posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 10:41 PM by Jim

May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Gavin Floyd, meet Recession to the Mean.  Recession, Gavin.

That's the jist of what went down today.  Floyd looked like the guy the Phillies were all too happy to deal.  He struggled to find the strike zone at times, but given the way he left almost every breaking ball up, walking people may have been the safer alternative.

Floyd just plain didn't have it today -- even though the baseball gods were unduly kind to him once again.  In the second, he faced a bases-loaded jam with zero outs.  Wladimir Balentien hit a hard comebacker, but Floyd gloved it and started a 1-2-3 double play.  Yuniesky Betancourt grounded out, and Floyd escaped the inning with a 2-1 lead.

Luck was on his side in the third.  After Ichiro Suzuki hit a wounded duck single that barely left the infield dirt and stole second, Floyd hit the .105-hitting Miguel Cairo in the shoulder with a 2-2 pitch.  But Floyd appeared to be bailed out by a bad call when first base umpire Scott Barry ruled Adrian Beltre was out at first for a 6-4-3 double play -- even though his foot hit the bag well before Paul Konerko received the throw.

Floyd didn't take advantage.  He grooved a 3-0 fastball to Raul Ibanez, who promptly belted it roughly a billion feet into the patio section of Safeco Field, and the baseball gods decided to call it a day.  Floyd was chased in the fourth after giving up two more runs.  He left two baserunners for Nick Masset, but Jose Lopez flew out deep to right to end the inning.

Sox hitters missed their share of opportunities, too.  They had runners on the corners after Orlando Cabrera's single (the first of four on the day) with one out and a chance to build on their 2-1 lead, both Quentin hit a chopper off the plate and didn't run.  Kenji Johjima tagged him out, then threw to second to get Cabrera.

That wasn't the first or the last time the Sox failed to score a runner on third.  After starting the game with three singles for the first run of the game, A.J. Pierzynski doubled to right to give the Sox a 2-0 lead and put runners on second and third.  Joe Crede popped out in foul territory for the second out (the first of three pop-outs on the day), and Nick Swisher struck out to end the inning.

The Sox had another chance in the sixth thanks to nice relief work by Nick Magic, who held the Mariners scoreless over 2 1/3 innings.  Juan Uribe, Cabrera and Quentin hit three straight singles with one out to narrow the deficit to 5-3.  Lefty Arthur Rhodes came in to face Jim Thome, and promptly threw a wild pitch to take away the double play.

No matter.  Rhodes disposed of Thome, walked Paul Konerko and got A.J. Pierzynski to ground out weakly for the third out.  Brendan Morrow and J.J. Putz shut the Sox down in the ninth inning, while Ehren Wassermann looked erratic once again and gave Seattle an insurance run it didn't need in the eighth.

Record: 18-18 | Box score | Play-by-play

Comments

# re: May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Monday, May 12, 2008 10:04 AM by Florida Jim
The Sox hitters had 25 men left on base, using your numbers, a day after Brian Anderson is hugging for Greg Walker for his help. Of course BA goes 0-4 looks awful at the plate. I believe some teams have "system" they teach their players throuhout the entire organization[Twins, Angels, Braves among others] yet the Sox stumble game after game season after season without a plan to improve. Yes, I read the comments about "how close we are" "let's look at OBP not BA"," we are just missing the big hit" let's face it we are not a .500 team for this season wwe will be lucky to make 75 wins unless we decide tho have the players learn to hit all pitching and make adjustments as the game goes on. We do not seem to be able to do anything except swing for fences, again and again, which causes the weak pop-ups of Crede, the pitiful swings of Tome on low and away pitches, you know the rest I can't take it any longer.

# re: May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Monday, May 12, 2008 1:29 PM by Orestes
Thome's situation, especially in the late innings with a lefty on the mound will have to be addressed by Ozzie.

We had Dye available ......

This one had bad signs from the start.

# re: May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Monday, May 12, 2008 3:59 PM by Jim Margalus
"Thome's situation, especially in the late innings with a lefty on the mound will have to be addressed by Ozzie. "

In Ozzie's defense, later in the game, Thome was up against a righty in a higher-leverage situation -- which is why you don't take one of your best hitters (historically) out of the game that early.

# re: May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Monday, May 12, 2008 6:49 PM by Orestes
Wasn't particularly talking about the 6th last night, but Dye's availability at that time cancel's out any future "at-bat advantage" by Thome later in the game...at least in my eyes.

We were struggling in last night's game to get guys home and I can't see any way Dye for Thome would have hurt us there.

Thome will still get some hits- eventually - I hope - off lefties in the late innings, but, meanwhile, the pile of LOB's is reaching situational mass and deals out further pressure to the next guy in the lineup....

# re: May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Monday, May 12, 2008 9:14 PM by El Duque's Raft
Also in Ozzie's defense, you save your best pinch hitter for the right moment. Had Swish reached base in the 9th and Dye was already used in Thome's spot, you'd have Anderson and Uribe coming up against Putz as the tying and winning runs with Ozuna, Hall, and Ramirez as the only options as a pinch hitter. In other words, not good. This is definitely the weakest bench the Sox have sported in some years.

# re: May 11: Mariners 6, White Sox 3

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:12 AM by Orestes
So the status quo is the way to go....?

I admit, the 6th inning is relatively early, but, in that game, with Dye being available, with a lefty on the mound and men on base NOW and not being able to "see" men on base in the future, there would have been nothing to lose to make that switch then and there....and you'd still have Dye available for the ninth inning (since he would then be the DH)and he's hitting 60 points or so higher than Thome.