Thursday, August 05, 2004
MY RAIN OF MISERY
It was time once again to play the every-five-days game of "Will Gil Meche Get Rocked Tonight?"
The answer tonight was no. Meche pitched a somewhat topsy-turvy six innings, looking near-stellar at times, and off-target and on the verge of losing it at other times. Bill Krueger was on the TV wondering why Meche wasn't getting more first-pitch strikes with his fastball, and instead chose to go with soft stuff on the first pitch (18 of the 27 Oriole batters Meche faced saw a ball on the first pitch). Meche on multiple occasions appeared to have trouble finding the release point on his breaking balls, often leaving them too high, but mostly outside also. Still, others escaped the grasp of Miguel Olivo, who was tagged with a passed ball. Basically with the whole thing about the Orioles seeing a ton of slow stuff on the first pitch; it's either the dugout or Olivo calling for it, or it's Gil not trusting his stuff, and his blazing 94mph fastball he had going for most of the night. Overall, I'd have to say Gil did an okay job tonight. His line: 6 innings, 3 runs (2 earned), 9 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, 108 pitches (62 strikes).
However, it looked bleak for Meche to start off. Brian Roberts nearly parked one to lead off the game, and instead ended up with a double off the scoreboard in rightfield. Roberts fouled off a couple Meche pitches during the course of the game that had home-run distance. Roberts ended up on third after a David Newhan groundout. Melvin Mora bounced a ball to Willie Bloomquist at third, who checked the runner. He checked the runner again. He checked the runner one more time. Lucky for him, Mora isn't a step faster, because he was damn near safe on the play. Miguel Tejada was greenlighted on 3-0 and roped a laser beam in Bloomquist's direction. Bloomquist climbed the ladder a bit, and was insanely lucky and snow-coned it. No word on if Bloomquist is using the Ivan Calderon signature Wilson A2000 mitt.
Gil became victim of the defense behind him in the 2nd inning. Javy Lopez was standing on second as a result of his own infield single, and the Olivo passed ball. With two out, Meche went 3-0 on bullpen bouncer Karim Garcia, who hit a ball to Jose Lopez at short. Lopez fielded the ball cleanly, then launched one about 10 feet over Bucky Jacobsen at first and into the stands. Garcia was credited with an infield single, and he took second on the error. Javy Lopez scored. I think in the first game of the doubleheader on Tuesday, there were three Lopezes on the field, but I digress. At this point, Dave Niehaus was on the TV talking about how everything he'd heard about Jose Lopez was that he hit well, but had some trouble defensively. Niehaus said he hadn't heard whether the problems were with catching or throwing, but he found out pretty quick. This gave Baltimore an early 1-0 lead.
Realizing he had his best game of the year yesterday, Willie Bloomquist grounded into a double play in the 3rd, with a torrid Ichiro hitting behind him. Yes, Ichiro singled.
Back to Meche. His first inning was solid after the Roberts double. His second inning, he had to weather the error. His third inning, he allowed only a Mora two-out single and struck out the side.
In terms of Mariner offense, 6'7" Daniel Cabrera hadn't given the Mariners anything, really, through the first five innings. By anything, I mean "runners in scoring position with less than two out."
Meche gave up all his runs in the 4th, and all of them with two outs. Singles by BJ Surhoff and Garcia were followed by a Jerry Hairston Jr. walk to load the bases. Roberts came up again and got a maligned breaking ball from Meche (letter-high?) that Roberts knocked into leftcenter to put the Orioles up 3-0.
But the Mariners had to tie the game to make it interesting. Luckily Daniel Cabrera is a pretty young lad, which no doubt helped in the Mariners' plight for three runs in the 6th. Ichiro tripled deep to leftcenter (I think Hairston dove for the ball and it was just out of his reach), and scored when Randy Winn golfed one out to the left of the scoreboard in right (BAL 3-2). Winn's swing confounds me. It's somewhat of a quick, short contact swing, and the ball is quick off his bat. Then I realize sometimes he hits home runs, then I remember that he rattled the windows of the Hit it Here Cafe last year. How the hell did he do that? I still wonder that to this day. Must have been the perfect storm of hip rotation, mechanics, and hand-eye, I guess. Still, Edgar walked after the homer and Bucky Jacobsen singled. Jose Lopez bounced an infield single two outs later to load the bases. Miguel Olivo drew a bases-loaded walk to cap the scoring for the Mariners and tie the game at 3-3.
Gil Meche had a decent sixth and left the game with the no-decision. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came on in the 7th and played his 2004 role splendidly. He came on to face the top of the Oriole lineup. Roberts walked. Newhan laid down a bunt. Mora walked. Miguel Tejada was up with one out. He swung at the first pitch, bouncing one to Bloomquist at third base on what should have been an inning-ending 5-3 third-to-first double play. Not if you can't come up with the ball though. The bases were now loaded with one out and Rafael Palmeiro coming to the plate, yet to really kill the Mariners in this series, as has been his past reputation. Hasegawa was pulled, Mike Myers was put in. It only took two pitches. A single to rightfield put the game on ice for the Orioles (BAL 5-3), with the wild pitch to Javy Lopez only adding icing to the cake (BAL 6-3).
