Saturday Roto Round Up
FakeTeams — ... Brad Lidge, Philadelphia Phillies:  Lidge blew an astounding 6th save yesterday.  Three-year/$37.5 million contract or no, Lidge isn't long for the closer's role in Philly. 8th Inning Set-Up: John Grabow PIT (9), Carlos Villanueva MLW (8), Matt Lindstrom FLA (1), Matt Thorton CHW (10), Ryan Madson PHI (13) Saves:  Heath Bell SD (16), Matt Capps PIT (13), David Aardsma SEA (9), Trevor Hoffman MLW (15), Leo Nunez FLA (2), ...

Report Card: Pitchers, May
Lookout Landing — ... , got hurt and the other one was David Aardsma and his 0.3 runs above average. For doing the seemingly impossible and not throwing up all over himself this past month, Aardsma was promoted into the closer's role. ...

Wednesday Roto Round Up
FakeTeams — ... case, that isn't so true.  After a scorching May that saw 19 of his 41 hits go for extra bases, Mauer's last six have all been singles, and he hasn't homered since June 2nd. ;) 8th Inning Holds: John Grabow PIT (10), Sean White SEA (6), Hideki Okajima BOS (10), Matt Daley COL (4), Sergio Romo (3) and Jeremy Affeldt SF (14),  Edward Mujica SD (7) Saves: Matt Capps PIT (14), David Aardsma SEA (10), Ryan Madson PHI (3), Jonathan ...

All Star Game Lineups Based on Fantasy Value
FakeTeams — ... (69) RP - Andrew Bailey (41) RP - Frank Francisco (53) RP - Joe Nathan (74) Reserves OF Nelson Cruz (14) 1B Mark Teixeira (15) OF Adam Jones (17) 2B Aaron Hill (24) C Joe Mauer (31) Notable AL absences include Johnny Damon (26), Adam Lind (30), Miguel Cabrera (37), Curtis Granderson (42), Erik Bedard (76), Ramon Ramirez (83), David Aardsma (103) NL All Stars after the jump ...

Polar Mariners stand in the way of Rockies' season best streak
Purple Row — ... Brandan Morrow lost his closer job mid-May after two horrific blown saves against Texas.   He has been replaced by Colorado native David Aardsma, who has 11 saves (8 as official closer) with one blown save and a sparkling 1.78 ERA.  We will luckily miss ...

Three Quick Things Submitted For Your Consideration
Lookout Landing — ... is killing me. How is it that he's able to generate such significantly worse results than David Aardsma despite throwing three times as many kinds of pitches and a harder fastball with more movement? So far in June, Lowe has thrown 78 pitches, with 46 strikes and 3 missed bats. That's pathetic. There's no other way around it, and when your results already aren't impressive, it's generally a bad idea to play like ass in the field as well. Wakamatsu's done the right thing by supporting his pitcher and conceding that those were tough plays, but at the very ...

Wednesday Roto Round Up: Finally! Matt Wieters and David Price Do Something
FakeTeams — ... 8th Inning Holds: David Weathers CIN (10), Darren Oliver (6) and Justin Speier LAA (4), Kyle McClellan STL (8), Sean White SEA (7), Brad Ziegler OAK (2) Saves: Francisco Cordero CIN (16), Bobby Jenks CSW (15), Mitch Stetter MLW (1), Brien Fuentes LAA (18), George Sherrill BAL (13), Mike MacDougal WAS (1), Ryan Frnaklin STL (16), Huston Street COL (14), David Aardsma SEA (12), Andrew Bailey OAK (6) Blown ...

What We Learned Last Night
Lookout Landing — ... David Aardsma isn't always a fright. Single or not, that inning was easy, as he just put on a fastball-throwing clinic and left the Diamondbacks looking helpless. He's now at 87% fastballs on the season, and yet he's generating arguably the best results of his career. Regardless of how unsustainable his ERA may be, he's been a savior, and he's making Zduriencik look like a genius. It's also worth noting that, over Aardsma's last 17 batters faced, he's whiffed nine and walked none while throwing an above-average number of strikes. So who ...

