The Fresh Prince shines in his debut

Tonight was the night of all nights. Taijuan Walker's major league debut and he was brilliant to start off his career. Walker went 1-2-3 in the first two innings and retired the first 8 batters before giving up a double to Jonathan Viller, on a ground ball to Brad Miller Justin Smoak failed to catch the relay and on the error Viller scored and the Astros took the 1-0 lead. The Astros didn't have the lead for long though, after Kendrys Morales and Smoak walked Dustin Ackley tied things up with a single to right and then Abraham Almonte (who was also making his MLB debut) was able to beat out the attempted double play and the M's took the 2-1 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning the Mariners gave Tai some more runs. After Brad Miller lead things off by singling and then stealing a base, Kyle Seager drove him in with a single to put the M's up 3-1, Ackley added two more runs to the scoreboard with a 2-run single to center and so Ackley not only helped out his average but helped out the team by putting them up 5-1. Walker's final inning of work went by quick, he only needed 11 pitches to go 1-2-3 again , Walker finished the night with 2 strikeouts and only threw 70 pitches. Carter Capps was brought into the bottom of the sixth inning and went 1-2-3 in both that inning and in the bottom of the seventh inning as well. 

In the top of the eighth Dustin Ackley's hot night continued as he hit a one out triple, following that Abraham Almonte got his first major league hit and his second RBI of the game with a single and the Mariners pushed their lead to 6-1. Charlie Furbush took the mound in the top of the eighth and went 1-2-3, both the Mariners starting pitching and bullpen was on their A-game tonight. In the top of the ninth inning Ackley added one more hit and RBI to his amazing night and put the M's up one more run 7-1, in addition Ackley pushed his average in August to .403. 

Oliver Perez finished things off for the Mariners and secured Taijuan Walker's first major league win in his debut. Perez though almost had his head taken off by a line drive single by L.J. Hoes. Perez was ok except for having to change his shorts after the game. So, the Mariners won their second game in a row and their 61st game of the year. Tomorrow the M's will try and win the series as they will send Joe Saunders out to the mound. 

NOTES: Today the Mariners traded away Mike Morse to the Baltimore Orioles for outfielder Xavier Avery and also optioned Erasmo Ramirez to Tacoma as a paper move. 

Seahawks Projected 53 man roster

So after last night's 22-6 win the Seahawks finished a perfect 4-0 for the preseason, so all that is left to do is to cut players to make room for the starting 53. Here is my predicted 53 man roster for the Seahawks.

Offense (24)

QB: Russell Wilson, Tarvaris Jackson

RB: Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin, Christine Michael, Spencer Ware, Michael Robinson

WR: Sidney Rice, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Stephen Williams

TE: Zach Miller, Luke Willson, Sean McGrath

OL: Russell Okung, Breno Giacomini, Max Unger, Paul McQuistan, JR Sweezy, Alvin Bailey, Mike Person, Lemuel Jeanpierre, James Carpenter

Defense (26)

DE: Cliff Avril, Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, Bensen Mayowa, Michael Bennett

DT: Brandon Mebane, Jordan Hill, Jaye Howard, Sealver Siliga, Clinton McDonald

LB: KJ Wright, Bobby Wagner, Malcolm Smith, Allen Bradford, John Lotulelei, O’Brian Schofield

CB: Richard Sherman, Brandon Browner, Antoine Winfield, Walter Thurmond, Byron Maxwell, Jeremy Lane

S: Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, DeShawn Shead, Jeron Johnson

Specialists

K: Steven Hauschka

P: John Ryan

LS: Clint Gresham

Non-Roster

Suspended: Bruce Irvin

PUP List: Percy Harvin, Gregg Scruggs, Korey Toomer, Tharold Simon

IR: Michael Bowie, Jesse Williams, Anthony McCoy, Kenneth Boatright, Chandler Fenner

Sea-Talk Intentional Podcast Episode 5

So on today's show i talk about the Mariners and the things they need to do in the off season and where to improve on also i talk Seahawks and who will be here with the team in the next few years.
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-770271.mp3

Nick Adenhart a talent that was taken too soon

Four years ago on April 8th Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Angels lost a great pitcher in Nick Adenhart. Today when I went on Twitter I saw my bud Ben's tweet (@Shakabrodie) and blog about the Salt Lake Bees and he brought up Adenhart. If you don't read his blog here's the one he posted on the Bees and Adenhart (Salt Lake Bees). 

