Tuesday, May 03, 2005
GAME 26: ANGELS 5, MARINERS 0
Angels 5, Mariners 0
In 25 words or less: The Mariners didn't have to worry about stranding a bunch of runners because they barely had any. Also, Ryan Franklin was all over the place.
This one featured Jarrod Washburn going up against Ryan Franklin. Also, non-final pitch counts are approximate. Game notes, people.
TOP 1ST
Grade: B+
Franklin had a decent first inning. Darin Erstad swung through a high fastball. Orlando Cabrera took Ichiro to the track in rightfield on the first pitch. Vladimir Guerrero took a 3-1 pitch high and outside for a walk. Garret Anderson hit an 0-2 pitch to the hole on the right side, but Bret Boone made a diving stab and threw to first, where Richie Sexson picked the short-hop throw in time. Franklin threw 13 pitches in the inning.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: D+
The Mariners got one of their few chances of the night. Ichiro softly poked an 0-2 pitch into centerfield for a single. Randy Winn walked on four pitches. Adrian Beltre hit popped a soft liner to Adam Kennedy at second, who tried to flip back to Cabrera at second to double off Ichiro, but he threw it at Cabrera's feet and it went into leftfield. Ichiro scurried to third. Richie Sexson worked an 0-2 count full, and though he took a very close 2-2 pitch, he got burned on the full-count pitch up and in. Winn had taken off for second, and Jose Molina threw to get him, but the throw was dropped by Kennedy. Winn got in a rundown between first and second (I'll guess he wasn't close to nabbing second base), but he didn't get into it long enough for Ichiro to score, as the Angel infielders sniffed out the Ichiro-going-home thing. Washburn threw 20 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: B-
Ryan Franklin start giving ominous signs that he would lose control. Steve Finley got the hitters' counts before walking on a 3-1 pitch low and away. Juan Rivera helped out Franklin as he grounded to Boone for a 4-3 double play. Dallas McPherson was let loose on a 3-0 pitch (fouled) before taking a 3-1 pitch high and outside. Bryan Price visited Franklin at the mound. Jose Molina whiffed on a 1-2 slider low and away to end the inning. Franklin threw 17 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Washburn got in a bit of a groove. Bret Boone hit a hight fly to short (surprise). Raul Ibanez was down 0-2 and grounded out to third two pitches later. Miguel Olivo flew out to center. Washburn threw 12 pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
TOP 3RD
Grade: A
Franklin deceived everyone by having his best inning of the night. He got ahead 0-2 on Adam Kennedy, who foul-tipped a 1-2 low breaking ball into Olivo's glove for the strikeout. Erstad was victim to a diving stab by Sexson, who flipped to a covering Franklin for the out at first. Cabrera hit a high fly to Winn in left to end the inning. Franklin threw nine pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C-
Washburn was grooving at this point. Jeremy Reed tapped a ball back to Washburn. Wilson Valdez swung through some 1-2 letter-high cheese outside. Ichiro hit a roller to short to end the inning. Washburn threw 13 pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
TOP 4TH
Grade: D
Franklin's control problems finally cost him. Guerrero rolled out to short. Anderson had a 2-0 count, though it went full. He took a pitch too far inside and walked to first. Finley had a 2-0 count as well. With the count 2-2, Finley fouled off four pitches before reaching down and golfing a curveball about ten rows back into the rightfield seats to snap his 0-for-14 slump. In a sick twist, it was the Angels' first hit of the game.
