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Saturday, August 18, 2012
BBC Sport 8/18/2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/ BBC Sport
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ UK Telegraph
Enjoy the Season Mark Alan Janisch WWS
twitter@wideworldofspor
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ UK Telegraph
Enjoy the Season Mark Alan Janisch WWS
twitter@wideworldofspor
Thursday, August 16, 2012
ESPN 710 Seattle Shannon Drayer Hernandez Perfect game
By Shannon Drayer
Listen to Felix Hernandez on the field following his perfect game.
Franklin Gutierrez talks about witnessing perfection from his best friend.
We witnessed something special Wednesday. We knew it was coming, sometime; Felix Hernandez is just too good. In truth, he has been unhittable on many occasions but sometimes a bat finds ball due to blind luck. Wednesday, under a perfect blue sky, Felix gave us something that we will never forget. He bypassed the no-hitter and went straight to perfection. Twenty-seven up, twenty-seven down, not one with any shot at doing any damage. Felix was in command start to finish.
We felt it early. In the broadcast booth, without saying the words there was talk we could be watching history. It wasn't the first time, but this was something different. As the game went on, I became less nervous that we would see someone break through. This was Felix's game. John Jaso said his breaking pitches were impossible to hit. Jesus Montero, in the past, has called the changeup the "invisible pitch." Felix had them all today.
I decided to go down to the camera well for the walk off interview an inning early. I wanted to see it up close. Felix got out to the hill quickly for him in both the eighth and ninth innings. He wanted the ball. He wanted to throw the next pitch. He was calm and collected on the mound. He wasn't breathing hard and he didn't look like he was fighting any emotions.
I thought of his debut in Detroit and attempting to interview him the next day. I thought about him showing up at the pre-spring training press conference in 2007 leaner and interview ready. His English had improved remarkably and he was just as proud of that as he was his new physique. He was growing up. I am not sure when exactly he went from kid to King, but it wasn't a surprise. The beautiful part is the kid is still in there. He has great balance on the field and off.
Felix finished the eighth inning with an at bat that I watched with fascination. Carlos Pena came to the plate having watched Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist strikeout before him. He looked at a 95 mph fastball just out of the zone for his first pitch. At that point, he had a chance. Then came the curve. He put a good swing on but came up empty. He turned to the umpire and asked if he had swung at a strike. Pena was looking for any help, any advantage he could get with the next pitch. The problem was that next pitch could have been anything. He got the changeup. Another swing came up empty and again he turned to the umpire and again asked where the pitch was. Down 1-2 he fouled off a sinker and then Felix came back with the curve. He swung again and again found nothing but air. He was out number three of the inning, twenty four in the game and all he could do was flip his bat toward the pitching mound.
In the ninth, Felix breezed through the first two outs with Desmond Jennings, Jeff Keppinger, and Sean Rodriguez not even looking at each other as they passed on the way to the batter's box or dugout. They had nothing. Nothing that could help. Their fates were sealed before they put the bat on their shoulders. Felix made quick work of Jennings and Keppinger, then conquered his final challenge. After falling behind 2-0 to Sean Rodriguez, he threw a slider, curve and changeup, for a swing and two looks. It was over. Felix kissed his wrists to honor his son and daughter and threw his arms in the air.
Felix dutifully and pleasantly fulfilled every interview duty he had, from local TV and radio to the nationals who were standing by. He held court in the interview about 20 minutes after the game and then returned to the clubhouse to continue the celebration with his teammates, but only for a short while. About an hour after the game, he was back on the field for another MLB TV interview and he joined the grounds crew for a picture on the mound.
To the side of the field, the bases were lined up and there were buckets that would be filled with dirt from the mound. The bases, dirt, balls from the game, jerseys and pitching mound no doubt, will be saved with some of it going to the Hall of Fame. Because that's what happens on special days.
(Top photo courtesy Ted S. Warren, AP Photo)
Where were you when... | Mitch in the Morning
Where were you when... | Mitch in the Morning: Mitch in the Morning's blog postings. some of the great moments in Northwest Sports History ....................................
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
ESPN Shannon Drayer On the Alarming aspect of the Seattle Mariners 2012
By Shannon Drayer
The problem is, two of what are hoped to be some of the biggest pieces of the foundation of this team are sinking. Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley have not come through in this plan. Smoak is at Triple-A now and Ackley has shown no consistency this season. On Sunday he today he struck out for the 100th time. In fairness, there are players who have looked a lot worse than Ackley this year but my main concern is that Ackley has not looked like Ackley or what we thought he could be. What I am writing right now is really no different than what I wrote before the All-Star break about him, and therein lies the problem. He is barely surviving when we need to see him progress. Could he figure it out between now and the end of the year? Possibly, but if he doesn't, the big question is, then what?
We've covered the good and the questionable about what we have seen so far with the young Mariners this season, and as promised I will get to the alarming. But first, an unplanned detour to the encouraging.
