Friday, May 28, 2004
POLARIZE
In a way, you could say that it was a tale of two games for the Mariners tonight. There was the first part of the game where it seemed a lot of things were going right -- Pedro wasn't himself all night, the Mariners scratched some runs together and scored first, and Joel Pineiro was whiffing guys. Then there was the second part -- Joel slipped up and paid for it. He rebounded, but the Mariners put three runners in scoring position the rest of the way after the Red Sox took the lead, and two of those runners were on base with two out in the 9th.
It started out gingerly enough for the Mariners, other than the first inning looking like Pedro was going to be the usual versus-Mariners Pedro. Then Joel came out for his half of the first and matched Pedro pitch for pitch. Encouraging it was. Bret Boone homered into the Monster seats to get the Mariners an early lead, only to have Joel serve one up to Manny Ramirez in the latter half of the 2nd inning.
Randy Winn doubled to lead off the third and was moved to third in what was called a "great at-bat" by Dave Niehaus and Ron Fairly, and though Ichiro did foul off five pitches in the at-bat, is it wrong to expect more out of Ichiro in that situation than a grounder to the right side to move the runner to third? That's what a Willie Bloomquist or a Ramon Santiago-type player should be doing, not a player that so badly wants his 200 hits a year and has the capability of piling them up. Anyway, I felt Dave and Ron overrated the at-bat. Scott Spiezio hit a sufficiently deep fly ball to score Winn to get the Mariners the lead again, by a 2-1 margin at this point.
Joel had a good stretch through the third and fourth, striking out four and retiring every hitter except for a Johnny Damon walk. Things looked good for the Mariners (in a game where Pedro was throwing, anyway), and they looked even better when Rich Aurilia led off by belting a pitch out of the yard that got too much of the plate. Add a Winn double and an Ichiro single, and the Mariners had a 4-1 lead. Spiezio was then beaned, and a double steal put two in scoring position for Edgar with an 0-1 count and one out. He would whiff, and then Raul Ibanez would pop out to Kevin Youkilis in foul territory. Anti-clutchitude by both Edgar and Ibanez there.
As the bottom of the 5th was unfolding, only one sentence ran through my mind: Joel done lost his mind. Whether he mentally lost himself is open to debate, but the results sure aren't. It didn't seem too bad after Kevins Millar and Youkilis hit back-to-back doubles, and it seemed Joel might get out of it after whiffing Pokey Reese. After all, Joel didn't let the second inning go to hell after Manny homered, right? Two walks to load the bases would follow, with David Ortiz golfing one on the first pitch over the wall in right for a grand slam. Game. Over. Ichiro probably needed an extra foot or two to snatch that ball out of the air, but it's over and done now. The Red Sox now led 6-4.
As a result of blowing up with two outs in the 5th, Joel's line suffered greatly. He gave up six runs on six hits, walking three and striking out nine in 6 1/3 innings (104 pitches). I think a stat I saw during the game said Joel had a 2.05 ERA in his last three starts with a .205 opponents' batting average (numbers were easy to remember), but he had gone 0-3 in those three starts.
What happens if you're the Mariners and you give Pedro the lead that he didn't already have, in the 5th? Well, first he gives up a couple singles because he isn't himself tonight, but then he sets down your next six hitters in a row, including the top third of your lineup in the 7th. And since the Red Sox improved their bullpen and added Keith Foulke this year, it's basically all over but the shouting.
Gameball: John Olerud. 2-for-4. His average his quietly (as if it'd be loudly) crept up to .269.
Goat: Edgar. 0-for-4 striking out twice and stranding two. Ouch, Papi. Ouch.
If someone asked you before the season started what you thought Joel Pineiro's record would be on June 1st, how many of you would have said 1-6? Anybody? Bueller?
It's matinee ball tomorrow!! What better way to prepare for Curt Schilling on Sunday than with a steady diet of knuckleballs on Saturday?
Garcia. Wakefield. A little over twelve hours.
It started out gingerly enough for the Mariners, other than the first inning looking like Pedro was going to be the usual versus-Mariners Pedro. Then Joel came out for his half of the first and matched Pedro pitch for pitch. Encouraging it was. Bret Boone homered into the Monster seats to get the Mariners an early lead, only to have Joel serve one up to Manny Ramirez in the latter half of the 2nd inning.
Randy Winn doubled to lead off the third and was moved to third in what was called a "great at-bat" by Dave Niehaus and Ron Fairly, and though Ichiro did foul off five pitches in the at-bat, is it wrong to expect more out of Ichiro in that situation than a grounder to the right side to move the runner to third? That's what a Willie Bloomquist or a Ramon Santiago-type player should be doing, not a player that so badly wants his 200 hits a year and has the capability of piling them up. Anyway, I felt Dave and Ron overrated the at-bat. Scott Spiezio hit a sufficiently deep fly ball to score Winn to get the Mariners the lead again, by a 2-1 margin at this point.
Joel had a good stretch through the third and fourth, striking out four and retiring every hitter except for a Johnny Damon walk. Things looked good for the Mariners (in a game where Pedro was throwing, anyway), and they looked even better when Rich Aurilia led off by belting a pitch out of the yard that got too much of the plate. Add a Winn double and an Ichiro single, and the Mariners had a 4-1 lead. Spiezio was then beaned, and a double steal put two in scoring position for Edgar with an 0-1 count and one out. He would whiff, and then Raul Ibanez would pop out to Kevin Youkilis in foul territory. Anti-clutchitude by both Edgar and Ibanez there.
As the bottom of the 5th was unfolding, only one sentence ran through my mind: Joel done lost his mind. Whether he mentally lost himself is open to debate, but the results sure aren't. It didn't seem too bad after Kevins Millar and Youkilis hit back-to-back doubles, and it seemed Joel might get out of it after whiffing Pokey Reese. After all, Joel didn't let the second inning go to hell after Manny homered, right? Two walks to load the bases would follow, with David Ortiz golfing one on the first pitch over the wall in right for a grand slam. Game. Over. Ichiro probably needed an extra foot or two to snatch that ball out of the air, but it's over and done now. The Red Sox now led 6-4.
As a result of blowing up with two outs in the 5th, Joel's line suffered greatly. He gave up six runs on six hits, walking three and striking out nine in 6 1/3 innings (104 pitches). I think a stat I saw during the game said Joel had a 2.05 ERA in his last three starts with a .205 opponents' batting average (numbers were easy to remember), but he had gone 0-3 in those three starts.
What happens if you're the Mariners and you give Pedro the lead that he didn't already have, in the 5th? Well, first he gives up a couple singles because he isn't himself tonight, but then he sets down your next six hitters in a row, including the top third of your lineup in the 7th. And since the Red Sox improved their bullpen and added Keith Foulke this year, it's basically all over but the shouting.
Gameball: John Olerud. 2-for-4. His average his quietly (as if it'd be loudly) crept up to .269.
Goat: Edgar. 0-for-4 striking out twice and stranding two. Ouch, Papi. Ouch.
If someone asked you before the season started what you thought Joel Pineiro's record would be on June 1st, how many of you would have said 1-6? Anybody? Bueller?
It's matinee ball tomorrow!! What better way to prepare for Curt Schilling on Sunday than with a steady diet of knuckleballs on Saturday?
Garcia. Wakefield. A little over twelve hours.