Saturday, May 22, 2004
PEEL BANANAS INTO THIRDS...
So...
How about that Jason Johnson? His only hiccups were the Scott Spiezio home run in the 4th, after which he retired 11 straight, and when the Mariners were starting to catch up to him in the 9th. You know, after the game in Detroit where he faced the Mariners a couple weeks ago, I can't think of Jason Johnson without looking for that blood sugar pump on the back of his belt. He's pitching with a catheter into his thigh, for goodness' sake. This might not be as rare as I think it is, but yikes. I pitched a few years in my youth baseball foray, but the movement associated with it doesn't seem too conducive to having a catheter (or is it vice-versa). Enough of this, though. I wish the guy could have tossed the complete game, but Alan Trammell had a relatively short leash on Johnson, with John Olerud (pinched with Jolbert Cabrera) and Rich Aurilia coming up and with the pitch count at 105.
How about that Joel Pineiro? Yeah, the first inning was crap, but we've come to expect some early-inning struggles from Joel. Joel appears to be finding himself, with a string of decent starts. In his horrid 35-pitch first inning, Joel faced seven hitters and went to three-ball counts four times. Two of those hitters walked, one struck out, and one singled (Bobby Higginson RBI). Somehow, Joel only gave up the one run. From there, it was 74 pitches over the next six innings, and Joel gave up three hits, no walks or runs, and struck out six the rest of the way.
Say you're managing the Mariners, it's the 8th inning, Joel Pineiro is at 109 pitches, and you have a 2-1 lead. Do you...
-- Leave Joel in until a baserunner gets aboard?
-- Bring in JJ Putz because he's been pretty solid most of the year?
-- Go to Eddie Guardado to get the final six outs?
Well, you know Bob Melvin, and if you heard him with the press after the game, he mentioned Eddie only in the situation of having to get one hitter out, which to me meant that Melvin was thinking of using Eddie for a save that required his needing to get no more than four outs. Melvin didn't go with Eddie, needless to say. Melvin's rationale with not trotting Joel out there again was that he'd thrown 120 pitches or so in his last start, though he'd had an extra day of rest in between starts, and he'd get another extra day off before his next start also.
Melvin went with JJ Putz. You had to figure that JJ would get bitten by the mucho suckage bug one of these days, right? Putz lasted 13 pitches. Four went to Alex Sanchez, who singled to rightfield. Four went to Carlos Guillen, who bunted Sanchez over. One was all Ivan Rodriguez needed to hit a double and tie the game. Finally, four pitches gave Rondell White a free pass to first base. JJ Putz, welcome to the crappy train!
Mike Myers walked Bobby Higginson to load the bases, then struck out Greg Norton. Julio Mateo hadn't sucked in a while, so he figured he'd give up consecutive doubles to Craig Monroe and Eric Munson to send four more Tigers across the plate, what the hay.
The damage was done, but Julio Mateo used the 9th inning to carry out some more suckage, as he got Ivan Rodriguez to pop out, all the while giving up two singles, a double, and two walks to his last two hitters. He was so bad that Ron Villone was called in to get the last two outs.
The Mariners are back at .333, which probably means they'll win tomorrow. They've got Freddy going tomorrow, so they've probably got a decent chance at winning. Of course, if Freddy from the last start appears again, then everyone in town will be wondering if Freddy's first few good starts this year was a fluke and if Freddy will be good ol' enigmatic Freddy of the recent past.
Gameball: Joel Pineiro. Nowhere else to go tonight. The offense was crap, the bullpen blew up. Raul Ibanez got three hits, but had a horrible error in the 9th, but I would never have given him the gameball anyway. Joel went 7, gave up a run on five hits, walked two and struck out seven on 109 pitches. Joel, buddy, you got screwed tonight.
Goat: Rich Aurilia. 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, stranding one.
In the 4th inning after Scott Spiezio's home run, Bob Melvin came out immediately after Spiezio rounded the bases and he talked to home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Dave Niehaus and Ron Fairly were up in the booth thinking Melvin might have been complaining about some lights in the stands in the outfield. Melvin went back to the dugout. Alan Trammell came out to see what was going on, and he headed back to the dugout. Players in the Mariner dugout were smiling and laughing. John Olerud was nowhere to be found, his turn at the plate apparently being delayed. Dave Niehaus then told the story of Buddy Bell on the clubhouse toilet on opening day at Jacobs Field, when the Secret Service pounded on the door saying the President had to use the bathroom. So, I assumed that maybe nature called for John Olerud, and it was taking a while. Olerud came out eventually. Niehaus made some sort of reference to Spiezio's homer, saying that Scott "dumped it" into the first few rows of seats, then correcting himself by saying it really went ten rows back. Anyway, nice choice of words, Dave!
Then we heard after the game about the real reason John Olerud was late to the plate -- he and Rich Aurilia were locked in the video room, and a drill had to be used to free the two from the room. Jason Puckett had a great line on the KJR postgame show, saying that they should have left the two in the video room. They would have had the same number of hits while locked inside the room as they did if they were freed (Aurilia was 0-for-4, Olerud 0-for-3).
Can the Mariners drop below the .333 mark tomorrow? As sickening as this loss tonight was, I was mildly disappointed that the method of losing wasn't really new and exciting. There's only so many times I can take the starting pitcher sucking, the bullpen sucking, or the offense sucking as direct causes to a loss. Can we have a hard-fought game lost on a two-run homer in the 9th or something? Some close but disheartening losses? It'd sure be a welcome change.
Bonderman. Garcia. Tomorrow.
(post title tonight lifted from an old Almost Live! sketch, entitled "Things You Can Do for Ducks.")
