Lloyd is drinking stupid juice

Mariners were on the losing end of yet another heart breaker last night, as the Angels capped off comeback win after Carlos Perez hit his first major league homerun off Dominic Leone to walk the M's off. So, we all know that the Mariners pitching hasn't been the best and there are a couple players who we would like to see get the call up and players who we would like to get sent down, but there's another problem the Mariners have. . . their manager. Last night manger Lloyd McClendon said in a post game interview that he is "managing their innings", referring to both young pitchers Taijuan Walker and James Paxton.

Yeah OK Lloyd here's the thing when you have a pitcher that is clicking and isn't even over 100 pitches. . . why take him out of the game? "Managing their innings" was perhaps the most idiotic thing I've heard McClendon say during his tenure in Seattle. What is there to manage? Your pitchers are having a great game why take them out?! I mean be serious people if you were in Lloyd's shoes what would you have done? I'll tell you what I would have done, I would have kept Paxton in since he was rolling through the Angel hitters and only at 91 pitches! Also when Danny Farqhuar put two one and nobody out I would have made a change even though I'm not a fan of Charlie Furbush.

Lloyd's managing techniques are starting to get to me. By that I mean his ridiculous match up lineups and pitching changes. WHY LLOYD?! Last year Lloyd actually made great decisions but this year its like all he does is sit in the dugout with his thumb up his. . . well you get the point. Things are just going down hill for the Mariners, yes I know were only 5 games under .500 but were lucky that were not the Milwaukee Brewers for crying out loud!

Another thing, why is Seth Smith leading off? I know Austin Jackson is on the DL but come on Smith hasn't done diddly poo since Opening Day! I mean look I know I have been skeptical of Rickie Weeks but I think it will do him some good to start and maybe lead off. Thankfully though Brad Miller maybe starting in the outfield then we wont see Ackley get reps. . . which isn't a bad thing. Ackley has also been a big problem, after starting off hot he hasn't just cooled off he's frozen solid! I think its time Ackley goes down and Franklin Gutierrez gets the call up. Guti's been tearing the cover off the ball in Triple-A Tacoma and I think he's ready to come back and shine like the old Guti we remember.

Another option the M's should make is send both Farq and Leone down to Tacoma and give Justin Germano a call up along with Logan Bawcom. Both are relievers and have been pitching well in Tacoma, though Germano is starting he began as a reliever and could come back as one. Another thing is that when the 8th inning comes up. . . put in Carson Smith! I mean the kid is going to be the Mariners closer after Fernando Rodney's contract is up after this year (that's just my guess).

Look all these suggestions that I have made wont hit Lloyd's ears or eyes but these are a couple things that need to be taken care of otherwise the Mariners season and playoff expectations are going to go straight down the pooper! Also, if things don't pick up after this month I think Lloyd's tenure as manager will need to come to an end. That's what I give Lloyd is til the end of the month to try and get this Mariners team back to its playoff expectations. Now, for that to happen the team needs to do its part as well, the pitching needs to get better, the bullpen needs to get their heads out of their butts, the hitting with runners in scoring position need to improve, and most important of all. . .smart decisions in key situations need to be made.

Mariners 25 man Opening Day roster projection

So far this Mariners spring training has shown us a lot of good things to come. Not just with Nelson Cruz but with players you didn't see coming. Players like David Rollins and Tyler Olson are making some noise, both are two pitchers nobody saw coming.

Both pitchers have been on fire this spring. Rollins has appeared in 4 games 4 innings with 4 strikeouts and Olson has been just as impressive going 5 innings in 3 games with 8 strikeouts in 3 games!

Both of these young pitchers could make the Mariners Opening Day 25 man roster, but they may not which is why I'm ready to give my projection for the M's Opening Day roster. And yes I know that Opening Day is a little over 4 weeks away but I still believe that these 25 guys will be the key for the Mariners to make a charge this season towards getting back to the postseason for the first time since their 116 win season. I also believe that this year's Mariners team will make a push towards winning the team's first World Series ever!

Lets begin with my projected pitchers shall I? I know your answer and its yes so I'll start off with my 5 man rotation.

1. Felix Hernandez
2. Hisashi Iwakuma
3. J.A. Happ
4. Taijuan Walker
5. James Paxton

There's your starting 5 rotation. Now I think most people would be saying right now "Yeah out of 4 of those guys I think your right but Walker come on dude!" Well here's the thing.....Walker is ready to show all you jerky haters out there what he's made of! Seriously Walker has been impressive this spring, yes again I effing know its spring training and don't give the old "look at Brad Miller last year" crap on me.

Walker has made a big impact this spring training in his 2 starts he's gone 5 innings and struck out 6 batters. His changeup and breaking ball have shown that he's ready to prove he was worth not trading as so many people wanted Jack Z to do with Walker. I truly believe that Walker will have a season worth remembering, including 10+ wins!

Now for our bullpen guys.

Danny Farqhuar
Charlie Furbush
Dominic Leone (setup guy)
Fernando Rodney (closer)
David Rollins
Tyler Olson
Carson Smith
Tom Wilhelmsen

There so far that's 13 spots filled. Now you see that Olson and Rollins are on my projected roster and I've already given my thoughts on why they should make the team so there's no point in discussing that. Although there is something I should interject about the bullpen. Let's say Olson or Rollins doesn't make the team, I actually have Danny Hultzen as a wild card to make the ball club. The Mariners may not use him as a starter but they could use him or Roenis Elias as a long innings reliever so there's my thoughts on that.

And now lets move onto my final 12 spots on the roster.

Catchers

Mike Zunino
Jesus Sucre

Infielders 

Robinson Cano
Kyle Seager
Logan Morrison
Chris Taylor
Brad Miller
Rickie Weeks (OF)

Outfielders
Dustin Ackley
Nelson Cruz
Austin Jackson
Seth Smith

There's my starting 25! Now I will give my wild card players who will be in the call ups/injury replacement categories. Now D.J. Peterson may get the call up early in the season so we might see him in late June or early/late July.

Endy Chavez, James Jones, Justin Ruggiano, Stefen Romero, Willie Bloomquist, Jesus Montero, John Hicks, Patrick Kivlehan, and Franklin Guiterrez all will be in the same category as Peterson. Now, most people may not agree with my projected lineup but I would say about 22-23 of the players I picked will make the team but I do believe that all 25 will make the cut.

Mariners Talk Podcast Episode 4

On this edition Gary Hill from 710 ESPN Seattle joins me and we discuss the Mariners, our top 10 favorite Mariners games of all time, and we go into the upcoming week for the Mariners

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-861622.mp3

Young pitches a gem M's are back to .500

Well, the Mariners made their way back to Oakland to face their long time rivals, the Athletics. Another bad part about this game was they were facing Scott Kazmir, who has just been amazing this season. Kazmir came into this game a perfect 4-0 with one of those wins coming against these Mariners. The Mariners though have been playing with hot bats and did not want to have Kazmir have a repeat performance. So, they decided to get to Kazmir early, and by early I mean the first inning.

