Sunday, July 24, 2005
GAME 97: INDIANS 6, MARINERS 3
Indians 6, Mariners 3
In 25 words or less: A certain starting pitcher went for six straight. Losses. He succeeded, and the Mariners also succeeded in losing five of six on the road trip.
This one featured Aaron Sele going up against Kevin Millwood. The Mariners were aiming to win one of two series on their road trip. They were also trying to finish the road trip with a mark of 2-4 instead of 1-5, though both such records are putrid. In a change of pace, a fourth broadcaster didn't join the Mariners' crew in Cleveland for this game, and Dave Niehaus and/or Rick Rizzs flew solo on the radio side, while Ron Fairly stayed on the television side for the whole game. In another note, I get disappointed here when I tune to a Dodger game on FSN West (2) and instead of hearing Vin Scully fly solo over the TV, I get Charley Steiner and Steve Lyons instead. Boo. Of course, Charley's money alone for exploding with laughter upon seeing the Carl Lewis national anthem on SportsCenter.
TOP 1ST
Grade: C-
No blast of a start for the Mariners here. Ichiro swung at the 2-0 pitch and flew out to Jhonny Peralta making a completely unnecessary over-the-shoulder catch in not-too-shallow centerfield. Randy Winn mashed the second pitch into centerfield, and it looked like it might drop, but Sizemore ran to his left and tracked it down. Raul Ibañez got behind 0-2 and took a 2-2 slider over the outside corner for strike three.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
Sele struggled, but he was spared further trauma. Grady Sizemore fouled off a full-count pitch before smacking a belt-high pitch down the pipe into the gap in rightcenter for a double. Coco Crisp bunted the first pitch along the third-base side, where Adrian Beltre charged in from third, barehanded, and threw in time to first. Sizemore moved to third on the bunt. Jhonny Peralta fouled a 2-2 pitch that got ground before Borders' glove (almost a strikeout). On the full count, Peralta crushed another high pitch hard off of Beltre's glove into leftfield for a single, and Sizemore scored.
»» INDIANS 1, MARINERS 0
Victor Martinez smacked a ball past Richie Sexson and down the rightfield line. Peralta moved to third. Ben Broussard lined the first pitch that looked like in might drop in shallow rightfield, but Willie Bloomquist ranged all the way back to reach up and grab it, then toss to second for the easy double play. Aaron Sele is spelled of further badness.
TOP 2ND
Grade: B
It's a mini-power surge. Richie Sexson got behind 0-2 and worked the count full before mashing a high pitch over the outer half of the plate out of the yard to rightfield, about five rows into the seats.
»» INDIANS 1, MARINERS 1
Adrian Beltre grounded hard to first, where Broussard knocked it down and had trouble finding it. Still, he was able to toss to a covering Millwood at first in time for the out. Jeremy Reed got whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball. Mike Morse rolled the second pitch to short.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: B-
Sele threw a billion pitches again. Ron Belliard grounded the first pitch to second. Casey Blake lined one into the rightfield corner to the base of the wall for a double, the third of the day for the Indians off Sele. Jose Hernandez got ahead 2-0 and fouled off a couple of 2-2 pitches before grounding the full-count pitch (another one up in the zone) hard to short, where Morse threw to first in time, and the runner held at second. Jason Dubois fouled off on 3-1 and a full count. He took a high pitch for ball four. Sizemore grounded out to first, with Sexson tossing to Sele covering.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C-
Nothing out of the bats here. Willie Bloomquist grounded the 0-2 pitch to second for the out. Pat Borders grounded out to short. Ichiro squibbed an 0-2 pitch to short for a groundout.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: B-
Crisp poked the first pitch into centerfield for a single. Peralta grounded the first pitch to Beltre, who threw somewhat high to Bloomquist, who couldn't turn the double play (5-4 fielder's choice). Martinez popped to Beltre in foul territory on the left side. Broussard worked a 1-2 count full before ripping a pitch into rightfield for a single, moving Peralta over to third. Belliard flew out to center.
TOP 4TH
Grade: B
The Mariners got some help. Winn gapped the second pitch of the inning to rightcenter for a double, the Mariners' second hit of the game. Ibañez chopped the first pitch high to second, moving Winn to third. Sexson popped a 2-0 pitch high to Martinez behind the plate. Beltre rolled a ball along the third-base line that Hernandez let roll barely foul. After taking an 0-2 pitch outside, Beltre walloped the next pitch to centerfield, where Sizemore overran the ball, reached up, and had the ball go off the top of his glove and toward the wall. Winn scored as Beltre stayed at first.
