Sunday, May 21, 2006
GAME 45: MARINERS 10, PADRES 8
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: Just when you think you have a gauge on this team after they were swept, they sweep a hot San Diego team.
This one featured Chan Ho Park going up against Felix Hernandez. The Mariners have some history with being Park'd. Park was 5-2 with a 2.45 ERA against the Mariners coming into the game, and Raul Ibañez was batting something like .056 against him before today.
TOP 1ST
Dave Roberts was ahead 3-0 before taking a low change on a full count for a walk. Mike Cameron bounced the first pitch to Beltre at the bag at third, who couldn't get a hold of the ball soon enough, so he only got the sure out at first as Roberts went to second. Brian Giles slapped a single over Betancourt and into leftfield to score Roberts.
»» PADRES 1, MARINERS 0
Mike Piazza whiffed over an 0-2 low fastball. Khalil Greene fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 2-2 fastball down and away. Hernandez threw 17 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro rolled the second pitch to Barfield, who had Ichiro by a mile but threw wide of first toward the first-base dugout, enabling Ichiro to take second. Jose Lopez one-hopped right to Park on the mound, who ran right at Ichiro, who was hung up between second and third and couldn't stay in the rundown long enough to move Lopez to second. Raul Ibañez was ahead 3-1 before flying out to left on a full count. Richie Sexson whiffed on a 1-2 slider low and away. Park threw 14 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Josh Bard blistered the first pitch right into Ichiro's glove. Geoff Blum doubled a 2-0 pitch to the wall in rightcenter. Adrian Gonzalez fell behind 0-2 before tapping a 1-2 pitch along the right side to Hernandez, who tossed to first as Blum went to third. Josh Barfield nubbed a 2-0 pitch to Hernandez and met the same fate as Gonzalez before him. Hernandez threw 12 pitches and had 29 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Carl Everett shot a 1-2 pitch past Barfield's reach through the right side for a single. Adrian Beltre poked a second-pitch single into center, moving Everett to second. Kenji Johjima slapped the second pitch into right, scoring Everett and moving Beltre to second.
»» PADRES 1, MARINERS 1
Jeremy Reed smacked the first pitch toward the leftcenter gap for a single, scoring Beltre and moving Johjima to third.
»» MARINERS 2, PADRES 1
Yuniesky Betancourt squeeze-bunted the first pitch in front of the plate, scoring Johjima and moving Reed to second, and Betancourt reached first after Park couldn't get a hold of the ball. The scoring went as a sacrifice fielder's choice.
»» MARINERS 3, PADRES 1
Ichiro evaded a 2-0 pitch inside and checked his swing, but the appeal to third said otherwise. Nonetheless, Ichiro rolled the next pitch into centerfield for a single, scoring Reed and moving Betancourt to second. Ichiro's hitting streak now stands at fifteen games.
»» MARINERS 4, PADRES 1
Lopez looped an 0-2 pitch to Barfield in shallow right as the runners held. Ibañez blasted the second pitch toward the hitters' backdrop beyond the centerfield wall. Betancourt and Ichiro scored ahead of Ibañez.
»» MARINERS 7, PADRES 1
Sexson whiffed on a 1-2 pitch and Niehaus thought for a second it was the final out of the inning. Everett was ahead 2-0 and ended up crushing a 2-2 pitch into the seats in rightcenter.
»» MARINERS 8, PADRES 1
Beltre fell behind 0-2 and later grounded to short on a 1-2 pitch. Park threw 33 pitches and had 47 through two.
TOP 3RD
Roberts had the hitters' counts before walking on a 3-1 pitch up and away. Cameron got ahead 2-0 and Johjima visited the mound. Cameron ended up flying out to Sexson in foul ground on the right side. Giles fell behind 0-2 and took a 2-2 pitch in the dirt and spun off the mound oddly toward the first-base side, possibly reaching for the hamstring as the trainers came out. Hernandez stayed in the game. Giles ended up taking a full-count pitch in the dirt for a walk, moving Roberts to second. Piazza took the first pitch in the dirt as pitching coach Rafael Chaves came to the mound. Piazza was ahead 3-0 and ended up poking a full-count pitch into right for a single to score Roberts and move Giles to third.
