Silva to DL after league-leading 14th loss

In the past few days in Mariner Land, we saw a major league record tying four wild-pitches in one inning by R.A. Dickey, the shaky debut of Ryan Feierabend, and three-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.  Raul Ibanez continues to give us something to cheer about, and really is strengthening his case for a extension.  And struggling, whining, over-paid Mariner Carlos Silva has been placed on the 15-day DL.

In the first game of the series against Minnesota, the M’s had the unfortunate task of facing a rejuvenated Francisco Lariano.  Lariano (3-3) pitched seven frames allowing only two hits while striking out five batters.  Silva’s performance was embarrassing to say the least, especially against his former team.  Silva was shelled (again) for nine runs on nine hits in 3.1 innings, and now owns the major league lead for losses with 14.  Jason Kubel went 3-for-4 with a home-run and 3 RBIs to pace the Twins to the 9-3 victory.

The M’s dropped Game 2 in a hard fought game 7-6 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th by Brian Buscher scoring Joe Mauer.  Losing 5-0, Seattle put together a six-run sixth inning to actually take back the lead before losing it late.  Mauer also homered in the game.  Ryan Rowland-Smith was hit hard for his second straight start allowing five runs on ten hits, in five innings. Ichiro Suzuki and Jeff Clement picked up two RBIs on the day to lead the Mariner offense. 

In Game 3, it was the Jason Kubel show again as he went off with a 4-for-5 day with two doubles, totalling four runs and two RBIs.  The game was a slug-fest much like the recent series in Seattle and runs definitely weren’t at a premium, but Minnesota came out on top 11-8.  Ibanez continued to massacre Twins pitching as he went 5-for-5 with two doubles, one run and one RBI.  Adrian Beltre, Wladimir Balentien, and Kenji Johjima went yard for Seattle, but the Feierabend and Dickey before mentioned pitching performance ultimately let them down.

The Mariners begin a three-game set in the South Side of Chicago against Ken Griffey Jr. and the Chicago White Sox. Jarrod Washburn vs. Mark Buehrle will be the Game 1 match-up.

Earlier in the season, the Mariner offense was wasting a strong number of quality pitching outings especially from the relief staff, now it appears the offense has heated up with the Summer sun, and the pitching is awful.  I guess that is what makes you a last place team.

M’s Manager Jim Riggleman: “”If it’s not one thing, it’s another” 

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

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

Game 1 - Friday August 1, 2008

Orioles 10, Mariners 5

Garrett Olson pitched eight scoreless innings and the Oriole bats picked up eight runs in the top of the 5th to help the O’s cruise past the M’s 10-5.

The oft rumored Jarrod Washburn got rocked for six earned runs on nine hits over 4.2 innings of work.  It appeared Washburn’s focus was altered a little after he was not dealt at the deadline.

Former Mariner Adam Jones picked up two-RBI in theballgame going 2-for-6, and Jay Payton picked up 3 RBI on the day with a triple in the 5th.  Surprsingly, none of the runs scored by either team were the result of home-runs.

Trailing 10-0 late, the Mariners picked up all their runs in the 9thas they picked up a season-high seven hits in the inning.  The M’s loaded the bases with three singles in the inning off of Olson who was attempting to pitch a complete game.  Kenji Johjima and Jeremy Reed had RBI singles, and Ichiro Suzuki picked up an RBI on a fielders choice ground-out.  Willie Bloomquist and Bryan LaHair added RBI singles to cut the lead in half, but the rally ended on an Adrian Beltre fly out.

Other Mariner notes:

Jose Lopez extended his hit streak to 19 games as he went 2-for-3 and raised his batting average to .306.

Ichiro was acknowledged before the game for his 3,000th hit he recorded against Texas.  GM Lee Pelekoudis and CEO Howard Lincoln presented Ichiro with a plaque as well as the base he stole for his team record 290th stolen base in May of this season.

The Mariners decided to play today’s game one player short on the active roster for the second straight game.  Manager Jim Riggleman said the player to be brought up will be a reliever.  He said they have three players in mind, but might wait a week or so to make a decision.

Wladimir Balentien continues to make a strong bid for a call-up as he went 3-for-5 with a home-run and five RBI for Tacoma against Round Rock last night. 

Erik Bedard is expected to play catch Sunday at Safeco.

