Left-handers leave Mariners left out
SEATTLE – They have chased Bartolo Colon and beaten Tim Wakefield, held their own against Curt Schilling and Kevin Millwood – but the Seattle Mariners can’t do a thing against anyone who throws left-handed.
A year ago, it took them more than a month to figure out lefties, and this April has been no kinder.
After southpaw Nate Robertson and the Detroit bullpen shut down the Mariners on two hits in the Tigers 2-0 victory Saturday, Seattle’s record this season against left-handed pitchers is 0-6.
“They’re not doing anything different,” Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki said of lefties. “If they started pitching to me with their right hands, that would be different.”
So maybe it’s pure coincidence, but whatever the reason, the Mariners are batting .191 against southpaws this season.
“We were our own worst enemies tonight,” M’s manager Mike Hargrove said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Robertson. He changed speeds, he threw strikes, but we were not patient tonight.
“We tried to do much when nothing was there.”
Last April, the Mariners batted just .209 against lefties, then rallied to finish the season hitting .264 against them. Whatever happens in 2006, Seattle hasn’t yet solved the issue of what to do against left-handers.
Robertson pitched seven innings and allowed two infield singles, one by Ichiro in the fourth inning, the other a roller by Jose Lopez on which the pitcher fielded but couldn’t get an out.
How did the Mariners respond to those hits?
Lopez followed Ichiro’s single with a line drive – right at first baseman Chris Shelton, who stepped on the bag for a double play.
“The only way to prevent that from happening is to have the baserunner standing on the bag, and that’s not going to happen,” Hargrove said.
Seattle’s best shot at breaking through came in Robertson’s last inning, the seventh. Lopez legged out that single and Raul Ibanez walked, putting two men on base with no one out.
Cleanup hitter Richie Sexson struck out looking, and catcher Kenji Johjima grounded into a double play.
That was it – two Detroit relievers set down the final six Mariners and Robertson was a two-game winner.
While the Seattle offense was helpless, its pitching kept the team close.
Typically, starter Gil Meche threw far too many pitches early – he had 60 after three innings. Atypically, Meche gritted his way through trouble in five of his six innings.
“I threw a lot of pitches, but I made good ones when I needed them for the most part,” Meche said. “The first four innings were tough, and the last two went a lot more quickly.”
The Tigers got to Meche in the first inning when, with two outs, Ivan Rodriguez singled and scored on Magglio Ordonez’s double to left-center field. Neither team knew it at the time, but that run was enough to win.
Meche labored through the first five innings and never retired the Tigers in order until the sixth, when his 121st pitch ended his night.
“I wish he could throw 180 pitches, because I’d have left him out there the way he pitched the last few innings,” Hargrove said.
The second Detroit run came in the eighth, a Craig Monroe opposite-field home run against Julio Mateo that quieted a crowd of 27,893 at Safeco Field.
“We couldn’t get it going tonight, but we’re a good team,” Meche said. “We’ve got hitters who will get hot, and there”s not a better defensive team in the league.”