Sunday, August 22, 2004
DOOM AND BLOOM
I sat there after the Mariner game today, taking into account the game's happenings, and I thought to myself, "do I really have to recap this game?" Alas, I do.
Not that I haven't sat on it long enough. It was pretty much an insanely boring Sunday for me, as the two most prevalent things I did in lieu of the recap were sleep and drive around with Van Halen playing.
Then I got back home. The mum made some sloppy joes, among which I have eaten way too much. Since the sloppies have probably relegated me to the chair I'm sitting in for a while, it's probably a good time to crank out the ol' recap.
After both teams went 1-2-3 in the 1st, Raul Ibanez led off the 2nd with a double off Mike Maroth, and advanced to third on a Bucky Jacobsen flyout to right. Jolbert Cabrera singled Ibanez across (SEA 1-0). Since I was eating breakfast and showering for a decent portion of the 10am hour, I can't say much about the play that ended the 2nd inning. If I'm reading it right, the ball Olivo hit must have been in the hole toward rightfield. The second baseman must have grabbed it and gunned out Olivo, and then Cabrera had to be tagged going to second. Wish I could have seen it, and then laughed.
The start of Gil Meche's 2nd inning looked like there might be a reversion to the Meche of earlier this year. He gave up three singles on five pitches. Eric Munson had a good ol' RBI groundout to tie it, then Marcus Thames flew out to Jose Lopez at short. Brandon Inge, who had a pretty good night on Friday, hit a 2-run double (DET 3-1).
Willie Bloomquist spent the Mariners' half of the third inning getting his team into and out of a scoring opportunity. He doubled to left with one out, and then got nailed on a pitch-out on the first pitch to Ichiro. Ichiro would reach on an infield single, probably his favorite kind of hit.
The Mariners had a small threat in the 4th against Maroth. Edgar Martinez drew a leadoff walk, and reached second one out later on an infield single by Bucky. Cabrera then bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Mariners broke the game their way in the 5th. Miguel Olivo and Jose Lopez led off with consecutive singles, with somewhat of a catch. Both plays involved Eric Munson at third, and both could have been called errors. I think one of the balls was hard-hit and went off his glove, but the other was a roller that went right under his glove as he was charging it. In any event, this basically lost the game because Bloomquist homered on the second pitch (SEA 4-3). This was followed by the earth crashing into the sun and brilliant flashes of light. Seriously, folks. He needed 372 Major League at-bats to get two home runs. He hadn't hit a homer in over 13 months. If Bloomquist gets signed to a 3-year deal due to his fan-favoriteness, as Jeremy is fearing (post directly below this one), can the Mariners have a spot on their roster for the Mariner blogosphere/consortium favorite? It'd be awesome. We could arrange home run derbies and steel cage matches between our blogosphere favorite and Bloomquist, maybe even go-kart races. It'd be great fun. You know, David Locke did a bunch of KJR ads for the Willows Run golf course involving greens fees for the price of Jeff Cirillo's batting average or the number of runs the Mariners scored in that last Yankee series. There's gotta be a Willie Bloomquist-related Willows Run promotion in the future.
Still in the Mariner 5th, Edgar walked with two out. Ibanez singled him over to second, and Bucky hit an RBI single (SEA 5-3). Little did we know this would cap the scoring.
Gil Meche had retired eight straight Tigers when he gave up an Inge double with one out in the 5th. Nook Logan (again, best baseball name of the last 20 years) singled to put runners on the corners. Meche managed to pick Logan off of first, and then he got Jason Smith to fly out and end the inning.
Meche pitched into the 7th. Inge and Logan singled with one out and both moved into scoring position on a Smith groundout. Meche was pulled. His line: 6 2/3 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 0 walks (very good), 4 strikeouts, 111 pitches (72 strikes). Basically, Meche only had the one bad inning (3rd). Let's just be thankful the lineup didn't turn back over to Carlos Guillen in that inning. Even with the unsightly inning, Meche did not walk a batter, which, well, that's great. Can we get Matt Thornton to do a Meche impersonation in this regard? George Sherrill threw two pitches and got Guillen to fly out and end the 7th.
The bottom of the 9th was preceded by semi-noteworthy things: Sherrill pitched a quick 1-2-3 8th, and the speed of Ichiro and Winn bailed them out of what would normally be two double-play balls in the 9th. JJ Putz, apparently the one with closer-type stuff, as we've been told, came on to shut the door. He got two quick outs, as anyone probably should against Omar Infante and Thames. Putz had Inge 0-2, but then muffed a comebacker to the mound. Rondell White came in to pinch hit, and singled on the first pitch. It was interesting, all right. Ivan Rodriguez came in to pinch hit, with Guillen on deck. Putz got ahead 1-2 before Ivan managed to work the count full. The final play of the game would be a sinking line drive to rightfield which landed in the glove of a charging and sprinting Ichiro.
Gameball: Bucky Jacobsen. 2-for-4 with an RBI single. Surely my pick (or my non-pick) doesn't surprise anyone.
Goat: Randy Winn. 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, stranding two? Yikes!
We know Willie Bloomquist was a Jeff Moorad client. Moorad is moving into the Arizona Diamondbacks front office, thanks to Jerry Colangelo getting pushed out. If an article comes across the wire saying Bloomquist has hired Scott Boras as his agent, then consider a 6-year, $70M contract for Bloomquist to remain a Mariner a done deal. If you ask the people that run this here blog, bat boy Demetrius deserves that contract before Bloomquist. On the heels of today's performance, is anyone else ready for a string of 0-for-4s?
