April 4, 2016 is one week away! The Mariners come into the 2016 with a new look, a new GM, and plenty of new faces that hope to make an impact to push this team into their first postseason birth since their dramatic 116 win season back in 2001. So wait that means its been 1,2,3.....15 YEARS?! DAMMIT! Yup 15 years since the Northwest saw postseason baseball and because the stinkin Blue Jays made the postseason last year for the first time since 1993 we now have the longest postseason drought in baseball!
Yeah, that's not something I'm not going to brag about. Every year I'm always "that Mariners fan" who believes that this is the year we "finally do it", the year we finally win it all. To tell you the truth....its a possibility. With Jerry Dipoto the new GM he's done more than that bald idiot Jack Zduriencik did in his short brief time with the team.
Dipoto kicked off his Mariner GM career by making a huge splash to the season by trading Brad Miller, Logan Morrison, and Danny Farqhuar to the Tampa Bay Rays for Boog Powell, Nathan Karns, and C.J. Riefenhauser (who was traded a month later). JeDi, as I call him, then decided to go mad! He went mad! MAD I TELL YOU! Mad enough to make to sign Nori Aoki, trade for Adam Lind, trade for Leonys Martin, sign Chris Iannetta, resigned Hisashi Iwakuma, resigned Franklin Gutierrez, traded for Wade Miley, signed closer Steve Cishek, traded for Joaquin Benoit, signed Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee, and signed Cuban slugger Guillermo Heredia.
As you can see JeDi has made some incredible moves that has given the 2016 Seattle Mariners more depth pitching and hitting wise that the Mariners have a great chance to not just make the postseason but possibly be a contender for both the American League West title and the AL pennant. If you look at the Mariners right now and told me that "this team isn't going to make a splash all season long" I would say you're dead wrong!
Lets take a look at the pitching shall we? The rotation is still undecided with the number 5 starter but currently we're going to see Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, Wade Miley, Taijuan Walker, and either James Paxton or Nathan Karns. So looking at the rotation to me.....I'm seeing 4 possible win right off the bat, that is if the hitting backs up the pitching. Felix is going to be Felix this year, that's for certain, he is coming off another stellar season but his strikeout rate took a dip and his ERA was the highest its been since 2011.
Felix is coming into Spring Training about to turn 30 and he has blonde hair and goatee. Felix is perhaps the player that will begin the season with one thought in his mind. and that thought is "this season is our year". Yes, I know all players have to be thinking that but Felix is coming into his 12th season without even 1 playoff game appearance. Felix has noted that as well, he's frustrated at the fact that he's about to be 30 and he's been in the league for over 10 years and never pitched in a postseason game.
Felix is not only holding himself to pitch like his career is on the line this year but he's holding himself to personally get this team to the postseason. My expectation for the King this year is this, watch him get 20 wins! Felix is pushing himself this year to perhaps pitch even better than his 2014 season, and with determination like that who can argue that he wont win 20 games this year?
Let's now talk about the Prince, the Fresh Prince of Seattle that is. Taijuan Walker is coming off his first full season in the majors and it looked like Walker was going to bomb it when he started. Walker went 1-5 with a 7.33 ERA in his first 9 starts, but after that he was a totally different pitcher. Walker went 10-3 for the rest of the season while keeping his ERA below 3 during that stretch. Walker is on my "breakout player" watch for this season. Walker will open the season at home in the Mariners home opener against the Oakland Athletics. This season I'm saying Walker is going to knockout 18 wins along with being an All Star and don't be surprised if you see a Fresh Prince no-no this year.
Kuma and Miley are even when I look at both of them. Kuma is coming off a 9-5 season where he tossed the Mariners fifth no hitter in franchise history against the Baltimore Orioles. Miley on the other hand is coming off a .500 record season with the Boston Red Sox, where he went 11-11 with a 4.46 ERA......not that impressive huh? Wrong, Miley may have lost 11 games but he was consistent, he went 6+ innings 22 times out of his 32 starts. Look you may not think that's still impressive but lets face it, last year the Mariners bullpen usually had to work 5 innings! We may have given up Carson Smith and Roenis Elias but hey if Miley can give us 6+ in 20+ starts I wont complain.
