Sports Column

Give blame where blame is due

On Sports: Ichiro, Bloomquist blew it for slumping Mariners

By dwight jaynes

The Portland Tribune, May 12, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (8 Reader comments)

Getting tagged out at home plate didn't help Ichiro and the Seattle Mariners in a loss to the Chicago White Sox.

OTTO GREULE JR. / GETTY IMAGES

So I'm watching television Saturday night, noting what a wise decision it was for the Seattle Mariners to show every game this season in high-definition. I mean, even though they stink, it's still a gorgeous picture on my screen and a bad program in HD is better than a good one in standard definition.

Anyway, back to the game.

The Mariners are trailing the Chicago White Sox 7-4 in the seventh inning with two outs. Ichiro is on third base and Willie Bloomquist is on first. At the plate, with a 3-1 count, is Adrian Beltre, Seattle's one and only hot hitter. Earlier in the game, Beltre had accounted for all the M's runs with a two-run single and a solo homer.

Chicago pitcher Octavio Dotel pulled out the old fake-to-third, throw-to-first pickoff move. Bloomquist – one of those hustlers who hasn't belonged in a big-league uniform for years but managers love him – fell for the move and was caught digging for second. That didn't kill Seattle, though, because Dotel bounced his throw to second and Bloomquist was safe.

What did kill Seattle is that Ichiro, seeing the throw to second hit the dirt, took off for the plate. He was thrown out, ending the inning with the Mariners still trailing by three, the tying run at the plate with a hitter's count and the final hope of a tie snuffed out.

Ichiro, still hiding behind an interpreter even though people will tell you he speaks and understands English just fine by now, said this through his mouthpiece afterward: "Given the situation, there's a high probability that the last out of the inning was going to be made at second base, but that's something that must not happen. If there's an out to be made, it must be made at home, not second base."

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