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
Showing posts with label Nick Franklin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nick Franklin. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
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.
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.
Monday, April 21, 2014
SeaTalk Intenitonal Podcast Mariners Talk Episode 3
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-129537/TS-852261.mp3
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Mariners off to a good start
Its been a whole month since the Seattle Seahawks won their first Super Bowl in franchise history. Now, Seattle fans have the Mariners to watch. So far the Mariners have started the spring 6-1 after today's win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, and yet there is already worry about this team. The worries aren't coming from the M's players hitting or the Nick Franklin trade rumors, the worries are being focused on two of the Mariners prime pitchers Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker.
Both pitchers have started the season injured. Walker has been shut down for the week due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder but ESPN reported that Walker may not be in the starting rotation until early/late April, but to be honest Walker should be back on the mound before the start of the season as he is taking medication to take the swelling down.
Iwakuma though is a different story, Kuma will have his right middle in a splint for three more weeks, he would have needed to throw 22 simulated innings or minor league innings to even be ready for the season. So you can imagine how both Seattle sports talk radio shows and the fans are reacting to this. Me though, I'm not worried. Kuma and Walker's absence will be missed but until they return the Mariners do have either Scott Baker, Blake Beaven, Erasmo Ramirez, and Randy Wolf to cover until they return. The worst case scenario is that Brandon Maurer gets called to be a starter and we can all remember his dismal season last year.
Putting both Kuma and Walker aside, the Mariners first 7 games of the season has seen the team hit, the speed, and great pitching that shows that this Mariners ball club is ready for the 2014 season and are wanting to make noise to push for the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
Now, how about we talk about the hitters now, shall I? First off Corey Hart, he's suppose to be having knee issues but the other day he didn't show any signs of that as he stole home plate. Hart signed a one year, $6 million dollar deal with the Mariners and so far he's taken only 6 at bats and in those at bats he's drawn 3 walks, 2 hits, and he's scored 3 times when he gets on base, so Hart's knees for some odd reason seem to be healed. As for Logan Morrison he's been getting at bats and making the most of it. Morrison was acquired from the Miami Marlins in a trade for pitcher Carter Capps, and again he's really done a great job in Spring Training. He's had 12 at bats and has had 5 hits and driven in 2 runs.
One player that seems to having a difficult time at the plate is Abraham Almonte. Almonte is predicted to be Seattle's lead off hitter but right now I'm thinking at being placed 8th in the lineup. Almonte has had 12 at bats and has only managed 1 hit. Almonte last year played in 25 games and finished with a .264 batting average and showed off his speed as well. If Almonte wants that lead off role he needs to pick things up and get some hits, because he's a great lead off hitter candidate because of his speed. One more concern is Stefen Romero he is hit less in 11 at bats this spring........nothing really more to say.
Romero is projected this year to possibly make his MLB debut this year, but to do that he's going to need to show manager Llyod McClendon that he's ready to make that jump. Dustin Ackley though has been tearing the cover off the baseball this spring. Ackley entered this spring with more beard and he has done nothing but show the fans that this may be his year. Ackley has had 10 at bats and has 6 hits to go with 1 homerun, and 6 RBIs.
There's a lot we can say about Ackley and the other players but I think I will finish things off by saying, that this team looks prime and ready for Opening Day in Anaheim. The Mariners can be that team that come straight out of spring training and make a loud noise in the American League. Yes Kuma and Walker will be out for a little bit but again the Mariners have the necessary replacement pitchers to help the team at the start of the season until their two prime starters return. Another thing is that this Mariners team looks to be the team that breaks the dead last in hitting streak they have had. Only time will tell. Tonight the Mariners face the Cleveland Indians at 7.
Both pitchers have started the season injured. Walker has been shut down for the week due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder but ESPN reported that Walker may not be in the starting rotation until early/late April, but to be honest Walker should be back on the mound before the start of the season as he is taking medication to take the swelling down.
