Travis Blackley starts the game, Bobby Madritsch gets the win, and Bucky Jacobsen hits a walkoff homer. The Seattle Rainiers are in full effect. With Bocachica temporarily gone (he’ll almost certainly clear waivers), Bucky’s going to be the target of fan adoration, and stuff like this sure won’t hurt. Good to see the big guy contributing and making it interesting to watch the M’s play.
Yes, we’ve heard the Villone to Philly rumors. No, I don’t think its anywhere close to imminent. The biggest suitor for his services has ended their pursuit after falling back in the race.
Michael Restovich sucks. We don’t want him. If the Twins want Dan Wilson, great, but let’s ask for someone besides Restovich. However, I don’t think Wilson’s getting moved at all.
Rough night for King Felix down in San Antonio; 2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. His ERA goes from 2.50 to 4.79. Of course, his season line still reads 20 IP, 21 H, 9 BB, and 19 K. For an 18-year-old in Double-A, that’s pretty freaking awesome.
Another callup by the M’s: Bobby Madritsch has gotten the call to the big show. No news yet on a corresponding roster move to make room for him on the 25 man roster. At this point, a trade of Villone or Myers would appear the most likely option.
Edit: Hiram Bocachica has been designated for assignment to make room, just two days after Bob Melvin said they had to get him more playing time. A strange move, really.
Some miscellaneous ramblings from my first excursion of the year to Safeco, made all the more enjoyable thanks to Derek’s company to my left. And the entertaining girl to my right. If I saw Derek more than once a year, I would have kept more specific notes and a running log, but this will have to do:
Why do people pay $30 for parking? I parked approximately 1/2 block from Safeco, at noon, for free. People parked a mile further away for between $20-$30. A little effort, folks. Someone could make a nice cottage industry just charging people for telling them where to park. You wouldn’t even need to own any land. They’d easily give up $5 if you could tell them where to park for free.
Getting lunch at the pyramid before a day game; not the hottest idea. Wait for a table is nearly an hour, and service is, well, Mariner-esque.
Derek’s still way funnier in person than he is through his writing. And I’m one of the biggest fans of his writing there is.
I agree with Derek; the Edgar Martinez Bear is frightening.
Manny Ramirez freaking destroyed that pitch from Pineiro.
Despite the nice line score, Sherrill didn’t pitch that well. Fell behind to nearly every batter, and got a lot of balls-in-play outs, especially in relation to his strikeouts. At one point, he’d thrown 10 balls and 8 strikes, 6 of them had been put in play, and he’d gotten 5 outs.
Strange managerial decision of the day: In the 8th inning, Terry Francona summons Joe Nelson, fresh up from the minors, sporting an 11.57 ERA, into the ballgame to protect a four run lead. He hits Winn, Boone doubles, and Martinez collects an RBI single to cut the lead to three and bring the tying run to the plate in Bucky Jacobsen. I expect Nelson to be yanked, but Francona stays with him, and he strikes out Bucky to record the first out. Then, with switch-hitter Scott Spiezio due up, Francona goes and gets Alan Embree, a lefty. Spiezio had a problem with lefties last year, but the platoon advantage isn’t going to be significant in this AB, and the on-deck hitter destroys left-handed pitching. So, I assume Embree is in for one batter. He gets Spiezio to ground out, scoring a run, and bringing Olivo, the tying run, to the plate. Olivo is hitting .419/.447/.860 in 43 AB’s against lefties this year. Obviously, that’s a fluke in a small sample, but still, do you really want a lefty facing Olivo right now as the tying run? Embree ends up walking him, then giving up a single to Ibanez before Cabrera flies out to end the rally. And, when it was over, neither Derek or I could figure out what on earth Francona was doing with his pen. That would be the worst strategic move of the game, except…
Down by two in the ninth, Ichiro swats a leadoff single, bringing the tying run to the plate. His run is meaningless. So, of course, he takes off and steals second, which improved our chances of scoring two runs by 0 percent. This is the stupidest move a runner can make. Ichiro’s run essentially does not count in the final tally. Unless the batter scores to tie the game, we could care less if Ichiro scores. Ichiro being on second accomplishes nothing in helping the second runner score while incurring the risk he could be thrown out. Now, he made it, so no one cares, but what if he slips and falls? Or Varitek just makes an unbelievable throw? He gets wiped out, the game is now 33 % closer to being over, and there was no benefit at all. It was bad baserunning, bad strategy, and it was applauded by the remains of the 45,000 in attendance. That was bad baseball, folks. Had Ichiro been thrown out and any of the next three batters homered, people would be calling for some kind of human sacrifice (that is, if they still cared if the team won or lost). Just because it worked doesn’t mean the risk was worth it.
I miss Mike Cameron.
It appears that quite a few people are curious as to the explanation of the fourth out. Reader Thomas McFadden (among many others) provided a nice explanation:
Home team is hitting with runners on first and third, one out. Fly ball to left field it is caught…runner at third tags, but leaves third base too early. Runner from first also tries to advance, but is tagged out in a run down for the third out. Since the score was tied, the pitcher took the ball, ordered the third baseman to go take an appeal…pitcher steps on then off, tosses to third where the runner who left early is called out for the fourth out. In the scorebook, the fourth out replaces the third out. And the score remained tied.
Clearly, in this example, Randy Winn’s sissy arm is not playing left field.