Mariners win but bullpen comes close to blowing it

The day after Houston suffered both victory and defeat from walking off the Mariners to Damian Lillard sending the Rockets home what could top that? How about a roller coaster ride win? That's exactly what happened to the Mariners today, it was in my opinion one of the ugliest wins of the season. With Hisashi Iwakuma making his 2014 debut the Mariners were aiming to get him his first win of the season, they got him the win but boy did it not come easy. This game I think saw my blood pressure raise to its highest its ever been, thank God I didn't have a stroke.

Kuma looked like he brought his A game today as he got through the first two innings with only throwing 20 pitches and striking out one, but the third saw the Astros get to him. Marwin Gonzalez and Jonathan Villar strung together back-to-back hits and Jose Altuve hit a sacrifice fly to put the Astros up 2-0 early in the ball game. The Mariners got a run back in the top of the sixth, Stefen Romero lead off the inning with just missing a home run by a matter of inches but was still able to leg out his first triple of his career. Robinson Cano drove in Romero with a line drive single to left to put the M's on the board.

The Mariners in the top of the seventh would see the team show great plate discipline, being patient at the plate, and being aggressive as well and scored 8 runs. Justin Smoak and Cole Gillespie drew back-to-back walks and so Brad Miller now had a job to do, get the bunt down to move the runners over. After chopping at one pitch and fouling off another Miller worked a walk by showing great discipline, and so the bases were full of Mariners. Bo Porter made his way out to the mound to talk with his starter Dallas Keuchel and following the mound visit catcher Jason Castro made his way back out to the mound, and that set manager Lloyd McClendon off.

McClendon had a decent argument as Porter and Castro were stalling for time and quiet frankly that's just messed up. So after McClendon was ejected Porter made his happy butt back out to the mound to make a pitching change, so Jose Cisnero was brought in to try and get out of this jam. Didn't happen. Mike Zunino drew the fourth walk in a row that brought home Smoak to tie the game up at 2-2. Michael Saunders continued to make the most of being the lead off hitter and doubled home two more in Gillespie and Miller and so the Mariners took the 4-2 lead. Romero drove in the 5th run of the ball game for the M's with an RBI single.

Cano added another run with his second RBI single of the game, following another pitching change by the Astros Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to 8 games with an RBI double to make it 7-2. So, here we are two outs and Smoak making his second plate appearance of the inning and he decides to drive the first pitch he sees onto the train tracks at Minute Maid Park.......so he basically destroyed it and put the Mariners up 9-2.

So after a 30 minute break, Kuma came out in the seventh and was not sharp. Chris Carter continued to destroy Mariner pitchers as he hit a one out solo home run to put the Astros down by 6 runs. With two outs though Kuma gave up a single to Gonzalez so the M's decided to go to the bullpen and Dominic Leone was brought in. Leone was not sharp either, as he gave up a two home run to Villar and so the Astros now trailed by 4 runs. Altuve drew a walk and after stealing second Dexter Fowler drove him in, so now this game turned around for the Astros real quickly as they now trailed by just 3 runs. Leone was relieved by Joe Beimel.

Beimel was able to get the final out in the inning and would pitch to one more batter in the eighth before being relieved by Yoervis Medina. Medina though did not have his stuff either. Medina would get one out but then would have trouble, giving up 2 runs. So since Medina couldn't get the job done, Fernando Rodney would be brought in to try and stop the bleeding. Rodney not only stopped the bleeding but he also earned his seventh save of the season and saved his team from completing a total meltdown.

NOTES: Saunders has been making the most of his time as the lead off hitter. He has batted .385 since becoming the lead off hitter and has raised his batting average to .250. Seager has also been on a tear since his two home run game against the Astros one week ago, he has raised his batting average from .156 to .237 during his 8 game hitting streak.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Fernando Rodney 1.1 IP 0 H 2 K SV
                                         Justin Smoak 2-3 2 R HR 2B BB 2 RBI
                                         Michael Saunders 2-5 R 2B 2 RBI
                                         Robinson Cano 2-5 R 2 RBI
                                           

Mariners enjoy home weather in a win over Yankees

With the tarp off the field and the temperature at a chilly 46 degrees Robinson Cano made his return to Yankee Stadium. Though, last night on Jimmy Fallon Cano surprised a couple Yankee fans. Though I'm not going to get on that its more fun to talk about the Mariners 6-3 win over the Yankees. As Cano made his way to the plate for the first time did he ever get the warmest welcome from New York's greatest fans.......that was sarcasm by the way. CC Sabathia took to the mound for the Pinstripes looking to improve to 13-4 against the Mariners in his career. At first things looked like he would earn that 13th win very easily......that didn't happen though.

After a 1-2-3 first for Sabathia, Chris Young took to the mound for Seattle looking to earn that first win of the season. Young ran into trouble in back-to-back innings. First Mark Teixeira drove his third homer of the season over the right field fence, and then in the following inning Young's inning didn't start off the way he wanted it to. He walked the first batter he saw then gave up a single to Brett Gardner, after getting two outs with Brian McCann up to bat Gardner took off to steal second and on the throw from catcher Mike Zunino the ball rolled into center allowing Brian Roberts to score to make it 2-0.

Things really started to go the Mariners way in the top of the fifth. Zunino lead off by legging out an infield single which was ruled an out at first but was overturned upon further review. Zunino's single would be followed by two other singles by Willie Bloomquist and Abraham Almonte, so here is a familiar site for M's fans bases loaded and no outs, well you can guess that M's fans on Twitter were saying that they wouldn't score. Cano drove in the M's first run with a productive ground ball that allowed Zunino to score from third, Corey Hart then drove the first pitch he saw into right center field that allowed Willie and Abraham to score and so the Mariners took the 3-2 lead. Justin Smoak added the last run of the inning for the M's with an RBI single to right to make it 4-2.

