Saturday, June 24, 2006
GAME 75: PADRES 2, MARINERS 1 (10 INNINGS)
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: This one was Mike Hargrove's reminder to Mariner fans everywhere that he still needs to be fired.
This one featured Gil Meche going up against Jake Peavy. Meche came in with the road ERA nearly three times worse than his home ERA, though the park in San Diego I'm sure is more friendly to the pitcher and would let Meche be able to get away with more mistakes. The Mariners were hoping not to start their first losing streak since the three-game sweep in Oakland. Also, they were hoping Gil Meche might get deep into the game and save the bullpen a bit after Felix Hernandez failed to get through the sixth inning the night before.
TOP 1ST
Ichiro took a strike and fouled off four pitches before looping to third for a flyout. Adrian Beltre whiffed on a 2-2 slider down and away, a Beltre specialty. Jose Lopez rolled a 3-1 pitch to short. Peavy threw 18 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Mike Cameron whiffed on a full-count fastball. Ben Johnson whiffed on a 2-2 curve over the inside corner. Brian Giles was ahead 3-0 and slapped a 3-1 pitch into left for a single. Mike Piazza fell behind 0-2 and took a full-count curve over the outside corner. Meche struck out the side on 25 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Raul Ibañez popped the second pitch to Cameron in leftcenter. Richie Sexson had the hitters' counts and flew out high to center. Kenji Johjima bounced a 2-0 pitch to short. Peavy threw 11 pitches and had 29 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Adrian Gonzalez worked an 0-2 count before flyout out to center on a full count, the eleventh pitch of the at-bat. Khalil Greene flew out to Reed just short of the track in center on a 2-0 pitch. Vinny Castilla ripped a 2-0 pitch into left for a single. Josh Barfield was ahead 3-0 and rolled a 3-1 pitch up the middle to Betancourt. Meche threw 23 pitches and had 48 through three.
TOP 3RD
Jeremy Reed rode the second pitch into the gap in leftcenter and stood at second with a double. Yuniesky Betancourt took the first pitch in the dirt and to the backstop (passed ball), moving Reed to third. Betancourt whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball down and away. Gil Meche whiffed on a 1-2 pitch. Ichiro, hitting only around .250 with runners in scoring position and two down, took the first pitch for a strike and whiffed at the next two pitches that were horribly high and looked terrible doing it. Peavy threw 14 pitches and had 43 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Jake Peavy popped a 2-0 pitch to right. Cameron drove a 3-1 outside-corner fastball just over the wall in right.
»» PADRES 1, MARINERS 0
Johnson lined a single into shallow left. Giles flew out to Beltre in foul ground on the left side on a 3-0 pitch. Piazza looped a full-count pitch to Lopez drifting back into shallow center. Meche threw 21 pitches and had 69 through three.
TOP 4TH
Beltre roped the first pitch into the corner in rightfield for a double. Lopez foul-tipped a 1-2 cutter down and away into Piazza's glove behind the plate. Ibañez lined a 1-2 pitch and landed it barely fair near the rightfield corner for a double, scoring Beltre.
»» PADRES 1, MARINERS 1
Sexson rolled a full-count pitch to short, and Gonzalez had to pick out the throw from Greene. Johjima whiffed on a 1-2 belt-high fastball. Peavy threw 19 pitches and had 62 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Gonzalez rolled the first pitch softly along the left side, where Beltre did the barehand and throw thing and got Gonzalez, good for the #3 Web Gem on Baseball Tonight. That out was the first first-pitch out for Meche on the night. Greene took Ibañez to the leftfield track on the second pitch. Castilla whiffed on a 1-2 fastball over the outer half. Meche went 1-2-3 for the first time on the night, throwing seven pitches and having 76 through four.
TOP 5TH
Reed failed to check his swing on an 0-2 breaking ball. Betancourt ripped a base hit along the leftfield line on an 0-2 pitch, but Johnson's throw from left nailed Betancourt because he tried to slide around the base and the tag, but couldn't. Meche whiffed on a low 0-2 pitch. Peavy threw 12 pitches and had 74 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Barfield whiffed on an 1-2 fastball. Peavy rolled an 0-2 pitch into the hole on the right side, where Lopez stopped it and had to pick it off the ground before throwing to first in time. Cameron was ahead 3-0 and walked on a 3-1 pitch up and away. Johnson fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 2-2 low curve. Meche threw 19 pitches and had 95 through five.
TOP 6TH
Ichiro was ahead 3-0 and popped to second on a full count. Beltre rode the second pitch to Johnson in deep left. Lopez had the hitters' counts and flew out to Cameron drifting back in center. Peavy threw 14 pitches and had 88 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Giles took a 3-1 pitch up and away. Piazza got ahead 2-0 and flew out to Ichiro in deep rightcenter. Gonzalez fell behind 0-2 and tapped in front of the plate, where Johjima pounced on it and went to first even though he probably had a play at second.
Emiliano Fruto came in for Meche and Willie Bloomquist inexplicably came in to play second for Lopez (I can take that back if Lopez was injured). Greene took an 0-2 fastball down over the outside corner. Fruto threw three pitches.
Meche's line: 5 2/3 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, 108 pitches (60 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Ibañez flew out to fairly deep center on the first pitch. Sexson had the hitters' counts and flew out to Barfield on the rightfield grass. Johjima fought off an 0-2 pitch and dropped it in front of Johnson charging in from left for a single (he overran it as well), and he thought for a second about stretching it but thought better of it. Reed flew out to center on a 2-0 pitch. Peavy threw 12 pitches and had 100 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Castilla got ahead 2-0 and lined out to a charging Reed in center. It was at this moment where San Diego broadcast color man Mark Grant drew the parallel of Fruto with Antonio Alfonseca minus the sixth finger. Barfield lined out to Beltre reaching above his head at third. Peavy took a 1-2 breaking ball over the outside corner. Fruto threw 12 pitches and had 15 total.
TOP 8TH
Betancourt lined out to right. Bloomquist flew out to left on an 0-2 pitch. Ichiro shot the second pitch through the right side for a single. Beltre whiffed on a head-high 0-2 fastball, which was pitiful. Peavy threw eight pitches and had 108 through eight.
Peavy's line: 8 innings, 1 run, 6 hits, 0 walks, 9 strikeouts, 113 pitches (79 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Cameron walked on a 3-1 fastball outside. Johnson tried bunting though the pitches were up and in, then another attempt went foul. Johnson ended up taking a 2-2 breaking ball over the inside corner.
George Sherrill came in for Fruto. Giles worked an 0-2 count full before flying out to Ibañez a few strides short of the track in left.
Rafael Soriano came in for Sherrill and Morse came in for Beltre at third, which again is inexplicable. Piazza popped to Ichiro. Soriano threw three pitches.
Fruto's line: 1 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 25 pitches (14 strikes)
Sherrill's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 6 pitches (3 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Trevor Hoffman came in for Peavy and Rob Bowen came in to catch for Piazza. Mike Morse fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 pitch in the dirt, and was tagged out, though I thought the umpire called time as if to say the ball had been fouled off (no argument from Hargrove though). Ibañez was up 3-0 and walked on a 3-1 pitch. Sexson fell behind 0-2 and rolled a 1-2 pitch deep into the hole on the left side, where Greene threw to second and Ibañez was barely out on the force play, which luckily was enough to get Hargrove out of the dugout. Johjima took a 1-2 pitch in the dirt and lost sight of it, moving Sexson to second. Johjima ended up reaching and poking a single into right, but Sexson was waved around and was out by eight feet, and his only chance to score was to plow into Bowen at the plate, which he did, but Bowen held on easily. Hoffman threw 19 pitches.
Hoffman's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 19 pitches (11 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Gonzalez nearly dumped a base hit down the leftfield line and whiffed on an 0-2 fastball. Greene whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball way outside. Castilla was ahead 2-0 and popped a 2-2 pitch to Sexson halfway in on the first-base line. Soriano threw 13 pitches and had 16 total.
Soriano's line: 1 1/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 16 pitches (12 strikes)
TOP 10TH
Scott Linebrink came in for Hoffman. Reed was up 3-0 and rolled t short on a full count, but Gonzalez had to dig out the shorthop at first. Betancourt took a 3-1 pitch down and away for a walk. Bloomquist air-bunted the first pitch foul behind the plate and hit a seeing-eye single through the left side past Castilla for a single, moving Betancourt to second. Ichiro whiffed on an 0-2 splitter in the dirt. Carl Everett, hitting for Soriano, whiffing on a 1-2 breaking ball in the dirt.
Linebrink's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 20 pitches (12 strikes)
BOTTOM 10TH
Julio Mateo came in for Soriano. Barfield lined out to right on the first pitch. Bowen was nearly hit in the right leg with the first pitch and drilled the next pitch over Ichiro's head in right and to the scoreboard/wall for a double. Cameron fell behind 0-2 while my MLB.tv feed cut out. He rolled a single through the left side on a 1-2 pitch and moved Bowen to third. Johnson took a full-count breaking ball down and away to load the bases after fouling off a 2-2 pitch and a couple more with a full count. Giles punched the second pitch through Mateo and through to centerfield, scoring Bowen easily.
