Sunday, May 14, 2006
GAME 39: MARINERS 9, ANGELS 4
In 25 words or less: Another Mariner homer barrage combines with a bullpen-saving effort by some new blood.
This one featured Gil Meche going up against Jeff Weaver. It also featured some players using pink bats, all part of breast cancer awareness for Mother's Day. According to Rex Hudler on the KCOP-13 Anaheim feed, Weaver's mother was in attendance for this game. Before the game, Bobby Livingston was sent back to Tacoma and Emiliano Fruto was called to the bigs to take his spot in the bullpen. Julio Mateo is set to come off the disabled list soon, and it's either going to be Fruto or Sean Green getting sent back to the minors. Green is five years older than Fruto, which may figure into things. But there was still this game to play. Could the Mariners take two of three in Anaheim?
TOP 1ST
Ichiro grounded hard to first. Jose Lopez rode a 1-2 pitch to the gap and wall in leftcenter for his eighth double of the season. Raul Ibañez lasered a 2-2 pitch, a rope that got over the rightfield scoreboard in a hurry, about five rows back. That's the fourth homer of the season for Ibañez.
»» MARINERS 2, ANGELS 0
Richie Sexson cranked the second pitch on a line right to Figgins at third, who caught the ball above his foot. Carl Everett fell behind 0-2 and bounced a 2-2 pitch up the middle to the shortstop moving over. Weaver threw 20 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Chone Figgins took an 0-2 breaking ball that nearly hit him in the knee before popping to center on a 1-2 pitch. Orlando Cabrera got ahead 3-1 and rolled a full-count pitch to Betancourt at short, who uncharacteristically had it go off the heel of his glove. That's a lot of errors in a short amount of time for Betancourt. Vladimir Guerrero bounced a 1-2 pitch to second, too slow to turn the double play as Cabrera moved to second. Garret Anderson walked on a full-count pitch down and away. Juan Rivera popped the second pitch in foul ground on the left side, where Beltre fought the sun and made the catch. Meche threw 24 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Adrian Beltre took a 2-2 pitch off the side of his left hand, though Weaver thought it hit the knob of the bat. Nonetheless, Beltre was given first base. Kenji Johjima rolled an 0-2 pitch up the middle which turned into a crazy double play, Cabrera shoveled with his glove to Kennedy covering second, who caught the ball with his bare hand and threw in time to first. Jeremy Reed flew out to fairly deep left on the first pitch. Weaver threw nine pitches and had 29 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Adam Kennedy got ahead 2-0 then flew out on a full count to Ibañez making a sliding catch in left. Dallas McPherson whiffed on an 0-2 curve in the dirt that went off Johjima's left elbow and got away from him toward the third-base dugout, but he went back, set his feet, and spun to throw off-balance to first barely in time. Mike Napoli hit a liner near the leftfield corner, where Ibañez fielded it and Napoli just beat the throw for a double. Tommy Murphy took an 0-2 hammer from Meche for strike three. Meche threw 20 pitches and had 44 through two.
TOP 3RD
Yuniesky Betancourt popped a 2-0 pitch high to Figgins on the infield grass. Ichiro dug a single into centerfield on the second pitch. Lopez drove a 3-iron four rows into the leftfield seats on the first pitch.
»» MARINERS 4, ANGELS 0
Ibañez had the hitters' counts and rode the 3-1 pitch to Murphy in centerfield, who caught it at the wall as Ibañez missed a homer by about a foot. Sexson lined the first pitch right into Figgins' glove again. Weaver threw 12 pitches and had 41 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Figgins was ahead 2-0 before poking a 2-2 pitch up the middle for a single. Cabrera walked on four pitches to move Figgins to second and bring Johjima to the mound. Guerrero ripped the second pitch off the mound and over a leaping Lopez' head for a single, scoring Figgins and moving Cabrera to third rather than resulting in a double play.
»» MARINERS 4, ANGELS 1
Anderson rolled to second for a 4-6 forceout of Guerrero, but it was hit a bit too slow for the double play as Cabrera scored.
