Wednesday, May 10, 2006
GAME 35: MARINERS 8, DEVIL RAYS 1
In 25 words or less: The Mariners slayed a demon of the recent past, and all it required was a nice dose of the Ocho.
This one featured 2003 one-man Mariner wrecking crew Doug Waechter going up against Felix Hernandez. Some see Felix as the future of the starting rotation and a big part of this team's future fortune. Others see Felix as the only real reason they're watching the Mariners anymore. In sum, there are probably people out there only watching the Mariners every five days. He considers Freddy Garcia an idol, and if he warms up with the weather like Freddy did, this summer should be fun.
TOP 1ST
Julio Lugo got ahead 2-0, wasn't granted time and stepped out on the 2-0 pitch, then later walked on a low full-count pitch. Carl Crawford grounded the 3-1 pitch to the mound to Hernandez, who threw a bit low and too far to Betancourt's backhand for just the 1-6 forceout instead of a double play. Jonny Gomes got ahead 2-0 before taking a full-count pitch for strike three as Crawford took second. Aubrey Huff popped out to Beltre in foul ground near the leftfield line. Hernandez threw 19 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro grounded the first pitch hard to Lee at first. Jose Lopez nubbed a 2-2 pitch to short. Raul Ibañez got the hitters' counts before ripping a full-count grounder to short. Waechter threw 12 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Ty Wigginton drilled an 0-2 curve through the middle for a single. Toby Hall rolled the first pitch into the right-side hole but bobbled it and kicked it away (error). Travis Lee fell behind 0-2 before one-hopping a 1-2 pitch to short to start a 6-4-3 double play as Wigginton went to third. Russell Branyan was ahead 2-0 before whiffing over a 2-2 change. Hernandez threw 14 pitches and had 33 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Richie Sexson stuck the first pitch into shallow leftcenter for a single. Carl Everett took a 3-1 pitch up and away for a walk, moving Sexson to second. Adrian Beltre drilled a second-pitch single through the left side to load the bases. Kenji Johjima rolled the first pitch up the middle for a single, scoring Sexson and Everett and moving Beltre to second. Pitching coach Mike Butcher visited the mound.
»» MARINERS 2, DEVIL RAYS 0
Jeremy Reed watched the second pitch go by as Beltre was nailed by ten feet at third. Reed was ahead 2-0 before grounding hard to third for what should have been a double play had Wigginton not had trouble getting the ball out of his glove. Nonetheless, Johjima was out at second. Yuniesky Betancourt stroked a hanging breaking ball into leftfield for a single, moving Reed to third on the hit-and-run. Ichiro fell behind 0-2 before flying out lazily to shallow center. Waechter threw 20 pitches and had 32 through two.
TOP 3RD
Joey Gathright bounced the second pitch up the middle that bounced high on Betancourt, who bobbled the transfer but probably wouldn't have had Gathright anyway (E6, later changed to a single). Lugo chopped the first pitch high to Beltre at third, who winged it over to second, but barely late (the throw nearly hit Gathright in the face). Crawford tapped the second pitch along the right side to Hernandez coming off the mound, who ran it to the bag as the runners advanced into scoring position. Gomes laced the first pitch to Ibañez in left, and Gathright tagged and scored easily.
»» MARINERS 2, DEVIL RAYS 1
Huff watched the second pitch as Lugo nabbed third without a throw. Huff later bounced out to first (3-1 putout). Hernandez threw nine pitches and had 42 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Lopez popped the second pitch to shallow right. Ibañez grounded the 3-1 pitch hard to first. Sexson rolled the first pitch to third for what should have been a groundout, but Huff airmailed the throw and it reached the camera well as Sexson was awarded second. Everett was ahead 2-0 and wound up popping high to first on a full count. Waechter threw 14 pitches and had 46 through three.
TOP 4TH
Wigginton popped a 1-2 pitch high to third. Hall flew out to center on the second pitch. Lee shot the second pitch through the right side for a single. Branyan fell behind 0-2 and waved at a 2-2 curve. Hernandez threw 14 pitches and had 56 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Beltre flew out high to left on the second pitch. Johjima worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Reed took a 2-2 pitch to deep center, just short of the track. Betancourt poked the first pitch past the reach of Lugo and into leftfield for a single, moving Johjima to second. Ichiro rolled the first pitch up the middle for a single, scoring Johjima and moving Betancourt to second.
»» MARINERS 3, DEVIL RAYS 1
Lopez rolled over the first pitch to short for a 6-4 forceout. Waechter threw 16 pitches and had 62 through four.
