Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Sweepless In Seattle

Episode Date: June 18, 2021

The Twins salvaged the final game of the three-game series in Seattle by jumping all over starting pitcher Justus Sheffield. D.C. talks about Sheff's performance, and also another weak day for the offense. Shifting gears in the next segment, Locked On Mariners Contributor Jon Miller joins D.C. to talk about expanded playoffs. Not entirely about last year's expanded playoffs, or proposed plans for the near future, but the 1994 playoff structure, and a little history on when and why playoffs have expanded. This leads to a brief discussion about some teams that missed out on playoff opportunities in the late 80s and early 90s, when only two teams per league qualified for postseason play, and THAT leads to a conversation about those great Atlanta Braves teams of the 1990s, featuring the man D.C. called his favorite pitcher. 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.

Today on Locked-on Mariners, the host wonders if he will ever get back on track and publish a show on time anymore. Welcome to Lockdown Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. When I switched to doing afternoon shows, I stated that I had hoped to get these episodes up by three. And that hasn't happened pretty much at all this week, hasn't. I'm crossing my fingers that next week will be a little better in that regard. It also honestly doesn't help that we're discussing a really lousy game here today

on Locked on Mariner's part of the Lockedon Podcast Network Why'd I say it like that? Please remember to download and follow this program on whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use Ask your smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast Or any program here on the Lockedon Podcast Network

All you got to do is say, hey, smart device, play Locked on Mariner's podcast I think you've got to use the word podcast in there Otherwise, it will try to play some song. So what am I talking about? Gang, shows like this are honestly a little bit more difficult where we have an absolute clunker of a game to talk about. Lockdown Manor's contributor, John Miller will be here later on.

We're going to bring him in right before the trivia corner. And then for the rest of the show, we're not going to talk about this game, but I got to, you know, I got to talk about it. Justice Sheffield was not sharp again. The twins jumped on the fastball early. They're a good fastball hitting team. and he left quite a few fastballs out over the plate, particularly in the first inning,

and the twins set the tone within the first couple of hitters. Jorge Polanco led off the game with a double, and he was driven in by a Josh Donaldson single in short order, one to nothing to score after two hitters, and you got the feeling as if this was not going to be the Mariner's day. The pitching coach came out to tell Chef to mix out and its change and his slider, but he didn't have the feel for either of them last night, as he really hasn't all season.

He was still leaving balls out over the plate, and the twins scored later in the first inning on a Ryan Jeffers RBI single. Miguel Suno, I almost said Robinson Suno, but that's not right. Miguel Suno grounded into a double play to end the inning, so it could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness it was not.

The twins did go down 1, 2, 3 in the second, but Chef got into two, two counts, and a full count, so he needed a lot of pitches to get through that inning. And the third started pretty similarly to the first, first with Polanco hitting a single. Willans' Austadillo walking, he had replaced Josh Donaldson in a third base with an injury after a half-ending or one inning. I don't, I don't remember. Anyways, Polanco was then driven in on an RBI ground out. The walk to Ostadio was a four-pitch

walk, and he had not walked in a major league baseball game since September 29th, 2019. He had seven career walks prior to last night in 436 plate appearances. It's not easy to walk him, and Justice Sheffield managed to do it twice. So there you go. The fifth inning was another bad one. Polanco again, when Polanco leads off an inning, I guess bad things happen to the opposition. He let off the fifth with a double. Oste Dio's second walk followed, and then Nelson Cruz deposited a home run ball

into the upper deck in left field. no doubt about that one gang. And at that time, you really felt as if the game was over. As a matter of fact, I turned it off. And I didn't turn. I wound up listening to the rest of the game when I got to the gym. It was the eighth inning by that time. I had to call my mother.

