Tuesday, May 17, 2005
GAME 38: YANKEES 6, MARINERS 3
Yankees 6, Mariners 3
In 25 words or less: This guy Wang will either be a very good pitcher in the Majors, or he'll just haunt the Mariners for the rest of his career.
This one featured Chien-Ming Wang and Aaron Sele. Sele picked the incorrigible black tops (pictured) for this game. Remember how much more classy those tops looked a few years ago with the regular font? That letter font is great for the Mariners' logo, but bad on those uniforms. My best memory of those uniforms is Frankie Rodriguez getting into a beanball war with the Yankees in 1999.
TOP 1ST
Grade: B-
Sele got through the inning. Derek Jeter singled up the middle on the second pitch of the game. Robinson Cano hit a ball in the hole on the left side to Willie Bloomquist, who lost his balance a bit but was able to get Jeter at second for the 6-4 fielder's choice. Sele walked Gary Sheffield on four pitches. Hideki Matsui took an 0-2 breaking ball over the inside corner for strike three. Alex Rodriguez hit a hard 0-2 grounder to Adrian Beltre at third, who stepped on the bag to end the inning. Sele threw 14 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: B
The Mariners would draw first blood. Ichiro ripped a pitch low and away into centerfield for a leadoff single and stole second on the 2-0 pitch to Randy Winn. Winn wasn't too opportune, grounding out right to Jeter, and Ichiro had to hold. Adrian Beltre knocked a base hit to rightfield, but Ichiro held at third due to the throwing arm of one Sheffield. Richie Sexson was called out for not checking his swing on an 0-2 pitch low and outside, and I thought that call was very debatable, the fact there was no replay confirmation be damned. Raul Ibañez got the hitters' counts, fouling off the 3-1 pitch before golfing a low pitch over Bernie Williams' head toward the centerfield wall, scoring Ichiro and Beltre.
»» MARINERS 2, YANKEES 0
Bret Boone hit an 0-2 hard grounder behind the bag at third, and Rodriguez stopped it with his glove, but had no play otherwise (single), and it would have been a tough play anyway. Ibañez went to third on the play. Jeremy Reed had a 2-0 count, but later popped out to leftfield to end the inning. Wang threw 27 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: B-
Sele would again get through the inning. Tino Martinez hit a grounder up the middle which Boone backhanded and threw to first. Bernie Williams fouled off a 3-1 pitch, then took a full-count pitch outside for a free pass. Jason Giambi took a 2-2 waist-high fastball on the inside corner for strike three. John Flaherty checkswung at a 1-2 curve, took a 2-2 pitch barely outside, then blooped a single to rightfield, making him 9-for-17 against Sele, and moving Williams to third. Jeter grounded the 2-0 pitch to short, resulting in an inning-ending 6-4 fielder's choice. Sele threw 27 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C
Wang was about to settle into a groove. Miguel Olivo looked like he might have had a double into the gap in leftcenter, but Williams ran it down for the catch. Willie Bloomquist grounded the 2-0 pitch to short. Ichiro lined his first pitch right at Sheffield to end the inning. Wang threw only six pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C+
Sele would finally pay for flirting with disaster. Cano doubled off the base of the wall in centerfield, giving him a five-game hit streak. Sele got behind Sheffield 3-0 and walked him on a 3-1 low changeup. Matsui grounded out to Boone in the hole, and the runners advanced into scoring position. Rodriguez got behind 0-2 and grounded hard to Beltre near the line behind the game, who threw to a low-picking Sexson at first. Ron Fairly on the television crew thought Beltre might have had a chance at Cano coming home, but that he might have hit the runner with a throwing attempt.
