Game Report: Mariners vs. Indians - Ode to Jamie Moyer

Ahh, what a great game. Mariners win 9-1. I could probably recap the game pretty easily in a song:

This old man, he fanned one
Victor got full count and swung
With a knick-nack, catcher-smack,
Throw the ball to Boone
This old man makes batters swoon.

This old man, struck out two
Casey at the bat would do
With a knick-nack, catcher-smack,
Throw the ball to Boone
This old man makes batters swoon.

This old man, got K three
Inning end for ol' Ronnie
With a knick-nack, catcher-smack,
Throw the ball to Boone
This old man makes batters swoon.

This old man, inning four
Made a double play, no score!
With a knick-nack, batter-smack,
Throw the ball to Boone
Sexson's tag killed that platoon.

This old man, inning five,
Ludwick K'ed, still shutout jive,
With that knick-nack, catcher-smack,
Throw the ball to Boone
This old man is no buffoon.

This old man, inning seven
Blake again in strikeout heaven
Well, the next pitch was a glitch
Homered Aaron Boone
Their only run all afternoon.

This old man, he pitched eight
And he got his fourth win straight
He's a no-balk, never-walk,
Jamie, way to go!
Just four more 'till two-oh-oh!


In other words -- Moyer - 8.0 IP, 1 R, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K. Also his 130th win as a Mariner, and his 196th career win.


Highlights, and pictures...


That said, the highlights of the game were:

• Ichiro's awesome baserunning in the first which got us off to a quick 1-0 lead. He was balked to second, then got the next two bases off sacrifice flies. Thing is, during Beltre's fly, Ichiro was so fast that he managed to be off second, then double back, then still run to third base and get there safely.
  
• Jeremy Reed's stunning diving catch to grab Casey Blake's long fly ball to right center in the 4th. It was a really awesome play, and it's cool that he was up next so he got even more applause.
  
• The explosive 6th inning rally. Ichiro singled, Reed walked, Beltre hit a long single which the left fielder flubbed, scoring Ichiro. Sexson was then intentionally walked, loading the bases. (It makes sense, since Bret Boone had done nothing but strike out so far.) Boone, instead of striking out, hit a long sac fly, scoring Reed. They changed pitchers, and Sauerbeck promptly walked Ibanez, so they switched pitchers again to Betancourt. Winn technically hit into a fielder's choice, except that somehow the tag at the plate was bad (he really was out by a mile -- I think they charged the shortstop with a bad throw, but I think it should have been a catcher error) so Beltre scored. Olivo then came up and hit a huuuuuuuuuuuuuge double to center, which scored Sexson, Ibanez, AND Winn. Good stuff, seriously.
  
• The ridiculous 8th inning walk-fest. Davis walked five guys in a row, scoring two runs. It was amazing. See pictures below. The inning did end in an exciting 1-2-3 double play, which I don't think I've seen before.

I snapped a few pictures of the scoreboards because they were just so bizarre:



Someone please tell me how someone can pitch a negative number of balls? Thanks.



Yes, he really WAS that wild, and yes, he really did walk five Mariners in a row.



Woooo! Go Jamie!