Tuesday, May 09, 2006
GAME 34: MARINERS 6, DEVIL RAYS 3
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: Some perplexing starting pitching made way for a late-inning offensive surge and a win. They seem to like come-from-behind wins.
This one featured Casey Fossum going up against Gil Meche. The Mariners hoped to rebound somewhat after losing two of three against the Cleveland Indians and losing five of six overall. In 2005, the Mariners had a season-killing 9-18 record in the month of May. They came into this game with a 2-5 start in May. We need to take wagers on whether Barbaro takes the Triple Crown or Bill Bavasi and Mike Hargrove still hold their current positions with the Mariners at the All-Star break. All 16102 of you that went to the game say "hoooooooo!" You were part of Mariner history, the smallest crowd in Safeco Field history.
TOP 1ST
Julio Lugo took a 1-2 breaking ball over the outside corner. Carl Crawford drilled a single up the middle. Jonny Gomes watched as Crawford stole second on a wide throw. Gomes later walked on a full-count pitch barely outside. Aubrey Huff chopped a single through the middle that scored Crawford and sent Gomes to second.
»» DEVIL RAYS 1, MARINERS 0
Ty Wigginton was ahead 2-0 before grounding to third to start a 5-4-3 double play. Meche threw 22 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro was ahead 2-0 before serving a single into leftfield. Jose Lopez gronded hard to third, where Huff bobbled it and tried to start a double play, but only got Ichiro on the front end as Lopez beat the throw to first. Raul Ibañez lined to Crawford a couple steps short of the track in leftfield. Richie Sexson lined out to a charging Branyan in right. Fossum threw 12 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Toby Hall flew out just short of the leftfield track to Ibañez. Greg Norton walked on a full-count pitch. Russell Branyan wedged a 2-2 single down the rightfield line, moving Norton to third. Damon Hollins popped out to Beltre near the stands in foul ground on the third-base side on a full count. Lugo took a 2-2 breaking ball over the outside corner. Meche threw 30 pitches and had 52 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Carl Everett popped a 1-2 pitch to center. Adrian Beltre roped the first pitch to a sliding Crawford in left on the first pitch. Kenji Johjima popped the second pitch to right. Fossum threw seven pitches and had 19 through two.
TOP 3RD
Crawford dribbled a ball to Beltre on the left side. Gomes cranked a homer, five rows back into the rightfield seats, somewhat of a rainmaker.
»» DEVIL RAYS 2, MARINERS 0
Huff popped the first pitch to Ibañez near the leftfield corner. Wigginton popped the second pitch to Bloomquist in shallow rightcenter. Meche threw nine pitches and had 61 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Willie Bloomquist bounced an 0-2 pitch to short. Yuniesky Betancourt bounced to Lugo in the left-side hole. Ichiro dribbled a grounder near the first-base line on the infield and Fossum had to go for it but had no chance and Ichiro had the single. Lopez watched Ichiro nab second on the 2-0 pitch and later lined a single into rightfield, and Ichiro was able to beat the throw home as he slid around the tag.
»» DEVIL RAYS 2, MARINERS 1
Ibañez golfed a 3-0 pitch for a flyout to Branyan on the rightfield line. Fossum threw 19 pitches and had 38 through three.
TOP 4TH
Hall bounced the second pitch to short. Norton walked on four pitches. Branyan lined a 3-1 pitch down the rightfield line for a double, scoring Norton, who beat the throw home. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves visited the mound.
»» DEVIL RAYS 3, MARINERS 1
Hollins whiffed on an 0-2 pitch. Lugo tapped a 1-2 pitch to Meche. Meche threw 18 pitches and had 79 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Sexson got just under a 2-0 pitch, flying out to Crawford a step or two short of the leftfield wall. Everett roped the first pitch to left, but it was caught by a sliding Crawford. Beltre lined a 2-0 pitch off Fossum's knee, and Lugo's off-balance throw pulled Norton off the bag at first. Johjima flew out to shallow right on the second pitch. Fossum threw nine pitches and had 47 through four.
TOP 5TH
Crawford grounded a double down the leftfield line toward the ballgirl. Gomes watched the 2-1 pitch go past and Johjima had Crawford nailed at third. Gomes ended up taking the full-count pitch down over the outside corner. Huff whiffed on an 0-2 dirtball (2-3 putout). Meche threw 12 pitches and had 91 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Bloomquist worked a 1-2 pitch for a walk. Betancourt bounced a 2-2 pitch to third which nearly resulted in a 5-4-3 double play, but Betancourt beat out the back end of the play. Ichiro popped out softly to left. Lopez watched the second pitch as Betancourt stole second. Lopez lined an 0-2 pitch right to Norton at first. Fossum threw 17 pitches and had 63 through five.
TOP 6TH
Wigginton grounded a 2-0 pitch hard to third. Hall popped a 2-2 pitch to Ichiro in rightcenter. Norton whiffed on an 0-2 fastball over the outside corner. Meche threw 12 pitches and had 103 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Ibañez walked on four pitches. Sexson took a first-pitch ball as pitching coach Mike Butcher came out to visit. Sexson was ahead 3-0 before rolling a full-count pitch in the left-side hole to Lugo, who started a 6-4-3 double play. Everett took a second-pitch curve off the knee. Beltre flew out to left on a 3-0 pitch, which leads to the question, who the hell green-lighted Beltre? Fossum threw 17 pitches and had 80 through six.
