Mariners vs. Astros ALDS Thread

scottyno

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Again, career .182 hitter against Ray, who is better against RHH. Álvarez, in fewer ABs, was .600 lifetime. If you're going to go by the numbers, a sub-.200 hitter against the pitcher on the mound is the guy to go after, not the guy who was much more likely to get a hit.
Alvarez was 1/3 in his career against Ray, which isn't .600, but is also just as meaningless as using the fact that Bregman was 2/11 against Ray to decide anything.
 

E5 Yaz

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I am surely in the minority here but I'd rather see Aaron Judge hoist a big trophy than Yuli Gurriel.
Agreed on that point, although neither of us is in position to know whether Gurriel has taken any steps to make amends for and/or improve his behavior. For that matter, we can't say for certain that everyone associated with any team -- even those we root for on a regular basis -- is qualified to throw stones.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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Agreed on that point, although neither of us is in position to know whether Gurriel has taken any steps to make amends for and/or improve his behavior. For that matter, we can't say for certain that everyone associated with any team -- even those we root for on a regular basis -- is qualified to throw stones.
To your first point, his apology at the time was pretty weak but you're right that we don't know what if any improvement he has made since then. The only reporting I can find on any efforts he's made to improve himself reflect him giving that apology and attending mandatory sensitivity training, which is not super compelling stuff. You're also right on your second point to the extent that we don't know, but my point was that we do know about what Gurriel did because he did it so obviously and publicly and on such a big stage. And given the recent increase in hate crimes against people of Asian descent in America* and Gurriel's weak apology when it happened, I'm saying I'd pull for the Yankees over any team he's on. And if any member of the Red Sox does something so overtly racist, and the team keeps that player on, I'll have no qualms with at least suspending my fandom.

* I'm not going to get into politics or what might have caused it, and I'm not suggesting that Gurriel's act was related to it, I'm just saying that I'm personally less willing to give him a pass without a lot more from him for his overtly racist act(s) in this climate of increased racism and race-related violence against people of Asian descent.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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Alvarez was 1/3 in his career against Ray, which isn't .600, but is also just as meaningless as using the fact that Bregman was 2/11 against Ray to decide anything.
You're correct; I looked at the wrong column. But I still think Bregman was the better bet. You can't let their best guy beat you if you don't have to. It's all moot now, though.
 

trekfan55

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What bothers me is that this team was not accused of cheating, it was caught cheating. And the same team that won the WS in 2017 and later admitted to cheating, is almost all still there (Springer/Cole and a few others are gone).

It is ok to fill the resentment.

BTW this was not gaming the system or getting some advatage, this was outright cheating. And the worst part is they did not really need it. They have built a team that can win the WS every year.
 

Mr. Stinky Esq.

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DeadlySplitter

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https://theathletic.com/3683695/2022/10/12/mariners-robbie-ray-relief-game-1/

Servais did admit that the left-on-left component — Ray is a left-handed pitcher, Alvarez hits left-handed — played into the decision, but there was much more to it.

The Mariners, like other teams, don’t just rely on public-facing statistics to form their decisions. Each team has its own proprietary information it uses, shaped by analytics, scouting information and input from its baseball operations group and more, that helps them make decisions.

That process, details of which Servais refused to share, led them to use Ray against Alvarez.
 

BornToRun

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I hate analytics. IMO it’s made baseball entirely unfun.
I’m sorry but I have to completely disagree. Analytics has really heightened my enjoyment of the game and I’m fascinated by how deep they can go in evaluating player performance. Is there another sport that is as deeply quantifiable as baseball? Sometimes I like to just browse bref looking at stat lines and some of the articles on fangraphs are super interesting in evaluating what makes someone so good or what changes a player has made to go from league average to an all star. I’ll never say no to more information.
 

DeadlySplitter

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Raleigh has a lower OBP but much higher slug against righties, and Neris kinda sucks. This is a curious move.
 

McBride11

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How are they gonna approach pitch clock when the pitch calling device can't be heard due to noise? Gotta throw down hand signals to get ball in play?

Cant they just give them an earbud? instead of that big beeper thing under the hat
 

cromulence

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Fuckin Yordan. Ugh.

That pop-up was in a bad spot but it could've been caught. I'm a biased Yankee fan, but I think Bader gets that.
 

strek1

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I understand why so many want Houston to lose but it sure seems they have the best chance of knocking out the MFY.
 

mikeot

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So conflicted: hate the Astros but want to see Dusty get a ring as a manager.