Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - What a Game!: Bob Wolcott's Major League Debut (8/18/1995)

Episode Date: January 27, 2021

Today, D.C. recaps the Bob Wolcott's Major League debut, which was against the Boston Red Sox at the Kingdome on August 18, 1995. He was helped big time by third baseman Mike Blowers, who drove in seven runs, which included a first-inning grand slam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Bowling is back, but that's not what we're going to talk about today. Welcome, gang. I am D.C. Lundberg here with another edition of Locked-on Mariner's, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Please remember to download right and subscribe to this program using whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Mariners podcast or any program here, on the Locked-on podcast network, or T-L-O-P-N-R, of course, the perennial favorite, Tlopin.

We're going to look back at another great game of yesteryear today, and it's going to be another Mariners game. And we're going back to that great 1995 season, August 18th, to be specific. Even though the Mariners found themselves down in the standings in third place in the AL-West, they felt as if they could still make the postseason. The wild card birth was brand new, having been instituted the year before, but that season was not played to completion. And the M's offense was loaded, even though Ken Griffey Jr., perhaps the best overall player in the game at the time, had been out since May 26th with a broken wrist.

He came back on August 15th. The pitching, however, was not good. A similar story to the year before, Randy Johnson was Randy Johnson, utterly dominant. veteran Tim Belcher held his own in the rotation after being acquired early in the season. And Chris Basio was okay, but not the pitcher he was in Milwaukee. The team struggled to find back-end rotation pieces who were up to the task. They tried many, many in-house options, but none of them stuck. They acquired Andy Benis at the trading deadline, and while he did stay in the rotation,

he really wasn't very good. Still in search of a fifth starter, the Mariners called up young Bob Walcott, from AAA Tacoma, and he would make his major league debut this day in the kingdom against the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won the 1995 American League Eastern Division and accumulated the second best batting average on base percentage and slugging percentage in the American League. They also had the third best ERA. Rookie Walcott was in for a challenge in his first Major League ballgame.

The first man he'd faced was Lee Tinsley, who played for the Mariners in 1990. and who would also rejoin the team in 97. Walcott gave up a lead-off single to Tinsley, and things were not off to the best of starts. However, he then got Troy O'Leary to look at Strike 3, got Mo Vaughan to fly out to center, and got Jose Kinseko to ground into an ending-ending force play. Walcott had passed his first test.

On the mound for the Red Sox was knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Up first for the Mariners was their brand-new lead-off hitter, Vince Coleman, who had been acquired three days earlier from the Royals for a player to be named later. That player to be named later actually was announced on this day, August 18th, and it was pitcher Jim Converse. Coleman walked and the M's had speed aboard. Next up was Ken Griffey Jr. Yeah, Ken Griffey Jr. hitting second.

He was just coming back from that broken wrist I spoke of at the top of the show and the middle of the batting order had been producing. So Edgar Martinez was left in the number three hole. and Tino Martinez stayed in the cleanup spot. In any case, a pass to ball sent Vince Coleman to second during juniors at bat, and Junior did eventually strike out. Edgar was next, and he walked. Tino Martinez then came up and Wakefield issued a free pass to him to load up the bases for Bone,

J. Buehner. Buneer flew out, and they were two away, but the bases remained loaded for third baseman Mike Blowers. And guess what happened next, gang? Yep, Blowers parked one over the center field wall, sending Grandma to the kitchen to get out the rye bread and mustard for a grand salami. Luis Soho grounded out to end the inning, but Mike Blowers had given young Walcott an early four-run cushion. After striking out Mike Greenwell to begin the top of the second, Bobby Walcott allowed a single to Tim Nairing. Mike McFarlane grounded into a force play, erasing Nairing, then Luis Alaseo walked, forcing McFarlane.

to second. There were two outs, however, and light hitting one bell was due up next. Bell flew out to shallow right, and the threat was over with Walcott again, keeping Boston off the scoreboard. The Mariners did not do much in the bottom of the second, only a one-out double from Joey Cora. The Red Sox got to Walcott in the third. Troy O'Leary hit a one-out single, which was followed by a Movon walk. Jose Kinseco flew out, bringing up the very underrated Mike Greenwell. The man they called Gator, singled Homo Leary, to put the Red Sox on the board and send Vaughn along to Third.