»» ANGELS 2, MARINERS 0
Rivera grounded out to Beltre at third. McPherson doubled an 0-2 pitch just below the 405-foot marker in centerfield. Franklin went 3-0 on Molina before the count went full. Molina took a pitch that was barely high for a walk. Price came out to the mound again. Kennedy bounced a 2-0 pitch to Boone to end the inning. Franklin threw a mere 38 pitches in the inning and was at 77 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C
Washburn would scuffle a bit, but the end result was the same. Winn grounded a ball to Kennedy, who slid on his knees, but couldn't come up with the ball. Winn was credited with a single. Beltre chopped the first pitch to third for a groundout, and Winn advanced to second on the play. Sexson mashed a full-count slider foul into the leftfield stands down the leftfield line. He took a pitch down and in for a walk. Boone hit a flyout just short of the track in leftfield. Ibanez bounced out to second for a 4-6 fielder's choice to end the inning. Washburn threw 18 pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: D
Franklin would get burned again, and the Angels did it in a hack-happy way. Franklin got ahead 0-2 on Erstad, who grounded out to Sexson two pitches later (3-1 putout). Franklin beaned Cabrera on the first pitch. Incidentally, the next three batters put the first pitch into play. Guerrero flew out to Sexson near the bag at first, which wasn't bad. Anderson got a pitch up over the plate, and made mincemeat of it, clubbing it deep into the seats in rightfield.
»» ANGELS 4, MARINERS 0
Finley doubled the next pitch down the leftfield line. Rivera ripped his second pitch through the hole on the left side. Winn came up throwing, and the throw was in time (imagine that), but Olivo tried to make the tag on Finley before he had the ball.
»» ANGELS 5, MARINERS 0
Price went out to the mound again, and it seemed he'd probably beaten a path from the first-base dugout. McPherson bounced out to second to mercifully end the inning. Since the Angels were hack happy, Franklin was demolished in only 12 pitches.
Franklin's line: 5 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, 5 walks, 3 strikeouts, 89 pitches (53 strikes)
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C-
Washburn got back into a groove. Olivo hacked at a very low 1-2 pitch and missed. Reed bounced out to short. Valdez had a 2-0 count, but whiffed three pitches later. Washburn threw 11 pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
TOP 6TH
Grade: A-
Julio Mateo came in for Franklin. Molina flew out to Ichiro in foul territory by the stands along the rightfield line on the first pitch. Kennedy had a 2-0 count, but foul-tipped a 2-2 inside slider into Olivo's glove. With the crowd fully bored and doing The Wave, Erstad tapped one back to the mound to end the 1-2-3 inning. Mateo threw nine pitches.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: D+
The Mariners had another chance, sort of. Ichiro grounded out to short to lead off, then Winn doubled down the leftfield line. Beltre fouled off an 0-2 pitch before chopping a ball to short. The groundout advanced Winn to third. Sexson grounded a ball to the hole on the right side, where Kennedy made a diving stop and threw him out to end the inning. Washburn threw 14 pitches and was at 88 through six.
TOP 7TH
Grade: A-
This inning was good for Mateo, but great for Ichiro and the fans. Mateo beaned Cabrera on the right wrist on an 0-2 pitch, and that wasn't so good. Guerrero whiffed at an 0-2 pitch, and that was good. Mateo threw a 1-1 pitch waaaay outside to Anderson; it went to the backstop and Cabrera advanced to second. On the next pitch, Anderson put a charge on a ball, sending it deep to rightfield. It looked to be a homer that would land in that metal-grate walkway between the seats and the wall. Ichiro gave chase...he leapt, put one foot on the wall, put his bare hand on the top of the wall, reached up with the glove, and HE CAUGHT THE FREAKIN' BALL. On a night where absolutely nothing was going on with the Mariner bats, at least there was something that was worth the price of admission. A spike imprint rested on the letter S in the Washington Mutual advertisement after the catch. Finley flew out to Reed on the first pitch to end the inning. Mateo threw 10 pitches.
Mateo's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 20 pitches (14 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C-
Washburn wasn't through doing his thing. Boone grounded out to third on the first pitch. Ibanez fanned on a pitch low and away. Olivo bounced to short on an 0-2 pitch. Washburn threw 10 pitches and was at 98 through seven.