»» PADRES 2, MARINERS 1
Mateo's line: 1/3 inning, 1 run, 3 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 16 pitches (10 strikes)
---
Gameball: Emiliano Fruto.
He's taken the mound six times for the big club. He was great in very long relief his first time out, which has stood up as his best performance. On this night, he was quite good, even with the walk. In the outings in which he hasn't given up runs, he has only given up a total of two hits (four outings, 7 1/3 innings). The bad news there is that he's walked five and struck out four in those outings. Nonetheless, I'm having more fun watching this guy from the land of Juan Valdez pitch rather than see a guy not from Colombia named Valdez that tried to play short for the Mariners in 2005 and couldn't hit for beans. If there's only one thing that Fruto can stick in his cap right now, it's this -- I can remember more of his outings than I can remember the outings by the ever-present Jake Woods. That's always a good thing. There's nothing more to say here other than ¡Viva Fruto!
Goat: Richie Sexson.
I'll put him here because no one else in the lineup went 0-for-4 and was the worst Mariner of the night by the numbers. The real goat of the game is Mike Hargrove. In the bottom of the sixth, Hargrove double-switched when he took out Gil Meche. He pulled Jose Lopez and put Willie Bloomquist at second. Lopez' hitting spot in the lineup was nine hitters away, sure, but it came around again in the eighth. The point is, Hargrove at that moment pulled 53 RBIs out of the lineup and made the lineup that much worse. The one that really chaps my hide, though, is the other half of the double-switched when Rafael Soriano was brought in for George Sherrill. Hargrove took out Adrian Beltre and put in Mike Morse at third. Beltre had ended the last inning, so his spot was on the other end of the lineup, but it still took a warming-up hitter out of the lineup and though no one knew for sure at the time, that spot would come up again as the fifth hitter to the plate in the tenth (Lopez would have been sixth). That isn't the worst part of this though. The worst part is trying to sneak Morse as the leadoff hitter in the ninth while punting the defense at third for the rest of the game, which was a tie game until the end. There's no way in hell I put Morse onto the field to play defense late in the game. The defensive drop from Beltre to Morse cannot be accurately described with words or interpretive dance.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 56-19 .747 -- W2
2003 50-25 .667 6 W1
2002 46-29 .613 10 L1
2000 44-31 .587 12 L1
2006 36-39 .480 20 L2
2005 33-42 .440 23 L3
2004 31-44 .413 25 W1
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 43-for-98 (.439), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 9 RBIs, 8 walks, 7 strikeouts
Beltre 29-for-94 (.309), 7 doubles, 5 homers, 17 RBIs, 9 walks, 16 strikeouts
Lopez 20-for-82 (.244), 8 doubles, 1 homer, 13 RBIs, 5 walks, 15 strikeouts
Ibañez 27-for-78 (.346), 6 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 26 RBIs, 12 walks, 10 strikeouts
Sexson 18-for-81 (.222), 1 double, 6 homers, 20 RBIs, 11 walks, 20 strikeouts
Everett 14-for-61 (.230), 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 4 walks, 13 strikeouts
Johjima 22-for-74 (.297), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts
Reed 16-for-62 (.258), 2 doubles, 3 homers, 4 RBIs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Betancourt 24-for-79 (.304), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 8 RBIs, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
Moyer. Park. Tonight.
/ Click for main page
Friday, June 23, 2006
GAME 74: DODGERS 4, MARINERS 2
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: Felix didn't have it. Derek Lowe did. The Mariners' two runs hide the seven scattered hits.
This one featured Felix Hernandez going up against Derek Lowe. Originally Brett Tomko was to get the start in this game, but had fouled a pitch off his foot and pushed back a day. After much time playing shortstop in his career, Cesar Izturis, recently coming off the disabled list, started at third. The Mariners were trying to win a sixth straight game, which would be a season high. It would also be the longest Mariner winning streak since a nine-gamer way back in 2003.
TOP 1ST
Ichiro popped weakly to third. Adrian Beltre bounced the second pitch to Furcal deep in the hole at short, who bounced a throw to first that was picked by Garciaparra. Jose Lopez fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 pitch. Lowe threw ten pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Rafael Furcal chopped a 1-2 pitch to third. Kenny Lofton popped the second pitch to right. Nomar Garciaparra fell behind 0-2 and chopped a 1-2 pitch to third. Hernandez threw ten pitches.
TOP 2ND
Raul Ibañez was ahead 3-1 and wound up tapping a slow roller to short on a full count. Richie Sexson hit a wormburner to short on a 2-0 pitch. Kenji Johjima bounced a single up the middle. Jeremy Reed lined out to left on the second pitch. Lowe threw 14 pitches and had 24 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
JD Drew took an 0-2 curve over the outer half and started toward the dugout, but it somehow was called a ball. Drew took a 2-2 tailing fastball down over the inside corner. Jeff Kent took a full-count curve over the inside corner. Andre Ethier scorched a hot grounder to third, where Beltre stopped the ball and had it roll away from him, but it was hit very hard and he had no play at first after he got to the ball (nonetheless ruled an error). Cesar Izturis shot the second pitch for a single through the right side on a perfect hit-and-run, moving Ethier to third. Russell Martin whiffed on a 2-2 breaking ball in the dirt (2-3 putout). Hernandez struck out the side on 23 pitches and had 33 through two.
TOP 3RD
Yuniesky Betancourt got ahead 3-1 and fouled a way inside full-count pitch off his calf. Betancourt ended up lining a ball just over the wall in leftcenter. Really, he did.
»» MARINERS 1, DODGERS 0
Felix Hernandez whiffed on an 0-2 pitch away. Ichiro bounced a 2-0 pitch to first. Beltre grounded hard to second. Lowe threw 17 pitches and had 41 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Derek Lowe worked an 0-2 count full before lining a single past the mound on the tenth pitch of the at-bat. Furcal got ahead 2-0 and rolled a 2-2 pitch to second, where Lopez threw to second for the force, but Furcal beat out the double play. Lofton bounced the second pitch to short, and Betancourt stepped on second, but Lofton beat out the double play. Garciaparra whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball away. Hernandez threw 20 pitches and had 53 through three.
TOP 4TH
Lopez bounced the second pitch to short. Ibañez drove the second pitch four rows into the rightcenter bleachers.
»» MARINERS 2, DODGERS 0
Sexson popped a 2-0 pitch to left. Johjima bounced a 2-2 pitch to a charging Izturis at third. Lowe threw 12 pitches and had 53 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Drew looped a first-pitch fly into right on which Ichiro made a sliding catch. Kent bounced the second pitch to third. Ethier shot a 2-2 pitch up the middle for a single. Izturis fell behind 0-2 and took a 1-2 pitch for a ball, but Johjima nailed Ethier by five feet trying to steal second. Hernandez threw 14 pitches and had 67 through four.
TOP 5TH
Reed slapped a 1-2 one-hopper to short and was out, though the throw was high. Betancourt worked an 0-2 count full and chopped out to Izturis behind the bag at third. Hernandez whiffed on a 1-2 fastball down and away. Lowe threw 14 pitches and had 67 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Izturis shot a 2-2 pitch that ate up Betancourt on the backhand side, and it went into left for a single. Martin looped a 2-0 pitch into center for a single, moving Izturis to second. Lowe bunted to the third-base side, where Hernandez threw to first as Izturis and Martin moved to third and second. Furcal ripped the second pitch into center for a single, scoring Izturis easily and moving Martin to third. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves visited the mound.
»» MARINERS 2, DODGERS 1
Lofton, who has burned the Mariners many times in years past in such situations, lined out to short on the first pitch, and Betancourt tried to catch Martin off third, but to no avail. Garciaparra popped to left on the second pitch. Hernandez threw 17 pitches and had 84 through five.
TOP 6TH
Ichiro bounced an 0-2 pitch to second. Beltre singled the first pitch into left. Lopez shot a double down the leftfield line, moving Beltre to third. Ibañez tapped the first pitch to the mound, where Lowe ran at Beltre coming down the third-base line, but stayed in it long enough to move Lopez to third and Ibañez to second. Sexson was ahead 3-1 and ended up whiffing on a full-count slider way away and low. Lowe threw 14 pitches and had 81 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Drew ripped a single into left. Kent whiffed on a 2-2 breaking ball way down and away. Ethier slapped the first pitch into left for a single, moving Drew to second. Izturis knocked a 3-1 pitch off of Hernandez and to Lopez, who stopped it but had no play as the bases were loaded. Chaves visited the mound. Martin slipped a single into rightfield, scoring Drew and Ethier and moving Izturis to second.
»» DODGERS 3, MARINERS 2
Lowe whiffed on an 0-2 pitch, though the strikeout came one batter too late. Furcal lasered the second pitch into left for a single, scoring Izturis easily and moving Martin to second.
»» DODGERS 4, MARINERS 2
Julio Mateo came in for Hernandez. Lofton got ahead 3-0 and took a full-count pitch low, loading the bases. Garciaparra whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball down and away.
