Beanball In Beantown

May 9, 2001

Okay, the game starts off with my three year old nephew and I driving down the street, and I am driving my father's beloved Dodge pickup truck because my car is in the shop and is going to cost $1200 to fix but let's not get me started on that and anyway, we have the radio on and Ichiro gets an infield hit and then steals second and Stan Javier walked and Edgar made an out which made both Dylan and I very sad, and then John Olerud walked and the bags are full and then Bret Boone delivers with a single to score 2. We head into the bottom of the first and Aaron gives up a harmless hit and a walk.

Second inning. The nephew and I arrive back at my house and he is all about his toys while I watch the game and we sit down in order. Boston quickly has two outs and then disaster struck... Aaron Sele missed with a fastball to Chris Stynes and hit him in the face, fracturing his cheekbone and giving him a nasty cut. I was cringing to the point of my nephew noticing, and he had been rather immersed in the toy box up until that point. We get the next out to retire the side.

Now, first of all, Aaron Sele was NOT trying to hit Chris Stynes. He is not that kind of pitcher, and unless you're really, really lame, you don't throw at guys' HEADS even if you ARE throwing at them. So when we quickly had two outs in the third, and Frank Castillo BLATANTLY threw at John Olerud in "retaliation", both Lou Piniella and I were beside ourselves. The ball came BEHIND John and just barely knicked him anyway, but what kind of crap is that?

"A guy gets hit in the head with a fastball and the pitcher is not warned.'' -Frank Castillo, all upset about Stynes getting it, and while it WAS upsetting, it WAS NOT on PURPOSE and how lame of him to throw at John Olerud like that over an ACCIDENT that wasn't JOHN'S fault! Whatever!

"I was trying to run a two-seam fastball inside, and it got away. It wasn't intentional. With this lineup, you have to pitch inside. You've got to keep the hitter off balance. Any time the ball hits someone up there, it's scary. You hope and you pray that he's back out there soon. Those kinds of things make the game secondary." -Aaron Sele

So anyway, throwing at John comes back to bite Castillo because Bret Boone singled to get John to third and with runners at the corners and two outs, the struggling Al Martin comes through to score him with a single, and my nephew and I are all "GO AL!" and then with runners on the corners AGAIN after that, our struggling-at-the-plate, yet phenominal-at-the-bag third baseman David Bell singles to score Bret Boone and my nephew and I are all yelling, "GO DAVID!" Boston sits down in order. 4-0 Seattle.  So it was around this time that they panned into the dugout and GUESS WHO WAS THERE! Jay!!! In uniform!!! This makes me very happy. And of course they are all talking about Jay's awesome catch that he made there years ago where he went over the wall and came up with the ball and I am SO HAPPY to see Jay that it is not even funny and I SO can't wait until he's playing again.

Okay so fourth inning. Carlos Guillen is safe on an error, and Ichiro grounded into a fielder's choice but then he stole second and then we made another out and then Edgar walked and Ichiro stole third but we don't score. Unfortunately, Manny Ramirez homered to lead off Boston's half and I SPELL some swear words because the nephew is there and then Troy O'Leary did the same bleeding thing and I am all fussy-pants, "KNOCK THAT OFF!" and evidently they heard me because they sit down 1-2-3 after that and we leave it 4-2.

So then we start the fifth off with Bret Boone safe on an error and Dan gets an infield hit but that's as exciting as it gets. Boston sits down in order. I am still so happy that I got to see Jay that I can't hardly stand it.

Sixth inning and Rich Garces comes in to relieve Castillo and this is the guy we had such a good time with on my birthday if memory serves and anyway, he gives up a single by Stan Javier who then stole second, but we don't score. Unfortunately, Carl Everett doubled to lead it off and then Manny, who is beginning to annoy me almost as much as Raul Mondesi, singles to score him and then enter Arthur "Artie to Laura" Rhodes who promptly strikes the next two guys out, gives up a harmless single and then ends the inning. We have a 1 run ballgame.

