SEATTLE – It seems fairly clear now that Scott Spiezio isn’t the spark.
Propped up in the starting lineup in what became a Weekend at Bernie’s-style experiment to find life in his batting stroke, Spiezio did nothing to help his average or the Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
He went hitless again in the Mariners’ 7-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and was booed after his last at-bat as though Jeff Cirillo and Alex Rodriguez had just walked into the building together.
Spiezio has just two hits this season, his last on July 20, and is batting .044 after a game that reached its low point when he popped out to center field with runners on second and third in the eighth inning.
The frustration wasn’t limited to the 38,468 fans.
“I was more (upset) than they were,” Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said.
Why was Spiezio playing in the first place? He’d had just 35 at-bats going into the weekend and done little with them, hitting a double on April 18 and a home run July 20.
When outfielder Chris Snelling went on the disabled list Friday with a knee injury, the Mariners used the opportunity to get Spiezio some consistent at-bats to see if he could emerge from his hitting funk.
It meant the club sat .300-hitting rookie Mike Morse.
After the weekend, Spiezio may have lost his place in the lineup. In the three games he started, he went 0-for-10 with three strikeouts and just two fly balls that reached the outfield.
After his popup to center field became the finishing touch to a second-and-third, one-out opportunity to tie the score in the eighth, the crowd booed viciously.
“Yes, you hear them,” manager Mike Hargrove said.
The loss, the Mariners’ seventh straight at home against the Angels going back to last September, had more than the mark of Spiezio.
The Mariners again pitched poorly, with starter Gil Meche lasting just 41/3 innings and the sometimes-stout, sometimes-not bullpen allowing three late runs.
The game-winner came off left-hander George Sherrill in the eighth after he appeared to have Darrin Erstad struck out on a two-strike pitch, then fell into a full count before Erstad slapped an RBI single to center that broke a 6-6 tie.
Meche got three quick outs in the first inning and labored the rest of his time. He didn’t allow a run until Casey Kotchman’s solo home run in the fourth, but his pitch count grew quickly and he was finished before he could get through the fifth.
Meche said there’s a reason: His shoulder doesn’t feel quite right.
“There’s something that just doesn’t feel comfortable,” said Meche, who has reviewed videos of his starts to figure out why he isn’t throwing free and easy. “I definitely look more tense on the mound as far as my arm motion. I’m not being real smooth.”
He gave up six hits and four walks before Hargrove pulled him in the fifth after he’d thrown 92 pitches.
“He had over 60 pitches in three innings and it just continued that way,” Hargrove said. “The only pitch he had command of was his curveball. His fastball was all over the place and he was behind almost every hitter (in the count). Gil is better than he threw today.”
Julio Mateo inherited a nightmare from Meche – two runners on base and Vladimir Guerrero at-bat with one out in the fifth – and Guerrero thumped him like he did M’s pitchers all weekend.
Mateo got two quick strikes on Guerrero, then worked carefully and evened the count 2-2. Guerrero jumped on the fifth pitch and drove it into the left-field seats for his 26th home run and a 5-3 Angels lead.
“He’s just a really good hitter,” Hargrove said. “He’s so strong. He hit that ball off the end of the bat.”
Guerrero, who has 299 career home runs, finished the series 8-for-14 with three home runs and seven runs batted in.
Three pitches later, the Angels made the score 6-3 when Bengie Molina homered off Mateo.
The Mariners came back, scoring in the fifth on Ichiro Suzuki’s infield single and steal of second, then Willie Bloomquist’s RBI single to make it 6-4, then twice in the seventh when the Angels did their best to help.
Yorvit Torrealba hit a one-out double and Suzuki followed with an RBI single – pulling the M’s within 6-5 – before the Angels replaced starter John Lackey with Brendan Donnelly.
After Bloomquist popped up for the second out, Suzuki stole second and reached third on a wild pitch, and he appeared to be stranded there when Raul Ibanez hit a harmless grounder back to Donnelly.
The pitcher handled it like a messy sandwich, lobbing it into the dirt and past Erstad at first. Suzuki scored to tie the score 6-6.
The Mariners threatened to tie the score in the eighth – and appeared to have done it by some accounts – when Richie Sexson led off with a walk, reached third on Jeremy Reed’s double and romped toward home when Yuniesky Betancourt hit a grounder wide of third base.
The Angels Chone Figgins stopped the ball with a dive to his left, got to his feet and threw home, where Molina tagged Sexson before he stepped on the plate. That’s what plate umpire Laz Diaz ruled.
Hargrove wasn’t so sure.
“He said he tagged him in the chest before he got to the plate,” Hargrove said. “I thought he tagged him on the hip. But I couldn’t tell where Richie’s foot was in relation to the tag.”
That incited the crowd, but the Mariners still had runners on first and third with two outs and Spiezio batting.
He popped out to center, and the booing was never so loud.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
