Monday, October 04, 2004
FINAL WALK IN THE PARK
Twenty-nine games back. A record of 38-44 at home, and 25-55 on the road, with the rainout game in Kansas City and its rescheduling into a home game sure to mess with my addition forever.
And with this it all ends. Sure, the Mariners' season hasn't been too gratifying, the team was horrendous, and the Seahawks have been threatening to take my attention (what a great time for a bye week, by the way), but I love baseball. Obviously I wouldn't have been cranking out these recaps every night I possibly could if I didn't love the game. Did it get tough sometimes? Of course it did. I seem to remember only a couple of times when the game ended and I was sitting there thinking "I can't wait to recap this one." But that's what happens in a season like this. We had our highs, we had many lows. But in the end, there's always next season for us fans. Just over four months from now, the same sights and sounds of baseball will resume in the form of spring training. And as they say, every team is in first place on Opening Day. Sure, the incompetence of the people running the Mariner organization has dampened my excitement of the next season much like it did the last, but maybe, just maybe, the team will give us a better year than the last and do well in spite of the philosophical fallacies of the higher-ups.
Did anyone else feel sick after hearing comments from both Bob Melvin and Bill Bavasi that the ownership was apparently willing to "take it on the chin" financially (Bavasi's words) and that their payroll resources have them in good shape to rebound? The Kevin Jarvis fiasco comes to mind when considering the voodoo math that the ownership did with their payroll, something that was extensively covered in the blogosphere when Jarvis was released. I may have forgotten somewhere along the line...but did anything happen to the Sasaki money?
I guess the thing I'll be taking into the offseason is this -- Carlos Beltran, Brad Radke, Kevin Millwood, whoever... any big-name free agent isn't a Mariner until I see visual proof at the press conference. I won't be fooled again. Call it the Tejada clause. And don't believe anything you hear from Jim Bowden or Justin Spiro this offseason, given they have jobs.
Some of you may have stuck with FSNNW for the postgame show and Rich Waltz saying thanks and goodbye to everybody watching and everyone on the staff. Just before that, they had a little season montage which featured little highlights of a bunch of players. I noticed the surprising omission of one Willie Bloomquist. I couldn't believe it. That's not to say I was complaining (I definitely wasn't), I just couldn't believe it.
Oops, I forgot about the game. I'll warn you first. The Mariners got four hits. And four walks. Off Chan Ho Park.
One last time...
Mariners on defense/pitching (bad to good)
massacre < terrible inning < some damage < fighting out of jam < decent inning < 1-2-3
Mariners on offense
I hate this team < come on, y'all < ho, hum < minimal damage < some damage < big inning
TOP 1ST -- 1-2-3
Meche Laynce Nix, Hank Blalock, and Michael Young were mowed down by Meche in fairly quick fashion.
BOTTOM 1ST -- ho, hum
Jeremy Reed reached when Adrian Gonzalez fumbled the ball at first. Edgar Martinez whiffed, and Reed took off for second on the play. He ended up on third when Ken Huckaby uncorked a throw that probably could have hit the second baseman, but only if he was anticipating the ball coming out of the bat. It was about 10 feet wide. Raul Ibanez then flew out to left to end the inning.
TOP 2ND -- decent inning
David Dellucci walked with one out, but Meche got outs through the air from the other three batters.
BOTTOM 2ND -- ho, hum
Greg Dobbs drew a two-out walk.
TOP 3RD -- minimal damage
Laynce Nix took Meche yard to rightfield (TEX 1-0). Blalock singled, but Young flew out to end it.
BOTTOM 3RD -- ho, hum
Ichiro got hit number 261, a one-out single into centerfield. Reed walked. And that was it. Edgar raised the heartbeat a bit with a ball to the warning track in front of the manual scoreboard though.
TOP 4TH -- decent inning
Mark Teixeira singled to lead off, but Meche got the next three hitters out.
BOTTOM 4TH -- ho, hum
Bret Boone, Jolbert Cabrera, and Dobbs went away 1-2-3, succumbing to the wizardry of Chan Ho Park.
