Thursday July 10, 2008

Athletics 3, Mariners 2

R.A. Dickey and Greg Smith dueled 7 shutout innings of a pitchers game until in the 8th things got crazy when it was handed to the repective bullpens.

 In the top of 8th, Jose Lopez finally sparked the offense by leading off the inning with a double.  After Oakland intentionally walked the hot hitting Adrian Beltre, Jose Vidro reached base on an infield single scoring Lopez to make it 1-0.  Sean Green replaced Dickey and got through the bottom half of the inning.  In the 9th with one out, Willie Bloomquist recorded a ground rule double to left field.  With Lopez at the plate “Willie Ballgame” got a nice jump off the pitch and swiped third base.  Bloomquist then scored on a Lopez double, his second of the game to make it 2-0.

Enter Brandon Morrow in the 9th and its automatic, ballgame over, see ya later…right? 

Oakland finally got the bats around on those Morrow gassers. Jack Cust and pinch hitting Kurt Suzuki both went yard in the bottom half to tie the game at 2-2.  Mark Lowe got the M’s off the hook and struck out Jack Hannahan to send it to extras.  For Morrow, it was the first run allowed for him in well over a month, and his first blown save in nine chances. 

Lowe got the M’s throught to the 11th, and handed the ball to Lefty Cesar Jimenez.  Jimenez has been pitching fabulous for the M’s since his recent call up.  Jimenez struck out Cust to start the inning, but Emil Brown homered to left field to break the Mariners hearts in the bottom of the 11th. 

Once again, the Mariners kept up with their theme of stranding baserunners as they left 12 on base.  With the release of Richie Sexson today, will the fire sale begin?

Huston Street picked up the win to improve his record to 2-2.  Jimenez picked up first loss to fall to 0-1.  The M’s fall to 36-56  on the season.

The M’s will head to Kansas City for the teams last series before the All-Star break.  It will mark the return of Felix Hernandez to the mound.  He will face Luke Hochevar for the Royals to start a three-game set. 

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Wednesday July 9th, 2008

Mariners 6, Athletics 4

 On the strength of three-run double by Jose Lopez in a five-run fifth inning, the Seattle Mariners ended a three-game losing streak picking up a 6-4 win in Oakland Wednesday night.  Adrian Beltre chipped in with three hits and drove in 2 runs.  Raul Ibanez also drove in a RBI for the winners.

The Mariners bullpen continued being a busy group as Miguel Batista had to leave early with a groin strain in the 3rd inning.   Ryan Rowland-Smith struggled a bit taking over as the A’s got to him for three runs on five hits in 1 and 1/3rd innings.  Enter Roy Corcoran in the 4th inning.  Corcoran inherited two baserunners from Rowland-Smith and was in lock down mode getting eight of nine A’s batters out in 2 2/3rds.  The effort for Corcoran earned him the traditional pie in the face from J.J. Putz after the game, as he picked up his first big league win.  The combination of Arthur Rhodes, Sean Green, and Brandon Morrow, finished the final three frames without allowing only one hit.  The final inning for Morrow earned him his 8th straight converted save, and lowered his ERA to a ridiculous 0.63.

In a losing effort for the A’s, Joe Blanton allowed six runs on nine hits in six innings of work to record the loss.  Jack Cust hit his 16th homerun of the season off a Batista in the 2nd inning.  Donnie Murphy added three runs batted in for Oakland.

Tomorrow’s contest will be a day game starting at 3:35 PT.  It will feature R.A. Dickey for the M’s, against Left Greg Smith for the A’s.  Ichiro Suzuki is expected to miss the contest with a tight hamstring.

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Tigers 2, Mariners 1

In the series finale of a four game set, the Detroit Tigers finally tallied the winning run in the top of the 15th inning off of backup catcher Jamie Burke to come away with a 2-1 victory at Safeco.  The M’s had to use 7 pitchers to get through the day.

A Marcus Thames sac fly off of Burke scored Michael Holliman for the winning run to end a long offensively deprived baseball game.  Manager Jim Riggleman was really strapped for pitching options late.  With an already banged up staff, Riggleman was without already without Arthur Rhodes on the day who woke up with some arm soreness.  Riggleman also did not want to pitch Brandon Morrow because he has been used four of the last five games.  Ryan Rowland-Smith was not an options because he was used as a starter.  And all other relievers were used in the ballgame.  No runs were surrendered from the 5th inning till the 15th.  Both teams combined for a total of 14 hits.

