Wednesday, August 11, 2004
BY A NOSE
I've got some things to say before I go on with the recap tonight.
-- Why the hell was Scott Spiezio in the lineup tonight?
-- Try as he might, Willie Bloomquist will never hold a candle to Charles Gipson. I will not argue this.
-- The TV broadcast went along nicely with Dave Niehaus, Ron Fairly, and Jay Buhner on the landing on leftfield, but it just went to hell with Rick Rizzs, Jay Buhner, and Dave Valle out there. They were having waaaaay too much fun. Granted, the latter half of the telecast did end up being more entertaining (in my opinion) because it gave the three amigos less time to exhibit their blatant homerism.
-- That said, more fans were involved with the broadcast. Best wishes to Matt from Cheney, the groom-to-be on his bachelor's party at the Safe (is that really what you'd call a bachelor's party?), nice job by Michelle from Bothell on reading the disclaimer and throwing in some unexpected humor about her staying away from contact sports due to being "uncoordinated." Nice job by Courtney the intern on reading the promo, and Kristin from the barbecue stand, warning everyone about "Man sauce," the spicy sauce that really should be renamed as soon as possible.
The umpiring crew met right away after Bobby Madritsch was done throwing his warmup pitches in the first. Niehaus, Fairly, and Buhner had no idea what was going on, but right away I thought of Madritsch's tattoos. No really, I did; this isn't hindsight here. I remember reading an article about some guy that was on the Blue Jays a while ago that has to cover up his arms because of his tattoos. Nonetheless, no immediate action was taken against Madritsch, and he was allowed to pitch the first inning as usual. The lefty started out shaky, allowing a leadoff walk to Shannon Stewart. Stewart got a jump off Madritsch and stole second with Cristian Guzman up. Guzman singled, and Stewart was held at third even with Randy Winn's arm. Lew Ford flew out to center. Justin Morneau, he of the home run off the second deck last night, singled on the first pitch to score Stewart (MIN 1-0). Madritsch got Torii Hunter to bounce into a fielder's choice for the second out. Runners were on second and third. Jacque Jones doubled down the line in right to score Guzman (MIN 2-0). Madritsch got Corey Koskie to whiff and end the threat. Madritsch threw 24 pitches in the first, and never looked this shaky in the start in Tampa Bay.
Brad Radke was pretty much dealing (sans having Ichiro on second with one out in the 1st) until the Mariners managed some two-out noise in the 4th on back-to-back doubles by Bret Boone and Raul Ibanez (green-lit on 3-0, MIN 2-1). The Mariners appeared to crack Radke, as they did some more damage in the 5th. Scott Spiezio drew a leadoff walk (at least he was somewhat useful) and went to third on a one-out Jose Lopez single. Ichiro whiffed on a wild pitch and Lopez took second. Spiezio and Lopez scored in a Randy Winn single to centerfield to give the Mariners the lead (SEA 3-2).
Madritsch would settle down from his wild first inning, and after having to put sleeves on before the 2nd inning. The next runner to make it into scoring position off Madritsch was Mike Cuddyer in the 6th, who was nailed trying to stretch a double into a triple on a play in which Corey Koskie scored from first on a ball hit to leftfield. The play ended the inning, so Koskie scoring from first (running on contact; two out) makes a little more sense.
Madritsch had thrown 100 pitches through six innings. Bob Melvin ran him out there again for the 7th, and frankly, why the hell not? It's late in the season, the season's gone into the tank. It'd be different if this were April or May or something. If he had any trouble, then yank him. However, Madritsch had pretty much been cruising since the first. He needed 16 pitches to get through Jose Offerman, Stewart, and Guzman in the 7th to cap his night. Though not quite as sharp as the last start in Tampa, it was a more-than-solid start by Bobby Madritsch tonight: 7 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, 116 pitches (74 strikes). I guess my only problem with Madritsch is that it seems to me he misses high a lot. Here's to those high pitches not getting bashed.
Both teams were held at bay by their opposing bullpens until the bottom of the 9th. It started out innocently enough. Scott Spiezio singled (huh?) with one out, and Willie Bloomquist pinch-ran. With the count 1-1 on Justin Leone, Juan Rincon made an errant pickoff throw that got past Justin Morneau at first and explored some foul territory. Bloomquist scooted to second and Dave Myers threw up the stop sign from the third-base coaches' box, though Bloomquist probably had a chance to nab third on the play. On the next pitch, Bloomquist took off toward third. Henry Blanco (a catcher with a past of decent gunning-down-runners rates) threw to third, with the throw being wide (away from the foul line). The ball hit Bloomquist on the nose during his headfirst slide into third, and went into foul territory as Bloomquist ran over Corey Koskie, tweaking the Minnesota third baseman's knee or ankle on the play. Bloomquist got up off the ground and scampered home. Ballgame.
