Thursday, June 02, 2005
GAME 52: MARINERS 3, BLUE JAYS 0
Mariners 3, Blue Jays 0
[posted ~11:29a]
In 25 words or less: When Bret Boone drives in the only run of the first seven innings, usually it's not a good thing. Thank goodness for the eighth.
This game featured lefty Gustavo Chacin and his Antoine Carr glasses against Gil Meche.
One day after his Major League debut, I'm already sick of the broadcast crew's overhype of Mike Morse. I'm already dreading Rick Rizzs trying to sugarcoat Morse's first big-league error.
Two other total oddities that I put down in my notes had to do with the very visible chaw can in third-base coach Jeff Newman's pocket when the camera is showing the pitcher with the runner at first in the background, and also with Cub pitcher John Koronka (kuh-RAHN-kuh), who was making his Major League debut while this game was going on. All I could think of had to do with gettin' Koronka'd and, though it's just not-right sounding, Koronka juice. Crunk!
TOP 1ST
Grade: B-
This could have been Meche's big inning. Orlando Hudson ripped a 2--2 pitch just past Bret Boone's glove and into rightfield for a leadoff single. Frank Catalanotto hit a double-play ball to short, and Mike Morse got the ball to Boone, who then pulled Richie Sexson way off the bag at first with the throw, good for Boone's team-leading 7th error on the season. Catalanotto went to second on the play. Aaron Hill grounded a 2-0 pitch to short. Shea Hillenbrand ripped a pitch down the third-base line, but Adrian Beltre backhanded it and threw to first in time.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: D
This one was frustrating. Ichiro served a 1-1 pitch into leftfield for a single, stretching his hit streak to seven games. Randy Winn, who hit .295 in May, sliced a dinker down the rightfield line, somehow good for a double, moving Ichiro to third. Adrian Beltre, fresh off a .216 May, waved at a ball low and way off the plate outside for strike three. Richie Sexson took a walk to load the bases, then Raul Ibañez rolled one hard, but right to second, and the 4-6-3 double play was underway. Terrible inning.
TOP 2ND
Grade: A
No trouble for Meche. Eric Hinske flew out to leftfield. Vernon Wells flew out to shallow centerfield. Gregg Zaun flew out to shallow leftfield.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Nothing doing for the bottom end of the lineup. Bret Boone took a 1-2 pitch barely low and away for what should have been a called strike three, but swung at a pitch high and outside, rolling it to second. Jeremy Reed, coming off a 15-for-32 tear and a .312 May, fisted a ball to Hudson on the outfield grass. Mike Morse flew out to centerfield to end the inning.
TOP 3RD
Grade: B-
Once again, another inning that threatened to be the big one. Alex Rios got behind 0-2 but mashed the 1-2 pitch barely short of the yellow line on the leftfield wall, good for a double. Russ Adams flew out to rightfield on a high 0-2 pitch. The roof remained open at the Safe despite the rainfall that was persistent. Hudson bounced out to Boone, and Rios went to third. The roof started closing with Catalanotto at the plate. He worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Hill flew out down the rightfield line to Ichiro, who made a very nice running catch, sort of dancing away after the catch to avoid the angle of the seats.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: D+
Again, not good. Pat Borders led off with a first-pitch gapper to the wall in leftcenter, and he coasted in for a double. Ichiro tried a first-pitch surprise bunt down the third-base line, but it went foul. He ended up whiffing on an 0-2 breaking ball. Winn smacked one past the shortstop for a single, sending Borders to third. This was of course a good time for another double-play ball, this time on the first pitch to Beltre, who hit into the 6-4-3 double play. Yes, that's twice in the first three innings for the Mariner bats.
TOP 4TH
Grade: A-
Meche may have been cruising by this point. Hillenbrand flew out to centerfield. Hinske went from a 2-0 count to lining a 2-2 pitch to Morse's shoetops (lineout). Wells popped high to Sexson.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: B
First blood! Sexson flew out short of the track in rightfield. Ibañez hit the first pitch over Rios in rightfield and to the wall for a double, extending his hit streak to four games. Boone, who came into the at-bat in the middle of a nice 2-for-32 funk, had the hitters' counts and dribbled the full-count pitch up the middle, one that just kept rolling and rolling until it reached the outfield grass, where Hudson dove and got a glove on it, but it went past anyway. Ibañez scored, and the Mariners had the lead.
