Thursday, June 03, 2004
EARLY BIRD CONTRACTS WORMS
Another night, another loss.
I absolutely zonked out (had something to do with the ~1 hour of sleep I had the night before) on the couch with the score 5-1, so I missed about half the game in real time, but that's where game logs fill the spaces.
At first, it didn't look too good for Joel Pineiro, as he picked the second inning tonight to have his early troubles (Joel Pineiro Struggling Early is brought to you by the Rocksport Bar and Grill). Joel gave up three straight singles to start off, then struck out Howie Clark. Josh Phelps then lofted a fly ball to right that took full advantage of the 8-mph breeze blowing out to right and drifted over the fence. Grand slam, 4-0 Toronto. This wasn't a good thing to see after Gil Meche stunk up the cavernous (dimensionwise and fanwise) Safe the night before.
Other than the brutal second inning, Joel had a decent night. He had 1-2-3 innings in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Toronto's fifth run scored in a fashion in which the Mariners like to score runs, with a leadoff double (Gregg Zaun), groundout to move the runner (Chris Gomez), and a Howie Clark RBI bunt "to the pitcher," according to the log, and I don't remember much about the play, but the bunt was either nicely placed or Joel didn't get to it in time. I'm betting on the latter, though it would kind of make it a sort of squeeze play. Me being awake would have helped.
Joel somehow got into the 8th inning, and I say somehow because Joel threw 30 pitches in the second inning. After throwing Ryan Franklin for 126 pitches the other day, it appears that Bob Melvin may just be trying to burn out everyone's arms in the rotation now that Gil Meche has been sent down. "I can't have the same five guys anymore? Let's blow it all to hell!! HHAAHHHHHAAHAAHHHAAAA!!!! (demonic)" --Bob Melvin after the Meche move. Joel ended up with 121 pitches, which frankly doesn't raise my brow as much as the Franklin outing, but it's still a lot of pitches, especially for someone who's not a strikeout/power pitcher.
As for the Mariner offense, they were facing possibly my least favorite player in the Majors, Ted Lilly (Jason Grimsley is up there too). Lilly came in 1-5 in 11 previous games against the Mariners with an ERA of 6.31 (thanks, AP wire). Of course, Raul Ibanez was 0-for-14 against Keith Foulke before Saturday, too. The point is, you get to throw out the previous stats for tonight, because Ted Lilly was able to wriggle his way out of trouble for the most part.
This segues nicely into tonight's Cloverdale Meats Mariners' Blown Scoring Chances.
2nd inning
With runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out, Jolbert Cabrera struck out, Rich Aurilia walked, Dan Wilson whiffed, and Willie "Whiff-Whiff" Bloomquist popped out. End of threat.
Before I go on here, I'd like to say to the antagonist commenter Mikey that when I said I'd have my day regarding Raul Ibanez, I meant that he'd suck, not necessarily that he'd strain his hamstring stepping on the first base bag.
3rd inning
With Ichiro and Randy Winn on second and first with nobody out thanks to an error, Edgar whiffed, Hiram Bocachica flew out, and Bret Boone bounced out. I know Bocachica was a replacement, but that's quite a job by the meat of the order.
5th inning
With Randy Winn on base with a leadoff double, Edgar was caught looking, Bocachica walked, Winn stole third, Boone whiffed, Winn stole second, and Cabrera flew out. Great team clutch effort there.
8th inning
Rich Aurilia stood on second with a leadoff double, was moved to third on a Dan Wilson flyout, and John Olerud flew out.
I should note that the False Hope rally in the 9th that brought the tying run to the batters' box (Bret Boone) was brought to you by Tesoro.
Of course, once again, I can't discount the runs that the Mariners actually did score. Dan Wilson drove in a run from third with one out in the 4th. Rich Aurilia hit a leadoff homer in the 6th. Yes, another Mariner solo shot. And there was Dave Hansen with the false hope in the 9th, driving in Ichiro with two out.
But all in all, sleep was a nicer option for me than watching the Mariners do their thing. If I had the option to see Red Sox/Angels tonight, that would have been great too because Vlad Guerrero went nuts. Sure Pedro hasn't been up to speed his last couple starts, but it's Vlad against Pedro, for goodness' sake.
Gameball: Rich Aurilia. 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk, bringing his average to a hefty .238.
Goat: Bret Boone. 0-for-4 with a hat trick, stranding six. Yes, that trumps Willie Whiff-Whiff's 0-for-3 (stranding four) outing, even for me.
Does anyone fully realize that Joel Pineiro is now 1-7?
After seeing the final pitch of the Baltimore/Yankee game tonight, I have a question: say you strike out to end the game, and hate the call. The umpire obviously can't throw you out of the game, so you basically have free reign to argue about balls and strikes all the live long day, right? I've never heard of someone getting thrown out for the next game or anything like that. And if someone got fined for arguing balls and strikes...well, I'll just say it shouldn't happen often.
Is everyone prepared for Frank Thomas to square off against Ryan Franklin on Saturday? They should hand out hard hats to the folks in the leftfield bleachers before that game.