So, back to what I'm writing about, I remembered that I had the pleasure of watching Nick Adenhart pitch against the Tacoma Rainiers. On June 2, 2008 Adenhart took the mound against the Rainiers and went six solid innings and allowed only two runs and ended a three game losing streak he had and improved to 5-3. While I was upset at the fact that the Rainiers lost I couldn't help be impressed with the way Adenhart pitched. 

Adenhart was taken in the 14th round of the 2004 MLB Draft by the Angels. He made his professional debut on June 25, 2005 with the Orem Owlz, where he pitched six innings, allowed one unearned run, struck out seven, and earned the win to. He would spend the rest of the 2005 season with the Angels Arizona League that summer, where he posted a 2-3 record with a 3.68 ERA and 52 strikeouts. The following spring, at 19, he was one of twelve who earned a non-roster invitation to the Angels spring training, he would then begin the season assigned to the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Angels Single A affiliate. He pitched well for the Kernels that year, in 16 games he had 10 wins, with a 1.95 ERA, and 99 strikeouts in 106 innings pitched. That year he earned a spot in the 2006 All-Star Futures Game and was promoted to the Rancho Cucamongo Quakes, which is the High Desert-A affiliate. Adenhart won five games and lost two in nine starts with the Quakes, later that year he was also part of the United States Qualifying team along with teammate Brandon Wood.

In 2007, Adenhart became the top-ranked pitching prospect in the Angels organization, Baseball Almanac ranked him as the 34th-best prospect in baseball and second in the Angels organization. He was called up to Double-A to play with the Arkansas Travelers, where he would spend the entire 07 season at. He finished the year with the Travelers with 26 appearances, and had a 10-8 record with a 3.65 ERA. The following year, Adenhart was called up to the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees, where he did spend the majority of the season, he also was declared the 24th-best prospect in baseball that year. During the month of April in 08, Adenhart had a 4-0 record with a 0.87 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 31 innings. As a result of his hot month, the Angels called him up and was scheduled to make his debut on May 1st, pitching on three days rest to. 

He made his major league debut as the starter against the Oakland Athletics and at the time, he was the youngest active-roster pitcher in the majors. In his debut, he gave up five earned runs and walked five in two innings of work, earning a no-decision in a 15-8 loss. While doing research on him, I found that he was very disappointed in his performance and in an after game interview he said that "I let down the team first. You always want to go out and prove yourself to your teammates and your manager and your coaches. I was a disappointment to myself also." In his second start he faced the Kansas City Royals, where he earned another no-decision while going 4 1/3 innings giving up three runs, and striking out three. On May 12, 2008, Adenhart earned his first major league win against the Chicago White Sox in Anaheim, giving up four runs through 5 and 2/3 of work in a 10-7 win for the Angels. After the win, he was sent back down to Salt Lake, where he spent the rest of the year while posting a 9-13 record with a 5.76 ERA in 26 games.

At the start of the 2009 season, Adenhart was declared the best prospect in the Angels organization, and was ranked the 68th overall on Baseball America's 2009 Top 100 list. In spring training Adenhart earned a spot on the Angels starting role, in his six starts in spring training he had a 3-0 record with a 3.12 ERA over 26 innings pitched. He only allowed nine runs and five walks, while striking out 18. Adenhart opened the 2009 season as the number three starter for the Angels. 

On April 8, 2009 he made both his season debut and his final start of his life against the very team he made his major league debut against, the Oakland Athletics. Adenhart was on his A-game that night but earned a no-decision, as he went six shutout innings while striking out five and walking three, as the Angels lost that game 6-4. 

