Saturday, August 05, 2006
GAME 108: ATHLETICS 5, MARINERS 2
In 25 words or less: The way I look at it, the Mariners have Saturday and Sunday to prove they're worth a damn. If not, bring on the Seahawks.
This one featured Barry Zito going up against Jarrod Washburn. Zito came in with an 11-2 career mark against the Mariners, including a 2-0 record this season. He had a 20-inning scoreless streak going against the Mariners. Willie Bloomquist came into the game 8-for-30 with a homer. However, Raul Ibañez came in at 7-for-42 against Zito. Washburn came in with a .231 opposing batting average against the Oakland roster. The Mariners had to get a win against Oakland because, well, they came in winless in nine tries against them. If the Mariners had merely been a .500 team against the A's, they might be leading the division right now. Worse yet, the thing that really bothers me about this is that the Mariners don't just go down to the House of Horrors in the East Bay and lose, they can't beat Oakland in Seattle, either. To me, this kind of domination is harkening back to my youth. I have one instance in particular where I was home as a youngster listening to a weekday afternoon game in the summer and the Mariners were in Oakland and Dennis Eckersley came in and I might as well have not listened to the ninth inning at all. Coming back to today, this crap against Oakland has got to stop.
TOP 1ST
Jason Kendall popped to Lopez in shallow right. Mark Kotsay slapped the second pitch into left for a single. Milton Bradley popped the first pitch to Ichiro running in foul ground to make the catch just in front of the stands. Frank Thomas was up 2-0 before flying out to Sexson in foul ground on the right side. Washburn threw 12 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro rolled to the hole on the right side, but Ellis made the play to first. Jose Lopez was ahead 3-0 and hit a full-count pitch for a drive to left, but it went to Kielty in fairly deep left for a mere flyout. Adrian Beltre walked on four pitches. Raul Ibañez whiffed on a 2-2 slider down and away. Zito threw 18 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Jay Payton was ahead 2-0 and dumped a 2-2 pitch into rightcenter for a base hit, and Bloomquist threw quickly back to second, but Betancourt tried to make the tag on Payton before he had the ball, so Payton had the double. Eric Chavez popped the first pitch to Lopez in shallow right. Bobby Kielty looked like he got all of the first pitch, but it merely took Bloomquist to the annoying Nikon sign in leftcenter. Marco Scutaro walked on four pitches. Mark Ellis took a 1-2 pitch barely off the inside corner before drilling a full-count pitch through the left side for a single, scoring Payton and moving Scutaro to second. It didn't help that the throw home from Ibañez was halfway up the line.
»» ATHLETICS 1, MARINERS 0
Kendall took a 3-1 pitch barely off the inside corner and low, loading the bases. Kotsay rolled the first pitch to short, and Betancourt underhanded to a covering Lopez at second. Washburn threw 23 pitches and had 35 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Richie Sexson grounded hard to third on the second pitch. Eduardo Perez laced a second-pitch curve past Scutaro at short and into left for a single. Kenji Johjima was down 0-2 and had a mighty swing on a 2-2 pitch that he hit off the end of the bat and dumped into shallow left for a single, moving Perez to second. Yuniesky Betancourt grounded hard to third to start a 5-4-3 double play. Zito threw 13 pitches and had 31 through two.
TOP 3RD
Bradley rolled the first pitch to Sexson a ways off the bag at first, and luckily Washburn barely beat Bradley to the bag at first. Thomas was up 3-0 before lining out to left on a 3-1 pitch. Payton was down 0-2 and ended up foul-tipping a 2-2 pitch into Johjima's glove behind the plate. Washburn threw 13 pitches and had 48 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Willie Bloomquist was down 0-2 and rolled a 2-2 pitch toward the hole on the left side, and he beat out the throw from Scutaro, who was a bit slow coming up with the ball. Ichiro stroked a single over the middle into center, moving Bloomquist to center. Lopez bunted the first pitch barely foul on the third-base side, pulled back on a called strike, then ended up chopping up the middle to Ellis, who was led to the bag by the ball, stepped on it, and threw to first for the double play, moving Bloomquist to third. Beltre worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Ibañez slapped a 2-0 outside pitch into left for a single, scoring Bloomquist and moving Beltre to second.
»» ATHLETICS 1, MARINERS 1
Sexson popped the second pitch high to short. Zito threw 25 pitches and had 56 through three.
TOP 4TH
Chavez laid the barrel on a 1-2 hanging pitch, singling into center. Kielty pounded the first pitch past Betancourt at short and through to left for a single, moving Chavez to second. Scutaro drove a fly ball to deep left, where Ibañez never got moved enough to his left and the ball bounced toward the wall for a double, scoring Chavez and moving Kielty to third.
»» ATHLETICS 2, MARINERS 1
Ellis took the first pitch off his back, loading the bases. Kendall one-hopped the second pitch right to second for a 4-6-3 double play, scoring Kielty.
»» ATHLETICS 3, MARINERS 1
Kotsay popped the first pitch to left. Washburn threw 17 pitches and had 65 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Perez popped a 2-2 pitch to center. Johjima worked an 0-2 count for a walk. Betancourt bounced a second-pitch curve through the left side for a single, moving Johjima to second. Bloomquist whiffed on an 0-2 curve. Ichiro one-hopped the first pitch right to first. Zito threw 18 pitches and had 74 through four.
TOP 5TH
Bradley worked a 1-2 count for a ten-pitch walk. Thomas bounced right to third for a 5-4-3 double play. Payton flew out to right. Washburn threw 15 pitches and had 80 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Lopez bounced an 0-2 pitch deep into the right-side hole, where Ellis ranged over trying to make a play and couldn't throw over in time. Beltre whiffed on a hit-and-run and Lopez was thrown out at second, though on a throw way wide of second, but Lopez kinda ran into the tag. Beltre ended up rolling out to short on a 2-2 pitch. Ibañez popped out to center. Zito threw 12 pitches and 86 through five.
