Sunday, May 15, 2005
GAME 36: RED SOX 6, MARINERS 3
Red Sox 6, Mariners 3
In 25 words or less: It was a decent game right up to when the mustard was being applied to a loaf of rye bread by an elderly woman.
This one featured Wade Miller and Ryan Franklin. As Jeremy posted earlier though, none of these games over the next 10 days will feature Joel Piñeiro, who was sent to Tacoma to figure out his mechanical problems. It's weird that he's only had two bad starts since his last good one (balls bouncing off bases in Oakland) -- there must have been some horrible bullpen sessions between outings or something. Julio Mateo will start Tuesday (Jamie Moyer on Wednesday) as well as five days after that, and George Sherrill was called up from Tacoma. Less encouraging was the fact that the ax didn't drop on Aaron Sele or Jeff Nelson, but of whom should have had a way shorter leash than Joel.
This one also featured a strike zone from home plate umpire Jeff Nelson (a different one, of course. Bill Miller is on the same crew) that was about three feet wide,
TOP 1ST
Grade: B-
You knew what kind of start it was going to be for Franklin from the very first batter. Johnny Damon, whose right foot wanders out of the box on occasion when he's looking toward the mound, worked a 1-2 count full before grounding to short. That wasn't the story, though. The story was how he fouled off four pitches with two strikes on him, and grounded out on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. In related news, I wish Franklin had a 94mph fastball so he could put some of these guys away. Edgar Renteria grounded out to Wilson Valdez at short. David Ortiz worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Manny Ramirez whiffed on a 1-2 slider. Franklin threw 23 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
No good start on this night. Ichiro had a 3-1 count, but eventually went away via the whiff. Randy Winn hit a sinking fly ball to Trot Nixon in rightfield. Adrian Beltre worked on 0-2 count full before grounding out to first. Miller threw 19 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: A-
Franklin would get through unscathed, but ouch, the pitch count. Trot Nixon got ahead 2-0 before eventually flying out to Winn. Kevin Millar worked an 0-2 count full, fouling off five pitches with two strikes before watching the 11th pitch for strike three over the very wide outside corner. Jason Varitek worked a 1-2 count full before looking at a fastball over the outside corner. Franklin threw 23 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Once again, a whole lot of nothing. Richie Sexson had a 3-1 count, but ended up flying very high to Millar near the mound. Raul Ibañez got down 0-2, and later got a hanging curve, but bounced it to first. Bret Boone fouled off a 3-1 pitch, and failed to hold a checkswing on a full count pitch way outside. Miller threw 20 pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: B-
Franklin had a bit of trouble. He went 3-0 on Bill Mueller, walking him on five pitches. Mark Bellhorn flew out to Ichiro. Damon took Jeremy Reed to the track in centerfield. Renteria singled to rightfield on the first pitch. Ortiz took an 0-2 pitch barely low, and Franklin was able to paint the outside corner (or outside of the outside corner) with a 2-2 fastball to end the inning. Franklin threw 18 pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C+
Not too much again. Jeremy Reed got ahead 2-0, but the 2-2 pitch was a nasty curveball he took for the strikeout. Wiki Gonzalez lined the 1-1 pitch off of the rubber (scorer's take) or Miller, and Bellhorn played the ricochet and threw Gonzalez out (he's slow). Wilson Valdez had the hitters' counts and walked. He went to second on the first-pitch dirtball to Ichiro, who walked on four pitches. Winn hit a sinking lineout to leftfield to end the inning. Miller threw 23 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: B-
It didn't get easier for Franklin. Ramirez flew out to center to lead off. Nixon got ahead 3-0 and walked on five pitches. Millar splintered the bat, but blooped a single to rightfield, so that's a bad bounce. Varitek took Reed to the track in centerfield, but the flyout was deep enough to advance both of the runners into scoring position. Mueller took an 0-2 change barely outside (with this strike zone, anyway). He eventually took a full-count fastball over the outside corner for strike three. Franklin threw 22 pitches and had 86 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: B
People watching the FSNNW broadcast were treated to Dave Niehaus' admission that he wonders where Clyde the Aflac duck goes after he goes all the way to the right of the screen. Beltre got down 0-2 and later smoked a single to leftfield, giving him an eight-game hit streak. Beltre went to second on the 2-1 dirtball to Sexson. Sexson got the hitters' counts, but hit a 3-1 pitch high to the track in leftfield, just missing a homer. Beltre showed some good baserunning and took third on the play with a headfirst slide (cringe). Ibañez took an 0-2 pitch just off the outside corner, but that went for a strikeout. Boone hit a high fly to the wall in rightfield just past Nixon's glove and off the Starbucks sign. Beltre scored very easily, and Boone stood on second with a double.