Iwakuma though is a different story, Kuma will have his right middle in a splint for three more weeks, he would have needed to throw 22 simulated innings or minor league innings to even be ready for the season. So you can imagine how both Seattle sports talk radio shows and the fans are reacting to this. Me though, I'm not worried. Kuma and Walker's absence will be missed but until they return the Mariners do have either Scott Baker, Blake Beaven, Erasmo Ramirez, and Randy Wolf to cover until they return. The worst case scenario is that Brandon Maurer gets called to be a starter and we can all remember his dismal season last year.
Putting both Kuma and Walker aside, the Mariners first 7 games of the season has seen the team hit, the speed, and great pitching that shows that this Mariners ball club is ready for the 2014 season and are wanting to make noise to push for the playoffs for the first time since 2001.
Now, how about we talk about the hitters now, shall I? First off Corey Hart, he's suppose to be having knee issues but the other day he didn't show any signs of that as he stole home plate. Hart signed a one year, $6 million dollar deal with the Mariners and so far he's taken only 6 at bats and in those at bats he's drawn 3 walks, 2 hits, and he's scored 3 times when he gets on base, so Hart's knees for some odd reason seem to be healed. As for Logan Morrison he's been getting at bats and making the most of it. Morrison was acquired from the Miami Marlins in a trade for pitcher Carter Capps, and again he's really done a great job in Spring Training. He's had 12 at bats and has had 5 hits and driven in 2 runs.
One player that seems to having a difficult time at the plate is Abraham Almonte. Almonte is predicted to be Seattle's lead off hitter but right now I'm thinking at being placed 8th in the lineup. Almonte has had 12 at bats and has only managed 1 hit. Almonte last year played in 25 games and finished with a .264 batting average and showed off his speed as well. If Almonte wants that lead off role he needs to pick things up and get some hits, because he's a great lead off hitter candidate because of his speed. One more concern is Stefen Romero he is hit less in 11 at bats this spring........nothing really more to say.
Romero is projected this year to possibly make his MLB debut this year, but to do that he's going to need to show manager Llyod McClendon that he's ready to make that jump. Dustin Ackley though has been tearing the cover off the baseball this spring. Ackley entered this spring with more beard and he has done nothing but show the fans that this may be his year. Ackley has had 10 at bats and has 6 hits to go with 1 homerun, and 6 RBIs.
There's a lot we can say about Ackley and the other players but I think I will finish things off by saying, that this team looks prime and ready for Opening Day in Anaheim. The Mariners can be that team that come straight out of spring training and make a loud noise in the American League. Yes Kuma and Walker will be out for a little bit but again the Mariners have the necessary replacement pitchers to help the team at the start of the season until their two prime starters return. Another thing is that this Mariners team looks to be the team that breaks the dead last in hitting streak they have had. Only time will tell. Tonight the Mariners face the Cleveland Indians at 7.
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.
Lucky 7's for the Mariners
Well here we are folks, the Mariners began a 7 game home stretch and came off a sweep of the Houston Astros, along with riding a season high 6 game winning streak, so who better to take the mound and try and help the team get to 7 straight wins then Aaron Harang. Did I just say that? Man, why did it have to be Harang? Well, I guess he's not that bad, except in the top of the first inning he gave up a solo home run to Nick Swisher and the Cleveland Indians took the early 1-0 lead. After Harang got out of the first inning, Ubaldo Jimenez took care of the Mariners in their half of the first. Harang came back out and went 1-2-3 against the Tribe and Jimenez did the same to the M's.
Harang though didn't have an easy third inning. After getting Drew Stubbs to ground out both Michael Bourn and Swisher singled and on Swisher's single Bourn (with his incredible speed) was able to easily mosey into third safely. Harang then pulled himself together and struck out Jason Kipnis and got former Mariner Asdrubal Cabrera to ground out, and so Harangatang escaped the top of the third without surrendering a run. Mike Zunino lead things off for the M's in bottom of the third by taking the first pitch that he saw from Jimenez down the left field line for a lead off double. The Mariners though couldn't get Zunino home and Jimenez pulled off his own Houdini. Harang got into his second jam, Carlos Santana lined a ball down the right field line and thanks to an idiotic Sonics fan, Santana was forced to stay at second. Harang got out of the jam by getting Jason Giambi to pop out to second and then got Lonnie Chisenhall to ground out to Nick Franklin.