»» MARINERS 2, INDIANS 1
Reed flew out to the track in leftfield on the first pitch.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: A
Sele's best inning of the game to this point. Blake popped the second pitch high to Sexson halfway in on the first-base line. Hernandez whiffed on a breaking ball low and away. Dubois fell behind 0-2 and but Sele nibbled and the count went full. Sele got Dubois with a curveball for a whiff.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C
No two-out melee here. Morse fouled off 3-1 and full-count pitches and took a high pitch for ball four. Bloomquist whiffed on an 0-2 high fastball. Borders popped the second pitch high to Hernandez near the third-base coaches' box. Ichiro walked on four pitches. Winn flew out high to rightfield on the first pitch.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: A-
Sele turned in another solid inning. Sizemore rolled a 3-1 pitch to short. Crisp nubbed a 1-2 pitch in front of the plate, and Borders grabbed it and threw in time to first. Peralta took an 0-2 curve for strike three.
TOP 6TH
Grade: C-
There was almost another run. Ibañez flied out near the corner in left on a 2-0 pitch. Sexson flew out to the track in leftfield on the first pitch, just getting under what would have been his second homer of the game. Beltre bounced the second pitch to short.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
Sele set the table. Martinez tagged a full-count pitch for a single into rightfield. Broussard doubled an 0-2 pitch down the leftfield line, moving Martinez to third and bringing Bryan Price to the mound. Belliard lined the first pitch right to Ichiro in rightfield, but Martinez scored and Broussard was able to move to third.
»» INDIANS 2, MARINERS 2
Julio Mateo came in for Sele. Blake flew out to Ichiro on a 1-2 pitch up in the zone, deep enough to score Broussard as the Indians led.
»» INDIANS 3, MARINERS 2
Hernandez grounded the first pitch to third.
Sele's line: 5 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 95 pitches (62 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Grade: C-
The Mariners wouldn't immediately fight back. Reed chopped high to Belliard near the bag, who barehanded the ball and threw to first barely in time. Morse got ahead 3-0 but took strike three on a full-count pitch up and in (bulls#$% call, I say). Bloomquist grounded hard to first.
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: D+
Dubois dumped a single into leftcenter on the first pitch.
Matt Thornton came in for Mateo (a heckler within earshot of the microphone exclaimed, "never heard of you, 53!"). Sizemore took a 1-2 pitch over the inside corner for a big out. Crisp flew out to Reed just short of the track in centerfield.
JJ Putz came in for Thornton. Peralta had the hitters' counts and singled the 3-1 outside pitch down the rightfield line, moving Dubois to third. Martinez roped the first pitch into the Mariner bullpen just inside the rightfield foul pole to put the game away.
»» INDIANS 6, MARINERS 2
Broussard rolled out to second.
Mateo's line: 2/3 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (5 strikes)
Thornton's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (7 strikes)
Putz' line: 1/3 inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: C
Seattle, where leadoff hits go for naught. Chris Snelling came in to hit for Borders. Snelling dinked a 2-2 pitch into leftfield for a single, the Mariners' third hit of the day. Ichiro (a heckler close to the microphone asked aloud, "what's 'double play' in Japanese?") foul-tipped a 1-2 pitch into Martinez' glove for a strikeout. Winn bounced the first pitch to short for what appeared to be a 6-4-3 double play (Snelling was definitely out), but Winn barely beat out the throw to first, which was scooped by Broussard and appeared to be in time.
Arthur Rhodes came in for Millwood. Ibañez grounded the first pitch to short, and Peralta went for the easy toss to second (6-4 fielder's choice).
Millwood's line: 7 2/3 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 94 pitches (60 strikes)
Rhodes' line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 1 pitch (1 strike)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: B+
Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in for Putz, his 500th appearance in the Majors. Belliard smoked the second pitch into centerfield for a single. Blake flew out high to Reed in leftcenter on the second pitch. Hernandez took an 0-2 pitch over the outside corner. Dubois whiffed on a low full-count pitch.