»» MARINERS 4, ANGELS 2
Rivera got ahead 3-1 and drove a full-count pitch to rightcenter, where Reed had a long way to run before reaching up to make the catch and taking an upper body full of wall as Anderson hurried back to first. Kennedy golfed the second pitch four rows above the rightfield scoreboard to tie the game, telling us what we already know -- Meche is terrible.
»» ANGELS 4, MARINERS 4
McPherson was ahead 2-0 before popping to right. Meche threw 22 pitches and had 66 through three.
TOP 4TH
Everett golfed the first pitch into the open area over the rightfield fence between the bleachers and the seats down the line, probably where they keep the rolling batting cage.
»» MARINERS 5, ANGELS 4
Beltre spanked the second pitch into leftfield for a single. Pitching coach Bud Black came out to the mound for a visit. Johjima chopped a 1-2 pitch to short to move Beltre to second. Reed had a 3-1 count before whiffing over a curve in the dirt. Betancourt got ahead 2-0 and later lined a pitch into the leftfield tunnel.
»» MARINERS 7, ANGELS 4
Kevin Gregg came in for Weaver. Ichiro knocked a ball up the middle that Gregg reached back for and got the glove on, but none of the other infielders had time to make a play on it. Lopez lined out to right. Gregg threw seven pitches.
Weaver's line: 3 2/3 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 59 pitches (38 strikes)
BOTTOM 4TH
Napoli singled past a diving Beltre into leftfield. Murphy was ahead 2-0 and flew out to Ichiro in rightcenter. Figgins took a 1-2 curve over the outside corner, a flash of brilliance from Meche. Cabrera fell behind 0-2 before whiffing on a 1-2 pitch out of the zone, down and away. Meche threw another 22 pitches and had 88 through four.
TOP 5TH
Ibañez popped a 2-0 pitch to left. Sexson took a 1-2 fastball barely over the outside corner. Everett was ahead 2-0 before singling past the reach of Kennedy into centerfield for a single. Beltre took the third pitch and it got away from Napoli (wild pitch), moving Everett to second. Beltre ended up cranking a full-count pitch, but it was just short of the track and hauled in by Murphy in center. Gregg threw 21 pitches and had 28 total.
BOTTOM 5TH
Guerrero got the hitters' counts before walking (really) on a 3-1 pitch up and in. Anderson whiffed on a 1-2 mother of a curve. Rivera dumped a ball into shallow center, where Betancourt came down with it. Kennedy rolled a 1-2 pitch to second. Meche threw 19 pitches and had 107 through five.
TOP 6TH
Johjima smacked the first pitch into rightfield for a single. Reed fisted a 1-2 pitch to second for a 4-6 forceout of Johjima. Betancourt watched with a 1-0 count as Reed was picked off of first. Betancourt later popped to Guerrero in shallow rightcenter.
Gregg's line: 2 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 37 pitches (22 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
McPherson was ahead 2-0 before lining a single into right. Napoli took the second pitch off his left forearm or hand, moving McPherson to second. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves came to the mound for a visit. Murphy drove the second pitch toward the leftcenter gap, but Reed came away with it, making a diving catch, fully extended, probably saving a couple of runs. McPherson tagged and went to third.
Emiliano Fruto, making his Major League debut and wearing number 53 on his back, came in for Meche. Figgins nubbed back to the mound, where Fruto started the 1-6-3 double play. Fruto threw three pitches.
Meche's line: 5 1/3 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, 116 pitches (67 strikes)
TOP 7TH
JC Romero came in for Gregg. Ichiro had the hitters' counts before walking on a 3-1 pitch inside. Lopez poked a 1-2 pitch through the right side for a single as Ichiro drew a throw to third from Guerrero, who had no chance to get Ichiro. Then Figgins threw to second, where he threw into Lopez running into second, and it went off him and into centerfield (error). The hectic play ended with both Ichiro and Lopez coming around to score.
»» MARINERS 9, ANGELS 4
Ibañez popped the first pitch high on the infield, where McPherson fought the sun and came up with it. Sexson whiffed on a 2-2 breaking ball in the dirt. Everett flew out to center on an 0-2 pitch. Romero threw 18 pitches.
