Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Mailbag Oddesy, Part III: 2020 M's Highlights

Episode Date: December 28, 2020

Jon Miller is back once again to continue answering fan emails. This time, they talk about some recurring themes of the 2020 Mariners, and which games & plays most exemplify those themes. Also, they talk more about small ball, and why both of them are advocates for this style of baseball. To end, they talk a little about catchers and framing pitches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for tuning in to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. All righty, thank you very much, Joey Martin. Part three of this email extravaganza about to come your way here on Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, brought to you by Built Bar, of course. Please remember to download, rate and subscribe to this program using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast or Locked on Team Name Here podcast. Follow us on Twitter at L-O-O-U-N-Score Mariners.

Follow me on Twitter at DC underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G, if you are scoring at home. Yes, indeed. As I mentioned, this is the mailbag, and we had so many, so many questions, and I kind of got lost in the weeds a couple times. So this is probably going to be a... four-part mailbag. I really got to stop going off on tangent. Sorry about that. Anyways, back with us once again. Locked-on Mariner's contributor, John Miller. How are you doing? I am doing very well. Thank you again for having me. You're absolutely welcome. Always a pleasure having you on the show. Also with us once again to read the emails is my personal secretary, Clive Braithwaite the 4th.

Clive, thanks again for joining us. Surely, but I had no idea this recording session was going to take so long. I sure hope I'm getting paid extra to listen to you blather on about things that have nothing to do with the emails we received. Yeah, not a chance. That's pretty much what I expected you to say. Uh-huh, yeah, we'll talk about this after the show. Fine. Let's get started. We'll begin part three with an email from Michael, who had some very nice words. He writes, Hi, DC.

Let me first thank you very much for all your work on the podcast. It has been a very welcome respite and routine for. for me during this pandemic. I have a question for you that I hope is not too much of a burden. It is this. I am revisiting some games from this shortened season that I missed, and am wondering if you have a top five or a top three list of games that you would recommend to watch again that serve as a metaphor for this iteration of the team for you, or include your most memorable moments from this season. I really appreciate your thoughts and your voice over the airwaves. Thanks for reading. Go em.

Wow. First of all, thank you very much for the nice words, Michael. I really appreciate hearing that. The problem with the question is that I have the short-term memory of a goldfish, and I don't recall much of this season. But when I think about this past season, the thing that comes to mind, I guess, is that the young players that the Mariners had and some of them were really good, Others not so much, and also the fact that it was just such a weird season. But one thing that kind of sticks in my mind is, like, so close yet so far away, because the Mariners were so close to a playoff, playoff spot, which nobody saw coming. And honestly, that was just due to the bloated playoff structure. But it's kind of twofold.

Yes, so close yet so far away, but also that the future might be a little bit sooner than we realize. John, do you have any ideas about that at all? I could think more of plays, great catch that Kyle Lewis made out in center field, stuff like that. I cannot think of any specific game that I would call to your attention. But that's a memorable moment for sure, and that kind of speaks to the team's future, which is kind of another recurring theme in that the future, at least on the offensive side of the ball's pretty good. particularly in the outfield. So that, I think that qualifies.

I hope that's satisfactory, Michael. Another thing that kind of popped into my head, one of the more memorable moments, was Jose Mora Malajos, when he first came up, just couldn't hit anything, even though he did hit his first Major League home run, rather early on, was sent to the alternate training site. And then when he came back up, just went on a tear.

And I guess, you know, I don't know how that kind of ties into either the themes I mentioned, but to me that sticks out in my mind only because Jose de Marmallejos had been a tremendous minor league hitter in the Washington Nationals organization won I think two minor league player of the year awards and then was just never given a chance

at the major league level in Washington he signed as a major pirate print a minor league free agent with the Mariners and hit his way onto the team and was surprising in the fact that he played right field and left field as well as he did. Nobody thought that that was in his skill set whatsoever, played adequately enough out

there to be considered a backup in at least left field. And that versatility helped him to make the club. And now that I say versatility, John, that's kind of another theme because the Mariners value players with versatility. Dylan Moore can play all over the diamond. He even pitched a couple of years ago in one game in an emergency situation. Maramalejos can play the infield and the outfield. Tim Lopes, who the Mariners just lost, could play the infield and the outfield.