»» MARINERS 1, RED SOX 0
Reed whiffed on a 2-2 curve to end the inning. Miller threw 21 pitches and had 83 through four.
TOP 5TH
Grade: A-
Franklin got a couple bad bounces in the inning, but it goes in the book as one of his better ones of the night. Bellhorn worked a 1-2 count full, flying out to Winn. Damon hit the 0-2 pitch to Beltre, but the grounder ate him up (error). The ball went high in the air to Valdez, who of course had no play. Renteria had a 3-1 count, but later whiffed on a full count. Damon had taken off for second on the strikeout pitch, and Gonzalez was able to nail him at second trying to steal. Great stuff. Franklin threw 16 pitches and had 102 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C
An inning that's simple as...Gonzalez flying out to Damon in the gap, Valdez having a 2-0 count but later flying out to rightfield, and Ichiro hitting the first pitch up the middle, only to be nailed by a nice play from Renteria going to his glove side. Miller threw only six pitches and had 89 through five.
TOP 6TH
Grade: C
The pitches would finally catch up to Franklin a bit. Ortiz popped a 3-1 pitch to short. Ramirez mashed his first pitch out toward the bullpens to tie the game.
»» RED SOX 1, MARINERS 1
Nixon laced a single to centerfield on the first pitch.
That was the end of the line for Ryan Franklin. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in to relieve. Millar tapped a bunt back to the mound. Varitek grounded out to second to end the inning.
Franklin's line: 5 1/3 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, 110 pitches (64 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: B
The Mariners made a couple of long-distance calls. Winn bounced the 2-0 pitch to first. Beltre bounced out to second. Sexson mashed the second pitch to the hitters' backdrop for the second night in a row.
»» MARINERS 2, RED SOX 1
Ibañez mashed one out to center as well, making it the second straight night that he and Sexson homered back-to-back. Some lady on the Mariners' radio broadcast won $2500 as a result of this homer barrage.
»» MARINERS 3, RED SOX 1
Boone singled softly to centerfield, screwing the contest entrant out of a new home from Quadrant Homes. They're manufactured, I think. I've actually been inside one of those things.
Wade Miller was yanked in favor of Mike Myers. Reed fell behind 0-2 and eventually whiffed.
Miller's line: 5 2/3 innings, 3 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 105 pitches (62 strikes)
Myers' line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 6 pitches (4 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Grade: D
It's time for a bullpen implosion! Mueller singled a 2-0 pitch into leftcenter to lead off.
Ron Villone came in for Hasegawa. Bellhorn smacked a double to leftfield to score Mueller.
»» MARINERS 3, RED SOX 2
Damon got behind 0-2, ending by tapping one back to Villone. Renteria got behind 0-2 as well, but he stuck a 1-2 pitch for a single to rightfield. Villone took care of Ortiz by beaning him in the arm with the first pitch to load the bases.
JJ Putz came in to try and put out the fire. He got Ramirez out whiffing on some 1-2 gas. Then Nixon got a letter-high fastball and connected. Yep, that's a grand slam, though not necessarily a Denny's promotion.
»» RED SOX 6, MARINERS 3
Millar stung one into Beltre's glove to end the inning. Putz threw 12 pitches.
Hasegawa's line: 2/3 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
Villone's line: 1/3 inning, 3 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 14 pitches (10 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C
Matt Mantei came in for Myers. Gonzalez tapped one back to the mound, and pulled up lame with a hamstring pull after being put out at first. Greg Dobbs came on to pinch-hit for Valdez. He worked a 1-2 count full before whiffing. Ichiro beat out an infield single.
Mike Timlin came in for Mantei, and got Winn to fly out to left and end the inning. Timlin threw two pitches.
