We learned that Seattle just plain isn’t good enough to hang with the big boys over their recent four-game set with the Rays over the weekend.  After taking Game 1, the Rays snatched back the next three and took their “mojo” back.  We all know by now as Mariner fans about the post-game rant by “The Chief” Carlos Silva.  The only good thing about his rant is that at least he showed that he cared.  Other than that it was completely ridiculous.  He is having an awful season and threw his teammates under the bus.  You didn’t see his teammates say that he sucked all year.  Silva’s ERA currently stands at 5.93.  The M’s lost Fridays game 5-3.  Wladimir Balentien hit his 5th home-run of the season in the ballgame.

On Saturday the Mariners got Ryan Rowland-Smith back into the rotation and optioned Jared Wells back to Tacoma.  Rowland-Smith wasn’t great, but wasn’t bad either pitching 5.2 innings allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out five.  A bad sixth inning and bullpen woes got him a no decision before good old Miguel Batista got the loss.  It was the result of an 11th inning Dioner Navarro sacrifice fly scoring Ben Zobrist to win it for Tampa 8-7.  Ichiro Suzuki had a great day at the plate going 4-for-6 with a home-run and 3 RBIs.  It appears in this ballgame that the M’s lost Willie Bloomquist to a potentially season ending hamstring injury to make matters worse.

Sunday’s contest was a 11-3 bashing by Tampa over the M’s.  For Tampa it was their franchise-record 71st win of the season.  Jose Lopez hit his 10th home-run of the season on the day.  Tampa got great days at the dish by Willy Aybar (2-for-5, 4 RBIs), Eric Hinske (3-for-5, 3 Runs), and Cliff Floyd (3-for-4, 2 runs, RBI).  Catcher Shawn Riggans hit a three run home-run as well.  R.A. Dickey got lit up for eight runs in five innings of work.  The M’s recalled Tug Hulett from Tacoma as they placed Bloomquist on the 15-day DL.

The last bit of Mariner news to report from over the weekend was the Saturday start by Brandon Morrow for Tacoma.  Morrow got hit hard throwing 51 pitches over 2.2 innings.  Brandon allowed three runs on five hits walking two and striking out two.  Lets not overreact to his rough outing, he pitched in a hitters haven and he is still adjusting to pitching as a starter.

Some Rumors not confirmed by Seattle, but confirmed by others….

Peter Gammons of ESPN reported that the Mariners placed Raul Ibanez on waivers over the weekend.  Nobody else is reporting this but I feel Gammons is more than a reliable source.  There is talk the Rays would pick up the claim, but that the Red Sox would block it much like they did as with Brian Giles.

There also was a report by the Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that Jarrod Washburn has already cleared through waivers.  Problem is nobody else is reporting it.  Other sources are saying that he is still in the process and we should find out if any team made a claim sometime in the next 24-hours.  An interesting thing to think about is that if Washburn is traded to an American League squad, they have first crack at any player coming back through waivers to them in a trade because they own the worst record in the AL.

There is much going on in Mariner Land…too bad there is no focus left on the team in the field.

Mariners Blog

had some computer issues, they are now resolved, back to the M’s talk..and there is lots of it

Left hander has made three starts in Triple-A Tacoma

Due to his recent struggles as a starter, along with the teams need for an experienced late-inning arm, Miguel Batista has been moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen.  The struggling veteran has only had five of his nineteen starts reach the 6th inning this season.  Batista was scheduled to start on Saturday. 

And that is where the Ryan Rowland-Smith conversation begins.  Rowland-Smith has started three games for Tacoma allowing only two earned-runs in each outing.  Apparently besides stretching his arm out, the team has wanted Ryan to work on his fastball command, which he still struggling with a bit, but is showing solid improvement.  If the team chooses not to call up someone from the minors, Jake Woods has starting experience on the current active roster. 

A decision on Saturday’s starter is expected from the Mariners tonight.  I say bring Ryan up, he has already started for the M’s this season, and is better than what we have now anyways.  Lets see what he can do with extended rotation time and preparation in the big leagues so we can see if he can handle 2009.

