Saturday, August 06, 2005
GAME 109: WHITE SOX 4, MARINERS 2
White Sox 4, Mariners 2
In 25 words or less: Being able to hang with a team having the best record in baseball doesn't mean that you win. That's why they have that record.
This one featured Jamie Moyer going up against Mark Buehrle. Jamie Moyer returned after missing a start due to a stiff back. The Mariners were hoping to go for a series win, having won the first game in three of the last four series, and having won only one of those series. Ichiro was looking to snap an 0-for-22 slump, and since a lefty (at least he's tough) was on the mound, Jeremy Reed grabbed pine again. Willie Bloomquist got the start in centerfield, and he has Jarrod Washburn Syndrome against Mark Buehrle as well, or at least that was the case in this game.
Anyway...
TOP 1ST
Grade: C
Runners, but nothing else. Ichiro grounded a 2-2 pitch off of Buehrle's glove, and it rolled toward shortstop Juan Uribe, who couldn't come up with it and booted it away. Ichiro stood on first with what was credited as a single, snapping his 0-for-22 funk. Willi Bloomquist laced the first pitch into rightfield for a single, moving Ichiro to second. Raul Ibañez nubbed an 0-2 pitch toward short, and Uribe only had the play at first. Ichiro and Bloomquist moved to third and second. Richie Sexson got ahead 3-0 and fouled off a full count pitch before taking a pitch at the knees over the outside corner for a strikeout (nice pitch). Adrian Beltre hit a low liner to centerfield.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
This wasn't good. Scott Podsednik broke his bat on a grounder toward third, and Beltre muffed it, his first error in a very long time. Tadahito Iguchi grounded back to the mound, moving Podsednik (who took off with the pitch) to second. Podsednik stole third on the first pitch to Aaron Rowand, who blooped the next pitch into shallow centerfield for a single, easily scoring Podsednik.
»» WHITE SOX 1, MARINERS 0
Paul Konerko bashed a 1-2 pitch about eight rows into the seats in leftfield.
»» WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 0
AJ Pierzynski fouled the 2-0 pitch off a guywire on the screen behind the plate, probably robbing the Mariners of an out since Yorvit Torrealba may have had a play. Pierzynski nubbed the ball toward first, where Sexson underhanded to a covering Moyer. Joe Crede popped high to Yuniesky Betancourt in shallow centerfield.
TOP 2ND
Grade: C-
This one was quick. Mike Morse rolled out to short. Yuniesky Betancourt hit a low liner to rightfield on the second pitch for a flyout. Chris Snelling broke his bat on a groundout to third.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: B+
The only trouble was quickly erased. Timo Perez popped out high to third on the first pitch. Geoff Blum fell behind 0-2 and reached on a 2-2 pitch and flew out to Bloomquist in leftcenter. Juan Uribe got the hitters' counts and walked on a low 3-1 pitch. Uribe was picked off before Podsednik saw a pitch in his at-bat.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C
Some events, but nothing too spectacular. Yorvit Torrealba nearly doubled down the leftfield line on the first pitch, but it was barely foul. He reached for a pitch and flew out lazily to centerfield. Ichiro nubbed back to the mound. Bloomquist poked a single into leftfield, and he stole second on the 1-2 pitch to Ibañez, a pitch in the dirt that Pierzynski couldn't handle. Ibañez flew out to leftfield.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: A-
Moyer looked to be settling down. Podsednik grounded the second pitch back to the mound. Iguchi grounded out gently to third. Rowand worked a 1-2 count full before whiffing on a change.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C-
Again, too quick. Sexson got ahead 2-0 and whiffed on a 2-2 pitch. Beltre flew out high to rightfield on a full count. Morse broke his bat on a low pop to first.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: A
Moyer may have found a groove. Konerko hit a low liner to Ichiro in rightfield. Pierzynski whiffed badly on a 2-2 pitch low and outside. Crede popped the second pitch to Sexson on the infield grass.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C-
Buehrle was getting by too easily. Betancourt rolled out to third. Snelling got behind 0-2 before chopping out to second. Torrealba tapped the first pitch right to the mound.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: A-
Moyer was officially in a groove. Perez bounced back to the mound. Blum foul-tipped a full-count pitch into Torrealba's glove for a strikeout. Uribe fouled off a full-count pitch before whiffing on a change over the outside corner.
