Friday, July 08, 2005
GAME 84: MARINERS 10, ANGELS 2
Mariners 10, Angels 2
In 25 words or less: What the frick was this? Scoring an early touchdown enabled the starting pitcher to turn on the cruise control.
This one featured Joel Piñeiro, winless since the 26th of April, against Bartolo Colon, who never was the final piece to the Mariners' puzzle that never was completed back when the team was still good.
TOP 1ST
Grade: A
Unexpected is an understatement. Ichiro flew out to leftfield to lead off. Randy Winn popped out to the shortstop, closer to third base. Raul Ibañez singled over the middle on a 1-2 count. Richie Sexson banged a single through the left side to move Ibañez over to second. Adrian Beltre walked on a full count to load the bases. Jeremy Reed doubled off the track in the gap in leftcenter, clearing the bases. Huge hit for Jeremy Reed.
»» MARINERS 3, ANGELS 0
Willie Bloomquist joined the parade, poking a 2-0 pitch into the gap in leftcenter, with Chone Figgins cutting the ball off before it reached the wall. Nonetheless, Reed scored.
»» MARINERS 4, ANGELS 0
Jose Lopez hit a broken-bat flyout to leftfield to end the inning. Damage done, though.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: A-
Piñeiro got a weird play and some help. Chone Figgins popped up to Beltre on the infield. Darin Erstad appeared to have fouled off a 2-2 pitch, but apparently he hit Miguel Olivo's glove on his swing, which went as catcher's interference. Erstad was awarded first base. Vladimir Guerrero then grounded a 2-0 pitch to Willie Bloomquist to commence the timely 6-4-3 double play.
TOP 2ND
Grade: A
The Seahawks converted a Josh Brown 46-yard field goal. Miguel Olivo grounded his first pitch up the middle, but Maicer Izturis robbed him with a diving stop and barely got him at first base. Ichiro fell behind 0-2 and fouled off four pitches before grounding out to Izturis up the middle. Winn got the hitters' counts and took a 3-1 pitch outside for a walk. Ibañez had a 3-0 count and walked on the fifth pitch. Sexson had the hitters' counts and grounded the 3-1 pitch to Dallas McPherson in the hole on the left side, but he went somewhat tentatively to the ball, and it went off his glove and the bases were loaded on what was credited to Sexson as a single. Beltre then drove the first pitch to the wall in the gap in leftcenter to clear the bases.
»» MARINERS 7, ANGELS 0
Reed flew out to leftfield on the first pitch to end the inning.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: A-
Another good inning. Garret Anderson was robbed of a single on a diving stop by Lopez. Bengie Molina hit a low liner to leftfield, caught by Winn. Maicer Izturis got the hitters' counts and walked on the 3-1 pitch low and outside. Dallas McPherson flew out to centerfield to end the inning.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C-
The Mariners' bats cooled off. Bloomquist whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball down and in. Lopez popped out to second on the first pitch. Olivo flew out in foul territory to Erstad along the rightfield line.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: A
Piñeiro delivered more of the same, which in this case was good. Rivera popped a ball foul to the right side down the line, but Lopez collided with Sexson, though at a fairly slow speed. The ball dropped in foul territory. Piñeiro ended up getting Rivera to whiff, so no harm done. Adam Kennedy got behind 0-2 and later chopped a ball to Piñeiro in front of the mound, who threw in time to first, thoguh I thought Sexson was pulled off the bag. I'll take the out. Figgins grounded out to second to end the inning.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C
The Mariners were hung over a bit from their offensive explosion. Ichiro flew out to leftfield on the first pitch. Winn grounded a ball past Erstad and into rightfield for a single. Ibañez hit a broken-bat flyout to fairly deep rightfield. Sexson lined out to Guerrero in rightfield, who fell down while making the catch. No spectacular play about that, folks, he just plum fell down.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C+
Piñeiro would get touched up. Erstad doubled the second pitch of the inning into the leftfield corner. Guerrero bounced the first pitch to second for a groundout, moving Erstad over to third. Anderson for a second time was robbed of a single by Lopez, who made another diving stop en route to the putout. Erstad scored.