TOP 5TH
Gathright chopped to short to Betancourt, who threw hard to first and beat Gathright, but Sexson pulled his foot off the bag, and the error was given to Betancourt, which is total bull. Lugo lined the second pitch off the mound to Lopez, who started the 4-3 double play. Crawford fell behind 0-2 before taking a 1-2 pitch across the plate, belt high. Hernandez threw nine pitches and had 65 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Ibañez popped the second pitch to left. Sexson fell behind 0-2 before rolling over an outside 1-2 pitch to short. Everett busted out the wedge on a 1-2 fly ball that kept carrying until it landed about eight rows back inside the rightfield foul pole.
»» MARINERS 4, DEVIL RAYS 1
Beltre fell behind 0-2 and drove a 1-2 pitch that took Gathright to the track in centerfield, and he leaped to make the catch just short of the wall. Waechter threw 14 pitches and had 76 through five.
TOP 6TH
Gomes rolled up the middle to Lopez, who made the on-time off-balance throw to first. Huff popped the second pitch high to Betancourt in shallow left. Wigginton worked an 0-2 count for a walk. Hall grounded to short on the second pitch for a 6-4 forceout. Hernandez threw 14 pitches and had 79 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Johjima looped the second pitch to shallow center where Gathright broke hard inward, but slowed up to a trot and caught it easily because he's gazelle-fast. Reed poked the first pitch up the middle for a single, which hopefully earned him more playing time than three at-bats over the next week. Betancourt flew out to Crawford near the leftfield corner on the second pitch. Ichiro watched the first pitch go by as Reed was gunned down trying to steal second. Waechter threw six pitches and had 82 through six.
TOP 7TH
Lee reached the wall in the gap in leftcenter on a 1-2 pitch for a double. Branyan whiffed on a 2-2 tailing fastball over the outer half. Gathright checked his swing on an 0-2 pitch, but couldn't quite do it on the next. Lugo bounced a 2-0 pitch to short. Hernandez threw 16 pitches and had 95 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Ichiro grounded an 0-2 pitch just past the reach of a diving Wigginton in the right-side hole. Lopez bunted the first pitch down the first-base line to move Ichiro to second. Ibañez popped the first pitch to center, but Ichiro held at second. Sexson whiffed on a 1-2 belt-high fastball over the plate. Waechter threw ten pitches and had 92 through seven.
TOP 8TH
Crawford fouled off a few 2-2 pitches before taking a fastball that came back over the inside corner. Gomes fell behind 0-2 before whiffing on a 1-2 curve.
George Sherrill came in for Hernandez. Huff walked on four pitches.
Rafael Soriano came in for Sherrill, a.k.a. Mike Hargrove's new Paul Assenmacher. Wigginton popped the first pitch to Reed in center. Soriano threw one pitch.
Hernandez' line: 7 2/3 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, 108 pitches (68 strikes)
Sherrill's line: 0 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 4 pitches (0 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Everett lined the first pitch into centerfield and Gathright nearly came up with the diving grab but shorthopped it as Everett got the single. Beltre laced a single into left, moving Everett to second. Pitching coach Mike Butcher again visited the mound. Johjima took the first pitch to the body armor on the left elbow.
Brian Meadows came in for Waechter. Reed chopped an 0-2 pitch high to a drawn-in Lee, who threw straight home to force out Everett. Betancourt hit the second pitch for a shallow fly into centerfield that Gathright tried to dive for and he had it go just under his glove and past. Beltre scored and the bases remained loaded.
»» MARINERS 5, DEVIL RAYS 1
Ichiro got ahead 3-1 before lining a full-count single over a drawn-in infield and into rightfield to score Johjima and keep the bases loaded.
»» MARINERS 6, DEVIL RAYS 1
Lopez lined the first pitch into rightfield for a single, scoring Reed and Betancourt, who scored about ten feet apart. Ichiro moved to second.
»» MARINERS 8, DEVIL RAYS 1
Ibañez grounded the second pitch hard to short, where Lugo made a nice backhanded grab and started a 6-4-3 double play. Meadows threw 14 pitches.
Waechter's line: 7 innings, 7 runs, 11 hits, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, 98 pitches (62 strikes)
Meadows' line: 1 inning, 1 run, 3 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 14 pitches (10 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Hall hit a shallow fly to centerfield on which Reed made a 3/4-extension diving catch that hopefully buys him some more at-bats in the near future. Lee whiffed very late on a 1-2 pitch. Branyan grounded a 1-2 pitch to first.
Soriano's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (10 strikes)
---
Gameball: Ichiro.