TOP 6TH
Grade: B-
It's something. Ichiro looped the first pitch near the rightfield line for a single. Bloomquist poked a pitch near the leftfield line and toward the corner for a double, moving Ichiro to third. Ibañez grounded out to second, but Ichiro scored.
»» WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 1
Sexson took a 1-2 pitch barely outside before absolutely smoking a ball to Buehrle, taking off his glove, but he recovered to pick up the ball and throw in time to first. Beltre got behind 0-2 and eventually took a 1-2 pitch over the outside corner.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: A
Groove theory. Podsednik grounded out to second. Iguchi flew out high to Snelling down the leftfield line near the corner. Rowand took a 2-2 pitch over the inside corner.
TOP 7TH
Grade: C
Runners, but equal frustration. Morse bounced out to third. Betancourt popped the second pitch high to centerfield. Snelling tapped the next pitch down the third-base line and Blum dove to stop the ball, but didn't have a play afterward as Snelling came away with the single. Torrealba fisted the second pitch into centerfield for a single. Ichiro bounced out to second.
Buehrle's line: 7 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 105 pitches (69 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: B
This inning turned on a dime. Konerko got ahead 3-0 and walked on a 3-1 pitch low and inside. Pierzynski nubbed along the third-base line, and Beltre charged and threw to first in time to Sexson, but first-base umpire CB Bucknor ruled that Sexson was off the bag, though it appeared to be on the side of it. Sexson was miffed. Crede looped an 0-2 pitch into leftfield, but Snelling dove forward and made the catch, then threw to second to easily double off Konerko at second. Perez lined the first pitch right to Sexson at first.
TOP 8TH
Grade: B-
Cliff Politte came in for Buehrle. Bloomquist foul-tipped a 2-2 pitch into the catcher's glove for a strikeout. Ibañez took a highish 0-2 pitch for a strikeout. Sexson got fouled off a 2-0 pitch and later roped a full-count liner that Rowand tried to reach down to catch, but it got under and behind him, enabling Sexson to get a double out of it. Beltre stung a 2-0 pitch down the leftfield line for a double, easily scoring Sexson.
»» WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 2
Morse grounded the second pitch right to short.
Politte's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 19 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C+
This sealed the victory for Chicago. Blum grounded the first pitch to second. Uribe rolled a 2-0 pitch to second. Podsednik took a 3-1 pitch high for a walk, and he took second easily on the 1-2 pitch to Iguchi. Iguchi worked the count full and poked a single into leftfield, easily scoring Podsednik, who took off with the pitch.
»» WHITE SOX 4, MARINERS 2
Jeff Nelson came in for Moyer. Iguchi easily stole second on the 1-1 pitch to Rowand. Rowand whiffed on a 2-2 slider outside.
Moyer's line: 7 2/3 innings, 4 runs (3 earned), 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 108 pitches (62 strikes)
Nelson's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 5 pitches (3 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: C+
Dustin Hermanson came in to close it out. Jeremy Reed came in to hit for Betancourt. Reed grounded a ball up the middle, and Iguchi made the tough backhand play to get Reed at first. Snelling lined out to first on a 3-1 pitch. Dave Hansen came in to hit for Torrealba. Hansen took a four-pitch walk. Ichiro took an 0-2 pitch that went off of Pierzynski and got away from him, and Pierzynski had trouble finding it. Hansen advanced, took a wide turn at second, then scurried back to second instead of trying to take the extra base. Ichiro grounded the 2-2 pitch to second. Ballgame.
Hermanson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 17 pitches (8 strikes)
---
Gameball: Ichiro.
