Mariners Throw 3rd No-Hitter in Team History

Oh boy, oh boy.  19 years after the last no-hitter... Chris Bosio's 1993 game ending in the famous Visquel play, the Mariners notched their third no-hitter in history.  But this time, it was a highly unusual combined no-hitter.  It is only only the 10th combined no-hitter in MLB History.  Even more rare than a perfect game, 4 homer game, or unassisted triple play!

Dodgers (37-21)

Gordon SS

Herrera 3B

Ethier RF

Rivera DH

Abreu LF

Hairston 2B

Loney 1B

Ellis C

Gwynn CF

Eovaldi (0-2, 2.64)

Mariners (26-33)

Ichiro RF

Ackley 2B

Seager 3B

Montero C

Smoak 1B

Saunders CF

Jaso DH

Carp LF

Kawasaki SS

Millwood (3-5, 3.90)

We came in after a 5-4 road trip in which we absolutely crushed the ball, scoring 64 runs, including a 21-8 drubbing of Texas.  So all thoughts were that we'd finally found our groove and were hoping that it would carry over to Safeco.  It wasn't the case, but we were able to get just enough offense to win 1-0.

Millwood started out superbly, with only 68 pitches through six innings against the best team in the National League.  He retired the first 12 men he faced until a leadoff walk by Rivera in the 5th, who was immediately erased on a double play grounder.  Millwood didn't allow another batter.  He came out in the 7th inning, tossed one warmup, then left the game.  We weren't exactly sure what was going on... speculation on the radio and twitter was that it was a blister.  I was glad to find out later that it was a mild groin strain.  If he had left a no-hitter for a stinking blister?  Sheesh.  Anyway, at that point it was still a scoreless game, and I was pretty sure the chance at seeing a no-hitter was over.  But... five guys from our bullpen all came out and got the job done.  Furbush came on for the injured Millwood, got a fly ball for the first out, then made a two-base error on a chopper back to the mound.  But he struck out Ethier, and Rookie Stephen Pryor came on to finish out the 7th with a strikeout of his own.  He throws in the upper 90s.

We scored the lone run of the game in the 7th inning, so Pryor picked up his first ML win.  We scored when Ichiro got a two out single (his third single of the game), followed by a walk to Ackley and then an RBI single by Seager.  It was his 23rd two out RBI of the year (our of 37 total), which leads the AL.

In the top of the 8th, Pryor walked the first two batters, so was relieved by Luetge who in 13 innings has yet to give up a run.  He faced one batter, a sacrifice to advance runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out.  Next followed League.  He lost his closing job a couple of weeks ago, and anytime he comes in I get really anxious. Well, Ellis hit a shallow ball to left but Figgins (who had come in that inning as a defensive replacement) was able to get to it, and quickly throw home.  It was a high throw, but Montero was able to save the run by snagging it out of the air.  League struckout Gwynn to finish the inning, and we were only 3 outs from History!!! 

Ryan came in as a defensive replacement in the ninth, and it was a good thing he did.  The dude is insane, I don't care if he is batting below the Mendoza line.  He is probably the best shortstop in the league.  Wilhelmsen came in to close out the game, and all 22,028 on hand were on their feet.  Every no-hitter has one or two spectacular defensive plays.  Seager had one to leadoff the fourth, and Ryan came through in the ninth.  Gordon hit a 0-2 pitch slowly, but Ryan charged it and was just able to get the play at first.  It was damn close, Gordon was incensed but... hell we were on the bad end of a call for the perfect game.  So even if he was safe, that's baseball!!  He sure looked out to me.  Herrera lined out to Ryan, and the final out was a ground ball to Ackley.  History was made, and the celebration commenced!

I think it is pretty cool that I have been to a perfect game and combined no-hitter this year, after 18 years of griping about leaving the Bosio no-no early... I'm rewarded with this.  I felt like the Baseball Gods decided to give something back, after the torture of the perfect game.  It wasn't the most spectacular pitching performance I've ever seen, but truly bizarre.  I think Washburn gave up one hit in a complete game, and that hit was erased on a double play so he faced the minimum batters.  That was better.   This one had a few walks and an error, but it was a great team accomplishment.  And, as it was only the 10th combined no-hitter ever, extremely rare!  I can now finally shut up about the Bosio no-hitter!