Kazmir (hoo boy). Madritsch. Tomorrow.
Not that I haven't sat on it long enough. It was pretty much an insanely boring Sunday for me, as the two most prevalent things I did in lieu of the recap were sleep and drive around with Van Halen playing.
Then I got back home. The mum made some sloppy joes, among which I have eaten way too much. Since the sloppies have probably relegated me to the chair I'm sitting in for a while, it's probably a good time to crank out the ol' recap.
After both teams went 1-2-3 in the 1st, Raul Ibanez led off the 2nd with a double off Mike Maroth, and advanced to third on a Bucky Jacobsen flyout to right. Jolbert Cabrera singled Ibanez across (SEA 1-0). Since I was eating breakfast and showering for a decent portion of the 10am hour, I can't say much about the play that ended the 2nd inning. If I'm reading it right, the ball Olivo hit must have been in the hole toward rightfield. The second baseman must have grabbed it and gunned out Olivo, and then Cabrera had to be tagged going to second. Wish I could have seen it, and then laughed.
The start of Gil Meche's 2nd inning looked like there might be a reversion to the Meche of earlier this year. He gave up three singles on five pitches. Eric Munson had a good ol' RBI groundout to tie it, then Marcus Thames flew out to Jose Lopez at short. Brandon Inge, who had a pretty good night on Friday, hit a 2-run double (DET 3-1).
Willie Bloomquist spent the Mariners' half of the third inning getting his team into and out of a scoring opportunity. He doubled to left with one out, and then got nailed on a pitch-out on the first pitch to Ichiro. Ichiro would reach on an infield single, probably his favorite kind of hit.
The Mariners had a small threat in the 4th against Maroth. Edgar Martinez drew a leadoff walk, and reached second one out later on an infield single by Bucky. Cabrera then bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The Mariners broke the game their way in the 5th. Miguel Olivo and Jose Lopez led off with consecutive singles, with somewhat of a catch. Both plays involved Eric Munson at third, and both could have been called errors. I think one of the balls was hard-hit and went off his glove, but the other was a roller that went right under his glove as he was charging it. In any event, this basically lost the game because Bloomquist homered on the second pitch (SEA 4-3). This was followed by the earth crashing into the sun and brilliant flashes of light. Seriously, folks. He needed 372 Major League at-bats to get two home runs. He hadn't hit a homer in over 13 months. If Bloomquist gets signed to a 3-year deal due to his fan-favoriteness, as Jeremy is fearing (post directly below this one), can the Mariners have a spot on their roster for the Mariner blogosphere/consortium favorite? It'd be awesome. We could arrange home run derbies and steel cage matches between our blogosphere favorite and Bloomquist, maybe even go-kart races. It'd be great fun. You know, David Locke did a bunch of KJR ads for the Willows Run golf course involving greens fees for the price of Jeff Cirillo's batting average or the number of runs the Mariners scored in that last Yankee series. There's gotta be a Willie Bloomquist-related Willows Run promotion in the future.
Still in the Mariner 5th, Edgar walked with two out. Ibanez singled him over to second, and Bucky hit an RBI single (SEA 5-3). Little did we know this would cap the scoring.
Gil Meche had retired eight straight Tigers when he gave up an Inge double with one out in the 5th. Nook Logan (again, best baseball name of the last 20 years) singled to put runners on the corners. Meche managed to pick Logan off of first, and then he got Jason Smith to fly out and end the inning.
Meche pitched into the 7th. Inge and Logan singled with one out and both moved into scoring position on a Smith groundout. Meche was pulled. His line: 6 2/3 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 0 walks (very good), 4 strikeouts, 111 pitches (72 strikes). Basically, Meche only had the one bad inning (3rd). Let's just be thankful the lineup didn't turn back over to Carlos Guillen in that inning. Even with the unsightly inning, Meche did not walk a batter, which, well, that's great. Can we get Matt Thornton to do a Meche impersonation in this regard? George Sherrill threw two pitches and got Guillen to fly out and end the 7th.
The bottom of the 9th was preceded by semi-noteworthy things: Sherrill pitched a quick 1-2-3 8th, and the speed of Ichiro and Winn bailed them out of what would normally be two double-play balls in the 9th. JJ Putz, apparently the one with closer-type stuff, as we've been told, came on to shut the door. He got two quick outs, as anyone probably should against Omar Infante and Thames. Putz had Inge 0-2, but then muffed a comebacker to the mound. Rondell White came in to pinch hit, and singled on the first pitch. It was interesting, all right. Ivan Rodriguez came in to pinch hit, with Guillen on deck. Putz got ahead 1-2 before Ivan managed to work the count full. The final play of the game would be a sinking line drive to rightfield which landed in the glove of a charging and sprinting Ichiro.
Gameball: Bucky Jacobsen. 2-for-4 with an RBI single. Surely my pick (or my non-pick) doesn't surprise anyone.
Goat: Randy Winn. 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, stranding two? Yikes!
We know Willie Bloomquist was a Jeff Moorad client. Moorad is moving into the Arizona Diamondbacks front office, thanks to Jerry Colangelo getting pushed out. If an article comes across the wire saying Bloomquist has hired Scott Boras as his agent, then consider a 6-year, $70M contract for Bloomquist to remain a Mariner a done deal. If you ask the people that run this here blog, bat boy Demetrius deserves that contract before Bloomquist. On the heels of today's performance, is anyone else ready for a string of 0-for-4s?
Kazmir (hoo boy). Madritsch. Tomorrow.
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