He tagged a ball off of Mark Buehrle, Juan Uribe couldn't make a play on it, and Ichiro get credited for the single to lead off the game, snapping his hitless streak that stretched across 22 at-bats and six games (five full games). The hits today were his first in the month of August, with this being the fifth game of the month for the Mariners. Oddly, before the stretch of futility, Ichiro had a five-game stretch where he went 11-for-22. Anyway, I remarked after Friday's game (late) that the offense is better served when Ichiro sets the table for everyone involved. Of course, not too many other Mariner hitters got anything done against Mark Buehrle, which in a way isn't too surprising. Anyway, Ichiro had a 2-for-5 day and scored a run. His batting average now sits at .302. If I hear that he read the Sports and Bremertonians game piece earlier today for the first game of the series and subsequently was seen cutting up and/or burning his remaining "I Know The Boone" tee-shirts, I'd crap my pants because Ichiro came to the website, then I'd laugh hysterically because he followed the advice and it worked. Of course, I'm sure absolutely none of that happened. Moving on...
Goat: Raul Ibañez.
The big horses of the Mariner offense weren't producing in this game. Though Dave Valle praised Raul Ibañez in the first for moving Ichiro and Bloomquist to third and second with a groundout in the first inning, you definitely want more than that. I'm not just being greedy here. If you have two runners on base with nobody out and you want to move them over, that's great if you get that and the #8 or #9 hitter in the lineup is at the plate. I don't care if it's the first inning against Mark Buehrle, I'm not satisfied with a grounder to advance two runners with my #3 hitter in the lineup at the plate. This guy's supposed to be driving in runs, and I need at least a ball hit hard or hit to the outfield in that situation to feel good about myself. In the sixth, he had the same two runners on base, but they were already in scoring position with nobody out. He got an RBI in that situation, yes, but it was on a groundout. If he plates both in that situation, the game gets a lot more fun, and the Mariners may end up tying the game at some point.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 79-30 .725 -- W3
2002 67-42 .615 12 W4
2003 66-43 .606 13 L1
2000 63-46 .578 16 W1
2005 47-62 .431 32 L1
2004 40-69 .367 39 L1
The Mariners have been seven wins better than the 2004 team for five games. They have mirrored the win-loss pattern of the 2004 team for the last four games. The 2004 team isn't involved in the next statistic: the Mariners haven't won consecutive games since the last game of the Baltimore series in Seattle (July 17th). That's 18 games and nearly three weeks without a winning streak, kids. The longest such non-winning streak streak for the 2004 Mariners went for a period of 22 games (late June to just past the All-Star break). Of course, the thing about the Mariners lately has been that their record over this span is 6-12. The 2004 Mariners were 4-18 in their span of ick, which included losing streaks of four, two, one, nine, and two. As bad as this current span of games is, the Mariners haven't had a losing streak of longer than three. Of course, the problem is an abundance of onesies and twosies. So, would you rather have bait-and-switch with a bunch of scattered single wins, or would you rather just mope over some long losing streaks? I guess that's what it's been avout recently.
In today's game, no Mariner hitter not named Ichiro or Willie Bloomquist had a hit until Chris Snelling's two-out infield single in the seventh. Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre got the back-to-back doubles in the eighth, which brought the Mariners to within one run, but it turns out those two hits were the first hits for both hitters in the game. Snelling and Yorvit Torrealba recorded the only non-Ichiro/non-Bloomquist hits off of Mark Buehrle, and those came with two outs in the seventh, Buehrle's final inning. As for legitimate scoring chances, refer back to the Goat paragraph, because Raul Ibañez had probably the two best chances in the game to really do some damage, but he couldn't quite do the job either time. When your team is facing a pitcher like Mark Buehrle, you have to take advantage of situations like that. I know hitters can't come through every time (or half the time, who bats over .500?), but it just so happens that Ibañez didn't come up roses today.
Chris Snelling had an impact on the last couple innings. He had the infield single in the seventh. He made the nice diving catch in the bottom half of the inning that turned into a double play (more on the seventh inning shortly). In the ninth, he smoked a ball right into Konerko's glove at first. If that gets through, the Mariners get the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch-hitter extraordinaire Dave Hansen (though I haven't seen the "extraordinaire" part too many times in Seattle). Since that ball probably would have gone for a double, Ichiro probably gets to the plate with Snelling in scoring position. If Hansen gets aboard along with Snelling...stuff could have gone nuts.