He didn't single to lead off the first, but he did three of the four times he got to the plate after that. He went 3-for-5 atop the Seattle lineup and drove in single runs in the fourth and eighth that made it 3-1 and 6-1, respectively. Even better about when Ichiro gets a bunch of hits is all the good it does to the hitters around him. Jose Lopez is leading the team with 26 RBIs for a reason, and that's because Ichiro lately has been Ichiro, but also because the bottom of the lineup has been a lot better than in recent years. In 2003 and before, the Mariners weren't getting a lot of 3-for-4s from the ninth spot in the lineup as they had with Yuniesky Betancourt in this game. The bottom third used to always be sure outs or at least non-hits -- Mike Cameron when he wasn't hitting second, Dan Wilson, and whoever was playing third, or Carlos Guillen before he learned how to hit at the Major League level. If this bottom-of-the-lineup hitting can become consistent, then I'll welcome it with open arms. Same with if the supposed big boppers in the lineup find their groove.
Goat: Raul Ibañez.
Not a hard choice here. When everyone in the Mariner lineup has a hit, but one person has the 0-for-5, chances are I'm going to the give the goat to the 0-for-5. In this game, it was Raul Ibañez, who failed to reach base on a night where the rest of the team pounded out fourteen hits and finally took Doug Waechter to the woodshed three years too late. Thusly, the black hole that usually follows Ibañez in the lineup was instead replaced with a 5-for-11 night from the 4-5-6 hitters in the Mariner lineup in the form of Richie Sexson, Carl Everett, and Adrian Beltre. Still, Ibañez has been so good at the plate that even an 0-for-5 night doesn't sink him below .300. He's now sitting at .302. Oddly, the last time Ibañez was below .300 wasn't that long ago. He was at .286 after the April 29th game in Baltimore, another 0-for-5 after he'd gone 0-for-4 the night before. Two games into this series against Tampa Bay, Ibañez is 0-for-7 (he went 0-for-2 in the first game). Ibañez apparently hasn't gotten the memo the rest of the lineup has -- you're facing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, so it's okay to hit baseballs and run the bases and stuff.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 26-9 .743 -- W3
2002 25-10 .714 1 W3
2003 22-13 .629 4 W1
2000 18-17 .514 8 L1
2006 15-20 .429 11 W2
2005 14-21 .400 12 W1
2004 12-23 .343 14 L6
After going through a stretch where they lost five of six, the Mariners have now won three of four. That's good stuff. They've opened up a three-game lead on the 2004 Mariners, which is good. You want to be as far away from that team as possible. They've got a one-game lead on last year's team, which is good. On the other hand, we all remember how brutal last year's team was in May. The amazing thing is that the 2000 team was only one game above .500 at this point. Of course, they reeled off five of the next six. They went 74-55 after the 17-16 start. So goes the completely unnecessary trip to the earlier reaches of the decade.
Of course, the other thing to talk about when it comes to this game is the second-best (some will argue best) start of the year turned in by Felix Hernandez. He didn't have the easiest time early on, but settled in and went deep into the game. As is usual with Mike Hargrove, he left Hernandez in for longer than I would have, since they're supposedly handling him with kid gloves and everything. Even if it would have only been one out and a couple more pitches, I was glad Hargrove didn't pull Hernandez any later than he did. I thought he was going to leave him in and was pleasantly surprised when I arose from cooking dinner and looked back to see Hernandez leave to an ovation from the raucous crowd of 19726. What got me about the start by Felix was that halfway through I looked at the in-game boxscore and saw he didn't have that many strikeouts. He eventually got the hook, and I looked at the boxscore again and was really surprised he'd struck out eight hitters. Sure, he's a strikeout pitcher, but I guess they must have become commonplace or something. When the Sonics play, some people say Ray Allen is the kind of player who does his thing during the game, then you look at the boxscore and see "whoa, he scored 35?" Felix had a quiet eight strikeouts in this game, or so I think.
Jeremy Reed managed to get into the lineup for the first time since April 30th. He singled in the sixth, which was good to see considering his plate woes so far this season. He got nailed at second, which wasn't good. The crown jewel of the night, though, was the diving catch to rob Toby Hall leading off the ninth. That was top-notch stuff. I know I've made it clear on other points here, but it makes me irate that playing time is being taken away from Jeremy Reed. You can't keep rolling with a guy hitting under .200, sure, but throw Lawton in there a game, put Reed in, maybe Bloomquist once in a while, but don't take a freakin' week of playing time and at-bats away from Jeremy Reed. At first it was just hitting against lefties, but now it's just hitting day to day -- how the hell is he going to learn how to deal with the ebbs and flows of baseball if he's not playing? What really chaps my hide is that Hargrove and the broadcast crew seem to have an elephant's memory when Willie Bloomquist does anything remotely good, then when Reed makes a diving catch or gets a nice hit, it's swept under the rug. In conclusion, I can't wait to see Reed hit again, but it'll probably be another week.
The Mariners have road series in Anaheim this weekend and Oakland in the middle of next week. Very oddly, the Mariners have tomorrow and Monday off. If only every series were sandwiched between off days. Of course, a 162-game schedule would take like over 300 days or something.
Kazmir. Moyer. Today.
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