Wednesday, April 28, 2004
BIRDBATH
So...any optimism left out there from yesterday?
Most people out there do realize that it's going to take way more than one win (and a team-bonding dinner the night before) to show that the Mariners may be righting the ship.
Tonight, some familiar things showed up for the Mariners: the starter did great, but the offense and the bullpen didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Oh yeah, the Mariners stranded 18 baserunners.
Unlike the Rangers and Francisco Cordero did the night before holding a one-run lead in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and nobody out, the Mariners and Shigetoshi Hasegawa got into a bases-juiced-and-no-outs scenario in the 8th, spearheaded by a Miguel Tejada double (that's what MVP players do...). Raf Palmeiro was walked so he couldn't do damage and also to put the double play in order. However, that doesn't do much if you walk the next hitter (Javy Lopez). Then came Jay Gibbons. I like Jay Gibbons as a player, and I've remembered him the last couple years as the bright spot on a couple of bad Oriole teams. You don't hit 23 bombs and drive in 100 runs last year by sucking. You probably do it with half your games in hitter-friendly Camden. Still, this guy's 27 (younger than Ibanez) and is making $2.6M (less than Ibanez). Just sayin'. Anyway, Gibbons drove in the go-ahead and insurance runs, Randy Winn tried to throw home to nail the second runner, but the throw was cut off (can't remember by who, probably Olerud) and Javy Lopez was nailed going to third. Through this weird twist of fate, Randy Winn got the outfield assist, probably going in the book as 8-3-5.
As for Jamie Moyer, he gave us another dose of sanity, much like the winning result of yesterday's game did for the psyche of the Mariner fan. Moyer made the fans at least temporarily erase some doubt in regards to his non-sharpitude (it's non-word day) of late. Okay, so Moyer did give up four walks, so he's still trying to get sharp. But he did two things the Mariners needed tonight: he kept the game close and gave the Mariners a chance to win, and he ate up seven innings, which the Mariners badly needed after Bob Melvin used everyone in the bullpen last night sans Matt Thornton.
I could stick Shigetoshi Hasegawa with the goat, and though it'd be more than defensible, with the brutal bases-loaded-nobody-out situation he helped facilitate, it'd just be too easy for me. Gameball first though...
Gameball: Jamie Moyer. I really couldn't go with anyone on the offense here, and thought it's way too easy to pick Jamie, he was good tonight. Seven innings, a run, 3 strikeouts. He issued four walks, but he also held the formidable Oriole offense to four hits. He did this on 110 pitches.
Goat: Ichiro. 0-for-5, stranded four runners. He did absolutely nothing to detract from David Locke's piece that ran this morning. Ichiro is batting .264 at the moment. He hit into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded in the 4th to strand three runners and stranded the leadoff walk (Olerud) in the 6th.
The Mariners sit at 7-14. They seem to really like this .333 mark. You know, it's sickening to think that if this team somehow reeled off seven straight, they'd still only be at .500. Yikes.
Can you say nine-inning lunch tomorrow?
Pineiro. DuBose. Tomorrow.
Most people out there do realize that it's going to take way more than one win (and a team-bonding dinner the night before) to show that the Mariners may be righting the ship.
Tonight, some familiar things showed up for the Mariners: the starter did great, but the offense and the bullpen didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Oh yeah, the Mariners stranded 18 baserunners.
Unlike the Rangers and Francisco Cordero did the night before holding a one-run lead in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded and nobody out, the Mariners and Shigetoshi Hasegawa got into a bases-juiced-and-no-outs scenario in the 8th, spearheaded by a Miguel Tejada double (that's what MVP players do...). Raf Palmeiro was walked so he couldn't do damage and also to put the double play in order. However, that doesn't do much if you walk the next hitter (Javy Lopez). Then came Jay Gibbons. I like Jay Gibbons as a player, and I've remembered him the last couple years as the bright spot on a couple of bad Oriole teams. You don't hit 23 bombs and drive in 100 runs last year by sucking. You probably do it with half your games in hitter-friendly Camden. Still, this guy's 27 (younger than Ibanez) and is making $2.6M (less than Ibanez). Just sayin'. Anyway, Gibbons drove in the go-ahead and insurance runs, Randy Winn tried to throw home to nail the second runner, but the throw was cut off (can't remember by who, probably Olerud) and Javy Lopez was nailed going to third. Through this weird twist of fate, Randy Winn got the outfield assist, probably going in the book as 8-3-5.
As for Jamie Moyer, he gave us another dose of sanity, much like the winning result of yesterday's game did for the psyche of the Mariner fan. Moyer made the fans at least temporarily erase some doubt in regards to his non-sharpitude (it's non-word day) of late. Okay, so Moyer did give up four walks, so he's still trying to get sharp. But he did two things the Mariners needed tonight: he kept the game close and gave the Mariners a chance to win, and he ate up seven innings, which the Mariners badly needed after Bob Melvin used everyone in the bullpen last night sans Matt Thornton.
I could stick Shigetoshi Hasegawa with the goat, and though it'd be more than defensible, with the brutal bases-loaded-nobody-out situation he helped facilitate, it'd just be too easy for me. Gameball first though...
Gameball: Jamie Moyer. I really couldn't go with anyone on the offense here, and thought it's way too easy to pick Jamie, he was good tonight. Seven innings, a run, 3 strikeouts. He issued four walks, but he also held the formidable Oriole offense to four hits. He did this on 110 pitches.
Goat: Ichiro. 0-for-5, stranded four runners. He did absolutely nothing to detract from David Locke's piece that ran this morning. Ichiro is batting .264 at the moment. He hit into a fielder's choice with the bases loaded in the 4th to strand three runners and stranded the leadoff walk (Olerud) in the 6th.
The Mariners sit at 7-14. They seem to really like this .333 mark. You know, it's sickening to think that if this team somehow reeled off seven straight, they'd still only be at .500. Yikes.
Can you say nine-inning lunch tomorrow?
Pineiro. DuBose. Tomorrow.
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