There is actually a lot to be encouraged about, including the pitching – both starting and relief – which I am not addressing here because quite frankly I am not worried about it going forward. But two specifics I want to point out today. First, as I have said in the other posts, we are evaluating up to the here and now and allowing for the fact that things could change for better or for worse. I think we are seeing better with Jesus Montero.
I had him as a question mark-plus, but if he continues on the path he has taken since the All-Star break he will be a solid good heading into next year regardless of whether or not he catches much. A quick reminder: "good" is relative in these posts. Someone complained in a comment that the players were nothing better than mediocre and that very well may be at this point, but baseball teams are made up of average to average-plus players and the players I am talking about are still developing.
I am not saying they are good compared to a Mike Trout; I am saying that I have reasonable confidence they are on a good path that will help establish them as a legitimate major leaguer in the near future. That's what the Mariners are trying to figure out here. I think most of you understand that but it was clear that some didn't, so there you go.
Back to Montero. I think we kind of all expected a masher, a guy who was ready to tear the cover off the ball on a regular basis when in truth what we got was a very young guy (22 years old, and a young 22 at that) with a good idea of hitting who has struggled for long periods of time as the league figures him out. While he has been one of the best in the league against left handers, he has been near dead last against righties. That may be changing. He had four more hits off righties this weekend including two home runs against Jered Weaver. A week ago he had 46 hits against righties. He now has 58. This is certainly progress in the right direction.
The other piece of encouraging comes from the two wins at Anaheim which pull the Mariners' record against the AL West to 17-19, just four wins shy of their win total against the division last year with 18 to play. They appear to have made progress against what is a tougher division this year. Want more encouraging news? They are just four games under .500 at home. If home and division numbers continue to move in this direction I would say that is something.
On to the alarming.
When the Mariners made the decision to play the kids, an enormous number of kids (and for those of you who don't like the term "kids" get over it. They are kids in baseball), I never for a minute believed that they would all pan out. It just doesn't work that way in baseball. Different guys have different timelines and some don't ever make the transition from Triple-A to the bigs. You don't know until you play them and usually kids are brought in carefully, surrounded by veterans, protected by managers who can keep them away from tougher pitchers and play them a bit less in their first year.
That is not how the Mariners chose to do things. They were all thrown into the fire. They got the experience but not the protection. Some have survived, a couple may blossom and some are sinking. All to be expected.
 A move to the outfield might be best for Dustin Ackley, who hasn't always looked comfortable at second base. (AP) |
With Smoak you don't give up on him because he is under club control but you have to be looking for other options in the offseason. With Ackley it is a little more complicated. How do you get him to where he should be? If he finishes the year at .220 with an OPS under .600 do you guarantee him a spot next year and have faith that an additional 600 at-bats will help move him along? There is no indication to show that it would.
With Ackley we have seen times this year when the swing has been a mess, when he can't cover a myriad of pitches and when he has been hesitant to pull the trigger at the plate. I have no doubt he will take it upon himself to attack all of this in the offseason, be it by himself or more likely with some help, perhaps with a hitting coach and hopefully with a strength coach. But will that be enough?
Hold that thought while we look at another area of concern: the entire outfield. While I like what Michael Saunders has done for most of this year, his recent 2-for-34 skid is pulling his numbers closer to Ackley's with even more strikeouts. If he doesn't pull out of this what is your outfield next year?
Franklin Gutierrez is under contract and as much as I would like to see him out there, can you pencil him in now and for how long? It's a little scary. With a month and a half to go I wouldn't bet my lunch tomorrow on one lock in the 2013 starting outfield.
Back to Ackley. While he has at times – and at times for long stretches – shown a nice glove at second there are other times when he has looked less than comfortable there. In talking to a few different ballplayers about the infield vs. the outfield they pointed out to me that there is a whole different intensity level in the infield and that can be particularly tough if it is a position you are not used to. It makes sense. There is no doubt you are in on every pitch and have far less time to react and more options of what to do should the ball come your way. I don't think all of this comes naturally to Ackley. It even seemed to me that he looked a bit shaky out there when Brendan Ryan was out. Is the infield wearing him down? If so, might it be better to put him in the outfield where he is more comfortable?
I have heard from various people throughout the year who say "I don't worry about Ackley." Dustin is a smart baseball player, a hitter that many think will just figure it out because he is Dustin Ackley and that's what he does. Well, he may need some help. With his swing, his approach (it is still in my mind that he told me in an interview last year that he tries to hit a home run every time he steps to the plate) and maybe in taking some of the pressure off with so many expecting him to develop into "the guy."
Make the move and send him to the outfield and you could lock down one spot right now and it might help a struggling player. It would also get another player, Kyle Seager, into his natural position. He is good at third but could be great at second. It's about putting guys in positions where they have the best shot at success. What have you got to lose at this point?
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Monday, August 13, 2012
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