Wednesday, May 18, 2005
GAME 39: YANKEES 6, MARINERS 0
Yankees 6, Mariners 0
In 25 words or less: You know, 1995 was great. Can we just agree that the Mariners have been the Yankees' bitch ever since?
This one featured Carl Pavano and Julio Mateo, the latter making his first Major League start. I won't lie to you, this one's totally BS'd from the game log, as you'll surely be able to tell when you see the less-detailed stuff I'm about to spew out. I can only watch one game when two games are going simultaneously, and quite simply, the Sonics are in the playoffs right now.
TOP 1ST
Grade: A
Mateo started out okay. Derek Jeter bunted back to the mound. Tony Womack flew out to Randy Winn in left. Gary Sheffield flew out to Ichiro. Mateo threw eight pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
There was an ongoing theme to this game, and it was one of no offense. Ichiro flew out to Womack on the first pitch. Randy Winn bounced an 0-2 pitch to first. Adrian Beltre whiffed. Pavano threw nine pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: C
It didn't take long for the Yankees to figure out the newbie starter. Hideki Matsui singled to rightfield on the first pitch. Alex Rodriguez singled into leftcenter. Tino Martinez flew out to center on an 0-2 pitch. Jorge Posada singled to score Matsui.
»» YANKEES 1, MARINERS 0
Jason Giambi popped a fly ball to centerfield, but Jeremy Reed got a bad jump on it, and it dropped in front of him. Rodriguez scored, and Posada was on third.
»» YANKEES 2, MARINERS 0
Robinson Cano popped the first pitch to Valdez. Jeter got behind 0-2 and eventually whiffed to end the inning. Mateo threw 20 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Again, same story. Richie Sexson whiffed. Raul Ibañez bounced out to first. Bret Boone bailed out of his 0-2 count by getting beaned in the right forearm. Jeremy Reed flew out to centerfield to end the inning. Pavano threw 19 pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: A
Mateo rebounded. Womack popped out to Miguel Olivo behind the plate. Sheffield flew out to Ichiro, and so did Matsui. Mateo threw nine pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C
More of the same. Miguel Olivo bounced out to Rodriguez. Wilson Valdez got down 0-2, eventually grounding out to short. Ichiro coaxed a nine-pitch at-bat, fouling off four pitches with two strikes before lining out to Jeter. Pavano threw 15 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C
A flurry of activity, but nobody scored. Rodriguez worked an 0-2 count full before popping to Sexson in front of the dugout. Martinez got a free pass. Posada flew out to Reed. Martinez scooted to second on an Olivo passed ball on Giambi's first pitch. Giambi singled to rightfield, and Martinez easily came around to score when Ichiro overran the ball.
»» YANKEES 3, MARINERS 0
Cano singled to centerfield as well before Jeter grounded out to Valdez to end the inning. Mateo threw 21 pitches.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C
Something other than a 1-2-3 inning, yes, but no runs coming across. Winn got ahead 2-0, later bouncing out to short. Beltre grounded out to short, apparently aggravating a bit of a hamstring pull he'd suffered the night before (he came out of the game in the 5th). Sexson singled into leftfield and went to second on the next pitch when Ibañez singled to rightfield. Then Boone whiffed to end the inning. Pavano threw 13 pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C
Mateo would get touched up one final time. Womack lined out to Ichiro on an 0-2 pitch. Sheffield legged out an infield single. Matsui flew out to Reed. Then Rodriguez tagged one into the Mariner bullpen.
»» YANKEES 5, MARINERS 0
Martinez grounded out to Boone to end the inning.
Mateo's line: 5 innings, 5 runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 72 pitches (54 strikes)
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C-
Blah. Reed got behind 0-2 and bounced out to second, Olivo whiffed, and Valdez grounded out to Jeter. Pavano threw 13 pitches.
TOP 6TH
Grade: B-
Matt Thornton came in for Mateo.
Posada whiffed. Giambi parked one about 12 rows back into the rightfield seats.