Mariners Blog

Red-Hot Left Fielder hits Mariners first walk-off home-run of the season in the bottom of the 9th

Mariners 2, Rays 1

Thursday August 7, 2008 - Raul Ibanez was 0-for-3 at the plate in a 1-1 ballgame in the bottom of the 9th on Thursday night.  Maybe his recent tear he has been on at the plate was finally coming to an end.  Crack! Ibanez led off the inning drilling a Dan Wheeler pitch over the right field wall for his fourth career walk-off homer to win it for Seattle knocking off the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.  It seemed as if for once this season, Tampa was on the losing end of some late inning heroics.

The Mariners nearly wasted a pitching gem by Felix Hernandez who pitched 8 fantastic innings allowing only four hits while striking out five.  The only blemish on the day for Felix was a wild pitch off of Jeff Clement that scored Carl Crawford in the 4th inning.  Hernandez got a “no decision” as he left the game when it was tied at 1-1 before the 9th. 

J.J. Putz entered in the top of the 9th with the task of facing the meat of Rays lineup.  Putz started the inning forcing Crawford to fly out to deep left field for the first out.  Then he got himself into his classic “J.J. 2009″ trouble.  With a 0-2 count to Evan Longoria, Putz hit Longoria with a wild pitch to put the go-ahead run at first.  Carlos Pena followed with a single moving Longoria all the way over to third base to put runners on the corners.  Putz then showed some brass by striking out Cliff Floyd and Dioner Navarro back-to-back to set the table for Ibanez’s blast in the bottom half.  Putz picked up the win improving his record to 5-4.  It was inspiring to see a guy that has struggled so badly at times this season get the job done like he knows he can.  He really showed the stuff that made him so dominant last season with his back against the wall.

The Mariners have been on the losing end of these types of games so many times this season, its great to see things going their way recently.  I think the Twins series has given this team a boost of confidence in clutch situations.  Game 2 of the series will be tomorrow night with Carlos Silva (4-12) taking the mound against James Shields (9-7) at 7:10 PT.  The loss for the Rays brings their division lead over the Red Sox to just 2.5 games.

Mariners Blog

Right Hander throws 1 2/3 scoreless innings for Tacoma against Albuquerque

In his first outing in his conversion to a starting pitcher, righty fireballer Brandon Morrow was a mild success on Wednesday when he pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless ball for the Rainiers.  Morrow threw 34 pitches (21 strikes) allowing only one hit on a strict pitch count. 

The M’s plan to pitch Morrow every fifth day to slowly get his arm stretched out.  He will make his next start Monday night in Tucson.  The plan would be to slightly increase his pitch count every outing similar to what the Yankees did with Joba. 

“Bombtrack” is familiar with starting ballgames as he was a starter and reliever at the University of California, but has made it known that he prefers starting.  Morrow was sent down by the Mariners on Tuesday.

Mariners Blog

Rookie RF picks up career-high 4 RBIs, and robs go-ahead home-run in 7th

Twins 7, Mariners 3

Minnesota Twins rookie right-fielder and lead-off batter Denard Span had a day he will never forget on Wednesday afternoon at Safeco.  Span, who began the season playing in Triple-A Rochester had a coming out party of sorts as he batted 3-for-5 driving in a career-high four runs as the Twins table setter.  His biggest play of the day was with his glove however, when he robbed Mariners third baseman Adrian Beltre of what would have been a go-ahead home-run in the 7th inning.  Beltre stood in disbelief after the former number 20 pick overall in 2002 jumped and snared the ball just above railing and screen in front of the first row of seats.

Brendan Harris added two doubles and two RBIs on the day, and Nick Blackburn picked up his 9th victory on the mound this season tying him for the league lead among rookie hurlers.  Blackburn allowed three runs in six innings of work to hand Seattle their American League leading 70th loss of the season.

Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn (5-11) picked up the loss in the ballgame as he allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits with six strikeouts.  Mark Lowe continued his recent struggles getting hit hard allowing five hits and three runs in one inning of work.  Newcomer Jared Wells pitched two solid innings allowing only one hit and striking out two.

Raul Ibanez went 2-for-4 on the day but failed to pick up any RBIs to add to his Seattle record book performances over the past few days.  Beltre hit the ball hard all night going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and would have had more if it wasn’t for the great catch by Span in the 7th.

