Sunday, August 15, 2004
COLLAPSE
This time, it wasn't the Mariners' bullpen giving the game away. The crowd of 46335 saw the Mariners put together the big inning and keep the Yankees from sweeping their first series in Seattle since 1990. The crowd was the eighth sellout this year, with six of those sellouts being against the Yankees.
Gil Meche took the mound for the Mariners hoping to do something similar to what he did in his last start against the Twins, you know, that eight-inning start upstaged by the revelations of the injuries to Rafael Soriano and Eddie Guardado. It looked a little bleak after the one-out Derek Jeter double in the first, but Meche got Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui both to fly out.
Ichiro led off for the Mariners as usual in the bottom of the first. As not usual, he rattled a ball off the windows of the Hit It Here Cafe, a 424-foot mash that gave the Mariners an early lead (SEA 1-0).
Meche's 3rd inning was similar to his 1st. John Flaherty hit the one-out double this time, and Kenny Lofton (fly to Jose Lopez at short) and Jeter (groundout to Lopez) were retired to end the inning.
Ichiro was a one-man show in the bottom of the third. He legged out an infield single with one out, stole second on the first pitch to Randy Winn, then stole third on the 2-0 pitch. The problem? Winn would foul off two pitches after being up 3-0 (yes, he swung on 3-0) and Kevin Brown caught him looking. Edgar Martinez then grounded out to third. In sum: runner on third with one out, so what?
Meche allowed a one-out double to Matsui in the 4th, and Bernie Williams is on fire against the Mariners. He singled to drive in Matsui and tie the score at 1-1.
There would be some more futility for the Mariner offense in the 4th. Raul Ibanez doubled to lead off, and Bret Boone dinked one into the outfield. The situation this time: runners on the corners with nobody out. Unfortunately, Scott Spiezio inexplicably was batting 6th today. Doubly inexplicable is the fact he was in the lineup anyway and is still getting at-bats. Why? Why is this? Anyway, he had a classic 2004 Spiezio moment, popping out to Jeter. Miguel Olivo followed suit with the same play, except he would redeem himself later. Boone stole second with Lopez at bat, which was rendered moot when Lopez walked anyway. Bases loaded, two out. Sounds like a great time to have Willie Bloomquist at bat, right? God, this team sucks. Of course, the best thing to do if you have the bases loaded with two out in a tie game is to swing on the first pitch. Wait, no it's not. Anyway, Bloomquist flew out weakly to Kenny Lofton to end the inning. He would have only three more moments of suckitude in this game.
The next Willie Bloomquist Moment of Suckitude would occur in the 6th. Gary Sheffield bounced a ball to Bloomquist at third, who uncorked a high throw toward first. Spiezio only got the tip of his glove on it, and it ended up in foul ground. Sheffield ended up on second. Two pitches later, Matsui hit a no-doubter of a smash to right (I knew this even with the behind-the-plate cam they had showing on that pitch) about five rows back of the Boeing ad to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead, which seemed like a pretty formidable one given the Yankees' bullpen reputation.
Then came the 7th. Miguel Olivo led off with a single to leftcenter. Olivo took off for second on the first pitch to Lopez. John Flaherty's throw went into centerfield, and Olivo took third on the play. Lopez doubled to left to score Olivo.
The Mariners had Lopez standing on second with nobody out. The following words (paraphrased) were spoken as my Dad and I were listening to the car radio...
Dave Niehaus: Willie Bloomquist is squaring around to bunt...
Dad: Why are they having him bunt?
Me: It makes no sense, unless you figure that's all he's good for.
Niehaus: If a base hit is going to get him home anyway, what's the point in bunting?
Ron Fairly: There's nobody out.
Dad: Isn't that like wasting an out?
Me (thinking hours later): Ichiro was up next. If Ichiro gets a base hit (he's been doing that a lot lately), it doesn't matter whether the runner is on second or third.
Okay, I'm counting this as a Willie Bloomquist Moment of Suckitude even though it's really Bob Melvin who put him into what I think is a stupid situation in the first place. Melvin gave him the bunt sign. Of course, Bloomquist fouled off three bunts, and of course, another problem is that you can't foul one off with two strikes. Boos rained down from the crowd, and I could only hope that most of them were directed just as much at Melvin as they were at Bloomquist. No numbskull moment of this magnitude would follow in the inning, however. Kevin Brown was pulled for CJ Nitkowski. Ichiro had a 3-0 count and ended up walking. Exit Nitkowski, enter Paul Quantrill. Quantrill today looked more like the Quantrill that played for Toronto years ago who the Mariners used to tee off against. Winn singled (tie 3-3). Edgar singled (SEA 4-3). Raul Ibanez singled to load the bases. Quantrill was pulled for Scott Proctor. Bret Boone walked (SEA 5-3). Spiezio had another classic 2004 Spiezio moment, whiffing. Miguel Olivo was the 10th batter to reach the plate, and he hit a two-run single to cap the scoring (SEA 7-3).
