by Patrick
Tic-Tac-Toe, three losses in a row to one of the worst teams in baseball. On a gloomy, rainy, cold day in Baltimore, the Mariners got a strong 8 inning / no run performance from King Felix after Bedard was scratched from the game due to hip inflammation.
Then there was the 9th inning. Remember, Felix only went eight. Eric O'Flaherty and Mark Lowe blew the 2-0 lead in the ninth inning as the Orioles had some clutch hits, a couple of them seeing-eye grounders past Lopez (that he should have had), and a Lowe wild pitch that allowed Adam Jones to cross the plate, tying the game. A shot into the right-centerfield gap ended the game in walk-off fashion and I had to walk out of Camden Yards for the second time in two days with an onslaught of annoying Oriole fans laughing in my face and screaming in my ears.
We found out after the game that the I-never-want-to-come-out-of-the-game phenom that is Felix Hernandez actually asked John McLaren to bring in O'Flaherty because the Bedard not-pitching thing threw Felix off and he wasn't feeling 100%. Funny, 8 innings of shutout ball and still throwing 96 mph in the 8th seems to me to be at least 100%. At this point, John McLaren SHOULD have said: "Felix, you've been setting these guys up and mowing them down all day. We don't have our closer and our bullpen, thanks to me, has been over-used. Could you go out there and give me one more inning?"
Now I'm not one who likes to make assumptions, but I can atleast say that we would have probably been better off with Felix in the game. And yes, hindsight is 20/20; but you should have heard the groans from the rather large contingent of Mariner fans at the yard as soon as EO'F came into the game. It really is a shame that Felix has had two good outings with no wins to show for it.
On a much happier note: Raul Ibanez smacked his first homer of the year and Richie Sexson had an RBI double. Other than that, we only had 5 other hits for a grand, errr not so grand, total of 7.
Ojala, the Mariners salvage the final game of this four game series before heading to Tampa to take on the rejuvenated Rays. Tomorrow the M's will send Carlos Silva to the mound to face Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Daniel Cabrera.
1 comment:
If I was mac, i probably would have taken felix out of tonight's game. The last thing you want to do is injure your ace in the making. I'm just wondering, why go with O'flaherty again? He's been getting owned every time he goes out there. What's his ERA anyways?
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