Thursday, May 17, 2007 |
Pickoff Moves
The Whole Rotation: Angels 5, Mariners 0
Cha Seung Baek threw a six-hitter Wednesday for the first complete game of his career as Seattle throttled Detroit 9-2.Just so, Cha Seung Baek didn't have a strong outing; he's primarily a junkball pitcher who lacks velocity since his 2003 Tommy John surgery. (Don't quote me on the year, I'm going by what Baseball America said in their 2004 Prospect Handbook, and it didn't mention a time.) Baek actually posted a quality start plus, giving up three earned runs while going six and a third, but his situation essentially shows the kinds of trouble the Mariners are in this year. With the third-worst offense in the league, and a starting rotation that's allowed the fourth most runs, well, trouble ensues.
He struck out four and walked none in moving to 1-0, 5.40 for the season. Baek has alternated good starts with bad ones this season, so you'll want him inactive next time out should the pattern continue.— Rotoworld
That trouble begins with Baek, whose 5.16 ERA now ranks him third among M's starters; the gap between him and old friend Jarrod Washburn (current owner of a surprising 2.64 ERA) is enormous. Outside of Ervin Santana, the Angels don't have a single starter whose ERA is above 4.00.
All of which is to say that yesterday played out about as expected; Lackey mowed down a relatively popless offense, while Baek performed fairly well against the Angels' "only power we know is Vlad and going first-to-third" lineup. Eric O'Flaherty, a lefty rocketed through the Mariners' system over the last couple of years, got creamed on the shoals the Baseball Prospectus analysts figured he would when they wrote that "he could probably use a little more time in the minors to practice trying to retire the right-handed batters that even the most dedicated of lefty specialists must sometimes face." Righties are currently hitting .273/.304/.318 against him, and both switch-hitting batters got on board, Chone Figgins by a walk, and Reggie Willits by means of an RBI single. Chris Reitsma came in to try and restore order, but the opposite happened: with that much speed on the basepaths, you just knew Mike Scioscia was destined to try for a double steal, and so he did, successfully. Orlando Cabrera made the move pay off, cashing both in on another RBI single.
Meanwhile, John Lackey got into only one really bad scrape all night, aside from getting nailed by a Kenji Johjima line drive single in the fifth. He intentionally loaded the bases to avoid Angel-killer Raul Ibanez in the sixth, so when Richie Sexson grounded into a fielder's choice at third, the ball went home. Satisfyingly, Lackey struck out bad boy Jose Guillen to end the frame and the threat.
Mike Napoli extended his hitting streak to seven games; he's dragged his average up to .221, and if he can start hitting for a little more power, the calls for his head at Halos Heaven might slow down a bit (but he's still gotta work on throwing out baserunners). Casey Kotchman's hitting .258 with no power still, and Shea Hillenbrand and his pointless bat continue to clutter up the lineup as well. It makes you wonder why they even bothered to call up Kendry Morales.
Betebat: Dodgers 5, Cardinals 4
Wilson Betemit's three-run blast made all the difference, but here's a question for you: is this the best the Dodgers can do at third? Andy LaRoche is hitless in his last three games at third; the fact that he's had four times the number of walks as strikeouts is a nice plus, but an unexpected one and a situation I wouldn't expect to last. Aw, hell, don't look gift horses in the mouth. Or something. It's the first time the Dodgers have won back-to-back games against the Cards in three years. Woot.Roster Notes
- Jason Schmidt continues to work on his rehab but has no definite timetable for return, something that's "weeks away" according to Ken Gurnick.
- Tim Brown, now at Yahoo Sports, says that Rafael Furcal is swinging "a magic wand" with his recent swagger at the plate. He's 14 for his last 16.
- Jered Weaver will get to see lefty Wilson Betemit as DH when his rotation slot comes up on Saturday night. Left-handed batters are hitting .356 off Weaver. Olmedo Saenz will take the DH slot the other two games.
- Marlon Arias, who threw a complete game no-hitter for Inland Empire last week, left Tuesday's game early with a sore shoulder.
- Garret Anderson has no timetable for his return.
- Sammy Sosa hit home run number 597; he'll likely clear 600 very, very soon, as he's always been a very streaky hitter.
Steve Henson, J.A. Adande Gone From The Times?
Via SOSG, that's what it looks like according to LA Observed. Henson (unconfirmed) and Adande will be taking the buyout rather than staying on after the TribCo changes hands.Labels: angels, dodgers, times
p.s. henson and adande are gone, but plaschke's still around. what kind of bizarro world do we live in.
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