Moose On The Loose: Ms-Yanks Gamer II

“We just can’t win one out of five games, every time Wang pitches. It’s not going to work. It’s not a good win percentage. Starting pitching is where it’s at, especially in the postseason. At this point, we’ll see if we even make the postseason.” - Hank Steinbrenner, unmotivational speaker.

Enough of that musty claptrap. How about that performance by Wang? Magnificent. Mike Mussina squares off against Felix Hernandez today at the Stadium. Moose has been solid in his last two outings, while King Felix has dominated all season except for his last start against Oakland. MLB hates me 'cause I won't pony up to watch non-FOX games on Saturday. Pure evil, this blackout thing. Lineups follow, comment away.

Seattle
I. Suzuki cf	.273
M. Cairo 2b	.000
R. Ibanez lf	.294
A. Beltre 3b	.283
J. Clement dh	.167
R. Sexson 1b	.223
K. Johjima c	.175
W. Balentien rf	.182
Y. Betancourt ss	.290
F. Hernandez	2.22
NY Yankees
J. Damon lf	.275
D. Jeter ss	.275
B. Abreu rf	.284
H. Matsui dh	.313
J. Giambi 1b	.160
M. Cabrera cf	.284
R. Cano 2b	.155
M. Ensberg 3b	.235
J. Molina c	.218
M. Mussina	4.73

Comments

[Sam-YF]

another first inning run for the yankees. Lets hope they can build on today....

[Nick -YF]

nice beginning against King Felix, who has been great this seasonj. A Damon double is followed by a Jeter grounder which gets him to third. Then Abreu lines an RBI single to center. Hideki is at bat. Abreu steals a base. 2-2 count.

[Nick -YF]

Hideki k's on a 3-2 pitch.

[Dionysus]

YES guys are right: Weirdest K call ever.

[Nick -YF]

Giambi: out again.

[Dionysus]

YES guys are wrong: Wins and Losses are a INCREDIBLY IGNORANT way of judging pitchers

[Sam-YF]

its really time to start sitting Giambi more. I want to see the youth in the lineup. Alberto and shelly have earned at least a few more regular ABs

[Nick -YF]

crap, my cable is messing up and the YES network is all choppy. WTF!

[walein]

going to a full count on Richie Sexson is a tough thing to do.

[walein]

Sexson flies out to "deep left" according to Yahoo. I'm at work and our computers can't be upgraded in flash and so I can't even watch gameday.

[Sam-YF]

Dio - Citing W/L records is basically standard for all announcers. They dont tell everything but they tell a little bit of the story. I personally dont look at them but for the casual fan they are meaningful.

[Sam-YF]

Great AB for Cano. First pitch swinging, grounds out weakly to SS...

[Dionysus]

Sam-YF, I know that... I just dream of a fantasy world where announcers dont talk about W/L for pitchers. Also, when I was at Citizens BAnk Park last night, I wished for a world were OBP and Slugging were displayed on the scoreboard for a player. If I don't know the team well (and who does know the Giants) how am I supposed to know anything about a player?!

Someday... someday

[walein]

After pushing up Felix's pitch count, the Yankees give him just an 8 pitch second inning.

[Dionysus]

Wow, Moose almost got him. I thought he had absolutely no chance in hell.

[walein]

There is very little to know about the Giants these days, Dionysus. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez...Fred Lewis is hitting way out fo his head...Aaron Rowand is inexplicably batting 5th in a lineup where he is the best hitter.

[Dionysus]

Wow. Check out the crazy uniforms Washington and Pittsburgh are wearing.

What teh heck is that about? I cant find anythign on either team's mlb site.

[walein]

Are they throw back unis?

[walein]

2 out hits and runs...The worst emotion for a fan.

[Dionysus]

Kinda walein, old schoolish, but BOTH teams uniforms read "Grays" across the front.

[Dionysus]

Ah. Apparently the Homestead Grays are an old Negro League team. Perhaps its related to that.

[Dionysus]

Damon apparently owns Felix. However if Ichiro was playing deeper he may have tracked it down.

[walein]

Damon and Jeter putting something together.

[walein]

Oh..."The Grays" were/are a famous Negro Leagues team.

[walein]

They had Josh Gibson.

[Dionysus]

Mariners about to start their comedy of errors routine again

[Sam-YF]

Still weird to see Mel Stotlemeyer in a different jersey...

[Dionysus]

AGAIN! Seriously.. Seattle has the worst defense I've ever seen in my life.