Hasegawa's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 13 pitches (10 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: B-
Bob Wickman came in for Rhodes to close the door in a non-save situation. Sexson grounded out to first. Beltre crushed the first pitch about twelve rows into the bleachers in leftfield for a completely meaningless, though spectacular 415-foot home run.
»» INDIANS 6, MARINERS 3
Reed took a 2-2 breaking ball barely outside before chopping a ball off the plate to Wickman along the first-base line, who ran and blocked the line to tag Reed. Morse nubbed an 0-2 pitch in front of the plate on the third-base side, where Martinez pounced on it and threw in time to first. Ballgame.
Wickman's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 15 pitches (11 strikes)
---
Gameball: Matt Thornton.
Our 2005 Towel man had one of his better outings of the year. With the Mariners trying to keep themselves within one run at 3-2, Mike Hargrove brought in Matt Thornton with a runner on first and nobody out. Thornton then proceeded to catch Grady Sizemore looking and got Coco Crisp to fly out just short of the track in centerfield. Sure, most of the situations in which I want Thornton to pitch involve the Mariners either behind or ahead by five or more runs. Still, there are some days where I'm glad Mike Hargrove has more confidence than I do in Thornton. There's a reason why I'm not a Major League manager. One could argue that if you keep Thornton on a roster for this long, you'd have a situation akin to an analogy pertaining to blind squirrels and nuts. Nonetheless, Matt Thornton came out of the bullpen in a pressure situation today and came through with flying colors. If Crisp gets 20 more feet on that fly ball, I'm not saying any of this, but he didn't, and that's baseball. For one day, way to be, Matt Thornton.
Goat: JJ Putz.
Pitching immediately after Thornton was the flamethrower of the Mariner pen. Matt Thornton had left Julio Mateo's runner on first. Putz immediately fell behind to Jhonny Peralta, who singled, then Victor Martinez hit the laser beam. I've said this before, but this is reminding me of a Rick Ankiel Lite situation. JJ isn't throwing balls to the backstop every five pitches like Ankiel, but it does seem like he has the unhealthy knack of yielding the occasional longball. It reminds me vaguely of Arthur Rhodes' 2003 season post-Rondell White. I don't think Rhodes ended up going on a homer-yielding binge or anything, I just think he got hurt (and/or got hurt and stayed on the roster way too long without going on the DL). Nonetheless, I haven't been comofortable with JJ Putz on the mound in any sort of tense situation since he gave up the grand slams against the Red Sox and Yankees. When he comes out with a decent outing, it's not usually followed by a good one. I had nothing but good to say about Putz after the two scoreless innings of relief on Friday. This time it seemed more like what is becoming the norm for Putz. It's not good.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 70-27 .722 -- W2
2002 60-37 .619 10 L1
2003 59-38 .608 11 L2
2000 57-40 .588 13 L1
2005 42-55 .433 28 L2
2004 38-59 .392 32 W1
It's time for Ron Fairly's favorite stat. The Mariners are now 6-39 when they score three runs or less in a game. Of course, this means that when they score four or more runs, they're 36-16. A record of 6-39 makes for a percentage of .133, whereas a record of 36-16 is a sparkling .692. So, the Mariners have scored three runs or less in 45 of their 97 games this season, amounting to 46.4% of their games.
If you take those numbers and then see that Aaron Sele now has an ERA of 5.14, you get a pretty black-and-white reasoning as to why the Mariners are 13 games under .500 at this point. The offense might score four or more runs in a game 53.7% of the time, but when Jamie Moyer has the lowest ERA in your starting rotation at 4.47, it doesn't bode well. Furthermore, Gil Meche's ERA is 4.59, Ryan Franklin's ERA is 4.75, and Joel Piñeiro is anchoring down the back end with a stellar 5.72 mark. If this isn't enough for you, the end of the AP wire article for today's game points out that the Mariners are 8-23 when the opposition scores a run in the first inning.
To rub that in, today's game featured a rarity this season -- Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre homered in the same game. As is the usual fortune for the Mariners, both were solo shots, and they accounted for half of the Mariners' hits in the game. They got four hits and won on Friday, got ten hits and lost yesterday, then got four today and lost. That comes out to eighteen hits for the Mariners in the series, an average of six per game. If someone out there can dig up how often teams have been winning when only putting together six hits a game, I'd like to know just to clarify my thoughts. I can't possibly imagine that's too good a percentage.
