Mariner Talk Chat Forum

Its obvious why Ray developed into their emergency plan. It worked when they used Kirby to Save the game in Toronto so he thought he would be cute and go back to that well again - sadly it failed the second time around. And for those asking why down the middle - as I said - I highly doubt they wanted it down the middle - that is just where Ray threw it because that is how much he's struggling right now. Its easy to second-guess now. Me personally - I would have never let Seawald pitch the 9th but if I did cause I made a mistake, lol, I would have walked the bases loaded and brought in a new righty to face Bregman. Don't care about putting the tying run on 2nd - you just don't let their best hitter get a chance to beat you - you take your chances with a much worse hitter and if they just happen to beat you then so be it.

Yeah, I keep saying why the same pitch in the same spot, middle in fastball. The biggest issue is why the fastball? Even if my plan all along was back to back fastballs, I probably change that plan real quick after Alvarez's first swing.

Michael K. wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 12, 2022 9:59 pm

Yeah, I keep saying why the same pitch in the same spot, middle in fastball. The biggest issue is why the fastball? Even if my plan all along was back to back fastballs, I probably change that plan real quick after Alvarez's first swing.

Swanson would have never done that.

D-train wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 12, 2022 10:02 pm

Swanson would have never done that.

I see that now. And Trammell or Moore would have won it with one swing if they would have just been in LF. I now understand that if the Mariner Talk Chat Forum experts would just manage this team we would have been playing at home last night because we would have been the 1 seed.

Honestly feels like what goes around comes around. Didn't have much pity for Toronto fans when we did it to them, here we are now though it didn't finish us off

OPS of left handed batters vs. available arms in M's bullpen-

Festa- .815
Ray- .647
Murfee- .592
Swanson- .517
Boyd- .317

At least they didn't use Festa, I guess..

If they're going to use a starter, even Kirby has just a .553

They used the second worst option available to them.

Wouldn't be so frustrating if we hadn't watched them "trust the process" right off a cliff since Dipoto got here.

A deeper analysis from FanGraphs columnist Jake Mailhot:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/what-were-t ... in-game-1/

harmony wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 13, 2022 2:45 am

A deeper analysis from FanGraphs columnist Jake Mailhot:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/what-were-t ... in-game-1/

Good find.

This is unequivocal proof that they were just mindlessly obsessed with handedness despite ZERO data to support it. And not only that, but they went with their second WORST option vs. lefties as bpj just pointed out. But the 2 guys with a .517 and a .317 OPS vs. lefties were "BAD" options.

SS:

Bringing in a lefty against Alvarez, although Alvarez is one of the better hitters in the league … I looked at it in the seventh inning and said, ‘Hey, this could happen.’ So that was the plan going in.”

From the article:

And it’s not like gaining the platoon advantage is much of an advantage anyway, given his impossibly small career platoon split: a .404 wOBA versus right-handers and a .406 wOBA against left-handers. His career strikeout rate against southpaws is even a few points lower.

Btw this is complete Bullshit that the fangraphs author pulled out of his ass regarding Alvarez feasting on split finger fastballs. He almost NEVER sees them. Only 1.8% of the time.

Swanson has the most high-leverage experience out of the relievers who were left, and it’s a little odd that he hasn’t been used at all during the playoffs even though the Mariners have played three close games already. His fastball/splitter combo isn’t the best matchup against Alvarez, though, since he feasts on off speed pitches from right-handers (like every other pitch type)