another tragic ending to a promising season...
Baseball has barely begun, so why am I already toasting the end of a disappointing season? Well, if you do the math, the Mariners are already so far behind that it would take such a performance for the rest of the season to pull off a comeback--and that would require a team capable of such a comeback and clearly this team is not!
Still, there are fun moments. I'll get to those. First, the reason I made the trip up to see Seattle take on the Texas Rangers? Well, Felix Hernandez. I've been to some games, seen some pitchers, watched the M's lose. I guess I wanted to go to a game that for all intents and purposes should have been a sure thing. So with Felix on the mound facing the team that is supposed to be the worst in the American League (which now the Mariners are). So much to my dismay, Felix gives up two runs in the first inning. He can't seem to locate his pitches and even hits Finally he hit Laird in the second inning setting up a two run homer by Kinsler. His pitch count would haunt him for the rest of the game even though he wouldn't leave until after the 5th inning with 112 pitches. Gabbard would leave in the fourth with only 63 for reasons I'll get to later. Still while Felix struggled, he was throwing strikes. The rest of the team, however, wasn't hitting.
So (probably) in response to Hernandez hitting Laird in the first, Gabbard brushes Ibanez back in the fourth (seen here).
Richie Sexon comes up and the very first pitch to him is up at eye level (he is very tall) and Sexon must have beleived Gabbard was head-hunting and immediately charges the mound.
I don't know about Sexon though. He isn't hitting very well and if I'm a Texas pitcher and I think Hernandez was going after hitters I wouldn't go after someone who is barely keeping his job. I'd go after Ichiro, Beltre, Lopez, or Betancourt, not Sexon or even Ibanez. Still, as well as Gabbard was pitching, it would seem that he was at least trying to send a message, which is tacky considering how much Hernandez seemed to have been struggling. Perhaps he just didn't see it that way (Felix was still managed to throw 70 strikes in 112 pitches).
So that aside, you have to give Sexon credit for having some balls. I mean if someone is going to charge the mound, it might as well be the player who could've just as easily have been benched in the first place. Besides, as you see here, the first five players to reach the mound besides Sexon, are all wearing grey and blue and Laird (the catcher) was hot on his heels (he was the one hit by Hernandez, remember?). It looks like Yuni and Adrien are the first Mariners to arrive on the scene while the umpires seem to be rather casual about jumping in. Notice here that Sexon has already taken his shots on Gabbard (throwing his helmet at him and then jumping him and throwing a few punches) and is immediately tackled by Laird.
What is interesting is how quickly Gabbard manages to wiggle out of the fight, while it clearly seems to continue, without him. Yes, that is Hernandez in the top right of this picture, it seems he had a few things to say. I guess that is Guardado (former mariner pitcher) along with Johjima keeping Hernandez at bay. There's only one umpire in the crowd, the other three are off discussing who to eject I suppose.
Next up, Cairo pinches for Sexon and walks. Then Betancourt singles and a throwing error gets the runners on second and third. This is where they decided to remove Gabbard who was clearly rattled, though they would say he bruised his leg in the fray. Likely an excuse though. So they let their bullpen take up the cause and the Mariners would strand more runners, continuing their scoreless streak.
After the game I needed a drink, so I went and got one. The conversation was obviously about the game when I landed at Paddy's but it quikcly turned to other sports I care less about and players and teams I care even less about. So I went home so I could catch the interviews on the news, which I feared I'd already missed.
Speaking of drinks, these young ladies were visibly over served, cheering wildly for a small ninth inning attempt at offense and talking smack to any Ranger fan who came down to sit in our area. The thing about talking smack is you should have the scoreboard on your side first. I took it from them and some punks sitting up above slightly that it doesn't matter what the score is at all, the other teams pitcher is always fat and lazy and our team rocks. I feel ashamed to think I was ever so ignorant as to have believed it mattered who was winning.
Sadly the night's recaps seemed to focus on the fight and reactions to it, but less on the game and the lack of an offensive performance in Seattle. The only fight in this dog seems to be in between pitches. Maybe they should scrap all the big money players for the rest of the season and bring up some brawlers. That would make for an interesting season, sell more tickets, and perhaps give us more late night coverage on the tube.
