September 18th @ The Mariners
Posted by Steve L. on September 19th, 2009 · Comments (7)
Ouch.
Ichiro Suzuki now joins:
Marco Scutaro, Bill Mueller, and Bill Selby as the only batters to hit a regular season, bottom of the 9th inning, walk-off homerun off against Mo Rivera.
Vernon Wells also hit a walk-off homer against Rivera – but it was in the 11th inning of a tie game. Suzuki, Scutaro, Mueller and Selby all did it in the ninth, with their team trailing.
Suzuki, Scutaro, and Selby all did it after two-outs. Mueller did it after one out.
Sending good vibes and well wishes from Seattle. Tomorrow, I get to cross Safeco off the list.
Sucks about the game, tho’.
This one hurt. I won’t lie. But on the bright side Burnett turned in a good effort, so it wasn’t a total loss. Alright, so it was a total loss. Damn!
It’s purely hindsight and I wasn’t following this one, but in looking back, why not pinch hit for Molina in the 7th? Sure, anyone could have ground into a double play, but why not use a better hitter in that situation? And then again, why even pitch to Ichiro there with a base open? I guess because he was the go ahead run. Well, hope they get things in gear tonight, because Boston is trying to make it interesting.
Sucks to lose this one like that, but hey…Mo isn’t going to get them all.
There are some goods to take from this. Burnett looked sharp, we out-dueled a playoff-caliber #1 starter on the road, and 99 times out of 100 Mo shuts the door.
Go out today behind CC and take the next one.
Ichiro is very dangerous up in that spot. The situation kinda remided me of the Marco Scutaro homer in Oakland. I mean did Gym Teacher joe even think about walking Suzuki in that spot? He should have……
Let’s be honest, Burnit did a nice job. Yes, he had gone back to his inconsistent ways as of late, but today was a bloody good sign albeit a small one. Hopefully, he’ll get it together by the time the playoffs roll around but I’m not holding my breath…..I’m still not confident with AJ in a playoff spot.
Re: AJ – don’t lose sight that the M’s are the 2nd worst offensive club in the AL – with the Royals being the worse – and this game was at Safeco.
I still need to see AJ pitch well in the Bronx against a good hitting team before I say he’s cured.
I didn’t even listen to the bottom to the 9th. The Mariner announcers were gushing about Mo…..36 straight saves against the Mariners! Hasn’t given up a run in 50 years! Mr Atomatic! I had a bad feeling, knowing how those records don’t last forever; and I wanted a good night’s sleep.
Woke up, read the headlines, and wasn’t surprised.