»» MARINERS 2, YANKEES 1
Martinez got the intentional walk treatment. Williams grounded hard to Sexson, who stepped on the bag to end the inning. Sele threw 22 pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C-
Wang was feelin' it. Winn grounded out to third. Beltre grounded out to short. Sexson had the hitters' counts, taking a 3-1 strike that appeared a bit low and outside, then taking the full-count pitch down the pipe to end the inning. Wang threw 16 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: B+
This was Sele's easiest inning yet. Giambi bounced the first pitch to Sexson, who underhanded to Sele. Flaherty flew out high to Winn in leftfield. Jeter was horribly jammed on his first pitch, but fought it off into rightfield for a single. Cano lined out to Beltre to end the inning. Sele threw 10 pitches and had 73 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C-
Wang was oh so right for the Yankees. Ibañez rolled out to second. Boone chopped the first pitch to Martinez, who went to the bag. Reed chopped one back to the mound to end the inning. If you haven't noticed yet, Wang was moving along, having retired 10 straight Mariner hitters. Wang threw only five pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C+
How close can one get to their wits' end without having your team give up any runs? Sheffield took a mother of a 2-1 hack on a curve. He took the 2-2 pitch outside and took the full-count pitch just barely outside. That was Sheffield's third walk of the night and the fifth overall for Sele (one was intentional). With the count 0-2 on Matsui, Sele helped himself out by stepping off as Sheffield was hung out to dry between first and second. Sele ran at Sheffield and threw to Sexson, who tagged out the runner. Matsui would ground out to Sexson. Rodriguez had a 2-0 count and later took a full-count curve in the dirt. That was Sele's sixth walk of the night (one intentional). Martinez singled the first pitch past Sexson into rightfield for a single. Williams fouled off the 0-2 pitch before flying out high to Winn. The Yankees had stranded nine runners in the game. Sele threw 22 pitches and had 95 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C-
Wang was doing well enough so that Rick Rizzs wasn't beating everyone over the head with how his name should be pronounced. Olivo grounded out to Rodriguez, who made a nice off-balance throw from near the line. Bloomquist rolled a 2-0 pitch to Cano at second. Ichiro grounded out to Cano as well. Mark it up as 13 straight for Wang. Wang threw nine pitches.
TOP 6TH
Grade: A
Sele finished with a flourish, and in a really weird way. Giambi went away hacking on a low curve. Flaherty fouled off some pitches with two strikes before making wind on a fastball low and away. Jeter whiffed on a full-count fastball. Take a picture, or hit alt+printscreen on your browser and save this, because Aaron Sele struck out the side.
Sele's line: 6 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts, 115 pitches (64 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
He's Wang, and he's strong, and he's here to get the friction on. Winn grounded to Martinez for the 3-1 putout. Beltre had a 2-0 count, but later swung through a low breaking ball. Sexson worked an 0-2 count full, but became Hurricane Richie on a fastball. I'm not sure whether it's worse to think about this version of Hurricane Richie or the ratty-haired version of Nicole Richie spinning around really fast. Wang threw 16 pitches and had 77 through six.
TOP 7TH
Grade: F
Considering how many people Sele walked, this was just a devil of a turnaround since he actually left with the lead. The bullpen took care of the rest. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in for Sele. Cano grounded out to Boone to lead off. Sheffield hit a 3-1 pitch deep in the hole on the left side, and Bloomquist made a diving stop but had too far to go to get it (single). Matsui hit his second pitch off the wall in rightfield, and Ichiro quickly came up throwing, holding Sheffield at third and somehow holding Matsui at first with a single. Then Hasegawa negated it by walking Rodriguez on four pitches to load the bases.
George Sherrill came in for Hasegawa to make his first appearance in the bigs in 2005. Martinez had a 2-0 count, and hit a 2-1 broken-bat grounder to Beltre, who threw home. Olivo stepped on the plate to force out Sheffield and threw to first to get the double play. One problem: the ball went off the heel of Sexson's glove and possibly his wrist. The bases remained loaded, though with two out.
JJ Putz came in for Sherrill. Williams tattooed the first pitch over the wall in rightcenter. Reed gave chase and hit the wall pretty hard, and even lost his glove over the wall in pursuit, but it was probably a few feet over him anyway. In case you're wondering, that's twice in three games that JJ Putz has given up a slam.
»» YANKEES 5, MARINERS 2
Giambi singled to leftfield. Flaherty singled softly to leftcenter as it appeared the inning might never end. There were already two out, however. Tony Womack pinch-ran for Giambi and stole third on the 1-2 pitch to Jeter, who worked his count full but took a low pitch over the outside corner to end the inning.
Hasegawa's line: 1/3 inning, 3 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 13 pitches (5 strikes)
Sherrill's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 4 pitches (2 strikes)
Putz' line: 1/3 inning, 1 run, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: B-
Somehow, Wang didn't survive the inning. Ibañez flew out to left on an 0-2 pitch, and Wang had set down 17 straight. Boone hit a ball to centerfield that went just past a diving Williams and back toward the wall for a double. Reed bounced a 2-0 pitch off the track and the wall in centerfield to score Boone and make things a bit more interesting. I know my attention span lengthened a bit from drawing up meaningless Excel spreadsheets during the game. Seriously, I'm a sad case.
