PEORIA, Ariz. – So far at spring training, it’s not so nice being a left-handed relief pitcher for the Seattle Mariners.
Veteran lefty Ron Villone was battered again Tuesday, allowing seven hits and three runs in two innings of the Mariners’ 11-4 victory over Oakland.
Villone has a 15.75 earned run average after two outings. Matt Thornton, a hard-throwing reliever hoping to become a late-inning left-handed specialist, has a 12.27 ERA. And closer Eddie Guardado hasn’t pitched in a Cactus League game because of a strained hamstring.
Only George Sherrill, with a 2.25 ERA, has decent numbers.
Numbers, of course, can be deceiving during spring training, where the air is dry, the infields are hard and the ball jumps off the bat.
Villone could only wish that was the issue Tuesday. He struggled to control his fastball and the A’s hammered it in the eighth and ninth innings.
“I’m not worried,” pitching coach Bryan Price said. “He’s a contact pitcher and when you’re not locating the fastball, this is a bad place to be a contact pitcher.”
Villone has pitched in only two exhibition games and needs several more innings to get sharp, Price said.
“He needs those three- and four-inning outings,” Price said. “He’s a feel guy and he needs the repetition for what he’s doing to get a feel for his sinker.”
When Villone tried to pitch low and away against the A’s, he left the ball too high and the A’s hit it. When he tried to pitch inside, he didn’t get it inside enough and they pounded that, too.
“You don’t want to say it’s OK,” Price said. “But all things considered, he’s around the plate with his stuff, his arm strength is there and fine-tuning the fastball location is definitely going to come before we leave here.”
As for the other lefties, they’ll get their chance to turn things around soon.
Thornton will pitch today against the San Francisco Giants. Guardado, who has pitched only one inning of a B game almost two weeks ago, is expected to throw from the bullpen mound Friday.
Ichiro’s sore foot causes a stir: Every move Ichiro Suzuki makes is news to the Japanese media covering the Mariners. They still keep their eyes cameras on him in the event he finds baseball fortune – or misfortune.
Tuesday, it was misfortune.
Suzuki had fouled a ball off his right foot in the first inning Monday against the Padres and was held from the lineup Tuesday. Manager Mike Hargrove said Suzuki would play today, news that had the hallway outside Hargrove’s office filled with Japanese reporters Tuesday morning.
Despite the big gathering of reporters, the sore-foot news didn’t become a banner headline in Japan like it might have four years ago, when Suzuki became the first Japanese position player to reach the majors.
“It’s not that big of a story because he is not hurt that bad and he will play tomorrow,” said Keizo Konishi, who covers the Mariners for Kyodo News of Tokyo. “Last year when he got hit in the head in Kansas City, that was a big story.”
Balls, strikes, QuesTec: Umpire supervisor Steve Palermo held his annual meeting with the Mariners on Tuesday, answering questions about a variety of issues. One in particular, the QuesTec system used to evaluate the umps’ ball-and-strike calls, came up.
“Statistically they show that pitchers’ ERAs are lower in QuesTec parks than they are in non-QuesTec parks,” said Hargrove, who doesn’t like the system. “Maybe I’m wrong not being a fan of QuesTec.”
Hargrove said all he asks is that umpires call a consistent strike zone, and he admits that is happening.
“If QuesTec makes umpires have a more universal consistent strike zone, then it’s not a bad thing,” he said. “It got so bad for a while in the early ’90s where pitchers, if they just hit the catcher’s glove, they got strikes called.
“I remember Dennis Martinez in Cleveland was absolutely incensed when the catcher would set up on the plate. He wanted the catcher to set up four to six inches off the plate every time, and if he hit the glove and the umpire didn’t give him the strike, he was upset about it.”
Low zone: Hargrove has been pleased to see umpires call more low strikes this spring, especially because the Mariners don’t have power pitchers who strike out a lot of hitters.
“You teach people to pitch down and I’m glad to see them reinforcing that by calling that low pitch a strike,” Hargrove said. “I don’t think there’s any more emphasis on calling more low strikes than before. I think they’re trying to be more consistent, and they should be commended for that. The umpires are doing a good job in trying to be more consistent.”
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