Yeah, I kind of cringed when Matt Thornton trotted out of the bullpen for the 8th. Luckily, he didn't totally suck, and no runners scored.
The last Willie Bloomquist Moment of Suckitude was when he was caught looking to lead off the 8th.
JJ Putz cut through the 8-9-1 hitters of the Yankee lineup with relative ease in the 9th.
Gameball: Miguel Olivo. 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and the dagger of a hit in the 7th. He can't block a ball in the dirt worth a damn, but if Miguel flashes some power every once in a while and has a game like this every couple weeks, I'm a tiny bit more willing to look the other way on those balls in the dirt. Of course, I'll expect more after spring training next year. Also, though not the gameball, Meche had another solid start, giving the bullpen a little bit of rest heading into the off day after the innings they've logged the last couple days.
Goat: Willie Bloomquist. 0-for-4, stranded four, struck out twice, couldn't bunt, threw the ball past Spiezio at first. Enough said. Without checking the boxscores of the other games, Scott Spiezio and Willie Bloomquist had to be the crappiest corner infielders to take the field for any team in the Majors today.
Off day for the Mariners tomorrow, with a six-game road trip to follow against the Royals and Tigers. I'm betting on a 7-for-11 series out of Carlos Guillen. What to do tomorrow, hmm...Tara Kirk swims at 10am in the 100m breaststroke final, but I sort of doubt anyone's carrying that live. As for other sports I've been watching, there's been a lot of crew racing coverage between NBC/CNBC/CBC along with fencing, softball, some baseball (the Canadians were whooping Taiwan today), and some 123-pound Turkish dudes lifting three times their weight in the clean-and-jerk. I also saw some badminton today, and holy crap, that's a far cry from the game we were playing in PE in high school. Damn, they were fast. In a related note, both injuries I had during my senior season of high school baseball occurred in PE. The first was when I hyperextended/jammed a toe on my left foot coming down from a jumpshot (basketball). The other was when I attempted some sort of jump/smash (badminton) and rolled the right ankle, which sucked because I was on the best offensive tear of my life at the plate. It cost me a couple of games. I then went on to suck brutally for my summer ball team. Seriously, it was sad. Couldn't hit for crap.
Hope you all enjoyed that last stream-of-consciousness paragraph, which started out as a look ahead for the Mariners, took an Olympic tangent, then devolved into normal self-loathing.
Madritsch. May. Tuesday.
Gil Meche took the mound for the Mariners hoping to do something similar to what he did in his last start against the Twins, you know, that eight-inning start upstaged by the revelations of the injuries to Rafael Soriano and Eddie Guardado. It looked a little bleak after the one-out Derek Jeter double in the first, but Meche got Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui both to fly out.
Ichiro led off for the Mariners as usual in the bottom of the first. As not usual, he rattled a ball off the windows of the Hit It Here Cafe, a 424-foot mash that gave the Mariners an early lead (SEA 1-0).
Meche's 3rd inning was similar to his 1st. John Flaherty hit the one-out double this time, and Kenny Lofton (fly to Jose Lopez at short) and Jeter (groundout to Lopez) were retired to end the inning.
Ichiro was a one-man show in the bottom of the third. He legged out an infield single with one out, stole second on the first pitch to Randy Winn, then stole third on the 2-0 pitch. The problem? Winn would foul off two pitches after being up 3-0 (yes, he swung on 3-0) and Kevin Brown caught him looking. Edgar Martinez then grounded out to third. In sum: runner on third with one out, so what?
Meche allowed a one-out double to Matsui in the 4th, and Bernie Williams is on fire against the Mariners. He singled to drive in Matsui and tie the score at 1-1.
There would be some more futility for the Mariner offense in the 4th. Raul Ibanez doubled to lead off, and Bret Boone dinked one into the outfield. The situation this time: runners on the corners with nobody out. Unfortunately, Scott Spiezio inexplicably was batting 6th today. Doubly inexplicable is the fact he was in the lineup anyway and is still getting at-bats. Why? Why is this? Anyway, he had a classic 2004 Spiezio moment, popping out to Jeter. Miguel Olivo followed suit with the same play, except he would redeem himself later. Boone stole second with Lopez at bat, which was rendered moot when Lopez walked anyway. Bases loaded, two out. Sounds like a great time to have Willie Bloomquist at bat, right? God, this team sucks. Of course, the best thing to do if you have the bases loaded with two out in a tie game is to swing on the first pitch. Wait, no it's not. Anyway, Bloomquist flew out weakly to Kenny Lofton to end the inning. He would have only three more moments of suckitude in this game.