I needed to check. And I haven't talked to her in a while. She's doing fine, ladies and gentlemen. In any case, there was another fifth inning home run. Ryan Jeffers hit a solo job. One batter after Cruz's bomb. For the day, Justice Sheffield pitched five. Innings gave up seven runs. They were all earned. Two walks, both of them to Willans'

Ostadio, two home runs and four strikeouts. His ERA for the season is now 5-6-5. Will Vess and Raphael Montero both pitched scoreless innings and Hector Santiago closed out the game with two scoreless innings and they were noting on radio that he gets the ball and throws it. Does not waste any time between pitches and those pitchers I really appreciate. I'm glad he's a part of the Mariners. On the offensive of the ball, Mitch Hanigar was back. He was deaching and hitting third. Ace Fraley remained in the number

two hole. He's been red-hot lately, ladies and gentlemen, even though neither of them had particularly good games last night. I believe Manninger went 1-4, and Ace did not reach base. So he was not the ace of base last night. That just popped into my head, and I wish it hadn't.

The Mariners did not get anything started until the fourth inning. J.P. Crawford led off with the single on a very good piece of hitting. drove the ball the other way once again. He's another Mariner who's been red-hot lately, but he was immediately a race on a double play. Mariners only got five hits all game,

but they, for the most part, actually made them count. Only two runners were left on base for the Mariners all game. In the fifth inning, Thai France hit a one-out double, and then he was driven in by Shedlong Jr. on a single. And in the seventh, Manninger led off with the single. He was wild pitched to second. base and advanced to third on a Kyle Seeger groundout. So at least that out was productive.

Ty France then stepped up to hit a sacrifice fly. Score was 7-2 at that point, and that was pretty much it. Mariners did not walk at all, in addition to only gaining five hits, and they struck out 11 times. Starting pitcher for the twins, Bailey Ober was stellar. But he only pitched four innings for some reason, and I couldn't find if he was injured or something to that effect. In any case, coming in to relieve him was,

Caleb Tealbar, I believe that is, and then Alex Colomé, they both allowed the two runs to score, one apiece from Tealbar and Colomay. The twins do avoid getting swept. They scored early against Chef by jumping on the fastball and taking advantage of balls left out over the plate. Seven to two final. Tampa Bay Rays come in for a four-game series beginning to night. And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to today's trivia corner. And as promised, kind of unusual to bring somebody.

in mid-segment, but here is Locked-on Mariners contributor. John Miller, John, I've never introduced you like that before. How are you doing today? I am doing well. So good to be here. Thank you very much. And we have a hall pass today, which is kind of why I brought you in at this time. And my friend Riley's birthday is today, ladies and gentlemen, so happy birthday, Riley.

That reminds me I should text her after the show because I haven't done that yet. So I started looking over the birthday, the baseball birthdays. as well, and I found one interesting one, so he is the subject of today's Hall Pass. The gentleman is celebrating a birthday today. He had a 19-year career as a middle infielder in the 1970s and 80s. He has a 267, 322, 357 slash line. Remember the error, ladies and gentlemen. Those were good numbers for a middle infielder at the time.

Today, not so much. But he did accumulate 2,326 hits, 389. of them were doubles, 48 triples, 1001 home runs, not a big power guy, 950 runs driven in, however, and 321 stolen bases. He never led the league in any offensive category, but he was a nine-time All-Star. He won two Silver Slugger Awards, which is a testament to, you know, the era being so different when you're looking at offensive numbers. He also won five Gold Glove Awards and receive MVP vote in three different seasons, placing as high as fourth. Are those Hall of Fame credentials in your eyes, ladies and gentlemen?

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For a middle infielder in the 1970s and 80s, and you said five gold glove awards? Yes, sir, five gold gloves. I think that guy definitely needs to be looked at by the Veterans Committee. Ooh, Veterans Committee guy. That is an interesting way to bring that up. He stuck around all 15 years on the ballot, but never managed to get above about 16 or so percent.

His high was 16.9% in 1998. He is also an All-Star Game MVP. Any idea who this might be, John? I have one question for you. Yes, sir. Was this guy a part of the big red machine? Yes, he was. Well, since the other middle infielder, part of the big red machine is already in the Hall of Fame, I'm going to guess Dave Concepcion.

