Russell Branyan played in 50 games for the Brewers last season, and when it was over he hoped to go back to Milwaukee. Doug Melvin, the Milwaukee general manager, responded that he had no interest in Branyan -- but he added this: Call Seattle.
Melvin knew that
Jack Zduriencik, who had just left the Brewers to take over as the general manager of the Mariners, liked Branyan and might have some thoughts about how Seattle would use him. What Zduriencik had in mind for the 33-year-old Branyan was this: 400 to 500 at-bats, as a regular player.
"I wasn't expecting to hear that," Branyan said Thursday, "because over my career, I haven't been given that opportunity. It's been something that I dreamt of."
Don Wakamatsu, the Mariners' new manager, understood where Branyan was coming from: His deal with Seattle would mean that Branyan had played in every division during his career. While playing for the Indians, the Reds, the Brewers, the Padres, the Rays, the Phillies, the Cardinals, the Padres again, and then the Brewers once more, Branyan never topped 378 at-bats in any season. So from time to time in spring training, Wakamatsu approached Branyan and assured him:
You're my guy. You're my first baseman. Branyan recalls his new manager saying, "We just want to you to believe you're as good as we think you are."
For Branyan, who had always been a part-timer in the big leagues before this year, those words were priceless. "As a part-time player, you feel pressed," Branyan said. "You have a tendency to press. If you have one at-bat as a pinch-hitter, or if you have one start, you don't know if that's going to be the only chance you have that week."
What Branyan has found is that this has caused him to tinker constantly, to take extra batting practice and make adjustments that might not be necessary. The downtime can gnaw at a hitter's psyche. Some guys can't even adjust to being a DH. But with the Mariners this season, there has been no downtime for Branyan. Even when Seattle faced hard-throwing lefty
John Danks the other day, the left-handed Branyan was in the lineup -- and in that game,
he went 5-for-5.
Branyan is hitting .333 with four homers and 10 RBIs and an OPS of 1.029. He's been
a foundation piece in the Mariners' strong start in 2009. As long as he stays healthy, he'll continue to get at-bats and might finally find out what he could do with 500 of them. He currently projects for 137 runs, 39 doubles, 39 homers and 98 RBIs.
Elsewhere,
Mike Sweeney has shown himself to be
the missing piece for the Mariners, writes Larry LaRue.
While Branyan chatted Thursday afternoon, he veered -- unprompted -- and talked about how important Sweeney has been for the Mariners this year. "He has just brought in a new attitude," Branyan said. "He gets guys ready to play. He has everybody focusing on winning series."
The Mariners'
Brandon Morrow is a
voracious reader, Geoff Baker writes.
• I remember talking with Rays pitching coach
Jim Hickey last September, and at that time he said that every time
Matt Garza takes the mound, he thinks there's a chance for a no-hitter. And if you happened to catch the first six innings of Garza's start against the Red Sox on Thursday night, you knew there was a chance you were watching history. He retired the first 18 batters he faced with a devastating variety of fastballs, sliders and changeups, all thrown with great command: He spun 16 sliders and got strikes with 12, a whopping 75 percent. Along the way, he got the silent treatment
from teammates, Marc Topkin writes.
He flirted with
perfection, Martin Fennelly writes.
Michel Hernandez had a
good month on April 30, his manager says.
•
Josh Beckett had
another poor outing in Boston's loss to the Rays, Adam Kilgore writes. With Beckett struggling early, I asked Jason Paradise, ESPN statistics analyst, to look into the recent history of two numbers related to Beckett's fastball.
No. 1 is the percentage of missed swings he musters with his fastball, and No. 2 is the percentage of strikes he throws with his fastball. The numbers are striking:
Pitching against the Rays on Thursday, his miss percentage was 11.5 and his fastball strike percentage was 64.7.
With Beckett struggling, the Red Sox asked journeyman Jonathan Van Every to finish the game on the mound, and he fared admirably. The Boston starters have an ERA of 5.52, Sean McAdam writes.
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Buster Olney