»» MARINERS 1, BLUE JAYS 0
Boone tried to take second base on the first pitch to Reed, but was out by a mile. Reed whiffed on a 1-2 pitch inside.
TOP 5TH
Grade: B-
Meche was still doing okay. Zaun hit an 0-2 low liner to Ichiro, who had to drift back toward the track. Rios took a full-count curve high and outside for a walk. Rios also took second base (close play) on the first pitch to Adams, who ended up bouncing out to second. Hudson worked an 0-2 count full, but he flew out near the track to Randy Winn in leftfield.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C
They wouldn't add to the previous inning. Morse flew out to center on the 3-1 pitch. Borders had a 3-0 count go full before he walked. Ichiro had a 3-0 count, but hit the 3-1 pitch into the hole on the right side, which was plugged up by Hudson (4-6 fielder's choice). Winn nubbed out to second.
TOP 6TH
Grade: B-
They got out of it. Catalanotto was down 0-2, but later singled past Morse into centerfield. Hill grounded the first pitch to Morse, who started the 6-4-3 double play, with Boone able to finish it off normally this time. Hillenbrand rolled the first pitch up the middle for a single. Hinske flew out high to Reed to end the inning.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
Painfully quiet bats. Things were so bad, they showed a clip from earlier in the day of Rick Rizzs taking batting practice. Beltre flew out to second. Sexson whiffed at a 2-2 pitch low and outside. Ibañez got the hitters' counts and popped to the shortstop in shallow leftcenter.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B+
Meche would run his course. Wells hit a very high fly to Winn near the leftfield corner. Zaun got down 0-2 and would whiff at a pitch out of the zone. Rios lined a single into centerfield.
Ron Villone came in for Gil Meche, recipient of a standing ovation from the 24815 in attendance at the Safe. Adams took a 1-2 fastball over the outside corner for strike three.
Meche's line: 6 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, 114 pitches (70 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C-
This one was pretty bad too. Boone got the bat on a 2-0 pitch, and it was nicely placed. It was fair along the rightfield line, and Rios dove for the ball even though he was about three feet short of it. The ball went past and Boone ended up on third when it was all over. Reed grounded the first pitch to a drawn-in Hudson (groundout), and Boone had to hold at third. Morse hit the 3-1 pitch for a flyout to Rios, stationed at about medium depth. Boone tagged from third, and Rios threw home. It was bad. Zaun at the plate had enough time to jump up and take the high throw, and then still come back down and tag Boone in time. As far as I'm concerned, this play and the first-pitch caught stealing were two dumbass baserunning plays by Boone in this game. They weren't close.
TOP 8TH
Grade: B-
One person in particular out of the bullpen would make it interesting. Hudson whiffed on a full count.
Jeff Nelson came in for Villone. Pinch-hitter Reed Johnson connected with an 0-2 slider that got way too much of the zone, and it went for a double into the rightfield corner. Hill popped out along the rightfield line, and that was good, but Hillenbrand walked on four pitches. Iiiiinexcusable.
Matt Thornton came in for Nelson. Hinske hit the second pitch toward the leftfield line, and with Beltre and Winn within proximity, Morse came down with the ball.
Villone's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 12 pitches (8 strikes)
Nelson's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
Thornton's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 2 pitches (1 strike)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: A-
My goodness, the Mariners did exactly what they were supposed to do. Borders reached on a pitch low and outside, but looped a single over the shortstop. Ichiro bunted along the left side, and Hillenbrand was able to charge, barehand the ball, and get Ichiro in time (nice play). Winn got behind 0-2 and quickly whiffed. Beltre had a 2-0 count and stung the 2-2 pitch. Beltre's ball ate up Hillenbrand at third, and Borders chugged around to score, beating the wide throw.
»» MARINERS 2, BLUE JAYS 0
Chacin nearly threw to the backstop on the first of the intentional-walk balls to Richie Sexson, who would go to first base without incident. Ibañez lined a 1-1 pitch into centerfield, one-hopping Wells. The ball got past Wells, Beltre csored, and the throw to third to get Sexson wasn't in time.
»» MARINERS 3, BLUE JAYS 0
Justin Speier came in for Chacin. Boone lazily popped up to the second baseman Hudson barely on the outfield grass, which was amazingly clutch.
