Friday, May 19, 2006
GAME 42: ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 3
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: The A's performed some spring cleaning, but if this doesn't change soon, the brooms might come to Seattle for the manager's and general manager's offices.
This one featured Joel Piñeiro going up against Kirk Saarloos. Piñeiro shaved his beard. Adrian Beltre sat out with a hamstring injury. The Mariners hoped to not get swept. I remember the days of my youth when the Mariners were terrible and especially terrible in Oakland. Then the Mariners were good for a few years and they were able to slay a lot of demons in Oakland and actually did kind of well. It's come full circle though, as Oakland again has become a house of horrors.
TOP 1ST
Ichiro fell behind 0-2 before shooting a single through the left side on a full count. Jose Lopez watched as Ichiro beat a throw and stole second. Lopez bunted the next pitch in front of the plate, where Melhuse threw to first and Ichiro scooted to third. There was a bit of a spat with Ken Macha arguing that Lopez ran inside the line on the bunt, though the ball did not hit him on the play. The umpires talked it over but the play stood. A reversal would have resulted in Ichiro moving back to second. Raul Ibañez chopped to first, where he was tagged going down the line as Ichiro scored.
»» MARINERS 1, ATHLETICS 0
Richie Sexson bounced an 0-2 pitch to short. Saarloos threw 18 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Mark Ellis rolled a 2-2 pitch to second. Nick Swisher chipped the second pitch into shallow rightcenter for a single. Mark Kotsay was ahead 3-0 and wound up slapped the 3-1 pitch into the leftfield corner for a double, and Swisher scored from first.
»» ATHLETICS 1, MARINERS 1
Piñeiro and Johjima had a mound meeting with the count 1-1 on Eric Chavez, who worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Frank Thomas was ahead 3-0 and took a 3-1 pitch down and in. Bobby Crosby spanked a not-low-enough 0-2 pitch into center for a single, scoring Kotsay and Chavez and moving Thomas to second. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves came to the mound for a visit.
»» ATHLETICS 3, MARINERS 1
Jay Payton, who had torn up Mariner pitching in the first two games of the series, popped the second pitch to left. Adam Melhuse served the second pitch into Betancourt's glove at short. Piñeiro threw 32 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Carl Everett chopped up the middle to Ellis, who was moving away from first and threw wide and late, giving Everett the single. Kenji Johjima grounded the second pitch hard along the third-base line to Chavez, who made a diving stop, got up, and threw in time to first as Everett moved to second. Jeremy Reed grounded the second pitch off Saarloos' leg, and it was picked up by Ellis, who hurried over and made the throw in time to first. Everett went to third on the play. Willie Bloomquist popped to shallow right. Saarloos threw nine pitches and had 27 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Dan Johnson doubled to the wall down the rightfield line. Ellis chopped the second pitch high over the mound to Lopez, who was able to get the throw over to first in time as Johnson moved to third. Swisher popped a letter-high 0-2 pitch high to center, and Johnson tagged and scored.
»» ATHLETICS 4, MARINERS 1
Kotsay bounced out to second. Piñeiro threw 12 pitches and had 44 through two.
TOP 3RD
Yuniesky Betancourt rolled a ball in the hole on the left side and Crosby would have had to hurry to get a throw, but he could never get a handle on it and it went as a single. Ichiro blazed the first pitch right at Johnson at first, where it went off of Johnson's glove and into foul territory, where he got to it and tried to take it back to the bag before Ichiro got there, but he tripped up and crawled to first and had Ichiro beat, but he bobbled the ball as Betancourt went to second. Lopez chopped to short on the second pitch, nearly resulting in a 6-4-3 double play, but Lopez beat it out as Betancourt went to third. Ibañez bounced to second to start a 4-6-3 double play. Saarloos threw eight pitches and had 35 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Chavez shot a ball up the middle past the mound and into center for a single. Thomas blasted a 1-2 pitch up the middle that nearly took off Piñeiro's head, but Lopez got to it (he was shifted) and underhanded forward to Betancourt going to the bag to start the 4-6-3 double play. Crosby lined the second pitch to Ichiro, but it wasn't ruled a sheostring catch as the hop was evidently miniscule (hard to tell with strictly DiamondVision television coverage). Payton popped an 0-2 pitch to shallow left. Piñeiro threw 13 pitches and had 57 through three.
