OT: Mariners and their playoff run

[River Dog]

Huge win for the Mariners. It has to rank in the top 5 wins in franchise history to this point. With our pitching staff depleted after playing a 15-inning game two days earlier, we needed a strong outing from our Game 1 starter, and that's exactly what Bryce Miller gave us. Our taking Game 1 on the road in a 7-game series really backs the Blue Jays into a corner. They don't want to come into our house needing 2 wins in 3 games. Expect them to pull out the stops today.

Speier finally got over his penchant for giving up gopher balls, Brash and Munoz slammed the door in the 8th and 9th. I was looking at the pitch count and strikes. Between our three relievers, they threw 24 pitches, 20 of them for strikes. Nothing irritates me more than a relief pitcher who comes in with a two run lead then starts walking batters. Excellent work by our bullpen.

We should have gotten more runs as we blew a couple of scoring opportunities. I initially got mad when in the first inning, Cal Raliegh tried to score from third on a ground ball, but I quickly realized that they probably sent him to stay out of the double play and knew that if he was out, that we'd still have two on base with a runner in scoring position.

Early start today at 2:00pm. Let's hope Logan Gilbert turns in another strong performance.

[burrrton]

I'm questioning the decision to pitch Gilbert 3 days after he pitched some relief.

[Aseahawkfan]

Gilbert on short rest is rough. I was thinking Luis would go since he threw 15 pitches, but I guess Logan must have felt ready. We drained the pitching staff so low, someone was going on short rest. I guess they went with the younger guy. I hope Woo makes it back to pitch in this series. This is all win or go home at this point. So anyone and everyone gotta step up to make history. I guess Dan Wilson is doing his best and we'll see what happens.

[Aseahawkfan]

Well damn, this is new. Mariners up 2 and 0 in the ALCS. This is crazy. These pitchers we been building up all these years starting to show their quality. Pretty crazy. Now we head home for 3 games.

[River Dog]

I'm questioning the decision to pitch Gilbert 3 days after he pitched some relief.

If not Gilbert, who are you going to pitch? Wilson didn't have very many good options. He could have started Castillo, but he pitched on Friday, too, or he could have started Emerson Hancock, but he was coming off the DL, and we saw how shaky he was. Would you have rather him have started Woo? Besides, Gilbert didn't exactly pitch a marathon, he threw just 34 pitches.

I have to defer to the manager's judgement in cases like this. He knows how those pitchers are feeling, knows what his trainers are telling him about their health. Plus, at this point, it's one of those hindsight is 20/20 propositions.

The bullpen was spectacular again, and our bats finally came to life. I'm going to be attending Game 4 with my daughter and BIL, and if we win on Wednesday, we will get an opportunity to watch a truly historic occasion, the M's finally making it to the World Series. I thought we might be seeing Bryan Woo in Game 4, but I see that they've named Castillo as the starter.

But first we have Game 3 to worry about. George Kirby gets the start. He had a good outing in his last start, that 15 inning marathon against the Tigers last Friday. The bullpen should be fairly well rested, with Munoz, Brash, and Speier all available.

[burrrton]

He could have started Castillo, but he pitched on Friday, too

I was thinking of Castillo having thrown far fewer pitches in relief (iirc).

Eh, it all worked out, so what the h3ll do I know.

I have to defer to the manager's judgement in cases like this. He knows how those pitchers are feeling, knows what his trainers are telling him about their health. Plus, at this point, it's one of those hindsight is 20/20 propositions.

Agree on all counts.

[Vegaseahawk]

Who would've thunk it. To come out of Toronto at 2-0 is amazing. It's great to see the guys playing loose & calm. I'm stoked. There's a podcast I've been listening to by a guy named Brady Farkas. It's called Refuse To Lose. I listen on Spotify. He's pretty knowlegable.

https://open.spotify.com/show/1oBvJopLughGl4ndijlZPf?si=0089ace72a80442f

[River Dog]

Kirby gets the start tomorrow in Game 3, Castillo Thursday in Game 4. I was expecting to see Woo in one of those two games, and it leaves me to wonder if he's suffered a setback or if Dan's just being extra cautious, especially leading in the series 2-0. I hope it's the latter.

Don't be surprised to see a lot of Blue Jays fans at the games in Seattle. I've gone to Mariners-Blue Jays games before, and there are a lot of fans that will drive down from Vancouver, BC.

And BTW, I'll be going to Game 4 on Thursday. It was my daughter's idea. I'll be meeting her and my BIL. If we lose, you'll know who to blame.

[Aseahawkfan]

I wouldn't mind seeing Woo start in the bullpen. Ge Woo some innings to build him back up if we make the World Series.

[River Dog]

I wouldn't mind seeing Woo start in the bullpen. Ge Woo some innings to build him back up if we make the World Series.

I was thinking the same thing. Let him work in a long relief situation at the start of an inning or when the bases are empty, so he doesn't get thrown to the wolves right off the bat. But I've come to trust Dan Wilson's judgement, so I'm good with whatever he decides.

