HUDDY ROCKED

by Wilbur H. Jennings

SEATTLE -- Tim Hudson's season ERA ballooned to 8.10 in a tame performance against Seattle which saw the A's downed 7-4.  Hudson simply didn't have his best stuff, allowing 6 earned runs - 5 of which came in a dreadful 2nd inning capped by Mark McLemore's bases loaded triple.  Manager Maty McNeil elected to keep Hudson in the game into the 5th hoping he'd reclaim his good stuff, but a walk and wild pitch led to yet another Mariners' run.  The A's, buried early, could not recover.

Seattle had 12 hits on the night.  Catcher Ben Davis went 2-for-4, Ichiro Suzuki was also 2-4 with a triple, and McLemore finished 3-for-5.  Starter Freddy Garcia (1-1) did not have his best stuff but was able to pull off the victory.  Arthur Rhodes pitched superb relief, striking out 4 of the 8 batters he faced and allowing 0 earned runs.

Manager Maty McNeil, who has been fighting an immune illness due to excessive acid-tripping, was unhappy with the loss.  "We didn't play terrible, but again, we could not get an opportune hit whereas [Seattle] could.  Seattle was clutch tonight.  Yet again, we left the bat on our shoulders."

Justice, Chavez, and Tejada finished a combined 1-for-13 with 4 strikeouts.  Tejada is hitting just .174 on the season.

Oakland will look to bounce back tomorrow.  It'll be Barry Zito (1-0, 0.00) vs. Jamie Moyer (1-0, 5.19).

Around the League: • Anaheim's Adam Kennedy has started the season 11-for-13 (.846) with 5 doubles.  His OPS stands at 2.113.  A team with 9 Adam Kennedys in the lineup would produce 203 runs per game.  The Angels as a team are hitting a league-best .346. • Detroit reliever Matt Anderson is looking like a clown thus far.  Anderson has yielded 13 earned runs, including 3 home runs, in 3 1/3 innings.  His ERA stands at 35.10. • In yesterday's game, the Cleveland Indians came through with a 10-run 9th inning to rally from 5 down to beat the Detroit Tigers.  Former Tiger Travis Fryman's grand slam was the catalyst.  • The San Diego Padres are the only team in the Majors to start the season 0-5.  They rank dead last in team average (.178) and near the bottom in ERA (6.50).

BOXSCORE: 2002 Oakland Athletics At 2002 Seattle Mariners            4/6/2002

  Athletics          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Mariners           AB  R  H RBI AVG

  S.Hatteberg 1B      3  1  0  1 .176     I.Suzuki RF         4  1  2  0 .476 

  D.Justice RF        5  1  1  0 .318     M.McLemore LF       5  2  3  3 .278 

  M.Tejada SS         4  0  0  0 .174     J.Olerud 1B         3  1  1  1 .333 

  E.Chavez 3B         4  0  0  0 .286     E.Martinez DH       4  0  1  0 .176 

  C.Pena DH           3  0  1  0 .294     B.Boone 2B          4  0  1  1 .211 

B-O.Saenz PH          1  0  0  0 .286     M.Cameron CF        3  0  0  0 .294 

  E.Byrnes LF         2  0  1  2 .273     B.Davis C           4  1  3  0 .500 

A-J.Giambi PH,LF      2  1  1  1 .286     C.Guillen SS        2  1  0  0 .167 

  T.Long CF           4  0  0  0 .200     J.Cirillo 3B        4  1  1  1 .167 

  F.Menechino 2B      2  1  1  0 .200                                         

  R.Hernandez C       3  0  2  0 .313                                          

C-G.Myers PH          1  0  0  0 .000                                         

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     

         Totals      34  4  7  4                 Totals      33  7 12  6

A-Pinch Hit For Byrnes In 6th Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Pena In 8th Inning

C-Pinch Hit For Hernandez In 9th Inning

Athletics....... 2 1 0  0 0 1  0 0 0  -  4  7  1

Mariners........ 0 5 0  0 1 0  1 0    -  7 12  1

Athletics (3-3)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET

T.Hudson LOSS(0-1)        5       7   6   6   2   6   0  84   8.10  A1 C6

J.Tam                     0       1   0   0   0   0   0   5   0.00  C7 C7

M.Venafro                 1 1/3   1   1   1   0   0   0  17   3.86  C8 D3

J.Mecir                   0 2/3   2   0   0   1   0   0  21   0.00  D4 D7

M.Holtz                   1       1   0   0   0   1   0  13   0.00  D8

Totals                    8      12   7   7   3   7   0

Mariners (3-2)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR  PC    ERA  SCORESHEET

F.Garcia WIN(1-1)         5 1/3   7   4   4   2   4   1  96   6.55  A1 C8

A.Rhodes HOLD(1st)        2 2/3   0   0   0   0   4   0  24   0.00  C9 D7

K.Sasaki SAVE(1st)        1       0   0   0   1   1   0  17   0.00  D8

Totals                    9       7   4   4   3   9   1

ATTENDANCE- 45,332 DATE- Saturday, April 6th 2002 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good

UMPIRES- Tim Timmons, Tim Tschida, Greg Gibson, Chuck Meriwether

T- 3:25

LEFT ON BASE- Athletics: 7  Mariners: 7

DOUBLE PLAYS- Athletics: 0  Mariners: 0

ERRORS- R.Hernandez, C.Guillen

DOUBLES- R.Hernandez(2nd)

TRIPLES- I.Suzuki(1st), M.McLemore(1st)

HOME RUNS- J.Giambi(2nd)

STOLEN BASES- M.McLemore(2nd)

SACRIFICE HITS- C.Guillen

SACRIFICE FLIES- S.Hatteberg, J.Olerud

WALKS- S.Hatteberg, F.Menechino-2, I.Suzuki, M.Cameron, C.Guillen

STRIKE OUTS- S.Hatteberg, M.Tejada-2, E.Chavez-2, C.Pena, J.Giambi, F.Menechino,

             G.Myers, M.McLemore, E.Martinez-2, M.Cameron-3, C.Guillen

WILD PITCHES- T.Hudson

PASSED BALLS- B.Davis

WEB GEMS- Bot 7th: Ramon Hernandez blocked the plate, saving a run!