No pitcher wearing a Seattle Mariners uniform has won more games than Jamie Moyer. And there is no team that Moyer has beaten more in his long career than the Angels.
Do the math, and it adds up to a 10-4 victory Friday night for the Mariners before a sellout crowd of 43,853 at Angels Stadium. The Mariners have scored the fewest runs and have the worst team batting average in the American League, but they have scored 20 runs against Angels pitching in the first two games of the series.
Moyer, 42, gave up four runs and seven hits in 6 innings, improving to 18-13 in his career against the Angels. For Moyer, who passed Randy Johnson on the Mariners' all-time wins list earlier this season, Friday's was win No. 200 of his 19-year career.
PHOTO: AP
Including Friday's game, the Angels are 12-12 in games against left-handed starters. But they seem to have more trouble with the soft-throwing lefties, considering they've beaten by the likes of Dontrelle Willis and Johan Santana (twice) this season.
Moyer's fastball tops out at about 87 mph, which might qualify as an offspeed pitch for some of the game's hard throwers. Moyer usually keeps the Angels hitters off balance with an array of pitches -- junk, some might call it -- and did so again Friday.
The Angels got only one baserunner into scoring position through five innings and couldn't move him beyond second base. The finally put together a rally in the sixth, getting a single from Chone Figgins, double from Vladimir Guerrero and a three-run homer from Bengie Molina.
Also in the sixth, Garret Anderson appeared to hurt either his left hand or wrist when trying to check his swing, but he stayed in the game and doubled.
Moyer gave up a solo homer to Jeff DaVanon in the seventh, marking the end of his night. The Angels sent Guerrero, representing the tying run, to the plate later in the inning with two on, but he flied out to right against Mariners reliever Jeff Nelson.
Angels starter Jarrod Washburn worked his way out of a couple of jams early in the game, then gave up an RBI double to Mike Morse in the fourth and an RBI double to Raul Ibanez in the fifth. By then, Washburn had thrown nearly 100 pitches, and it caught up with him in the sixth.
Washburn gave up a walk and a single in the sixth and was replaced by reliever Joel Peralta, who got hammered. Peralta gave up an RBI double to Pat Borders, walked Ichiro Suzuki intentionally, then yielded a grand slam to Randy Winn, making it 7-0.
The Angels tried to make a game of it late, thanks to home runs by Molina and DaVanon. But throwing errors by first baseman Darin Erstad and second baseman Adam Kennedy led to an unearned run for the Mariners in the eighth, and the Angels had one final rally thwarted in the bottom of the eighth.
The Angels had runners on first and third with one out and Maicer Izturis at the plate. With the count full, Juan Rivera broke for second as Izturis took a called strike three. Catcher Pat Borders' throw to second base was too late to get Rivera as Anderson broke from third. Anderson was out at the plate on a nice throw by the shortstop Morse.
The Mariners added two runs in the ninth on Suzuki's two-out bloop single off Angels reliever Kevin Gregg.
Red Sox 7, Orioles 2
In Baltimore, Manny Ramirez drove in three runs and Johnny Damon went 4-for-5 to back Bronson Arroyo (7-5), who gave up one run and six hits in 7 2-3 innings as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-2.
Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro got two hits to get within five of 3,000, and he moved past Reggie Jackson into sole possession of ninth place with his 564th home run.
Boston leads the Yankees by 3 games in the AL East is assured of being alone in first place at the All-Star break for the first time since 1995. Baltimore fell into third place, four games back.
Sidney Ponson (7-7) allowed five runs, nine hits and five walks in 5 1-3 innings, dropping to 0-3 in his last four starts.
Tigers 7, Devil Rays 3
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Craig Monroe homered and drove in a season-high five runs and Detroit's bullpen shut down Tampa Bay after the first-inning ejection of starter Nate Robertson. The Devil Rays, a major league-worst 27-60, lost their 10th straight.
Robertson, staked to a 4-0 lead, was tossed for throwing his only pitch behind leadoff man Carl Crawford. It was apparently in retaliation for Tampa Bay's Scott Kazmir (3-7) hitting Placido Polanco with the first pitch of the game.
Franklyn German (3-0) replaced Robertson and allowed one hit in three innings.
Athletics 4, White Sox 2
In Chicago, Kirk Saarloos (5-5) outpitched All-Star Jon Garland (13-4), and Bobby Crosby had two run-scoring doubles.
Saarloos (5-5), who has won four of his last five decisions, allowed seven hits and two runs in six-plus innings as the A's won for the 11th time in 14 games. Huston Street pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Garland (13-4) allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings, his shortest outing of the season.
Oakland took a 2-0 lead in the third on Jason Kendall's run-scoring single and Crosby's double.
Twins 5, Royals 4
In Kansas City, Missouri, Brad Radke (6-8) won for the first time since June 1, allowing four runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings. He had been winless in five starts, losing four straight for the first time in four years, but received an average support of fewer than two runs per game.
Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 25th save in 27 chances, including 12th in a row.
Zack Greinke (1-11), who leads the major leagues in losses, gave up five runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. Minnesota went took a 5-2 lead in a three-run sixth, helped when Ruben Gotay fumbled Justin Morneau's potential inning-ending double-play grounder to second.
