Thursday, August 12, 2004
OYE COMO VA
Ryan Franklin had the crappy outing he was probably due for as the Mariners fell to Johan Santana, Justin Morneau, and the Twins by a score of 6-3 this afternoon.
Ryan Franklin got through Shannon Stewart and Augie Ojeda with relative ease to start off the first inning. Lew Ford worked the count full and doubled to rightfield. Justin Morneau then smashed a 2-1 pitch into the seats in rightfield to give the Twins a quick 2-0 lead out of the gate.
Franklin would continue to have his problems in the 2nd. Jacque Jones and Mike Cuddyer drew walks to start the inning. Franklin got Henry Blanco to hit a comebacker to the mound, and the lead runner (Jones) was forced out at third. Franklin struck out Luis Rivas swinging for the second out. The third out didn't come soon enough, however, as Stewart tripled to rightfield to give the Twins a 4-0 lead early.
Johan Santana had a more than solid start today. In combination with Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan, the Twins' pitchers did not allow a single baserunner into scoring position with less than two out. Santana didn't escape without some semi-contentious situations though. He allowed the solo homer to Hiram Bocachica with one out in the 3rd (MIN 4-1), then stranded Ichiro on second by catching Randy Winn looking. In the 4th, with two out, Bucky Jacobsen, Jolbert Cabrera, and Miguel Olivo all singled (Olivo infield), but Bocachica bounced a ball to Cuddyer at third to end that "rally." Santana walked Edgar Martinez to lead off the 6th, and then struck out the side swinging (Bret Boone, Jacobsen, Cabrera).
In the 5th, Franklin saw almost the same fate that he had in the 1st. Ford doubled, Morneau mashed (centerfield this time, MIN 6-1). That would be his final inning of work. His line: 5 innings, 6 runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 81 pitches (53 strikes). Luckily a combination of the off day Monday along with the deep-into-the-game performances by Gil Meche and Bobby Madritsch left the bullpen in pretty good shape for eating four innings today. By the way, Franklin has lost his last seven decisions. Yes, it's a far cry from last year.
So, the Mariners were down 6-1, and if they ever got close, they'd probably draw Joe Nathan in the 9th anyway, so the game was pretty much lost. That said, there was probably no better time for the likes of Clint Nageotte, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and Matt Thornton to be called on for some work.
In the 6th, Clint Nageotte loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk (Rivas, Stewart, Ojeda) before getting Lew Ford to get doubled up rather than having him hit a double, something Franklin had grown familiar with. Nageotte then had two assists in a 1-2-3 7th inning. Surely having Clint pitch two innings without completely losing his mind has to be a good thing.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning, which surprised me less than Nageotte's two mentally lossless innings, even considering Hasegawa's propensity for putting fuel on the fire this year.
Edgar singled to lead off the 8th, and Bret Boone homered the other way (a good sign for him, MIN 6-3) off Jesse Crain to extend his hitting streak to 16 games and ensure that Joe Nathan would pitch the 9th.
Matt Thornton continued the train of recently maligned Mariner bullpen arms, setting down the top of the order in 1-2-3 fashion in the 9th and not walking anybody.
Sure enough, Joe Nathan was called on to pitch the 9th, and pitch he did. With gasoline. Bocachica, Jose Lopez, and Ichiro all whiffed in succession. Ballgame over. Twins win, then all join a rousing chorus of that time-tested classic, "Win Twins."
Gameball: Matt Thornton. He pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning, struck out two, and didn't walk anybody or give up eight runs or anything like that. It was nice to see one of the non-Madritsch newbies get through without getting into any hot water (like Nageotte did).
Goat: Ryan Franklin. I would have been okay with six innings out of Franklin today. A five-inning start doesn't kill the bullpen by any means thanks to the starts by Meche and Madritsch as I mentioned earlier, but the Yankees are coming in and Ron Villone is pitching tomorrow, and he'll be extremely lucky if he gets into the 7th.
It certainly is weird to think that even with the Mariners' losing ways this season, a win today would have given them the season series over the Twins. Hard to believe, yes.
Now it's time for a sold-out weekend series with the Yankees, i.e., three games whose street equivalent would be knives brought to a gunfight. Or maybe another weapon equivalent would be the Seattle Catapults hosting the New York 500-Pound Laser-Guided Bombs. In any event, one win for the Mariners would be somewhat realistic.