»» YANKEES 6, MARINERS 0
Cano got behind 0-2 and whiffed. Jeter got ahead 3-0 but eventually grounded out to Valdez on 3-1.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
More of the same old crap. Ichiro grounded out to third, Winn to second. Dave Hansen came in for Beltre (hamstring) and lined out to leftfield. Pavano threw 12 pitches. This inning also included an exchange between Mike Hargrove and an umpire, arguing over the fact that Ichiro had asked for time and didn't get it.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B+
Thornton evaded too much trouble. Womack flew out to Hansen in foul ground. Sheffield walked on four pitches, so that wasn't good. Coming back and getting Matsui to whiff was good though. Rodriguez had a 3-0 count go full before flying out to Reed.
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C
Zzzzzzzz. Sexson grounded out to third, Ibañez whiffed, Boone singled to leftfield, and Reed grounded out to second on the first pitch.
TOP 8TH
Grade: B
Thornton continued with garbage time. Martinez whiffed. Posada singled to rightfield. Giambi flew out to Hansen in foul ground, and Cano whiffed to end the inning.
Thornton's line: 3 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 52 pitches (31 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C-
Are you used to it yet? Olivo grounded out to third. Valdez grounded out to short. Ichiro decided to whiff instead of ground out. Pavano threw eight pitches.
TOP 9TH
Grade: B
Ron Villone came in for Thornton. Jeter flew out to Reed. Womack whiffed. Sheffield had the hitters' counts and walked. Matsui popped to Boone to end the inning.
Villone's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (8 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C+
The night came to a close. Winn bounced to Jeter on the first pitch. Dave Hansen came on to pinch hit. He worked an 0-2 count full and managed a single to centerfield. Sexson singled to leftfield. Ibañez had a 2-0 count and fouled off three pitches with two strikes before whiffing on a dirtball. Boone had a 2-0 count and later flew out to rightfield to mercifully end the game.
Pavano's line: 9 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts, 133 pitches (90 strikes)
---
Gameball: Richie Sexson.
There's not too many places to go after a game like this one. If you're Bill Krueger, you make a case for Matt Thornton. If you're me, Richie Sexson had the only multi-hit game, and they both were surprisingly singles. He was 2-for-4 with a strikeout. Hey, it raises the batting average.
Goat: Ichiro.
I wasn't expecting too much out of Julio Mateo anyway, since it was his first start, the Yankees are hot, the Mariners are the Yankees' bitch, and his pitch count wasn't going to be too high anyway. So, I'm sticking Ichiro with the goat. If he's the spark plug to this Mariner offense, it definitely didn't happen in this one. He was 0-for-4 with a strikeout. This had a domino effect to Randy Winn as well, who matched Ichiro's 0-for-4, though with one less strikeout.
Let's look at the hitting here...the Mariners' top and bottom thirds of the order (starters) were a combined 0-for-19 with three strikeouts. Needless to say, that won't get it done. I couldn't believe this was the same team that had tattooed Carl Pavano in the Bronx last Wednesday. I still think Pavano will be a one-year wonder, and I'll always maintain that I'm glad the Mariners didn't get him. As for nights like this one, well, they'll happen. This one was probably decided before it even started.
Like I said, there wasn't much we could expect out of Julio Mateo for this one. It was his first start, and the Yankees were out of their minds. Combine that with Pavano's mastery of the Mariners, and it was doomed. The best the Mariners could have gotten out of him was probably shutout innings into the 6th, but not much past that. If you put Matt Thornton into a close game at that point, he probably explodes anyway, so that's bad news.
Thus, with Mateo not getting far into the game and giving up five runs in his outing, it doesn't do good for the Excel table I've been keeping and hope to not keep as soon as the starting rotation gets back on track. Mateo's start bumped the starters' collective May ERA from 6.96 to 7.09. The average per-start line for Mariner starting pitchers is 5.24 innings, 4.27 runs (4.13 earned), 7.1 hits, 2.5 walks, 2.9 strikeouts, 92.1 pitches (55.8 strikes).
You know, it's me blabbing at this point because I saw very little of the game, but sheesh, what a dog of a game. I kept more busy seeing the Sonics lose, and at least that was a playoff game. For this Mariner game, I bet that was a silent Safe for the over 35000 people in attendance. Well, the ones that weren't Yankee fans, at least.
But hey, the best way to snap your losing streak against the Yankees is to face Mike Mussina, since he of course has no history against the Mariners.