Hernandez' line: 5 2/3 innings, 4 runs, 11 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts, 106 pitches (68 strikes)
Mateo's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 11 pitches (6 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Johjima was ahead 2-0 and bounced to Izturis behind the bag at third. Reed shot a grounder past Garciaparra at first and into right for a single. Betancourt grounded the first pitch to Izturis behind the bag at third, who threw to second for the force as Betancourt was safe at first. Carl Everett, hitting for Mateo, bounced the second pitch along the left side, where Izturis charged and made a Beltreian play, barely getting Everett at first. Everett was incensed and Hargrove came out to argue, though he argues like Bob Melvin, so he didn't get tossed. Lowe threw ten pitches and had 91 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Eddie Guardado came in for Mateo. Drew looped the second pitch into left for a single. Kent took a 2-2 pitch across the outside corner. Ethier shot the first pitch through the right side for a single, moving Drew to second. Izturis whiffed on a 2-2 pitch down and in. Martin took a 1-2 pitch from Guardado, who was then checked out by trainer Rick Griffin, who must have seen something he didn't like. Martin ended up bouncing the next pitch to second. Guardado threw 18 pitches.
Guardado's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 18 pitches (12 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Ichiro lined softly to short, ending his 20-game hit streak. Beltre whiffed on a 2-2 pitch down and away. Lopez failed to check his swing on a 1-2 pitch way low and away. Lowe threw 13 pitches and had 104 through eight.
BOTTOM 8TH
Emiliano Fruto came in for Guardado. Lowe bounced an 0-2 pitch to short. Furcal was ahead 3-0 before walking on a full-count fastball way outside. Lofton flew out high to Reed in leftcenter on the first pitch. Garciaparra poked a 2-2 pitch through the left side for a single, moving Furcal to second. Drew worked a 1-2 count full before bouncing to Sexson behind the bag at first, who backhanded to Fruto covering first.
Fruto's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 21 pitches (12 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Ibañez rolled a 1-2 pitch slowly to short but couldn't quite beat it out. Sexson fought off a pitch and singled into center. Manager Grady Little visited the mound and left Lowe in the game, unsurprisingly. Johjima fell behind 0-2 and chopped a 1-2 pitch to short, where Furcal went to second for the force. Reed chopped the second pitch to second.
Lowe's line: 9 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts, 119 pitches (76 strikes)
---
Gameball: Yuniesky Betancourt.
We knew last year what we had in him defensively, but I never expected his bat to come along this nicely. The Mariners' shortstop is hitting freakin' .291. His liner of a homer in this game was only his fourth homer of the season, but his second in June. Couple that with his three doubles and two triples this month, and Betancourt has a June slugging mark of .515. Wowzers! He's also getting on base at a .348 clip this month, which is great, grand, and even wonderful. The thing about watching MLB.tv is that if you get the non-Seattle feed enough, you get to hear about the escaping-from-Cuba story involving Betancourt roughly a million times. It's a great story, sure, but just go to it in the first game of the series. In any event, if Betancourt ends up hitting .290 every year, I'll be more than pleased with it considering all the stuff he does out there with the glove. He's got to be good if they moved Adam Jones out to centerfield in the minors, right? That's got to count for something, I would think.
Goat: Felix Hernandez.
There were a couple of sick things about this game. First off, all of the eleven hits Felix gave up were singles. Secondly, when I had to think of a goat for this game, I looked through the lineup and only two hitters in the starting lineup were hitless -- Felix (no surprise) and Ichiro, who had a 20-game hitting streak snapped. Also, the eleven singles catapulted the Dodgers to victory while the Mariners had two homers that were both solo shots. Go figure. To me, it seemed like Felix got into too many deep counts in the second inning, and it came to a head when Derek Lowe worked an 0-2 count full and singled to cap a ten-pitch at-bat to lead off the third. That's a pretty big part of what kept Felix from going past 5 2/3 innings. From my point of view, I also thought there were quite a few times where he had two strikes on a hitter and just couldn't put them away. He got six strikeouts, sure, but more often than not the pitches were either taken for balls, fouled off, or turned around for singles. For some reason, I'm mostly dismayed with the two-strike pitches being fouled off, because that means they're catching up to it when I wish they were completely missing those pitches. Oh well.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 55-19 .743 -- W1
2003 49-25 .662 6 L1
2002 46-28 .622 9 W1
2000 44-30 .595 11 W7
2006 36-38 .486 19 L1
2005 33-41 .446 22 L2
2004 30-44 .405 25 L2
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 42-for-93 (.452), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 9 RBIs, 8 walks, 5 strikeouts
Beltre 28-for-90 (.311), 6 doubles, 5 homers, 17 RBIs, 9 walks, 14 strikeouts
Lopez 20-for-79 (.253), 8 doubles, 1 homer, 13 RBIs, 5 walks, 14 strikeouts
Ibañez 26-for-75 (.347), 5 doubles, 1 triple, 7 homers, 25 RBIs, 11 walks, 10 strikeouts
Sexson 18-for-77 (.234), 1 double, 6 homers, 20 RBIs, 11 walks, 20 strikeouts
Everett 14-for-60 (.233), 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Johjima 20-for-70 (.286), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Reed 15-for-58 (.259), 1 double, 3 homers, 4 RBIs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Betancourt 23-for-76 (.303), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 8 RBIs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Meche. Peavy. Tonight.
/ Click for main page
Thursday, June 22, 2006
GAME 73: MARINERS 8, DODGERS 5
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: Watching baseball has slowly become fun again. Enjoy it now while supplies last. This could end very quickly.
This one featured Jarrod Washburn going up against Chad Billingsley. The Mariners were hoping to tie their season long with a five-game winning streak. A win would put them a single game under .500, somewhere they haven't been since they were 6-7 just thirteen games into the season. That was the beginning of a stretch where they lost seven of eight in April and started out the season 9-15. They ended April 11-15. These are slightly happier times, however.
TOP 1ST
Ichiro gronuded an 0-2 pitch to first. Adrian Beltre walked on a full count. Jose Lopez fouled off four pitches before being robbed of a hit by Saenz at third, who made a diving stop on the hard grounder and threw from a knee to second in time for the force amidst laughter in the Dodger dugout. Raul Ibañez was up 3-0 and watched as Lopez was nearly picked off of first by the catcher Martin. Ibañez ended up walking on a 3-1 pitch. Richie Sexson popped the second pitch to Lofton on the track in center. Billingsley threw 21 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Rafael Furcal fell behind 0-2 and ended up taking a 1-2 fastball over the outside corner. Kenny Lofton was down 0-2 before taking a 2-2 fastball over the outside corner. Nomar Garciaparra grounded the second pitch to Beltre behind the bag at third. Washburn threw 13 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Kenji Johjima drove the second pitch and one-hopped it over the leftfield fence for a double just inside the foul pole. Jeremy Reed bunted the first pitch to the left side (which doesn't exactly make sense in the second inning with the pitcher in the hole), where Saenz fielded and threw to first, moving Johjima to third. Yuniesky Betancourt popped the first pitch to Drew in shallow right as Johjima had to hold. Jarrod Washburn was ahead 3-0 before walking on a full-count pitch down and away. Ichiro was ahead 2-0 and took a 2-2 breaking ball that was nearly strike three over the outside corner. Ichiro served a full-count pitch that was caught above the shoestrings by Furcal. Billingsley threw 19 pitches and had 40 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
JD Drew flew out high to left on the first pitch. Jeff Kent spanked the first pitch into right for a single. Olmedo Saenz was ahead 2-0 and ended up flying out high to right. Matt Kemp took a 3-1 pitch away for a walk, moving Kent to second. Russell Martin dumped a fly ball into shallow right near the line, easily scoring Kent since they had played Martin to pull. Kemp went to second on the play.
»» DODGERS 1, MARINERS 0
Chad Billingsley took an 0-2 fastball over the outside corner. Washburn threw 18 pitches and had 31 through two.
TOP 3RD
Beltre smoked a full-count pitch up the middle for a single on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Lopez popped the first pitch high to Garciaparra near the plate. Ibañez watched as Beltre stole second, then ended up ripping the next pitch through the right side for a single, moving Beltre to third as third-base coach Carlos Garcia pulled out the stop sign at the last minute (Beltre ended up getting periodic attention from trainers in the dugout on his right knee between innings thereafter). Sexson took a 2-2 pitch barely outside before whiffing on the next pitch, and Ibañez was caught between second and first in a rundown, but stayed in it long enough for Beltre to score. Martin was reminded upon entering the dugout that a fake of a throw would have gotten Beltre, who was heading down the line no matter what. Billingsley threw 22 pitches and had 62 through three.
»» DODGERS 1, MARINERS 1
BOTTOM 3RD
Furcal bounced an 0-2 pitch up the middle, where Betancourt ranged over and threw in time to first. Lofton flew out to shallow leftcenter. Garciaparra lined out to left. Washburn threw 11 pitches and had 42 through three.
TOP 4TH
Johjima lofted a first-pitch fly ball that hit the leftfield foul pole, though it sure didn't seem like it at first.