That bottom of the seventh inning was really something. It turned so quickly it was incredible. Jamie Moyer appeared to be losing it, walking Paul Konerko on five pitches. Then Pierzynski hit the ball along the third-base line, and we've seen Adrian Beltre scoop up that ball with the bare hand and throw a bunch of runners out this year, and it looked like he had Pierzynski at first, though the first-base umpire thought Sexson's foot was off, which I don't think was the case. The point is, the walk was bad enough, but the questionable call made it worse, and this was with the score 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh and nobody out. Then came the Snelling diving catch off of Joe Crede which turned into a double play followed by the Timo Perez laser into Sexson's glove on the first pitch. One minute, it was like, "oh crap, here we go again," and thirty seconds later, it was like, "huh? Did that just happen? How did Chicago not score in that inning? What am I watching?"
There are only two bad things about Jamie Moyer's outing. One was the longball, this time hit by Paul Konerko in the first that put Chicago in the catbird seat with a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The other thing was the three walks. Juan Uribe drew a two-out walk in the second, since that was during Moyer's span of dominance in the game. After the Konerko blast, Moyer set down 16 of 17 hitters, and Uribe was the one that didn't make an out. Konerko led off the seventh with the walk, and that was a badly-timed walk, though Snelling and a lineout to Sexson saved that inning. The walk that did in Moyer was the two-out walk to Scott Podsednik in the eighth, since he stole second and then scored the dagger run to basically end the game. When Chicago scored that run, it was over because the bottom third of the Mariner lineup was coming to the plate. Let's face it, since the Mariners have been carrying twelve pitchers all year, it's not like there's much of a bench anyway.
But hey, put on your happy faaaace! The Mariners still have a chance to come away with a series win against the team with the best record in baseball. Also, tomorrow you'll get to see the first Major League start for Jeff Harris. It wouldn't matter if he got the crap pounded out of him in this game, it's a victory for him already to make it to this level. Those five shutout innings after Jorge Campillo's injury kind of helped too.
Harris. Garland. Tomorrow.
In 25 words or less: Being able to hang with a team having the best record in baseball doesn't mean that you win. That's why they have that record.
This one featured Jamie Moyer going up against Mark Buehrle. Jamie Moyer returned after missing a start due to a stiff back. The Mariners were hoping to go for a series win, having won the first game in three of the last four series, and having won only one of those series. Ichiro was looking to snap an 0-for-22 slump, and since a lefty (at least he's tough) was on the mound, Jeremy Reed grabbed pine again. Willie Bloomquist got the start in centerfield, and he has Jarrod Washburn Syndrome against Mark Buehrle as well, or at least that was the case in this game.
Anyway...
TOP 1ST
Grade: C
Runners, but nothing else. Ichiro grounded a 2-2 pitch off of Buehrle's glove, and it rolled toward shortstop Juan Uribe, who couldn't come up with it and booted it away. Ichiro stood on first with what was credited as a single, snapping his 0-for-22 funk. Willi Bloomquist laced the first pitch into rightfield for a single, moving Ichiro to second. Raul Ibañez nubbed an 0-2 pitch toward short, and Uribe only had the play at first. Ichiro and Bloomquist moved to third and second. Richie Sexson got ahead 3-0 and fouled off a full count pitch before taking a pitch at the knees over the outside corner for a strikeout (nice pitch). Adrian Beltre hit a low liner to centerfield.
BOTTOM 1ST
Grade: C-
This wasn't good. Scott Podsednik broke his bat on a grounder toward third, and Beltre muffed it, his first error in a very long time. Tadahito Iguchi grounded back to the mound, moving Podsednik (who took off with the pitch) to second. Podsednik stole third on the first pitch to Aaron Rowand, who blooped the next pitch into shallow centerfield for a single, easily scoring Podsednik.
»» WHITE SOX 1, MARINERS 0
Paul Konerko bashed a 1-2 pitch about eight rows into the seats in leftfield.
»» WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 0
AJ Pierzynski fouled the 2-0 pitch off a guywire on the screen behind the plate, probably robbing the Mariners of an out since Yorvit Torrealba may have had a play. Pierzynski nubbed the ball toward first, where Sexson underhanded to a covering Moyer. Joe Crede popped high to Yuniesky Betancourt in shallow centerfield.