Don't let Ron Fairly fool you. This wasn't a good outing for Aaron Sele. It was the opposite of the time-tested Spinal Tap reference, and I'm of course referring to Sh$& Sandwich. This was more like a "good" sandwich, whereas the bread would be really moldy and growing penicillin or something. Sele sandwiched good fourth and fifth innings with utter crap in the first and second, along with setting the table for disaster in the 6th, putting the first two runners aboard. If not for Willie Bloomquist running back and catching the flare into shallow rightfield in the first, Sele's probably down 2-0 or 3-0 after that first inning. He allowed a one-out double and a two-out walk in the second, and he somehow got away with it. The third saw a leadoff single and a two-out single. In the sixth, Sele allowed a single, double, and a sacrifice fly to tie the game. I said in the game thread that a dark side of me wanted Sele's run to score from third once Julio Mateo came in, and sure enough, it happened when Mateo kept a pitch up in the zone for Casey Blake to lift to rightfield, putting Sele on the hook for what would eventually be a loss. Hoorah! Really, though, Sele should have a 5 or 6 under the runs column for this game in not for gross luck and the crazy defensive play by Bloomquist, who had his much-too-long hitting streak snapped.
Much like Friday night, no multi-hit games for any of the Mariner hitters. Sexson and Beltre had the two homers, Randy Winn led off the fourth with a double and scored on the Sizemore ball off the top of the glove, and Chris Snelling had the pinch-hit single in the eighth. I'm just glad Hargrove didn't pinch-hit for Borders with Scott Spiezio at that point. Hooray for sanity.
Yes, kids, that's a 1-5 road trip. Coming up next is a seven-game homestand, with three against Detroit and four against these same Indians, possibly with Travis Hafner in the lineup, depending on his head condition. I can't believe we're not in August yet. Some of the baseball's been bad enough to have been played in August. I remember how bad this franchise has been in August over their history. Anyway, the Mariners are homeward bound.
Isn't it fitting that Kevin Millwood, with the third-worst run support in the American League, would pitch into the eighth and beat the Mariners? What a show!
Robertson. Franklin. Tomorrow.
In 25 words or less: A certain starting pitcher went for six straight. Losses. He succeeded, and the Mariners also succeeded in losing five of six on the road trip.
This one featured Aaron Sele going up against Kevin Millwood. The Mariners were aiming to win one of two series on their road trip. They were also trying to finish the road trip with a mark of 2-4 instead of 1-5, though both such records are putrid. In a change of pace, a fourth broadcaster didn't join the Mariners' crew in Cleveland for this game, and Dave Niehaus and/or Rick Rizzs flew solo on the radio side, while Ron Fairly stayed on the television side for the whole game. In another note, I get disappointed here when I tune to a Dodger game on FSN West (2) and instead of hearing Vin Scully fly solo over the TV, I get Charley Steiner and Steve Lyons instead. Boo. Of course, Charley's money alone for exploding with laughter upon seeing the Carl Lewis national anthem on SportsCenter.
TOP 1ST
Grade: C-
No blast of a start for the Mariners here. Ichiro swung at the 2-0 pitch and flew out to Jhonny Peralta making a completely unnecessary over-the-shoulder catch in not-too-shallow centerfield. Randy Winn mashed the second pitch into centerfield, and it looked like it might drop, but Sizemore ran to his left and tracked it down. Raul Ibañez got behind 0-2 and took a 2-2 slider over the outside corner for strike three.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
Sele struggled, but he was spared further trauma. Grady Sizemore fouled off a full-count pitch before smacking a belt-high pitch down the pipe into the gap in rightcenter for a double. Coco Crisp bunted the first pitch along the third-base side, where Adrian Beltre charged in from third, barehanded, and threw in time to first. Sizemore moved to third on the bunt. Jhonny Peralta fouled a 2-2 pitch that got ground before Borders' glove (almost a strikeout). On the full count, Peralta crushed another high pitch hard off of Beltre's glove into leftfield for a single, and Sizemore scored.
»» INDIANS 1, MARINERS 0
Victor Martinez smacked a ball past Richie Sexson and down the rightfield line. Peralta moved to third. Ben Broussard lined the first pitch that looked like in might drop in shallow rightfield, but Willie Bloomquist ranged all the way back to reach up and grab it, then toss to second for the easy double play. Aaron Sele is spelled of further badness.