Mantei's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 1 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (6 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: A
Putz came out with a flawless inning this time. Varitek whiffed. Putz got ahead 0-2 on Mueller and got the 1-2 whiff. Bellhorn bounced out to Boone to end the inning.
Putz' line: 1 2/3 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 26 pitches (19 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C
The Mariners looked done for the night. Beltre flew out to rightfield on the first pitch. Sexson took the whiff. Ibañez singled an 0-2 pitch into leftcenter, which was nice, but Boone got the hitters' counts and whiffed to end the inning.
Timlin's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 17 pitches (11 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: B+
Jeff Nelson came in for Putz. Damon flew out to Reed to lead off. Renteria hit a ball off of Nelson, and Beltre was able to play the carom and gun out Renteria at first. Ortiz walked on 3-1 pitch. Ramirez bounced out to Beltre to end the inning.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 15 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C-
Keith Foulke came in to close the door. Reed flew out to center on the first pitch. Miguel Olivo (Wiki was gone) bounced out to third. Dave Hansen hit for Willie Bloomquist. He got down 0-2 and was caught looking three pitches later.
Foulke's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (6 strikes)
---
Gameball: Raul Ibañez.
Raul and Bret Boone were the only two Mariners with more than one hit on the night, but Raul struck out one less time. He and Richie Sexson went back-to-back two nights in a row, which of course means Raul has homered in two straight games. Before the season I might not have liked the idea of batting Ibañez above Boone in the lineup, but now that we're seeing how Boone is doing, I'm all for Raul hitting fifth. It seems to be working better, though it's only been a few games. Of course, I don't think batting Jeremy Reed seventh is doing him much good, and it's also killing the bottom third of the lineup, but oh well. But hey, every time Raul hits a homer, it makes me want to complain about his contract just a little less.
Goat: Ron Villone.
Jeremy made the post which basically captures it. He just hasn't been good the last couple times out to the mound. Though it's characteristic of being in the bullpen, he's gone from a crazy-low ERA to a bad ERA of 5.25 in a very short span of time. Just when I thought I could have a small morsel of hope that he'd shut other teams down when he'd come into games, he comes out with this. He gives up a run-scoring single to his first batter, gets the next one to tap back to him, has an 0-2 count and loses the next batter (single), and then beans David Ortiz on his way out the door. Is it that hard to get Edgar Renteria out and end the inning so you don't have to face David Ortiz? Why do you bean David Ortiz to load the bases for Manny Ramirez? Truly atrocious. But hey, he's effectively wild, or so they keep telling us all.
I don't think it's much of a stretch to think that if Ryan Franklin had a 94mph fastball, he'd get much deeper into games. Of course, it'd make him a 30-times-better pitcher in the big scope of things, but I have a specific thing for this game. Johnny Damon cranked out a 10-pitch at-bat to start the game. Kevin Millar had an 11-pitch at-bat the very next inning. Granted, a lot of the pitches spent per batter evens out over the course of a game, but that's 21 of his 110 pitches (19.1%) that he spent on those two at-bats. The other thing I'm trying to say is that Franklin so badly could use a drop-dead out pitch to put these guys away so that they're not ramping up his pitch count and sending him to the showers early. This was a hard-fought start for him against a tough lineup, no doubt about that. He gave up one run, which is great, and that's exactly what this teams needs out of their starting pitching. They also need innings, however, and Franklin couldn't get past the 6th. Seriously, 110 pitches over 5 1/3 innings is something we used to see out of average-to-bad Freddy Garcia.
Again, I'll keep referring to my I-have-no-life Excel chart that I'll be keeping until the starting pitching finally appears to right itself. I was mentioning that Franklin didn't get out of the 6th, yet his 5 1/3 innings were slightly deeper into the games than the average starter for the Mariners in the month of May. Through three May starts, Franklin actually has the lowest ERA of the rotation at 4.41. He also managed to lower the rotation's ERA in May to a miserly 7.59 (from 8.15 after Friday's game). The Mariners' starting pitchers are averaging the following line per game in May: 5.14 innings, 4.5 runs (4.33 earned), 7.2 hits, 2.3 walks, 2.8 strikeouts, 90.3 pitches (54.5 strikes).
