Friday, June 17, 2005

Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs

Like Frasier, Ken Griffey Jr. has left the building. But that isn't stopping the Seattle Mariners from holding "Ken Griffey Jr. Statue Night" on June 21st. It's the last of three giveaways commemorating the 10 year anniversary of winning their memorable playoff series against the Yankees and of playing in the ALCS against the Indians. The first two statues featured Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner. Does it strike you as weird that they would give away a Ken Griffey statue, not only because he's still playing, but because of how he begged his way out of town after the 1999 season?

In a related story, this season the Mets will celebrate the 10th anniversary of almost winning 70 games with a series of giveaways. Among the items: "Jeff Kent Action Figure Refusing To Wear a Clown Outfit Night"; "Ryan Thompson Whiffing Bronze Statuette Night"; autographed photos of Butch Huskey and his weight loss counselors from Duke University to the first 25,000 fans night, "Bobble-elbow Bill Pulsipher Doll Night", "Bret Saberhagen Model Super Soaker Night" (pre-filled with bleach for adults only), and they'll also be giving away a talking Carl Everett doll. Pull the string and you can hear various expletives aimed at umpires, denials of abuse of his children, along with various thoughts on homosexuality, baseball fans, Wrigley Field, and steroids. I can't wait for that one.

Friday: Kaz Ishii (1-5, 5.48 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (5-2, 4.90 ERA)

Odd stat of the day: from 2002-2005, lefthander Jamie Moyer has been more successful vs. righties than lefties. Righties are batting .234 off him, but lefties are hitting .281 against Moyer. Also, Jamie's opponents have gotten off to fast starts against him. Again, using from 2002 on, batters are hitting .271 against him in the first inning.

Saturday: Pedro Martinez (7-1, 2.56 ERA) vs. Ryan Franklin (2-8, 4.81 ERA)

Ichiro, he of the 1,000+ hits, is only hitting .250 against Martinez (5 for 20), but Randy Winn his hitting .304 (7 for 23) lifetime against Pedro.

Sunday: Tom Glavine (4-6, 4.55 ERA) vs. Gil Meche (6-4, 4.38 ERA)

Adrian Beltre is 6 for 32 (.188) vs. Glavine lifetime, but has 6 hits in 8 at bats against closer Braden Looper. Of course, Beltre is battling hamstring problems and might miss the Mets series entirely. Bret Boone is hitting .205 (9 for 44) with a HR vs. Glavine.

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