Game 2 at 7:10 PT tomorrow night will see Felix Hernandez (7-6) vs. Jeremy Guthrie (7-8)

Mariners Blog

Game 4 - Thursday July 31, 2008

Mariners 8, Rangers 5

The Mariners players could finally relax for Thursday’s game against the Texas Rangers.

The trade deadline came and went on Thursday and the team remained intact minus the trade of relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes to the Florida Marlins.  It has been a stressful season full of uncertainty for many players on the roster.  At least now they know they are staying a little longer.

The Mariners got a strong performance by knuckleballer and former Ranger R.A. Dickey on Thursday to pick up an 8-4 victory in Arlington.  Dickey had his signature knuckler dancing going 7.2 innings allowing six hits and only two runs.  It took till the 8th inning til Javier Vazquez hit a two-run home-run to get the Rangers on the board.

Raul Ibanez was one of the rumored players expected to potentially be dealt today.  Ibanez was reportedly close to being dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the day until Seattle decided to back out of the deal.  Ibanez showed the M’s they made the right choice hitting an RBI double in the first, followed by a fielders choice RBI by Adrian Beltre to quickly put the M’s up 2-0.

The Mariners stayed hot in the second and got two more runs.  Catcher Jamie Burke reached base on an error and eventually scored on an RBI double by Ichiro Suzuki.  Ichiro would then score on Texas starter Matt Harrison’s wild pitch to put the M’s up 4-0. 

Seattle got more help in the 4th as Miguel Cairo scored on a fielders choice RBI from the bat of Jeremy Reed.  Bryan LaHair then scored on an Ichiro sacrifice fly to give the M’s the big 6-0 lead. 

In the 8th, Adrian Beltre blasted his 19th dinger of the year off of Texas reliever Dustin Nippert to increase the lead to 8-0.  Jose Lopez immediately followed with a single to extend his career-best hitting streak to 18 games.

The Vazquez homer in the bottom half ruined Dickey’s bid for his second career shutout.  The Rangers made it interesting in the 9th as they combined to score three more runs off of Mark Lowe and J.J. Putz, but it wasn’t enough as the M’s held them off.

The Mariners will return back home tonight as they begin a three game set against the Baltimore Orioles and former Mariners Adam Jones and George Sherrill.  The red hot Jarrod Washburn (5-9) will take the ball against Garrett Olson (7-5) for the birds.

With the Rhodes trade going down while Seattle was on the road, they chose not to fly a man to Arlington to replace Rhodes on the active roster.  The Mariner 25-man roster currently sits at 24 players, so expect a new Mariner to be called up for tomorrow nights game.

Mariners Blog

Wednesday July 30, 2008

Ok, I’ve been searching the Internet trade rumors.  Many of the people reporting the rumored deals have (cough cough) “sources” that say there is interest in players.  Here is a list of the players rumored and where they are rumored to have interest to go.

• J.J Putz- Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals
• Jarrod Washburn- New York Yankees, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies
• Arthur Rhodes- New York Mets, Florida Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies
• Adrian Beltre - Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Minnesota Twins
• Raul Ibanez- Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs

I’m sure there are more.  Teams not even on this list will probably acquire any of these players.  But its still fun to speculate on what Seattle can get in return.  The non-waiver trade deadline is tomorrow.

Mariners Blog

Game 1, Monday July 28, 2008

Mariners 7, Rangers 5

Trade Beltre? Please.  Adrian Beltre showed everyone why he is currently the Mariners best all-round player as he hit two big home-runs to lift Seattle over Texas Monday night in a sticky 101 degree game.  Beltre homered in the first inning to give his team the lead, and then hit the big 8th inning homer to put his team up for good as he made the score 6-5.  In the bottom of the 8th inning, the Rangers had runners on second and third with RBI leader Josh Hamilton at the plate with one out. Kenji Johjima and Beltre teamed up to pick off Ramon Vazquez who was leaning a little too far down the line.  Johjima through a strike down to Beltre who blocked the front of the bag with his foot to pick off Vazquez.  Arthur Rhodes then got the strike-out getting the big hitting Hamilton to end the threat. 

Bryan LaHair hit his first major league home-run in the second, and Raul Ibanez also homered in the 6th to lead to power surge for the Mariners second straight win.

Sean Green (3-3) notched the win as he came in for Felix Hernandez and picked up the last out in the seventh.  Brandon Morrow pitched the ninth for his 10th save as he finally had a save opportunity, and got to take advantage.  Hernandez on the day allowed six hits and four runs over six innings, striking out six and walking four.