TOP 5TH -- some damage
Huckaby doubled to lead off and Andy Fox singled right after him. Two outs later, Young singled to drive them in (TEX 3-0).
BOTTOM 5TH -- 1-2-3
Miguel Olivo, Ramon Santiago, and Ichiro were no match for Park.
TOP 6TH -- fighting out of jam
Meche gave up a leadoff single to Dellucci and Kevin Mench got aboard with an infield single. Meche got the next three hitters out, though.
BOTTOM 6TH -- ho, hum
Reed drew a leadoff walk, but was erased when Edgar swung on 3-0 and bounced into a 5-4-3 double play. Ibanez flew out to the third baseman.
TOP 7TH -- 1-2-3
Meche was replaced with Matt Thornton, who struck out Nix and Blalock before getting Young to bounce a ball back to him.
Meche's line: 6 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 95 pitches (62 strikes). Meche didn't go too deep into the game, and the hits are a little much, but it's the final day of the season, so none of this is making me irate or anything like that.
BOTTOM 7TH -- ho, hum
Mickey Lopez was beaned to lead off. He went to third later on a Dobbs single. Dave Myers threw up the stop sign at third, and Mickey used the popup slide to put on the brakes. On another note, I rolled my ankle at first base once trying to get back on a pickoff throw.
TOP 8TH -- decent inning
Mench drew a two-out walk, but Thornton put away the Rangers.
BOTTOM 8TH -- ho, hum
Brian Shouse trotted out to the mound for the Rangers, signaling the end of Park's day, as he threw two-hit ball over seven shutout innings. Ichiro singled for hit number 262, with the record now ready to be etched into the record books. Reed walked on four pitches. Then, an ovation. Edgar stepped out for his final at-bat as the cheers rained down. He bounced a ball back to Shouse to start a double play, easily the most applauded double play ball in Seattle history. With a tip of the cap and a hand to the heart, Edgar gave thanks as the fans did too after his final at-bat as a ballplayer. Ibanez whiffed to end the inning.
TOP 9TH -- decent inning
Matt Thornton came out to the mound, but Edgar came out and pulled him for Randy Williams, as Edgar came back to the dugout amid another ovation. Williams allowed only a one-out walk to Andy Fox.
BOTTOM 9TH -- ho, hum
Francisco Cordero came out to sew up the win for the Rangers. Mickey Lopez reached with an infield single. Cabrera and Dobbs whiffed and Rivera grounded out. And so it ends...
Gameball: Ichiro. 2-for-4, and getting the ovations that didn't have Edgar's name on them. On another note, Jeremy Reed walked three times.
Goat: Raul Ibanez. 0-for-4, striking out once and stranding four. I figured I'd do this one last time. To his credit, Ibanez finished with a .304 average, though his power numbers didn't exactly catch up, which has been noted elsewhere in the blogosphere.
This is the last one until next year, and I hope somebody out there has gotten some sort of redeeming quality out of these. I don't think I did the inning-by-inning spectrum thing until I got back from Oregon, and I hope that somewhat helped, because I was doing block paragraph madness before that. Anyway, thanks to all that have read these things, and we'll see you next year. Until then, if it's like it was last offseason, Jeremy and/or I will be refreshing the P-I at 11:20 or so every night and refreshing the Times just after midnight to see if there's anything juicy going on concerning the Mariners. Man, this really sucks, now that I think about it. Rather than seeing the game, and then fumbling through the game logs, I'm going to be seeing the offseason through beat writers, and having to sift through Bob Finnigan's "articles" through the winter. Ugh. Can we fast-forward to April and have baseball going, maybe some semblance of a hockey season, the Seahawks two months removed from being Super Bowl champs, and me with a high-paying job? Can this be arranged?
Thanks, readers. We'll stick with the Mariners over the offseason, as we did last winter. If you like any other of the Seattle pro sports, this is where Sports and Bremertonians comes in, because we'll easily have other content when the Mariners aren't making any waves. So stick around if you've enjoyed the ride. Jeremy and I appreciate your readership, we do.
