Wednesday, July 05, 2006
GAME 86: ANGELS 4, MARINERS 0
[initial partial post]
[horrible error in a Moyer-related stat in the Goat paragraph fixed 6 Jul at ~8:01p]
In 25 words or less: If Carl Everett wouldn't have gotten miffed and gotten tossed in the eighth, this game might have finished in under two hours.
This one featured Bartolo Colón going up against Jamie Moyer. Colón hadn't won a game yet this season, and reports said that he wasn't throwing as fast as people had seen in the past out of him. Dave Niehaus was on vacation, so Ron Fairly's voice was heard on television, which has been a rarity this season. Oh yeah, Carl Everett blew up in Mike Hargrove's office after the game on the 4th. Coming into the game, the Mariners had been shut out nine times this season, four of them occurring in Moyer's starts. Though it's obvious to some where the Mariners are heading in the near future, they were heading into this game hoping to avoid a loss which would be their fourth straight and fifth in six games. No matter what happened in this game, the Mariners had already lost the series against the Angels by dropping the first two games. This is quite the turn in fortune as the Mariners had won four straight series before dropping the last two. They won six of the seven series previous to last weekend's series against the Rockies.
TOP 1ST
Chone Figgins fell behind 0-2 and ended up bouncing out to second on a 1-2 pitch. Maicer Izturis got ahead 3-1 and walked on a low full-count pitch. Orlando Cabrera chopped the second pitch to short, where Betancourt nearly turned the softly-hit ball for a double play, only getting a force at second. Vladimir Guerrero had the hitters' counts before walking on a full-count pitch in the dirt. Mike Napoli popped the first pitch to Sexson behind the bag at first. Moyer threw 20 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro took a 1-2 pitch over the inside corner that tailed back over the inside corner. Adrian Beltre grounded the second pitch hard behind the bag at third, where it ate up Quinlan and went down the leftfield line for a double. Jose Lopez broke his bat on a second-pitch roller to short as Beltre held at second. Raul Ibañez grounded hard to first. Colón threw 11 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Garret Anderson popped high to Lopez in shallow center. Juan Rivera took a 1-2 pitch over the outside corner. Kendry Morales rolled the first pitch to short. Moyer threw 11 pitches and had 31 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Richie Sexson chopped an 0-2 pitch to third. Carl Everett rolled a 1-2 pitch to short and Cabrera's throw bounced past Morales at first (single). Kenji Johjima looped an 0-2 pitch into shallow rightcenter for a single. Shin-Soo Choo rolled a 1-2 pitch to second for a 4-6-3 double play. Colón threw 14 pitches and had 25 through two.
TOP 3RD
Robb Quinlan rolled a 2-2 pitch to short, where Betancourt made the spin move and threw to first and the throw was picked by Sexson. Figgins fell behind 0-2 and popped a 1-2 pitch high to first. Izturis flew out to center on the first pitch. Moyer threw ten pitches and had 41 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Yuniesky Betancourt fell behind 0-2 before lining out to right on a 1-2 pitch. Ichiro popped the first pitch to Quinlan in foul ground near the third-base coaches' box. Beltre reached on an outside 0-2 pitch and rolled it over to short. Colón threw nine pitches and had 34 through three.
TOP 4TH
Cabrera flew out to left on an 0-2 pitch. Guerrero rolled the second pitch to the right side, where Sexson ran straight to the bag and Lopez had to run across half the infield to try to make a play and couldn't (single). Napoli popped high to short. Anderson took a full-count pitch over the outside corner with the runner going. Moyer threw 14 pitches and had 55 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Lopez popped the second pitch near the leftfield corner. Ibañez whacked a 3-1 pitch into right for a single. Sexson rolled the second pitch to short to start a 6-4-3 double play. Colón threw ten pitches and had 44 through four.
TOP 5TH
Rivera stuck a 2-0 pitch through the left side for a single. Morales reached for an outside 1-2 pitch, singling into left to move Rivera to second. Quinlan drove the second pitch into the mass of inebriation beyond the wall in leftcenter, scoring Rivera and Morales.
»» ANGELS 3, MARINERS 0
Figgins bunted the first pitch along the right side, where Moyer scooped and tossed with the glove for the out. Izturis grounded a 3-1 pitch to second. Cabrera golfed a fly ball into the visitors' bullpen, though Ibañez had the ball go off his glove this time as opposed to the highlight-reel play from a few days earlier against Colorado.
»» ANGELS 4, MARINERS 0
Guerrero was down 0-2 and rode the 2-2 pitch short of the track in center. Moyer threw 25 pitches and had 80 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Everett foul-tipped a high full-count pitch into Napoli's glove behind the plate. Johjima one-hopped a 2-0 pitch to third. Choo popped the second pitch high to short. Colón threw 11 pitches and had 55 through five.
TOP 6TH
Napoli foul-tipped a full-count pitch into Johjima's glove behind the plate. Anderson popped the second pitch to Betancourt near the leftfield line. Rivera rolled out to short. Moyer threw 11 pitches and had 91 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Betancourt rolled out to short. Ichiro grounded the second pitch to first. Beltre popped to Figgins in rightcenter on the first pitch. Colón threw seven pitches and had 62 through six.
TOP 7TH
Morales whiffed on a 1-2 change away in the dirt. Quinlan was up 3-0 and ended up rolling the 3-1 pitch to Lopez near the bag at second. Figgins looped a 2-2 pitch along the rightfield line for a double as Ichiro had a long way to run to get it. Izturis popped to Choo in very shallow center on a 2-0 pitch.