As I take a sip of water, that is absolutely correct, sir, Dave Concepcion, happy 73rd birthday to Dave Concepcion today. Yes, thank you very much. And, you know, those numbers, very, very good for the era and stuck around all 15 years on the Hall of Fame. Bell, it's now 10 years of eligibility, but back then it was 15 years of eligibility and never managed to crack, you know, 16.9%. Like I said, he was at 16.2% in his final year in 2008, but anybody who sticks around all 15 years or now all 10 years has to be proud of their career. Yes, John? Oh, definitely. Absolutely. It's an accomplishment in and of itself. Coming up, John and I try to figure out what the heck we're going to talk about.

while I eat an entire bag of Tim's potato chips, sour cream and onion. Now back to Locked-on Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, Joey Martin. We are back here with Locked-on Mariner's contributor, John Miller, for segment two on today's episode of Locked-on Maritors. Part of the... Now, we're not going to go through the introduction again. But, John, as I'm looking through the This Day in Baseball page,

as it were, for June 17th on Baseball Reference Bullpen, And there were quite a few things that kind of jumped out at me, as it were. Darren Erstad had his 100th hit of the season in 2000, on this date in 2000, becoming the fastest to get there since 1934. One of my favorite players, another thing that happened, John, on this date in 1993, and this didn't happen on the field. But we'll talk about two things maybe in 1993. The baseball owners, and I'll quote baseball reference, so I don't have to paraphrase,

quote, baseball owners vote overwhelmingly 26 to 2 in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time since 1969. The new system, which is set to begin in 1994, will double the number of teams that qualify for the postseason to 8 by realigning each league to three divisions with two teams qualifying as wild cards. The 1994 strike will delay its implementation by one year, however, and, quote. You might have a little bit of a different perspective on this than I do, even though we are roughly the same age. We're within nine months of each other. I didn't really start paying attention to baseball until the end of the 1995 season when this system was already in place. What are, do you have any, I think it was a good thing. I mean, baseball had gone through, just gone through an expansion in 1993, and there were 14 teams in each league, and there was an

impending expansion that was going to happen in 1998. And with only two teams from each league making the playoffs at that time, seemed a little low to me. I mean, I don't like the proposed expanded playoffs that they have today, because where half the league makes it, I think that's ridiculous. But I think this was a good thing and brought some more excitement along with the wild card berth. What are your thoughts on that, John?

Because I know people who are not in favor of this and want to go back to the two divisions. I definitely agree with you. and as you look at the record book at the standings each year, you see that, okay, there's only eight teams in each league, the 16 teams total going way back. Okay, that's fine. I can kind of understand how only one team makes it, but then only they expand it and two teams from each league.

But then as you're expanding it, and you now have 28 teams, it seems honestly, like a ways. Like you've got either too many teams or you have to expand the playoffs. And with the league expansion, it becomes almost inevitable. That you have to have that, have to have more competition, something for the teams to compete for and something to get the fans out there, get them behind their team. Because otherwise, like, okay, well, we've lost and that's just what our team does. And then you only get the diehards out there.

You're not getting the fans out there. You're not getting the money from the television or from souvenirs or other sorts of revenue like that. And your team just kind of languishes there. Yeah, I mean, all those points are very, very apropos. When the league did expand the playoffs for the first time in 1969, that was an expansion year. Four teams were added to Major League Baseball two in each league.

expansion had to be inevitable at that point. And that's also when baseball instituted divisional play with the West and an East Division. And again, with the league expanding again in not only 1993, but 1977 prior to that, you know,

it just made too much sense. I want to know who the two owners who voted against that were. I'm guessing George Steinbrenner might have been one of them just based on his history and whatnot. But I'm not exactly sure. I am curious as to who the two are. What are your thoughts on what baseball is proposing for to expand the playoffs, what they want to do with it coming up in the near future?

