13-15, Game Notes

Wow, where to begin? The Mariners somehow beat the Red Sox today to secure a series win, despite seemingly being in a precarious situation every inning. Every time you started to think “okay, this is it, this is when they get the big hit”, there would be another improbable strikeout, or not-quite-deep-enough fly out. The breaks were consistently going to the Mariners, and that’s something we really haven’t seen all that much for awhile. No one’s going to claim it was easy, but the two runs that the M’s managed to scrape across would prove to be enough, and now we’re sitting on a five game winning streak.

In other news, the umpiring kept right on pace with yesterday’s game, as there were at least a couple more clearly bad calls in key situations. The first one went Boston’s way, when Miguel Olivo was called out at first base on a ground ball to third with two runners on. Not only did this lead to Milton Bradley’s ejection, but instead of Justin Smoak coming to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, there were two on and two out, and the Mariners were unable to score.

It all evened out in the fifth, though, when 2nd base umpire Gerry Davis wrongly called Jacoby Ellsbury out diving back into second base on a crucial double play. It’s nice that Davis was able to even it out with a makeup call, but the bad calls eventually evening out isn’t an excuse for making so many of them in the first place. As they say, two wrongs don’t make a right.

Bullet points:

• We saw something unusual today, and that’s Doug Fister without his command. You would think that a pitcher like Doug Fister, with such a low margin for error, going up against such a potent lineup while lacking his biggest strength would be a recipe for disaster – and it almost was. It wasn’t, though, as he somehow managed to squeak by through 5.2 scoreless, terrifying innings. It wasn’t Fister at his best, but in a way, it’s almost more encouraging, as he managed to survive by relying purely on his stuff in a ballpark like Fenway.
• When Milton Bradley got ejected in the third, Mike Blowers spoke out in objection of Gerri Davis’s decision, saying something along the lines of “these are competitive guys in the heat of the moment trying to win a baseball game”. It’s hard not to agree with him. Based on the replays that were shown, Milton Bradley yelled maybe 10 words in the first base umpire’s direction before being tossed. There is no good reason that this type of little outburst should warrant an ejection.
• Ichiro with two more hits and two more stolen bases, bringing his total of the latter to 10, and bringing his overall season line to .328/.380/.378. I think we’re all wondering when exactly Ichiro’s going to slow down – some think it will be this year. I don’t.

Felix Day tomorrow, and with it a chance for this team’s second consecutive road sweep.