Seth Smith, Professional Hitter.

Watch any Mariners game that Seth Smith is playing in and you will surely hear the announcers talk about how he is a professional hitter. They will talk about how his batting average isn't great but he gives you a quality at bat and drives up the opposing pitchers pitch count by battling in every at bat. Listening to these baseball prattlers it is easy to think that they are using the professional hitter moniker as a way to apologize for his mediocre batting average. It is like they wants to fans to know that despite his middling traditional stats Mr. Smith isn't that bad without providing any quantitative examples. The things is instead of using subjective descriptors of Smitty's (What can I say? Mariners nicknames are boring) skills they could just as easily shower Seth Smith with commendatory remarks by just listing his nontraditional stats.

First and foremost is his On Base Percentage (OBP). This year as of 6/9/16 Seth Smith has a .378 OBP. That means he is getting on base by a hit, walk, or hit by pitch 37.8% of the time. That is tied for first, with Nelson Cruz, for all Mariners hitters. What I am trying to say is Seth Smith is good at getting on base.

Another stats that highlights Seth Smith's quality is his about Walk Percentage, which sits at 13.9% so far this year. That stat shows clearly that all those at bats he is battling for are actually turning into something more than pitch count uppers. They are turning into base on balls. Seth Smith gets walked at the highest rate of anyone on the team. In fact it is currently good enough for 15th in the whole major leagues, tied with Joey Votto. Like I said before Seth Smith is good at getting walked.

Smitty also has some power. He will never be Boom Stick, but he can get a respectable amount of extra base hits. He is currently slugging .412, which is .38 below his career slugging percentage. We have seen him hit homers this year and I expect we will see him start hitting more doubles. Even if he doesn't a .400 SLG coupled with a .380 OBP is a very respectable .780 OPS. There have been years that M's fans would have killed for a starter with a .780 OPS.

Basically what I am trying to say here is the Seattle Mariners outfielders Seth Smith is a good hitter. He treats his plate appearances with the singular purpose of trying to get on base and he succeeds at a high rate. You could even call him a professional hitter, but just make it clear that it is a compliment and provide some objective evidence.

Sources: Fangraphs.com

We Need To Talk About June 2, 2016

Hello, earthlings/Kevin's friends! It is I, Natalie, the Mariners' prodigal daughter, who brings you great baseball news from San Diego, California.

That game last night was AWESOME. I'm not going to lie, the 1st inning was rough to sit through. At first, I felt some hope. Cano pulled a Cano. We got a home run. It was lovely. I was the lone Mariners fan in my nosebleed section in a sea of Padres gear. The Padres scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st, which was annoying, but not something that we couldn't come back from. After all, in the last few games, the M's scored 6 runs, 16 runs, 9 runs, and 5 runs. Being behind by 3 is no longer something to stress out about. This ball club can handle that kind of deficit. 

Then, in the second, Cruz hit a bomb. It was 2-4. Yesssss. Okay. We can do this. We're still in this game. Then, that feeling started to dissipate in the 4th and 5th innings. Miley and Montgomery's pitching was lackluster. Rosales-Solarte-Norris-Rosales-Rea-Jay-Myers-Kemp score. All I could think was "not again". I started to have flashbacks of Wednesday night's game, which Paxton and Peralta destroyed all my hopes and dreams. I had to slink out of Petco in shame after that game.

The top of the 6th is when things started to get interesting. Big Booty Seags (just go with it) hits a line drive out to right field, which allows Smith and Cano to get home, and advances himself to second, Cruz to 3rd. Have you heard the good news about our lord and savior, Dae-Ho Lee? Lee hits a big, fat, glorious homer to bring Cruz, Seager and himself home to Papa Servais. In the 7th, Big Booty Seags, Dae-Ho Lee Moley, Chis "I made super tasty wine" Iannetta, Stefen Romero, O'Malley, Aoki, and Guti literally made my head explode at Petco Park. Line drive after line drive and score after score left me SCREAMING LIKE A CRAZY PERSON in section 315 at Petco Park because HOLY SHIT, I'M HERE IN PERSON. I start doing the laugh-cry thing because I can't believe in two innings we just scored 14 runs. 