»» MARINERS 2, DODGERS 1
Reed smacked an 0-2 pitch up the middle for a single. Betancourt flew out to Drew in fairly deep rightcenter on a full count. Washburn bunted the first pitch hard to the right side, where Garciaparra looked to second but had no play and threw to first, moving Reed to second. Ichiro took a 3-1 pitch away for a walk. Beltre popped a 2-2 pitch to right on the ninth pitch. Billingsley threw 25 pitches and had 87 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Drew whiffed on a 2-2 slider away. Kent grounded a full-count pitch to Beltre behind the bag at third. Saenz fell behind 0-2 and rolled a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a single. Kemp broke his bat on the second pitch and singled into shallow left, moving Saenz to second. Martin's bat split in half on the first pitch to him, and he bounced to short for a 6-4 fielder's choice. Washburn threw 18 pitches and had 60 through four.
TOP 5TH
Lopez was ahead 3-0 but bounced the 3-1 pitch to short. Ibañez bounced the second pitch to second. Sexson bounced a 2-0 pitch to short.
Billingsley's line: 5 innings, 2 runs, 5 hits, 4 walks, 1 strikeout, 97 pitches (58 strikes)
BOTTOM 5TH
Jose Cruz, Jr., hitting for Billingsley, shot a 1-2 pitch to third, where Beltre backhanded it and it went up in the air, but Beltre got it out of the air and threw in time to first. Furcal fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball in the dirt. Lofton flew out to shallow right. Washburn threw 12 pitches and had 72 through five.
TOP 6TH
Joe Beimel came in for Billingsley. Johjima flew out to Drew on the rightcenter track on the second pitch. Reed chopped to Beimel along the right side. Betancourt was down 0-2 and bounced a 1-2 pitch to third.
Beimel's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 10 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Garciaparra drilled the second pitch into leftcenter for a single. Drew popped a high pitch to Reed in shallow rightcenter. Kent whiffed on a 1-2 fastball. Saenz crushed a 2-0 belt-high piped meatball over the wall in leftcenter.
»» DODGERS 3, MARINERS 2
Kemp rolled a single through the hole on the left side. Martin walked on four pitches, moving Kemp to second. Ramon Martinez, hitting for Beimel, fell behind 0-2 and rocked the 2-2 pitch to the wall in leftcenter, scoring Kemp and Martin. Why didn't Hargrove pull Washburn after the homer?
»» DODGERS 5, MARINERS 2
Furcal rolled out to second.
Washburn's line: 6 innings, 5 runs, 8 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, 100 pitches (62 strikes)
TOP 7TH
Jonathan Broxton came in for Beimel. Carl Everett, hitting for Washburn, was ahead 3-0 and crushed a full-count pitch twelve rows into the leftfield bleachers.
»» DODGERS 5, MARINERS 3
Ichiro looped the second pitch into left for a single. Beltre watched as Ichiro nabbed second on the 2-0 pitch. Beltre rolled a 2-2 pitch through the left side for a single, moving Ichiro to third.
Danys Baez came in for Broxton and Cesar Izturis came in to play short for Furcal. Lopez popped the first pitch to center, easily scoring Ichiro from third.
»» DODGERS 5, MARINERS 4
Ibañez popped a 2-0 pitch to Lofton in deep leftcenter. Sexson tapped to the mound and off of Baez' glove, moving Beltre to second. Johjima popped an 0-2 pitch that Kemp took a first step in on, and he had to go back quickly and reach up for the catch (Kemp's been a bit of a leftfield zoo in the series). Baez threw ten pitches.
Broxton's line: 0 innings, 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 14 pitches (9 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Julio Mateo came in for Washburn and Rene Rivera came in to catch for Johjima. Lofton chopped the second pitch high to first, but Sexson is tall. Garciaparra popped an 0-2 pitch to Betancourt on the infield grass. Drew looped an 0-2 fly to Ichiro in shallow right. Mateo threw eight pitches.
Mateo's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 8 pitches (8 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Reed ripped an 0-2 pitch over the wall in center. Damn.
»» DODGERS 5, MARINERS 5
Betancourt flew out to shallow right on a 3-1 pitch. Rivera shot the first pitch through the mound and into center for a single. Ichiro got ahead 2-0 and grounded a full-count pitch hard to short with Rivera running and Izturis made a diving stop and flipped to second, but Rivera was already there. Beltre poked an 0-2 pitch to the corner in left for a double, scoring Rivera as well as Ichiro from first (he got his hand on the plate just before the Martin tag). Dodger manager Grady Little came out to argue with the plate umpire.
»» MARINERS 7, DODGERS 5
Lopez poked a 2-0 pitch to left for a single, scoring Beltre, messed-up right knee and all in part thanks to the Kemp zoo in left. Lopez went to second on the throw.
»» MARINERS 8, DODGERS 5
Hong-Chih Kuo came in for Baez. Ibañez took a 1-2 fastball over the outside corner. Sexson was intentionally walked. Mike Morse, hitting for Mateo, walked on a full-count pitch inside, loading the bases. Reed couldn't hold a 1-2 checkswing on a high pitch, but he'd already done his job in the inning. Kuo threw 18 pitches.
Baez' line: 1 1/3 innings, 4 runs, 6 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 32 pitches (21 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Rafael Soriano came in for Mateo. Kent lined the second pitch to short. Izturis ripped a single through the left side. Kemp flew out to Ichiro short of the track in right. Martin popped an 0-2 pitch to Betancourt behind the mound. Soriano threw 11 pitches.
Soriano's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 11 pitches (9 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Betancourt fell behind 0-2 and whiffed badly on a high 2-2 fastball. Rivera grounded the second pitch deep into the hole at short but was thrown out. Ichiro flew out to center on the second pitch.
Kuo's line: 1 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, 28 pitches (15 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
JJ Putz came in for Soriano. Martinez fell behind 0-2 and bounced out to third on a 1-2 pitch. Andre Ethier, hitting for Kuo, whiffed on an 0-2 pitch. Lofton flew out to left on an 0-2 pitch.
Putz' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 14 pitches (13 strikes)
---
Gameball: Ichiro.
It turns out he's only hitting .463 and slugging .638 this month. I think this guy's pretty good. His high-water mark averagewise this year is .365, which is where he is currently. He's also got 23 steals on the year already, but it's weird that I get so fixated on his doings at the plate and his throwing arm and all the room he covers in rightfield that I forget he can steal bases. Maybe I don't forget that he can steal bases, I just forget numbers when it comes to how many bases he's stolen. He's stolen 23 bases this season. It seems like nearly every year I sit here at some point when Ichiro is struggling and I start bagging on him for making the rest of the lineup stagnant, and almost every year he's managed to snap out of it and go nuts. The tear he's on now, though, is pretty ridiculous. This is the same guy that had a .177 average after the game on April 18th. Two months later on June 18th, he had a .365 batting average, more than double his mark of two months earlier. Plain and simple -- Ichiro is absolutely nuts.
Goat: Jarrod Washburn.
After being one of the better pitchers in the Mariner rotation for the first two months of the season and getting deep into many games, Washburn has fallen off in June, going 1-2 in four starts and tacking 0.95 onto his ERA, which was 3.89 but is now 4.84 on the season. His ERA in June is 8.02, and he's given up 19 runs in the month. He's thrown 21 1/3 innings this month. Most shocking, however, is that Washburn had only given up five or more runs in a start just once in the first two months of the season (eleven starts). This month, he's given up at least five runs in three of his four starts. In the first two months, Washburn recorded outs in the seventh inning in six of eleven starts. That hasn't happened once for him this month. For Washburn, it's pretty much location, but a big part of his game is based on elevated fastballs, so I don't know how he gets by in the Majors, seriously, and that's even though I've seen it work earlier this season. In any event, the back part of the rotation has been picking up where Washburn has dropped off lately.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 54-19 .740 -- L2
2003 49-24 .671 5 W1
2002 45-28 .625 9 L1
2000 43-30 .589 11 W6
2006 36-37 .493 18 W5
2005 33-40 .452 21 W2
2004 30-43 .411 24 L1
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 42-for-89 (.472), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 9 RBIs, 8 walks, 5 strikeouts
Beltre 27-for-86 (.314), 6 doubles, 5 homers, 17 RBIs, 9 walks, 13 strikeouts
Lopez 19-for-75 (.253), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 13 RBIs, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Ibañez 25-for-71 (.352), 5 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 24 RBIs, 11 walks, 10 strikeouts
Sexson 17-for-73 (.233), 1 double, 6 homers, 20 RBIs, 11 walks, 19 strikeouts
Everett 14-for-59 (.237), 2 homers, 5 RBIs, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Johjima 19-for-66 (.288), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Reed 14-for-54 (.259), 1 double, 3 homers, 4 RBIs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Betancourt 22-for-72 (.306), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer, 7 RBIs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Hernandez. Lowe. Tonight.
/ Click for main page
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
GAME 72: MARINERS 9, DODGERS 4
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: The Mariner offense looked like a million bucks against Brad Penny. Mostly.
This one featured Joel Piñeiro going up against Brad Penny. The Mariners came in with a 6-0 record this year in interleague play. They had a three-game winning streak going and even with the sweep in Oakland had still won 12 of their last 17 games. So, the hope was to maek it four straight and 13 of 18. Having Piñeiro on the mound coming in doesn't necessarily set you up very well for that, but sometimes the breaks turn your way.
