Series Thread: Opening Day: Indians @ Mariners 3/29/18 - 4/1/18

[Cloud]

I'm glad the M's got the win. That said, I have a feeling the Mariners inability to play add on and the bullpen failing to hold the lead are going to be common themes this season. Diaz should not be closer. I'm sorry, his stuff is electric, but he does not possess closer mentality and just throwing him out there year after year isn't going to change that.

Inability to add on? Against Kluber? The reigning Cy Young? Add on would’ve been a hard task. Let see how they progress first.

 

[unlvmariners]

Well its a win! Felix did good, not great, but no runs for him I am cool with that start. Did not expect Felix to do that well. Bullpen ok, not great.

Beating Kluber is not easy. If not for the Cruz shot... We don't win. Also Mitch nice game against a tough pitcher.

Nice start boys! Had the whiskey ready for this one... Only celebration drinkin!!

 

[MarinersBestFan]

Well its a win! Felix did good, not great, but no runs for him I am cool with that start. Did not expect Felix to do that well. Bullpen ok, not great.

Beating Kluber is not easy. If not for the Cruz shot... We don't win. Also Mitch nice game against a tough pitcher.

Nice start boys! Had the whiskey ready for this one... Only celebration drinkin!!

Yea Felix tossing up a goose egg tonite was surprising. Cleveland has a potent line up and he navigated his way thru it pretty nicely.

way too many full counts 3-2 it seemed. He had problems locating pitches multiple innings and multiple batters. But like a veteran pitcher should .... he weathered the storm and set us up with a chance to win.

Tough inning for Vincent. he threw pretty well, a couple dink dunker cheap hits and that cost us a blown shutout.

Alot of K's for us, as expected because we faced one of the top pitchers in all of MLB tonite and beat him. No small task. I am really surprised at this win. That's why they play the game.

Great chance for Paxton to dominate for us on Saturday and hopefully notch up another win vs the Tribe. Would love to send them outa town looking for their 1st win in the next city they fly to !

 

[NWinAZ]

No add on runs was big because it was a regular thing last year. Homer or nothing won't play over the course of a season...but let us enjoy the win.

 

[dude82]

Let's get something out of the way early....

The bullpen is going to give up runs. They're going to give up leads. They're going to lose games. All of those things are inevitable and they also apply to all 30 teams in the league. No bullpen, no matter how good they turn out to be, is immune from having those things happen. Closers, even the exceptionally great ones, also give up runs and leads. It happens. Let's try not to dwell on the pen giving up one run last night or on Diaz having to wriggle out of trouble in the 9th. It's going to happen again. I would prefer if it didn't happen often, but it's not a concern to me at this point.

Nor is it a concern that the offense couldn't muster anything beyond a Cruz homer and a few hits from Haniger. Kluber has been one of the best pitchers in the American League for a while now. There will be plenty of times when other teams won't have any better luck than the M's did last night against him.

The important things to focus on are that the M's got the win, Felix pitched about as well as or better than could be expected given his lack of recent Spring Training starts against Major Leaguers and he did it against one of the better offenses in the American League. It's hard to be unhappy about that unless you want to be for some reason.

 

[ulmax]

what did we learn..felix is still felix.and he can still get guys out..they maybe should have brought up braden bishop..who as doing well in spring..instead of hiring ichiro??..yeah maybe.but we will see how the rest of april goes..and who is doing well by then

 

[MarinersBestFan]

what did we learn..felix is still felix.and he can still get guys out..they maybe should have brought up braden bishop..who as doing well in spring..instead of hiring ichiro??..yeah maybe.but we will see how the rest of april goes..and who is doing well by then

It appears Felix is more than capable of managing a game and delivering 5 strong innings of work.

I am all in favor of his per game being 85-90 pitches if it keeps him in the rotation and it results in him giving us 27+ starts this season. If 1/2 of them are as good a showing as last nite ... i would go all in on that right now.

Our bullpen looked good ( up to Diaz ) Altavilla pounded the strike zone - Vincent looked great ( 2 dink dunker hits is how they scored the single run ) - Nicasio looked good. I love relief pitching that pounds the strike zone and quickly gets ahead of batters and puts them into bad counts for them: 0-2 1-2 etc ...

Diaz was Diaz last night. he got the save and thats a good thing. He has got to keep his adrenaline in check and be aware of that balk move as he did it many times last year as well. And do not give batters free passes to 1st base with walks and hit batters etc etc ... the best hitter in the league is going to fail against him 8/10 times.

STOP LETTING GUYS GET TO FIRST BASE FOR FREE

He is our closer and we gotta live with his learning woes. Its OK to be alittle wild so the hitter is wandering if the next one is coming for his ear hole. But not so wild you are actually beaning the batters 2 an inning

 

[SeattleCoug]

Inability to add on? Against Kluber? The reigning Cy Young? Add on would’ve been a hard task. Let see how they progress first.