That night shortly after midnight on April 9, 2009, Adenhart was hit by a drunk driver driving a red Toyota Seinna minivan which sent the car Adenhart was in into a telephone pole. Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, the driver and another passenger in car Adenhart was in died at the scene, but both Adenhart and Jon Wilhite, a third passenger were taken to University of California, Irvine Medical Center, where Adenhart was pronounced dead due to his injuries he suffered. Wilhite suffered internal decapitation and survived after undergoing five hours of surgery to reattach his skull six days after the accident. Both the Angels and the Bees cancelled their games the next day. A black number 34 patch was placed on the Angles' uniforms, the team also hung his jersey in the dugout for the rest of the year. The Angels celebrated winning the AL West by spraying champagne and beer on his jersey, and then gathered in front of the outfield memorial for a team picture. 

The driver of the minivan fled the scene of the accident, but was arrested. On May 27, 2009 Andrew Gallo was indicted on three counts of murder, one count each of felony hit-and-run, driving under the influence and causing injury, and driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol or higher and causing injury and death. Gallo's blood alcohol of .19 percent two hours after the crash, and was driving with a suspended license. On December 22, 2010 Gallo was found guilty and sentenced to 51 years to life in prison.

Nick maybe gone from not just the fans but baseball, but his teammates keep his spirit alive. Jeff Weaver on an ongoing memorial writes his initials "NA" in the dirt of the pitchers mound before every start, he also named his son Aden in honor of his fallen teammate. Mike Napoli, who caught Nick's final game, goes out to center field before every game, and writes his name in the warning track dirt. Nick's former minor league teammate, Miguel Gonzalez paid tribute to Adenhart by wearing one of his gloves in his first major league start, on July 6, 2012. 

Frankly Seattle steals a win from Oakland

The Mariners came into tonight's game one game under .500 for the road trip, so you can guess that they were looking to win tonight to get to .500 on the road trip. With Joe Saunders on the mound the A's decided to get to him in the first inning. After a lead off triple by Jed Lowrie, Derek Norris singled him home and then John Donaldson hit a two run home run to put the A's up 3-0 early in the game. The Athletics added another run thanks to Nate Freiman's fourth home run of the year, after that Saunders walked both Chris Young and Josh Reddick but thanks to Saunders picking off Young and then getting Eric Sogard to ground out he was finally able to end a 40 pitch inning. 

The Mariners were finally able to get their first runs against Sonny Gray in the top of the third, after Michael Saunders drew a four pitch walk Nick Franklin hit his 11th home run of the year and so the M's were back in the game trailing by only 2 runs. Joe Saunders came back though after a 40 pitch 1st inning and gave the Mariners 5 more innings, after that Brandon Maurer came into the bottom of the seventh inning and had a nice 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout. 

In the top of the eighth Gray was brought out of the game and replaced by Sean Doolittle and tonight was not the night for the Athletics bullpen. The inning began with Michael Saunders collecting his first base hit of the night and extending his hitting streak to three games, Henry Blanco then hit a sharp line drive to left that Yoenis Cespedes couldn't hold and on the play Blanco motored into second base. The next two batters came through in a big way for the M's, Brad Miller blooped a curveball into centerfield that allowed Saunders to walk home and then Franklin hit a sharp line drive to left that scored Brendan Ryan (who pinched ran for Blanco) and so the game was all knotted up at 4-4. 

Doolittle was taken out of the game and Ryan Cook was brought in, Cook was able to get ahead of Kyle Seager in the count at 0-2 but then threw four balls in a row and Seager drew a walk. With Kendrys Morales up to bat Cook threw a wild pitch that allowed Brad Miller to hustle home, score, and give the Mariners the 5-4 lead, then Morales ground to Alberto Callaspo who threw home to try and cut down Franklin, but thanks to Franklin hustling hard he was able to score but paid a price for it. 

On the fielder's choice play that Franklin scored on he was accidentally spiked by Derek Norris but thankfully he was able to walk on his own to the M's clubhouse with a gash in his knee and a huge hole in his pants as well. Franklin tweeted (@NickFrank20) that he was ok and only needed 5 stitches and will be back in about 5 days.

