Monday, May 08, 2006
GAME 33: INDIANS 2, MARINERS 0
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: Thanks to the quick work of the starting pitching, Mariner fans wasted only 2:18 of their Sunday afternoon watching this game.
This one featured CC Sabathia going up against Jarrod Washburn. This was Sabathia's second start after the minor-league rehab assignment after coming off the disabled list. He might have been on a pitch count, but things like this matter less since he'd be facing the Mariners, and though I have no numbers to prove it, it just seems like the Mariner hitters aren't being very patient this season.
TOP 1ST
Grady Sizemore bounced the 3-1 pitch to first (3-1 putout). Jason Michaels popped the 1-2 pitch to Lopez in shallow center. Jhonny Peralta got ahead 2-0 and later whiffed on a full-count sinker, the ninth pitch of the at-bat. Washburn threw 18 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro got ahead 2-0 and hit a low liner that Michaels dove for and had in his glove, but it leaked out as Ichiro had the single. Willie Bloomquist tried bunting for a base hit but got it in the air, but it went foul. Bloomquist popped the 0-2 pitch to Blake down the rightfield line and Blake nearly caught Ichiro napping off of first. Raul Ibañez watched as Ichiro easily nabbed second on a 2-0 pitch for his 200th steal in the Majors. Ibañez rolled the next pitch to short as Ichiro moved to third. Richie Sexson worked an 0-2 count full before taking the next pitch over the inside corner. Sabathia threw 17 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Travis Hafner worked a 1-2 count full and grounded to first. Victor Martinez flew out to Sexson along the stands on the first-base side. Eduardo Perez fell behind 0-2 before tapping the 2-2 pitch back to the mound. Washburn threw 17 pitches and had 35 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Carl Everett flew out lazily to shallow left. Adrian Beltre whiffed on an 0-2 slider. Kenji Johjima flew out to Belliard on the rightfield grass on the first pitch. Sabathia threw seven pitches and had 24 through two.
TOP 3RD
Ronnie Belliard chopped very high to Beltre on the left side, who gunned over right away, but Belliard had it beat by a stride. Aaron Boone flew out to Betancourt on the infield grass on the second pitch. Casey Blake singled a 2-2 pitch up the middle, and Belliard alertly took third on the slowish ground ball fielded by Bloomquist. Sizemore flew out to Ibañez in leftcenter on the second pitch, scoring Belliard. Blake held at first.
»» INDIANS 1, MARINERS 0
Michaels flew out to Sexson on the infield dirt on the second pitch. Washburn threw 15 pitches and had 50 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Jose Lopez grounded an 0-2 pitch hard to third. Yuniesky Betancourt fell behind 0-2 before popping into the corner to Michaels, who didn't see it and let it drop, but it was called foul though replays showed it hit inside the line. Betancourt ended up popping to Sabathia on the front slope of the mound. Ichiro laced a 3-1 pitch through the right side for a single. Bloomquist fisted the first pitch right to short for a 6-4 forceout. Sabathia threw 14 pitches and had 38 through three.
TOP 4TH
Peralta got ahead 3-0 before popping the full-count pitch to Lopez on the edge of the outfield grass. Hafner flew out to Betancourt drifting back into shallow center as shadows from a cloud or plane moved across the field of play. Martinez rolled the first pitch to short. Washburn threw 11 pitches and had 61 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Ibañez got ahead 3-1 before whiffing on a full-count slider low and away. Sexson popped to Sizemore in shallow leftcenter. Everett served a 1-2 single into centerfield. Beltre bounced the 1-2 pitch to second. Sabathia threw 17 pitches and had 55 through four.
TOP 5TH
Perez fouled off three 1-2 pitches before flying out to right. Belliard took Ichiro to the track on the second pitch. Boone failed to check his swing on a 2-2 pitch. Washburn threw 14 pitches and had 75 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Johjima punched the first pitch past the reach of Perez and into rightfield for a single. Lopez dumped the first pitch into shallow center for a single, and Johjima ran all the way to third, beating a wide throw. On the same play, Lopez was caught too far off of first and was tagged out. Betancourt whiffed on an 0-2 pitch. Ichiro was ahead 2-0 but rolled to short. Sabathia threw 11 pitches and had 66 through five.
TOP 6TH
Blake rolled the first pitch to short. Sizemore rolled a 2-2 single just past a diving Lopez into rightfield. Michaels walked on four pitches, moving Sizemore to second. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves visited the mound. Peralta grounded the second pitch to Beltre, who stepped on the bag at third to force out Sizemore, then threw off-balance and in time to first to complete the 5-3 double play. Washburn threw ten pitches and had 85 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Bloomquist fell behind 0-2 and grounded a 2-2 pitch to short. Ibañez singled the first pitch through the right side into rightfield. Sexson popped an 0-2 pitch to Blake along the rightfield line. Everett flew out to Michaels running into shallow left. Sabathia threw 15 pitches and had 81 through six.
TOP 7TH
Hafner was ahead 2-0 and wound up taking a full-count pitch very outside and to the backstop. Martinez worked a 1-2 count full before popping to Betancourt on the outfield grass. Perez popped high to Lopez past the infield dirt closer to the bag at first. Belliard roped a 2-2 pitch that skipped past Beltre's backhand side and down the leftfield line for a double, scoring Hafner.
