June 11, 2008
Strong Start
Shaun Marcum struck out six of the first ten batters he faced, only allowing one walk. He's only thrown 35 pitches through three, 25 for strikes. The game is scoreless as the Blue Jays come to bat in the bottom of the third.
Update: They're in the bottom of the sixth after about one hour and ten minutes of play. Marcum leads Hernandez 1-0, and the only run of the game was unearned. If MLB really wants to speed up the game, the Mariners and Blue Jays are showing the best way to do it is to depress scoring.
Posted by David Pinto at
01:08 PM
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The Jays picked up a run in the fourth. Inglett doubled, got to third on an error and scored on a ground ball.
Marcum got into a little trouble in the fifth - singles by Vidro and Ibanez. But he got Lopez on a grounder to end the inning. Still 1-0.
If MLB wants to depress ticket sales, the best way to do it is by depressing scoring. But I don't think MLB wants to do that. They're prospering too much in the current high-offense era, which rescued the game after the 1994 disaster.
Back to the game...the Mariners tie it up in the seventh on a triple by Betancourt. Funny thing, they looked to be out of the inning after Johjima popped a bunt up into a double play.
It would have been at least a 2 run triple otherwise... the double play kept the game close.
Game speed is a paradox anyway... too fast, the game is too boring. too slow, the game is too boring.
Marcum is done after seven, with nine strikeouts. Hernandez has seven strikeouts of his own. Through seven the stats on this game look like the college softball tournament.
Downs walks the bases full in the eighth, and Niehaus observes that the Mariners haven't had a grand slam all year. They still don't. Johjima glies out to center.
That "glies out" is a typo, not an attempt at a Japanese accent.
Barajas just wiffed in the eighth (what else is new in this game?) and Niehaus comments that it's Hernandez' 500th career K. Still 1-1 after eight with eighteen combined strikeouts. Is this the college softball tournament in disguise?
By the way, the pace has slowed. The game is now over two hours and may go on for a while unless somebody actually hits the ball.
Ask for somebody to hit the ball...
Ibanez bats in Ichiro off Ryan, and Gibbons gets ejected. 2-1 and Seattle still threatens.
Putz isn't having a good season (neither is Ichiro, by the way, despite his ninth inning heroics today). Putz walks Inglett to lead off the ninth, then gets yanked with some kind of injury.
Overbay files to the wall for what would have been a game-winner. Seattle wins 2-1.
Overbay files to the wall for what would have been a game-winner. Seattle wins 2-1.