Chacin's line: 7 2/3 innings, 3 runs, 10 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 116 pitches (69 strikes)
Speier's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 2 pitches (1 strike)
TOP 9TH
Grade: A
Eddie Guardado came in to shut the place down, and it helped that the Blue Jays executed the hurry-up offense. Wells hit a high flyout to Boone on the infield. Zaun grounded the second pitch to Beltre, who dove and threw from one knee to first base, in time. Rios popped high to Boone. Ballgame.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (5 strikes)
---
Gameball: Pat Borders.
The 42-year-old ancient catcher went 2-for-2 from the #9 slot in the order. With his one walk, he reached base three times. That's the kind of night that the bottom of the lineup needs every night from at least one of those three guys in the bottom third. Someone's got to get on base so that there's ducks on the pond when the lineup turns over. Borders' contribution was also nice because Jeremy Reed cooled off for this game, hanging up an 0-for-3 with a strikeout. The one big knock for me on Borders is that runners don't seem to have trouble stealing on him, and though it's obvious that his arm isn't an Olivo arm, it still makes me uncomfortable to know that a runner breaking toward second has a good chance of getting there safely. Borders scored once, and that was the second run of the game, coming in the 8th, which was a huge insurance run. The other two times, Borders hit the gapper to the wall to lead off the inning and didn't score, and he also was stranded after drawing a one-out walk.
Goat: Jeff Nelson.
He nearly blew this game. That's all I could think about after the top of the 8th inning ended. Giving someone a hittable pitch with an 0-2 count in the eighth inning while trying to protect a 1-0 lead is one thing, but walking someone on three pitches later in the same inning is terrible. Anyway, Nelson needs to get the final two outs of that inning so that nobody has to suffer through the ordeal of seeing Matt Thornton come in during any key situation, this one being two on (go-ahead run on first) and two out in the 8th inning of a one-run game. That was a bit uncomfortable for me, I can tell you that.
A six-hit shutout by the pitching staff is always a good thing. As you can see with the goat entry, I still had something pitchingwise to complain about even given the six-hit shutout. However, Gil Meche avoided the big inning, and while I didn't think he had his sharpest or most explosive stuff, he still managed to get well into the seventh. Ron Villone struck out both batters he faced. Matt Thornton got the only hitter he faced, and that was a big out. Eddie Guardado did his thing (that's nice to say), nailing down save number 15 on the year. The Mariners have 22 total wins.
Choosing a gameball entry was relatively easy considering that four Mariners had two-hit games. Other than Borders, who I chose for the gameball, Randy Winn (2-for-4 with a double), Raul Ibañez (2-for-4 with a double), and Bret Boone (2-for-4 with a triple). I knew thanks to the baserunning mistakes and the error that I wasn't choosing Boone. I'd also given both Winn and Ibañez gameballs recently, so Borders it was.
The two double-play balls in the first three innings was really frustrating, and you could even hear it in Dave Niehaus' voice after Beltre rolled the second one. Still, Beltre did manage to drive in the second run of the game, which was a big run. It was nice to see late runs in general. Needless to say, it was nice to see the Mariners score more runs than the other team, but when do we not wish that?
This win puts the Mariners at 22-30 after 52 games, and gives the Mariners one more game's worth of cushion between them and the pace set by your vaunted 2004 Seattle Mariners. I'm just hoping that somehow and some way that at the end of the season, the Mariners are 14 or so games better than the team of the year before.
Who's next on the Mariners' docket? Three this weekend against Tampa Bay, an off day on Monday, and then a six-game road swing through Miami and the nation's capital. I'm hoping for a series win against the Devil Rays since they're a terrible road team, but I'm not too keen on the possibilities of the road trip. If the Mariners manage to draw both Dontrelle Willis and Livan Hernandez, it might not be nice. Heck, I'm hoping at this point that they can just take a single game out of that Florida series. You do realize we're going to have to see Ryan Franklin figure out a way to pitch to Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Delgado, right? I guess the only good thing about Edgar retiring now is that we don't have to worry about the huge offensive dropoff due to not having him in the lineup. However, the Mariners do have to worry about finding a spot, if any, for Raul Ibañez, whose bat has heated up as of late.
