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.

The successful ex Mariners

Before I even started this blog a few people on Twitter has said that this would be a book more then a blog entry, but I wouldn't be talking about every ex Mariner player that has had success when they have left just some of the current ones. The first player I have to start off with is Adrian Beltre. Now Beltre had some success in Seattle averaging a .266 batting average, 20 homeruns, 79 RBIs, and 150 hits a season with the Mariners along with winning 2 Gold Gloves with the team. Beltre as you remembered also hit the first inside-the-park homerun at Safeco Field against the Boston Red Sox. Since Beltre has left the Mariners he has averaged a .312 batting average, 32 homeruns, 103 RBIs, 175 hits a season and 2 extra Gold Gloves. 

Now, looking at what he did in Seattle compared to his time away from Seattle I look at two things, one the stadium that his played in and two the hitters that have hit before him in the lineups. While in Seattle Beltre had to deal with the fences being as far as they were along with the salty sea air that makes it difficult for the baseball to travel far. Beltre also did not have a great hitting lineup to back him up for him to drive in more runs. When Beltre departed the Mariners for the Red Sox he was put in a stadium that has one of the shortest left field fences to home plate ever, now yes he had to deal with the Green Monster but that's really easy to hit over with his power.

The Red Sox in 2010 had great hitters for Beltre to hit behind and drive in for runs. He had Jacoby Ellsbury in lead off which provided great speed on the bases, Dustin Pedroia who provided the necessary power and average that could get Ellsbury home or advance him to third, Victor Martinez provided more power and average to the lineup in front of Beltre, Kevin Youkilis provided again power and average, David Ortiz provided power, walks, and average again, so if you add all that up when Beltre came to the plate he was looking at least two runners on base either at second and first or second and third. It was the same when he left Boston to join the Texas Rangers he had speed, average, and power in a lineup that won two American League pennants.

Anther success to leave the Mariners has to be Shin-Soo Choo. Choo was traded for first basemen Ben Broussard. Choo never really got the chance to show what he could really do but since he has left he has hit 93 homeruns in the eight years that he has been away from Seattle. Choo even hit a homerun in his first at bat against the Mariners. Now I will end this blog by naming a few other names that has had success after leaving the team. Mike Carp, Jose Cruz, Jr., R.A. Dickey, Randy Johnson, Raul Ibanez, Adam Jones, Carlos Guillen, Matt Tuiasosopo, Brandon Morrow, Scott Podsednik, and Miguel Olivo.