tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41067409229393285202024-02-21T08:55:24.410-08:00West Seattle WeisenheimerBlatherings about theater, music, baseball, astronomy, wine, books, or whatever pops into our brainsWeisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.comBlogger313125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-31249448070486200612021-08-22T15:10:00.002-07:002021-08-22T15:10:44.875-07:00Las Vegas Aviators 8, Tacoma Rainiers 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBuSyIDK9gS4YOekxcAVI0KzOjwU_Wp541J2vtFckUKhmSl-VVz0sUUuROhGZuapqbSSK3tUU4p0DGKyrAytHzbPKodNzLpipxqmYSaI_42HYfDR7NX1fw2jeBzTixyib_rJxxsbRUYY/s640/IMG_4283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFBuSyIDK9gS4YOekxcAVI0KzOjwU_Wp541J2vtFckUKhmSl-VVz0sUUuROhGZuapqbSSK3tUU4p0DGKyrAytHzbPKodNzLpipxqmYSaI_42HYfDR7NX1fw2jeBzTixyib_rJxxsbRUYY/s320/IMG_4283.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>My Sweetie, the official scorer, and I typically attend Tacoma Rainiers games on Sunday afternoons, but I had a rare opportunity to catch a game at Cheney Stadium under the lights when I caught the game against the Las Vegas Aviators on Tuesday, August 17. The occasion was a Mariners game-day staff outing, and several members of the ticket office were in attendance as the Aviators topped the Rainiers 8-4.<div><br /></div><div>Things started off well enough for Tacoma starter <b>Darren McCaughan</b>, who blanked Las Vegas on just one hit over the first couple of innings. The Aviators' starter <b>Argenis Angulo</b> matched that, allowing just one hit over two and the score was 0-0 going into the top of the third. </div><div><br /></div><div>Things then came apart a bit for McCaughan. <b>Pete Kozma</b> and <b>Buddy Reed</b> opened the frame with singles, and then local product <b>Nate Mondou</b> drilled a base hit to plate Kozma with the first run of the game. <b>Chad Pinder</b> hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a second run, then <b>Skye Bolt</b> bounced into a niftily turned 3-6-1 double play to end the frame.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzwKfhhpHF_eb_Clldvk7_fVrVtHpMreqYU5PWagiJvjw1yPBTVdl9dFe775WkzJx2Vdr8fs5ybcOMAg_Wl69jSZmLtGjNKTooLIHlF48W55a1J-zDSSqsJUn7lTrg3TCBUdXlE2u0b8/s540/travis.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="360" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnzwKfhhpHF_eb_Clldvk7_fVrVtHpMreqYU5PWagiJvjw1yPBTVdl9dFe775WkzJx2Vdr8fs5ybcOMAg_Wl69jSZmLtGjNKTooLIHlF48W55a1J-zDSSqsJUn7lTrg3TCBUdXlE2u0b8/w133-h200/travis.jpeg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sam Travis</td></tr></tbody></table>Sam Travis</b> put the Rainiers on the board with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the third. After two out <b>Jantzen Witte</b> singled, and that was the end of the night for Angulo. <b>Aaron Brown</b> came on in relief, and immediately picked Witte off of first to end the third with Vegas up 2-1.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Aviators got right back after McCaughan in the fourth. First sacker <b>Francisco Pena</b> cracked a leadoff homer, and DH <b>Khris Davis</b>, recently signed by the Oakland Athletics to a minor-league contract, was hit by a pitch. After an out, Kozma and Reed singled, Davis scoring on the latter and Kozma reaching third. Moudou hit a fly ball to left deep enough to score Kozma and it was 5-1 Las Vegas.</div><div><br /></div><div>Tacoma scratched its way back into the game with two runs in the fifth without getting a hit. <b>Jose Godoy</b> led off with a little dribbler out in front of the plate. Las Vegas catcher <b>Aramis Garcia</b> over-ran the ball and was charged with an error. <b>Marius Wilson</b> walked, but Travis and <b>Jack Reinheimer</b> both struck out looking. <b>Donovan Walton</b> was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Witte hit a slow grounder to third. In a rush to get the final out, Mondou threw wild to first and two runs came in to make it 5-3.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bolt homered for Las Vegas leading off the eighth and the Aviators scored two more in the ninth. Travis hit his second homer of the game leading off the ninth to close out the scoring.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.milb.com/gameday/aviators-vs-rainiers/2021/08/17/644565#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=644565">Box score</a></div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Jose Marmolejos</h4><div>Jose Marmelejos is leading the AAA-West in hitting with a robust .372 average and has 21 home runs in 279 plate appearances for Tacoma this season. His slugging hasn't translated to the big leagues, where he's batted just .177 with nine home runs in 209 plate appearances over the past two seasons with the Mariners.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Hometown product</h4><div>Mondou is from Lake Tapps and attended Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma. He played college ball at Wake Forest and was drafted by Oakland in the 13th round in 2016. It's his first year at the Triple-A level, where he's batting .315 and has seven home runs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Aaron Brown who pitches for Las Vegas is NOT the former Seattle TV news anchor who later worked for ABC, CNN, and PBS.</div>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-18767851410115182512021-07-26T14:12:00.005-07:002021-07-26T14:15:22.535-07:00Rainiers split Sunday twin bill with Sacramento<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1v4935m4UcWe5VmudlqWIxURUbc2gBV-_XHCMmmvsY5x8YNXZT7m8S5eCLtXOBJPfQbLp4qcTTsqywb9iruVufQWIUqa2fjkj1-7T2qkGTKA9xgsr_6zbi8rIK1STYF-3YfMrSqru88/s640/IMG_4268.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS1v4935m4UcWe5VmudlqWIxURUbc2gBV-_XHCMmmvsY5x8YNXZT7m8S5eCLtXOBJPfQbLp4qcTTsqywb9iruVufQWIUqa2fjkj1-7T2qkGTKA9xgsr_6zbi8rIK1STYF-3YfMrSqru88/w400-h300/IMG_4268.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">July 25 was a beautiful day to play two at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The Tacoma Rainiers and Sacramento River Cats split a doubleheader at Cheney Stadium on Sunday, July 25. The Rainiers won the opener 4-0 and the River Cats took the nightcap 3-2.<p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSBLn4mXyEMMpSa1Qz5RLWw284XBOyzRktP-z3mGxZCbnypKH1QOhJhIr4ivPkJpm_RAA6Z8WGfHMOtkbwwbgqU4VcezMOqVMhTUHNe-pL078oxZklbEVinICY75DBskX4EmHqFJf2f4/s270/mckinney.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="180" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzSBLn4mXyEMMpSa1Qz5RLWw284XBOyzRktP-z3mGxZCbnypKH1QOhJhIr4ivPkJpm_RAA6Z8WGfHMOtkbwwbgqU4VcezMOqVMhTUHNe-pL078oxZklbEVinICY75DBskX4EmHqFJf2f4/w133-h200/mckinney.jpeg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ian McKinney</td></tr></tbody></table>The game 1 starter was southpaw <b>Ian McKinney</b>, who also had a strong outing in our <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2021/07/salt-lake-bees-4-tacoma-rainiers-0.html">last Rainiers game</a>, a 4-0 loss to Salt Lake the previous weekend. This time McKinney wasn't quite as sharp but came away with a win. He pitched five innings and allowed just one hit, walked four and struck out six. <b>Wyatt Mills</b> and <b>Jimmy Yacabonis</b> each pitched a scoreless inning as the Rainiers combined for a two-hitter in the seven-inning affair. Left fielder <b>Jantzen Witte</b> was the hitting star of the game. His leadoff home run in the second proved to be all Tacoma needed, and the Rainiers added three in the sixth on a rally started by Witte's one-out single that included an RBI double by <b>Sam Travis</b> and a run-scoring single by <b>Jack Reinheimer</b>.<p></p><p><a href="https://www.milb.com/gameday/river-cats-vs-rainiers/2021/07/25/644580#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=644580">Game 1 box score</a></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">We never get to see a no-hitter, not even a fake one</h4><p>Readers of Weisenheimer are no doubt familiar with our lament that my Sweetie, the official scorer, and I have never seen a no-hitter despite having seen hundreds of games together over the last 30 years. We didn't see one today, either, though we got closer than usual. </p><p>There wasn't much suspense on the River Cat side, as the first batter of the game, former Rainier <b>Braden Bishop</b> got a single on the first pitch of the game from Tacoma starter <b>Brian Schlitter</b>. The Rainiers didn't get a hit until <b>Taylor Trammell</b>'s leadoff double in the fourth. Neither team scored early in the "bullpen" game for both clubs, and it was 0-0 through four. The Rainiers finally broke through in the fifth. <b>Wyatt Mathisen</b> led off with a hit by pitch and, after two outs, <b>Luis Liberato</b> cracked a home run for a 2-0 lead.</p><p>Sacramento answered with a run in the top of the sixth. Bishop led off with a triple and scored on a fly ball to Trammell in deep center. Sacramento took the lead in the top of the seventh.<b> Chadwick Tromp</b> singled with one out. Pinch runner <b>Arismeady Alcantara</b> went to third on a double by <b>Mitchell Tolman</b>. <b>Will Toffey</b>'s single plated Alcantara, and Tolman scored on a groundout. The Rainiers went out quietly in the bottom of the seventh.</p><p><a href="https://www.milb.com/gameday/river-cats-vs-rainiers/2021/07/25/644612#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=644612">Game 2 box score</a></p><p>My Sweetie, the Official Scorer, notes that even if one of the teams had not registered a base hit, it would not have been a no-hitter, as she doesn't recognize seven-inning games as real baseball.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Ballpark music</h4><p>The Rainiers have been leaning on barbershop quartets for music, at least in recent games we have attended. The national anthem Sunday was performed by the Clef Jumpers, who also sang a couple of other barbershop standards during inning breaks. The previous Sunday the featured performers were the Four Tunes. They burned three of their tunes on the anthem and <i>God Bless America</i>, plus one barbershop classic, so they only have one song left in their repertoire.</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Family ties</h4><p>The River Cats have an infielder named <b>Peter Maris,</b> but we find no indication that he's related to former single-season home run record holder <b>Roger Maris</b>. Sacramento pitcher <b>Yunior Marte</b> does not appear to be related to any of several active players who share his surname. Outfielder <b>Joe McCarthy</b> is a brother of Jake, currently playing for Reno. Neither appears to be related to the long-time Yankees manager or the Red-baiting US Senator of the 1950s.<br /><br /></p>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-32965844252963994092021-07-19T14:59:00.000-07:002021-07-26T14:16:17.644-07:00Salt Lake Bees 4, Tacoma Rainiers 0<p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKL5hLhGL6dBqbyVW3b-9eHJjgt5_tDeHCH2WL8vzHm7VdUY9l4k28ZHqRWB0lSiN5DEUjK7ruicWtT0DuEo3ITPNhOmRUTVUEngA3hWRi2cMMfIIl6K4DzpfTNxouFGnU2kjJLnJdqUs/s640/IMG_4265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKL5hLhGL6dBqbyVW3b-9eHJjgt5_tDeHCH2WL8vzHm7VdUY9l4k28ZHqRWB0lSiN5DEUjK7ruicWtT0DuEo3ITPNhOmRUTVUEngA3hWRi2cMMfIIl6K4DzpfTNxouFGnU2kjJLnJdqUs/w400-h300/IMG_4265.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheney Stadium on a lovely Sunday afternoon, July 18, 2021</td></tr></tbody></table><br />My Sweetie, the Official Scorer and I have seen many hundreds of baseball games together over the last 30 years and have yet to see a no-hitter. We typically lament that "We never get to see a no-hitter" once both sides have put a safety up on the board. We didn't get to see a no-hitter yesterday at Cheney Stadium, either, but it was closer than we usually get as the Rainiers fell to the Salt Lake Bees 4-0.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEUme314sXDslyKQC-lYbgCLhkob2DdpEo1t5mQOOHu9dG2C4j8CU0SosfNnOWVSB3v7Byb4e-mde70RLU4ZFzNdSfb6tl2zREuFZ6GIrim0pdWdD55YDswgCkKQFPA7-eD_QxEagsFs/s540/brianjohnson.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="360" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEUme314sXDslyKQC-lYbgCLhkob2DdpEo1t5mQOOHu9dG2C4j8CU0SosfNnOWVSB3v7Byb4e-mde70RLU4ZFzNdSfb6tl2zREuFZ6GIrim0pdWdD55YDswgCkKQFPA7-eD_QxEagsFs/w133-h200/brianjohnson.jpeg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian Johnson</td></tr></tbody></table>Big Salt Lake southpaw <b>Brian Johnson</b> retired the first 13 batters he faced before Tacoma designated hitter <b>Jantzen Witte</b> grounded an eight-hopper up the middle. Bee shortstop <b>Gavin Cecchini</b> made a game attempt, but the ball tipped off the end of his glove. I was certain that My Sweetie, usually pretty strict about these things, would rule an error, but both she and the Rainiers official scorer credited Witte with a single. He was immediately erased when Tacoma catcher <b>José Godoy</b> grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, preserving the perfect game (which, under My Sweetie's rules, means facing the minimum regardless of how many runners reach.)</p><p>Meanwhile Tacoma lefty <b>Ian McKinney</b> was having a pretty decent outing himself, allowing just three hits in the first six innings while walking three and striking out 10 with some sneaky slow stuff and a fastball that touched 92 at times. We arrived at the seventh inning in a 0-0 tie.</p><p>Salt Lake third baseman <b>Jake Gatewood</b> led off against McKinney, worked a full count, fouled off a couple of two-strike pitches, and then blasted a long, majestic home run well over the wall in left center field and it was 1-0 Bees. When first baseman <b>Preston Palmeiro</b> hit a warning-track fly ball to right, Tacoma manager <b>Kristopher Negron</b> decided McKinney's day was done.</p><p><b>Daniel Zamora</b> got the final two outs of the seventh with no trouble, but things fell apart in the eighth. After one out, Zamora walked <b>Jo Adell</b> and gave up a single to <b>José Rojas</b>. Vinny Nittoli was summoned from the pen and uncorked a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third. A walk loaded the bases. Salt Lake catcher <b>Anthony Bemboom</b> lifted a sacrifice fly to right deep enough to advance all three runners, and Gatewood lined a single to plate the final two runners and end the scoring.</p><p>Johnson continued his excellent work. With the score 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh he allowed his second hit of the game, a leadoff dunker to center by <b>Jake Hager</b>. <b>Taylor Trammell</b> followed with a walk and the Rainier faithful stirred, hoping for a comeback. But <b>José Marmolejos</b> whiffed and Witte bounced into a 6-4-3 double play, and that was that. Johnson ended up pitching eight innings, allowing the two hits and one walk and striking out five. Tacoma got just four baserunners and bounced into two twin killings. They really didn't hit anything hard all afternoon.</p><p><a href="https://www.milb.com/gameday/bees-vs-rainiers/2021/07/18/644559#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=644559" target="_blank"><b>Box score</b></a></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Family ties</h4><p>Preston Palmeiro is the son of former big-league slugger <b>Rafael Palmeiro</b>. Preston was a seventh-round draft pick of the Orioles in 2016 and bounced around their minor league system for several seasons. He signed as a free agent with the Angels organization this spring and his playing his first season at the Triple-A level. </p>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-66228635740969392021-05-27T13:49:00.001-07:002021-05-27T13:52:23.145-07:00Tacoma Rainiers 7, Round Rock Express 6<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3xWqAFlMW1GjCv7xye0yUqPbadH_Dz8D6AAyFfo3cIZIhIG3tWm6DvULa9kYLqhjJj06VXszf7xd9kGeBDDjPL0kGiSUGLbIF_TQhTj65lcKvqyRy3ivgXusxjS3Sf5AN2MyB2AIF8s/" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_3xWqAFlMW1GjCv7xye0yUqPbadH_Dz8D6AAyFfo3cIZIhIG3tWm6DvULa9kYLqhjJj06VXszf7xd9kGeBDDjPL0kGiSUGLbIF_TQhTj65lcKvqyRy3ivgXusxjS3Sf5AN2MyB2AIF8s/w320-h240/IMG_4240.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A nice day for baseball in Tacoma!</td></tr></tbody></table>My Sweetie, the Official Scorer, and I made it to Cheney Stadium in Tacoma last Sunday for our first in-person ballgame since August of 2019 and were treated to a Rainiers win. Tacoma jumped out to an early lead and then held on for a 7-6 victory over the Round Rock Express.<p></p><p>We weren't so sure about how much scoring we would see. After all, the Rainiers are players deemed not yet ready for the bigs. They're the Triple-A affiliate of the Mariners, whose team batting average just earlier this week nosed back above the Mendoza line.</p><p>We were somewhat heartened when, in looking at pre-game lineups, we noted that the starting pitcher for Round Rock was one <b>Brock Burke</b>. In his two previous starts this season, Burke had lasted a total of just four innings and allowed eight earned runs on 10 hits and six walks in just four innings--a whopping ERA of an even 18.00.</p><p>The Rainier lineup included two recent demotees from the big club, catcher <b>Luis Torrens</b> and outfielder <b>Taylor Trammell</b>, as well as rehabbing outfielder <b>Jake Fraley</b>, penciled in at designated hitter for the day. <b>Bernie Martinez</b> was the starting pitcher for the Rainiers.</p><p>Burke got through the first just fine, fanning the first two Rainiers before allowing a single to Trammell and getting first sacker <b>Sam Travis</b> on a comebacker. The wheels came off in the second. Left fielder <b>Dillon Thomas</b> led off with a single and third baseman <b>Jantzen Witte</b> followed with a walk. A base hit by <b>Luis Liberato</b>, the right fielder, loaded the bases with nobody out. Shortstop <b>Jack Reinheimer</b> whiffed for out number one. Second baseman <b>Ty Kelly</b> hit a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to plate Thomas with Tacoma's first run. Fraley, the leadoff man, walked to re-load the bases, and then Torrens drilled one into the Rainier bullpen beyond the left field wall for a grand slam and a quick 5-0 lead.</p><p>That ended the day for Burke, who lasted 1.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on four hits, walking two and striking out three. His ERA actually went UP to 20.65. I know ERA isn't exactly in vogue as an indicator of pitching performance these days, but if you're above 20, well, that's not good.</p><p>Round Rock began to claw their way back into the game with a pair in the top of the third on a double by <b>Delino DeShields</b>. Liberato hit a solo home run with two out in the bottom of the third to make it 6-2. The Express got a run on three singles in the fifth, and Trammell answered with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the frame to make it 7-3. <b>Jason Martin</b>, the Round Rock first baseman, slugged a solo shot in the sixth to make it 7-4 and set up an interesting eighth inning.</p><p>With <b>Ben Onyshko</b> on the hill for the Rainiers after pitching a 1-2-3 seventh, DeShields led off with a grounder to short that Reinheimer fielded cleanly but threw away for an error. Round Rock third sacker <b>Yonny Hernandez</b> walked, and <b>Andy Ibañez</b> doubled to plate DeShields and move Hernandez to third. A base hit by Martin scored Hernandez and moved Ibañez to third, making it 7-6, and that was it for Onyshko. </p><p>Tacoma manager <b>Kristopher Negron</b> called on right hander <b>Vinny Nitoli</b>, who pulled quite a Houdini act. Martin swiped second to make it second and third with no outs. With the Rainier infield playing in, Nitoli fanned DH <b>Carl Chester</b> for the first out. An intentional walk to centerfielder <b>Leody Taveras</b> loaded the bases and set up a potential double play. But Nitoli struck out shortstop <b>Anderson Tejeda</b> for the second out and catcher <b>Jack Kruger</b> flied out to right to end this inning with Tacoma still on top.</p><p>Zach Weiss, Tacoma's seventh and final hurler on the day, earned a save by keeping Round Rock off the board in the ninth. He walked one, struck out one, and was saved further trouble when Liberato made a diving catch on a sinking liner to right by Ibañez for the final out of the contest.</p><p>Trammell went 4-for-4, including a homer, a double, and two singles. He's hitting .460 and has five homers in a dozen games since being farmed to Tacoma.</p><p><a href="https://www.milb.com/gameday/express-vs-rainiers/2021/05/23/644644#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=box,game=644644">Box score</a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Family ties</h3><p>DeShields is the son of former big-leaguer <b>Delino DeShields</b>. The younger Delino played parts of five seasons with the Rangers before being dealt to Cleveland, where he played last year. He re-upped with Texas as a free agent this winter but hasn't been up to the big club as yet. Delino the elder is presently the first base coach for the Reds.</p><p><b>Eric Young, Jr. </b>is a coach for the Rainiers. He played for a number of MLB teams from 2009-2018. His father, a pretty fair player in his day, is the first base coach for Atlanta.</p><p>Andy Ibañez is no relation to former Mariner Raul.<br /></p>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-85423148616128475862020-03-27T10:52:00.002-07:002020-03-27T11:32:27.337-07:00Jim Wynn and the Hall of Fame<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_w50UBONoatXlt1Y8OzJxOLgYY87-Aats7enxtcEjqsp2TveEbD4VhhiCcSQ-hX0WXSQQW-oAGWM9ceqh7v4eBEnGzckxyasd_tzMHgXBOXRWNP-rU8dBtliV6C2uoCS2LI-hItiOx4s/s1600/wynn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="920" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_w50UBONoatXlt1Y8OzJxOLgYY87-Aats7enxtcEjqsp2TveEbD4VhhiCcSQ-hX0WXSQQW-oAGWM9ceqh7v4eBEnGzckxyasd_tzMHgXBOXRWNP-rU8dBtliV6C2uoCS2LI-hItiOx4s/s320/wynn.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jim Wynn died March 26, 2020 at age 78.</td></tr>
