Friday, July 30, 2004
HOSTETLER, BUT NOT MONTANA
...or Hudson, but not quite Blowers.
Any which way you put it, this sure took long enough. Not only was a Mariner road win a long time coming in the scope of the last few weeks, it took a long time tonight as well.
Ron Villone made his usual 5-6 inning start (full six tonight) that makes the broadcast crew drool and say he's incredibly versatile and dependable (I still think it's overrating, but if it's a conspiracy to drive up his trade value, I'm all for it). My response to Rovo's starts is that even with a "great" start like tonight, you still need one or two guys to get the game to Eddie Guardado, in effect putting more workload on the bullpen, which will probably get even more work when the younger kids are starting, domino effect occurs, etc. On the bright side, Villone was perfect through 2 1/3 innings. The shutout was spoiled before he could get the third out in that inning. With two out, David Eckstein on first, and Bengie Molina at second, Chone Figgins hit a grounder to Jolbert Cabrera at short, who tried to force out Eckstein at second, but his throw was a little wide of Bret Boone, and not to the glove side. Molina scored, and thus began the Angels' gradual comeback.
A one-out RBI double by Molina in the 4th made it 5-2 Mariners before Vlad Guerrero busted out the sand wedge and basically hit a home run one-handed in the 5th on a 1-1 count to make it 5-3 Mariners. Villone and JJ Putz held that lead, and got the ball to Eddie Guardado in the 9th, with Robb Quinlan, Molina, and Tim Salmon due up. Quinlan has been tearing it up as of late, and he rifled a hot shot to Boone at second, who knocked the ball down, but it trickled away from him toward the outfield. Molina then stepped to the plate and got sufficient wood on Guardado's 2-2 pitch and hit it out to left to tie the game at 5. Guardado was visibly ticked. He's been ticked about the team's performance, but rest assured he's ticked at himself after the postgame tirade yesterday. They got the ball to him in the 9th in this one for the first time in quite a while, and he couldn't nail it down. It's frustrating for us all, and watching Guardado pitch is one of the few things from the Mariners that has brought me joy this year.
So the game went to extra innings, where it basically became The Bobby Madritsch Show. The Lakota lefty threw two quick innings in the 10th (helped by Justin Leone diving stab off Alfredo Amezaga) and 11th, and got through some decent turbulence in the 12th and 13th. Vlad Guerrero hit a single to center to move Garret Anderson (winning run) to third in the 12th, but Randy Winn threw the ball in to Bret Boone, who caught Vlad too far off first base for a vital first out. Jose Guillen (righty facing lefty) was then walked to keep the double play in order, and to face Darin Erstad, who then popped out to Boone. Josh Paul pinch-hit for Amezaga, and whiffed with a half-swing on an 0-2 pitch as Madritsch quickly hopped off the mound and toward the dugout. Madritsch induced a groundout from Chone Figgins to end the game (13th) with pinch-runner Curtis Pride (deaf, if I'm not mistaken) in scoring position.
Of course, I've totally neglected to mention the Mariner offense. Eight hitters made Aaron Sele throw a whopping 37 pitches in the first. It looked like Sele might weasel his way out of it having only given up the RBI single to Bret Boone, but Jolbert Cabrera rattled one into the LF corner to score two and stake Villone out to a 3-0 lead before taking the mound. Two more runs came in the 3rd, when Cabrera was on first with two out, and Sele hung a curve over the inside corner to Justin Leone, who smashed a majestic arc just beyond the fence in leftcenter to make it 5-0.
The winner for the Mariners was Bret Boone's two-out single on a 2-2 pitch from Kevin Gregg (you know, the four-wild-pitches-in-one-inning guy) to score Ichiro (on board with a double, his fifth hit of the game) in the 13th.
On another note from Boone, he nearly got the Mariners ahead in the 11th when he just got under a hanging Francisco Rodriguez breaking ball (can't remember if it was the slider). The microphones were cranked high enough (and Boone's voice loud enough) where you could hear Bret cursing a well-known higher being/deity. This harkened back memories for me from the 2001 Home Run Derby, where Alex Rodriguez was up, and he wasn't getting good contact yet, and on national television, you could clearly hear him say, "Sh!+, I suck!!" after one of the pitches. A great, joyful moment for all, it was.
Gameball: Bobby Madritsch. Four innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. When he harnessed his pitches (there were A LOT of high pitches there to start out), he did a pretty solid job. I was impressed with his poise in the 12th. Most importantly, he gave the Mariners another chance to win this game, and without burning any more of the bullpen arms. Good job for his second Major League victory.
Goat: Miguel Olivo. 0-for-6 with five strikeouts. Though Bucky Jacobsen had Olivo beat with stranded runners (4-0), Olivo's 5-4 strikeout edge takes the cake here. I know three is a hat trick and four is a golden sombrero, but what the hell do you call FIVE strikeouts? I haven't a clue.
Meche. Ortiz. Eighteen hours.
[Edit ~1:02a -- Lastly, I forgot to mention that Ichiro's hit streak is now at 21 games. His fourth of five hits tonight netted Amy Lee of Spokane (not of pseudo-Christian band Evanescence) $1800 worth of crap from the Safeway $1M Baseball Magic contest thingamajig. Congrats, Amy! Enjoy the free crap!]
[Edit ~1:11a -- Congrats to the USS Mariner guys on their new domain/server. Those with RSS feeds are probably advised to adjust accordingly to the new address.]