Moyer's line: 7 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 108 pitches (64 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Lopez tapped the first pitch back to Colón. Ibañez popped an 0-2 pitch very high to Morales near the first-base coaches' box. Sexson grounded the first pitch to short, where Cabrera made a spin move and threw in time to first. Colón threw six pitches and had 68 through seven.
TOP 8TH
Emiliano Fruto came in for Moyer. Cabrera popped the second pitch to Sexson in foul ground on the right side. Guerrero popped to right on the first pitch. Napoli got ahead 2-0 and foul-tipped a full-conut fastball into Johjima's glove.
Fruto's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 10 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Izturis moved to third for Quinlan and Adam Kennedy came in to play second. Everett grounded a 1-2 pitch hard to Morales behind the bag at first, after which he jawed at first-base umpire Brian Knight, though it might have had something to do with Phil Cuzzi's strike zone behind the plate. Everett had to be restrained by Mike Hargrove and first-base coach Mike Goff. Everett was eventually tossed, marked by a delay where Cuzzi stood with hands on hips behind the plate as he waited for Everett to leave the dugout. Johjima lined the second pitch to center for a flyout. Choo took a 1-2 pitch off the back of the right calf, ending a streak of 12 straight retired Mariner hitters. Betancourt bounced to the left side, where Izturis plugged the hole nicely and threw in time to first. Colón threw 13 pitches and had 81 through eight.
TOP 9TH
George Sherrill came in for Fruto. Anderson popped the second pitch high to short. Rivera worked an 0-2 count full and lined one to center, where Choo had the ball go off the heel of his glove, and it appeared his eyes may have closed somewhere along the way as Rivera ended up on second (error). Morales was up 2-0 and ended up rolling to second on a 2-2 pitch, moving Rivera to third. Kennedy whiffed on all three pitches he saw.
Sherrill's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 17 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Ichiro popped to Guerrero near the track in the rightfield corner. Beltre fell behind 0-2 and popped to Morales in front of the first-base dugout on a 1-2 pitch. Lopez popped to Cabrera moving back into shallow left.
Colón's line: 9 innings, 0 runs, 4 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 91 pitches (68 strikes)
---
Gameball: George Sherrill.
I gave him the gameball after Monday's game, and two nights later, here he is again. It's not necessarily because I thought he was the best player in the game as much as he was the least suckiest. I can't say too many things different from the gameball paragraph from two nights beforehand. One thing that is different is that he has now started out his month of July with three scoreless appearances and counting. What may be refreshing for him is that he's faced more than one batter in each of his appearances so far this month. In the first two appearances, one against Colorado and another one against the Angels, he faced two batters each. In this game, he faced an incredible four hitters. The three July outings have taken Sherrill's ERA from 3.80 down to 3.42. I just remembered the Mariners got him out of the Northern League, and I can't help but think what might have happened if Bob Melvin didn't throw Sherrill's Northern League compatriot Bobby Madritsch for a billion pitches every outing. Could you imagine if this starting rotation had a tiny bit more depth?
Goat: Ichiro.
Great hitter, sure. This we know, and this none of us doubt. Of course, I have to give the goat to somebody in this game. I could give it to Jamie Moyer, but there are some days where Moyer should be able to give up four runs and win a game. In his five wins, he's given up a total of eight runs and had as ERA of 1.96. In his five no-decisions, he has an ERA of 3.82. In his eight losses, it is only 4.36 (adjusted after I realized while at work that I'd divided innings pitched by earned runs and edited it when I got home). But hey, this paragraph is supposed to be about Ichiro. I don't think it's wrong to look straight to the top of the lineup when the whole offense sputters in a game, especially with this team. In a series against a key division rival who the Mariners should have buried if they were a team of any worth, Ichiro went 1-for-11 with a single, a walk, an RBI, and two strikeouts. Isn't it fitting that the two All-Stars on the team tonight went a combined 0-for-8? In any event, the series slump lowered Ichiro's batting average from .359 after the Colorado series to its current .351. Unfortunately, I think the only thing we'll get to root for down the stretch is for this guy to beat out Joe Mauer for the batting title, since it's obvious that the whole this-team-might-be-kinda-good thing has fallen by the wayside.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 62-24 .721 -- L1
2003 55-31 .640 7 W1
2002 54-32 .628 8 L1
2000 51-35 .593 11 W2
2006 42-44 .488 20 L4
2005 38-48 .442 24 W3
2004 32-54 .372 30 L9
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 56-for-142 (.394), 4 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers, 16 RBIs, 15 walks, 12 strikeouts
Beltre 43-for-138 (.312), 13 doubles, 2 triples, 5 homers, 21 RBIs, 12 walks, 24 strikeouts
Lopez 34-for-128 (.266), 10 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer, 18 RBIs, 7 walks, 18 strikeouts
Ibañez 39-for-120 (.325), 6 doubles, 1 triple, 11 homers, 36 RBIs, 16 walks, 22 strikeouts
Sexson 31-for-125 (.248), 4 doubles, 10 homers, 32 RBIs, 13 walks, 28 strikeouts
Everett 17-for-86 (.198), 3 homers, 7 RBIs, 6 walks, 21 strikeouts
Johjima 35-for-106 (.330), 8 doubles, 1 triple, 5 homers, 16 RBIs, 5 walks, 8 strikeouts
Choo 1-for-8 (.125), 1 double, 2 strikeouts
Betancourt 31-for-114 (.272), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 9 RBIs, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Bonderman. Piñeiro. Friday.
/ Click for main page
