Saturday, April 22, 2006
GAME 18: TIGERS 2, MARINERS 1
In 25 words or less: A third straight game with the Mariners scoring in the late innings? At least if they're losing it's going to the wire.
This one featured Mike Maroth going up against Jarrod Washburn. Going into the game, the Mariners were a mere one game ahead of the pace of the infamous 2004 Mariners. They were also a game behind the pace of last year's team. Folks, if this team is sandwiched between the 2005 and 2004 paces, you're looking at a 66-win team. That would not be nice.
Anyway, the Mariners hoped to start off a weekend series with a win. In addition, this was Ichiro bobblehead night at the ball yard, so the decent crowd was guaranteed. Would they see a Mariner win?
TOP 1ST
Placido Polanco bounced out to short. Craig Monroe hooked a long foul down the leftfield line and ended up whiffing on a letter-high fastball on a full count. Ivan Rodriguez spanked the second pitch through the hole on the left side for a single. Magglio Ordoñez took Reed to the track in centerfield. Washburn threw 15 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro bounced an 0-2 pitch hard to first. Jose Lopez squirted the second pitch through the left side for a single. Raul Ibañez whiffed on a fastball up and in. Richie Sexson grounded hard to third for a 5-4 forceout. Maroth threw 13 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Marcus Thames fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 pitch over the inside corner. Chris Shelton popped the second pitch to Johjima in front of the Mariner dugout. Carlos Guillen popped the second pitch to Ichiro, who leaped at the track unnecessarily and came down with it. Washburn threw eight pitches and had 23 pitches through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Kenji Johjima got ahead 2-0 and took a 2-2 pitch on the left calf, protected by the shin guard. Carl Everett fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 pitch off the plate outside. Adrian Beltre dropped the second pitch for a single into shallow centerfield, but Johjima came around too wide at second and the throw back to second had him beat. Willie Bloomquist poked a single into leftfield, moving Beltre to second. Jeremy Reed fell behind 0-2 but worked a walk out of it to load the bases. Ichiro worked a 1-2 count full before bouncing near the plate, and Wilson came from behind the plate to get Ichiro at first. Maroth threw 28 pitches and had 41 through two.
TOP 3RD
Brandon Inge broke his bat on a full-count soft liner to short. Vance Wilson bounced the second pitch to third. Polanco bounced past Beltre but Bloomquist backed him up and made a throw that needed the height of Sexson to get the out. Washburn threw 13 pitches and had 36 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Lopez rolled over a 2-2 pitch, grounding out to third. Ibañez lined right to Guillen at short. Sexson bounced the first pitch to Maroth coming off the mound, who threw to first. Maroth threw 11 pitches and had 52 through three.
TOP 4TH
Monroe smoked the first pitch to Beltre, who stopped it and threw to first. Rodriguez got ahead 2-0 and grounded out to short. Ordoñez got ahead 3-1 and flew out high to shallow centerfield on a full count. Washburn threw 12 pitches and had 48 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Johjima bounced out to third. Everett bounced to first. Beltre walked on a 3-1 pitch. Bloomquist took the first pitch and it crossed up Wilson behind the plate, who had the ball go off his glove and to the backstop, enabling Beltre to scoot to second. Bloomquist ended up flying the second pitch to Monroe, who ran back and reached up to make the catch. Maroth threw 15 pitches and had 67 through four.
TOP 5TH
Thames fell behind 0-2 and was plunked in the back foot. Shelton chopped a 2-2 pitch past the mound to Bloomquist, who started the 6-4-3 double play. Guillen bounced an 0-2 pitch to Beltre down the third-base line, who threw to first. Washburn threw 12 pitches and had 60 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Reed bounced to second. Ichiro fell behind 0-2 and wound up with a 2-2 single into leftfield. Lopez bounced out to short, moving Ichiro to second. Ibañez walked on a high 3-1 pitch. Sexson watched the 2-0 pitch go by, but Ibañez was gunned down at second. Maroth threw 21 pitches and had 88 through five.
TOP 6TH
Inge popped a ball in front of the rightfield foul pole for a double. Wilson rolled the tenth pitch to second on a full count to move Inge to third. Polanco popped the first pitch to left, and Inge tagged and scored.
»» TIGERS 1, MARINERS 0
Monroe got ahead 2-0 and rolled a 2-2 pitch to third. Washburn threw 20 pitches and had 80 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Sexson worked a 1-2 count full before popping to Shelton near the plate. Johjima bounced the second pitch to second. Everett fell behind 0-2 and bounced to Wilson in front of the plate on the 1-2 pitch. Maroth threw 15 pitches and had 103 through six.