Gameball: Bobby Madritsch. Just another solid start by the lefty. He wasn't rattled at all by having to put on the sleeves, and after the game, he didn't appear surprised about the decision due to the fact that he's a rookie. Here's an interesting thought: if this guy makes the rotation (probably back-end) out of spring training next year, how many innings do you think he could eat up over the course of a year?
Goat: Dan Wilson. 0-for-3, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, stranding one. I know Dan was probably helping Madritsch immensely, but there's no way in hell I'm goating Edgar for his 0-for-4.
We've seen the Mariners win and lose by walk-off balks, obstruction calls, and balls going off the runners' noses while trying to steal third. Can it get any weirder? I guess it could if you were listening to the KJR postgame show tonight. I'm not sure if they got through the Around the Horn segment (scores around baseball), and I don't think they gave out gameballs, of which the issuing is standard protocol. After they read off the score from the Arizona/Montreal game, they tried to dig up the attendance, which barely cracked 5000. It was also season ticketholders' night, where season ticketholders could exchange their past unused tickets for tickets to the game, which sort of makes no sense since they'd already have tickets to the game anyway. The producer looked at some of their promotions, and unlike the Mariners' giveaways which usually give to the first 12000 or so, the Expos' cutoff is 5000. One of the Expos' upcoming promotions is Blood Drive Night. Then I think one of the guys at the station had put their Edgar Bear on Ebay, so they were checking that. One bear was going for $100. The show went to hell in a handbasket, and was actually very entertaining.
Santana. Franklin. Tomorrow.
[Edit ~11:54p -- Forgot to mention the final two innings thrown by Scott Atchison and George Sherrill, the latter of whom got the win, which I think is his first Major League win.]
[Edit Thu ~12:40a -- I swear I did not steal the words "it," "started," "innocently," and "enough" from Batgirl's post, i.e., the part about the bottom of the 9th. Really, I didn't.]
-- Why the hell was Scott Spiezio in the lineup tonight?
-- Try as he might, Willie Bloomquist will never hold a candle to Charles Gipson. I will not argue this.
-- The TV broadcast went along nicely with Dave Niehaus, Ron Fairly, and Jay Buhner on the landing on leftfield, but it just went to hell with Rick Rizzs, Jay Buhner, and Dave Valle out there. They were having waaaaay too much fun. Granted, the latter half of the telecast did end up being more entertaining (in my opinion) because it gave the three amigos less time to exhibit their blatant homerism.
-- That said, more fans were involved with the broadcast. Best wishes to Matt from Cheney, the groom-to-be on his bachelor's party at the Safe (is that really what you'd call a bachelor's party?), nice job by Michelle from Bothell on reading the disclaimer and throwing in some unexpected humor about her staying away from contact sports due to being "uncoordinated." Nice job by Courtney the intern on reading the promo, and Kristin from the barbecue stand, warning everyone about "Man sauce," the spicy sauce that really should be renamed as soon as possible.
The umpiring crew met right away after Bobby Madritsch was done throwing his warmup pitches in the first. Niehaus, Fairly, and Buhner had no idea what was going on, but right away I thought of Madritsch's tattoos. No really, I did; this isn't hindsight here. I remember reading an article about some guy that was on the Blue Jays a while ago that has to cover up his arms because of his tattoos. Nonetheless, no immediate action was taken against Madritsch, and he was allowed to pitch the first inning as usual. The lefty started out shaky, allowing a leadoff walk to Shannon Stewart. Stewart got a jump off Madritsch and stole second with Cristian Guzman up. Guzman singled, and Stewart was held at third even with Randy Winn's arm. Lew Ford flew out to center. Justin Morneau, he of the home run off the second deck last night, singled on the first pitch to score Stewart (MIN 1-0). Madritsch got Torii Hunter to bounce into a fielder's choice for the second out. Runners were on second and third. Jacque Jones doubled down the line in right to score Guzman (MIN 2-0). Madritsch got Corey Koskie to whiff and end the threat. Madritsch threw 24 pitches in the first, and never looked this shaky in the start in Tampa Bay.