Seattle will stay at home tomorrow night to start a four-game series against the AL East leading Tampa Bay Rays.  They are coming fresh off of a walk-off home-run win yesterday as Carlos Pena hit a three-run blast in the 9th to beat Cleveland.  Andy Sonnanstine (11-6) will face Felix Hernandez (7-7) at 7:10 PT.

Mariners Blog

Ibanez picks up 5 more RBIs with 3-for-5 day

Mariners 8, Twins 7

Tuesday August 5, 2008 - Another game, another record for red-hot outfielder Raul Ibanez.  His three-run homer in the third put him past Bret Boone for first place all-time in home-runs at Safeco Field with 63.  Ibanez then added a two-run single in the sixth to give him 11 RBIs in his past two games and 14 RBIs in his past three games to tie the both franchise marks held by Ken Griffey Jr.  Last night he set the Mariner record for RBIs in an inning with six. 

Tuesday’s contest was another ping pong match between these teams as leads came and went. R.A. Dickey was solid and pitched the M’s to a 6-3 lead when he left the game before the 8th inning. This time it was the Twins getting a big inning late as they put up four runs off of Cesar Jimenez, Roy Corcoran, and J.J. Putz to give the Twins a 7-6 lead.  Jason Kubel hit a two-run homer off of Jimenez to cut the deficit to 6-5, Corcoran relieved Jimenez after the home-run and allowed two singles before J.J. Putz came in with two outs and two runners on.  Mike Lamb ripped a Putz pitch for a two-run double to make it 7-6 Twins.  The runners that scored on the Lamb double were charged to Corcoran.  Putz struck out Denard Span to end the inning.

The Mariners didn’t panic in the bottom half as they continued to feed off the momentum from last night.  Ichiro Suzuki led off the inning with a single.  After a Jeremy Reed pop out, Ibanez hit a single to right to put runners on first and second for Adrian Beltre.  Beltre lined out to the shortstop for the second out leaving it up to Jose Lopez.  Lopez delivered a big two-out, two-run, left center field gapper for a double scoring Ichiro and Ibanez to give Seattle a 8-7 lead.  It was the 29th double on the season for Lopez who has been on a tear going 3-for-5 on the day.  His .309 batting average is a team-high.

“Thunderstruck” stayed in the game in 9th and quickly struck out Nick Punto and Joe Mauer for two quick outs.  J.J. then ran into some trouble as he walked Justin Morneau on five pitches before Jason Kubel hit a double and put the Twins in business with runners on second and third.  The M’s decided to intentionally walk Delmon Young to load the bases for Mike Redmond.  Redmond lined out to Ichiro in right to end the game as the Mariners escaped with their third-straight win.  J.J Putz (4-4) got the win.  Matt Guerrier (6-5) got the loss.

The M’s go for the sweep tomorrow night as Jarrod Washburn (5-10) will face Nick Blackburn (8-6) at 1:40 PT. 

They are fun to watch again!

Mariners Blog

Outfielder Wladimir Balentien brought up from Tacoma 

Wednesday August 6, 2008 - The youth movement of the Tacoma (ahemm) Seattle Mariners continued today as the team optioned DH Jose Vidro for assignment, and recalled outfielder Wladimir Balentien back to the big leagues.

Seattle Mariner fans will be sad to lose their biggest whipping boy in Vidro as he has had a poor 2008 season.   Jose batted .234 with seven homers and 45 RBIs in 85 games this season for Seattle.  The M’s have 10 days to release, trade, option, or assign Vidro outright to the Minors.

Wlad got the call up in Vidro’s place to begin his second stint with the Mariners this season.  Balentien hit .196 with four home-runs and 9 RBI’s in 32 games earlier in the season.  Many including myself thought they should have let him ride his struggles out, but the team returned him to Tacoma.  Balentien struggled a little when sent down, but has gotten hot batting .270 with 12 home-runs and 35 RBIs in 44 games.

The Mariners lineup is now loaded with Rainiers as Jeff Clement, Bryan LaHair, and Balentien are all up with the big team.  Not to mention half of their pitching staff was down there at some point.  Its good to see the Mariners getting these guys up earlier before the rosters expand so they can see them against better competition before September.

