Monday, April 11, 2005
Flabbergasted
Two painful 7-6 losses to the Texas Rangers this weekend have knocked the wind out of me.
On Saturday, Bret Boone sparks a Rangers 4-run rally by letting a ball Buckner through his legs, and Eddie Guardado lays up two home runs to give away a 6-3 lead in the ninth. That hurt, but it was just a warmup act to the craziness of Sunday's game.
On Sunday, Willie Bloomquist got his first start in short and promptly botched a groundball to lead to two unearned runs in the fifth. Randy Winn once again blundered on the basepath when he was picked off on a pitchout just moments before the rare event of Dan Wilson and Willie Bloomquist hitting back-to-back singles. Throw in an Ichiro called third strike on a pitch about a foot outside, and you begin to get the idea that it was not the M's day.
Even the fans had to commit blunders in this game. In the fourth, Rod Barajas popped a foul ball that Ichiro was poised to catch before some idiot fan reached out with his glove and stole the out away. Given new life, Barajas promptly hit a run-scoring double to put the icing on the Rangers 5-run 4th. Just a half-inning later, another fan's attempt to get a $10 baseball with a major league scuff mark on it helps turn a Richie Sexson home run into a ground rule double.
How bizarre was this game? Matt Thornton pitched very well for 2 1/3 innings of relief for an ineffective Gil Meche. Of course, Thornton will not be allowed to enjoy the outing because he was brought out to face the Rangers in the seventh and gave up a double and the game-winning home run to David Freakin' Dellucci. Thornton gets the loss, and the calls for his ouster will get louder, even though he actually did a solid job.
So, instead of 4-2, the M's are sitting at 2-4. We have the comfort of knowing that we have the talent to win, but the mistakes are killing us in a very disappointing week one.
On Saturday, Bret Boone sparks a Rangers 4-run rally by letting a ball Buckner through his legs, and Eddie Guardado lays up two home runs to give away a 6-3 lead in the ninth. That hurt, but it was just a warmup act to the craziness of Sunday's game.
On Sunday, Willie Bloomquist got his first start in short and promptly botched a groundball to lead to two unearned runs in the fifth. Randy Winn once again blundered on the basepath when he was picked off on a pitchout just moments before the rare event of Dan Wilson and Willie Bloomquist hitting back-to-back singles. Throw in an Ichiro called third strike on a pitch about a foot outside, and you begin to get the idea that it was not the M's day.
Even the fans had to commit blunders in this game. In the fourth, Rod Barajas popped a foul ball that Ichiro was poised to catch before some idiot fan reached out with his glove and stole the out away. Given new life, Barajas promptly hit a run-scoring double to put the icing on the Rangers 5-run 4th. Just a half-inning later, another fan's attempt to get a $10 baseball with a major league scuff mark on it helps turn a Richie Sexson home run into a ground rule double.
How bizarre was this game? Matt Thornton pitched very well for 2 1/3 innings of relief for an ineffective Gil Meche. Of course, Thornton will not be allowed to enjoy the outing because he was brought out to face the Rangers in the seventh and gave up a double and the game-winning home run to David Freakin' Dellucci. Thornton gets the loss, and the calls for his ouster will get louder, even though he actually did a solid job.
So, instead of 4-2, the M's are sitting at 2-4. We have the comfort of knowing that we have the talent to win, but the mistakes are killing us in a very disappointing week one.
