May 14, 2005

G35: Mariners 14, Red Sox 7

The Red Sox and Mariners traded runs for four innings last night and Seattle led 8-6. Then Boston stopped scoring, and the Mariners pounded John Halama and Cla Meredith. If you bothered to stay up until the end -- 1:27 am -- you got to see the Red Sox leave five runners on base in the last two innings, including ending the game with the bases loaded. Seattle won only its second game in May.

Jeremi Gonzalez finally showed us his Arrojo-ness (another former Tampa starter making his way through Boston) and Halama allowed four hits, two walks and five runs in the span of 12 batters.

Third base coach Dale Sveum reared his ugly head, causing Sox fans from coast to coast to drag out those voodoo dolls from last summer out of the closet. Back in 2004, Sveum learned Rocco Baldelli had a good throwing arm. This time, with the bases loaded and two outs in the third inning, Sveum send Jason Varitek from second on a sharp single to Ichiro Suzuki in right field. Varitek isn't Mirabelli, but he isn't Dave Roberts either. Tek was so dead, he never slid; Seattle catcher Wiki Gonzalez missed the tag and Varitek danced around trying to get to the plate before being tagged out.

Right after Sveum ran the Sox out of the inning, Gonzalez began the bottom of the third by allowing back-to-back home runs to Sexson and Ibanez. Boston retook the lead in the fourth on Trot Nixon's two-run homer, but Seattle chased Gonzalez and Beltre greeted Halama with a first-pitch, three-run bomb and the Mariners never looked back.

Johnny Damon singled twice, extending his hitting streak to 18 games. ... Wade Miller makes his second start tonight at 10pm.

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