»»YANKEES 5, MARINERS 3
(Dar)Tanyon Sturtze came in for Wang. He got Olivo fishing on an 0-2 dirtball. Dave Hansen came on to pinch hit, and he popped the first pitch foul to Rodriguez near the third-base coach's box.
Wang's line: 6 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 87 pitches (54 strikes)
Sturtze's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 4 pitches (4 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: C
Jeff Nelson came in for Putz. Cano greeted him with a single up the middle on the first pitch. Sheffield hit a hard grounder to second that ate up Boone on what could have been a double-play ball. It was scored a hit, which I thought was bull since Boone seemed to be in perfect position to play the ball and didn't have a long way to go to get it. Matsui hit a slow roller to Boone, who barehanded and flipped to first for the out as Cano scored and Sheffield moved to second. Hargrove came out to give a word or two to the umpires, who conferred behind the mound. Sexson and Boone had noticed something weird after the play as well. It turns out that Matsui hit the ball twice with the bat, therefore making it a foul ball. Matsui was caught looking on the next pitch. Of course, the non-run would be rendered moot. Rodriguez got ahead 2-0 and two pitches later, he singled through the hole on the left side. Cano's run actually counted this time.
»» YANKEES 6, MARINERS 3
Martinez popped out to Ichiro, and the runners held. Williams grounded an 0-2 pitch to Sexson, who stepped on the bag to end the inning.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 19 pitches (14 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C
Tom Gordon came in for Sturtze. Ichiro hit the first pitch down the line to Martinez, who stepped on the bag and quickly deflated hopes I had for a rally. Winn took a 3-1 pitch out of the zone for a walk. Beltre got behind 0-2 and fouled off a few pitches. Beltre took a dirtball on which Winn scooted to second. Beltre eventually swung through a fastball down and in. Sexson hit a high fly ball into foul territory, and Martinez caught it near the tarp to end the inning. This of course begs the question, why are there tarps at the Safe?
Gordon's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 17 pitches (10 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: A-
Eddie Guardado came in for Nelson. Womack fouled off a 3-1 pitch before whiffing on an inside pitch. Flaherty grounded his 0-2 pitch to Beltre. Jeter looked at a fastball over the inside corner to end the inning.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 16 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C
Mariano Rivera came to put out the lights. It's times like this when I really miss Edgar. Ibañez got ahead 3-0 and took a five-pitch walk. Boone hit a hard grounder to short, good for a 6-4-3 double play. Reed managed a broken-bat single in front of Williams in centerfield, but that was tempered by the pinch-hitting Greg Dobbs. Though Reed snuck to second on a dirtball, Dobbs eventually whiffed on a head-high inside fastball (I'll go out on a limb and say it was a cutter) for strike three. Ballgame.
Rivera's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 21 pitches (12 strikes)
---
Gameball: Jeremy Reed.
It's sad that a nice 2-for-4 day by Jeremy Reed definitely won't be the first thing anyone thinks about when this came comes to mind. He velcro'd himself to the wall in the top of the 7th trying to catch that Bernie Williams grand slam, then bounced a double off the track to just about the same vicinity in the bottom of the inning to get one of the runs back. He also splintered his bat on a single to rightfield in the 9th. The team had gotten a few hits out of the short tenure of Wiki Gonzalez, but he's gone for the time being, and if Reed or anyone else in the bottom of the lineup can chip in here and there, this team will be a lot better off. If more people are on base when the lineup turns over and Ichiro is at the plate, that's a good thing.
Goat: Shigetoshi Hasegawa.
There's a ton of ways you can go with the goat, though definitely not George Sherrill because he was the only pitcher that did his job that inning. JJ Putz served up his second grand slam in three games. On the non-pitcher side, Richie Sexson hung up a hat trick and had the ball go off his glove on what could and probably should have been an inning-ending double play. Hasegawa created the mess. He'd gotten behind Gary Sheffield, though to Hasegawa's credit he got a ground ball (it just had eyes). Then Matsui crushed that ball to the wall. There's no excuse for a reliever to walk anybody, not even Alex Rodriguez, on four pitches with runners on base unless the catcher gets up from his crouch and holds out four fingers. No excuse at all. Hasegawa's been a mostly solid reliever this year, and this wasn't a full-on crapping of the bed, but he provided ample kindling.
