Saturday, April 10, 2004
GRAB A HANDFUL OF L'S
MARINERS BASEBALL -- PROUD TO BE TIM HUDSON'S BITCH
That's pretty much it today, as the Mariners said GET NONE OF ANYTHING!! Tim Hudson found his groove after the first, and that was it. Gil Meche pitched very well (not totally perfect) and ran into the eventual trouble in the 7th, but this one isn't his fault. Before I start here, let me commend the other David for basically calling all of this because the Mariners were in fact swinging at absolutely everything.
Here's the notes and recap, hopefully in a format like the one from two days ago...
top 1: Ichiro 1st pitch 2B; Winn bunt foul...0-2 Scutaro fister flyout; Boone 1-3 (Ichiro to 3rd); Ibanez (NOT Edgar) (Hudson getting the low pitch today) basehit CF (SEA 1-0); Edgar 1st pitch single; Olerud 0-2...should have been wrung up on 1-2 pitch...full U3
bot 1 -- Kotsay 2-0...fly Ibanez (somewhat weird path); McMillon first pitch up middle single; Chavez 3-0...full foul-tip K, McMillon out at 2nd (throw: DAVIS)
>> Even though Ibanez came through with the only RBI of the game, I still hate that situation. Would you rather have Ibanez or Edgar at the plate with Ichiro on third and two out? In addition to the Mariners' "swing recklessly" philosophy, Hudson got to 0-2 on two of the hitters in the first. Winn had the least productive at-bat of the inning. Also, I made the note early that Hudson was getting the low pitch from the umpire, which he wasn't getting in his first start against Texas. One could argue this pretty much paved the way for what he did today, of course combined with the whole Mariner impatience at the plate. Meche went to 2-0 on Kotsay and 3-0 on Chavez, but got out of the inning with a little help from Ben Davis' arm to nail Billy McMillon on the strikeout play.
top 2 -- Aurilia fly Crosby OF; Davis first-pitch hard-hit fly LF; Bloomquist 0-2...swing K slider away
bot 2 -- Dye 3-0 walk (high last 2 pitches); Hatteberg 0-2...lazy FC 3-6; Durazo 1-1 WP (Hatteberg to 2nd)...6-3; Crosby 3-1...swing K heat
Meche somewhat tightroping it with falling behind, but still getting out of it
>> Hudson mowed through the bottom third of the lineup. Davis did hit the ball hard to LF, but it's still an out. We were notified during the Bloomquist at-bat that Scott Spiezio was able to swing a bat yesterday. Then Bloomquist quickly fell behind and whiffed. Meche was having some early trouble getting the ball up, but puckily wasn't mashed at any time. Crosby barely missed the 3-1 pitch he got with Hatteberg on second, but Meche mowed him down with the heat. Meche wasn't quite as efficient as Hudson today, but he was moving along pretty well.
top 3 -- Ichiro lazy 4-3 (Scutaro not too quick with toss...patience? 1-0); Winn 1-2...hard grounder 3-1; Boone running catch Kotsay CF
bot 3 -- Melhuse 0-2...looking K; Scutaro 0-2...looking K (three K in row); Kotsay 1st pitch single CF; McMillon 1-2...4-3
Meche gets ahead of first two hitters, weathers the Kotsay hit
>> Ichiro swung at his second pitch, again showing the "patience" he was working on in spring training. Hudson mowed through the 1-2-3 hitters in the Mariner lineup. Meche had a good inning himself, the only blemish being the Kotsay single. He got ahead 0-2 on both Adam Melhuse and Marco Scutaro and caught both looking, for a string of three strikeouts in a row. Both pitchers were moving along at this point.
top 4 -- Ibanez 4-3 (Scutaro on OF grass); Edgar 5-3; Olerud 0-2...4-3
bot 4 -- Chavez 3-1 BB; Dye 0-2...U2 (Chavez to 2nd, Davis probably should have had Chavez at 2nd); Hatteberg fly Winn; Durazo 6-3
>> Dave Niehaus to start the 4th: "Clyde, did you miss the plane? You weren't here; we missed you last night!" Hudson completed the inning having set down ten in a row, nothing much more to say there (4-5-6 hitters down). Meche allowed a leadoff walk, and Jermaine Dye had the weird play where he bounced the ball off the plate and thought it was foul. Of course, Bob Melvin probably chewed out Ben Davis for not nailing Chavez at second, which in this case would be worthy. Luckily, the play wasn't magnified with respect to the rest of the game. Other than the leadoff walk, Meche did well again.
