PITCHING DOOMS A'S

by Clive Dahlton

Oak, CA -- Oakland is beginning the next seven games versus two of the American League's toughest teams, the Anaheim Angels and the New York Yankees. What happened in the second game of the homestand isn't much to promising for A's fans, watching the hometown team take a 5-2 loss. Hiljus took the loss, dropping to 0-3 on the season. His ERA now stands at 5.79 and the bullpen outside of Koch and the often shaky Bradford, is a joke thus far.

The Athletics surprising ace this season, Mark Mulder, is the third cog in Oakland's big three rotation, barely a blemish on his 2011 resume this season, and now he's hitting the 15 day disabled list. "We never know what we're going get outside those three pitchers, and they cant be perfect every start. The major problem is our bullpen is in complete dissaray, your not going to win alot of close games with good teams with a bullpen that cant throw strikes," Graham said. "Now to lose Mulder in a critical stretch of April is an absolute killer, our pitchers, even Hudson and Zito, are having a tough time pitching deep into ballgames, and to have to call upon our bullpen in the sixth inning, it's the kiss of death."

Jamie Moyer pitched very efficiently, going eight innings, scattering four hits and giving up just two runs, both off the bat of Scott Hatteberg who connected on a deep fly in the first inning. Graham said he decided to move his pre-season leadoff option, Hatteberg, down in the lineup to see if he could get him to relax a bit. Hatteberg batted seventh in the lineup and went 3-4 with two ribbies. "I'm going to leave him here for a bit, and let Ellis start leadoff against southpaws. I might not move Hatteberg back to leadoff regardless of who is pitching. He seemed more loose, focused, tonight." If the Athletics are going to make a run into the post-season, the lineup needs to click, because the once strong point of the Athletics, pitching, is faltering in late game situations.

NOTE: Athletics had a chance for redemption in the ninth, working the bases loaded with Ramon Hernandez up, who struck out on three straight pitches. He is your Bay Area Sports 'goat of the game.'

BOXSCORE: 2002 Seattle Mariners At 2002 Oakland Athletics           4/17/2002

  Mariners           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG
  I.Suzuki RF         5  1  2  1 .307     M.Ellis 2B          4  0  0  0 .265 
  M.McLemore LF       3  2  2  1 .381     D.Justice RF        4  0  0  0 .273 
A-C.Gipson LF         0  0  0  0 .667     E.Chavez 3B         4  0  2  0 .246 
  J.Olerud 1B         3  0  0  0 .271     M.Tejada SS         3  0  0  0 .475 
  B.Davis C           3  0  0  0 .326     O.Saenz 1B          2  1  0  0 .174 
  B.Boone 2B          4  0  2  1 .269   B-J.Giambi PH         1  0  0  0 .348 
  M.Cameron CF        4  0  0  0 .271     S.Hatteberg DH      4  1  3  2 .218 
  D.Relaford DH       3  1  1  1 .400     T.Long CF           2  0  0  0 .250 
  C.Guillen SS        3  0  1  0 .379   C-C.Pena PH           0  0  0  0 .219 
  J.Cirillo 3B        4  1  1  0 .283     R.Hernandez C       3  0  0  0 .174 
                                          M.Colangelo LF      3  0  0  0 .227 
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     
         Totals      32  5  9  4                 Totals      30  2  5  2

A-Subbed Defensively (LF) For McLemore In 9th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Saenz In 9th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Long In 9th Inning

Mariners........ 0 0 2  1 1 0  1 0 0  -  5  9  0
Athletics....... 0 2 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  2  5  1

Mariners (10-6)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
J.Moyer WIN(2-1)          8       4   2   2   1   7   1 108   3.54  A1 D2
K.Sasaki SAVE(4th)        1       1   0   0   0   3   0  21   6.00  D3
Totals                    9       5   2   2   1  10   1

Athletics (8-7)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET
E.Hiljus LOSS(0-3)        4       4   4   4   5   4   1  82   5.79  A1 C2
J.Mecir                   2 1/3   1   0   0   0   1   0  32   1.74  C3 C9
M.Venafro                 1 2/3   3   1   1   0   1   0  36   3.86  D1 D7
C.Bradford                1       1   0   0   0   1   0  16   2.70  D8
Totals                    9       9   5   5   5   7   1

ATTENDANCE- 36,871 DATE- Wednesday, April 17th 2002 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Marvin Hudson, Gary Cederstrom, Dale Scott, Ian Lamplugh
T- 2:41
LEFT ON BASE- Mariners: 6  Athletics: 6
DOUBLE PLAYS- Mariners: 1  Athletics: 1
ERRORS- R.Hernandez
HOME RUNS- D.Relaford(1st), S.Hatteberg(2nd)
STOLEN BASES- I.Suzuki(2nd), M.McLemore(2nd), C.Guillen(1st), J.Cirillo(3rd)
CAUGHT STEALING- I.Suzuki, D.Relaford
SACRIFICE HITS- R.Hernandez
WALKS- M.McLemore-2, J.Olerud, B.Davis, C.Guillen, T.Long
HIT BY PITCH- D.Relaford, M.Tejada, O.Saenz, C.Pena
STRIKE OUTS- I.Suzuki, J.Olerud, B.Davis-3, M.Cameron-2, M.Ellis, D.Justice-2,
             M.Tejada, O.Saenz-2, J.Giambi, S.Hatteberg, T.Long, R.Hernandez
GIDP- M.Cameron, R.Hernandez
WILD PITCHES- K.Sasaki, J.Mecir