LATEST STORIES FROM TATONKA, A MARINERS BLOG
Don't get mad, get Wlad
Welcome back, Tad. And welcome back me. I posted a fair amount last season, but stopped midseason as the Mariners hit rock bottom and my interest in curling exceeded that of baseball - and the only thing I know about curling is that it's essentially goofy-looking shuffleboard on ice.I will be shocked if this team wins more than 75 games this year, hot start notwithstanding...
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April 27, 2009
Discuss
It’s Hero Time
This blog has been dark for the better part of a year.Last year's the M's mis-management team turned me off so bad that I largely lost the joy of baseball. I barely followed the playoffs, discontinued my subscription to Baseball Prospectus and came perilously close to folding a 15 year fantasy league for general lack of interest.But I like the moves Zdurenczik made this offseason...
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April 19, 2009
The Time is Right
Bryan LaHair, come on UP!Victor Diaz, come on UP!Matt Tuiasosopo, come on UP!Rob Johnson, come on UP!Ryan Feierabend, come on UP!You're the next contestants on "The Time is Right"! Ahem, Lee? Want to do something to give Armstrong and company something to think about when it comes time to evaluate your performance for the remainder of this season? How about doing...
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June 23, 2008
Blown Away!
Ready ... aim ... FIRE!Bill Bavasi and John McLaren, shown the door by the Mariners over the past few days.I actually now believe that a wholesale youth movement is on its way. And speaking for the majority of "stat geek" Mariners fans who never once believed the team was anywhere close to being as good as its 88-74 record last year, and thus by extension was nowhere near...
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June 19, 2008
Philosophy on young players
So we are fast approaching the "play the kids" portion of the season. In fact we are already there, its just a matter of when the M's braintrust wakes up and sees it.I saw this quote from Billy Beane on Athletics Nation:We think Daric is going to be a great major league hitter and we just have to exercise patience. If a time comes that we feel that a young player needs...
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May 27, 2008
Winnin' yoo-glee
I went to my first M's game last night, and although I sat in the third deck overlooking left field, enjoyed watching Bedard pitch. He wasn't overpowering (the gun showed his fastball to be in the 89-92 range), but he seemed to keep the A's hitters off-balance all night long. His line was good: 6 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 4 K's, 4 BB's, albeit against a lineup...
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April 27, 2008
What's at Stake? The Lineup
Absolutely fucking nothing. This is the lineup:1B - Sexson2b - LopezSS - Betancourt3b - BeltreC - JohjimaLF - IbanezCF - IchiroRF - WilkersonDH - VidroDoes that look like the lineup of a pennant winner to you? I suppose that if Lopez struggles they could start Bloomquist, but instead of signing a re...
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April 21, 2008
45 or 6-2-4
I've discussed this before, but in the absolute sense, is strong pitching enough to overcome weak hitting on a baseball team?Through the first 11 games of the year, prized #1 starter Eric Bedard has performed fairly well in his first two starts: 1-0, 3.27, 10 K's in 11 IP. His control h...
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April 20, 2008
Ahhhh, 161-1, anybody?
And the optimism is tempered a bit. M's blow a won game on Felix's watch. Yikes.And to make matters worse, J.J. Putz is felled by an injury I can't even pronounce.We're seeing exciting baseball, to be sure, but I'm not very reassured that its exciting baseball involving a really, really bad team. (Th...
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April 20, 2008
Snow!
In April. What the hell?I am a huge fan of DirecTV. Way better than cable. Unless it snows. Then you miss a tremendously exciting early season game with first place on the line.Grrrrr!
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April 19, 2008
Felix is fun!
There was nothing that was not fun about last night's performance from Felix. The way he pitches, his enthusiasm, his interaction with his teammates. Just awesome.And that wasn't even on of his best performances! He had 7 flyballs and only 8 K's. Super Felix is a ground ball/strikeout machine.Fun!
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April 17, 2008
Things we've learned after two weeks
1. Eric O'Flaherty has some issues right now. Normally, I'm in the he'll be fine, keep rolling him out there camp, but he is really struggling. Expect him to get sent down today.2. Mike Morse cannot play the outfield. He's really, really bad. When you end up injuring yourself trying to make a reasonably simple dive, well, you may not be in the right position.3. The...