Kuma and Miley are on my radar to win around 14-15 games this year, maybe 16 with Kuma but I think 13-14 is more around Miley's reach. Now with the #5 starter you have both Paxton and Karns. Both are going to battle it out to the very end in Spring Training, that's when new manager Scott Servias will make his decision and name one of them the #5 starter. The way I look at it, whoever doesn't get the starting job is getting placed in the bullpen to be a long inning reliever in case our starter cant seem to do anything.
Paxton however is coming off another injury plagued season where a strained tendon in his left middle finger benched him in May and wouldn't see him pitch until September and he only made 3 starts in that month. Paxton finished the year with a 3-4 record with a 3.90 ERA. Paxton though is now still healthy in Spring Training and he lost 30 pounds during the off season, but Spring Training hasn't been nice to Paxton or any M's pitcher, but if Paxton gets the #5 starting role watch him win around 11-15 games, that is if he stays healthy.
Karns on the other hand hasn't had a good Spring Training either, but again like I said which Mariners pitcher has? Karns is coming off a 7-5 season with the Rays with a 3.67 ERA in 26 games started. Karns was part of the Miller/LoMo trade and currently I'm thinking Karns maybe put in the bullpen over Paxton. But Karns' strength is all there. Either way if Karns is starting or in the bullpen he has the ability to help you win a ball game. Karns struck out 145 batters in the 147 innings he pitched last season. Its going to be interesting to see who gets the job, whoever does I've got Paxton at 11-15 wins and Karns at 12-13.
Lets talk bullpen now. Charlie Furbush wont be in the bullpen to help out to start the season and don't expect him to for perhaps the first 2-3 weeks in the season. But in the bullpen we have a group of both young and experienced players pitching that will both help keep the Mariners in the ball game and help close out wins. First you have Tony Zych who's coming off his rookie year appearing in 18 games and starting 1, he had a 2.45 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 18.1 of work. While Charlie is out look for Tony to be your possible 6-8th inning man in close games.
Steve Cishek is your closer. While with the Miami Marlins he saved 88 games in 3 years and this past season he was used more as a set up guy. Lets face it, now with Carson Smith gone and that arrow shooting dip wad Rodney gone Cishek is your guy in the 9th. Before Cishek we will see Benoit to come into the 7th and 8th possibly to help keep the game within save rage for Cishek. Benoit is now coming into his 15th season and even though he's 38 he can still pitch. With age comes wisdom and Benoit has shown that, since 2010 his ERA hasn't been above 3 but one time.
The bullpen also has guys like Evan Scribner, who has one unbelievable walk to strikeout rate! Scribner in his 5 year career has 134 strikeouts and 27 walks in 147.2 innings pitched.......yeah he's that damn good! There's also Mike Montgomery who's coming off a good rookie year but struggled through the last half of the season. Montgomery will at least provide the bullpen with one of two left handed pitchers, the second is Vidal Nuno.
This year will be a whole new story for the bullpen, it'll definitely be better than last year that's for damn sure! This year watch the bullpen's ERA to hover around the 2.90-3.20 area. There doesn't seem to be any weakness in the bullpen for the Mariners, only thing that could be better is having Furbush to start the season but again I think the Mariners will be ok bullpen wise till his return.
Now, we come to the offense and this amazing group JeDi has put together. Lets first start off with our awesome second baseman Robinson Cano who is coming off an injury plagued season but did very well. Cano struggled during the first half of the season but caught fire in the second half, he finished the season with a .287 average, 21 home runs, and 79 runs batted in. Cano did strikeout a career high 107 times, it was the first time he ever struck out more than 100 times in his career. Cano though has been showing us he's fully ready for the real season to begin!
Just yesterday Cano crushed 3 home runs and drove in 7 runs. Watch out Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson cause you have some competition for the AL MVP. Yes, the AL MVP! Cano is ready to show that the Mariners aren't getting an age declining player. Be on the watch for Cano to smack 50+ doubles this season, while not only hitting 25+ home runs and driving in around 90-100 RBI's. Cano isn't just the only perennial All Star that Scott Servias's lineup has to offer. Let's not forget the "BOOMSTICK" Nelson Cruz, who is coming off his best season hitting wise in his career.