»» MARINERS 8, PADRES 2
Greene whiffed on a 2-2 change down and away. Bard drilled the second pitch into right for a single, scoring Giles and moving Piazza to second.
»» MARINERS 8, PADRES 3
Blum popped the first pitch to Reed running in from center. Hernandez threw 33 pitches and had 62 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Johjima had the hitters' counts before pegging a full-count pitch right to Barfield at second. Reed rolled out to second. Betancourt popped an 0-2 pitch to shallow center. Park threw 13 pitches and had 60 through three.
TOP 4TH
Gonzalez lined the first pitch to a leaping Betancourt at short. Barfield rolled over a 3-1 pitch and grounded to third. Roberts grounded an 0-2 pitch hard to second. Hernandez threw eight pitches and had 70 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Ichiro punched a single past the reach of Barfield and into rightcenter. Lopez was ahead 3-0 and flew out to Roberts in leftcenter on the 3-1 pitch. Ibañez took Roberts to the leftcenter track on the second pitch. Sexson took the second pitch in the left tricep, moving Ichiro to second. Everett popped the second pitch high to Blum just foul near the third-base line. Park threw 13 pitches and had 73 through four.
TOP 5TH
Cameron grounded hard to short. Giles rolled out to short. Piazza tapped the second pitch back to the mound, and I think Niehaus called Felix Hernandez by the name of Fernando. Not sure what to think of this. Hernandez threw seven pitches and had 77 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Beltre flew out to Cameron in leftcenter. Johjima lined out to Roberts reaching up and running toward the track in left. Reed fell behind 0-2 and popped a 2-2 pitch to Roberts along the leftfield line. Park threw 12 pitches and had 85 through five.
TOP 6TH
Greene bounced the second pitch to Beltre behind the bag at third. Bard rolled the second pitch to second. Blum fell whiffed on an 0-2 pitch in the dirt that got to the backstop, and Blum reached as Johjima couldn't get the throw to first in time. Gonzalez singled through the mound and into center, moving Blum to second. Barfield took the first pitch off of Johjima's glove and to the backstop (passed ball), moving the runners up 90 feet. Barfield ended up reached down for a 2-2 pitch and Reed died on a do-or-die play by a few inches, allowing Blum and Gonzalez to score. Barfield got a double from it.
»» MARINERS 8, PADRES 5
Roberts chipped the second pitch, a hanging change over the inner half, just over the wall in right. Barfield scored as well.
»» MARINERS 8, PADRES 7
Cameron popped a 2-2 pitch to right, the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Hernandez threw 26 pitches and had 103 through six.
Hernandez' line: 6 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, 103 pitches (65 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Betancourt dumped a 2-2 pitch into shallow center for a single. Ichiro chopped the second pitch along the right side, where Barfield charged and tried to shovel to first with the glove, but it was slow and high as Ichiro reached on the single and Betancourt took second. Lopez, the team's leader in RBIs, bunted along the third-base line on the first pitch to move Ichiro to third and Betancourt to second. Park got a visit from the pitching coach. Ibañez was intentionally walked to load the bases. Sexson was ahead 3-0 before walking on a full-count pitch outside, forcing Betancourt across and keeping the bases loaded.
»» MARINERS 9, PADRES 7
Jon Adkins came in for Park. Everett smacked a ball off of Barfield's glove into right for a single to score Ichiro and move Ibañez and Sexson to third and second.
»» MARINERS 10, PADRES 7
Beltre whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball down and away as only he, Sexson, and Bret Boone can. Johjima rolled the first pitch to second for a 4-6 force of Everett at second. Adkins threw seven pitches.
Park's line: 5 1/3 innings, 10 runs, 10 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 105 pitches (66 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Rafael Soriano came in for Hernandez. Giles lined the second pitch to left. Piazza lined the second pitch out to left as well. Greene bounced the first pitch to third. Soriano threw five pitches.