As we get to the 7th, the nervousness resets with Seager's error and Kemp scoring. Momentum can be great, but it is so fragile. One error can crush everything or set off a domino effect across any team. One wrong move and you can lose your mojo. Benoit manages to hold the Padres off in the 8th. Fernando Rodney makes an appearance at the top of the 9th. He holds off the M's from scoring again in the ninth, so all my concentration goes on sending Cishek good thoughts. "I believe in you!" I think over and over again to myself. I shout it from my seat. I tweet it out over and over again. I was determined to not let this team's past performance mar the game I was watching. You could feel the electricity radiating from the M's dugout. Solarte stuck out. Upton out at first. Norris strikes out swinging. And the Mariners, the beautifully flawed but ever hopeful Mariners, had their greatest comeback in franchise history. And I was there for it. I saw it with my own eyes. 

This is my first baseball blog post of my whole life, so be gentle while I try to figure out my voice. A lot of people (aka a lot of you) may be cynical about the 2016 Mariners. We've heard years and years promising we were going to be better, without ever getting better. 2015 was a hard year for all of us. But, I am forever an avid and hopeful Mariners fan, every year. You never know when you're going to witness greatness. It could happen. It did happen. I was happy to be there. Go M's!

This Time Feels Different

If you are like you lost interest in the team over the last few years as they continually beat us down with predictably disappointing results. So, in case you haven't noticed, the Mariners are fun again. After years of boring and bad baseball the team has changed for the better this year. They are playing games with actual drama. Exciting baseball is fun to watch. The improvement is hard to nail down to just one thing. The team is better in so many ways.

The offense is producing consistently. They are able to score at any time and they are getting contributions throughout the lineup. In years past a late deficit was a guaranteed loss for the M's. They were incapable of generating base runners against teams with even half way decent relief pitchers. This year things feel different and the stats back it up. The M's have scored 78 runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th inning of games this year, which is 31% of their total runs. They already have three walk off wins. They don't get blown out. They only have 4 losses of more than 5 runs all year compared to 23 such losses in 2015 and 17 in 2014. The offenses ability to strike at any time makes the games worth watching, even if you can only catch a couple innings.

The players are much more consistent from top to bottom. The worst hitting starter was supposed to be Leonys Martin. However, the speedy CF already has a career high in HR, a .262 batting average, and has delivered several big key hits. Martin is far from the junk the Mariners teams of yore trotted out on a daily basis. In fact when coupled with his stellar defense he has been an important part of the team.

The other everyday player that people like to pick on is Nori Aoki. The outfielder hasn't hit for a high average or power. He has also been bad at stealing bases, where he has succeeded on only two out of seven tries. However, Aoki has managed to get on base and keep rallies alive. He has a .330 on base percentage showing he isn't an offensive black holes like so many ex-Mariners. It never feels hopeless when Aoki comes up to the plate.

The Mariners season may end up collapsing at some point. They may cough up the division and miss the playoffs yet again. But regardless, the season has already been a success for me. The team has brought back joy to watching baseball. They have created and sustained real buzz into June. They have made watching and talking about baseball, including Mariners baseball, fun again.

The Summer Olympics are Almost Here

The Summer Olympics are almost here. This year they are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I am super excited for them.From the opening ceremony, with all its ridiculous pageantry, to the final medal count and everything in between I love the Olympics. A lot of people don't understand the appeal. So, let me try to explain some of the reasons I love this sporting spectacular.

I love getting caught up in the patriotism of the medal counts and rooting for the USA to beat Russia and China. Even with my 21st century progressive multicultural world view there is just something intoxicating about watching my countrymen try to take down athletes from countries with conflicting world views. Using sports to justify the superiority of a political and economic system is silly,  but it is oh so fun. Ashton Eaton's prowess at track and field is even more fun to watch because it fills me with national pride. Somehow knowing Vladimir Putin is suffering even just a little pain watching his athletes lose makes it even more fun.

I love rooting for athletes I have never heard of in sports I barely understand. Seeing a Uzbek beat an Iranian at Judo can capture my attention just as much as a Mariners game or a random non-Seahawks football game. Watching events for non mainstream sports is like getting a glimpse into a whole other world, a world where synchronized men's springboard diving is the biggest and most important sport. The competitors, coaches, and announcers have invested so much of their lives into these sports it is amazing. Their worlds and life experiences are so different than mine. Getting to experience just a little bit of that difference through watching them compete is great.

I love watching the speed and power on display at the track and in the pool. Running and swimming are sports in their most raw and basic form.These are the same events that the ancient civilizations competed in thousands of years ago. The rules and equipment are at a minimum. The key to victory is a mix of training, genetics, and luck. These people push the human body to the limit. The excitement is enthralling.