Nelson Cruz showed that even Safeco Field can be a hitter friendly ballpark. Cruz smacked a career high 44 home runs, drove in 93, and batted .302. Kyle Seager is another member of the Mariners Big 3 who is coming off a season that saw him clobber a career high 26 home runs. Cano, Cruz, and Seager are going to be the key players that really will provide the power, the hitting, and driving in runs ability for the team, not only that but now the Mariners have another power bat in Adam Lind.
Lind was acquired via trade from the Milwaukee Brewers, where he hit 20 home runs and drove in 87. Lind is not just providing another necessary power bat in the lineup but he's providing his glove to the mix as well. Lind is coming off a stellar defensive season with the Brewers and is going to be the everyday first basemen for the team. Backing Lind up though is the Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee. This signing by Dipoto was highly crucial. With Jesus Montero's future with the team seeming bleak, Dipoto decided to go out and sign a guy who seems to get better the older he gets.
DHL came into the spring though weighing in at 282 pounds but has since then lost 32 pounds. Not bad huh? Lee slugged 31 home runs last year and drove in 98 for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. Lee is not just providing a player that can hit the long ball but again he's got something that Montero obviously doesn't have. A great glove. Just watching Lee in Spring Training he's made some great plays that Montero wouldn't have been able to make.
And while writing this I just found out that Paxton got optioned to Triple-A Tacoma......huh. How bout that writing and saw the news on Twitter. So looks like Nathan Karns is your #5 starter!
Getting back to both Lind and Lee look for both players to provide support in the lineup that will help provide driving in and creating runs for the team. I have Lind having another 20 homer season while with Lee could show us between 10-15 home runs.
Looking at the Mariners outfield all I can say is, what an upgrade! With Martin and Aoki getting signed and traded to the team we now have two great gloves in the outfield that the M's were lacking last season. Also Guti is still with us. Last year saw perhaps one of the greatest comeback seasons I've ever seen. With Guti possibly sharing a role with Seth Smith look to see Guti being in the lineup 3-4 times a week.
The Mariners also got faster this year. Aoki, Ketel Marte, Guti, and Shawn O'Malley (if he makes the opening day roster) will provide something that Lloyd McClendon didn't have, guys who can steal bases. That'll be something that the Mariners will need to do this season and that's steal more bases. As you saw with the Kansas City Royals stealing bases can win you games and a World Series. Also when you have speed in your lineup and on your bench......USE IT!!!
Behind the plate is Chris Iannetta, who some people didn't seem to like the signing. Come on people lets face it Iannetta is going to do something that Mike Zunino will be learning how to do in Triple-A Tacoma.......how to actually hit the ball. Yes Iannetta is coming off a season where he hit .188, so basically a Mike Z type of season, but he's still a career .231 hitter. Iannetta will also be providing a great arm behind the plate as well. Iannetta isn't Yadi Molina but hey he's definitely and upgrade to Mike Zunino.
So, I think I'm done talking about everyone who we will see this season to start the season against the Texas Rangers. Everything comes down to this final week of preparation for the Mariners, everything is counting on everyone staying healthy and injury free. In just seven days, and I can honestly say that I'm highly confident, the Mariners will begin their journey into baseball immortality. This is by far the season that I know that this team, who has struggled through out most of its franchise history, is ready to take that step to get back into the spotlight they had 15 years ago. The Mariners on paper are the team to beat! Even the Royals, who are the defending champs, have some competition with the Mariners. The M's have the pitching, defense, and offensive depth to pull off a playoff/pennant run this season.
A lot of skepticism is on this team, time for the Mariners to prove every doubter wrong and go out and PLAY BALL!!!!
Go Mariners!!!!!
Showing posts with label Kyle Seager. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kyle Seager. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2016
Friday, March 13, 2015
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.
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.
Monday, May 5, 2014
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)
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)
Saturday, May 3, 2014
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
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
Saturday, April 26, 2014
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.
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
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
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
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!!!!"
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
Monday, April 14, 2014
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
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
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
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
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
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, February 14, 2014
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!!!
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!!!
Friday, February 7, 2014
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!!!
