Sunday, May 29, 2005
GAME 48: MARINERS 3, DEVIL RAYS 2
Mariners 3, Devil Rays 2
In 25 words or less: My goodness. Grizzled Baseball Veterans Showcase. It was also one of the quicker 3-2 games you'll ever hear (Seattle) or see (those few FSN Florida viewers).
This one featured Aaron Sele against Casey Fossum, who I'm sure has realized at some point that he's light years away from his old stomping grounds in Boston.
TOP 1ST
Grade: C-
Same ol' first for the Mariners. Ichiro led off with a whiff. Randy Winn popped out lazily to short. Adrian Beltre gave the ball a good ride to rightfield, but it was a flyout. Fossum threw 12 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: A-
It started out nicely enough for Sele. Carl Crawford bounced out to first. Julio Lugo bunted, but Bret Boone was able to charge and make a glove-shovel pass to throw him out. Aubrey Huff had worked a 1-2 count full before flying out to centerfield. Sele threw 12 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: C-
Yet another wasted opportunity. Richie Sexson was beaned in the left foot to lead off the inning. Raul Ibañez flew out to leftfield on the first pitch. Bret Boone watched three balls and watched two strikes before flying out quite deep to rightfield. Jeremy Reed singled into centerfield, and Sexson moved over to third. Willie Bloomquist popped the first pitch to Travis Lee in foul ground along the first-base line to end the inning. Fossum threw 14 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: B+
Sele got some help. Travis Lee singled to rightfield. Josh Phelps got a 2-0 pitch and hit it to Beltre, who turned the 5-4-3 double play. Nick Green flew out to centerfield to end the inning. Sele threw eight pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: B
The Mariners would catch a big break, though it could have been bigger. Pat Borders grounded out to third. Ichiro singled to centerfield. Winn singled to leftcenter, and Ichiro scooted to third. Beltre was beaned, though it was debatable whether he actually was hit by the ball. Nonetheless, the bases were loaded with one out. Sexson hit the first pitch to Alex Gonzalez at third, who had the ball go out of his glove on what may have been a double play, or at least one out. Ichiro and Winn scored on the play, and Beltre got to third.
»» MARINERS 2, DEVIL RAYS 0
Ibañez walked on four pitches and the bases were loaded once again. Boone put his magic spell on the inning, looking at one strike before whiffing at the next two. Reed bounced out to first to end the inning. Fossum threw 24 pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: A-
Sele had a relatively easy inning. Alex Sanchez flew out to leftfield. Toby Hall flew out to Ichiro. Alex Gonzalez had a 3-0 count before flying out to Ichiro with a full count. Sele threw 10 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C-
Oh, this futility is killing me inside. Bloomquist drew a leadoff walk. Borders lined a ball into rightfield, and Bloomquist couldn't get back to first base in time (that's a play I'd like to have seen). Ichiro worked an 0-2 count for eight more pitches (four fouls), whiffing on the final pitch. Fossum threw 19 pitches.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: B-
Crawford got down 0-2 and was caught looking. Lugo grounded out to Beltre. Huff couldn't stay quiet for the whole series, and he had to get to Mariner pitching at least once. It happened here as he mashed a ball about 14 rows back into the rightfield seats.
»» MARINERS 2, DEVIL RAYS 1
Lee flew out to Winn to end the inning. Sele threw 12 pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C-
Nothing here from the formidable part of the Mariner lineup. Winn flew out to left on a 2-0 pitch. Beltre lined out to the second baseman, so at least he hit the ball hard. Sexson whiffed. Fossum threw 13 pitches.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: A
Sele held his end of the bargain. Phelps foul-tipped strike three into Borders' glove. Green got down 0-2 and eventually grounded out to Beltre. Sanchez grounded out to short to end the inning. Sele threw 15 pitches.
TOP 6TH
Grade: D+
Ibañez grounded out to second. Boone smacked the first pitch to leftfield for a double, ending an 0-for-20 skid. Boone took third on the first pitch to Reed, which was a wild pitch. With the infield (probably) drawn in, Reed grounded the next pitch to second, and Boone was hung up between third and home, eventually being tagged out. Bloomquist gave the ball a decent ride to leftfield to end the inning (yes, that's a flyout). Fossum threw only seven pitches.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: A
Sele was still rolling along. Hall flew out to Sexson in foul ground. Gonzalez continued the foulfest, popping one to Ichiro. Crawford flew out to centerfield to end the inning. Sele threw nine pitches.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B+
Got your Geritol ready? Borders mashed the first pitch for a homer to leftcenter. Forty-two years young, heck yeah. The insurance was much appreciated by the Mariner faithful.
