Games of June 22, 2012

Told him we were looking forward to seeing him in the bigs. Vinnie's reply? "I am, too." Lonnie pointed out slump-y body language in his first at-bat, a terrible K that sent him back to the dugout shaking his head. We'd noted that watching some Tacoma games on video this year too.

From the 2nd at-bat on he had different language up there. He came out of the dugout a new man and was firing balls all over the park. Even his out after that was a hard shot.

So, uh...you're welcome? *laughs* Lonnie and I live to serve. He's getting it figured out. I thought for a while it was focusing too hard on defense that is messing with him at the plate. Either that or the hitting coach tied him in knots. Now I just want him to crawl out of the hole in whatever way he can. If he has to move to LF, fine. If we need to fire the hitting coach, fine. (you know what I mean)

It was good to see him swing the bat the way I expected him to all year, though.

Other thoughts re: that game...

- Nick Franklin was playing 2nd AGAIN. Now, he played 2nd in Jackson some as well, but never for 3 or 4 days in a row. And it's not like he's giving up the position to some glove whiz: this is Triunfel, who did a pretty spinning throw maneuver that went 10 feet beyond the first baseman and winged WAY into the stands, then botched a simple grounder right through the wickets.

Maybe they have Franklin at 2nd so as not to ruffle Triunfel. It was nice to see Carlos bust it down the line on grounders, nearly beating one out. Good to see him apologize to the pitcher after blowing the grounder - he never would have done that 2 years ago. But I don't think he's lead-dog at SS by any means, so if this continues with Franklin at 2nd, my question is, "Why?"

The answer might be that he looks really smooth there. Good on feeds and transfers and throws to first. Nice and easy, and his arm plays well there. His positioning was weird at times, but that might have been a dugout call or compensating for Triunfel, because he was awfully close to the 2B bag last night.

He was the one coming out to talk to the pitcher, though. Moore would come out, Franklin would come in. Could have been because of his familiarity with Hultzen, but Nick is a leader type. From a distance, just standing in the field, he looks...kinda scrawny. Up close he looks like corded muscle and the baggy uni is a lie of camouflage. Everything he made contact with was smoked last night. He got a lil unlucky on hitting it straight to a fielder a couple of times but he was crushing the ball (as a lefty). He seems to lean back in his stance more than I remember him doing, with a WIDE base, but his weight transfer is great.

I really want him to work out at short, but if they feel his errors are too high and aren't getting better, well... his error rate at 2nd is 30% of what it is at short. That's a problem that immediately takes care of itself with a position change. Y'know...if you need him on the big club sooner rather than later, or somebody else does.

- Hultzen looked terrible. He was 89-91 all night with his fastball, and the radar gun might have be a mph or 2 shy...maybe. He couldn't throw it in the zone if you'd paid him. He was walking guys on 4 pitches, and it wasn't close. They stopped swinging at his breaking ball (which was a shame, since it was his only good pitch) and he wouldn't throw the changeup enough.

So, note to self: Danny without a heater looks like Cha Seung Baek. It was rough.

Looked like a combination of a few things: first AAA start, altitude, and maybe rest. The Rainiers had a late game last night and a bit earlier game today, with a time-zone change. They got off the plane and came to the park on a few hours sleep. Maybe Danny's a biorhythm guy, or forgot to drink water at altitude.

He also had trouble with the movement on his stuff. He started burying pitches in the dirt (scored a run on a WP) in about the 2nd inning, I think due to overgripping to get some break at altitude. That's when the Sox started ignoring his breaking stuff. His fastballs weren't breaking back in over the plate and he was getting visibly frustrated.

Still, that's when you call for the changeup. Looks like a fastball, get THAT over the plate, see what happens. But Moore didn't do that - maybe not knowing Danny's repertoire or forgetting he's at the highest-elevation park in all the land.

And then there's the luck factor. Hultzen got a guy to foul a ball off the handle that curved lazily over first base to dance on the line and plate runs. He got another to hit a pop-single between Franklin and Mike Wilson. Nobody clubbed him around the park - though we had a good time joining in with the Rainiers in crying "Foul" when the umps ruled a fly ball that didn't even MAKE it to the foul pole let alone stay fair was a HR. The entire bullpen jumped up screaming, Liddi came running in like he was gonna strangle a Blue... it was good times.

They huddled up and reversed it, so good for them. But that was the farthest any ball was hit on Hultzen. Unfortunately the walks + bloop hits added up and he gave up a ton of runs.

It wasn't what I came to the park to see, but it's not exactly a death knell for the kid either. Just not what you expect from one of the 5 best pitchers in the minors. That's all the excuse the Mariners need to hold him down there til the trading deadline now. See ya at the end of July in teal, kid.

~G