonder they were celebrating.
yeah, i was definitely a little jealous. me, stuck in my room getting drunk off boxed wine watching a baseball game with playoff implications; them, partying like it was 1999.
I really can’t stay up that late again.
Drink.
Well, Jesus tried
but couldn’t overcome how BAD Smoak is.
wasn’t Smoak one of the hottest prospects ever back in the day (aka like 3 years ago) or am I mixing him up with someone else?
No, you’re right. One of the top ten, if not five hitting prospects in the game. Can’t miss. Sometimes they do.
Following these games on Gameday, waiting for the Mariners to actually score a run, is an absolutely excruciating experience.
Imagine being a Mariners fan. I admire their fortitude.
Seriously.
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
In play, out(s)
yep
lmao
Hadn’t thought about that. Much worse than actually seeing the futility unfold…or maybe not.
that’s like… 3rd level of hell stuff right there.
JOSEPH FU*KING SAUNDER!
At least this is tiring out the O’s right? Man I really hope this game doesn’t go real late again. But if it does, we should have another fun gathering here.
i rather enjoyed last night/this morning. i wish the mariners would’ve gotten the win to reward us east coasters, but a win tonight would be good enough.
Yea, but they get an off day tomorrow.
Strop.
I swear I feel like I’m trapped in Ground Hogs Day. When does Bill Murray show up to at least lighten the mood.
holy shit, and now there’s the pop up bunt
Leadoff walk!
Now, can the Mariners actually advance him?
Baltimore Orioles: Luckiest team in baseball history or luckiest team in baseball history playoff pending? Discuss.
Historic 1-run record? Definitely luckiest in history.
I suppose if we’re counting the playoffs the 60′ Pirates would have to be pretty high on the list too.
Yes and no, I think.
I mean, the Yankee wins were blowouts and the Pirate wins were all close. But Stengel fucked up the rotation that series. Saving Whitey was so stupid.
Not as stupid as you might think. I have a book on it, and it actually made a TON of sense. The move is, at the very least, extremely defensible. Stengel gets an extremely bad rap for that one.
You may be right about that. However, the whole business, leading up to Casey’s firing, with suggestions that, at 70, he was “too old,” led to one of Casey’s wittiest remarks: “I’ll never make the mistake of turning 70 again.”
I don´t think it was saving Whitey but starting Ditmar over the rookie Stafford. Ditmar was hammered in 2 WS starts.
I said if King Felix was going to win it’d have to be 1-0. Poor guy put up a Dave Phelps like performance and has nothing to show for it. Strop is in now and just walked the lead off hitter so maybe there’s a chance here for the Ms.
Wait what? King Felix put up a Dave Phelps-like performance? Do you mean the current Yankees Ace, future 10-time Cy Young winner, David Phelps?!
You’ve crossed the line from entertaining to annoying. Closing in on troll.
And of course, another replay of last night. The Mariners can not bunt at all. None of them.
Saunders should just to try and steal his way home.
1/3 the way there!
This fucking pathetic Mariners team can’t even bunt correctly for the second straight game.
Strop couldn’t throw a strike and they bunt. Stop managing like Girardi, Wedge. Get the run in!
Too bad can’t loan back Ichiro to the M’s for one AB tonight to win the game, as he is on fire…
Great idea, attempt a bunt after a walk on a 2-0 pitch.
And then he pops out anyway. Asshole.
Wow.
come on mariners. i wanna see arod in the sidebar when i wake up. and go to sleep soon.
Hopefully a Trout-like AB from Carp!
Nice.
Flounder.
maybe he can SALMON a double into the gap!
shit, the wine’s taking effect already.
There’s an Anthony Bass somewhere out West too.
somebody say catfish.
dogfish
Strop is trying his best to give them the game.
Hopefully the M’s decide to take it.
Matusz the LOOGY. At some point their luck has to run out. That throw away hit the 1st base coach, that should be the end of their luck for this inning.
brian matusz is the next sandy koufax!
Well, this could be, what, the 11th straight sudden death inning the M’s fail to push across a winning run when only 1 was needed?
Man even the normally upbeat Mariners TV crew sounds depressed.
I like how they said maybe the bunting is something they’ll address in spring training. If the M’s organization shares that philosophy, I understand why the team can’t bunt.
OK. Squeeze!
I’ve come back for you to remind you of something. Something you once knew. This world is not real.