Tim Naring then walked to load up the bases for Mike McFarland, the former Royals catcher who had, you know, respectable power and decent RBI skills. But Walcott got him to fly out, escaping with minimal damage and a 4-1 advantage. The bottom of the third began with an Edgar Martinez walk. Tino Martinez followed with a single. Next up was Jay Bioner. Wakefield's first pitch to him was wild, allowing Edgar to advance to third.

Three pitches later, Wakefield uncorked another wild pitch. This one sent Tino to second. Bone now had two runners in scoring position, but he fanned, bringing up Mike Blowers, who was responsible for the game's first four runs on his first inning Grand Slam. This time with second and third base, occupied by Martinez's, Blowers launched one to almost the exact same spot as he had previously,

his second home run of the game, this one of the three-run variety. The score was 7-1 now, and Blow had all 7 Mariner RBI. Wakefield got the next two men to ground out, ending the inning, but Blowers had done it again. 7-1 Mariners. Bobby Walcott had been getting the job done, but he was far from short. sharp. Every inning he pitched had at least one runner on base, and the top of the fourth was no different. One bell hit a one-out double, then lead-off man Lee Tinsley walked, bringing up the Red Sox best hitters with one out and two on. Troy O'Leary popped out to Mike Blowers' third, however, and the dangerous

Mo Vaughn waved at strike three, allowing Walcott to wriggle off the hook once again. The score remained 7-1. Tim Wakefield would not go back to work in the bottom of the fourth. Instead, Mike Maddox was sent to the bump to face Joey Cora. Joey Cora worked the count to 3 to 1, then sent a line drive down the right field line that went for a double. Vince Coleman and Ken Griffey Jr. would both strike out. Edgar stepped up and knocked in Cora with a ground ball single up the middle to extend the

M's lead to 8 to 1. Tino flew out to end the inning. The top of the fifth was, just as shaky for Walcott as the previous four had been. Jose Kinseko led off with a double. Mike Greenwell grounded out, but it was a productive out, sending Kinseko along to third. Walcott then hit Tim Naring with a 3-2 pitch,

and Mike McFarlane hit a sacrifice fly out to center to score Kinseko, and the Red Sox had small-balled one run across. Luis Alessaya singled up the middle, advancing Naring to third base. With one bell up, and the count 1-0, Walcott threw to first base to try to get Alasea, who had made the break for second and got caught in a brief rundown as a result. Walcott was credited with a pick-off, and the play was scored 13-6-1. The inning was over, with Walcott again limiting the damage to one run.

The score was now 8 to 2. The first 1-2-3 inning of the game was turned in by Mike Maddox in the bottom of the 5th, and the Mariners followed by setting the Red Sox down in short order in the top of the sixth, but it was not Bob Walcott who did so. Lee Guterman was brought in from the pen to pitch the sixth, so he did the honors. And while Maddox allowed two two-out singles in the bottom of the sixth, he didn't allow any runs, and the score held at 8 to 2. Mo Vaughan led off the top of the seventh with a single against Gutterman,

and Jose Kinseko followed with a double, which sent Vaughn to third. Following a Mike Greenwell flyout, Lou Pinella came out to the mound with the hook and replaced 6-foot-8-inch Lee Gooderman with 6-foot-8-inch Jeff Nelson. Jeff Nelson got the next two men to keep Boston off the scoreboard once again. Maddox returned to the mound for the bottom of the 7th. Tino was first up and he grounded one weekly to second baseman Luis Alasea.

Alessaya's throw to first was off the mark and got by first baseman Mo Vaughan, allowing Tino to get to second. The play went for an infield single and an E4. Jay Buehner grounded out, but Tino scooted along to third. Mike Blowers, the M's offensive hero for the day, was up, but he couldn't get the job done this time. He struck out swinging.

