Saturday, July 01, 2006
GAME 81: ROCKIES 2, MARINERS 0
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: I watched the game on archived video, so in reality it was a quick one while I was away.
This one featured Josh Fogg going up against Jamie Moyer. It was also the return of Yorvit Torrealba to Seattle, this time as a Rocky. Big ovations for him, I'm sure. The game was so quick and the Mariners offensively did nothing to win the game, leaving me to try to work Who references into the 25 Words. Even worse is the fact that although it was only a game that lasted one hour and fifty-two minutes to begin with, I go to MLB.tv to watch the game, and it starts with Brad Hawpe flying out to center for the final out of the second inning. Depending on what was airing before the Mariner game on FSN or whatever Mariners' network affiliate from whom they carried the graphicless feed, I don't know who to blame for it. If it's something that ran into the start of the broadcast, great, but if it's MLB.tv just plain screwing me out of the first inning and a half of the ballgame, then I'm a bit miffed. Thusly, for the first inning and change before that Hawpe out, I had to basically go with the text play-by-play. Boo.
TOP 1ST
Jamey Carroll fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 pitch. Cint Barmes got the hitters' counts and walked on a full count. Todd Helton had the hitters' counts and walked on a 3-1 pitch, moving Barmes to second. Matt Holliday tapped the first pitch back to the mound to start a 1-4-3 double play. Moyer threw 18 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro lined out to left on the second pitch. Adrian Beltre lined a single to left on the second pitch. Jose Lopez grounded the second pitch to second to start a 4-6-3 double play. Fogg threw six pitches.
TOP 2ND
Garrett Atkins was up 3-1 and singled into center on a full count. Ryan Spilborghs grounded to third on a 2-2 pitch to start a 5-4-3 double play. Brad Hawpe fell behind 0-2 and flew out to deep center on a 1-2 pitch. Moyer threw 19 pitches and had 37 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Raul Ibañez grounded a full-count pitch to short, where Barmes bobbled it, but still had enough time to throw Ibañez out at first. Richie Sexson chopped softly to the left side, where Atkins charged in from third and made the play to first. Carl Everett popped the 2-2 pitch to Atkins near the camera well on the left side. Fogg threw 14 pitches and had 20 through two.
TOP 3RD
Yorvit Torrealba chopped out to third. Choo Freeman fell behind 0-2 and ended up flying out to shallow right on a 1-2 pitch, though it was caught over the shoulder by Lopez, who had Ichiro and Sexson converging on the ball as well. Carroll got ahead 2-0 but ended up taking the 2-2 pitch over the inside corner. Moyer threw 13 pitches and had 50 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Kenji Johjima tapped the second pitch back to the mound. Jeremy Reed grounded the second pitch up the middle, where Carroll ranged over from second and one-hopped a throw to first that was picked by Helton. Yuniesky Betancourt lined a hard grounder to first on a 1-2 pitch. Fogg threw eight pitches and had 28 through three.
TOP 4TH
Barmes popped the first pitch to a running Ichiro on the rightfield line. Helton popped the second pitch to right. Holliday had the hitters' counts and walked on a low full-count pitch. Atkins punched a single through the left side. Spilborghs fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball in the dirt. Moyer threw 16 pitches and had 66 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Ichiro tapped back to the mound. Beltre reached outside and grounded out to third. Lopez rode a 1-2 pitch to somewhat deep left for a flyout. Fogg threw ten pitches and had 38 through four.
TOP 5TH
Hawpe was up 3-1 and walked on a full-count pitch down and away. Torrealba bunted the first pitch out in front, where Johjima got to it and threw to first, moving Hawpe to second. Freeman grounded the second pitch hard to first, moving Hawpe to third. Carroll had the hitters' counts before reaching on a 3-1 pitch and hitting it over the left side for a single, easily scoring Hawpe.
»» ROCKIES 1, MARINERS 0
Barmes was down 0-2 and watched as Carroll was picked off of first by Moyer on the second attempt (1-3-6, throw barely gets him at second). Moyer threw 17 pitches and had 83 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Ibañez took a 3-1 pitch high and outside. Sexson grounded the second pitch hard to third to start a 5-4-3 double play. Everett worked a 1-2 count full before flying out to right. Fogg threw 13 pitches and had 51 through five.
TOP 6TH
Barmes stung a liner into the glove of Lopez at second. Helton grounded the second pitch hard to second. Holliday popped high to Johjima behind the plate. Moyer threw eight pitches and had 91 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Johjima dumped the first pitch for a fly into right near the line and Hawpe attempted a sliding basket catch, but it went off his glove and hands as Johjima got the single. Reed got ahead 3-0 and chopped a 3-1 pitch to first to start a 3-6-3 double play (oddly ended in Johjima being run back toward first). Betancourt popped the first pitch to left. Fogg threw seven pitches and had 58 through six.
TOP 7TH
Atkins flew out high to right on the first pitch. Spilborghs bounced a 2-2 pitch to second. Hawpe drove the first pitch to centerfield and it just carried and carried until it landed in front of the hitters' backdrop beyond the centerfield wall.