TOP 8TH
Grade: A-
JJ Putz came in for Mateo and delivered a 1-2-3 inning. Rivera whiffed on a 3-1 pitch and developed pain in his left thumb. He fouled off a full-count pitch before flying out to Reed. McPherson whiffed on a high pitch, and Molina lined right to Winn on the second pitch to end the inning. Putz threw 14 pitches.
Putz' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 14 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C
Washburn would finally get to the end of his rope. Reed hit a slow roller to short. Valdez grounded out to third. Ichiro had a 3-0 count and took a 3-1 pitch low and away for a walk. Winn hit a fly down the rightfield line that Guerrero didn't quite want to dive for, and it bounced under his glove and into the stands for a ground-rule double.
Brendan Donnelly came in for Washburn. He needed only four pitches to retire Beltre, who took a 2-1 pitch to the track in centerfield.
Washburn's line: 7 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 116 pitches (76 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: A-
Jeff Nelson came in for JJ Putz. It would end up as Nelson's least important 1-2-3 inning of the season. Kennedy hit a soft liner to Valdez on the outfield grass. Erstad had a 2-0 count, but ended up flying out to Reed. Nelson got ahead 0-2 on Cabrera but ended up flying out to almost the same place Kennedy did to Valdez.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 12 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C
Donnelly mopped up. Sexson flew out to right. Boone clubbed the first pitch just barely to the left of the foul pole, which would have been a homer, and would have been good for career RBI #1000. Instead, Boone ended up swinging and missing on a splitter in the dirt. Ibanez had a 3-0 count and took the 3-1 pitch low and away for a walk. Shin-Soo Choo got his second at-bat of his call-up. He fouled off a high 3-1 pitch, then fouled off another before splintering his bat on a popup to Kennedy at second. Ballgame.
Donnelly's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 24 pitches (14 strikes)
---
Gameball: Randy Winn.
3-for-3 with a walk. He had 75% of the Mariners' hits, and one of them was a double. He's batting a quiet .300. Shhh, don't tell anyone.
Goat: Ryan Franklin.
If you're on the no-run-support bandwagon, don't come to me after a game where Franklin walks five guys and gives up five runs. How many starting pitchers these days are good, yet can get by with an ERA of 5.00? I'm not saying Franklin has an ERA of 5, it's just that you've just got to sniff out a bad start from a good one. Sometimes Ryan Franklin has bad starts, and it won't matter if he gets no run support because he gives up a bunch of runs. This five-run outing wasn't as bad as some of his bad outings, but you've got to factor in the opposition too. Jarrod Washburn is no slouch. Mark Buehrle is no slouch. Sometimes you just get matched up against a good pitcher and the margin of error is small.
Well, there's going to be games like this, nights like this. It happens. Sometimes an opposing pitcher just befuddles an entire team. This was one of those nights. Nights where either you just admire what the other pitcher is doing, or at least how he's setting up the hitters and stuff (nuts-and-bolts stuff), or you're just bored out of your mind waiting for something exciting to happen.
That's when Ichiro took care of the boredom and made this game at least somewhat worth the time investment that everyone at home and at the game had put in. I was watching it unfold, and I saw him go up, and I was thinking "nice try" as he came back down. Then he threw the ball back to the infield. What?!?! Huh?!! Did that just happen?
It did happen. An awakening of bats, however, did not happen and wasn't close to happening. The Mariners had three runners in scoring position with less than two out. Not a lot of offense. Actually, Ichiro and Randy Winn were the only ones with hits. Tally up the rest of the lineup, and you've got a sparkling 0-for-24 night from everyone else.
TWO games below .500? Call me crazy, but my money would be on the Mariners winning the next two games. Of course, if they kept doing that, it'd jeopardize my preseason 77-85 prediction, so I guess I'm kind of torn toward the whole thing. See, my whole preseason prediction was made so I could gauge my expectation level of this season in accordance to it. So when they're 12-14, I don't think it's too bad. If they're 12-24, it's time to be a little ticked.