Two straight series wins!
Fossum. Sele. Tomorrow.
[posted ~11:29a]
In 25 words or less: When Bret Boone drives in the only run of the first seven innings, usually it's not a good thing. Thank goodness for the eighth.
This game featured lefty Gustavo Chacin and his Antoine Carr glasses against Gil Meche.
One day after his Major League debut, I'm already sick of the broadcast crew's overhype of Mike Morse. I'm already dreading Rick Rizzs trying to sugarcoat Morse's first big-league error.
Two other total oddities that I put down in my notes had to do with the very visible chaw can in third-base coach Jeff Newman's pocket when the camera is showing the pitcher with the runner at first in the background, and also with Cub pitcher John Koronka (kuh-RAHN-kuh), who was making his Major League debut while this game was going on. All I could think of had to do with gettin' Koronka'd and, though it's just not-right sounding, Koronka juice. Crunk!
TOP 1ST
Grade: B-
This could have been Meche's big inning. Orlando Hudson ripped a 2--2 pitch just past Bret Boone's glove and into rightfield for a leadoff single. Frank Catalanotto hit a double-play ball to short, and Mike Morse got the ball to Boone, who then pulled Richie Sexson way off the bag at first with the throw, good for Boone's team-leading 7th error on the season. Catalanotto went to second on the play. Aaron Hill grounded a 2-0 pitch to short. Shea Hillenbrand ripped a pitch down the third-base line, but Adrian Beltre backhanded it and threw to first in time.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: D
This one was frustrating. Ichiro served a 1-1 pitch into leftfield for a single, stretching his hit streak to seven games. Randy Winn, who hit .295 in May, sliced a dinker down the rightfield line, somehow good for a double, moving Ichiro to third. Adrian Beltre, fresh off a .216 May, waved at a ball low and way off the plate outside for strike three. Richie Sexson took a walk to load the bases, then Raul Ibañez rolled one hard, but right to second, and the 4-6-3 double play was underway. Terrible inning.
TOP 2ND
Grade: A
No trouble for Meche. Eric Hinske flew out to leftfield. Vernon Wells flew out to shallow centerfield. Gregg Zaun flew out to shallow leftfield.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: C-
Nothing doing for the bottom end of the lineup. Bret Boone took a 1-2 pitch barely low and away for what should have been a called strike three, but swung at a pitch high and outside, rolling it to second. Jeremy Reed, coming off a 15-for-32 tear and a .312 May, fisted a ball to Hudson on the outfield grass. Mike Morse flew out to centerfield to end the inning.
TOP 3RD
Grade: B-
Once again, another inning that threatened to be the big one. Alex Rios got behind 0-2 but mashed the 1-2 pitch barely short of the yellow line on the leftfield wall, good for a double. Russ Adams flew out to rightfield on a high 0-2 pitch. The roof remained open at the Safe despite the rainfall that was persistent. Hudson bounced out to Boone, and Rios went to third. The roof started closing with Catalanotto at the plate. He worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Hill flew out down the rightfield line to Ichiro, who made a very nice running catch, sort of dancing away after the catch to avoid the angle of the seats.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: D+
Again, not good. Pat Borders led off with a first-pitch gapper to the wall in leftcenter, and he coasted in for a double. Ichiro tried a first-pitch surprise bunt down the third-base line, but it went foul. He ended up whiffing on an 0-2 breaking ball. Winn smacked one past the shortstop for a single, sending Borders to third. This was of course a good time for another double-play ball, this time on the first pitch to Beltre, who hit into the 6-4-3 double play. Yes, that's twice in the first three innings for the Mariner bats.
TOP 4TH
Grade: A-
Meche may have been cruising by this point. Hillenbrand flew out to centerfield. Hinske went from a 2-0 count to lining a 2-2 pitch to Morse's shoetops (lineout). Wells popped high to Sexson.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: B
First blood! Sexson flew out short of the track in rightfield. Ibañez hit the first pitch over Rios in rightfield and to the wall for a double, extending his hit streak to four games. Boone, who came into the at-bat in the middle of a nice 2-for-32 funk, had the hitters' counts and dribbled the full-count pitch up the middle, one that just kept rolling and rolling until it reached the outfield grass, where Hudson dove and got a glove on it, but it went past anyway. Ibañez scored, and the Mariners had the lead.