The bats. As mentioned, Raul Ibañez and Bret Boone had the multi-hit games (Boone threw in a steal as well). Richie Sexson and Raul Ibañez provided the fireworks (with two out, no less) and built a 3-1 lead that the bullpen later kicked away. I've noted about the switch of Randy Winn and Jeremy Reed in the order as it's been for the last couple weeks ever since Reed started struggling, but both ends weren't effective in this one. Winn has 0-for-4 and stranded three; Reed struck out three times (hat trick) and stranded two in his 0-for-4 outing. The rest of the machinations of the bottom third of the lineup in this game failed to get a hit. Wiki Gonzalez went 0-for-3 before coming up lame, and Miguel Olivo hung another out up there. Wilson Valdez managed a walk and became the only baserunner out of the 7-8-9 trifecta. That's before he was pinch-hit for by Greg Dobbs and replaced in the field by Willie Bloomquist, who in turn was pinch-hit for by Dave Hansen. The bottom of the boxscore for this game looks almost National League-ish.
Adrian Beltre has an eight-game hit streak. Paris Hilton would say, "that's hot," but I'll just say I'm immensely enjoying Beltre starting to get it turned around and start smoking the ball. Side note, but when he sidearmes the ball from third over to first, I always get the feeling that Richie's going to get airmailed over there, though it never ends up happening. I remember when David Bell used to sidearm balls over to first and it seemed like they'd hang forever, but he was a solid dude at the hot corner. Beltre can hit though.
I'm not sure if I'm more dismayed at Wiki Gonzalez pulling his hamstring, or the fact that I'm actually more nervous about the Mariners' catcher situation as a result of Wiki Gonzalez pulling his hamstring. Call me crazy, but I'm hoping for a Ryan Christianson call-up, but I doubt it'll happen. They've probably gotta make sure the banned substances are out of his system.
Well, this blows. Eleven of 13 down, and a sparkling record of 2-10 record in the very merry month of May. At least the Mariners made sure the Yankees caught fire against them last week in the Bronx. That'll be some good times to open the next work week right there.
Wakefield. Meche. (Already happened).
In 25 words or less: It was a decent game right up to when the mustard was being applied to a loaf of rye bread by an elderly woman.
This one featured Wade Miller and Ryan Franklin. As Jeremy posted earlier though, none of these games over the next 10 days will feature Joel Piñeiro, who was sent to Tacoma to figure out his mechanical problems. It's weird that he's only had two bad starts since his last good one (balls bouncing off bases in Oakland) -- there must have been some horrible bullpen sessions between outings or something. Julio Mateo will start Tuesday (Jamie Moyer on Wednesday) as well as five days after that, and George Sherrill was called up from Tacoma. Less encouraging was the fact that the ax didn't drop on Aaron Sele or Jeff Nelson, but of whom should have had a way shorter leash than Joel.
This one also featured a strike zone from home plate umpire Jeff Nelson (a different one, of course. Bill Miller is on the same crew) that was about three feet wide,
TOP 1ST
Grade: B-
You knew what kind of start it was going to be for Franklin from the very first batter. Johnny Damon, whose right foot wanders out of the box on occasion when he's looking toward the mound, worked a 1-2 count full before grounding to short. That wasn't the story, though. The story was how he fouled off four pitches with two strikes on him, and grounded out on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. In related news, I wish Franklin had a 94mph fastball so he could put some of these guys away. Edgar Renteria grounded out to Wilson Valdez at short. David Ortiz worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Manny Ramirez whiffed on a 1-2 slider. Franklin threw 23 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
No good start on this night. Ichiro had a 3-1 count, but eventually went away via the whiff. Randy Winn hit a sinking fly ball to Trot Nixon in rightfield. Adrian Beltre worked on 0-2 count full before grounding out to first. Miller threw 19 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: A-