[Sam-YF]

the offensive black hole known as morgan ensberg leaves the bases juiced. Yanks take a 4-1 lead though....

[walein]

I think the problem for Ensberg is that he doesn't have the same "juice" he had a couple of years ago. [wink wink nudge nudge]

[Dionysus]

The problem with Seattle is that tehy have all this amazing pitching and no offense and no defense. Its sad. King Felix and Bedard? Wasted.

[Nick -YF]

I thought Seattle was supposed to have a particularly strong infield defense with Beltre leading the way. No?

DP for Moose! Nice!

[Dionysus]

Wow the Mariners are the suck.

Well, I'm off. OI have to ruin a few errands.

[YF]

I can't watch today, but i see here Cano made another first pitch out. That's 20 thus far. I assume that's some kind of record pace (maybe i'll look this up for a post.) By way of contrast, Abreu has 2.

[Atheose]

Moose is getting hit a lot, but he's getting a lot of ground balls to get himself out of trouble. Not walking anyone is also a plus.

Wow, and he strikes out the side in the 6th. Way to suck, Mariners.

[sf rod]

7 errors in 12 innings of baseball for the mariners. it's a travesty the AL west has only 4 teams. every year the angels are billed as an elite team only to play 3 playoff games and go home.

[walein]

Yay Moose!

[Atheose]

I hate Johnny Damon

[Atheose]

sf rod, I'd love to see 2 more teams added to the American League to help balance things out some. (You can't add just one because then things will be uneven). That would also make it 16 teams in each league, which would make inter-league play easier to manage.

Las Vegas has been trying to get a sports team (NBA or MLB preferably) for years now. Even if the team sucks at first it'll get a ton of revenue from all the tourists, since there are more in Vegas than in any other city in the country. Salt Lake City and San Antonio would be other good choices.

[Atheose]

Also, if there were 16 teams in each division they could break it up into 4 divisions, and give each division a playoff spot plus 2 wildcards, like in the NFL. The leagues could look something like this:

American League:
AL EAST:
-Baltimore Orioles
-New York Yankees
-Boston Red Sox
-Toronto Blue Jays
AL SOUTH:
-Tampa Bay Rays
-Texas Rangers
-Kansas City Royals
-Expansion Team (San Antonio/New Orleans?)
AL NORTH:
-Cleveland Indians
-Chicago White Sox
-Minnesota Twins
-Detroit Tigers
AL WEST:
-Seattle Mariners
-Oakland Athletics
-Los Angeles Angels
-Expansion Team (Las Vegas?)

National League
NL EAST:
-New York Mets
-Philadelphia Phillies
-Washington Nationals
-Pittsburgh Pirates
NL SOUTH:
-Florida Marlins
-Atlanta Braves
-Houston Astros
-St. Louis Cardinals
NL NORTH:
-Cincinnati Reds
-Chicago Cubs
-Milwaukee Brewers
-Colorado Rockies
NL WEST:
-San Francisco Giants
-Los Angeles Dodgers
-San Diego Padres
-Arizona Diamondbacks

[Atheose]

Obviously there are problems (Tampa Bay, Texas AND Kansas City in the same division? Worst division EVER) but it would be nice having two extra teams in the playoffs. Us Yankees/Red Sox fans take it for granted, but baseball has the lowest percentage of teams in the playoffs out of all the major sports. (MLB: 8/30 = 26.7%, NBA = 16/30 = 53.3%, NFL = 12/32 = 37.5%, NHL = 16/30 = 53.3%)

[Sam-YF]

boy this team sure looks great when they win.

Conversely, lately they have looked terrible when they lose!

[Jackie (SF)]

Alternately, they could just switch the Astros from the NL Central to the AL West. Then you have eight divisions of five. It boggles my mind that MLB has 30 teams in six divisions - perfectly divisible! - and STILL can't make the math come out right.

[krueg]

Sounds/looks like it was a great game...I really hate the whole FOX Saturday baseball blackout thing. I don't get to see many Yankees Saturday afternoon games living outside NYC. At least they won...Moose looked good I guess? Bullpen came in and shut it down.

[Atheose]

You mean 6 divisions of 5, Jackie?

The problem with this (of having 15 teams in each league) is that there's an odd number of teams, which means one team doesn't get to play at any given time. You could juggle the schedules a bit to make it not so bad, or have year-round inter-league play (which would never get approved by the National League), but it's easier to have even numbers in each league. I mean that was Bud Selig's excuse for moving the Brewers to the NL in the first place, right?