TOP 7TH
Branyan was ahead 3-0 before flying out to Ibañez in shallow leftcenter on a 3-1 pitch. Hollins chopped the second pitch high to third. Lugo grounded the second pitch up the middle to Betancourt, who of course made the play. Meche threw nine pitches and had 112 through seven.
Meche's line: 7 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, 112 pitches (68 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Johjima stroked the second pitch into left for a single. Bloomquist split his bat on a second-pitch bloop single into shallow rightfield, moving Johjima to second.
Chad Orvella (of Sammamish and Eastlake High) came in for Fossum. Betancourt air-bunted in front of the plate, where Hall dove forward and avoided Orvella to make the catch. Ichiro took a full-count pitch for a walk, loading the bases. Lopez was ahead 2-0 and laced a single up the middle to score Johjima and Bloomquist and move Ichiro to second.
»» DEVIL RAYS 3, MARINERS 3
Ibañez walked on four pitches. Sexson popped the second pitch to Branyan in foul ground down the rightfield line which he probably should have let drop as Ichiro tagged and scored. Of course, Orvella needed some outs too.
»» MARINERS 4, DEVIL RAYS 3
Everett grounded a 1-2 pitch to second. Orvella threw 24 pitches.
Fossum's line: 6 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts, 84 pitches (45 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Eddie Guardado came in for Meche. Crawford fell behind 0-2 and foul-tipped an outside pitch into Johjima's glove. Gomes flew out to center on a 2-0 pitch. Huff took an 0-2 pitch barely outside before tapping in front of the plate to Johjima. Guardado threw 11 pitches.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 11 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Travis Lee came in to play first. Beltre chopped a 2-0 pitch down the third-base line to Huff behind the bag, but Beltre barely beat out the throw at first. Johjima popped a 2-2 pitch high and foul to Hall behind the plate. Bloomquist slapped a high-and-away first pitch through the right side for a single on a hit-and-run as Beltre scooted over to third.
Chad Harville came in for Orvella. Betancourt watched the second pitch fly well wide of Hall and to the backstop, enabling Beltre to score. Bloomquist took off with the pitch and ended up on second.
»» MARINERS 5, DEVIL RAYS 3
On the next pitch, Bloomquist took off again and Betancourt punched the 2-0 pitch through the hole on the left side to score Bloomquist. Knowing Rick Rizzs and Dave Henderson were on the TV feed, I nearly muted it at this point.
»» MARINERS 6, DEVIL RAYS 3
Ichiro watched the second pitch go by as Betancourt took second without a throw. On the next pitch, Ichiro lasered a ball right into Harville's glove, and he threw to second to force out Betancourt easily. Harville threw six pitches.
Orvella's line: 1 1/3 innings, 3 runs, 3 hits, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts, 33 pitches (16 strikes)
Harville's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (3 strikes)
TOP 9TH
JJ Putz came in for Guardado. Wigginton whiffed on a 2-2 splitter. Hall fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 low splitter. Lee popped the second pitch to Lopez in shallow rightcenter.
Putz' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 12 pitches (9 strikes)
---
Gameball: Eddie Guardado
Probably not a popular choice since the Mariners scored five runs in their final two innings at the plate and four Mariners had two hits apiece. Eddie's still in the ease-in phase toward the closer role, sure. This we know. In his first post-demotion role, Guardado came in to pitch the ninth against Cleveland with the Mariners down 9-3. In this game, though, Guardado had been warming up after Meche had finished the seventh inning. Thus, Hargrove was at least prepared to put Guardado in with the Mariners at worst down by two runs (3-1). Of course, the funny thing happened when the Mariners somehow scratched together three runs. Nonetheless, Hargrove trotted Guardado out to the mound for the eighth, this time with a one-run lead and against the 2-3-4 hitters in the Tampa Bay lineup. Sure, it's the Tampa Bay lineup, but these still are Major League hitters. Sometimes people argue that the real save in a particular ballgame doesn't always come in the ninth inning. It didn't here, and though he doesn't get credit for a save, Guardado got it, and not just because JJ Putz got two more runs to work with in the ninth either.
Goat: Carl Everett.
He's hitting .225 and it's too bad that's not the lowest average in the lineup, but it's far from it since the small average belongs to the tallest dude right now, kind of like a reverse Napoleon complex or something. But hey, Sexson's not in this spot since he did get an RBI, though I think Russell Branyan probably shouldn't have caught the ball in foul territory with the game tied and Ichiro on third in the seventh. Chad Orvella didn't have a lot of control, sure, but I think the odds of throwing more pitches to Sexson and getting him out in some other way had to be pretty high. Sexson strikes out a lot, and if that would have happened, the inning would have been over with the game still tied, they might still be playing right now, etc. Notice how I haven't talked about Carl Everett at all in this paragraph? Yeah, I just don't feel like it. The designated hitter is designated to hit. When this player who is designated to hit is hitting all of .225, it's not good. If anything wakes Everett up, it's this -- his average is only .004 higher than that of Adrian Beltre. You may start hitting now, Carl Everett.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 25-9 .735 -- W2
2002 24-10 .706 1 W2
2003 21-13 .618 4 L2
2000 18-16 .529 7 W1
2006 14-20 .412 11 W1
2005 13-21 .382 12 L3
2004 12-22 .353 13 L5
Waechter. Hernandez. Tonight.
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