Mariners 5, Red Sox 4 - May 15
There are games we remember a long time. For Cindy and I there were ... (1) a late 70's, early 80's game in which Tom Paciorek hit a walk-off three-run shot against the Yankees' Goose Gossage (or was it Ron Davis) ... (2) Alvin Davis' callup with the Mariners, batting 6th, in which he hit one into the upper deck at the Kingdome ... you know whatuh mean. :- )
I expect tonight's game to be in that category. Down 0-4, terrible losing streak, Ichiro hits TWO homers to bring the M's back. That's got to be Ichiro's only multihomer game in the bigs -- past, present, future. My son (6'2", 240 now) high-fived me literally as hard as he could and separated my hand from my forearm. LOL.
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I looked up at one point and Boston had 6 hits to the Mariners' 2. Next time I looked up, it was 7 hits to 11, if I recall correctly.
That underlines (1) the fact that this Mariners' team has never stopped battling, and hopefully underlines (2) the fact that Chris Jakubauskas realized that 80% fastballs aren't going to cut it in the American Roids League.
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=== Ich! I! Ro! Dept. ===
Just real quick, amigos, lemme remind you that you don't judge HOF leadoff hitters by the same OPS+ yardsticks you use for big lumbering 1B's like Jim Thome.
For one thing, Ichiro is the only person who can hit .280 in Safeco, much less .320. (Ichiro's AVG the last three years is .327.) People constantly forget to park-adjust him.
Secondly, HOF leadoff hitters add 10-20 OPS+ (or whatever) with their legs. Ichiro stole 43/47 bases last year, and added many more going first-to-third.* He scored 103 runs ... for a team with a 90 OPS+, in a pitcher's park.
Thirdly, Ichiro is the only SB king ever to play RF -- and save bases there with his legs and with his arm. Most fleet SB kings give back about half of their runs saved with their noodle arms. Ichiro's arm ADDS to his defensive glovework.
I don't know what the defensive stats say and don't care. You know and I know that Ichiro is much faster than ANY other major league player in right field. And as the scouts say, he's a clinic out there. Ichiro is the guy you pick in right field, period, and Safeco's a big park.
Fourthly, there are the fastballs that the #2 hitters get.
Fifthly, there is the fact that Ichiro can hit tough pitchers in big games; he's not a mistake hitter who pads stats against weak pitchers -- if you ever had important games, he'd be the guy who'd win games for you.
Sixthly, there is the fact that Ichiro's leveraged value goes up in a low-scoring, close game. (Ichiro's gig is 1 run a night, against good pitchers and bad, not 3 runs once or twice a week, usually against weaker pitchers. So when the score is 2-2, you want Rickey or Ichiro or Pete Rose, more than you want Jay Buhner or Ken Phelps. Either one, George.)
etc. etc. etc.
Rumors of Ichiro's demise have been grossly exaggerated. :- ) He remains an HOF leadoff hitter with a unique defensive contribution. If we don't want him, I know a lot of clubs that will.
Which is the point, I guess. If you can get Jon Lester for him, be my guest. :- )
Cheers,
Dr D