Yes, I've looked over the play-by-play and have realized that the only inning in which the Mariners had a runner in scoring position with less than two out was the 6th, when they scored all their runs. Yup, great stuff. Young Cabrera holds them down for the most part, Buddy Groom does what he does, Todd Williams is a no-name (of course the Mariners won't hit him), the Mariners are drinking the Jason Grimsley Kool-Aid, and Jorge Julio turns out the lights. Ballgame.
Gameball: Randy Winn. 2-for-4 with the two-run homer and a walk. Is it just me, or does this guy only hit well when the Mariners suck? Looks like two good second halves in a row for Randy. I've thought about good performances when the team's sucked, then I look no further than Alex Rodriguez and his lines in 1996 and 1998 (the 40/40 season), when the Mariners amassed records of 85-76 and 76-85 (flip-floppin'), respectively. His 1997 year didn't quite stack up to those two (I'm not remembering injuries here), and his average was a bit off in 1999. Of course, in 2000, he drew 100 walks, and he hasn't done that since. Oh yeah, I gave the gameball to Randy Winn. Didn't realize this after looking at Alex's career stats and all.
Goat: Willie Bloomquist. One day after having the best game I've seen him play all year, he gives us quite the stinker. 0-for-4, strikes out once, strands four, hits into a double play. That's before I even mention when he nearly lets Melvin Mora get aboard in the first while he's too busy checking the runner at third who would have been stupid to break for home, and before he boots the ball to load the bases in a tie game in the 7th to set up Rafael Palmeiro's annual Mariner-bashing. Oh yeah, Ichiro hit behind Bloomquist and went 3-for-5, with only the triple leading off an inning (i.e., no Bloomquist in front of him). Only 3-for-5, that's all. If Willie gets on base just once...
Also, Bill Krueger's rationale of Gil Meche staying in after the 57-minute rain delay in the 2nd: "they're young arms." Of course, this may have prevented Gil from going longer than 6 innings.
Louuuuuuu. Are we in for a 1-0 redux of last year?
Madritsch. Sosa. Fifteen hours.
[Edit ~1:25a -- Added more Ichiro stuff to the goat section.]
The answer tonight was no. Meche pitched a somewhat topsy-turvy six innings, looking near-stellar at times, and off-target and on the verge of losing it at other times. Bill Krueger was on the TV wondering why Meche wasn't getting more first-pitch strikes with his fastball, and instead chose to go with soft stuff on the first pitch (18 of the 27 Oriole batters Meche faced saw a ball on the first pitch). Meche on multiple occasions appeared to have trouble finding the release point on his breaking balls, often leaving them too high, but mostly outside also. Still, others escaped the grasp of Miguel Olivo, who was tagged with a passed ball. Basically with the whole thing about the Orioles seeing a ton of slow stuff on the first pitch; it's either the dugout or Olivo calling for it, or it's Gil not trusting his stuff, and his blazing 94mph fastball he had going for most of the night. Overall, I'd have to say Gil did an okay job tonight. His line: 6 innings, 3 runs (2 earned), 9 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, 108 pitches (62 strikes).
However, it looked bleak for Meche to start off. Brian Roberts nearly parked one to lead off the game, and instead ended up with a double off the scoreboard in rightfield. Roberts fouled off a couple Meche pitches during the course of the game that had home-run distance. Roberts ended up on third after a David Newhan groundout. Melvin Mora bounced a ball to Willie Bloomquist at third, who checked the runner. He checked the runner again. He checked the runner one more time. Lucky for him, Mora isn't a step faster, because he was damn near safe on the play. Miguel Tejada was greenlighted on 3-0 and roped a laser beam in Bloomquist's direction. Bloomquist climbed the ladder a bit, and was insanely lucky and snow-coned it. No word on if Bloomquist is using the Ivan Calderon signature Wilson A2000 mitt.
Gil became victim of the defense behind him in the 2nd inning. Javy Lopez was standing on second as a result of his own infield single, and the Olivo passed ball. With two out, Meche went 3-0 on bullpen bouncer Karim Garcia, who hit a ball to Jose Lopez at short. Lopez fielded the ball cleanly, then launched one about 10 feet over Bucky Jacobsen at first and into the stands. Garcia was credited with an infield single, and he took second on the error. Javy Lopez scored. I think in the first game of the doubleheader on Tuesday, there were three Lopezes on the field, but I digress. At this point, Dave Niehaus was on the TV talking about how everything he'd heard about Jose Lopez was that he hit well, but had some trouble defensively. Niehaus said he hadn't heard whether the problems were with catching or throwing, but he found out pretty quick. This gave Baltimore an early 1-0 lead.
