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Mark G

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Everything posted by Mark G

  1. Mark G
    Wow.......I kinda think that was my point all along. 🤭
  2. Mark G
    As much as I would love to jump on the bandwagon, and I would really love to, I just can't bring myself to get excited about beating up on teams like the A's. As of today we are 17-2 against the A's, Rockies, White Sox, and Angels.........1-16 against the Yankees, Orioles, Guardians, and Dodgers. The offense always seems to get well and have great stats against the bottom feeders, but that is expected. Right now we have a team that is the best of the rest, but not in the top tier. We will hold our own against the majority of the league, beat up the bottom of the league, and falter against the top tier of the league. What frustrates me is I can predict too many wins and too many losses before the 1st pitch is thrown. I loved the game Ober threw, and it really helped the pen. And with the day off on Monday, all hands will be on deck this afternoon, and we will take this game handily. But I am in cruise control until October, when we see the best and find out where we match up. I am also looking forward to the trade deadline to see how ownership views this team and how much it cares about its fan base. Hopefully the team will keep the pressure on Joe P. by being within striking distance. And more games like Bailey's will do just that! 😉
  3. Mark G
    I posted a thought after Wednesday's game about being concerned with the bullpen availability for Thursday's gams, as we had used our better arms a lot recently. Unfortunately, it came to fruition with the bottom half of the bullpen having to be used in critical innings. We have stayed pretty steady all year with the pen pitching approx. 40% of the innings (currently 39), and we are only so deep in quality so the lesser arms are having to pitch in tight situations more often than I, for one, would like. I know how many people are dying to remind me that this is just the way of the game today, but it doesn't make games like today any more palatable. If my public school math classes haven't failed me, we are averaging just over 5 1/3 innings a start (by 7 hundreds of a percent), and that leaves the pen having to use multiple arms virtually every game of the year. I worry about overuse, as do a lot of us, but I find it hard to complain about individual performances by individual pitchers when that is plan A year in and year out. You live by the pen, you die by the pen. We need to start investing a larger portion of payroll into the pen to make it deeper if that is the game plan. I look at the Guardians, for example: in '22 they won the division with a deep bullpen; and I mean a deep bullpen. They fell off last year, and fell out of the standings. This year their starting rotation doesn't look so hot on paper, but their pen is really solid (at least by the numbers I read), and where are they today? Does it matter how good your starters are if they are only going to go 4 - 6 innings a start? The pen wins or loses too high of a percentage of games today to go cheap on it. As the song goes, thunder's just the noise, boys, lighting does the work. Our starting rotation might have it's share of thunder, but we need to catch a little more lightning in our bullpen. Then maybe you all won't have to listen to me go on about the overuse of the bullpen. 😉
  4. Mark G
    I feel myself posting this thought over and over again, and I feel like it gets redundant sometimes, but I keep going back to the bullpen chart and asking myself who is going to be available tomorrow? Alcala and Durant have both worked back to back the last 2 games, Staumont threw 32 pitches, Sands 23 pitches, and Okert 19 pitches. That leaves Thielbar and Jax fresh, and possibly Jackson. Assuming we don't want to over use anyone at this point in the season, does that bullpen chart make anyone else a little uneasy, especially with a day game following the night game? We need SWR to go deep tomorrow..........geez, how many times have I said that, too?
  5. Mark G
    I don't mean to be........well, mean, but Farmer gets on base twice with a hit and a walk.......and gets caught stealing and picked off? 🤔 I really like the guy, but he is having a rough season. Wouldn't be so bad, but Santana stole 2nd base......SANTANA? Maybe I am missing something, but just from a box score standpoint, it looks bad. 😕
  6. Mark G
    I, as well, am hoping for a pretty lengthy start from BO; looking at the bullpen chart after they had to work 6 innings tonight, we might not have some of the arms available today. And the better ones, at that. We do seem to make hay against the bottom feeders; good thing too. A little research showed me we are 14-1 against the White Sox, the Angels, the Rockies, and the A's (so far). We are 1-16 against the Dodgers, the Yankees, the Guardians, and the Orioles. We can make up ground in the next 2 weeks if we just keep beating up the teams we should. Even after that there is no one on the horizon that we shouldn't be able to hold our own against. But the Guardians do look tough. 🫤
  7. Mark G
    Correct me if I have the gist of this article wrong, but it sounds like Miami has a group of starters that are potentially good, but injury prone and risky for that reason. They have a collection of relievers that are decent, but not as good as the ones we already have, with a couple of possible exceptions. Not sure I saw a lot of promise there. 🤔 But I can be schooled.