TOP 2ND
Grade: B
It's a mini-power surge. Richie Sexson got behind 0-2 and worked the count full before mashing a high pitch over the outer half of the plate out of the yard to rightfield, about five rows into the seats.
»» INDIANS 1, MARINERS 1
Adrian Beltre grounded hard to first, where Broussard knocked it down and had trouble finding it. Still, he was able to toss to a covering Millwood at first in time for the out. Jeremy Reed got whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball. Mike Morse rolled the second pitch to short.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: B-
Sele threw a billion pitches again. Ron Belliard grounded the first pitch to second. Casey Blake lined one into the rightfield corner to the base of the wall for a double, the third of the day for the Indians off Sele. Jose Hernandez got ahead 2-0 and fouled off a couple of 2-2 pitches before grounding the full-count pitch (another one up in the zone) hard to short, where Morse threw to first in time, and the runner held at second. Jason Dubois fouled off on 3-1 and a full count. He took a high pitch for ball four. Sizemore grounded out to first, with Sexson tossing to Sele covering.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C-
Nothing out of the bats here. Willie Bloomquist grounded the 0-2 pitch to second for the out. Pat Borders grounded out to short. Ichiro squibbed an 0-2 pitch to short for a groundout.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: B-
Crisp poked the first pitch into centerfield for a single. Peralta grounded the first pitch to Beltre, who threw somewhat high to Bloomquist, who couldn't turn the double play (5-4 fielder's choice). Martinez popped to Beltre in foul territory on the left side. Broussard worked a 1-2 count full before ripping a pitch into rightfield for a single, moving Peralta over to third. Belliard flew out to center.
TOP 4TH
Grade: B
The Mariners got some help. Winn gapped the second pitch of the inning to rightcenter for a double, the Mariners' second hit of the game. Ibañez chopped the first pitch high to second, moving Winn to third. Sexson popped a 2-0 pitch high to Martinez behind the plate. Beltre rolled a ball along the third-base line that Hernandez let roll barely foul. After taking an 0-2 pitch outside, Beltre walloped the next pitch to centerfield, where Sizemore overran the ball, reached up, and had the ball go off the top of his glove and toward the wall. Winn scored as Beltre stayed at first.
»» MARINERS 2, INDIANS 1
Reed flew out to the track in leftfield on the first pitch.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: A
Sele's best inning of the game to this point. Blake popped the second pitch high to Sexson halfway in on the first-base line. Hernandez whiffed on a breaking ball low and away. Dubois fell behind 0-2 and but Sele nibbled and the count went full. Sele got Dubois with a curveball for a whiff.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C
No two-out melee here. Morse fouled off 3-1 and full-count pitches and took a high pitch for ball four. Bloomquist whiffed on an 0-2 high fastball. Borders popped the second pitch high to Hernandez near the third-base coaches' box. Ichiro walked on four pitches. Winn flew out high to rightfield on the first pitch.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: A-
Sele turned in another solid inning. Sizemore rolled a 3-1 pitch to short. Crisp nubbed a 1-2 pitch in front of the plate, and Borders grabbed it and threw in time to first. Peralta took an 0-2 curve for strike three.
TOP 6TH
Grade: C-
There was almost another run. Ibañez flied out near the corner in left on a 2-0 pitch. Sexson flew out to the track in leftfield on the first pitch, just getting under what would have been his second homer of the game. Beltre bounced the second pitch to short.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: C-
Sele set the table. Martinez tagged a full-count pitch for a single into rightfield. Broussard doubled an 0-2 pitch down the leftfield line, moving Martinez to third and bringing Bryan Price to the mound. Belliard lined the first pitch right to Ichiro in rightfield, but Martinez scored and Broussard was able to move to third.
»» INDIANS 2, MARINERS 2
Julio Mateo came in for Sele. Blake flew out to Ichiro on a 1-2 pitch up in the zone, deep enough to score Broussard as the Indians led.
»» INDIANS 3, MARINERS 2
Hernandez grounded the first pitch to third.
