Ball clubs such as this year’s Angels get labled lucky because they don’t overwhelm you like say, the late 80’s A’s, did. You think if not for “a play here or a play there” you would have won, but it just wasn’t your night. And maybe a lot of teams are left muttering in the dugout singing the same tune, but that’s just it. It’s a lot of teams, not one team; it’s all season, not just one night, and well, there’s a reason for that. Sure the Angels have talent; it has to start there. But it is also about creating- and taking advantage of- opportunities. I didn’t see the game last night, but if we played the way you describe it, Nico, I hope for more of the same. Especially from a team that is on the lower end of the talent totem pole.

BTW, the 1970’s A’s long lived with that stigma of being lucky (they were outscored in their first two World Series; translation: they won the close ones). But they seemed to relish it. From the book “Reggie”, after the A’s moved in front of the Dodgers 3-1 in the ‘74 Series: "So the Dodgers are once again talking about lucky we are, and I’m just thinking how great it is to be this lucky."

And speed and aggressiveness can provide the difference between two otherwise evenly matched teams (not, as One won lost one put it in the game thread, that speed and aggressiveness are what separate the .600 teams from the .400 teams; runs scored [most reliably predicted by baserunners and XBHs] and runs prevented do that).

In the case of a team like the Mariners, who not only field poorly but are also phoning it in from a couple positions, yes, taking the game to them is a smart approach and is likelier to work. We do that next week against the Angels, though (despite the fact that they’re not really a good fielding team either), and we’ll simply be giving away outs.

We made our fair share of mistakes with aggressiveness as well — Rajai’s two bunts, while fair and on the ground, were pretty darn bad, and the M’s should have turned them into more outs and prevented more runs. And Patterson stopping 3/4 of the way to second, when Lopez muffed the ball? Crosby’s RBI “single” not only should have been caught by Lopez — if the infield wasn’t in, the runner on third probably either doesn’t break or gets gunned down. To my eyes, the errors we “forced” were pretty much balanced out by the errors we made in executing — which, unless there’s an organization-wide commitment to training (and I want to see confirmation from Beane about Rickey’s role in that regard before I believe Wolff), will continue to be the case, and the “breaks” above or below 50% as last night will continue to be determined by luck. The Angels have scored more runs than we have not because they run more, but because they’re out-AVG’ing us by 20 points and out-SLG’ing us by 40 points.

As I was watching the game I thought they were doing “the little things” that I haven’t seen from them in several weeks.

a part of the 2009 rotation. He gets his command down like he did tonight and he could be our best starter next year.

I meant to praise the defense more. Rajai, as you say, continues to impress in CF with his speed and judgment. Hannahan and Patterson turned a sweet double-play, and Patterson fielded his position very well, though he seems to have a bit of Crosbyitis with his throws — the more time he has to think about ’em, the more likely he is to screw ’em up. And Barton looks very good at first (especially, as someone pointed out in the game thread, now that he knows what to expect sometimes from Patterson).

However, he also “relied” on Safeco and the Seattle night weather. If that was a day game in Seattle, or a night game in half the other parks in the league, the opposition probably triples their xbh output.

Don’t get me wrong — Eveland pitched much better than his last 4-5 ML starts; I’d even concede that he pitched well in an absolute sense. But he did give up a lot of really hard-hit balls.

but a 1/4 full glass still beats the sorry state Mariners baseball is in right now.

this is in the wrong thread

It’s supposed to be in the game thread for Sunday, when Bowen hits his dinger.
oops