Michael Saunders and Stefen Romero got things started off right away with back-to-back singles. After Robinson Cano was called out on strikes Corey Hart drove in the first run on an RBI single and Kyle Seager got a nice productive ground ball out that allowed Romero to score and make it 2-0. Chris Young missed his first start against the Athletics thanks to the grounds keeper not putting the tarp out on the field, so he decided to make up for lost time. Young only needed 33 pitches to get through 3 innings of work, setting down the Athletic hitters 1-2-3 in each inning. The only mistake Young made was in the bottom of the fourth when he gave up a 2-run home run to Brandon Moss.

In the top of the fifth inning the Mariners would regain the lead and never look back. Romero got into one and drove his first major league home run out of the yard and put the Mariners up 3-2. The Mariners got an extra run in the top of the sixth inning as Brad Miller singled home Cole Gillespie to put the lead to 4-2. After that Miller would steal both second and third base but thanks to going on contact was thrown out at home, Mike Zunino also had a base running boo-boo and that ended the inning.

After the sixth, the Mariners bullpen took care of the rest. After giving up a lead off single to Josh Donaldson and walking Moss manager Lloyd McClendon went to his bullpen. His very tired, exhausted, and used up bullpen. But they got the job done. Charlie Furbush would get his only batter that he faced to ground into a huge double play, Dominic Leone was then brought in but walked pinch hitter Derek Norris to load the bases, and so McClendon went to his bullpen for a third time in the inning and brought in the always reliable Joe Beimel. Beimel was set to face Josh Reddick but A's manager and former M's skipper Bob Melvin decided to pinch hit Yoenis Cespedes. Beimel set Cespedes down by getting him to pop out to end the inning.

Beimel would then pitch to two more batters and got both of them out before McClendon made another pitching change, this time he brought in Funky Cold Medina. Yoervis Medina didn't have any problems as he got Jed Lowrie to fly out to end the A's half of the eighth.

So, the bottom of the ninth came and Mariners fans fastened their seat belts for the Fernando Rodney Experience.......not a very interesting ride though seeing how Rodney pitched a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning and earned his eighth save of the season and really earned to shoot his arrow into the sky.

Mariners are back at .500........boy that feels good to say, so does saying that the Mariners dealt Scott Kazmir his first loss of the season. Tomorrow the Mariners send out their Cuban sensation Roenis Elias who is coming off a career pitching performance in New York. Elias thankfully will probably have a decent umpire behind the plate tomorrow and will look to pitch better than both his first start of his career and season against the M's and will try to help his team get back to above .500.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Chris Young 6+ IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER 2 K W (2-0)
                                         Stefen Romero 2-5 HR 2 R RBI
                                         Fernando Rodney 1 IP 0 H 1 K SV (8)
                                         

Away with Almonte and welcome Carson Smith

Look I'm all for giving guys chances, but Abraham Almonte I believe is out of chances. Yes, I know its still April but Almonte has ticked me off and (I'm guessing) has ticked plenty of Mariner fans off with his inability to consistently get hits and especially of his strikeouts. Almonte reminds me of Richie Sexton, and I say that because if Almonte plays every game this year he's likely to not only break the Mariners strikeout record but probably the major league record for strikeouts in a season.

Now you're asking "who would the Mariners call up and who would be in CF?". I have the answer. Remember Carson Smith? Of course you dont. That's because he's spent his 3 year career moving up in the Mariners minor league system. Smith has gone from Single-A, to Double-A, to Triple-A in just three years. He's maintained consistency in his minor league career. He has saved 15 games in his first two years, had a 2.90 and a 1.80 ERA in those years, and now he's in Tacoma where he has saved 2 games and has a 3.18 ERA. Smith to me is ready for the big's and would give manager Lloyd McClendon an extra arm in the bullpen.

Now, getting onto the center fielder situation........remember how Michael Saunders used to play center? Yeah that's right Saunders played in center, also you do have Ackley who can move to center as well. But unfortunately Lloyd likes Almonte......and so we probably wont see this move happen. Which is really upsetting because playing favorites is not a smart way to manage a ball club. But again this is the smartest and really the only possible move that the Mariners could make if they decide to send Almonte down to Tacoma.

On another note, one other possible move the M's could make is to send Brad Miller down and to call Nick Franklin back up or possibly give the hot hitting Chris Taylor a call up. Doesn't matter who they call really, both Miller and Almonte need to go, because Lord knows we need a shortstop who can make plays and an outfielder who doesn't screw up from time to time and strikes out every game.

SeaTalk Intenitonal Podcast Mariners Talk Episode 3

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-852261.mp3

SeaTalk Intentional Mariners Talk 2

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-852201.mp3

Offense carries Elias to first victory

You figure going to Texas would mean 65-70 degree weather and very humid.......that wasn't the case on Monday in Texas. The Mariners and Rangers squared off for game one of a four game series, at the start of the game the temperature was recorded at 52 degrees and Logan Morrison was scratched from the lineup due to a tight hamstring so Michael Saunders got the start in right field. Roenis Elias took to the mound seeking his first major league win. The Mariners offense decided to end a 21 scoreless inning streak and give Elias seven runs which helped him earn his first win of both the season and in his career.

Things started out slowly for both teams with both pitchers having to throw a lot of pitches. The Mariners were able to get the Rangers starter Colby Lewis to throw 28 pitches in the top of the second inning. Kyle Seager had himself a game, his first at bat was the most impressive. With two strikes Seager was able to foul off five pitches and work the count to full and finally on the tenth pitch of the at bat he singled up the middle for the M's first hit of the game. Justin Smoak singled to right following Seager's single but Dustin Ackley popped out to the end the threat for the Mariners.

The Mariners struck first blood in the top of the fifth inning when Mike Zunino destroyed and 0-1 pitch from Lewis that traveled 422 ft. Next inning though the Mariners offense really came together. Robinson Cano lead off the top of the sixth inning with a single and with one out Saunders tripled home Cano to put the Mariners up 2-0. Seager followed up Saunders's triple with an RBI single up the middle. Smoak was able to get on thanks to Kevin Kouzmanoff bobbling a ground ball and thanks to Seager hustling beat the throw to second, Ackley continued his hot start by driving in Seager with a single to left and on a fielding error by Alex Rios Smoak was able to mosey on over to third.

Zunino kept the scoring going for the Mariners as he singled to left to drive in Smoak to put the M's up 4-0. Abraham Almonte loaded up the bases with an infield hit and on the next play Brad Miller hit a chopper to Lewis and on the throw home it looked like there would be a force out at the plate but Lloyd McClendon challenged the play. On the replay it was revealed that J.P. Arencibia bobbled the exchanged and so the play was ruled a fielder's choice and a run scored, though Ron Washington didn't agree with the call and decided to do a Lou Pinella impression and was ejected. The Mariners got their final run of the inning off a Cano sacrifice fly and so the M's lead 7-0 after six innings.

Elias would go on to pitch into the seventh inning, he gave up a run on an RBI single by Kouzmanoff and after striking out Michael Choice for the second out of the seventh McClendon came out to relieve the 25 year old. Yoervis Medina was brought in to finish the seventh for the Mariners and he got the job done with the first batter. Medina would go out in the eighth inning and would would two but thankfully he got a double play and then got Elvis Andrus to line out to Saunders to end Medina's night.