Basically half the team making the playoffs, half the teams making the playoffs, pardon me. That just strikes me as an overreach. It just strikes me as too much. Why would anybody watch regular season baseball? Why don't they just wait until the playoffs? when all the crappy teams have been weeded out, like the NBA. In which case, why wouldn't you then shorten the season to make the playoffs longer

because you don't want to be playing baseball in November or closer to Thanksgiving in certain parts of the states where it's freezing, we're going to be snowed out, and that's just no fun for pretty much anybody, and people, we're just kind of enduring it at that point. You want to try to play a World Series game in November, in Boston or Minneapolis? I don't think so. No, so maybe shorten season to 144 games, and then you can have the expanded playoffs. If you're going to do that. I do not like the current playoffs structure.

I have two wildcard teams. I don't like it at all. I think it's too much. And if we're going to expand that and have half the American League and the National League making it, what we're going to end up with is what we've seen in the national basketball association, the NBA, for quite some time, where you will have teams that are well below 500 that are making it and might buy a flu, the football phrase would be any given Sunday where they just, they happen to catch it right and win enough games and make it to say the ALCS and when by all rights they have no

business being there. It happened last year almost in the, you know, abbreviated season, as it were, where they did have the expanded playoffs. And by and large, the Astros were they, I don't remember if they were just slightly over 500 or slightly beneath 500, but they were not a playoff caliber team. And they nearly made the World Series. And it had to be the Astros of all teams. But any team that's just mediocre has no business in the playoffs, because if they happen to catch fire at the right time, which could happen to anybody. It could happen to a team that won 60 games. Honestly, if they catch fire at the right time and go on a hot streak during the playoffs, they could ride that till the end. And to me, that just seems ridiculous, John.

Yeah, we've kind of already seen that. And to go back to my NBA reference, we saw that in the 90s when the number 18, there were eight teams. Yes, yes. And the number one team was the Seattle Supersonics, the number 18 was the Denver Nuggets. And their big star was Hall of Fame Center de Keme Matumbo. Ah. Well, the Nuggets got hot and they, the number 18, beat the number one team, that was the first time that it ever happened. That's your any given Sunday scenario.

That's the Any Given Sunday. Yep. Where somehow they just got it right and got enough points here and there. And we've already seen something like this. in Major League Baseball. We have. The World Series of a few years ago between San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals, I believe it was 2014. That sounds right, yes.

Where both of those teams were wild card teams. And they both made it to the World Series, but they did it right. They apparently followed the script because that series went seven games. and it really came down to one pitch either way and Kansas City could have won it. Yeah, I mean, if memory serves, that was a very good World Series. If memory serves, that was the Madison Bumgardner World Series, was it not? I believe it was the mad bum, yes. Yes.

I kind of have to disagree with you about the two wild cards in each league. This might be the first time we're disagreeing on the air, by the way. This is a momentous occasion here on Longton Barretters, because we generally do have the same opinion. but the reason I think it's a good thing is because it places more of an emphasis on winning the division, which I kind of felt was lost a little bit when the wild card was implemented. Because the two wild card teams,

they're not treated like regular playoff teams. They have to buy their way into the regular playoffs. And I think putting any emphasis back on winning the division can't be a bad thing, but I also see your point too, John. Well, and that's where I do like the one wild card. Yeah. Because it drives me crazy looking at this.

standings from years back, and you will see the New York Yankees winning 100 and some games, and then the Detroit Tigers winning 98 or 100 games. A great team. Yep. And that's it. They don't make it to the playoffs. They don't get anything out of it. They don't get a chance at the World Series. They're just done. And seeing something like that just drives me crazy. Yeah, I mean, in a sense, it does seem rather unfair. I bet I could find some great examples with the 1993 and before playoff structure. And I'm going to look to see if I can't find one during the impending break. But before that happens, ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment,

please send it to Lockdown Marrors at gmail.com. I will reply to it in a future mailbag. One's going to be happening on Tuesday probably since there's no game on Monday to recap. Questions and comments on any subject whatsoever are highly encouraged. Does not have anything that doesn't have any, does not have to have. have anything to do with the Mariners. You can talk about how I can't talk or something to that effect. But in any case, locked on Mariners at gmail.com,

is the address to send those things. Coming up, is Jerry Depoto debuting on QVC this weekend selling his very own line of activeware? No, no, he isn't, but I'd buy it. I bet it would be fantastic. But first, this word from bet online, your online, let's see, where is bet online? That's not bet online.