The M's weren't finished after Franklin scored, Cook threw one more wild pitch that brought Seager into score and the M's went up 7-4 after the eighth inning. Yorvis Medina went to hill in the bottom of the eighth inning, he began the inning off by walking Chris Young but came back and struck out Josh Reddick and after Callaspo grounded out Medina walked Sogard, he got Lowrie to ground out though to end the inning for the A's. Danny Farquhar then came into the top of the ninth inning to shut the door on the Athletics and secure the M's the win and the best comeback of the year for the team. Farquhar was on his A-game as he struck out Stephen Vogt, got Josh Donaldson to ground out, and struck out Cespedes on a 75mph curveball. 

So, the Mariners are now 4-4 on the road trip, but this win had to be the best victory and comeback of the season, especially taking the fact that Joe Saunders gave up 4 runs in the first and threw 40 pitches in the inning as well. Mike Morse went 0 for 4 tonight extending his 0 for streak to 0 for his last 18 at bats. Tomorrow the Mariners go for the series win as they begin playing at 1:10 and after that they get a day of rest and then start a quick 6 home stand. Hisashi Iwakuma will look to get his 13th win tomorrow. 

SeaTalk Intentional Podcast Episode 4

Today i interview Justin Seager and talk with Taylor about the M's and other MLB topics and then im just speechless about the Seahawks
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-777036.mp3

Seahawks take the Super Bowl preview

This is the match up that everyone is talking about, Super Bowl XLVIII preveiw! The Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, two teams that not only have both a great offense and defense but two quarterbacks who are in the Top 10 according to ESPN. Even though its just a preseason game, Russell Wilson looked at it in a different way; he looked at this game as being in New Jersey in February already and so did the rest of the Seahawks. 

The Seahawks defense shut down Peyton Manning on the first drive of the game, making the Broncos go three and out. On the first drive by the Seahawks the 12th Man was heard loud and proud as Russell Wilson completed a 9 yard pass to Golden Tate, after a holding penalty on Russell Okung Wilson came back and connected with Doug Baldwin for 16 yards and a Seahawks first down. Robert Turbin helped out the Hawks by running 20 yards on their first drive on three carries, after a false start call on the Seahawks Wilson threw a bullet to UW alumni Jermaine Kearse for the touchdown. The Broncos didnt go three and out on their second drive instead after what looked like a 20 yard gain pass turned into a turnover as Brandon Browner forced the fumble and Kam Cancellor recovered it. 

The Seahawks came right back on their second drive and scored, not a touchdown but hey a Steve Hauschka is better then nothing right? Peyton came back on the field and thanks to him telling his offense to hurry up he was able to connect to Wes Welker for an 11 yard touchdown and so the Super Bowl XLVIII preseason match-up was now 10-7. The Broncos were looking to hold Wilson and the high powered Seahawks offense and have them go three and out, but Jermaine Kearse had another idea that the Broncos didn't see coming. Try a 107 kick return for a touchdown for an idea? Kearse showed not only the Broncos but Sportcenter on why the Seahawks dont need Percy Harvin to score. 

Brandon Browner ruined a great drive by the Broncos in the second quarter, wait what am I saying? Browner didn't ruin anything, well he ruined it for the Broncos but Heath Farwell hit Ronnie Hillman that jogged the football out of his hands and Browner picked it up and reminded the 12th Man of the Richard Sherman blocked field goal TD return, as Browner went 106 yards for the score and the Seahawks increased their lead to 24-7. After 41 minutes Russell Wilson and his offense came back onto the field and lead his team down the field for another score, well another Hauschka field goal and so the lead was now 27-7.

With time winding down in the second quarter Wilson lead his team to one last first half score as he threw one up to the bearded on Sean McGrath. The Seahawks would have lead 34-7 at the end of the first half but Hauschka couldn't hit the extra point. 

