Wednesday, May 12, 2004
PERSISTENCE IS FUTILE
...but patience pays. Okay, that's probably a contradiction, and I probably just chose the headline because it sounded semi-ingenious and did have a negative connotation that comes with another Mariner loss.
About patience paying off, Edgar wrote the book on it. No, really. He did.
Edgar's 300th career home run provides the bright spot tonight as Freddy Garcia pitches well and gets screwed again, not only by the impotence of the offense, but also by his defense.
Brad Radke was spinning a fairly nice game after getting into a couple of early semi-jams. The first inning was a certainly not a good one. Ichiro led off with a single, Jolbert Cabrera got on, and the Mariners had runners on the corners and nobody out. Scott Spiezio struck out. Then wouldn't you know it, Cabrera was picked off first on the fake-to-third-throw-to-first play which never works. It did this time. Olerud bounced out to make sure Freddy wasn't staked out to a lead before he took the mound. Edgar singled to lead off the 2nd, and walked to lead off the 4th. He scored neither time. A Dan Wilson double-play ball killed the rally in the 4th. From the 5th through the 8th, Radke faced the minimum 12 batters (tack Wilson and Rich Aurilia on from the 4th and it's 14). Hell, maybe I should have just said that Radke retired 13 of 14 during that span.
Other than the futility/non-clutchitude from the first four innings, the Mariner offense did absolutely nothing until Scott Spiezio and John Olerud singled (imagine that...singles) and were driven in by Edgar's bomb over the baggy in rightfield. Alas, there would be something to cheer about.
Bret Boone may be down a couple days with the back spasms, as he was tonight. Jolbert Cabrera filled in at second base. Dave Niehaus was dead on during the radio broadcast when he said that the Mariners can't afford to have Boone out for a long period of time. Though Boone hasn't been hitting too well, having his glove off the field hampers this team even further. Offensively, we may see horrible things such as John Olerud hitting cleanup, as Jeremy noted.
Oh, and how can we forget Cabrera's glove? In the 2nd, Torii Hunter was beaned and Jacque Jones hit a double-play ball to Jolbert Cabrera. Cabrera booted the ball. Zero outs instead of two. Lew Ford was the next hitter, and he grounded out. Mike Cuddyer and Matt LeCroy reached on outfield and infield singles, respectively, but the inning should have been over. Freddy should have been out of it with zeroes still up on the board.
In the 3rd, Cristian Guzman singled to lead off and Doug Mientkiewicz blasted a ball into the upper deck in right, scoring the two fair runs against Freddy tonight. Freddy ended with a line of 7 1/3 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts on 118 pitches.
Gameball: Edgar Martinez. 2-for-4 with the three-run jack and a walk. Three hundred taters. Three cheers once again for Edgar. 300 bombs, 500 doubles. Freddy pitched well tonight, but Edgar saved this night from total crappiness.
Goat: Jolbert Cabrera. I hate to go obvious here, but even though he was 2-for-4 (one strikeout), that boot of the double play ball really really REALLY did not help. Couple that with falling for the fake-to-third-throw-to-first play in the first inning, and you get my goat for tonight. Of course, I must mention that Rich Aurilia had a quiet 0-for-3 and stranded three the night after I gave him the gameball.
Four Ls in a row. Tomorrow the Mariners can get the trifecta, as Jeremy would say, and get their third five-game losing streak of the year.
I left the corporate postgame show on after the game (too lazy to turn on KJR on the computer), and the first caller actually said that he was "tired of the complainers," that he was a "Tigers fan" and that he's actually "really excited about this [Mariner] team." Seriously, I didn't know whether to be disgusted or to soil myself laughing.
Franklin. Santana. Tomorrow morning.
About patience paying off, Edgar wrote the book on it. No, really. He did.
Edgar's 300th career home run provides the bright spot tonight as Freddy Garcia pitches well and gets screwed again, not only by the impotence of the offense, but also by his defense.
Brad Radke was spinning a fairly nice game after getting into a couple of early semi-jams. The first inning was a certainly not a good one. Ichiro led off with a single, Jolbert Cabrera got on, and the Mariners had runners on the corners and nobody out. Scott Spiezio struck out. Then wouldn't you know it, Cabrera was picked off first on the fake-to-third-throw-to-first play which never works. It did this time. Olerud bounced out to make sure Freddy wasn't staked out to a lead before he took the mound. Edgar singled to lead off the 2nd, and walked to lead off the 4th. He scored neither time. A Dan Wilson double-play ball killed the rally in the 4th. From the 5th through the 8th, Radke faced the minimum 12 batters (tack Wilson and Rich Aurilia on from the 4th and it's 14). Hell, maybe I should have just said that Radke retired 13 of 14 during that span.
Other than the futility/non-clutchitude from the first four innings, the Mariner offense did absolutely nothing until Scott Spiezio and John Olerud singled (imagine that...singles) and were driven in by Edgar's bomb over the baggy in rightfield. Alas, there would be something to cheer about.
Bret Boone may be down a couple days with the back spasms, as he was tonight. Jolbert Cabrera filled in at second base. Dave Niehaus was dead on during the radio broadcast when he said that the Mariners can't afford to have Boone out for a long period of time. Though Boone hasn't been hitting too well, having his glove off the field hampers this team even further. Offensively, we may see horrible things such as John Olerud hitting cleanup, as Jeremy noted.
Oh, and how can we forget Cabrera's glove? In the 2nd, Torii Hunter was beaned and Jacque Jones hit a double-play ball to Jolbert Cabrera. Cabrera booted the ball. Zero outs instead of two. Lew Ford was the next hitter, and he grounded out. Mike Cuddyer and Matt LeCroy reached on outfield and infield singles, respectively, but the inning should have been over. Freddy should have been out of it with zeroes still up on the board.
In the 3rd, Cristian Guzman singled to lead off and Doug Mientkiewicz blasted a ball into the upper deck in right, scoring the two fair runs against Freddy tonight. Freddy ended with a line of 7 1/3 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts on 118 pitches.
Gameball: Edgar Martinez. 2-for-4 with the three-run jack and a walk. Three hundred taters. Three cheers once again for Edgar. 300 bombs, 500 doubles. Freddy pitched well tonight, but Edgar saved this night from total crappiness.
Goat: Jolbert Cabrera. I hate to go obvious here, but even though he was 2-for-4 (one strikeout), that boot of the double play ball really really REALLY did not help. Couple that with falling for the fake-to-third-throw-to-first play in the first inning, and you get my goat for tonight. Of course, I must mention that Rich Aurilia had a quiet 0-for-3 and stranded three the night after I gave him the gameball.
Four Ls in a row. Tomorrow the Mariners can get the trifecta, as Jeremy would say, and get their third five-game losing streak of the year.
I left the corporate postgame show on after the game (too lazy to turn on KJR on the computer), and the first caller actually said that he was "tired of the complainers," that he was a "Tigers fan" and that he's actually "really excited about this [Mariner] team." Seriously, I didn't know whether to be disgusted or to soil myself laughing.
Franklin. Santana. Tomorrow morning.
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