Franklin would get through unscathed, but ouch, the pitch count. Trot Nixon got ahead 2-0 before eventually flying out to Winn. Kevin Millar worked an 0-2 count full, fouling off five pitches with two strikes before watching the 11th pitch for strike three over the very wide outside corner. Jason Varitek worked a 1-2 count full before looking at a fastball over the outside corner. Franklin threw 23 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Once again, a whole lot of nothing. Richie Sexson had a 3-1 count, but ended up flying very high to Millar near the mound. Raul Ibañez got down 0-2, and later got a hanging curve, but bounced it to first. Bret Boone fouled off a 3-1 pitch, and failed to hold a checkswing on a full count pitch way outside. Miller threw 20 pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: B-
Franklin had a bit of trouble. He went 3-0 on Bill Mueller, walking him on five pitches. Mark Bellhorn flew out to Ichiro. Damon took Jeremy Reed to the track in centerfield. Renteria singled to rightfield on the first pitch. Ortiz took an 0-2 pitch barely low, and Franklin was able to paint the outside corner (or outside of the outside corner) with a 2-2 fastball to end the inning. Franklin threw 18 pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C+
Not too much again. Jeremy Reed got ahead 2-0, but the 2-2 pitch was a nasty curveball he took for the strikeout. Wiki Gonzalez lined the 1-1 pitch off of the rubber (scorer's take) or Miller, and Bellhorn played the ricochet and threw Gonzalez out (he's slow). Wilson Valdez had the hitters' counts and walked. He went to second on the first-pitch dirtball to Ichiro, who walked on four pitches. Winn hit a sinking lineout to leftfield to end the inning. Miller threw 23 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: B-
It didn't get easier for Franklin. Ramirez flew out to center to lead off. Nixon got ahead 3-0 and walked on five pitches. Millar splintered the bat, but blooped a single to rightfield, so that's a bad bounce. Varitek took Reed to the track in centerfield, but the flyout was deep enough to advance both of the runners into scoring position. Mueller took an 0-2 change barely outside (with this strike zone, anyway). He eventually took a full-count fastball over the outside corner for strike three. Franklin threw 22 pitches and had 86 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: B
People watching the FSNNW broadcast were treated to Dave Niehaus' admission that he wonders where Clyde the Aflac duck goes after he goes all the way to the right of the screen. Beltre got down 0-2 and later smoked a single to leftfield, giving him an eight-game hit streak. Beltre went to second on the 2-1 dirtball to Sexson. Sexson got the hitters' counts, but hit a 3-1 pitch high to the track in leftfield, just missing a homer. Beltre showed some good baserunning and took third on the play with a headfirst slide (cringe). Ibañez took an 0-2 pitch just off the outside corner, but that went for a strikeout. Boone hit a high fly to the wall in rightfield just past Nixon's glove and off the Starbucks sign. Beltre scored very easily, and Boone stood on second with a double.
»» MARINERS 1, RED SOX 0
Reed whiffed on a 2-2 curve to end the inning. Miller threw 21 pitches and had 83 through four.
TOP 5TH
Grade: A-
Franklin got a couple bad bounces in the inning, but it goes in the book as one of his better ones of the night. Bellhorn worked a 1-2 count full, flying out to Winn. Damon hit the 0-2 pitch to Beltre, but the grounder ate him up (error). The ball went high in the air to Valdez, who of course had no play. Renteria had a 3-1 count, but later whiffed on a full count. Damon had taken off for second on the strikeout pitch, and Gonzalez was able to nail him at second trying to steal. Great stuff. Franklin threw 16 pitches and had 102 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C
An inning that's simple as...Gonzalez flying out to Damon in the gap, Valdez having a 2-0 count but later flying out to rightfield, and Ichiro hitting the first pitch up the middle, only to be nailed by a nice play from Renteria going to his glove side. Miller threw only six pitches and had 89 through five.
TOP 6TH
Grade: C
The pitches would finally catch up to Franklin a bit. Ortiz popped a 3-1 pitch to short. Ramirez mashed his first pitch out toward the bullpens to tie the game.
»» RED SOX 1, MARINERS 1
Nixon laced a single to centerfield on the first pitch.
That was the end of the line for Ryan Franklin. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in to relieve. Millar tapped a bunt back to the mound. Varitek grounded out to second to end the inning.
Franklin's line: 5 1/3 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, 110 pitches (64 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: B
The Mariners made a couple of long-distance calls. Winn bounced the 2-0 pitch to first. Beltre bounced out to second. Sexson mashed the second pitch to the hitters' backdrop for the second night in a row.
