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Mariners vs. Yankees |
Mets vs. Cardinals
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Monday, October 9
Moyer injured during simulated game
Associated Press
SEATTLE -- Jamie Moyer's playoffs with the Seattle Mariners
are over before they began.
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| Moyer |
The 37-year-old left-hander has a hairline fracture in his left
kneecap. He will miss the American League Championship Series and, if the
Mariners make it, the World Series.
Moyer, a 13-game winner, was struck in the knee by a line drive
off the bat of Chris Widger in a simulated game Saturday at Safeco
Field. X-rays on Sunday revealed the injury.
Moyer didn't pitch in Seattle's division sweep of the Chicago
White Sox. He was scheduled to be the Game 4 starter for manager
Lou Piniella on Saturday.
"This is a terrible thing," Piniella said. "He worked so hard
and so long this season to get to this point. I feel terrible for
Jamie."
The Mariners will open the ALCS on Tuesday night at New York
against the Yankees. Seattle was 6-4 against New York this season.
The series will be a reprise of a thrilling first-round matchup
from 1995, in which Seattle beat the Yankees in the decisive Game
5.
Moyer will need 4-to-6 weeks to heal, with his knee placed
in a splint for seven to 10 days. He will be with the Mariners on
the bench throughout the playoffs.
If he continued to pitch, the crack in his kneecap could widen
and he might need surgery.
"This is frustrating, very frustrating," said Moyer, who was
13-10 with a 5.49 ERA in 26 starts this season. "I was very
optimistic about the way things we going. I was looking forward to
pitching my next game.
"I assumed after yesterday that after a couple of days I would
be fine, but my knee was sore this morning, very sore."
With Moyer out, Piniella's rotation for the ALCS will be
left-hander John Halama and right-handers Freddy Garcia, Aaron Sele
and Paul Abbott. Abbott, who started Game 2 in Chicago on
Wednesday, was going to be in the bullpen for the ALCS before
Moyer's injury.
Garcia, who started in the opener of the Chicago series, or
Halama will be the Mariners' Game 1 pitcher in the ALCS. Sele will
start Game 3 and Abbott will start Game 4 in Seattle Friday and
Saturday, respectively.
Halama, a 14-game winner this season, did not pitch in the
Chicago series, but he won his last three starts in September,
including critical must-game victories against Oakland Sept. 24 and
in the next-to-last game of the season Sept. 30 in Anaheim.
The Mariners didn't clinch the wild card until the final day.
Rob Ramsay will be added to the Mariners' playoff roster for the
ALCS, taking Moyer's place. That will give Piniella a second
left-hander in his bullpen behind Arthur Rhodes.
Moyer started off fast this season although he was on the
disabled list from April 15 until June 2 because of a strained
muscle in the back of his left shoulder.
On July 24, he was 11-3. But he struggled in August and
September, losing seven of his last nine decisions, including six
in a row.
He has been one of Seattle's most solid starters since being
acquired in a trade with Boston July 30, 1996. He is 65-34 with a
4.02 in 133 starts with the Mariners.
In his only postseason, in Seattle's division series against
Baltimore in 1997, he was forced out of game 2 with a strained left
elbow in the fifth inning.
"In '97, what happened was in the heat of battle," he said.
"This wasn't like that. It wasn't a real game yesterday."
Edgar Martinez, the veteran DH, said the injury poses one more
challenge for the Mariners.
"We have to go out there and do the best we can," he said.
"The other pitchers have done a tremendous job here, too."
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