Mariners Blog

Hard throwing righty to start tonight for Tacoma

Wednesday August 6, 2008 - After a whole season of uncertainty when it came to the prospect of Brandon Morrow throwing as a starter, yesterday it finally came to fruition as the Mariners optioned him to Tacoma to start tonight’s game.  Morrow is expected to throw somewhere in the range of 35 pitches to begin stretching his arm out.  The Mariners did the same Ryan Rowland-Smith recently and after a few weeks Rowland-Smith has been throwing in the six inning range.  The Mariners hope to use Morrow with the big club by the end of the season if all goes well.

To take the place of Morrow, the M’s called up Tacoma closer Jared Wells.  Wells has pitched well picking up nine saves for the Rainiers.  The move allows J.J. Putz to resume his duties as the full-time closer.

The intersting scenario for Seattle will be when Rowland-Smith and Morrow are ready to start, who will come out of the rotation? Not just for this season, but for 2009. 

Mariners Blog

Ibanez Grand-Slam, 6 RBI’s in 7th leads M’s Attack

Mariners 11, Twins 6

Monday August 4, 2008 : The Minnesota Twins owning the best record in baseball over the month and a half, were cruising along going into the bottom of the sixth with a 6-0 lead.  All signs indicated the Twins were on their way to an easy victory against the slumping M’s lineup.

Not so fast.

The M’s got one back in the 6th when Jose Vidro grounded into a double-play but scored Adrian Beltre from third to cut the lead to 6-1.  Glen Perkins was still feeling confident with five-run cushion, and the Twins decided to leave him out there for the 7th.  That’s when the wheels came off for Perkins.

After a Kenji Johjima single to lead it off, Ichiro Suzuki drew a walk followed by a Willie Bloomquist single to right to load them up for Raul Ibanez.  Ibanez hit the second Perkins pitch over the right field wall for a Grand-Slam to suddenly put the Mariners down by only a run with nobody out in the inning.  Minnesota pulled Perkins after the home-run for Brian Bass.  Beltre smacked a double off of Bass, followed by a Jose Lopez RBI single, and just like that we are tied at 6.  That would be it for Bass as he gave way to Craig Breslow to try to stop the bleeding.  The nightmare for the Twinkies as Lopez moved to second base on a passed ball to move the go-ahead run into scoring position.  Breslow forced a Vidro pop out before walking Miguel Cairo. Breslow then promptly got yanked for Matt Guerrier.

Whew, taking a deep breath to continue.  First and second with one out.  Still the 7th.

Jeff Clement hit Guerrier’s fist pitch to right for an RBI single scoring Lopez from 2nd to give Seattle a 7-6 lead.  Cairo went to third base, and Clement advanced to second on a throwing error.  Safeco was rockin!  You knew it was all going right for Seattle when Yuniesky Betancourt reached on an infield single scoring Cairo and Clement to make it 9-6.  A bad throw to first to by Brendan Harris to try to get Betancourt helped Clement score and move Betancourt to 2nd.  Minnesota intentionally walked Ichiro, bofre Guerrier walked Bloomquist to load up the bases for the second time in the inning for Ibanez.  Ibanez smacked a single up the middle scoring Betancourt and Ichiro.  Bloomquist tried to score as a throw got away at third base but was thrown out at home to end the craziest Mariner inning of the year.  Seattle 11, Minnesota 6.

The six RBI’s in one inning for Ibanez was a team record for one inning passing Ken Griffey Jr.’s five he had in 1999 at the Kingdome. 

Pitching notes:

Miguel Batista got slugged for six runs on seven hits and walking four over three innings of work.  He appears to just have completely lost the ability to get batters consistently out.

Jake Woods pitched a decent outing throwing three innings in relief striking out four, while walking four, but allowing no runs. 

Roy Corcoran (2-0) was probably surprised to pick up his second big league win as he left the mound down by 5, and suddenly had had the lead when Cesar Jimenez took the bump in the 8th.  Jimenez and Mark Lowe pitched perfect 8th and 9th innings respectively to round out the win.

I’m sure the Twins can’t wait for tomorrow’s game so they can put that mess of a game tonight behind them. Tomorrow nights contest will see R.A. Dickey (3-6) against Scott Baker (7-3) at 7:10 PT at Safeco.  Lets see if the M’s can win three straight. 

Mariners Blog