Here's some more info on Woo's status:

"All reports have been good, as we had expected, and (he) continues to make his progression,” Wilson said. “Obviously, the live (at-bats Monday) was a big step for him. He felt pretty good yesterday. I think he’s going to get out and throw a little bit today. Getting him back, one of the guys that has really led this staff this year, obviously, will be huge for us, whatever that looks like as we get into the later part of this series. But getting him back and getting him healthy is the key.”

Woo has recently hit a couple of important benchmarks as he works his way back from the pec injury. He threw a bullpen session prior to Seattle’s ALDS Game 5 win Friday, and Monday he tossed a live batting practice to Mariners hitters before Game 2 of the ALCS in Toronto.

“The live went great. I think just slowly trying to build over the last couple weeks, like I said, do it the right way,” Woo said Tuesday. “Obviously, frustrating not being out there, but everything looks good, feels good so far. I’ll be ready to go whenever my name gets called.”

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/mlb/seat ... j3CgSVl72g

[Rambo2014]

WOW Congrats!!!! You guys got yourself a team!

Word to Remember, However

DODGERS

[River Dog]

This is a dual-purpose post, first, if you haven't already heard, to advise you folks of some good news about Bryan Woo:

“It felt good to get back out and be on the mound again,” Woo said. “All positives.”

If Woo bounces back positively from the live BP, the Mariners will turn to him in ALCS Game 5 on Friday, sources with knowledge of the club’s plans told MLB.com. But he’d be on an abbreviated pitch count, likely around 50.

https://www.mlb.com/news/bryan-woo-thro ... lcs-return

And secondly, it bumps Ramblow's post down a peg.

[Aseahawkfan]

Well, Game 3 is going to the Blue Jays barring an insane comeback. Did not expect Kirby to get rocked like that.

[Stream Hawk]

Right? Although apparently, Kirby got rocked a lot by the Blue Jays in the regular season. Unfortunately, so did Castillo. Jays are a team of very good baseball players so we weren’t going to sweep them. I still have a weird good feeling this resilient team will come back tomorrow and make it a 3-1 series.

[Aseahawkfan]

Glad Riverdog is going to Game 4 and not this one. This would have been depressing to watch.

[Vegaseahawk]

Well, that wasn't fun. For a ballpark that's supposed to be difficult to hit home runs out of, the Blue Jay's didn't seem to have any problems doing so. I've only seen Kirby get shelled like that once before this season, I think it was in Tampa in early September. When you're a strike pitcher who is not on top of that fine line of control, those middle of the plate servings are going to bite you in the ass. On to game 4.

[Aseahawkfan]

That was fun while it lasted. Thus why I don't get excited until the last game of the World Series is played and won. Ms always disappoint. Now they're getting lapped and their best pitchers can't stop the opponent.

[Aseahawkfan]

The Mariners are putting up a fight today. Let's hope they win it so we can at least push this to a game 7 minimum.

Uncharted territory. Game 7 minimum. One game from the World Series. Stay stoic until they get there.

[Stream Hawk]

So were the two biggest Mariner HRs in their history? Cal’s to tie Geno’s for the rye bread. Closest we’ve ever been to the WS. Recency bias aside, the moment says so.

[Aseahawkfan]

Now we know that winning means facing the Dodgers, the monster built by money with the Japanese Babe Ruth. That will take a miracle to win. I guess I'll be excited if the Ms can make the World Series as winning against the Dodges is a hard mountain to climb.

[River Dog]

Boy, how quickly the game can change. After losing two in a row by wide margins then trailing by a run going into the bottom of the 8th, I was pretty upset and decided to go take a shower prior to my evening glass of wine. When I returned, Geno had just hit his grand slam, and we were suddenly 3 outs away from going up 3-2.

I was surprised to see Wilson take Miller out as early as he did, but he must have known what he was doing. And although he gave up the tying run, it was nice to see Woo get some work. We also got out of the game without overly stressing our bullpen. They have yet to name a starter for Game 6, but my guess would be that Logan Gilbert will get the call. I saw a stat where in a 7 game playoff series, which includes the World Series, that when the series is tied at 2-2, the winner of Game 5 goes on to with the series 69% of the time. After watching this series, knowing that doesn't do much to curb my anxiety. I don't know what to expect Sunday night.

As far as my going to Game 4 was concerned, it was great except that the wrong team won. It cost me $350 per ticket to sit in the left field bleachers, the most I've ever paid for the price of admission of any event in my life. I'm sure that the price was driven up by all those Blue Jays fans in BC, which represented about 15% or so of the crowd last Friday. It was far from being considered a takeover, but you could definitely hear them when the Blue Jays scored.

[Aseahawkfan]

It all comes down to game 7 for a pennant. I hope they can pull it off.

[Stream Hawk]

How do you feel about game 7? I don’t feel great because every loss we just look lost at the plate. I’ve heard murmurs that Kirby will start. So normally I’d be stoked, but he got destroyed when it counted in game 3 at home. And yet, who knows maybe we’ll finally land those clutch hits/hrs with RISP and actually pull it off.

Tomorrow will be absolutely bat s*** crazy evening regardless coinciding with Hawks on Monday Night Football.