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!!!
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, November 25, 2013
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
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
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
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
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.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Frankly Seattle steals a win from Oakland
The Mariners came into tonight's game one game under .500 for the road trip, so you can guess that they were looking to win tonight to get to .500 on the road trip. With Joe Saunders on the mound the A's decided to get to him in the first inning. After a lead off triple by Jed Lowrie, Derek Norris singled him home and then John Donaldson hit a two run home run to put the A's up 3-0 early in the game. The Athletics added another run thanks to Nate Freiman's fourth home run of the year, after that Saunders walked both Chris Young and Josh Reddick but thanks to Saunders picking off Young and then getting Eric Sogard to ground out he was finally able to end a 40 pitch inning.
The Mariners were finally able to get their first runs against Sonny Gray in the top of the third, after Michael Saunders drew a four pitch walk Nick Franklin hit his 11th home run of the year and so the M's were back in the game trailing by only 2 runs. Joe Saunders came back though after a 40 pitch 1st inning and gave the Mariners 5 more innings, after that Brandon Maurer came into the bottom of the seventh inning and had a nice 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout.
In the top of the eighth Gray was brought out of the game and replaced by Sean Doolittle and tonight was not the night for the Athletics bullpen. The inning began with Michael Saunders collecting his first base hit of the night and extending his hitting streak to three games, Henry Blanco then hit a sharp line drive to left that Yoenis Cespedes couldn't hold and on the play Blanco motored into second base. The next two batters came through in a big way for the M's, Brad Miller blooped a curveball into centerfield that allowed Saunders to walk home and then Franklin hit a sharp line drive to left that scored Brendan Ryan (who pinched ran for Blanco) and so the game was all knotted up at 4-4.
Doolittle was taken out of the game and Ryan Cook was brought in, Cook was able to get ahead of Kyle Seager in the count at 0-2 but then threw four balls in a row and Seager drew a walk. With Kendrys Morales up to bat Cook threw a wild pitch that allowed Brad Miller to hustle home, score, and give the Mariners the 5-4 lead, then Morales ground to Alberto Callaspo who threw home to try and cut down Franklin, but thanks to Franklin hustling hard he was able to score but paid a price for it.
On the fielder's choice play that Franklin scored on he was accidentally spiked by Derek Norris but thankfully he was able to walk on his own to the M's clubhouse with a gash in his knee and a huge hole in his pants as well. Franklin tweeted (@NickFrank20) that he was ok and only needed 5 stitches and will be back in about 5 days.
The M's weren't finished after Franklin scored, Cook threw one more wild pitch that brought Seager into score and the M's went up 7-4 after the eighth inning. Yorvis Medina went to hill in the bottom of the eighth inning, he began the inning off by walking Chris Young but came back and struck out Josh Reddick and after Callaspo grounded out Medina walked Sogard, he got Lowrie to ground out though to end the inning for the A's. Danny Farquhar then came into the top of the ninth inning to shut the door on the Athletics and secure the M's the win and the best comeback of the year for the team. Farquhar was on his A-game as he struck out Stephen Vogt, got Josh Donaldson to ground out, and struck out Cespedes on a 75mph curveball.
So, the Mariners are now 4-4 on the road trip, but this win had to be the best victory and comeback of the season, especially taking the fact that Joe Saunders gave up 4 runs in the first and threw 40 pitches in the inning as well. Mike Morse went 0 for 4 tonight extending his 0 for streak to 0 for his last 18 at bats. Tomorrow the Mariners go for the series win as they begin playing at 1:10 and after that they get a day of rest and then start a quick 6 home stand. Hisashi Iwakuma will look to get his 13th win tomorrow.
The Mariners were finally able to get their first runs against Sonny Gray in the top of the third, after Michael Saunders drew a four pitch walk Nick Franklin hit his 11th home run of the year and so the M's were back in the game trailing by only 2 runs. Joe Saunders came back though after a 40 pitch 1st inning and gave the Mariners 5 more innings, after that Brandon Maurer came into the bottom of the seventh inning and had a nice 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout.