Danny Farqhuar ended both the Mariners and the Rangers night in the ninth. Farqhuar gave up back-to-back singles to begin the ninth inning, Farqhuar settled down after that. He got Kouzmanoff to pop out, struck out Jim Adduci, and got Robinson Chirinos to fly out to end the game.

So the Mariners take game one of their seven game road trip and game one of their first series against the Rangers and move to 7-5 and improved their road record to 5-2. Tomorrow night the Mariners will send Blake Beavan for his first and possibly his only start of the season. Good news for the Mariners is that Taijuan Walker will be making possibly his last rehab start in Tacoma.

Players of the Game: Roenis Elias 6.2 IP 1 R 1 ER 5 K
                                Kyle Seager 2-4 R RBI
                                Michael Saunders 2-5 3B R RBI
                                Mike Zunino 2-4 2 R 2 RBI HR

SeaTalkIntentional Podcast Mariners Talk

http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-849383.mp3

Felix bullies the A's in home debut

What do you get when you have 38,968 fans and 25,000 have yellow shirts and K cards? You get the first Supreme Court of the season and King Felix Hernandez didn't disappoint the fans. The day before this game he and Macklemore did a commercial for the #ChangeTheGame campaign for anti-bullying but boy it seemed he didn't want to promote anti-bullying against the Athletics.

Felix improved to 3-0 for the first time in his major league career and also improved his record against the A's to 17-7 in 31 starts with a 2.60 ERA. Though the bullpen nearly fell apart in the top of the eighth, thankfully they were able to hold the A's off and Fernando Rodney shut the door and shot his arrow to finish off the A's.

The Mariners offense the other night was only able to get one hit of Angels starter Garrett Richards, tonight was different story as the M's hitters decided to pound the A's pitching staff with 12 hits. Abraham Almonte got things started with the first pitch as he drilled a line drive to left and thanks to his amazing speed he was able to leg out his third double of the year, following that Brad Miller laid down a bunt that turned into a base hit thanks again to speed.

If you remember early this year the Yankees coaching staff said that Robinson Cano never hustled........well things change, Cano legged out his second infield hit of the season and on the play Almonte scored the first run of the game.The Mariners were able to load the bases with one out, but unfortunately Kyle Seager popped out on a high 3-2 pitch and Stefen Romero struck out on an off speed pitch and so A's starter Tommy Milone escaped the first with minimal damage.

Lets talk more about King Felix. Felix began the game off by retiring the first 10 batters he faced and struck out 6 batters in the first four innings. Felix continued his domination while his offense decided to give their King the run support he deserves.

The bottom of the fourth started off on what looked like a lead off home run by Seager but after replay review it turned out that Seager just missed his first home run of the year by a few feet, so after running around the bases and thinking he finally got that big hit he was searching for he ended up striking out on the next pitch, Romero struck out as well on another off speed pitch. So with two outs the Mariners decided to put the 2000 slogan to work again "2 outs so what?".

Dustin Ackley got his second hit of the game and following that Mike Zunino grounded to Josh Donaldson who's throw went wide and into the crowd which allowed Ackley to score Zunino was then able to score on another error by the A's and so the M's pushed their third run across.

The Mariners added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Ackley got things started with a half swinging single to left and following his single Zunino drove an inside pitch into the A's bullpen to give the M's a 5-0 lead. After a pitching change by the Athletics Brad Miller showed off his impressive power swing by driving a long one over the center field wall for his third homer of the season and pushing the Mariners lead to 6-0. After the sixth inning Felix went out and struck out the side to push his strikeout total to 11 for the night and while the M's were up to bat Felix decided that he wanted to throw one more inning even with 100 pitches under his belt.

Felix hit the first batter he saw in the eighth and then gave up a single to Eric Sogard. Lloyd McClendon then made the smart decision of coming out to relieve Felix of his duties for the night, and so Felix walked off to a standing ovation from 38,000+ fans giving thanks to the King for one amazing night.

The Mariners bullpen though was not as hot as Felix was, Lucas Luetge was brought in and walked the first batter he saw on four straight pitches so McClendon decided to relieve Luetge and give Danny Farqhuar a shot. That didn't fan out as great as McClendon intended, as Farqhuar walked Jed Lowrie with the bases loaded so that brought the A's first run home, Farqhuar was able to strike out Donaldson but McClendon went to the bullpen for the third time in the inning and brought in Charlie Furbush to try and stop the bleeding.

Furbush gave up an RBI single to Brandon Moss which made it 6-2, following that Yoenis Cespedes legged out a fielder's choice and on the play Sam Fuld scored and made it a 3 run ball game. To make things worse Furbush threw a wild pitch that allowed the fourth run to come across and score, thankfully on the very next pitch Furbush got Alberto Callaspo to pop out to Justin Smoak to end the nightmare inning.

Rodney was then called upon in the ninth inning to close things out and secure the M's 6th win and 1st place in the West. After giving up a lead off double to John Jaso Rodney settled down and Daric Barton to pop out and fooled Sogard with one nasty changeup. A's manager decided to send in another pinch hitter in Mariners killer Coco Crisp, so McClendon decided to make a quick trip to the mound to talk things over with his closer.

What ever Lloyd said to Rodney it worked, as he threw three straight changeup's to Crisp and got him to swing on the third one for the final strike of the game. Rodney shot that arrow towards the heavens and earn Felix his third win of the season and earned his third save of the year.

So the M's are back in first place in West, I know its early but you gotta take in the fact that the M's are over .500 and are in 1st place. Tomorrow the M's send Erasmo Ramirez to the mound who will look to have a better outing against Oakland than last time where he allowed five runs on seven hits, Sonny Gray will go against Ramirez and so tomorrow's game is basically a rematch of last Sunday's game.

Players of the Game: Felix Hernandez 7+ IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 0 BB 11 K
                                Mike Zunino 2-4 HR 2 RBI 2 R
                                Brad Miller 2-5 HR RBI R
                                Dustin Ackley 3-4 2B 2 R

Mariners tee off to sweep the Angels

The Mariners were unable to take batting practice today because of the weather, so they decided to take their batting practice during the game. The Mariners finished off their first sweep of the season of the Angels with an 8-2 win thanks to the strength of 3 home runs and a spectacular pitching performance by James Paxton. Justin Smoak added his second home run of the season late in the game and Corey Hart hit his first Mariner home run of the season right after Smoak. Stefen Romero added his first hit and RBI in the majors as he went 2-3 tonight. The Mariners also added 4 more 2-out RBIs giving them 18 for the season.

The game got off to a rough start for both starting pitchers. Hector Santiago made his Angels debut, but he began his night off by having difficulty locating his pitches as he walked Abraham Almonte and Robinson Cano. Although the Mariners would not score in the inning, Santiago managed to strike out Brad Miller and Smoak and got Hart to fly out to end the threat.

Paxton also had difficulty locating his pitches in the bottom of the first. Thankfully after giving up a lead off double to Kole Calhoun and walking Mike Trout, he got Albert Pujols to ground into a double play and then got David Freese to line out to Almonte to end the threat.