Inception? I feel like this is Inception
Yes. I made a reference to it last night when one of the people in the game thread wanted to go to sleep.
There can never be too many Inception references.
I think that was me near the start of the 18th inning.
Yes.
http://riveraveblues.com/2012/.....nt-4831522
Did the top fall?
I’d like to think it did…but I honestly don’t know.
I think so too, but I can talk myself into either option.
It fell, although it’s like watching Total Recall (the original). The way they go to black at the end, it does leave open the slight possibility.
Bases loaded and Embedded Yankee Luis Ayalla coming in. I like it.
You just KNOW they’re going to leave the bases loaded here. I’m almost cheerful at this point.
This is setting up well for the Mariners… Luis “who cares if the inherited runners score as long as I don’t credited with any ER” Ayala
Heh
I can’t believe this is all happening again between these damn teams. It’s like torture. You just know what’s going to happen at some point…
I’d say that it is torture.
Oh, look, bases loaded!
Once a Yankee, always a Yankee. Come on Luis Ayala. Do what you do best and give up that run.
How is MLBN still at commerical?
lol.
It’s weird. They’re sometimes twenty seconds ahead of MLB.tv. Right now they are behind, still showing the upcoming failed AB as if it’s live.
The O’s K-zone thing just showed that it should be a 5-0 count. That’s pitiful.
pathetic
holy shit mariners.
That’s it, I’m done. I hope I wake up to an O’s loss.
OK, I just refuse to watch this. I’d rather go to sleep so I can wake up and see my niece before she goes home.
at one point, wasnt gutierrez supposed to a “power” hitter before he got brittle? almost like granderson?
He never was a power hitter. He can play good defense and used to be semi useful offensively.
i must be misremembering. i lived in seattle during the 08 season and i swear i thought he threatened 30 hrs or something. i dunno.
Are you saying he was supposed to have Granderson like power? or that Granderson is brittle?
grandy is brittle, duh. looks like he has a glass jaw.
Sorry dude…it’s late…and yeah that’s all I got.
im right there with you. its 1 am, and wat is this
Gah…now how do I watch the rest of the game stupid MLBN is going to go to Quick Pitch.
QP usually will show an update if something important happens.
His only chance was to foul them off and play for the walk. At this point the Mariners will need a walk off walk or HBP (or PB, WP, balk)
But Wedge should keep bunting… that’s bound to work eventually.
He would have walked if he didn’t swing at the first 3 pitches.
Semi-relevant story: My best friend is a die-hard Mariners fan from Seattle, and she’s never had a drink in her life. I am now convinced she’s not human – I have watched a grand total of two M’s games that weren’t against the Yankees and I am feeling the need to drink heavily already.
you should introduce your friend to the wonders of drinking whilst watching a baseball game. especially taxing ones such as these.
surely she avails herself of some altered-state or another. (as do several of my friends from pnw.)
Hoping the O’s will lose..but even if they win..their bullpen is starting to run out of fumes.
I’m well aware of what the Yankees issues are but it makes me LOL that MLB network and others are ignoring the fact the O’s have some of those same issues (love of the long ball and a bullpen that is starting to get overworked.)
And screw the talk of O’s magic in this Seattle Series. If they knew how to bunt properly,they would have won last night and tonight.
Why do Mariners hitter even bring bats up to the plate? What a waste of wood.
This thing could go 30 innings and the Ms still wouldn’t score another run. Their best chance was Strop. They handed him an out and the 1st base coach got hit by an errant pickoff throw. The two worst teams in baseball will be in the AL west next year.
Just so you guys know, while the Orioles have “IT” the Angels do not.
Did they lose? Or was that something Smotz said?
No, it was Howard Reynolds this time saying the Angels don’t have “IT.” I’d really love to learn what IT is one day.
I don’t know, but it appears the M’s don’t have it.
I mean “IT.”
It’s clear the Mariners don’t have “IT” teams that do have “IT’ win these kind of games I would think.
IT must be luck. i mean seriously, how the shit do the o’s continually pull wins like this outta their asses.
quirk of probability, and that’s IT.
And for the record, I hope Nate McLouth steps on a Lego. Christ.
Not punishment enough. I want him to drink heavily,pass out, wake up at 6am when he doesn’t have to wake up at all, to a screaming baby, and walk across a floor covered in Legos to have his wife tell him he has to take care of the baby before he pees.