»» ANGELS 7, MARINERS 1
Molina fouled off a 1-2 pitch, which was nearly caught in foul territory near the stands along the rightfield line. Molina eventually singled down the rightfield line. Izturis lined a 1-2 pitch over Sexson's head, except Sexson speared it before it got any further. That's a lineout.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C
The bats were in some slumber. Beltre chopped a 3-1 pitch high to third for a groundout. Reed bounced a 2-0 pitch to short. Bloomquist hit an 0-1 fly ball to Guerrero that was dropped for an error. Lopez flew out to leftfield to end the inning.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: B+
Piñeiro had minimal trouble. McPherson grounded out to first. Rivera flew out to left. Kennedy walked on a full count. Anderson had the hitters' counts, later flying out to centerfield instead of hitting a ball to Lopez for a diving stop.
TOP 6TH
Grade: C-
Ho hum. Olivo took a 0-2 pitch right down the pipe for strike three. Ichiro grounded out to second in the first pitch. Winn grounded a 2-0 pitch up the middle, where Izturis vacuumed it up and threw him out.
Colon's line: 6 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, 92 pitches (57 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: B+
Piñeiro got some help again. Erstad got ahead 2-0, and later poked a single over Bloomquist. Guerrero grounded the first pitch to Beltre, who turned the 5-4-3 double play. Anderson grounded out to second to end the inning.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B
Kevin Gregg came in for Colon. Ibañez singled to leftfield on the first pitch. Sexson fouled off a few pitches before walking on a full count. Beltre grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, moving Ibañez to third. Reed got ahead 3-0, had the count go full, fouled off a pitch, then took a pitch in the dirt and past the catcher for a walk. The wild pitch was enough for Ibañez to cross the plate.
»» MARINERS 8, ANGELS 1
Bloomquist whiffed on a 1-2 pitch low and away for strike three.
Gregg's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, 26 pitches (16 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: A-
Piñeiro was feeling it, in case people hadn't figured it out yet. Molina got the first pitch behind him, and ended up grounding out to third. Izturis grounded the 2-0 pitch to second. McPherson whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball.
TOP 8TH
Grade: A-
Esteban Yan, he of the famous Yan/McLemore bout of yore, came in for Gregg. Lopez got behind 0-2 and whiffed on a low and away 1-2 pitch. Olivo was ditto, except with an outside pitch. Ichiro lined a 2-0 pitch into rightfield for a single. Then Winn lined his second pitch a couple rows over the scoreboard in rightfield for a typical Randy Winn-type homer. I still can't believe that guy reached the Hit It Here Cafe.
»» MARINERS 10, ANGELS 1
Ibañez grounded out to short to end the inning.
Yan's line: 1 inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 15 pitches (10 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: B-
Piñeiro was almost mopping up at this point. Rivera popped the 2-0 pitch on the infield to Beltre. Kennedy doubled his 2-0 pitch down the rightfield line. Figgins worked a 1-2 count full before flying out to Lopez in short rightfield. With Jeff DaVanon pinch-hitting, Piñeiro made a forward motion and didn't come set, opening him for a balk call. Kennedy moved to third on the balk. Nonetheless, DaVanon grounded out to first to end the inning.
TOP 9TH
Grade: C-
Jake Woods came in for Yan, Sexson walked on four pitches. Beltre hit a 2-0 fly ball to leftfield, but was robbed by Curtis Pride on a diving catch. Reed grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
Woods' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 7 pitches (3 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: B-
Amazingly, Piñeiro stayed in. Pride grounded out to Lopez, who barely got him at first. Molina popped out to Lopez. Josh Paul homered down the leftfield line.
»» MARINERS 10, ANGELS 2
Izturis hit an 0-1 grounder past Bloomquist and into centerfield for a single. McPherson tapped an 0-2 pitch to the mound. Ballgame.
Piñeiro's line: 9 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 119 pitches (72 strikes)
---
Gameball: Richie Sexson.
Sure, he hasn't been as hot as Adrian Beltre lately, though no one really has. Still, the other half of last offseason's big free-agent Mariner acquisitions did well for himself. The single off Dallas McPherson's glove looks like a line drive in the scorebook, after all. Anyway, for a guy to whom we usually associate home runs and strikeouts, it's still a very good day if he goes 2-for-3 and walks twice. He scored twice as well, and didn't strike out. 'Twas a night of on-base craziness for Big 44. Though his height had a lot to do with it, it was a good thing he speared that line drive in the fourth just to make absolutely sure that the Angels didn't get anywhere close.
Goat: Miguel Olivo.
