Tuesday, May 18, 2004
THE BALL IS JUICED!
Well, how do you like that?
The trend of Freddy Garcia having a solid outing every time out, the trend of the Mariners being singles hitters, and the trend of Rafael Palmeiro tearing the Mariners a new one at the Safe were all put out to pasture tonight.
First off, the Mariners (two of them inparticular) put on their power-hitting shoes. Problem is, not many of them wore the any-other-kind-of-hits shoes. Ichiro had his two hits, Bret Boone and Raul Ibanez had their solo homers, and Scott Spiezio and Dave Hansen had their singles. The 5th through 9th hitters in the Mariner lineup tonight (including Edgar in the pinch for Dave Hansen in the DH slot) went a combined 1-for-18 with two walks and three strikeouts. Danny Cabrera is good, but come on...he's not THIS good. He's tall, he's got a good fastball, and has control over his curveball that has drawn raves. He's good, and he may be even better later. Tonight, he faced the Mariner lineup. Enough said. One last thing: if I hear anyone say "oh, they hadn't faced Cabrera before, so they didn't know what to expect," then UGGGGHHHHH!!! I just heard Rich Aurilia say this. You know, I bet the Mariners see new names of pitchers in advance and say "oh, a pitcher we've never seen before? F*$# it." Well, maybe not. But if they did, it'd be more likely to happen this year and last year than in years past.
Steve Sandmeyer had these stats tonight:
-- in the last 14 games, the Mariners have tallied a grand total of 17 extra-base hits
-- on the last road trip, the Mariners got 72 hits (12 hits/game), and 58 were singles
Freddy Garcia finished out his six innings in a performance reminiscent of some April outings of his past. In his six innings, he was tagged for five runs on seven hits, walking three, and striking out four on 123 pitches. I heard Ron Fairly try to laud Garcia's outing, but come on, it wasn't that good. It wasn't a vomit-inducer, but it wasn't good, really. The Mariners were conceivably in the game until Larry Bigbie covered a ball that caught too much of the plate for a homer into rightcenter on Freddy's 118th pitch.
But hell, the Mariners hung an 0-for-4 on Rafael Palmeiro tonight, which surely sent everyone home happy. Yay!!! The Mariners didn't get beat by Raf!! Small solace indeed, I guess, and it's something that the Optimist will probably pick out of this, along with the two home runs part.
Oh yeah, the Mariners had some pathetic defense tonight, and no, it doesn't involve the two errors that are in the boxscore. In the first inning with one out and a runner on first, Miguel Tejada hit a fly ball to centerfield. Randy Winn was involved, so mentally prepare yourself if you don't know about it. Mistake number one: he takes an idiotic route to the ball, and lets it roll to the wall. Mistake number two: Winn misses the freaking cutoff man (I know from personal experience as an outfielder for too many summers -- if you don't have a gun for an arm, you are WORTHLESS defensively if you don't hit the cutoff man). The result: Melvin Mora scores from first on the play. Yes, there's also another pathetic defensive play. Jay Gibbons was on first after hitting a leadoff single. Luis Matos hit a single to rightfield. Prepare yourself mentally: Ichiro is involved. Ichiro suddenly decides that he can nail Jay Gibbons at third, but the throw is offline. Result: Matos scoots to second, giving the Orioles two runners in scoring position. Pure hindsight, but if Ichiro lets Gibbons have third and gets the ball in to second to hold Matos at first, Larry Bigbie grounded to Boone on the next play, which could have been a double play and yes, a run may have scored anyway, but the run that scored later in the inning may not have come across. Fundamental baseball here wipes two runs off the scoreboard, and the game could have been tied before Freddy gave up the bomb to Bigbie.
Steve Sandmeyer has said on KJR tonight that...
-- Bill Bavasi and Bob Melvin had a closed-door meeting with John Olerud. Make your own conclusions.
-- Grady Little, now a scout for the Cubs, was in the press box tonight because apparently Dusty Baker has an unhealthy appreciation for Rich Aurilia.
