g3 | dreams of brooms swept down the drain

Mariners 1 | Athletics 7

AP Photo

on the mound
Mr Fister had a nice curve working today but, threw too many pitches (98P - 5.2IP - 8H - 0BB - 2ER)
In his major league debut, Josh Lueke struck out the first batter he faced to end the 6th.  But, then came the nightmare that was the 7th.  Langerhans gave up a "sun double" and Lueke walked the next two batters.  With the bases loaded, he struck out Willingham but then gave up an RBI single to Matsui and that was it for him.  David Pauley came in and promptly hit Susuki and walked Ellis - both with the bases loaded.  Tom Wilhelmsen posted a one-two-three in the 8th for his major league debut (ground out, fly out, strikeout)

(can I just say.. Ellis. Is. A. Pest.)

at the plate
Langerhans' homer proved to be the sole Mariner run - whodathunk the first two homers would come from Ryan and Figgy?  The only other XBH were doubles by Bradley and Smoak - both were left stranded.  A golden opportunity was wasted in the 7th - Langerhans singled, Ryan walked, Wilson laid down a sac bunt to move both runners along but then Figgy struck out.  In the 9th, with the game well out of hand, Wedge gave his bench some work - Rodriguez flied out for Ryan and Kennedy struck out for Wilson.

of base paths and leather works
The most exciting defensive play of the day was reminiscent of Ichiro's "Star Wars" debut - Curt Susuki hit a fly ball to right and after Ichiro caught it, he threw out Matsui at 3B (who had gotten to 2B on a double that was his 2500th career hit).  Apparently, the A's have forgotten about Terrance Long ;-)

Figgy had a nice "recovery play" in the 3rd for the third out - he knocked down a hot shot but was able to get the runner at 1B by a hair (preventing the runner at 3B from scoring).  Bradley and Langerhans both had mixed performances in the OF.  The good - Langerhans with a diving, snowcone catch and Bradley with a sliding, back-handed one.  Unfortunately, there were also some issues with the high sky, as both outfielders gave up "sun doubles" that would both eventually score.

~ One DP (Ichiro to Figgy)
~ One SB (Wilson)
~ First error of the season (tricky hop for Brendan Ryan)

As for the other guys...
Crisp made an awesome sliding catch robbing Smoak of a solid single in the fourth and Gonzales made a "preservation catch" of an at 'em ball in the 6th (I must say, Gio seems to generally field his position very well).


Series win = good start
On to Texas they go (here's hoping they used up all their runs vs. the Red Sox ;-)