»» MARINERS 3, DEVIL RAYS 1
Ichiro grounded out to short, and so did Winn. Beltre popped one in foul territory to Lee. That doesn't involve hitting the ball hard, I'm afraid. Fossum threw 10 pitches.
Fossum's line: 7 innings, 3 runs (2 earned), 5 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 99 pitches (60 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C
Sele wouldn't survive the inning, but it wasn't solely his fault. Lugo grounded a ball to Bloomquist, whose throw pulled Sexson off the bag at first. Not a good way to start the inning. Huff singled to rightfield, and Lugo moved to second. Lee doubled to right to make the game a little too interesting and move Huff to third.
»» MARINERS 3, DEVIL RAYS 2
Phelps rolled a ball to Beltre, who was able to get Huff trying to score. Green popped one foul to Sexson. Those were two huuuuuge outs. Sele threw 14 pitches.
Ron Villone came in for Sele. Eduardo Perez came in to pinch hit for Sanchez. HE had a 2-0 count, but grounded out to Boone on a full count to salvage the inning. Damage control indeed.
Sele's line: 6 2/3 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), 4 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 80 pitches (52 strikes)
Villone's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (3 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: C-
Jesus Colome came in for Fossum. It wasn't a nice inning for the bats. Sexson was caught looking. Ibañez grounded out to first base. Boone was ahead 2-0 but was caught looking on a full count.
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: A
Jeff Nelson, making his 400th appearance as a Mariner, came in for Villone. Hall got behind 0-2 and later whiffed. Jorge Cantu pinch hit for Gonzalez, and he flew out to centerfield. Crawford grounded out to Boone to end the inning.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 11 pitches (7 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: C
One last chance for another insurance run fell short. Reed got ahead 2-0 and walked on the 3-1 pitch. Bloomquist bunted Reed over to second on the first pitch. Borders lined out to short (dagnabbit). Ichiro was given the open base at first. Winn flew out to centerfield on the 2-0 pitch.
Colome's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 30 pitches (14 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: A-
Eddie Guardado came in to slam the door. Lugo got ahead 3-1 but flew out to Reed. Huff flew out to Reed on the first pitch. Lee fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 2-2 pitch outside. Ballgame.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (8 strikes)
---
Gameball: Jeff Nelson.
Don't look now, but someone's ERA is down to 2.81. His last couple relief appearances have been good to okay. Yes, the obvious gameball would be an Aaron Sele or a Pat Borders. I also know that Nelson has done his job okay the last couple times on the mound. I think if he's sitting there with a 2.81 ERA, it's a good thing. One only wonders how long that'll hold up, but we should enjoy it while it lasts.
Goat: Willie Bloomquist.
He was doubled off of first in the fourth inning on the Borders line drive to rightfield. He made an error on the first play in the top of the seventh, and that run came around to score. He was 0-for-2 and stranded three runners, though he did draw a walk. Yet in a weird way, I'm enjoying someone other than Wilson Valdez making the outs. I actually think Bloomquist has been doing better than usual over his last couple handfuls of at-bats, but maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me.
Whew. It's a good thing the Mariners won because if they didn't, they would have dropped to the pace of the horrid 2004 Mariners. Instead, the 2005 Mariners remain one game ahead of the 2004 Mariners after 48 games. The Mariners go for their sixth winning streak of the year in today's game. Out of their five winning streaks so far, all but one have been two games long. They had a three-gamer in April that took them from a 2-4 record to 5-4. That four-of-five winning stretch in late April also seems light years in the past.
I'm not sure what to say about Aaron Sele. His last two starts have been nothing short of stellar. Three starts ago when he was pitching to keep his job, he threw six innings and gave up one run, but walked six batters. Now he has one walk in his last two starts. I remember saying at one point earlier this month that Sele was averaging one walk per inning in the month of May. He's chopped that in half since I said that. Do I like the fact that Sele is on this ballclub? I don't think I ever will. But based on the last two starts, he's at least earned the privilege to keep starting until he manages to throw two really crappy games in a row. Sele's start took the starting staff's May ERA down by 0.22 to 5.68. He suddenly has the lowest May ERA of the entire rotation with a 3.77 mark. That's what 21 2/3 innings of one-run ball in your last three starts will do to your numbers. Hell, his season ERA is down to 4.24 now. The average game for a Mariner starting pitcher this month: 5.68 innings (5 2/3), 3.71 runs (3.58 earned), 6.3 hits, 2.6 walks, 2.8 strikeouts, 95.8 pitches (57.8 strikes).
