Sunday, September 07, 2003
GLAD I DIDN’T SEE THIS ONE
Well, y’all, I missed the game today for the same reason that I missed the other one. That said, I’ll try to get what I can out of the play-by-play and stuff.
So they had a Cal Ripken Jr ceremony before the game. I’ll respect the guy, and the streak is a long streak and stuff. What I always wondered was how many times he hurt his team by going out there and not being 100 percent. Just a thought. I know it’s probably not many times, but there had to be some.
So before I get in depth here, I can’t rip on Ichiro because he got a multihit game for the first time in weeks and Moyer had a 14-win run against the Orioles going in. And I figured that had to end sometime.
The first two nights of this series marked the end of Shig’s run of perfection in save opportunities and Moyer’s mastery of the Orioles. Again, this is the most inopportune months for both of these things to happen.
The Mariners have now scored first only once in their last SIXTEEN games.
Once again, Oakland loses and the Mariners merely mirror them. I won’t be surprised if the Mariners finish this season 2 games behind the A’s. They look determined to do so.
(Flash away: Airing on KJR right now is the CBS SportsLine Fantasy Football Forecast show. If you don’t think fantasy football is big in this country, you are kidding yourself. The closest thing to this kind of stuff that gets onto KJR air are the football betting odds shows and the occasional Yahoo! Collectibles show.)
Top 1: DuBose goes 1-2-3 on Ichiro (ground), Winn (ground), and Edgar (whiff). Winn got ahead 2-0 in his at-bat before going full and Edgar was down 0-2 before striking out on a 2-2 pitch. DuBose: 16 pitches, 11 strikes.
Bot 1: Matos hit a one-out single off Moyer, but was erased when Moyer read the steal on a pickoff move. Mora was walked, then moved into scoring position on a Batista single. Then Old Man Surhoff singled in the first run (O’s 1-0). Fordyce bounced out. Roberts’ at-bat to lead off was a fairly long 8-pitch affair, with fouls and a full count, resulting in a groundout. Moyer had Mora 0-2 before he walked him. Moyer was behind 2-0 to Batista before going full; Batista won the battle with a single. Surhoff was ahead 3-1 before going full and singling. To recap the inning, Moyer had two strikes on four of the six hitters he faced. Three of the 2-strike hitters got on base. Not good. Moyer: 32 pitches, 17 strikes.
Top 2: Boone and Guillen ground out before a Cameron double and an Olerud groundout. Easy once again for DuBose. DuBose: inning – 16 pitches, 9 strikes; total – 32 pitches, 20 strikes.
Bot 2: Quick inning for Moyer. Bigbie swings on the first pitch and singles. Cruz hits into a double play on the next pitch. “Fab” Morban strikes out five pitches later. Moyer: inning- 7 pitches, 5 strikes; total - 39 pitches, 22 strikes.
Top 3: Everyone swinging early in the count this inning off DuBose. Sanchez whiffs on three pitches, Wilson flies out on the second pitch, Ichiro singles on the third pitch, then gets run down after a pickoff move. DuBose: inning – 9 pitches, 6 strikes; total – 41 pitches, 26 strikes.
Bot 3: Moyer yields a quick single to Roberts, who is moved to second on a Matos bunt. Moyer falls behind 2-0 on Mora before he walks him. Batista bounces into a double play on a 2-0 pitch. Moyer gets away with letting Batista have a 2-0 count to work with. Moyer: inning- 13 pitches, 7 strikes; total – 52 pitches, 29 strikes.
Top 4: Winn leads off with a triple. Edgar grounds out to score Winn and tie the game at 1-1. Boone grounds out on an 0-2 pitch and Guillen goes from 3-1 to being caught looking. DuBose: inning – 16 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 57 pitches, 36 strikes.
Bot 4: Not sure if it’s strategy-related here, but all five Orioles to bat in the inning all took the first strike. To Moyer’s credit, every first pitch was a strike, so he was ahead on every hitter. Surhoff and Fordyce bounced out before Bigbie and Cruz singled and Morban was caught looking. Bigbie’s at-bat lasted 9 pitches, and he battled back from 0-2 to work the count full. Moyer: inning – 22 pitches, 15 strikes; total – 74 pitches, 44 strikes.
Top 5: Cam flies out, Olerud singles (did I read that wrong, he actually did something?) but then Sanchez and Wilson fly out. Easy. DuBose: inning - 17 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 74 pitches, 46 strikes.