top 5 -- Aurilia off Kotsay's glove E8; Davis 6-4-3 right to Crosby positioned perfectly; Bloomquist ground 3-1
bot 5 -- Crosby E5...rebuked (was 1-for-13); Melhuse F7; Scutaro soft fly CF single; Kotsay 6-4-3 DP (WOW!! way to go Aurilia)
>> Any opportunity to take advantage of the Mark Kotsay error was nullified quickly on the Ben Davis GIDP. Hudson weathers the leadoff baserunner. You know, I don't care what the boxscore or the Oakland official scorer says...THAT WAS AN ERROR BY BLOOMQUIST. You know it, I know it, everyone in the stands knew it. As Niehaus suggested on the radio, though, the scorer probably just felt sorry for Crosby, who was 1-for-13 on the year up to that point. With two on and one out, Meche induced a double-play ball from Mark Kotsay, and more importantly, Rich Aurilia cleanly started the double play. Attaway, Richie.
top 6 -- Ichiro Crosby knocks down backhand no play; Winn 2-0...3-1 fly McMillon LF; Boone 4 (tag) -3 DP
bot 6 -- McMillon 1-2...(Meche's hat falls off during pitch)...full fly Ibanez LF; Chavez (nice curve on 0-1)...2-2...full fly Ichiro RF; Dye 0-2...base hit CF (82 pitches); Hatteberg 0-2 fly Winn
>> I referred to David Locke's bullet points in my randoms post from earlier today. Locke wondered if Ichiro was going to run at all this year. With Ichiro on first and Randy Winn up with 2-0 and 3-1 counts, Ron Fairly thought Ichiro might take off from first, and he never did. Hudson was a bit worried about him, though, as Ichiro drew a couple pickoff throws. Boone hit the ball right to Scutaro, who was really close to Ichiro after he picked it up and threw to Hatteberg to complete the double play. Meche got ahead of all the hitters he faced in the inning, even during the McMillon at-bat when his hat fell off during his delivery, though the radio-without-simultaneous TV audience would not have known that. In the pitch count race, Meche had 85 pitches through six innings, and Tim Hudson had 60.
top 7 -- Ibanez fly LF McMillon; Edgar 0-2 swing K (66 pitches); Olerud RF Dye diving catch
bot 7 -- Durazo Boone diving nice play pulls Olerud off bag (throw had him beat); Crosby 1-2...mowed down swing K; Melhuse (GUARDADO WARMING) 0-2 (0-2 pitch close)...F5; Scutaro 1-2...full base hit RF (TIE GAME); GUARDADO IN; Kotsay 1-2...single LF Scutaro scores; Byrnes PH McMillon 6-3 big arm on Aurilia under diving Bloomquist
>> Hudson sliced through the 4-5-6 hitters in the order, partly thanks to Jermaine Dye's diving catch. He had a mere 67 pitches through seven innings!! It was a nice dive play by Boone, but the throw pulling Olerud off the bag proved to be a big play. With the runner on first, two out, and a full count, Marco Scutaro landed a base hit to RF, and when I saw it I thought Ichiro might have taken a weird route to the ball -- in other words, I think Ichiro may have had a chance to catch that ball on the fly. It looked like he ran too far in one direction (I need to see the play again), probably up. Of course, with the runner going (two outs...this seems familiar), Oakland easily tied the game on the hit. Didn't Melvin say he was going to ease Guardado into these games? Damn. Eddie leaves a 1-2 pitch a little too far up and Kotsay drives in the go-ahead run for Oakland. Aurilia made a nice play to nail McMillon to stop the bleeding.
top 8 -- Aurilia 6-3; Davis 2-0...3-1 ground 4-3; Hansen PH Bloomquist 2-0...2-2 U3
bot 8 -- (MATEO WARMING) Chavez F2; Dye 2-2...full swing K; Hatteberg ground 4-3
>> After the Rich Aurilia groundout, Tim Hudson had recorded 13 groundball outs. Hudson fell behind Davis 2-0 and 3-1, and to Dave Hansen 2-0, but got through unscathed. Eddie Guardado had a very nice inning. He blew the fastball past Jermaine Dye, and looked fairly good for coming off the shelf. For the Mariners' sake, it's too bad he couldn't have gotten the last out of the 7th a little sooner, because the game might still be going...
