Saturday, April 22, 2006
GAME 19: TIGERS 2, MARINERS 0
In 25 words or less: There's pitchers out there capable of throwing a no-hitter every night. I feel every night the Mariners are capable of being no-hit.
This one featured Nate Robertson going up against Gil Meche. A night after a 2-1 loss, I looked up some stuff and found that the Mariners are 0-6 in one-run games. The Mariners and the Yankees are the only two teams this season without a one-run win so far. The Yankees are winless in four tries. An interesting pregame fact courtesy of FSN Detroit was Brandon Inge's career average against Gil Meche, which was .429 coming into the game. Also courtesy of FSN Detroit, they still run their show out of Bellevue, and I hope the people of Detroit know this. It's Bellevue, Washington, not Bellevue between Lansing and Battle Creek, Michigan. I'm just glad we're not the only ones that have to put up with Cameron Wong.
TOP 1ST
Curtis Granderson broke his bat on a 1-2 roller to second. Placido Polanco bounced out to second, keeping Lopez busy. Ivan Rodriguez, who Rod Allen tells me swings a 34-inch, 34-ounce bat, poked an 0-2 single through the left side, and Allen noted that Rodriguez wasn't running very well. Magglio Ordoñez drove the second pitch into the gap and to the wall in leftcenter for a double, scoring Rodriguez from first.
»» TIGERS 1, MARINERS 0
Alexis Gomez bounced the 2-2 pitch to second. Meche threw 22 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro popped softly to short. Jose Lopez rolled over a 1-2 pitch and bounced out to third. Raul Ibañez nubbed an 0-2 pitch back to the mound. Robertson threw 10 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Chris Shelton barely missed a high 1-2 pitch, cranking a ball that had home-run distance but was barely foul. Shelton lined a 2-2 pitch off of Meche's left calf, and he knocked it down and threw to first. Carlos Guillen fell behind 0-2 and laid the bat on a 2-2 pitch, fishing it out to leftfield for a single. Craig Monroe got ahead 2-0 and later walked on a full-count pitch up and in to move Guillen to second. Brandon Inge got the hitters' counts and whiffed on a full-count two-seamer down. Granderson took a full-count pitch over the inside corner. Meche threw 30 pitches and had 52 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Richie Sexson popped high to Gomez on the rightfield track near the line. Kenji Johjima bounced out to second. Carl Everett had a 3-0 count go full before flying out to Gomez in shallow rightcenter. Robertson threw 13 pitches and had 23 through two.
TOP 3RD
Polanco laced an 0-2 pitch for a single into centerfield. Rodriguez popped a 2-2 pitch to Lopez in foul ground down the rightfield line, but it popped off of his right hand (ruled a no play and not an error). Rodriguez ended up flying out to centerfield on the next pitch. Ordoñez smoked the second pitch down the rightfield line and into the corner and Polanco was sent home, but the relay from Ichiro and Lopez and the Johjima tag and block had Polanco by about seven feet (Ordoñez went to second on the throw). Gomez whiffed on a low 0-2 breaking ball. Meche threw 14 pitches and had 66 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Adrian Beltre checkswung a roller to first on the second pitch (3-1 putout), and Allen remarked that Beltre didn't even look good taking batting practice before the game. Jeremy Reed whiffed on a low 0-2 pitch. Yuniesky Betancourt chopped the 1-2 pitch to third. Robertson threw nine pitches and had 32 through three.
TOP 4TH
Shelton got ahead 3-1 and wound up walking on a full-count pitch outside. Guillen got the hitters' counts and walked on the 3-1 pitch outside, moving Shelton to second and bringing Rafael Chaves to the mound. Monroe whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball. Inge got ahead 3-0 and wound up whiffing on a full-count fastball. Granderson whiffed on a low full-count pitch. Meche threw 29 pitches and had 95 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Ichiro chopped an 0-2 pitch along the first-base line to a charging Shelton, who tried to shovel it over, but Ichiro's too fast and that was the first Mariner hit of the day. Lopez fouled a 1-2 pitch off the back of his front foot and went down in a heap. He got back up and later slapped a pitch right to Shelton on a line, who went to the bag to force out Ichiro. Ibañez foul-tipped an 0-2 pitch into Rodriguez' glove. Robertson threw 11 pitches and had 43 through four.
