Liveblogging: Astros vs. Mariners, 5/3/14

As I look at the lineup from MLB.tv's free game of the day, featuring Mariners 2013 co-ace Hisashi Iwakuma in Houston, I notice that there is no sign of top prospect George Springer in the Astros lineup. Springer made his major league debut last month and thus has never faced Iwakuma, who is making just his 2014 debut this afternoon. Mariners fans (or at least their broadcasters) sure are happy to see the Tokyo native return to the mound, as he missed the first month of the season with a sprained finger tendon on his pitching hand. Top 6 2B Jose Altuve (who  has always done well against Iwakuma, according to a reminder from the Astros broadcaster) got another strong hit against him to start the game, but didn't end up coming around to score.

I noticed right away that the starting lineup graphics from the CSN Houston broadcast (again courtesy of MLB.tv) reminded me a lot of the graphics from MLB 14 The Show on PS3, but interestingly enough, so did the strange "ghosting" I sometimes see on especially strong throws by fielders. What I once attributed to a flaw in the programing of the game might be an inherent issue in how the console presents the game of baseball...

King Felix Hernandez's partner in crime last year ran into some trouble after a Marwin Gonzalez "curved" an infield single into a Jonathan Villar triple for the first run of the game. With his appearance at no fewer than five positions this year, I think Gonzalez has earned a UT in front of his name, in the old All-Star Baseball style, which makes him that much valuable to roster-building. Altuve, the pitcher's old nemesis, produced another run with a sac fly, making that a H and an RBI for him, although it took him two different plate appearances.

Altuve's opposing 2B, and one of the most talked-about players of the offseason, Robinson Cano cut Houston lead in half with a bloop single that scored a Stefen Romero triple, but did not make it to scoring position that inning, proving that the sequence 1B-3B is inherently more valuable than 3B-1B. Matters of sequence and play order, which in baseball is most strongly reflected in lineup construction, are what's known in Magic as "tempo." Having a good tempo relies heavily on the "mana curve," which is industry jargon for making sure you have enough resources to make a strong play each turn. If you equate spots in the lineup with turns, and players in the lineup as individual cards, it's easy to see how one can be a microcosm for the other!

Iwakuma has remained sharp, unlike Dallas Keuchel (again, pronounced KAI-cull), who walked the bases loaded in the 7th. It was apparent to everyone, especially Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon, that Houston's Bo Porter hadn't correctly managed his resources in terms of pitching, as he was obviously stalling for time while the reliever who was obviously going to replace Keuchel needed an inordinately long time to warm up. The former outfielder who last managed the Pirates in 2005, stormed out of the dugout, fuming about something, which apparently not only scared Porter into making a pitching change, but also scared reliever Jose Cisnero into walking the next batter (yes, with the bases loaded) to tie the game. That's one of my favorite plays to watch, because it requires such good discipline: Not only from the batter, to lay off the tough pitches, but also from the fan, to remain interested for the immense amount of time it takes to develop.

But that was just the beginning for the Mariners, who really ramped into some serious damage with run-scoring base hits from Canadian representative Michael Saunders, the aforementioned Cano, and my starting fantasy 3B Kyle Seager, extending his hitting streak. This was all followed by a two-run home run by the not-quite fantasy relevant Justin Smoak, proving that the sequence of X-HR is always more valuable than HR-X, where X is any positive offensive play in the game.

The sequence of Gonzalez-Villar struck again for two quick runs, but this time following a solo shot from former A's prospect Chris Carter, playing his natural position of DH. Jose Altuve created another run with his heads up baserunning, but this time it wasn't even against Iwakuma, as low-leverage reliever Dominic Leone had come on mid-inning. But he was out after that play of what was all of a sudden a close game, giving way to lefty specialist Joe Beimel. You can see here that McClendon is setting up the classic LOOGY/Set Up/Closer dynamic, provided the M's don't break it open again.

Speaking of classic bullpen usage, I believe Bo Porter could have avoided some drama earlier in the game if he had been willing to revisit the often-overlooked concept of what I'll refer to as the Long Save. Some non-nerds might not know, but there are two conditions to earning a save: 1) pitch the ninth with a small lead, etc., and 2) pitch the final three innings of any game. Dallas Keuchel has had a pretty good season so far, with both primitive and advanced metrics pegging his ERA at right around 3 1/2, but he hasn't had the track record of a guy who can consistently pitch past the 6th inning effectively, and would be most effective when combined with a long reliever, or spot starter who could certainly pitch three innings effectively. Guys such as Jerome Williams or Paul Clemens both fit that mold on the Astros roster. Bringing in one such "Long Closer at the start of the seventh (or at least having one ready to go by then) would have been a much faster play, and would probably not have drawn such ire from the opposing manager.

On second thought, seeing as the seventh inning ended with a caught-stealing play, leaving lefty Jason Castro still at bat, Beimel will remain in the game for the lefty-on-lefty matchup only, forcing McClendon to waste time with a non-commercial-break pitching change  to bring in Yoervis Medina. At least he made the call quickly so as not to provoke a tantrum from the other bench. Medina's a classic middle relief, bridge to the closer guys, who you really want to see work quickly and drama-free if they're on your team, but are also not that surprised to see them get hit hard, since there is so much volatility among relievers. Like what just happened when 3B (and fellow Iwakuma-nemesis) Matt Dominguez, Chris Carter, and Alex Presley (batting in George Springer's future spot in the lineup) combined for big hits to put the Astros within one, with the familiar tough out Marwin Gonzalez (3-3 today) coming to the plate. Let's see what happens!

UPDATE: Right after I was going on about traditional bullpen use, Seattle's second-highest profile Dominican free agent signing, Fernando Rodney heroically came in to record the four-out save, but not without a lot of "heavy breathing" as the TV pundits put it. Another game in the books from the wild AL West!