D. Strange Gordon could play the infield and the outfield. So that's another theme that I see that the Mariners are a versatile team. And the other thing, and Sam Haggrey, let's not forget Telegram. Sam can play the infield and the outfield. And he was another minor league free agent pickup. I think it might have been a waiver claim actually now that I say that. So, you know, that doesn't, that's not really a memorable moment, but it does kind of bespeak the theme of the versatility of the Mariners.

And any other thoughts, John? And Michael, I know I didn't answer your question very well. And I do apologize, especially since your email was so nice. And that part I really, really appreciate. John, do you have anything else to add? I have a potential answer for Michael. Doing a quick look up on baseball reference here. I would go for the August 10th game against the Texas Rangers.

Okay. The August 22nd game against the Texas Rangers. All right. These are games that looking at the box score is showing me the tremendous potential that this team has. And as D.C. and I, you know and I have talked that we see them as not just an over 500 team, but a possible playoff contender. There's the September 21st game against the Houston Trash Cambaggers. The Houston Astros.

Yeah. Which is, of course, great to see the Mariners doing well against the team like that. And then the second game of the double header played on Saturday, September 26th. All right. Against the Oakland Athletics. I would commend to you as these are all Mariners wins, but with the score that they had, how dominant they were, I see that as what our potential could be down the line.

Yeah, yeah, that goes to the theme of the youth movement, the developing players, a lot of whom are, they're ready to contribute at the major league level and that the future might be a little bit closer than we realize. There's one game I'm seeing here that I want to bring up, but in an effort to keep this show relatively on time, I'm going to talk about it in the second half. We went crazy again.

We'll go to the trivia corner, at this time and another hall pass. Today's subject pitched 19 years in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000 a oz. He accumulated a one loss record of 2,11, and 114, has a career

328 earned run average and a whip of 1.222. He has 2,397 strikeouts against only 901 walks. That's a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.66. I didn't realize his control was as good as it was. I don't remember him walking so few batters. He also kept the ball in the

ballpark, averaging only 0.6 home runs per nine innings over his career. Two hundred eight home runs allowed in that time. He led the league and innings pitched once. He's a two-time ERA title list, two-time league whip leader, led the league in home runs per nine innings twice, and also in strikeout to walk ratio once. He's a six-time all-star, placed in the Sy Young Award voting five times and placed in the MVP award voting twice as well. Would you out there in podcast, Lynn, consider him for the Hall of Fame? I'll tell you who it is after this word from Bet Online. Are you ready for some football?

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I think I would consider him for the Hall of Fame. You mentioned his win total. It's a little bit low right around the Roy Halliday area where you might be debating to put him in, but his ERA is quite good. Especially for the era. And in terms of the one loss record, he actually pitched on a lot of pretty good teams, some lousy teams at the beginning of his career, and this is also the five-man rotation era.

This is just going into the five-man rotation era. So if he pitched a four-man rotation, he's probably got more wins. He was dropped from the Hall of Fame ballot in his first attempt with 2.1% of the vote. John, do you have any idea who this man is? Take a wild guess. Was he a member of any World Series teams? Yes, he was, and he also pitched in one other World Series. Okay, pitcher world champion, that number of wins.

So I'm guessing that one world series was just kind of a one-off type thing. The team got hot or bought the series. I think you're onto something. I think you know who this is. For the sake of those listening, I'm going to then say that this took place in the mid-90s. And my final answer, Regis, will be, it was Kevin Brown for the 1997 Florida Marlins. And you have just won a million dollars. Yes, it's Kevin Brown. It's Kevin Brown. Those are Kevin Brown's numbers.