Kendrys Morales lead off the bottom of the fourth by driving one off the glass of the Hit It Here Cafe to tie the game up at 1. Zunino lead off the bottom of the fifth with his first home run at Safeco Field to put the M's ahead 2-1. After that, Harang took over and pitched into the seventh inning without allowing another run or hit, as he retired the last nine batters he faced. Charlie Furbush then was brought into the top of the eighth inning, he hit Michael Bourn to begin the inning but came back and struck out Nick Swisher, picked off Bourn, and finally got Jason Kipnis to ground out to end the eighth inning for the Tribe.
Now, if you remember back in May all Tom Wilhelmsen needed to do was hang onto the ball and he would have saved the game for the M's, but unfortunately he didn't and the M's lost 10-8 to the Tribe. This time out though, Tommy Boy allowed two runners one with two outs but managed to escape the jam and save his 22nd game of the year and secure the Mariners their seventh straight win. Tonight Erasmo Ramirez will take the mound after an impressive start in Everett, he'll try and go for his first win of the season and help the team get to eight wins in a row. The Mariners enter tonight's game only 5 games under .500, 11 games back of first in the AL West, and 9.5 games back of second place in the Wild Card.
Harang though didn't have an easy third inning. After getting Drew Stubbs to ground out both Michael Bourn and Swisher singled and on Swisher's single Bourn (with his incredible speed) was able to easily mosey into third safely. Harang then pulled himself together and struck out Jason Kipnis and got former Mariner Asdrubal Cabrera to ground out, and so Harangatang escaped the top of the third without surrendering a run. Mike Zunino lead things off for the M's in bottom of the third by taking the first pitch that he saw from Jimenez down the left field line for a lead off double. The Mariners though couldn't get Zunino home and Jimenez pulled off his own Houdini. Harang got into his second jam, Carlos Santana lined a ball down the right field line and thanks to an idiotic Sonics fan, Santana was forced to stay at second. Harang got out of the jam by getting Jason Giambi to pop out to second and then got Lonnie Chisenhall to ground out to Nick Franklin.
Kendrys Morales lead off the bottom of the fourth by driving one off the glass of the Hit It Here Cafe to tie the game up at 1. Zunino lead off the bottom of the fifth with his first home run at Safeco Field to put the M's ahead 2-1. After that, Harang took over and pitched into the seventh inning without allowing another run or hit, as he retired the last nine batters he faced. Charlie Furbush then was brought into the top of the eighth inning, he hit Michael Bourn to begin the inning but came back and struck out Nick Swisher, picked off Bourn, and finally got Jason Kipnis to ground out to end the eighth inning for the Tribe.
Now, if you remember back in May all Tom Wilhelmsen needed to do was hang onto the ball and he would have saved the game for the M's, but unfortunately he didn't and the M's lost 10-8 to the Tribe. This time out though, Tommy Boy allowed two runners one with two outs but managed to escape the jam and save his 22nd game of the year and secure the Mariners their seventh straight win. Tonight Erasmo Ramirez will take the mound after an impressive start in Everett, he'll try and go for his first win of the season and help the team get to eight wins in a row. The Mariners enter tonight's game only 5 games under .500, 11 games back of first in the AL West, and 9.5 games back of second place in the Wild Card.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Mariners in playoff contention?
July has seen the Seattle Mariners surge onto the spotlight......well sorta. The Mariners have started July out with a 5-3 record and in those eight games we've seen our fair share of homeruns, clutch hits, great plays, clutch pitching, and plenty of hits. In the last two games that the Mariners have played they have scored 19 runs including the 11 run massacre of the Red Sox on Monday. Right now they sit at 40-50 while being 13.5 games out of first place in the American League West standings and only 10.5 games out of the American League Wild Card.