The bullpen hasn't walked anyone in six innings of work in the series, with 2 1/3 of the innings coming in this game. Actually, none of the Mariner pitchers walked hitters in this one. That's a refreshing site (or auditory due to non-television of the game in the Seattle area). Sele carried a two-hitter into the seventh inning. The bullpen threw 2 1/3 perfect innings. Yes, it's true. No baserunners.
On the other side of the coin, Casey Fossum yielded five hits to the Mariners. It didn't stop there, though. Fossum walked two batters as well and beaned another two (though Beltre's was debatable). Jesus Colome also walked two batters (one intentional) in his two innings. Put that together, and you get eleven Mariner baserunners (not counting the Sexson error ball), six of whom got aboard without a base knock. Can you guess how many of those six baserunners scored? Try zero. Three of those baserunners got aboard to lead off (Sexson bean in the 2nd, Bloomquist walk in the 4th, Reed walk in the 9th). I'd be a lot more mad about this if the Mariners had found a way to lose this game. I should have given a combo gameball to Pat Borders, Aaron Sele, and Alex Gonzalez. That'd be too obvious though.
Really, there wasn't much of a story for the Mariner hitters, and I alluded to that with the above paragraph. The Mariners struck out more times (six) than they got hits (five). Luckily that was neutralized by the timely Gonzalez error and the four walks and two hit batters. No Mariner had a multi-hit game. The 3-4-5 hitters in the lineup went hitless in nine at-bats. Sexson of course hit the ball that went off Gonzalez' glove and got an RBI out of it (two came across). Taken directly from the AP footnotes is this: "Boone snapped an 0-for-20 slide with a double in the sixth. He also had an 0-for-19 streak in April." What more can you say about that? He's hitting .243.
Translation -- the Mariners eked this one out. It's a four-game losing streak snapper and a seven-game road losing streak snapper all the same. Regardless of how good a home team the Devil Rays have been this season, I wouldn't have been able to take the Mariners getting swept down there. Yikes.
Piñeiro. Waechter. Today.
In 25 words or less: My goodness. Grizzled Baseball Veterans Showcase. It was also one of the quicker 3-2 games you'll ever hear (Seattle) or see (those few FSN Florida viewers).
This one featured Aaron Sele against Casey Fossum, who I'm sure has realized at some point that he's light years away from his old stomping grounds in Boston.
TOP 1ST
Grade: C-
Same ol' first for the Mariners. Ichiro led off with a whiff. Randy Winn popped out lazily to short. Adrian Beltre gave the ball a good ride to rightfield, but it was a flyout. Fossum threw 12 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: A-
It started out nicely enough for Sele. Carl Crawford bounced out to first. Julio Lugo bunted, but Bret Boone was able to charge and make a glove-shovel pass to throw him out. Aubrey Huff had worked a 1-2 count full before flying out to centerfield. Sele threw 12 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Grade: C-
Yet another wasted opportunity. Richie Sexson was beaned in the left foot to lead off the inning. Raul Ibañez flew out to leftfield on the first pitch. Bret Boone watched three balls and watched two strikes before flying out quite deep to rightfield. Jeremy Reed singled into centerfield, and Sexson moved over to third. Willie Bloomquist popped the first pitch to Travis Lee in foul ground along the first-base line to end the inning. Fossum threw 14 pitches.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: B+
Sele got some help. Travis Lee singled to rightfield. Josh Phelps got a 2-0 pitch and hit it to Beltre, who turned the 5-4-3 double play. Nick Green flew out to centerfield to end the inning. Sele threw eight pitches.
TOP 3RD
Grade: B
The Mariners would catch a big break, though it could have been bigger. Pat Borders grounded out to third. Ichiro singled to centerfield. Winn singled to leftcenter, and Ichiro scooted to third. Beltre was beaned, though it was debatable whether he actually was hit by the ball. Nonetheless, the bases were loaded with one out. Sexson hit the first pitch to Alex Gonzalez at third, who had the ball go out of his glove on what may have been a double play, or at least one out. Ichiro and Winn scored on the play, and Beltre got to third.