The Mariners would strike first in the top of the third inning. With two out Miller got things started with a hustling double, after that Cano singled up the middle and Miller hustled around to score to give Cano his first RBI as a Mariner. Things would be quiet for both teams for a couple innings. Paxton stole the show though. After a rough first inning he would strikeout 5 batters through the next 4 innings, and even though the home plate umpire had an inconsistent strike zone Paxton still found a way to strike guys out.

In the top of the fifth inning the Mariners would add another run to the box score. After Zunino lead off with a single and Willie Bloomquist walked Almonte grounded into a double play but Miller hit soft line drive to left which allowed Bloomquist to score. So the M's took a 2-0 lead after 5 innings.

The sixth inning was the big inning for the Mariners. After back-to-back singles by Smoak and Hart Angels manager Mike Scioscia came out to end Santiago's night. Fernando Salas was brought in to face Romero, who got his first MLB hit 2 innings ago, this time Romero decided to hit a laser down the left field line that scored Smoak and so the M's now had a 3-0 lead. After Ackley grounded out Zunino came up and blasted his first home run of the season and put the Mariners up 6-0.

Mariners would get two more runs in the top of the ninth inning with two outs. Smoak and Hart went back-to-back and the Mariners cushion on the Angels was now 8-0. Hector Noesi was brought in to finish the game for the M's, though his one inning of work wouldn't be easy as he gave up two runs but managed to get the last three outs to secure the Mariners first sweep of the season and their first sweep against the Angels since 2006.

The Mariners begin the season 3-0 for the first time since their "Refuse To Lose" 1995 season, they now will make the trip to Oakland for a four game match up against the defending AL West Champs.

Roenis Elias is set to make his major league debut in the series opener against the Athletics, he will face Jesse Chavez who is making his first start in the majors since June 24, 2012. The Mariners will look to continue their hot start in Oakland by continuing to drive in runs with two outs but the last time a Mariner pitcher made his MLB debut against the A's, Brandon Maurer got rocked for six runs so Elias will look to have a better outing than Maurer did.

Players of the Game: James Paxton 7 IP 2 H 0 R 0 ER 9 Ks
                                Mike Zunino  2-4 1 R HR 3 RBI
                                Justin Smoak 2-5 2 R HR 1 RBI
                                Corey Hart    2-5 2 R HR 1 RBI

NOTES: Mike Trout went 2-3 in last night's game whereas the rest of the Angels team went 1-26. Out of the 26 runs the Mariners scored in the 3 game series against the Angels 18 of them came with 2 outs. The Mariners also finished the series going 12-28 with runners in scoring position.

Smoakin hot Mariners off to 2-0 start

Last night during the 6 run ninth inning I was thinking to myself "OK Mariners save some runs and hits for tomorrow".......what I didn't know was that they already saved up some runs and hits for tonight. Justin Smoak and Brad Miller lead the way for the Mariners as they helped Erasmo Ramirez earn his first win both in the season and against the Angels. The Mariners red hot offense pushed 8 more runs tonight against C.J. Wilson and the Angels and moved to 2-0. Stefen Romero made his major league debut tonight along with Corey Hart and John Buck making their Mariners debut.

The Mariners got the scoring going in the top of the third. After Romero flew out to lead off the inning both Dustin Ackley and Buck singled, Abraham Almonte would then double home Ackley and so the Mariners drew first blood in this game. M's weren't done, with two outs Wilson intentionally walked Robinson Cano and Smoak decided to make him pay by drilling one into left center field that cleared the bases and so the M's hammered Wilson for four runs in the third.

In the bottom of the fourth the Angels got their two cents in, and by two cents I mean two runs thanks to Raul Ibanez's first home run of the season and so the M's lead was cut to just 2 runs.

That lead would be put to 3 runs thanks to "Crazy legs" Miller, as he hit his first round tripper of the season and his first home run off a left handed pitcher. Hart lead off the top half of the sixth inning with his first hit as a Mariner then two outs later Ackley provided another 2-out RBI for the Mariners by hitting his first extra base hit of the season with a double.

Ramirez provided the M's with another great pitching performance. Ramirez went 7 strong innings and struck out 6 Angel hitters. Tom Wilhelmsen was brought in for Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth inning and this time Tommy Boy didn't have the success he had last night. Though the Bartender didn't seem to have control problems but the defense made a mistake that would allow a run to score, Lloyd McClendon then decided to bring in Joe Beimel for his Mariner debut. Beimel didn't even need to throw a pitch to get out of the inning as he picked off David Freese to end the inning.

Miller added two more runs in the top of the ninth inning. Ackley lead off the inning with a walk and 2-outs (yes again) Miller literally destroyed the first pitch he saw into the right field seat for his second homer of the game and his fourth multi home run game in his career. Fernando Rodney was then brought in for his Mariner debut in the ninth, man last night saw a lot of players making their Mariner debut. Getting back to the game, Rodney only allowed a lead off single to Ibanez after which he struck out Howie Kendrick and got Hank Croger to ground into a game ending double play.

So, last night saw a lot of first's. Four players made their Mariner debut, Romero made his MLB debut, and Rodney fired the first arrow of the season. All and all it was one great game to watch as the Mariners put their 1st place record to 2-0.

The M's will look to go 3-0 for the first time since 1995.......hmm wasn't that a good year? I cant remember anyways the M's will send James Paxton out for his season debut.

Players of the Game: Erasmo Ramirez 7 IP 6 H 2 R 2 ER 6 K
                                Justin Smoak 2-4 2B 3 RBIs
                                Brad Miller 2-5 2 HRs 3 RBIs 2 R

NOTES: The Mariners hot start is thank not just for 18 runs but for how those runs have been scored. The M's in two game are 8-29 with runners in scoring position and 14 of those runs have come with 2 outs. Brad Miller's 2 home run game was his 4th in his career.

Mariners offense dazzles on Opening Day

Opening Day has finally arrived and with it a brand new season and a brand new Seattle Mariners team. The team didn't seem like they wanted to show off their high powered offense from spring training. It seemed that Jeff Weaver was going to shut down the Mariners and it also looked like Felix Hernandez would lose control of his pitches and emotions, but the M's found a way to pull out their 8th straight Opening Day victory.

The Angels though got off on a bad start to the season as Vladimir Guerrero threw out the first pitch to hitting coach Don Baylor, on the throw Baylor's knee slipped out and after being helped off the field was taken to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a fractured right femur. Baylor will undergo surgery today. My thoughts and prayers are with Baylor for a successful surgery and a speedy recovery.

Things didn't start off the way the Mariners wanted it to, the Angels $144.5 million dollar fish Mike Trout decided to start off his season by destroying an 86 mph slider over the left field fence to put his up by two runs. The Mariners answer back with a run of their own in the top of the third as Michael Saunders drove in Justin Smoak with a sacrifice fly to right.

The Angels added an extra run in the bottom of the third inning as Felix showed signs of both losing control of his pitches and his frustration. Felix was finally able to get out of the troublesome 3rd inning after throwing 30 pitches.