Any which way you put it, this sure took long enough. Not only was a Mariner road win a long time coming in the scope of the last few weeks, it took a long time tonight as well.
Ron Villone made his usual 5-6 inning start (full six tonight) that makes the broadcast crew drool and say he's incredibly versatile and dependable (I still think it's overrating, but if it's a conspiracy to drive up his trade value, I'm all for it). My response to Rovo's starts is that even with a "great" start like tonight, you still need one or two guys to get the game to Eddie Guardado, in effect putting more workload on the bullpen, which will probably get even more work when the younger kids are starting, domino effect occurs, etc. On the bright side, Villone was perfect through 2 1/3 innings. The shutout was spoiled before he could get the third out in that inning. With two out, David Eckstein on first, and Bengie Molina at second, Chone Figgins hit a grounder to Jolbert Cabrera at short, who tried to force out Eckstein at second, but his throw was a little wide of Bret Boone, and not to the glove side. Molina scored, and thus began the Angels' gradual comeback.
A one-out RBI double by Molina in the 4th made it 5-2 Mariners before Vlad Guerrero busted out the sand wedge and basically hit a home run one-handed in the 5th on a 1-1 count to make it 5-3 Mariners. Villone and JJ Putz held that lead, and got the ball to Eddie Guardado in the 9th, with Robb Quinlan, Molina, and Tim Salmon due up. Quinlan has been tearing it up as of late, and he rifled a hot shot to Boone at second, who knocked the ball down, but it trickled away from him toward the outfield. Molina then stepped to the plate and got sufficient wood on Guardado's 2-2 pitch and hit it out to left to tie the game at 5. Guardado was visibly ticked. He's been ticked about the team's performance, but rest assured he's ticked at himself after the postgame tirade yesterday. They got the ball to him in the 9th in this one for the first time in quite a while, and he couldn't nail it down. It's frustrating for us all, and watching Guardado pitch is one of the few things from the Mariners that has brought me joy this year.
So the game went to extra innings, where it basically became The Bobby Madritsch Show. The Lakota lefty threw two quick innings in the 10th (helped by Justin Leone diving stab off Alfredo Amezaga) and 11th, and got through some decent turbulence in the 12th and 13th. Vlad Guerrero hit a single to center to move Garret Anderson (winning run) to third in the 12th, but Randy Winn threw the ball in to Bret Boone, who caught Vlad too far off first base for a vital first out. Jose Guillen (righty facing lefty) was then walked to keep the double play in order, and to face Darin Erstad, who then popped out to Boone. Josh Paul pinch-hit for Amezaga, and whiffed with a half-swing on an 0-2 pitch as Madritsch quickly hopped off the mound and toward the dugout. Madritsch induced a groundout from Chone Figgins to end the game (13th) with pinch-runner Curtis Pride (deaf, if I'm not mistaken) in scoring position.
Of course, I've totally neglected to mention the Mariner offense. Eight hitters made Aaron Sele throw a whopping 37 pitches in the first. It looked like Sele might weasel his way out of it having only given up the RBI single to Bret Boone, but Jolbert Cabrera rattled one into the LF corner to score two and stake Villone out to a 3-0 lead before taking the mound. Two more runs came in the 3rd, when Cabrera was on first with two out, and Sele hung a curve over the inside corner to Justin Leone, who smashed a majestic arc just beyond the fence in leftcenter to make it 5-0.
The winner for the Mariners was Bret Boone's two-out single on a 2-2 pitch from Kevin Gregg (you know, the four-wild-pitches-in-one-inning guy) to score Ichiro (on board with a double, his fifth hit of the game) in the 13th.
On another note from Boone, he nearly got the Mariners ahead in the 11th when he just got under a hanging Francisco Rodriguez breaking ball (can't remember if it was the slider). The microphones were cranked high enough (and Boone's voice loud enough) where you could hear Bret cursing a well-known higher being/deity. This harkened back memories for me from the 2001 Home Run Derby, where Alex Rodriguez was up, and he wasn't getting good contact yet, and on national television, you could clearly hear him say, "Sh!+, I suck!!" after one of the pitches. A great, joyful moment for all, it was.
Gameball: Bobby Madritsch. Four innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout. When he harnessed his pitches (there were A LOT of high pitches there to start out), he did a pretty solid job. I was impressed with his poise in the 12th. Most importantly, he gave the Mariners another chance to win this game, and without burning any more of the bullpen arms. Good job for his second Major League victory.
Goat: Miguel Olivo. 0-for-6 with five strikeouts. Though Bucky Jacobsen had Olivo beat with stranded runners (4-0), Olivo's 5-4 strikeout edge takes the cake here. I know three is a hat trick and four is a golden sombrero, but what the hell do you call FIVE strikeouts? I haven't a clue.
Meche. Ortiz. Eighteen hours.
[Edit ~1:02a -- Lastly, I forgot to mention that Ichiro's hit streak is now at 21 games. His fourth of five hits tonight netted Amy Lee of Spokane (not of pseudo-Christian band Evanescence) $1800 worth of crap from the Safeway $1M Baseball Magic contest thingamajig. Congrats, Amy! Enjoy the free crap!]
[Edit ~1:11a -- Congrats to the USS Mariner guys on their new domain/server. Those with RSS feeds are probably advised to adjust accordingly to the new address.]
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