TOP 2ND
Grade: C-
This one was quick. Mike Morse rolled out to short. Yuniesky Betancourt hit a low liner to rightfield on the second pitch for a flyout. Chris Snelling broke his bat on a groundout to third.
BOTTOM 2ND
Grade: B+
The only trouble was quickly erased. Timo Perez popped out high to third on the first pitch. Geoff Blum fell behind 0-2 and reached on a 2-2 pitch and flew out to Bloomquist in leftcenter. Juan Uribe got the hitters' counts and walked on a low 3-1 pitch. Uribe was picked off before Podsednik saw a pitch in his at-bat.
TOP 3RD
Grade: C
Some events, but nothing too spectacular. Yorvit Torrealba nearly doubled down the leftfield line on the first pitch, but it was barely foul. He reached for a pitch and flew out lazily to centerfield. Ichiro nubbed back to the mound. Bloomquist poked a single into leftfield, and he stole second on the 1-2 pitch to Ibañez, a pitch in the dirt that Pierzynski couldn't handle. Ibañez flew out to leftfield.
BOTTOM 3RD
Grade: A-
Moyer looked to be settling down. Podsednik grounded the second pitch back to the mound. Iguchi grounded out gently to third. Rowand worked a 1-2 count full before whiffing on a change.
TOP 4TH
Grade: C-
Again, too quick. Sexson got ahead 2-0 and whiffed on a 2-2 pitch. Beltre flew out high to rightfield on a full count. Morse broke his bat on a low pop to first.
BOTTOM 4TH
Grade: A
Moyer may have found a groove. Konerko hit a low liner to Ichiro in rightfield. Pierzynski whiffed badly on a 2-2 pitch low and outside. Crede popped the second pitch to Sexson on the infield grass.
TOP 5TH
Grade: C-
Buehrle was getting by too easily. Betancourt rolled out to third. Snelling got behind 0-2 before chopping out to second. Torrealba tapped the first pitch right to the mound.
BOTTOM 5TH
Grade: A-
Moyer was officially in a groove. Perez bounced back to the mound. Blum foul-tipped a full-count pitch into Torrealba's glove for a strikeout. Uribe fouled off a full-count pitch before whiffing on a change over the outside corner.
TOP 6TH
Grade: B-
It's something. Ichiro looped the first pitch near the rightfield line for a single. Bloomquist poked a pitch near the leftfield line and toward the corner for a double, moving Ichiro to third. Ibañez grounded out to second, but Ichiro scored.
»» WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 1
Sexson took a 1-2 pitch barely outside before absolutely smoking a ball to Buehrle, taking off his glove, but he recovered to pick up the ball and throw in time to first. Beltre got behind 0-2 and eventually took a 1-2 pitch over the outside corner.
BOTTOM 6TH
Grade: A
Groove theory. Podsednik grounded out to second. Iguchi flew out high to Snelling down the leftfield line near the corner. Rowand took a 2-2 pitch over the inside corner.
TOP 7TH
Grade: C
Runners, but equal frustration. Morse bounced out to third. Betancourt popped the second pitch high to centerfield. Snelling tapped the next pitch down the third-base line and Blum dove to stop the ball, but didn't have a play afterward as Snelling came away with the single. Torrealba fisted the second pitch into centerfield for a single. Ichiro bounced out to second.
Buehrle's line: 7 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 105 pitches (69 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Grade: B
This inning turned on a dime. Konerko got ahead 3-0 and walked on a 3-1 pitch low and inside. Pierzynski nubbed along the third-base line, and Beltre charged and threw to first in time to Sexson, but first-base umpire CB Bucknor ruled that Sexson was off the bag, though it appeared to be on the side of it. Sexson was miffed. Crede looped an 0-2 pitch into leftfield, but Snelling dove forward and made the catch, then threw to second to easily double off Konerko at second. Perez lined the first pitch right to Sexson at first.
