News
Lackey goes the distance, silences Seattle
Ace throttles Ichiro (0-for-4), Mariners with five-hit shutout
By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com
09/11/09 1:33 AM ET
ANAHEIM -- He will enjoy it in the moment, savor it in the afterglow, value and appreciate it.Just don't ask John Lackey to explain it.
"I've been feeling good, seriously, probably a couple months now," Lackey said, having shut out Ichiro Suzuki and the Mariners, 3-0, on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep for the Angels and push their AL West lead to five games over the idle Rangers.
"I want to keep things rolling," the Angels' ace said. "The best way to stay on a roll is not analyze it too much. You've got to look ahead."
Lackey, whose shutout was the eighth of his career and fourth against Seattle, clearly is a subscriber to the theory of another right-hander from a long ago time. It was legendary Satchel Paige who liked to say, "Don't look back -- someone might be gaining on you."
The Angels have been feeling the presence of the Rangers, whether they'll admit it or not, and they have responded with happy endings in six of their past seven adventures.
In support of Lackey, who has yielded one earned run in his past 26 innings, Torii Hunter unloaded a two-run homer against Ryan Rowland-Smith, Erick Aybar doubled home a run while also delivering a single and a walk, and Howard Kendrick lashed a double and two singles, scoring a run.
"I've been hitting a lot of line drives and ground balls," said Hunter, who'd gone nine games before bashing No. 20. "I finally got some lift on a fastball. I might have found something tonight, physically. I was feeling good."
Following Vladimir Guerrero's two-out single in the fourth, Hunter lifted a towering drive over the wall in left-center. The eight-time Gold Glove center fielder has 80 RBIs despite missing 32 games with a groin injury.
"I thought Jeff [Mathis] behind the plate and John were really in sync," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's pitching great baseball. For him to get a complete game is important to us, especially at this time. His last eight, 10 pitches were terrific.
"There weren't too many locations John missed."
While keeping the Mariners at bay, Lackey continued to make this a frustrating visit for the inimitable Ichiro, who came to Angel Stadium needing five hits to reach 200 for the season and fell four short.
Going 0-for-4 against Lackey and 1-for-14 in the series, Ichiro was kept off balance by a pitching staff that, in the words of Mathis, "mixed it up well" against the Seattle leadoff catalyst starting with Scott Kazmir's called third strike in the first inning of the opener.
"Mix the ball up the best we could -- that was our plan against him," Mathis said. "When you get to two strikes, you don't want to leave anything for him to hit.
"We were trying to get it in the dirt [with two strikes]. We were successful, but he's a great hitter. John had really good fastball command tonight, and everything worked off that."
Ichiro struck out on breaking balls in the first and third innings before grounding out and flying out in his final two at-bats.
"He's a swinger," Lackey said. "He doesn't walk too much. You've got to challenge him. He wants to get his hits.
"He's a great hitter. We mixed it up pretty well. There's ways around him."
Lackey had his fastball consistently in the 92-94 mph range along with good break on his curve and slider and a quality changeup.
"He's done it for a number of years now," Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said. "His velocity was up from last time.
"He had a great feel for his curveball, as evidenced with Ichiro. You don't see Ichiro striking out twice like that [on balls in the dirt]. I think they were pretty good pitches. Those things dropped about 2 1/2 feet. You don't see him getting fooled that easily."
Lackey thanked his gloved associates for their timely assistance, referring to double plays turned in the fourth and fifth innings and a theft attempt by Bill Hall (three hits) erased by Mathis in the seventh.
"Matty has been great," Lackey said of his batterymate. "Since he started catching me, I've been on a pretty good roll. No offense to Nap [Mike Napoli]. It was me; it wasn't the fingers he was putting down."
Known for his bat but improving at a rapid rate with the glove, first baseman Kendry Morales made a backhanded stab of Ken Griffey Jr.'s line drive leading off the seventh.
Morales also started a 3-6-3 double play in the fifth when the Mariners were shut down despite Hall's single and Kenji Johjima's double.
"The defense played great," Lackey said. "Couple of big double-play balls. They hit some balls hard. I was fortunate they were with two outs most of the time."
Lackey's first shutout of the season -- he went nine scoreless innings against the Athletics in a 10-inning victory -- made him the first Angels starter since Kelvim Escobar in 2006 to go at least eight innings in three consecutive starts.
"He's a bulldog out there," Mathis said, grinning. "Very intense guy, John is."
Lyle Spencer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
