Mariners Talk Podcast Episode 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Astros get Farq'd Mariners take the series

The Mariners were looking to end the drought of losing series after series to the Houston Astros today on Star Wars day. The Mariners did just that today, Danny Farqhuar was responsible this time for bailing the Mariners out of an Astros attempt at a comeback. So Twitter-verse invented a new hashtag......#MayTheFarqBeWithYou. And boy was the Farq with the Mariners and with Farqhuar himself. The Mariners were able to pull out the win and take the series from the Astros and improve their record to 14-15. Another positive about today's win was that the Mariners got some revenge on Collin McHugh, who earned his first MLB win off the Mariners while striking out 12.

The Mariners got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning. Michael Saunders continued his tear as lead off hitter with a lead off single to begin the game, and on a throwing error on a pick off by McHugh Saunders was able to scoot on down to third. Robinson Cano put the M's up 1-0 on a productive ground ball out for his 17th of the season. The Astros got a run back in the bottom of the second as Alex Presley homered off starter Brandon Maurer and so the game was nodded up at 1-1.

The top of the third the Mariners decided to get a couple runs back. Dustin Ackley started off the inning by drawing an eight pitch walk, John Buck followed Ackley's walk with his first double of the season and after Saunders struck out Willie Bloomquist delivered a nice 2-run double to put the Mariners back in front 3-1. Cano decided to get back into the RBI category by tripling home Bloomquist, and so the M's lead went up to 4-1. Corey Hart decided to get into both the hit and RBI category as well with his first hit of the game and put M's up 5-1.

The Mariners added an extra run in the top of the fourth when Saunders singled home Buck to put the Mariners lead to 5 runs, Buck was able to get a one out double before Saunders singled him home. Maurer though had a tough bottom of the fourth. After getting the first two batters out the Astros strung together a couple hits including a 2-run double by Chris Carter but was able to get the next batter out. Ackley would drive in a run in the top of the fifth, the Mariners would load the bases thanks to a single, a walk, and Stefen Romero getting hit by a pitch. Ackley would draw the M's second bases loaded walk in the series and so the Mariners lead got pushed to 7-4. The Astros got an extra run in the bottom of the fifth thanks to Jonathan Villar.

Maurer's day was done after the fifth inning so manager Lloyd McClendon went to the bullpen again and had to put his faith in his bullpen for the third day in a row.

The M's would get their final run in the top of the eighth inning. After a lead off double by Romero and Ackley moving him over with a productive out John Buck got his third hit of the ball game and drove in Romero to put the Mariners lead to 8-4. Charlie Furbush was brought into the bottom of the eighth and was taken out after giving up two straight hits. Farqhuar was then brought in to not only get out of the inning but to also try and earn a rare 6 out save. Marc Krauss singled on the first pitch Farqhuar threw, that allowed Jason Castro and Matt Dominguez to come around to score.

Farqhuar was able to settle down and get the next three batters out. He would give up a run in the bottom of the ninth but was able to shut the Astros down and secure the win, the save, and the series for the Mariners. The Mariners now will head to Oakland for a 4 game series against the first place A's, including a double header on Wednesday. After the game Abraham Almonte was optioned to Tacoma, no one has yet to be called up but we could see the M's getting a reliever to help out their tired bullpen.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: John Buck 3-4 2 2B 2 R RBI
                                         Robinson Cano 2-5 3B R 2 RBI
                                         Danny Farqhuar 2 IP 2 K 1 R 1 ER SV

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
                                           

Away with Almonte and welcome Carson Smith

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

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

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

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

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

2014 Projected Seattle Mariners

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

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. 

Sweeping beginning to the second half

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miller Time in Houston

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mariners 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. 

A slugfest in Seattle

After last night's massacre the Mariners were looking to give their second All Star ace Hisashi Iwakuma his first win since June 10th when he beat the Houston Astros. Iwakuma got an easy 1-2-3 inning to start off the game, moving into the bottom of the first inning Nick Franklin was able to extend his hitting streak to three games with a one out single to center. With two outs Kendrys Morales extended the Mariners streak of hitting a homerun in consecutive games to 17 with a two-run homerun to put the M's up 2-0. Former Mariner David Ortiz lead off the top of the second inning with a long homerun to put the Red Sox first run on the board. Iwakuma had a tough second inning after the lead off homerun by Ortiz as Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jose Iglesias singled with one out, Iwakuma was able to get out of the jam by Brock Holt to ground out and then striking out Jackie Bradley, Jr., Iwakuma ended up throwing 29 pitches in the second inning to put his pitch count to 40 after the inning ended.