In the top of the eighth Gray was brought out of the game and replaced by Sean Doolittle and tonight was not the night for the Athletics bullpen. The inning began with Michael Saunders collecting his first base hit of the night and extending his hitting streak to three games, Henry Blanco then hit a sharp line drive to left that Yoenis Cespedes couldn't hold and on the play Blanco motored into second base. The next two batters came through in a big way for the M's, Brad Miller blooped a curveball into centerfield that allowed Saunders to walk home and then Franklin hit a sharp line drive to left that scored Brendan Ryan (who pinched ran for Blanco) and so the game was all knotted up at 4-4.
Doolittle was taken out of the game and Ryan Cook was brought in, Cook was able to get ahead of Kyle Seager in the count at 0-2 but then threw four balls in a row and Seager drew a walk. With Kendrys Morales up to bat Cook threw a wild pitch that allowed Brad Miller to hustle home, score, and give the Mariners the 5-4 lead, then Morales ground to Alberto Callaspo who threw home to try and cut down Franklin, but thanks to Franklin hustling hard he was able to score but paid a price for it.
On the fielder's choice play that Franklin scored on he was accidentally spiked by Derek Norris but thankfully he was able to walk on his own to the M's clubhouse with a gash in his knee and a huge hole in his pants as well. Franklin tweeted (@NickFrank20) that he was ok and only needed 5 stitches and will be back in about 5 days.
The M's weren't finished after Franklin scored, Cook threw one more wild pitch that brought Seager into score and the M's went up 7-4 after the eighth inning. Yorvis Medina went to hill in the bottom of the eighth inning, he began the inning off by walking Chris Young but came back and struck out Josh Reddick and after Callaspo grounded out Medina walked Sogard, he got Lowrie to ground out though to end the inning for the A's. Danny Farquhar then came into the top of the ninth inning to shut the door on the Athletics and secure the M's the win and the best comeback of the year for the team. Farquhar was on his A-game as he struck out Stephen Vogt, got Josh Donaldson to ground out, and struck out Cespedes on a 75mph curveball.
So, the Mariners are now 4-4 on the road trip, but this win had to be the best victory and comeback of the season, especially taking the fact that Joe Saunders gave up 4 runs in the first and threw 40 pitches in the inning as well. Mike Morse went 0 for 4 tonight extending his 0 for streak to 0 for his last 18 at bats. Tomorrow the Mariners go for the series win as they begin playing at 1:10 and after that they get a day of rest and then start a quick 6 home stand. Hisashi Iwakuma will look to get his 13th win tomorrow.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Eight is enough for Prince Kuma
Ok, so yesterday Joe Saunders choked and gave up 4 runs and Hector Noesi gave up a grand slam and our winning streak came to an end. But who says we cant start fresh with the Minnesota Twins? Hisashi Iwakuma was looking to keep his perfect record in tact as he took the mound for the Mariners. Iwakuma has pitched 3 times against the Twins and holds a 3-0 record and a 0.00 ERA in 20.2 innings. Not bad huh?
The defense look really shady tonight. Nick Franklin had one and Kyle Seager added two more to the M's total for tonight, but thankfully it didn't hurt them. Iwakuma got through the first inning even after an error and a fielder's choice. The M's didn't get things started until the bottom of the second inning. Kyle Seager lead things off with his 26th double of the year and following him Justin Smoak singled and that put runners at the corners to begin the inning for the M's. Both Mike Zunino and Dustin Ackley hit back to back RBI singles to put the Mariners up 2-0. Brad Miller made it 3-0 on his sixth double of the year scoring Zunino and Ackley moved to third, and finally Officer Nick Franklin sent his eighth home run into the right field seats and the M's put up a six spot in the second and chased Twins starter Kevin Correia as well.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mariners got two extra runs on the board. Michael Saunders lead things off with a single and then Henry Blanco doubled him home and the M's put their seventh run on the board. After that Ackley checked in with his third hit of the game by doubling home Blanco and the Mariners lead 8-0. Iwakuma gave the Mariners six innings despite having thrown 51 pitches through 3 innings. He was able to get out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning without allowing a run. He finished the night with 101 pitches and striking out 9 batters.