After the third inning Felix was able to calm down and locate his pitches. He would finish the night by striking out 11 Angel batters, the Mariners were able to add a run in the top of the sixth inning, Kyle Seager just missed hitting a 3-run home run by a matter of feet but was still able to drive in Smoak but unfortunately Logan Morrison was thrown out by at least 6 steps trying to score from first. Felix went back out in the bottom of the sixth inning with 90 pitches already under his belt, after Josh Hamilton lead things off with a single King Felix got David Freese to ground out and struck out both Raul Ibanez and Howie Kendrick to end both the inning and his season debut.

So Felix's night was done and as he left the game down 3-2 the Mariners decided that now was time to begin showing off their young powerful lineup. The Mariners comeback began with one out as Dustin Ackley ripped a single into left field, after that Mike Zunino swung at the first pitch and drove a deep fly ball to left field and just missed hitting a 2-run home run by inches but either way Ackley scored from first to tie the game on Zunino's first major league triple. Mike Scioscia came out and relieved Weaver, following the pitching change Abraham Almonte drove what would basically be the game winning run for the Mariners.

With Felix's night done manager Lloyd McClendon had to go to the bullpen. The Mariners would use 3 different pitchers in the bottom of the seventh inning, Yoervis Medina would get the first batter he face to pop out to Smoak but then gave up a single to Erick Aybar. Charlie Furbush would then get his first batter to fly out but was taken out after being hit by a line drive off the bat of Mike Trout. So for the first time the Bartender was brought into face Albert Pujols, and as we all know of what Tom Wilhelmsen did last year you could understand me being nervous as hell during the entire at bat. Thankfully Wilhelmsen got Pujols to line out to Almonte to kill the Angels threat in the inning.

Wilhelmsen would go out in the bottom of the eighth and what an inning it was for Tommy Boy. The Bartender got Hamilton to fly out, struck out Freese, and got Ibanez to ground out and for a brief moment Wilhelmsen looked like his old self from last year. The Mariners decided that to add some insurance runs for security reasons.

With two out in the top of the ninth after Brad Miller singled and Robinson Cano doubled Justin Smoak smashed a 3-run home run to right to put the M's up 7-3 and made Fernando Rodney sit down as his services was no longer needed. The M's put up three more runs with two outs, after three consecutive walks to Morrison, Seager, and Saunders Ackley decided to use his bearded powers to clear the bases and put his team up by 7 runs with a 3-run triple.

So one helluva of a 9th inning Lord Farqhuar was brought in to finish off the slug-fest. It was easy, Farqhuar went 1-2-3 and secured the Mariners first win of the season and the team's 8th Opening Day win in a row. With this win Felix Hernandez improves his Opening Day record to a perfect 5-0, not bad huh? Also not bad for Mariners getting their first win on ESPN. On one more note and this is not an April Fool's joke the Mariners are in first place.......yeah I know its the first game so sue me. Also the M's finished the game with going 4-9 with runners in scoring position.

Players of the Game: Felix Hernandez 6 IP 4 H 1 BB 11 K
                                Justin Smoak 2-4 1 2B 3 R 3 RBI
                                Dustin Ackley 2-4 1 3B  1 R 3 RBI

NOTES: Erasmo Ramirez will take the mound tonight for Game 2 of this 3 game series against C.J. Wilson. Ramirez will look to earn his first win against the Angels as he is 0-2 in 3 starts against Los Angeles with a 2.41 ERA.  

New 2014 Seattle Mariners Projections

The Seattle Mariners off season has been looking like a playoff maybe even a World Series one. The M's just got done signing closer Fernando Rodney to a 2 year, $14 million dollar deal. So, again the Mariners are making noise in the offseason and are trying to see if they can pull off a playoff season and maybe perhaps a World Series title. The Mariners football counterpart the Seahawks just got finished with winning their first Super Bowl title in franchise history. So the Mariners have very high expectation's this year, especially when it comes to the playoffs cause lets face it the Mariners have been going-on 13 year playoff-less drought and with the signing's they have had they will look to end that drought this year.

Here is my newest projection on the Mariners with their newest additions.

Starting players

C Mike Zunino
1B Justin Smoak
2B Robinson Cano
SS Brad Miller/Nick Franklin
3B Kyle Seager
CF Dustin Ackley
RF Abraham Almonte
LF Michael Saunders or Nick Franklin
DH Corey Hart or Logan Morrison

Bench players

Logan Morrison
Willie Bloomquist
Nick Franklin or Carlos Triunfel
John Buck

Starting Rotation

Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
James Paxton
Erasmo Ramirez or Scott Baker (if he makes the Spring Training cut) or a free agent

Bullpen

Blake Beaven
Stephen Pryor
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Charlie Furbush
SU Danny Farqhuar
CL Fernando Rodney

The first thing that is up for discussion is the Brad Miller/Nick Franklin battle that will be going on at the beginning of Spring Training. To me its a no brainier, Miller will win this position battle no doubt. I mean last year Miller played great at shortstop so why replace a good thing with a struggling hitter? It would be just like having another version of Brendan Ryan......and seriously who wants that? For some reason after the All Star Break pitcher's figured him out. Franklin batted a horrible .194, struck out 77 times, and was less patient at the plate and swung at pitches that even Vladimir Guererro wouldn't have swung at.

Depending on how both Franklin and Carlos Triunfel does during Spring Training one of them will get a spot on the 25 man roster. Both have not produced hitting wise in the major's but they need to fill the 25 man roster with someone right? Now if Franklin fails at getting the spot at shortstop there is always a possibility that the M's will give him a shot in the outfield just like Ackley last year.

Next thing I should discuss is the 5th spot in the starting rotation. If the Mariners don't sign Ervin Santana then the final spot will go to either Ramirez or the non-roster invite Scott Baker. Ramirez is the first choice of course, but again if the front office goes out and spends a little more money on a possible big pitcher free agent then Ramirez could be seen doing early inning appearances in the bullpen. Also I came close to putting tom Wilhelmsen on the roster but decided better, why you ask, do I even need a reason? Or should I remind M's fans of the game in Boston on August 1st of last year?

I thought not. Wilhelmsen last year began the season with a great start, but then all of a sudden he had control problems and had major meltdowns and blew saves left and right. Danny Farqhuar on the other hand pitch amazing once he was given the closer position he was light's out, so with Rodney being signed Farqhuar will become the setup man.

Now before I end this post I do want to get on the bench players. First Willie Bloomquist, I'm happy that he has been brought back to his Northwest roots to play with the Mariners as a utility player and a speedy late inning pinch runner. Then we have John Buck, probably my favorite signing besides Cano this off season. Buck provides the necessary veteran role that 2nd year catcher Mike Zunino needs to learn about his position and become a better catcher and hitter. Basically the M's signed a bench player who still has a great arm as a catcher and can hit for power.

This off season has seen a number of great signings and the season is less then a month away from beginning. My only hope for the Mariners is that the team can improve with their hitting with runners in scoring position to help out Cano and score to win more ball games. If they do that, I see an 87-89 win season, with a Wild Card title and hopefully a World Series berth.