Romero's line: 1 inning, 2 runs (unearned), 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 18 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Cabrera fell behind 0-2 and rolled a 1-2 pitch up the middle and Betancourt ranged to his left, spun, and threw in time to first as he fell to the ground with the momentum. Guerrero popped a 2-2 pitch to Betancourt in foul ground down the leftfield line. Robb Quinlan, hitting for Anderson, bounced the second pitch to second. Fruto threw 12 pitches and had 15 total.
TOP 8TH
Esteban Yan came in for Romero. Beltre was ahead 2-0 and ended up popping to McPherson in foul ground on the right side, where he had to avoid Mariner first-base Mike Goff while fighting the sun. Johjima was ahead 2-0 before grounding hard to first on a full count. Reed failed to hold a checkswing on an 0-2 breaking ball in the dirt. Yan threw 13 pitches.
BOTTOM 8TH
Rivera popped high to shallow center. Kennedy fell behind 0-2 before dropping a 1-2 single into shallow center. McPherson whiffed on the first pitch and his bat flew into the stands. On the next pitch, he bounced to Fruto near the first-base line, who tossed to Sexson as Kennedy moved to second. Napoli rolled the first pitch to third. Fruto threw ten pitches and had 25 total.
TOP 9TH
Betancourt popped the second pitch to Cabrera in shallow left. Ichiro fell behind 0-2 and rolled a 1-2 pitch to short, where Cabrera hurried and closed the glove too early. That'll happen when Ichiro is the guy who hit the ball, and he got aboard on the error. Lopez flew out to right on a 2-2 pitch. Ibañez fell behind 0-2 and chopped a 1-2 pitch up the middle to Kennedy, who stepped on the second-base bag for the force. Yan threw 19 pitches and had 32 total.
Yan's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 32 pitches (23 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Murphy walked on a full-count high pitch. Figgins watched as Murphy took second without a throw. Figgins rolled a 2-2 pitch to first, moving Murphy to third. Cabrera lined the first pitch into the glove of Lopez on the rightfield grass as Murphy held at third. Guerrero lined the first pitch to left.
Fruto's line: 3 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 38 pitches (26 strikes)
---
Gameball: Emiliano Fruto.
What a first day in the Majors for this guy, huh? The Mariner bullpen had just worked 7 1/3 innings in the extra-inning affair the night before and had worked 12 1/3 innings in the first two games of the series combined. After Meche couldn't get through the sixth inning, it appeared the bullpen would indeed be in dire straits once again. However, it appeared Mike Hargrove's ace in the hole was the 21-year-old Fruto, and he was quite good on this day. Fruto threw 3 2/3 innings to give the rest of the bullpen a much-needed day of rest which will combine with Monday's off day to get the Seattle relief arms doubly rested for three in Oakland mid-week. The Fruto appearance wasn't the only important first -- the matchup of Fruto against Orlando Cabrera marked the first all-Colombian hitter/pitcher matchup in Major League history. Though not as big a thing as the World Baseball Classic in March, little things such as this help grow the game. Growing the game is good. For Fruto, his arm might not be used again until Wednesday, but he was much needed in this game. I know it's just one appearance, but it looks like they can toss him into the Julio Mateo role. Of course, Mateo will be coming off the disabled list soon...
Goat: Gil Meche.
Originally I was going to go with Richie Sexson for this on account of his 0-for-4 day with two strikeouts. Sexson strikes out, that's part of his game. The two balls he actually got in play were absolutely scorched even if they were hit right at Chone Figgins at third. Jeremy Reed went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts as well, but more than made up for that with his defense, so there was no way I was going to put him here. Thus, though he struggled and still got the win, it's another bewildering and inefficient start for Gil Meche. The fifth was Meche's only full inning in which he threw less than twenty pitches. He got hit around and coughed up a four-run lead in the third and was fortunate that all the runs were in as the bottom of the lineup came to the plate. The worst thing he did in that inning was walk Orlando Cabrera on four pitches to put two on with nobody out. After that, he got a couple of ground balls, but the bounces were unfortunate -- one skipped off the mound and would have been a double play on the Vladimir Guerrero grounder, the other was the Garret Anderson grounder that wasn't fast enough. The walk compounded the lack of luck. Jeremy Reed made the nice catch in rightcenter to possibly save a run before Kennedy drove it in anyway with the homer. Anyway, I long for the day Meche gets into the seventh with every start. A guy can dream, can't he?