Jose Lopez booted the ball, but Olivo's catcher interference counts as an error. Both failed to reach base, but Olivo struck out twice while Lopez did so only once. Hence, Olivo gets this space for this game. I wonder what kind of tear Olivo would have to go on in order to get his average up to my weight. If he did get it up there that far, it'd probably take three months with the limited playing time he's getting. His bat certainly isn't winning him more playing time, that's for sure. In a related note, Ryan Christianson still has not been called up. If you're going to blackball him for the substance abuse thing, just get rid of him. He's served out the suspension, for goodness' sake. Do you not want to see how one of your first-round picks might hack it in the Majors? I'm not saying the guy will be a world-beater, but he's gotta hit better than Olivo, and therefore that would make him a better backup than Olivo. Could we put Jeff Clement ahead of Olivo on the depth chart right now?
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 61-23 .726 -- L2
2003 54-30 .643 7 L1
2002 53-31 .631 8 W1
2000 49-35 .583 12 L2
2005 36-48 .429 25 W1
2004 32-52 .381 29 L7
The Mariners are four games up on the pace of last year's pathetic team. Granted, the fact that the Mariners were going belly-up and unraveling on a nine-game road trip going into the break helps make this team look a lot better. The truth is, these 2005 Mariners have never been more than four games better pace-wise than last year's Mariners. This game marked the first time the Mariners had a pace four games better than the 2004 team since game game 58, when they were 26-32 after the 8-0 win at Florida on the 9th of June. The only other three times the Mariners were up four games on the 2004 team was after the each of the last three games in April. Let's build that cushion, guys!
Needless to say, the obvious gameball candidate would be Joel Piñeiro, since we may never see a complete-game, 2-run, 6-hit shutout out of Joel for the rest of the year. Complete games don't just come and go with these pitchers and this team. Of course, if your team stakes you out to a touchdown in the early innings, then it makes the rest of the game a lot easier. I'm sure Joel felt he could take more chances and be more aggressive out there on the mound. If it's a one-run game in the seventh inning and Joel is out there, it might be a different story, i.e., he's one pitch away from a tie game and he knows it. Luckily here Joel had a very large margin of error, and only got touched up twice, and not for horrendously big innings or anything close to that. Piñeiro was a master of damage control in this game when he needed to be.
A nice thing sticks out in the boxscore for this game, and it's that the 2-3-4 hitters in the Mariner lineup all have a "2" next to their names under the "H" column. It might be somewhat unfortunate to know that those are the only two Mariners that had multi-hit games, but it's also good to know that some of your horses are coming through. Those three hitters combined to go 6-for-11 with two RBIs, four walks, no strikeouts, and seven runs scored. The other big horse, Adrian Beltre, had only the one hit in his 1-for-4 day, but it was the bases-clearing double in the second. Like Beltre, Reed went 1-for-4 with a bases-clearing double, except his was in the first inning.
Willie Bloomquist is doing way too well for his own good. Though his doing well is good for the team I'm rooting for, a dark side of me really misses complaining about him being a waste of a roster spot. Really, I'm torn between my intense dislike for most things South Kitsap and my loyalty as a fan to my favorite professional baseball team. However, this will come to pass. If Bloomquist can keep this going for more than 12 games, then he'll have had more of a run that what he had in September 2002 against September call-up calibre pitching. I have to admit, I'm surprised. We'll see if his Jarrod Washburn mojo is still clicking these days.
Oh great. I bet you five million freakin' dollars that Jeremy Reed sits in the second game of the series so Willie Bloomquist can play centerfield and hit against Washburn. I'm sorry, but if I'm managing the Mariners, Jeremy Reed starts six days a week (if you need Bloomquist's bat in there so bad, start him at short again). Reed's got to learn to hit tough lefties sometime. Does he get better against tough AL lefties when he's sitting on the bench? They've got to let this guy roll with the punches and feel out all these lefty starters in the American League unless the Mariners think they're going to platoon him with somebody, which I don't really see happening, and if it did happen, I don't think the Mariners would admit to such a situation. I just imagine the Mariners ever having a platoon situation. It just seems like that's something they would absolutely never do. If they remotely insinuated or even thought of platooning Bloomquist straight across with Reed, I think I'd break something.
Look at it this way. There will be no sweep of the Mariners in Orange County going into the All-Star break. It's a celebration!