»» MARINERS 1, BLUE JAYS 0
Boone tried to take second base on the first pitch to Reed, but was out by a mile. Reed whiffed on a 1-2 pitch inside.
TOP 5TH
Grade: B-
Meche was still doing okay. Zaun hit an 0-2 low liner to Ichiro, who had to drift back toward the track. Rios took a full-count curve high and outside for a walk. Rios also took second base (close play) on the first pitch to Adams, who ended up bouncing out to second. Hudson worked an 0-2 count full, but he flew out near the track to Randy Winn in leftfield.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: C
They wouldn't add to the previous inning. Morse flew out to center on the 3-1 pitch. Borders had a 3-0 count go full before he walked. Ichiro had a 3-0 count, but hit the 3-1 pitch into the hole on the right side, which was plugged up by Hudson (4-6 fielder's choice). Winn nubbed out to second.
TOP 6TH
Grade: B-
They got out of it. Catalanotto was down 0-2, but later singled past Morse into centerfield. Hill grounded the first pitch to Morse, who started the 6-4-3 double play, with Boone able to finish it off normally this time. Hillenbrand rolled the first pitch up the middle for a single. Hinske flew out high to Reed to end the inning.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
Painfully quiet bats. Things were so bad, they showed a clip from earlier in the day of Rick Rizzs taking batting practice. Beltre flew out to second. Sexson whiffed at a 2-2 pitch low and outside. Ibañez got the hitters' counts and popped to the shortstop in shallow leftcenter.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B+
Meche would run his course. Wells hit a very high fly to Winn near the leftfield corner. Zaun got down 0-2 and would whiff at a pitch out of the zone. Rios lined a single into centerfield.
Ron Villone came in for Gil Meche, recipient of a standing ovation from the 24815 in attendance at the Safe. Adams took a 1-2 fastball over the outside corner for strike three.
Meche's line: 6 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, 114 pitches (70 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: C-
This one was pretty bad too. Boone got the bat on a 2-0 pitch, and it was nicely placed. It was fair along the rightfield line, and Rios dove for the ball even though he was about three feet short of it. The ball went past and Boone ended up on third when it was all over. Reed grounded the first pitch to a drawn-in Hudson (groundout), and Boone had to hold at third. Morse hit the 3-1 pitch for a flyout to Rios, stationed at about medium depth. Boone tagged from third, and Rios threw home. It was bad. Zaun at the plate had enough time to jump up and take the high throw, and then still come back down and tag Boone in time. As far as I'm concerned, this play and the first-pitch caught stealing were two dumbass baserunning plays by Boone in this game. They weren't close.
TOP 8TH
Grade: B-
One person in particular out of the bullpen would make it interesting. Hudson whiffed on a full count.
Jeff Nelson came in for Villone. Pinch-hitter Reed Johnson connected with an 0-2 slider that got way too much of the zone, and it went for a double into the rightfield corner. Hill popped out along the rightfield line, and that was good, but Hillenbrand walked on four pitches. Iiiiinexcusable.
Matt Thornton came in for Nelson. Hinske hit the second pitch toward the leftfield line, and with Beltre and Winn within proximity, Morse came down with the ball.
Villone's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 12 pitches (8 strikes)
Nelson's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
Thornton's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 2 pitches (1 strike)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: A-
My goodness, the Mariners did exactly what they were supposed to do. Borders reached on a pitch low and outside, but looped a single over the shortstop. Ichiro bunted along the left side, and Hillenbrand was able to charge, barehand the ball, and get Ichiro in time (nice play). Winn got behind 0-2 and quickly whiffed. Beltre had a 2-0 count and stung the 2-2 pitch. Beltre's ball ate up Hillenbrand at third, and Borders chugged around to score, beating the wide throw.
»» MARINERS 2, BLUE JAYS 0
Chacin nearly threw to the backstop on the first of the intentional-walk balls to Richie Sexson, who would go to first base without incident. Ibañez lined a 1-1 pitch into centerfield, one-hopping Wells. The ball got past Wells, Beltre csored, and the throw to third to get Sexson wasn't in time.
»» MARINERS 3, BLUE JAYS 0
Justin Speier came in for Chacin. Boone lazily popped up to the second baseman Hudson barely on the outfield grass, which was amazingly clutch.