»» MARINERS 2, RED SOX 1
Ibañez mashed one out to center as well, making it the second straight night that he and Sexson homered back-to-back. Some lady on the Mariners' radio broadcast won $2500 as a result of this homer barrage.
»» MARINERS 3, RED SOX 1
Boone singled softly to centerfield, screwing the contest entrant out of a new home from Quadrant Homes. They're manufactured, I think. I've actually been inside one of those things.
Wade Miller was yanked in favor of Mike Myers. Reed fell behind 0-2 and eventually whiffed.
Miller's line: 5 2/3 innings, 3 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 105 pitches (62 strikes)
Myers' line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 6 pitches (4 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Grade: D
It's time for a bullpen implosion! Mueller singled a 2-0 pitch into leftcenter to lead off.
Ron Villone came in for Hasegawa. Bellhorn smacked a double to leftfield to score Mueller.
»» MARINERS 3, RED SOX 2
Damon got behind 0-2, ending by tapping one back to Villone. Renteria got behind 0-2 as well, but he stuck a 1-2 pitch for a single to rightfield. Villone took care of Ortiz by beaning him in the arm with the first pitch to load the bases.
JJ Putz came in to try and put out the fire. He got Ramirez out whiffing on some 1-2 gas. Then Nixon got a letter-high fastball and connected. Yep, that's a grand slam, though not necessarily a Denny's promotion.
»» RED SOX 6, MARINERS 3
Millar stung one into Beltre's glove to end the inning. Putz threw 12 pitches.
Hasegawa's line: 2/3 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
Villone's line: 1/3 inning, 3 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 14 pitches (10 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C
Matt Mantei came in for Myers. Gonzalez tapped one back to the mound, and pulled up lame with a hamstring pull after being put out at first. Greg Dobbs came on to pinch-hit for Valdez. He worked a 1-2 count full before whiffing. Ichiro beat out an infield single.
Mike Timlin came in for Mantei, and got Winn to fly out to left and end the inning. Timlin threw two pitches.
Mantei's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 1 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (6 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: A
Putz came out with a flawless inning this time. Varitek whiffed. Putz got ahead 0-2 on Mueller and got the 1-2 whiff. Bellhorn bounced out to Boone to end the inning.
Putz' line: 1 2/3 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 26 pitches (19 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C
The Mariners looked done for the night. Beltre flew out to rightfield on the first pitch. Sexson took the whiff. Ibañez singled an 0-2 pitch into leftcenter, which was nice, but Boone got the hitters' counts and whiffed to end the inning.
Timlin's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 17 pitches (11 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: B+
Jeff Nelson came in for Putz. Damon flew out to Reed to lead off. Renteria hit a ball off of Nelson, and Beltre was able to play the carom and gun out Renteria at first. Ortiz walked on 3-1 pitch. Ramirez bounced out to Beltre to end the inning.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 15 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C-
Keith Foulke came in to close the door. Reed flew out to center on the first pitch. Miguel Olivo (Wiki was gone) bounced out to third. Dave Hansen hit for Willie Bloomquist. He got down 0-2 and was caught looking three pitches later.
Foulke's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (6 strikes)
---
Gameball: Raul Ibañez.
Raul and Bret Boone were the only two Mariners with more than one hit on the night, but Raul struck out one less time. He and Richie Sexson went back-to-back two nights in a row, which of course means Raul has homered in two straight games. Before the season I might not have liked the idea of batting Ibañez above Boone in the lineup, but now that we're seeing how Boone is doing, I'm all for Raul hitting fifth. It seems to be working better, though it's only been a few games. Of course, I don't think batting Jeremy Reed seventh is doing him much good, and it's also killing the bottom third of the lineup, but oh well. But hey, every time Raul hits a homer, it makes me want to complain about his contract just a little less.
Goat: Ron Villone.
