Friday, April 07, 2006
GAME 4: MARINERS 6, ATHLETICS 2
In 25 words or less: The jury's still out on Gil Meche, but I sure didn't think we'd be looking at a 3-1 team after four games.
This one featured new Oakland acquisition Esteban Loaiza going up against the much-maligned Gil Meche. The Mariners were fresh off a series win against the Angels. This game was the first of a four-game series against the rival Oakland A's. For the more fickle fan, this game was merely the game before the game that involves Felix Hernandez.
TOP 1ST
Marco Scutaro drove a 2-2 pitch into the gap in rightcenter, where Jeremy Reed dove for the ball and just missed, letting Scutaro aboard with a triple. Mark Kotsay fouled off four straight pitches before grounding off the mound and up the middle to Yuniesky Betancourt, who threw in time to first as Scutaro scored.
»» ATHLETICS 1, MARINERS 0
Mark Ellis whiffed on a 2-2 low breaking ball. Eric Chavez bounced a full-count double into the rightfield corner. Dan Johnson popped a high 2-2 pitch up to Yuniesky Betancourt on the outfield grass. Meche threw 31 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro slapped a high 2-2 pitch into leftcenter for a single. Then the graphics came back when Jose Lopez was up, but they switched to FSN Bay Area feed. Lopez whiffed over a 2-2 offspeed pitch down and in. Raul Ibañez watched Ichiro nab second base on the 2-0 pitch. Ibañez ended up bounced out to second on a full count, moving Ichiro to third. Richie Sexson bounced the first pitch to short. Loaiza threw 19 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Milton Bradley was punched out on a 2-2 pitch that he thought was inside. Jay Payton popped the second pitch to Lopez on the rightfield grass. Nick Swisher whiffed on a 2-2 pitch low and away. Meche threw 14 pitches and had 45 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Adrian Beltre drilled a single into leftfield on the tenth pitch of his at-bat when Loaiza dropped down sidearmed. Carl Everett golfed a 1-2 pitch about twelve rows into the rightfield seats for his first homer as a Mariner. Truly dinosauric. Beltre scored on the play, of course.
»» MARINERS 2, ATHLETICS 1
Kenji Johjima popped a full-count pitch to Bradley a few strides short of the rightfield warning track. Jeremy Reed stroked a pitch into the rightcenter gap, where Kotsay took a weird banana route to the ball, and it rolled to the wall. Reed had a stand-up triple out of it. Yuniesky Betancourt blew a squeeze bunt on the 2-1 pitch, fouling off the low-and-away pitch. Betancourt smacked the next pitch into leftfield for a single, easily scoring Reed.
»» MARINERS 3, ATHLETICS 1
Ichiro lasered a ball right into the glove of Bradley in rightfield, and Betancourt held at first. Betancourt nabbed second base on the first pitch to Lopez, who rolled the 0-2 pitch to second. Loaiza threw 35 pitches and had 54 through two.
TOP 3RD
Adam Melhuse poked a single up the middle past a diving Betancourt. Marco Scutaro fell behind 0-2, took 1-2 and 2-2 pitches that should have been strike three, then eventually walked on a low pitch. Kotsay whiffed on a 1-2 pitch that had a good deal of lateral movement (two-seamer, probably). Ellis popped out high to Lopez in shallow centerfield. Chavez had both hitters' counts before walking on a low 3-1 pitch to load the bases. Johnson scooted a 1-2 pitch to Lopez, who briefly bobbled the ball but had more than enough time to get Johnson at first and end the threat. Meche threw 27 pitches and had 72 pitches through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Ibañez smoked a 1-2 pitch into the rightcenter gap which rolled to the wall. Ibañez rounded second and headed for third and got the triple, which probably wasn't the right call since the relay and the tag looked to have had Ibañez beat. Sexson was ahead 3-0 and took a 3-1 pitch low and away for the walk. Beltre was ahead 2-0 and wound up grounding into a 5-4-3 double play, scoring Ibañez (no RBI, of course).
»» MARINERS 4, ATHLETICS 1
Everett got the hitters' counts and walked on a 3-1 pitch. Johjima creamed a high second pitch into leftfield for a single, moving Everett to second. Reed popped a 2-0 pitch to centerfield. Loaiza threw 22 pitches and had 76 through three.
TOP 4TH
Bradley popped out high to Betancourt in shallow centerfield. Payton failed to hold up on an 0-2 pitch outside and took a seat. Swisher whiffed over a full-count pitch inside. Meche threw 12 pitches and had 84 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Betancourt took three balls followed by two strikes before flying out to left. Ichiro popped the second pitch to left. Lopez flew out to Kotsay in centerfield on the second pitch. Loaiza threw eight pitches and had 84 through four.