TOP 4TH
Sexson punched a 2-2 pitch through the right side for a single. Everett scorched a 2-2 pitch into rightfield, but Payton ran it down toward the line for the out. Johjima had the hitters' counts before walking on a 3-1 pitch off the outside corner for a walk, moving Everett to second. Reed popped an 0-2 pitch to fairly deep center, allowing Sexson to move to third. Bloomquist grounded the second pitch to short for a 6-4 force of Johjima. Saarloos threw 20 pitches and had 55 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Melhuse fell behind 0-2 before rolling a 1-2 pitch to second. Johnson popped the first pitch to left. Ellis took a 1-2 curve over the outside corner. Piñeiro threw ten pitches and had 67 through four.
TOP 5TH
Betancourt fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball down and in. Ichiro dug a 2-2 pitch off the ground and put it up the middle for a single. Lopez grounded the first pitch hard to short, where Crosby threw in time to second, but Ellis hopped in the air to avoid the Ichiro slide and threw very wide to first (error), and Lopez scooted to second. Ibañez whiffed over a 2-2 breaking ball. Saarloos threw 15 pitches and had 70 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Swisher was nailed in the right shoulder blade with a fastball. Kotsay bounced a ball up the middle where Lopez got to it beside second and quickly backhand tossed to Betancourt at the bag, who muffed it as what could have been a double play was instead a no play. Chavez cranked the first pitch just barely foul outside the rightfield foul pole. Chavez ended up chopping to first (3-1 putout) to move Swisher to third and Kotsay to second. Thomas dumped the second pitch into shallow right near the line for a single (Ichiro was positioned for the pull), allowing Swisher and Kotsay to score.
»» ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 1
Crosby popped the first pitch to Ibañez on the leftfield track. Payton worked a 1-2 count full before chopping to Lopez near the bag at second, who tagged Thomas coming toward second. Piñeiro threw 20 pitches and had 87 through five.
TOP 6TH
Sexson bounced the first pitch to third. Everett grounded to second. Johjima lined a single into right on the second pitch. Reed grounded the second pitch to second. Saarloos threw eight pitches and had 78 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Melhuse had the hitters' counts before popping out to left on a 3-1 pitch. Johnson was robbed on a line drive into left as Ibañez made a nice running catch heading away from the field on the track. Ellis was nicked on an arm on a 2-2 pitch. Swisher whiffed through a 2-0 pitch as Ellis nabbed second. Swisher ended up bouncing out to second. Piñeiro threw 19 pitches.
Piñeiro's line: 6 innings, 6 runs (5 earned), 7 hits, 2 walks, 1 strikeout, 106 pitches (66 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Bloomquist popped the first pitch to Swisher in leftcenter. Betancourt had the hitters' counts before bouncing a 3-1 pitch to Crosby, who had it roll through him (probably up his arm) for an error. Ichiro bounced the second pitch softly to Ellis on the right side, whose only play was to first as Betancourt advanced to second. Lopez grounded through the mound and up the middle past a diving Ellis and into centerfield for a single to score Betancourt.
»» ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 2
Randy Keisler came in for Saarloos. Ibañez popped to Kotsay, who charged in and made the running catch. Keisler threw three pitches.
Saarloos' line: 6 2/3 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), 8 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 89 pitches (58 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Eddie Guardado came in for Piñeiro. Kotsay went for the second pitch and was was victim to a nice running basket catch by Ichiro in shallow right. Chavez grounded the first pitch hard to third. Thomas whiffed on a 2-2 pitch.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 8 pitches (5 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Sexson was ahead 3-1 before whiffing on a full-count pitch down and away. Everett was ahead 3-0 before finally walking on a low full-count pitch.