Maroth's line: 6 innings, 0 runs, 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, 103 pitches (56 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Rodriguez fell behind 0-2 and nubbed to Washburn in front of the plate. Ordoñez chopped to the mound on the first pitch. Thames popped the first pitch to Ibañez on the leftfield track. Washburn threw only five pitches and had 85 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Joel Zumaya came in for Maroth. Beltre couldn't hold a swing on an 0-2 fastball inside. Bloomquist got ahead 2-0 and bounced the 2-2 pitch to short. Reed got ahead 2-0 and whiffed on a 2-2 heater over the outside corner. Zumaya threw 14 pitches.
TOP 8TH
Shelton worked a 1-2 full and rolled out to short. Guillen poked the second pitch over Bloomquist into leftfield for a single. Inge lined the second pitch right to Ibañez as Guillen held. Wilson bounced to third for a 6-4 forceout. Washburn threw 15 pitches and had 100 pitches.
BOTTOM 8TH
Ichiro bounced the first pitch deep in the hole on the right side, where Polanco got to it but Ichiro was too fast and legged out the single. Lopez whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball outside. Ibañez got ahead 3-1 and bounced a full-count pitch to short. Sexson fell behind 0-2, fouled one off, then took the next pitch at the knees and down the pipe. Zumaya threw 17 pitches.
Zumaya's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 31 pitches (23 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Polanco was ahead 2-0 and flew out to Ichiro a few strides short of the rightfield track. Monroe got the hitters' counts before popping to Reed at the centerfield track. Rodriguez made Reed run backward as well, but it just kept carrying and traveled out in front of the hitters' backdrop.
»» TIGERS 2, MARINERS 0
Ordoñez fell behind 0-2 and ended up bouncing a 1-2 single into the hole at short, where Bloomquist ran far and had no play.
JJ Putz came in for Washburn. Curtis Granderson, hitting for Thames, whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball.
Washburn's line: 8 2/3 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 120 pitches (84 strikes)
Putz' line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 4 pitches (3 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Todd Jones came in for Zumaya. Johjima fell behind 0-2 and later bounced the 2-2 pitch to third. Everett fisted a 1-2 pitch up and in for a single into shallow rightcenter. Matt Lawton ran for Everett. Beltre fell behind 0-2 and drilled a 1-2 pitch into leftfield for a single, moving Lawton to second. Roberto Petagine, hitting for Bloomquist, worked an 0-2 count full before walking on a high pitch, the seventh of the at-bat, loading the bases. Joe Borchard ran for Petagine. Reed popped the second pitch to centerfield and Lawton tagged and scored.
»» TIGERS 2, MARINERS 1
Ichiro bounced out to second.
Jones' line: 1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 28 pitches (19 strikes)
---
Gameball: Jarrod Washburn.
I'm sure not expecting Jarrod Washburn to get 26 outs every time out. In fact, I would have pulled him after eight innings and let someone else have the ninth. I'm kinda surprised Mike Hargrove didn't pull Washburn before Ivan Rodriguez came up with two out, given the career numbers for Rodriguez against Washburn. In any event, Rodriguez blasted off, going a few feet better than the previous hitter, Craig Monroe. Thus, the Detroit lead doubled in what was a 1-0 game. One pitch later, one more run was on the board, and it turned out to be the difference in the game. Well, that and the whole thing where the Mariner hitters couldn't get anything going. I don't know how he gets by on high fastballs that aren't that fast other than a deceptive motion, but you can only get away with that so many times before balls start flying out of the yard. Of course, the homer pitch to Rodriguez was at a decent height; if anything, it got too much of the plate. Anyway, not all of Washburn's starts are going to be like this, but when he does perform like this, he'll be gameball-worthy.
Goat: Richie Sexson.
This is just as much for the 0-for-4 and a strikeout as it is the fact that the strikeout was a looker with Ichiro (tying run) on second base with two out in the eighth. Of course, every time he got to the plate, there were never less than two out. The one time there were less than two out, he was leading off because he was up the previous inning (fifth) with two out when Raul Ibañez got nailed on the back end of a double steal. Bottom line is that there were runners on base in all but one (two if you count the fifth) time in which he came to the plate. In a close low-scoring game such as this, you're hoping the big-money RBI guys can produce. I couldn't even pick Adrian Beltre for the goat in this situation because he went 2-for-3 and walked once. It wasn't a good day all around for the 3-4-5 hitters, who combined to go 0-for-10 with a walk and two strikeouts. Anyway, though Beltre's been grabbing the headlines due to his bouts with teh suck so far this season, Sexson is now down to .229, which isn't drastically below what is expected of him, though it is still below. He's just 20 or 30 points below what we're expecting as opposed to 100 below with Beltre.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 14-4 .778 -- W3
2002 14-4 .778 -- W1
2000 11-7 .611 3 L1
2003 10-8 .556 4 L1
2005 8-10 .444 6 L3
2006 7-11 .389 7 L2
2004 6-12 .333 8 L4
Robertson. Meche. Tonight.
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