I guess I can thank a certain Chien-Ming Wang not only for just defeating my favorite baseball team that I follow on a regular basis, but I can also thank him for making my attention waver from the game itself. I was mentally diverted to charting game-to-game winning percentages for the Sonics and Mariners and weird stuff like that, and I read a bit of the latest ESPN magazine between pitches. Have you ever taken game notes on semi-autopilot? It's quite the experience. Seventeen straight Mariners were retired by Wang, and the only reason Joe Torre pulled him was probably so he'd have no chance to blow the lead or lose the game. If Torre leaves Wang in, I think he pitches into the eighth because his pitch count was low enough, but oh well. Gotta keep Dartanyon sharp. By the way, I just feel disgusted when Sturtze shuts down the Mariners. Of course, I'll sleep well knowing the Yankees will never win a World Series with Tanyon Sturtze on their roster. When the Marlins beat you one year and the Red Sox win four straight after you're one win away from the World Series, the baseball gods must be telling you something.
On a night that was hyped as Aaron Sele pitching to keep his job, it turned out as something maddeningly weird to decipher. Of course, if I was sitting there after six innings as a Yankee fan, I would have been outrageously angry knowing that Sele had walked six guys (one intentional) and somehow the Yankees only managed to put one run across. From a Mariner standpoint, I'm thinking Sele at the very least convinced the Mariner brass that he might have a glimmer of hope and be able to turn it around. What am I thinking? He's not always going to get away with six walks, that's for sure. The only morsel of hope for me is the five strikeouts, but I'm sure that comes and goes. As for the walks, Sheffield got a hat trick of them from Sele, and Alex, Tino, and Bernie Williams got one apiece. At least he wasn't walking Jason Giambi and John Flaherty, I guess. Still, Sele's not going to walk six guys every night, but the Yankees and other opposing teams aren't going to strand 24 runners on the basepaths every night either. I can understand a starting pitcher wriggling out of a jam here and there, but it's been like Bobby Ayala starting on the mound lately.
The bats? Well, they got a heavy dose of Wang. He had his way with the Mariners much like he did in the Bronx. Wang was arguably better in his other start against the Mariners, lasting into the eighth inning and giving up only four hits. This time, however, he didn't walk anybody (three last time). Reed had a multi-hit game, and I gave him the gameball for it. The other multi-hit game went to Bret Boone, whose bat seems to be getting to lukewarm status. Boone went 2-for-4 with a double and scored on the Reed double. As for the zeroes in the boxscore, everyone hitting in the eighth and ninth slots had 'em, as did Randy Winn (0-for-3 with a walk, stranding one) and Richie Sexson (0-for-4, three whiffs, stranding three).
Back to the rotation, but now with mention of the geeky Excel table. Aaron Sele's May ERA through three May starts is now a mere 7.62. This start managed to lower this month's ERA of the entire starting rotation from 7.45 to 6.96. Hey, it's half a run. That's progress (as I seethe with sarcasm). Of course, Sele did manage to tag on an extra 0.2 walks (and oddly, the same amount in strikeouts) to the average of the whole rotation. Here's the average line for Mariner starting pitchers this month: 5.26 innings (about 5 1/3), 4.21 runs (4.07 earned), 7 hits, 2.6 walks, 3 strikeouts, 93.5 pitches (55.9 strikes). I don't think there's anyone out there who thought Sele was going to get into the seventh before the game or anything, but the bullpen is in dire need of someone getting deep into the ballgame. I said it the wrap of Sunday's game, but I'll mention it again. The Mariners starting pitchers haven't recorded an out in the 7th inning since Gil Meche did so in the Bronx on the 9th. It's been a week, and unless Julio Mateo gets the Yankees collectively hacking early, the bullpen will be getting a good deal of work in the middle game of the series.
Well, that one day all alone in third place was sure nice. Now with this Mariner loss and Oakland's win, both teams are tied for third once again. Wang was good in this game, so if this series mirrors the Bronx series, the Mariners should tattoo Carl Pavano once again. The game won't involved Jamie Moyer, so that'll be different. If the rest of it held up, though, Mateo and the defense would blow a five-run lead (in the top of the second, since they would have had to score the runs), then Matt Thornton would turn a three-run lead into a three-run deficit.
By the way, that's a shimmery record of 3-11 this month for your Seattle Mariners, or you could say that they've lost 12 of 15 games if you count that last game in May. It's all the same. Hey, twelve of fifteen games...that adds up to a .200 winning percentage, you know. Surely we can't have this team winning at the same rate at which Dave Valle got base hits. It's got to stop.