The way the Mariners have been playing this month we have also seen Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders get their swing back and Raul Ibanez continues his amazing season as he leads the team in homeruns and tied with Kendrys Morales for the team leader in RBIs with 51. Kyle Seager has been incredible (as always) in the last 10 games has he has posted a .410 batting average including his current 9 game hitting streak and he leads the team in batting average batting .288. Brad Miller last night had a career night as he went 3-5 with two doubles and a career high 4 RBIs and he also raised his batting average 75 points in the last two games.
Nick Franklin continues his amazing season as well, he is second on the team in batting average batting .281 and he's clubbed 6 homeruns while driving in 16 runs. Like I said in the first paragraph Smoak's bat has come alive, in the last 10 games he's batting .382 with 2 homeruns and 5 runs driven in, in the 10 games that Smoak has been heating up since he has come off the DL he's raised his average to an impressive .266 and currently this month he's hitting and unbelievable .423. Saunders's bat like I said in the paragraph above this one has also been heating up as over the last 4 games he has played he has gone 5 for 15 while driving in 6 runs and 3 of those 5 hits have been extra base hits including the triple he hit last night.
Now, the Mariners have a big problem though currently and surprisingly its Hisashi Iwakuma. In Iwakuma's last 5 starts has gone 0-3 with a 6.83 ERA while giving up 10 homeruns and 22 runs all earned. Felix Hernandez is doing very well coming off his bad start in Anaheim as he has gone 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last 3 starts while striking out 24 in 21 innings. Hisashi needs to get his stuff together and pitch like the Cy Young contender he was when he was 7-1 with a 1.79 ERA. Another concern for the Mariners is their bullpen, now not all of our relievers have been terrible for example Oliver Perez is making a name for himself as he has pitched in 36 games, 33.1 innings, while striking out 46 and posting a 1.89 ERA.
Carter Capps has been struggling in his last 6 games that he has pitched. He has given up 14 runs and his ERA has risen from 3.54 to 6.62 while posting a 15.12 ERA in his last 10 games pitched. The Mariners need to make a decision to either send Capps down to Triple A for a bit and call up either Logan Bawcom or Hector Noesi. Now, all I've written about so far in this blog is the good and the bad about the team but as you can tell from the title of the blog that's not all I'm going to write about, the Mariners right now are having a good season.
They've been hot in hitting the baseball in the last two weeks and if they can get together a good winning streak and come out in the second half red smoking hot they Mariners could possibly make a run for the Wild Card. The bullpen has to improve and not give up runs in clutch situations like last night when they gave up 5 critical runs to the Red Sox. Both Felix and Hisashi need to improve and go deep in games and work on keeping their pitch count down early in the games, Joe Saunders needs to continue his hot pitching as he is 2-0 in his last 2 starts, Aaron Harang needs to keep his hot streak going as well, and finally with Erasmo Ramirez coming up this Thursday he must go deep into ball games and pitch like he did in Spring Training.
If the Mariners can do all these things then fans will see either the M's finishing the season above .500 or see the M's make an impressive run to the playoffs.
The way the Mariners have been playing this month we have also seen Justin Smoak and Michael Saunders get their swing back and Raul Ibanez continues his amazing season as he leads the team in homeruns and tied with Kendrys Morales for the team leader in RBIs with 51. Kyle Seager has been incredible (as always) in the last 10 games has he has posted a .410 batting average including his current 9 game hitting streak and he leads the team in batting average batting .288. Brad Miller last night had a career night as he went 3-5 with two doubles and a career high 4 RBIs and he also raised his batting average 75 points in the last two games.
Nick Franklin continues his amazing season as well, he is second on the team in batting average batting .281 and he's clubbed 6 homeruns while driving in 16 runs. Like I said in the first paragraph Smoak's bat has come alive, in the last 10 games he's batting .382 with 2 homeruns and 5 runs driven in, in the 10 games that Smoak has been heating up since he has come off the DL he's raised his average to an impressive .266 and currently this month he's hitting and unbelievable .423. Saunders's bat like I said in the paragraph above this one has also been heating up as over the last 4 games he has played he has gone 5 for 15 while driving in 6 runs and 3 of those 5 hits have been extra base hits including the triple he hit last night.