Justin Smoak continued his hotstreak by leading off the bottom of the second with a single to center extending his hitting streak to three games, following that Michael Saunders drew a walk to put the first two batters on for the Mariners. After Mike Zunino struck out Dustin Ackley was able to draw the second walk in the inning to load up the bases with only one out, Brad Miller then came up and on the second pitch he saw lined a ball down the right field line to empty the bases, Miller's bases clearing double pushed the Mariners lead to 5-1 and that was all the M's got in the second. Iwakuma had another tough inning in the third but this time it would cost him dearly. With one out the Red Sox put together four straight hits with two two-run homeruns from Dustin Pedroia and Mike Napoli, the Sox got an extra run on a sacrifice fly by Holt that scored Saltalamacchia and after the third the Red Sox had a one run lead 6-5.

Morales only needed one pitch to tie the game back up at 6-6 as he drove his thirteenth homerun of the year and second of the game over the center field fence. Kyle Seager extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single to right field, Michael Saunders continued to have a hot bat as he drove one to deep center field to score Seager from first and Saunders slide into third safely for his second triple of the year and the Mariners took the 7-6 lead. Blake Beaven came into the fourth inning to relief Iwakuma and didn't start out very hot, on an 0-2 pitch he hit Daniel Nava and then walked Shane Victorino and after that Pedroia singled to right that allowed Nava to score and the Red Sox retied the game at 7-7. Beaven was able to get out of the inning without allowing another run by getting Ortiz to pop out and then striking out both Napoli and Saltalamacchia. The Red Sox were able to take the lead in the top of the fifth inning when Bradley drove one out into the right center field seats.

The Mariners wouldn't get another run until the bottom of the eighth inning but in the top of the eighth the Red Sox got an additional three runs. Victorino lead off the eighth by hitting his fourth homerun of the year and the fifth for the team then both Iglesias and Holt had RBI singles to put the Red Sox lead to 11-7. Miller drove in the Mariners final run of the game when he grounded into a force out as Saunders scored. After that the game was sealed after that as the Mariners couldn't muster up a rally to tie or win the game, Beaven took the loss in the game and Iwakuma had his shortest outing in his career. Aaron Harang will go out looking for his fifth win of the year and his fourth quality start in a row. Tonight's loss puts the Mariners back to 10 games under .500. Ibanez's 13 game hitting streak came to an end last night as he went 0-5.

An All Star weekend

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

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

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

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

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

Simply Seager sweet swing wins it in extras

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

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

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

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

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

The Gator wins it for the Mariners

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

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

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

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

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

A night of firsts for the Mariners

Joe Saunders was sent out tonight against the Oakland A's looking for his first road win of the season. Jason Bay lead off the game for the Mariners with a single but he was erased when Nick Franklin grounded into a double play, after Kyle Seager walked Kendrys Morales struck out to end the first inning for the Mariners. In the bottom of the first ROOT Sports showed the lineup for the Athletics and I noticed that Chris Young was leading off and I asked myself why would the A's put a guy that is batting .169 in the lead off spot, and my question was answered as Young singled to lead things off for the A's. Seth Smith grounded into a double play and then Jed Lowrie flew out to Bay and Saunders had an easy 1-2-3 9 pitch inning.

Mike Morse lead off the top of the second inning off right as he was able to slide in safely in second with a lead off double, Raul Ibanez used his 41 year old speed to leg out an infield single. Mike Zunino would ground into a double play and on the play Morse scored and the Mariners took the early 1-0 lead and unfortunately thanks to the MLB rules Zunino wouldn't get credited with his first MLB RBI. In the bottom of the second the A's threatened to score a run, on a single by Derek Norris, Michael Saunders bobbled the ball and on the play Nate Freiman began to run home and on the throw to Brendan Ryan, Ryan fired the ball home and on an incredible major league tag Zunino put on Freiman he was cut down at the plate.

