Mariners
Notebook: Ichiro's "eephus" was sign of respect

By Dale Bowman
Special to the Seattle Times

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CHICAGO — To understand the "eephus" pitch Mark Buehrle offered up to Ichiro in the Mariners' 8-7 loss Saturday night, you must know the history between the pitcher and batter.

Including four hits Saturday, Ichiro is hitting .450 (9 for 20) against the White Sox ace.

"I could see (Ichiro) hitting .400 (overall)," Buehrle said.

With that history, Buehrle threw an eephus in the seventh inning. It registered just 66 mph on the radar gun.

"That was more out of desperation and respect," manager Bob Melvin said. "There is no other way to get him out. That's a tough left-handed pitcher right there, too."

In short form, the eephus is a junk pitch — a ball thrown with a high arc but with no velocity, curve, spin, break — nothing.

Most sources credit the pitch to Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1930s and '40s. The idea was that if the ball was hit, it would be fielded smartly and the batter put out. Or that the batter would be so shocked he'd be frozen in place as it accidentally dropped through the strike zone.

History says it was named by outfielder Maurice van Robays, who explained when asked why: "Eephus ain't nothin'."

Others adopted it with special nicknames: Bill Lee ("Bloop Curve"), Dave LaRoche ("La Lob"), Steve Hamilton ("The Folly Floater") and Orlando Hernandez, whose 48-mph eephus was hit over the wall by Alex Rodriguez in 2002.
 
"It was possible it was a mistake," El Duque said after A-Rod's blast.

More Ichiro history

No Mariner has ever had a six-hit game. But Ichiro has three five-hit games this season.

The right fielder leads the majors with 69 multi-hit games and 31 games with three or more hits. He set the Mariners' multi-hit season record with 75 in 2001.

Comic relief

Ichiro is a season-saver in more ways than one.

"That was an ugly game we had working there for a while," Melvin said of Saturday. "It's always a welcome relief to be able to chuckle and watch the other team when Ichiro comes up. You're tired of watching, tired of losing. It kind of takes your mind off it for a while. That and Edgar's steal."

Edgar Martinez's sixth-inning swipe was his first since Sept. 7, 2002, and his career 49th.

Melvin said Martinez will get the green light again if teams play behind him at first base.

Martinez memories

Martinez drew a round of applause yesterday when the scoreboard announced his last appearance in Chicago.

"I feel lucky to have been able to see his last game in this stadium," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "He and (Sox outfielder) Harold Baines are both guys who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame with the way they've gone about being professional hitters in their careers."

Martinez will have fond memories of Chicago.

"I will always remember it as one of my favorite places to play," he said.

That showed in his three-hit performance.

Who's new?

The Mariners will bring up some new faces today.

"Four, not including our DL guy," Melvin said.

The "DL guy," right-hander Julio Mateo, will throw from the bullpen today. Among the certain call-ups is right-hander Aaron Taylor.

Note

• Melvin said RHP Ryan Franklin, loser of 10 straight, will stay in the rotation.

"I want to finish strong more than anything," said Franklin. "I know (overthrowing) won't happen the last five starts."

Seattle Times staff contributed

to this report.