TOP 5TH
Melhuse popped the first pitch high to Ichiro on the warning track. Scutaro popped a full-count pitch and took Ibañez to the leftfield wall, where he made the catch. Kotsay popped the first pitch to Ibañez as Meche had set down seven straight hitters. Meche threw eight pitches and had 92 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Ibañez banged the second pitch down the rightfield line for a double. Sexson grounded the first pitch hard to third as Ibañez held. Beltre drove the ball to Kotsay on the centerfield track and Ibañez moved to third. Everett was intentionally walked. Johjima stuck the first pitch through the hole on the left side for a single, scoring Ibañez and moving Everett to second.
»» MARINERS 5, ATHLETICS 1
Brad Halsey came in for Loaiza. Reed bounced out to second to end the threat.
Loaiza's line: 4 2/3 innings, 5 runs, 9 hits, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 98 pitches (57 strikes)
TOP 6TH
Ellis had a 3-0 count go full before bouncing out to short. Chavez blasted the 2-0 waist-high fastball to the back few rows of the rightfield seats. He had to do it sometime. He always does.
»» MARINERS 5, ATHLETICS 2
Jake Woods came in for Meche. Johnson roped the full-count pitch toward the first-base line, but Sexson dove and gloved the line drive. Bradley popped the 3-1 pitch high to Sexson in foul ground on the right side. Woods threw 11 pitches.
Meche's line: 5 1/3 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, 101 pitches (61 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Betancourt popped the second pitch high to Ellis near the mound. Ichiro was jammed on the second pitch, but fisted a dribbler toward Ellis, who couldn't throw in time to beat Ichiro. Lopez grounded the 1-2 pitch softly to Scutaro on the left side, who had no chance at Lopez but tried to throw across anyway and was horribly late (Ichiro moved to second). Ibañez floated the second pitch to leftfield and had Swisher drifting back, who made the catch.
Kiko Calero came in for Halsey. Sexson put the first pitch through the hole on the left side, scoring Ichiro and moving Lopez to second.
»» MARINERS 6, ATHLETICS 2
Beltre popped the second pitch to rightfield.
Halsey's line: 1 inning, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 13 pitches (9 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Payton grounded to the left-side hole, but Betancourt plugged up the hole nicely and made the play. Swisher whiffed on a 2-2 pitch about a foot high and a foot outside. Melhuse dribbled the 1-2 pitch into centerfield for a single. Scutaro walked on four pitches. Kotsay sliced the first pitch into shallow leftcenter, where Reed called off Ibañez and made the catch.
BOTTOM 7TH
Everett fell behind 0-2 and badly whiffed over a 2-2 pitch over the inner half. Johjima popped the first pitch high to rightfield. Reed took a four-pitch walk. Betancourt didn't take a pitch as Reed was blatantly picked off of first.
Calero's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (6 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Ellis was up 2-0 but flew out on a full count to leftfield. Chavez walked on four pitches. Johnson reached on a 1-2 pitch and rolled it to the right side, where Lopez made the 4-6 putout, which Betancourt dropped on the transfer, nullifying a double play chance. Bradley mashed a 3-1 pitch into the stands in the leftfield corner, and someone got hit. He laid off a low pitch for a walk.
JJ Putz came in for Woods. Payton grounded the second pitch to second.
Woods' line: 2 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 48 pitches (22 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Jay Witasick came in for Calero. Betancourt drilled a 2-2 pitch through the left side for a single. Ichiro pounded the 2-0 pitch right back to Witasick, who put his glove up in self-defense and came up with the ball, then threw to first to finish off the double play. Lopez took a 3-1 pitch low, outside, and to the backstop for a walk. Ibañez whiffed on a 2-0 breaking ball and later whiffed on a 2-2 pitch.
Witasick's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 21 pitches (11 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Swisher got ahead 2-0 and later whiffed on a full count, the fourth whiffer for him in the game. Melhuse whiffed on some high 2-2 gas. Scutaro whiffed on some 2-2 heat down and in as Putz struck out the side for the save.
Putz' line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts, 19 pitches (11 strikes)
---
Gameball: Yuniesky Betancourt.