The Athletics would score their first run in the bottom of the fifth. Norris drew the lead off walk and after that Josh Reddick grounded out but the Mariners were unable to get the double play. The Mariners would fail another double play as Adam Rosales grounded into a force out at second. Eric Sogard would then pop out on what should have been an inning ending pop out but thanks to some mis-communication Jason Bay collided into Nick Franklin in which Franklin dropped the baseball, that allowed Rosales to score all the way from first and the game was tied at 1-1. In the top of the seventh inning Mike Zunino stepped in to take his swings at the plate, on the third pitch of the at bat Zunino drove on to deep centerfield and over Young's glove for his first major league homerun of his career and first major league RBI and thanks to his homer the Mariners took the 2-1 lead.

The top of the eighth saw Nick Franklin and Kyle Seager leading off the inning with back-to-back singles. After Morales flew out and Morse grounded into a force out at second Ibanez came through again for the Mariners and singled home Franklin to give the M's the 3-1 lead. Danny Farquhar took over for Joe Saunders in the bottom of the eighth and the first batter in Chris Young took him deep to put the Mariners lead to 3-2. Young would go 3-3 and raise his batting average to .182.

Oliver Perez was giving the ball to close out the game in the ninth. Perez shut down the Athletics and earn his first save of his career and the win for the Mariners. Joe Saunders earned his first road win of the season and improved to 7-4 on the season. Tomorrow the Mariners will make their national televised debut on FOX as Felix Hernandez goes out looking to put the Mariners to 2-0 on the road trip.

Bonderman's start goes to waste

Tonight Jeremy Bonderman took the mound but the story of night was the major league debut of Mike Zunino. Bonderman only need 10 pitches and 4 minutes to end the top of the first inning. Jordan Lyles was dealing to start his night, striking out 5 batters in the first 2 innings. Nothing exciting happened until the bottom of the fourth inning, after Raul Ibanez lead off the inning by striking out Nick Franklin was able to slice a double to bring up Zunino, who struck out in his first at bat, was able to line one into center field for his first major league hit and on the play Franklin could've scored but third base coach Daren Brown held him up, this would end up costing the Mariners a huge chance to take the lead early in the game.

With Franklin and Zunino on base Michael Saunders was looking to drive in at least one of them but drew his second walk of the ball game, both Brendan Ryan and Alex Liddi struck out to end the threat by the Mariners. Brown's decision to hold up Franklin would be very costly, cause not only could Franklin score but it could've given the Mariners the confidence they needed to score a few more runs. Bonderman wouldn't mind though, he was dealing through the whole game. Bonderman would go eight innings of shutout innings, while striking out and throwing only 89 pitches.

The Mariners got things started in the bottom of the eighth inning. Endy Chavez started the inning off right by singling to put the go ahead run on for the Mariners. Jason Bay then put down a bunt and thanks to the Houston Astros horrible defense, Marvin Gonzalez dropped the exchanged throw and the Mariners now had two runners on with nobody out. Travis Blackley was then brought in to try and get out of the jam for the Astros, he was able to get Kyle Seager to pop out in foul territory and then strikeout Ibanez but Nick Franklin, who had two hits so far in the game, was able to line one into right allowing the speedy Chavez to score and the Mariners would be done there and go into the ninth leading 1-0.

On what would be a bonehead move by manager Eric Wedge he brought in closer Tom Wilhelmsen to close the game and did not let Bonderman go and finish what he started. The ninth would be a disaster for not only Tommy boy but the Mariners bullpen as they gave up 6 runs and that would be all she wrote. The Astros avoided the sweep and improved to 7-4 against the Mariners this season. Thankfully the Mariners have an off day tomorrow after 3 straight weeks of playing. They will only be on the road for 6 games, two 3 game sets with the A's and Angels and will come right back home.

NOTES: There was a tweet I saw that said that Bonderman threw a chair in the clubhouse and had to be escorted out of the clubhouse and was kept away from Wilhelmsen.

Mariners in the outfield

Yeah I know the title is a rip off of Angels in the Outfield but look at this clip that I post of a certain part in the movie clip.

Now, if you don't want to watch the clip then let me explain what the clip is. Its the part where Danny Glover is sick and tired of his team losing that he goes on a Lou Pinella rage and yells and demeans the team, he and I quote;
"ONE MORE LOSS! ONE MORE LOSS WHICH COULDVE BEEN A WIN! You call yourselves professionals, I have never ever seen a worse group of 25 players! You don't think as a team, you don't play as a team, you don't even lose as a team! You all got your head so far up your butts you cant even see the light of day!". He also said "I want you here in uniform at 9 tomorrow morning, were going back to fundamentals."

