Mariners Take Game, Series

Game Date: April 29, 2007
Mariners 5, Royals 1 / Box Score
WP: Morrow (2-0), LP: Bannister (0-1)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 8-17

If you look at Brian Bannister's line yesterday (3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 6.2 IP) without knowing the real story, you might think he had a decent game, but in the end, he was out-pitched by Cha Seung Baek (1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 6.1 IP). Ultimately that might be true, especially given that the Royals didn't even get a hit off Baek until the sixth inning, but at one point, Bannister had retired 14 straight, and the game had all the makings of a good old fashioned pitcher's duel.

I love those, by the way.

But then John Buck was unable to hold onto a third strike in the seventh inning with two outs and the game tied 1-1, and as Bob Dutton pointed out in the Star this morning, you just knew that it would come back to haunt the Royals.

It did.

Willie Bloomquist (hitting .083) continued his at bat and delivered a two-run double, knocking Bannister out of the game, and the wind out of the Royals sails. The Royals never recovered. But, as Bell said after the game, the Royals only had five hits in the entire game, and you won't win many games with so few hits.

Tony Pena made another error in the game, his seventh, and he's now made more errors than any other shortstop in MLB. I hate to point this out, but Pena's .947 fielding percentage is worse than Angel Berroa's. Berroa had a .964 fielding percentage with the Royals.

Pena's still young and he's going to make mistakes and I'd still rather have him as our shortstop, but you have to admit that he looks a lot like a younger version of Berroa--the ridiculously long swings (even with two strikes), the low batting average (.200), the low on base percentage (.242), and the knack for making errors at crucial moments. Let's hope that Pena is more teachable than Berroa was.

The Royals open a new series at home tonight against the Angels. Odalis Perez (2-2, 7.54) goes up against John Lackey (3-2, 2.35). Perez is 1-3 in his career against the Angels with a 3.94 ERA. Lackey is 1-2 against the Royals with a 4.13 ERA.