The way the second half of the season has gone for Gil Meche, he didn’t figure pitching on two days rest instead of the usual five would make much difference.
It didn’t.
Called upon as an emergency starter when Ryan Franklin was sidelined by back spasms, the 24-year-old Meche gave the Seattle Mariners five innings Wednesday. When he allowed three runs, and his team scored none, Meche lost.
Again.
Sidelined with an assortment of injuries most of the previous 2 1/2years, Meche helped Seattle seize first place in the American League West with a 10-4 record at the All-Star break.
”I wouldn’t mind duplicating the first half of this season next year,” Meche said. ”I would hate to repeat the second half. I’ve never been through anything like it.”
Since the All-Star break, Meche is 5-9 with an earned run average over seven. After pitching only 65 innings in relief last year in Class AA, Meche pitched 186 1/3 innings this season.
The difference showed.
”I’ve never tried to battle through this many starts, this many innings,” Meche said. ”When I struggled the second half, it was like my head started spinning. Next year, I’ll know what to expect. This year, I didn’t handle it well.”
On Sunday in Oakland, Meche’s 31st start lasted one inning, and Oakland scored five runs against him. When Franklin strained his neck and upper back stretching on Monday, the Mariners asked Meche if he thought he could start on two days of rest.
”I wanted to go out there, see what I could do for the team,” he said.
”I wasn’t quite as sharp, I had to change speeds more, but I thought I did a decent job. I had a difficult fourth inning.”
In that inning, the Angels scored three times. Meche went one more inning, threw a total of 86 pitches and called it a day and a season.
”As a team, we had it all early,” Meche said. ”We had pitching and hitting and great defense. As the season wore on, we struggled more. We can all probably say the same thing: ‘If I’d done a little better the second half, the team would have done a little better.’ It was a learning experience.”
Meche was the first major league pitcher to win 15 games after missing two seasons since 1953, but took small consolation in it.
”Given where I was a year ago, I’m pleased,” he said. ”But if I’d won a couple more games, we’d still be in a pennant race.”
Cirillo to have MRI: Jeff Cirillo, who has two years left on a lucrative contract and has appeared in one game this month, will undergo a Magnetic Resonance Imaging test today to determine the extent on an injury to his right shoulder. In 87 games this season, Cirillo batted .205. Neither Cirillo nor the team are happy with his role as a utility player – he’ll be paid more than $14 million for the 2004-2005 season – but neither seems to know precisely how to change the situation.
Notes: The Mariners finished the road portion of their season with a 43-38 record, their fourth year in a row with a winning mark away from home. In club history, the team has posted a winning road record six times. … Randy Winn singled to extend his hitting streak to nine consecutive games. No one else on the team has a current streak longer than one game.
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