A Couple Quick Game Notes

by ~ September 24th, 2009 at 9:35 pm

Three run homer and some sloppy defensive play aside, that was one of the more enjoyable Felix Hernandez starts I’ve ever witnessed.  His fastball was electric, his curveball was straight out of Looney Tunes and his power changeup was as good as it’s ever been.  He even threw a couple “mistake” sliders that looked like something out of Phillippe Aumont’s playbook.  Felix has racked up the Ks all year, but he’s still been a pitch to contact groundballer.  Today he replaced some of that contact with a few more swings and misses en route to 11 strikeouts.  I think it’s safe to say that Felix’s eyes are on that Cy Young award.  DO NOT miss his next two starts.

Matt Tuiasosopo, as you know, is inexperienced at second base and tonight it showed.  Tonight was the first time we’ve been able to see him make a double play turn with the running on top of him and it wasn’t pretty.  I get the impression that several around the blogosphere think the “experiment” is a big joke, but I genuinely think Tui is better suited for second than third.  Once he gets his footwork on those scary turns figured out I think he can be very solid over there.  As far as the errant flip, there is no defense for that.  Mulligan!

I’m getting extremely sick of watching Bill Hall jog around the baseball field.  If he was thrown out on that close play at the plate I would have driven my head through the TV.  I don’t really care if he has a sore quad; this is getting ridiculous.  And speaking of Hall’s slow-mo running, why is he allowed to remain in left field in a one run game with Ryan Langerhans on the bench?  Agh! [Edit: Apparently Langerhans is hurt. I must have missed that. Someone fill me in?]

It would appear that hitting coach Alan Cockrell is converting more players to the open stance each day.  If it helps, cool.  But for some reason the open stance has always bugged me.

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  • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

    I think that way too many people in the blog-o-sphere have a tendency to look at a player and judge them with the best at their position, and that just isn’t fair. Tui, in my mind, has the possibility of being an above average second baseman if given the opportunity. The only area where he needs work is in the turning of the doubleplay. As far as fielding the position, his athleticism allows him to be at the very least adequate. He’s not the fastest guy out there, but he seems to have a very good first step, and that’s really important.

    The open batting stance bugs me, but I understand the reasoning behind it. Everyone is either left or right handed. Same with their feet. Interestingly, we are also left or right sighted. Everyone has an eye that is stronger or more acute then the other. Normally, right handed people are also right eyed. In a traditional batting stance your strong eye is further back, putting it at a bit of a disadvantage. By opening up the stance you bring your “power eye” more into play and you see the ball better.

    Years ago I was heavily into fastpitch softball. I played in several leagues at the same time and enjoyed it very much. One year I decided to become a switch hitter, and in the process discovered the truth of the eyedness. I was seeing the ball much better and tended to hit more linedrives. I didn’t have the power that I did when I batted from the right side, but my average went way up.

    What I don’t care for with the open stance is that it incorporates more moving parts than in a traditional stance. The moving parts of an open stance are long, and are no doubt are hard to time.

    I watched Saunders new approach and came away with a couple of things. One is that he is using an open stance (obviously), but more importantly Cockrell has taken some of the loopiness out of his swing.

    Lonnie

    • http://proballnw.com Jon Shields

      That is the common defense for the open stance, but every stance is closed at some point anyway. That’s what I don’t get.

      A lot of players swear by the open stance, so I’m not about to say it’s pointless. But if they want to square up their right eye a little better, all they have to do is turn their head rather than their whole body.

      I’m left eye dominate and a righty though…

      • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

        If you turn your head more to square up your power-eye you then have to bring your head back around with the pitch. This leads, I’m sure, to just too much head movement.

        I’m righty-righty-lefty (hand, eye, and foot) btw.

        Lonnie

        • Slurve

          I’m freaking blind and have to use RR-S specs whenever I play…

        • http://proballnw.com Jon Shields

          You do everything righty but kick lefty? I have a buddy like that but it’s still strange to me.

          • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

            I remember when I was a kid playing kickball and having a hard time settling on which foot to kick with. I wanted to be like everyone else and kick with my right leg, but it felt odd. Once I said screw it and went left-footed the universe alligned and all was right… or left, as in this matter.

            :)

            Lonnie

          • Slurve

            I have to hit left handed in tennis. And I’m RH in everything else.

        • http://proballnw.com Dustin Shires

          That’s funny, because I’m left-left-right.

  • MarinerMan6

    I think the problem with Tui at 2B is he lacks the lateral range to be effective there. Whereas at 3B he has good hands and reaction time which are paramount at that position. Some guys can play both positions we but they require slightly different skill sets. 3B is reaction oriented and also you need a strong arm. At 2B you can have a weaker arm and reaction time is not that important but range is very important. This is part of the reason why many want to move Lopez to 3B because he moves like a beluga whale laterally but does have every good hands. All this being said I still prefer Tui at 3B and Lopez at 2B unless another better option becomes available.

    One final note, Felix is awesome.

    • http://www.marinercentral.com Lonnie

      I think that until we see Tui spend some quality/quality time at 2nd base we shouldn’t consider it a wasted move. I think Tui might prove to be adequate defensively and above average offensively for a second-sacker. At worst we wouldn’t be any worse off than we are right now with Lopez at 2nd.

      Lonnie

    • http://proballnw.com Jon Shields

      I don’t agree that Tui has good hands and reaction time at 3B. There is a reason he’s been described as a butcher over there for the last few seasons. At 2B he can play deep and use his strong arm to make up the difference, much like Lopez. But he’s more athletic than Lopez with more lateral range. At least it appears that he does so far.