The top of the seventh saw the Mariners scoring two more times with two outs. Cano lead off the seventh with a hustling infield single and then to top things off stole second. So with two outs Dustin Ackley came in to pinch hit for Cole Gillespie, and after a tough home stand he drove in Cano with a 2-out single to put the M's up 5-2. Zunino added to his terrific night by driving in Ackley with his career high 4th hit of the night.

Fernando Rodney was brought in to finish off the Yankees in the 9th, it wouldn't be easy though. Rodney sent us on another roller coaster ride as he gave up a run but was able to close out the game. So the Mariners move to within 3 games of .500 and will go for a series win tomorrow. Though the forecast for tomorrow in New York doesn't look good as the rain pelted the teams tonight and will probably be continuing tomorrow so we may have a double header on Thursday.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Robinson Cano 1-5 R SB RBI
                                         Corey Hart 1-4 2B 2 RBIs R
                                         Mike Zunino 4-5 R RBI
                                         Dustin Ackley 2-2 RBI R

Rodney out Farqhuar in?

Last night was another roller coaster night for the Mariners, but the roller coaster ride didn't really begin until the top of the ninth inning. Fernando Rodney put both his team and the fans on a blood pressure rising inning. Although Rodney did earn his fourth save of the season he gave up 2 runs, hit a batter, and walked two batters. He shot his arrow but I think that arrow should have been shot by Justin Smoak since he was the one who bailed Rodney's ass out of the inning with a game ending unassisted double play.

The Mariners signed Fernando Rodney to a two year deal worth $14 million dollars, and at first I was wondering why the Mariners signed Rodney when Danny Farqhuar did a great job as the closer last season converting 16 saves in 18 opportunities. A lot of people are skeptical including myself of Rodney's inability to have clean saves. In Rodney's first two appearances this season, he only allowed 1 hit in 1.2 innings of work and had gotten his first save against the Oakland A's, but since in the 5.2 innings he's walked 6 batters and has had only one clean inning, lost one game, and raised his ERA from 0.00 to 3.68.

Rodney is 37 years old, so the question is will Lloyd McClendon stick with the control issued Rodney as the closer or make the switch to Danny Farqhuar?

Farqhuar has appeared in 9 games so far this season and in 10.2 innings of work he's walked 6, struck out 10, and has an ERA of 1.69......oh yeah and he's only given up 2 earned runs. Farqhuar has also held his opponents hitters to an even .200 batting average while Rodney's opponents are batting .321. Rodney also had some interesting comments in his post game interview in regards to Adrian Beltre's at bat, he said "In a situation like that, I was looking for a ground ball for a double play to end the game. I made a good pitch, line drive to first game over."

Rodney didn't deserve to shoot that arrow last night, if anything he should have let Smoak shoot it since he bailed him out of that jam. Rodney again has shown us through his last 6 appearances that he has no control of his pitches and last week in the game against the Rangers he was the main reason why the M's lost that game. When your closer cant get you three outs without walking batters or giving up 2 or more hits then I think its time to look for someone else to close your games for you.

McClendon is going to have to make a choice soon, unless Rodney gets control of his pitches and has good quick innings or 1-2-3 innings Lloyd may make the switch to Farqhuar as the closer for this team.

Smoak's bat and glove helps beat the Rangers

Well, it was both College Night and Bearded Hat night at the ballpark last night. So, you have both college kids getting smashed in The Pen and people wanting probably the dumbest promotion the Mariners have had this season. There was a point during the game where the camera over The Pen went over and then went to a single fan who was actually watching the game.......sad huh? If these college kids are so smart then they really should have just gone to a bar if they didn't want to watch the Mariners game and just get drunk, but I'm getting off topic. The Mariners opened up a three game against the Texas Rangers......so for the second time the M's faced their Texas rivals and they really wanted to forget the last series against this team.

The Mariners decided since they walked things off two days ago, they would get back to their winning ways. Though at first they didn't seem to be in the winning mood, it just took them five innings to wake up their bats. Adrian Beltre got activated from the DL and Roenis Elias took to the mound looking for his 2nd win against the Rangers.

Robbie Ross, Jr., took to the mound for the Rangers and in the first two innings both pitchers look evenly matched. Elias ran into trouble in back-to-back innings, as the Rangers got a run in both the top of the third and fourth inning. I have to give Elias a great deal of credit, even though he had two tough innings the fourth inning was the toughest he had. Elias walked three in that inning and gave up an RBI double but with the bases loaded Elias went into Beast Mode. He struck out the next two batters he face to end the inning, so after four innings of work Elias was up to 73 pitches.

With the Rangers up 2-0 the Mariners got back both runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. With 2 outs Abraham Almonte and Willie Bloomquist were able to get on base, Robinson Cano drove in both runners with his first big hit at Safeco so the Mariners tied the game, but that tie wouldn't last long. Elias's night was done after allowing two more hits in the top of the sixth, so manager Lloyd McClendon brought in Dominic Leone to try and get out of the jam. Leone got out of the inning but threw a wild pitch that allowed Prince Fielder to score from third to put the Rangers back up 3-2.

Inning by inning went by until the game reached the bottom of the eighth inning, and most um "Mariner" fans were thinking "here we go again" and were already counting the Mariners out of this game. The Mariners though were still on their "comeback kid" hangover and wanted another one. Cano lead off the inning with his second hit of the ball game, following Corey Hart getting hit by a pitch Stefen Romero singled to load the bases up for the M's. After a mound visit by the Rangers, McClendon sent out Michael Saunders to pinch run for Hart. Justin Smoak entered the batter's box with a ton of pressure on his shoulders. Nobody out, bases loaded, and a chance to give his team the lead.

Smoak decided to not let the pressure get to him this time, with a full now on him Smoak lined one to left passed Michael Choice that made 31,145 fans go nuts as Cano and Saunders scored to put the Mariners up 4-3. After that the Mariners didn't look back as Kyle Seager drove in his 6th run in 2 games with an RBI single, the M's got one more run on a wild pitch that allowed Smoak to score and so the Mariners lead 6-3 going into the 9th.

