Offense Fails Fister

The big story of the game is in how the only run of the game scored... but if the Mariners had been able to muster a mere TWO RUNS, it wouldn't have mattered.  Instead, Doug Fister picked up a complete game 1-0 loss.

Padres (37-46)

Venable RF

Bartlett SS

Headley 3B

Ludwick DH

Denorfia LF

Phillips C

Maybin CF

Rizzo 1B

Gonzalez 2B

Luebke P

Mariners (40-42)

Ichiro RF

Ryan SS

Gutierrez CF

Smoak 1B

Halman LF

Cust DH

Bard C

Figgins 3B

Wilson 2B

Fister P

Interesting lineup for the Mariners with Gutierrez in at the number 3 slot, obviously to try and get his .192 batting average going.  Wilson was in at 2B because Ackley was out for the second straight game to rest bruised ribs.  Well, with Ichiro, Cust, Figgins, and Wilson in there with the way Guti has struggled and Smoak mired in a slump... we were pretty hopeless.

The only two hits for the Mariners were from Greg Halman, batting 5th.  The kid doesn't play enough!  He was 12/34 (.353) coming into the game and went 2-3 with a double in the 2nd and single in the 5th.  The only other base runner for the Mariners the entire game was Ryan who reached on an error in the 7th.  He stole a base but then ended up being stranded at third.  The Mariners only had 29 total plate appearances, 2 above the minimum.

There were questionable calls by Homeplate Umpire Phil Cuzzi throughout the game.  There were 8 called strikeouts (4 by each team), and in the 5th inning after a "discussion" with Phillips (caught looking) and Manager Bud Black... he let Maybin advance to 1st on a THREE BALL WALK.  I was scoring and thought that I had missed a ball somewhere.  Nope, it was confirmed that there were only three balls in the at-bat.  Why nobody noticed in the Mariners dugout is beyond me.  Unfortunately Maybin ended up coming around on a hard hit single through short... and that was the ballgame!!

Fister didn't deserve this.  He retired the first 11 he faced until giving up two consecutive singles in the 4th.  Then, the phantom walk in the 5th.  He went the distance, maybe was even better than Vargas yesterday, but it didn't matter 'cause his teammates were inept.  His final line:  9 IP, 114 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K .

Needless to say everyone was talking about that walk after the game.  It is one of those fluke things that happens sometimes, and if the Mariners had scored two runs it wouldn't have mattered.  Unfortunately, the baseball gods were not on our side tonight.  I'm just so pissed off at the lack of run support for Fister this year.  His 3-9 record is absolute bullshit!

I ate a Gyro and picked up a Brendan Ryan autographed baseball in their Mariners Care Auction.  The attendance was 22,798.

They dropped to 10-10 when I attend and 40-43 overall.