"I was joking with Rob [Johnson] on the bench and told him I was feeling exhausted in about the fifth inning," said Moore, often touted as the team's catcher of the future. "Because finally, all of it [the jitters] started coming out of me."Jim Street had a blog post about this, but it is no longer on his blog. But, it is available here at facebook.
Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu was impressed with how Moore handled the pressure of his major-league debut. He mentioned Moore's ability to "catch the baseball" and deal with movement of pitches by hurlers he wasn't all that familiar with, something that becomes critical in an extra-inning contest where any mistake can prove lethal.
"The story for me is 8-1/3 shutout by the bullpen," Wakamatsu said. "Thank God it's September and we have some arms down there, but they did a phenomenal job."
As did the newbie catcher who, for nearly two full ballgames, looked like he belonged out there.
The research has been completed and, sure enough, the 14 innings Adam Moore caught in his Major League debut Thursday afternoon (and evening) against the White Sox at Safeco Field were the most innings caught in a catcher's debut in more than 50 years.
I suspected as much, having been in this business for at least half-a-century (seems like more now that blogging and tweeting have taken over from such things as actually WATCHING a game), and, according to Stats Inc. (I don't think they existed way back when) and Baseball-Reference.com determined that the 14 innings were the most for a debut catcing dude since 1954.
The previous high was 12 innings by Jackie Moore of the Tigers in 1965, Danny Breeden with the Reds in '69, Ramon Hernandez of the Athletics in '99 and Wyatt Toregas with the Indians earlier this season.
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