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The passing of former major league outfielder <b>Jim Wynn</b>, aka “The Toy Cannon,” has me thinking again about an article about halls of fame that has been rattling around in my head for a good little while now. Among this article’s several inspirations are the dubious election of <b>Harold Baines</b> to the baseball hall and a 1974 <i>Sports Illustrated</i> article about that year’s Dodgers that my good friend Nancy mailed to me a while ago. It was Wynn’s first season with LA after eleven with Houston, who traded him to the Dodgers for <b>Claude Osteen</b> and <b>David Culpepper</b>. The Cannon hit 32 homers and knocked in 108 runs for Los Angeles that year and ended up fifth in the National League MVP voting.<br />
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I recall thinking upon reading the article that Wynn was a far better player than Baines. Looking through stats of 1970s Dodgers I also came across <b>Reggie Smith</b>, another fine player. Both Wynn and Smith played for my APBA teams at times during the '70s. I compared them to a short list of inducted Hall-of-Famers:<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> <b>Career WAR<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> HR<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>RBI<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> OPS</b><br />
Andre Dawson<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>64.8<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 438<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1591<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>806<br />
Reggie Smith<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 64.6<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 314<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1092<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>855<br />
Dave Winfield<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 64.2<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 465<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1833<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>827<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
Jim Wynn<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>55.9<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 291<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>964<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 820<br />
Tony Perez<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 54<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 379<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1652<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>804<br />
Jim Rice<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 47.7<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 382<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1451<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>854<br />
Orlando Cepeda<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>50.2<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 379<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1365<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>849<br />
Harold Baines<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 38.7<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 384<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1628<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>820<br />
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While Smith and Wynn lag behind the group in the counting stats, they compare favorably in WAR and OPS. Six of these guys are in the Hall of Fame. Smith got three votes from the writers in 1988 and was dropped from further consideration. Wynn didn’t get a single vote in his only year of eligibility in 1983. I’m not here to suggest Smith and Wynn belong in the Hall. I’m not sure ANY of them do, though they were all great players. I'll give you Dawson and Winfield as the class of this bunch.<br />
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There are lots of <a href="https://www.baseball-reference.com/about/leader_glossary.shtml#black_ink">statistical tools</a> that folks have developed for assessing Hall of Fame possibilities, from black ink and gray ink to JAWS and HOF Monitor and HOF Standards. I’m thinking of developing the grandpa/grandma test. I can imagine sitting on my grandpa’s lap 55 years ago and asking, “Wow, did you REALLY get to see Babe Ruth play ball?” I can’t imagine some kid sitting on grandma’s lap in 2050 and asking, “Wow, did you REALLY get to see Harold Baines play?”<br />
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That's fame.<br />
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I'll get to that larger article about halls of fame pretty soon. It's a good social distancing project!<br />
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Thanks for the memories, Jim Wynn.Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-42905854590793134482017-02-14T11:56:00.000-08:002017-02-14T11:56:14.687-08:00A goose egg for Dipoto, a gig for O'BrienAs we celebrate today because pitchers and catchers are reporting to Mariners camp, and as I'm in need of a vehicle for procrastination, I decided to make an addendum to my <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2017/02/bad-trades-rating-mariner-general.html">general managers article</a> posted on Friday. I spent about 2,300 words explaining how I figured <b>Pat Gillick</b> was the best trader among M's general managers and <b>Bill Bavasi </b>was the worst. But I didn't rank <b>Jerry Dipoto</b>, current GM, because there just isn't enough data. As you will recall, or can go read, I rated trades for each GM based on future Wins Above Replacement gained and given for each swap. As Dipoto has been on the job for just over a year, most of his deals have yet to pencil out.<br />
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I decided I might as well dig up what data there is and see how he's doing so far. Interestingly enough, based on trades made before the end of the 2016 season, Dipoto's general manager trade value is exactly: <b>ZERO</b>. We logged eighteen trades Dipoto made between his hiring in September 2015 and the end of last season, and so far he's gotten back precisely as much WAR as he's given away.<br />
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Dipoto's best trade, so far, resulting in a gain of 2.1 WAR, is the deal that brought <b>Leonys Martin</b> to the club, along with <b>Anthony Bass</b>, for <b>Tom Wilhelmsen</b>, <b>James Jones</b>, and <b>Patrick Kivlehan</b>. His worst, at -2.2 WAR, was sending <b>Brad Miller</b>, <b>Logan Morrison</b>, and <b>Danny Farquhar</b> to Tampa Bay for <b>Boog Powell</b>, <b>Nate Carns</b>, and <b>C.J. Riefenhauser</b>. Oddly enough, Dipoto lost 1.6 WAR dealing Riefenhauser away, along with <b>Mark Trumbo</b>, for <b>Steve Clevenger</b>. While Trumbo had a modest 1.6 WAR, all we got out of Clevenger was 0 WAR and some racist tweets.<br />
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The Tampa deal illustrates why we didn't want to lump Dipoto in with the rest of the general managers yet. The ultimate value of the trade probably hinges on how much of a prospect Powell is. He hit .270 in 64 games at Tacoma last year before getting hit with an 80-game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs.<br />
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Similarly, the trade of <b>Mike Montgomery</b> and <b>Jordan Pries</b> for <b>Dan Vogelbach</b> and <b>Paul Blackburn</b> presently ranks as -0.7 WAR for the M's, as Montgomery delivered 0.4 WAR out of the Cubs bullpen while Vogelbach went 1-for-12 during a September call-up for -0.3. But Vogelbach has some potential; he hit 23 home runs and had an OPS of .923 playing for Iowa and Tacoma last summer. Also Vogelbach's nickname is "Vogey." What is wrong with the nicknamers these days? Well, at least he's not D-Vog, and I'm sorry for even putting that idea out there.<br />
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In rating the previous general managers, I declined to calculate the trades in which clearly minimal, if any, value had changed hands. I wonder what the future Weisenheimer doing this exercise with ten years of hindsight will think of most of these deals. <b>Juan De Paula</b> and <b>Jio Orozco</b> for <b>Ben Gamel</b> doesn't seem particularly exciting, but if Gamel is the next <b>Mike Trout</b>, or even the next <b>Bruce Bochte</b>, that's probably a plus for the M's.<br />
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<h2>
Dan O'Brien, Jr.</h2>
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<b>Dan O'Brien</b> ranked number seven of eight Mariner general managers with a trading WAR of -32.9. He passed away last month at the age of 87. His son, <b>Dan O'Brien, Jr.</b>, has just landed a gig with Minor League Baseball. According to a <a href="http://ballparkdigest.com/2017/02/13/dan-obrien-jr-joins-milb/">report on Ballpark Digest</a>, O’Brien has been hired to serve as a senior executive advisor to MiLB president & CEO Pat O’Conner. This will be the junior O'Brien's 40th season in professional baseball. He was an advisor to the Royals last year and worked for the Brewers as a special assistant for ten years before that. He got his start working in sales and marketing for the M's back in the dark ages.Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-77751721929029964522017-02-10T09:45:00.002-08:002021-05-03T15:24:17.119-07:00Bad trades: Rating Mariner general managersBad trades are part of baseball. I've made several recent posts about bad trades, and have threatened to do an analysis to determine which Mariners general manager had the worst trading record. Which one do you think was the worst trader? Keep your answer in mind; I’m about to give mine!<br />
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First, a little about the methodology. Say what you will about <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained.shtml">Wins Above Replacement</a> (WAR), it is an easy, one-number representation of a player’s overall value. So in rating trades, I simply compared the future WAR given up to the future WAR received. It’s a hindsight-is-nearly-20-20 way of looking at the swap. For those not familiar with the concept, a player who reaches 2 WAR in a season is a decent starting player, a WAR of 5+ is an all-star type year, and a player with 8 or more WAR would be in the running for MVP. I used WAR as listed by <a href="http://baseball-reference.com/">Baseball-Reference.com</a>. It is <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/war_explained.shtml">explained fully</a> on the site.<br />
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In rating the general managers, I have not included all trades, mostly because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time in analysis of swaps such as <b>Steve Delabar</b> for <b>Eric Thames</b>. (<b>Jack Zduriencik</b> lost on that deal, getting -0.1 WAR of Thames for 0.3 of Delabar, a -0.4 WAR swap.) We didn’t consider whether either team actually kept the player, just the total future WAR involved in the trade. We didn’t rate <b>Jerry DiPoto</b> because there’s not yet enough data on his deals. In fact Zduriencik’s data isn’t complete, either; Thames just signed a three-year contract with the Brewers after putting up some good power numbers in Korea for four years. Finally, we don’t include WAR from drafts or signings, though we will make note of some in the narrative. We're just talking trades.<br />
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Thus, from best to worst, we rate Seattle Mariner general managers on their trading acumen:<br />
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<h2>
1. Pat Gillick, 2000-2003. GM trade value: 42.7</h2>
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It figured that <b>Gillick</b> would sit in this spot, though he was the M’s GM for just four years. He held the chair during the amazing 106-win season in 2001 and, while many key pieces of that club were in place when he took over, Gillick made important signings of folks like <b>Bret Boone</b>, <b>John Olerud</b>, and <b>David Bell</b>, all of which were positive.<br />
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Gillick made only three significant trades, and two of them worked out OK. Sort of. It was Gillick’s task to trade <b>Ken Griffey, Jr.</b>, and he got good return. As we wrote in a <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2016/03/bad-trades-are-part-of-baseball.html">previous article</a>, <b>Mike Cameron</b> was by far the better player in the coming years, and the trade amounted to a net gain in WAR of 29.1 for Seattle.<br />
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The other good trade for Gillick was the acquisition of <b>Randy Winn</b> for <b>Antonio Perez</b>, a gain of 19.5* WAR. It’s marked with an asterisk, though, because manager <b>Lou Piniella</b> was sort of a part of the deal, and the M’s haven’t done much since Sweet Lou and Gillick departed the scene.<br />
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I rated Piniella with my facetious “genius managing factor,” which is essentially a comparison of expected pythagorean wins against actual team victories that attributes the difference to good (or bad) managing. In Piniella's seven years with the Rays and then the Cubs, he had a GMF of -4.<br />
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Gillick also signed <b>Ichiro</b> and <b>Felix Hernandez</b> and drafted <b>Adam Jones</b>. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.<br />
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<h2>
2. Lou Gorman, 1977-1980. GM trade value: 31.8</h2>
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It’s probably a bit of a surprise to see the M’s first general manager so high on the list. Think about it, though—the expansion Mariners had so few players of value that it was hard to make a bad trade!<br />
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Most of <b>Gorman</b>’s WAR gains are the result of the selection of veteran lefty reliever <b>Grant Jackson</b> in the expansion draft. Since a veteran lefty reliever is of dubious value to a crummy expansion team, Gorman dealt Jackson to the Pirates for <b>Craig Reynolds</b> and <b>Jimmy Sexton</b>, for a gain of 10.2 WAR. Reynolds was the regular shortstop for two years until Gorman dealt him to Houston for <b>Floyd Bannister</b>, a gain of 16.5 WAR. Thus, Gorman squeezed 26.7 WAR out of Jackson. He also came out ahead on a deal that sent the “Rapid City Rabbit,” <b>Dave Collins</b>, to the Reds for southpaw hurler <b>Shane Rawley</b>. He even got a small positive return for dealing the franchise’s first favorite, <b>Ruppert Jones</b>, to the Yankees for <b>Jim Beattie</b>. I still sing “Rupe, Rupe, Rupe for the Mariners” during <i>Take Me Out to the Ballgame</i>.<br />
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Gorman died in 2011.<br />
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<h2>
3. Woody Woodward, 1989-1999. GM trade value: 25</h2>
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OK, how many of you immediately had <b>Woodward</b> pop into your heads when I suggested that you think about which M’s GM you thought was the worst trader? I thought so. I did, too. Here’s what happened.<br />
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Woodward made what is by far the best trade in Mariner history when he shipped <b>Mark Langston</b> and <b>Mike Campbell</b> to Montreal for <b>Brian Holman</b>, <b>Gene Harris</b>, and a wild kid who was 55 2/3 innings into what became a Hall of Fame career. <b>Randy Johnson</b> was worth 104.4 future WAR, and Woodward came out 92.9 WAR ahead on the deal.<br />
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Since he had only 25 WAR to the good by the end of his long tenure with the M’s, Woodward gave most of it back.<br />
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He also made the two worst trades in club history: The disastrous swap of <b>Jason Varitek</b> AND <b>Derek Lowe </b>for <b>Heathcliff Slocumb</b> (-56.5 WAR) and the deal of <b>David Ortiz</b> to Minnesota for <b>Dave Hollins</b> (-52.2). I almost gave Woodward a pass on the Ortiz deal, but a trade is a trade. Even so, the Twins had Ortiz for six years and were so impressed with him that they simply released him after the 2002 season. Ortiz signed with Boston and became a Fenway-aided monster.<br />
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Woodward made some nice deals, too. The swap of <b>Darren Bragg</b> for <b>Jamie Moyer</b> was a gain of 32.2 WAR. Even when forced to trade Johnson he came out 4.3 WAR ahead on the deal. But he made a few other clinkers, too, such as the puzzling deal of <b>Tino Martinez</b>, <b>Jeff Nelson</b>, and <b>Jim Mecir </b>to the Yankees for <b>Sterling Hitchcock</b> and <b>Russ Davis</b> (-31.5); and the <b>Omar Vizquel</b> deal I <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2017/01/little-o-and-more-bad-trades.html">wrote about last month</a> (-31.7).<br />
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So it was feast or famine with Woodward on the trade market. In other moves, he hired Piniella and drafted Varitek, Boone, and <b>Alex Rodriguez</b>.<br />
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<h2>
4. Jack Zduriencik, 2009-2015. GM trade value: 11.1</h2>
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“Trader Jack” came in and almost immediately pulled off an eleven-player deal, the principals of which were <b>J.J. Putz</b>, <b>Luis Valbuena</b>, <b>Jason Vargas</b>, and <b>Franklin Gutierrez</b>. The deal gained <b>Zduriencik</b> 13.2 WAR, and he spent the rest of his tenure losing 2.1.<br />
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We learned a lot about Zduriencik from his two deals involving <b>Cliff Lee</b>. In trading <b>Tyson Gillies</b>, <b>Phillippe</b> <b>Aumont</b>, and <b>J.C. Ramirez</b> to the Phillies for Lee in December 2009, he came out 27.5 WAR ahead, as the players he gave away were worth less than zero. Aumont was the M’s first-round draft pick in 2007; in parts of four seasons with the Phils he pitched in 46 games, all but one in relief, and recorded a career ERA of 6.80. The M’s used 3.4 of Lee’s WAR during the 2010 season before dealing him to Texas in July, along with <b>Mark Lowe</b>, for <b>Justin Smoak</b>, <b>Blake Beavan</b>, and <b>Josh Leuke</b>. It was a -20.5 WAR deal, but in the Lee dealings Jack came out ahead by seven because he got to use some of Lee, and Smoak and Beavan had some minor value.<br />
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My next study may be a look at deals made to get “something” for the guy who is about to become a free agent. The best idea may well be to hold on and get a good couple of months from the player who is going to walk, rather than collecting three shiny pennies for your dull old quarter.<br />
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There were a number of times Zduriencik made a good move, only to later give away his gains. He earned 6.2 WAR trading <b>Michael Saunders</b> for <b>J.A. Happ</b>, then lost 4.5 trading Happ for <b>Adrian Sampson</b>. He got <b>John Jaso</b> for Lueke (+8.6) but then dealt Jaso for <b>Mike Morse</b> (-5.6).<br />
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<h2>
5. Hal Keller, 1984-1985. GM trade value: 1.4</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4aLPAw4uZ7GAQoici-4LPDByKuhARde173GY-E8cQfpxfQbdAqOC4_dgSBTCkM4q6zFspv2ZnfESCzmUbLkL35Et84HDVYwISF1CRFi7uKEsDgyxHATUItSFiQ8V6sAhZmRpuKTpd90/s1600/keller.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Keller" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl4aLPAw4uZ7GAQoici-4LPDByKuhARde173GY-E8cQfpxfQbdAqOC4_dgSBTCkM4q6zFspv2ZnfESCzmUbLkL35Et84HDVYwISF1CRFi7uKEsDgyxHATUItSFiQ8V6sAhZmRpuKTpd90/s1600/keller.jpg" title="" /></a>Keller was the club’s general manager for two seasons and made just one trade of note, dealing <b>Tony Bernazard </b>for <b>Jack Perconte</b> and <b>Gorman Thomas</b>. Thomas was about done, but Perconte had a couple of nice, productive seasons for the M’s. Sitting on your hands can be a good approach for a GM!<br />
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Keller passed away in 2012. His brother was <b>Charlie Keller</b>, a slugging outfielder for the Yankees during the 1940s. Hal caught a couple of dozen games for the Washington Senators between 1949 and 1952.<br />
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6. Dick Balderson, 1986-1988. GM trade value: -6.8</h2>
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Balderson ran the club for three seasons and made one horrible trade, another bad one, and a couple of good ones. The bomb was the inexplicable 1986 swap of <b>Dave Henderson</b> and <b>Spike Owen</b> to Boston for <b>Rey Quinones</b>, <b>Mike Brown</b>, <b>Mike Trujillo</b>, and <b>John Christensen</b>—a loss of 29.7 WAR. The other clinker was his trade of <b>Danny Tartabull</b> and <b>Rick Luecken</b> to the Royals for <b>Scott Bankhead</b>, <b>Mike Kingery</b>, and <b>Steve Shields</b> (-10).<br />
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He came out ahead in the deal of <b>Phil Bradley</b> and <b>Tim Fortugno</b> to Philadelphia for <b>Dave Brundage</b>, <b>Mike Jackson</b>, and <b>Glenn Wilson</b>, +14.2 mostly thanks to a long and useful career by the reliever Jackson.<br />
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Then came Balderson’s best trade and the only Mariner trade I know of to make it into sitcom lore: the swap of <b>Ken Phelps</b> to the Yankees for <b>Jay Buhner</b>, <b>Rick Balabon</b>, and <b>Troy Evers</b>. This one was a gain of 22.8 WAR and brought Balderson much closer to the break-even point as a trader. Alas, he was sacked about a week after making his best deal ever, and replaced by Woodward.<br />
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Balderson also drafted Ken Griffey, Jr.<br />