Danny Farquhar was brought into the top of the seventh inning and with the way he pitched last night you would have never thought he had an ERA over 7. Farquhar threw two innings of shutout baseball while giving up just one hit and striking out 3 batters. Finally Oliver Perez was brought into the ninth and he didn't have the best outing tonight. Perez after getting two outs gave up two doubles that scored two runs for the Twins but after that Perez got Drew Butera to fly out and that was the ball game.
The Mariners have now won 9 out of the last 10 games. Dustin Ackley's bat has come alive since the All-Star Break batting .421 (8-19). Raul Ibanez's bat seems to have cooled off though since the All-Star Break batting .150 (3-20). Nick Franklin's eight home runs are the most by an American League second basemen in his first 49 games since Hall of Famer Joe Gordon (NYY) in 1938. Tonight's win has also moved Seattle up in the standings; they are now 10 games back in the American League West and are only 7.5 back in the Wild Card.
You can definitely say that the Mariners are the hottest team (next to the Tampa Bay Rays) in baseball. Tomorrow night the King's Court will be in session as Felix Hernandez will look to get his 12th win of the season.
The defense look really shady tonight. Nick Franklin had one and Kyle Seager added two more to the M's total for tonight, but thankfully it didn't hurt them. Iwakuma got through the first inning even after an error and a fielder's choice. The M's didn't get things started until the bottom of the second inning. Kyle Seager lead things off with his 26th double of the year and following him Justin Smoak singled and that put runners at the corners to begin the inning for the M's. Both Mike Zunino and Dustin Ackley hit back to back RBI singles to put the Mariners up 2-0. Brad Miller made it 3-0 on his sixth double of the year scoring Zunino and Ackley moved to third, and finally Officer Nick Franklin sent his eighth home run into the right field seats and the M's put up a six spot in the second and chased Twins starter Kevin Correia as well.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mariners got two extra runs on the board. Michael Saunders lead things off with a single and then Henry Blanco doubled him home and the M's put their seventh run on the board. After that Ackley checked in with his third hit of the game by doubling home Blanco and the Mariners lead 8-0. Iwakuma gave the Mariners six innings despite having thrown 51 pitches through 3 innings. He was able to get out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning without allowing a run. He finished the night with 101 pitches and striking out 9 batters.
Danny Farquhar was brought into the top of the seventh inning and with the way he pitched last night you would have never thought he had an ERA over 7. Farquhar threw two innings of shutout baseball while giving up just one hit and striking out 3 batters. Finally Oliver Perez was brought into the ninth and he didn't have the best outing tonight. Perez after getting two outs gave up two doubles that scored two runs for the Twins but after that Perez got Drew Butera to fly out and that was the ball game.
The Mariners have now won 9 out of the last 10 games. Dustin Ackley's bat has come alive since the All-Star Break batting .421 (8-19). Raul Ibanez's bat seems to have cooled off though since the All-Star Break batting .150 (3-20). Nick Franklin's eight home runs are the most by an American League second basemen in his first 49 games since Hall of Famer Joe Gordon (NYY) in 1938. Tonight's win has also moved Seattle up in the standings; they are now 10 games back in the American League West and are only 7.5 back in the Wild Card.
You can definitely say that the Mariners are the hottest team (next to the Tampa Bay Rays) in baseball. Tomorrow night the King's Court will be in session as Felix Hernandez will look to get his 12th win of the season.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
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.
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.
Friday, July 19, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Mariners finish the first half with a sweep
Well, I forgot to post a recap blog on the Mariners 6-0 win last night so I'll be writing a two day recap on last night's win and today's game. Last night the Mariners sent out King Felix Hernandez who would be pitching to try and get his tenth win of the year. Felix pitched a brilliant game going eight shutout innings, things started off well for him as he went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. The Angels sent out their ace Jered Weaver who was looking for his third win in a row, his night started off the same as Felix's except Raul Ibanez hit a ground rule double but that was all the Mariners would get in the bottom of the first inning. Ibanez extended his hitting streak with that double to three games.
