Game 33: @ Texas

[bobflipaburger]

Good game so far 4-4 bottom 7.. Aardsma in after another good performance by Wash, but he'll get ANOTHER no decision. Runners on 1st and 2nd 1 out.

Johjima, Beltre, and Branyan have all homered. As has Hamilton for Texas.

 

[Seattlehawk94]

The Gutless Wonder strikes again!

 

[seahawkscott19]

How long does it take to realize that Morrow isn't a closer?

The first month was fun, now it's 2008 part 2. At least now Z won't have any reservations about trading away Beltre, Bedard, and Washburn at the deadline.

 

[bobflipaburger]

Morrow made a good pitch down in the zone and Blalock just squared it up.. Lets not forget that Morrow just came off the DL a few days ago. I don't think he has all his velocity back yet.

 

[hawkfanadam]

Hate on Morrow all you want, he is our best reliever. End of story. It's his first blown save. Like Bob said, Blalock just had a great piece of hitting. I don't care, he is our closer, and our best reliever.

 

[seahawkscott19]

"I don't think he has all his velocity back yet."
- He was throwing 98mph. It's not his velocity, it's his control.

"It's his first blown save."
- Remember game 2?

It's now 33 games into the season, please name one game that Morrow has come in and you felt good about how he pitched. The guy's got terrible command, and the mental toughness of 4th grader.

 

[Seattlehawk94]

His first BS was the day after the opener...

 

[Seattlehawk94]

His first BS was the day after the opener...

 

[hawkfanadam]

His first BS was the day after the opener...

That wasn't a blown save according to the stat line. As of today he is 6/7 in save opps. So yes, today WAS his first blown save.

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable_playe ... tByStat=SV

 

[hawkfanadam]

"I don't think he has all his velocity back yet."
- He was throwing 98mph. It's not his velocity, it's his control.

"It's his first blown save."
- Remember game 2?

It's now 33 games into the season, please name one game that Morrow has come in and you felt good about how he pitched. The guy's got terrible command, and the mental toughness of 4th grader.

I will give you more than one game. FIVE out of nine games Morrow has been in, he hasn't even given up a hit. That is very impressive.

Ok.. you want a game? April 17th Vs Detroit. Didn't give up a hit OR a walk, struck out two. Oh here is another one, April 21st vs Tampa, No hits or walks. Save. Only a few outings have been shaky.

You just don't realize it because you are waiting for this kid to make a mistake, and when he finally does, you jump all over it like he is the worst player alive. Holy shit, I get it, he isn't Limcecum, but he is a young pitcher with talent. If you say he doesn't have talent I am sorry, but you are blind.

He WILL go through rough times. He WILL blow saves. Every closer blows saves, he is not a premiere closer, he is young and hasn't been in the league for that long. But he is holding his own, so go ahead and bash him, when he starts saving games like mad for us down the stretch and for years to come, I will be waiting for you to come around. No rush. Like I said, he has a LONG career ahead of him.

 

[bobflipaburger]

"I don't think he has all his velocity back yet."
- He was throwing 98mph. It's not his velocity, it's his control.

He was hitting 100 before.

 

[seahawkscott19]

I want Morrow to be just as good as you all think he is. But the truth is, he's not. I'll say this again, just like I said last time we had this discussion. I'm not talking about how good he's going to be at the end of the year or 5 years from now, as of today, he's not a good closer. Not even close.

 

[seahawkscott19]

"I don't think he has all his velocity back yet."
- He was throwing 98mph. It's not his velocity, it's his control.

He was hitting 100 before.

Not regularly. When you throw 10 straight balls (as he did the last game he pitched), your problem isn't your velocity, its your control.

 

[bobflipaburger]

In between his first outing and this one you guys weren't complaining too much about him... And we don't have anyone else up to the task of closing.... The entire bullpen has been blowing the few games we've had a chance to win lately.

I think you guys need to stop blaming Morrow and look at what the offense has done... We aren't capitalizing on the opportunities we have to score runs and I think we've gotten to the point where Wak is being a little under agressive... WHY wouldn't you hit and run or straight steal with Ichiro on first and Lopez up there late in the game? I think when you have someone that can handle the bat like Lopez and someone on first that can run like Ichiro sacrifice bunts are just dumb... I can see it maybe with a slower guy out there, but Lopez can flat out hit and if he hits a ball in the gap Ichiro scores easy.

 

[seahawkscott19]

"In between his first outing and this one you guys weren't complaining too much about him... "
- You're right because it's not worth getting in this discussion every time he decides to walk to bases full with 2 outs in the 9th just to have his defense bail him out to give him the save.

"And we don't have anyone else up to the task of closing"
- I'll take Aardsma and his 1.74 ERA

"We aren't capitalizing on the opportunities we have to score runs"
- That's exactly why I want a closer who doesn't lose the game for us when we actually have a lead

 

[hawkfanadam]

"In between his first outing and this one you guys weren't complaining too much about him... "
- You're right because it's not worth getting in this discussion every time he decides to walk to bases full with 2 outs in the 9th just to have his defense bail him out to give him the save.

"And we don't have anyone else up to the task of closing"
- I'll take Aardsma and his 1.74 ERA

"We aren't capitalizing on the opportunities we have to score runs"
- That's exactly why I want a closer who doesn't lose the game for us when we actually have a lead

He walked the bases full ONCE. Stop complaining about that one time, honestly, and for your argument about they aren't capitalizing on opps when we score runs. Can you name ONE closer in this league who hasn't blown one or two saves all season? No. Even JJ in his prime, when he was rolling blew some saves. Even the great Mariano Rivera in his prime blew some saves. The list can go on and on... The fact of the matter is, Morrow is 6 for 7 in save opportunities, either way you spin it, that is a damn good line. Period. Baseball is and always will be a numbers game, and those numbers speak for themselves.

 

[seahawkscott19]

Morrow has pitched in 9 games so far this year, and has single handedly lost 2 of them for us. He has 10 walks to his 9 strikeouts. His ERA is 6.75. His WHIP is above league average for relief pitchers at 2.00. That is not a good pitcher. But I guess everything looks better through rose colored glasses.

 

[seahawkscott19]

Game 34 Update: Mariner's lose 3-2 after 8 scoreless innings pitched by Felix and Aardsma.

Morrow's now lost us 3 of the 10 games he's pitched in. 2 home runs and a double. But hey, at least he didn't walk anybody this game.