Tuesday, July 27, 2004
ROAD TO MADNESS
I can't help but feel guilty that I've missed out on nine games out of this 14-game road losing streak that the Mariners have going.
Ryan Franklin tonight played a familiar role, the role of "pitch fairly well, but get screwed." The Mariners loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning, and the only run they scored came across on Edgar Martinez' double-play ball. Yuck.
The Mariners' 1-0 lead was erased in the 2nd, when Erubiel Durazo blasted one down the line past Scott Spiezio at first to score Scott Hatteberg. Bobby Crosby scored from third later in the inning on a deep fly ball (high probability of scoring) to centerfield (Randy Winn's arm/mechanics; 100% chance of run scoring) to put the A's up 2-1.
The game stayed that way until Ryan Franklin caught too much of the plate with a fastball and Bobby Crosby jumped all over it to make it 3-1 in the 4th. Mark McLemore burned his old mates with a 2-out RBI single in the 5th. The A's capped their scoring with an Eric Chavez opposite-field mash off of George Sherrill, a home run that for me echoed shades of the walk-off homer down the line he hit against Kazu Sasaki a couple years ago.
Accordingly, the Mariners capped their scoring in the 7th when Justin Leone hit a 2-run bomb with one out to bring the Mariners within one at that point (4-3).
One disturbing trend the Mariners showed in the early going was the inability to stay back on Mark Redman's changeup, surely aiding in at least one (can't count it off the top of my head) of the three double plays they grounded into in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th innings.
I listened to KJR's postgame show tonight, and there were two main topics:
-- (1) Why was Willie Bloomquist up with one out, Octavio Dotel on the mound and Miguel Olivo on first in the 9th with the Mariners down 5-3? (Bucky Jacobsen was on the bench, and Ramon Santiago could have taken Bloomquist's spot in the field if needed)
-- (2) What is Willie Bloomquist still doing on this team anyway?
Naturally, Jason Puckett rushed to Bloomquist's defense in some way because Bloomquist does a segment with Softy Mahler every Tuesday and he does some stuff for the station. Puckett did say that he was glad Bloomquist was getting the chance to prove his worth (one way or the other), but also conceded that his role may diminish even further as more and more young guys get brought up and are given more playing time. Puckett does think Bloomquist is an asset to the team due to his ability (should I put that in quotes?) to play multiple positions.
"If this guy wasn't from Port Orchard, would he even have a job in the Major Leagues?" --a postgame caller
Granted, I can't give Bloomquist the goat for the second night in a row because he had two hits (damn!), but what did I see out of him (I wasn't in front of the TV for the whole game)?
-- (1) He short-hopped Dave Hansen at first on a fairly routine ground ball (Bobby Crosby's grounder) in the 8th, and the ball went into foul territory. I think Miguel Olivo was the next person to touch the ball; he being the catcher backing up the throw in first-base foul ground.
-- (2) When he was up in the 9th against Dotel, did you see his reaction after that first fastball? It was as if he was marveling at the speed, one of those "whew!"-type air-blowing-outward gestures, except triggered by a feeling of dismay or helplessness (you could see it when they were showing his stat graphic). Once he did that, I knew he was done. The next pitch was high at 96 mph and he barely got a bat on it to foul it off, then Dotel whipped a slider about 10 inches or so off the outside corner on the third pitch and Bloomquist was done.
Gameball: Ryan Franklin. It's sort of by default. It wasn't his best line of the year, but he did get through seven (4 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts). If the Mariners get even one more run out of that situation in the first, he might pitch differently and the game may take a whole different course, who knows. Ryan didn't get royally screwed as he has in some past outings, but he gave up four runs tonight, and his ERA is 5.20, so from a pure painfully-obvious number standpoint, he pitched better than expected.
Goat: Randy Winn. 0-for-3 with a walk. Randy had his 11-game hit streak snapped, which is pretty inopportune considering Ichiro got on base twice ahead of him. Winn got his walk and bounced into a fielders' choice with Ichiro on base.
Will Ichiro make it twenty? Will the Mariners make it fifteen? Get ready for a nine-inning lunch tomorrow with the Not-So-Ambiguously Bad, Poor Excuse for a Baseball Team.