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 30-9 .769 -- W7
2002 27-12 .692 3 W1
2003 24-15 .615 6 L1
2000 22-17 .564 8 W4
2006 17-22 .436 13 W2
2005 15-24 .385 15 L2
2004 13-26 .333 17 L3
Jeremy Reed and Adrian Beltre homered on Friday. Yuniesky Betancourt, Reed, and Richie Sexson homered yesterday. Raul Ibañez, Jose Lopez, Carl Everett, and Betancourt homered today. Who would have thought we'd be talking about Reed and Betancourt homering twice each in the same weekend series? The Mariners have hit 31 homers this season, and nine of them came in the past three games in this series against the Angels. That's 29% of the homers coming in 7.7% of the games. What does this mean for the Mariners? Who knows what it means going forward? It probably won't mean jack on Tuesday since Joe Blanton will probably toss a three-hit shutout or something. I'd like to see a series where Richie Sexson hits a couple homers and drives in eight runs or thereabouts. With Adrian Beltre, I'd have to expect something smaller...something like Beltre batting .500 in a three-game series would be a baby step, homers or not. It's not just those two that have room to improve, though. Raul Ibañez has a four-game hitting streak, sure, but he's 4-for-20 in that stretch. Since his last multi-hit game, Ibañez is 6-for-35 (.171). While the team has had an offensive warming the last three days, Ibañez hadn't had his batting average drop below .300 in May until this series.
With 39 games gone, the Mariners are very close to the quarter-pole of the 2006 season. Ichiro leads the team in runs scored (27), hits (48), triples (three have 3), and steals (13). Raul Ibañez leads the team in doubles (10) and triples (three with 3). Jose Lopez leads the team in RBIs (28) and total bases (75). Carl Everett leads the team in homers (6) and oddly, walks (17). Unsurprisingly, Ichiro leads all regulars with a .293 batting average and a .356 on-base percentage. Lopez leads the regulars in slugging with a .469 clip.
On the pitching side, Joel Piñeiro has the most wins with a 4-3 record and has the staff's only complete game of the season. He also leads the staff in giving up homers, which he's done eight times. Jarrod Washburn leads the staff in losses and has a 2-5 record, but is averaging about 6 2/3 innings per start. Jamie Moyer leads the starters with a 3.29 ERA (Gil Meche at 4.84). In the bullpen, JJ Putz leads the regulars with a slim 1.83 ERA, with Rafael Soriano not far behind at 2.66. Putz also has an ungodly six walks against 28 strikeouts (4.67:1 BB/K ratio). Soriano is at eight walks with 25 strikeouts (3.13:1). Putz and Eddie Guardado both have four saves, but Putz has saved four of five chances while Guardado is 4-for-7, as we're familiar with. Since I haven't thrown in a dose of Felix Hernandez here yet, I should mention that he leads the team in strikeouts with 43 despite having one less start than the rest of the rotation, and he also leads in hit batters with four.
For sheer recordkeeping purposes, the double play turned in the second inning by Anaheim was the number-one Web Gem on Baseball Tonight, whereas the Jeremy Reed full-extension diving catch was fourth. Bollocks, I say. I hope Mike Hargrove is storing these defensive plays by Reed in his mind somewhere. He's good, Mike. Just give him time. You know you won't be losing runs because he's out there playing defense.
And so it is. An off day coming tomorrow followed by three in Oakland, followed by next weekend hosting the Padres and the road gold uniforms, not to be confused with Rold Gold pretzels that come from the bag and are all nice and salty.
Hernandez. Blanton. Tomorrow.
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