Mariners get beat by a Cub?!

The Seattle Mariners faced the Chicago Cubs tonight and at game time the weather was perfect with the temperatures at a nice 84 degrees. Jeez now why cant Washington be like that in March? I mean today where i lived it began cloudy and windy, then it started snowing, followed by rain, and finally it was sunny. Well getting back to the game, Jon Garland started the game for the M's. Garland is battling for a spot in the 5 man rotation. David Dejesus began the game for the Cubs with a lead off double, Garland then went 1-2-3 to get out of the inning. Garland then went 1-2-3 in the top of the 2nd inning but in the bottom half of the inning the Mariners struck for the first their first run of the game with Jesus Montero doubling then after a pass ball that moved him down to 3rd Jason Bay singled him home to give the M's the 1-0 lead. Then in the top half of the 3rd the Cubbies pitcher Jeff Samardzjia took Garland deep; yup thats right the pitcher hit a home run.

We go now to the bottom of the 3rd and the Mariners bounce right back with Michael Saunders getting on after a throwing error, Robert Andino doubled, and next Raul Ibanez singled home Saunders. Justin Smoak then hit a deep fly ball to left that scored Andino pushing the M's lead to 3-1. Now before i write about the next innings lets turn back the clock to the 2001 ALCS. Kazuhiro Sasaki came into the top of the 9th to help the Mariners take Game 4 to extra innings. Rookie second baseman Alfonso Soriano came up to the plate with one on. Sasaki threw a changeup that Soriano drove to deep center field and game the Yankees a 3-1 win and lead in the series. They then won the next game and eliminated the 116 winning Mariners from the playoffs. Well this time Soriano didnt win the game but he did put the game to a 1 run game. 

Well lets move to the bottom of the 6th shall we? Justin Smoak swung that mighty bat of his that he has been using all spring long and hit a long fly ball that said bye-bye and put the Mariners up 4-2. Then in the top of the 7th Erasmo Ramirez; who is also battling for a spot in the 5 man rotation; did not start off well. The inning went like this; single, double, then pitcher Samardzjia singled home his 2nd RBI, and finally Darnell McDonald then singled another run home. In the top of the 8th the Cubs added one more run against Ramirez to put the lead to 7-4. Garland wouldve gotten his 2nd win of the spring if Ramirez wouldve held on to the lead. Felix Hernandez is scheduled for the M's final night game of the spring tomorrow night. Michael Saunders once again struggled as he went 0-5 with 4 strikeouts and lowered his average down to .178. Jason Bay however continued his spring training tear by going 3-4 raising his average to .371 and driving in 1 run. The loss ended the M's 6 game winning streak and put their spring training record to 17-8 and the Cubs put their record to 13-14.