-- Meche will start Friday against Detroit, Moyer will start Thursday in the final game of the Baltimore series.
As for attendance figures tonight, the tickets-distributed number was 21819, but just one look into the stands spelled the fact that the actual amount wasn't even close to that.
The first five to ten minutes of KJR's Baseball's Best Postgame Show were spent talking about...Randy Johnson's perfect game. Is it not sickening that this guy got a World Series ring and a perfect game in a uniform other than that of the Mariners? This team has missed that number one horse in the rotation ever since Randy left, and until maybe the last two years, the deadline banter among fans had centered around a number one starter in addition to that big bat. Anyway, Randy stuck it to the Mariners for dissing him, and he hasn't looked back. As soon as he got traded to Houston, I knew right away that he was going to sign with Arizona. He did, and the rest is history. And by history, I mean he pitched in a World Series where there was a damn swimming pool behind the rightfield fence.
Gameball: Bret Boone. 1-for-3 with the home run, walk, and a stolen base, all fresh off the shelf and most likely hurting like hell at times out there.
Goat: Randy Winn. I chronicled his defensive ineptitude above, and that would probably be enough to warrant his goatness tonight. To add icing to the cake, though, he was 0-for-4, struck out twice, and stranded a runner.
Lastly, and totally unrelated, that Flyers/Lightning game was nuts tonight. Goals were in quick succession, surely causing fits for those with rooting interests. Isn't it sick to think the Lightning have eclipsed the Buccaneers as the best pro team in Tampa right now?
Bedard. Franklin. Tomorrow.
[Edit ~11:07p -- With their victory over Milwaukee tonight, the Montreal Expos now have a record of 14-25, a half-game ahead of your Seattle Mariners (13-25). Only the Royals and Devil Rays are worse.]
[Edit Wed ~9:47a -- The attendance figure I had originally posted was 21819, when in fact it was 29819. I either heard it wrong or mixed up the numbers. Hopefully no one had an over/under bet riding on that.]
The trend of Freddy Garcia having a solid outing every time out, the trend of the Mariners being singles hitters, and the trend of Rafael Palmeiro tearing the Mariners a new one at the Safe were all put out to pasture tonight.
First off, the Mariners (two of them inparticular) put on their power-hitting shoes. Problem is, not many of them wore the any-other-kind-of-hits shoes. Ichiro had his two hits, Bret Boone and Raul Ibanez had their solo homers, and Scott Spiezio and Dave Hansen had their singles. The 5th through 9th hitters in the Mariner lineup tonight (including Edgar in the pinch for Dave Hansen in the DH slot) went a combined 1-for-18 with two walks and three strikeouts. Danny Cabrera is good, but come on...he's not THIS good. He's tall, he's got a good fastball, and has control over his curveball that has drawn raves. He's good, and he may be even better later. Tonight, he faced the Mariner lineup. Enough said. One last thing: if I hear anyone say "oh, they hadn't faced Cabrera before, so they didn't know what to expect," then UGGGGHHHHH!!! I just heard Rich Aurilia say this. You know, I bet the Mariners see new names of pitchers in advance and say "oh, a pitcher we've never seen before? F*$# it." Well, maybe not. But if they did, it'd be more likely to happen this year and last year than in years past.
Steve Sandmeyer had these stats tonight:
-- in the last 14 games, the Mariners have tallied a grand total of 17 extra-base hits
-- on the last road trip, the Mariners got 72 hits (12 hits/game), and 58 were singles
Freddy Garcia finished out his six innings in a performance reminiscent of some April outings of his past. In his six innings, he was tagged for five runs on seven hits, walking three, and striking out four on 123 pitches. I heard Ron Fairly try to laud Garcia's outing, but come on, it wasn't that good. It wasn't a vomit-inducer, but it wasn't good, really. The Mariners were conceivably in the game until Larry Bigbie covered a ball that caught too much of the plate for a homer into rightcenter on Freddy's 118th pitch.
