Angels starter Jose Suarez opened his game Tuesday evening against the Mariners by retiring 16 straight. His bid for a perfect game 10 years and one day after the most recent MLB perfecto — by King Felix Hernandez — ended when Pear Adam Frazier singled. Starting with that base hit, the M’s went 9 for 20 over their last 11 outs, with two walks, a Frazier triple, and a homer by Kangaroo Julio Rodriguez.
Professional players can go .000, .000, .000 for more than half a game, flip a switch, and immediately go .450, .550, .700 for the rest of the game, an 18 runs a game pace. Let that be consolation to any who need it.
But also a warning. Having waited until the game was 59% over before they flipped their switch, the M’s could only accumulate for the game a 9 for 36 batting line (.250, .289, .361), something like 3 rc/g.
But also a consolation. The Mariners scored 8 runs with that 9 for 36 batting line, because they improbably bunched all their offense together, leaving only 3 runners on base.
But also a warning. We can’t do what the Mariners did. Our weekly offensive performances are always spread in the most probable manner across the entire week. So there’s no point in waiting to flip that switch.
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Yesterday was my longest post of the year. This one is MUCH shorter, except there is some interesting stuff in these standings and results reports.