Luis Soho was next, and he lined a single to right field, which plated Tino with an unearned run. Even though a past ball sent Soho to second during the next at bat, It proved ancillary, as Dan Wilson grounded out to end the inning, with the score now 9 to 2. Jeff Nelson turned in a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th, including two strikeouts. The Red Sox made a few defensive changes for the bottom of the 8th, including a new pitcher, Mike Stanton. Stanton set the M's down in order to keep the score at 9 to 2, which brought up the top of the 9th with his Red Sox needing seven runs just to tie the game. Jeff Nelson was sent back to work and the first man he faced was Troy O'Leary, who struck out swinging.

Next was Chris James, who had come in for defense in the previous half inning. James was a former big league starter, but he was at the end of his career. He also struck out swinging, and the Red Sox were down to their final out, still down by a ton. Jose Kinseko doubled, however, to keep the game going. Chris Donald's was next, who had also come into the game for defense in the football. bottom of the 8th. Donald's lined one out to short right center field, plating Konseko, and bringing the score to 9 to 3. Next up was another man who entered the game for defense the prior half inning, former mariner Bill Hasselman. Hasselman watched strike three cross the plate

to end the ball game. Final score, 9-3 Mariners. 21-year-old Bobby Walcott had his first major league win, but he certainly was not lights out. He had base runners in every inning, but to his credit was able to limit the damage. He went five innings, gave up seven hits, four walks, two runs, both of them earned, and struck out two. Lee Gooderman pitched one and a third and allowed two hits. Jeff Nelson pitched two and two thirds and struck out six, while allowing two hits and an earned run.

Tim Wakefield was also far from on top of his game. He went three innings only, gave up four hits, two of which were home runs, and off the bat of Mike Blowers, which accounted for all seven runs he allowed. He walked four and struck out three. Mike Maddox gave the Red Sox adequate long relief, allowing six hits and four innings, and allowing two runs, only one of which was earned. He struck out four and walked no one. Mike Stanton pitched one inning and didn't allow anything. We'll talk about some of these players a bit more in the second half of today's show, but first this from betonline.ag. The NFL playoff are in full swing, as is the NBA season and NHL season.

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and Boston Red Sox at the Kingdom. Bob Walcott's Major League debut, he got the win, and Mike Blowers just went off and gave Young Walcott such a huge cushion to work with. Two home runs, including a grand slam, seven runs batted in, and this was all against Tim Wakefield. Mike Blowers always seemed to hit knuckleballers very, very well for some reason, and even if you asked him, he couldn't really explain why. Blowers was originally drafted by the Expos and made his Major League debut with the Yankees in 1989. He spent three partial seasons with the Yankees,

89, 90, and 91. And on May 17, 1991, he was traded to the Mariners for a player to be named in cash. He then spent the next few seasons with the Mariners. His first game as a mariner was 1992, and he was a starter by 1993, splitting time between third base and designated hitter, flip-flopping those positions with Edgar Martinez. He played in Seattle through 1995, was traded to the Dodgers for the 1996 season, in which I believe he broke his ankle or he broke his leg

after 92 games and then was allowed to leave the Dodgers as a free agent. He signed with the Mariners as a minor league free agent in 1997, made the big league roster, and spent the whole year as Paul Sorrento's platoon partner at first base hitting left-handed pitching and hit 293. He spent the 1998 season in Oakland where he hit for the cycle. He spent much of 1999 in Japan for the Han Xin Tigers, hitting 251 in 73 games with 10 home runs and 43 runs driven in. He was something of a September call-up in 1999, pardon me, again with the Seattle Maritime. who signed him as a free agent on August 28th.

He got into 19 games in 1999 with the mayors to close at his career, hitting two more home runs and hitting 239 in 46 at-bats. He was born in Würzburg, Germany, to a military family. His family was transferred from Oklahoma, then back to West Germany, and eventually to Fort Lewis, and Blowers attended and graduated from Bethel High School in Spanaway. And he is now obviously, I'm sure all of you know, that he is the color analyst on television for the Seattle Mariners.

Let's talk about Bob Walcott for a little bit. The other star of this game, as it was his Major League debut. He was a second round draft pick by the Mariners out of Medford High School in 1992. And again, this was his major league debut. He pitched in seven games for the Mariners in 1995. Six of them were starts. He had a 4-42 earned run average and a whip of 1.555.5.