Let the season BEGIN!!!

Mariners making playoff moves

With all the hype on the Seattle Seahawks there's been only a small attention on the their baseball counterpart, the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners offseason has been unbelievable as they signed Robinson Cano to a 10 year, $240 million dollar deal, then they signed Corey Hart to a 1 year, $6 million dollar deal, and ended things by trading Carter Capps to the Miami Marlins for OF Logan Morrison. To give my honest opinion I was actually a little upset when they traded Capps, he had control problems towards the end of last season but I still think he had a future with the team. Now Capps will probably have a closing job in Miami and I wish him the best.

Now, back to the Mariners and their offseason. Yesterday the Mariners signed closer Fernando Rodney to a 2 year, $14 million dollar deal. So, remember my Mariners projection post? Yeah I'm going to have to make a big change in that post. With Rodney signed the Mariners now have one of the best closer's in the game and a position that was much needed. Danny Farqhuar was the closer last year after taking over for the struggling Tom Wilhelmsen, so most likely both those pitchers will compete for the setup role.


The Mariners have yet to have a consistent closer since Kazuhiro Sasaki, who closed for the Mariners for 4 years before retiring. Since Sasaki, the longest any closer has pitched for the Mariners was 3 years (Eddie Guardado), but since then no closer has gone more then 2 years before being replaced because of inconsistent play or control problems.

Brandon League and Wilhelmsen are a good example of how the Mariners have had closer problems. League blew a number of saves and was replaced by Wilhelmsen who had a great stretch for the rest of that year and the following year, but last year Wilhelmsen got off to a great start by converting 12 saves with a 0.75 ERA in the first two months of the season but things quickly fell apart as he ran into control problems and was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.

Now, with Fernando Rodney you are getting a closer who saved 48 games in 2012 with a 0.60 ERA and then the following year saved 37........so basically to sum it all up you're getting one helluva closer. This spring training the Mariners will most likely will have a competition between both Brad Miller and Nick Franklin for the role of shortstop since Cano will be taking the second basemen role over Franklin. Hart on the other hand will most likely be put in the DH role and may play a bit of first base and the outfield and as for Morrison he will be used as a late inning pinch runner/pinch hitter and a day off player.

The Mariners offseason is still not finished as the rumors fly around about Nelson Cruz. The rumor is, that the Mariners are close to signing the former Rangers slugger to a 2-3 year deal and may bring back Kendrys Morales as well. Cruz, if you remember last year was linked to the Miami biogenesis clinic and was suspended for 50 games. So, is a 2-3 year multi million dollar deal a good idea for Cruz who will be turning 34 this June?

If you read @LookoutLanding and read their daily post then you would have already read their take on the Cruz situation and who they believe would be a better signing then Nelson Cruz. They have posted that the better option's would be to resign Morales, extend Kyle Seager's contract, or make a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for Andre Either or Matt Kemp. But, besides Cruz some MLB writers and experts think with Cano signing with the Mariners it will promote more Dominican Republic players to sign with the Mariners. Right now Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana remind unsigned and could find their way to Seattle.

The Mariners could use one more big bat or pitcher on the starting 25 roster, Bronson Arroyo, A.J. Burnett, and Stephen Drew are still out there and could be wearing Mariners blue and teal this season if the front office decides to go after them. Another free agent signing that I almost forgot to mention was catcher John Buck. Buck signed a 1 year, $1 million dollar deal. That was my favorite signing besides the Cano signing of the offseason. The reason I say that is because Buck provides not only a veteran role for the 2nd year catcher Mike Zunino, but he has a great throwing arm to gun down runners and he has the ability to hit for power and drive in runs.

The Mariners offseason has just been one of the best in a long time. Its going to be tough for this baseball team though, to follow up with a playoff season or a World Series year to the Seahawks Super Bowl winning season. I do see one awesome season for this Mariners team just because of the signings and the development of the players that are currently on the roster. When I went to Mariners FanFest I told both Mariners play-by-play Aaron Goldsmith and did the recorded ROOT Sports interview with Jen Mueller that I expect to see an 87-89 win season with a Wild Card berth and hopefully win a title just like the Seahawks. I'm excited for this season and hope for the best.

GO Mariners!!!

New 2014 Seattle Mariners Projections

The Seattle Mariners have made headlines this off season, by signing Robinson Cano to a 10 year $240 million dollar contract. They have also added Corey Hart and Logan Morrison (@CupOfLoMo) via trade. So the question is "Just how good will the Mariners become after these signings?". With the Angels trading away Mark Trumbo to the Arizona Diamondbacks the Angels are now down to three big names; Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols. But out of those three players one produced MVP type numbers and the Angels finished in 3rd place last with a 78-84 record (their first losing season since 2003).

Now, the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers are the only competition the Mariners really have in the American League West. The Houston Astros had some success against the Mariners last year but finished with the worst record in baseball (51-111). So, really what chances do the Mariners have this year of being a playoff bound team? The answer is......I think they have a fair shot at becoming a Wild Card team if not the winners of the AL West.

Last year the Mariners finished second in baseball in home runs with 188! Cant remember the last time the Mariners were ever in the top 5 in home runs. Now the Mariners have had a couple players that will not be returning this year including Kendrys Morales, Carter Capps (traded to Miami for Morrison), Raul Ibanez, and Franklin Gutierrez.

With the current players that are on the active roster this is my projected starting lineup and starting rotation.

SS Brad Miller
CF Dustin Ackley/Nick Franklin
2B Robinson Cano
DH Corey Hart
3B Kyle Seager
1B Justin Smoak
C Mike Zunino
RF Michael Saunders
LF Abraham Almonte

Bench
Logan Morrison
Willie Bloomquist
Carlos Triunfel
Jesus Sucre

Starting Rotation
Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
James Paxton
Erasmo Ramirez

Bullpen
Charlie Furbush
Blake Beaven
Lucas Luetge
Yoervis Medina
Tom Wilhelmsen (hate to say it)
Stephen Pryor
Danny Farquhar

Now, Nick Franklin im not sure if he or Dustin Ackley will be on the Opening Day roster spring training is going to see both Franklin and Ackley battle for the final roster spot. Franklin might even be traded before then, but I do believe that the M's will try the Ackley experiment on him and give him a shot out in the outfield. Seeing Wilhelmsen on the roster is not something Mariners fans want to see but who else is there?

The Mariners did make a great pickup in Willie Bloomquist, with his utility ability and veteran experience in the clubhouse the front office signed him to a 2 year $5.8 million dollar contract and again I believe the front office made a smart choice in signing Willie and not resigning Raul Ibanez. Ibanez had a great season last year but during the second half of the season went down hill.

The Mariners pitching staff though is hoping for a full and healthy season from Stephen Pryor, with his 100mph fastball he and Danny Farquhar will be battling who will be the full time closer. As you remember Farquhar had a great rookie season after The Bartender was fired from his closing duties. Farquhar saved 16 games out of the 20 attempts while appearing in 46 games. So its going to be exciting to see which one of these young men get the closing job, whoever does is going to have a great season this year.