TOP 1ST
Ichiro bounced a single up the middle. Adrian Beltre pounded a homer about six rows into the bleachers in rightcenter.
»» MARINERS 2, DODGERS 0
Raul Ibañez bounced the second pitch back to the mound. Richie Sexson blistered a single into left. Kenji Johjima was robbed on the second pitch by a sliding catch by Drew in shallow right. Jeremy Reed popped the second pitch to Martin in foul ground near the screen behind the plate. Penny threw 15 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Rafael Furcal chopped a 2-2 pitch down the rightfield line toward the corner for a double. Kenny Lofton whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball. Nomar Garciaparra watched as Furcal was nearly picked off of second, though Bloomquist didn't come up with the throw (might have been late anyway). Garciaparra ended up scorching a single into left, scoring Furcal, and the relay home from Ibañez got past Johjima and Piñeiro behind the plate and it got past, allowing Garciaparra to get to second. Piñeiro dove for the ball behind the plate and some training staff came out, but Piñeiro stayed in after a warmup throw or two. Ibañez was given an error on the play.
»» MARINERS 2, DODGERS 1
JD Drew rolled the second pitch to first, moving Garciaparra to third. Jeff Kent took the second pitch in the dirt and it got away from Johjima, but not far enough to move Garciaparra. Kent took a 1-2 breaking ball outside in the dirt that Johjima couldn't quite block and it went to the backstop, scoring Kent. The pitch was Piñeiro's first wild pitch of the year.
»» DODGERS 2, MARINERS 2
Kent ended up whiffing on a full count. Piñeiro threw 23 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Willie Bloomquist spanked a 1-2 pitch into right for a single. Yuniesky Betancourt smacked the second pitch into right for a single, moving Bloomquist to second but not third since the hit-and-run wasn't on. Joel Piñeiro bunted the second pitch and bounced it along the first-base line, where a charging Garciaparra tagged Piñeiro comnig down the line but had no other play as Bloomquist and Betancourt went to third and second. Ichiro popped to shallow left and Kemp's throw home bounced off of Bloomquist and went past, though Penny backed up the play and was able to throw back to Martin in time at the plate to get Betancourt out. Penny threw 12 pitches and had 27 through two.
»» MARINERS 3, DODGERS 2
BOTTOM 2ND
Matt Kemp whiffed on an 0-2 breaking ball away in the dirt. Ramon Martinez popped the second pitch high to center. Russell Martin worked a 1-2 count full before bouncing a single through the left side. Brad Penny whiffed on an 0-2 pitch over the outside corner. Piñeiro threw 15 pitches and had 38 through two.
TOP 3RD
Beltre scorched one into leftfield and it got past Kemp (weird route) and rolled to the wall, giving Beltre a double. Ibañez was down 0-2 before popping to Kemp along the leftfield line. Sexson chopped over Martinez at third and Beltre was running with the pitch and scored on the single.
»» MARINERS 4, DODGERS 2
Johjima was down 0-2 before popping high to short on a 2-2 pitch. Reed punched a single into shallow left, moving Sexson to second. Bloomquist flew out to right on the second pitch. Penny threw 21 pitches and had 48 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Furcal lined a 1-2 pitch right to Ibañez in left. Lofton bounced out to short. Garciaparra fouled the first pitch square off his left foot or shin, then bounced to short on the next pitch as Niehaus mistakenly identified Betancourt as Furcal, but hey, it's Niehaus and he rules. Piñeiro threw ten pitches and had 48 through three.
TOP 4TH
Betancourt bounced a broken-bat bouncer to third on the second pitch. Piñeiro was up 2-0 and whiffed on a 2-2 fastball. Ichiro grounded hard to first on the first pitch. Penny threw eight pitches and had 56 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Drew popped the first pitch barely foul near the leftfield foul pole. Drew rolled an 0-2 pitch to second. Kent rode the second pitch for a double to the wall in rightcenter. Kemp popped an 0-2 pitch to Sexson in foul ground on the right side. Martinez nearly lasered the second pitch down the leftfield line, but it went foul. Martinez ended up spanking the next pitch through the right side for a single, moving Kent to third, where the stop sign was thrown up on him. Martin worked an 0-2 count full before hitting a piped breaking ball into center for a single, easily scoring Kent and moving Martinez to second. Niehaus did use the phrase "for cryin' out loud" when pointing out that the pitch was right in the middle of the plate, and he also wondered aloud why they just didn't give Martin the fourth ball intentionally since the pitcher was on deck.
»» MARINERS 4, DODGERS 3
Penny grounded the second pitch to short, where Betancourt tossed to second for the force on Martin. Piñeiro threw 21 pitches and had 69 through four.
TOP 5TH
Beltre flew out to Drew in front of the in-wall scoreboard in right. Ibañez flew out to Drew in front of the same scoreboard in right on the first pitch. Sexson squashed the first pitch and hit a fly ball that just kept carrying until it got over the wall in rightcenter.
»» MARINERS 5, DODGERS 3
Johjima lined the first pitch over Drew's head and off the track and wall in rightfield for a double. Reed rolled slowly to second. Penny threw ten pitches and had 66 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Furcal bounced out to first (3-1 putout). Lofton smacked a single into right. Garciaparra had the hitters' counts and walked on a 3-1 low fastball. Drew drove the second pitch to Ibañez just in front of the wall in leftcenter as the runners retreated. Kent grounded a too-high 2-0 breaking ball to a diving Beltre behind the bag at third, who got a glove on it and it rolled but stayed close, saving a run but loading the bases. Pitching coach Rafael Chaves visited the mound. Kemp bounced the first pitch right to Beltre at third, who tagged Garciaparra coming down the line. Piñeiro threw 18 pitches and had 87 through five.
TOP 6TH
Bloomquist fell behind 0-2 and rolled a 1-2 pitch up the middle to Furcal, who barely threw him out. Betancourt chopped out to second. Piñeiro whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball. Penny threw 12 pitches and had 78 through six.
Penny's line: 6 innings, 5 runs, 10 hits, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts, 78 pitches (53 strikes)
BOTTOM 6TH
Martinez bounced the second pitch to short. Martin grounded the first pitch to third. Andre Ethier, hitting for Penny, grounded the first pitch to first. Piñeiro threw five pitches and had 92 through six.
TOP 7TH
Hong-Chih Kuo came in for Penny. Ichiro walked on a 3-1 pitch. Beltre walked on four pitches. Ibañez punched an 0-2 single into center, scoring Ichiro and moving Beltre to second.
»» MARINERS 6, DODGERS 3
Jonathan Broxton came in for Kuo. Sexson took a very wild first pitch to the backstop, moving Beltre to third and Sexson to second. Sexson got ahead 3-1 and whiffed on a low full-count pitch and briefly talked about the location with the plate umpire. Johjima bounced a 2-0 pitch through a drawn-in infield into left for a single, scoring Beltre and moving Ibañez to third.
»» MARINERS 7, DODGERS 3
Reed was behind 0-2 and rolled a 1-2 pitch to short to start a 6-3 double play.
Kuo's line: 0 innings, 2 runs, 1 hit, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts, 12 pitches (4 strikes)
Bruxton's line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 13 pitches (7 strikes)
BOTTOM 7TH
Furcal doubled the first pitch down the leftfield line. Lofton tapped a 2-2 pitch back to the mound, and Piñeiro looked Furcal back to second before throwing to first for the out. Garciaparra bounced a single through the left side on the second pitch, moving Furcal to third.
George Sherrill came in for Piñeiro. Drew fell behind 0-2 and flew out to center on a 2-2 pitch, scoring Furcal.
»» MARINERS 7, DODGERS 4
Julio Mateo came in for Sherrill. Kent popped to left.
Piñeiro's line: 6 1/3 innings, 4 runs (3 earned), 10 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 102 pitches (72 strikes)
Sherrill's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 5 pitches (3 strikes)
Mateo's line: 1/3 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts, 3 pitches (2 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Jae Seo came in for Bruxton. Bloomquist fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 2-2 breaking ball. Betancourt popped to right. Carl Everett, hitting for Mateo, popped a 1-2 pitch to shallow right. Seo threw 12 pitches.
BOTTOM 8TH
Rafael Soriano came in for Mateo. Kemp whiffed on a 2-2 breaking ball outside. Martinez worked an 0-2 count full before flying out to center. Martin flew out to right. Soriano threw 15 pitches.
TOP 9TH
Ichiro took a tailing 1-2 pitch for strike three. Beltre walked on four pitches. Ibañez slapped a base hit past Kemp in left and to the wall, where it bounced away from him, and he bobbled it away when he fielded it, allowing Beltre to score and Ibañez to get to third (he had a double on the play).
»» MARINERS 8, DODGERS 4
Sexson had the hitters' counts before taking a full-count pitch outside for a walk. Johjima popped the second pitch to Kent along the rightfield line, and Ibañez somehow tagged and scored, beating the throw in from Kent, who was pretty much caught napping on the play.