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<h2>
7. Dan O'Brien, 1981-1983. GM trade value: -32.9</h2>
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O’Brien, Seattle’s second-worst trader ever, was the club's second GM and gets his low rating on the basis of just two deals that did not go well. Worst was his swap of <b>Bud Black</b>, a decent hurler and future manager who pitched one inning for the Mariners, for Manny Castillo, a -2.2 WAR guy who made it a -22.3 deal. The other was a five-for-six swap that essentially boiled down to <b>Rick Honeycutt </b>for <b>Richie Zisk</b> and <b>Jerry Don Gleaton</b> (-10.5). Zisk was probably the first of many disappointments brought in to add some power to the lineup. Honeycutt had a long career as a pitcher and has been the pitching coach for the Dodgers for a decade or so. I wonder if he’s taught <b>Clayton Kershaw</b> anything about the use of thumbtacks. Gleaton, a ginger-headed southpaw nicknamed “Flamin’ Red” by M’s broadcaster <b>Dave Niehaus</b>, was once the post-game interview subject some years after leaving Seattle. Asked about his his continuing career, Gleaton observed, “When you’re a lefty, they want you even if you suck.”<br />
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O’Brien, who passed away last month at age 87, signed Edgar Martinez.<br />
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<h2>
8. Bill Bavasi, 2004-2008. GM trade value: -155.8</h2>
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Probably most of you who didn’t guess Woodward as the team’s worst trader ever picked Bavasi. You were right, and it’s not even close. In five years Bavasi made nine major trades and every single one of them returned negative WAR. Most of them turned in double-figures negative WAR.<br />
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His crowning achievement is the stunningly awful trade for southpaw pitcher <b>Erik Bedard</b>, for whom Bavasi surrendered <b>Adam Jones</b>, <b>George Sherrill</b>, <b>Chris Tillman</b>, <b>Tony Butler</b>, and <b>Cam Mickolio</b>. Total WAR: -39.7. Bavasi has been gone from the M’s for nine seasons, and this trade is still getting worse. Jones is now 31 years old and just had his lowest-WAR season (1.1) since having a cup of coffee with the Mariners. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect that he could add at least another 10 WAR over the next 4-5 years. Tillman is about to turn 29 and has averaged 2.9 WAR over the last four seasons. If he does that again it’s another 12 WAR. Another 22 WAR makes this one -61.7, and that would be the worst deal in club history.<br />
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Other terrible Bavasi trades: <b>Shin-Soo Choo</b> and <b>Shawn Nottingham</b> for <b>Ben Broussard</b> (-31.4). <b>Asdrubal Cabrera</b> for <b>Eduardo Perez</b> (-25.8). <b>Matt Thornton</b> for <b>Joe Borchard</b> (-14.2). Heck, Bavasi’s “best” trade was the one dealing the 43-year-old Moyer to the Phillies for <b>Andrew Baldwin</b> and <b>Andy Barb</b>. This was only -4.8 WAR as Moyer went on to win 58 more games in the bigs, while Baldwin and Barb were career minor leaguers. It's tough to trade a guy who is over 40 and still come out on the short end.<br />
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Bavasi’s best moves were free agent signings of <b>Richie Sexson</b>, <b>Kenji Johjima</b>, and <b>Adrian Beltre</b>. While all three are considered busts by many, Sexson and Johjima made modest contributions in Seattle. In Seattle Beltre never reached the sort of gaudy numbers he'd put up while with the Dodgers, but he did account for 21.3 WAR in five seasons with the M’s, and 66.9 in all since the signing. We're starting to hear talk of his Hall of Fame credentials; he just re-upped with Texas for two years and needs 58 hits to get to 3,000 and 55 home runs to get to 500.<br />
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Bavasi was far and away the worst trader among former Mariner general managers. He took over a club that had won 91 or more games in each of the previous four seasons and immediately won 63. While they finished above .500 once during his tenure, by his final season the M’s lost 101 games.<br />
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To recap:<br />
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<h3>
WAR from trades by Seattle general managers</h3>
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Gillick: 42.7<br />
Gorman: 31.8<br />
Woodward: 25<br />
Zduriencik: 11.1<br />
Keller: 1.4<br />
Balderson: -6.8<br />
O'Brien: -32.9<br />
Bavasi: -155.8Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-26790763667804238442017-01-26T13:20:00.000-08:002017-01-26T13:20:24.185-08:00Little-O and more bad tradesI got to thinking about bad trades in baseball again after reading an article by <b>Craig Edwards</b> today on the baseball site <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/">FanGraphs</a>. The piece is titled <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/omar-vizquel-and-the-worst-hitters-in-the-hall-of-fame/">“<b>Omar Vizquel</b> and the Worst Hitters in the Hall of Fame,”</a> and takes a look ahead to Little-O’s first appearance on the Hall ballot next year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbD1L4nWpRSnSoMYwX3mKCvVMbYwlZeleo_iKBrAxMci1U4B7VBSALWgJQiOGTvjxv6pAZz7gF0qI0Jg9qzfxw-bk60jg7R1YQhxWah7NawRMq7_pcHEO0sok8gdtzo07K9PyAqVwMF5g/s1600/vizquel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbD1L4nWpRSnSoMYwX3mKCvVMbYwlZeleo_iKBrAxMci1U4B7VBSALWgJQiOGTvjxv6pAZz7gF0qI0Jg9qzfxw-bk60jg7R1YQhxWah7NawRMq7_pcHEO0sok8gdtzo07K9PyAqVwMF5g/s320/vizquel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Omar Vizquel</td></tr>
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They love to crunch their numbers over at FanGraphs, and you can probably guess from the title of the piece where Edwards is going. He concludes that <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vizquom01.shtml">Vizquel</a> was the seventh-best defensive player in major league baseball history (based on a metric called <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/library/defense/drs/">defensive runs saved</a>) but that his bat was so bad that he could arguably be called the worst hitter in the Hall (exclusive of pitchers, I presume) were he to be elected.<br />
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I reckon that SOMEBODY has to be the worst hitter in the Hall of Fame. Edwards figures it's either <b>Bill Mazeroski</b> or R<b>abbit Maranville</b> right now. Edwards wouldn’t vote for Vizquel for the Hall and, while he was a favorite of mine while with the Mariners—it was a treat to watch him play shortstop—I probably wouldn’t either. That’s even considering his fantastic play to finish <b>Chris Bosio</b>’s no-hitter in 1993. (Lovebird note: My Sweetie, the Official Scorer, and I saw Bosio pitch for the M’s against the Orioles in Baltimore on our honeymoon later that year.)<br />
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Little-O probably WOULD be a legit Hall of Fame candidate if Weisenheimer and my Sweetie, the Official Scorer, had attended more games. As it was, we would get a 20-game package back in the day when it was affordable to do so, and, as my Sweetie, the Official Scorer by definition keeps score at all games, we knew that Vizquel hit about .395 when we were there. <b>Dave Valle</b> also hit very well when we were at the park; we must be inspirational for hitters whose names begin with the letter V.<br />
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But, as we noted in our post last March, bad trades are part of baseball, and while it wasn’t mentioned in that post, the deal that sent Vizquel to Cleveland in December of 1993 has to rank right up there with the worst the M’s have made. Seattle general manager <b>Woody Woodward</b>, whose fingerprints are all over quite of few of the M’s worst trades ever, dealt a young shortstop who would one day be worthy of at least some Hall of Fame discussion for <b><a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/fermife01.shtml">Felix Fermin</a></b>, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jeffere01.shtml"><b>Reggie Jefferson</b></a>, and cash.<br />
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The idea, as memory serves, was that Fermin would “replace” Vizquel as the shortstop until <b>Alex Rodriguez</b> was ready and that Jefferson, a switch hitter who hit righthanders far better than he did lefties, would bring some lefty options to first base and designated hitter for manager <b>Lou Piniella</b>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Felix Fermin</td></tr>
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The two new M’s weren’t exactly horrible in the strike-shortened 1994 season. Fermin hit .317 in 101 games, but had only one home run, four steals in eight tries, and his OPS was .718. A sub-par defender, he played shortstop until the Mariners called up Rodriquez in early July, and then moved over to second base, which had mostly been played by <b>Luis Sojo</b> (everybody scores!) and <b>Rich Amaral</b> to that point. Fermin’s WAR for 1994: 0.4. Jefferson played only 63 games in 1994 but was effective when he was in there. He batted .327 and hit eight home runs, leading to a nice OPS of .935. With limited playing time, his WAR was 1.1. Meanwhile in Cleveland Vizquel hit .273 in his first year with the Tribe—a career best to that point—won a Gold Glove and amassed a WAR of 0.8.<br />
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So, for 1994 anyway, you could argue that the Mariners came out slightly ahead on the deal. From there on it went south. Way far south.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reggie Jefferson</td></tr>
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Jefferson became a free agent after the season and signed with Boston, so the 63 games were all the M's got on that part of the bargain. He played five years for the Red Sox and contributed 3.7 WAR. Fermin had a dismal 1995 for the M’s, batting just .195. He was released the following spring, played 11 games for the Cubs in ’96, and was out of the majors. After the trade his WAR was -1.6. He's managing a club in the Mexican League these days.<br />
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Vizquel, on the other hand, played in parts of 19 seasons after the trade. During those years he made the All-Star team three times, won ten of his 11 gold gloves, and piled up 34.9 WAR. His best year was 1999, when he had 6.0 WAR, hit .333, had 42 steals, an OPS of .833, and finished 16th in the MVP voting. That year was a bit of an outlier, as he never batted .300 or better in any other season, though he finished in the .290s four times.<br />
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Doing the math, then, Woodward traded 34.9 future wins above replacement for 2.1 WAR. That’s a bad trade, unless the cash part of the deal was really, really high. Even with Rodriguez (career WAR 117.7) coming up, there was no need to dump a brilliant shortstop for close to zip.<br />
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I keep threatening to evaluate all the M's trades and determine the all-time worst, and the crummiest general manager. Stay tuned!Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-18461249017615408712016-08-21T07:30:00.000-07:002016-08-21T07:30:25.921-07:00A circuitous route to outstanding baseball funIn the space of eighty hours this week I traveled 2,291 miles by Amtrak train, 180 miles by bus, around 12 miles on the Red Line on the Chicago L, 11 miles with Uber, 2.3 miles via private automobile, and walked about four miles. Those 2,500.3 miles of travel were well worth it for taking me to a couple of fantastic baseball memories. The <a href="http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/">Chicago Cubs</a> are more famous than the <a href="http://northwoodsleague.com/wisconsin-rapids-rafters/">Wisconsin Rapids Rafters</a> (even though they're tied for the number of World Series victories achieved over the last 108 years.) But this week the Rafters put on a great show, and may well beat the Cubs to the big gonfalon in the sky.<br />
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<h2>
Root, root, root for the Cubbies</h2>
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Wrigley Field in Chicago is a baseball cathedral, one of only two ballparks in use in the majors that were built before 1960. Fenway Park in Boston, opened in 1912, is the other and is two years older than Wrigley. Plopped down in a primarily residential-and-sports-bar neighborhood on Chicago's North Side, Wrigley should be on the bucket list for anyone who enjoys baseball, even those such as Weisenheimer, an avowed <a href="http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/">Cardinals</a> fan. I made my first trip to the field August 17, taking a slight detour on the way to a family reunion in Wisconsin.<br />
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The Friendly Confines are as advertised, at least once you get past the metal detectors and the cheeky gate guy who chides you for wearing a red cap (Spokane Indians) while he rifles through your camera bag. You can get a scorecard for $1.50, the beer is good and cold, there's not a bad seat in the house, and the Cubs have an enthusiastic and knowledgable fan base. I enjoyed this particular game with <b>Jason Harber</b>, a friend and Twins fan by birth who moved recently to the Windy City from Seattle and has become an avowed Cubs disciple. It helps that he lives just a hop and a skip from the ballpark and has a father-in-law with season tickets. Jason says he's aware of another club in town but somehow hasn't made it down to the South Side.<br />
<br />
The Cubs eliminated all suspense pretty early in the game, logging five in the first inning, three on a homer by <b>Jorge Soler</b>, on the way to a 6-1 win over Milwaukee. Fans hung around the ballpark for a good while after the final out, with activities like the singing of the <i>Go, Cubs, Go!</i> song. I didn't know the lyrics, but was starting to catch on by the third chorus. The only Cubs song I know is <i>A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request</i>. Interestingly enough, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/steve-goodman-and-the-sur_b_123206.html">both were penned by the late Steve Goodman</a>. Do they still play the blues in Chicago when baseball season rolls around?<br />
<br />
The Cubs have a pretty good club this year.<br />
<br />
<h2>
At the other end of the baseball spectrum</h2>
<br />
As noted above, the primary purpose of this road trip is to attend a family reunion in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. When the dates were set for our reunion activities, I looked up the schedules and was dismayed to note that the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, the town's club in the <a href="http://northwoodsleague.com/">Northwoods League</a>, was to complete its season the previous weekend. But upon awaking in Chicago the morning after the Cubs game, I received a text message from my aunt, <b>Ann Kroll</b>, a big fan of the Rafters. The Rafters had successfully navigated the summer collegiate league's playoffs and advanced to the championship series against the <a href="http://northwoodsleague.com/eau-claire-express/">Eau Claire Express</a>. Game one of the best-of-three affair was slated for that very evening at historic <a href="http://northwoodsleague.com/wisconsin-rapids-rafters/team/ballpark/">Witter Field</a> in Rapids.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gNgbKmJ_tsJWBtSoJr2jO928ZKObZpJCndnDoKTmlKvAk-CpoJit-65crIvQD4qz32JGYEbpXvODndXmLWJcQkeB6ObYAucAWdBW-9c1YTLBO4KvRkHHOMwzH3Q-noRMcOKYMoIxFOA/s1600/IMG_2287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gNgbKmJ_tsJWBtSoJr2jO928ZKObZpJCndnDoKTmlKvAk-CpoJit-65crIvQD4qz32JGYEbpXvODndXmLWJcQkeB6ObYAucAWdBW-9c1YTLBO4KvRkHHOMwzH3Q-noRMcOKYMoIxFOA/s320/IMG_2287.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Mr. Cub outside Wrigley Field. Let's play two. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"I'm in!" I texted, also noting that <b>Ernie Banks</b> had been following me around all day.<br />
<br />
I have some personal history with Witter Field. The Wisconsin Rapids White Sox of the Class-D Wisconsin State League played there for most of the years from 1941 until the league disbanded after 1953. <b>Ma Weisenheimer</b> did some work preparing the scorecards for the games, for which she was paid handsomely: an invitation to the team's season-end banquet and a ball autographed by the players. One of the players was my uncle, <b>Carl Bathke</b>, who toiled for the club in 1946 and 1947. The field was home to the Class-A affiliates for the Senators in 1963 and for the Twins from 1964 until 1983. I vaguely remember attending a Midwest League All-Star Game there during one family vacation, and <a href="http://mwlguide.com/reference/allstars.html">one resource</a> lists such games there in 1967, 1972, and 1973.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JqfUmJJITmk9bKasTIsqRA0sLAyQqt2VmbJyBh0ylJLchWBEI16-Z7mGq3ClWpUuqR1H-P79zZTKqB8z7zmnl9BwRFyIE8gHJDPqCiKqrF5fy-PX-DkPYwtVmkWXE21CfipngjDJYWU/s1600/IMG_2299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3JqfUmJJITmk9bKasTIsqRA0sLAyQqt2VmbJyBh0ylJLchWBEI16-Z7mGq3ClWpUuqR1H-P79zZTKqB8z7zmnl9BwRFyIE8gHJDPqCiKqrF5fy-PX-DkPYwtVmkWXE21CfipngjDJYWU/s400/IMG_2299.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Witter Field during game one of the Northwoods League championship series.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I would travel by train from Chicago to Milwaukee, then by bus from Milwaukee to Wisconsin Rapids, scheduled to arrive in town at 7:40 p.m., 35 minutes after first pitch. I texted Ann at about 6:30 that the bus was on schedule. She replied that she had a ticket in hand for me and would shuttle me from the bus stop to my hotel and then the ballpark. (Ann is making a strong bid for favorite-aunt status.)<br />
<br />
Some check-in challenges with the party ahead of me at the one-person front desk of the hotel delayed things a bit. I arrived at the game at 8:30-ish with the contest in the top of the fourth and the Rafters leading visiting Eau Claire 3-1. The Express clawed back into the game mostly by following the time-honored tradition of making the pitcher try to catch the ball. Several Rafter relievers had a little trouble with their fielding, and Eau Claire eventually went up 4-3 in the top of the ninth, sending a sizable and noisy visiting contingent of fans into hysterics with their cowbells and air horns.<br />
<br />
The Rafters' <b>Andrew Turner</b> dunked a single leading off the bottom of the ninth. <b>Richie Palacios</b> and <b>Jake Lumley</b> both followed with well-struck fly balls, both of which were tracked down by Eau Claire outfielders. That brought catcher <b>Rob Calabrese</b> to the plate. Calabrese crushed a towering fly ball on the first pitch that cleared the fence in left for a two-run shot that gave Wisconsin Rapids a 5-4 victory and even made the ESPN highlights.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
You can hardly top an exciting finish and a win for the home team, but the party atmosphere at Witter Field made for a totally entertaining ballgame. I think there may still be some folks in the stands singing <i>YMCA</i> and other classics from the '70s. The public-address announcer kept asking if this was the most exciting Thursday evening of our lives. I'm pretty sure it wasn't for me, but it was a great deal of fun, and combined with the history of the place in the family lore it's one I'll remember for a good, long while.<br />
<br />
I was sort of pulling for Eau Claire Friday night, because a victory by the Express would force a deciding game three back at Witter Field on Saturday (and potentially add another ballgame to my road trip.) Alas, it was not to be. Wisconsin Rapids scored six in the top of the sixth and romped to an 11-4 victory to wrap up their first Northwoods League title.<br />
<br />
Top that, Brewers. See you in Milwaukee Monday night.Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-19947830338674303272016-04-11T12:02:00.000-07:002017-06-07T15:04:00.621-07:00Tacoma Rainiers 13, Albuquerque Isotopes 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Tacoma starter <b>Adrian Sampson</b> pitched six innings of one-hit ball and the Rainiers scored four runs in the first and never looked back in a 13-1 rout of the Albuquerque Isotopes on a sunny afternoon Sunday at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.<br />
<br />
Sampson, a local prospect who attended Skyline High School and Bellevue College and was a fifth-round draft pick by the Pirates in 2012, hit a batter, walked two, and struck out two while throwing 82 pitches during his start Sunday. We'd suggest that the Mariner organization ask its starters to work a little longer to avoid future gaffes such as the untimely removal of <b>Felix Hernandez</b> from his start against Oakland on Sunday.<br />
<br />
Offensively the Rainiers got off to a quick start. Centerfielder <b>Herschel Mack "Boog" Powell</b> led off the game with a leg double to center, a hot grounder that skittered off the glove of Albuquerque second-sacker <b>Joey Wong</b>. Shortstop <b>Chris Taylor</b> followed with a walk, and designated hitter <b>Efren Navarro</b> singled to plate Powell and make it 1-0. After first baseman <b>Stefen Romero</b> bounced into a fielder's choice, catcher <b>Mike Zunino</b> singled to score Taylor. One out later third baseman <b>Ed Lucas</b> lined a double into the left field corner to score a pair and it was 4-0.<br />
<br />
Tacoma scored two more on four singles in the second, Romero blasted a homer with Taylor aboard in the fourth, and the Rainiers completed their day's scoring with a five-spot in the fifth, helped along by a couple of Isotope miscues.<br />
