Seattle Mariners
Meche debuted with the Mariners on July 6, 1999, two months shy of his twenty-first birthday, making him the second-youngest debut for the Mariners at that time (only Ken Griffey, Jr. was younger). With a 2-1 lead on Anaheim Angels, and two outs in the sixth, Meche walked two consecutive batters to force in a run, and surrender the lead. He ended up with a no-decision. His first win came on July 19 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. For the season, Meche went 8-4 with a 4.73 earned run average.
Meche lost his first four decisions of the 2000 season. On June 13, 2000, he tossed a one-hitter against the Kansas City Royals. After coming back to go 4-0 with a 2.64 ERA through his July 4 start against Anaheim, Meche was lifted in the sixth inning having thrown 113 pitches. His season was cut short due to what was thought at the time to be a dead arm. He went 1-2 with a 3.15 ERA in five rehab starts, but did not pitch at the major league level again for the rest of the season.
In February 2001, Meche underwent arthroscopic surgery to partially repair a frayed rotator cuff, and at the time he was expected to only be on the disabled list for six months. As it turns out, he ended up missing the entire season, and undergoing surgery again on October 3, 2001 on his right AC joint.
Meche went 4-6 with a 6.51 ERA in 2002 for the Texas League's San Antonio Missions, but did not pitch at the major league level again until April 5, 2003. Despite giving up four first inning runs, and taking the loss against the Texas Rangers, Meche came back to pitch four solid innings in which he allowed just two earned runs on solo shots by Ivan Rodriguez and Juan González. From there, Meche went 15-13 with a 4.59 ERA in what was at the time far and away a career high 186.1 innings pitched to earn the Sporting News' American League Comeback Player of the Year award.
Meche's 2004 season got off to a slow start as his record stood at 1-5 with a 7.06 ERA following a June 1 start against the Toronto Blue Jays. He was optioned to the Pacific Coast League's Tacoma Rainiers, and returned to the M's on July 30, to go 6-2 with a 3.95 ERA in thirteen second half starts.
Read more about this topic: Gil Meche
Famous quotes containing the words seattle and/or mariners:
“If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”
—Hunter S. Thompson (b. 1939)
“Ye Mariners of England
That guard our native seas!
Whose flag has braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze!”
—Thomas Campbell (1774–1844)