Sele's line: 5 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 95 pitches (62 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Grade: C-
The Mariners wouldn't immediately fight back. Reed chopped high to Belliard near the bag, who barehanded the ball and threw to first barely in time. Morse got ahead 3-0 but took strike three on a full-count pitch up and in (bulls#$% call, I say). Bloomquist grounded hard to first.
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: D+
Dubois dumped a single into leftcenter on the first pitch.
Matt Thornton came in for Mateo (a heckler within earshot of the microphone exclaimed, "never heard of you, 53!"). Sizemore took a 1-2 pitch over the inside corner for a big out. Crisp flew out to Reed just short of the track in centerfield.
JJ Putz came in for Thornton. Peralta had the hitters' counts and singled the 3-1 outside pitch down the rightfield line, moving Dubois to third. Martinez roped the first pitch into the Mariner bullpen just inside the rightfield foul pole to put the game away.
»» INDIANS 6, MARINERS 2
Broussard rolled out to second.
Mateo's line: 2/3 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (5 strikes)
Thornton's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (7 strikes)
Putz' line: 1/3 inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Grade: C
Seattle, where leadoff hits go for naught. Chris Snelling came in to hit for Borders. Snelling dinked a 2-2 pitch into leftfield for a single, the Mariners' third hit of the day. Ichiro (a heckler close to the microphone asked aloud, "what's 'double play' in Japanese?") foul-tipped a 1-2 pitch into Martinez' glove for a strikeout. Winn bounced the first pitch to short for what appeared to be a 6-4-3 double play (Snelling was definitely out), but Winn barely beat out the throw to first, which was scooped by Broussard and appeared to be in time.
Arthur Rhodes came in for Millwood. Ibañez grounded the first pitch to short, and Peralta went for the easy toss to second (6-4 fielder's choice).
Millwood's line: 7 2/3 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, 94 pitches (60 strikes)
Rhodes' line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 1 pitch (1 strike)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: B+
Shigetoshi Hasegawa came in for Putz, his 500th appearance in the Majors. Belliard smoked the second pitch into centerfield for a single. Blake flew out high to Reed in leftcenter on the second pitch. Hernandez took an 0-2 pitch over the outside corner. Dubois whiffed on a low full-count pitch.
Hasegawa's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 13 pitches (10 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: B-
Bob Wickman came in for Rhodes to close the door in a non-save situation. Sexson grounded out to first. Beltre crushed the first pitch about twelve rows into the bleachers in leftfield for a completely meaningless, though spectacular 415-foot home run.
»» INDIANS 6, MARINERS 3
Reed took a 2-2 breaking ball barely outside before chopping a ball off the plate to Wickman along the first-base line, who ran and blocked the line to tag Reed. Morse nubbed an 0-2 pitch in front of the plate on the third-base side, where Martinez pounced on it and threw in time to first. Ballgame.
Wickman's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 15 pitches (11 strikes)
---
Gameball: Matt Thornton.
Our 2005 Towel man had one of his better outings of the year. With the Mariners trying to keep themselves within one run at 3-2, Mike Hargrove brought in Matt Thornton with a runner on first and nobody out. Thornton then proceeded to catch Grady Sizemore looking and got Coco Crisp to fly out just short of the track in centerfield. Sure, most of the situations in which I want Thornton to pitch involve the Mariners either behind or ahead by five or more runs. Still, there are some days where I'm glad Mike Hargrove has more confidence than I do in Thornton. There's a reason why I'm not a Major League manager. One could argue that if you keep Thornton on a roster for this long, you'd have a situation akin to an analogy pertaining to blind squirrels and nuts. Nonetheless, Matt Thornton came out of the bullpen in a pressure situation today and came through with flying colors. If Crisp gets 20 more feet on that fly ball, I'm not saying any of this, but he didn't, and that's baseball. For one day, way to be, Matt Thornton.
Goat: JJ Putz.