Ichiro Suzuki is now one hit shy of his 3,000 “professional” hit going 1-for-4 with an RBI sacrifice fly in the 9th.  Jose Lopez extended his hitting streak to 15 games going 2-for-4 with a double. 

Carlos Silva (4-12) is expected to take the mound on Tuesday night after missing his last scheduled start.  Luis Mendoza (2-4) takes the ball for the Rangers at 5:05 PT.  Can the M’s make it three in a row?

Still no word on Jarrod Washburn.

Mariners Blog

Game 2 Saturday July 26, 2008

Jays 8, Mariners 3

On the strength of two home runs by Alex Rios off of R.A. Dickey and another strong day from Joe Inglett, the Jays handed Seattle their seventh straight loss Saturday in a 8-3 win.

Rios, hit solo shots in the 1st and 5th, and added a sacrifice fly in the 6thto finish the day with three RBI’s.  Inglettwas his normal pesky self going 3-for-4 with two RBI’s.  Two of Inglett’s hits were doubles as he added two runs scored and a walk. It was a rough outing for Dickey as he allowed all eights runs on ten hits and walked four in 5 1/3 innings.

Taking over in the rotation for injured Dustin McGowan, David Purcey (1-1)picked up his first big league win as he held the Mariners to three runs over six innings and struck out four batters.

Jose Lopez was responsible for all three Mariners runs as he doubled to score Adrian Beltre in the 2nd inning, and hit a two run shot scoring Beltre in the sixth.  It was the 7th homer of the season for Lopez. 

Lets see if the much rumored Jarrod Washburn deal happens before his afternoon start tomorrow.  Some media outlets are reporting that its practically a done deal.  We will keep and eye on it.

In other Mariner news, the team signed RHP Jorge Sosa to a minor league deal.  Sosa started the season with the New York Mets before being designated for assignment in May.  Is this possibly an extra arm for after the deadline?

Mariners Blog

Game 1 Friday July 25, 2008

Jays 5, Mariners 4

Joe Inglett’s two-run single in the 10th inning with the bases loaded gave the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-4 victory Friday night.  The winning play came as a result of the ball glancing off of the golden glove of Ichiro Suzuki for the winning runs.

Kenji Johjima started off the scoring in the top of the 2nd with an RBI double off Jays starter John Parrish, scoring Miguel Cairo.  Promptly in the bottom half, Matt Stairs evened the score with a solo home-run to right field off Miguel Batista to tie the score 1-1.

In the 3rd the Mariners continued to hit Parrish hard for three hits and two runs.  An Adrian Beltre RBI double, and an RBI Jose Lopezsingle suddenly put the M’s up 3-1.  Inglett came in the bottom half with a sacrifice grounder to second base to score Adam Lind to cut the lead to 3-2.

The bats settled down from that point as it took till the 8th inning till the games next run was scored.  Lyle Overbay led off the bottom of the 8th with a double off of J.J. Putz followed by a Rob Barajas single.  The Stairs hurt the M’s again with a RBI single to tie the ballgame at three.  It was the third straight hit allowed for Putz.  Luckily Putz forced as double play, and struck out Lind to get out of the jam. 

Closer B.J. Ryan, and Brandon Morrow worked the 9th and got through with no damage done.  Are we going to see another typical Mariner extra inning marathon?  Willie Bloomquist wanted to single handedly end it fast drawing a two-out walk and then stealing second base to put himself into scoring position.  Jeremy Reed came through with a big RBI single to score Willie to give the Mariners the one run lead to try to close it out.

Enter Mark Lowe.  Lowe, who some within the M’s organization think may be the closer of the future had a shot for the save.  Gregg Zaun led off with a single.  John Mcdonald then reached on a critical Lowe throwing error to put runners at first and second with nobody out.  Scott Rolen couldn’t get the runners over as he reached on a fielder choice, but forced Zaun to get forced at third base.  Lowe then forced Lind to fly out, and suddenly he was one out away from ending it.  Then it unraveled as former Mariner Brad WIlkerson forced a crucial two-out walk to load the bases for Inglett to end it.

What a tough loss for the M’s.  It was their sixth straight loss.  Rumors continue to swirl around trade rumors and you must wonder if it is becoming a distraction.

Saturday’s contest will feature R.A. Dickey(2-6) for Seattle against David Purcey (1-1) for Toronto.

Mariners Blog