The Mariners are now 7-8 when I attend
Time of Game: 2:48
Attendance: 22,028

 

May 26, 1995

So I was a little bored and decided to look through my old scorebooks and find the one where Griffey broke his hand.  This was a huge moment in 1995, as we lost him for 73 games and history would have been totally different if we had had him the whole year.  Would we have sailed into the playoffs?  Would we have played .500 ball the whole year and not received that "boost" when he came back?.  His first game back was August 15th when we were 11.5 games down.  Everyone knows the rest of the story.

I couldn't scan the entire sheet, it cut off about half an inch... but found it interesting that future Mariner Jamie Moyer came out of Baltimore's bullpen.  It was the 27th game of the year, as remember 1995 was strike shortened, and Griffey was having a good game up until the 7th when he slammed into the wall.  Anyway, thought it was a fun blast from the past.

A Perfect Game

Wow, what can I say?  We saw history at the ballpark today, as Philip Humber threw the 21st Perfect Game in MLB history.  27 up, 27 down, and I saw every minute of it.  Sometimes you just have to tip your cap, and appreciate the moment.

19 years ago, almost to the day, I had been at Chris Bosio's no-hitter but left early (didn't realize it was a no-no), this afternoon I was aware of every single moment.  It was probably around the third inning, after we'd been through our lineup once, that I noticed how well Humber was pitching (or was it our ineptness?).  It wasn't until the 5th inning when we went down on 8 pitches that I knew something special was going on.  You could feel it, he was in the zone and we were at a loss offensively.  

Philip Humber - 21st Perfect Game in ML History!

Lost in the game, another great performance by Beavan and our pitching staff, but who really cares how well they pitched, or a rundown of the White Sox scoring... in ten years nobody will remember.  Hell, in two months!

After the pile the celebration continued

The game ended with controversy as it looked like, to me and several others, that pinch hitter Ryan had checked his swing on a wild ball four... but Home Plate umpire Brian Runger said he went around, and Pierzynski was able to hunt down the ball and throw Ryan out at first.  Humber collapsed to the ground, his teammates piled on top of him.  I tried to take in the moment, and also tried to capture it on my camera phone... but it doesn't really do justice.  Everyone in the stadium was really excited to be a part of history, most of the crowd was cheering Humber on when the bottom of the 9th began.  I couldn't... I was hoping we would at least get a walk.  I can take a no-hitter... but a Perfect Game against my team?  Hard to digest.

It is still a bit surreal, I'm not sure what to think about what I just witnessed.  From the seventh inning on I was a bundle of nerves and kept making mistakes on my scoresheet!  I didn't know Lillibridge had come in as a defensive replacement for Viciendo in the 8th inning until he came up to bat in the 9th (and scored the final run).  I put Jaso in as pinch hitter for Saunders instead of Olivo!  My hands were shaking, my heart was racing... I think I am still in shock.  Not many people can say they've seen such a game live and in person, but now I have.

One of the reasons I love baseball is that, as I have mentioned before, you never know what you are going to see at the ballpark.  There is always a chance for History, and today proved that.  Humber isn't one of the elite pitchers in the game, but now his name will live on forever.  Congrats to Humber, now let's shake this off and win tomorrow.

The Mariners are now 2-4 when I attend
Attendance: 22,472
Time of Game: 2:17

Chicago White Sox Scoresheet for Humber's Perfect Game

4-21-2012 - 27 Up, 27 Down, Humber's Name is Hall of Fame Bound as he is Perfect

Mariners Appreciate Fans With Another Loss

Tonight was not as good of a pitching performance, for either team.  It was fan appreciation night for 22.159 in attendance, but the Mariners couldn't put together a good pitching performance, and despite the six runs they scored they only got one runner on base past the 5th inning.