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April 14, 2008
Towel, part deux
2-5. If you go 2-5 at some point in May it is no big deal. 2-5 to open the season just feels worse somehow. I also contend strongly that late inning losses are bad for a team's morale. Although I tend to discount chemistry type arguments, I do think that a series of bullpen blows can lead to the rest of the team trying to "do to much" to win games on every swing, every...
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April 08, 2008
Too early to start looking for the towel?
So, we're at the end of week one. Putz is hurt, Big Sexy still can't hit, and we've swung from last to first in the division in a matter of a couple of games.Sure, sure. It's too early to panic. (Well--not really. After all, this is just what we expected, right?) "Last place" is a mere 1.5 games behind the Angels, and I'm strangely comfortable with that...
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April 06, 2008
A rented mule
Ever heard the taunt I'm going to beat you like a rented mule? Wikipedia attributes that bit of slang lexicon to Mickey Redmond, a former NHL player and current Detroit Red Wings color commentator. It's my current pet phrase. I'm a fair ping pong player, and prior to most of my recent string of victories over a friend of mine, I've frequently loudly employed it...
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April 03, 2008
162-0 still in sight....
There's nothing like winning the opener in an exciting game. I'm going to ignore all the warning signs here, and just cheer on the M's.One down, 161 to go.
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March 31, 2008
Opening Day, woot!
Well, if we ignore that two-game set in Japan last week anyway.The M's retain all 162 opportunities to win games at this point. No yelling at Mac for stupid manager tricks. No bemoaning the sorcerers of roster construction (we'd just be adding to the din anyway). Not even any of my bad-natured critiques of Wee Willie Bloomquist.Just freshly-mown grass, a baseball, some leather...
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March 30, 2008
Spring Training Battles - Update
As ST winds down, here's where the battles we outlined in our What's at Stake series stand.BenchBackup catcher: Clement and Johnson are back in Tacoma, and Burke wins the job as predicted.Backup OF: Jimerson, Reed and Morse are all still alive. Morse has hit the snot out of the ball (.519 BA, 788 SLG) while Jimerson has not and Reed has shown no power. Morse is still pretty...
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March 24, 2008
What's at Stake? The Bullpen
As spring training gets under way, We'll run down the position battles (such as they are) that make camp interesting. Last time we took a look at the rotation, today, the pen!We'll assume a 7 man pen, and that we have to have two lefties, because the M's are obsessed with these types of things. Putz ...
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March 18, 2008
What's at Stake: The Bench
The bench might be the most interesting of the pieces this Spring. Lots of guys fighting for just a few spots.Assuming a 12 man staff and a 9 man lineup, that leaves just 4 bench spots open. And we know Willie is getting one of those. That leaves room for a backup catcher, a backup outfielder and one more guy. On to the candidates!Backup CatcherJamie Burke - Burke hit 300 with little...
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March 06, 2008
My oh my!
The P-I is reporting, via the AP, that original Mariner Dave Niehaus is this year's winner of the Frick Award. The winner of this award gets inducted into the broadcast wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame!Way to go Dave! We here at Tatonka make no secret of our Non-Sexual Man Crush (tm Batgirl) on the ...
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February 27, 2008
What's at Stake? The Rotation
As pitchers and catchers reported this week, (Yay!) I thought we would hit the 4 main areas of the M's roster and review what jobs are up for grabs in Spring Training. Who could make the club, who could get the boot and what it would mean for the M's season coming up.We'll start off with the rotation...
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February 27, 2008
Now it Really is Done
The world's longest trade is finally done. Officially it is Bedard for Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Tony Butler, and Kam Mickolio.In general I am not as down on this trade as some in the blogosphere. I am disappointed that we are losing Adam Jones. The price also seems a little high, e...
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February 15, 2008
What my diffenbachia thinks about the M's
Yeah! We're only one game out of the wildcard! In August! We should hoist Bill Bavasi and John McLaren on our leaves and march them around Seattle to honor their glorious achievement! Who would have thought that could be done with only 4 years and an enormous payroll? All Hail Bavasi!Whoo hoo! Seattl...
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February 10, 2008
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