The Mariners’ offensive dive into the abyss reached rivet-popping depths with another dismal performance Saturday night, shut out for the second game in a row by the Texas Rangers, this time 5-0. In the past five games, the Mariners scored five runs, and have gone 19 innings without a run. But for the first time in four games, they didn’t hit double digits in strikeouts, whiffing only eight times.
Over those five games, the Mariners have hit .199 and struck out 61 times in 171 at-bats. After hitting into two double plays Saturday, the Mariners lead the American League with 20.
The Mariners welcomed rookie pitcher Brandon Maurer into the Lack of Support Club, giving him no help after he held the potent Texas lineup to two hits and three walks in 6.2 innings. Unfortunately for him, both were home runs, one to A.J. Pierzynski in the fourth and the other to David Murphy in the seventh.
As if the Rangers needed any help, the Pierzynski shot to straightaway center was fan-aided. Franklin Gutierrez made a leap and reached over the wall, positioned his glove for a catch, only to have a fan reach out and beat him to it. Because the ball was beyond the field of play, it was fair game.
The potential for controversy faded in the eighth when when the Rangers scored three runs without benefit of a hard hit — but much Mariner comedy.
No. 9 hitter Leonys Martin began with a bunted bloop single over the head of reliever Charlie Furbush. Yoervis Medina replaced Furbush and wild-pitched Martin to second and walked Ian Kinsler. Then catcher Jesus Montero completely whiffed on an inside fastball. The passed ball hit the backstop wall on the fly and caromed down the first base line, both runners advancing.
Lance Berkman, facing a drawn-in infield pulled heavily to the right, sent a soft bounder past second baseman for a single that scored two runs. After an infield out, Pierzynski singled in the final run.
After the game, manager Eric Wedge declined to administer the verbal lash.
“In a tough ballpark against a tough club, Brandon threw a great game,” he said. “I was really proud of him.
“We hit some balls hard tonight. We’re in one of the zones where everything we hit is right at ’em. When we come out of it, we’ll come out of it big.”
The start, however, is beginning to feel oppressive. At 7-12, the Mariners ended the game with no hitter in the lineup with an average better than .255.
As if more insult needed to be added, the Mariners knocked out rookie starter Nick Tapesch with an injury, only to have 39-year-old ex-Mariner Derek Lowe come in without much prep and throw four shutout innings.
In the second inning, Montero lined a hard single off Tepesch’s pitching wrist, which tore off a bit of flesh and forced him from the game.
Lowe, in his 18th major league season, was part of one of the most lopsided trade flops in Seattle history, going with catcher Jason Varitek in 1997 to Boston for reliever Heathcliff Slocumb.
No less than 16 years later, the trade still haunts the Mariners. Lowe needed only 31 pitches and was credited with the win.
5 Comments
You have to like Brandon Maurer, who after a rough start seems to be holding his own aboard the good ship Mariners, a vessel that has hastened the implosion of many a promising career.
Wonder what the suckers who paid for the M’s INCREASED ticket cost are thinking now?
What a rip-off. Another lost season.
Armstrong and Lincoln HAVE to go.
Don’t the local owners have ANY say? The Japanese guy is over there and doesn’t give a rip –
I would think the commissioner would somehow address this at the owners meeting, yet the other division owners are good, as they can write a W on the schedule for each M’s game.
I gotta admit, sportspressnw cracks me up. ‘popping rivets,’ ‘lack of support club,’ etc etc. You guys are like, twenty times more entertaining than the Ms themselves. ps, i have to wonder if Wedge’s nice guy routine has become ineffective. after every loss, he finds something good to say. I suppose he has no other option, really. but it would be nice if he tore the place up once in while, Lou Piniella style.
ps yeah, Michael, I agree. nice game by Maurer. may he survive and prosper . . .
To misquote a sports sage, “They are who we thought they would be”.
i thought moving in the fences was supposed to solve the offense problems???