TOP 8TH
Grade: B-
Cliff Politte came in for Buehrle. Bloomquist foul-tipped a 2-2 pitch into the catcher's glove for a strikeout. Ibañez took a highish 0-2 pitch for a strikeout. Sexson got fouled off a 2-0 pitch and later roped a full-count liner that Rowand tried to reach down to catch, but it got under and behind him, enabling Sexson to get a double out of it. Beltre stung a 2-0 pitch down the leftfield line for a double, easily scoring Sexson.
»» WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 2
Morse grounded the second pitch right to short.
Politte's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 19 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Grade: C+
This sealed the victory for Chicago. Blum grounded the first pitch to second. Uribe rolled a 2-0 pitch to second. Podsednik took a 3-1 pitch high for a walk, and he took second easily on the 1-2 pitch to Iguchi. Iguchi worked the count full and poked a single into leftfield, easily scoring Podsednik, who took off with the pitch.
»» WHITE SOX 4, MARINERS 2
Jeff Nelson came in for Moyer. Iguchi easily stole second on the 1-1 pitch to Rowand. Rowand whiffed on a 2-2 slider outside.
Moyer's line: 7 2/3 innings, 4 runs (3 earned), 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 108 pitches (62 strikes)
Nelson's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 5 pitches (3 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Grade: C+
Dustin Hermanson came in to close it out. Jeremy Reed came in to hit for Betancourt. Reed grounded a ball up the middle, and Iguchi made the tough backhand play to get Reed at first. Snelling lined out to first on a 3-1 pitch. Dave Hansen came in to hit for Torrealba. Hansen took a four-pitch walk. Ichiro took an 0-2 pitch that went off of Pierzynski and got away from him, and Pierzynski had trouble finding it. Hansen advanced, took a wide turn at second, then scurried back to second instead of trying to take the extra base. Ichiro grounded the 2-2 pitch to second. Ballgame.
Hermanson's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 17 pitches (8 strikes)
---
Gameball: Ichiro.
He tagged a ball off of Mark Buehrle, Juan Uribe couldn't make a play on it, and Ichiro get credited for the single to lead off the game, snapping his hitless streak that stretched across 22 at-bats and six games (five full games). The hits today were his first in the month of August, with this being the fifth game of the month for the Mariners. Oddly, before the stretch of futility, Ichiro had a five-game stretch where he went 11-for-22. Anyway, I remarked after Friday's game (late) that the offense is better served when Ichiro sets the table for everyone involved. Of course, not too many other Mariner hitters got anything done against Mark Buehrle, which in a way isn't too surprising. Anyway, Ichiro had a 2-for-5 day and scored a run. His batting average now sits at .302. If I hear that he read the Sports and Bremertonians game piece earlier today for the first game of the series and subsequently was seen cutting up and/or burning his remaining "I Know The Boone" tee-shirts, I'd crap my pants because Ichiro came to the website, then I'd laugh hysterically because he followed the advice and it worked. Of course, I'm sure absolutely none of that happened. Moving on...
Goat: Raul Ibañez.
The big horses of the Mariner offense weren't producing in this game. Though Dave Valle praised Raul Ibañez in the first for moving Ichiro and Bloomquist to third and second with a groundout in the first inning, you definitely want more than that. I'm not just being greedy here. If you have two runners on base with nobody out and you want to move them over, that's great if you get that and the #8 or #9 hitter in the lineup is at the plate. I don't care if it's the first inning against Mark Buehrle, I'm not satisfied with a grounder to advance two runners with my #3 hitter in the lineup at the plate. This guy's supposed to be driving in runs, and I need at least a ball hit hard or hit to the outfield in that situation to feel good about myself. In the sixth, he had the same two runners on base, but they were already in scoring position with nobody out. He got an RBI in that situation, yes, but it was on a groundout. If he plates both in that situation, the game gets a lot more fun, and the Mariners may end up tying the game at some point.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 79-30 .725 -- W3
2002 67-42 .615 12 W4
2003 66-43 .606 13 L1
2000 63-46 .578 16 W1
2005 47-62 .431 32 L1
2004 40-69 .367 39 L1
The Mariners have been seven wins better than the 2004 team for five games. They have mirrored the win-loss pattern of the 2004 team for the last four games. The 2004 team isn't involved in the next statistic: the Mariners haven't won consecutive games since the last game of the Baltimore series in Seattle (July 17th). That's 18 games and nearly three weeks without a winning streak, kids. The longest such non-winning streak streak for the 2004 Mariners went for a period of 22 games (late June to just past the All-Star break). Of course, the thing about the Mariners lately has been that their record over this span is 6-12. The 2004 Mariners were 4-18 in their span of ick, which included losing streaks of four, two, one, nine, and two. As bad as this current span of games is, the Mariners haven't had a losing streak of longer than three. Of course, the problem is an abundance of onesies and twosies. So, would you rather have bait-and-switch with a bunch of scattered single wins, or would you rather just mope over some long losing streaks? I guess that's what it's been avout recently.