The next Willie Bloomquist Moment of Suckitude would occur in the 6th. Gary Sheffield bounced a ball to Bloomquist at third, who uncorked a high throw toward first. Spiezio only got the tip of his glove on it, and it ended up in foul ground. Sheffield ended up on second. Two pitches later, Matsui hit a no-doubter of a smash to right (I knew this even with the behind-the-plate cam they had showing on that pitch) about five rows back of the Boeing ad to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead, which seemed like a pretty formidable one given the Yankees' bullpen reputation.
Then came the 7th. Miguel Olivo led off with a single to leftcenter. Olivo took off for second on the first pitch to Lopez. John Flaherty's throw went into centerfield, and Olivo took third on the play. Lopez doubled to left to score Olivo.
The Mariners had Lopez standing on second with nobody out. The following words (paraphrased) were spoken as my Dad and I were listening to the car radio...
Dave Niehaus: Willie Bloomquist is squaring around to bunt...
Dad: Why are they having him bunt?
Me: It makes no sense, unless you figure that's all he's good for.
Niehaus: If a base hit is going to get him home anyway, what's the point in bunting?
Ron Fairly: There's nobody out.
Dad: Isn't that like wasting an out?
Me (thinking hours later): Ichiro was up next. If Ichiro gets a base hit (he's been doing that a lot lately), it doesn't matter whether the runner is on second or third.
Okay, I'm counting this as a Willie Bloomquist Moment of Suckitude even though it's really Bob Melvin who put him into what I think is a stupid situation in the first place. Melvin gave him the bunt sign. Of course, Bloomquist fouled off three bunts, and of course, another problem is that you can't foul one off with two strikes. Boos rained down from the crowd, and I could only hope that most of them were directed just as much at Melvin as they were at Bloomquist. No numbskull moment of this magnitude would follow in the inning, however. Kevin Brown was pulled for CJ Nitkowski. Ichiro had a 3-0 count and ended up walking. Exit Nitkowski, enter Paul Quantrill. Quantrill today looked more like the Quantrill that played for Toronto years ago who the Mariners used to tee off against. Winn singled (tie 3-3). Edgar singled (SEA 4-3). Raul Ibanez singled to load the bases. Quantrill was pulled for Scott Proctor. Bret Boone walked (SEA 5-3). Spiezio had another classic 2004 Spiezio moment, whiffing. Miguel Olivo was the 10th batter to reach the plate, and he hit a two-run single to cap the scoring (SEA 7-3).
Yeah, I kind of cringed when Matt Thornton trotted out of the bullpen for the 8th. Luckily, he didn't totally suck, and no runners scored.
The last Willie Bloomquist Moment of Suckitude was when he was caught looking to lead off the 8th.
JJ Putz cut through the 8-9-1 hitters of the Yankee lineup with relative ease in the 9th.
Gameball: Miguel Olivo. 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and the dagger of a hit in the 7th. He can't block a ball in the dirt worth a damn, but if Miguel flashes some power every once in a while and has a game like this every couple weeks, I'm a tiny bit more willing to look the other way on those balls in the dirt. Of course, I'll expect more after spring training next year. Also, though not the gameball, Meche had another solid start, giving the bullpen a little bit of rest heading into the off day after the innings they've logged the last couple days.
Goat: Willie Bloomquist. 0-for-4, stranded four, struck out twice, couldn't bunt, threw the ball past Spiezio at first. Enough said. Without checking the boxscores of the other games, Scott Spiezio and Willie Bloomquist had to be the crappiest corner infielders to take the field for any team in the Majors today.
Off day for the Mariners tomorrow, with a six-game road trip to follow against the Royals and Tigers. I'm betting on a 7-for-11 series out of Carlos Guillen. What to do tomorrow, hmm...Tara Kirk swims at 10am in the 100m breaststroke final, but I sort of doubt anyone's carrying that live. As for other sports I've been watching, there's been a lot of crew racing coverage between NBC/CNBC/CBC along with fencing, softball, some baseball (the Canadians were whooping Taiwan today), and some 123-pound Turkish dudes lifting three times their weight in the clean-and-jerk. I also saw some badminton today, and holy crap, that's a far cry from the game we were playing in PE in high school. Damn, they were fast. In a related note, both injuries I had during my senior season of high school baseball occurred in PE. The first was when I hyperextended/jammed a toe on my left foot coming down from a jumpshot (basketball). The other was when I attempted some sort of jump/smash (badminton) and rolled the right ankle, which sucked because I was on the best offensive tear of my life at the plate. It cost me a couple of games. I then went on to suck brutally for my summer ball team. Seriously, it was sad. Couldn't hit for crap.
Hope you all enjoyed that last stream-of-consciousness paragraph, which started out as a look ahead for the Mariners, took an Olympic tangent, then devolved into normal self-loathing.
Madritsch. May. Tuesday.
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