LC: How's Kerry Wood Working Out?
Driveline Mechanics — ... If what we wanted was a guy who can throw in the mid-high 90's without the ability to locate his secondary pitch, I'm pretty sure David Aardsma was available for nothing. ...

Saturday Roto Round Up: The New York Yankees Found Their 8th Inning Man in Phil Hughes
FakeTeams — ... post-deadline as playing time is freed-up. 8th Inning Holds: Brad Ziegler OAK (3), Leo Nunez (12) and Dan Meyer FLA (10), Sean White SEA (8), LaTroy Hawkins HOU (5), Scott Linebrink CSX (4), Chan Ho Park PHI (3), Dan Wheeler TB (8) Saves: Ryan Franklin STL (17), J.P. Howell TB (4), George Sherrill BAL (14), Jose Valverde HOU (4), Bobby Jenks CSX (16), David Aardsma SEA (14), Matt Lindstrom FLA (13), Andrew ...

36-35, Summary
Lookout Landing — ... and the Padres - those were three fun hours of baseball, and as David Aardsma pumped heater after heater in the ninth, I had the windows shut and my speakers up high. ...

Today's Ominous Fact
Lookout Landing — ... has more walks than strikeouts. And so forth. Only David Aardsma has really impressed among the regulars, and even he has been pitching well over his head. ...

Scrappy's Sense of Humor
Lookout Landing — A list of current Mariners who are free agents at the end of the season: David Aardsma: Currently lighting it up in the closing role. Legit sale piece. Miguel Batista: Owed money and been merely average out of the pen. Erik Bedard: Started off excellent, petered out a bit and currently is about to hit the one month mark on the disabled list. Adrian Beltre: Even with his offense as horrid as it has been, his defense was still stellar and on pace for about 2.5 to 3 wins. He might have still fetched ...

Dodger Bats Silenced By Mariners
True Blue LA — ... he settled down and made better pitches.  I guess we just have to understand he's not all the way back yet. Matt Kemp provided the first Dodger run with a booming shot deep into right-centerfield, on a nice-and-easy, smooth swing.  Speaking of going the other way, Russell Martin hit a gapper double to right-center in his first at-bat, which always seems to be a harbinger of good things to come, at least for the optimists among us. David Aardsma, the only man listed ahead of Hank Aaron in the ...

Concerning the Mariners
Pinstripe Alley — ... now. Whether this team ends up buying or selling as the deadline approaches, we can't say quite yet - realistically, the team could end up doing either. A lot depends on these next two weeks. After getting through this road trip and later closing the first half with four at home against Texas, we should have a much better idea of this team's position come the All Star Break. Sure would be nice to add a third baseman, though. Missing Beltre is all kinds of suck. 2. How is David Aardsma having such a good year? Will that continue? ...

Report Card: Report Card: Pitchers, June
Lookout Landing — ... The story of June clearly was David Aardsma taking it to another level. Sure, he still has shaky command, but the man has a beast of a fastball and a slider that he bust off when ...

Game 80: M's have Sox number again
Over the Monster — ... WP: Roy Corcoran (2 - 0) SV: David Aardsma (17) LP: Takashi Saito (2 - 2) ...

GameThread: M's @ Red Sox - July 5
Over the Monster — ... WP: Roy Corcoran ( - ) SV: David Aardsma LP: Takashi Saito ( - ) ...

43-40, Game Notes
Lookout Landing — ... In five innings of work, the bullpen's RA shot up from 4.01 to 4.28. Perhaps, given how the unit looked tonight and last Sunday, people will finally begin to see it as the problem it really is. The only guys out there who're worth a damn are David Aardsma and ...