Garland. Garcia. Friday.
I absolutely zonked out (had something to do with the ~1 hour of sleep I had the night before) on the couch with the score 5-1, so I missed about half the game in real time, but that's where game logs fill the spaces.
At first, it didn't look too good for Joel Pineiro, as he picked the second inning tonight to have his early troubles (Joel Pineiro Struggling Early is brought to you by the Rocksport Bar and Grill). Joel gave up three straight singles to start off, then struck out Howie Clark. Josh Phelps then lofted a fly ball to right that took full advantage of the 8-mph breeze blowing out to right and drifted over the fence. Grand slam, 4-0 Toronto. This wasn't a good thing to see after Gil Meche stunk up the cavernous (dimensionwise and fanwise) Safe the night before.
Other than the brutal second inning, Joel had a decent night. He had 1-2-3 innings in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Toronto's fifth run scored in a fashion in which the Mariners like to score runs, with a leadoff double (Gregg Zaun), groundout to move the runner (Chris Gomez), and a Howie Clark RBI bunt "to the pitcher," according to the log, and I don't remember much about the play, but the bunt was either nicely placed or Joel didn't get to it in time. I'm betting on the latter, though it would kind of make it a sort of squeeze play. Me being awake would have helped.
Joel somehow got into the 8th inning, and I say somehow because Joel threw 30 pitches in the second inning. After throwing Ryan Franklin for 126 pitches the other day, it appears that Bob Melvin may just be trying to burn out everyone's arms in the rotation now that Gil Meche has been sent down. "I can't have the same five guys anymore? Let's blow it all to hell!! HHAAHHHHHAAHAAHHHAAAA!!!! (demonic)" --Bob Melvin after the Meche move. Joel ended up with 121 pitches, which frankly doesn't raise my brow as much as the Franklin outing, but it's still a lot of pitches, especially for someone who's not a strikeout/power pitcher.
As for the Mariner offense, they were facing possibly my least favorite player in the Majors, Ted Lilly (Jason Grimsley is up there too). Lilly came in 1-5 in 11 previous games against the Mariners with an ERA of 6.31 (thanks, AP wire). Of course, Raul Ibanez was 0-for-14 against Keith Foulke before Saturday, too. The point is, you get to throw out the previous stats for tonight, because Ted Lilly was able to wriggle his way out of trouble for the most part.
This segues nicely into tonight's Cloverdale Meats Mariners' Blown Scoring Chances.
2nd inning
With runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out, Jolbert Cabrera struck out, Rich Aurilia walked, Dan Wilson whiffed, and Willie "Whiff-Whiff" Bloomquist popped out. End of threat.
Before I go on here, I'd like to say to the antagonist commenter Mikey that when I said I'd have my day regarding Raul Ibanez, I meant that he'd suck, not necessarily that he'd strain his hamstring stepping on the first base bag.
3rd inning
With Ichiro and Randy Winn on second and first with nobody out thanks to an error, Edgar whiffed, Hiram Bocachica flew out, and Bret Boone bounced out. I know Bocachica was a replacement, but that's quite a job by the meat of the order.
5th inning
With Randy Winn on base with a leadoff double, Edgar was caught looking, Bocachica walked, Winn stole third, Boone whiffed, Winn stole second, and Cabrera flew out. Great team clutch effort there.
8th inning
Rich Aurilia stood on second with a leadoff double, was moved to third on a Dan Wilson flyout, and John Olerud flew out.
I should note that the False Hope rally in the 9th that brought the tying run to the batters' box (Bret Boone) was brought to you by Tesoro.
Of course, once again, I can't discount the runs that the Mariners actually did score. Dan Wilson drove in a run from third with one out in the 4th. Rich Aurilia hit a leadoff homer in the 6th. Yes, another Mariner solo shot. And there was Dave Hansen with the false hope in the 9th, driving in Ichiro with two out.
But all in all, sleep was a nicer option for me than watching the Mariners do their thing. If I had the option to see Red Sox/Angels tonight, that would have been great too because Vlad Guerrero went nuts. Sure Pedro hasn't been up to speed his last couple starts, but it's Vlad against Pedro, for goodness' sake.
Gameball: Rich Aurilia. 2-for-3 with a homer and a walk, bringing his average to a hefty .238.
Goat: Bret Boone. 0-for-4 with a hat trick, stranding six. Yes, that trumps Willie Whiff-Whiff's 0-for-3 (stranding four) outing, even for me.
Does anyone fully realize that Joel Pineiro is now 1-7?
After seeing the final pitch of the Baltimore/Yankee game tonight, I have a question: say you strike out to end the game, and hate the call. The umpire obviously can't throw you out of the game, so you basically have free reign to argue about balls and strikes all the live long day, right? I've never heard of someone getting thrown out for the next game or anything like that. And if someone got fined for arguing balls and strikes...well, I'll just say it shouldn't happen often.
Is everyone prepared for Frank Thomas to square off against Ryan Franklin on Saturday? They should hand out hard hats to the folks in the leftfield bleachers before that game.
Garland. Garcia. Friday.
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