<br />
Tacoma won three of four in the series that opened the Pacific Coast League season.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Your bus ticket to Hartford is ready</h3>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Albuquerque starter Shane Carle heads for the showers after<br />
getting the hook in the fifth inning against Tacoma Sunday,<br />
while his mates discuss how they plan to come back from a<br />
10-0 deficit. They didn't; the Rainiers won 13-1. Photo:<br />
Greg Scheiderer.</td></tr>
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Albuquerque starter <b>Shane Carle</b>, a former tenth-round draft pick out of Long Beach State, served up the tasty meal of meatballs for Tacoma hitters. Carle's line: 12 runs, 11 earned, on 12 hits in four-plus innings. He struck out three, walked three, and hit a batter. For his next start they'll list his ERA as 24.75 and opponents' batting average against him as a robust .522. Isotope manager <b>Glenallen Hill</b> was probably correct, if somewhat tardy, in removing his starter with no outs in the fifth. Carle was a respectable 14-7 with an ERA of 3.48 for AA New Britain last year. He may be headed back to AA if he doesn't get his ERA down below two dozen.<br />
<br />
Every Tacoma starter had at least one hit, Powell leading the way with three hits and three runs scored. Romero had two hits and four RBI, and Taylor and right fielder <b>Daniel Robertson</b> had two hits each. Lucas was kept busy at the hot corner, logging six assists on the afternoon. Zunino was robbed of an RBI and saddled with an extra at-bat thanks to some poor baserunning in the second inning. He hit a booming fly ball to center with runners at the corners and one out. Taylor tagged at third and trotted plateward, expecting to score easily. However Romero inexplicably tagged at first and headed to second, where he was thrown out by Albuquerque center fielder <b>Michael Tauchman</b> and tagged before Taylor touched home.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2016_04_10_albaaa_tacaaa_1&t=g_box&sid=t529">Box score</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
In search of perfection</h3>
My sweetie, the official scorer, and I have seen probably hundreds of games together by now and have never witnessed a no-hitter. We remind ourselves of this each game. At brunch at <a href="http://www.miopostopizza.com/admiral/">Mioposto Pizzeria</a> before heading to Tacoma Sunday, our server, <b>Mariel</b>, noted us clad in our baseball jerseys (Sweetie wearing Edgar Martinez/M's, Greg wearing Rogers Hornsby/'51 Rainiers) and correctly deduced we were headed to a ballgame. Mariel said she'd only been to one game ever: <b>Felix Hernandez</b>'s perfect game in 2012. Dammit.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Is something Wong?</h3>
Cardinals second baseman <b>Kolten Wong</b> has a brother in the minors, but is not, so near as we can tell, related to Albuquerque's Joey Wong. Still, we think St. Louis should trade their ace starter to the Rockies for Joey just to find out if two Wongs make a Wainwright.Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-67997561712508528412016-03-12T16:45:00.000-08:002016-03-12T16:45:57.506-08:00Bad trades are part of baseballAnnie Savoy knows whereof she speaks.<br />
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“Bad trades are part of baseball,” says the <b>Susan Sarandon</b> character in the opening sequence of the 1988 film <i>Bull Durham</i>. “Who can forget <b>Frank Robinson</b> for <b>Milt Pappas</b> for God’s sake?”<br />
<br />
I got to thinking about bad trades as I was preparing the previous <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2016/03/get-em-on-get-em-over-get-em-in.html">post about <b>Nelson Cruz</b></a> and researching the dubious deals made by the Mariners over the years. (Man, do I love <a href="http://baseballreference.com/">BaseballReference.com</a>!) Quite a few other masochists have considered this subject and posted their lists of the team’s terrible trades. Just about all of these lists include <b>Woody Woodward</b>’s swap of <b>Randy Johnson</b> to the Astros at the trading deadline in 1998, and <b>Pat Gillick</b>’s shipping of <b>Ken Griffey, Jr. </b>to the Reds in February of 2000.<br />
<br />
I say hold on a second.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Randy Johnson</h3>
<br />
Johnson had a sour relationship with the club and was going to become a free agent at the end of the ’98 season. He was 34, there were concerns about his back, and he was putting up un-Big Unit type numbers (9-10, 4.33) in Seattle before the trade. Johnson was brilliant for the Astros (10-1, 1.28) after the deal, signed as a free agent with Arizona that offseason, and promptly won four straight National League Cy Young Awards. It would have been tough to get equal value back for that.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garcia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yet Woodward did all right, getting <b>Freddy Garcia</b>, <b>Carlos Guillen</b>, and <b>John Halama</b> in exchange for Johnson.<br />
<br />
Garcia and <b>Jamie Moyer</b> were the aces of the staff for the 116-win club in 2001, the former going 18-6 with an ERA of 3.05. The Chief had five pretty good seasons for the M’s, amassing a record of 76-50. In mid-2004 Bill Bavasi traded Garcia and <b>Ben Davis</b> to the White Sox for <b>Mike Morse</b>, <b>Miguel Olivo</b>, and <b>Jeremy Reed</b>. Garcia wound up with 156 wins and a 4.15 ERA in 15 seasons.<br />
<br />
Guillen spent a couple of years as the regular shortstop in Seattle, then became an All Star after being traded by Bavasi to the Tigers in ’04 for <b>Juan Gonzalez</b> (sadly, not the slugging one) and <b>Ramon Santiago</b>.<br />
<br />
Halama was a journeyman who went 56-48 with an ERA of 4.65 over nine years.<br />
<br />
Comparing the players by Wins Above Replacement (WAR), Johnson piled up a handsome 39.8 in the five years following the trade. Garcia did OK at 15.6 during that same span. Guillen was 15.1 WAR in his first five seasons as a regular and racked up career WAR of 27.7. Halama is practically the definition of replacement level; though he chalked up 4.7 WAR in his first season in Seattle, his career total was only 5.6. Woodward managed to get decent value out of a situation in which he had little choice but to make a deal.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Trading Junior</h3>
<br />
Gillick’s situation with Griffey was similar. The Kid wanted out of Seattle, wanted to play closer to home. With the gun to his head, Gillick got <b>Mike Cameron</b>, <b>Brett Tomko</b>, <b>Antonio Perez</b>, and <b>Jake Meyer</b> for the future Hall of Famer. It’s hard to see how anyone calls this a bad trade.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGFC_14jwVb1zWAbrNA3h_i1KlUZkBrWUkIkQFm06Wa0cq9Fzys57pFkuhOIafC1C5qqLjuqZ2R2DTV_Mt3spKN8uB8r0mfxH4nE86dukxDRFosmKIJAtxqap4mFAFD5Ik4Gw2rGjekA/s1600/cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGFC_14jwVb1zWAbrNA3h_i1KlUZkBrWUkIkQFm06Wa0cq9Fzys57pFkuhOIafC1C5qqLjuqZ2R2DTV_Mt3spKN8uB8r0mfxH4nE86dukxDRFosmKIJAtxqap4mFAFD5Ik4Gw2rGjekA/s200/cameron.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cameron</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Griffey had only two really good seasons during his injury-plagued years with the Reds. His total WAR from 2000-04 was 8.5. Cameron in those same years racked up 19.8 WAR, including 18.3 in four years with the M’s. He was a far better player than Griffey over that span.<br />
<br />
Tomko is essentially Halama. In fact, he had the same career ERA of 4.65, and went 100-103 over 14 seasons. Meyer never made the show. Perez was a utility infielder for four years with the Rays, Dodgers, and A’s.<br />
<br />
The one interesting note about Perez is that in October of 2002 he was traded, along with manager <b>Lou Piniella</b>, to Tampa Bay for <b>Randy Winn</b>, who had a couple of nice years for the M’s, and he, Cameron, and <b>Ichiro</b> were a beautiful outfield to watch. Winn was dealt by Bavasi to the Giants in a deadline deal in 2005 for the legends <b>Jesse Foppert</b> and <b>Yorvit Torrealba</b>.<br />
<br />
Winn was a useful player, but the deal that brought him to Seattle may actually be the worst in club history. The Mariners have had only four winning seasons and have not made the playoffs since Piniella’s departure.<br />
<br />
<h3>
The real worst trade</h3>
<br />
The Griffey deal does not belong on a list of bad trades. Seattle got the short end of the Johnson deal but did OK under the circumstances. What’s the real worst trade?<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OQJ5s4tFFNzoZNotO9dRD_dOWicuv0xlaNjUL5rKj-PMCW5e7m2Zp4h5KKGHQdz3xQOGHkkLKKXGOzj7JnGmWc0NmPTXkwbpWTj0MEAHAfpKmztPV2HnwIQtq0IetRi6zGJEuHlsblE/s1600/slocumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OQJ5s4tFFNzoZNotO9dRD_dOWicuv0xlaNjUL5rKj-PMCW5e7m2Zp4h5KKGHQdz3xQOGHkkLKKXGOzj7JnGmWc0NmPTXkwbpWTj0MEAHAfpKmztPV2HnwIQtq0IetRi6zGJEuHlsblE/s200/slocumb.jpg" width="129" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slocumb</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whenever my Sweetie, the official scorer, and I talk about bad trades one of us usually says, in Annie Savoy accent, “Who can forget <b>Jason Varitek</b> AND <b>Derek Lowe</b> for <b>Heathcliff Slocumb</b>, for God’s sake?” Slocumb notched 10 saves in 11 opportunities down the stretch in 1997 for the M’s team that won the A.L. West, but wasn’t actually very good. He saved just three and had an ERA of 5.32 the following season. His career WAR was 5.6 in 10 seasons.<br />
<br />
Varitek, on the other hand, was a switch-hitting catcher with power—he was Crash Davis!—and piled up 24.3 WAR in a 15-year career. Lowe pitched 17 seasons and was 33 WAR. That was a lousy trade.<br />
<br />
I thought of it again last year when the M’s shipped <b>Fernando Rodney</b> to the Cubs. I figured that if Woodward had been the general manager in Chicago we could have gotten <b>Anthony Rizzo</b> and <b>Jake Arrieta</b> for this “proven closer.”<br />
<br />
What may eventually be acclaimed as the M’s worst trade ever is the February 2008 deal in which Bavasi sent young slugger <b>Adam Jones</b> to Baltimore for the great <b>Erik Bedard</b>. Bedard’s career WAR was 17.3, but only 4.3 of that came after the trade. Jones has already piled up 27.5 WAR with the Orioles. Who needs a gold-glove center fielder with a great bat, anyway? Oh, and by the way, we also gave Baltimore FOUR OTHER GUYS in the deal. <b>Chris Tillman</b> has developed into a solid starting pitcher, <b>George Sherrill</b> was a useful left-handed reliever, <b>Kam Mickolio</b> pitched in 29 games in the bigs, and southpaw <b>Tony Butler</b> was a career minor leaguer. Word at the time was that Bavasi needed to win or he'd be sacked. In this, at least, he was correct. He was fired June 16 with the team already 17 1/2 games out and in dead last. Bedard, alas, didn't help turn things around.<br />
<br />
Some folks list the Mariners' 1996 swap of <b>David Ortiz</b> to the Twins for <b>Dave Hollins</b> among the worst ever. It didn't turn out well, but I give Woodward a pass on this one. Ortiz was 21 at the time of the deal. He was 17 when they signed him out of the Dominican Republic, and had knocked around the M's system for three years before the trade. In parts of six seasons with the Twins he amassed just 2.5 WAR. A free agent after the 2002 season, he signed with Boston, hit 31 homers in 2003, and was off to the races. But it was seven years later, and there was really no sign that Ortiz would blossom into a Hall of Fame contender. The hell of it is that this trade was a case of the Twins trying to get something, anything, for a guy who was going to be a free agent. Hollins played just 28 games for the Mariners and signed with the Angels for 1997.<br />
<br />
<h3>
One good trade</h3>
<br />
This post makes it sound as though the Mariners have never made a good trade. On the contrary, they made what is possibly the best trade in baseball history, at least as judged by television situation comedies, swapping designated hitter <b>Ken Phelps </b>to the Yankees on July 21, 1988 for a young outfielder by the name of <b>Jay Buhner</b>. The deal was so bad for the Yankees it was ridiculed on an episode of <i>Seinfeld</i>.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cUwSxqnRW-8" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
Ironically, less than a week after making the best swap in franchise history, general manager <b>Dick Balderson</b> was fired by the Mariners. Manager <b>Dick Williams</b> had been sacked earlier in the season, and the club was in last place and 20 games out. And thus began the Woodward era.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Bavasi or Woodward?</h3>
<br />
The names of Bill Bavasi and Woody Woodward are all over the bad trades list. They had some successes.<br />
<br />
Woodward hired Piniella, drafted <b>Alex Rodriguez</b>, and dealt outfielder <b>Darren Bragg</b> to Boston in 1998 for Moyer. Many folks thought that was dumb at the time. Bragg was a speedy young spark plug and Moyer a 34-year-old soft-tossing lefty. Moyer pitched for the M's for parts of 11 seasons and won 145 games, which is tops on the team's all-time list, though <b>Felix Hernandez</b> will likely pass him in about a month. In August of 2006 we made the same mistake Boston did, trading too-old Moyer at age 43 to the Phillies for essentially nothing. He kept going until he was 49 and won 58 more games. (As a total aside, it may tell you something about the Mariners' mostly sad history as a franchise that the list of its ten winningest pitchers includes Joel Piñero and Gil Meche.)<br />
<br />
But Woodward made some other lulus, too. July 31, 1997 may go down as the darkest day in M's history. On the same day as the Slocumb trade, Woodward moved young outfielder <b>José Cruz, Jr. </b>to Toronto for <b>Paul Spoljaric</b> and <b>Mike "Two Run" Timlin</b>, so named because two runs came in whenever he pitched. Nothing like trading a slugging outfielder for some bullpen "help." Maybe Woodward didn't have a good breakfast or enough coffee that day. He also engineered the disastrous 1995 trade of <b>Tino Martinez</b> and <b>Jeff Nelson</b> to New York for the completely mediocre <b>Russ Davis</b> and <b>Sterling Hitchcock</b>.<br />
<br />
Bavasi's successes aren't so obvious. His best moves may have been the signings of <b>Adrian Beltre</b> and <b>Richie Sexson</b>. While his stats were deflated by Safeco Field, Beltre was a fine player for Seattle. Sexson is generally regarded as a bust, but he had two relatively productive years before falling off in his final season with the M's. In addition to the above moves, Bavasi's 2006 swap of <b>Shin-Soo Choo</b> for <b>Ben Broussard</b> goes down as a bust.<br />
<br />
Perhaps one day we will do an analysis to figure out which former GM lost the most WAR in trades.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Beware, ye who would trade for a pitching ace</h3>
<br />
The notion of going out and getting a good pitcher is what often leads to trouble. Savoy’s favorite trade was a slugger for a hurler; Pappas had reached double figures in victories for eight straight seasons before being traded for Robinson in 1965. He did it eight more times after the deal and won 209 games in his career. Robinson immediately had an MVP season for the Reds and hit 254 of his 586 career home runs after the swap.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nrMj8Q9VQKaEDy6BFWNupiCbVHEw3Kx8F6O4fHFw5faMvAG7Cd7nGzhNHf7d7mZ5qhsps9nD93FsCFgz_71h2-lybsKXeAOdQwtKEjPb0m5SvPoF4GjbgK537B9czkNVDO7U9iQCcOU/s1600/broglio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8nrMj8Q9VQKaEDy6BFWNupiCbVHEw3Kx8F6O4fHFw5faMvAG7Cd7nGzhNHf7d7mZ5qhsps9nD93FsCFgz_71h2-lybsKXeAOdQwtKEjPb0m5SvPoF4GjbgK537B9czkNVDO7U9iQCcOU/s200/broglio.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broglio. Who else cut out these<br />
baseball cards from the backs of<br />
cereal boxes?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As a Cardinals fan, I am forever thankful to the Cubs for their trade of <b>Lou Brock</b> for <b>Ernie Broglio</b>. It must have made sense at the time. Broglio had won 18 for St. Louis in 1963, while Brock was 25 and in his third season as a regular and batting about .260 when the deal was made. Broglio went 7-19 in two-and-a-half seasons in Chicago, and then was out of the game. Brock made the Hall of Fame. There were four other guys in the deal. You’re more of a baseball nut than I if you can tell me anything about <b>Jack Spring</b>, <b>Paul Toth</b>, and <b>Doug Clemens</b>. <b>Bobby Shantz</b> was also part of the swap, hanging on as a mop-up reliever at the end of his 16-year career.<br />
<br />
Other notorious bad trades involving pitchers include <b>John Smoltz</b> for <b>Doyle Alexander</b>, <b>Jeff Bagwell</b> for <b>Larry Andersen</b>, <b>Steve Carlton</b> for <b>Rick Wise</b>, <b>Pedro Martinez</b> for <b>Delino DeShields</b> (the elder; Delino Jr. was one year old at the time of the deal), and <b>Christy Matthewson</b> for <b>Amos Rusie</b>.<br />
<br />
Naturally, we benefit from hindsight as we look back at how these trades came out. But who besides Woody Woodward didn't realize that the Slocumb deal was a big mistake.<br />
<br />
Now, what will you give us for proven closer <b>Joaquin Benoit</b>?Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-46328778844189829062016-03-08T13:41:00.003-08:002016-03-08T13:42:56.582-08:00Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em inThe onset of baseball’s spring training has caused painful memories to emerge that I had managed to repress since October. Memories of a Seattle Mariners team with a dismal .311 on-base percentage that still managed to hit into 123 double plays. Memories of a club that was already six games off the pace and effectively out of the AL West race by May 1. Memories of a disappointing club that got the manager, Mr. <b>Lloyd McClendon</b>, and GM <b>Jack Zduriencik</b> sacked.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVjLsyMD1SfGJjkO3cqs3FUsYlx6JntHFOgimTzngFFBc0fA1KF7Y3kGFrFc28IJm40GP_mqrzDLrCIkgqA1TwV3VzFuipnLy5_-aP3uLPMIoGY8oijM7_DiKvPMaybvsAvA4EfYXKYA/s1600/Nelson_Cruz_on_May_19%252C_2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiVjLsyMD1SfGJjkO3cqs3FUsYlx6JntHFOgimTzngFFBc0fA1KF7Y3kGFrFc28IJm40GP_mqrzDLrCIkgqA1TwV3VzFuipnLy5_-aP3uLPMIoGY8oijM7_DiKvPMaybvsAvA4EfYXKYA/s320/Nelson_Cruz_on_May_19%252C_2015.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nelson Cruz was more successful in 2015 than most players<br />
the Mariners have brought in to add a little pop to the lineup.<br />
Yet though he hit 44 home runs and batted .302, he drove in <br />
just 93 runs. It turns out that hitting over .300 with at least 40<br />
homers and fewer than 100 RBI is pretty rare, and it happened<br />
twice last year. Photo: Keith Allison/Wikimedia Commons. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Even the seasonal bright spot had an odd disappointment. <b>Nelson Cruz</b> was the slugger brought in to add some pop to the club’s anemic lineup. Seasoned Mariner watchers, understandably pessimistic about whatever move the club makes, expected the usual flop, ala <b>Kevin Mitchell</b>, <b>Richie Zisk</b>, <b>Gorman Thomas</b>, or <b>Jeff Cirillo</b>, to name just a few of the duds who suddenly lost their mojo upon arrival in Sodo. Boomstick broke the mold, cracking 44 home runs and hitting .302 on the season. Despite this, Cruz drove in only 93 runs, and 44 of them were his own self, so Cruz sent just 49 teammates plate-ward on the season.<br />
<br />
Later I noticed that National League Most Valuable Player <b>Bryce Harper</b> hit .322 with 42 home runs and just 99 ribbies. Arbitrary cutoffs are what baseball is all about, so I got to wondering how many other players have hit over .300 with 40 or more home runs and fewer than 100 RBI. Today I did the research. The list is surprisingly short. Though there were two such occurrences in 2015, there have been only five others in the history of the game, and all of them have been by big-name players, including the game's two most prolific sluggers. Which now seems obvious, since inclusion on the list means you hit .300 with 40 taters.<br />
<br />
The last time it happened was in 2003, when <b>Barry Bonds</b> smacked 45 homers while batting .341 that year, yet had only 90 RBI. Bonds played in 130 games in '03 and had 550 plate appearances. His chances to drive in runs were reduced somewhat by 148 walks, 61 of which were intentional.<br />
<br />
Before that you have to go back to 1994, when <b>Ken Griffey, Jr.</b> hit .323 and clubbed 40 round-trippers but drove in just 90 runs. This particular occurrence deserves a bit of an asterisk, though, as the season was cut short by a strike. Junior played in just 111 games and had 493 plate appearances. Had the season progressed to its typical 162 games he might well have approached 60 dingers and gotten the ten more ribbies he needed to avoid this list.<br />
<br />
Baseball’s one-time home run king made the list twice. <b>Henry Aaron</b> batted .300 and hit 44 home runs while driving in just 97 runs in 1969, and he went .301-40-96 in 1973, both with the Atlanta Braves. Aaron played just 120 games in ’73 when he was 39 years of age. In ’69 he played 147 games and led the National League in total bases.<br />
<br />
The first player to ever hit over .300 with at least 40 home runs and not drive home 100 or more runs was the Commerce Comet, <b>Mickey Mantle</b>, back in 1958. Mantle hit 42 homers that year and batted .304, but had just 97 RBI.<br />
<br />