»» MARINERS 9, DODGERS 4
Reed chopped a 1-2 pitch to first.
Seo's line: 2 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), 1 hit, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, 38 pitches (22 strikes)
BOTTOM 9TH
Cesar Izturis, fresh off the disabled list and hitting for Seo, worked an 0-2 count for a walk. Furcal was ahead 2-0 and popped to left on a full count. Lofton drove a 2-0 pitch to Ichiro on the rightfield track. Garciaparra ripped the first pitch into rightfield for a single, moving Izturis to second. Drew fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 pitch.
Soriano's line: 2 innings, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, 38 pitches (21 strikes)
---
Gameball: Richie Sexson.
I chose this guy as the goat for the Sunday game, and here he is for this one. To update, he's hitting .238 for the month, better than his previous two months. He's slugging .540 this month, almost 100 a hundred points better than either April or May. On-base percentage isn't something you think of with Sexson, but he's at .329 for June, better than his .308 mark for April. So, he's 15-for-63 for the month. Six of those 15 hits are homers and one is a double, accounting for nearly half of his hits. He has 18 RBIs this month, already more than the 15 from the month of April, and there are still ten days left in the month. Something really curious, however, is the strikeout category. He struck out 28 times in April and 36 times in May. Like I said, we have ten days to go in June, but Sexson's sitting here with only fifteen strikeouts for the month. I realize he can have a couple bad nights and have a hat trick or two somewhere, but it's a decent sign. Also, he already has more walks than in all of May and he's four away from outdrawing his 12-walk April.
Goat: Joel Piñeiro.
I think I was going to pick Raul Ibañez for this based partially on the throwing error and other assorted leftfield hijinks but laid off because he had a couple of hits and drove in a couple of runs and has almost doubled his season RBI total in the last near-month. So, I couldn't think of anyone but Piñeiro, who by far didn't have his worst outing, but getting knocked around for ten hits is generally bad. Luckily he only walked one Dodger hitter. Still, he was getting balls too far up in the zone, and at one point he was just getting ripped around the field. As for going 3-0 on Russell Martin and not walking him with runners on the corners with two out and the pitcher on deck in the fourth, well, I don't know who to blame that on -- it could be Hargrove, Johjima, or even Piñeiro shaking off every other sign. In any event, a sensible man pulls Piñeiro some time in the fifth, but Hargrove seems to have a thing for squeezing an extra inning or two out of his starters when I sometimes don't think he should. Luckily this time he appears in the right.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 54-18 .750 -- L1
2003 48-24 .667 6 L2
2002 45-27 .625 9 W4
2000 42-30 .583 12 W5
2006 35-37 .486 19 W4
2005 33-39 .458 21 W1
2004 30-42 .417 24 W1
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 40-for-84 (.476), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 9 RBIs, 7 walks, 5 strikeouts
Beltre 24-for-82 (.293), 5 doubles, 5 homers, 15 RBIs, 8 walks, 13 strikeouts
Lopez 18-for-71 (.253), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 11 RBIs, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Ibañez 24-for-67 (.358), 5 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 24 RBIs, 10 walks, 9 strikeouts
Sexson 16-for-69 (.232), 1 double, 6 homers, 20 RBIs, 10 walks, 18 strikeouts
Everett 13-for-58 (.224), 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Johjima 17-for-62 (.274), 6 doubles, 4 RBIs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Reed 12-for-50 (.240), 1 double, 2 homers, 3 RBI, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
Betancourt 22-for-67 (.328), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer, 7 RBIs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Washburn. Billingsley. Tonight.
/ Click for main page
Sunday, June 18, 2006
GAME 71: MARINERS 5, GIANTS 1
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: The pitching from the night before proved to be a little contagious, with the offense less so.
This one featured Jamey Wright going up against Jamie Moyer. Wright nearly broke camp with the Mariners in 2003, but the decision was made to keep Gil Meche instead. One rarity today was the start of Willie Bloomquist at second due to Jose Lopez having jammed a thumb in the Saturday game. Carl Everett came into the game 6-for-10 lifetime against Wright. The Mariners were attempting to sweep the Giants just three days after having been swept by the Giants' crossbay rivals in Oakland.
TOP 1ST
Jason Ellison drove the 3-1 pitch over the Nikon ad in leftcenter.
»» GIANTS 1, MARINERS 0
Omar Vizquel popped the second pitch to a running Bloomquist along the rightfield line. Randy Winn fell behind 0-2 and whiffed on a 1-2 change away. Barry Bonds was down 0-2 and took a 1-2 change over the outside corner. Moyer threw 15 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro shot the second pitch past Vizcaino at first and into rightfield. Adrian Beltre looped a fly into left that was caught by a sliding Sweeney. Raul Ibañez watched as Ichiro nabbed second on the second pitch. Ibañez ended up grounding hard to first, moving Ichiro to third. Richie Sexson fell behind 0-2 before whiffing on a 2-2 breaking ball inside. Wright threw 15 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Ray Durham flew out high to Ibañez along the leftfield line. Pedro Feliz reached for an outside pitch and flew out to center. Jose Vizcaino ripped the first pitch up the middle for a single. Mark Sweeney flew out to Reed on a 2-2 pitch. Moyer threw 13 pitches and had 28 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Carl Everett was ahead 3-0 before flying to left on a full count. Kenji Johjima rolled the second pitch up the middle for a single. Jeremy Reed fell behind 0-2 and chopped a 1-2 pitch to third to start a 5-4-3 double play. Wright threw 12 pitches and had 27 through two.
TOP 3RD
Eliezer Alfonzo nearly poked an 0-2 pitch down the leftfield line for a double, but instead ended up grounding to Beltre behind the bag at third on a 1-2 pitch. Ellison fell behind 0-2 and ended up popping out to second on a 2-2 pitch. Vizquel lined the first pitch right to Ibañez in left. Moyer threw 11 pitches and had 39 through two.
BOTTOM 3RD
Willie Bloomquist singled through the left side on the second pitch. Yuniesky Betancourt bunted the first pitch down the first-base line as it went foul, and Niehaus questioned the rationale of bunting at this stage of the game to tie. Betancourt ended up bunting the next pitch to the left side, where Feliz made the play to first to move Bloomquist to second. Ichiro watched as Bloomquist stole third on a 1-2 pitch. Ichiro wound up whiffing on a 2-2 breaking ball away and in the dirt, and Alfonzo raced to get it on his left and threw to first in time as Bloomquist held at third. Beltre split his bat on a grounder to the mound that Wright kicked with his foot, except the ball hopped into left for a single, scoring Bloomquist on the single.
»» GIANTS 1, MARINERS 1
Ibañez watched as Wright made a pickoff throw at first that hit Beltre and went into foul territory, allowing Beltre to move to second. Ibañez got behind 0-2 and rolled past Durham and into center for a single on a 1-2 pitch, scoring Beltre.
»» MARINERS 2, GIANTS 1
Sexson watched as Ibañez stole second on an 0-2 pitch. Sexson worked the count for a walk. Pitching coach Dave Righetti visited the mound. Everett lined a single into shallow center on a full count, scoring Ibañez.
»» MARINERS 3, GIANTS 1
Johjima grounded the second pitch to second. Wright threw 30 pitches and had 57 through three.
TOP 4TH
Winn flew out short of the track in left on a 2-2 pitch. Bonds flew out high to left on the first pitch. Durham dumped the second pitch into shallow left for a single. Feliz reached for an outside second pitch and flew out to left. Moyer threw 12 pitches and had 51 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Reed lined out to left on a 2-0 pitch. Bloomquist whiffed on a 1-2 pitch down and away. Betancourt shot the second pitch through the left side for a single, but Sweeney muffed the grounder and Betancourt took second on the play. Ichiro rolled a 2-0 pitch to short. Wright threw 12 pitches and had 69 through four.
TOP 5TH
Vizcaino grounded the second pitch hard to third. Sweeney singled down the rightfield line on the first pitch. Alfonzo popped the second pitch down the leftfield line where Ibañez tried to leap to catch it, but was unsuccessful and the ball (ruled foul) rolled away. Alfonzo dumped an 0-2 pitch into leftcenter for a single, moving Sweeney to second. Ellison rolled the first pitch to short to start a 6-3 double play. Moyer threw eight pitches and had 59 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Beltre homered over the wall in rightcenter. Really.
»» MARINERS 4, GIANTS 1
Ibañez lined out to short on a 1-2 pitch. Sexson grounded the second pitch to short. Everett whiffed on a 1-2 breaking ball in the dirt. Wright threw 14 pitches and had 83 through five.
TOP 6TH
Vizquel singled through the left side on a 2-2 pitch. Winn was up 2-0 and ended up tapping back to the mound on a full count to start a 1-6-3 double play. Bonds was ahead 2-0 before whiffing on a 2-2 change. Moyer threw 16 pitches and had 75 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Johjima was down 0-2 and ended up tapping back to the mound on a 2-2 pitch. Reed bounced the first pitch to second. Bloomquist bounced a 1-2 pitch to short. Wright threw 11 pitches and had 94 through six.