If you are someone that doesn't usually like the Olympics I urge you to give this year a try. Comcast offers an extensive On Demand catalog. You can pick and chose almost any event you want to see. NBC's nightly broadcasts have improved over the years. They are still heavily focused on Americans and they do bounce from event to event frequently. However they do a great job of telling interesting stories about the teams and athletes. They never let you miss an important moment. Plus Bob Costas is awesome.

The Olympics only happen every four years so when they do roll around I have to rearrange my schedule to make time. I don't want to miss a minute of it. The drama, novelty and excitement are worth every second I commit to them. I love the Olympics.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Wow, it has been a while since I provide a bunch of links to some of my favorite sports related stuff around the web. Rather than keep you all waiting for all these hyper links here they are.

• The new Mariners commercials are here. My personal favorite is the Nellie's autoglass one.
• My favorite sports podcast is Hang Up and Listen from Slate. I love to listen while I am walking the dog. The guys do a great job proving smart people who aren't stats nerds can love sports.
• I have often wondered why NBA players get so much rest between games. I was ignorant about the physical toll on the body that basketball can have. This ESPN The Magazine article shed light on the grueling toll it takes on the body.
• On May 4th Nelson Cruz hit a monster of a home run against the Oakland Athletics. According to ESPN it only went 446 feet, but that number clearly doesn't do this home run justice.
• The Economist is not known for their sports writing. Their take on Leicester City's unimaginable EPL victory is probably one of the strangest you will read.

The Sounders Season, Ugh

After another disappointing and poorly contested lose on Saturday, it is pretty obvious the Sounders miss Obafemi Martins. Losing their best player and leading scorer has essentially rendered the offense sterile. They are incapable of a sustained attack and nobody on the team appears to have any moves capable of beating a defender one on one. Nobody has been able to recreate the chemistry that Martins had with Dempsey.

Nelson Valdez is supposed to be a good offensive player, but so far this season he has been a complete non-factor. He has been late on nearly every cross and he has mis-hit the few he makes it too. He is not the answer. Jordan Morris and Oalex Anderson  are highly regarded and show flashes of raw talent. They could both turn into good players in the future. However, at this point in their careers they can't be relied on. Neither is playing at a high level currently. In the present the Sounders need somebody to provide a spark and jump-start this offense into mediocrity.

The Sounders are now 2-4-1 in their first seven games and if not for a miraculous last second goal against Houston they would have one win on the season. I know it is beating a dead horse, but it is important to reiterate, the offense has been putrid. There is only one stat needed to show just how bad they have been. In seven games they have scored just seven goals. That is worst in the Western Conference.

All the blame can't be placed on the attack. The defense has played inconsistently. They have been great at times and poor at others. The Sounders players are making key mistakes when it matters most. They give up way to many shots and force Stefan Frei into tough saves. With an offense playing as poorly as the Sounders it is important that the defense keeps the score really low. Giving up 10 goals in 7 games is usually fine, but not when you have only scored 7.

At this early stage in the season it looks like the Sounders string of consecutive playoff appearance is in grave danger. They are not out of it when you just look at the standings, but if you watch the team play you can tell they just aren't that good.  The attack is terrible and the defense is susceptible to lapses. Sigi Schmid and the Rave Green need a major change of direction if they are going to save this season.

Shootyhoops Basketmakers: Some Fuckin' Mooks

Twenty NBA All-Stars That Are NBA All-Stars

Possibly all 20 of the names listed below are in this picture.

A lot of people have been NBA All-Stars over the years.  The game has had ever-expanding rosters, made all the worse by injury replacements.  All sorts of great players have been named All-Stars in years in which they didn’t truly deserve it, but at least they had their reputation to lean on.  Zaza Pachulia nearly made an All-Star team in what would have been beautiful insanity.  There have been scores of players with just one or two All-Star appearances dotting their careers that may have made it due to some odd circumstances.  Some players have very short peaks, due to injury or being hunted for sport or team fit.  It’s hard to be an All-Star. 

Yes, the NBA All-Star Game has been overflowing with honorees for years, but DID YOU KNOW that these twenty NBA All-Stars were NBA All-Stars?  Can your brain comprehend the shear enormity of this revelation?  How will you live with yourself after learning what has come before?  What point is their for life in a world in which these things happened?