Fernando Rodney was brought in to try and earn his fourth save of the season. With one out the Rangers got to Rodney. The Rangers loaded the bases after a fielder's choice, a single, and a hit batter so Rodney had some work to do. Rodney walked both Choice and Elvis Andrus to put the Rangers deficit to only one run, so here we went again. Rodney was saved though, as Smoak made the play of the night that literally saved the Mariners and Rodney as he dove for a line drive off Beltre. Smoak snagged it and touched first base for a game ending unassisted double play.

So, a nail biting night ends with the good guys winning it and officially starting a winning streak, which is at two games now. Though questions were made both before and after the game. For example Jason Churchill from 1090 "The Fan" AM questioned Lloyd McClendon's decision making as the manager of the team.

McClendon decided to put Cole Gillespie in the lineup against a left handed pitcher when he has had trouble against lefties in his career and Dustin Ackley has had great success against lefties. So, who would you rather start? Gillespie who hits better against righties or Ackley who hits better against lefties? I thought so. Also McClendon continues to favor Almonte for the lead off hitter role and all Almonte has done is strike out 32 times and posted a .215 batting average.....that's not lead off hitter material. Also tonight McClendon should think about who should be the closer for this team as Rodney had another rough save opportunity and has only had 1-2-3 appearance this season. In Rodney's 7.1 innings of work he has walked 6 batters.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Robinson Cano 2-4 R 2B 2 RBIs 

                                         Justin Smoak 1-3 R 2B 2 RBIs

                                         Stefen Romero 2-4 R 2B

                    

Seager ends the M's losing streak and beats the Astros

What is better than an afternoon at the ballpark with your family? How bout a walk off losing streak ending win by the Mariners? That's was what took place at Safeco Field today in front of 13,739 fans who turned out to watch the Mariners end the 2nd longest losing streak by any team in the majors this year. Chris Young took to the mound today looking to earn his first win of the season and go deep into the ball game to rest the bullpen as well.

Young's day started off pretty well as he went 1-2-3 in the first inning. Though in the top of the third inning is where he got into trouble. After walking the lead off hitter he got the next two batters out, so it looked like Young was going to get out of the third with no damage........*BUZZ* WRONG!!!!! Young walked Dexter Fowler and following that the Astros only All Star from last year Jason Castro doubled that drove in Matt Dominguez and Fowler. So, the Astros lead 2-0 after the third inning and that meant thanks to the eight game losing streak all the "faithful" Mariner fans said "That's it games over".

Thankfully those Mariner fans were proven wrong. But getting back to the recap of today's game. The Mariners had a one threat going in both the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings but were turned away both times. In the fourth with one out Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to four games with a one out single and then Corey Hart walked. Justin Smoak though came through not in the good way but in his usual "we have a scoring opportunity so ill screw it up" way by grounding into one his trademark double play inning killers. Then in the bottom of the fifth the M's got their first two hitters on base. First Kyle Seager drew a nice six pitch walk and then Nick Franklin snapped an 0 for 13 stretch with a single, so you figure that Lloyd McClendon would have Ackley bunt the runners over........*BUZZ* WRONG AGAIN!!!!

Instead Ackley looked at two strikes then grounded into a double play, following him Mike Zunino popped out to end what could have been a possible scoring inning for the Mariners. Young was at 97 pitches after the sixth inning but headed out to pitch the seventh and I have to give him credit for keeping the M's in the game. Chris Carter though hit his second home run of the season and put the Astros lead to 3-0. So, after the seventh inning the Mariners trailed 3-0, Chris Young's day was done, and they were nine out away from being swept by the Astros and pushing their losing streak to nine games.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning Smoak got on with a bloop single to left, so Seager came up looking to help his team out. He did and in a big way, Seager blasted his first homer of the season and really put a positive charge in his team as they were now down by only a run. In both the eighth and ninth inning the Mariners bullpen had to be put to work. First was Charlie Furbush. After Charlie got the first two Astro hitters out he walked Jesus Guzman and gave up a single to Alex Presley, so the Astros were threatening to score again and the man to face Furbush with two one would be Carter. Furbush though showed no signs of fear as he struck out Carter to end the threat.

Fernando Rodney was called in the ninth to keep the game at a one run game. Rodney got the job done but it took him some time to do it as he threw 28 pitches to get out of the ninth.

So here we go again, the Astros brought in former Mariner Josh Fields to close things out. Cano lead off the inning with a nice blooped single and Corey Hart extended his hitting streak to six games as he lined a single down the left field line. So with two on and nobody out Justin Smoak had a shot to win this game......didn't happen though. Smoak went down swinging and so the M's were down to their final two outs. Smoak however would be the final out, as Seager stepped in with already a home run under his belt, he swung at the first pitch he saw from Fields and it was a no-doubter walk off home run.

The Mariners losing streak is finally over!!!! Man have I waited to say that for a whole damn week. After today's win me and a lot of other Mariner fans were like Lou Brown in Major League 2 "I LOVE THIS $%^ AND I MAY MOVE TO ENGLAND!!!!"

The M's have the day off tomorrow and its a much needed one. Though during this upcoming day off manager Lloyd McClendon needs to make some changes to this lineup, such as taking Abraham Almonte out of the lead off role as Almonte after today leads the majors in strikeouts with 33. If you see here on Sodo Mojo my co-host from Mariners Talk podcast says that Seager should be moved into the lead off role and that Almonte should be the #2 hitter.

Again the M's have a day off tomorrow and will face the Texas Rangers for a 3 game series starting on Thursday. After the day off we may see Cole Gillespie get a call up.....you never know.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Kyle Seager 2-3 2 HR 5 RBIs 2 R BB
                                         Robinson Cano 2-4 R
                                         Chris Young 7 IP 3 R 3 ER 6 K 5 BB

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

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.  