There was quite a bit of “missed it by that much” as I did the research for this list. For example, there was almost a third member just last season, when near-MVP <b>Mike Trout</b> hit 41 home runs and drove in 90, but hit “only” .299. But a cutoff is a cutoff (something many Mariner outfielders seem to know nothing about, but that’s for another article.) In fact it is fairly unusual for players to hit 40 home runs and not reach 100 RBI, regardless of batting average. <b>Adam Dunn</b> may be the poster child on either side of this; he hit 40 or more dingers six times and drove in at least 100 runs in four of those seasons, never hitting above .266.<br />
<br />
There's long been a debate about whether "clutch" hitting exists. I don't believe that it does, and for Cruz, it is easy to find a reason that he logged fewer RBI than most guys with his sort of numbers amass. <b>Austin Jackson</b> and his .302 on-base percentage batted first or second 75 times for the Mariners last season. <b>Logan Morrison</b> (.302) led off 20 times. Even <b>Rickie Weeks</b> batted at the top of the order occasionally against left-handed pitching until his .263 OBP (and numerous other shortcomings) led to his release. <b>Seth Smith</b>, though not a prototype leadoff man, batted first or second 40 times and had a .330 OBP. Smith was actually McClendon’s best choice for the top of the order until <b>Ketel Marte</b> arrived at the end of July and put up a respectable .351 OBP for the rest of the season. In August and September McClendon pretty much settled on Marte in the leadoff spot and <b>Kyle Seager</b> at number two, though Seager's OBP of .328 isn’t all that great, either.<br />
<br />
Cruz wasn't denied many RBI chances because of the intentional walk, even though he was the team's most productive hitter. He walked 59 times last season, just nine of them intentional. And he didn't fold under the pressure of batting with runners in scoring position; he hit .291 in that situation, just a tick below his overall season numbers. There just weren't that many guys on base for him, and the team didn't have anyone who was really good at getting to first base. Cruz himself was the club OBP leader at .369; maybe HE should have been leading off.<br />
<br />
It seems that the Mariners as an organization have had a “walking is for sissies” philosophy in recent years. Swing the bat, be aggressive, they would preach. There must have been a zillion times last season when an M’s hitter would be battling a 1-2 count with several foul balls, and the pitch tracker (if you believe that's not just an intern in the back room putting a dot on a box) would show the pitcher hadn’t yet thrown a strike. One hopes that the hiring of <b>Edgar Martinez</b> (career OBP: .418) as hitting coach means that this approach has been rightly scrapped, and that Edgar can convince these guys to work the count a little, take an occasional walk, and rip the good pitches.<br />
<br />
So let’s get some guys on base, set the table for the boppers, and watch Cruz morph into <b>Ben Broussard.</b>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-60011620146346393362015-12-27T14:11:00.001-08:002015-12-27T14:12:35.353-08:00The untimely second death of Dave HendersonI was sad to see that <b>Dave "Hendu" Henderson</b> passed away from a massive heart attack this morning at age 57. According to <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/former-mariners-outfielder-and-broadcaster-dave-henderson-passes-away-at-age-57/"><i>The Seattle Times</i></a> Hendu had been suffering from kidney problems for several years and had a transplant earlier this year.<br />
<br />
Hendu was the first-ever draft pick of the Seattle Mariners, but gained most of his playing fame through playoff heroics with the Red Sox and Athletics. He later returned to Seattle and was a commentator on M's broadcasts for a number of years. I thought he was terrible at first, but eventually it seemed he may have had some coaching, slowed down his delivery a little, and made some good contributions to the games.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzf30AVbw8ws5jC-eH35PsGiIpMxN0Y1-X_itdS4ddtbOcRRYeOum3f71yEiuUJ59O0g12AMzsD5w7SLXaI34Lfs-vqIC085VGYzoerkDTAuIbS70Oq34I59k5CBfkDW5CMfVCeHSzXg0/s1600/IMG_1819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzf30AVbw8ws5jC-eH35PsGiIpMxN0Y1-X_itdS4ddtbOcRRYeOum3f71yEiuUJ59O0g12AMzsD5w7SLXaI34Lfs-vqIC085VGYzoerkDTAuIbS70Oq34I59k5CBfkDW5CMfVCeHSzXg0/s320/IMG_1819.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ashes of a 1985 season Dave Henderson APBA card, and<br />
photo of my stadium where the dice were not kind to him.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Hendu actually "died" for the first time back in 1986. He was on my team in an APBA league and was playing dismally; the dice were not kind to him. Hendu had hit .241 with 14 home runs during the 1985 major league season, but the following year in APBA he was batting just .188 with no dingers and just four RBI in 27 games. The real-life Hendu often lost the grip on his bat after a strikeout, and it would go pinwheeling out onto the field or into the stands. I had a number of the 13s on his card circled, designated to be lost-bat Ks, for added realism in the game.<br />
<br />
After another agonizing whiff in a key situation, I lost patience, took Hendu's card out to the Hibachi and torched it, then cooked up a tale about his death in a fiery auto accident. I still have his ashes, which were on display in my dice "Big A" stadium for the rest of the season. My Angels won their division that year, going 54-26 behind <b>Ron Guidry</b> (12-3, 2.25) and <b>Tommy Herr</b>, who hit .344. Despite Hendu's disappearance, I had plenty of Henderson on the club, which also included <b>Rickey</b> and <b>Steve</b>.<br />
<br />
Hendu's APBA death later turned out to be a ruse; it turned out fans of the team had kidnapped him after a loss in Cleveland, and released him after the season was over. He was soon traded. The authorities are still trying to figure out whose remains were found in that rental car in Cleveland.<br />
<br />
It is perhaps testament to APBA mania that I still have the charred remains of a Dave Henderson card that I burned in a fit of pique 29 years ago, and that I still have and could find my team's final stats from that season. I retired from that league after 1991; it is still running, though, and has been continuously since about 1969. They switched to Diamond Mind baseball some years ago.<br />
<br />
Rest in peace, Mr. Henderson.Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-57907565278039841112015-06-28T22:45:00.001-07:002015-06-28T22:45:45.544-07:00Tacoma Rainiers 2, El Paso Chihuahuas 0<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<b>Justin Germano</b> pitched a complete-game, seven-hit shutout and <b>Patrick Kivlehan</b> hit a two-run homer with two out in the bottom of the ninth as the Tacoma Rainiers defeated El Paso 2-0 June 28 at Cheney Stadium. The game was certified as a dandy by my <b>Sweetie, the official scorer</b>, as it featured fewer than five runs scored total, a victory margin of less than three, and no errors.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzwtiLuFqdWI2uoCtuoZaNVKMuzGp3flefDkXFGcHIjlMvhXIoEUHBTd1hyy2vPwAvsws-P-27avVeEbkaS0Ksuw9zbkRMumWivnf0gyjKVQEeyyNFyPaK8rf1TXokfzk-JZCq1KXeVvk/s1600/germano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzwtiLuFqdWI2uoCtuoZaNVKMuzGp3flefDkXFGcHIjlMvhXIoEUHBTd1hyy2vPwAvsws-P-27avVeEbkaS0Ksuw9zbkRMumWivnf0gyjKVQEeyyNFyPaK8rf1TXokfzk-JZCq1KXeVvk/s200/germano.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Justin Germano</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Germano was masterful, if not overpowering, in going the distance on a warm but cloudy summer afternoon. He struck out five and did not walk a soul. The one weakness in his game was the leadoff double, which he surrendered in three different innings, but only once were the Chihuahuas able to advance the runner beyond the keystone sack, and that was in the sixth inning when they squandered what turned out to be their best chance to score against Germano.<br />
<br />
El Paso second sacker <b>Rocky Gale</b> led off the top of the sixth with a two-bagger against Germano and moved to third on <b>Abraham Almonte</b>'s fly ball to center field. That brought up Chihuahua shortstop <b>Mike McCoy</b>, who lofted a fly ball to Kivlehan in medium-deep left field. Gale tagged and headed for the plate; Kivlehan's throw was high, and Tacoma backstop <b>John Hicks</b> had to go up the ladder a bit to get it. Gale, however, inexplicably decided not to slide, and Hicks tagged him for the final out of the frame as he attempted to cross the dish standing. The score remained tied at 0-0.<br />
<br />
<b>Jason Lane</b>, a former big-league outfielder now trying to stick as a pitcher at age 38, was the hard-luck starter for El Paso. The southpaw Lane went 7 2/3 innings and allowed no runs on seven hits, struck out two and walked just one. Tacoma's only real threat in the first seven innings came in the fifth, when Kivlehan and <b>Zach Shank</b>, a second baseman recently called up from Double-A Jackson after an injury to <b>Leury Bonilla</b>, stroked back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners with two out. Rainier shortstop <b>Chris Taylor</b> grounded to short to end the inning.<br />
<br />
Tacoma chased Lane in the bottom of the eighth. Taylor singled with one out and, after a flyout by <b>Shawn "Oh, Really? No" O'Malley</b>, Rainier first baseman <b>Jesus Montero</b> grounded a single through the hole at short. That brought up <b>Justin Ruggiano</b>, Tacoma designated hitter who, in an apparent message to Mariner management about his recent demotion from the big club, had hit three home runs and driven home seven the night before. El Paso manager <b>Jamie Quirk</b> came out with the hook and brought in righty <b>Jerry Sullivan</b> to face Ruggiano. The strategy worked for the moment, as Ruggiano whiffed.<br />
<br />
The Chihuahuas put Germano into a little hot water in the ninth. Gale led off with an infield single, as Taylor and O'Malley nearly collided as they tried to field his chopper; Taylor grabbed it, but his throw to first was late. Gale moved to second on a groundout by Almonte, who wasn't able to get down a good bunt. McCoy then dunked one into shallow center for a base hit that put runners on the corners with one out.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRI0E-bKbMcw64xtPLyorNBojNsNgbykb4BWhCq7Es-vXVM2iIarlKSR-XE7P8FhACsrn2TSY4bAZDJ9VdHWtrKQZMtmBzvxJvrL646YTOdtzgkP5BZML04IMHJ8J_ZGQaZeMvxPgsQAY/s1600/DSC_0076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRI0E-bKbMcw64xtPLyorNBojNsNgbykb4BWhCq7Es-vXVM2iIarlKSR-XE7P8FhACsrn2TSY4bAZDJ9VdHWtrKQZMtmBzvxJvrL646YTOdtzgkP5BZML04IMHJ8J_ZGQaZeMvxPgsQAY/s320/DSC_0076.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patrick Kivlehan receives congrats from<br />Tacoma manager Pat Listach as he<br />rounds third base following his game-<br />winning home run in the ninth inning<br />against El Paso Sunday. Photo: Greg<br />Scheiderer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That brought Tacoma manager <b>Pat Listach</b> to the mound, causing Weisenheimer and my Sweetie, the official scorer to lament, as we often do, about the lack of complete games in baseball these days. But it appeared that the main reason Listach went to the hill was to give home plate umpire <b>Jeff Morrow</b> an earful about a non-strike call during McCoy's at-bat, which both Germano and Hicks had also done with considerable emphasis moments before.<br />
<br />
Listach left Germano in there. The next batter, El Paso center fielder <b>Jake Goebbert</b>, dunked a Texas-Leaguer toward left on which Taylor made a fine, over-the-shoulder catch for the second out. Left fielder <b>Alex Dickerson</b> then flied out to left to end the frame.<br />
<br />
In the bottom of the ninth against Sullivan Rainier center fielder <b>Leon Landry</b> singled with one out. Hicks then hit into a 5-4 force, and Kivlehan drilled one over the fence in right for the game-winning homer, his 14th round tripper of the season.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2015_06_28_elpaaa_tacaaa_1&t=g_box&sid=t529">Box score</a>.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Germano loves Weisenheimer and Sweetie</h3>
<br />
This was the second game we have seen Germano pitch this season, and he's been outstanding in both. Back on May 17 he pitched six shutout innings in a <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2015/05/tacoma-rainiers-4-las-vegas-51s-0.html">4-0 win over Las Vegas</a>. Overall this season he is 7-3 and Sunday's shutout lowered his ERA to 2.83. Germano has given up no runs or walks in 15 innings when we're present this year. We suggest that the Rainiers pay our way to all Germano starts, home and away.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Dog day afternoon</h3>
The game was played on dog day, apparently known as K-9 innings, which seems a ridiculous idea even if the opponents are named the Chihuahuas. The pup sitting in our row, just behind the statue of Ben Cheney in section K, was reasonably well behaved, only growling two or three times at other passing canine spectators whose looks he, for whatever reason, did not like. Remind us to be absent the next time Fresno is in town, in case it's Grizzly Bear night. I wonder if, the next time the Albuquerque Isotopes visit Tacoma, the first five thousand fans through the gates will receive a pound of pure plutonium.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Work, work, work</h3>
Goebbert, the El Paso center fielder, made eight putouts, including five in a row in the sixth and seventh innings.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Orel exam</h3>
We noticed the name <b>Jordan Hershiser</b> on the El Paso roster and, sure enough, his pop is former Dodger hurler <b>Orel Hershiser</b>. Jordan didn't play Sunday, but on Saturday night, in his second career appearance in a game above A-ball, he surrendered the third of Ruggiano's home runs.Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-577229907390805372015-06-14T18:27:00.000-07:002015-06-14T18:27:22.747-07:00Tacoma Rainiers 4, Albuquerque Isotopes 1<b>Forrest Snow</b> pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and <b>Shawn "Oh, Really? No" O'Malley</b> hit a two-run homer as the Tacoma Rainiers beat the Albuquerque Isotopes 4-1 June 14 at Cheney Stadium on a simply gorgeous sunny Sunday afternoon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-JFOy2zaFhsKLzcz5K-1-zBrU9MjvYcj8AUgQV5fiM9VVhChLcZG2M1XpM5V2wQ3GJ3HnjnpNeWSsQkLUfkFiZPKRGUd07DSljDh8IPahgq7-917G46RvNnZLwst8atC_cgnc0rwPFs/s1600/IMG_1533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV-JFOy2zaFhsKLzcz5K-1-zBrU9MjvYcj8AUgQV5fiM9VVhChLcZG2M1XpM5V2wQ3GJ3HnjnpNeWSsQkLUfkFiZPKRGUd07DSljDh8IPahgq7-917G46RvNnZLwst8atC_cgnc0rwPFs/s320/IMG_1533.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A gorgeous day at Cheney Stadium as the Rainiers defeated<br />Albuquerque 4-1. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My <b>Sweetie, the official scorer</b>, and I have never seen a no-hitter, and we always point that out to each other once each side has a safety in a game. Today's contest was as close as we've come, but it wasn't that close. Albuquerque's lone hit of the day was an emphatic one, a booming, 410-foot leadoff triple to left center in the top of the second by Isotope center fielder <b>Drew Stubbs</b>. Snow, who is a tall drink of water out on the mound at 6'6", did his best to strand Stubbs. He got Albuquerque catcher <b>Dustin Gameau</b> to squib one right in front of home plate, and Tacoma backstop <b>Steve Baron</b> pounced on it and fired to first to retire Gameau for the first out, with Stubbs holding. The next batter, second-sacker <b>Angelys Nina</b>, hit a fly ball to fairly shallow center field. Stubbs tagged and scored as <b>Leon Landry</b>'s throw was weak and off line.<br />
<br />
Tacoma took the lead for good in the bottom of the third when shortstop <b>Chris Taylor</b> hit a one-out single off Isotope starter <b>Yohan Flande</b>, and O'Malley followed with his third home run of the season, a no-doubt blast over the fence in left center. The Rainiers added single runs in the sixth and eighth. They could have had more, especially in the sixth, when they had the sacks full and one run already in with no outs, but three straight shallow fly balls didn't advance a soul.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiel3k4ikeA7pmOy8tgACU4WxniahkXsXFKnAPBWOfJQ8BIJY_yo9Pf_4t1YtRz9zssuq0T8PSyhkBGi0IYs-ahhLc0Pu6RoMNbzeH9JFC88PMK3ffWIFgkPXUD-pQvXVQAp9_K9lgAJ-g/s1600/snow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiel3k4ikeA7pmOy8tgACU4WxniahkXsXFKnAPBWOfJQ8BIJY_yo9Pf_4t1YtRz9zssuq0T8PSyhkBGi0IYs-ahhLc0Pu6RoMNbzeH9JFC88PMK3ffWIFgkPXUD-pQvXVQAp9_K9lgAJ-g/s200/snow.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forrest Snow.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Snow was a little wild, as he walked four and struck out three in seven innings of work, leaving after throwing 98 pitches, 57 for strikes. He evened his record at 4-4 and lowered his earned run average to 2.43. <b>Edgar Olmos</b> closed it out for Tacoma, retiring Albuquerque in order in the eighth and ninth, striking out three of the six batters he faced and notching his first save of the year. Tacoma piled up 13 hits, with three from <b>Carlos Rivero</b> and two each from Taylor, O'Malley, and Landry. Taylor, recently banished to Tacoma after a short stint with the big club, was robbed of a third hit when his leadoff screamer in the seventh was snared on a leaping grab by first-sacker <b>Matt McBride</b>. Baron was the only Rainier without a knock. Tacoma somewhat limited its scoring chances by hitting into two double plays and having two runners thrown out stealing; squandering baserunners seems to be an organizational imperative at all levels.<br />
<br />
<b>Marte out</b><br />
<br />
It was disappointing not to see top prospect <b>Ketel Marte</b>. The shortstop broke his thumb June 1 and will be out for at least four more weeks. He's hitting .343.<br />
<br />
<b>Montero makes the play</b><br />
<br />
<b>Jesus Montero</b> will probably never make anyone forget <b>John Olerud</b> defensively down at first base, but he made a couple of nice plays Sunday. His diving stop of a hot grounder by Albuquerque right fielder <b>Roger Bernadina</b> turned what looked like a base hit into a 3-1 out. In the fourth Montero made a nice pick when Taylor fielded Gameau's grounder deep in the hole at short, whirled, and fired a short-hopper to first.<br />
<br />
<b>No free parking</b><br />
<br />
We were a bit surprised to be charged $10 for parking at Cheney Stadium Sunday. It has been $5 since we can remember. It may be the first parking hike there since 1967. Nevertheless, a 100-percent bump is a little surprising. Our car needs washing, badly, and for that price they could have done a little detailing!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://tacoma.rainiers.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2015_06_14_albaaa_tacaaa_1&t=g_box&did=milb&sid=t529">Box score</a>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-30042396474448286242015-05-18T12:48:00.001-07:002015-05-19T12:22:49.852-07:00Tacoma Rainiers 4, Las Vegas 51s 0<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Justin Germano</b> pitched six innings of six-hit shutout ball, top Mariner prospect <b>Ketel Marte</b> hit his first home run of the season, and the Tacoma Rainiers blanked the Las Vegas 51s 4-0 Sunday in Tacoma.<br />
<br />
Germano was fantastic in his six frames, never allowing a baserunner past second. He struck out six and did not walk a batter. A few balls were hit hard against him, particularly a leadoff double by <b>Alex Castellanos</b> in the fourth, but several of the six hits he allowed were seeing-eye grounders.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Justin Germano delivers a pitch against Las Vegas Sunday in<br />
Tacoma. Germano pitched six shutout innings in the Rainers'<br />
4-0 victory over the 51s. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Las Vegas' best chance for a rally came in the sixth, when <b>T.J. Rivera</b> and <b>Matt Reynolds</b> opened the inning with back-to-back singles, but they didn't move from first and second. Germano got Castellanos and <b>Brandon Allen</b> to fly out to shallow right, then fanned <b>Travis Taijeron</b> to end the inning and his day's work after 94 pitches. He improved his record to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.46 over four starts and 10 total appearances.<br />
<br />
<b>Lucas Luetge</b> pitched two perfect innings in relief and <b>Mayckol Guaipe</b> set down the 51s 1-2-3 in the ninth as the Rainiers retired the final 12 Las Vegas batters to come to the plate.<br />
<br />
The Rainiers got all the runs they needed in the second when <b>Patrick Kivlehan</b> doubled with two out and, following a walk to <b>Leon Landry</b>, scored on a single by <b>Shawn "Oh, really? No" O'Malley</b>. Marte hit his first home run of the season, a line shot over the fence in right, with one out in the third. Tacoma tacked on two more in the seventh on only one hit, helped along by three walks and an error.<br />
<br />
Marte, the Rainier shortstop, also walked and drove in a run on a groundout. He is batting .349 and has eight doubles and a triple to go with his home run and has stolen 13 bases in 16 tries. The 21-year-old switch hitter has some tools. We're anxious to see him called up, if only so the Mariners can open a new concession brand: Ketel Corn.<br />
<br />
We were anxious to see the skinny version of <b>Jesus Montero</b>, who didn't play in the first game we attended at Tacoma last month. Montero was a feeble 0-for-4 Sunday with a whiff, a popup, and two groundouts, but is hitting .324 with four home runs on the campaign. He looks in great shape, though he's still the slowest runner we've seen since <b>Edgar Martinez</b>, or maybe even <b>Alvin Davis</b>.<br />
<br />
O'Malley went 3-for-4 with a run, an RBI, and a steal, and was the only Rainier to log more than one hit.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2015_05_17_lvgaaa_tacaaa_1&t=g_box&sid=milb">Box score</a>.