In the third quarter the Seahawks would score one last time as Tavaris Jackson hooked up with Stephen Williams for a 32 yard score. The Broncos would also score one last time but in the fourth quarter from a Matt Prater field goal. The Seahawks would then run out the clock to end the game, so the Seahawks took the practice Super Bowl XLVIII match up and are still undefeated for the season (yes I include the preseason don't judge me). Well, with this win Russell Wilson now is looking forward to the real Super Bowl XLVIII match up even more. Can't wait until the real season starts and the Seahawks can start their Super Bowl run. 

Miller Time does the trick in Tampa Bay

Well, today I was able to get home in time to finish watching the Mariners win 5-4......but the thing I was upset at was that I missed an exciting game. After Felix pitched 8 amazing innings on Sunday and helped the M's win 2-0, it only took three pitches for the Mariners to get things started against the Rays as Brad Miller drove his third home run of the year into the right field seats. So the Mariners took the 1-0 lead on just three pitches.

 Erasmo Ramirez took the mound for the M's and just like Brad "Crazy Legs" Miller it only took three pitches for the Rays to get on the board as Ben Zobrist took Ramirez deep into the right field seats. The Rays weren't finished there; Matt Joyce singled after Zobrist's homer and then James Loney drove him in with an RBI single. 

So, after just one inning the Mariners went from having the lead to trailing 2-1, typical Mariners huh? WRONG! In the top of the fourth inning thanks to an Raul Ibanez single, a Mike Morse ground-rule double, and finally a two run single by Justin Smoak the M's retook the lead 3-2. In the top of the fifth Brad Miller needed five pitches this time to drive his second home run of the game and give his team the 4-2 lead. 

The Rays bounced back in the bottom half of the fifth, Zobrist hit his second home run of the game this time with one on to tie the game at 4-4. Dustin Ackley helped out Ramirez big time in the top of the sixth inning, after Smoak lead off the inning with a single Ackley drove one to deep center and Will Meyers couldn't get to it in time so thanks to the great bounce off the wall Smoak scored all the way from first on the RBI triple by Ackley. With that triple Ackley officially was hitting .300 since the All Star break. 

In the bottom of the sixth Ramirez was able to get the first out and then Robby Thompson brought in Oliver Perez and you know what? He got the job done! After giving up a single to Luke Scott he struck out both Jose Lobaton and Kelly Johnson to end the inning. Perez was taken out in the top of the seventh after walking Joyce and then Yoervis Medina came in a struck out Meyers and got James Loney to ground into the force out to end that inning. After Medina had a great eighth inning Danny Farquhar was brought into the ninth and had a 1-2-3 inning to record his fifth save in a row. 

NOTES: Tonight history was made as Brad Miller and Ben Zobrist became just the thrid lead off hitters in Major League history to hit two home runs in the same game. 

The Kings shines against the Brewers

After an emotional night on Saturday and a heart breaking 10-0 loss to the last place Brewers the Mariners sent out their Cy Young candidate Felix Hernandez. Felix was looking for his 12th win of the year and also looking to have a better outing then he did when he gave up 6 runs in his last start. Felix started things off great as he only needed 10 pitches to get out of the top of the first inning but then in the second he got into some trouble. After striking out Carlos Gomez he walked Caleb Gindl and then gave up a double to Juan Francisco but as always Felix was Felix, he came back and struck out Jeff Bianchi and then got Scooter Gennett to pop out. 

In the top of the third Felix struck out two batters in the top of the third and in the bottom half of the third his team helped him out big time. Dustin Ackley continued his hot home stand by leading off the inning with his 12th double of the year and after Brendan Ryan grounded out to second that moved Ackley over, Brewers starter Wily Peralta threw a wild pitch that allowed Ackley to mossy on home and score and the M's drew first blood in the game. Felix also got some help from Justin Smoak in the bottom of the fifth inning as he hit his 13th home run of the year and the Mariners went up 2-0. 

