2010 MLB Baseball thread..

[Montana Moe]

Mariners fire manager Don Wakamatsu.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5449647

Instead of leading Seattle to its first postseason spot since 2001, Don Wakamatsu lost games at a stunning rate.Then, the Mariners manager lost his team -- first franchise icon Ken Griffey Jr., then Chone Figgins.

Now, he's lost his job.
The last-place Mariners fired Wakamatsu on Monday, more than halfway through a season that began with a boosted roster and high hopes.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

Mariners fire manager Don Wakamatsu.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5449647

No surprise, no manager should go 40-70 with Felix and Lee to start the year in the rotation.

[metallicat]

Is that really the managers fault though? I don't pretend to know if Wakamatsu is a good manager or not, but if he doesn't have the lineup available to produce wins, can he be fully blamed for this? Maybe Seattle, like Toronto, should keep their ace pitchers and build a legitimately good team around them. Both franchises are going nowhere fast if they keep up this losing mentality.

[Sylvanfan]

The Mariners are a real yo yo team. One year they are terrible and think they need to rebuild. They go into the next year thinking they'll suck and than play over their heads and put up a decent record. Than they think they'll be contenders and add all these high priced veterans....and proceed to be a disgrace again. When a team has no continuity with it's manager though, it's prone to suck for a long time. My guess is the next guy will be gassed within two years as well.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Is that really the managers fault though? I don't pretend to know if Wakamatsu is a good manager or not, but if he doesn't have the lineup available to produce wins, can he be fully blamed for this? Maybe Seattle, like Toronto, should keep their ace pitchers and build a legitimately good team around them. Both franchises are going nowhere fast if they keep up this losing mentality.

It's not that bad of a lineup.

Opening Day was

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp...eamlb_oakmlb_1

It's not great but it's not 40-70 bad. Figgins Lopez and Kotchman aren't bad players, they succeeded in other places. With Ichiro and Figgins at the top of the order, the Mariners should have ran wild. They should each have 50 stolen bases right now.

Ichiro has 144 hits and 35 walks and only 28 stolen bases? That's not aggresive enough, especially with the great pitching of Felix, Lee and a combination of Vargas and Fister. Mariners should have been manufacturing the little runs they need to win. Give this team to a Guillen or a Scoscia and they could be .500

Plus they're in probably the easiest division in baseball. They can't be 40-70.

[Montana Moe]

Looking at their lineup, I was pegging them to be near .500, probably under.

I've watched a ton of games where the Mariners have been winning or within a run through 5-6 innings and then just melt down, though I wouldn't necessarily throw the bullpen under the bus. As girlysports alluded, the inability to manufacture runs to keep them in the game was a major issue.

With their lineup, they should have played more of a National League style.

[Jesse834]

These something I found interesting. Looking at four stats the M's are dead last in BA,HR'S, RBI'S and Hits. I don't think BA means anything as the Rays are in the middle of the pack and are 1.5 game out of first in the AL East.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Is that really the managers fault though? I don't pretend to know if Wakamatsu is a good manager or not, but if he doesn't have the lineup available to produce wins, can he be fully blamed for this? Maybe Seattle, like Toronto, should keep their ace pitchers and build a legitimately good team around them. Both franchises are going nowhere fast if they keep up this losing mentality.

Managers are a funny thing.

I honestly believe Cito is one of the best managers in baseball (although he makes some boneheaded choices sometimes). I think his ability to see if pitchers are tipping and his ability to motive the players trumps all of that. Baseball is such a mental game, especially for a grind of 700 ABs.

If a manager can keep a player focused and believe that he is better than he is, then yeah, that helps you win ball games.

[Flickered Flame]

They made a triple play around the horn vs the A's.

[Flickered Flame]

Like Syl said the M's are such an up and down team that changes every year. The years that they are good, like last year, they really overachieved. They have no power in the lineup to speak of and really have several bench players playing every day. They have little in terms of pitching outside of Felix and they got hosed in the Lee trade imo.

[604flames]

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

Like Syl said the M's are such an up and down team that changes every year. The years that they are good, like last year, they really overachieved. They have no power in the lineup to speak of and really have several bench players playing every day. They have little in terms of pitching outside of Felix and they got hosed in the Lee trade imo.

But you can argue the fact that a few hits here and there would result in completely different records for guys like Fister and Vargas.

Agree with you on the Lee trade though.

[GirlySports]

M's traded a couple of average prospects (one of them was Aumont) for Lee and now turned him around and got a great prospect in Smoak and better prospects.

Turned out pretty good!

[Flickered Flame]

I might eat my words on this one but Smoak will be nothing great for Seattle. He will be an everyday player but he won't be a big time player.

[Jesse834]

After Phillips said all the Cardinals do is a he had words with Molina. Rolen also went after Carpenter the edge of the crowd, and the two wound up crunched against the backstop. Cueto ended up with his back against the backstop, kicking furiously to free himself from the mob. Rolen went up to Carpenter to make amends. Both managers were ejected but no players.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Jesse834

After Phillips said all the Cardinals do is a he had words with Molina just exchanged some words. Rolen also went after Carpenterear the edge of the crowd, and the two wound up crunched against the backstop. Cueto ended up with his back against the backstop, kicking furiously to free himself from the mob. Rolen went up to Carpenter to make amends. Both managers were ejected but no players.

How did

A) Molina and Phillips stay in the game?

B) Molina not get beaned his first at-bat? (he actually hit a homer)

[nickerjones]

Man , my hero , Chipper Jones... Likely out for the season with a torn knee ligament. I hope he tries one more year.. Im going to Spring training if so!!! Last time I went to spring training he hit 45 Hrs and won the NL MVP award!

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/a...=.jsp&c_id=atl

[Jesse834]

Johnny Cueto has been suspended seven games for his actions in Tuesday night tilt vs. St.Louis MLB has declared his actions "violent and aggressive actions". Both managers have also been suspended two games as well. Chris Carpenter, Yadier Monia, Brandon Phillips, and Russ Springer have been fined undisclosed amounts. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5458170

[GirlySports]

that's alot of orange

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/photos...photoId=777685

[Flickered Flame]

The O's are 9-2 since Buck Showalter took over as manage on August 3rd.

[Jesse834]

Kevin Slowey has a no hitter throw 7 innings this afternoon.