Excellent plan.
and sweet fancy Moses, Adam Jones can join him on that floor covered with Legos.
let’s throw reynolds in there too. just cuz he’s a douche.
Howard or Mark? either way i agree.
Works for me. I’m not feeling too charitable toward the O’s as a whole lately, so they can all pretty much step on a Lego or four hundred and I won’t cry.
When I read that, I winced.
fucking Jones. game over.
how do you let him beat you? Fucking M’s.
Seriously…he’s their one complete hitter right now.
Oh, come on. The M’s really suck. A AAA team could have pushed a run across in one of these games.
Well, at least the agony won’t last 18 innings this time.
……………………………………………….
HA! Now they need 2 runs just to tie, yeah right. This one’s over. Guess the Yanks will just have to do everything themselves.
And the O’s will win it. I’m sorry but people here didn’t give the Yanks credit when we beat Seattle..nor should the O’s. Any team with a half decent offense would have beaten them tonight and last night.
I cant wait until the Orioles turn back into the Orioles next year.
i need them to turn back into the orioles over the next 14 games.
seriously. this exact roster could win 75 games next season and nobody would be surprised. season-long anomaly.
It feels like we’re still being punished for 1995…
Well, that was phrased really poorly, but you get the point. This is what we get for the Yanks losing that damn series.
Orioles should have lost the last two games. They are lucky the fucking Mariners can’t bunt,hit or do anything right. Fuck horseshoe up their asses.
Let’s just really hope Boston or Toronto can take a few games off of the Orioles in the upcoming weeks. At least they are done playing the Mariners.
They will be playing Boston next. You can just bet Boston will want to beat up on them.
And I’m sorry..the O’s bullpen WAS beatable tonight if an actual baseball team had been playing tonight.
Hopefully Ciraco goes all “Andino” on them
They could play 10 more innings and I’m not sure the M’s would put up 2 runs.
3-1 slider to a 3-2 slider… really poor pitch selection and execution. They either need to go to a different pitch (fastball might have worked after the 3-1 slider) or bury that slider out of the zone.
Not on the pitcher. The M’s offense had a chance to win and failed..just like they did last night.
Yes,I think the O’s will be in the postseason and it’s no accident they are where they are but I’m sorry,their bullpen the past week and a half would have been beaten by a team that had actual offense. The Rays and M’s don’t have that.
It would be ironic if the O’s are in the one game playoff game, and lose by one run.
you spelled “justice” wrong
+1
in extra innings.
That would be like O. Henry and Alanis Morissette had a baby and named it that exact situation.
Oh man, I needed that. Nearly fell out of my chair.
laughed.
also, in extra innings
In the 18th inning.
As a Yankees fan, these Orioles are my least favorite team since the 04′ Sox.
Yes, not even the 07′ Sox. I hate them even more than that team. I mean, what the FUCK.
Come on, Jesus, let’s see a game-tying homer to earn your pinstripes.
Here’s the Mariner’s cock tease.
god i hate the orioles.
The M’s have life against Johnson!!!
Smoak, time to look for another profession.
Fucking justin smoak. stop being so awful at baseball.
fucking Smoak…
Justin Smoak really, really sucks.
Cliff Lee managed to get traded for that piece of shit?
When a strikeout is not the most damage you can do….
Smoak happens.
Smoak ruins the day.
Geez is Smoak terrible.
And Jim Palmer just said that Reynolds could/should be in the gold glove discussion. Wow…
eh, gold glove, whatever.
It’s not that the award means anything. It’s just the principle and homerific overreaction to a simple play.
Justin Smoak, you are an amazing baseball player. Amazing.
Despite Smoak’s inability to do anything positive in a baseball uniform, the M’s are still alive!!!
Not anymore!!!
What are you doing? Why? Why? WHYYYYY!
What the fuck.
Mariners are worthless. Sell them to OKC. Ichiro is watching this shit today and laughing his ass off.
oh shit, thats cold blooded, but i laughed my ass off
Wouldn’t want to let your best hitter have a chance with the game on the line.
caught stealing as the winning run?! Are you fucking serious?! If anybody on the Yankees did that, safe or out I’d be livid.
It’s to the point where you’d think the m’s are trying to be this bad. Could they really do it accidentally?