TOP 6TH
Chavez grounded a 2-2 pitch to first. Kielty popped to shallow right. Scutaro bounced the first pitch for a single up the middle and into center. Ellis lined out to left. Washburn had 92 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Sexson popped the first pitch to right. Perez rolled a 3-1 pitch to short. Johjima worked a 1-2 count full and looped a fly ball toward the leftfield line, where Kielty made the sliding catch. Zito threw 14 pitches and had 100 through six.
TOP 7TH
Kendall a pitch so far inside he was hit. Kotsay took the first pitch and it went off Johjima's glove (passed ball) and behind him, moving Kendall to second. Kotsay flew out to left on a 1-2 pitch. Bradley grounded a 2-0 pitch hard to third as Kendall held at second. Thomas punched a 1-2 pitch through the left side for a single on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, scoring Kendall. Mike Hargrove visited the mound, but didn't come with the hook.
»» ATHLETICS 4, MARINERS 1
Payton popped the second pitch to shallow right.
Washburn's line: 7 innings, 4 runs, 8 hits, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 111 pitches (68 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Betancourt grounded to third on the second pitch. Bloomquist flew out a few feet short of the track in center. Ichiro had the hitters' counts and rode a 3-1 pitch to the track in center, where Payton made a semi-leaping catch and had a soft meeting with the wall. Zito threw nine pitches and had 109 through seven.
Zito's line: 7 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts, 109 pitches (64 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Jake Woods came in for Washburn. Chavez took a 2-2 pitch over the outside corner. Kielty rolled to Sexson behind the bag at first (3-1 putout).
Julio Mateo came in for Woods. Scutaro drove the second pitch above the cameraman in leftcenter and into the visitors' bullpen.
»» ATHLETICS 5, MARINERS 1
Ellis worked a 1-2 count full before popping to Betancourt in shallow center. Mateo threw ten pitches.
Woods' line: 2/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 9 pitches (5 strikes)
Mateo's line: 1/3 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 10 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Kotsay moved to center, Payton moved to left, Nick Swisher came in to play left, and Justin Duchscherer came in for Zito. Lopez smacked the second pitch into left for a single. Beltre rolled to second, where Ellis screened Lopez coming down the line and tagged him, then threw to first for the double play. Ibañez rolled out to short. Duchscherer threw nine pitches.
TOP 9TH
Sean Green came in for Mateo. Kendall lined out to Ichiro on the second pitch. Kotsay chopped a 2-2 pitch to Beltre on the left side, who spun and threw to first. Bradley scorched the second pitch to third, where it ate up Beltre and bounced behind him, where Betancourt had no play. Thomas drove the first pitch to deep leftcenter, where Bloomquist went over to make the catch. Green threw 11 pitches.
BOTTOM 9TH
Sexson cranked the first pitch into the visitors' bullpen to give the crowd a morsel to cheer about. Pitching coach Kurt Young visited the mound.
»» ATHLETICS 5, MARINERS 2
Ben Broussard, hitting for Perez, was up 2-0 and whiffed over a 2-2 breaking ball away. Johjima whiffed on a 2-2 fastball down and away. Betancourt popped to Ellis near the tarp in foul ground on the right side.
Duchscherer's line: 2 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 25 pitches (18 strikes)
---
Gameball: Jake Woods.
Not really much to work with for this game in terms of gameballs. Jose Lopez would have been the obvious choice, but even he grounded into a key double play in the early innings when the Mariners had ample chances to score. For the record, the Mariners grounded into three double plays in the game. Woods, however, hasn't gotten much time on the mound this season other than when it's garbage time one way or the other. Lately, though, Woods has showed up in more later-inning situations and hasn't been completely horrible, which might be a good thing since the Mariner bullpen did lose a lefty arm when Eddie Guardado was traded off to the Reds. Of course, now that more than likely means someone else has to be the garbage-time guy out of the bullpen. Rafael Soriano's back at the expense of Emiliano Fruto, so it's not Fruto. I'd have to say the garbage-time guy right now is Sean Green, who also pitched in this game. Woods is like a slow and less infuriating version of Matt Thornton. He's the weakest link in the bullpen, but doesn't completely lose it like Thornton used to do.
Goat: Jarrod Washburn.
I really didn't like the Washburn signing last winter, and I think quite a lot of people out there shared my opinion. There have only been one or two times this year after a Washburn performance where I thought, hey, maybe this has a chance of actually working out. Washburn averages 6 1/3 innings per start and yields an average of 3.3 runs (3.1 earned) on 6.5 hits and walks 1.8 batters and strikes out 3.4 per start. This is the 2/3-point of the season and Washburn is on pace to give up eight more homers, which would put him at 24 for the season, his third-most homer-friendly season of his career, which is ironic since the Safe is a lot more pitcher-friendly than the place in Anaheim. The good news, I guess, is that he's on pace to throw 205 2/3 innings, which is good and bad. Good because he's guaranteed about six innings every time he goes out there, but bad because every inning he throws makes me feel like Eddie Guardado's on the mound. I really don't feel safe with Washburn on the mound. The famous rip is that Washburn's only had one good year, the World Series year, where he was 18-6 with the 3.15 ERA and everything. His only other winning seasons have been 2001 when he was 11-10 and 2004, when he was 11-8, which are hardly sparkling records.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 78-30 .722 -- W2
2002 66-42 .611 12 W3
2003 66-42 .611 12 W3
2000 62-46 .574 16 L2
2006 53-55 .491 25 L1
2005 47-61 .435 31 W1
2004 40-68 .370 38 W1
Haren. Piñeiro. Today.
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