»» MARINERS 2, DEVIL RAYS 0
Ibañez walked on four pitches and the bases were loaded once again. Boone put his magic spell on the inning, looking at one strike before whiffing at the next two. Reed bounced out to first to end the inning. Fossum threw 24 pitches.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: A-
Sele had a relatively easy inning. Alex Sanchez flew out to leftfield. Toby Hall flew out to Ichiro. Alex Gonzalez had a 3-0 count before flying out to Ichiro with a full count. Sele threw 10 pitches.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C-
Oh, this futility is killing me inside. Bloomquist drew a leadoff walk. Borders lined a ball into rightfield, and Bloomquist couldn't get back to first base in time (that's a play I'd like to have seen). Ichiro worked an 0-2 count for eight more pitches (four fouls), whiffing on the final pitch. Fossum threw 19 pitches.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: B-
Crawford got down 0-2 and was caught looking. Lugo grounded out to Beltre. Huff couldn't stay quiet for the whole series, and he had to get to Mariner pitching at least once. It happened here as he mashed a ball about 14 rows back into the rightfield seats.
»» MARINERS 2, DEVIL RAYS 1
Lee flew out to Winn to end the inning. Sele threw 12 pitches.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C-
Nothing here from the formidable part of the Mariner lineup. Winn flew out to left on a 2-0 pitch. Beltre lined out to the second baseman, so at least he hit the ball hard. Sexson whiffed. Fossum threw 13 pitches.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: A
Sele held his end of the bargain. Phelps foul-tipped strike three into Borders' glove. Green got down 0-2 and eventually grounded out to Beltre. Sanchez grounded out to short to end the inning. Sele threw 15 pitches.
TOP 6TH
Grade: D+
Ibañez grounded out to second. Boone smacked the first pitch to leftfield for a double, ending an 0-for-20 skid. Boone took third on the first pitch to Reed, which was a wild pitch. With the infield (probably) drawn in, Reed grounded the next pitch to second, and Boone was hung up between third and home, eventually being tagged out. Bloomquist gave the ball a decent ride to leftfield to end the inning (yes, that's a flyout). Fossum threw only seven pitches.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: A
Sele was still rolling along. Hall flew out to Sexson in foul ground. Gonzalez continued the foulfest, popping one to Ichiro. Crawford flew out to centerfield to end the inning. Sele threw nine pitches.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B+
Got your Geritol ready? Borders mashed the first pitch for a homer to leftcenter. Forty-two years young, heck yeah. The insurance was much appreciated by the Mariner faithful.
»» MARINERS 3, DEVIL RAYS 1
Ichiro grounded out to short, and so did Winn. Beltre popped one in foul territory to Lee. That doesn't involve hitting the ball hard, I'm afraid. Fossum threw 10 pitches.
Fossum's line: 7 innings, 3 runs (2 earned), 5 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 99 pitches (60 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C
Sele wouldn't survive the inning, but it wasn't solely his fault. Lugo grounded a ball to Bloomquist, whose throw pulled Sexson off the bag at first. Not a good way to start the inning. Huff singled to rightfield, and Lugo moved to second. Lee doubled to right to make the game a little too interesting and move Huff to third.
»» MARINERS 3, DEVIL RAYS 2
Phelps rolled a ball to Beltre, who was able to get Huff trying to score. Green popped one foul to Sexson. Those were two huuuuuge outs. Sele threw 14 pitches.
Ron Villone came in for Sele. Eduardo Perez came in to pinch hit for Sanchez. HE had a 2-0 count, but grounded out to Boone on a full count to salvage the inning. Damage control indeed.
Sele's line: 6 2/3 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), 4 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 80 pitches (52 strikes)
Villone's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (3 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: C-
Jesus Colome came in for Fossum. It wasn't a nice inning for the bats. Sexson was caught looking. Ibañez grounded out to first base. Boone was ahead 2-0 but was caught looking on a full count.
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: A
Jeff Nelson, making his 400th appearance as a Mariner, came in for Villone. Hall got behind 0-2 and later whiffed. Jorge Cantu pinch hit for Gonzalez, and he flew out to centerfield. Crawford grounded out to Boone to end the inning.
Nelson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 11 pitches (7 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: C
One last chance for another insurance run fell short. Reed got ahead 2-0 and walked on the 3-1 pitch. Bloomquist bunted Reed over to second on the first pitch. Borders lined out to short (dagnabbit). Ichiro was given the open base at first. Winn flew out to centerfield on the 2-0 pitch.