Seventh inning. For the third straight inning, our lead off man (Bret Boone in this case) is safe at first on an error. Al Martin makes an out. David Bell doubles to score him AND HOW PROUD AM I OF DAVID BELL RIGHT NOW, he is one of my favorite Mariners and I am SO HAPPY to see him hitting again and anyway we are leading 5-3.

"Last year, I didn't break out until the second half. I'm not going to make too much of one game, but you have to start somewhere."-David Bell

Unfortunately, Boston struck back. They lead off with a double. They follow with a homerun. I nearly have a seizure trying not to say bad words and instead choke out "OHMYGODTHATDIDNOTJUSTHAPPEN" between clinched teeth and my nephew is like "whatever" and is getting mad because I stopped reading his Scooby Doo book to watch our lead evaporate. But it IS Artie in there after all and sure enough he comes right back to K the next guy and then get Carl Everett to fly out, and then Jeff Nelson came in to get Manny. All tied at 5.

Eighth inning. Pay attention, this is exciting. Rolando Arrojo relieves Garces. One out. Stan Javier singles. Two outs. John Olerud doubles to score Stan, we take the lead again! 6-5.   Bret Boone gets hit by a pitch. I am livid. So is Lou. He argues to have the pitcher tossed and I don't really see why he lost this argument because with first base open and 2 down, you can't tell me that wasn't on purpose and even if it wasn't, WARNINGS had been issued, but losing this argument ended up paying off in a big way because Al Martin came through again and singled to score John (7-5) and both Al and Bret grab an extra base on the throw, and then David is up and he DOUBLES and I am BESIDE MYSELF with glee not only because it was David but because Al and Boone both scored. (9-5) AND THEN Dan "The Man" Wilson delivers with a double of his own and David scored! (10-5). Jeff gives up two harmless singles and we move to the ninth.

Stan gets another single, but we don't do anything with it. Bottom of the ninth. Jose Paniagua relieves Jeff. Trot Nixon strikes out. Jose Offerman walks. Carl Everett singles. I am starting to get agitated. Paniagua, with the count 3-0 on Manny Ramirez, throws one REALLY close to his head, I mean I thought it hit him but it didn't, and I was like "NOT THE HEAD!" and that got Jimy Williams all in an uproar of course but the umpire strangely enough doesn't eject Paniagua like I was hoping he would because Paniagua is just not having a good night out there, I mean here we are with the bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, only 1 out and Troy O'Leary at the dish who has homered once already this evening and I don't know if Paniagua meant to throw at Manny or not, we only have 1 down with the Bo Sox threatening, but who knows, he DID have three balls on him already.

"I could see the kid was all over the place. If he was trying to go up and in on Ramirez, it was the only pitch Paniagua threw where he wanted it." -Al Clark, homeplate umpire, on why he didn't eject Jose Paniagua

It matters not because Lou came out and got him anyway, and enter Kazuhiro Sasaki to finish it off and BOY DID HE, with ONE PITCH--double play, game over, M's win it 10-5. Aaron Sele, by the way, makes several calls over to the Boston clubhouse to see if Stynes is okay.

"No one who's ever played this game wants to hear that or see that (batters getting thrown at and injured). It was in no way intentional, and it shook Aaron. It shook us all. I've seen a lot of games like this here in Fenway -- too many games like this. I'm glad we won, I'm glad we played well, but we all hope that young second baseman comes back quickly. You get used to games like this, you never get used to moments like that." -Lou Piniella

Elsewhere in the American League West Division, the second-place Anaheim Angels lost to give us a 9 game lead. Oakland won to take over third place and Texas lost to take over last. That's 9 losses from their last 10 and 15 of their last 20 I believe. Oh, and somebody whose name I refuse to mention is getting paid an AWFUL LOT of money to go 0-5 and ground into the game-ending double play with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.