Strange time for Moyer
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, July 3, 2004
For a man who prides himself on doing his job every fifth day, Jamie Moyer has had a weird stretch of games the last few weeks.
There was the unscheduled relief appearance in an 18-inning loss to Texas, followed three days later by a start. And then on Friday night, he was embroiled in a 1-1 tie with the Cardinals when a two-hour rain delay ended his night.
“I’ve probably had four or five rain delays in my career, so it’s not a lot of experience to base a decision on,” Moyer said Saturday. “You want to go back out there, you want to protect the bullpen.
“At the same time, one game isn’t your career. Common sense tells you there’s a point at which you risk injury.”
On Friday during the delay, manager Bob Melvin and pitching coach Bryan Price huddled with the 41-year-old left-hander. Moyer wanted to go back out to the mound after an hour, but Price and Melvin vetoed that.
“I couldn’t argue,” Moyer said. “I want to pitch the rest of the season.”
What’s next on Moyer’s chart?
“We’ll probably start him the first game in Toronto (Tuesday),” Melvin said. “But we’ll see how Jamie feels (today).”
“I feel great today, because I didn’t throw that many pitches – the start was like a bullpen session between games for me,” Moyer said. “Sometimes it’s two days later you feel sore, though.”
Earned run average: The most telling statistic of June wasn’t that the Mariners pitching staff led the American League with a 3.67 earned run average.
All that showed was that the team pitched well. What was more telling? How about this: The combined ERA for June for all pitchers working against the Seattle Mariners was 3.47.
Birthday: Though he often has other plans at the All-Star break – like participating in the All-Star game – Bret Boone will be busy this time around, too.
On July 12, the first day of the three-day break, Boone will be in Seattle with wife Suzi as she goes into induced labor to give birth to twins.
Mariners notebook: When Melvin took out the lineup card to the plate on Friday, he met with the umpires and St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa. “I asked Tony if he’d mind if I used our DH,” Melvin said. “He wasn’t for it.” … Randy Winn stole his seventh base of the season in the fifth inning. He’s been caught six times. A year ago he was caught five times in 28 attempts. … The Mariners complete interleague play today, and start the day with a 9-8 record against National League teams
When Ichiro Suzuki came out of Friday night’s game in the eighth inning, he missed just his second inning of the season. “For Ichiro, that’s like a day off,” Melvin joked. … Rich Aurilia was 1-for-4 Saturday and is now 6-for-19 against NL teams this season. Aurilia’s first nine seasons were spent in the NL with the San Francisco Giants.