top 9 -- Ichiro 1-1...4-3 (16 groundouts, 83 pitches); Winn first pitch U3; Boone 6-3 Crosby barehanded nice play
>> Ichiro hit a very high-bouncing chopper up the first-base line which Tim Hudson very wisely let come back down and bounce foul, which was a very good move because if he touches it, Ichiro is on first base. Ichiro then grounded out, bringing Hudson's groundout total to 16 and his pitch count to 83. Randy Winn then swung at the first pitch, and Boone then bounced out on a nice barehanded play by Bobby Crosby to end it.
What can we say? Tim Hudson is damn good. EIGHTEEN groundball outs. I thought Ichiro might have had the wrong beat on the Scutaro game-tying hit, but I can't pin this loss on him. Tim Hudson was absolutely on today. The Mariners had five baserunners the entire game -- Aurilia on the Kotsay error (doubled off on the Davis DP in the 5th), Ichiro twice (scored once, doubled off on the Boone DP in the 6th), Ibanez on the RBI single in the first (stranded by Olerud), and Edgar singling after Ibanez in the first (stranded by Olerud). Three baserunners in the first, and two for the rest of the game.
Yeah, Hudson had his game going, but was the swing-at-everything plan really the way to go, especially late in the game? It may or may not be wise, but the late innings (or maybe when I realized Hudson was on) would have probably been where I would make everyone take the first strike (late teen baseball years playing-from-behind or we-need-baserunners mobilization), so then at least Hudson has to actually throw a strike. He might throw a strike on the first pitch, but sometimes he might throw one on the third or fourth pitch. To their credit, both Ben Davis and Dave Hansen made Hudson throw the first strike on 2-0 counts in the 8th, and those two hitters being where they are in the lineup should probably be doing that anyway. The hitter before Davis, Aurilia, swung at the first pitch and bounced out to Crosby. In the 9th, only Ichiro took a strike. Winn swung at the first pitch, and Boone grounded out before taking a strike. Basically the motive to this strike-taking thing is to ratchet up the pitch count, and that was far from happening today. End result: no Mariner at-bats facing the A's bullpen patsies and no opportunity to see Arthur Rhodes on the second day of back-to-back outings, which would have been fun. We'd REALLY see what Rhodes as a closer is made of then.
So to sum up the hitting, Ichiro was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Ibanez (RBI) and Edgar had the other two hits. Boone and Winn both went 0-for-4. The six through nine hitters (Olerud-Aurilia-Davis-Bloomquist/Hansen) went a combined 0-for-12. Yowza!!
As for the pitching, Gil Meche did great today. Not Hudson great, but great. It wasn't Meche's best outing by any means (fell behind hitters a bit too much for that), but it was still pretty good. He managed to get out of every mini-jam until his last pitch to Scutaro in the 7th. It's a shame he had to lose this game, it really is. His falling behind hitters early led me to believe he wouldn't get past about the 7th, but with the reputation Meche has had as a strikeout pitcher, I expected him to throw a decent amount of pitches.
Gameball: Gil Meche. This one's a no-brainer. 6 2/3 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts on 102 pitches. What more can you ask of Meche? For this early in the year, he did great.
Unlike some of the other games I did recaps for this season, there isn't any real one thing I can blow up at or get irate about. Any one thing would be a stretch. The closest thing would be the Boone throw pulling Olerud off the bag in the 7th. The second thing would be where I thought Ichiro took the weird route to the ball on the Scutaro double, where I thought he might have been able to pull it out of the air. Other than that, nothing. I could get worked up about the hitting, but plain and simply, the plan backfired on them if they were hoping for any more than one run. Combine that with how locked in Hudson was, and it's lights out.
Once again, I had this weird feeling in the back of my mind after the Mariners held the 1-0 lead for a few innings that they'd find a way to lose the game. Once again, like the final game of the Anaheim series, I thought this was the type of game that the Mariners had to win. Once again, they didn't.
Moyer and Mulder tomorrow afternoon. I'm going out to hit some baseballs, y'all! My 32" 27oz Louisville Slugger Omaha bat (purchased 1998) has now been illegal for four years by high school standards, but I don't care, and I'm too cheap and lazy to go out and get me a wood bat (mmm, wood bats). How many people out there have laced a good hit with a wood bat and gotten a good sweet crack from the bat? It's pure heaven, it really is.