Lackey. Meche. Tonight.
In 25 words or less: The Mariners didn't have to worry about stranding a bunch of runners because they barely had any. Also, Ryan Franklin was all over the place.
This one featured Jarrod Washburn going up against Ryan Franklin. Also, non-final pitch counts are approximate. Game notes, people.
TOP 1ST
Grade: B+
Franklin had a decent first inning. Darin Erstad swung through a high fastball. Orlando Cabrera took Ichiro to the track in rightfield on the first pitch. Vladimir Guerrero took a 3-1 pitch high and outside for a walk. Garret Anderson hit an 0-2 pitch to the hole on the right side, but Bret Boone made a diving stab and threw to first, where Richie Sexson picked the short-hop throw in time. Franklin threw 13 pitches in the inning.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: D+
The Mariners got one of their few chances of the night. Ichiro softly poked an 0-2 pitch into centerfield for a single. Randy Winn walked on four pitches. Adrian Beltre hit popped a soft liner to Adam Kennedy at second, who tried to flip back to Cabrera at second to double off Ichiro, but he threw it at Cabrera's feet and it went into leftfield. Ichiro scurried to third. Richie Sexson worked an 0-2 count full, and though he took a very close 2-2 pitch, he got burned on the full-count pitch up and in. Winn had taken off for second, and Jose Molina threw to get him, but the throw was dropped by Kennedy. Winn got in a rundown between first and second (I'll guess he wasn't close to nabbing second base), but he didn't get into it long enough for Ichiro to score, as the Angel infielders sniffed out the Ichiro-going-home thing. Washburn threw 20 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: B-
Ryan Franklin start giving ominous signs that he would lose control. Steve Finley got the hitters' counts before walking on a 3-1 pitch low and away. Juan Rivera helped out Franklin as he grounded to Boone for a 4-3 double play. Dallas McPherson was let loose on a 3-0 pitch (fouled) before taking a 3-1 pitch high and outside. Bryan Price visited Franklin at the mound. Jose Molina whiffed on a 1-2 slider low and away to end the inning. Franklin threw 17 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Washburn got in a bit of a groove. Bret Boone hit a hight fly to short (surprise). Raul Ibanez was down 0-2 and grounded out to third two pitches later. Miguel Olivo flew out to center. Washburn threw 12 pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
TOP 3RD
Grade: A
Franklin deceived everyone by having his best inning of the night. He got ahead 0-2 on Adam Kennedy, who foul-tipped a 1-2 low breaking ball into Olivo's glove for the strikeout. Erstad was victim to a diving stab by Sexson, who flipped to a covering Franklin for the out at first. Cabrera hit a high fly to Winn in left to end the inning. Franklin threw nine pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C-
Washburn was grooving at this point. Jeremy Reed tapped a ball back to Washburn. Wilson Valdez swung through some 1-2 letter-high cheese outside. Ichiro hit a roller to short to end the inning. Washburn threw 13 pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
TOP 4TH
Grade: D
Franklin's control problems finally cost him. Guerrero rolled out to short. Anderson had a 2-0 count, though it went full. He took a pitch too far inside and walked to first. Finley had a 2-0 count as well. With the count 2-2, Finley fouled off four pitches before reaching down and golfing a curveball about ten rows back into the rightfield seats to snap his 0-for-14 slump. In a sick twist, it was the Angels' first hit of the game.