Lieber. Villone. Tomorrow.
Ryan Franklin got through Shannon Stewart and Augie Ojeda with relative ease to start off the first inning. Lew Ford worked the count full and doubled to rightfield. Justin Morneau then smashed a 2-1 pitch into the seats in rightfield to give the Twins a quick 2-0 lead out of the gate.
Franklin would continue to have his problems in the 2nd. Jacque Jones and Mike Cuddyer drew walks to start the inning. Franklin got Henry Blanco to hit a comebacker to the mound, and the lead runner (Jones) was forced out at third. Franklin struck out Luis Rivas swinging for the second out. The third out didn't come soon enough, however, as Stewart tripled to rightfield to give the Twins a 4-0 lead early.
Johan Santana had a more than solid start today. In combination with Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan, the Twins' pitchers did not allow a single baserunner into scoring position with less than two out. Santana didn't escape without some semi-contentious situations though. He allowed the solo homer to Hiram Bocachica with one out in the 3rd (MIN 4-1), then stranded Ichiro on second by catching Randy Winn looking. In the 4th, with two out, Bucky Jacobsen, Jolbert Cabrera, and Miguel Olivo all singled (Olivo infield), but Bocachica bounced a ball to Cuddyer at third to end that "rally." Santana walked Edgar Martinez to lead off the 6th, and then struck out the side swinging (Bret Boone, Jacobsen, Cabrera).
In the 5th, Franklin saw almost the same fate that he had in the 1st. Ford doubled, Morneau mashed (centerfield this time, MIN 6-1). That would be his final inning of work. His line: 5 innings, 6 runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 81 pitches (53 strikes). Luckily a combination of the off day Monday along with the deep-into-the-game performances by Gil Meche and Bobby Madritsch left the bullpen in pretty good shape for eating four innings today. By the way, Franklin has lost his last seven decisions. Yes, it's a far cry from last year.
So, the Mariners were down 6-1, and if they ever got close, they'd probably draw Joe Nathan in the 9th anyway, so the game was pretty much lost. That said, there was probably no better time for the likes of Clint Nageotte, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and Matt Thornton to be called on for some work.
In the 6th, Clint Nageotte loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk (Rivas, Stewart, Ojeda) before getting Lew Ford to get doubled up rather than having him hit a double, something Franklin had grown familiar with. Nageotte then had two assists in a 1-2-3 7th inning. Surely having Clint pitch two innings without completely losing his mind has to be a good thing.
Shigetoshi Hasegawa pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning, which surprised me less than Nageotte's two mentally lossless innings, even considering Hasegawa's propensity for putting fuel on the fire this year.
Edgar singled to lead off the 8th, and Bret Boone homered the other way (a good sign for him, MIN 6-3) off Jesse Crain to extend his hitting streak to 16 games and ensure that Joe Nathan would pitch the 9th.
Matt Thornton continued the train of recently maligned Mariner bullpen arms, setting down the top of the order in 1-2-3 fashion in the 9th and not walking anybody.
Sure enough, Joe Nathan was called on to pitch the 9th, and pitch he did. With gasoline. Bocachica, Jose Lopez, and Ichiro all whiffed in succession. Ballgame over. Twins win, then all join a rousing chorus of that time-tested classic, "Win Twins."
Gameball: Matt Thornton. He pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning, struck out two, and didn't walk anybody or give up eight runs or anything like that. It was nice to see one of the non-Madritsch newbies get through without getting into any hot water (like Nageotte did).
Goat: Ryan Franklin. I would have been okay with six innings out of Franklin today. A five-inning start doesn't kill the bullpen by any means thanks to the starts by Meche and Madritsch as I mentioned earlier, but the Yankees are coming in and Ron Villone is pitching tomorrow, and he'll be extremely lucky if he gets into the 7th.
It certainly is weird to think that even with the Mariners' losing ways this season, a win today would have given them the season series over the Twins. Hard to believe, yes.
Now it's time for a sold-out weekend series with the Yankees, i.e., three games whose street equivalent would be knives brought to a gunfight. Or maybe another weapon equivalent would be the Seattle Catapults hosting the New York 500-Pound Laser-Guided Bombs. In any event, one win for the Mariners would be somewhat realistic.
Lieber. Villone. Tomorrow.
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