Mussina. Moyer. Tonight.
In 25 words or less: You know, 1995 was great. Can we just agree that the Mariners have been the Yankees' bitch ever since?
This one featured Carl Pavano and Julio Mateo, the latter making his first Major League start. I won't lie to you, this one's totally BS'd from the game log, as you'll surely be able to tell when you see the less-detailed stuff I'm about to spew out. I can only watch one game when two games are going simultaneously, and quite simply, the Sonics are in the playoffs right now.
TOP 1ST
Grade: A
Mateo started out okay. Derek Jeter bunted back to the mound. Tony Womack flew out to Randy Winn in left. Gary Sheffield flew out to Ichiro. Mateo threw eight pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
There was an ongoing theme to this game, and it was one of no offense. Ichiro flew out to Womack on the first pitch. Randy Winn bounced an 0-2 pitch to first. Adrian Beltre whiffed. Pavano threw nine pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: C
It didn't take long for the Yankees to figure out the newbie starter. Hideki Matsui singled to rightfield on the first pitch. Alex Rodriguez singled into leftcenter. Tino Martinez flew out to center on an 0-2 pitch. Jorge Posada singled to score Matsui.
»» YANKEES 1, MARINERS 0
Jason Giambi popped a fly ball to centerfield, but Jeremy Reed got a bad jump on it, and it dropped in front of him. Rodriguez scored, and Posada was on third.
»» YANKEES 2, MARINERS 0
Robinson Cano popped the first pitch to Valdez. Jeter got behind 0-2 and eventually whiffed to end the inning. Mateo threw 20 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Again, same story. Richie Sexson whiffed. Raul Ibañez bounced out to first. Bret Boone bailed out of his 0-2 count by getting beaned in the right forearm. Jeremy Reed flew out to centerfield to end the inning. Pavano threw 19 pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: A
Mateo rebounded. Womack popped out to Miguel Olivo behind the plate. Sheffield flew out to Ichiro, and so did Matsui. Mateo threw nine pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: C
More of the same. Miguel Olivo bounced out to Rodriguez. Wilson Valdez got down 0-2, eventually grounding out to short. Ichiro coaxed a nine-pitch at-bat, fouling off four pitches with two strikes before lining out to Jeter. Pavano threw 15 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C
A flurry of activity, but nobody scored. Rodriguez worked an 0-2 count full before popping to Sexson in front of the dugout. Martinez got a free pass. Posada flew out to Reed. Martinez scooted to second on an Olivo passed ball on Giambi's first pitch. Giambi singled to rightfield, and Martinez easily came around to score when Ichiro overran the ball.
»» YANKEES 3, MARINERS 0
Cano singled to centerfield as well before Jeter grounded out to Valdez to end the inning. Mateo threw 21 pitches.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C
Something other than a 1-2-3 inning, yes, but no runs coming across. Winn got ahead 2-0, later bouncing out to short. Beltre grounded out to short, apparently aggravating a bit of a hamstring pull he'd suffered the night before (he came out of the game in the 5th). Sexson singled into leftfield and went to second on the next pitch when Ibañez singled to rightfield. Then Boone whiffed to end the inning. Pavano threw 13 pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C
Mateo would get touched up one final time. Womack lined out to Ichiro on an 0-2 pitch. Sheffield legged out an infield single. Matsui flew out to Reed. Then Rodriguez tagged one into the Mariner bullpen.
»» YANKEES 5, MARINERS 0
Martinez grounded out to Boone to end the inning.
Mateo's line: 5 innings, 5 runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 72 pitches (54 strikes)
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C-
Blah. Reed got behind 0-2 and bounced out to second, Olivo whiffed, and Valdez grounded out to Jeter. Pavano threw 13 pitches.
TOP 6TH
Grade: B-
Matt Thornton came in for Mateo.
Posada whiffed. Giambi parked one about 12 rows back into the rightfield seats.
