M’S Thumped, In Private Seattle Opens Key Series With Loss Before Just 14,282 In Kingdome
It triggered Mark Langston’s darkest memories of Seattle, the recollections of the years he spent here and has long since tried to repress.
The Seattle Mariners opened a long homestand in the Kingdome with a battle for first place in the American League West - and hardly anyone showed up to watch.
For Seattle, that might have been the good news Friday.
In one of their more forgettable nights of a season now 53 games old, the Mariners lost to ex-teammate Langston and the California Angels, 14-4, in front of a crowd of 14,282.
Even for a team ranked 11th in the American League in attendance, that was more than 4,000 below the season average. Those who didn’t show didn’t miss much - except a nine-inning demonstration of why the Angels are in first place.
Open the door, they’ll go through it.
“They’re a good team, and they’ve got good hitters,” pitcher Tim Belcher said. “But all hitters hit well when you fall behind in the count, 2-0, 3-1. This isn’t a trend I want to see continue.”
The struggle to put his pitches where he wanted forced Belcher to throw far too many of them. In a nine-inning start against Boston two weeks ago, he needed 98 pitches to get 27 outs.
On Friday, he used 104 pitches to get 12 outs.
For the second consecutive start, that was as far as Belcher could go - the fourth inning. And for the second consecutive time, it was far enough to produce a loss. After starting his Mariners career 3-0 with a 2.48 earned run average in his first five, Belcher is 0-2 with a 7.73 ERA in his past three appearances.
“The last two times out he hasn’t been locating his pitches, falling behind, walking hitters,” Piniella said. “We walked 11 hitters tonight. You can’t walk 11 hitters and win. We’re 13th in the league in that category, and if we’re going to improve, that would be the area to do it in.”
There was no single knockout punch delivered by the Angels, just a series of body blows. A solo home run by Jim Edmonds, a three-run home run by Tony Phillips and a three-run single by Greg Myers chased Belcher.
Badly as he pitched, Belcher will start again in four days. Rookie reliever Ron Villone might not be able to say the same thing. The hard-throwing 25-year-old followed Belcher to the mound and faced four Angels.
The first walked. The second, Garrett Anderson, homered deep into the lower deck in right field. The third walked. So did the fourth.”What the hell would you like me to say about him?” Piniella asked.
Langston, meanwhile, won his sixth game of the season and earned the fourth victory of his career against a team for whom he won 74 games in 5 1/2 years.