First Half In Review: Passing Out The Grades (Pitching Staff)
Lookout Landing — ... David Aardsma: A-. Aarsdma's been quite a find, helping to somewhat stabilize a bullpen that was sent into disarray by ...

First Half In Review: Mariners Go Driving
Lookout Landing — ... David Aardsma: somebody texts you a happy score update of a big game, the beginning of which you have to miss because your boss made you work late and you've had it with these stupid East Coast start times. ...

50-44, Game Notes
Lookout Landing — ... and David Aardsma's easiest save of the year, we were left to reflect on just the latest Mariner effort to stave off what has so often felt inevitable. Sure, the Royals did us no favors by blowing a big late lead, but somehow, at least as far as I'm concerned, that doesn't harsh my buzz, because as Hendu would say, the M's just pulled one out of the ol' magician's basket. I don't know how many times this season I've prepared myself to wave the white flag, but this team just won't let me. ...

Omar Minaya Has To Go
Amazin' Avenue — ... Turns out it was luck. The strength of the 2006 Mets, their bullpen, was made of good, not great, relievers who had career years. Such is the nature of the bullpen; in such small sample sizes, it's basically a coin flip between Mota-2006 and Mota-2007. That's why smart teams fill their bullpen with players with skills, namely high strikeout rates, that avoid the luck element of balls in play. David Aardsma isn't some lucky fluke that has become a shutdown closer out of the blue. He's got great skills, and is a guy ...

Series Preview: Cleveland Indians @ Seattle Mariners
Lookout Landing — ... This stretch could pose a tough test for our fragile bullpen. RRS in his first start back plus Erik Bedard and Jaku? If I were setting an over/under on innings pitched by that trio I would be pegging it around 16 or 17. Did I mention that David Aardsma has already pitched the last two games? This would be an excellent time for the Mariner bats to realize they are facing the worst run prevention unit in baseball. ...

Part 4 of the D-Backs Deadline Possibilities: The Chad Qualls/Jon Rauch Trade Market
AZ Snakepit — ... : The Mariners don't appear to be making a run at this season, but looking to the future, they could use a couple of bullpen pieces going into next season.  David Aardsma has been lights-out, and ...

View from the Other Side: Seattle Mariner Series Preview
Bluebird Banter — ... David Aardsma. In a lousy bullpen (ignore the ERA), he's the guy that stands out head and shoulders above the rest. I don't know how it works but his belly-high fastball in the center of the plate just keeps throwing hitters for a loop. They have to catch on eventually, right? Right? You might see for yourself what I'm talking about, but then on the other hand we suck right now and you very well might not. ...

Zduriencik's Trades
Lookout Landing — In: Jack Wilson (SS, MLB), Ian Snell (SP, MLB), Luke French (SP, MLB), David Aardsma (RP, MLB), Franklin Gutierrez (CF, MLB), Endy Chavez (LF, MLB), Robert Manuel (RP, MLB), Jason Vargas (SP, MLB), Garrett Olson (RP, MLB), Mike Carp (1B, AAA),  Ezequiel Carrera (CF, AA), Danny Cortes (SP, AA), Mauricio Robles (SP, A+), Derrick Saito (SP, A+), Mikael Cleto (SP, A), $3.4M Out: Yuniesky Betancourt ("SS", MLB), Jarrod Washburn (SP, MLB), JJ Putz (RP, MLB), ...

Report Card: Report Card: Pitchers, July
Lookout Landing — ... David Aardsma remained solid in July, though not near his dominant June. Actually, over half the bullpen turned in solid July's. ...

Alexei Ramirez Helps John Danks Remember How To Win
South Side Sox — ... Thankfully, David Aardsma entered in the 9th inning. You remember him as the guy who looked great for three weeks in '07, only to remember who he was the rest of the season. Well this year he's having a case of amnesia, and a lot of Safeco-aided flyball luck. That luck appeared to continue for the first batter he faced when ...

