Seattle Mariners vs Houston Astros May 27-29

[sutz]

Normal 6:30 first pitch tonight. Flexan vs Verlander. Not sure I'm looking forward to this one.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Not going to waste my time watch todays game.

 

[Chapow]

Flexen will probably need to throw a no-hitter for the M's to even have a chance tonight... and they'd probably still find a way to lose.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

What the… JROD and Lewis HR’s, early 4-1 lead.

I officially hate this team. Of course they lose the series to the lowly A’s and then unexpectedly tag Verlander early.

 

[Threedee]

Nice start to the series.

 

[sutz]

What the… JROD and Lewis HR’s, early 4-1 lead.

I officially hate this team. Of course they lose the series to the lowly A’s and then unexpectedly tag Verlander early.

Life as a Mariners fan.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Looks like their approach to hitting changed.
Jumping on Verlander’s first pitches on most of the home runs hit tonight. Hopefully they stick with that approach.

Flex also pitched a gem. Nice to see him get early run support and hold the lead.

 

[Shanegotyou11]

Great gm

 

[sutz]

Regardless, it was a great game. Can they keep it up? Who knows. Urquidy vs Gilbert tonight. If anybody can keep it going, Gilbert should be able to.

 

[Threedee]

The most fun I've had since 2001 was that crazy awesome start to the 2019 season. From April to mid-May, it was a daily slugfest of overperformance. It would be nice if we could get some of that offense going so that we can get back to .500, and, then, you know... Sustain it with actual wins down the stretch.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Last night was the first night in awhile that I saw an aggressiveness at the plate by the whole team. Lots of first pitch swinging with great results.

IMHO this team needs to stay aggressive at the plate. They lit up one of the best pitchers in baseball last night by the aggressive approach.

…and sure opposing teams will adjust to this aggressive approach, but the passive “control the zone” crap would get them into bad 0-2 counts.

 

[sutz]

I see no conflict between being aggressive and controlling the zone. Quite the contrary. To me they go hand in hand. Controlling the zone includes not letting the pitcher get any cheap strikes throwing first pitch fastballs down the center of the plate.

On the other hand, as pitchers adjust and start throwing breaking balls for first pitch strikes, the hitters have to adjust back and let those go for balls instead of fouling them off or outright whiffing.

All part of the back and forth of the game.

 

[Crizilla]

Being aggressive early in the count depends on the pitcher , you don't always want to be aggressive. Yes M's figured it out last night but like you said the key is to be consistent with it. A lot goes into it...sometimes it's even small things like sensing if a pitcher looks comfortable on the mound or not. It's a total mind game. Managers can tell a pitcher to attack the zone early in the count one game , and wait to attack the zone later in the count in the next game. Once a batter "guesses" right though he STILL needs to hit the ball, that's where the skill comes in. First the mind game, then the skill game. It's why I love baseball there's nothing like the battle between a pitcher and a hitter.

 

[sutz]

Gilbert is doing a little pitching backwards tonight. Lots of sliders and breaking stuff early in the count.

I like it.

And Lewis leads off the 2d with a dinger off the 2d deck facade in left.

 

[sutz]

At least they're tacking on runs. 4-0 now after 4.

Add two more bottom 5. Urquidy done with two outs, two on.

 

[sutz]

Gilbert holds them scoreless through 7. With 100 chucks he's probably done. Great outing. Really mixed his pitches up this time around, especially early in counts and early in the game.

 

[sutz]

All right. 6-0 to win the series and first back to back wins in a while.

Marco on the hill tomorrow.

 

[Sports Hernia]

Gilbert is doing a little pitching backwards tonight. Lots of sliders and breaking stuff early in the count.

I like it.

And Lewis leads off the 2d with a dinger off the 2d deck facade in left.

Lots of first pitch hitting again, me likey!

 

[Shanegotyou11]

Solid game. Solid series win. Go sweep em.

 

[sutz]