Jeremy made the post which basically captures it. He just hasn't been good the last couple times out to the mound. Though it's characteristic of being in the bullpen, he's gone from a crazy-low ERA to a bad ERA of 5.25 in a very short span of time. Just when I thought I could have a small morsel of hope that he'd shut other teams down when he'd come into games, he comes out with this. He gives up a run-scoring single to his first batter, gets the next one to tap back to him, has an 0-2 count and loses the next batter (single), and then beans David Ortiz on his way out the door. Is it that hard to get Edgar Renteria out and end the inning so you don't have to face David Ortiz? Why do you bean David Ortiz to load the bases for Manny Ramirez? Truly atrocious. But hey, he's effectively wild, or so they keep telling us all.
I don't think it's much of a stretch to think that if Ryan Franklin had a 94mph fastball, he'd get much deeper into games. Of course, it'd make him a 30-times-better pitcher in the big scope of things, but I have a specific thing for this game. Johnny Damon cranked out a 10-pitch at-bat to start the game. Kevin Millar had an 11-pitch at-bat the very next inning. Granted, a lot of the pitches spent per batter evens out over the course of a game, but that's 21 of his 110 pitches (19.1%) that he spent on those two at-bats. The other thing I'm trying to say is that Franklin so badly could use a drop-dead out pitch to put these guys away so that they're not ramping up his pitch count and sending him to the showers early. This was a hard-fought start for him against a tough lineup, no doubt about that. He gave up one run, which is great, and that's exactly what this teams needs out of their starting pitching. They also need innings, however, and Franklin couldn't get past the 6th. Seriously, 110 pitches over 5 1/3 innings is something we used to see out of average-to-bad Freddy Garcia.
Again, I'll keep referring to my I-have-no-life Excel chart that I'll be keeping until the starting pitching finally appears to right itself. I was mentioning that Franklin didn't get out of the 6th, yet his 5 1/3 innings were slightly deeper into the games than the average starter for the Mariners in the month of May. Through three May starts, Franklin actually has the lowest ERA of the rotation at 4.41. He also managed to lower the rotation's ERA in May to a miserly 7.59 (from 8.15 after Friday's game). The Mariners' starting pitchers are averaging the following line per game in May: 5.14 innings, 4.5 runs (4.33 earned), 7.2 hits, 2.3 walks, 2.8 strikeouts, 90.3 pitches (54.5 strikes).
The bats. As mentioned, Raul Ibañez and Bret Boone had the multi-hit games (Boone threw in a steal as well). Richie Sexson and Raul Ibañez provided the fireworks (with two out, no less) and built a 3-1 lead that the bullpen later kicked away. I've noted about the switch of Randy Winn and Jeremy Reed in the order as it's been for the last couple weeks ever since Reed started struggling, but both ends weren't effective in this one. Winn has 0-for-4 and stranded three; Reed struck out three times (hat trick) and stranded two in his 0-for-4 outing. The rest of the machinations of the bottom third of the lineup in this game failed to get a hit. Wiki Gonzalez went 0-for-3 before coming up lame, and Miguel Olivo hung another out up there. Wilson Valdez managed a walk and became the only baserunner out of the 7-8-9 trifecta. That's before he was pinch-hit for by Greg Dobbs and replaced in the field by Willie Bloomquist, who in turn was pinch-hit for by Dave Hansen. The bottom of the boxscore for this game looks almost National League-ish.
Adrian Beltre has an eight-game hit streak. Paris Hilton would say, "that's hot," but I'll just say I'm immensely enjoying Beltre starting to get it turned around and start smoking the ball. Side note, but when he sidearmes the ball from third over to first, I always get the feeling that Richie's going to get airmailed over there, though it never ends up happening. I remember when David Bell used to sidearm balls over to first and it seemed like they'd hang forever, but he was a solid dude at the hot corner. Beltre can hit though.
I'm not sure if I'm more dismayed at Wiki Gonzalez pulling his hamstring, or the fact that I'm actually more nervous about the Mariners' catcher situation as a result of Wiki Gonzalez pulling his hamstring. Call me crazy, but I'm hoping for a Ryan Christianson call-up, but I doubt it'll happen. They've probably gotta make sure the banned substances are out of his system.
Well, this blows. Eleven of 13 down, and a sparkling record of 2-10 record in the very merry month of May. At least the Mariners made sure the Yankees caught fire against them last week in the Bronx. That'll be some good times to open the next work week right there.
Wakefield. Meche. (Already happened).
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