Rays Defeat Orioles Again Behind Pat Burrell, B.J. Upton, and Ben Zobrist Home Runs
DRaysBay — ... ERA says that Dioner Navarro is a better defensive catcher than Michel Hernandez, Gregg Zaun, and Joe Mauer. I'm not one to appeal to the majority often, but with the exception of throwing runners out, I can't think of a thing Navarro does better than Zaun and anything he does better than Mauer - defensively or otherwise. Fun fact, if rather meaningless. Jeff Niemann now has 13 wins, that ties him for third all-time for a Rice graduate with David Aardsma. He's two behind Matt Anderson, and fewer than 40 ...

62-58, Game Notes
Lookout Landing — ... I think my favorite part of any winning broadcast is when Mike Blowers starts going on about how the secret behind David Aardsma's breakthrough season is greatly improved command of his fastball. Because even if his fastball command is greatly improved, what? ...

62-59, Game Notes
Lookout Landing — ... It happens every time. Whenever a generally reliable closer blows a save, people have to start asking what happened, as if something were wrong. Sometimes something is wrong. But most of the time, it was just a bad game, and that's what we saw today. David Aardsma isn't hurt. There isn't anything dragging him down mentally. He's just David Aardsma, and even this effective version of David Aardsma is going to have his forgettable days, because if he didn't he'd be ...

Ooh, that Snell. Can't you Smell that Snell?
Athletics Nation — ... There wasn't even the usual teA'se tonight, unless you count Jack Cust's ground-rule double to lead off the ninth, which brought up the tying run.  But Suzuki flied out to right, Ryan Sweeney did the same to left, and Landon Powell struck out to end it, earning Snell (6IP, 4H, 1R, 2BB, 2K) the win, and David Aardsma his 29th save of the season. ...

Winless in Seattle, plus Adam Kennedy giveth and taketh away
Athletics Nation — ... hit. Franklin Gutierrez drew a one-out walk and stole second on a strikeout of pinch-hitter Ken Griffey, Jr. That proved to be a vital sequence as Jose Lopez hit a grounder to the left side that Pennington set up to field. The problem? Kennedy cut in front of him, thinking he had the play. The ball clanked off his glove and rolled back toward second. With nobody there, Gutierrez easily came around to score. The A's would do nothing in the final two innings against David Aardsma and Mark Lowe, while Branyan gave the home crowd a ...

68-64, Game Notes
Lookout Landing — ... of how well the team played as a whole. Those topics allowed me to stay connected to the current season while considering what the team could look like down the road, and how good it could be. With that in mind, then, and with nothing more creative striking my fancy, I offer you the following, in hopes that you guys want the same sort of stuff as fans as I do: Best players: Felix Hernandez, Erik Bedard, Russell Branyan, Ichiro, Adrian Beltre, David Aardsma, and Ken Griffey Jr. were either inactive or unavailable. ...

Report Card: Pitchers, August
Lookout Landing — ... It doesn't look pretty on paper, or sound pretty on paper, or even look pretty in person, but David Aardsma, Mark Lowe, Shawn Kelley, ...

71-64, Thank Goodness It's Over
Lookout Landing — ... don't know about you, so I'm only really speaking for myself, here, but I didn't enjoy that at all. For the most part, I found those to be nine miserable innings. But why? Was it a failure on the part of the entertainers? That's a difficult position to argue, considering -Franklin Gutierrez went deep -Bill Hall went deep -Kenji Johjima went deep -the Mariners won -the game was pretty close -Jack Wilson made a hilarious error -David Aardsma looked good and flashed a great splitter -Ian ...

Is This Sparta?
Lookout Landing — ... This would be all well and good if the Mariner bullpen was actually as good as traditional numbers suggest. But they're not. They're not even average, despite all the one-run games and saves for David Aardsma. By using ...

Almost as Good as Seeing Greinke: devil & Mrs. _fingers to Attend Baseball Game
Driveline Mechanics — ... WP: Felix Hernandez (17 - 5) SV: David Aardsma LP: Jesse Carlson (1 - 6) ...

