Moyer sees same old story
BALTIMORE – When they were teammates on the Los Angeles Dodgers, Don Drysdale used to joke that Sandy Koufax was the luckiest pitcher he’d seen.
“Every time he pitches, the other team doesn’t score,” Drysdale deadpanned.
Jamie Moyer would be the flipside of that joke. Too many times when he’s pitched this season, his team hasn’t scored. Shut out for a major-league high 12th time Tuesday, the Seattle Mariners lost to the Baltimore Orioles 2-0.
In six of those shutouts, Moyer has been the losing pitcher.
“My job is the same no matter what the other pitcher is doing,” Moyer said. “My job is to put up zeros. Rodrigo (Lopez) put up more than I did.”
This one demanded much of everyone who played, a game that began in 100-degree heat in air so humid it could have been weighed. On Moyer’s first pitch, Brian Roberts singled to right field.
When Ichiro Suzuki overran the ball for his second error of the season, Roberts went to second base.
“It looked like the ball skipped on him,” manager Mike Hargrove said.
Ichiro shook his head.
“Even if it did, I’ve got to handle the ball,” Ichiro said. “It was my fault. All I can do is apologize.”
It was a mistake that changed the inning.
“Obviously, I hadn’t established anything – he hit the first pitch – but now he’s on second base, and he’s a base stealer,” Moyer said. “So I know he’s going to run, and probably early in the count.”
To give catcher Kenji Johjima a chance to throw out the runner, Moyer went with fastballs. The Orioles’ No. 2 hitter, Melvin Mora, grounded a single on one of them into center field and it was 1-0.
“Basically, that was the game,” Moyer said.
Baltimore’s Lopez is 6-11 against everyone but Seattle this season, but in his past two starts against them, he’s not only 2-0 – he’s won by the same score (2-0) in each game.
“Lopez just stayed on the corners all night, inside then outside, with both his fastball and his breaking pitch,” Ben Broussard said. “You try to have a good at-bat, wait for a mistake, but he didn’t make many tonight.”
The Mariners managed four hits, and two of those never left the infield. They never put two runners on base in an inning, and never put a runner in scoring position.
“Lopez has pitched well against us the last couple of years, and I don’t know why he’s under .500,” Moyer said. “He looks comfortable against us, he’s got good stuff. He pitched well.
“Me? I didn’t pitch well enough.”
On most nights, against most teams, he might have.
Moyer worked six-plus innings and allowed only two runs, one in the first and another in the seventh. Behind him, George Sherrill and Julio Mateo shut down the Baltimore offense.
As if it mattered.
Lopez worked two outs into the eighth inning, then Chris Ray took over in the ninth inning to pick up his 27th save. He got three outs on nine pitches.
Moyer’s record dropped to 6-10, his earned run average from 4.21 to 4.15.
In six of those 10 losses this season, the Mariners haven’t scored. Had Seattle scored, say, three runs in each of those games, he’d have been 4-1 with a no decision – and his season mark would be 10-7.
“You can’t think about those things. What good would it do?” Moyer said.
The one best shot the Mariners had in this one came late, with one out in the eighth inning and Johjima on first base after a single. Hargrove sent Greg Dobbs to the plate to pinch-hit for rookie Adam Jones.
Dobbs lined a ball up the alley in right-center field, but right fielder Nick Markakis made a diving catch.
“If it falls, who knows?” Dobbs said. “I thought I hit it into the gap.”
“We didn’t hit many balls well, and when we did they seemed to catch them,” Hargrove said. “It was a well-played game, and as well as we pitched, they pitched just a little bit better.”
“Lopez hit his spots, and Jamie hit his and there wasn’t much difference in how effective they were,” Richie Sexson said. “We didn’t get many good pitches to hit, and when we did we either popped them up or lined out.
“Jamie deserved better, we just couldn’t get him any runs.”
Again.