»» ROCKIES 2, MARINERS 0
Torrealba shot the first pitch through the left side for a single. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves visited the mound. Freeman popped a 2-2 pitch to right. Moyer threw 13 pitches and had 104 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Ichiro popepd the first pitch to Barmes moving back into shallow enter. Beltre popped high to shallow left on a full count. Lopez was ahead 2-0 but ended up grounding out to short. Fogg threw 11 pitches and had 69 through seven.
TOP 8TH
Carroll rolled the second pitch to second. Barmes golfed a second-pitch breaking ball for a flyout to shallow left. Helton flew out to left on the second pitch. Moyer threw six pitches and had 110 through eight.
BOTTOM 8TH
Ibañez took a 2-2 pitch over the inner half for strike three, Fogg's first strikeout of the game. Sexson worked an 0-2 count full before flying out high to left. Everett drove the first pitch to Freeman running to the warning track in leftcenter. Fogg threw 13 pitches and had 82 through eight.
TOP 9TH
Holliday nearly homered near the leftfield foul pole on the first pitch, but ended up taking an 0-2 pitch over the inside corner as Holliday took umbrage. Atkins flew out to right on the second pitch. Spilborghs looped a fly ball near the rightfield line on the first pitch, but Ichiro went over and caught it despite having a very long way to run.
Moyer's line: 9 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts, 116 pitches (77 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Johjima flew out to Freeman in shallow center. Reed one-hopped the second pitch back to the mound. Betancourt rolled the second pitch to a charging Barmes at short, who threw in time to first.
Fogg's line: 9 innings, 0 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 91 pitches (58 strikes)
---
Gameball: Jamie Moyer.
Moyer started and ended his month of June with complete games, but unfortunately could only win one of them thanks to the lack of offense behind him in this one. One quick look at his game log shows that June was by far his best month. In six starts in the month of June, Moyer went 3-2 with a 2.05 ERA. He gave up 10 earned runs and 35 hits in 44 innings. Five of those hits were homers. He walked ten batters and struck out 19. He never gave up more than three earned runs in a start in the month of June. Moyer has two losses tagged to him for June, and he gave up two runs in both of those games. I look at the lines for his starts this month, and if the Mariners' offense was worth a damn when Moyer was on the mound, he could have been 5-0 or 6-0 in the month of June. Moyer by far was the most consistent Mariner starting pitcher for the month and also was the least maddening. The only thing maddening was that they didn't score runs for him. It's a cryin' shame, I tell ya. The two worst things he did in this game were walking four guys and having one come around to score (Brad Hawpe) and giving up the solo homer (Hawpe again).
Goat: Ichiro.
His mini-slump is slowly becoming a credible slump. This slump can be quantified in different ways depending on how many of the last handful or so of games you want to use. He's gone hitless in the last two games (0-for-8), so that's obvious. You could use the last five games and say he's gone 4-for-21 (.190). You could stretch that back to the hitless game he had before this stretch (the 0-for-4 in Los Angeles that ended his 20-game hitting streak), and you'd end up with a 7-for-34 slump (.206). You can't expect Ichiro to always be in the midst of a 20-game hitting streak, though that'd be nice. Still, the way he started the month wasn't going to last. If it did, though, he'd have a 28-game hitting streak going into the second half of the season. Someday that might be possible for Ichiro, but that's an entire month to be hitting safely. If anyone could do it, it'd be Ichiro, sure, but that'd be incredible. Like all Mariners, though, his month of June is done. He hit .386 for the month and had a .427 on-base percentage. Seven of his 44 hits went for extra bases. He actually had two less hits in June than in May, but the Mariners had four days off in June and only two in May.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 60-21 .741 -- W4
2003 53-28 .654 7 W1
2002 51-30 .630 9 L1
2000 48-33 .593 12 L1
2006 41-40 .506 19 L1
2005 35-46 .432 25 W2
2004 32-49 .395 28 L4
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 49-for-123 (.398), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 12 RBIs, 11 walks, 9 strikeouts
Beltre 39-for-118 (.331), 12 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers, 20 RBIs, 10 walks, 20 strikeouts
Lopez 29-for-108 (.269), 10 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer, 17 RBIs, 6 walks, 15 strikeouts
Ibañez 33-for-100 (.330), 6 doubles, 1 triple, 9 homers, 31 RBIs, 15 walks, 17 strikeouts
Sexson 27-for-108 (.250), 4 doubles, 8 homers, 28 RBIs, 11 walks, 24 strikeouts
Everett 14-for-68 (.206), 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 5 walks, 15 strikeouts
Johjima 32-for-93 (.344), 8 doubles, 1 triple, 5 homers, 16 RBIs, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
Reed 20-for-88 (.227), 2 doubles, 4 homers, 7 RBIs, 4 walks, 11 strikeouts
Betancourt 27-for-97 (.278), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 9 RBIs, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Kim. Piñeiro. Tonight.
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