That's pretty much it today, as the Mariners said GET NONE OF ANYTHING!! Tim Hudson found his groove after the first, and that was it. Gil Meche pitched very well (not totally perfect) and ran into the eventual trouble in the 7th, but this one isn't his fault. Before I start here, let me commend the other David for basically calling all of this because the Mariners were in fact swinging at absolutely everything.
Here's the notes and recap, hopefully in a format like the one from two days ago...
top 1: Ichiro 1st pitch 2B; Winn bunt foul...0-2 Scutaro fister flyout; Boone 1-3 (Ichiro to 3rd); Ibanez (NOT Edgar) (Hudson getting the low pitch today) basehit CF (SEA 1-0); Edgar 1st pitch single; Olerud 0-2...should have been wrung up on 1-2 pitch...full U3
bot 1 -- Kotsay 2-0...fly Ibanez (somewhat weird path); McMillon first pitch up middle single; Chavez 3-0...full foul-tip K, McMillon out at 2nd (throw: DAVIS)
>> Even though Ibanez came through with the only RBI of the game, I still hate that situation. Would you rather have Ibanez or Edgar at the plate with Ichiro on third and two out? In addition to the Mariners' "swing recklessly" philosophy, Hudson got to 0-2 on two of the hitters in the first. Winn had the least productive at-bat of the inning. Also, I made the note early that Hudson was getting the low pitch from the umpire, which he wasn't getting in his first start against Texas. One could argue this pretty much paved the way for what he did today, of course combined with the whole Mariner impatience at the plate. Meche went to 2-0 on Kotsay and 3-0 on Chavez, but got out of the inning with a little help from Ben Davis' arm to nail Billy McMillon on the strikeout play.
top 2 -- Aurilia fly Crosby OF; Davis first-pitch hard-hit fly LF; Bloomquist 0-2...swing K slider away
bot 2 -- Dye 3-0 walk (high last 2 pitches); Hatteberg 0-2...lazy FC 3-6; Durazo 1-1 WP (Hatteberg to 2nd)...6-3; Crosby 3-1...swing K heat
Meche somewhat tightroping it with falling behind, but still getting out of it
>> Hudson mowed through the bottom third of the lineup. Davis did hit the ball hard to LF, but it's still an out. We were notified during the Bloomquist at-bat that Scott Spiezio was able to swing a bat yesterday. Then Bloomquist quickly fell behind and whiffed. Meche was having some early trouble getting the ball up, but puckily wasn't mashed at any time. Crosby barely missed the 3-1 pitch he got with Hatteberg on second, but Meche mowed him down with the heat. Meche wasn't quite as efficient as Hudson today, but he was moving along pretty well.
top 3 -- Ichiro lazy 4-3 (Scutaro not too quick with toss...patience? 1-0); Winn 1-2...hard grounder 3-1; Boone running catch Kotsay CF
bot 3 -- Melhuse 0-2...looking K; Scutaro 0-2...looking K (three K in row); Kotsay 1st pitch single CF; McMillon 1-2...4-3
Meche gets ahead of first two hitters, weathers the Kotsay hit
>> Ichiro swung at his second pitch, again showing the "patience" he was working on in spring training. Hudson mowed through the 1-2-3 hitters in the Mariner lineup. Meche had a good inning himself, the only blemish being the Kotsay single. He got ahead 0-2 on both Adam Melhuse and Marco Scutaro and caught both looking, for a string of three strikeouts in a row. Both pitchers were moving along at this point.
top 4 -- Ibanez 4-3 (Scutaro on OF grass); Edgar 5-3; Olerud 0-2...4-3
bot 4 -- Chavez 3-1 BB; Dye 0-2...U2 (Chavez to 2nd, Davis probably should have had Chavez at 2nd); Hatteberg fly Winn; Durazo 6-3
>> Dave Niehaus to start the 4th: "Clyde, did you miss the plane? You weren't here; we missed you last night!" Hudson completed the inning having set down ten in a row, nothing much more to say there (4-5-6 hitters down). Meche allowed a leadoff walk, and Jermaine Dye had the weird play where he bounced the ball off the plate and thought it was foul. Of course, Bob Melvin probably chewed out Ben Davis for not nailing Chavez at second, which in this case would be worthy. Luckily, the play wasn't magnified with respect to the rest of the game. Other than the leadoff walk, Meche did well again.