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. 

Miller Time in Houston

The Mariners opened the second half of the season on the road in Houston going against the Astros looking for their fourth win in a row. Ironically Joe Saunders took the mound looking for his fourth win in a row as well. Brad Miller (@SergioMiller) got the second half started on the first pitch of the game by singling to center, but the Mariners went 1-2-3 after that. Saunders had almost an identical inning, he gave up a two out double to the Astros All Star Jason Castro but got the third out by getting Chris Carter to ground out. The Astros got their first run on the board in the bottom of the second inning, with two out Brandon Barnes (@TheBarnyard15) went deep for his fifth home run of the year and so the Astros took the early 1-0 lead. The top of the third inning saw another easy inning for Astros starter Bud Norris as he only gave up a two out single to Nick Franklin. 

The top of the fourth saw things pick up for the Mariners, Kendrys Morales lead things off with a single and then Kyle Seager looked at the first pitch of his at bat and extended his hitting streak to 15 games and the Mariners team streak for home runs in consecutive games to 23 as he hit his sixteenth homer of the year and the Mariners took the lead 2-1. After Michael Saunders was hit by a pitch Mike Zunino drew a walk and finally Dustin Ackley took Norris's third pitch he saw down the left field line that allowed both Saunders and Zunino to score and the Mariners took the 4-1 lead. The Astros came back in the bottom of the fourth inning, with two outs Justin Maxwell singled off Saunders, Barnes then drove in Maxwell with a triple and the Astros chipped away the deficit to 4-2. 

Saunders got into jam in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Jake Elmore singled with one out, Jose Altuve followed with a single of his own and all of a sudden Saunders was in deep trouble with only one out. With runners at the corners both Saunders and the Mariners got a huge break as Castro hit a hard ground ball that hit Altuve, with that one play Altuve was out and Elmore had to go back to third base and Saunders came back and struck out Carter for a huge third out. 

The top of the sixth saw the Mariners getting a few extra runs, Zunino drew his second walk with one out, Miller then looked at the first two pitches for balls and on the third pitch drove what was a no doubter into the upper deck for his first major league home run and put the Mariners up 6-2. The Astros though didn't go down without a fight, in the bottom of the sixth with one out Maxwell drew a walk, Barnes singled, then Matt Dominguez walked and after that manager Eric Wedge saw enough and went to bullpen and got Yoervis Medina to try and get out of the bases loaded jam Saunders got himself and his team in. Medina got the job done but gave up a run as Brett Wallace grounded out Franklin and Maxwell came into score. After six innings the Mariners lead 6-3.

 In the top of the eighth inning former #1 pick by the Mariners Josh Fields was brought in from the bullpen for the Astros to try and keep the game at 6-3. Fields walked both Zunino and Ackley to start off the inning. Brad Miller then battled Fields in a ten pitch at bat, at the end of the battle Miller won by hitting his second home run of the game and putting the Mariners up 9-3 on the Astros. Miller's home run marked the second time that a Mariners rookie had hit his first two home runs in one game, Franklin did it against the Padres back in May.

The Astros again fought back in the bottom of the eighth, Danny Farquhar came into the game. Maxwell lead things off with a single and then Barnes lined one down the right field line and slide safely into second to complete the cycle and became the second player to hit for the cycle against the Mariners this year. Dominguez grounded out to Miller for the first out and one the play Maxwell scored and the Astros chipped away another run. Oliver Perez was then brought in for Farquhar to try and get out of yet another jam, Wallace only made things worse as he hit a two run home run and the Astros only trailed 9-6. After Altuve hit a two out triple Tom Wilhelmsen was brought in and he did his job by getting Carter to ground out for the third out. 

Justin Smoak lead off the top of the ninth for the Mariners by hitting his ninth home run of the year and giving Wilhelmsen a big insurance run. Wilhelmsen went out in the ninth looking to earn his 20th save of the year. He got the first two batters to strikeout but Barnes continued his hot night by legging out an infield single and moved to second on a defensive interference. Dominguez drove in his third run of game with a two out single but after that Tommy Boy got Wallace to ground out to end the game. 

NOTES: Tonight's win pushes the Mariners record to 44-52. The M's are now only 11.5 games out of the first place Athletics and are now only 10 games out of second place in the Wild Card standings. Raul Ibanez extended his hitting streak to five games tonight and Michael Saunders extend his to eight games. 

Mariners in playoff contention?

July has seen the Seattle Mariners surge onto the spotlight......well sorta. The Mariners have started July out with a 5-3 record and in those eight games we've seen our fair share of homeruns, clutch hits, great plays, clutch pitching, and plenty of hits. In the last two games that the Mariners have played they have scored 19 runs including the 11 run massacre of the Red Sox on Monday. Right now they sit at 40-50 while being 13.5 games out of first place in the American League West standings and only 10.5 games out of the American League Wild Card. 

The way the Mariners have been playing this month we have also seen Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders get their swing back and Raul Ibanez continues his amazing season as he leads the team in homeruns and tied with Kendrys Morales for the team leader in RBIs with 51. Kyle Seager has been incredible (as always) in the last 10 games has he has posted a .410 batting average including his current 9 game hitting streak and he leads the team in batting average batting .288. Brad Miller last night had a career night as he went 3-5 with two doubles and a career high 4 RBIs and he also raised his batting average 75 points in the last two games.

Nick Franklin continues his amazing season as well, he is second on the team in batting average batting .281 and he's clubbed 6 homeruns while driving in 16 runs. Like I said in the first paragraph Smoak's bat has come alive, in the last 10 games he's batting .382 with 2 homeruns and 5 runs driven in, in the 10 games that Smoak has been heating up since he has come off the DL he's raised his average to an impressive .266 and currently this month he's hitting and unbelievable .423. Saunders's bat like I said in the paragraph above this one has also been heating up as over the last 4 games he has played he has gone 5 for 15 while driving in 6 runs and 3 of those 5 hits have been extra base hits including the triple he hit last night. 