»» ANGELS 2, MARINERS 0
Rivera grounded out to Beltre at third. McPherson doubled an 0-2 pitch just below the 405-foot marker in centerfield. Franklin went 3-0 on Molina before the count went full. Molina took a pitch that was barely high for a walk. Price came out to the mound again. Kennedy bounced a 2-0 pitch to Boone to end the inning. Franklin threw a mere 38 pitches in the inning and was at 77 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C
Washburn would scuffle a bit, but the end result was the same. Winn grounded a ball to Kennedy, who slid on his knees, but couldn't come up with the ball. Winn was credited with a single. Beltre chopped the first pitch to third for a groundout, and Winn advanced to second on the play. Sexson mashed a full-count slider foul into the leftfield stands down the leftfield line. He took a pitch down and in for a walk. Boone hit a flyout just short of the track in leftfield. Ibanez bounced out to second for a 4-6 fielder's choice to end the inning. Washburn threw 18 pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: D
Franklin would get burned again, and the Angels did it in a hack-happy way. Franklin got ahead 0-2 on Erstad, who grounded out to Sexson two pitches later (3-1 putout). Franklin beaned Cabrera on the first pitch. Incidentally, the next three batters put the first pitch into play. Guerrero flew out to Sexson near the bag at first, which wasn't bad. Anderson got a pitch up over the plate, and made mincemeat of it, clubbing it deep into the seats in rightfield.
»» ANGELS 4, MARINERS 0
Finley doubled the next pitch down the leftfield line. Rivera ripped his second pitch through the hole on the left side. Winn came up throwing, and the throw was in time (imagine that), but Olivo tried to make the tag on Finley before he had the ball.
»» ANGELS 5, MARINERS 0
Price went out to the mound again, and it seemed he'd probably beaten a path from the first-base dugout. McPherson bounced out to second to mercifully end the inning. Since the Angels were hack happy, Franklin was demolished in only 12 pitches.
Franklin's line: 5 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits, 5 walks, 3 strikeouts, 89 pitches (53 strikes)
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C-
Washburn got back into a groove. Olivo hacked at a very low 1-2 pitch and missed. Reed bounced out to short. Valdez had a 2-0 count, but whiffed three pitches later. Washburn threw 11 pitches in the 1-2-3 inning.
TOP 6TH
Grade: A-
Julio Mateo came in for Franklin. Molina flew out to Ichiro in foul territory by the stands along the rightfield line on the first pitch. Kennedy had a 2-0 count, but foul-tipped a 2-2 inside slider into Olivo's glove. With the crowd fully bored and doing The Wave, Erstad tapped one back to the mound to end the 1-2-3 inning. Mateo threw nine pitches.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: D+
The Mariners had another chance, sort of. Ichiro grounded out to short to lead off, then Winn doubled down the leftfield line. Beltre fouled off an 0-2 pitch before chopping a ball to short. The groundout advanced Winn to third. Sexson grounded a ball to the hole on the right side, where Kennedy made a diving stop and threw him out to end the inning. Washburn threw 14 pitches and was at 88 through six.
TOP 7TH
Grade: A-
This inning was good for Mateo, but great for Ichiro and the fans. Mateo beaned Cabrera on the right wrist on an 0-2 pitch, and that wasn't so good. Guerrero whiffed at an 0-2 pitch, and that was good. Mateo threw a 1-1 pitch waaaay outside to Anderson; it went to the backstop and Cabrera advanced to second. On the next pitch, Anderson put a charge on a ball, sending it deep to rightfield. It looked to be a homer that would land in that metal-grate walkway between the seats and the wall. Ichiro gave chase...he leapt, put one foot on the wall, put his bare hand on the top of the wall, reached up with the glove, and HE CAUGHT THE FREAKIN' BALL. On a night where absolutely nothing was going on with the Mariner bats, at least there was something that was worth the price of admission. A spike imprint rested on the letter S in the Washington Mutual advertisement after the catch. Finley flew out to Reed on the first pitch to end the inning. Mateo threw 10 pitches.
Mateo's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 20 pitches (14 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C-
Washburn wasn't through doing his thing. Boone grounded out to third on the first pitch. Ibanez fanned on a pitch low and away. Olivo bounced to short on an 0-2 pitch. Washburn threw 10 pitches and was at 98 through seven.