Pavano. Mateo. Tonight.
In 25 words or less: This guy Wang will either be a very good pitcher in the Majors, or he'll just haunt the Mariners for the rest of his career.
This one featured Chien-Ming Wang and Aaron Sele. Sele picked the incorrigible black tops (pictured) for this game. Remember how much more classy those tops looked a few years ago with the regular font? That letter font is great for the Mariners' logo, but bad on those uniforms. My best memory of those uniforms is Frankie Rodriguez getting into a beanball war with the Yankees in 1999.
TOP 1ST
Grade: B-
Sele got through the inning. Derek Jeter singled up the middle on the second pitch of the game. Robinson Cano hit a ball in the hole on the left side to Willie Bloomquist, who lost his balance a bit but was able to get Jeter at second for the 6-4 fielder's choice. Sele walked Gary Sheffield on four pitches. Hideki Matsui took an 0-2 breaking ball over the inside corner for strike three. Alex Rodriguez hit a hard 0-2 grounder to Adrian Beltre at third, who stepped on the bag to end the inning. Sele threw 14 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: B
The Mariners would draw first blood. Ichiro ripped a pitch low and away into centerfield for a leadoff single and stole second on the 2-0 pitch to Randy Winn. Winn wasn't too opportune, grounding out right to Jeter, and Ichiro had to hold. Adrian Beltre knocked a base hit to rightfield, but Ichiro held at third due to the throwing arm of one Sheffield. Richie Sexson was called out for not checking his swing on an 0-2 pitch low and outside, and I thought that call was very debatable, the fact there was no replay confirmation be damned. Raul Ibañez got the hitters' counts, fouling off the 3-1 pitch before golfing a low pitch over Bernie Williams' head toward the centerfield wall, scoring Ichiro and Beltre.
»» MARINERS 2, YANKEES 0
Bret Boone hit an 0-2 hard grounder behind the bag at third, and Rodriguez stopped it with his glove, but had no play otherwise (single), and it would have been a tough play anyway. Ibañez went to third on the play. Jeremy Reed had a 2-0 count, but later popped out to leftfield to end the inning. Wang threw 27 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: B-
Sele would again get through the inning. Tino Martinez hit a grounder up the middle which Boone backhanded and threw to first. Bernie Williams fouled off a 3-1 pitch, then took a full-count pitch outside for a free pass. Jason Giambi took a 2-2 waist-high fastball on the inside corner for strike three. John Flaherty checkswung at a 1-2 curve, took a 2-2 pitch barely outside, then blooped a single to rightfield, making him 9-for-17 against Sele, and moving Williams to third. Jeter grounded the 2-0 pitch to short, resulting in an inning-ending 6-4 fielder's choice. Sele threw 27 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C
Wang was about to settle into a groove. Miguel Olivo looked like he might have had a double into the gap in leftcenter, but Williams ran it down for the catch. Willie Bloomquist grounded the 2-0 pitch to short. Ichiro lined his first pitch right at Sheffield to end the inning. Wang threw only six pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C+
Sele would finally pay for flirting with disaster. Cano doubled off the base of the wall in centerfield, giving him a five-game hit streak. Sele got behind Sheffield 3-0 and walked him on a 3-1 low changeup. Matsui grounded out to Boone in the hole, and the runners advanced into scoring position. Rodriguez got behind 0-2 and grounded hard to Beltre near the line behind the game, who threw to a low-picking Sexson at first. Ron Fairly on the television crew thought Beltre might have had a chance at Cano coming home, but that he might have hit the runner with a throwing attempt.