Today's Fun Fact
Lookout Landing — ... Kelley hasn't gotten a whole lot of attention this year. For one thing, he missed two months with an injury. For another, he's been overshadowed by David Aardsma's success and ...

A's clinch! A's clinch! Okay, so it's just for last place and under .500...
Athletics Nation — ... into 2010. Cahill was unable to get through the fifth tonight, allowing five earned runs on eight hits and two walks with just one strikeout. In comparison, Hernandez threw a season-high 120 pitches and nearly got through eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits with four walks. He wasn't his usual overpowering self tonight, evidenced by only four strikeouts. Sometimes he gets that in two innings. He needed Mark Lowe to bail him out of trouble in the eighth and David Aardsma gave up a couple runs in the ninth on a Kurt Suzuki ...

A's Swept in Seattle
Athletics Nation — ... greeted closer David Aardsma with a home run, his 25th on the year.  Aardsma retired the next three batters with nary a scare to pick up his 37th save. ...

84-77, Game Notes
Lookout Landing — ... and one down in the top of the sixth, Marlon Byrd hit a comebacker on the ground that RRS fielded in midair, behind his back, and between his legs, before firing to second. It was a powerful reminder of the effectiveness of instant human reaction, which, when considered in conjunction with Jose Lopez's error problem on slower groundballs, causes me to entertain the unexpected possibility that Lopez's problem is that he thinks too much. Before the game, David Aardsma and Mark Lowe apologized to Jason Vargas for ...

A Thought On The Front Office
Lookout Landing — ... within striking distance of the Wild Card into August. We weren't playing meaningful baseball in September, but this was a winning ballclub that for a few months allowed us to dream. At the same time, the following is a list of players the FO brought in that are under contract/team control through 2011 or later: Franklin Gutierrez Jason Vargas Mike Carp Ezequiel Carrera Maikel Cleto David Aardsma Ryan Langerhans Derrick Saito ...

Why The Rays Should Target Joaquin Benoit
DRaysBay — ... or David Aardsma thanks to a nice little change up in his arsenal. Despite the lack of a plus plus heater, a person with knowledge of the Rangers system and Benoit described his slider as a "true slider" that has enhanced his K rate as a reliever. They also mentioned he has "good stuff to keep you interested, but can frustrate you." Sounds a lot like the aforementioned Balfour, who has been one of the best relievers in baseball the past two seasons. ...

Fun With Numbers
Lookout Landing — The six relievers who got the most playing time for the Mariners this year were David Aardsma, Sean White, Shawn Kelley, Miguel Batista, Chris Jakubauskas, and Mark Lowe. Here's how they did pitching to Rob Johnson and Kenji Johjima (Jak's starter stats are included because I didn't feel like separating them, but he conveniently threw to each catcher about equally often as a starter). ...

Fantasy Baseball: 2010 AL closer dynasty/keeper rankings
FakeTeams — ... 5. David Aardsma- Career highs across the board, including innings pitched. This will be the first time Aardsma has played back to back seasons in the same city, which could help his cause extremely and maybe provide the consistency needed. ...

Zduriencik On Griffey Coming Back
Lookout Landing — ... off the field," general manager Jack Zduriencik said. "His passion for baseball, life and the Seattle Mariners goes unsaid. We are happy to have Ken back for the 2010 season." When Z traded for Jack Wilson and Ian Snell, he talked about their skills. When Z traded for Franklin Gutierrez and the rest of them, he talked about their skills. When Z signed Russell Branyan, he talked about his skills. When Z traded for David Aardsma, he talked about his skills. When Z re-signed Griffey ...

Wednesday Chatter
Lookout Landing — ... , and David Aardsma. You people are crazy. On the other hand, six of the seven lowest projected wOBAs belong to Mariners, so I guess you're also somewhat reasonable.You don't see a lot of zealous sensibility these days. ...