Bot 5: Roberts doubled to lead off. Matos got ahead 2-0 and walked. Mora bunted the runners over. Batista grounded out to Boone, who had no shot at Roberts at the plate (O’s 2-1). The game turned out to be over at this point. Surhoff lined out. Moyer: inning – 17 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 91 pitches, 54 strikes.
Top 6: Ichiro ran out an infield single. Winn bunted him over to second. Edgar gets 2-0 before grounding out on a 2-1 pitch to send Ichiro to third. Boone falls behind 0-2 before being caught looking four pitches later. Clutch is everything in life. DuBose: inning – 14 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 88 pitches, 56 strikes.
Bot 6: Moyer buckles down. A 1-2-3 inning. Fordyce (ground), Bigbie (fly), Cruz (whiff). Moyer: inning – 9 pitches, 6 strikes; total – 100 pitches, 60 strikes.
Top 7: Guillen flies out. Cameron hits a ball to Batista (this was one of the few parts of the game that I actually saw) that he “Buckner-ed.” On the next pitch, the log says that Olerud reached on an infield single, which I would have to see to believe. Chances are it was a bouncer that an infielder ran far and dove to get or a perfectly placed slow roller down the 3B line. Anyway, first and second with one out, and the next thing in the log says “Olerud caught stealing, pitcher to third.” Now what I saw was both Cameron and Olerud on second base. I’m pretty sure Cameron got into a rundown which he stayed in long enough to get Olerud to second before he too ran back to second. They sent Olerud back to the dugout, which in that situation was great because a hit would definitely score Cameron before it scored Olerud. But then Sanchez whiffed. DuBose: inning - 13 pitches, 9 strikes; total: 101 pitches, 65 strikes.
Bot 7: Melvin surprises me by leaving Moyer in for an entire inning after having already thrown 100 pitches. Even more surprising is not pulling Moyer after he gives up a one-out single. Morban bounces out to Moyer, Roberts singles, and then Matos and Mora fly out. Easy again. Moyer: inning – 13 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 113 pitches, 70 strikes. SportsLine has me giving Moyer an extra strike, but I’m not going to go back and check it because I’m too lazy.
Top 8: Wilson got to first on another Batista error. I didn’t know he had two errors, so this might have been the play where the ball snuck through his legs. The fleet feet of Jamal Strong came on to run. Ichiro bounced into a fielder’s choice to force out Strong. Winn flew out ON THE FIRST FRIGGIN PITCH. Edgar was caught looking on his seventh pitch. If there was any doubt about the outcome of the game, it was erased here. DuBose: inning – 14 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 115 pitches, 75 strikes. SportsLine has him at 117 and 76. Who cares, it’s the same old crap for the Mariners.
Bot 8: Mateo on for the Mariners. Batista homers on the second pitch (O’s 2-1). At this point I’d be thinking “the Mariners can’t score three runs to win tonight, so there’s no way in hell they’re gonna score four.” Surhoff bunted to Wilson but his old tired legs beat out the old tired arm of Wilson. Fordyce bunted him over to second before Bigbie whiffed and Cruz flew out. Mateo: 8 pitches, 8 strikes. All strikes. Go figure.
Top 9: Closer Jorge Julio in for the O’s. Boone grounds out. Guillen falls behind 0-2 but hits a double seven pitches later. The tying run is in the batter’s box. Cameron falls behind 0-2 before flying out to right on a 2-2 pitch. Olerud grounds out to end the game on a 1-1 pitch. Julio: 19 pitches, 13 strikes.
The Mariners got a runner into scoring position in five of the nine innings. Needless to say, they only converted one of those five legitimate scoring opportunities. Four of the five opportunities saw the runner in scoring position with less than two out.
Now for the boxscore bashing. Brian Roberts went 3-for-4 after going 4-for-6 last night. They just couldn’t get him out. Ichiro and Olerud went 2-for-4, so I unfortunately can’t bash those guys tonight. Winn, Guillen, and Cameron had the other three hits. Edgar, Boone, Sanchez, and Wilson hang up the oh-fers. Other than Ichiro and Olerud, the Mariners went 3-for-25. God forbid this friggin team could ever get their hitting and pitching together at the same time. God forbid this team could win as a cohesive clicking-on-all (or even most)-cylinders unit ever again this season.
Bottom line here is this: in the last two days, Oakland trotted Ted Lilly and Rich Harden to the mound. They somehow won with Lilly and they lost with Harden. For the Mariners to truly take advantage of these two days, they had to go 2-0. They HAD to. Instead, they get the same old crap. Yippee. And in that Wild Card race that I don’t care about, the Mariners are now 1.5 games behind. Boston is making up some serious ground on the Yanks, and they’re doing it in the Bronx.
