Wednesday, August 27, 2003
LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE
For at least an hour (the Mariners game is in the 8th, but effectively over), the Oakland A's have vaulted the over the Mariners for the first time since the near-start of the season thanks to Barry Zito beating Pat Hentgen 6-2. This will last much longer though, as the Mariners have relinquished first place. Great job, guys. The sum of the whole team's crappiness is greater than the crappiness of its individual parts.
And what does Joel Pineiro do to keep the Mariners momentum going into the next game? How about a nice 2-run Travis Lee bomb in the second to dig the Mariners a quick hole, out of which they will never dig themselves out? A 2-run lead in the second is a good way to do that. And to put the game out of reach, how about giving up back-to-back dongs to Lugo and Huff in the 5th? Damage done.
David Locke is on fire on KJR right now. He has used the phrase "Ichiro sucked tonight," and he basically has. He brought up that on a night when Miguel Tejada hit 2 dongs and carried the A's, Ichiro has carried his team by...whiffing in the first, bouncing out to end the 3rd with Sanchez on second, flying out to shallow center WITH THE BASES LOADED AND NOBODY OUT in the 5th, whiffed to lead off the 7th, and with one run in and two on in scoring position in the 8th, Ichiro popped out to the third baseman. Ouch ouch ouch.
Also, the pattern of the Mariners offense sucking against guys they should be beating mercilessly continues. Tonight, it's some damn 20-year-old they brought in off the street, along with some guy making his Major League debut. The Mariners can't even take advantage of the mental fragility of these young kids because they're so screwed up in the heads themselves.
I peeked out in the front room at the TV and Mark McLemore and his Mendoza-line average was pinch-hitting in the 9th. Ugh.
The Mariners will never sniff first place for the rest of the year. Book it. You heard it here. Do you see any signs of the Mariners turning it around? Over the last two nights, all I see is the starters turning in 7 innings each, and though that is a very good sign, it's still not a good sign when the Mariners are playing from behind early. The Mariners are a terrible come-from-behind team this year. Just brutal. So when they get down 3-0, Safeco is dead and I sure as hell don't expect them to coem back, which they somehow did last night. Tonight they didn't. Does it surprise me? Not at all. To me, the Mariners (sans freakish 2001) have been a get-an-early-lead-and-hang-on kind of team. And when they don't get the early lead, the odds are highly stacked against them.
Now it's official. The Mariners are done. Tejada hit two bombs for the A's and Pineiro and Ichiro choked. Crunch time is where real players step up, y'all.
I'm gonna sit back and listen to the postgame now. To everyone out there that thought last night's game was the start of a big Mariners turnaround: as great as the first game of this series was, the Mariners have STILL lost seven of eight games, and that is STILL crap.
And what does Joel Pineiro do to keep the Mariners momentum going into the next game? How about a nice 2-run Travis Lee bomb in the second to dig the Mariners a quick hole, out of which they will never dig themselves out? A 2-run lead in the second is a good way to do that. And to put the game out of reach, how about giving up back-to-back dongs to Lugo and Huff in the 5th? Damage done.
David Locke is on fire on KJR right now. He has used the phrase "Ichiro sucked tonight," and he basically has. He brought up that on a night when Miguel Tejada hit 2 dongs and carried the A's, Ichiro has carried his team by...whiffing in the first, bouncing out to end the 3rd with Sanchez on second, flying out to shallow center WITH THE BASES LOADED AND NOBODY OUT in the 5th, whiffed to lead off the 7th, and with one run in and two on in scoring position in the 8th, Ichiro popped out to the third baseman. Ouch ouch ouch.
Also, the pattern of the Mariners offense sucking against guys they should be beating mercilessly continues. Tonight, it's some damn 20-year-old they brought in off the street, along with some guy making his Major League debut. The Mariners can't even take advantage of the mental fragility of these young kids because they're so screwed up in the heads themselves.
I peeked out in the front room at the TV and Mark McLemore and his Mendoza-line average was pinch-hitting in the 9th. Ugh.
The Mariners will never sniff first place for the rest of the year. Book it. You heard it here. Do you see any signs of the Mariners turning it around? Over the last two nights, all I see is the starters turning in 7 innings each, and though that is a very good sign, it's still not a good sign when the Mariners are playing from behind early. The Mariners are a terrible come-from-behind team this year. Just brutal. So when they get down 3-0, Safeco is dead and I sure as hell don't expect them to coem back, which they somehow did last night. Tonight they didn't. Does it surprise me? Not at all. To me, the Mariners (sans freakish 2001) have been a get-an-early-lead-and-hang-on kind of team. And when they don't get the early lead, the odds are highly stacked against them.
Now it's official. The Mariners are done. Tejada hit two bombs for the A's and Pineiro and Ichiro choked. Crunch time is where real players step up, y'all.
I'm gonna sit back and listen to the postgame now. To everyone out there that thought last night's game was the start of a big Mariners turnaround: as great as the first game of this series was, the Mariners have STILL lost seven of eight games, and that is STILL crap.
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