Felix began the top of the second inning by striking out Josh Hamilton but Howie Kendrick got the Angles first his with a single; Felix then got Mark Trumbo to fly out to Dustin Ackley in center, Alberto Callaspo then singled to left to put runners at second and first with only one out, but Felix got one of his classic get-out-of-jam double play as he got Hank Conger to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. Weaver got out of the bottom of the second inning with a double play of his own, Justin Smoak was hit by a pitch and then Michael Saunders extended his hitting streak to six games with a one out single, Weaver got Zunino to ground into that double play I told you about to end the Mariners half of the second inning. Felix gave up a two out triple to Mike Trout in the third inning but got Albert Pujols to strikeout. The Mariners got to Weaver in the bottom of the fourth inning, with one out both Kendrys Morales and Kyle Seager got on with back-to-back singles; Seager extended his hitting streak to 13 games with that single, Smoak then battled Weaver in a 10 pitch at bat that ended with Smoak singling home Morales to give the Mariners the 1-0 lead.
The Mariners in the bottom of the sixth inning created some déjà vu as Morales and Seager hit back-to-back singles to bring up Smoak, but this time Smoak only looked at one pitch and drove it over the center field wall to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead and extending the team streak to 21 games with a home-run. In the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners started things off with Zunino walking and Ackley singled and with one out Scott Downs threw a wild pitch that allowed Zunino to score and the Mariners went ahead 5-0. After Nick Franklin walked, Ibanez added an extra run for the M's as he singled home Ackley and so the Mariners gave Felix a 6-0 lead. After the eighth inning Yoervis Medina was brought in for Felix to shut the door on the Angels, Medina got a 1-2-3 inning and struck out two batters. So the Mariners won both the series and their 42nd game of the year.
So, with last night done today the Mariners sent out their second All Star pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to try and get his first win in six starts and help the Mariners get their first sweep of the year. Iwakuma got an easy 1-2-3 first inning to start off his day, in the top of the second inning Iwakuma had another easy inning as he only gave up a one out double to Kendrick but didn't allow a run. The Mariners started off their half of the second inning with Justin Smoak getting a one out opposite field single. Michael Saunders then extended his hitting streak to seven games by hitting his sixth home-run of the year. Saunders not only gave the M's the 2-0 lead but extended the team's streak of hitting a home-run in consecutive games to 22. In the bottom of the fourth Seager extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a lead off single. After Smoak walked Saunders flied out to Trout in center, Seager then tagged up from second to third on the play and then Zunino drove in Seager with a sacrifice fly, so the Mariners took the 3-0 lead.
Mark Trumbo lead off the top of the fifth inning by hitting his 21st home-run of the year and got the Angels on the board. The Mariners added another run in their half of the fifth inning; Brad Miller lead off the inning with a single and after Franklin drew his second walk of the day Ibanez drove in Miller with a double for his 56th RBI of the year. Michael Kohn was brought into the game to try and get out of the jam Joe Blanton created, he started things off by striking out Morales, he intentionally walked Seager and then struck out both Smoak and Saunders to end the threat by the Mariners. Trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth Trout started things off for the Angels with a lead off single, Iwakuma got the next two batters out but after that Kendrick doubled to put runners at second and third, he intentionally walked Trumbo to bring up Callaspo who singled to right field that brought scored Trout and Kendrick. Iwakuma got out of the jam by striking out Chris Iannetta to end the inning.
Iwakuma finished off his day by having a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning, after that Charlie Furbush was brought in for the 42nd appearance of the season and after allowing a lead off double to Albert Pujols he got Josh Hamilton to pop out, Kendrick to line out, and then got a huge strikeout of Trumbo to end the inning. Tom Whilhelmsen was brought into the ninth to try and save his 19th game of the year and secure the Mariners first sweep of the year. Wilhelmsen went 1-2-3 and the Mariners got their first sweep of the year and their first sweep of the Angels since 2006. The Mariners finished off the first half of the season nine games under .500, 13 games back of first place in the AL West, and 11 games back for second place in the Wild Card. The Mariners will begin the second half of the season in Houston against the Astros.