Had a better career than I think a lot of people realize, but he was very, very good for quite a few seasons. It was an ERA champion in 1996 with a 189 earned run average. And that was the year that there was a huge offensive explosion. in baseball. And to have an ERA under 2 that season is just incredible. His ERA plus that season was 2.15. That's just off the charts. Good. Later pitched for the Padres for one season, his other World Series appearance, and then later with the Dodgers, and he closed that his career with the Yankees. If you out there have a question or comment that you would like to submit to the show, please do so at Locked-on Mariners at gmail.com, and I'll reply to it on the air

in an upcoming mailbag episode. Questions and comments on any subject are encouraged. I love answering them, and if it's about music, it may take up an entire show. In any case, please do keep the questions appropriate because it's a family show. Send them to Lockdown Mariners at gmail.com. Locked on Mariners will return after this word from Bilt Bar.

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Yeah, thank you very much, Joey Martin. We're going to resume Locked on Mariners. here in just one second, but first gang, the holidays are about giving. So your pal DC is going to lay a hot tip on you that could earn you some extra cash. The new Locked-on Betts podcast is hosted by Lee Sterling of Paramountsports.com. Lee is red-hot to start the season, whichever season they're talking about, I don't know, but he shares a lock of the day on every episode. Season doesn't start until April.

Subscribe to Locked on Betts today wherever you get your podcasts. Now back to the show, I'm here with John Miller and Clive Braithwaite the 4th, and we're wrapping up a conversation from the first half of the show, talking about some of the games in the 2020 season that were most indicative of the Mariners' season at large. And the one game that jumped out to me when I was looking at the game-by-game account on baseball reference was actually a Mariner's loss. And this particularly loss highlighted one of the other recurring themes of this season, and that was pitchers giving up the big inning.

The game in question was August 17th in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, in which Los Angeles scored five runs in both the second and seventh innings. The Mariners gave up two big innings this game, and the Mariners wound up losing that ballgame 11 to 9. And that also comes to so close yet so far away. But the big inning really crept up to bite the Mariners more often. I shouldn't say more often than not, but it came up to bite the Mariners quite a bit last season,

and that particular game might be the most glaring example of that. You said that was against the Dodgers? Yep, it was. Okay. That was a great game, and to play that competitive with the team that would then be the World Series champs. Oh, that's right. And it says a lot for that Mariners team. Yes.

Justin Dunn was the starting pitcher in that ballgame, and the relief pitcher who gave. gave up that big inning was Matt McGill. But, you know, the starting rotation was kind of interesting because he had Marco Gonzalez, who generally pitched very, very well. I think he had pretty much one crummy outing, and that was his first one. Justice Sheffield was good in most of his starts, although he was kind of prone to the big inning.

Justin Dunn more than any other starter was prone to the big inning, and there were a lot of relievers who tended to do that as well. Eric Swanson gave up a couple of them, Dan Altevilla, before he was traded to the Padres, and he did well as a Padre, I want to say that. The man just might have needed a change of scenery, and hopefully he can have a good Major League career going forward. But with the Mariners, you know, they had the worst bullpen in the American League. And the big inning really cost them in more than one game, but this August 17th game

and it had completely slipped my mind, John, that, yes, this was against the future world champions, but this August 17th game is probably the most glaring example of the big inning coming, you know, biting the Mariners, not once but twice. And the Mariners had a big inning of their own. In the third, they came right back and scored five runs. And let's see what happened in that third inning. J.P. Crawford flew out to lead off the inning. Dylan Moore then singled and Kyle Lewis hit a home run, two run home run.

Kyle Seeger on the very next pitch hit a solo home run. So back-to-back pitches, back-to-back home runs for the Kyle connection. Austin Nola single. Daniel Vogelbach flew out, and then Evan White hit A2 run home run. Shed long, struck out looking to end the inning. So all five of their runs that inning were scored via the home run, and that is, that's unusual. Michael, thank you very much for mailing in. And one thing I also want to address is that you mentioned that the show's been kind of

a respite from all the BS that's going on with the pandemic. and that's my goal with this show is to provide some relief for people who may be going through a hard time because of everything that's going on. So it makes me feel like I'm doing my job. So Michael, thank you very, very much. Clive, do we have time for another email? Only if you keep it short. I'll do my best. Fine. We'll conclude with a question from Henry in Athol, Idaho. He writes, should more teams be playing small ball like Sweet Lou Penella, or