Now, the Mariners have a big problem though currently and surprisingly its Hisashi Iwakuma. In Iwakuma's last 5 starts has gone 0-3 with a 6.83 ERA while giving up 10 homeruns and 22 runs all earned. Felix Hernandez is doing very well coming off his bad start in Anaheim as he has gone 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last 3 starts while striking out 24 in 21 innings. Hisashi needs to get his stuff together and pitch like the Cy Young contender he was when he was 7-1 with a 1.79 ERA. Another concern for the Mariners is their bullpen, now not all of our relievers have been terrible for example Oliver Perez is making a name for himself as he has pitched in 36 games, 33.1 innings, while striking out 46 and posting a 1.89 ERA. 

Carter Capps has been struggling in his last 6 games that he has pitched. He has given up 14 runs and his ERA has risen from 3.54 to 6.62 while posting a 15.12 ERA in his last 10 games pitched. The Mariners need to make a decision to either send Capps down to Triple A for a bit and call up either Logan Bawcom or Hector Noesi. Now, all I've written about so far in this blog is the good and the bad about the team but as you can tell from the title of the blog that's not all I'm going to write about, the Mariners right now are having a good season. 

They've been hot in hitting the baseball in the last two weeks and if they can get together a good winning streak and come out in the second half red smoking hot they Mariners could possibly make a run for the Wild Card. The bullpen has to improve and not give up runs in clutch situations like last night when they gave up 5 critical runs to the Red Sox. Both Felix and Hisashi need to improve and go deep in games and work on keeping their pitch count down early in the games, Joe Saunders needs to continue his hot pitching as he is 2-0 in his last 2 starts, Aaron Harang needs to keep his hot streak going as well, and finally with Erasmo Ramirez coming up this Thursday he must go deep into ball games and pitch like he did in Spring Training.

If the Mariners can do all these things then fans will see either the M's finishing the season above .500 or see the M's make an impressive run to the playoffs.

Boston Massacre in Seattle

The Mariners came into tonight's game with their King on the mound. Felix went out looking for his first win in four starts. Felix did not struggle in the first inning as he only gave up the one out single to Jonny Gomes and following Gomes's single got Dustin Pedroia to ground into an inning ending double play. The Bellarmine Prep grad and Washington native John Lester took the mound for the Red Sox looking to get his ninth win of the year, he got the Mariners to go 1-2-3 while striking out two batters. David Ortiz lead off the top of the second inning for the Red Sox by singling to center, Felix got Mike Napoli to strikeout looking following him former Mariners outfielder and first basemen Mike Carp singled to put runners at first and second for the Red Sox. Felix didn't let the pressure get to him as usual, he got Jarod Saltalamacchia to line out to Raul in left and finished the inning by getting Jose Iglesias to strikeout swinging.

Both teams didn't score until the fourth inning. The Mariners began the bottom of the fourth inning on a great note, Kendrys Morales singled and following him Kyle Seager singled to right, on the single Morales was able to hustle into third and the M's had runners at the corners with nobody out. Lester was able to get Jason Bay to strikeout but after that it was all Mariners; Justin Smoak lined a double down the left field line that brought home the Mariners first run of the game and following Smoak's double Mike Zunino was able to draw a seven pitch walk. 

After a quick visit to the mound by the Red Sox pitching coach Michael Saunders was able to be patient and draw the bases loaded walk that put the Mariners up 2-0, Lester finally was able to get out of the inning by getting Brad Miller and Nick Franklin to pop out and if anyone was happy to get out of the was Lester as he threw 39 pitches in the inning. The Red Sox bounced back in the top of the fifth inning by getting two runs back to tie the game up.

Raul Ibanez lead off the bottom of the fifth inning by extending his hitting streak to 13 games by hitting his 22nd homerun of the year and putting the Mariners up 3-2. The Mariners had another big inning in the bottom of the sixth inning as Smoak and Zunino lead off the inning by singling, after that Lester exited the game and Alex Wilson came into relief him. Saunders was able to take a 2-0 pitch deep to center field that scored both Smoak and Zunino to put the Mariners lead to 5-2. After Miller and Franklin were unable to add to the lead Ibanez decided that he should be the one to do so, he singled up the middle driving in Saunders for his 51st RBI of the season. The Mariners weren't done there, the bottom of the seventh inning saw four more runs come across for the M's. 

Seager lead off the inning by walking, Smoak then drove in his second run of the game with his second double of the game as well. Saunders was able to get his second double of the game as well driving in Smoak on the play and the Mariners now took a 8-2 lead. Brad Miller got his first hit of the game as well and drove in the ninth run of the game and following that Franklin checked in with his first hit of the game and drove in Miller and after the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners had a 10-2 lead.

Oliver Perez was brought in the top of the eighth to relief Felix and ended up giving up two additional runs. Going in the bottom of the eighth inning the Mariners weren't looking to score anymore runs but after Morales lead off by getting hit by a pitch, Seager walking and Smoak walking as well Zunino grounded out on a check swing that allowed Morales to score and the Mariners had an 11-4 lead after the eighth. Yoervis Medina came into the ninth inning and shut the door to secure the Mariners their 40th win of the year and Felix's first win since June 15th.

An All Star weekend

Well, just got back from Alaska and during my time in Alaska I managed to watch the Mariners games and keep up with writing my blogs. I guess that ill go over the last three days since I was too stupid not to write on Friday or Saturday. The Mariners were able to take the series from the Cincinnati Reds and go back to Seattle with a successful road trip going 4-2. On Friday the Mariners lead off the top of the first with Brad Miller tripling to start things off for the team, following that Nick Franklin took Reds pitcher Mike Leake deep to give the Mariners the early 2-0 lead. After Aaron Harang went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first inning Michael Saunders lead off the top of the second inning by hitting his fifth homerun of the year putting the Mariners lead to 3-0.