Rangers (86-65)

Kinsler 2B

Andrus SS

Hamilton LF

Young 1B

Beltre 3B

Napoli C

Cruz DH

Murphy RF

Gentry CF

Lewis (12-10, 4.29)

Mariners (63-87)

Ichiro RF

Seager 3B

Ackley 2B

Carp 1B

Kennedy DH

Bard C

Ryan SS

Robinson LF

Saunders CF

Vasquez (1-3, 7.29)

Vasquez was never in it, struggling from the beginning.  He only went 3 plus innings, giving up two hits in the first and second innings (including a run in the 2nd).  Then, it pretty much fell apart in the 3rd inning.  To lead off the inning Vasquez gave up back to back home runs to Andrus and Hamilton, then another solo shot to Beltre that traveled 408 feet.  This was after the Mariners had scored 4 runs of their own in the 2nd inning.  They enjoyed their 4-1 lead for only a few minutes.  After starting the 4th inning with a walk, Vasquez was pulled for Gray.  But he himself struggled and the Rangers scored another 3 runs in the inning to go up 7-4.  Carp made it interesting in the 5th with a 2 run homer of his own, to pull the Mariners within 1 run at 7-6.  But there the score remained.  The Mariners were lucky to escape without giving up more runs.  Let's take a look at the Rangers' box score, everyone contributed.  They left 10 men on base, the damage could have been so much worse.

Kinsler:  BB, R
Andrus: 1B, HR, RBI, 2 R
Hamilton: 3H, 2B, HR, 3RBI, R
Young: 2 BB, 1B, SAC, RBI
Beltre: HR, RBI, R
Napoli: 2 2B
Cruz: 1B
Murphy: BB, 1B, R
Gentry: 1B, RBI

On a historic note, Ichiro passed Mantle with his RBI base hit in the 2nd inning.  He now has 2,416 base hits for his ML career.  Never thought I would talk about Mantle in the same sentence as Ichiro.  This will be the last time.

I would also like to add that this is the second year in a row that nobody from my seating section has won a prize.

The roof was closed in the bottom of the 8th.
They are now  17-21 when I attend.

Rivera Makes History with 600th Save

Mariano Rivera picked up the 600th save of his career as Ichiro was caught stealing second for the final out, trailing 3-2 with Ackley at the plate.  For all the times to steal a base, and that is when he decides to go.  I doubt Wedge sent him, you never want to end a game that way.

Yankees (89-57)

Jeter SS

Swisher RF

Teixeira 1B

Cano 2B

Montero DH

Jones LF

Martin C

Nunez 3B

Gardner CF

Burnett (9-11, 5.27)

Mariners (61-86)

Ichiro RF

Seager 3B

Ackley 2B

Carp LF

Smoak 1B

Olivo C

Kennedy DH

Wells CF

Ryan SS

Furbush (3-8, 4.84)

This was a game of missed opportunities, from the first inning until the last.  We left 9 men on base, Burnett was not stellar but we couldn't pull the trigger and had 17 strikeouts!  The biggest opportunity was probably the 8th inning when we had Ackley and Smoak on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, but ended up striking out (with a walk  by Kennedy sandwiched in there).  Or, was it still early in the game when in the 3rd inning when we had the bases loaded with 1 out and all Olivo could do was a sacrifice fly to score our final run of the game?

Furbush had only one truly bad inning, giving up a lead off homer to Cano in the second, followed by a walk to Montero and a double to Jones. Montero ended up scoring on a wild pitch to put Yankees up 2-0 after Martin struck out.  Olivo is a terrible catcher and has let way too many "wild pitches" go past him, but I'll give him the benefit of doubt on this one.  It was pretty low and inside.  But, Olivo...  block the damn plate!

In the 9th inning, Mariano Rivera got his 600th save thanks to Ichiro.  He joins only Trevor Hoffman (601) in the 600 saves club, so at least I can say I saw history.  Rivera didn't really accomplish it, I would say put an asterisk by the number and give Ichiro the assist.  WHY ARE YOU RUNNING WITH TWO OUTS and Ackley up to bat, down by ONE RUN!!!  WHY!?  This is one of the reasons I despise Ichiro as a player.

I have to say, it is not as much fun with no A-Roid to root against.   He's "injured".  And, I was shocked at how few fans were there to watch the Yankees.  The Mariners only drew 18k fans!  You used to be able to guarantee a near sellout, at minimum.  Guess they aren't as much of a draw anymore, and that's a good thing.

Burger
Att: 18,306
Mariners fall to 16-20 when I attend.