Felix though gave the Mariners the biggest push in the game as he pitched eight strong innings striking out nine. Felix's biggest inning had to be in the eighth. He entered the eighth inning with only 88 pitches under his belt, so people (including myself) were thinking if he throws only 10 or 11 pitches we could see him in the ninth. Unfortunately he didn't, after getting Francisco to pop out on three pitches Bianchi struck out on eight pitches, then Felix gave up a two out single to Gennett but came back and struck out Martin Maldonado on six pitches. As King Felix walked back into the dugout 25,390 fans stood up and applauded the King knowing with 108 pitches his day was done.

Danny Farquhar was brought into the ninth looking for his fourth save of the year. Farquhar only needed 18 pitches to end the Mariners losing streak and prevent the sweep. Felix improved to 12-5 and lowered his ERA to 2.28. Farquhar has now converted his last two saves in a row and has lowered his ERA to 4.82. The Mariners now go to St. Petersburg for a three game match up with the Rays and following that they will travel to Texas for a three game match up with Rangers.

NOTES: In yesterday's game the first five batters combined to go 0 for 15. 

Sea-Talk Podcast Episode 3

Today i interview both Ryan Divish and Chantz Mack and talk some Seahawks of course.
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-770269.mp3

Sea-Talk Intentional Podcast

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-770268.mp3

The Condor helps end the road skid

Its been 5 long days since I have posted anything! Man, this recap has been a long time coming. The Mariners were looking to end both a 4 game/road game losing streak as they sent out Erasmo Ramirez to try and give them plenty of innings and help get a win as well. If you remember Ramirez has only pitched once against the Orioles and in that he went 8 innings and gave up only 2 runs, but the M's lost that game in 18 innings. Things looked good the first two batters for the M's as Brad Miller singled and then Nick Franklin walked, but after that the M's went 1-2-3 to end the inning, then Ramirez had an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the first. 

Justin Smoak hit his tenth home run of the year with one out to give the M's the early lead but Matt Wieters tied things up in the bottom of the second with a home run of his own, it was his 15th of the year. 

In the top of the fourth inning Mike Morse lead things off with sharp line drive double and then Smoak drew a nine pitch walk. After Humberto Quintero singled Brad Miller hit a blooper into left field that allowed Morse to come home to score but on the play Nate McLouth threw Smoak out at third. Manny Machado came right back for the Orioles in the bottom of the fourth with his tenth homer of the year and so the O-Birds tied up the game again with a home run. Kyle Seager lead things off in the top of the fifth with a walk and stole second. After the following two batters crapped out (so to speak) Mike Morse came through in the clutch for the Mariners by singling to right field that allowed Seager to score and the M's took the 3-2 lead.

Smoak kept the inning alive by singling as well and then after a pitching change by the O's Michael Saunders drove his ninth home run of the year into the right field seats to put the Mariners up 6-2. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning the Orioles started a little rally, with both Nick Markakis leading off the inning with a single and then former Mariner Adam Jones doubled. Robby Thompson then brought in Charlie Furbush to try and get out of this jam, Chris Davis drove in one with a sacrifice fly and then Wieters singled home another run but after that Furbush got the next two batters out to end the inning. The top of the eighth ended in a weird fashion as with only one out Raul Ibanez lined one off the right field wall and on the exchange Nick Franklin was throw out at home and because of a base running error by Ibanez he was thrown out going back to first. 

In the top of the ninth Smoak added to his night by doubling with one out, it was the fifth time he was on base for the night; he ended his night by going 3 for 3 with a home run, a single, a double, and two walks. Michael Saunders then tanked his second home run of the game and drove in his 4th and 5th run of the game and put the M's up 8-4. Danny Farquhar then came back out in the ninth after getting the third out in the bottom of the eighth and struck out Chris Davis and Wieters and got Henry Urrutia to ground out to end the ball game and earn his first career save.

NOTES: Nick Franklin went 0 for 4 tonight to push his 0-fer streak to 0 for 24. The Mariners are still within a good margin in the American League Wild Card standings as they are only 10 games back of the Cleveland Indians. Kendrys Morales extended his hitting streak to 8 games and is now 19 for 26 (.730) on this road trip. Kyle Seager batted .396 in the month of July and is batting .435 to start this month and is batting .400 for this road trip.