Peace,
b
Violet Hill
Coldplay
Viva la Vida
Still, there are fun moments. I'll get to those. First, the reason I made the trip up to see Seattle take on the Texas Rangers? Well, Felix Hernandez. I've been to some games, seen some pitchers, watched the M's lose. I guess I wanted to go to a game that for all intents and purposes should have been a sure thing. So with Felix on the mound facing the team that is supposed to be the worst in the American League (which now the Mariners are). So much to my dismay, Felix gives up two runs in the first inning. He can't seem to locate his pitches and even hits Finally he hit Laird in the second inning setting up a two run homer by Kinsler. His pitch count would haunt him for the rest of the game even though he wouldn't leave until after the 5th inning with 112 pitches. Gabbard would leave in the fourth with only 63 for reasons I'll get to later. Still while Felix struggled, he was throwing strikes. The rest of the team, however, wasn't hitting.
So (probably) in response to Hernandez hitting Laird in the first, Gabbard brushes Ibanez back in the fourth (seen here).Richie Sexon comes up and the very first pitch to him is up at eye level (he is very tall) and Sexon must have beleived Gabbard was head-hunting and immediately charges the mound.
I don't know about Sexon though. He isn't hitting very well and if I'm a Texas pitcher and I think Hernandez was going after hitters I wouldn't go after someone who is barely keeping his job. I'd go after Ichiro, Beltre, Lopez, or Betancourt, not Sexon or even Ibanez. Still, as well as Gabbard was pitching, it would seem that he was at least trying to send a message, which is tacky considering how much Hernandez seemed to have been struggling. Perhaps he just didn't see it that way (Felix was still managed to throw 70 strikes in 112 pitches).
So that aside, you have to give Sexon credit for having some balls. I mean if someone is going to charge the mound, it might as well be the player who could've just as easily have been benched in the first place. Besides, as you see here, the first five players to reach the mound besides Sexon, are all wearing grey and blue and Laird (the catcher) was hot on his heels (he was the one hit by Hernandez, remember?). It looks like Yuni and Adrien are the first Mariners to arrive on the scene while the umpires seem to be rather casual about jumping in. Notice here that Sexon has already taken his shots on Gabbard (throwing his helmet at him and then jumping him and throwing a few punches) and is immediately tackled by Laird.
What is interesting is how quickly Gabbard manages to wiggle out of the fight, while it clearly seems to continue, without him. Yes, that is Hernandez in the top right of this picture, it seems he had a few things to say. I guess that is Guardado (former mariner pitcher) along with Johjima keeping Hernandez at bay. There's only one umpire in the crowd, the other three are off discussing who to eject I suppose.
Next up, Cairo pinches for Sexon and walks. Then Betancourt singles and a throwing error gets the runners on second and third. This is where they decided to remove Gabbard who was clearly rattled, though they would say he bruised his leg in the fray. Likely an excuse though. So they let their bullpen take up the cause and the Mariners would strand more runners, continuing their scoreless streak.After the game I needed a drink, so I went and got one. The conversation was obviously about the game when I landed at Paddy's but it quikcly turned to other sports I care less about and players and teams I care even less about. So I went home so I could catch the interviews on the news, which I feared I'd already missed.
Speaking of drinks, these young ladies were visibly over served, cheering wildly for a small ninth inning attempt at offense and talking smack to any Ranger fan who came down to sit in our area. The thing about talking smack is you should have the scoreboard on your side first. I took it from them and some punks sitting up above slightly that it doesn't matter what the score is at all, the other teams pitcher is always fat and lazy and our team rocks. I feel ashamed to think I was ever so ignorant as to have believed it mattered who was winning.Sadly the night's recaps seemed to focus on the fight and reactions to it, but less on the game and the lack of an offensive performance in Seattle. The only fight in this dog seems to be in between pitches. Maybe they should scrap all the big money players for the rest of the season and bring up some brawlers. That would make for an interesting season, sell more tickets, and perhaps give us more late night coverage on the tube.
Peace,
b
Violet Hill
Coldplay
Viva la Vida
posted by b hill at 12:48 AM
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