Yes, that is indeed Jarrod Washburn out there on the mound. Jose Lopez just extended his hitting steak to a career high 14 games with an RBI single in the seventh inning. Seattle now leads 5-1. The M's could have had more, but with the bases loaded and one out, Jeremy Reed hit into a 1-2-3 double-play. Washburn is back out for the seventh, his pitch count in the low 80s. A complete game from him, perhaps? Why not? He's unlikely to be here past this start. Let his arm rip for 120 pitches. Then, tell the Yankees: "We'll take that Gardner kid and you take all Washburn's salary. As for Kei Igawa, I hear Tokyo's real nice this time of year.'' This seven-game losing streak more or less sneaked up on this team. I can't ever remember seven losses in a row happening so matter-of-factly, or routinely. I asked Jim Riggleman about that earlier today. He said he liked the effort the players were putting in. But he agreed, this team does tend to look as if it's just playing out the string at times. He insists that's not the case. "I'm happy with the intensity that we play with,'' he said. "In the American League -- I think this happend to us in April, May and part of June...if you're not hitting in the American League, you really look flat. Because when you're not hitting, there's not much you can do.'' In other words, it's easier to play small ball in the NL and do those types of small ball things to generate offense and stay close in games. ...
Anytime
Yes, that is indeed Jarrod Washburn out there on the mound. Jose Lopez just extended his hitting steak to a career high 14 games with an RBI single in the seventh inning. Seattle now leads 5-1. The M's could have had more, but with the bases loaded and one out, Jeremy Reed hit into a 1-2-3 double-play. Washburn is back out for the seventh, his pitch count in the low 80s. A complete game from him, perhaps? Why not? He's unlikely to be here past this start. Let his arm rip for 120 pitches. Then, tell the Yankees: "We'll take that Gardner kid and you take all Washburn's salary. As for Kei Igawa, I hear Tokyo's real nice this time of year.'' This seven-game losing streak more or less sneaked up on this team. I can't ever remember seven losses in a row happening so matter-of-factly, or routinely. I asked Jim Riggleman about that earlier today. He said he liked the effort the players were putting in. But he agreed, this team does tend to look as if it's just playing out the string at times. He insists that's not the case. "I'm happy with the intensity that we play with,'' he said. "In the American League -- I think this happend to us in April, May and part of June...if you're not hitting in the American League, you really look flat. Because when you're not hitting, there's not much you can do.'' In other words, it's easier to play small ball in the NL and do those types of small ball things to generate offense and stay close in games. ...