<br />
<br />
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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="https://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=1811922554" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F44173803%40N03%2Fsets%2F72157650736054113%2Fshow%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F44173803%40N03%2Fsets%2F72157650736054113%2F&set_id=72157650736054113&jump_to=" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-9175294910796770092015-01-01T18:16:00.001-08:002015-02-09T10:26:11.277-08:00We will serve no wine past its timeWhen I finally rolled out of bed just past 11 a.m. PST on this first day of 2015 I found quite an array of stuff scattered about the floor:<br />
<ul>
<li>An empty bottle that once contained José Michel & Fils Pinot Meunier Brut</li>
<li>The remnants of a 2014 New York Times crossword-a-day calendar</li>
<li>The empty box from the 2015 New York Times crossword-a-day calendar</li>
<li>Three astronomy magazines</li>
<li>My reading and crossword cheater specs</li>
<li>A copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977312771/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0977312771&linkCode=as2&tag=seattastro00-20&linkId=FLYFZYCCAUFL4YMY"><i>Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast</i></a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=seattastro00-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0977312771" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /></li>
<li>A trail of hastily discarded clothing that extended out the room, down the stairs, and into the main-level hallway below</li>
</ul>
All of this said to me that Weisenheimer and my Sweetie, the Official Scorer are definitely not old fuddy-duddies for staying home, cooking in, and watching old movies on New Year's Eve, but rather that our approach to ringing in the new year was a rip-roaring, if somewhat untidy, success. It was also the capper of a really interesting week of observations about food, wine, and how they all play together. Henceforth, my takeaways from the last eight days of 2014.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Weisenheimer table set for the New Year's Eve feast,<br />
including three bottles of wine, just in case.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In our January 1 analysis of the previous day's culinary adventure, we thought that we must have saved the José Michel for last in an inspired WWJD moment. The bubbles were one of eight or ten really nice bottles that we'd purchased at a grower champagne tasting at <a href="http://westseattlewinecellars.com/">West Seattle Cellars</a> a few weeks ago. This wine was clearly the favorite tipple of our long, celebratory day—and we opened five bottles in all. Biblical accounts of the wedding at Cana say that when Jesus averted a riot by turning water into wine, the resulting juice was the best served at that celebration. This would be just the opposite of the reported local tradition of the time, one of serving a good bottle for the first round or two, then breaking out the cheap, second-rate stuff when the guests were already adequately inebriated. Personally, I suspect the savior never settled for plonk.<br />
<br />
Yes. Five bottles of wine. I thought I might be able to slip that one by you. We started mid afternoon (this being a festival day, after all) with a bottle of our house bubbles, Veuve Devienne, a tasty and moderately priced sparkler that we lay in by the case, just in case. Sipping on the house champagne cocktail (a splash of simple syrup, a couple of dashes lavender bitters, top with bubbles, add lemon twist) while preparing the evening feast and baking brioche, we found that a bottle of the Veuve yields exactly six such libations. Three each seemed about right.<br />
<br />
Around mid-day on New Year's Eve we had taken a leisurely stroll up to <a href="http://swinerymeats.com/">The Swinery</a>, West Seattle's "Temple of Porcine Love," to see if they had any animal flesh worthy of our celebration of the past 12 months. We came away with a lovely and rather ginormous bone-in ribeye that fit the bill most handsomely. Also on the menu: my Sweetie, the Official Scorer's amazing Brussels sprouts, with bacon, cream, shallots, and gruyere; some pan-roasted potato wedges; and the aforementioned Weisenheimer brioche.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj131gQTykrGsx3AKfeP3mkAtBeqjhcKbIhJXPef88IvuXg4Oxv_3HjGzZd0vY4wcsVAkBpdF1lsHHVojqlCuS7SjjgKHNoLIAfSQc8ZNxIgMSFlStj33_rZ2qHLWg2SGr4Ji4Fagj6rNs/s1600/IMG_441778688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj131gQTykrGsx3AKfeP3mkAtBeqjhcKbIhJXPef88IvuXg4Oxv_3HjGzZd0vY4wcsVAkBpdF1lsHHVojqlCuS7SjjgKHNoLIAfSQc8ZNxIgMSFlStj33_rZ2qHLWg2SGr4Ji4Fagj6rNs/s1600/IMG_441778688.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The four holiday wine stars: Christmas Eve with the '93 La<br />
Ca'Nova Barbaresco, and New Year's Eve selections of '95<br />
Peterson Petit Sirah, '00 Lionnet Côtes du Rhône, and '05<br />
Bonny Doon Le Cigare Volant. A good party, indeed.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As official house sommelier, it was also my gig to descend into the wine cellar and find a bottle or two suited to a big-ol' beefsteak and appropriate for such a celebration. At times like this I head first to the section of grand and age-worthy wines in the cellar. Most of these were purchased through the West Seattle Cellars <a href="http://westseattlewinecellars.com/wine-clubs/collectors-club/">collector club</a>, through which we get a half-dozen selections each month. When I bring them home I cellar the bottles and mark them with a tag that includes info about when it was purchased, possible food pairings, and, if the monthly notes identify it as a saver, how long it might be aged. The "don't drink for X years" stuff goes way to the bottom of the racks, only to be moved up when X years approaches.<br />
<br />
Yesterday my eye was drawn to a dusty bottle that was mysteriously untagged: A 1995 Peterson Petit Sirah. Without a tag, I had no idea of the lineage of this one, but as the calendar was about to turn over to 2015, it meant the wine was approaching its 20th birthday. It seemed like as good a time as any to crack it open. Better a year too early than a day too late, as they say.<br />
<br />
I decided, though, to hedge my bets a little and also brought up a bottle of 2000 Lionnet Côtes du Rhône, a wine made entirely with syrah that had been a club selection in 2004 and was tagged "not 'til '09." This became plan B.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjxEVgeRa4d0SzFVdzdfXBBTHGYMcRAJ-36Tv1Oe8umEVdecGkfP2ULl93IBxnnRNbnxq8eewdBXPpw2udjQ7VTI3FEpUpI2sVXY3W86jheALhLnH0W-hhqpBcdEAgBx662np_5arE97Q/s1600/IMG_441756916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjxEVgeRa4d0SzFVdzdfXBBTHGYMcRAJ-36Tv1Oe8umEVdecGkfP2ULl93IBxnnRNbnxq8eewdBXPpw2udjQ7VTI3FEpUpI2sVXY3W86jheALhLnH0W-hhqpBcdEAgBx662np_5arE97Q/s1600/IMG_441756916.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Man does not live by wine alone! Sweetie, the Official Scorer,<br />
gave Weisenheimer some mini brioche tins for Christmas. He<br />
tested them out for the New Year's feast. As yes, he notices that<br />
Sweetie, the Official Scorer, often gives gifts that are as much<br />
for herself as the recipient. And we don't mind a bit!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Weisenheimer sensed trouble upon opening the Peterson, when the first turn of the corkscrew merely broke off a chunk of cork. Each subsequent twist only crumbled the cork further. Even the butler's friend opener was of no help, and I was left with shoving a zillion little cork fragments down into the bottle as my only way of getting it unstopped.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, we have a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UPOJ5W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000UPOJ5W&linkCode=as2&tag=seattastro00-20&linkId=ZV6QXPJODBCWGGGG">Vinturi wine aerator</a>, one of the features of which is a screen that will catch bits of cork and largish hunks of sediment that might be lurking in the wine. So I poured the Peterson into its decanter through the Vinturi, filtering out the flotsam and at the same time giving the wine its first gulp of fresh air in twenty years. Curious, I poured a small glass and gave it a taste. My reaction—too late. There wasn't much happening there at all, in the nose or on the palate. Dang. So, I popped open the Lionnet and gave it a taste. Reaction: Meh. Maybe too late with this one, also.<br />
<br />
I went back to the cellar and brought up a sure winner for plan C: A 2005 <a href="https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/">Bonny Doon</a> Le Cigare Volant. Always great, totally age-worthy, and I liked the concept of having all of the wines for this meal being from years divisible by five. Plus the Doon has a screw-cap; no corks to pulverize.<br />
<br />
At this point, I decided to put all three bottles on the table and just see how they developed. We probably had an hour or so before dinner, so everyone could breathe a little and we'd find out what we had when dinner arrived. The table looked like one of our dinners with our dear friends, the Schillings, at Marywood Manor in Orange, California. Wine lovers all, we often open two or three bottles at a meal, their identities kept secret, and give everyone a glass for each. Everyone gets to guess what each wine is, and rate them. The game wouldn't be quite as good for our New Year's Eve feast, as I knew which wine was which, and my Sweetie, the Official Scorer, also had tasted the Peterson in advance, and made the same sort of face she makes when I suggest putting ketchup on hot dogs or adding "Christmas With the Chipmunks" to our holiday music playlist. It made me think she would surely recognize the Petit Sirah come dinner time.<br />
<br />
When the feast was served, we dug in and gave the three wines a taste. Over an hour or so, a miracle had occurred. We both rated the Peterson as emphatically the best of the trio! My Sweetie, the Official Scorer, thought at first that it was the Le Cigare Volant. I would have made the same guess on tasting it again, except I knew which was the Peterson. I admit that I had to pour another glass—I knew it was the one in the decanter—to double check, just in case I'd mixed them up. Sure enough, the Peterson had completely changed and was actually a fantastic wine. Probably two things happened. An extra hour to breathe was most beneficial, and, like many wines, it was a different and wonderful thing consumed with food compared to a sip on its own. We drank up the Peterson and about half of the Cigare. We more or less left the Lionnet alone; half the bottle is re-corked, and a couple of mostly untouched glasses are still on the dining room table.<br />
<br />
After dinner we popped open the José Michel and had our first sips before watching <i>To Have and Have Not</i> (in salute to the great Lauren Bacall, who passed away during 2014). We recognized that the Michel is better than the house stuff. It's also about four times its price. Is it four times better? Well, probably. Steve, Slim, and Eddie headed off to the boat at about five minutes to midnight, we toasted the New Year, and retired for the evening.<br />
<br />
Come morning—OK, I guess it was probably more like early afternoon—I did a little digging to learn something about the Peterson. We keep all of the notes from our wine clubs in three-ring binders in the cellar. Sure enough, I found the Peterson listed in the West Seattle Cellars collector club from December of 1997, so it turns out we'd had that bottle on hand for 17 years and one month. Here's what the notes said, in part:<br />
<br />
"Robust, with lots of tannin, this wine has the stuffings to age for 15-20 years if you want it to... The palate has a lot of power, and it will be a good accompaniment some day for a hearty winter meal."<br />
<br />
OK, we nailed that one. I like to imagine that the tag for this bottle, misplaced somewhere along the last 17 years, reads "drink this with a pan-seared ribeye on New Year's Eve, 2014." Prescience.<br />
<br />
We pulled another ancient bottle out way back on Christmas Eve for our traditional feast of game hens and other yummies. This one was a 1993 La Ca'Nova Barbaresco that was in the wine club of July 1998. Notes for this one said, "Try to keep your hands off of it until at least 2005." We did. There was no mystery to this; a delightful wine from first sip that was still drinking marvelously twenty-one years after being plucked from the vine and stomped.<br />
<br />
So, a tip of the Santa hat to Matt Mabus, who was the founder of West Seattle Cellars and its proprietor when our two star wines of the holiday season were included in the collector club, and to Jan Martindale and Tom DiStefano, current operators of the shop, who continue stocking our cellar with wonderful treats today that we'll be enjoying in 2030. It's great to have folks who know their stuff in our local wine store, and we're fortunate that we have a good cellar in which to age wines that need it and will delight us when they're really ready to drink.<br />
<br />
One of my traditional tasks for the first days of the new year is to go through the cellar and move the "don't touch" wines that have reached their save-until dates into the section of bottles that are ready to drink. Maybe I'll purposely lose the tag on one or two. Could make for a good story some day.<br />
<br />
Happy New Year; 2015 is off to a great start!Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-14948401013750349122014-12-02T09:18:00.000-08:002014-12-02T09:18:17.771-08:00OSF good fun: Cocoanuts and Comedy of ErrorsThe acting company at <a href="https://www.osfashland.org/">Oregon Shakespeare Festival</a> is a supremely talented bunch. We continue to be amazed at how absolutely hilarious they can be. The laugh-meisters had ample opportunity to show their stuff this past season in two outstanding comedies: Shakespeare's <i>The Comedy of Errors</i> and the Marx Brothers classic <i>The Cocoanuts</i>.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXaqAnHkvFmFf-4ijPOBwSy7DOM9wYlvdN1TQYtqnzgyfAMktSEmfXJ7IJSWQK9oWeXhhCvbSJO_PbyfEqBM2OS6s0FUjUfHHUyJguxngcfLkJzMY8aY7UlKODAM0A_kHQ81ZhTMgsKI/s1600/osfmarxbros.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXaqAnHkvFmFf-4ijPOBwSy7DOM9wYlvdN1TQYtqnzgyfAMktSEmfXJ7IJSWQK9oWeXhhCvbSJO_PbyfEqBM2OS6s0FUjUfHHUyJguxngcfLkJzMY8aY7UlKODAM0A_kHQ81ZhTMgsKI/s1600/osfmarxbros.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brent Hinkley, John Tufts, and Mark Bedard as the Marx<br />
Brothers in Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of <i>The<br />Cocoanuts</i>. OSF photo by Jenny Graham.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>The Cocoanuts</i> was adapted by OSF's own Mark Bedard, from the original book by George S. Kaufman and music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. Bedard even did some extensive sleuthing to turn up some original Berlin tunes that had long been separated from the stage script of the show.<br />
<br />
The production, directed by David Ivers, was a reunion of the cast of the Marx's <i>Animal Crackers</i> <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2012/10/osf-animal-crackers.html">staged at OSF in 2012</a>, bringing back Bedard as Groucho, Brent Hinkley as Harpo, John Tufts as Chico, and K.T. Vogt as their Margaret Dumont-esque foil.<br />
<br />
The show includes a couple of the brothers' best bits: the Why a Duck discussion between Groucho and Chico, and the wild, two-bedroom chase scene featuring the brothers, con-woman Penelope Martin (played by the also-hilarious Kate Mulligan), and the bumbling Detective Hennessey, portrayed by David Kelly, who may well be the most hysterical actor of the group. It has been nearly two months since we saw the show as I write this, and Kelly's rendition of the tune "The Tale of a Shirt" continues to work its way into my head. It is most welcome there.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDcUShEzeohr4G6BCHoY6w2LuhLqHvi92DnF9xa5R08i14n0X_JMbKH-XhjgRla2riD7fSY7Rov62n4d8DwclnXM5H7VxCeBFpKMqtCBqi-c7Ouvt0_qOI-1mE40TA_pQuQKWufNywsY/s1600/iwantmyshirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDcUShEzeohr4G6BCHoY6w2LuhLqHvi92DnF9xa5R08i14n0X_JMbKH-XhjgRla2riD7fSY7Rov62n4d8DwclnXM5H7VxCeBFpKMqtCBqi-c7Ouvt0_qOI-1mE40TA_pQuQKWufNywsY/s1600/iwantmyshirt.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Kelly, center, as Detective Hennessey, who really wants <br />
his shirt, with the rest of the cast of <i>The Cocoanuts</i>. OSF<br />
photo by Jenny Graham.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While the story and characters are familiar, there was plenty of ad-libbing and playing off, and in, the audience, from which the brothers swiped a variety of personal items to use in their schtick. At the performance we attended they came away with some gaudy green sunglasses and some snacks. A festival insider tells us that at one performance they lifted a rather intimate toy from the handbag of a teenaged girl in the crowd, yet somehow resisted the urge to make her the butt of jokes.<br />
<br />
If not for <i>Water by the Spoonful</i>, this production of <i>The Cocoanuts</i> would have been our choice for best-of-festival. hands down.<br />
<br />
The other great comedy of the season was Shakespeare's <i>The Comedy of Errors</i>, directed by Kent Gash. Instead of Syracuse and Ephesus, the two sets of long-separated twins reside in Harlem and Louisiana at the time of the Harlem renaissance in the late 1920s.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGPfBKcTfZisbguczn6w-ybOU0WHcdyZUeGBzi8_ist5Mwp-lt_qljMw7e2Fa2fdVMRze6-5s2GHftKFUs7mpr5Wv_X-AQJPNOQEZoRISal9rcy0U_5zttr93TG7_gdAsdbXqkP5B6aY/s1600/CofE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaGPfBKcTfZisbguczn6w-ybOU0WHcdyZUeGBzi8_ist5Mwp-lt_qljMw7e2Fa2fdVMRze6-5s2GHftKFUs7mpr5Wv_X-AQJPNOQEZoRISal9rcy0U_5zttr93TG7_gdAsdbXqkP5B6aY/s1600/CofE.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tobie Windham, left, as Antipholus, and<br />
Rodney Gardiner as Dromio, in OSF's<br />
Production of <i>The Comedy of Errors</i>. OSF<br />
photo by Jenny Graham.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This production featured Rodney Gardiner, who played both Dromios, and Tobie Windham, who portrayed both Antipholuses. (Antipholi?) Tyrone Wilson was marvelous as Egeon, Bakesta King a delight as the Courtesan, and R.J. Foster cut an authoritative figure as Duke Solinus. All were delightful in romping through the twists and turns of mistaken identity, missing necklaces, purloined purses, and the like. Fitting to the era, the music of Harlem swing kept our toes tapping.<br />
<br />
The one slight mis-step in <i>The Comedy of Errors</i> came at the end, with the big reveal that the two sets of twins had been reunited. As the same actors played both twins, and did an amazing job at somehow turning up immediately after an exit in a completely different corner of the theater, I'd wondered how Gash would pull this off. He simply introduced two more actors at the end, dressed the same as the other Dromio and Antipholus. I was hoping for something a bit more clever.<br />
<br />