 It was Saunders's first homerun since May 4th when he hit two homeruns. Saunders drove in his second run of the game by scoring Kyle Seager on a sacrifice fly to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead. In the top of the fifth inning Miller tripled for the second time in the game but the M's couldn't drive him in. The Reds scored their first run of the game when former Mariners player Shin-Soo Choo doubled to score Devin Mesoraco, then in the bottom of the sixth inning All Star Jay Bruce drove his fifteenth homerun of the year over the center field fence and the Reds now trailed 4-2. Oliver Perez came into the ninth inning to close the game and get the Mariners their 38th win of the year, with only throwing 11 pitches Perez struck out the side and the Mariners took game one of the three game series.

Game two was completely different and was not pretty to watch. For the second game in a row the Mariners got their first run of the game via the homerun thanks to Seager hitting his thirteenth homerun of the year and the M's took the 1-0 after the top of the first inning. Seager broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the third by scoring Miller on a sacrifice fly and the M's took the 2-1 lead. After that it was all Reds as they pounded the Mariners pitching staff for 13 runs. Matt Latos struck out 11 batters and the rest of the bullpen struck out an additional 3 batters. So now we move onto today, the Mariners lead off their third game in a row with a homerun as Franklin hit his sixth homerun of the year. Raul Ibanez also extended his hitting streak to 12 games. 

The Mariners got two additional runs in the top of the third as Justin Smoak hit his seventh homerun of the year and drove in Seager as well, so thanks to the Smoak Bomb the Mariners took the 3-0 lead. Tom Wilhelmsen came in the bottom of the ninth and closed the game while only throwing 7 pitches and the Mariners took the series from the Reds and come home to face the Boston Red Sox for a four game series and will also face the Los Angeles Angels for the final three games of the first half.

NOTES: Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma both were named to the American League All Star Team on Saturday.

Simply Seager sweet swing wins it in extras

Felix Hernandez took to the mound in yesterday's game against the Rangers looking for his first win in three decisions as he went up against Derek Holland. The Mariners wasted no time in putting up the first run of the ball game, as Jason Bay launched his eleventh solo homerun of the season to put the M's up 1-0. Holland finished off the top of the first by striking out both Nick Franklin and Raul Ibanez and by getting Kendrys Morales to ground out. Felix didn't wasted anytime as well as he struck out the first two batters he faced and got Adrian Beltre to fly out. After that both teams were really quiet through the next three and a half innings. The Mariners lead off the top of the second inning with a pair of singles by Kyle Seager and Justin Smoak but Holland worked out of the jam by getting Dustin Ackley to fly out, striking out Mike Zunino, and finally getting Brad Miller to fly out to end the top of the second inning.

A.J. Pierzynski lead off the Rangers half of the second inning by singling to left field, Felix then got Lance Berkman to line out to Bay for the first out of the inning following that he struck out Mitch Moreland for the second out of the inning. David Murphy was able to get a two out single that allowed Pierzynski to move to third but Leonys Martin grounded out to end the bottom of the second inning for the Rangers. Both Holland and Felix had an easy 1-2-3 third innings. In the fourth inning the Mariners were able to get two runners one in both Seager and Ackley, but were unable again to get the job done with runners in scoring position as Zunino struck out to end the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth inning though the Rangers struck for their first runs of the game, Murphy lead off the inning by hitting his ninth homerun of the year, after Martin flew out Ian Kinsler took Hernandez deep for his eighth homerun of the year and the Rangers now took the lead 2-1 over the Mariners.

Ibanez lead off the top of the sixth inning by singling to left field, following Ibanez's single Morales singled to right field and the Mariners had their first two batters on to start off the inning. With one out Smoak drew a seven pitch walk that loaded up the bases for the Mariners but Ackley struck out to bring up Zunino. Zunino was looking to either tie the game up or give the M's the lead, Zunino did just that as he legged out an infield single to tie the game up at 2-2. Felix would keep the Mariners in the game by giving the team two more strong innings and would leave the game after the seventh inning. 

Both teams wouldn't have a single threat as the game went into the tenth inning. Michael Saunders drew a two out walk that brought up Seager, and on a 1-1 pitch Seager drove the ball into the right field seats for his twelfth homerun of the year and gave the Mariners the 4-2 lead. Tom Wilhelmsen was brought in to try and get his first save since the tenth of June. The Bartender did the job and got his seventeenth save of the year with a quick 1-2-3 inning.

Today the Mariners will try and go for their first sweep of the year as Hisashi Iwakuma goes to the mound for the M's.

The Gator wins it for the Mariners

Hisashi Iwakuma took to the mound looking for his first win in 2 starts, and he would face the 105 years ago World Champion Chicago Cubs. The Mariners were looking to not only provide fireworks on their first Fireworks Night at Safeco Field ever but looked to show some fireworks on the field as well and give 31,471 fans a good show. The fireworks started off before the game as Pearl Jam's Mike McCready preformed the National Anthem and threw out the ceremonial first pitch and Brad Miller was given the call up and start his first major league game. The game began in a very ironic fashion as former Tacoma Rainier/Seattle Mariners Luis Valbuena grounded out to Miller for the first out of the game and so Miller made is first play and out on the first play of the game......that's just awesome in my opinion.