Now let me go ahead and give my thought on the lineup I gave. First off its a no brainier that Robinson Cano is going to be batting 3rd. I mean Miller is going give a possible first run for the M's in the lead off spot, so again Cano is the logical choice as the #3 hitter. With Brad Miller and Dustin Ackley (or Nick Franklin) will give Cano the speed to drive in one or two runs even three if he hits a home run so again Cano in the 3rd spot is a no doubter.

Now Seager batting the 5-hole is the best thing Mariners manager Llyod McClenndon can do. Seager batted .356 last year while hitting in the 5-hole and had a ratio of 1 out of every 9 plate appearance where he struck out! Career wise Seager is a better hitter when he bats #5; he has a career batting average of .324 and has only struck out 42 times in 319 plate appearances.

Basically my lineup speaks for itself. Smoak and Zunino after Seager fits perfectly as they can get hit for extra bases and drive in runs and following those two are Michael Saunders and Abraham Almonte who when on base pose a threat to steal bases and get into scoring position. Seriously can this lineup I gave be anymore dangerous and can this starting rotation be anymore threatening? The answer is yes.

My prediction for this team is going to impressive at the least. 2014 will see the Seattle Mariners post 90+ wins for the first time since 2003 and will be a great threat for the both the Wild Card and the American League West title. Cano will lead the way for hitters and Felix will do his part in leading the way pitching wise. No one has yet to say just how threatening this Mariners team can and will be this upcoming season and that's great because what better way to show the baseball world how deadly this team is then by proving to the experts and the doubters.

This season will also see 3 maybe even 5 members of the team going to the All Star game including Cano being the first Mariner since Brett Boone in 03 to compete in the Homerun Derby.

Be prepared Mariners fans for a great season.

2014 Projected Seattle Mariners

The Mariners now have a manager and his name is Lloyd McClendon. Since that job is now filled the Mariners front office can get started on free agency.

Below is my projected  25-man roster for the 2014 Opening Day Seattle Mariners. I will also give my reasons on some of the starters.

CF Shin-Soo Choo
LF Dustin Ackley
RF Abraham Almonte
3B Kyle Seager
SS Brad Miller
2B Nick Franklin
1B Justin Smoak
C Mike Zunino
DH Nelson Cruz

Bench Players
OF Michael Saunders
C Jesus Sucre
C Jesus Montero
SS Carlos Triunfel                                                                                                                                                                                              

Starting Rotation
SP Felix Hernandez
SP Hisashi Iwakuma
SP Taijuan Walker
SP Erasmo Ramirez
SP James Paxton

Bullpen
RP Blake Beaven
RP Carter Capps
RP Charlie Furbush
RP Lucas Luetge
RP Yoervis Medina
RP Stephen Pryor
CL Danny Farquhar

These 25 players will be the ones who will try and turn a fourth place team into a winning playoff ball club. There are three guys on the list that weren't on the Mariners roster last year, those three guys will be my projected free agents that will be signed during the off-season  I'll explain Nelson Cruz first. Cruz was offered a 1 year $14.1 million dollar contract by the Texas Rangers, but Cruz denied the contract so Jack Z will put out the money to snag up this 2x All Star slugger. Even though he was one of the many players that was suspended due to the PED bio-genesis scandal he still will bring 20+ homerun power to the team if he signs. Jack Z should offer Cruz a 1 year deal but go with $18 million dollar deal.

Now Shin-Soo Choo is an interesting projection for me. Choo began his career in Seattle but was traded to the Cleveland Indians for Ben Broussard and then two days later hit his first MLB homerun against the Mariners (ironic huh?). Choo has become a great hitter for a couple teams and he has shown his ability to hit for average and hit the long-ball. I also think that with the walls being moved in at Safeco he'll be an even better hitter, both average and power wise. My guess is that Jack Z will offer him a 3 year $27 million dollar contract.

Looking at the starting rotation. With Jason Vargas signing with the Royals I don't see anyone that Jack Z will go after. Ramirez last year was one of the best inning eater starter's the M's have. But I will say this, the Mariners could use more then just one lefty in the starting rotations. In the bullpen the Mariners have already said goodbye to Oliver Perez , so I have Blake Beaven as the best candidate for long reliever this upcoming season. He's had been starting pitchers and if the time comes to need a former starter he is the best option the Mariners have.

Danny Farquhar had an amazing rookie season, filling in for Tom Wilhelmsen who couldn't save a game after the collapse in Cleveland in the early part of the 2013 season. Farquhar saved 16 games out of 20 opportunities last year. Setting up for Farquhar this upcoming season (if he's healthy) will be Stephen Pryor. Everyone knows what Pryor has got, in the 7 games that he appeared in he never allowed a run and with his 96-100 mph fastball he's the best candidate for either the setup or (if McClendon wants him to) the closer position.

Michael Saunders wont be in the starting role this season, he showed signs that he was finally coming into his own but after he went down with an injury last year he suddenly couldn't play like he used to. So, Saunders will be on the bench as a late inning replacement, pinch runner/hitter, and as a day off player the same goes for Jesus Sucre (excluding the pinch runner thing). Now as for Jesus Montero and Carlos Triunfel these guys may have not had the best season last year but they fill up the roster, and its not a bad idea to have the speedy Triunfel come in as a possible game winning/tying pinch runner for a slow runner.

So, this is my projection for the 2014 Seattle Mariners. 

As you can see I have Jack Z signing only two players......well I hope he signs them. My faith in the M's front office isn't exactly high but maybe they will surprise us all this year. If they don't sign anybody I still see the M's having a turn-around season this next season. This Mariners ball club is young and ready to show what they are made of with their pitching and their lineup of young talent.

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. 

Crazy eights for the Mariners

The Mariners entered tonight with a season high seven game winning streak and only 5 games under .500, so they sent out Erasmo Ramirez to give them a chance at eight straight games. If you remember, in Ramirez's last start against the Boston Red Sox and went only 4.2 innings while giving up 7 earned runs and walking 4, so you know he was looking to have a better outing tonight. Ramirez started things off looking good as he got Michael Bourn to fly out and struck out Nick Swisher; but then Jason Kipnis doubled and Asdrubal Cabrera singled him home and the Indians took the early 1-0 lead. The Mariners in the bottom of the first had some help from the Indians fielders. With two outs and one on Kendrys Morales grounded into what should have been the third out but Kipnis's fielding error allowed Morales to reach first. Kyle Seager then lined one into right field that allowed Nick Franklin to score and tie the game.

Ramirez again started off the inning by getting the first two batters out but then got into trouble, after Lonnie Chisenhall singled Yan Gomes took Ramirez deep for his seventh home run of the year and the Indians took the 3-1 lead. If the Mariners have taught us anything in the past seven games its that they Refuse to Lose and they find ways to come back and tie a game and eventually win the games.