TOP 7TH
Durham one-hopped the first pitch to short. Feliz popped to shallow center. Vizcaino fell behind 0-2 and bounced to third on a 2-2 pitch. Moyer threw ten pitches and had 85 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Betancourt grounded out to second. Ichiro was ahead 3-0 and walked on a 3-1 pitch up and away. Beltre took the second pitch way outside and to the backstop, moving Ichiro to second. Beltre ended up grounding to second on the next pitch, moving Ichiro to third. Ibañez walked on four pitches. Sexson walked on four pitches to load the bases.
Tim Worrell came in for Wright. Everett fell behind 0-2 and took a 1-2 pitch over the outside corner. Worrell threw five pitches.
Wright's line: 6 2/3 innings, 4 runs, 8 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts, 114 pitches (64 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Sweeney flew out to Beltre in foul ground on the first pitch. Alfonzo was hit on the left arm with a 1-2 pitch that he'd moved toward, and it was ruled a foul ball even with the noted contact (good call). Alfonzo popped the 1-2 pitch to a running Ichiro in rightcenter. Ellison was down 0-2 and took a 2-2 change over the outer half.
Moyer's line: 8 innings, 1 run, 6 hits, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts, 97 pitches (66 strikes)
BOTTOM 8TH
Johjima was ahead 2-0 and popped to Sweeney on the track in front of the manual scoreboard in left. Reed smacked a single up the middle into centerfield. Bloomquist flew out to shallow right. Betancourt shot the second pitch through the right side for a single on a hit-and-run, moving Reed to third. Ichiro drilled a single into rightcenter, scoring Reed and moving Betancourt to third.
»» MARINERS 5, GIANTS 1
Beltre flew out to Vizquel in shallow left on an 0-2 pitch.
Worrell's line: 1 1/3 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 26 pitches (19 strikes)
TOP 9TH
JJ Putz came in for Moyer. Vizquel rolled out to short. Winn fell behind 0-2 and rolled to short on a 1-2 pitch. Bonds whiffed on a 1-2 fastball over the inner half.
Putz' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 strikeout, 12 pitches (8 strikes)
---
Gameball: Adrian Beltre.
He's hit safely in fourteen of the sixteen games he's played this month. He homered in this game, giving him four for the month, double the combined amount he accumulated in April and May. In addition, he had nine extra-base hits combined in the first two months combined, whereas in June he has eight extra-base hits (four doubles with the four homers). He slugged .233 and .355 in April and May (.300 total), but in June he is slugging at a clip of .493 (season slug bumped up to .349). Needless to say, the .493 slugging month so far is great, grand, and wonderful. Beltre will always have his numbers compared to those of his 2004 season. In that season, he slugged .629, which from this point looks ungodly, but so do the rest of his numbers from that season. Isn't it fitting that he was great when the Mariners lost 99 games, but they bring him aboard and his 2005 season would have fit right in on the 2004 Mariner team. Quick fact: he hit more doubles in his 2005 season than in 2004 (36 to 32), but you could attribute that to some warning trackers not getting over the wall too. Anyway, we know his defense has been great too, though he's on pace to make way commit way more errors than he did last season: he has ten right now and had fourteen all of last year.
Goat: Richie Sexson.
His job is to drive in runs and hit balls out. He went hitless in this game. He strikes out a lot over the course of the season, but he did that only once in this game. He wasn't completely useless, however, since he drew two walks. Carl Everett did come in with a good history of hitting against Jamey Wright, so this wasn't horribly bad at all. Sexson has managed to work some 0-2 counts for walks in recent games, which shows unexpected patience. The good news is that despite his brutal .205 batting average, he's slugging .475, way higher than April (.351) or May (.358). That has mostly to do with the fact that half of his twelve hits this month have gone for extra bases and five of them have been homers. He's also had his most productive RBI month, and we've got twelve days left to go in the month. Even with the grossly low batting average, Sexson is still on pace to drive in 103 runs. If he actually hits better over the second half of the season, his 125 might not be too far out of reach. I think forty homers might be out of the question though. He's only pace for 25. With a decent second half, I think he could get to the mid 30s, but I think 40 is out of the question.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 54-17 .761 -- W1
2003 48-23 .676 6 L1
2002 44-27 .620 10 W3
2000 41-30 .577 13 W4
2006 34-37 .479 20 W3
2005 32-39 .451 22 L1
2004 29-42 .408 25 L4
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 39-for-81 (.481), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 8 RBIs, 6 walks, 4 strikeouts
Beltre 22-for-79 (.278), 4 doubles, 4 homers, 13 RBIs, 6 walks, 13 strikeouts
Lopez 18-for-71 (.253), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 11 RBIs, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Ibañez 22-for-62 (.355), 4 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 22 RBIs, 10 walks, 9 strikeouts
Sexson 13-for-65 (.200), 1 double, 5 homers, 18 RBIs, 9 walks, 17 strikeouts
Everett 13-for-57 (.228), 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts
Johjima 15-for-57 (.263), 5 doubles, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Reed 11-for-45 (.244), 1 double, 2 homers, 3 RBI, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
Betancourt 21-for-63 (.333), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer, 7 RBIs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Piñeiro. Penny. Tuesday.
/ Click for main page
GAME 70: MARINERS 8, GIANTS 1
[initial partial post]
In 25 words or less: Somebody needs to find out who was pitching for the Mariners in this game, because few would believe it was actually Gil Meche.
This one featured Jason Schmidt going up against Gil Meche. Meche was pushed one day in the rotation due to stiffness in his lower back. While the Fox broadcast (they beamed it to Hawaii) did show the graphic of all the Northwest-inclined players playing in the game, they deserve big ups for showing that Jason Ellison and Willie Bloomquist were teammates at Port Orchard High School, a school which of course doesn't exist. I know I laughed when I saw it, that's for sure. At one point, Thom Brenneman said that Adrian Beltre had been hitting third for most of the season, which is of course false (fifth), but hey, the Fox network guys don't follow this team day to day, so I don't expect them to know absolutely everything. Schmidt had not given up more than two runs in a start since April 21st and had not given up more than five hits in a game since April. The Mariners also hoped to establish an actual winning streak after that whole thing in Oakland where they lost all those games.
TOP 1ST
Randy Winn worked an 0-2 count for a walk. Omar Vizquel bunted the first pitch to the left side, where Beltre did that charge and barehand to first thing, moving Winn to second. Ray Durham watched as Winn was nearly caught on a spinning pickoff attempt by Meche to Betancourt sneaking behind Winn at second. Durham would whiff on a low 2-2 fastball. Barry Bonds tapped the first pitch back to the mound. Meche threw 13 pitches.
BOTTOM 1ST
Ichiro fell behind 0-2 and foul-tipped a 1-2 pitch into Alfonzo's glove behind the plate. Adrian Beltre was blown down by a high 0-2 fastball. Jose Lopez had the hitters' counts before popping to Alfonzo behind the plate. Schmidt threw 13 pitches.
TOP 2ND
Moises Alou popped the first pitch to right. Steve Finley popped a 1-1 pitch barely foul down the leftfield line near the corner where Ibañez attempted a sliding catch. Finley ended up whiffing on the next pitch, a big low curve. Pedro Feliz took a nice 0-2 curve over the plate for strike three. Meche threw eight pitches and had 21 through two.
BOTTOM 2ND
Raul Ibañez fell behind 0-2 and ripped a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a single. Richie Sexson was ahead 2-0 and got just enough of a 2-2 pitch (belt-high, outer half) to put it into the floral display beyond the centerfield wall. Chalk that one up for number 250 in Sexson's career.
»» MARINERS 2, GIANTS 0
Carl Everett tapped an 0-2 pitch to third. Jeremy Reed dropped the bat head on a 2-0 change, putting it into the fifth row of rightfield seats.
»» MARINERS 3, GIANTS 0
Rene Rivera popped to Ishikawa in foul ground on the right side on the second pitch. Yuniesky Betancourt popped to Ishikawa falling into the camera well on the first-base side. Schmidt threw 21 pitches and had 34 through two.
TOP 3RD
Travis Ishikawa of Federal Way High School bounced a 2-0 pitch down the first-base line to Sexson. Eliezer Alfonzo was mowed down by an 0-2 fastball. Winn chopped an 0-2 pitch back to the mound. Meche threw 13 pitches and had 31 through three.
BOTTOM 3RD
Ichiro grounded the first pitch hard to second. Beltre popped a 1-2 pitch short of the track in right. Lopez lashed the second pitch past the reach of Feliz at third for a single. Ibañez rode the second pitch and doubled off the track and wall in rightcenter, scoring Lopez.
»» MARINERS 4, GIANTS 0
Sexson worked a 1-2 count for a walk. Everett had the hitters' counts and ended up tapping the 3-1 pitch to Schmidt along the right side. Schmidt threw 22 pitches and had 56 through three.
TOP 4TH
Vizquel fell behind 0-2 and flew out to left on a 2-2 pitch. Durham slapped a 2-2 pitch up the middle for a single to break up Meche's no-hit bid. Bonds popped high to Ibañez in leftcenter. Alou got under one, flying out to center. Meche threw 17 pitches and had 48 through four.