Tomorrow, I think we get to see Freddy on three days’ rest. Yikes. Nothing short of yikes.
So they had a Cal Ripken Jr ceremony before the game. I’ll respect the guy, and the streak is a long streak and stuff. What I always wondered was how many times he hurt his team by going out there and not being 100 percent. Just a thought. I know it’s probably not many times, but there had to be some.
So before I get in depth here, I can’t rip on Ichiro because he got a multihit game for the first time in weeks and Moyer had a 14-win run against the Orioles going in. And I figured that had to end sometime.
The first two nights of this series marked the end of Shig’s run of perfection in save opportunities and Moyer’s mastery of the Orioles. Again, this is the most inopportune months for both of these things to happen.
The Mariners have now scored first only once in their last SIXTEEN games.
Once again, Oakland loses and the Mariners merely mirror them. I won’t be surprised if the Mariners finish this season 2 games behind the A’s. They look determined to do so.
(Flash away: Airing on KJR right now is the CBS SportsLine Fantasy Football Forecast show. If you don’t think fantasy football is big in this country, you are kidding yourself. The closest thing to this kind of stuff that gets onto KJR air are the football betting odds shows and the occasional Yahoo! Collectibles show.)
Top 1: DuBose goes 1-2-3 on Ichiro (ground), Winn (ground), and Edgar (whiff). Winn got ahead 2-0 in his at-bat before going full and Edgar was down 0-2 before striking out on a 2-2 pitch. DuBose: 16 pitches, 11 strikes.
Bot 1: Matos hit a one-out single off Moyer, but was erased when Moyer read the steal on a pickoff move. Mora was walked, then moved into scoring position on a Batista single. Then Old Man Surhoff singled in the first run (O’s 1-0). Fordyce bounced out. Roberts’ at-bat to lead off was a fairly long 8-pitch affair, with fouls and a full count, resulting in a groundout. Moyer had Mora 0-2 before he walked him. Moyer was behind 2-0 to Batista before going full; Batista won the battle with a single. Surhoff was ahead 3-1 before going full and singling. To recap the inning, Moyer had two strikes on four of the six hitters he faced. Three of the 2-strike hitters got on base. Not good. Moyer: 32 pitches, 17 strikes.
Top 2: Boone and Guillen ground out before a Cameron double and an Olerud groundout. Easy once again for DuBose. DuBose: inning – 16 pitches, 9 strikes; total – 32 pitches, 20 strikes.
Bot 2: Quick inning for Moyer. Bigbie swings on the first pitch and singles. Cruz hits into a double play on the next pitch. “Fab” Morban strikes out five pitches later. Moyer: inning- 7 pitches, 5 strikes; total - 39 pitches, 22 strikes.
Top 3: Everyone swinging early in the count this inning off DuBose. Sanchez whiffs on three pitches, Wilson flies out on the second pitch, Ichiro singles on the third pitch, then gets run down after a pickoff move. DuBose: inning – 9 pitches, 6 strikes; total – 41 pitches, 26 strikes.
Bot 3: Moyer yields a quick single to Roberts, who is moved to second on a Matos bunt. Moyer falls behind 2-0 on Mora before he walks him. Batista bounces into a double play on a 2-0 pitch. Moyer gets away with letting Batista have a 2-0 count to work with. Moyer: inning- 13 pitches, 7 strikes; total – 52 pitches, 29 strikes.
Top 4: Winn leads off with a triple. Edgar grounds out to score Winn and tie the game at 1-1. Boone grounds out on an 0-2 pitch and Guillen goes from 3-1 to being caught looking. DuBose: inning – 16 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 57 pitches, 36 strikes.
Bot 4: Not sure if it’s strategy-related here, but all five Orioles to bat in the inning all took the first strike. To Moyer’s credit, every first pitch was a strike, so he was ahead on every hitter. Surhoff and Fordyce bounced out before Bigbie and Cruz singled and Morban was caught looking. Bigbie’s at-bat lasted 9 pitches, and he battled back from 0-2 to work the count full. Moyer: inning – 22 pitches, 15 strikes; total – 74 pitches, 44 strikes.
Top 5: Cam flies out, Olerud singles (did I read that wrong, he actually did something?) but then Sanchez and Wilson fly out. Easy. DuBose: inning - 17 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 74 pitches, 46 strikes.
Bot 5: Roberts doubled to lead off. Matos got ahead 2-0 and walked. Mora bunted the runners over. Batista grounded out to Boone, who had no shot at Roberts at the plate (O’s 2-1). The game turned out to be over at this point. Surhoff lined out. Moyer: inning – 17 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 91 pitches, 54 strikes.
