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Pretty much every doctor in America can tell you about Willie Sutton, which is surprising because Sutton was neither a medical researcher nor a victim of a famous accident or disease. No, Willie Sutton was a bank robber who stole almost $2 million over four decades and escaped from prison three times. And doctors know him for an apocryphal quote. Asked why he robbed banks, he supposedly said, “Because that’s where the money is.” Despite later denying that he ever said that, he did write in his autobiography that he would have said it. Doctors have repurposed this as something they call Sutton’s law, and it guides them in their diagnoses: Go where the money is. If there’s a most likely diagnosis, you should probably run that test. Start with the obvious.
I bring this up because it’s how the Mariners shut out the Astros tonight.
Whether you consider Framber Valdez an ace or not, he’s definitely close enough, and he’s roasted the Mariners throughout his career, limiting them to a .283 wOBA entering tonight. The way he’s done that is the same way he does it to everyone, using his sinker-changeup-curveball combination to keep the ball on the ground. But the Mariners had consistent traffic tonight by turning Framber’s strength into a weakness. The game plan, executed up and down the lineup, was to anticipate those dropping pitches and stay on them just a little longer. If they could wait for them to get deeper into the strike zone, they’d stand a better chance of getting the ball in the air and thus reaching base. Go where the money is.
That strategy worked, as they waited that crucial split second longer before swinging and racked up nine hits in 5.1 innings. Nearly every batter recorded one of those hits, and seven of those nine were hit by a right-handed hitter to the right side of second base. That’s where the money is against Framber. They came up with a plan and executed, a rarity for this offense. It was especially encouraging to see the new guys get in on the action. Jorge Polanco showed some elite bat control on a sinker and was driven in by a Mitch Garver double to the right-center wall. And Luis Urías hit his 420-footer to lead off the next inning.