Now, the Mariners have a big problem though currently and surprisingly its Hisashi Iwakuma. In Iwakuma's last 5 starts has gone 0-3 with a 6.83 ERA while giving up 10 homeruns and 22 runs all earned. Felix Hernandez is doing very well coming off his bad start in Anaheim as he has gone 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last 3 starts while striking out 24 in 21 innings. Hisashi needs to get his stuff together and pitch like the Cy Young contender he was when he was 7-1 with a 1.79 ERA. Another concern for the Mariners is their bullpen, now not all of our relievers have been terrible for example Oliver Perez is making a name for himself as he has pitched in 36 games, 33.1 innings, while striking out 46 and posting a 1.89 ERA.
Carter Capps has been struggling in his last 6 games that he has pitched. He has given up 14 runs and his ERA has risen from 3.54 to 6.62 while posting a 15.12 ERA in his last 10 games pitched. The Mariners need to make a decision to either send Capps down to Triple A for a bit and call up either Logan Bawcom or Hector Noesi. Now, all I've written about so far in this blog is the good and the bad about the team but as you can tell from the title of the blog that's not all I'm going to write about, the Mariners right now are having a good season.
They've been hot in hitting the baseball in the last two weeks and if they can get together a good winning streak and come out in the second half red smoking hot they Mariners could possibly make a run for the Wild Card. The bullpen has to improve and not give up runs in clutch situations like last night when they gave up 5 critical runs to the Red Sox. Both Felix and Hisashi need to improve and go deep in games and work on keeping their pitch count down early in the games, Joe Saunders needs to continue his hot pitching as he is 2-0 in his last 2 starts, Aaron Harang needs to keep his hot streak going as well, and finally with Erasmo Ramirez coming up this Thursday he must go deep into ball games and pitch like he did in Spring Training.
If the Mariners can do all these things then fans will see either the M's finishing the season above .500 or see the M's make an impressive run to the playoffs.
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.
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.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Boston Massacre in Seattle
The Mariners came into tonight's game with their King on the mound. Felix went out looking for his first win in four starts. Felix did not struggle in the first inning as he only gave up the one out single to Jonny Gomes and following Gomes's single got Dustin Pedroia to ground into an inning ending double play. The Bellarmine Prep grad and Washington native John Lester took the mound for the Red Sox looking to get his ninth win of the year, he got the Mariners to go 1-2-3 while striking out two batters. David Ortiz lead off the top of the second inning for the Red Sox by singling to center, Felix got Mike Napoli to strikeout looking following him former Mariners outfielder and first basemen Mike Carp singled to put runners at first and second for the Red Sox. Felix didn't let the pressure get to him as usual, he got Jarod Saltalamacchia to line out to Raul in left and finished the inning by getting Jose Iglesias to strikeout swinging.
Both teams didn't score until the fourth inning. The Mariners began the bottom of the fourth inning on a great note, Kendrys Morales singled and following him Kyle Seager singled to right, on the single Morales was able to hustle into third and the M's had runners at the corners with nobody out. Lester was able to get Jason Bay to strikeout but after that it was all Mariners; Justin Smoak lined a double down the left field line that brought home the Mariners first run of the game and following Smoak's double Mike Zunino was able to draw a seven pitch walk.
After a quick visit to the mound by the Red Sox pitching coach Michael Saunders was able to be patient and draw the bases loaded walk that put the Mariners up 2-0, Lester finally was able to get out of the inning by getting Brad Miller and Nick Franklin to pop out and if anyone was happy to get out of the was Lester as he threw 39 pitches in the inning. The Red Sox bounced back in the top of the fifth inning by getting two runs back to tie the game up.