»» MARINERS 2, YANKEES 1
Martinez got the intentional walk treatment. Williams grounded hard to Sexson, who stepped on the bag to end the inning. Sele threw 22 pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C-
Wang was feelin' it. Winn grounded out to third. Beltre grounded out to short. Sexson had the hitters' counts, taking a 3-1 strike that appeared a bit low and outside, then taking the full-count pitch down the pipe to end the inning. Wang threw 16 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: B+
This was Sele's easiest inning yet. Giambi bounced the first pitch to Sexson, who underhanded to Sele. Flaherty flew out high to Winn in leftfield. Jeter was horribly jammed on his first pitch, but fought it off into rightfield for a single. Cano lined out to Beltre to end the inning. Sele threw 10 pitches and had 73 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C-
Wang was oh so right for the Yankees. Ibañez rolled out to second. Boone chopped the first pitch to Martinez, who went to the bag. Reed chopped one back to the mound to end the inning. If you haven't noticed yet, Wang was moving along, having retired 10 straight Mariner hitters. Wang threw only five pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C+
How close can one get to their wits' end without having your team give up any runs? Sheffield took a mother of a 2-1 hack on a curve. He took the 2-2 pitch outside and took the full-count pitch just barely outside. That was Sheffield's third walk of the night and the fifth overall for Sele (one was intentional). With the count 0-2 on Matsui, Sele helped himself out by stepping off as Sheffield was hung out to dry between first and second. Sele ran at Sheffield and threw to Sexson, who tagged out the runner. Matsui would ground out to Sexson. Rodriguez had a 2-0 count and later took a full-count curve in the dirt. That was Sele's sixth walk of the night (one intentional). Martinez singled the first pitch past Sexson into rightfield for a single. Williams fouled off the 0-2 pitch before flying out high to Winn. The Yankees had stranded nine runners in the game. Sele threw 22 pitches and had 95 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C-
Wang was doing well enough so that Rick Rizzs wasn't beating everyone over the head with how his name should be pronounced. Olivo grounded out to Rodriguez, who made a nice off-balance throw from near the line. Bloomquist rolled a 2-0 pitch to Cano at second. Ichiro grounded out to Cano as well. Mark it up as 13 straight for Wang. Wang threw nine pitches.
TOP 6TH
Grade: A
Sele finished with a flourish, and in a really weird way. Giambi went away hacking on a low curve. Flaherty fouled off some pitches with two strikes before making wind on a fastball low and away. Jeter whiffed on a full-count fastball. Take a picture, or hit alt+printscreen on your browser and save this, because Aaron Sele struck out the side.
Sele's line: 6 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts, 115 pitches (64 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
He's Wang, and he's strong, and he's here to get the friction on. Winn grounded to Martinez for the 3-1 putout. Beltre had a 2-0 count, but later swung through a low breaking ball. Sexson worked an 0-2 count full, but became Hurricane Richie on a fastball. I'm not sure whether it's worse to think about this version of Hurricane Richie or the ratty-haired version of Nicole Richie spinning around really fast. Wang threw 16 pitches and had 77 through six.
TOP 7TH
Grade: F
Considering how many people Sele walked, this was just a devil of a turnaround since he actually left with the lead. The bullpen took care of the rest. Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in for Sele. Cano grounded out to Boone to lead off. Sheffield hit a 3-1 pitch deep in the hole on the left side, and Bloomquist made a diving stop but had too far to go to get it (single). Matsui hit his second pitch off the wall in rightfield, and Ichiro quickly came up throwing, holding Sheffield at third and somehow holding Matsui at first with a single. Then Hasegawa negated it by walking Rodriguez on four pitches to load the bases.
George Sherrill came in for Hasegawa to make his first appearance in the bigs in 2005. Martinez had a 2-0 count, and hit a 2-1 broken-bat grounder to Beltre, who threw home. Olivo stepped on the plate to force out Sheffield and threw to first to get the double play. One problem: the ball went off the heel of Sexson's glove and possibly his wrist. The bases remained loaded, though with two out.
JJ Putz came in for Sherrill. Williams tattooed the first pitch over the wall in rightcenter. Reed gave chase and hit the wall pretty hard, and even lost his glove over the wall in pursuit, but it was probably a few feet over him anyway. In case you're wondering, that's twice in three games that JJ Putz has given up a slam.
»» YANKEES 5, MARINERS 2
Giambi singled to leftfield. Flaherty singled softly to leftcenter as it appeared the inning might never end. There were already two out, however. Tony Womack pinch-ran for Giambi and stole third on the 1-2 pitch to Jeter, who worked his count full but took a low pitch over the outside corner to end the inning.
Hasegawa's line: 1/3 inning, 3 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 13 pitches (5 strikes)
Sherrill's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 4 pitches (2 strikes)
Putz' line: 1/3 inning, 1 run, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: B-
Somehow, Wang didn't survive the inning. Ibañez flew out to left on an 0-2 pitch, and Wang had set down 17 straight. Boone hit a ball to centerfield that went just past a diving Williams and back toward the wall for a double. Reed bounced a 2-0 pitch off the track and the wall in centerfield to score Boone and make things a bit more interesting. I know my attention span lengthened a bit from drawing up meaningless Excel spreadsheets during the game. Seriously, I'm a sad case.