Felix began the top of the second inning by striking out Josh Hamilton but Howie Kendrick got the Angles first his with a single; Felix then got Mark Trumbo to fly out to Dustin Ackley in center, Alberto Callaspo then singled to left to put runners at second and first with only one out, but Felix got one of his classic get-out-of-jam double play as he got Hank Conger to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. Weaver got out of the bottom of the second inning with a double play of his own, Justin Smoak was hit by a pitch and then Michael Saunders extended his hitting streak to six games with a one out single, Weaver got Zunino to ground into that double play I told you about to end the Mariners half of the second inning. Felix gave up a two out triple to Mike Trout in the third inning but got Albert Pujols to strikeout. The Mariners got to Weaver in the bottom of the fourth inning, with one out both Kendrys Morales and Kyle Seager got on with back-to-back singles; Seager extended his hitting streak to 13 games with that single, Smoak then battled Weaver in a 10 pitch at bat that ended with Smoak singling home Morales to give the Mariners the 1-0 lead.
The Mariners in the bottom of the sixth inning created some déjà vu as Morales and Seager hit back-to-back singles to bring up Smoak, but this time Smoak only looked at one pitch and drove it over the center field wall to give the Mariners the 4-0 lead and extending the team streak to 21 games with a home-run. In the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners started things off with Zunino walking and Ackley singled and with one out Scott Downs threw a wild pitch that allowed Zunino to score and the Mariners went ahead 5-0. After Nick Franklin walked, Ibanez added an extra run for the M's as he singled home Ackley and so the Mariners gave Felix a 6-0 lead. After the eighth inning Yoervis Medina was brought in for Felix to shut the door on the Angels, Medina got a 1-2-3 inning and struck out two batters. So the Mariners won both the series and their 42nd game of the year.
So, with last night done today the Mariners sent out their second All Star pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma to try and get his first win in six starts and help the Mariners get their first sweep of the year. Iwakuma got an easy 1-2-3 first inning to start off his day, in the top of the second inning Iwakuma had another easy inning as he only gave up a one out double to Kendrick but didn't allow a run. The Mariners started off their half of the second inning with Justin Smoak getting a one out opposite field single. Michael Saunders then extended his hitting streak to seven games by hitting his sixth home-run of the year. Saunders not only gave the M's the 2-0 lead but extended the team's streak of hitting a home-run in consecutive games to 22. In the bottom of the fourth Seager extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a lead off single. After Smoak walked Saunders flied out to Trout in center, Seager then tagged up from second to third on the play and then Zunino drove in Seager with a sacrifice fly, so the Mariners took the 3-0 lead.
Mark Trumbo lead off the top of the fifth inning by hitting his 21st home-run of the year and got the Angels on the board. The Mariners added another run in their half of the fifth inning; Brad Miller lead off the inning with a single and after Franklin drew his second walk of the day Ibanez drove in Miller with a double for his 56th RBI of the year. Michael Kohn was brought into the game to try and get out of the jam Joe Blanton created, he started things off by striking out Morales, he intentionally walked Seager and then struck out both Smoak and Saunders to end the threat by the Mariners. Trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth Trout started things off for the Angels with a lead off single, Iwakuma got the next two batters out but after that Kendrick doubled to put runners at second and third, he intentionally walked Trumbo to bring up Callaspo who singled to right field that brought scored Trout and Kendrick. Iwakuma got out of the jam by striking out Chris Iannetta to end the inning.
Iwakuma finished off his day by having a 1-2-3 top of the seventh inning, after that Charlie Furbush was brought in for the 42nd appearance of the season and after allowing a lead off double to Albert Pujols he got Josh Hamilton to pop out, Kendrick to line out, and then got a huge strikeout of Trumbo to end the inning. Tom Whilhelmsen was brought into the ninth to try and save his 19th game of the year and secure the Mariners first sweep of the year. Wilhelmsen went 1-2-3 and the Mariners got their first sweep of the year and their first sweep of the Angels since 2006. The Mariners finished off the first half of the season nine games under .500, 13 games back of first place in the AL West, and 11 games back for second place in the Wild Card. The Mariners will begin the second half of the season in Houston against the Astros.
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About Me
Im a huge Seattle sports nut. Thats basically about me. But im an upcoming blogger who writes only about the Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, and when they come back the Sonics. Now if you would like me to write about something tweet me and i will write it. Now i should mark that im also Irish and have a beard that is feared above Brian Wilson's beard. His beard can kiss my beard's ass!