TOP 5TH
Polanco bounced the second pitch to third. Rodriguez lasered a single into leftfield. Ordoñez put a ball toward the rightcenter gap on the second pitch, but Reed ran a long way and caught it, holding Rodriguez at first. Gomez grounded the second pitch hard to Sexson, who went right to the bag. Meche threw 10 pitches and had 105 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Sexson worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Johjima watched a 1-1 pitch as Sexson took off for second and was gunned down by Rodriguez (someone tell me why they sent him?). Johjima ended up taking a 2-2 pitch across the outside corner. Everett had the hitters' counts and walked on a 3-1 pitch up and away. Beltre drove the second pitch the other way, but it only took Gomez to the rightfield track (darn!). Robertson threw 18 pitches and had 61 through five.
TOP 6TH
Shelton got ahead 2-0 and popped the 2-2 pitch very high to Reed in shallow centerfield. Guillen got ahead 3-1 and later took Ichiro to the track in rightcenter on a full count. (I'm surprised he's thrown that many strikes" --Allen) Monroe was called out on a 1-2 checkswing on a low pitch. Meche threw 16 pitches and had 121 through six.
Meche's line: 6 innings, 1 run, 6 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts, 121 pitches (74 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Reed bounced a 2-2 pitch to second. Betancourt rolled the second pitch to short. Ichiro poked the second pitch right back to the mound. Robertson threw ten pitches and had 71 through six.
TOP 7TH
Julio Mateo came in for Meche. Inge popped the high second pitch down the leftfield line near the corner that Ibañez took off the hop and let roll past him to the wall for a double. Granderson bunted the first pitch down the third-base line that was perfect, and he beat Johjima's throw to first as Inge moved to third. Polanco lined the second pitch to Ichiro in rightcenter, who threw straight home and Inge was called out even though it appeared Johjima never tagged him (bonus points to Johjima for showing the ball and not reaching back to Inge as if he didn't tag him originally). The plate umpire didn't have the best angle on the play either, but Jim Leyland did from the third-base dugout and came out to argue, though it was futile. Rodriguez bounced the 1-2 pitch into centerfield for a single to move Granderson to third. Ordoñez got the hitters' counts and took the 3-1 pitch up and away for a walk to load the bases. People got so bored at the Safe that the Wave was going. Gomez fell behind 0-2 and wound up fouling the high and away 0-2 pitch into Johjima's glove. Mateo threw 20 pitches.
BOTTOM 7TH
Lopez chopped a 1-2 pitch very high to the left side, and nobody had a play on the ball as Lopez reached first without drawing a throw. Ibañez took the first pitch between the numbers, moving Lopez to second. Sexson got ahead 2-0 and took a 2-2 pitch barely low over the outside corner before taking the full-count fastball possibly lower than the pitch before and down the pipe. Johjima bounced over the mound right to Polanco at the second-base bag, who stepped on the pillow and threw to first for the double play (aaarrrrggghh!!). Robertson threw 14 pitches and had 85 through seven.
Robertson's line: 7 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 85 pitches (54 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Shelton popped the first pitch to left. Guillen flew out high to centerfield. Monroe popped a high and away 1-2 pitch to rightfield that carried four rows into the seats.
»» TIGERS 2, MARINERS 0
Inge popped high to Lopez on the infield dirt. Mateo threw 11 pitches and had 31 total.
Mateo's line: 2 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 32 pitches (21 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Jamie Walker came in for Robertson. Everett whiffed on an 0-2 changeup down and away. Beltre bounced the second pitch to short. Reed split his bat in half on an 0-2 roller to second.
Walker's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeouts, 8 pitches (7 strikes)
TOP 9TH
George Sherrill came in for Mateo. Granderson bounced a 2-2 pitch to second.
Rafael Soriano came in for Sherrill. Polanco worked a 1-2 count full before popping out to Betancourt in shallow leftfield. Rodriguez took an 0-2 pitch off the outsidr corner for strike three.
Sherrill's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 5 pitches (4 strikes)
Soriano's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 11 pitches (8 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Fernando Rodney came in for Walker. Roberto Petagine, hitting for Betancourt, whiffed on an 0-2 change down the pipe. Ichiro golfed a full-count pitch to Granderson in shallow centerfield. Lopez waved at a 1-2 change on the ground outside.
Rodney's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 15 pitches (11 strikes)
---
Gameball: Ichiro.
In a game where the Mariners got two-hit, I have to go elsewhere to find a gameball-worthy candidate, and here I have to go obvious. Usually I hate doing that, but I have no choice here. Ichiro had half of the Mariners' hits by going 1-for-4. The only reason the game was within reach in the later innings was because of Ichiro's arm. That right arm took Detroit runs off the scoreboard in the third and seventh innings. Would it have mattered if they had scored? In the end, no. But at the time, those runs would have figured big if, say, the Mariners had some kind of game where they came back from being down 6-1 and scoring the next eight runs in the ballgame. That usually doesn't happen, though, and since it looks like just about anyone can two-hit this team nowadays, I've learned not to keep my hopes very high. Low expectations are the name of the Mariners' game today, people. Not good times. Playoff baseball, I hardly knew ye. Sigh...
