If nothing else this year, the Mariners have given second-guessers plenty to question. Sunday had to be a heyday.
Why was J.J. Putz pitching the ninth inning of a tie game after Brandon Morrow had blown away the Tigers with his fastball — which hit 100 mph on the FSN radar gun — in the eighth? Because that’s what closers do in the ninth inning of a tie game. The problem, of course, was that Putz gave up four runs.
And where was Richie Sexson in the bottom of the ninth when the Mariners, having pulled within two runs on Raul Ibanez’s home run, had a man on base with two outs and needed another long ball to tie? Miguel Cairo, who hadn’t homered since 2005, stepped to the plate while Sexson, in the very least a home run threat, remained in lockdown on the bench. Cairo flied out to medium-depth center field (well, it was deep for him) to end the game.
I’m not going to doubt either decision by manager John McLaren.
The Morrow-Putz combination in the eighth and ninth had worked last week. The problem Sunday was that Putz still doesn’t seem at full strength after his bout with a sore rib in April, then a bad middle finger for several days after that. He’s throwing his fastball at 93-94 mph instead of 96-97 and he’s inconsistent with his location (the one-out walk of Brandon Inge was a huge factor in the Tigers’ rally).
Overall, Putz’s location wasn’t that bad. He said the Tigers put good pitches in play to beat him. My guess is that with a few more mph on the fastball, the Tigers wouldn’t have gotten any wood on those pitches. Unless Putz is hurting again, the fastball will get better, both in velocity and location.
As for Sexson, will we see him again as a Mariner? I don’t see it. I mean, when Miguel Cairo and his barely-.200 average is an improvement, Sexson’s days have got to be numbered.
McLaren says his benching is temporary, that it’s more about the energy Cairo brings to the team than what Sexson hasn’t. But baseball is a numbers game and the numbers overwhelmingly favored Sexson over Cairo twice over the weekend. On Friday, Cairo started despite a career .200 average against Tigers starter Nate Robertson; Sexson had a career .375 average off Robertson. And Sunday, Cairo stepped to the plate in the ninth inning with a career .222 average against closer Todd Jones. Sexson vs. Jones — 5-for-11 with three home runs and seven RBI.
This wasn’t a time to send Sexson to the plate. He’s as lost at the plate as ever and a strikeout in that situation — or even an out — might have turned the crowd against him more than ever and damaged his psyche beyond repair. Unfortunately, I think that already has happened.
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