That said, this <i>Comedy</i> was also a lot of fun. It's good to mix in some laughs with some of the heavier plays in the festival.Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-5180758958125222332014-11-30T12:04:00.000-08:002014-11-30T12:06:01.951-08:00eSe Teatro / Central Heating Lab: Don Quixote & Sancho Panza: Homeless in Seattle<span style="color: #274e13;">You would think coming home from two weeks at the <a href="https://www.osfashland.org/">Oregon Shakespeare Festival</a>, we would have had our fill of theater. You would be wrong. The Weisenheimers never get enough of theater. Plus, some artists we know, respect, enjoy, and admire—along with some artists we were about to be introduced to—were putting on a show. </span><span style="color: #274e13;">So we went. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">That show was </span><i style="color: #274e13;">Don Quixote & Sancho Panza: Homeless in Seattle</i><span style="color: #274e13;">, by Rose Cano, directed by David Quicksall, by <a href="http://www.eseteatro.org/">eSe Teatro</a> and the <a href="http://www.acttheatre.org/About/Programs">Central Heating Lab at ACT</a>, and starring José Amador and Will Rose. It was every bit as beautiful, butt-kicking, and bold as the </span><a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2014/10/osf-water-by-spoonful.html" target="_blank">best of what we saw in Ashland</a><span style="color: #274e13;">. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The play is structured the way Cervantes' novel is: an episodic journey. What holds the story together is less a narrative "arc" and more character and theme. Which is fine by me. Something interesting should happen to someone interesting; beyond that, plot is overrated.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECrMLlVhUidFMxyptlFyhC_arxvoTjpJe6CIfslhQD-pYQebz4mcfUUgKAL9x8AVR7FwkLoNym33cKPn7jMZJ5fxk_la4DsXLXhGIIe6iKV9UOxSpF0jRR_6Mc_5jVVFEkI5m678RKxg/s1600/quixote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgECrMLlVhUidFMxyptlFyhC_arxvoTjpJe6CIfslhQD-pYQebz4mcfUUgKAL9x8AVR7FwkLoNym33cKPn7jMZJ5fxk_la4DsXLXhGIIe6iKV9UOxSpF0jRR_6Mc_5jVVFEkI5m678RKxg/s1600/quixote.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rose (left) and Amador share a sandwich in eSe Teatro's<br />
production of Rose Cano's <i>Don Quixote & Sancho Panza:<br />Homeless in Seattle</i>. Photo by Stephanie Mallard Couch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #274e13;">This play's two primary characters are strange bedfellows who rescue each other in Seattle and stay connected on the streets in a sort of weak molecular attraction (by which I mean, rather strong) until their paths irrevocably fork. The themes are chivalry (by which I mean something <i>so</i> much more than men perfunctorily holding doors open for women); virtue, morality, manliness, being a gentleman, being a <i>caballero</i>. Also, friendship. And, the porosity of all sorts of boundaries: time; spaces indoor and out, public and private; bodily integrity; sanity. Some of these episodes were heartbreakingly hilarious (like, working a day job walking around a conference as wi-fi hotspots); some were just heartbreaking.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The performances by, and chemistry between, Will Rose and José Amador were riveting. Rose as Don Quixote brought a taller-than-life, naive, tender courtliness to every moment, delivered entirely in Spanish. My high school Spanish cannot take the credit, it was Rose's performance (and undoubtedly Cano's writing and Quicksall's direction) that made the story and meaning so clear, even as I picked up every few words and some of the grammar. Rose's language, body and voice, was exquisitely lovely to hear and see. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">Amador as Sancho Panza played translator, foil, protagonist, protector, interpreter, chorus, conscience, sidekick, muse...shit, he was busy. He grounded Rose's Quixote's loftiness and provided heat for his light. Every moment, he was so alive, so observant, so quick, and so present, even as Quixote became more remote. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">This play landed. It was simply impossible to watch it without thinking of the person I see once or twice a week at a downtown intersection and exchange pleasantries with while waiting for the green light, but whose name I do not know. Without thinking of the people I never knew who have died or been hurt here at the hands of police violence but whose stories have become like memories. Without thinking of the people I know well who suffer from illnesses of body and mind with few options for help, and plenty of exposure to judgment. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">I would love to learn more about Cano's process writing this play. My understanding is that, in addition to drawing on her own experience as an interpreter at our local ERs, she held readings and workshops with people who live in Seattle without a roof to call their own. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The attention to detail in the set, props, costume helped make the most of the tiny, intimate space in the Eulalie Scandiuzzi Space at ACT. And the ensemble supporting cast did an outstanding job: Ian Bond, Steve Gallion, Angela Maestas, Xochitl Portillo-Moody were nurses, </span><span style="color: #274e13;">sirens, street kids,</span><span style="color: #274e13;"> </span><span style="color: #274e13;">medics, memories, and more as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza made their way through dreams and reality in a play that hit home.</span>Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-42462753210044138082014-11-29T13:16:00.000-08:002014-11-29T13:43:23.254-08:00ArtsWest: The Mountaintop<span style="color: #274e13;">We have had a long and bumpy relationship with <a href="http://www.artswest.org/">ArtsWest</a>. In the beginning, we did everything we could to support the theater, giving 'til it hurt, subscribing, inviting our friends and hosting after-show parties. However, ArtsWest has had a lot of ups and downs in its artistic choices and direction, and we have not subscribed for many years, choosing instead to attend individual shows that looked like they might be substantive. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><i>The Mountaintop</i> by Katori Hall and directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton is indeed substantive, nourishing theater. This entirely absorbing, two-character, 90-minute play speculates on the last night of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life, and poses the question: what if god sent a messenger to help Dr. King as he is called home? What if he knew his life on earth was about to end? What would he say?</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANBDFTeuL49Q6jdHSt3CXSeg_qJIQWN8iGbnBtY4IQfIhWgo63L6WrsdjFSJ2Yj4eRUgUqXNvW4W4ipqTUL6v7ShabkHuMvNnDHiMU58u3Wke2NmTxX7pQY3wYMOQo-_znLUfSXPRetg/s1600/mountaintop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANBDFTeuL49Q6jdHSt3CXSeg_qJIQWN8iGbnBtY4IQfIhWgo63L6WrsdjFSJ2Yj4eRUgUqXNvW4W4ipqTUL6v7ShabkHuMvNnDHiMU58u3Wke2NmTxX7pQY3wYMOQo-_znLUfSXPRetg/s1600/mountaintop.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camae (brianne a hill) and Dr. King (Reginald André Jackson)<br />
in ArtsWest's production of <i>The Mountaintop</i> by Katori Hall.<br />
ArtsWest photo by Michael Brunk.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #274e13;">That sounds a bit lofty, but in fact this play is down to earth. brianne a. hill plays the potty-mouthed, sassy, street-tough angel whose first assignment (she was murdered just the night before) is to escort Dr. King to the other side. The writing and the pitch-perfect performance by Reginald André Jackson cut through the hagiography around Dr. King so that he could be portrayed as a real man—a brilliant, extraordinary man, but in the end, a man. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #274e13;">The play is set on the night of April 3, 1968 in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where Dr. King spent the last night of his life and where, the next day, he would be shot on the balcony. The set, designed by Burton Yuen, made us voyeurs into this room, with the door and window to the balcony as backdrop. We understand it was a faithful recreation of the Lorraine, and the many small details helped ground the play, making the setting vivid and helping to make the characters human by contrasting the ordinary and mundane with the weighty themes of the play. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">As the play opens, Ralph Abernathy has just stepped out for cigarettes, and Dr. King calls room service for coffee. Camae is the lovely maid who brings the coffee and handles Dr. King's flirtations, rants, arrogance, anxiety, and grief with aplomb. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">This is a very funny play, and the timing and energy from hill and Jackson bring out that humor. It is also a painfully serious play, as Dr. King wrestles with his failings, his mortality, and his god. I found the scene where the angel Camae shows Dr. King the future in fierce and flawlessly delivered poetry to be especially moving. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: #274e13;">I'm going to have to stop saying I categorically dislike video in plays. The use of a video montage to show Dr. King the future was appropriate and effective. We were talking about video in plays recently with a friend of ours who works in theatre, and he said people are learning how to incorporate video into plays well. The design team for this production certainly did it well.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">Sadly, our experience was not quite as entirely absorbing as it should have been based on the artists' efforts. A man in front of us, in the front row, chose to converse with his seat partner through the show in a perfectly audible stage whisper. So disrespectful to the actors, and so distracting for people around him. What would you do—complain to an usher? Well, here's the thing: he <i>was</i> an usher. Doh. Dear ArtsWest: please ask your ushers not to converse during the show. Thank you. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">ArtsWest has a new artistic director, and their tagline is "fiercely compelling theatre." Sounds audacious, but hey, audacious is good. <i>The Mountaintop</i> is certainly that kind of theater, and we hope to be back many more times.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-17903552275546796012014-10-05T12:37:00.000-07:002014-10-05T12:37:43.644-07:00OSF: Water By The Spoonful<span style="color: #274e13;">Would you be interested in a play set in an internet comment thread? Sounds dreadful, right? Before seeing <i>Water By The Spoonful,</i> directed by Shishir Kurup at the <a href="https://osfashland.org/">Oregon Shakespeare Festival</a>, I probably would have said that a website is not good dramatic material. Ugh. Don't go there.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">Well, playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes went there, with exquisite, beautiful results. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The design roles are often the last to get mentioned in talking and writing about theatre, if they're mentioned at all, which is really a shame, because the design elements—the shape of the stage and its situation relative to the audience, the set, the costumes, sound, lighting, props—all have so much to do with the <i>experience</i> of theatre. Theater is enacted in physical time and space, and it is one of the most collaborative arts. </span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DoPE5Uav2f2IY_JYUe01cd_2WcnQX5E6WKyFKVhDZCCpt29KpN7JgnaYOcQs9CdmDKXCIkEIDIzW6o19BD_jLWM3GS9Xbz6MZU7Yr8lfvyoStKjzGJ0P968aOd8Rd2ahCQQMdUlDZms/s1600/Water_by_the_Spoonful_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DoPE5Uav2f2IY_JYUe01cd_2WcnQX5E6WKyFKVhDZCCpt29KpN7JgnaYOcQs9CdmDKXCIkEIDIzW6o19BD_jLWM3GS9Xbz6MZU7Yr8lfvyoStKjzGJ0P968aOd8Rd2ahCQQMdUlDZms/s1600/Water_by_the_Spoonful_web.jpg" height="177" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daniel José Molina in OSF's <i>Water by the Spoonful</i>. </td></tr>
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<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">So I'm going to start there. In <i>Water By The Spoonful</i>, Sibyl Wickersheimer's set was nothing short of genius (she also designed the <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2013/10/oregon-shakespeare-festival-unfortunates.html">fantastic <i>Unfortunates</i></a> last year). It was abstract, spare, and simple, and added so much to the storytelling. The set consisted of 13 simple, illuminated squares, with the space of a narrow path between them. The boxes upstage were cantilevered like an open laptop. The row that formed the backdrop displayed the website community members' avatars when they were online. All of the boxes were illuminated with a shimmery and, yes, watery blue until they were needed to evoke the setting of a particular scene in watercolor washes. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">It was fascinating to watch how director Kurup used the spaces <i>in between</i> the squares and the spaces <i>on</i> the squares to create a sense of space, distance, and connection, and to help make it abundantly clear when people were interacting online and when they were interacting in person. Geoff Korf's lighting was integral to the physical set and the story, and he and Wickersheimer collaborated on video design that helped make the story come alive. The sound by John Nobori also helped make clear the distinctions between in person and online, indoors and outdoors. And costume designer Raquel Barreto avoided the OSF goofy costume trap. The costumes were appropriate and relevant, and the characters seemed comfortable wearing them.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">All of these design choices were critical because the story weaves together the lives of the members of an online recovery website founded by "Haikumom" with Haikumom's family and their history. It is a powerfully moving story about some of the incredibly tough barriers that keep us apart and traces these very human characters' superheroic attempts to connect anyway. I'm not going to do a synopsis here because I'm not going to forget the story, almost anything I could say would spoil its unfolding, and really, you should drop everything and see it if it plays anywhere near you, or even <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Water-Spoonful-Quiara-Alegria-Hudes/dp/1559364386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412530068&sr=1-1&keywords=water+by+the+spoonful" target="_blank">read it</a>. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">When you do see it, I hope you see performances as outstanding as we saw. Each character has demons and in the course of wrestling them each character is awkward, brave, annoying, heroic, clueless, wise, tragic, comic. Each actor embodies and portrays their own particular character's particular demons and journey. Vilma Silva as Haikumom gives an indelible performance of a character who is unforgivable <i>and</i> forgiven, irredeemable <i>and</i> redeemed, unfit <i>and</i> a blessing. Daniel José Molina's acting is like jazz; he's playing with more notes, more chords, and more combinations under his fingers than most actors. His Elliot gives the story energy and forward motion. Bruce A. Young is heartbreakingly adorable as Chutes&Ladders, and Celeste Den as Orangutan makes you want to shake her and hug her. Barret O'Brien is appropriately cringeworthy as Fountainhead and it's fascinating to watch him become a "real" person as John. Nancy Rodriguez is back after several years' absence from OSF, and we enjoyed her return as Yazmin, Elliot's cousin. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><i>Water By the Spoonful</i> is actually part two of a trilogy. I don't know why OSF didn't start with the first play, <i>Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue</i>, but we're looking forward to the third play, <i>The Happiest Song Plays Last</i>, at <a href="https://osfashland.org/press-room/press-releases/2015-season-update.aspx">OSF in 2015</a>. As part of her research for these plays, Hudes interviewed her cousin Elliot, an Iraq war veteran, and other family members and wove these fictional stories out of the emotional truth of her family's experiences and relationships. The process sounds fascinating. The results are great art.</span>Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-85877372066130637172014-09-29T20:20:00.001-07:002014-09-29T20:20:39.610-07:00OSF: Two Gents, Tempest<span style="color: #274e13;">The <a href="https://www.osfashland.org/">Oregon Shakespeare Festival</a> produced <i>The Tempest</i> and <i>Two Gentlemen of Verona </i>this year and they were....ok. But we've noticed a bit of a trend. Of the four Shakespeare plays each year (and OSF is dropping down to three next year), one or maybe two of them is great, and the others are just....ok. One shines and the others fizzle. How can that be? Are they economizing with some of the Willy shows on preparing, thinking, creating, and rehearsing time? They wouldn't do that....would they??? Or is it just one of those things?</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ebHgZjTxEFg-bIRCL_WEjcf1uwX29VS-hmwy9FFGgWTWq2bUd3RJHLe4XOG9kAp3n9Va-Y99hQgq_-u47-uJ4QUoYeWtgch1Wmj8Dc8oSA9wjhx4xw39W64h-6tx_3QvQ-M-zHmuY3k/s1600/Tempest_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5ebHgZjTxEFg-bIRCL_WEjcf1uwX29VS-hmwy9FFGgWTWq2bUd3RJHLe4XOG9kAp3n9Va-Y99hQgq_-u47-uJ4QUoYeWtgch1Wmj8Dc8oSA9wjhx4xw39W64h-6tx_3QvQ-M-zHmuY3k/s1600/Tempest_web.jpg" height="190" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dennis Arndt in OSF's <i>The Tempest</i>.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #274e13;">We wouldn't have missed <i>The Tempest</i>, directed by Tony Taccone, out of gratitude to Dennis Arndt for many years of great performances in Seattle (he's an OSF alumnus, but this is our first time seeing him in Ashland). He brought a sensitivity and totally believable pathos to the role of Prospero. However, the production did him no favors. The casual, conversational approach to speaking Shakespeare's lines might have worked well in the black box Thomas Theatre, but didn't quite carry in the Bowmer. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">And nothing about the set helped him out. It started out promising enough, with a dramatic and beautifully set tempest scene. I liked the idea to create an expansive, abstract landscape, and it was a lovely shape, curved up at one corner to be a hill or what have you, and clever traps throughout. But once the clouds and waves magically rolled away, we were left with...wine colored shag carpeting. It didn't exactly transport me, at least not anywhere I wanted to be, and it made the actors seem small. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The costumes were goofy and sometimes distracting. For example, the magic robe of rope for Prospero seemed to distract him, and us. I was especially annoyed that the Incredible Hulk green-yellow powder (what is that foul stuff??) distracted from an energetic and compelling performance by Wayne T. Carr as Caliban. And while I love meta humor as much as anyone, nods to other work (like <i>Angels in America</i>) seemed out of place in this show.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">We saw <i>Two Gents</i> outside in the Elizabethan Theatre, directed by Sarah Rasmussen and cast with all women, and as I mentioned in my <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2014/09/osf-richard-iii.html"><i>Richard III </i>post</a>, the ladies did not entirely nail it. Some of the actors couldn't make themselves clear even with the amplification, and several potentially dramatic moments were swallowed. The Weisenheimer's comment was that the whole production was "beige."</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYSRspy52RZxlZdvxUOa4AxGhH9_pAQw6lvFpyeJAfpG8_cbCLRFjXiENW-NSZlSFzhdrkFnrGn15RkbgDCsdRg_C0O9MGjOQd3osRDVqrlILWitjASZG-uWuajDwC60yI0lj2kRXYSQ/s1600/The_Two_Gentlemen_of_Verona_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwYSRspy52RZxlZdvxUOa4AxGhH9_pAQw6lvFpyeJAfpG8_cbCLRFjXiENW-NSZlSFzhdrkFnrGn15RkbgDCsdRg_C0O9MGjOQd3osRDVqrlILWitjASZG-uWuajDwC60yI0lj2kRXYSQ/s1600/The_Two_Gentlemen_of_Verona_web.jpg" height="184" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christiana Clark as Proteus and Sofia Jean Gomez as Valentine<br />in OSF's Two Gentlemen of Verona.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #274e13;">Here are some highlights, though: Erica Sullivan, supremely skilled and talented, as Julia. Judith-Marie Bergan as Lucetta. Vilma Silva as Antonio. And the whole all-women endeavor was worth it to give K.T. Vogt some meaty stage time as both Launce and the Duke. She has been fantastic in everything we have seen her do here. Kjerstine Rose Anderson also brought the funny as Speed. But, man, Vogt and Anderson had to sweat bullets for every laugh. I don't know if our late September Tuesday night audience was especially soporific or what. Even Picasso, playing Crab, seemed to be half asleep. I think Vogt and Anderson were putting out 60 watts for every candlepower by everybody else at the Lizzie that night. Ladies, I appreciate your labors.</span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;">The thing is, <a href="http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/woodeno/">Wooden O</a>'s <i>Two Gents</i> this summer in the park, directed by David Quicksall, kicked OSF's ass. As did <a href="http://www.seattleshakespeare.org/">Seattle Shakespeare</a>'s <i>Tempest</i> <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2009/06/tempest-brings-treasures-at-seattle.html">in 2009</a> with Michael Winters as Prospero, Hana Lass as Ariel, Kerry Ryan as Trinculo, and Peter Dylan O'Connor as Caliban. It's wonderful that we're able to see Shakespeare done well right here in Seattle by the O, Seattle Shakespeare Company and <a href="http://www.greenstage.org/">GreenStage</a>. We still love OSF; they've given us a chance to see plays—Shakespeare, other classics, and new work—that we likely wouldn't have had a chance to see otherwise. But it's just a reminder that OSF is not a gimme, and there's some wonderful work being done by small, local companies, presumably on a fraction of OSF's budget. </span><br />
Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-19208157927412194632014-09-27T15:55:00.000-07:002014-10-01T14:32:30.533-07:00OSF: Richard III<span style="color: #274e13;">We've been looking forward to <a href="https://www.osfashland.org/">Oregon Shakespeare Festival</a>'s production of <i>Richard III</i> all year, and especially Dan Donohue's turn in the titular role, and we were not disappointed. <i>Richard III</i> was the high point of our first time here ten seasons ago, and we enjoyed seeing another interpretation. <br /><br />In this production directed by James Bundy, Richard is a comedian; and I absolutely mean this as a compliment. He sees into and through the dark humor of court politics. Just as a comedian sometimes skewers his audience, Richard skewers those around him, and channels his hostility into a deadpan "can you believe this guy?" and "I can't believe I got away with that" incredulity. He mugs for the audience in his constant asides, and drew more laughs than one or two of the comedies we saw here. Something was niggling at me through most of the first half of the play, and at one point shortly after intermission, some combination of gesture, mannerism, a set of Donohue's jaw, and a particularly meaningful look at the audience, and it came to me in a flash: it was as though he was channeling the brilliant Robin Williams. Of course, this was Donohue's show, and he was riveting. I wouldn't have missed a single turn of phrase and gesture. He held us in the very palm of his withered hand. <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dan Donohue as Richard III. OSF photo.</td></tr>
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Most of the women in this production turned up the heat on Richard with sparkling performances. Robin Goodrin Nordli might just be the best Queen Elizabeth I've seen across four productions, three of which were very good (this one, OSF 2005, and GreenStage 2007; Intiman's 2006 directed by Bartlett Sher was completely forgettable). Nordli absolutely nailed the scene where Richard courts her daughter, fooling him but not us, and obviously having no intention whatsoever to give her to him. Judith-Marie Bergan was blistering as Richard's mother. And they didn't get fancy with Queen Margaret, making her all sepulchral or anything. She was played with straightforward venom by Franchelle Stewart Dorn. Tess Hemmerling just about made off with the show as Richard's younger nephew, the Duke of York. <br /><br />I appreciated the restraint in the set designed by Richard L. Hay. There are very few places where you can see theater outdoors in the tradition of a stage that is shaped the way the Elizabethan is, with its multiple levels, pillars, trapdoor, thrust configuration, and, instead of a backdrop, entrances and exits upstage rather than (just) the wings. The design of the theatre causes the actors to interact differently with each other and with the audience than in a proscenium arch theatre, where the actors are little figures in a diorama. It's not so much that Shakespeare was breaking the "fourth wall" all the time—and never more than in <i>Richard III</i>—as that there was no fourth wall then. <br /><br />Actors, directors, and designers often don't seem to know how to do theater outside. And to be fair, why should they have that training, since there will be so few opportunities to work outdoors. Which is a bummer for people like me who have seen how wonderful really good outdoor theater can be.<br /><br />One of the consequences of the lack of training for the outdoor theater is that OSF finally capitulated and installed a fancy schmancy sound system in the Lizzie, a development we were not looking forward to. Based on <i>Richard III</i>, we were relieved. It could have been a lot worse. The amplification was subtle and skillful. Spoken lines still sounded like they were coming from the actor's location on stage, and they wisely refrained from playing around with all the bells and whistles I'm sure the system gives them, only getting woo-woo during the ghost dream scene. </span><br />
<span style="color: #274e13;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #274e13;"><i>Two Gents</i> a few days later proved that amplification isn't enough if the actors don't have the skills to be clear. Several of the younger cast, though miked, were difficult to understand. Most of the principal actors in <i>Richard III </i>have played that stage for many years and know what they're doing, so they were easy to understand. They created characters and scenes and drama and told a thrilling story, not with technology, but with their voices and bodies and skill; and for that: bravo. </span>Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-92044351683290159602014-09-24T16:30:00.001-07:002014-09-28T00:53:39.606-07:00OSF: A Wrinkle in TimeIt is a bonus when our interests in theater and astronomy intersect, and that is happening this season at the <a href="https://www.osfashland.org/">Oregon Shakespeare Festival</a> in Ashland with its production of <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i>, based on the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312367546/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312367546&linkCode=as2&tag=seattastro00-20&linkId=BYGV4I4EPTVAFJ3N">1962 novel</a> of the same title by Madeleine L'Engle. The OSF play is a world premiere adapted and directed by Tracy Young.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_aFaoYS0mm8MlcuewBsoNGOdDgx7Jh-0Z3qkSL5vPfM-LnuN9thXu_6zQLbreTT5ExOYwzp0eCRBhafdhTWrhgfK04H9o7IgjIZ2KEmMMqi07Rae-NZ2RTgh1KDG2J37GhSHvCsrI70/s1600/A_Wrinkle_in_Time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR_aFaoYS0mm8MlcuewBsoNGOdDgx7Jh-0Z3qkSL5vPfM-LnuN9thXu_6zQLbreTT5ExOYwzp0eCRBhafdhTWrhgfK04H9o7IgjIZ2KEmMMqi07Rae-NZ2RTgh1KDG2J37GhSHvCsrI70/s1600/A_Wrinkle_in_Time.jpg" height="184" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alejandra Escalante as Meg Murry in Oregon Shakespeare<br />
Festival's production of <i>A Wrinke in Time</i>.</td></tr>
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In <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i> math whiz Meg Murry (Alejandra Escalante), her über-genius little brother Charles Wallace Murry (Sara Bruner), and pal Calvin O'Keefe (Joe Wegner) zip around the universe in search of missing papa Murry (Dan Donohue). They accomplish their travel by bending time and space in a tesseract, or "tessering," as explained by the helpful science fair project by Science Girl (Jada Rae Perry).<br />
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Kids traversing the universe make for some imaginative and wonderfully silly stage effects and costumes, and we think especially of the multi-tentacled Aunt Beast (Daniel T. Parker), for whose costume a good half-dozen vacuum cleaners must have given their lives, or at least their hoses. <br />
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The performances are top-notch. We single out Escalante and Bruner especially, as well as Judith-Marie Bergan, who was much fun as Mrs. Whatsit, something of an intergalactic tour guide for the adventurers. Bergan, we think, can play anything, from the comic to the manic (as we note my Sweetie, the official scorer's, <a href="http://gscheiderer.blogspot.com/2014/09/best-of-festival-2013-oregon-shakes.html">recent review</a> of last year's production of <i>The Tenth Muse</i>.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312367546/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312367546&linkCode=as2&tag=seattastro00-20&linkId=BYGV4I4EPTVAFJ3N" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0312367546&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=seattastro00-20" height="200" width="135" /></a>For all of its goofiness, the play takes on some serious themes about the mysteries of the universe, the nature of time and space, the dangers and advantages of technology, and of the strength and importance of family ties and love. The science isn't so heavy that you need to be a cosmologist or physicist or a math geek like Meg to get it, though a bit of sci-fi familiarity with the concept is helpful.<br />
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According to the program notes the book took criticism from all sides when it came out, some charging it with being too religious and others saying it is too secular. That feels like it hit the right spot! The book also has some Cold War undertones about how things would look under a totalitarian society.<br />
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We've not read the book but plan to pick it up when we return home from Ashland. The play runs at the Angus Bowmer Theatre <a href="https://www.osfashland.org/en/productions/2014-plays/a-wrinkle-in-time.aspx">through November 1</a>. It's great fun; check it out!Weisenheimerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12164484147169721745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4106740922939328520.post-16604359352839687272014-09-21T17:37:00.000-07:002014-09-24T19:16:55.629-07:00Best of Festival, 2013 Oregon Shakes: The Tenth Muse<span style="color: #274e13;">We have arrived at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival 2014, and I haven't even published a review for my vote for Best of Festival 2013. It's time to gather up my notes, my re-reading, my re-living of this play from the last year and post the review that took a year to write. <br /><br />The Best of Festival among the eleven shows mounted by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2013 (yep, we saw 'em all, some more than once) was a new play commissioned by and developed at OSF by Tanya Saracho: <i>The Tenth Muse</i>, directed by Laurie Woolery.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhueV6qeoCeGTc2TC3xnwz62jFOrl1ecE94uo36CwakjwteXhJndpjwObIglYK7d0V-gih2-C4pQvdugFEU15tW768q58_ANDTt41FgaApcjaUmW1HrB7j5W6KTRAMuviTkmpxY_Gq1JBk/s1600/tenth_muse_2_jg_2153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhueV6qeoCeGTc2TC3xnwz62jFOrl1ecE94uo36CwakjwteXhJndpjwObIglYK7d0V-gih2-C4pQvdugFEU15tW768q58_ANDTt41FgaApcjaUmW1HrB7j5W6KTRAMuviTkmpxY_Gq1JBk/s1600/tenth_muse_2_jg_2153.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R: K.T. Vogt, Sabina Zuniga Varela, Vivia Font, Vilma<br />
Silva, and Sofia Jean Gomez in Oregon Shakespeare Festival's<br />
2013 production of <i>The Tenth Muse</i>. Photo: Jenny Graham.</td></tr>
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This play is a classical coming of age, hero's journey on eternal themes of growing up, finding your voice, and making choices about what matters most to you. In this respect it belongs to a long tradition of theater. It augments that tradition by taking women as its characters, art by women as its subject, and a convent in inquisition Mexico in the early 1700s as its setting. It only reinforces the play's themes about what—and who—"count" and may be heard that its silent muse is Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a giant of Mexican culture that few (at least non-Latino) North Americans have heard of.<br /><br />The play opens about 20 years after Sor Juana's death. The convent was once a center of culture where Sor Juana had presided over one of the largest libraries in the new world, wrote poetry and plays, and shared them with the people of what will become Mexico City. By the time our play opens it has become closed off and quiet under pressure of the inquisition in Mexico. Sor Juana herself died of the plague at the age of 46, two years after renouncing her writings and swearing never to write again. <br /><br />Our play opens with the arrival of Jesusa, a young orphan Mestizo ("mixed") girl in the caste system of the time, sent over from another order's convent to work at the Convent of San Jeronimo; and Tomasita, a young Nahua girl, even lower in the caste system than Jesusa and brought there by her desperate mother to be a servant; a slave, really, but with some presumed measure of safety. There they meet Manuela, a Spanish family's daughter who has been sent to the convent for several months, to hide the increasingly obvious reason. <br /><br />These girls encounter an older generation of nuns, all of whom remember the time before the inquisition shut down their life of culture, music, and letters, and most of whom collude in their silencing for their safety. The younger generation disrupts this safety, with the help of Sor Isabel, the convent's most dangerous nun for being its closest link to Sor Juana and keeper of the convent's institutional memory. Together they discover some of Sor Juana's papers, long thought to be burned, and explore what is forbidden and precious. Forbidden to them are, to us, "harmless" activities we take for granted like reading, playing music, writing, putting on a play, wearing "men's" clothing, befriending someone outside your group. For these characters, daring to do these things means great risk to themselves and their community.<br /><br />There's a scene that moved me to laughter and tears where the young women are trying on men's clothes, costumes for acting out the play of Sor Juana's that they found. Imagine living in a world where just putting on pants was so transgressive and where the feeling would be so new and so odd. This playful, joyful scene turns out by the end of the play to be a very important dress rehearsal.<br /><br />Saracho shows us the devotion, love, and sacrifice that women can extend to each other. She is also unflinching in her treatment of women who protect the status quo and cooperate with injustice in the name of protecting other women. <br /><br />For example, the Mother Superior, fiercely played by Judith-Marie Bergan. We love Bergan's performances. We've seen her in many goofy roles and she's hilarious. I like to think she's probably a sweetheart in real life. But as this Mother Superior, I wanted to storm the stage and knock her over. And my impotent rage was amplified by being grudgingly convinced that she really believed her cruelty would protect the sisters in her care from something much worse than the deprivation of art, music, soul, and voice: the very ability to breathe. But breath that can never animate a song, a musical instrument, a poem, a play, a shared language, a forbidden friendship. <br /><br />Saracho is also deft in putting together the various "us and thems" of this colonial "new Spain" world: occupier and occupied; nun and not; the caste system; different religions and religious orders; women and their role relative to men. She doesn't preach, she portrays, weaving together a world that has all of these different dynamics in it and forcing her characters to make their choices.<br /><br />The three younger characters forged forbidden relationships with joyful performances from Vivia Font as Jesusa, Sabina Zuniga Varela as Tomasita, and Alejandra Escalante as Manuela. Font gave Jesusa all the wide-eyed bubbliness and naivete the role needs. Zuniga Varela's performance spoke volumes more than merely the spoken lines of the play, allowing Tomasita, the most vulnerable and consequently the most realistic, to blossom slowly and carefully. And Escalante showed us a brat-girl-woman teetering already on the consequences and disillusionment of privilege, a sheltered life, and very limited options. The extraordinary Vilma Silva as Sor Rufina and Wilma Bonet as Sor Filomena furnished their characters with distinct and fully formed personalities, women with their own very different ways of coping with the silencing of the convent and their lives. <br /><br />How wonderful and all too rare to have a play with seven good roles for <i>women</i>; seven good roles for <i>Latina</i> women; and four of them that could be cast by <i>older</i> women. Indeed, I think they <i>should</i> be cast with—what's the euphemism, "mature" actors? This is my only quibble with this production. I wish Sor Isabel could have been played by an actor of more years than the lovely Sofia Jean Gomez, for all the gravitas she brought to the role (I would travel anywhere at any cost to see Gomez play the role again some years from now). Sor Isabel is the cultural and emotional memory of the Convent of San Jeronimo, and the elder who passes on what is precious to a younger generation. She has a lifetime of history and relationships with the other sisters, going back to her aunt Sor Juana. How I would love to see this play cast with all Latina actors, and four of them older.<br /><br />In addition to being a good story well told, the production was beautiful. Jesusa's inclination and talent is for music. Composer and sound designer Rodolfo Ortega used music—live lyre and singing as well as recorded music—to enhance and expand the character and story. I wish there was a soundtrack or sheet music so I could hear that music again. And there was more music in the way Sor Juana's poetry and the Nahuatl language were woven into the story. The use of papers, lost, found, and lost again, was entrancing. I wanted to rush the stage and pick up and save the precious falling papers myself (after knocking over Judith-Marie Bergan). <br /><br />My understanding is that Saracho was originally commissioned to translate and bring a play of Sor Juana's to the stage. Instead she asked: what happened next? I would still love to see a play by Sor Juana, but I'm thrilled the world has this new play. I'm curious how it may have developed in the course of the production. The opening was a bit later than planned, we heard from local folks that it continued to evolve after the opening, and comparing what I saw to the script from the Tudor Guild bookshop, there are some salutary changes. I'm fascinated by the process of allowing a new play to develop in response to real audiences and the artists' experience of producing it. By the time we saw it very late in the run, it was a finished, polished thing of beauty. OSF's choice to take risks on new work and give artists a home to develop their art is a huge part of why we keep coming back year after year. <br /><br />The play resonated on so many levels and was so beautiful—visually, musically, poetically, intellectually, emotionally—that I came out of this production trembling and weeping, and I wasn't the only woman in the Bowmer Theatre bathroom afterward trying to get recomposed. The ovations both times we saw it were enthusiastically appreciative even by generous OSF audience standards. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #274e13;">What would happen if you were deprived of art, beauty, voice, home, family, friends, everything lovely and precious to you? This story gives a few glimpses into that eternal dramatic question: what happens next? Things aren't going to be any fun for the sisters or Manuela inside the convent. The recovered papers are burning. Jesusa and Tomasita are embarking on a very risky journey with the last of Sor Juana's papers. It is one of the most satisfying of endings for being so open-ended, pointing to a future full of hope and possibility and undoubtedly pain and disappointment. The final curtain is—literally and dramatically—breathtaking.</span><br />
<br />Sweetie the Official Scorerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00702571009928943535noreply@blogger.com0