Moyer. Washburn. Tonight.
In 25 words or less: What the frick was this? Scoring an early touchdown enabled the starting pitcher to turn on the cruise control.
This one featured Joel Piñeiro, winless since the 26th of April, against Bartolo Colon, who never was the final piece to the Mariners' puzzle that never was completed back when the team was still good.
TOP 1ST
Grade: A
Unexpected is an understatement. Ichiro flew out to leftfield to lead off. Randy Winn popped out to the shortstop, closer to third base. Raul Ibañez singled over the middle on a 1-2 count. Richie Sexson banged a single through the left side to move Ibañez over to second. Adrian Beltre walked on a full count to load the bases. Jeremy Reed doubled off the track in the gap in leftcenter, clearing the bases. Huge hit for Jeremy Reed.
»» MARINERS 3, ANGELS 0
Willie Bloomquist joined the parade, poking a 2-0 pitch into the gap in leftcenter, with Chone Figgins cutting the ball off before it reached the wall. Nonetheless, Reed scored.
»» MARINERS 4, ANGELS 0
Jose Lopez hit a broken-bat flyout to leftfield to end the inning. Damage done, though.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: A-
Piñeiro got a weird play and some help. Chone Figgins popped up to Beltre on the infield. Darin Erstad appeared to have fouled off a 2-2 pitch, but apparently he hit Miguel Olivo's glove on his swing, which went as catcher's interference. Erstad was awarded first base. Vladimir Guerrero then grounded a 2-0 pitch to Willie Bloomquist to commence the timely 6-4-3 double play.
TOP 2ND
Grade: A
The Seahawks converted a Josh Brown 46-yard field goal. Miguel Olivo grounded his first pitch up the middle, but Maicer Izturis robbed him with a diving stop and barely got him at first base. Ichiro fell behind 0-2 and fouled off four pitches before grounding out to Izturis up the middle. Winn got the hitters' counts and took a 3-1 pitch outside for a walk. Ibañez had a 3-0 count and walked on the fifth pitch. Sexson had the hitters' counts and grounded the 3-1 pitch to Dallas McPherson in the hole on the left side, but he went somewhat tentatively to the ball, and it went off his glove and the bases were loaded on what was credited to Sexson as a single. Beltre then drove the first pitch to the wall in the gap in leftcenter to clear the bases.
»» MARINERS 7, ANGELS 0
Reed flew out to leftfield on the first pitch to end the inning.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: A-
Another good inning. Garret Anderson was robbed of a single on a diving stop by Lopez. Bengie Molina hit a low liner to leftfield, caught by Winn. Maicer Izturis got the hitters' counts and walked on the 3-1 pitch low and outside. Dallas McPherson flew out to centerfield to end the inning.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C-
The Mariners' bats cooled off. Bloomquist whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball down and in. Lopez popped out to second on the first pitch. Olivo flew out in foul territory to Erstad along the rightfield line.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: A
Piñeiro delivered more of the same, which in this case was good. Rivera popped a ball foul to the right side down the line, but Lopez collided with Sexson, though at a fairly slow speed. The ball dropped in foul territory. Piñeiro ended up getting Rivera to whiff, so no harm done. Adam Kennedy got behind 0-2 and later chopped a ball to Piñeiro in front of the mound, who threw in time to first, thoguh I thought Sexson was pulled off the bag. I'll take the out. Figgins grounded out to second to end the inning.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C
The Mariners were hung over a bit from their offensive explosion. Ichiro flew out to leftfield on the first pitch. Winn grounded a ball past Erstad and into rightfield for a single. Ibañez hit a broken-bat flyout to fairly deep rightfield. Sexson lined out to Guerrero in rightfield, who fell down while making the catch. No spectacular play about that, folks, he just plum fell down.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: C+
Piñeiro would get touched up. Erstad doubled the second pitch of the inning into the leftfield corner. Guerrero bounced the first pitch to second for a groundout, moving Erstad over to third. Anderson for a second time was robbed of a single by Lopez, who made another diving stop en route to the putout. Erstad scored.