»» INDIANS 2, MARINERS 0
Boone popped the first pitch to Lopez on the outfield grass. Washburn threw 24 pitches and had 109 through seven.
Washburn's line: 7 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 109 pitches (66 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Beltre got ahead 3-0 before grounding the 3-1 pitch hard to third. Johjima rolled the second pitch to short. Lopez popped a low 0-2 fly to short. Sabathia threw ten pitches and had 91 through seven.
TOP 8TH
Rafael Soriano came in for Washburn. Blake walked on a full-count pitch way outside. Sizemore whiffed on an 0-2 pitch. Michaels whiffed on the second pitch, but Blake took off for second and was out by a mile, but Betancourt had the throw go off his glove and into centerfield, enabling Blake to move to third (hometown scorer originally gave the error to Johjima, keeping Betancourt's errorless season alive, though only temporarily). Michaels whiffed on a full-count fastball over the outside corner. Peralta whiffed on an 0-2 pitch down over the outside corner. Soriano threw 20 pitches.
Soriano's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 20 pitches (13 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Betancourt rolled out to short. Ichiro popped the second pitch to Boone in front of the third-base dugout. Bloomquist singled along the rightfield line. Ibañez lined to Sizemore on the track in leftcenter. Sabathia threw 14 pitches and had 105 through eight.
Sabathia's line: 8 innings, 0 runs, 7 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 105 pitches (75 strikes)
TOP 9TH
George Sherrill came in for Soriano. Hafner whiffed on a 2-2 fastball over the outside corner. Martinez flew out to Ichiro on the first pitch. Perez got ahead 2-0 and one-hopped a 2-2 pitch to short. Sherrill threw 11 pitches.
Sherrill's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 11 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Bob Wickman came in for Sabathia. Sexson fell behind 0-2 and bounced a 1-2 pitch to third. Everett lined a 2-0 pitch off the track and the wall, but it was hit too hard and Everett only got a single out of it. Beltre was ahead 2-0 before dropping a single into shallow center to move Everett to second. Johjima grounded up the middle to Peralta, who made a nice backhand flip to second to start a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Wickman's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 16 pitches (9 strikes)
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Gameball: Jarrod Washburn.
As good as I thought the offseason after the 2004 season was, I hated the offseason following the 2005 season. Namely, I wasn't a big fan of the Carl Everett signing and never will be. Also, I wasn't a big fan of all the money they threw at Jarrod Washburn. However, I knew there was a decent chance that he'd be okay in a few starts this year. When you're going up against one of the better offenses in the American League and hold them to two runs on four hits and walk two, what more can you ask for? He's thrown seven or more innings in four of his seven starts this year. He's given up two earned runs or less in five starts. He's walked eight hitters and struck out 23 (simple math says that's nearly 3/1 for a strikeout/walk ratio). Best of all, he's had four starts where he hasn't given up a homer, which should be a bit surprising given his flyball tendencies. Not so surprisingly, he's 0-3 on the road and 2-2 at home. I don't know what the lessons here might be other than that Washburn's only had one start so far where he's out-and-out sucked and that another one of those is due to pop up. So far, so good. In his five losses, he's given up six (9-5 loss), two (3-2 loss), two (2-1 loss), four (5-1 loss), and two (this 2-0 loss) earned runs. Even with the start where he got hit around, that's still an average of 1.8 runs the Mariners have put on the scoreboard in his losses. For all of the people that ballyhooed about Ryan Franklin not getting run support all those years and turned the other cheek when the offense would put up five runs and he'd give up seven, here's the better case. The Mariners scored six and five runs in his two wins, by the way. (quick math...20 runs scored by Mariners in his starts divided by seven starts equals 2.86 Mariner runs per start).
Goat: Richie Sexson.
Yes, it's dire. Everyone knows he has to turn it around so that the middle of the lineup can finally stop being the doughnut hole it's been all year. Not that he's one to get multi-hit games, but he has exactly three of those all season. Something else of which he only has three this season? Homers. Sick, isn't it? This is the same guy that homered twice in his first game as a Mariner. This year he homered in his second game and got his second homer in his ninth game. Third homer? Twenty-seventh game. Yikes. Rational people knew that a whole lot of things had to fall into place for the Mariners to have a chance at contention this season. Having Sexson going through a .125 month of May and having Adrian Beltre continue what he was doing last year are not part of that pipe dream. It's bad when you see Carl Everett and know he's done okay at times, but he's only hitting .231 himself. Jeff Pentland's basically gotta pull out two Sosa jobs in Beltre and Sexson for this team to get anywhere. Where is anywhere? At this pace, it might be more wins than they had last year. It's a race to 70 wins! Of course, that'd mean Bavasi and Hargrove are out and somehow the management hopefully keeps Bob Fontaine.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 24-9 .727 -- W1
2002 23-10 .697 1 W1
2003 21-12 .636 3 L1
2000 17-16 .515 7 L3
2005 13-20 .394 11 L2
2006 13-20 .394 11 L1
2004 12-21 .364 12 L4
Fossum. Meche. Tonight.
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