»» YANKEES 6, MARINERS 0
Cano got behind 0-2 and whiffed. Jeter got ahead 3-0 but eventually grounded out to Valdez on 3-1.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
More of the same old crap. Ichiro grounded out to third, Winn to second. Dave Hansen came in for Beltre (hamstring) and lined out to leftfield. Pavano threw 12 pitches. This inning also included an exchange between Mike Hargrove and an umpire, arguing over the fact that Ichiro had asked for time and didn't get it.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B+
Thornton evaded too much trouble. Womack flew out to Hansen in foul ground. Sheffield walked on four pitches, so that wasn't good. Coming back and getting Matsui to whiff was good though. Rodriguez had a 3-0 count go full before flying out to Reed.
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C
Zzzzzzzz. Sexson grounded out to third, Ibañez whiffed, Boone singled to leftfield, and Reed grounded out to second on the first pitch.
TOP 8TH
Grade: B
Thornton continued with garbage time. Martinez whiffed. Posada singled to rightfield. Giambi flew out to Hansen in foul ground, and Cano whiffed to end the inning.
Thornton's line: 3 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, 52 pitches (31 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C-
Are you used to it yet? Olivo grounded out to third. Valdez grounded out to short. Ichiro decided to whiff instead of ground out. Pavano threw eight pitches.
TOP 9TH
Grade: B
Ron Villone came in for Thornton. Jeter flew out to Reed. Womack whiffed. Sheffield had the hitters' counts and walked. Matsui popped to Boone to end the inning.
Villone's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (8 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: C+
The night came to a close. Winn bounced to Jeter on the first pitch. Dave Hansen came on to pinch hit. He worked an 0-2 count full and managed a single to centerfield. Sexson singled to leftfield. Ibañez had a 2-0 count and fouled off three pitches with two strikes before whiffing on a dirtball. Boone had a 2-0 count and later flew out to rightfield to mercifully end the game.
Pavano's line: 9 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts, 133 pitches (90 strikes)
---
Gameball: Richie Sexson.
There's not too many places to go after a game like this one. If you're Bill Krueger, you make a case for Matt Thornton. If you're me, Richie Sexson had the only multi-hit game, and they both were surprisingly singles. He was 2-for-4 with a strikeout. Hey, it raises the batting average.
Goat: Ichiro.
I wasn't expecting too much out of Julio Mateo anyway, since it was his first start, the Yankees are hot, the Mariners are the Yankees' bitch, and his pitch count wasn't going to be too high anyway. So, I'm sticking Ichiro with the goat. If he's the spark plug to this Mariner offense, it definitely didn't happen in this one. He was 0-for-4 with a strikeout. This had a domino effect to Randy Winn as well, who matched Ichiro's 0-for-4, though with one less strikeout.
Let's look at the hitting here...the Mariners' top and bottom thirds of the order (starters) were a combined 0-for-19 with three strikeouts. Needless to say, that won't get it done. I couldn't believe this was the same team that had tattooed Carl Pavano in the Bronx last Wednesday. I still think Pavano will be a one-year wonder, and I'll always maintain that I'm glad the Mariners didn't get him. As for nights like this one, well, they'll happen. This one was probably decided before it even started.
Like I said, there wasn't much we could expect out of Julio Mateo for this one. It was his first start, and the Yankees were out of their minds. Combine that with Pavano's mastery of the Mariners, and it was doomed. The best the Mariners could have gotten out of him was probably shutout innings into the 6th, but not much past that. If you put Matt Thornton into a close game at that point, he probably explodes anyway, so that's bad news.
Thus, with Mateo not getting far into the game and giving up five runs in his outing, it doesn't do good for the Excel table I've been keeping and hope to not keep as soon as the starting rotation gets back on track. Mateo's start bumped the starters' collective May ERA from 6.96 to 7.09. The average per-start line for Mariner starting pitchers is 5.24 innings, 4.27 runs (4.13 earned), 7.1 hits, 2.5 walks, 2.9 strikeouts, 92.1 pitches (55.8 strikes).
You know, it's me blabbing at this point because I saw very little of the game, but sheesh, what a dog of a game. I kept more busy seeing the Sonics lose, and at least that was a playoff game. For this Mariner game, I bet that was a silent Safe for the over 35000 people in attendance. Well, the ones that weren't Yankee fans, at least.
But hey, the best way to snap your losing streak against the Yankees is to face Mike Mussina, since he of course has no history against the Mariners.
Mussina. Moyer. Tonight.
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