Steve Karsay came in for Keisler. Johjima grounded the first pitch hard to short to start the timely 6-4-3 double play. Karsay threw one pitch.
Keisler's line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 15 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Rafael Soriano came in for Guardado. Crosby grounded hard to short. Payton popped to left on a 2-2 pitch. Melhuse hit a liner for a nice running catch by Ibañez going toward the leftfield line.
Soriano's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 12 pitches (7 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Reed just missed a double into the leftfield corner before grounding a 2-2 pitch to Johnson behind the bag at first. Bloomquist took a 1-2 pitch off the left arm or hand somewhere. Betancourt popped an 0-2 pitch to Ellis on the outfield grass. Ichiro took the first pitch and Bloomquist stole second. On the next pitch, Ichiro singled near the leftfield corner to score Bloomquist.
»» ATHLETICS 6, MARINERS 3
Huston Street came in for Karsay. Lopez flew out high to left.
Karsay's line: 1 1/3 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 16 pitches (12 strikes)
Street's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 4 pitches (2 strikes)
---
Gameball: Eddie Guardado.
I'm trying to go the non-obvious route here. I do look at the boxscores and my notes before I put these parts together, so I do know that Ichiro went 4-for-5. On a day when Ichiro collected four of the nine Mariners hits (all singles), I've decided to go with Guardado, who didn't let the game get further out of control in the seventh, which was good for him. It was 6-2 when he came in to pitch, and it was the same score after he left. Not a save opportunity for sure, but he needs baby steps for when this team gets the lead in the ninth again, which seems to come around as often as Halley's Comet. Ever since the last-straw blown save on May 3 at Chicago, Guardado has gone five games (innings as well) without giving up a run. He's struck out four and walked one over that span, yielding two hits. I wish I could jump to fun conclusions like saying this team will be a ton better when Guardado gets on track, but even if it happens, the bullpen isn't to blame for the entire last turn through the rotation -- every starting pitcher since the Moyer balk game has been terrible to the point where the opposing offense has put up a bunch of runs before the game gets into the bullpen. This entire Oakland series was crap in that respect -- they were down 6-0 and 7-0 in the first two games before they scored a run, and when they scored in the first inning of this game, Piñeiro turned around and gave up three runs right away in the bottom half. I should note the Mariners were outscored 25-11 in this sweep.
Goat: Joel Piñeiro.
He's the one who started this crappy-starting-pitching mess last Friday to open the Anaheim series. The Mariners started out this game by scratching out a run in the first inning for their first lead of the entire series and first lead since winning the game last Sunday, which seems like about three years ago. They took two of three in that series, though the Mariners won in spite of Gil Meche in the Sunday game and Jarrod Washburn was far from efficient and got hit around in the Saturday game before the Mariners pulled it out in extras. The Mariners had no such luck in this series. Back to this game, though, the Mariners got their first-inning run and Piñeiro followed it up with groundout, single, RBI double, walk, walk, two-run double, flyout, lineout. Eight hitters, two singles, a double, two walks, a groundout, and two flyouts. Terrible. End result -- a one-run lead turns into a two-run deficit and the starting pitcher just threw 32 pitches in his best Gil Meche impersonation and/or out-of-body experience. I'll end this by pointing out that Piñeiro had a 3.72 ERA after his two starts that got him the AL Player of the Week award. Two starts (nine innings) later, he's at 4.91.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 31-11 .738 -- L2
2002 29-13 .690 2 L1
2003 27-15 .643 4 W3
2000 23-19 .548 8 L1
2005 17-25 .405 14 W1
2006 17-25 .405 14 L3
2004 14-28 .333 17 L2
Young. Washburn. Tonight.
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