When you lose by a run in 13 innings, like the Mariners did today in their 3-2 loss to the Cubs, there’s no end to the things a fan can second guess.
After the game, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu faced some interesting questions about the moves he did – or didn’t – make.
Like why he didn’t use a pinch-hitter for Josh Wilson with one out, the bases loaded and Cubs right-hander Carlos Marmol flinging a wicked slider that was death to right-handed hitters. Or why he didn’t keep Brandon League on the mound for the top of the 13th after he’d thrown only 19 pitches the previous two innings.
I had a couple of others:
Is Jose Lopez completely incapable of bunting? The Mariners had runners on first and second with nobody out in the 10th – with the score tied 2-2 – when Lopez batted. He swung away and struck out.
And where was right-hander Shawn Kelley? Although he hasn’t pitched since June 15, he’d been strong in most of his recent outings and, in the absence of injured Mark Lowe, had assumed an important late-inning role. Why wasn’t he out there facing right-handed-hitting Alfonso Soriano to start the 13th instead of left-hander Garrett Olson, who walked Soriano to set up the Cubs’ winning run?
Whether you think he was right or wrong, Wakamatsu had good reason for all the moves he did – or didn’t – make.
Why no pinch-hitter for Josh Wilson in the 10th? There were a handful of lefties on the bench, but do you really want .138-hitting Mike Carp or .189-hitting Casey Kotchman or .182-hitting Ryan Langerhans batting instead of Wilson, who went into the game with the second-highest average on the team at .293? I can see why he stayed with Wilson.
Can Jose Lopez bunt? Technically, he can. But he hadn’t gotten one down this year and, with visions of this year’s bunting failures by Eric Byrnes and Jack Wilson still in the haunting stage, I can’t totally blame Wakamatsu for having Lopez swing away. Especially since he was the No. 4 hitter. And even if Lopez had pushed the runners to second and third, there wasn’t a ton of comfort having Franklin Gutierrez face Marmol’s slider. So Wakamatsu decided that with a runner already in scoring position, he wouldn’t give away an out with the sacrifice bunt. And besides, he got those runners to second and third anyway on a one-out double steal while Gutierrez was batting (the Cubs intentionally walked him to set up the strikeouts by Josh Wilson and Eliezer Alfonzo to end the inning).
Why pull League after 19 pitches? Yes, he was dealing. And yes, he has been stretched out to pitch multiple innings. But there were bullpen circumstances that caused Wakamatsu to pull him. First, League may be needed to close Friday night at Milwaukee because David Aardsma’s wife is due to have a baby any day. Aardsma will fly back to Seattle when the contractions begin, and League will be the closer Friday night against the Brewers if it comes to that. He wouldn’t be available had he pitched another inning today.
But what about Shawn Kelley? That appears to be the second part of the current bullpen conundrum. He wasn’t available to pitch today and, in fact, wasn’t even in the pen. Is he injured? The Mariners aren’t saying, but something just wasn’t right with that picture today.
Some might say Wakamatsu pushed the wrong buttons today. With the issues facing this team – a lack of hitting and issues in the bullpen — there weren’t a lot of buttons he could push.
