This week in baseball 8/29 - 9/5

[bob_barron 0]

Hey, Randy Johnson has a no-hitter going.  How about that?  He should just blow through the Mariners for the rest of the game and NOT give up ANY MORE hits for the remaining 4 innings.

 

Yep, this no-no is in the bag.

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Stop that!

[Bruiser Chong 0]

He has 80 pitches through 5, its not happening. The Yankees hitters on the otherhand, REFUSE to work the count against King Felix.

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What in the world are you talking about? He's given up three walks through six innings and has gone to three balls against six.

 

I'm watching the A's/Angels game and almost in the same breath, the Angels' color guy mentioned the no-no and said it had been broken up.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

It wasn't their fault. The odds of Betancourt getting the hit was around 1 in 4, and the odds of Johnson getting the no-hitter was around 2.8765%. No-hitters aren't ruined because they're jinxed, they're ruined because they are so damned hard to get.

[KingPK 0]

*Insert Price is Right losing jingle here*

 

Too bad.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Anyone else see that staring contest between Frank Robinson and the ump (Randy Wolf's brother)? The inning was over, and the 2 of them had a staredown (Robinson in the dugout, Wolf behind home plate) for a good 45 seconds before Wolf turned away.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

It wasn't their fault.  The odds of Betancourt getting the hit was around 1 in 4, and the odds of Johnson getting the no-hitter was around 2.8765%.  No-hitters aren't ruined because they're jinxed, they're ruined because they are so damned hard to get.

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Quiet, Al. We all know no-hitters come from intangibles. Intangibles, I say, intangibles!

[mike546 0]

Consecutive good outings from RJ. They were against KC and Seattle, but its still no runs in 15 innings.

[the max 0]

It wasn't their fault.  The odds of Betancourt getting the hit was around 1 in 4, and the odds of Johnson getting the no-hitter was around 2.8765%.  No-hitters aren't ruined because they're jinxed, they're ruined because they are so damned hard to get.

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Quiet, Al. We all know no-hitters come from intangibles. Intangibles, I say, intangibles!

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If thsi were true, I bet Jeter could throw more no-hitters than Nolan Ryan.

[Vern Gagne 0]

To follow up on my earlier post, doesn't this linescore just want to make you beat your head against a wall if you're a Twins fan?

 

Minnesota    000 000 000 -- 0 13 1
Kansas City  000 000 001 -- 1  5 1

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[Precious Roy 0]

ESPN should have shown the Mariners-Yankees game, I'm still waiting to see "the next Doc Gooden" pitch

[mike546 0]

Angels got lucky, K-Rod hung a breaking ball to Chavez that Figgins catches at the warning track.

 

Great game.

[Fökai 0]

Question for Al (or Brian, if he's been following Mariners baseball since then)

 

When Randy was coming up, what was the concensus on his potential? I mean, is it the same amount of hype that Felix Hernandez is getting, because the ESPN announcers like to state matter-of-factly that Unit (by 95-96) was simply a fireballer who had no grasp of control. They were showing his Seattle no-hitter, where he got the last Tiger out with a ball that was helmet-high. I have vague memories of what the guy could do in the early 90's (the All-Star moments with Kruk and Walker), but that's still about 10-12 years ago.

 

As a 20-year old with limited knowledge of Mariners history, you may see where I'm coming from in terms of this question.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

To follow up on my earlier post, doesn't this linescore just want to make you beat your head against a wall if you're a Twins fan?

 

Minnesota    000 000 000 -- 0 13 1
Kansas City  000 000 001 -- 1  5 1

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I agree.

[Guest Brian]

Randy didn't have his control at that point, but I'm digging back in my brain. I have some old scouting reports from somewhere. Randy early on would throw hard, strike out some but also walk a bunch. It wasn't until 1993 that he started to really hone in his skills. IIRC, it was his slider that first strted coming around.

 

Watching Felix, his off-speed stuff is already awesome (curve, change-up) and his velocity is great (98-97). He's further along than Johnson; Johnson was skipping classes at USC at this age.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Question for Al (or Brian, if he's been following Mariners baseball since then)

 

When Randy was coming up, what was the concensus on his potential? I mean, is it the same amount of hype that Felix Hernandez is getting, because the ESPN announcers like to state matter-of-factly that Unit (by 95-96) was simply a fireballer who had no grasp of control. They were showing his Seattle no-hitter, where he got the last Tiger out with a ball that was helmet-high. I have vague memories of what the guy could do in the early 90's (the All-Star moments with Kruk and Walker), but that's still about 10-12 years ago.

 

As a 20-year old with limited knowledge of Mariners history, you may see where I'm coming from in terms of this question.

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A don't have old prospect reports available, but I do have his minor league statistics. Johnson walked 6.8 batters per nine in the minors, but struck out 9.6. His stuff was so good that he could survive in baseball with abysmal control because he was unhittable. His hit rates were consistantly low throughout his early career. Given those qualities, it is no surprise he threw a no-hitter since you can't lose one on a walk.

 

Of course, once he harnessed his control in 1993, that was the end of anyone scoring runs off him. Usually pitchers with poor control don't find it at 29. But once in awhile it happens.