»»YANKEES 5, MARINERS 3
(Dar)Tanyon Sturtze came in for Wang. He got Olivo fishing on an 0-2 dirtball. Dave Hansen came on to pinch hit, and he popped the first pitch foul to Rodriguez near the third-base coach's box.
Wang's line: 6 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 87 pitches (54 strikes)
Sturtze's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 4 pitches (4 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: C
Jeff Nelson came in for Putz. Cano greeted him with a single up the middle on the first pitch. Sheffield hit a hard grounder to second that ate up Boone on what could have been a double-play ball. It was scored a hit, which I thought was bull since Boone seemed to be in perfect position to play the ball and didn't have a long way to go to get it. Matsui hit a slow roller to Boone, who barehanded and flipped to first for the out as Cano scored and Sheffield moved to second. Hargrove came out to give a word or two to the umpires, who conferred behind the mound. Sexson and Boone had noticed something weird after the play as well. It turns out that Matsui hit the ball twice with the bat, therefore making it a foul ball. Matsui was caught looking on the next pitch. Of course, the non-run would be rendered moot. Rodriguez got ahead 2-0 and two pitches later, he singled through the hole on the left side. Cano's run actually counted this time.
»» YANKEES 6, MARINERS 3
Martinez popped out to Ichiro, and the runners held. Williams grounded an 0-2 pitch to Sexson, who stepped on the bag to end the inning.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 19 pitches (14 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C
Tom Gordon came in for Sturtze. Ichiro hit the first pitch down the line to Martinez, who stepped on the bag and quickly deflated hopes I had for a rally. Winn took a 3-1 pitch out of the zone for a walk. Beltre got behind 0-2 and fouled off a few pitches. Beltre took a dirtball on which Winn scooted to second. Beltre eventually swung through a fastball down and in. Sexson hit a high fly ball into foul territory, and Martinez caught it near the tarp to end the inning. This of course begs the question, why are there tarps at the Safe?
Gordon's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 17 pitches (10 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: A-
Eddie Guardado came in for Nelson. Womack fouled off a 3-1 pitch before whiffing on an inside pitch. Flaherty grounded his 0-2 pitch to Beltre. Jeter looked at a fastball over the inside corner to end the inning.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 16 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C
Mariano Rivera came to put out the lights. It's times like this when I really miss Edgar. Ibañez got ahead 3-0 and took a five-pitch walk. Boone hit a hard grounder to short, good for a 6-4-3 double play. Reed managed a broken-bat single in front of Williams in centerfield, but that was tempered by the pinch-hitting Greg Dobbs. Though Reed snuck to second on a dirtball, Dobbs eventually whiffed on a head-high inside fastball (I'll go out on a limb and say it was a cutter) for strike three. Ballgame.
Rivera's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 21 pitches (12 strikes)
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Gameball: Jeremy Reed.
It's sad that a nice 2-for-4 day by Jeremy Reed definitely won't be the first thing anyone thinks about when this came comes to mind. He velcro'd himself to the wall in the top of the 7th trying to catch that Bernie Williams grand slam, then bounced a double off the track to just about the same vicinity in the bottom of the inning to get one of the runs back. He also splintered his bat on a single to rightfield in the 9th. The team had gotten a few hits out of the short tenure of Wiki Gonzalez, but he's gone for the time being, and if Reed or anyone else in the bottom of the lineup can chip in here and there, this team will be a lot better off. If more people are on base when the lineup turns over and Ichiro is at the plate, that's a good thing.
Goat: Shigetoshi Hasegawa.
There's a ton of ways you can go with the goat, though definitely not George Sherrill because he was the only pitcher that did his job that inning. JJ Putz served up his second grand slam in three games. On the non-pitcher side, Richie Sexson hung up a hat trick and had the ball go off his glove on what could and probably should have been an inning-ending double play. Hasegawa created the mess. He'd gotten behind Gary Sheffield, though to Hasegawa's credit he got a ground ball (it just had eyes). Then Matsui crushed that ball to the wall. There's no excuse for a reliever to walk anybody, not even Alex Rodriguez, on four pitches with runners on base unless the catcher gets up from his crouch and holds out four fingers. No excuse at all. Hasegawa's been a mostly solid reliever this year, and this wasn't a full-on crapping of the bed, but he provided ample kindling.