Chacin's line: 7 2/3 innings, 3 runs, 10 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 116 pitches (69 strikes)
Speier's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 2 pitches (1 strike)
TOP 9TH
Grade: A
Eddie Guardado came in to shut the place down, and it helped that the Blue Jays executed the hurry-up offense. Wells hit a high flyout to Boone on the infield. Zaun grounded the second pitch to Beltre, who dove and threw from one knee to first base, in time. Rios popped high to Boone. Ballgame.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (5 strikes)
---
Gameball: Pat Borders.
The 42-year-old ancient catcher went 2-for-2 from the #9 slot in the order. With his one walk, he reached base three times. That's the kind of night that the bottom of the lineup needs every night from at least one of those three guys in the bottom third. Someone's got to get on base so that there's ducks on the pond when the lineup turns over. Borders' contribution was also nice because Jeremy Reed cooled off for this game, hanging up an 0-for-3 with a strikeout. The one big knock for me on Borders is that runners don't seem to have trouble stealing on him, and though it's obvious that his arm isn't an Olivo arm, it still makes me uncomfortable to know that a runner breaking toward second has a good chance of getting there safely. Borders scored once, and that was the second run of the game, coming in the 8th, which was a huge insurance run. The other two times, Borders hit the gapper to the wall to lead off the inning and didn't score, and he also was stranded after drawing a one-out walk.
Goat: Jeff Nelson.
He nearly blew this game. That's all I could think about after the top of the 8th inning ended. Giving someone a hittable pitch with an 0-2 count in the eighth inning while trying to protect a 1-0 lead is one thing, but walking someone on three pitches later in the same inning is terrible. Anyway, Nelson needs to get the final two outs of that inning so that nobody has to suffer through the ordeal of seeing Matt Thornton come in during any key situation, this one being two on (go-ahead run on first) and two out in the 8th inning of a one-run game. That was a bit uncomfortable for me, I can tell you that.
A six-hit shutout by the pitching staff is always a good thing. As you can see with the goat entry, I still had something pitchingwise to complain about even given the six-hit shutout. However, Gil Meche avoided the big inning, and while I didn't think he had his sharpest or most explosive stuff, he still managed to get well into the seventh. Ron Villone struck out both batters he faced. Matt Thornton got the only hitter he faced, and that was a big out. Eddie Guardado did his thing (that's nice to say), nailing down save number 15 on the year. The Mariners have 22 total wins.
Choosing a gameball entry was relatively easy considering that four Mariners had two-hit games. Other than Borders, who I chose for the gameball, Randy Winn (2-for-4 with a double), Raul Ibañez (2-for-4 with a double), and Bret Boone (2-for-4 with a triple). I knew thanks to the baserunning mistakes and the error that I wasn't choosing Boone. I'd also given both Winn and Ibañez gameballs recently, so Borders it was.
The two double-play balls in the first three innings was really frustrating, and you could even hear it in Dave Niehaus' voice after Beltre rolled the second one. Still, Beltre did manage to drive in the second run of the game, which was a big run. It was nice to see late runs in general. Needless to say, it was nice to see the Mariners score more runs than the other team, but when do we not wish that?
This win puts the Mariners at 22-30 after 52 games, and gives the Mariners one more game's worth of cushion between them and the pace set by your vaunted 2004 Seattle Mariners. I'm just hoping that somehow and some way that at the end of the season, the Mariners are 14 or so games better than the team of the year before.
Who's next on the Mariners' docket? Three this weekend against Tampa Bay, an off day on Monday, and then a six-game road swing through Miami and the nation's capital. I'm hoping for a series win against the Devil Rays since they're a terrible road team, but I'm not too keen on the possibilities of the road trip. If the Mariners manage to draw both Dontrelle Willis and Livan Hernandez, it might not be nice. Heck, I'm hoping at this point that they can just take a single game out of that Florida series. You do realize we're going to have to see Ryan Franklin figure out a way to pitch to Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Delgado, right? I guess the only good thing about Edgar retiring now is that we don't have to worry about the huge offensive dropoff due to not having him in the lineup. However, the Mariners do have to worry about finding a spot, if any, for Raul Ibañez, whose bat has heated up as of late.
Two straight series wins!
Fossum. Sele. Tomorrow.
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