.
MadBum and Felix came into the game #5 and #6 in the BJOL Starting Pitcher Rankings. The shape of their performance triangles was neither tall/thin nor short/squat, but that of a D&D 20-sided die.
Bumgarner's performance on the evening? Heavens to murder-troyd.
The first time through the lineup it was 9 up, 9 down, 6 by strikeout. This might have been done in the Clemens 20K game? I dunno. I do know that in boxing, you stop the fight. In football, you start running the ball, eating clock, and playing for a 27-7 score. In English soccer, you "park the bus." Ten men into the goal box and hope for a 2-0 loss.
It harked ye back unto the Michael Spinks - Mike Tyson fight. You looked over at the undefeated light*-heavy in the left corner, and you looked over at the whatever it was in the right, and you thought "please don't let them find the bell, please." Spinks had a perfect record. They rang the bell and Tyson went over and threw a Bas Ruttan Liver Shot Left Hook. Spinks went through the ropes, convulsing. He never (yup) fought professionally again.
The pernt is, as Bumgarner took his first windup, you had that same little slow roll in your stomach, please don't let this game take place, please. There are a few sports contests that take on this pre-game air of inevitability. Probably the Hawks-Manning Super Bowl. Usually any Arsenal Gunners games, which are normally "won in the tunnel." Certainly any public debate that a random beat writer wished to chance against SSI.
...........
In the 6th inning, Mike Zunino cobbled his way on base and then Austin Jackson flew out to deep right center field. Angel Pagan loped over, closed on the ball .... mayyyyybe just glanced at his right fielder (WHY?) and alligator-armed the ball into a triple. Ballgame.
Wild Pitch (or whatever they call that show) was just coming on, as my son John came in from work. I axed him. John, what HAPPENED on this play? He froze, studied the TV for five seconds. He unfroze and completely lost interest. Wait for it: :: shrug isn't it obvious :: "He has a hand-eye coordination problem."
.... um
.... this guy is a center fielder in the National League
"Some guys have bad hand-eye. That guy does."
Okay, well, the G'ints defense most assuredly deserves any scoffing it gets; they are playing disjointed. And this night as well, the M's only previous baserunner occurred when the G'ints shortstop threw a ball off the facade of the 2nd deck. Take out a sharp #2 pencil, kiddies. Pagan dropped Jackson's "triple" because:
C'mon, pick one for the comments. Honest. What's the harm? One of 'em is bound to be closer to the truth than the others, just via the laws of physics.
Alas, Bumgarner's sidearm 94 MPH was oh-so-tantalizing as to what might Some Day Be for Deuce Hultzen. Any curves or cutters that Bumgarner threw were simply the cat torturing the garden snake. Slow wind, sidearm flip out of The Phantom Zone, awkward swing and miss. Like we tells you, kiddies, a hot lefty fastball is hard for those guys to see up there. Much less a Hot, Lefty, Sidearm fastball. Ah well. Mid-summer update, we're confident we'll see Kyle Schepel ahead of Hultzen on the prospect lists.
And somebody put Madison Bumgarner in a Western movie, quick. Black hat, he says, tritely.
.......
Voros McCracken Lives. If you don't strike out 27, you could lose, right? I need to get that bumper sticker. It's a life lesson.
BABVA,
Dr D
Hultzen has thrown a grand total of 8 innings at Jackson this year. Three total appearances in May and hasn't pitched since May 17. So yeah, if the guy can't get on the mound he's not going to be on any prospect lists. I hope he's OK but that arm angle and control won't matter a bit if he can't actually pitch.
"Exit, stage left!"
(I simply could...not...resist...it). Now I'll read the article.
By the fifth inning MadBum appeared headed for an 18-strikeout no-hitter, perhaps even a perfect game. This was going to be another one of those 1-0 Felix losses. And then, as has been the case SO OFTEN in the last few weeks, the other team simply gave the M's a few runs. Honestly, if you leave aside the two or three games where they M's actually displayed what we would normally call some offense, I've been taking note over that period how it's far more common that the M's push across runners because of opponents' defensive miscues than because of their prowess with the bat. It's as if their run-scoring capability is so limited that they require divine intervention to do anything more than get runners on base.
BUT...
It was extremely satisfying to see Felix not wilt under the pressure of matching a guy on his way to a perfect game. Especially after several dying quail hits.
AND...
The M's did have some more batted rockets that went right at defenders.
STILL...
Cano's two gaffes, one his third deer-in-the-headlights caught-off-base event of the season, were a not-so-subtle reminder of the overall state of affairs with this team, like a flaw in an otherwise fabulous diamond.
* * *
By the way, I choose the following option to explain Pagan's failure to catch Jackson's deep fly:
"Some things in life can be both (1) a critical necessity and (2) an obvious mistake." It was just one of those times where a gifted athlete who routinely makes such plays gets suddenly "locked up." In this case I think his "see ball / catch ball" state of mind got interrupted by the sudden, unexpected appearance of Maxwell. Of course he's no doubt used to such things and deals with them routinely, but this time...he just didn't.