How about that Jason Johnson? His only hiccups were the Scott Spiezio home run in the 4th, after which he retired 11 straight, and when the Mariners were starting to catch up to him in the 9th. You know, after the game in Detroit where he faced the Mariners a couple weeks ago, I can't think of Jason Johnson without looking for that blood sugar pump on the back of his belt. He's pitching with a catheter into his thigh, for goodness' sake. This might not be as rare as I think it is, but yikes. I pitched a few years in my youth baseball foray, but the movement associated with it doesn't seem too conducive to having a catheter (or is it vice-versa). Enough of this, though. I wish the guy could have tossed the complete game, but Alan Trammell had a relatively short leash on Johnson, with John Olerud (pinched with Jolbert Cabrera) and Rich Aurilia coming up and with the pitch count at 105.
How about that Joel Pineiro? Yeah, the first inning was crap, but we've come to expect some early-inning struggles from Joel. Joel appears to be finding himself, with a string of decent starts. In his horrid 35-pitch first inning, Joel faced seven hitters and went to three-ball counts four times. Two of those hitters walked, one struck out, and one singled (Bobby Higginson RBI). Somehow, Joel only gave up the one run. From there, it was 74 pitches over the next six innings, and Joel gave up three hits, no walks or runs, and struck out six the rest of the way.
Say you're managing the Mariners, it's the 8th inning, Joel Pineiro is at 109 pitches, and you have a 2-1 lead. Do you...
-- Leave Joel in until a baserunner gets aboard?
-- Bring in JJ Putz because he's been pretty solid most of the year?
-- Go to Eddie Guardado to get the final six outs?
Well, you know Bob Melvin, and if you heard him with the press after the game, he mentioned Eddie only in the situation of having to get one hitter out, which to me meant that Melvin was thinking of using Eddie for a save that required his needing to get no more than four outs. Melvin didn't go with Eddie, needless to say. Melvin's rationale with not trotting Joel out there again was that he'd thrown 120 pitches or so in his last start, though he'd had an extra day of rest in between starts, and he'd get another extra day off before his next start also.
Melvin went with JJ Putz. You had to figure that JJ would get bitten by the mucho suckage bug one of these days, right? Putz lasted 13 pitches. Four went to Alex Sanchez, who singled to rightfield. Four went to Carlos Guillen, who bunted Sanchez over. One was all Ivan Rodriguez needed to hit a double and tie the game. Finally, four pitches gave Rondell White a free pass to first base. JJ Putz, welcome to the crappy train!
Mike Myers walked Bobby Higginson to load the bases, then struck out Greg Norton. Julio Mateo hadn't sucked in a while, so he figured he'd give up consecutive doubles to Craig Monroe and Eric Munson to send four more Tigers across the plate, what the hay.
The damage was done, but Julio Mateo used the 9th inning to carry out some more suckage, as he got Ivan Rodriguez to pop out, all the while giving up two singles, a double, and two walks to his last two hitters. He was so bad that Ron Villone was called in to get the last two outs.
The Mariners are back at .333, which probably means they'll win tomorrow. They've got Freddy going tomorrow, so they've probably got a decent chance at winning. Of course, if Freddy from the last start appears again, then everyone in town will be wondering if Freddy's first few good starts this year was a fluke and if Freddy will be good ol' enigmatic Freddy of the recent past.
Gameball: Joel Pineiro. Nowhere else to go tonight. The offense was crap, the bullpen blew up. Raul Ibanez got three hits, but had a horrible error in the 9th, but I would never have given him the gameball anyway. Joel went 7, gave up a run on five hits, walked two and struck out seven on 109 pitches. Joel, buddy, you got screwed tonight.
Goat: Rich Aurilia. 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, stranding one.
In the 4th inning after Scott Spiezio's home run, Bob Melvin came out immediately after Spiezio rounded the bases and he talked to home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Dave Niehaus and Ron Fairly were up in the booth thinking Melvin might have been complaining about some lights in the stands in the outfield. Melvin went back to the dugout. Alan Trammell came out to see what was going on, and he headed back to the dugout. Players in the Mariner dugout were smiling and laughing. John Olerud was nowhere to be found, his turn at the plate apparently being delayed. Dave Niehaus then told the story of Buddy Bell on the clubhouse toilet on opening day at Jacobs Field, when the Secret Service pounded on the door saying the President had to use the bathroom. So, I assumed that maybe nature called for John Olerud, and it was taking a while. Olerud came out eventually. Niehaus made some sort of reference to Spiezio's homer, saying that Scott "dumped it" into the first few rows of seats, then correcting himself by saying it really went ten rows back. Anyway, nice choice of words, Dave!
Then we heard after the game about the real reason John Olerud was late to the plate -- he and Rich Aurilia were locked in the video room, and a drill had to be used to free the two from the room. Jason Puckett had a great line on the KJR postgame show, saying that they should have left the two in the video room. They would have had the same number of hits while locked inside the room as they did if they were freed (Aurilia was 0-for-4, Olerud 0-for-3).
Can the Mariners drop below the .333 mark tomorrow? As sickening as this loss tonight was, I was mildly disappointed that the method of losing wasn't really new and exciting. There's only so many times I can take the starting pitcher sucking, the bullpen sucking, or the offense sucking as direct causes to a loss. Can we have a hard-fought game lost on a two-run homer in the 9th or something? Some close but disheartening losses? It'd sure be a welcome change.
Bonderman. Garcia. Tomorrow.
(post title tonight lifted from an old Almost Live! sketch, entitled "Things You Can Do for Ducks.")
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