Top 6: Ichiro ran out an infield single. Winn bunted him over to second. Edgar gets 2-0 before grounding out on a 2-1 pitch to send Ichiro to third. Boone falls behind 0-2 before being caught looking four pitches later. Clutch is everything in life. DuBose: inning – 14 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 88 pitches, 56 strikes.
Bot 6: Moyer buckles down. A 1-2-3 inning. Fordyce (ground), Bigbie (fly), Cruz (whiff). Moyer: inning – 9 pitches, 6 strikes; total – 100 pitches, 60 strikes.
Top 7: Guillen flies out. Cameron hits a ball to Batista (this was one of the few parts of the game that I actually saw) that he “Buckner-ed.” On the next pitch, the log says that Olerud reached on an infield single, which I would have to see to believe. Chances are it was a bouncer that an infielder ran far and dove to get or a perfectly placed slow roller down the 3B line. Anyway, first and second with one out, and the next thing in the log says “Olerud caught stealing, pitcher to third.” Now what I saw was both Cameron and Olerud on second base. I’m pretty sure Cameron got into a rundown which he stayed in long enough to get Olerud to second before he too ran back to second. They sent Olerud back to the dugout, which in that situation was great because a hit would definitely score Cameron before it scored Olerud. But then Sanchez whiffed. DuBose: inning - 13 pitches, 9 strikes; total: 101 pitches, 65 strikes.
Bot 7: Melvin surprises me by leaving Moyer in for an entire inning after having already thrown 100 pitches. Even more surprising is not pulling Moyer after he gives up a one-out single. Morban bounces out to Moyer, Roberts singles, and then Matos and Mora fly out. Easy again. Moyer: inning – 13 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 113 pitches, 70 strikes. SportsLine has me giving Moyer an extra strike, but I’m not going to go back and check it because I’m too lazy.
Top 8: Wilson got to first on another Batista error. I didn’t know he had two errors, so this might have been the play where the ball snuck through his legs. The fleet feet of Jamal Strong came on to run. Ichiro bounced into a fielder’s choice to force out Strong. Winn flew out ON THE FIRST FRIGGIN PITCH. Edgar was caught looking on his seventh pitch. If there was any doubt about the outcome of the game, it was erased here. DuBose: inning – 14 pitches, 10 strikes; total – 115 pitches, 75 strikes. SportsLine has him at 117 and 76. Who cares, it’s the same old crap for the Mariners.
Bot 8: Mateo on for the Mariners. Batista homers on the second pitch (O’s 2-1). At this point I’d be thinking “the Mariners can’t score three runs to win tonight, so there’s no way in hell they’re gonna score four.” Surhoff bunted to Wilson but his old tired legs beat out the old tired arm of Wilson. Fordyce bunted him over to second before Bigbie whiffed and Cruz flew out. Mateo: 8 pitches, 8 strikes. All strikes. Go figure.
Top 9: Closer Jorge Julio in for the O’s. Boone grounds out. Guillen falls behind 0-2 but hits a double seven pitches later. The tying run is in the batter’s box. Cameron falls behind 0-2 before flying out to right on a 2-2 pitch. Olerud grounds out to end the game on a 1-1 pitch. Julio: 19 pitches, 13 strikes.
The Mariners got a runner into scoring position in five of the nine innings. Needless to say, they only converted one of those five legitimate scoring opportunities. Four of the five opportunities saw the runner in scoring position with less than two out.
Now for the boxscore bashing. Brian Roberts went 3-for-4 after going 4-for-6 last night. They just couldn’t get him out. Ichiro and Olerud went 2-for-4, so I unfortunately can’t bash those guys tonight. Winn, Guillen, and Cameron had the other three hits. Edgar, Boone, Sanchez, and Wilson hang up the oh-fers. Other than Ichiro and Olerud, the Mariners went 3-for-25. God forbid this friggin team could ever get their hitting and pitching together at the same time. God forbid this team could win as a cohesive clicking-on-all (or even most)-cylinders unit ever again this season.
Bottom line here is this: in the last two days, Oakland trotted Ted Lilly and Rich Harden to the mound. They somehow won with Lilly and they lost with Harden. For the Mariners to truly take advantage of these two days, they had to go 2-0. They HAD to. Instead, they get the same old crap. Yippee. And in that Wild Card race that I don’t care about, the Mariners are now 1.5 games behind. Boston is making up some serious ground on the Yanks, and they’re doing it in the Bronx.
Tomorrow, I think we get to see Freddy on three days’ rest. Yikes. Nothing short of yikes.
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