Now, why would I post something like this your wondering? Well, because for one thing this is what Eric Wedge should do to the Mariners and quit being the biggest pussy manager in baseball and it describes how the Mariners are playing and have been playing for the last 10 years and im going to break everything down of what Glover said.

Now the first thing was "one more loss which could've been a win" which best describes the Mariners ability to give up during the game and allow their opponents to get to the best of them and score run after run. The Mariners have seen their opponents score 6+ runs 22 times this year, 7+ 15 times, 8+ 10 times, 9+ 8 times, and 10+ runs 6 times. During most of the losses the M's have suffered this year their opponents have scored most of those runs within the first 4 innings or in the 6th inning or later. Tom Wilhelmsen has blown 3 saves and has struggled in the 3 out of the last 4 games he has saved and his ERA has suffered just as much has he has, jumping up from 0.50 to 1.98.

Next thing Glover said in his angry speech was "I have never ever seen a worse group of 25 players". Now, not all 25 players on the Mariners are horrible. Felix, Kuma, Seager, Morales, Franklin, Ibanez, Morse, Capps, Perez, and Chavez are the players that I consider the best players on the Mariners right now, that leaves 15 terrible players on the roster but im counting the guys we sent down so that's an additional 5 players putting the Mariners worse players to 20. Michael Saunders is one of the worst that is currently on the major league roster. Since May 16th Saunders's batting average has dipped from .278 down to .200. 

Nobody knows what has happened to one of the Mariners best players from last year, Saunders went from being a power hitter to Brendan Ryan before he found his swing. Dustin Ackley and Jesus Montero playing performance has been horrific. Ackley's batting and fielding has shown along with Montero's defense and hitting. Since I mentioned Montero lets talk about the Mariners catchers situation. The Mariners catchers no matter who it is cant hold on to the baseball, make accurate throws to second, drops the ball on trying to throw out a runner and none of them can hit. The Mariners might have to bring up Mike Zunino if the catcher situation gets any worse.

The next group that should be mentioned on the worse of the worse is the pitchers. Brandon Maurer was just horrible in his brief stint in the majors this year going 2-7 with a 6.93 ERA. Aaron Harang has been just has horrible, although he has been solid in his last 2 starts, but so far he has posted a 2-6 record with a 6.70 ERA. Joe Saunders has been inconsistent as well as he cant find a way to win on the road but has been very solid in his last two road starts but has posted a 0-4 record with a 9.00 ERA. The only two pitchers that have been consistent has been Felix and Kuma. The Mariners need to solve their pitching and catcher situation.

Now getting to the next thing Glover said "you don't play as a team, you don't think as a team, you don't even lose as a team". When the Mariners went on their 8 game losing streak the Mariners began to lose faith in themselves. They don't seem to have confidence in themselves and therefore blame themselves and probably blame each other on tough loses. With the team failing to hit in key situations and their 3-4-5 pitchers need to figure out a way to pitch deep into ball games to give their bullpen a rest.

Now the final line Glover said "You all got your heads so far up your butts you cant even see the light of day". Right there describes the man standing in the dugout with white pubes under his nose and on his chin. Eric Wedge has made some questionable managerial decisions that not even Lou Pinella would have made. Wedge constantly changes pitchers after either they have faced one or two batters. That bite him in the ass during the 16 inning marathon against the Chicago White Sox. I have never seen a manager in my life that makes as many pitching changes as Wedge does. Now if the Mariners were to make a managerial change during the All Star break or now I think I would see the Mariners improve just a little.

To me the Mariners could use Lou Pinella's managerial help right now. The Mariners have been in the dumps since 2004 and has continued to slip into mediocrity along with being a laughing stock in baseball. All the Mariners need to do is improve on hitting with runners in scoring position, find catchers that can play defense and hit, fire Wedge and Jack Z, and find a way to get pitchers that can give the team 5-7 innings and not give up 5-7 runs a game. Im a die hard fan of this team and I have always supported the team through everything but its very heartbreaking to watch my team go through this every year but I will continue to support the Mariners in everyway possible and will always have faith in them.

I will now end by saying this to every Mariners fan, keep your faith in the team and cheer them on to a late season surge into the playoffs and stay True to The Blue!!!