Some Mariner pitcher. Santana. April 4.
And with this it all ends. Sure, the Mariners' season hasn't been too gratifying, the team was horrendous, and the Seahawks have been threatening to take my attention (what a great time for a bye week, by the way), but I love baseball. Obviously I wouldn't have been cranking out these recaps every night I possibly could if I didn't love the game. Did it get tough sometimes? Of course it did. I seem to remember only a couple of times when the game ended and I was sitting there thinking "I can't wait to recap this one." But that's what happens in a season like this. We had our highs, we had many lows. But in the end, there's always next season for us fans. Just over four months from now, the same sights and sounds of baseball will resume in the form of spring training. And as they say, every team is in first place on Opening Day. Sure, the incompetence of the people running the Mariner organization has dampened my excitement of the next season much like it did the last, but maybe, just maybe, the team will give us a better year than the last and do well in spite of the philosophical fallacies of the higher-ups.
Did anyone else feel sick after hearing comments from both Bob Melvin and Bill Bavasi that the ownership was apparently willing to "take it on the chin" financially (Bavasi's words) and that their payroll resources have them in good shape to rebound? The Kevin Jarvis fiasco comes to mind when considering the voodoo math that the ownership did with their payroll, something that was extensively covered in the blogosphere when Jarvis was released. I may have forgotten somewhere along the line...but did anything happen to the Sasaki money?
I guess the thing I'll be taking into the offseason is this -- Carlos Beltran, Brad Radke, Kevin Millwood, whoever... any big-name free agent isn't a Mariner until I see visual proof at the press conference. I won't be fooled again. Call it the Tejada clause. And don't believe anything you hear from Jim Bowden or Justin Spiro this offseason, given they have jobs.
Some of you may have stuck with FSNNW for the postgame show and Rich Waltz saying thanks and goodbye to everybody watching and everyone on the staff. Just before that, they had a little season montage which featured little highlights of a bunch of players. I noticed the surprising omission of one Willie Bloomquist. I couldn't believe it. That's not to say I was complaining (I definitely wasn't), I just couldn't believe it.
Oops, I forgot about the game. I'll warn you first. The Mariners got four hits. And four walks. Off Chan Ho Park.
One last time...
Mariners on defense/pitching (bad to good)
massacre < terrible inning < some damage < fighting out of jam < decent inning < 1-2-3
Mariners on offense
I hate this team < come on, y'all < ho, hum < minimal damage < some damage < big inning
TOP 1ST -- 1-2-3
Meche Laynce Nix, Hank Blalock, and Michael Young were mowed down by Meche in fairly quick fashion.
BOTTOM 1ST -- ho, hum
Jeremy Reed reached when Adrian Gonzalez fumbled the ball at first. Edgar Martinez whiffed, and Reed took off for second on the play. He ended up on third when Ken Huckaby uncorked a throw that probably could have hit the second baseman, but only if he was anticipating the ball coming out of the bat. It was about 10 feet wide. Raul Ibanez then flew out to left to end the inning.
TOP 2ND -- decent inning
David Dellucci walked with one out, but Meche got outs through the air from the other three batters.
BOTTOM 2ND -- ho, hum
Greg Dobbs drew a two-out walk.
TOP 3RD -- minimal damage
Laynce Nix took Meche yard to rightfield (TEX 1-0). Blalock singled, but Young flew out to end it.
BOTTOM 3RD -- ho, hum
Ichiro got hit number 261, a one-out single into centerfield. Reed walked. And that was it. Edgar raised the heartbeat a bit with a ball to the warning track in front of the manual scoreboard though.
TOP 4TH -- decent inning
Mark Teixeira singled to lead off, but Meche got the next three hitters out.
BOTTOM 4TH -- ho, hum
Bret Boone, Jolbert Cabrera, and Dobbs went away 1-2-3, succumbing to the wizardry of Chan Ho Park.