BOTTOM 7TH
Reed whiffed on a 2-2 pitch up over the outer half. Betancourt took a second pitch up and in and spun away and dropped the bat. Betancourt walked on four pitches. Ichiro slapped a ball to left for a flyout. Lopez flew out high to Gonzalez on the foul side of the first-base line. Adkins threw 16 pitches and had 23 total.
Adkins' line: 1 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 23 pitches (14 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Bard had the hitters' counts before blasting a full-count pitch down and in off the windows of the Hit It Here Cafe.
»» MARINERS 10, PADRES 8
Blum popped the second pitch high to Beltre on the left side. Gonzalez got ahead 2-0 before whiffing on a full-count fastball over the outer half. Barfield was ahead 2-0 before whiffing on a 2-2 fastball. Soriano threw 19 pitches and had 24 total.
Soriano's line: 2 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 24 pitches (15 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Scott Linebrink came in for Adkins. Ibañez fell behind 0-2 and ended up whiffing on a 2-2 fastball. Sexson worked an 0-2 count full before rolling over the full-count pitch and bouncing out to third. Everett grounded the second pitch to first (3-1 putout). Linebrink threw 13 pitches.
Linebrink's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (8 strikes)
TOP 9TH
JJ Putz came in for Soriano. Roberts nubbed the second pitch along the first-base line to Putz coming off the mound, who threw in time to first. Cameron was ahead 3-1 before flying out to right on a full count. Giles popped the first pitch to right.
Putz' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 9 pitches (6 strikes)
---
Gameball: Yuniesky Betancourt.
Make it a nine-game hitting streak during which he's hitting .333 (10-for-30). Today it wasn't necessarily some crazy defensive play that he made or a rare home run. It was the squeeze bunt with first and third and nobody out in the monster second inning. It wasn't the easiest pitch to bunt, but he got it down, and it was so good that Park couldn't come up with it and Betancourt reached. Of course, one look at Betancourt's numbers shows that his on-base percentage really isn't that much higher than his batting average, i.e., he draws barely any walks. He walked only once in April and his only walk of this month came today. By the same token, he's only struck out five times this month and seven last month. He's also 6-for-8 on steal attempts. He's one-third of the bottom third of the lineup that's been mostly very good for the Mariners, and this is really the first time that's happened in quite a while for the Mariners, even at some points when the team was good and the bottom third sucked. The case now is that it's a lineup with a 4-5-6 doughnut hole in it, though Carl Everett had himself a good game.
Goat: Felix Hernandez.
He's Harold Reynolds' just-named AL disappointment at the quarter point on SportsCenter. There's not going to be many games where he can give up seven runs and still get the win. There will be even fewer games in which he'll be handed a seven-run lead and manage to nearly blow it. We all knew Felix would have growing pains, sure. At the end of last year, no one predicted Felix running into a bout with shingles. The shingles definitely robbed him of part of his spring training and made him erratic for some of the start of the season. Or is it longer than that? Might it still be affecting him? I wish I knew. After Park threw 32 pitches in the Mariners' 8-run second inning, Felix did him one better and threw 33 in the next half-inning. However, he set down nine straight Padres after that, and struck out a tenth though the ball got away from Johjima and Blum reached base. It was weird because Felix lsot control of his fastball and starting being able to spot the changeup, which is a bit backward. There were portions of the middle innings in which he was going almost exclusively with that change to get swings and misses. Of course, this would all have been less bad had he gotten the third out sooner in the sixth. He'd retired the first two hitters of the inning before the four-run San Diego rally.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 33-12 .733 -- W1
2002 29-16 .644 4 L4
2003 29-16 .644 4 L1
2000 24-21 .533 9 W1
2006 20-25 .444 13 W3
2005 18-27 .400 15 L2
2004 17-28 .378 16 W3
News flash -- the Angels have lost five straight. The Mariners have won three straight thanks to their first sweep since September 12-14 of last season (home against Anaheim). Oakland has lost their last two and the Rangers lost today. Translation -- the Mariners are 2 1/2 games out of the cellar and three games back of the division lead with a 20-24 Baltimore team coming in for four games. They're closely matched in record, anyway.
Bedard. Moyer. Tomorrow.
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