Brad Radke was pretty much dealing (sans having Ichiro on second with one out in the 1st) until the Mariners managed some two-out noise in the 4th on back-to-back doubles by Bret Boone and Raul Ibanez (green-lit on 3-0, MIN 2-1). The Mariners appeared to crack Radke, as they did some more damage in the 5th. Scott Spiezio drew a leadoff walk (at least he was somewhat useful) and went to third on a one-out Jose Lopez single. Ichiro whiffed on a wild pitch and Lopez took second. Spiezio and Lopez scored in a Randy Winn single to centerfield to give the Mariners the lead (SEA 3-2).
Madritsch would settle down from his wild first inning, and after having to put sleeves on before the 2nd inning. The next runner to make it into scoring position off Madritsch was Mike Cuddyer in the 6th, who was nailed trying to stretch a double into a triple on a play in which Corey Koskie scored from first on a ball hit to leftfield. The play ended the inning, so Koskie scoring from first (running on contact; two out) makes a little more sense.
Madritsch had thrown 100 pitches through six innings. Bob Melvin ran him out there again for the 7th, and frankly, why the hell not? It's late in the season, the season's gone into the tank. It'd be different if this were April or May or something. If he had any trouble, then yank him. However, Madritsch had pretty much been cruising since the first. He needed 16 pitches to get through Jose Offerman, Stewart, and Guzman in the 7th to cap his night. Though not quite as sharp as the last start in Tampa, it was a more-than-solid start by Bobby Madritsch tonight: 7 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, 116 pitches (74 strikes). I guess my only problem with Madritsch is that it seems to me he misses high a lot. Here's to those high pitches not getting bashed.
Both teams were held at bay by their opposing bullpens until the bottom of the 9th. It started out innocently enough. Scott Spiezio singled (huh?) with one out, and Willie Bloomquist pinch-ran. With the count 1-1 on Justin Leone, Juan Rincon made an errant pickoff throw that got past Justin Morneau at first and explored some foul territory. Bloomquist scooted to second and Dave Myers threw up the stop sign from the third-base coaches' box, though Bloomquist probably had a chance to nab third on the play. On the next pitch, Bloomquist took off toward third. Henry Blanco (a catcher with a past of decent gunning-down-runners rates) threw to third, with the throw being wide (away from the foul line). The ball hit Bloomquist on the nose during his headfirst slide into third, and went into foul territory as Bloomquist ran over Corey Koskie, tweaking the Minnesota third baseman's knee or ankle on the play. Bloomquist got up off the ground and scampered home. Ballgame.
Gameball: Bobby Madritsch. Just another solid start by the lefty. He wasn't rattled at all by having to put on the sleeves, and after the game, he didn't appear surprised about the decision due to the fact that he's a rookie. Here's an interesting thought: if this guy makes the rotation (probably back-end) out of spring training next year, how many innings do you think he could eat up over the course of a year?
Goat: Dan Wilson. 0-for-3, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, stranding one. I know Dan was probably helping Madritsch immensely, but there's no way in hell I'm goating Edgar for his 0-for-4.
We've seen the Mariners win and lose by walk-off balks, obstruction calls, and balls going off the runners' noses while trying to steal third. Can it get any weirder? I guess it could if you were listening to the KJR postgame show tonight. I'm not sure if they got through the Around the Horn segment (scores around baseball), and I don't think they gave out gameballs, of which the issuing is standard protocol. After they read off the score from the Arizona/Montreal game, they tried to dig up the attendance, which barely cracked 5000. It was also season ticketholders' night, where season ticketholders could exchange their past unused tickets for tickets to the game, which sort of makes no sense since they'd already have tickets to the game anyway. The producer looked at some of their promotions, and unlike the Mariners' giveaways which usually give to the first 12000 or so, the Expos' cutoff is 5000. One of the Expos' upcoming promotions is Blood Drive Night. Then I think one of the guys at the station had put their Edgar Bear on Ebay, so they were checking that. One bear was going for $100. The show went to hell in a handbasket, and was actually very entertaining.
Santana. Franklin. Tomorrow.
[Edit ~11:54p -- Forgot to mention the final two innings thrown by Scott Atchison and George Sherrill, the latter of whom got the win, which I think is his first Major League win.]
[Edit Thu ~12:40a -- I swear I did not steal the words "it," "started," "innocently," and "enough" from Batgirl's post, i.e., the part about the bottom of the 9th. Really, I didn't.]
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