In a way, maybe something positive will come out of these O’s-M’s games: some commenters here will see what a terrible team really looks like and will gain some perspective when the Yankees “only” score 4 or 5 runs in a game.
Problem is none of the trolls are here right now.
That and one other thing..see what happened to Baltimore in Oakland where they lost 2 out of three. Their bullpen and closer aren’t unhittable and any team with an actual offense would have scored on them.
welp. yankees just gonna have to win the division the hard way, and i have the utmost faith in them. mariners… i have no words for you. i actually really enjoyed these past two nights (despite the outcome of the games). it’s nice to see the late night following here on RAB.
but seriously, fuck the orioles.
While watching Os/Ms tonight and last night I did think “What would these games be like if the Yankees were involved instead of the Os?” And the answer is obvious — the Yankees would have produced even less offense than the Os, so they would have just lost in 9 innings instead of dragging it out forever and eking out a win.
I guess I was wrong about trolls not being around this late.
The same Yankees who just won 6 of 7?
Yeah, but when they get shut out all we’ll hear is, “They look worse than the M’s!!!111!!!!!11!!!!”
Johnson retired one hitter that inning.
ONE! and I use the term “hitter” rather liberally.
Just because he’s up there with a stick doesn’t make him a hitter.
The Mariners would have won the game had their hitter not brought bats to the plate. Strop was walking everyone. Ayala threw 6 pitches out of the zone with bases loaded. Yet the mariners managed to pop up a bunt then then proceed to hack away at shit out of the zone.
This is all on Wedge and, sad to say it, Chambliss. They have preached “being aggressive” since Spring Training to a team of young impressionable prospects, and I think there are only one or two on the team hitting north of .250. These guys must see the fewest pitches per AB in the league.
That’s bad enough, but the complete inability to lay down a bunt is the icing on the cake.
14 straight extra inning wins for the Orioles? If they had even been just average in those games, they could be 7 games back.
It will wear off..if they face the Rangers or A’s..they will get beaten.
Problem is, they don’t face them anymore this regular season.
15 straight…
It’s like teams forget how to do anything right when they play them in extras. pop up bunts, and bullshit. Same thing happened to the Rays when they played the Orioles. Meanwhile the orioles win on like bloops hits or weak grounder through holes.
On the bright side, at least no humans will be harmed by having to watch the Mariners ‘play baseball’ tomorrow.
is that what they have been doing?
im a little surprised how invested in this series i was. the only consolation is realizing that, after these games ended, were yankees fans. and we did damn fine today. still gonna be 2012 al east champs too.
reply fail, good lord. ive had a few of those today.
The 2007 (?) M’s remind me of this O’s team.
Winning record, good bullpen for the year, negative run differential. They added Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins and folks thought they would contend… regression happened and they lost ~100 games that next year.
I don’t think the O’s will fall off a cliff that badly next year, but it will catch up to them (unfortunately the wins this year are in the bank)
I don’t know, their roster is terrible, but everyone has expected them to fall off the cliff all year. I don’t think they are talented but they have somehow stayed in the race.
The problem is the O’s already have some legit talent in Jones, Weiters, Markakis, Johnson, and Hamel if he can stay healthy. It’s not much, but if they get similar production out of Reynolds, and Muchado is as advertised, they are just some decent pitching away from being as big as a pain as they’ve been this year for many years to come.
Honestly, their pitching is just not very good. I mean right now the Joe Saunders and Randy Wolf’s of the world are major pieces in their rotation. Hopefully Lester can come out strong on Friday against them. For the time being, we gained 1/2 game today, took several games off the schedule, and have a chance to take it to a full game lead tomorrow in a game where we’ll be favored.
They’re not major pieces, they’re just bit-player AL East specialists for Cano, Granderson, Ortiz, etc. hitting in those tiny parks.
Their rotation going into next year will probably be Hammel, Chen, Gonzalez, and 2 out of Britton/Tillman/Saunders/Hunter/Wolf/FA, based on contracts, health, etc. And Dylan Bundy is probably going to join them during the summer.
Right now it’s not great, but over 14 games the difference between a great and good rotation may only be 1-2 games.
precisely. the ridiculous one-run game record and extra innings streak are unsustainable.
you can flip a coin and have it come up tails twenty times in a row. it won’t happen a lot, but it will happen.
i need to remember this.