I guess I can thank a certain Chien-Ming Wang not only for just defeating my favorite baseball team that I follow on a regular basis, but I can also thank him for making my attention waver from the game itself. I was mentally diverted to charting game-to-game winning percentages for the Sonics and Mariners and weird stuff like that, and I read a bit of the latest ESPN magazine between pitches. Have you ever taken game notes on semi-autopilot? It's quite the experience. Seventeen straight Mariners were retired by Wang, and the only reason Joe Torre pulled him was probably so he'd have no chance to blow the lead or lose the game. If Torre leaves Wang in, I think he pitches into the eighth because his pitch count was low enough, but oh well. Gotta keep Dartanyon sharp. By the way, I just feel disgusted when Sturtze shuts down the Mariners. Of course, I'll sleep well knowing the Yankees will never win a World Series with Tanyon Sturtze on their roster. When the Marlins beat you one year and the Red Sox win four straight after you're one win away from the World Series, the baseball gods must be telling you something.
On a night that was hyped as Aaron Sele pitching to keep his job, it turned out as something maddeningly weird to decipher. Of course, if I was sitting there after six innings as a Yankee fan, I would have been outrageously angry knowing that Sele had walked six guys (one intentional) and somehow the Yankees only managed to put one run across. From a Mariner standpoint, I'm thinking Sele at the very least convinced the Mariner brass that he might have a glimmer of hope and be able to turn it around. What am I thinking? He's not always going to get away with six walks, that's for sure. The only morsel of hope for me is the five strikeouts, but I'm sure that comes and goes. As for the walks, Sheffield got a hat trick of them from Sele, and Alex, Tino, and Bernie Williams got one apiece. At least he wasn't walking Jason Giambi and John Flaherty, I guess. Still, Sele's not going to walk six guys every night, but the Yankees and other opposing teams aren't going to strand 24 runners on the basepaths every night either. I can understand a starting pitcher wriggling out of a jam here and there, but it's been like Bobby Ayala starting on the mound lately.
The bats? Well, they got a heavy dose of Wang. He had his way with the Mariners much like he did in the Bronx. Wang was arguably better in his other start against the Mariners, lasting into the eighth inning and giving up only four hits. This time, however, he didn't walk anybody (three last time). Reed had a multi-hit game, and I gave him the gameball for it. The other multi-hit game went to Bret Boone, whose bat seems to be getting to lukewarm status. Boone went 2-for-4 with a double and scored on the Reed double. As for the zeroes in the boxscore, everyone hitting in the eighth and ninth slots had 'em, as did Randy Winn (0-for-3 with a walk, stranding one) and Richie Sexson (0-for-4, three whiffs, stranding three).
Back to the rotation, but now with mention of the geeky Excel table. Aaron Sele's May ERA through three May starts is now a mere 7.62. This start managed to lower this month's ERA of the entire starting rotation from 7.45 to 6.96. Hey, it's half a run. That's progress (as I seethe with sarcasm). Of course, Sele did manage to tag on an extra 0.2 walks (and oddly, the same amount in strikeouts) to the average of the whole rotation. Here's the average line for Mariner starting pitchers this month: 5.26 innings (about 5 1/3), 4.21 runs (4.07 earned), 7 hits, 2.6 walks, 3 strikeouts, 93.5 pitches (55.9 strikes). I don't think there's anyone out there who thought Sele was going to get into the seventh before the game or anything, but the bullpen is in dire need of someone getting deep into the ballgame. I said it the wrap of Sunday's game, but I'll mention it again. The Mariners starting pitchers haven't recorded an out in the 7th inning since Gil Meche did so in the Bronx on the 9th. It's been a week, and unless Julio Mateo gets the Yankees collectively hacking early, the bullpen will be getting a good deal of work in the middle game of the series.
Well, that one day all alone in third place was sure nice. Now with this Mariner loss and Oakland's win, both teams are tied for third once again. Wang was good in this game, so if this series mirrors the Bronx series, the Mariners should tattoo Carl Pavano once again. The game won't involved Jamie Moyer, so that'll be different. If the rest of it held up, though, Mateo and the defense would blow a five-run lead (in the top of the second, since they would have had to score the runs), then Matt Thornton would turn a three-run lead into a three-run deficit.
By the way, that's a shimmery record of 3-11 this month for your Seattle Mariners, or you could say that they've lost 12 of 15 games if you count that last game in May. It's all the same. Hey, twelve of fifteen games...that adds up to a .200 winning percentage, you know. Surely we can't have this team winning at the same rate at which Dave Valle got base hits. It's got to stop.
Pavano. Mateo. Tonight.
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