Friday, September 21, 2007 |
Choky, Joe: Mariners 6, Angels 0
The Angels' offense disappeared, squelched behind Jarrod Washburn's best performance since an eight-inning shutout of Tampa Bay on July 4. Since then, he's been 1-9 with a 5.69 ERA going into today's game, and why couldn't he share some of that with the Angels, who need one measly win to clinch the division and crush the Mariners' postseason hopes for good?
Oh, yeah. Right.
Anyway, the Angels offense basically didn't show up, only the eighth time this year they've been shut out, the most recent being their September 13 3-0 loss at Baltimore. Rich Thompson got another look, was effectively wild through an inning and a third. In the eighth, he gave up a leadoff opposite field homer to Jose Guillen in the right field pavilion and a pair of singles before Scioscia gave him the hook in favor of Jason Bulger. Bulger, who left the game with the stealthiest 1.69 ERA on the team (raise your hand if you knew he was even under 2.50), shut down everyone he faced for two innings save for a leadoff single to Yuniesky Betancourt. Even he was quickly erased when Ichiro hit into a double play, only the seventh one he's hit into all year. If there was a minor salvage in this game, it was breaking Ichiro's 13-game hitting streak.
That by itself wasn't enough, and so the Angels will have to wait for tomorrow to clinch. They may be waiting a while, since Escobar won't make tomorrow's scheduled start. Instead, it'll be Bartolo Colon facing Miguel Batista, another LAIM (League-Average Innings Muncher) with a 95 ERA+. Too bad Bart hasn't even been that good (65 ERA+, 6.68 ERA, 6-7). It's Jeff Weaver vs. Lackey Sunday, better odds.
Labels: angels, mariners, recaps
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