Goat: Richie Sexson.
Again, this is kinda by default, though it's kinda the same thing as the previous game. He failed to come up with anything in a key situation. I could have gone with Jeremy Reed here for the goat because of his 0-for-3 with a strikeout, but he's up against lefties and he's eighth in the lineup. I could have gone with Kenji Johjima here for his 0-for-3 with a strikeout, but he figured in the two plays at the plate and helped keep two runs off the scoreboard via his plate-blocking skill and/or psychological/deception tactics. I know some people might have reached back for Brandon Inge after he slid past the tag, but Johjima just showed the ball and the plate umpire called Inge out. That was pretty brilliant. You don't want to act like you didn't get him, after all. The plate umpire really ended up with a bad angle on that call though. Not that it would have made a difference though, since the Mariner offense was busy going nowhere. Oh yeah, this was about Sexson. He had two on and nobody out in the seventh with the go-ahead run on first and a 2-0 count. My only gripe was that if the 2-2 pitch wasn't a strike, there's no way the full-count pitch was a strike. In any event, I wish Sexson could have at least put the ball in play there.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 15-4 .789 -- W4
2002 15-4 .789 -- W2
2000 12-7 .632 3 W1
2003 11-8 .579 4 W1
2005 9-10 .474 6 W1
2006 7-12 .368 8 L3
2004 6-13 .316 9 L5
You know, the best thing about the record blip above is that the 2004 Mariners won the 20th game of their schedule. If the Mariners lose the Sunday game, they'll not only have been swept, they'll have also tied the 2004 Mariners' record after 20 games. Tell me that's progress. At least last year's team was .500 at the end of April.
I don't know what to say about the Gil Meche outing today. It was some of the most infuriating starting pitching I've seen. I'd almost wished he'd been tagged so I didn't have to watch him pitch anymore. Somehow, though, he kept wriggling out of every mess he got into other than the one in the first inning. The amount of full counts and three-ball counts he got into was staggering. I'm surprised he got through six innings, since I would have yanked him after five and everything. It's like one of those starts where it looks like he's never comfortable out there and every pitch is an adventure. Add to that the Johjima/Meche communication factor, if there is one. I hope that's going okay so that I can blame the shakiness solely on Meche and not Johjima. Other than the pitch count, Meche's line reads okay, but it's mainly because the Tigers were letting him get off scot-free every time. Since we know Meche isn't the most consistent pitcher, we know he can't get away with this every time. I'll be glad if/when he throws seven shutout innings one of these days.
This Meche outing leads me to something. I have the idea to swap the roles of Julio Mateo and Gil Meche. This is if you want to react to the Mateo situation already rather than let himself work out of it. If I felt like it, I'd move Mateo into the rotation (he did once last year) and make Gil Meche the long man out of the bullpen. Of course, at this point it'd be more of a thing for Meche rather than for Mateo. I think Julio Mateo can work out of his struggles in the bullpen. I'm not so sure that Gil Meche can be an effective starter in the near future. Sure, he got through six innings today, but that was only because Mike Hargrove for some reason trotted Meche out to the mound for the sixth with 105 pitches already under his belt. I liked the Hargrove hire originally, but it's things like this that make me think otherwise. It's freakin' April and Meche is the fourth starter. Pull him after the fifth, for goodness' sake. Throw Jake Woods out there even if he blows up, who cares?
As for the offense today, yuck. Like I said in the 25 Words, I feel like the Mariners can be on the wrong end of a no-hitter every night. Jorge Sosa, Doug Waechter, et al., were one thing back in 2003, but now the Mariners are being taken to the woodshed by Nate Robertson giving up two hits in seven innings of shutout ball. Ridiculous. There's some times this season where the offense has shown some fight and some brilliance, but most of the time it's like I don't even expect them to do anything, and a great deal of the time I'm right about it. Some games just feel like they're on the bag for an L, and you know the Mariners won't be scoring any runs. It's like the only positive thing I can come up with is that Hargrove has started Jeremy Reed against two lefthanders in a row. The last starting lefthander he didn't face was the Cy Young Award-winning John Koronka. Sure, I'm being sarcastic, but Jeremy Reed starting against and learning to hit lefties is something that's been long, long overdue.
Verlander. Hernandez. Tomorrow.
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