In today's game, no Mariner hitter not named Ichiro or Willie Bloomquist had a hit until Chris Snelling's two-out infield single in the seventh. Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre got the back-to-back doubles in the eighth, which brought the Mariners to within one run, but it turns out those two hits were the first hits for both hitters in the game. Snelling and Yorvit Torrealba recorded the only non-Ichiro/non-Bloomquist hits off of Mark Buehrle, and those came with two outs in the seventh, Buehrle's final inning. As for legitimate scoring chances, refer back to the Goat paragraph, because Raul Ibañez had probably the two best chances in the game to really do some damage, but he couldn't quite do the job either time. When your team is facing a pitcher like Mark Buehrle, you have to take advantage of situations like that. I know hitters can't come through every time (or half the time, who bats over .500?), but it just so happens that Ibañez didn't come up roses today.
Chris Snelling had an impact on the last couple innings. He had the infield single in the seventh. He made the nice diving catch in the bottom half of the inning that turned into a double play (more on the seventh inning shortly). In the ninth, he smoked a ball right into Konerko's glove at first. If that gets through, the Mariners get the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch-hitter extraordinaire Dave Hansen (though I haven't seen the "extraordinaire" part too many times in Seattle). Since that ball probably would have gone for a double, Ichiro probably gets to the plate with Snelling in scoring position. If Hansen gets aboard along with Snelling...stuff could have gone nuts.
That bottom of the seventh inning was really something. It turned so quickly it was incredible. Jamie Moyer appeared to be losing it, walking Paul Konerko on five pitches. Then Pierzynski hit the ball along the third-base line, and we've seen Adrian Beltre scoop up that ball with the bare hand and throw a bunch of runners out this year, and it looked like he had Pierzynski at first, though the first-base umpire thought Sexson's foot was off, which I don't think was the case. The point is, the walk was bad enough, but the questionable call made it worse, and this was with the score 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh and nobody out. Then came the Snelling diving catch off of Joe Crede which turned into a double play followed by the Timo Perez laser into Sexson's glove on the first pitch. One minute, it was like, "oh crap, here we go again," and thirty seconds later, it was like, "huh? Did that just happen? How did Chicago not score in that inning? What am I watching?"
There are only two bad things about Jamie Moyer's outing. One was the longball, this time hit by Paul Konerko in the first that put Chicago in the catbird seat with a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The other thing was the three walks. Juan Uribe drew a two-out walk in the second, since that was during Moyer's span of dominance in the game. After the Konerko blast, Moyer set down 16 of 17 hitters, and Uribe was the one that didn't make an out. Konerko led off the seventh with the walk, and that was a badly-timed walk, though Snelling and a lineout to Sexson saved that inning. The walk that did in Moyer was the two-out walk to Scott Podsednik in the eighth, since he stole second and then scored the dagger run to basically end the game. When Chicago scored that run, it was over because the bottom third of the Mariner lineup was coming to the plate. Let's face it, since the Mariners have been carrying twelve pitchers all year, it's not like there's much of a bench anyway.
But hey, put on your happy faaaace! The Mariners still have a chance to come away with a series win against the team with the best record in baseball. Also, tomorrow you'll get to see the first Major League start for Jeff Harris. It wouldn't matter if he got the crap pounded out of him in this game, it's a victory for him already to make it to this level. Those five shutout innings after Jorge Campillo's injury kind of helped too.
Harris. Garland. Tomorrow.
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