But hell, the Mariners hung an 0-for-4 on Rafael Palmeiro tonight, which surely sent everyone home happy. Yay!!! The Mariners didn't get beat by Raf!! Small solace indeed, I guess, and it's something that the Optimist will probably pick out of this, along with the two home runs part.
Oh yeah, the Mariners had some pathetic defense tonight, and no, it doesn't involve the two errors that are in the boxscore. In the first inning with one out and a runner on first, Miguel Tejada hit a fly ball to centerfield. Randy Winn was involved, so mentally prepare yourself if you don't know about it. Mistake number one: he takes an idiotic route to the ball, and lets it roll to the wall. Mistake number two: Winn misses the freaking cutoff man (I know from personal experience as an outfielder for too many summers -- if you don't have a gun for an arm, you are WORTHLESS defensively if you don't hit the cutoff man). The result: Melvin Mora scores from first on the play. Yes, there's also another pathetic defensive play. Jay Gibbons was on first after hitting a leadoff single. Luis Matos hit a single to rightfield. Prepare yourself mentally: Ichiro is involved. Ichiro suddenly decides that he can nail Jay Gibbons at third, but the throw is offline. Result: Matos scoots to second, giving the Orioles two runners in scoring position. Pure hindsight, but if Ichiro lets Gibbons have third and gets the ball in to second to hold Matos at first, Larry Bigbie grounded to Boone on the next play, which could have been a double play and yes, a run may have scored anyway, but the run that scored later in the inning may not have come across. Fundamental baseball here wipes two runs off the scoreboard, and the game could have been tied before Freddy gave up the bomb to Bigbie.
Steve Sandmeyer has said on KJR tonight that...
-- Bill Bavasi and Bob Melvin had a closed-door meeting with John Olerud. Make your own conclusions.
-- Grady Little, now a scout for the Cubs, was in the press box tonight because apparently Dusty Baker has an unhealthy appreciation for Rich Aurilia.
-- Meche will start Friday against Detroit, Moyer will start Thursday in the final game of the Baltimore series.
As for attendance figures tonight, the tickets-distributed number was 21819, but just one look into the stands spelled the fact that the actual amount wasn't even close to that.
The first five to ten minutes of KJR's Baseball's Best Postgame Show were spent talking about...Randy Johnson's perfect game. Is it not sickening that this guy got a World Series ring and a perfect game in a uniform other than that of the Mariners? This team has missed that number one horse in the rotation ever since Randy left, and until maybe the last two years, the deadline banter among fans had centered around a number one starter in addition to that big bat. Anyway, Randy stuck it to the Mariners for dissing him, and he hasn't looked back. As soon as he got traded to Houston, I knew right away that he was going to sign with Arizona. He did, and the rest is history. And by history, I mean he pitched in a World Series where there was a damn swimming pool behind the rightfield fence.
Gameball: Bret Boone. 1-for-3 with the home run, walk, and a stolen base, all fresh off the shelf and most likely hurting like hell at times out there.
Goat: Randy Winn. I chronicled his defensive ineptitude above, and that would probably be enough to warrant his goatness tonight. To add icing to the cake, though, he was 0-for-4, struck out twice, and stranded a runner.
Lastly, and totally unrelated, that Flyers/Lightning game was nuts tonight. Goals were in quick succession, surely causing fits for those with rooting interests. Isn't it sick to think the Lightning have eclipsed the Buccaneers as the best pro team in Tampa right now?
Bedard. Franklin. Tomorrow.
[Edit ~11:07p -- With their victory over Milwaukee tonight, the Montreal Expos now have a record of 14-25, a half-game ahead of your Seattle Mariners (13-25). Only the Royals and Devil Rays are worse.]
[Edit Wed ~9:47a -- The attendance figure I had originally posted was 21819, when in fact it was 29819. I either heard it wrong or mixed up the numbers. Hopefully no one had an over/under bet riding on that.]
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