OAK GROVE HIGH SCHOOL, SAN JOSE--On a warm, late-summer afternoon, the San Jose Mariners got hot at the right time. After dropping the opener of their best-of-three series against the Orioles, 8-3, the Mariners turned the tables on the Birds by pitching, fielding, and hitting their way to an 8-3 victory of their own.
The Mariners drew first blood in the top of the third. With one out, Neil Homer reached on an infield error, and was doubled to third by Adam Majid. After the second out, Jim Hancock walked to load the bases. Chris Calub then reached on an infield error, plating two runs. The umpiring crew spent a few minutes to decide that Hancock would have to return from third to second, as he had advanced after one of the umpires had called time; what the boys in blue forgot to address intially was whether the second run had actually scored on the play, which they eventually determined that it did. An infield pop-up ended the rally.
The Orioles tied things up with single runs in the third and fourth, off of an effective Ryan White, but proceeded to take their first lead in the fifth, on three hits, a walk, and two errors. The O's increased their lead to 7-2 in the seventh. A third run was finally scored by the Mariners, as Hancock got hit by a pitch with one out, stole second, and eventually came around on a wild pitch. The Orioles completed the scoring with a run in their half of the eighth, coming away with a victory behind the pitching of Clint "Skip" Skipton.
Game two's scoring also began with the visiting team registering two runs in the top of the third, but this time it was the Orioles as visitors. The Mariners answered with a four-run outburst in the home half of the third. Derek St. Louis started with an infield pop-up that fell in for a single after the infielder appeared to lose it in the sun. Scott Gentile followed with a blooper to right that the second baseman couldn't quite come up with, for another soft hit. After an infield fly, a wild pitch advanced the runners. Pete Madden walked to load the bases, then Homer was hit by a pitch to drive in a run. Adam Majid lofted a two-run single to the opposite field, scoring Gentile and Madden. Madden nearly caught up to Gentile, as Gentile had been tagging on the play, unsure if the ball had a chance to be caught. Kevin Mosley, in pain since the third inning of game one from an on-field collision, followed with an RBI single, plating Homer. A double play ended the scoring at four.
Now armed with the lead, hurler Madden was determined to make it stick. He escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the top of the fourth by inducing a groundball to short.
After the M's went quietly in their half of the fourth, the Orioles got a run back in the fifth, closing to within 4-3. This is also the inning when center fielder Tom Glass started really getting involved, registering two put-outs, while Whit Fletcher in right field made a nice snare of a tough liner to end the inning.
No more scoring happened through the top of the eighth, as Glass made a head-turning five more put-outs over those three innings. In the bottom of the eighth, the Mariners finally chased effective Orioles starter Steve Chase. It started off with a single by Ryan White, followed by another walk by Madden. Homer finished off a tough at-bat with a hard single up the middle, scoring Gentile, who was running for White, who had strained his hamstring running to first on his hit. A call to the bullpen brought in Chris "Coop" Cooper, who popped up his first batter; however, Mosley, still visibly struggling from his collision, mustered up another RBI single, scoring Madden. After Hancock reached on a fielder's choice force play for the second out, Calub walked. John Pardo followed with a hard-hit RBI single, before a fly ball out ended the inning.
With just three more outs to get for the Mariners' first playoff win in team history, Madden and the Mariners' steady defense were ready. After a leadoff single by Al Spector, a groundball to Pardo at short resulted in a force out at second. Second baseman Majid tried to turn the double play, but it was ruled that Spector interfered with Majid, so the out at first was also called, for a double play. The next batter hit a pop-up in foul territory, which third baseman Calub struggled with, but hauled in for the victory.
The Mariners and Orioles clash in game three of this series, on Sunday the 13th of September, at 10 A.M. The winner advances to the American Division's Championship Round, facing the Padres on the same day, at 2 P.M.
Posted by Scott Gentile, Mon Aug 31, 2009 @ 4:15 AM
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