Chan Ho Park pitched well last night. He wasn’t the greatest pitcher ever, he allowed more hits than innings pitched, and he seemed to be in jams all the time, but he had the pitches when he needed them. He had 5 strikeouts and three walks, and with zero earned runs over 7 innings, lowered his season ERA to 3.92. It might be dangerous to say, but he’s starting to look like the pitcher we thought we were getting when we signed him a couple of years ago. If he’s still doing this after say July, things will probably be really good. This was our first shutout of the season. I hope we deliver many more.
Offensively we kept up our pace, getting 5 runs in the first two innings, and a total of 11 hits over the nine innings total. We had two home runs, a couple of really impressive ones by Blalock & Nix. Blalock’s reminded me of the kind that Raffy would get all the time in Safeco. Mike Young went 0-5, but just about everyone else had a good night. Seattle’s pitching settled down after the first couple of innings, so the five in the first two frames were all we got.
We would have had three home runs, if it weren’t for the fact that Seattle has a spectacular right fielder. Ichiro robbed Herbert Perry of an opposite field HR with a most spectacular save. It wasn’t an out, as he brought the ball back, but it did save a HR. Ichiro later made a great diving catch in the same inning to keep Perry from scoring on someone else’s hit. He showed last night that his defensive reputation is well deserved.
We’re back over 500 at 6-5 against the Mariners who are now 2-8. I’d wager these records are what most people thought the teams would have for records. But in a different order. I’ll take it.
Line Score AL FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TEXAS 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 11 0 SEATTLE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 (FINAL) BATTERIES: TEX - CHAN HO PARK, CARLOS ALMANZAR (8TH) AND GERALD LAIRD SEA - GIL MECHE, KEVIN JARVIS (6TH), J.J. PUTZ (9TH) AND DAN WILSON WP - CHAN HO PARK (1-2) LP - GIL MECHE (0-2) SAVE - NONE HOME RUNS: TEX - HANK BLALOCK (3) OFF GIL MECHE IN THE 1ST, 0 ON LAYNCE NIX (2) OFF GIL MECHE IN THE 2ND, 1 ON SEA - NONE TIME: 2:41 ATT: 35,647 PROBABLES: TEX - COLBY LEWIS (1-0, 3.48) SEA - JAMIE MOYER (0-1, 8.44) Box Score TEXAS (5) VS SEATTLE (0) - FINAL TEXAS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg M Young ss 5 0 0 0 0 1 6 .360 H Blalock 3b 5 2 2 2 0 2 1 .362 A Soriano 2b 4 0 2 1 0 0 0 .391 B Fullmer dh 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .308 H Perry 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 .318 D Dellucci lf 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 .280 K Mench rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 .255 L Nix cf 2 1 2 2 2 0 0 .360 G Laird c 4 1 3 0 0 0 1 .414 Totals 37 5 11 5 2 4 15 BATTING: 2B - H Blalock (4, G Meche); H Perry (1, G Meche); L Nix (3, K Jarvis); G Laird (4, K Jarvis). HR - H Blalock (3, 1st inning off G Meche 0 on, 1 Out), L Nix (2, 2nd inning off G Meche 1 on, 1 Out). RBI - H Blalock 2 (11), L Nix 2 (3), A Soriano (6). 2-out RBI - H Blalock, A Soriano. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - D Dellucci 1, M Young 2. GIDP - M Young. Team LOB - 8. FIELDING: DP: 2 (H Blalock-A Soriano-H Perry, M Young-A Soriano-H Perry). SEATTLE ab r h rbi bb so lob avg I Suzuki rf 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .277 J Olerud 1b 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 .250 E Martinez dh 4 0 1 0 0 2 3 .293 B Boone 2b 4 0 3 0 0 1 1 .326 R Ibanez lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 .242 R Aurilia ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 .282 R Winn cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 .262 D Wilson c 3 0 3 0 1 0 0 .370 J Cabrera 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 Totals 32 0 8 0 4 8 20 BATTING: 2B - D Wilson (2, C Park). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - R Aurilia 2, R Ibanez 1, I Suzuki 1. GIDP - J Cabrera 2. Team LOB - 10. BASERUNNING: CS - R Winn (1, 2nd base by C Park/G Laird). FIELDING: DP: 1 (B Boone-R Aurilia-J Olerud). ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS - 140 000 000 -- 5 SEATTLE - 000 000 000 -- 0 ---------------------------------------------------- TEXAS ip h r er bb so hr era C Park (W, 1-2) 7 8 0 0 3 5 0 3.92 C Almanzar 2 0 0 0 1 3 0 1.42 SEATTLE ip h r er bb so hr era G Meche (L, 0-2) 5 7 5 5 1 3 2 5.40 K Jarvis 3 4 0 0 1 0 0 5.14 J Putz 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 HBP - A Soriano (by G Meche); J Cabrera (by C Park). Pitches-strikes: C Park 105-62; C Almanzar 29-17; G Meche 89-53; K Jarvis 46-27; J Putz 8-7. Ground balls-fly balls: C Park 5-10; C Almanzar 3-0; G Meche 4-8; K Jarvis 5-4; J Putz 1-1. Batters faced: C Park 31; C Almanzar 6; G Meche 24; K Jarvis 13; J Putz 3. UMPIRES: HP--Mark Carlson. 1B--Brian Runge. 2B--Bill Hohn. 3B--Gary Darling. T--2:41. Att--35,647. Weather: 54 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 6 mph, out to left.