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Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need, rock auto.com. Welcome back to Lockdown Mariners. Here once again is your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you again, J.M. We are back here one final time today with Lockdowne Manors contributor, John Miller.

He will be back on this program tomorrow as the guest host. Yes, he's filling in for me tomorrow. Once again, thank you for being able to do that, John. We both looked up some standings from, you know, several years ago. when it was just two teams making the playoffs, and we both found examples where there were teams with great win totals who didn't make it, and I will let you state your example first. I believe you had 1987. Yes, I pulled that up, and right away, you see in the American League East, the Detroit Tigers won the division with a 98 and 64 record.

Right behind them, the Toronto Blue Jays are 96 and 66, and then the Milwaukee Brewers are 91 and 71. Neither one of those. teams made it anywhere or got anything for their efforts. I didn't realize the Milwaukee Brewers of 1987, John, were that good, quite honestly. I don't remember, I remember that kind of being a downtime in their history. Obviously, it was not. It does not appear that way. No. Maybe we'll talk about the 87 Brewers in just a second, or maybe not.

I found 1993, and they're, you know, in the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, who people were picking to finish last. behind the expansion Marlins. They were 97 and 65, and they won the National League East at 97 and 65. The Western Division was won by the Atlanta Braves with 104 and 58. The San Francisco Giants won 103 games. So they're one game behind the division winning Braves, but they still finish quite a bit ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies who won 97 games.

and that, I don't want to use the word travesty, but that doesn't seem right, John, either, does it? No, it doesn't. And it's all just arbitrarily based on where your team happens to be geographically. Sort of. I mean, the Atlanta Braves were in the West. As I just said, what were the Braves doing? That's kind of a rhetorical question,

because I think they were the Milwaukee Braves when divisional play was instituted, and that's why the Atlanta Braves remained in the Western Braves. division, but when the divisions were re-aligned, Atlanta went to the east, you know, where they geographically are.

And I don't know how to put this quite into words, John. But if it was based totally on geography even, then the Giants would have won and the Braves would have beat the Phillies. Yeah, and that would, based on their records, would seem to make more

sense. Which leads me to wonder what the heck happened in the National League championship series, which the Phillies won over the Atlanta Braves. Kim Batiste was a hero in game one or two. He passed away recently. Kurt Schilling, I believe, had a good game. Dave Hollins, if I recall, had a good series who went on to play with the Mariners. And this was the era, John, where the Braves were just curb stomping, everyone. They had just signed Greg Maddox as a free age.

and they already had John Smoltz and Tom Glavitt in their rotation, not to mention Steve Avery, who later had arm problems and didn't have the career of the other three Hall of Fameers I mentioned. Those Braves teams of that era, some of my favorites. They were just so incredibly good. The chemistry, the talent they had, the management all the way around was focused on winning. Yeah. And that's actually a good point to bring up. Their general manager who was hired after the 1990 season, I want to say, or maybe after the

1989 season, John Sherholz, who was the general manager, pardon me, of the Kansas City Royals when they were very good in the mid-80s. And Braves' ownership tasked him with making the Royals of the East. And that's basically what he did, because offensively, they weren't spectacular. They did have players like David Justice who could hit the ball out of the ballpark as a great RBI guy. They signed Sid Bream as a free agent towards the end of his career. And they had Terry Pendleton, who was the 1991 National League MVP, and they had slugger Ron Gant.

But it was mostly the Mark Lemkees of the world who were very good role players, played solid defense, would move the runner over. Jeff Blouser, although he was a better hater in some regards as Mark Lemke was. but he didn't do the little things as well as Mr. Lemke did. Few guys did. And Otis Nixon at the top of the lineup leading things off. And Dion Sanders as well. And they acquire Fred McGriff halfway through the 1993 season,

who for my money is a Hall of Famer. And that's in addition to this historically good pitching staff, who were so great. You almost can't put it into words, John. Yeah, that is very much correct. they had something just with the gift of pitching they had and the coaches. And as you were talking, I was being struck by the fact that even if you don't count, and I agree with you that Fred McGriff is a Hall of Famer.