top 5 -- Aurilia off Kotsay's glove E8; Davis 6-4-3 right to Crosby positioned perfectly; Bloomquist ground 3-1
bot 5 -- Crosby E5...rebuked (was 1-for-13); Melhuse F7; Scutaro soft fly CF single; Kotsay 6-4-3 DP (WOW!! way to go Aurilia)
>> Any opportunity to take advantage of the Mark Kotsay error was nullified quickly on the Ben Davis GIDP. Hudson weathers the leadoff baserunner. You know, I don't care what the boxscore or the Oakland official scorer says...THAT WAS AN ERROR BY BLOOMQUIST. You know it, I know it, everyone in the stands knew it. As Niehaus suggested on the radio, though, the scorer probably just felt sorry for Crosby, who was 1-for-13 on the year up to that point. With two on and one out, Meche induced a double-play ball from Mark Kotsay, and more importantly, Rich Aurilia cleanly started the double play. Attaway, Richie.
top 6 -- Ichiro Crosby knocks down backhand no play; Winn 2-0...3-1 fly McMillon LF; Boone 4 (tag) -3 DP
bot 6 -- McMillon 1-2...(Meche's hat falls off during pitch)...full fly Ibanez LF; Chavez (nice curve on 0-1)...2-2...full fly Ichiro RF; Dye 0-2...base hit CF (82 pitches); Hatteberg 0-2 fly Winn
>> I referred to David Locke's bullet points in my randoms post from earlier today. Locke wondered if Ichiro was going to run at all this year. With Ichiro on first and Randy Winn up with 2-0 and 3-1 counts, Ron Fairly thought Ichiro might take off from first, and he never did. Hudson was a bit worried about him, though, as Ichiro drew a couple pickoff throws. Boone hit the ball right to Scutaro, who was really close to Ichiro after he picked it up and threw to Hatteberg to complete the double play. Meche got ahead of all the hitters he faced in the inning, even during the McMillon at-bat when his hat fell off during his delivery, though the radio-without-simultaneous TV audience would not have known that. In the pitch count race, Meche had 85 pitches through six innings, and Tim Hudson had 60.
top 7 -- Ibanez fly LF McMillon; Edgar 0-2 swing K (66 pitches); Olerud RF Dye diving catch
bot 7 -- Durazo Boone diving nice play pulls Olerud off bag (throw had him beat); Crosby 1-2...mowed down swing K; Melhuse (GUARDADO WARMING) 0-2 (0-2 pitch close)...F5; Scutaro 1-2...full base hit RF (TIE GAME); GUARDADO IN; Kotsay 1-2...single LF Scutaro scores; Byrnes PH McMillon 6-3 big arm on Aurilia under diving Bloomquist
>> Hudson sliced through the 4-5-6 hitters in the order, partly thanks to Jermaine Dye's diving catch. He had a mere 67 pitches through seven innings!! It was a nice dive play by Boone, but the throw pulling Olerud off the bag proved to be a big play. With the runner on first, two out, and a full count, Marco Scutaro landed a base hit to RF, and when I saw it I thought Ichiro might have taken a weird route to the ball -- in other words, I think Ichiro may have had a chance to catch that ball on the fly. It looked like he ran too far in one direction (I need to see the play again), probably up. Of course, with the runner going (two outs...this seems familiar), Oakland easily tied the game on the hit. Didn't Melvin say he was going to ease Guardado into these games? Damn. Eddie leaves a 1-2 pitch a little too far up and Kotsay drives in the go-ahead run for Oakland. Aurilia made a nice play to nail McMillon to stop the bleeding.
top 8 -- Aurilia 6-3; Davis 2-0...3-1 ground 4-3; Hansen PH Bloomquist 2-0...2-2 U3
bot 8 -- (MATEO WARMING) Chavez F2; Dye 2-2...full swing K; Hatteberg ground 4-3
>> After the Rich Aurilia groundout, Tim Hudson had recorded 13 groundball outs. Hudson fell behind Davis 2-0 and 3-1, and to Dave Hansen 2-0, but got through unscathed. Eddie Guardado had a very nice inning. He blew the fastball past Jermaine Dye, and looked fairly good for coming off the shelf. For the Mariners' sake, it's too bad he couldn't have gotten the last out of the 7th a little sooner, because the game might still be going...
top 9 -- Ichiro 1-1...4-3 (16 groundouts, 83 pitches); Winn first pitch U3; Boone 6-3 Crosby barehanded nice play
>> Ichiro hit a very high-bouncing chopper up the first-base line which Tim Hudson very wisely let come back down and bounce foul, which was a very good move because if he touches it, Ichiro is on first base. Ichiro then grounded out, bringing Hudson's groundout total to 16 and his pitch count to 83. Randy Winn then swung at the first pitch, and Boone then bounced out on a nice barehanded play by Bobby Crosby to end it.