They’ve also played much better in the second half. It’s as if people get lost in this luck story and are ignoring the team itself. They have some talent in Baltimore, and we need to get used to it.
But yes, even a coin with 70(h)/30(t) odds won’t come up 20 times in a row very frequently.
except that their luck is the story of the season.
sure, they’ve been better lately (sliced their negative run differential to ten!), but how much would we even notice if the yankees hadn’t struggled over the same months? they have some nice pieces, but they have one pitcher who’s made more than twenty starts.
the one run games are the difference. it’s pretty fascinating and i’m not sure why it would bother you.
Need to blowout Laffey, go into A’s series with a rested pen. The sked favors the O’s now, since Tampa will probably be out it by the end.
what a day. Ichiro was just brilliant, Pettitte, Phelps and Soriano doing some nice work on the mound. Now let’s go for the Sweep!
So I was tired last night and didn’t come close to the end of the Orioles game.
They won in extras?
Wow. That never happens.
Apparently, an M’s/O’s game thread broke out while some of us were sleeping.
A sweep without a home run? Not even our usual solo shot?
Love the Ichiro “squat” he does in the box before he is ready for the first pitch. He is a man of rituals.
I wish people would get over the O’s-have-been-lucky fetish.
Fine, it happened. It’s in the past. Get over it. Good Lord, it’s more annoying reading the whining about their luck than it is seeing them win all the extra inning games.
The series sweep can be had. King Phillip went 7 strong allowing only 1 run in a 2-1 pitching duel the last time he faced Toronto. And nobody beats Phil Hughes in Yankee Stadium. This Jays offense is as inept as the Ms without their best hitters so the sweep needs to be completed tonight with Oakland coming to town this weekend.
Come on Eddard. You’re getting pathetic.
Hughes literally lost his last outing at home. 18 days ago.
He’s won 6/7 of his last home starts. He only lost that Baltimore start because Joe left him in too long. If you’ll recall, that was the game where Phil was clearly laboring and Joe left him in to face Mark Reynolds. Martin predictably called for the fastball and there went Phil’s home W. He’s near unbeatable at home, how’s that?
Better.
50% of “grit” is “IT”.
M’s have gotten a lot of press about how much better they have played in second half and how that bodes well for next year. This series disproves that – just outright dreadful.
They could not even get a bunt down.
O’s are lucky to some extent (worst play is when the O’s pitcher threw the ball away badly on pick-off attempt at first base – either Strop or Ayala, I think, – and the ball hit the Seattle first base coach so it did not go anywhere). Otherwise, runner would have been on third with 1 out, I think. However, what makes me think that Seattle runner would have scored from third with less than 2 outs?
On the other hand, those waiting for O’s luck to run out may be waiting a while. If someone has been “lucky” for 147 or so games, there is no guarantee that it will turn around in the last 15 games.
Also a lot of Orioles “luck” is an absolute shutdown bullpen and they have a couple of in-their-prime position players that are better all-around players than what we have largely (Jones and Wieters specifically). Jones has been a beast in extra innings.
We have to hope Boston tries to get back at them for what O’s did to Red Sox last year.
We have to sweep Jays like O’s swept M’s. I just wish our offense wouldn’t look so tortured to score a run. 16 baserunners and 7 stolen bases gives you only 2 runs driven in by Chris Stewart and old man Ichiro. Silly me, I keep thinking that this team still has a league-leading Jeter, former and current All stars Cano, Grandy, Swisher, and future HOF like Arod/Ichiro and still can look so feeble at driving in runs. This RISPFAIL quality offsets the fact that we are playing Jays, Red Sox, and Twins in the remaining schedule. Also causes overuse of bullpen. Bullpen by nad large probbaly gets too much grief – those late inning guys have been used a lot because we are unable to blow anyone out (last game in baltimore – 13-3 – a couple of weeks ago is one exception over the last several weeks.) Logan leads AL in appearances, for example, which normally doesn’t happen for a team with an “elite” offense.
I was going to lambaste Swisher about how dreadful he looked striking out in eighth inning of game 2 last night but I need to be thankful for small favors – in the first game, he did drive in the 4th, tack-on run and singled as part of three first inning – on a global basis, that is probably more than one can expect from Swisher normally.
4-for-4 with four steals (!)
SERIOUSLY??? Ichiro steals 4 bases and all you can muster is one !???