TOP 8TH
Grade: A-
JJ Putz came in for Mateo and delivered a 1-2-3 inning. Rivera whiffed on a 3-1 pitch and developed pain in his left thumb. He fouled off a full-count pitch before flying out to Reed. McPherson whiffed on a high pitch, and Molina lined right to Winn on the second pitch to end the inning. Putz threw 14 pitches.
Putz' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 14 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C
Washburn would finally get to the end of his rope. Reed hit a slow roller to short. Valdez grounded out to third. Ichiro had a 3-0 count and took a 3-1 pitch low and away for a walk. Winn hit a fly down the rightfield line that Guerrero didn't quite want to dive for, and it bounced under his glove and into the stands for a ground-rule double.
Brendan Donnelly came in for Washburn. He needed only four pitches to retire Beltre, who took a 2-1 pitch to the track in centerfield.
Washburn's line: 7 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 116 pitches (76 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: A-
Jeff Nelson came in for JJ Putz. It would end up as Nelson's least important 1-2-3 inning of the season. Kennedy hit a soft liner to Valdez on the outfield grass. Erstad had a 2-0 count, but ended up flying out to Reed. Nelson got ahead 0-2 on Cabrera but ended up flying out to almost the same place Kennedy did to Valdez.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 12 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C
Donnelly mopped up. Sexson flew out to right. Boone clubbed the first pitch just barely to the left of the foul pole, which would have been a homer, and would have been good for career RBI #1000. Instead, Boone ended up swinging and missing on a splitter in the dirt. Ibanez had a 3-0 count and took the 3-1 pitch low and away for a walk. Shin-Soo Choo got his second at-bat of his call-up. He fouled off a high 3-1 pitch, then fouled off another before splintering his bat on a popup to Kennedy at second. Ballgame.
Donnelly's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 24 pitches (14 strikes)
---
Gameball: Randy Winn.
3-for-3 with a walk. He had 75% of the Mariners' hits, and one of them was a double. He's batting a quiet .300. Shhh, don't tell anyone.
Goat: Ryan Franklin.
If you're on the no-run-support bandwagon, don't come to me after a game where Franklin walks five guys and gives up five runs. How many starting pitchers these days are good, yet can get by with an ERA of 5.00? I'm not saying Franklin has an ERA of 5, it's just that you've just got to sniff out a bad start from a good one. Sometimes Ryan Franklin has bad starts, and it won't matter if he gets no run support because he gives up a bunch of runs. This five-run outing wasn't as bad as some of his bad outings, but you've got to factor in the opposition too. Jarrod Washburn is no slouch. Mark Buehrle is no slouch. Sometimes you just get matched up against a good pitcher and the margin of error is small.
Well, there's going to be games like this, nights like this. It happens. Sometimes an opposing pitcher just befuddles an entire team. This was one of those nights. Nights where either you just admire what the other pitcher is doing, or at least how he's setting up the hitters and stuff (nuts-and-bolts stuff), or you're just bored out of your mind waiting for something exciting to happen.
That's when Ichiro took care of the boredom and made this game at least somewhat worth the time investment that everyone at home and at the game had put in. I was watching it unfold, and I saw him go up, and I was thinking "nice try" as he came back down. Then he threw the ball back to the infield. What?!?! Huh?!! Did that just happen?
It did happen. An awakening of bats, however, did not happen and wasn't close to happening. The Mariners had three runners in scoring position with less than two out. Not a lot of offense. Actually, Ichiro and Randy Winn were the only ones with hits. Tally up the rest of the lineup, and you've got a sparkling 0-for-24 night from everyone else.
TWO games below .500? Call me crazy, but my money would be on the Mariners winning the next two games. Of course, if they kept doing that, it'd jeopardize my preseason 77-85 prediction, so I guess I'm kind of torn toward the whole thing. See, my whole preseason prediction was made so I could gauge my expectation level of this season in accordance to it. So when they're 12-14, I don't think it's too bad. If they're 12-24, it's time to be a little ticked.
Lackey. Meche. Tonight.
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