Moyer. Mulder. Tomorrow.
Ryan Franklin tonight played a familiar role, the role of "pitch fairly well, but get screwed." The Mariners loaded the bases with nobody out in the first inning, and the only run they scored came across on Edgar Martinez' double-play ball. Yuck.
The Mariners' 1-0 lead was erased in the 2nd, when Erubiel Durazo blasted one down the line past Scott Spiezio at first to score Scott Hatteberg. Bobby Crosby scored from third later in the inning on a deep fly ball (high probability of scoring) to centerfield (Randy Winn's arm/mechanics; 100% chance of run scoring) to put the A's up 2-1.
The game stayed that way until Ryan Franklin caught too much of the plate with a fastball and Bobby Crosby jumped all over it to make it 3-1 in the 4th. Mark McLemore burned his old mates with a 2-out RBI single in the 5th. The A's capped their scoring with an Eric Chavez opposite-field mash off of George Sherrill, a home run that for me echoed shades of the walk-off homer down the line he hit against Kazu Sasaki a couple years ago.
Accordingly, the Mariners capped their scoring in the 7th when Justin Leone hit a 2-run bomb with one out to bring the Mariners within one at that point (4-3).
One disturbing trend the Mariners showed in the early going was the inability to stay back on Mark Redman's changeup, surely aiding in at least one (can't count it off the top of my head) of the three double plays they grounded into in the 1st, 3rd, and 4th innings.
I listened to KJR's postgame show tonight, and there were two main topics:
-- (1) Why was Willie Bloomquist up with one out, Octavio Dotel on the mound and Miguel Olivo on first in the 9th with the Mariners down 5-3? (Bucky Jacobsen was on the bench, and Ramon Santiago could have taken Bloomquist's spot in the field if needed)
-- (2) What is Willie Bloomquist still doing on this team anyway?
Naturally, Jason Puckett rushed to Bloomquist's defense in some way because Bloomquist does a segment with Softy Mahler every Tuesday and he does some stuff for the station. Puckett did say that he was glad Bloomquist was getting the chance to prove his worth (one way or the other), but also conceded that his role may diminish even further as more and more young guys get brought up and are given more playing time. Puckett does think Bloomquist is an asset to the team due to his ability (should I put that in quotes?) to play multiple positions.
"If this guy wasn't from Port Orchard, would he even have a job in the Major Leagues?" --a postgame caller
Granted, I can't give Bloomquist the goat for the second night in a row because he had two hits (damn!), but what did I see out of him (I wasn't in front of the TV for the whole game)?
-- (1) He short-hopped Dave Hansen at first on a fairly routine ground ball (Bobby Crosby's grounder) in the 8th, and the ball went into foul territory. I think Miguel Olivo was the next person to touch the ball; he being the catcher backing up the throw in first-base foul ground.
-- (2) When he was up in the 9th against Dotel, did you see his reaction after that first fastball? It was as if he was marveling at the speed, one of those "whew!"-type air-blowing-outward gestures, except triggered by a feeling of dismay or helplessness (you could see it when they were showing his stat graphic). Once he did that, I knew he was done. The next pitch was high at 96 mph and he barely got a bat on it to foul it off, then Dotel whipped a slider about 10 inches or so off the outside corner on the third pitch and Bloomquist was done.
Gameball: Ryan Franklin. It's sort of by default. It wasn't his best line of the year, but he did get through seven (4 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts). If the Mariners get even one more run out of that situation in the first, he might pitch differently and the game may take a whole different course, who knows. Ryan didn't get royally screwed as he has in some past outings, but he gave up four runs tonight, and his ERA is 5.20, so from a pure painfully-obvious number standpoint, he pitched better than expected.
Goat: Randy Winn. 0-for-3 with a walk. Randy had his 11-game hit streak snapped, which is pretty inopportune considering Ichiro got on base twice ahead of him. Winn got his walk and bounced into a fielders' choice with Ichiro on base.
Will Ichiro make it twenty? Will the Mariners make it fifteen? Get ready for a nine-inning lunch tomorrow with the Not-So-Ambiguously Bad, Poor Excuse for a Baseball Team.
Moyer. Mulder. Tomorrow.
/ Click for main page