Rangers 7, Blue Jays 6
In Arlington, Texas, Alfonso Soriano hit a tying single in the ninth off Miguel Batista (4-2), then scored from third base, beating the throw from shortstop Russ Adams on Rod Barajas' grounder.
Hank Blalock led off the ninth with a grounder to third baseman Shea Hillenbrand who threw wildly to first for a two-base error. Soriano stole second late in the inning and advanced to third on catcher Gregg Zaun's throwing error.
Toronto pitcher Roy Halladay left in the third after being struck on the left shin by Kevin Mench's line drive.
Francisco Cordero (1-1) pitched one-third of an inning for the victory.
Pinch-hitter Ryan Langerhans' bases-loaded single with one out in the ninth inning scored the winning run, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Friday night for their sixth straight victory.
Julio Franco singled against Julio Santana (1-3) with one out and was replaced by Pete Orr. Adam LaRoche followed with a pinch-hit single before Johnny Estrada was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Langerhans, who replaced fellow rookie right fielder Jeff Francoeur, drove the ball past shortstop J.J. Hardy's diving attempt.
Former closer Dan Kolb (2-5) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win. The Braves won for the 17th time in 22 games.
Lyle Overbay hit his 11th homer for Milwaukee, which has lost three straight after winning five of six.
Pirates 6, Mets 5, 10 innings
In Pittsburgh, Humberto Cota finished off Pittsburgh's frantic rally with a game-winning single in the 10th inning after New York closer Braden Looper wasted a four-run lead in the ninth.
The Mets opened a 5-1 lead on Ramon Castro's homer and RBI single, but one of the league's most reliable closers couldn't hold it.
With Looper (2-4) still on in the 10th, Rob Mackowiak reached on second baseman Miguel Cairo's two-base throwing error with one out and, after Jose Castillo grounded out, the left-handed hitting Daryle Ward was intentionally walked.
Cota lined the single into left field, a night after his two-run homer accounted for the Pirates' only runs in a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia.
Jose Mesa (1-5) pitched the 10th for his first win since Aug. 19 last year.
Nationals 8, Phillies 7
In Philadelphia, Carlos Baerga hit a three-run homer and Matt Cepicky drove in three runs for Washington, which nearly wasted a five-run lead in the middle innings.
But Gary Majewski pitched two scoreless innings of relief, and All-Star Chad Cordero threw a scoreless ninth for his league-leading 31st save. Washington earned its major league-leading 24th one-run victory.
The Nationals had 11 hits and dropped the last-place Phillies 9{ games back of the division lead.
Ryan Drese (3-1) gave up one hit before he allowed three runs in the fifth. By that time, the NL East-leading Nationals already had staked him to a 5-0 lead against Robinson Tejeda (1-2).
Cubs 9, Marlins 6
In Miami, Jeromy Burnitz homered and drove in three runs, Matt Murton had two hits in his big league debut, and Chicago ended an eight-game skid by beating Dontrelle Willis and Florida.
Willis (13-4) was bidding to become baseball's first 14-game winner. Instead, he struggled through his shortest outing this season, allowing a career-high eight runs, all earned, in 4 1-3 innings. His ERA rose from 1.89 to 2.39.
Willis hit a ball off his right foot batting in the third inning, hopped away from the batter's box and knelt in pain. But he stayed in the game and threw another 39 pitches before departing.
Carlos Zambrano (6-4) gave up six hits and six walks but allowed only three runs in seven innings. Ryan Dempster pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 14 chances.
Astros 3, Dodgers 2
In Houston, Roger Clemens was victimized by poor run support again.
The Rocket allowed two runs in seven strong innings but didn't get a decision as Houston beat Los Angeles on Morgan Ensberg's run-scoring double in the ninth.
Clemens, 4-0 in seven starts since May 30, gave up eight hits, struck out four and walked one. His ERA, the best in the major leagues, rose to 1.48 from 1.40.
The 42-year-old right-hander, selected an All-Star for the 11th time, is 7-3 in 18 starts this year, and the Astros have scored two runs or fewer in five of his no-decisions.
Willy Taveras led off the ninth with his 41st infield single, sliding headfirst into the base to beat the throw from first baseman Hee-Seop Choi to reliever Yhency Brazoban (2-3). Craig Biggio sacrificed, and Ensberg doubled to deep right center.
Brad Lidge (3-2) pitched a perfect ninth. Lance Berkman went 3-for-3 for the Astros, who have won five of six and 14 of 18.
Pedro Martinez pulled out of the MLB All-Star Game on Thursday, saying he wouldn't be able to take the mound in the exhibition because he'll start for the New York Mets two days earlier.
Philadelphia Phillies reliever Billy Wagner was added to the National League team for Tuesday's All-Star Game at Detroit.
Martinez is scheduled to start on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"To be honest, I want to play. I wanted to go because it's my first year with the Mets," Martinez said after New York's 3-2 victory over Washington on Thursday.
"I would love to go if I would get at least one more day of rest. With just one day in between games, I can't pitch like it's a regular game. I don't want to hurt myself up there. I would like to compete, but if not, let somebody else go get the opportunity."
The Mets right-hander is 9-3 with a 2.80 ERA and leads the National League with 129 strikeouts.
Mets manager Willie Randolph and general manager Omar Minaya said they supported Martinez's choice to skip the All-Star Game.
DOPE
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