Realizing he had his best game of the year yesterday, Willie Bloomquist grounded into a double play in the 3rd, with a torrid Ichiro hitting behind him. Yes, Ichiro singled.
Back to Meche. His first inning was solid after the Roberts double. His second inning, he had to weather the error. His third inning, he allowed only a Mora two-out single and struck out the side.
In terms of Mariner offense, 6'7" Daniel Cabrera hadn't given the Mariners anything, really, through the first five innings. By anything, I mean "runners in scoring position with less than two out."
Meche gave up all his runs in the 4th, and all of them with two outs. Singles by BJ Surhoff and Garcia were followed by a Jerry Hairston Jr. walk to load the bases. Roberts came up again and got a maligned breaking ball from Meche (letter-high?) that Roberts knocked into leftcenter to put the Orioles up 3-0.
But the Mariners had to tie the game to make it interesting. Luckily Daniel Cabrera is a pretty young lad, which no doubt helped in the Mariners' plight for three runs in the 6th. Ichiro tripled deep to leftcenter (I think Hairston dove for the ball and it was just out of his reach), and scored when Randy Winn golfed one out to the left of the scoreboard in right (BAL 3-2). Winn's swing confounds me. It's somewhat of a quick, short contact swing, and the ball is quick off his bat. Then I realize sometimes he hits home runs, then I remember that he rattled the windows of the Hit it Here Cafe last year. How the hell did he do that? I still wonder that to this day. Must have been the perfect storm of hip rotation, mechanics, and hand-eye, I guess. Still, Edgar walked after the homer and Bucky Jacobsen singled. Jose Lopez bounced an infield single two outs later to load the bases. Miguel Olivo drew a bases-loaded walk to cap the scoring for the Mariners and tie the game at 3-3.
Gil Meche had a decent sixth and left the game with the no-decision. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came on in the 7th and played his 2004 role splendidly. He came on to face the top of the Oriole lineup. Roberts walked. Newhan laid down a bunt. Mora walked. Miguel Tejada was up with one out. He swung at the first pitch, bouncing one to Bloomquist at third base on what should have been an inning-ending 5-3 third-to-first double play. Not if you can't come up with the ball though. The bases were now loaded with one out and Rafael Palmeiro coming to the plate, yet to really kill the Mariners in this series, as has been his past reputation. Hasegawa was pulled, Mike Myers was put in. It only took two pitches. A single to rightfield put the game on ice for the Orioles (BAL 5-3), with the wild pitch to Javy Lopez only adding icing to the cake (BAL 6-3).
Yes, I've looked over the play-by-play and have realized that the only inning in which the Mariners had a runner in scoring position with less than two out was the 6th, when they scored all their runs. Yup, great stuff. Young Cabrera holds them down for the most part, Buddy Groom does what he does, Todd Williams is a no-name (of course the Mariners won't hit him), the Mariners are drinking the Jason Grimsley Kool-Aid, and Jorge Julio turns out the lights. Ballgame.
Gameball: Randy Winn. 2-for-4 with the two-run homer and a walk. Is it just me, or does this guy only hit well when the Mariners suck? Looks like two good second halves in a row for Randy. I've thought about good performances when the team's sucked, then I look no further than Alex Rodriguez and his lines in 1996 and 1998 (the 40/40 season), when the Mariners amassed records of 85-76 and 76-85 (flip-floppin'), respectively. His 1997 year didn't quite stack up to those two (I'm not remembering injuries here), and his average was a bit off in 1999. Of course, in 2000, he drew 100 walks, and he hasn't done that since. Oh yeah, I gave the gameball to Randy Winn. Didn't realize this after looking at Alex's career stats and all.
Goat: Willie Bloomquist. One day after having the best game I've seen him play all year, he gives us quite the stinker. 0-for-4, strikes out once, strands four, hits into a double play. That's before I even mention when he nearly lets Melvin Mora get aboard in the first while he's too busy checking the runner at third who would have been stupid to break for home, and before he boots the ball to load the bases in a tie game in the 7th to set up Rafael Palmeiro's annual Mariner-bashing. Oh yeah, Ichiro hit behind Bloomquist and went 3-for-5, with only the triple leading off an inning (i.e., no Bloomquist in front of him). Only 3-for-5, that's all. If Willie gets on base just once...
Also, Bill Krueger's rationale of Gil Meche staying in after the 57-minute rain delay in the 2nd: "they're young arms." Of course, this may have prevented Gil from going longer than 6 innings.
Louuuuuuu. Are we in for a 1-0 redux of last year?
Madritsch. Sosa. Fifteen hours.
[Edit ~1:25a -- Added more Ichiro stuff to the goat section.]
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