Prospect Insider - Game 1 Recap

Game 1 Recap

By Jason A. Churchill

By 04-02-2011

I'm not sure how many of these we'll do this year -- it's not our MO here at Prospect Insider -- but it seemed a worthy task after an Opening Night victory on the road.

The story of the night was Felix Hernandez, but he wasn't alone. While the right-hander pounded the strike zone, the Seattle Mariners actually forced 184 pitches out of six Oakland Athletics pitchers, drawing seven walks to counter 14 strikeouts.

Yes, the A's defense let them down, but the M's did squeeze out nine hits, including a double by Justin Smoak and a long ball by Chone Figgins, probably his only one of the season, so he made it count.

Hernandez's command was a bit spotty, at least with the fastball, but he had tremendous movement on everything, mixed in the curveball and changeup and confused the entire Oakland lineup by going back and forth between the two-seamer and four-seamer.

Three things I saw that I did not like

Justin Smoak expanding the strike zone
He swung at at least three pitches out of the zone tonight, two on breaking balls early in the count. Part of his potential success is going to be managing the count when the opposing pitcher could use the offspeed stuff as a weapon and getting more fastballs to hit. Jumping on breaking balls down and in on the first pitch isn't a good plan.

Langerhans in the lineup
Langerhans has a reverse career split and the A's will start a left-hander Saturday in Brett Anderson and another in Game 3 Sunday in Gio Gonzalez. So unless Eric Wedge is planning on forcing lefties down Michael Saunders' throat early on, it would have a lot more sense to start Saunders against the right-hander and Langerhans against at least one of the two southpaws.

Langerhans' struggles Friday night have nothing to do with my opinion on the matter, as he had an off night versus Cahill as well as the lefty relievers he faced.

Jack Wilson
He was fine at second base, but was his 2009-2010 self at the plate, hacking at pitches he's never handled in his entire life and letting two fastballs go by that appeared to be destined for hard hit balls to center or right field.

He did come up with a hit on the hit-and-run with Brendan Ryan on first base, but otherwise that's a weak ground ball out. It's just one game, but he was anxious.

Three things I did like

Miguel Olivo
Olivo will not walk much, will strikeout some and will probably frustrate the M's and their fans at times this season. But he's a major league backstop and seemed on the same page with Felix right off the bat.

He also collected two hits and the fact that he isn't as slow as frozen carmel forced an error by Daric Barton. The A's don't run much anyway, but they didn't even think of it versus Olivo Friday. Having a catcher that will be a factor offensively and will not be a detriment on defense is refreshing, because it's been awhile.

Jack Cust
Cust saw 28 pitches, second most on the night to Langerhans' 31, but drew three walks in the process, one with the bases loaded against Cahill on a pretty good 3-2 pitch.

He'll swing through some fastballs, but he's also going to hit some homers and get on base, and we saw some of that Friday. The best part is, that's who he is, so it's a reliable piece of the lineup.

Brendan Ryan
I Still contend that a healthy Wilson is the better defensive shortstop, but Ryan's elbow injury appears to be a 100 percent non-factor.

His arm strength is all the way back, and he showed it off on several plays in Game 1, throwing lasers to first without much effort. With an arm like that, Ryan could probably play center field, but it will be a valuable asset at short this season.

There is a little hope for the bat, too.

Jason A. Churchill is Executive Editor at Prospect Insider, founded in 2006, and has covered scouting and player development since 2003, writing for publications such as InsidethePark.com, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The News Tribune. You can follow Jason on Twitter @ProspectInsider, as well as @ESPN_MLBDraft, and contact him via email at Churchill@ProspectInsider.com.

game-1-recap

Comments
The following 12 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: Saltydawg05 on 04-02-2011 00:57:13
Looked ok from Oakland. Glad to start it off with a W

2. By: krob4mvp on 04-02-2011 01:02:07
I understand it was opening day and it is a very small sample size but I was amazed at the difference between Smoak's left handed and right handed approach. It was night and day! Justin seemed completely out in front and he hardly used his bottom half swinging left handed in the two at bats against Cahill. Then, his right handed stance and swing looked completely fluid and confident, resulting in a solid gap double!

3. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-02-2011 01:25:39
He also got a fastball down the middle from Breslow and nothing of the sort from the righty Cahill.

It's not his approach, it's the mechanics and opportunity.

His swing from the right side is much simpler, and he and the team know it and trying to duplicate it to the other side of the plate.

They started last year by bringing his hands down and closer to his body to shorten the swing -- similar to that of Saunders' new setup.

4. By: 200tang on 04-02-2011 01:29:01
I'll say this about Smoak, that double was almost effortless. The ball just jumped off the bat - it was beautiful.

5. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-02-2011 01:36:49
The bad part was, Cust couldn't score from first on that double.

I would have punch ran for him at that point, but all is well that ends well, I guess.

6. By: 200tang on 04-02-2011 01:39:11
Your Michael Saunders fetish is clear to everyone. :)

7. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-02-2011 01:48:26
I would have pinch ran Rodriguez.

8. By: kapoy38 on 04-02-2011 07:58:10
is there a free online radio coverage live a mariner game?

9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-02-2011 11:25:01
One more time, kapoy38, this time in English.

10. By: ARock on 04-02-2011 16:59:13
I think he meant: "Is there any site online where you can listen to free live radio coverage of the Mariners". Presumably to avoid paying for it on MLB.com. My guess is no.

11. By: Jason A. Churchill on 04-02-2011 17:11:25
Not to my knowledge, either.

The audio pass is pretty cheap, though, or you can follow via gameday.

12. By: StandinPat on 04-02-2011 19:10:38
Re: Smoak, I suppose it's better that he already has the swing from the right side down, as that's usually the part switch hitters struggle with. That ball he hit into the gap did look effortless as well. I honestly thought it was a lazy fly ball with the way he swung, but it had so much carry to it. It was a pleasant surprise considering how Mariners and Power seem to be mutually exclusive.

Side note, I'll be rocking my old school trident t shirt at the coliseum tonight, what's the over/under on how many items get thrown in my direction?

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