What can we say? Tim Hudson is damn good. EIGHTEEN groundball outs. I thought Ichiro might have had the wrong beat on the Scutaro game-tying hit, but I can't pin this loss on him. Tim Hudson was absolutely on today. The Mariners had five baserunners the entire game -- Aurilia on the Kotsay error (doubled off on the Davis DP in the 5th), Ichiro twice (scored once, doubled off on the Boone DP in the 6th), Ibanez on the RBI single in the first (stranded by Olerud), and Edgar singling after Ibanez in the first (stranded by Olerud). Three baserunners in the first, and two for the rest of the game.
Yeah, Hudson had his game going, but was the swing-at-everything plan really the way to go, especially late in the game? It may or may not be wise, but the late innings (or maybe when I realized Hudson was on) would have probably been where I would make everyone take the first strike (late teen baseball years playing-from-behind or we-need-baserunners mobilization), so then at least Hudson has to actually throw a strike. He might throw a strike on the first pitch, but sometimes he might throw one on the third or fourth pitch. To their credit, both Ben Davis and Dave Hansen made Hudson throw the first strike on 2-0 counts in the 8th, and those two hitters being where they are in the lineup should probably be doing that anyway. The hitter before Davis, Aurilia, swung at the first pitch and bounced out to Crosby. In the 9th, only Ichiro took a strike. Winn swung at the first pitch, and Boone grounded out before taking a strike. Basically the motive to this strike-taking thing is to ratchet up the pitch count, and that was far from happening today. End result: no Mariner at-bats facing the A's bullpen patsies and no opportunity to see Arthur Rhodes on the second day of back-to-back outings, which would have been fun. We'd REALLY see what Rhodes as a closer is made of then.
So to sum up the hitting, Ichiro was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Ibanez (RBI) and Edgar had the other two hits. Boone and Winn both went 0-for-4. The six through nine hitters (Olerud-Aurilia-Davis-Bloomquist/Hansen) went a combined 0-for-12. Yowza!!
As for the pitching, Gil Meche did great today. Not Hudson great, but great. It wasn't Meche's best outing by any means (fell behind hitters a bit too much for that), but it was still pretty good. He managed to get out of every mini-jam until his last pitch to Scutaro in the 7th. It's a shame he had to lose this game, it really is. His falling behind hitters early led me to believe he wouldn't get past about the 7th, but with the reputation Meche has had as a strikeout pitcher, I expected him to throw a decent amount of pitches.
Gameball: Gil Meche. This one's a no-brainer. 6 2/3 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts on 102 pitches. What more can you ask of Meche? For this early in the year, he did great.
Unlike some of the other games I did recaps for this season, there isn't any real one thing I can blow up at or get irate about. Any one thing would be a stretch. The closest thing would be the Boone throw pulling Olerud off the bag in the 7th. The second thing would be where I thought Ichiro took the weird route to the ball on the Scutaro double, where I thought he might have been able to pull it out of the air. Other than that, nothing. I could get worked up about the hitting, but plain and simply, the plan backfired on them if they were hoping for any more than one run. Combine that with how locked in Hudson was, and it's lights out.
Once again, I had this weird feeling in the back of my mind after the Mariners held the 1-0 lead for a few innings that they'd find a way to lose the game. Once again, like the final game of the Anaheim series, I thought this was the type of game that the Mariners had to win. Once again, they didn't.
Moyer and Mulder tomorrow afternoon. I'm going out to hit some baseballs, y'all! My 32" 27oz Louisville Slugger Omaha bat (purchased 1998) has now been illegal for four years by high school standards, but I don't care, and I'm too cheap and lazy to go out and get me a wood bat (mmm, wood bats). How many people out there have laced a good hit with a wood bat and gotten a good sweet crack from the bat? It's pure heaven, it really is.
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