Wednesday, July 07, 2010
GAME 83: ROYALS 3, MARINERS 2
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[post will probably be finished before the Wednesday game]
Come on. Did anyone expect a Mariner win out of a game where the Mariners are throwing Ryan Rowland-Smith up against Zack Greinke? Come on. Sure, Greinke hasn't resembled 2010 Greinke this season, but you could say the same for Ryan Rowland-Smith. Then the first Mariner out of the bullpen is Sean White? That's not exactly a recipe for winning. When was the last time anyone felt comfortable with Sean White on the mound? Needless to say, White doesn't always get the benefit of Jose Guillen coming up lame trying to beat out a double play. Anyway, this was a night where the starting pitching showed up, but the offense (and the bullpen to a lesser extent) did not.
-- the starting pitching will be discussed in the gameballs
-- the first man out of the bullpen will be discussed at the far end of the post. David Pauley threw the ninth inning and got through it without incident.
-- now, the offense. In the third, Michael Saunders legged out an infield single, then went to second on a bad throw by Mike Aviles. Saunders went to third on a groundout, then scored on a Jack Wilson suicide squeeze bunt to put the Mariners ahead 1-0. In the eighth, Jack got aboard with an infield single, then got to second when Ichiro drilled a single into rightfield. Jack stole third and scored when Chone Figgins hit a deep-enough fly ball to cut the Royals' lead to 3-2. That was it. That was the offense.
-- now, the blown offensive chances. In the first six innings, only in the third inning did the Mariners have a runner reach base with less than two outs. In the seventh, Jose Lopez singled with one out and went to second on a walk one out later, but that's where he stayed. In the eighth, with one run in, the Mariners had Ichiro on first with two out when Russell Branyan hit a double down the rightfield line that was immediately picked up by some late-teenage or early-20s dude who was totally ejected as a result. I'll stop well short of saying that cost the Mariners a tie game, but it still sucks. In the ninth, Casey Kotchman singled the other way with one out before Saunders and pinch hitter Ryan Langerhans both whiffed.
-- Ichiro's eighth inning hit kept his hitting streak going, and said streak is now at eight games. He went 1-for-4 in the game, pushing him to 111-for-341 (.326) on the season. He is on pace to fnish the season with 217 hits.
-- now, the Ichiro/Figgins stat. Ichiro got a hit, but Figgins didn't. Neither player scored. The Mariners remain 11-6 when both players score and 16-25 when both collect hits.
Gameballs
1) Ryan Rowland-Smith
2) Jack Wilson
3) Michael Saunders
Goat
Sean White
Davies. Fister. Tonight.
[post will probably be finished before the Wednesday game]
Come on. Did anyone expect a Mariner win out of a game where the Mariners are throwing Ryan Rowland-Smith up against Zack Greinke? Come on. Sure, Greinke hasn't resembled 2010 Greinke this season, but you could say the same for Ryan Rowland-Smith. Then the first Mariner out of the bullpen is Sean White? That's not exactly a recipe for winning. When was the last time anyone felt comfortable with Sean White on the mound? Needless to say, White doesn't always get the benefit of Jose Guillen coming up lame trying to beat out a double play. Anyway, this was a night where the starting pitching showed up, but the offense (and the bullpen to a lesser extent) did not.
-- the starting pitching will be discussed in the gameballs
-- the first man out of the bullpen will be discussed at the far end of the post. David Pauley threw the ninth inning and got through it without incident.
-- now, the offense. In the third, Michael Saunders legged out an infield single, then went to second on a bad throw by Mike Aviles. Saunders went to third on a groundout, then scored on a Jack Wilson suicide squeeze bunt to put the Mariners ahead 1-0. In the eighth, Jack got aboard with an infield single, then got to second when Ichiro drilled a single into rightfield. Jack stole third and scored when Chone Figgins hit a deep-enough fly ball to cut the Royals' lead to 3-2. That was it. That was the offense.
-- now, the blown offensive chances. In the first six innings, only in the third inning did the Mariners have a runner reach base with less than two outs. In the seventh, Jose Lopez singled with one out and went to second on a walk one out later, but that's where he stayed. In the eighth, with one run in, the Mariners had Ichiro on first with two out when Russell Branyan hit a double down the rightfield line that was immediately picked up by some late-teenage or early-20s dude who was totally ejected as a result. I'll stop well short of saying that cost the Mariners a tie game, but it still sucks. In the ninth, Casey Kotchman singled the other way with one out before Saunders and pinch hitter Ryan Langerhans both whiffed.
-- Ichiro's eighth inning hit kept his hitting streak going, and said streak is now at eight games. He went 1-for-4 in the game, pushing him to 111-for-341 (.326) on the season. He is on pace to fnish the season with 217 hits.
-- now, the Ichiro/Figgins stat. Ichiro got a hit, but Figgins didn't. Neither player scored. The Mariners remain 11-6 when both players score and 16-25 when both collect hits.
Gameballs
1) Ryan Rowland-Smith
2) Jack Wilson
3) Michael Saunders
Goat
Sean White
Davies. Fister. Tonight.
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