He walked a few too many hitters, didn't strike out too many, gave up the long ball, 1.5 home runs per nine innings that season. He was also in the rotation in 1996 and 1997, but really didn't fare very well. His 1996 ERA was 573, and his 97 ERA was 603. But with the Mariners trying to reach postseason play every single one of these years, and them not really having a whole lot of depth in the starting rotation or the bullpen, for that matter, Walcott was one of the better options that they had in-house, even though I think they did call him up way too soon.

They had to, I realize that, but it just killed his development. The Mariners have done this with other pitchers as well. Ken Cloud, for example, springs to mind. Walcott was left unprotected in the subsequent expansion draft and was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in that expansion draft in the 53rd round and spent the 98 season bouncing between the Diamondbacks and AAA Tucson. on. He was traded to the Red Sox the following offseason, where he played four games at the Major League level for the Red Sox, six and two-thirds inning only. There was all relief

appearances and an 8-1-0 earned run average. He spent most of the year at AAA Pawtucket. We actually did okay, 359 earn-run-run average in 26 games. He then spent the 2000 season in the Japanese league for the Kentetsu Buffaloes and closed out his professional career in 2001 and the Advanced Day California League with the Modesto Nuts, which was an Oakland A's affiliate at the time. He also developed some arm problems, which kind of forced him into retirement early in his career was done by the time he was 28 years old. Walcott, who was a right-handed pitcher and right-handed hitter, was a naturally left-handed man.

And when asked about this, he was asked if he thought he would have a longer career, had he been a left-handed pitcher. And he was very humble, and he said, who knows if I would have even made it? if I would have learned to throw left-handed. He had a very good outlook on this, enjoyed his time in Japan, even though he didn't pitch very successfully, and went on to Oregon State University

after his playing career was over, where he majored in mechanical engineering. I'm technically already over my time limit, so I'm just going to talk about one more player. Red Sox starting pitcher Tim Wakefield, who had a very interesting professional career and a very unorthodox path to get to the big leagues. He actually came up through the Pirates system

as a first baseman, but he couldn't hit very well, and he also couldn't field his position, either first base, third base, or second base. They tried him in all three. His first minor league season was in 1988. He began pitching in 1989, and was a full-time pitcher by 1990. He made his Major League debut with the Pirates, pardon me, in 1992, 13 games worth they were all-starts, and a 2-1-run-run average, didn't do very well in 93, however, for the Pirates, a 561 ERA in 24 games.

He did not pitch in the major leagues at all in 1994 and was released by the pirates just before the 1995 season on April 20th. On April 26th, he was signed as a free agent with the Red Sox. He made his Red Sox debut on May 27th, about a month later, subsequently appeared in 27 games. They were all starts with a 295 run average. That's pretty good, considering that the American League run average was actually quite high that year.

He pitched with the Red Sox through 2011, his age 44 season, and overall his entire Major League career, 627 starts, a 201-180 record, 4-4-1-urn-run-run-average, and a whip of 1.3-5-0. He made his lone All-Star team in 2009 at the age of 42. That season with the Red Sox, 21 games, all of them were starts, 458 earned-run average, and a whip of 1.4.4.4.4.4.5-8 earned-run average in a whip of 1. 4-42. In 1995, getting back to that 1995 season, he actually placed third in Sy Young Award voting. That's how good he was after being picked off the scrap heap of the pirates. The pirates just gave up on him. Red Sox signed him, and he goes on to a pretty good Major League career.

I'm afraid that has to be all for this one. There were a lot more players for both the Mariners and Red Sox, who I wanted to talk about, but time just did not allow that to happen, unfortunately. Nonetheless, I do hope you enjoyed this. Next time out, we're going to talk about the Hall of Fame results, which were announced this afternoon just a few hours ago, as a matter of fact. Here with me to do that will be Sergeant Joe Friday, Brandon the Wonder Dog, and a chicken fried steak.

Please remember to download rate and subscribe to this program. Look for us on any podcasting yet that you can think of. Thanks again for listening to this episode, ladies and gentlemen, Hall of Fame stuff next time. As I said, I will talk to you then. This is Joey Martin, speaking for Lockdown Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network.