TOP 5TH -- some damage
Huckaby doubled to lead off and Andy Fox singled right after him. Two outs later, Young singled to drive them in (TEX 3-0).
BOTTOM 5TH -- 1-2-3
Miguel Olivo, Ramon Santiago, and Ichiro were no match for Park.
TOP 6TH -- fighting out of jam
Meche gave up a leadoff single to Dellucci and Kevin Mench got aboard with an infield single. Meche got the next three hitters out, though.
BOTTOM 6TH -- ho, hum
Reed drew a leadoff walk, but was erased when Edgar swung on 3-0 and bounced into a 5-4-3 double play. Ibanez flew out to the third baseman.
TOP 7TH -- 1-2-3
Meche was replaced with Matt Thornton, who struck out Nix and Blalock before getting Young to bounce a ball back to him.
Meche's line: 6 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 95 pitches (62 strikes). Meche didn't go too deep into the game, and the hits are a little much, but it's the final day of the season, so none of this is making me irate or anything like that.
BOTTOM 7TH -- ho, hum
Mickey Lopez was beaned to lead off. He went to third later on a Dobbs single. Dave Myers threw up the stop sign at third, and Mickey used the popup slide to put on the brakes. On another note, I rolled my ankle at first base once trying to get back on a pickoff throw.
TOP 8TH -- decent inning
Mench drew a two-out walk, but Thornton put away the Rangers.
BOTTOM 8TH -- ho, hum
Brian Shouse trotted out to the mound for the Rangers, signaling the end of Park's day, as he threw two-hit ball over seven shutout innings. Ichiro singled for hit number 262, with the record now ready to be etched into the record books. Reed walked on four pitches. Then, an ovation. Edgar stepped out for his final at-bat as the cheers rained down. He bounced a ball back to Shouse to start a double play, easily the most applauded double play ball in Seattle history. With a tip of the cap and a hand to the heart, Edgar gave thanks as the fans did too after his final at-bat as a ballplayer. Ibanez whiffed to end the inning.
TOP 9TH -- decent inning
Matt Thornton came out to the mound, but Edgar came out and pulled him for Randy Williams, as Edgar came back to the dugout amid another ovation. Williams allowed only a one-out walk to Andy Fox.
BOTTOM 9TH -- ho, hum
Francisco Cordero came out to sew up the win for the Rangers. Mickey Lopez reached with an infield single. Cabrera and Dobbs whiffed and Rivera grounded out. And so it ends...
Gameball: Ichiro. 2-for-4, and getting the ovations that didn't have Edgar's name on them. On another note, Jeremy Reed walked three times.
Goat: Raul Ibanez. 0-for-4, striking out once and stranding four. I figured I'd do this one last time. To his credit, Ibanez finished with a .304 average, though his power numbers didn't exactly catch up, which has been noted elsewhere in the blogosphere.
This is the last one until next year, and I hope somebody out there has gotten some sort of redeeming quality out of these. I don't think I did the inning-by-inning spectrum thing until I got back from Oregon, and I hope that somewhat helped, because I was doing block paragraph madness before that. Anyway, thanks to all that have read these things, and we'll see you next year. Until then, if it's like it was last offseason, Jeremy and/or I will be refreshing the P-I at 11:20 or so every night and refreshing the Times just after midnight to see if there's anything juicy going on concerning the Mariners. Man, this really sucks, now that I think about it. Rather than seeing the game, and then fumbling through the game logs, I'm going to be seeing the offseason through beat writers, and having to sift through Bob Finnigan's "articles" through the winter. Ugh. Can we fast-forward to April and have baseball going, maybe some semblance of a hockey season, the Seahawks two months removed from being Super Bowl champs, and me with a high-paying job? Can this be arranged?
Thanks, readers. We'll stick with the Mariners over the offseason, as we did last winter. If you like any other of the Seattle pro sports, this is where Sports and Bremertonians comes in, because we'll easily have other content when the Mariners aren't making any waves. So stick around if you've enjoyed the ride. Jeremy and I appreciate your readership, we do.
Some Mariner pitcher. Santana. April 4.
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