Rivera shines above the King

The Mariners looked to take not only even up the series against the Yankees but also win the season series against them. King Felix looked to dominate the Yanks in today's game in front of a crowd of 43,389 fans. Felix had a rough first inning as he threw 26 pitches, 15 for strikes and 11 for balls. Brett Gardner would only need to look at two pitches before he lead off the game with a single and then later stole second base with Mark Teixeria up. Felix was able to strikeout Teixeria but then walked two straight batters in Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner. With former Mariner Ichiro Suzuki up Felix knew he had to throw his best stuff to him, Felix was able to strikeout the aging Ichiro on a curveball that he cased in the dirt.

The Mariners would get Jason Bay to lead off with a single to extend his small hitting streak to 3 games but was caught napping on first and was picked off by pitcher David Phelps. The Mariners would get Kyle Seager on with a walk but couldn't do anything to get him home and the inning ended. Felix in the top of the second would give up another lead off single this time to Jason Nix. After striking out Reid Brignac, Chris Stewart singled on a bunt that allowed Brignac to get to third. Gardner would single in the first run of the game on his line drive single to center but Felix recovered and was able to get Robinson Cano to ground into the inning ending double play.

With one out in the bottom half of the second Kelly Shoppach was able to line one down the left field line and allowed him to easily get to second base. With a runner in scoring position Michael Saunders grounded out to Cano that allowed Shoppach to move over to third, Alex Liddi, who was filling in for Kendrys Morales on account that Morales's back stiffness was bothering him, was able to draw a two out walk which brought up the hot Brendan Ryan. Ryan hit a soft ground ball to Brignac and on the throw to second Liddi was able to slide in safely and on the play Shoppach scored to tie the game at 1-1.

Felix would then pitch a brilliant game as he went 1-2-3 in the third and the fourth. In the bottom of the seventh inning Felix would start the inning out by getting Brignac to ground out, he then struck out Chris Stewart, on the pitch he got to strikeout Stewart there was a injury delay as Felix's back started to tighten up. Both manager Eric Wedge and head trainer Rick Griffin came out to check on Felix, not only the fans but I was scared at the fact that the Mariners ace was being looked at. Felix waved both Wedge and Griffin and told them to let him finish the inning off. Felix would finish the inning off in style as he got Brett Gardner on three straight pitches including a 93 mph fastball on the final strike. Felix would not return after that as he finished the day striking out 7 batters while throwing 108 pitches. 

Charlie Furbush would come in to replace Felix in the eighth inning. Furbush would hit the first batter he saw but was able to strikeout Teixeria and get Hafner to pop out to Seager. Eric Wedge would then come and make one of his usual quick pitching changes as he brought in Yoervis Medina for Furbush to face Vernon Wells. Medina was able to get Wells to ground out to Liddi to end the Yankee eighth inning. The bottom of the eighth started off right for the Mariners as Liddi lead off with his first double and hit of the season. Brendan Ryan moved Liddi over with his fourth sacrifice bunt of the season, but unfortunately the Mariners woes of being unable to hit with runners in scoring struck again as both Jason Bay and Nick Franklin struck out to end the threat for the Mariners and it would cost the Mariners the game as well.

 Ichiro lead off the ninth inning by drawing a walk, following the walk Jason Nix advanced Ichiro to second by laying down a bunt. Medina was able to get Stewart to fly out to Raul in left but the next batter would be Gardner who before the at bat was batting 8-18 in the series. Gardner would hurt the Mariners again by singling to left driving in Ichiro and giving the Yankees the 2-1 lead. After Oliver Perez came in and got the final out of the inning Mariano Rivera made his final trip to the mound at Safeco Field to a standing ovation not only from the Yankee fans that made the trip to Seattle but the Mariner fans as well. Kyle Seager lead things off by extending his hitting streak to 13 games with a single but Morales then erased the threat by grounding into a double play. Raul was able to draw a two out walk and Endy Chavez was able to line a single to extend the inning but Michael Saunders would end the rally on one pitch as he popped out to end the game and secure Rivera's final save against the Mariners and at Safeco Field.

The Mariners record stands now at 27-37 and will now play the Houston Astros for three games. The Mariners haven't had a hole lot of success against the Astros this year only winning 2 out of the 6 games that they have played against them. So the Mariners are looking for some payback after both their pitching and hitting has been pathetic.

NOTES: Kyle Seager and Jason Bay both extended their hitting streaks to 13 and 3. Michael Saunders went 0-4 to drop the struggling Canadian slugger batting average to .203.