is it more wise to play for the long ball? You know, John, I think we've kind of answered this question on the last email go around, to be honest. I am a proponent of small ball, but my kind of game is small ball with gap power. Because I think home runs to me are kind of rally killers. Yes, they're exciting and they're good for the fans. But, you know, the bases are empty then. And if you have singles and doubles and you string those together,

that keeps the momentum going as far as I'm. concerned. And if you need one run in one situation or it's early in the ballgame and you're facing a tough pitcher, yeah, absolutely bump the guy over, bump the guy and steal some bases. I wish more teams would do that. And I think I know your opinion on this, John, but I'll let you say your piece anyway. I am in complete agreement with you. And in regards to calling him small ball, I don't remember who it was a number of years ago. I heard them call it smart ball. because it's just smart. We're going to steal a base.

We're going to take that extra base on a throw. We're going to bunt a guy in, occasionally use the squeeze. You have enough speed and gap power on your team. They don't know when or if you are going to take that base. The other team has to be on their game, but you are going to catch them napping, and that's when you take advantage of it. Exactly.

And the one reason teams don't steal, more bases these days is because somebody got it in their head that taking the chance to steal is not a good idea. Well, there's a there we could run out of this inning. Well, yeah, but isn't life about taking chances? Come on, take some chances. And these days, catchers, um, they're scouted and they're really valued on their ability to receive the ball and frame pitches. Arm strength seems secondary to me. I may be missing something here. but they're not really judged on how many runners they can throw it anymore. It's all about framing pitches, or at least that's how I perceive it.

I may be wrong about that. But there are catchers in the league, a lot of catches in the league that you can run against. So I don't know what, well, I do know why more teams don't run. They just don't want to take the chance. And, John, that just really doesn't make sense to me. What say you? To me, it doesn't make sense. The odds are generally in your favor.

stealing a base and they could do the easy mathematical equation figuring out how fast this guy is versus even just the catcher's probability of catching him. Best catchers will get up into the 40% of runners, which means your guy would have, say, a 60% chance of making it from first to second base, plus you factor in his speed, he may have a 70, 75% chance of making it. You know, I never thought of it that way, but you're absolutely right. The other part of the equation is the pitchers move to home plate. You know, does he have a slide step?

How quick is he to home plate? And that's why the first base coach has a stopwatch. He's timing the pitchers delivery to home plate. And if he's slow, then run all day. But that just doesn't happen anymore. No, it really doesn't. And I don't mean to get on a whole long rant here. This would take up the entire second half of your.

show. Do it. I don't care. The idea of framing pitches. Yeah. If it is for the reason that the announcers make it seem like, like they're trying to fool the umpire or show the umpire where the ball was, even though it wasn't really there.

Yeah. Well, I don't believe that it's for that reason, because that would be entirely useless. The umpire knows. He saw the ball come in. He knows that the pitch was outside, and he saw the catcher move his glove. And ladies and gentlemen, this is an umpire speaking. John is an umpire. He knows what he's talking about.

So doing it for that reason, I've had catchers do it to me. Unless you're trying to make the batter get into their head and think like, oh, the catcher's glove ended up here, that was a good, maybe I should swing. Unless you're trying to play that psychological game, there's not really much point to it. All right. Anything else you want to add, John? Before we wrap up, that was great insight. No, I don't think so. All righty. We'll begin to wrap up then in that case. Clive, thanks again for reading the emails for us, going into a fourth email episode. You'll be back next time. Thanks again for reading the emails on this one, Clive. You're welcome, but let's please get through the remaining emails on the next show.

Yeah, I don't think that's going to be a problem. We should get through the remaining ones on the next show. Only got a few of them left, so yeah, it should not be a problem. Thanks again, Clive. John, thank you again also. Where can people find you on Twitter? I can be found on Twitter at Seattle Pilot 69. Thank you very much, sir. John and Clive will both be back next time for part four. Yes, part four of this email paloosa, as it were. Yeah, a four-part mailback, I never would have imagined. Anyways, in the interim, ladies and gentlemen,

please remember to download rate and subscribe to this program. Look for us on any podcasting, yeah, if you can think of. Follow us on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow me at DC underscore Lundberg. Thanks for listening, gang. We will wrap up this iteration of the mailbag on the next episode. Join us then. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.