»» ANGELS 7, MARINERS 1
Molina fouled off a 1-2 pitch, which was nearly caught in foul territory near the stands along the rightfield line. Molina eventually singled down the rightfield line. Izturis lined a 1-2 pitch over Sexson's head, except Sexson speared it before it got any further. That's a lineout.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C
The bats were in some slumber. Beltre chopped a 3-1 pitch high to third for a groundout. Reed bounced a 2-0 pitch to short. Bloomquist hit an 0-1 fly ball to Guerrero that was dropped for an error. Lopez flew out to leftfield to end the inning.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: B+
Piñeiro had minimal trouble. McPherson grounded out to first. Rivera flew out to left. Kennedy walked on a full count. Anderson had the hitters' counts, later flying out to centerfield instead of hitting a ball to Lopez for a diving stop.
TOP 6TH
Grade: C-
Ho hum. Olivo took a 0-2 pitch right down the pipe for strike three. Ichiro grounded out to second in the first pitch. Winn grounded a 2-0 pitch up the middle, where Izturis vacuumed it up and threw him out.
Colon's line: 6 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, 92 pitches (57 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: B+
Piñeiro got some help again. Erstad got ahead 2-0, and later poked a single over Bloomquist. Guerrero grounded the first pitch to Beltre, who turned the 5-4-3 double play. Anderson grounded out to second to end the inning.
TOP 7TH
Grade: B
Kevin Gregg came in for Colon. Ibañez singled to leftfield on the first pitch. Sexson fouled off a few pitches before walking on a full count. Beltre grounded into a 5-4-3 double play, moving Ibañez to third. Reed got ahead 3-0, had the count go full, fouled off a pitch, then took a pitch in the dirt and past the catcher for a walk. The wild pitch was enough for Ibañez to cross the plate.
»» MARINERS 8, ANGELS 1
Bloomquist whiffed on a 1-2 pitch low and away for strike three.
Gregg's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, 26 pitches (16 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: A-
Piñeiro was feeling it, in case people hadn't figured it out yet. Molina got the first pitch behind him, and ended up grounding out to third. Izturis grounded the 2-0 pitch to second. McPherson whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball.
TOP 8TH
Grade: A-
Esteban Yan, he of the famous Yan/McLemore bout of yore, came in for Gregg. Lopez got behind 0-2 and whiffed on a low and away 1-2 pitch. Olivo was ditto, except with an outside pitch. Ichiro lined a 2-0 pitch into rightfield for a single. Then Winn lined his second pitch a couple rows over the scoreboard in rightfield for a typical Randy Winn-type homer. I still can't believe that guy reached the Hit It Here Cafe.
»» MARINERS 10, ANGELS 1
Ibañez grounded out to short to end the inning.
Yan's line: 1 inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 15 pitches (10 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: B-
Piñeiro was almost mopping up at this point. Rivera popped the 2-0 pitch on the infield to Beltre. Kennedy doubled his 2-0 pitch down the rightfield line. Figgins worked a 1-2 count full before flying out to Lopez in short rightfield. With Jeff DaVanon pinch-hitting, Piñeiro made a forward motion and didn't come set, opening him for a balk call. Kennedy moved to third on the balk. Nonetheless, DaVanon grounded out to first to end the inning.
TOP 9TH
Grade: C-
Jake Woods came in for Yan, Sexson walked on four pitches. Beltre hit a 2-0 fly ball to leftfield, but was robbed by Curtis Pride on a diving catch. Reed grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
Woods' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 7 pitches (3 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Grade: B-
Amazingly, Piñeiro stayed in. Pride grounded out to Lopez, who barely got him at first. Molina popped out to Lopez. Josh Paul homered down the leftfield line.
»» MARINERS 10, ANGELS 2
Izturis hit an 0-1 grounder past Bloomquist and into centerfield for a single. McPherson tapped an 0-2 pitch to the mound. Ballgame.
Piñeiro's line: 9 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 119 pitches (72 strikes)
---
Gameball: Richie Sexson.
Sure, he hasn't been as hot as Adrian Beltre lately, though no one really has. Still, the other half of last offseason's big free-agent Mariner acquisitions did well for himself. The single off Dallas McPherson's glove looks like a line drive in the scorebook, after all. Anyway, for a guy to whom we usually associate home runs and strikeouts, it's still a very good day if he goes 2-for-3 and walks twice. He scored twice as well, and didn't strike out. 'Twas a night of on-base craziness for Big 44. Though his height had a lot to do with it, it was a good thing he speared that line drive in the fourth just to make absolutely sure that the Angels didn't get anywhere close.
Goat: Miguel Olivo.
