Edgar Martinez: King Of Swing

May 2, 2001

"I'm just trying to make my pitches and take my chances with the defense we have out there." -Aaron Sele, 5-game winner

Okay, so this game starts off with me still trying to shake this stupid cold that I've had forever and I am camped out on my couch barely conscious thanks largely in part to some knock out cold medicine and anyway, nothing much exciting happens in the first which is good because I think I dozed off after I wore myself out swearing when Carl Everett struck out on a wild pitch and managed to make it to first by the time Tom Lampkin caught up to the ball, and I REALLY REALLY hate that rule, I mean strike three, take a seat, there shouldn't be an exception to that. The second inning yields a hit from Troy O'Leary who we end up catching when he tries to steal second, so all was good. We fail to score as well.

Third inning. Brian Daubach, Boston's first baseman, triples to lead off the inning and I have a big sneezing fit right in the middle of trying to swear about it, which just makes me MORE annoyed than I already was and Boston's manager, Jimy Williams, comes out to argue that it was a homerun which it was not but it matters little because they get him in on a sac fly and just like that, we are trailing 1-0. We do nothing.

Fourth inning: Aaron Sele shuts down Boston all lickety-split like, and Mark McLemore greets Hideo Nomo with a lead off triple of his own which makes me happy and then Edgar "King of Swing" Martinez is up and I KNOW, I just KNOW something good is going to happen and sure enough Edgar follows that with a double which makes me even HAPPIER and we are all tied up 1-1.

Fifth inning: I take some Nyquil. Boston gets a double they can't score on. Our turn and with two outs, Carlos Guillen doubled. And then Nomo HIT Ichiro which made me curse out Nomo on Ichiro's behalf even though I know it wasn't on purpose and later on the news guy after the game was all, "International incident!" which cracked me up, but anyway, we have two on and Mark McLemore walked and the bases are loaded for none other than Edgar and again I just KNOW that something wonderful is going to happen and sure enough, Edgar singles to score both Carlos and Ichiro, and we end the inning leading 3-1.

"Nomo seemed unnerved by (hitting Ichiro with a pitch). He walked Mark McLemore on four pitches to load the bases with Edgar Martinez stepping to the plate. Bad move." -Kirby Arnold , sportswriter

Sixth inning. Trot Nixon leads off with a single. I have another sneezing fit. Carl Everett struck out and Manny Ramirez lined a shot straight to David "Defense" Bell who doubled off Trot, and then it's our turn again, and we do nothing.

Seventh. Boston does nothing. There's a lot of nothing going on here, I know, but you have to realize that I was watching the game fairly incoherently because my Nyquil was totally kicking in by this point and I wasn't terribly coherent to start with. But this woke me up a little: David Bell leads off with a walk. Derek Lowe relieves Nomo. Carlos Guillen sacrificed him to second. And then Ichiro TRIPLED--that's right, TRIPLED, to score David and then Mark McLemore was safe on error, so Ichiro scored too, and we lead it 5-1!

Eighth inning. Enter two of the three Nasty Boys (Jeff Nelson & Artie Rhodes) who shut down Boston after Aaron gave up a lead off single. We don't do anything either, and Artie sits the Red Sox down 1-2-3 to even the series.

"It was billed as a showcase game for baseball's burgeoning international influence as two of the finest players to come out of Japan, Boston Red Sox pitcher Hideo Nomo and Mariner right fielder Ichiro, faced each other for the first time in this country's big leagues last night. However, a player born in New York, raised in Puerto Rico and settled in Seattle, 38-year-old Edgar Martinez, proved the game's global reach as he showed once again that he is an international man of misery for every major-league pitcher. Martinez upstaged the Japanese duel by driving in the Mariners' first three runs in a 5-1 victory over the Red Sox before 40,170 at Safeco Field." -Bob Sherwin, sportswriter