  8. Mark G
    Of course you would............Lou. 😉
  9. Mark G
    Sure there is; the position. How many possible all stars in the outfield is Kepler competing with, vs. how many catchers of all star caliber is Jeffers competing against? I guess I see that as a pretty big difference. But that's just me.
  10. Mark G
    CC doesn't stand a chance, because MN won't have enough people voting, and the rest of the league still hates him from his Houston days. Ryan? The next 2 starts will determine a lot; let's hope for the best. Jax? Could be, depending, again, on the next few outings and finishing the stretch strong. Jeffers? My bet is he is going to go. Hopefully, not as a solo. Notice I haven't mentioned Kepler at all, and I will leave it at that. 😏
  11. Mark G
    Well, I got exactly what I wished for yesterday: a strong, deep start by Ryan, and getting to the best part of our pen in Jax and Duran........and we lost. 😕 I think from now on I am going to wish on the offensive side.......but where do I start with this bunch? 🙄 (sure would be nice to have Arraez back........sure would be nice to have Arraez back.......sure would be nice.......oh, what's the use?)
  12. Mark G
    You're right; the schedule does get much better. 16 of the next 19 games against teams below .500, with the Athletics and Rockies being 10 of them. Even Tampa doesn't scare me as much as they used to. I can see another 12 game winning streak on the horizon.............well, close maybe. 😉
  13. Mark G
    I do wish Lopez had gone a little deeper; the bullpen chart doesn't look good for tomorrow night. I would have to guess that Alcala and Staumont won't be available unless it is an emergency, and I question Sands as well (not to mention maybe Thielbar?) Yes, we have Duran and Jax itching to go, but you have to get to them to mean anything so Ryan needs a good, and deep, start. That will not only get us going tomorrow, but gear us up for the weekend. Come on, Joe!!
  14. Mark G
    If I was a betting man, I would bet a nickel that it will be one (or more) of the call ups listed at the end of the article. A trade for a proven bat would cost money, even if it was just for a third of the season, and if we were willing and/or able to spend money we already would have. If we are going to spend money at the trade deadline, it will probably be on pitching, not on an outfielder. Just my nickel's worth.
  15. Mark G
    Once again, I can only ask the question: can a bullpen continue to pitch approx. 40% of the innings pitched in a 162 game season?
  16. Mark G
    Looking at the top half of the bullpen chart makes me more nervous by the day. I don't see a way to keep up that pace of usage the last 2/3 of the season; either the starters need to start coming through deeper, or the bottom half of the pen is going to have to step up more, especially with 9 games in the next 10 games (on top of playing the last 7 days straight). Duran may be living proof of that usage worry.
  17. Mark G
    Gee.....knock off the golf swings, and your stats in almost every category go up; just your HR count drops. Don't change a thing, Max. (I say that tongue in cheek..........sort of)
  18. Mark G
    It might be as simple as the competition: White Sox and angels were 10 of the 12, then we ran into the Yankees and Guardians, then got Washington and Texas. Beat the also rans, and get beat by the front runners. I am waiting to see how we do against the Yankees again in a few days; that will be another good test.
  19. Mark G
    When players in any sport feel like they need to tell their coaches "don't go away mad..........just go away" you have to wonder if they trust themselves to hold each other accountable more than they trust the coaches. If that is the case, there is nothing good to say. If they just want to vent, and this will help them get their frustrations out and go forward, good for them. Time will tell which one is the most probable. I am hoping for the latter.
  20. Mark G
    I don't know, Castro is getting guys out in relief. 😉
  21. Mark G
    Ouch! Ouch! OUCH! That is what a 3 game sweep feels like, especially.......wait a minute.....I think I already sent this post after the Yankee series. 🤔 Well, at least we scored 8 runs this series; let's see......that makes 9 runs in the last 6 games. Hmmm.....I do believe we will sweep the Nationals! Yes! We will sweep the Nationals! We will........won't we? 🙄
  22. Mark G
    I think it is because Castro can only pitch under certain circumstances; too bad. 🫠
  23. Mark G
    The "we", Rocco, begins with ye.
  24. Mark G
    Read USA Chief......kind of says what I was thinking.
  25. Mark G
    Um........yeah.......I'm OK with that. 😏
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