Jose Lopez booted the ball, but Olivo's catcher interference counts as an error. Both failed to reach base, but Olivo struck out twice while Lopez did so only once. Hence, Olivo gets this space for this game. I wonder what kind of tear Olivo would have to go on in order to get his average up to my weight. If he did get it up there that far, it'd probably take three months with the limited playing time he's getting. His bat certainly isn't winning him more playing time, that's for sure. In a related note, Ryan Christianson still has not been called up. If you're going to blackball him for the substance abuse thing, just get rid of him. He's served out the suspension, for goodness' sake. Do you not want to see how one of your first-round picks might hack it in the Majors? I'm not saying the guy will be a world-beater, but he's gotta hit better than Olivo, and therefore that would make him a better backup than Olivo. Could we put Jeff Clement ahead of Olivo on the depth chart right now?
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 61-23 .726 -- L2
2003 54-30 .643 7 L1
2002 53-31 .631 8 W1
2000 49-35 .583 12 L2
2005 36-48 .429 25 W1
2004 32-52 .381 29 L7
The Mariners are four games up on the pace of last year's pathetic team. Granted, the fact that the Mariners were going belly-up and unraveling on a nine-game road trip going into the break helps make this team look a lot better. The truth is, these 2005 Mariners have never been more than four games better pace-wise than last year's Mariners. This game marked the first time the Mariners had a pace four games better than the 2004 team since game game 58, when they were 26-32 after the 8-0 win at Florida on the 9th of June. The only other three times the Mariners were up four games on the 2004 team was after the each of the last three games in April. Let's build that cushion, guys!
Needless to say, the obvious gameball candidate would be Joel Piñeiro, since we may never see a complete-game, 2-run, 6-hit shutout out of Joel for the rest of the year. Complete games don't just come and go with these pitchers and this team. Of course, if your team stakes you out to a touchdown in the early innings, then it makes the rest of the game a lot easier. I'm sure Joel felt he could take more chances and be more aggressive out there on the mound. If it's a one-run game in the seventh inning and Joel is out there, it might be a different story, i.e., he's one pitch away from a tie game and he knows it. Luckily here Joel had a very large margin of error, and only got touched up twice, and not for horrendously big innings or anything close to that. Piñeiro was a master of damage control in this game when he needed to be.
A nice thing sticks out in the boxscore for this game, and it's that the 2-3-4 hitters in the Mariner lineup all have a "2" next to their names under the "H" column. It might be somewhat unfortunate to know that those are the only two Mariners that had multi-hit games, but it's also good to know that some of your horses are coming through. Those three hitters combined to go 6-for-11 with two RBIs, four walks, no strikeouts, and seven runs scored. The other big horse, Adrian Beltre, had only the one hit in his 1-for-4 day, but it was the bases-clearing double in the second. Like Beltre, Reed went 1-for-4 with a bases-clearing double, except his was in the first inning.
Willie Bloomquist is doing way too well for his own good. Though his doing well is good for the team I'm rooting for, a dark side of me really misses complaining about him being a waste of a roster spot. Really, I'm torn between my intense dislike for most things South Kitsap and my loyalty as a fan to my favorite professional baseball team. However, this will come to pass. If Bloomquist can keep this going for more than 12 games, then he'll have had more of a run that what he had in September 2002 against September call-up calibre pitching. I have to admit, I'm surprised. We'll see if his Jarrod Washburn mojo is still clicking these days.
Oh great. I bet you five million freakin' dollars that Jeremy Reed sits in the second game of the series so Willie Bloomquist can play centerfield and hit against Washburn. I'm sorry, but if I'm managing the Mariners, Jeremy Reed starts six days a week (if you need Bloomquist's bat in there so bad, start him at short again). Reed's got to learn to hit tough lefties sometime. Does he get better against tough AL lefties when he's sitting on the bench? They've got to let this guy roll with the punches and feel out all these lefty starters in the American League unless the Mariners think they're going to platoon him with somebody, which I don't really see happening, and if it did happen, I don't think the Mariners would admit to such a situation. I just imagine the Mariners ever having a platoon situation. It just seems like that's something they would absolutely never do. If they remotely insinuated or even thought of platooning Bloomquist straight across with Reed, I think I'd break something.
Look at it this way. There will be no sweep of the Mariners in Orange County going into the All-Star break. It's a celebration!
Moyer. Washburn. Tonight.
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