Charlie Furbush gave up 3 ER in an unfamiliar ground of the 8th inning after taking a 3-hitter through 7 innings. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Skipper Eric Wedge stuck with him with Wilhelmsen warming. Wedge explained after the game this was to avoid turning Izturis around who is a better hitter left handed. This isn’t about the loss, though.
Charlie Furbush has been impressive. We got to see him use the heater a little bit more tonight which isn’t something we’ve seen. Furbush has delivery that takes advantage of being a lefty the way I believe every lefty should. He really comes from the 1st base side with every pitch and has a slider with good movement on it that he’ll use to get lefty hitters to chase and bury in on the righty hitters. He throws off speed pitches and an average speed fastball in the low 90s. So what was special about tonight? We got to see him locate his fastball and do more of it. This is a great sign for this young pitcher and I hope to see more of it.
Tom Wilhelmsen was called on after Furbush gave up 2 runs and the lead. Wilhelmsen gave up an RBI single on the 2nd fastball to Peter Bourjos. But I have been impressed with his arm. First of all, he has a big arm throwing his fastball in the mid-high 90s. He’s also shown some success with a big curve that he throws around at 80mph. He’s been getting more opportunities with David Pauley gone and this interesting human story keeps building itself.
Notes-
He may have lost the game but Furbush threw a gem for 7 scoreless innings which is more than we can ask for out of a starter. He also got to see the game from the mound in the 8th, it’s got to help in the future.
The 5′ 11″ Trayvon Robinson showed his power going deep to RF.
Brandon Ryan made 2 great plays from SS, I’d put him in final 3 of AL Gold Glove.
Alex Liddi was a 100+ RBI guy in Tacoma this season and was billed to have a great arm. He made a great play on a ground ball down the line and threw an absolute canon to 1st to get the out.
Dustin Ackley’s 10 game hit streak ended after going 0-3.
Ichiro went 0-4 and remains 39 hits away from the big 200 mark.