Iwakuma had an easy 9 pitch 1-2-3 inning in the first but in the second that's when the trouble started. Alfonso Soriano lead off the inning by singling to center, with one out Ryan Sweeney lined one down the right field line that allowed Soriano to score and then on the throw from Nick Franklin trying to cut Sweeney down on third the ball skipped to the net on the Cubs dugout but then rolled into the Cubbies dugout which allowed Sweeney to come home, so the Cubbies took a 2-0 lead and drew first blood in the game. In the bottom of the fifth the Mariners finally drew their first run of the game, Jason Bay took the second pitch he saw from Travis Wood into the Mariners bullpen to put the deficit down to one run. In the top of the seventh inning Iwakuma got into some deep trouble, and by deep trouble I mean deep fly balls that left the yard. Soriano took Iwakuma deep to lead off the inning and the Cubbies now took a 3-1 lead over the M's, after Anthony Rizzo struck out and Sweeney popped out it was Dioner Navarro's turn to take Iwakuma deep. So with those two homers the Cubs took a 4-1 lead over Iwakuma and the Mariners.

The bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners started things off on the right pace, Bay lead things off by walking on four pitches. After Dustin Ackley struck out Mike Zunino was able to single into center field and on the play Bay was able to get into third and the Mariners had runners at the corners with only one out. Brad Miller was able to drive in Bay as he grounded into a fielder's choice. Miller not only drove in his first major league RBI but stole his first base in the majors as well. The Mariners still trailed the Cubs 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Nick Franklin lead off the inning by doubling down the right field line, Kendrys Morales was able to double home Franklin on his 20th double of the season and the Mariners now trailed by one run. 

Raul Ibanez then came up once again in the clutch by tripling home Morales and tying the game for the Mariners. The game went into extra innings and the Mariners bullpen kept the Cubs scoreless in the top of the ninth and tenth inning.

The Mariners went to work in the bottom of the tenth inning. Michael Saunders got the inning started off by walking, Ibanez then followed him by walking as well. Bay advanced the runners over by laying down a successful bunt and after the Cubs intentionally walked Justin Smoak, Mike Zunino came up looking to be the hero. Zunino worked the count to a classic 3-2 and on the sixth pitch of the at bat Zunino started off the fireworks show with a single that made 31,000+ erupted in cheers as the Mariner walked off in style. Zunino was treated to the hero's Gartorade dunk during his post game interview. With this win the Mariners improve to 34-45. Tomorrow the Mariners play their second national televised game of the year and will by turning back the clock to the days of the Seattle Turks.

A pinch of Kendrys

Jeremy Bonderman took to the mound yesterday against the Oakland A's looking for his first win in four starts. Bonderman got off to the right start as he only allowed a Seth Smith single in the top of the first inning and got Yoenis Cespedes to strikeout. Endy Chavez lead off the bottom of the first inning with a single and after both Nick Franklin and Kyle Seager flied out Rauuuuuuuul Ibanez stepped in a knocked out his sixteenth homerun of the season, it was his 287th of his career, and the Mariners took the lead 2-0. Bonderman would have another easy inning in the top of the second and struck out the last batter of the inning again. 

He would continue to pitch well, in the top of the third he was able to get Seth Smith to line into a double play that was huge in the inning, but in the top of the fourth Bonderman would get the first two batters to fly out but walked the next two. He was able to recover by getting Josh Reddick to line out to Chavez in right field to end the threat for the Athletics. Ibanez put the Mariners up 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning with his second homerun of the game for his seventeenth of the year and his 288th of his career.

The Athletics would finally strike for a few runs in the top of the sixth inning. The A's began the inning with both Seth Smith and Jed Lowrie singling, Bonderman would get Cespedes to ground into a force out as Seager tagged out Smith for the first out of the inning but both Lowrie and Cespedes were able to get into second and first safely. Brandon Moss would load the bases up by hitting a soft fly ball that landed a few feet in front of Franklin Gutierrez, after a visit to the mound by the Mariners pitching coach Bonderman threw a wild pitch that allowed Lowrie to come home and score the first run for the Athletics. Bonderman would walk John Donaldson and that would be the end of his outing, Danny Farquhar was brought in to try and get out of the inning with minimal damage. Farquhar would get Josh Reddick to ground out for the second out of the inning and on the play Cespedes scored to put the A's deficit to one run, but Farquhar would get John Jaso to ground out to end the inning.

Gutierrez would come out of the game with a strained left hamstring and Jason Bay would replace him. In the bottom of the seventh inning Bay would lead the inning off by walking, Mike Zunino was able to get his first hit of the game and on the base hit Bay, who was out with his own hamstring problems, moved fast to get to third base. Michael Saunders would end the inning on a double play. Farquhar would get the first two batters out in the top of the eighth inning but Brandon Moss would tie the game with his fourteenth homerun of the year. 

The top of the ninth would see Oliver Perez come into the game, he would walk Reddick to start off the inning but got to bunt a pop out to Zunino, Nate Freiman to fly out and then got Coco Crisp to pop out to Franklin. Smith would start the tenth inning off by getting on with a lead off single. Perez would come through again in the clutch by getting the next three batters out including striking out Cespedes and Moss to end the inning.

Grant Balfour came into the bottom of the tenth inning looking to get the A's to the eleventh. Balfour got Justin Smoak to ground out to start things off, Zunino was able to get on base on a wild pitch, Saunders then finally came up in the clutch by singling to right field that allowed Zunino to get to third and put the game winning run 90 feet away. Kendrys Morales would then be brought up as a pinch hitter for Brendan Ryan and he didn't waste anytime and belted the first pitch into the right field seats to walk off the game in style with his ninth homerun of the year. The last time Morales hit a walk off hit was against the Mariners back in 2010 and in that game was the game that he broke his leg stomping on home plate, this time his teammates gave him room and Morales trotted slowly on home plate.

With their second win in row the Mariners improved to 34-43 and moved back into a half game lead over the Angels in third place and they are now only 10.5 games out of first place in the AL West and only 9.5 back of the Rangers. They get a well deserved day of rest today and will open a two game series against the 2nd place Pittsburgh Pirates and after that will get one more day of rest and open a three game series against the Chicago Cubs.

NOTES: With today's performance Raul Ibanez has gotten the nation thinking about getting him into the All Star Game and the Homerun Derby.

