Not quite. But close. The Mariners face glory or ignominy at the close of this 3-game series against the Angels. Win three, and they're an improbable first in the West. Lose three, and it's pray for the wild card.
And what a way to start! McLaren argues for Ichiro, who was sure he fouled off a third strike, and gets ejected by the third base umpire--at least, from what we can tell so far. He proceeds to put on a show worthy of the occasion. Hope it fires up the M's, who could use some bigger bats against Lackey.
Update: Ouch. Batista was anything but sharp. At least Rowland-Smith and O'Flaherty kept the damage down. Not much else to celebrate.
The only Mariner batters who had any success against Lackey were those who could lay off the diving curveball in the dirt: Vidro and Ibañez, with two hard-hit singles between them. On the play that eventually got McLaren ejected, the skip should have saved his wrath for Ichiro, who managed one weak blooper, otherwise flailing at anything earthward.
Haters of Batista are probably already calling for his head--and why shouldn't they, given his last horrific starts, and the much more competent mop-up work in long relief by Rowland-Smith?
1 comment:
It was unusual for the third base umpire to eject McLaren on a call that the home plate umpire made, especially so early in the first game of a series. My best guess is that McLaren did something that the home plate umpire couldn't see, like flipped him off or something. McLaren's got to do better to control his emotions.
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