BOTTOM 4TH
Reed flew out to fairly deep center. Rivera whiffed on a 2-2 belly-high fastball. Betancourt rolled an 0-2 pitch to the left side, where it hopped past Feliz and Vizquel had no play. Ichiro was up 3-1 before poking a full-count pitch past a diving Durham at second and into rightfield for a single, moving Betancourt to third. Pitching coach Dave Righetti visited the mound. Beltre whiffed on a high 1-2 pitch. Schmidt threw 24 pitches and had 80 through four.
TOP 5TH
Finley popped the second pitch high to Beltre on the left side. Feliz rolled out to short. Ishikawa flew out high to Lopez on the infield grass. Meche threw nine pitches and had 57 through five.
BOTTOM 5TH
Lopez slapped a 1-2 pitch to a diving Ishikawa at first, who underhanded to Schmidt running to cover, who beat the sliding Lopez to first. Ibañez flew out to shallow right on a 1-2 pitch. Sexson got ahead 3-0 and whiffed at the next three pitches. Schmidt threw 15 pitches and had 95 through five.
TOP 6TH
Alfonzo bounced an 0-2 pitch to a charging Beltre at third. Winn grounded the second pitch hard to Lopez ranging toward the middle, where he set and threw in time to first. Vizquel popped a 2-2 pitch to Betancourt on the outfield grass. Meche threw ten pitches and had 67 through six.
BOTTOM 6TH
Everett popped to Durham in shallow center, who nearly had a low-speed collision with Vizquel. Reed whiffed on a 2-2 pitch over the outside corner. Rivera was up 3-1 before flying out to left on a full count. Schmidt threw 15 pitches and had 110 through six.
TOP 7TH
Durham worked an 0-2 count full before whiffing badly on a low pitch, the tenth pitch of the at-bat. Bonds slapped an outside first pitch toward the corner for a double, the Giants' second hit of the game. Alou drove the second pitch to Reed on the centerfield track. Finley split his bat on a 2-0 pitch, grounding out to first (3-1 putout) as the barrel nearly made it to the first-base bag. Meche threw 16 pitches and had 83 through seven.
BOTTOM 7TH
Betancourt popped a fly ball on the second pitch and it carried all the way to the wall, where Alou leaped and missed the catch in front of the wall, enabling Betancourt to slide into third with a triple. Ichiro popped the first pitch to Ishikawa getting a railing to the gut on the home side past the first-base dugout on what should have been Alfonzo's ball. Beltre tomahawked a high second-pitch fastball over the reach of Alou in left and over the wall for a ground-rule double, scoring Betancourt.
»» MARINERS 5, GIANTS 0
Kevin Correia came in for Schmidt. Lopez poked the second pitch off the end of his bat (looked like a splinter or two flaked off) and dumped it into shallow right for a single, moving Beltre to third. Ibañez rocketed an 0-2 pitch into the fifth row of rightfield seats.
»» MARINERS 8, GIANTS 0
Sexson was behind 0-2 before chopping to third on a 1-2 pitch. Everett walked on a 3-1 pitch just inside. Reed took the first pitch for a ball and Alfonzo came to the mound for a visit. Reed ended up smacking a second-pitch liner right to Durham.
Schmidt's line: 6 1/3 innings, 6 runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, 115 pitches (74 strikes)
Correia's line: 2/3 inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 17 pitches (11 strikes)
TOP 8TH
Feliz looped the first pitch into shallow center for a single, the Giants' third hit of the game. Ishikawa whiffed on a wicked 0-2 curve. Alfonzo flew out to right on an 0-2 pitch. Winn smacked the first pitch hard to short, where it ate up Betancourt and bounced into left for a single, moving Feliz to second. Jose Vizcaino, hitting for Vizquel, grounded hard to first. Meche threw 13 pitches and had 96 through eight.
BOTTOM 8TH
Jonathan Sanchez came in for Correia, Jason Ellison came in for Alou, and Vizcaino stayed in to play short. Rivera popped to third. Betancourt walked on a 3-1 pitch outside. Ichiro grounded a 1-2 pitch to a diving Feliz at third, who threw to second for the force on Ichiro. Beltre popped the second pitch high to Winn in rightcenter.
Sanchez' line: 1 inning, 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 17 pitches (8 strikes)
TOP 9TH
Roberto Petagine came in for Sexson. Durham raked a letter-high second pitch six rows into the rightfield seats. DAMMIT!
»» MARINERS 8, GIANTS 1
Todd Greene, hitting for Bonds, grounded a 1-2 pitch to a charging Beltre, who threw to first, where Petagine had some issues finding the bag, but did. Ellison grounded a 2-2 pitch that had a wicked hop that was picked by Petagine, who underhanded to a covering Meche. Finley fouled off the second pitch to the rightfield side, where ballgirl Ellen made a nice sliding stop. Finley ended up whiffing on a 1-2 breaking ball away.
Meche's line: 9 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, 112 pitches (78 strikes)
---
Gameball: Gil Meche.
Well. That was certainly unexpected, wasn't it? Maybe he should get back stiffness more often. Meche has won all three of his starts so far in the month of June. He has given up four runs over 21 innings, obviously averaging seven innings per start. His June ERA currently sits at a meager 1.71, which is a bit stellar. He has walked seven and struck out 16, so the K/BB ratio is a tiny bit over 2:1. With a quick look at the game log, it looks like Meche has had two truly bad outings all year. Of course, some of the ones that weren't truly bad were still maddening. He's still walked 38 batters in 14 games, an average of almost three, a number that could stand to be cut down. In addition, Meche has allowed 82 hits in his 85 2/3 innings of work, which is clearly close to a hit every inning. On the other hand, this outing for Meche was probably his third truly great outing of the season, following the 7 2/3 inning start against San Diego (May 20th) and his next start where he struck out ten Orioles in seven innings (May 25th). Anyway, I think he still walks a bit too many people, but if he gets this consistency thing down, then we could have something very unexpected on our hands. I didn't expect it, anyway.
Goat: Rene Rivera.
He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in this one and therefore had the worst line out of any Mariner hitter. Still, I thought of exempting him from this goat for being behind the plate for Meche's nuttiness. So since I've been wondering about it since the last start by Felix, I decided to go through all the games where Rivera started behind the plate and see how the games unfolded. On April 15th, Joel Piñeiro threw 6 1/3 shutout innings en route to a win. On April 23rd, Hernandez threw seven innings and gave up three runs (one earned), striking out nine Tigers en route to a loss (the Justin Verlander game). On April 24th, Jamie Moyer threw seven innings and gave up two runs (one earned) en route to a no-decision against the White Sox (Brian Anderson homer in the ninth off Eddie Guardado). On April 30th, Moyer threw 6 2/3 innings and gave up three runs en route to a win. On May 4th, Hernandez threw only five innings and gave up four runs, striking out seven of the White Sox en route to a loss to Jose Contreras. On May 10th, Moyer threw eight innings in the 1-0 Tampa Bay game where the only run came home on a balk. On May 25th, Meche threw seven innings, gave up two runs, and struck out ten Orioles in an undeserving loss. On May 28th, Piñeiro had a good start, throwing 6 2/3 innings and giving up three runs (extra-inning loss to the Twins). On June 8th, Piñeiro had a terrible start, giving up seven runs (six earned) in 5 1/3 innings and walking six Twins. On June 11th, Hernandez threw the complete game against the Angels, striking out nine in a four-hitter, giving up one run in a win. In this game, Meche threw a complete game, giving up one win and striking out seven. To recap, Mariner pitchers are 4-5 in twelve starts with Rivera behind the plate. After some number chugging, the average line for a Mariner starter this year with Rivera behind the plate is this: 7 innings, 2.6 runs (2.2 earned), 5.8 hits, 1.7 walks, 5.6 strikeouts, and 104 pitches (69 strikes). They have an ERA of 2.81.
Yr W-L Pct GB Stk
2001 53-17 .757 -- L1
2003 48-22 .686 5 W4
2002 43-27 .614 10 W2
2000 40-30 .571 13 W3
2006 33-37 .471 20 W2
2005 32-38 .457 21 W1
2004 29-41 .414 24 L3
LINEUP SINCE THE TWEAK (May 30th)
Ichiro 37-for-77 (.481), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 3 homers, 7 RBIs, 5 walks, 3 strikeouts
Beltre 20-for-74 (.270), 4 doubles, 3 homers, 11 RBIs, 6 walks, 13 strikeouts
Lopez 18-for-71 (.253), 7 doubles, 1 homer, 11 RBIs, 5 walks, 12 strikeouts
Ibañez 21-for-59 (.356), 4 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 21 RBIs, 9 walks, 9 strikeouts
Sexson 13-for-63 (.206), 1 double, 5 homers, 18 RBIs, 7 walks, 16 strikeouts
Everett 12-for-53 (.226), 1 homer, 3 RBIs, 4 walks, 10 strikeouts
Johjima 14-for-53 (.264), 5 doubles, 3 RBIs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Reed 10-for-41 (.244), 1 double, 2 homers, 3 RBI, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
Betancourt 19-for-60 (.317), 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 homer, 7 RBIs, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts
Wright. Moyer. Today.
/ Click for main page
