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If it's a tight game, Freddy Garcia must be on the mound.
Three times in his four games the Seattle pitcher has been backed by an offense
with the consistency of a one-minute egg, but less runny.
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Each time — they have scored two runs in those three games — the Mariners wasted Garcia's grit and brilliance.
They did so again in the eighth inning of a 0-0 game last night, with Ichiro
ducking away from a third strike down the middle with a runner on third and
one out in the top half, then Hank Blalock won it with a homer in Texas' half
of the inning.
The 3-0 loss orphaned the Mariners in the AL West, the only team not in first
place as Texas and Anaheim tied Oakland for the lead.
Four batters after Blalock's ball over the fence in center, Garcia was gone
and Julio Mateo had given up a two-run double to Kevin Mench that turned what
had been a tense game into a joke, only the latest played on the moribund Mariners.
On the bench, TV cameras showed Garcia seemingly expressing anger and/or frustration
— something the Seattle club may need more of.
The pitcher declined to speak later, asking only, "What do you want me
to say?"
"Freddy has pitched three games now as well as you can pitch," Mariners
manager Bob Melvin said. "Whenever a guy pitches like that he should have
something to show for it, and all Freddy has is a loss."
Hitting coach Paul Molitor said of this team-wide slump, "I definitely
think everyone is pressing.
"Everything is magnified. You have trouble doing the little things, and
each out makes it a little tougher for the next guy. You want guys to turn the
page, but remember what they read."
With Garcia using a combination of changes and curveballs to keep the Rangers'
fastball-hitting lineup in check on five hits over seven innings, the Mariners
missed on a handful of chances over that span as well.
To that point, their offensive miasma had them 3 for 39 with men in scoring
position over a six-game span, including 0 for 2 last night against Rangers
starting pitcher Joaquin Benoit.
But the eighth inning brought a shot at redemption when Dan Wilson led off with
a single off Texas reliever Jay Powell, and Willie Bloomquist ran for him.
Quinton McCracken bunted too hard, and Powell threw to second, where Bloomquist
was called out by umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. "I was safe, but that's the
way it's going right now," Bloomquist said.
McCracken redeemed himself by stealing second and getting third on a throwing
error. But Ichiro, whom the Mariners want to take more pitches, took a third
strike for a crucial out.
Melvin said, "You couldn't ask for a better guy at the plate, and we just
didn't get it done. I didn't see where the pitch was, but I do know you couldn't
have a better guy to put the ball in play."
Ichiro seemed shaken by his failure and declined to speak in detail about the
at-bat, saying only, "I went up there and that was the result."
But another quality start was wasted as the team fell to 6-12.
"Now, we're definitely going to see what we're made of," McCracken
said. "These are the times that test men's souls. We've got to keep on
keeping on, and hopefully get this turned around."