On a night where every Mariner hitter collected at least one hit, Yuniesky Betancourt got a couple of hits out of the ninth slot in the order. He made a good play or two, as he often does, with his only misstep being the bobbled transfer on what could have been a double-play ball. Still, he delivered an RBI single that brought home Jeremy Reed in the second inning to make it 3-1 for the Mariners. Reed had gotten aboard with a triple before Betancourt, making somewhat of a mini-rally in the same inning where Carl Everett had homered to give the Mariners their first lead of the game. It was a bit of add-on in the same inning after getting the lead. The point is, any time the Mariners can get a multi-hit game from whoever's the number nine hitter in the lineup, that's almost cause for celebration -- how many times in the recent past have we seen tonight's kind of contribution from a number-nine hitter? Pretty much never. Will Betancourt pan out as a .290 hitter or something? Probably not. But what I do know is that we're not having to watch Wilson Valdez going out to the plate on a daily basis.
Goat: Gil Meche.
It was quite hilarious to me when I read the wire article to this game an hour or so after it was over with, calling this outing by Meche a "strong outing." Are you kidding me? It was a miracle he got out of the first inning having only given up the one run. His start reminded me of some of the starts Freddy Garcia would put up in April before he warmed up with the weather. He threw 72 pitches in three innings, for goodness' sake. For all the stuff in spring training we heard about him maybe gaining some confidence in his stuff and the two-seamer addition and everything, he still looked very much like a work in progress out there. I guess the question is whether you're satisfied with all those pitches being thrown in the span of five or so innings if it's coming out of your fourth starter. Do you take this outing every time out if you know it's coming from your fourth starter?
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2000 3-1 .750 -- W3
2001 3-1 .750 -- W2
2002 3-1 .750 -- W3
2006 3-1 .750 -- W3
2003 2-2 .500 1 W2
2005 2-2 .500 1 W1
2004 0-4 .000 2 L4
Did you think this team would be 3-1 after four games? I know I thought maybe 2-2, but not a winning record. My goodness. It hasn't been scorching-hot baseball by any means, and I can hardly tell after just four games what kind of real identity this team has. Right now no one in the lineup is really slumping horribly, so that definitely helps. The starting pitching has been good to okay. The bullpen's been a bit sketchy, though JJ Putz threw all right in this game, which was a bit of a worry after his past couple appearances. The appearance by Eddie Guardado wasn't in a save situation, so we can only take so much from that, but that non-save appearance was truly Sasakiesque. George Sherrill got the save in the final game of the series against the Angels. Rafael Soriano has looked good, and it looks like he's got the pop back on his fastball.
Despite the fact of being quite enamored with the fact this team is 3-1, it's a bit tempered by the fact that Meche was pretty shaky. It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't one-fifth of the starting rotation and everything, but he is, and let's just hope the shakiness doesn't carry itself too far forward. I just wish there was a way for him to be more efficient with his pitches. They need this guy getting into the seventh on a nightly basis, especially so if they're going to coddle Felix to the extent of which we've been hearing.
Four Mariners had multi-hit games in this one. Ichiro was 2-for-5, Raul Ibañez was 2-for-5, everybody's favorite catcher Kenji Johjima was 2-for-4, and the gameball pick Yuniesky Betancourt was 2-for-4. How many times have we been able to look at a Mariner boxscore the past few years and see that the 7-8-9 hitters combined to go 5-for-11 with a couple RBI in a game? This isn't to say it could happen every day for an entire summer, but if that happens on a semi-regular basis, we could be looking at some fun stuff in the coming months. I'm not getting my hopes too far up, since I know I've had them stomped on before, but I just want for once for things to be good for the Mariners again. I know it might be a lot to ask after the Seahawks did that whole Super Bowl thing last winter, but I need this baseball team to be relevant again.
I've only seen a couple of MLB.tv telecasts live this year, and I've seen the others on archive feed, but there have been a couple of broadcasts that have been free of on-screen graphics, and I just feel that since I paid for the season subscription and stuff to MLB.tv, could I at least have those graphics at my disposal? The feed for this game started with the Mariner feed, except with no graphics before they switched off to FSN Bay Area feed that did have graphics. I know there was a time before we had score constants on screens, but if I walk away from the screen for one second, I'd like to know what the count is. Especially for MLB.tv, if I'm scrolling back through the feed to see a certain play, I might need to know how many outs there were or what the count was when the play happened so I can get a better grip on what happened.
The Eric Chavez homer was so requisite it wasn't even funny. It had to happen at some point in the series. I guess since Ryan Franklin isn't around anymore, it had to be off of Meche. Hopefully he's gotten it out of his system.
You know who goes tomorrow. Cancel your evening plans and watch some baseball.
Blanton. Hernandez. Tonight.
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