Pitching immediately after Thornton was the flamethrower of the Mariner pen. Matt Thornton had left Julio Mateo's runner on first. Putz immediately fell behind to Jhonny Peralta, who singled, then Victor Martinez hit the laser beam. I've said this before, but this is reminding me of a Rick Ankiel Lite situation. JJ isn't throwing balls to the backstop every five pitches like Ankiel, but it does seem like he has the unhealthy knack of yielding the occasional longball. It reminds me vaguely of Arthur Rhodes' 2003 season post-Rondell White. I don't think Rhodes ended up going on a homer-yielding binge or anything, I just think he got hurt (and/or got hurt and stayed on the roster way too long without going on the DL). Nonetheless, I haven't been comofortable with JJ Putz on the mound in any sort of tense situation since he gave up the grand slams against the Red Sox and Yankees. When he comes out with a decent outing, it's not usually followed by a good one. I had nothing but good to say about Putz after the two scoreless innings of relief on Friday. This time it seemed more like what is becoming the norm for Putz. It's not good.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 70-27 .722 -- W2
2002 60-37 .619 10 L1
2003 59-38 .608 11 L2
2000 57-40 .588 13 L1
2005 42-55 .433 28 L2
2004 38-59 .392 32 W1
It's time for Ron Fairly's favorite stat. The Mariners are now 6-39 when they score three runs or less in a game. Of course, this means that when they score four or more runs, they're 36-16. A record of 6-39 makes for a percentage of .133, whereas a record of 36-16 is a sparkling .692. So, the Mariners have scored three runs or less in 45 of their 97 games this season, amounting to 46.4% of their games.
If you take those numbers and then see that Aaron Sele now has an ERA of 5.14, you get a pretty black-and-white reasoning as to why the Mariners are 13 games under .500 at this point. The offense might score four or more runs in a game 53.7% of the time, but when Jamie Moyer has the lowest ERA in your starting rotation at 4.47, it doesn't bode well. Furthermore, Gil Meche's ERA is 4.59, Ryan Franklin's ERA is 4.75, and Joel Piñeiro is anchoring down the back end with a stellar 5.72 mark. If this isn't enough for you, the end of the AP wire article for today's game points out that the Mariners are 8-23 when the opposition scores a run in the first inning.
To rub that in, today's game featured a rarity this season -- Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre homered in the same game. As is the usual fortune for the Mariners, both were solo shots, and they accounted for half of the Mariners' hits in the game. They got four hits and won on Friday, got ten hits and lost yesterday, then got four today and lost. That comes out to eighteen hits for the Mariners in the series, an average of six per game. If someone out there can dig up how often teams have been winning when only putting together six hits a game, I'd like to know just to clarify my thoughts. I can't possibly imagine that's too good a percentage.
Don't let Ron Fairly fool you. This wasn't a good outing for Aaron Sele. It was the opposite of the time-tested Spinal Tap reference, and I'm of course referring to Sh$& Sandwich. This was more like a "good" sandwich, whereas the bread would be really moldy and growing penicillin or something. Sele sandwiched good fourth and fifth innings with utter crap in the first and second, along with setting the table for disaster in the 6th, putting the first two runners aboard. If not for Willie Bloomquist running back and catching the flare into shallow rightfield in the first, Sele's probably down 2-0 or 3-0 after that first inning. He allowed a one-out double and a two-out walk in the second, and he somehow got away with it. The third saw a leadoff single and a two-out single. In the sixth, Sele allowed a single, double, and a sacrifice fly to tie the game. I said in the game thread that a dark side of me wanted Sele's run to score from third once Julio Mateo came in, and sure enough, it happened when Mateo kept a pitch up in the zone for Casey Blake to lift to rightfield, putting Sele on the hook for what would eventually be a loss. Hoorah! Really, though, Sele should have a 5 or 6 under the runs column for this game in not for gross luck and the crazy defensive play by Bloomquist, who had his much-too-long hitting streak snapped.
Much like Friday night, no multi-hit games for any of the Mariner hitters. Sexson and Beltre had the two homers, Randy Winn led off the fourth with a double and scored on the Sizemore ball off the top of the glove, and Chris Snelling had the pinch-hit single in the eighth. I'm just glad Hargrove didn't pinch-hit for Borders with Scott Spiezio at that point. Hooray for sanity.
Yes, kids, that's a 1-5 road trip. Coming up next is a seven-game homestand, with three against Detroit and four against these same Indians, possibly with Travis Hafner in the lineup, depending on his head condition. I can't believe we're not in August yet. Some of the baseball's been bad enough to have been played in August. I remember how bad this franchise has been in August over their history. Anyway, the Mariners are homeward bound.
Isn't it fitting that Kevin Millwood, with the third-worst run support in the American League, would pitch into the eighth and beat the Mariners? What a show!
Robertson. Franklin. Tomorrow.
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