Raul Ibanez lead off the bottom of the fifth inning by extending his hitting streak to 13 games by hitting his 22nd homerun of the year and putting the Mariners up 3-2. The Mariners had another big inning in the bottom of the sixth inning as Smoak and Zunino lead off the inning by singling, after that Lester exited the game and Alex Wilson came into relief him. Saunders was able to take a 2-0 pitch deep to center field that scored both Smoak and Zunino to put the Mariners lead to 5-2. After Miller and Franklin were unable to add to the lead Ibanez decided that he should be the one to do so, he singled up the middle driving in Saunders for his 51st RBI of the season. The Mariners weren't done there, the bottom of the seventh inning saw four more runs come across for the M's.
Seager lead off the inning by walking, Smoak then drove in his second run of the game with his second double of the game as well. Saunders was able to get his second double of the game as well driving in Smoak on the play and the Mariners now took a 8-2 lead. Brad Miller got his first hit of the game as well and drove in the ninth run of the game and following that Franklin checked in with his first hit of the game and drove in Miller and after the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners had a 10-2 lead.
Oliver Perez was brought in the top of the eighth to relief Felix and ended up giving up two additional runs. Going in the bottom of the eighth inning the Mariners weren't looking to score anymore runs but after Morales lead off by getting hit by a pitch, Seager walking and Smoak walking as well Zunino grounded out on a check swing that allowed Morales to score and the Mariners had an 11-4 lead after the eighth. Yoervis Medina came into the ninth inning and shut the door to secure the Mariners their 40th win of the year and Felix's first win since June 15th.
Both teams didn't score until the fourth inning. The Mariners began the bottom of the fourth inning on a great note, Kendrys Morales singled and following him Kyle Seager singled to right, on the single Morales was able to hustle into third and the M's had runners at the corners with nobody out. Lester was able to get Jason Bay to strikeout but after that it was all Mariners; Justin Smoak lined a double down the left field line that brought home the Mariners first run of the game and following Smoak's double Mike Zunino was able to draw a seven pitch walk.
After a quick visit to the mound by the Red Sox pitching coach Michael Saunders was able to be patient and draw the bases loaded walk that put the Mariners up 2-0, Lester finally was able to get out of the inning by getting Brad Miller and Nick Franklin to pop out and if anyone was happy to get out of the was Lester as he threw 39 pitches in the inning. The Red Sox bounced back in the top of the fifth inning by getting two runs back to tie the game up.
Raul Ibanez lead off the bottom of the fifth inning by extending his hitting streak to 13 games by hitting his 22nd homerun of the year and putting the Mariners up 3-2. The Mariners had another big inning in the bottom of the sixth inning as Smoak and Zunino lead off the inning by singling, after that Lester exited the game and Alex Wilson came into relief him. Saunders was able to take a 2-0 pitch deep to center field that scored both Smoak and Zunino to put the Mariners lead to 5-2. After Miller and Franklin were unable to add to the lead Ibanez decided that he should be the one to do so, he singled up the middle driving in Saunders for his 51st RBI of the season. The Mariners weren't done there, the bottom of the seventh inning saw four more runs come across for the M's.
Seager lead off the inning by walking, Smoak then drove in his second run of the game with his second double of the game as well. Saunders was able to get his second double of the game as well driving in Smoak on the play and the Mariners now took a 8-2 lead. Brad Miller got his first hit of the game as well and drove in the ninth run of the game and following that Franklin checked in with his first hit of the game and drove in Miller and after the bottom of the seventh inning the Mariners had a 10-2 lead.
Oliver Perez was brought in the top of the eighth to relief Felix and ended up giving up two additional runs. Going in the bottom of the eighth inning the Mariners weren't looking to score anymore runs but after Morales lead off by getting hit by a pitch, Seager walking and Smoak walking as well Zunino grounded out on a check swing that allowed Morales to score and the Mariners had an 11-4 lead after the eighth. Yoervis Medina came into the ninth inning and shut the door to secure the Mariners their 40th win of the year and Felix's first win since June 15th.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
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.
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.
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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!