 

As a young pitcher, Hernandez probably resembles Bert Blyleven. People don't remember that Blyleven was a great young pitcher, reaching the majors as a 19 year old. They do remember the curve though, and Hernandez features a great breaking slider of his own.

[therealworldschampion 0]

Phillies win a must-win against the Mets 3-1. If they can take 2 of 3 against Washington this weekend, things will look good with Houston coming to CBP next week.

[strummer 0]

Tom Glavine may be the most unlucky pitcher in the game. He has pitched MUCH better than his record would indicate. Look for the Mets to fall out of the race with a 10 game road trip coming up in FLA, ATL, and STL.

[Mik 0]

Marlins are going to throw out Willis, Beckett, Burnett for the Mets series. All three pitch better at home than on the road. Hopefully they can sweep. If they don't win the series, at the least, it's a major problem.

[strummer 0]

Tom Glavine has had 8 straight starts giving up 2 runs or less. His record in that time frame, 3-4 with 1 ND.

[Jericholic82 0]

ESPN should have shown the Mariners-Yankees game, I'm still waiting to see "the next Doc Gooden" pitch

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They did show it here in socal cuz the angels game was on fox sports net. The annoucners were really weird and I have no clue who they were. They were pimping Felix abit as well as the fact that the two pitchers were ahvign a good deul. Thoguh one of them saying Felix pitched just as good as Randy when he gave up two homers made me laugh.

 

But color me impressed by Felix. Of course Yanks didnt work the count enough but his stuff was still electric

 

They did mention Felix had a chance to sign with NY but didn't want to, cuz he "doesn't like the yankees, that they are too big" or something like that. I guess he feels more comfortable in the smaller market (which I can understand since he is a 19 year old kid after all) But it irked me the way the announcer put it and The cynic in me wants to yell screw you (among other things) at Felix. But its not necessary. Not everyone can handle the insane microscope that is the NYC media.

The Boss must have freaked out if he saw the game however.

 

 

Randy looked the best I have seen him this year (given the fact I dont see that many games here) and appeared to be on a mission out there. and yea his two starts were agaisnt lousy teams, but you have to beat those teams if you want in the postseason. Besides it not like the Red Sox have had a partculary strong schedule lately (tons of home games against the likes of KC, Detroit, and Tampa-who apparantly everyone can beat except the Yankees), so the Yanks need to beat all those so called "lesser teams" now . Then again the AL is full of mediocre and underacheiving teams, so it's not a big surprise.

[mike546 0]

Oh come on, I've seen the "best" RJ plenty of times this season, and he can turn back into the big bust at any second. I want to see him do this against a real hitting teams, as all of his "dominant" Randy starts have come against the Pirates, Cardinals without Walker or Edomnds in the lineup, Kansas City, the Twins and Seattle.

 

And 2nd, why do the Yankees refuse to hit on the road?

 

edit: One run against Joel 5.78 era Pinero.

 

Ugh.

[Guest Brian]

Injury stuff from SC:

 

Brown was put on the 60-day DL.

 

Bonds will join Giants for the Dodgers series next weekend.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

hey did mention Felix had a chance to sign with NY but didn't want to, cuz he "doesn't like the yankees, that they are too big" or something like that. I guess he feels more comfortable in the smaller market (which I can understand since he is a 19 year old kid after all) But it irked me the way the announcer put it and The cynic in me wants to yell screw you (among other things) at Felix. But its not necessary. Not everyone can handle the insane microscope that is the NYC media.

The Boss must have freaked out if he saw the game however.

 

I'm sure there are other reasons and remember, Hernandez signed with the Mariners organization in 2002, when he was just 16.

[mike546 0]

One of the reasons he signed with them was because his idol, Freddy Garcia was on the Ms at the time, and he wanted to be on his team.

 

I'd also like to say that the Yankees suck on the road, and I cannot fathom how pathetic it is to score one run against the Mariners in the middle of a pennate race.

 

edit: I never really believed the "Torre goes with his favorites" thing, but why the HELL do you bring in Mendoza, just called up, into a 2-1 game when Embree was pitching fine, or with Gordon in the pen? HORRIBLE loss.

[Brett Favre 0]

Felix was being scouted by the Mariners at the age of 14, so he went with the team that got to him first.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Wow, when did the Nats get offense? It was 7-1 Braves early, but thanks to poor bullpen pitching by the Braves and a key Vinny Castilla single, it's knotted up at 7. I do like how they brought in Kolb to stop the bleeding. He promptly gives up the tying run and walks the bases loaded again. Awesome.

[the max 0]

Red Sox score 7 again...this is what? 14 games in a row at home?

 

Olerud had a big night with 6 rbi.

[bob_barron 0]

I know I shouldn't complain, since we're in first and all, but the Braves are becoming really frustrating to watch.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

And Andruw Jones saves the day with his 44th homer. Great comeback by the Nats, but it's tough to overlook the six men they left on base during the seventh and eighth innings.

[bob_barron 0]

Andruw Jones is just insane right now.

 

Home Run #44!!