It's 5:50 a.m. Central in Madisonville, and Mariner Ichiro Suzuki, age 45, just drew a walk with a one on in the top of the fourth against the A's in Japan. And now he and the lead runner advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and Seattle, up 5-4, is threatening again ...
Aw, man ...
Comments flow.
OK, we got out of that inning with only one more run coming home. In the bottom half, the homesteading Tokyo A's bring up our second baseman, 26-year-old Jurickson Barthelomeus Profar from Willemstad, Curaçao.
ReplyDeleteMY MAIN MAN FROM CURAÇAO DOUBLES!
And now another A walks, and now we have a catcher named Nick Hundley coming up (this guy has to be kin to Randy Hundley, right?), and now we have a mound visit ... #GREENCOLLAR! ...
ReplyDeletePer Wikipedia, "Nick is not related to former MLB catcher Randy Hundley, nor his son Todd Hundley, nor the Seattle Seahawks Quarterback Brett Hundley, nor singer–songwriter Shania Twain."
ReplyDeleteArrrgh! Hundley hits into a double play, and then Profar is stranded on third by an inning-ending strikeout. Still Seattle, 6-4, headed to the fifth ...
ReplyDeleteAlright, bottom of the ninth ... now 9-7, Mariners ... A's lead off with Josh Phegley, who has replaced not-Randy Hundley ...
ReplyDeleteStrikeout. Now Ramon Laureano, our center-fielder and top of the order ... he's zero-for-four with three strikeouts so far today ...
ReplyDeleteFly out. OK, so we're down to Matt Chapman, who is our best hitter. So far in MLB19, he's hitting .500 with a home run. This has him tied for second in batting in the league so far this season, but he's still way behind the Mariners' shortstop, Tim Beckham, who's hitting 1.000 on the season (three-for-three).
ReplyDeleteChapman battling ...
ReplyDeleteFull count ...
ReplyDeleteStrikeout. Matt Chapman plunges among the MLB19 batting-average leaders, and the Tokyo A's literally go down swinging, 9-7, to the Seattle Mariners to open the season.
ReplyDeleteOh, it turns out that Ichiro's coming back with the Mariners apparently was a short-term deal for this Japan series.
ReplyDeleteWith the A's now down 3-0 in the fifth at home in Tokyo, I suggest we bring back Rickey Henderson at least for the games we play in Oakland this season.
OK, the A's have rallied to tie the Mariners at 4, and now they have the leadoff man on first in the bottom of the eighth ...
ReplyDeleteBob Melvin puts in a pinch-runner, and then my main man from Curaçao lines out to left field. It's impossible to tell, of course, from the MLB.com animation, but I'm going to believe Jurickson Profar made the right decision to swing, got good wood on the ball but just simply screamed it right at a fielder.
ReplyDeleteArgh! The next batter singled the pinch runner to third, but then the next batter, a pinch hitter, grounded into a double play. Still 4-4 and headed to the top of the ninth ...
ReplyDeleteMy struggle here to tamp down the groundless fears of the so-called "live-blogging jinx" reminds of how much I miss GoHeath at the HP.
ReplyDeletePitching in the top of the ninth is Tony Kornheiser Show-favorite-A Blake Treinen.
ReplyDeleteStrikeout, strikeout, fly out: Good job out of you, Blake Treinen.
ReplyDeleteTop of the order for the A's, starting with shortstop Marcus Semien, who is hitting .500 so far in MLB19.
ReplyDeleteWas hitting. Strikes out on three pitches.
ReplyDeleteMatt Chapman, who started this season hot, has slumped to .222 after grounding out here on the first pitch from Seattle's Matt Festa.
ReplyDeleteStephen Piscotty singled, but then Khris Davis grounded out, and we're headed to bonus baseball in Tokyo.
ReplyDeleteTreinen again: Strikeout, strikeout and pop out. Bottom of the 10th ...
ReplyDeleteBottom of the 11th ... bases loaded ... Khris Davis up ...
ReplyDeleteStrikeout. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteSeattle wins, 5-4; Ichiro retires, and the A's have fallen off the MLB19 wild-card pace.
ReplyDeleteAmerican League standings:
Mariners 2-0
Orioles 0-0
Red Sox 0-0
White Sox 0-0
Indians 0-0
Tigers 0-0
Astros 0-0
Royals 0-0
Angels 0-0
Twins 0-0
Yankees 0-0
Rays 0-0
Rangers 0-0
Blue Jays 0-0
A's 0-2
Phew.
ReplyDelete