[Aseahawkfan]

This is all new territory. So I'm enjoying it. No one expects the Mariners to win after decades of futility. Tomorrow we see if the storybook year goes on or ends. I hope our guys can step up and make it a game all the way to the 9th. I'd hate to have it over early wit a lop-sided score. I want to see them show some fight and make it a game where they give themselves a great shot when the 9th inning comes around.

[River Dog]

One of the problems this team has is that we're dependent on the long ball for scoring. We don't manufacture runs without a hit: Walk, steal second, bunt them to third, score on a sacrifice fly or ground out. You don't want to sacrifice potential runners that can be on base when one of our guys hits it out, play for the 3-run homer.

This past month has been a roller coaster ride for my emotions. I honestly don't know what to expect. At one point, I'll think that we're on the cusp of the World Series, the next I'm down in the dumps. George Kirby gets the start tonight, and he's been inconsistent, got pounded in his last outing against the Jays, so the smart money should be put on Toronto.

We really needed Woo during this series. All we needed was one good game from him.

[Stream Hawk]

I agree, it has been a roller coaster for emotions. I also don’t really know what to expect. I want to see some fight. I did hear that Woo is available, as are all pitchers.

[Aseahawkfan]

Well, they gave themselves a chance. That's all you can ask for. It was unexpectedly good season given the ownership won't pay for the bats. A bit of a slap in the face that Woo gave up runs in short relief when we kept hoping this guy would come back to shore up the starting staff.

Oh well. I guess we'll see if Toronto can challenge the dark power that is the Dodgers and their 268 million payroll and 350 million shadow payroll with the Japanese Babe Ruth.

Good luck to Toronto. It was a hell of a series and they managed to be the last man standing.

[River Dog]

Yeah, it sucks. It was fun while it lasted.

We are too dependent on home runs for our offense. We can't get a hit, or even a fly ball, with runners in scoring position.

[Rambo2014]

DODGERS and RAMS

Bandwagon taking applicants

[trents]

Yeah, it sucks. It was fun while it lasted.

We are too dependent on home runs for our offense. We can't get a hit, or even a fly ball, with runners in scoring position.

This was the major problem. The minor problem was Brian Woo's untimely injury. He was the de facto ace of the staff this year. Had he been healthy and able to start games the outcome might have been different in such a close series.

[Aseahawkfan]

Seems they're trying to blame Dan Wilson's pitching decisions. I don't fault anyone. It's hard to get to a World Series and win it, especially in a league with such payroll disparities.

We made a little progress. Maybe ownership will try to keep the pitchers together and buy some more bats to make a run when they see how good this team is. Best Marines team we've had in a while. Some money spent would maybe push them to at least a few years of playoff competition.

[River Dog]

Seems they're trying to blame Dan Wilson's pitching decisions. I don't fault anyone. It's hard to get to a World Series and win it, especially in a league with such payroll disparities.

We made a little progress. Maybe ownership will try to keep the pitchers together and buy some more bats to make a run when they see how good this team is. Best Marines team we've had in a while. Some money spent would maybe push them to at least a few years of playoff competition.

I don't blame Wilson, either. I personally would have let Woo go another inning, but I'm not in the dugout.

The real baseball story is Shohei Ohtani. The guy is amazing, pitched 6+ shutout innings and hit 3 home runs, none of them of the cheap Green Monster type of pop-ups. He's doing things that no other player in the history of the game has come even close to having done, the closest being Babe Ruth.

[Aseahawkfan]

I don't blame Wilson, either. I personally would have let Woo go another inning, but I'm not in the dugout.

The real baseball story is Shohei Ohtani. The guy is amazing, pitched 6+ shutout innings and hit 3 home runs, none of them of the cheap Green Monster type of pop-ups. He's doing things that no other player in the history of the game has come even close to having done, the closest being Babe Ruth.

Ohtani is doing some crazy stuff that I've only heard attributed to the Babe. Never thought we would see a player like that again, but here we are.

[Aseahawkfan]

My bad. Cal won MLB Player of the Year, not MVP.

[burrrton]

Said it before: I don't relish accolades for my team's players. I relish their performance deserving it (and Cal's sure as h3ll did!), but all I see is a player becoming tougher to sign.

Congrats, Cal- hope we can afford to keep you around!

[edit]

I can't seem to find any articles mentioning it...

[NorthHawk]

Said it before: I don't relish accolades for my team's players. I relish their performance deserving it (and Cal's sure as h3ll did!), but all I see is a player becoming tougher to sign.

Congrats, Cal- hope we can afford to keep you around!

[edit]

I can't seem to find any articles mentioning it...

According to Spotrac Cal Raleigh is signed through 2030 with 2031 being a conditional year where either side can opt out.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id ... al-raleigh

[Stream Hawk]

Yeah, Cal fired evil agent Scott Boris right before the season and then signed a long-term contract. It must have been a good omen, I guess!

[burrrton]

According to Spotrac Cal Raleigh is signed through 2030 with 2031 being a conditional year where either side can opt out.

https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/player/_/id ... al-raleigh

Ah- great news. Thanks.