In the bottom of the third inning Raul Ibanez got things started for the M's by driving one to deep left center field and lead things off with a double, Morales followed Ibanez' double with a ground-rule double that scored Ibanez, so the M's now trailed 3-2. Seager was able to line out a single but on the relay to home Morales was cut down trying to score. Michael Saunders two out double allowed Seager to get into third and the Mariners kept the inning alive. With Mike Zunino up Zach McAllister threw a pitch in the dirt that got away that allowed Seager to score easily and the game was now tied at 3-3. Last night Zunino hit the home run that put the M's up 2-1 and so tonight he wanted to be the hero again and he didn't disappoint as he hit a hard ground ball that got through and put the Mariners up 4-3. 

Ramirez now had a job to do, keep the Indians from scoring any runs. He did and got two crucial double plays. In the top of the sixth inning Ramirez was relieved of his duty and Yoervis Medina came in. Medina got the final out in the sixth and then went two innings more and was lights out as he only gave up one hit through his 2.1 of work. In the top of the ninth it was closing time, which meant Tom "The Bartender" Wilhelmsen was brought into secure the Mariners their eight consecutive win. 

Mark Reynolds lead things off for the Tribe by singling to right field, following that Chisenhall singled and so Mariners fans were beginning to think "Deja vu". After that single though Wilhelmsen got one of the luckiest plays ever as Gomes grounded to Brad Miller and after he tossed it to Franklin at second for the force out and then pinch runner Drew Stubbs was caught in a pickle and was tagged out at home. Thanks to that unusual double play Wilhelmsen faced Michael Bourn. Bourn worked the count to 3-2 and on the sixth pitch of the at bat Wilhelmsen fired a 98 mph in for strike three. As soon as the home plate umpire called that strike fans erupted like the team had just won the pennant. 

The Mariners now have won 8 straight games and will go for their third straight sweep tomorrow at 1:10, the M's haven't swept three series in a row since 2001. The win tonight pushes the Mariners to 4 games back of .500, 10 games back in the American League West, and 8.5 games back in the Wild Card. 

Sweeping beginning to the second half

The day after the Mariners score 4 runs with only 1 hit the M's sent their ace Felix Hernandez out to go for his 11th win of the year and try. The Mariners were also looking for both their sixth win in a row and their second sweep in a row. The Mariners though went 1-2-3 in the first inning against Jordan Lyles. Felix matched Lyles by going 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning while striking out one batter and only throwing 10 pitches. Kendrys Morales made sure when he lead off in the top of the second inning that his team didn't have to eight innings without a hit, as he lined the first pitch he saw into center field. Kyle Seager was able to get on as he hit a ground ball that shortstop Jake Elmore couldn't handle and so everybody was safe, after Justin Smoak struck out Michael Saunders drew a walk. Dustin Ackley put the Mariners on the board first with an RBI infield single, Elmore was able to come up with the ground ball but thanks to Saunders' awesome speed he slid safely into second base. 

After a visit to the mound Lyles drilled Henry Blanco with one, so the Mariners took a 2-0 lead and Brad Miller made it 3-0 with his first hit of the ball game. The bases were still loaded with only one out "Officer" Nick Franklin got out the rye bread and mustard out and hit his first major league grand slam of his career and put the Mariners up 7-0. After thirty minutes the Mariners had 7 runs on only 4 hits......jeez talk about deja vu huh? Felix went back out and only needed to throw 15 pitches to go back into the dugout. At that point in the bottom of the second inning I was getting grief from a couple of my followers about jinxing Felix, I tweeted before the game that Felix was going to throw a no hitter against the Astros and he gave up a one out single to Carlos Corporan and so once that happened the tweets started flying in about me jinxing the man. Oh sure like you haven't tweeted the same thing and it didn't happen. The Mariners though were quiet through the next two innings.

In the top of the fifth inning Raul Ibanez doubled to start things off for the M's, Morales followed up with an RBI single into center that put the M's up 8-0. Seager then came up and on the fourth pitch fouled one off but he accidentally let go of the bat and hit a small kid, Seager looked into stands looking to see if the kid was ok and after they told Seager the kid was ok Lyles threw one in and hit Seager on the shoulder, Texas then showed just how classy they are by cheering that Lyles had hit Seager. Trust me that wouldn't be the last time Texas showed their classiness but I'll get to that later, Smoak lined a single to once again load up the bases for the Mariners. Astros manager Bo Porter had seen enough and relieved Lyles and brought in Lucas Harrell to try and get out of the inning. Saunders grounded into a fielder's choice and on the play Morales scored from third and the M's lead grew to 9-0, Ackley then drove in the tenth run of the game for the M's with a sacrifice fly to left. 

Felix threw two more shutout innings. In the bottom of the fifth inning Felix got into his first real jam of the game. Justin Maxwell lead off the inning by getting on first after Miller bobbled one and couldn't get the speedy Maxwell, but if anyone looked at the replay like I did Maxwell was clearly out and so the umps made their first mistake in the game. Felix then had an eight pitch battle with Brandon Barnes with Felix winning the fight by striking out Barnes. Elmore then legged out an infield single as Miller couldn't make the long throw from the outfield, Felix then got one of his get out of a jam double plays. Felix then went out in the bottom of the six inning which would be his final inning of work. Brett Wallace lead off the inning by singling into left, Felix then was able to get Jason Castro to fly out and then walked Chris Carter but Felix came back and struck out both Corporan and Marc Krauss to end the inning for the Astros and end his start off in fashion. The Mariners got their 11th run of the ball game in the top of the the 7th inning, after Saunders walked and Ackley singled Brad Miller singled home Saunders as Elmore tried to make the diving play but the ball bounced off his glove and went into center.

As the game went into the bottom of the seventh inning God Bless America was sung and as the camera's went across the crowd and Texas showed just how arrogant they can be as some fans were on their phones either talking or texting and the worst part was that most of the fans (including one Mariners fans) didn't remove their hats and they showed just how society has gone down. Hector Noesi was brought into the bottom of the seventh inning and after getting the first two batters out gave up a two out double to Elmore. Following Elmore's double Altuve broke up the shutout with an RBI single into left field driving in Elmore. The Mariners added their final run of the game in the top of the top of the eighth as Saunders extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI double and so the M's lead was put to 12-1 with that double. Lucas Luetge went out in the bottom of the eighth inning and had an easy 1-2-3 inning but in the bottom of the ninth Bobby LaFromboise was brought in and Astros teed three straight hits off him including an RBI single by Barnes. LaFromboise then walked Elmore and finally recorded the first out of the inning by striking out Altuve.

After that strikeout Eric Wedge brought in Danny Farquhar to try and end the game, but unfortunately Matt Dominguez drove in another run with a sacrifice fly and then Blanco made a mistake as Castro struck out but thanks to a wild pitch and a bad throw by Blanco Barnes and Elmore scored. Farquhar finally got Corporan to pop out to end the game and secure the Mariners their 46th win of the year. The Mariners now travel back home to Seattle to play the Cleveland Indians and you know they are looking for some payback from the embarrassing four game sweep of the M's back in May. If they Mariners want to take this three game series from Cleveland their bullpen needs to get better and stop giving up runs late in the ballgame. Today's win now puts the Mariners only 11 back in the AL West and only 9 games back of second place in the American League Wild Card. So far the Mariners are .600 baseball in the last 10 games, lets hope this team can keep things going and maybe even make another Refuse To Lose comeback.