Colome's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 30 pitches (14 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: A-
Eddie Guardado came in to slam the door. Lugo got ahead 3-1 but flew out to Reed. Huff flew out to Reed on the first pitch. Lee fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 2-2 pitch outside. Ballgame.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (8 strikes)
---
Gameball: Jeff Nelson.
Don't look now, but someone's ERA is down to 2.81. His last couple relief appearances have been good to okay. Yes, the obvious gameball would be an Aaron Sele or a Pat Borders. I also know that Nelson has done his job okay the last couple times on the mound. I think if he's sitting there with a 2.81 ERA, it's a good thing. One only wonders how long that'll hold up, but we should enjoy it while it lasts.
Goat: Willie Bloomquist.
He was doubled off of first in the fourth inning on the Borders line drive to rightfield. He made an error on the first play in the top of the seventh, and that run came around to score. He was 0-for-2 and stranded three runners, though he did draw a walk. Yet in a weird way, I'm enjoying someone other than Wilson Valdez making the outs. I actually think Bloomquist has been doing better than usual over his last couple handfuls of at-bats, but maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me.
Whew. It's a good thing the Mariners won because if they didn't, they would have dropped to the pace of the horrid 2004 Mariners. Instead, the 2005 Mariners remain one game ahead of the 2004 Mariners after 48 games. The Mariners go for their sixth winning streak of the year in today's game. Out of their five winning streaks so far, all but one have been two games long. They had a three-gamer in April that took them from a 2-4 record to 5-4. That four-of-five winning stretch in late April also seems light years in the past.
I'm not sure what to say about Aaron Sele. His last two starts have been nothing short of stellar. Three starts ago when he was pitching to keep his job, he threw six innings and gave up one run, but walked six batters. Now he has one walk in his last two starts. I remember saying at one point earlier this month that Sele was averaging one walk per inning in the month of May. He's chopped that in half since I said that. Do I like the fact that Sele is on this ballclub? I don't think I ever will. But based on the last two starts, he's at least earned the privilege to keep starting until he manages to throw two really crappy games in a row. Sele's start took the starting staff's May ERA down by 0.22 to 5.68. He suddenly has the lowest May ERA of the entire rotation with a 3.77 mark. That's what 21 2/3 innings of one-run ball in your last three starts will do to your numbers. Hell, his season ERA is down to 4.24 now. The average game for a Mariner starting pitcher this month: 5.68 innings (5 2/3), 3.71 runs (3.58 earned), 6.3 hits, 2.6 walks, 2.8 strikeouts, 95.8 pitches (57.8 strikes).
The bullpen hasn't walked anyone in six innings of work in the series, with 2 1/3 of the innings coming in this game. Actually, none of the Mariner pitchers walked hitters in this one. That's a refreshing site (or auditory due to non-television of the game in the Seattle area). Sele carried a two-hitter into the seventh inning. The bullpen threw 2 1/3 perfect innings. Yes, it's true. No baserunners.
On the other side of the coin, Casey Fossum yielded five hits to the Mariners. It didn't stop there, though. Fossum walked two batters as well and beaned another two (though Beltre's was debatable). Jesus Colome also walked two batters (one intentional) in his two innings. Put that together, and you get eleven Mariner baserunners (not counting the Sexson error ball), six of whom got aboard without a base knock. Can you guess how many of those six baserunners scored? Try zero. Three of those baserunners got aboard to lead off (Sexson bean in the 2nd, Bloomquist walk in the 4th, Reed walk in the 9th). I'd be a lot more mad about this if the Mariners had found a way to lose this game. I should have given a combo gameball to Pat Borders, Aaron Sele, and Alex Gonzalez. That'd be too obvious though.
Really, there wasn't much of a story for the Mariner hitters, and I alluded to that with the above paragraph. The Mariners struck out more times (six) than they got hits (five). Luckily that was neutralized by the timely Gonzalez error and the four walks and two hit batters. No Mariner had a multi-hit game. The 3-4-5 hitters in the lineup went hitless in nine at-bats. Sexson of course hit the ball that went off Gonzalez' glove and got an RBI out of it (two came across). Taken directly from the AP footnotes is this: "Boone snapped an 0-for-20 slide with a double in the sixth. He also had an 0-for-19 streak in April." What more can you say about that? He's hitting .243.
Translation -- the Mariners eked this one out. It's a four-game losing streak snapper and a seven-game road losing streak snapper all the same. Regardless of how good a home team the Devil Rays have been this season, I wouldn't have been able to take the Mariners getting swept down there. Yikes.
Piñeiro. Waechter. Today.
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