Yea im all for being critical but Kluber is arguably the best pitcher in the AL, Top 3 for sure. Segura hit 3 balls on the screws that were right at people

 

[Mariners_44]

I understand the rule and all that, but when that ball brushes Chisenhalls baggy ass pants did he not look like a little bitch trying to get the call? I'm sorry, brushing your pants because they are too baggy shouldn't qualify as a HBP. I don't wish for permanent injury, but I hope he gets beaned on Saturday.

 

[MarinersBestFan]

I understand the rule and all that, but when that ball brushes Chisenhalls baggy ass pants did he not look like a little bitch trying to get the call? I'm sorry, brushing your pants because they are too baggy shouldn't qualify as a HBP. I don't wish for permanent injury, but I hope he gets beaned on Saturday.

Same here

You are either hit by the ball or you ain't hit by the ball. Brushing your baggy shirt or baggy pant legs AIN"T getting beaned with a baseball

Nor is getting hit in the hands while diving out over the plate on every pitch which is very common with all the big home run hitters. They love to dive out over the plate with that big load up power swing. Well guess what ?? The pitcher owns the inside corner and you better be fucking carefull.

You take one off the hands doing stupid shit like that ? Should be a foul ball

 

[Mariners_44]

Same here

You are either hit by the ball or you ain't hit by the ball. Brushing your baggy shirt or baggy pant legs AIN"T getting beaned with a baseball

Nor is getting hit in the hands while diving out over the plate on every pitch which is very common with all the big home run hitters. They love to dive out over the plate with that big load up power swing. Well guess what ?? The pitcher owns the inside corner and you better be fucking carefull.

You take one off the hands doing stupid shit like that ? Should be a foul ball

To me, he didn't want anything to do with Diaz bringing the heat. He looked a little scared at the plate, and now he must get beaned!

 

[MarinersBestFan]

To me, he didn't want anything to do with Diaz bringing the heat. He looked a little scared at the plate, and now he must get beaned!

Absolutely !

Nothing I want to see more than an early season bench clearing brawl at Safeco field so the rest of MLB can see the Mighty M's are tired of getting pushed around.

You want a bad blood rivalry ? We will fucking give you one !

Mariners need to get some attitude and identity so they play like they have a chip on their shoulder

 

[SeattleCoug]

To me, he didn't want anything to do with Diaz bringing the heat. He looked a little scared at the plate, and now he must get beaned!

Yea I can see that given he signaled for a review right away

 

[JMR]

Had a blast at the game last night. Record regular season crowd, great atmosphere. Felix was fantastic even if he didn't always have the great command, working that 80mph curve very smartly and hit 91/92 frequently with the fastball...and of course mixed in the change with good results. He looks like he's determined to prove people wrong.

Great to see the big O for Ichiro. Lots of bitching and complaining about him in here, but he's an all time Mariner and it was fun to cheer for him again.

Haniger looks like he is picking up where he left off at the end of last season. Nellie with the 2-run bomb on the first pitch of the season he saw. 2-6 in this lineup should be pretty potent.

Fun game. Hopefully better health this year, and it should be exciting and beyond our expectations.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[MarinersBestFan]

Dan Vogel-bomb better be in the Saturday line up with Carrasco ( another righty ) throwing for Cleveland

If Servais sits him again ... someone should drag him to the opposing teams dugout and strip him of his Ms cap and jersey and throw his worthless ass into the visitor dugout

 

[seahawksfan234]

About Last Night: breaking down Felix’s Opening Day start

Pretty good breakdown.

Don't have much to add mostly because my seats were in the King's Court all the way up in row 40 and could hardly see shit from there.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Also I don't know if I was the only one who noticed this, but Felix looks a bit slimmer. I see that as a good thing.

 

[Podunkparte]

About Last Night: breaking down Felix’s Opening Day start

Pretty good breakdown.

Don't have much to add mostly because my seats were in the King's Court all the way up in row 40 and could hardly see shit from there.

Lower level? I grabed a ticket in 249 and had a great view. Bar and food right behind me.

First opening day was fun. Hate that we have a 44 year old starting in LF but I won't deny there were some serious chills when Ichiro was announced.

 

[Mariners_44]

I honestly think that Felix has finally admitted his mortality to himself, and has done something about it. From his health, to his approach, and everything in between. I've always felt that he could have an extended career well beyond 30, but it was gonna take himself looking in the mirror to realize father of time is undefeated and maybe just maybe his time was starting to come to an end.

I loved what I saw from him yesterday, and if that's any indication of what we can expect moving forward we may very well be in for a better than expected season.