Morales's wins it for the Mariners

Jeremy Bonderman looked to go out and win his first game since his second start. The Mariners would begin the game off on an ok note, Nick Franklin got the first hit of the game and then later stole second base but the Mariners couldn't push Franklin home to take the first inning lead. Mike Trout would start off the inning for the Angels with a lead off single on his giveaway night. The Angels gave out a Mike Trout fishhat and I have to say it was the stupidest giveaway ever.......of all time. This giveaway was even dumber then the Mariners goofy glasses night they had back in the 80s. Josh Hamilton would help out the Mariners by grounding out into a double play and following that Albert Pujols grounded out to end the inning. 

Raul Ibanez lead off the top of the second off with his fourteenth homerun of the year, following that Justin Smoak, who was recalled from Triple A, didn't wait and swung on the first pitch and hit his fourth homerun of the year. Mike Scioscia thought that a fan reached over and grabbed the ball over the railing so the umpires reviewed the play. After a few minutes the umps agreed that it was a homerun so the Mariners took the 2-0 lead.

The Mariners wouldn't get another run in that inning and in the bottom of the third inning Mark Trumbo would hurt the Mariners again with a lead off homerun for his sixteenth homerun of the year. With two outs the Angels looked like they would score another run, as Eric Aybar singled and Hank Conger walked, but thankfully Bonderman was able to get Peter Bourjos grounded one back to Bonderman to end the inning. Trout would lead off the third inning again with a single but thankfully Hamilton grounded into his second double play of the night and Pujols grounded out to end the inning.

Mike Zunino would double in the fourth inning with two outs, Michael Saunders would walk to put runners on for Brendan Ryan. Ryan would strike out to end the inning for the Mariners. In the bottom of the fifth inning Bonderman would get into a jam but got help from Josh Hamilton again as he grounded into his third double play of the night and the inning would end there. Saunders lead off the top of the seventh inning off with a single to put an insurance runner on. Brendan Ryan failed to move Saunders over as he popped an attempted bunt up in foul ground and Conger was able to run it down for the first out. 

Saunders was able to swipe his tenth stolen base but Endy Chavez wasn't able to connect with the ball and struck out. Franklin was able to draw a two out walk but Kyle Seager struck out to end the threat for the Mariners in the seventh inning. Oliver Perez was brought in the bottom of the seventh inning for Bonderman, Chris Iannetta drew the lead off walk. Perez was able to bounce back and get Bourjos to line out and got both Trout and Hamilton to strikeout.

Tom Wilhelmsen was brought in the bottom of the eighth inning and didn't start off on a good note as Pujols blasted away not only the game tying homerun but Bonderman's second win of the season. Wilhelmsen would go 1-2-3 after that but in the bottom of the ninth Tommy boy would allow a lead off base hit and walk the second batter, he was able to strikeout Bourjos and get Trout to fly out and after that Eric Wedge brought in Charlie Furbush to face Hamilton.

 Furbush would strikeout the struggling Hamilton, who went 0-5 in tonight's game and was booed as always with his poor performance. In the top of the tenth inning Seager was able to get his 20th double of the year with two outs, Kendrys Morales then got a John Jaso-like clutch hit that scored Seager and the Mariners took the 3-2 lead. Yoervis Medina was called on to close the game for the Mariners. Medina went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth and the Mariners took game 2 of the four game series from the Angels.

Felix will get the ball for tomorrow and I have a good bet that Henry Blanco will be behind the plate to catch King Felix. With tonight's bounce back win the Mariners now improve to 32-40 and move back into 3rd place and 10.5 games back of first place.

What the Mariners have to do

The Mariners in the past six games have shown us that they are not a playoff contender yet. This road trip so far has shown us positives and negatives. I'll start off of course with the positives. The Mariners have shown us that they can hit homeruns and long ones. Raul Ibanez has put up 5 homeruns on this road trip along with raising his batting average by 32 points along. Brendan Ryan's bat has come alive on this road trip and he looks like he's finally found his rhythm as he has raised his batting average by 51 points. Mike Morse's bat has also come alive as he has had four multi hit games and showing Mariners fans that he does not want to be the next Richie Sexson, he's also cut down on his strikeouts as he's only struck out 3 times in 19 at bats. Justin Smoak has also been tearing the cover off the ball on this road trip as he has ripped 6 hits on this road trip and raised his average up to .254.

Ok, now let's get to the negatives. The biggest negative on this road trip has been the Mariners ability to hit with runners in scoring position, as they have gone 9 for 51 with runners in scoring position, which is a .176 if you do the math. That's not what a playoff team does, maybe on an off week but when it comes to playing for the Wild Card or any shot at the playoffs you have to hit with runners in scoring position. The Mariners need to improve on that category along with trying figure out what they are going to do with Jesus Montero and Dustin Ackley. For some reason with these two whenever one gets hot they then have a streak of games or weeks where they are ice cold and cant come up in a clutch situation. 

The Mariners also have a catcher situation, yes we have Kelly Shoppach and Jesus Montero but here's the thing none of them cant throw anyone out or block pitches. One more thing the Mariners have to improve on is there consistent pitchers in the 3-4-5 hole. Brandon Maurer is inconsistent and has control problems, Joe Saunders is horrible on the road, and Aaron Harang........well you know what Harang is. Now the Mariners could make a move to send Maurer down and call up the experienced Jeremy Bonderman in his place, that would at least solve one pitching problem.

If the Mariners would like to get back up to .500 or finish above, make a run to the playoffs, or have a shot at the Wild Card they have to improve on everything I have just wrote. They have to learn to hit with runners in scoring position......PERIOD! They have inconsistent pitchers that they have to fix, maybe look at free agent pitchers if they have to, their catchers need to improve on their throwing ability especially Montero, and their players have to become more consistent. If the Mariners improve on these things then I see them getting up and or above .500 and possibly making run to the playoffs.