Right. But this team had six Hall of Famers somewhere, starting with their general manager, John Sherholz. Yes. And then their manager, Bobby Cox. One of the best. Yes. They had, he had just started out a very young Chipper Jones. Mm-hmm.

Yep. He only played eight games, but still he was there getting his start. And he was a key from 1995 onwards. He had a great World Series in 1995. Yes. And then that pitching trio that is just unbeatable, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavin, and John Smoltz. It's almost unfair. Oh man, Greg Maddox might be my...

Greg Maddox might be my favorite pitcher. I loved watching a pitch. I love how he got it done because from a pure stuff standpoint, maybe falls a little short, but my goodness, he knew what to do with it. And that was just so important. Well, and that's where you say his stuff might fall short,

but the man had 355 wins. He had 300. Someone who may have fallen short, he was possibly the best modern day pitcher. Yeah, in the truest sense of the word. And he went through a two-season stretch, ladies and gentlemen, where his earned run average was 1-60. That's over two full seasons. 53 starts, 411 and 2-thirds innings pitched, 1-60 earned run average, only 6.5 hits per nine innings, only a third of a home run per nine innings, and 1.2 walks per nine innings, and 7.4 strikeouts per nine innings, which back then was actually on the really good side, not spectacular, but very good. and today that would be bad.

That also goes to show you just how much pitching has changed over the years. Pitchers today are striking out so many more batters now than they were back then, which is a completely different conversation that we could have for another time. But Greg Maddox, 1994 earned run average 156. 1995 earned run average 163. Okay, those were both strike short in seasons. But 25 starts in 1990. 28 starts in 1995, and he still pitches to a 160 ERA over those seasons.

Again, you can't put into words just how spectacular that was, especially considering that offensive era. Yeah, the power was really beginning to pick up, and when you see a pitcher like this who wasn't giving up runs yet was not a power pitcher, you have to wonder how he did it. I can kind of answer that. It was with location and moving the ball inside and outside, knowing the hitters,

but he also had such good movement on his pitches, and he was, in that sense, a little deceptive, and he kept the ball in the ballpark. Again, for his career, 0.6 home runs per nine innings over his career, and that's over 5,000 innings pitched, and over those 5,000-plus innings, 1.8 walks per nine innings, fewer than two walks per nine innings in five thousand eight and a third innings. That almost blows my mind. That's just out of this world spectacular.

That is a standing. The man had fantastic control to get the ball where he wanted. Yeah, and one of the smarter pitchers of his day as well. But we rambled on a little bit too much, John, and we got to wrap this up. Where can the nice folks find you on Twitter? I can be found on Twitter at Seattle Pilot 69. Thank you very much. I was going to talk about tonight's pitching matchup. We don't have time for that now, but you'll be recapping tonight's game on tomorrow's episode, John.

I thank you once again for being willing and able to fill in for me. My guests on this program next week include Ricky Ricardo, Curious George, and a Tamo Shanter. Also a special musical performance. Also a special musical performance by violin virtuoso, Yasha Hyfitt. That'll be fun, ladies and gentlemen. So download and follow the Lockdown Manors. Look for us on any podcasting app you can think of. Leave a rating and review of your podcasting app of choice.

So allows. Yes, Yasha Hyphids, ladies and gentlemen. I am D.C. Lundberg. Thank you for listening once again as my tongue is tied. Aye, aye, I'm going to get out of here. John, I'm so glad you're hosting tomorrow's because I don't know if I can do it. Get all the sports news you need in under 20 minutes with the Locked On Today podcast.

Host Peter Pukowski will keep you updated on the latest news in every major sport with Locked On's team of local experts. Follow the Locked On Today podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever else you get your podcasts. This is Joey Martin speaking for Locked On Mariners, part of the Locked On podcast network.