It was an extremely ugly scorecard for both teams.  The Mariners had no player record more than one hit.  The Tigers only player to record more than one hit was Ivan Rodriguez who was 4-for-7.

A positive to take from the game was obviously the pitching staff who has done a tremendous job the last few weeks.  Rowland-Smith went 5 innings surrendering only one run.  Mark Lowe (1 inning), Roy Corcoran (2 innings), Miguel Batista (1 inning), Sean Green (1 inning) and Cesar Jimenez (4 innings) all combined to hold the Tigers out of the score column.  In fact, only Green allowed a hit until Burke came in for the 15th. 

Tiger pitcher Nate Robertson pitched 9 innings fabulous innings for the Detroit.  Aquilino Lopez picked up the win to see his record improve to 3-1.  Burke picked up what is most likely his first and last lost as a major league pitcher.

The M’s head to Oakland to start a four game series against the A’s tomorrow night.  Jarrod Washburn (4-7) will face lefty Dana Eveland (6-5).  

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Jeff Clement Homers Twice

Mariners 3, Tigers 2

If any Mariners player has been in a slump it has been Jeff Clement.  Batting .170 going into the night, Clement has been searching for that breakout game at the plate.  That type of game that fans and players can finally say he has arrived.  Tonight Clement arrived hitting two clutch homeruns to almost single handedly beat the Tigers.  During a post game interview J.J. Putz gave the Rookie catcher a shaving cream pie to the face.  Nothing says you have gained the respect of your teammates more than that. 

Tonight the M’s needed a hot Clement bat because Armando Galarraga brought his A game the park.  Galarraga pitched 6 strong innings and left the game with a 2-1 lead thanks to homeruns by Carlos Guillen and Miguel Cabrera.  Galarraga only run allowed was a 5th inning solo shot by Clement to cut the lead in half.

Fernando Rodney took the mound in the 8th still holding on to the 2-1 lead.  After recording an out, Rodney walked Richie Sexson who was then pinch ran for at first by Miguel Cairo.  Cairo swiped second to move into scoring position for Clement.  Clement with a 1-1 count, demolished an off speed pitch over the wall for his 4th homerun of the season to put the M’s up 3-2.

In the 9th, hand it to Brandon Morrow and leave happy right?  Exactly.  Morrow blanked the Tigers for a second straight game retiring Matt Joyce, Edgar Renteria, and Ivan Rodriguez in order.  It was the 7th save in as many chances for Morrow as he lowered his ERA to 0.65.

Credit is due to the defense and pitching staff again for containing one of the more  potent offensive teams in baseball.  Starter R.A. Dickey was solid again going 6 innings, and did a good job working our of trouble with some location problems. Dickey’s signature knuckleball wasn’t dancing in his favor as he walked five batters.  But left after the 6th with only two runs against.  Miguel Batista pitched two solid innings of relief and ended up picking up the victory helping DIckey off the hook for the loss.  Batista has had some time off because of his lingering back issues, but looked to be feeling a little better only allowing two hits against the meat of the order. 

On defense, Jeremy Reed was all over the place in center field.  Reed went crashing into the wall early on a Cabrera deep fly ball, and robbed a Renteria liner later.  Raul Ibanez made a nice sliding catch in the 3rd, and had what turned out to be the biggest defensive play of the game as he threw out Dane Sardinha at the plate in the 5th.

The M’s will go for the series win sunday afternoon.  It would mark their fourth straight series win.  Ryan Rowland-Smith (2-1) will get the ball for the second time this week.  He will be opposed by Nate Robertson (6-7).  The game will start at 1:10 PT.  Lets close em out!

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Mariners 4, Tigers 1

With Carlos Silva getting knocked around last night, the Mariners gave the ball to Erik Bedard.  When they traded for the Lefty, this is what they envisioned, a guy that could get them a win the day after a loss so that losing streaks never start.

Against a tough lineup that makes any pitcher throw alot of pitches, Bedard(6-4) struck out 6, and did a stellar job pitching out of trouble.  Besides a lead-off homerun by Miguel Cabrera in the 2nd, nobody crossed the plate on Bedard for the Tigers.  He came out of the game after the 5th inning at 99 pitches.  It was his 6th straight start without throwing 100 pitches.  Like Silva did the night before, Bedard quickly danced around the media and left with no comment.  Its starting to appear to be more and more obvious that he wants out of Seattle.  Well Erik, if you are traded, i hope the team you go to appreciates giving up the farm for a 100 pitch ace.

The Bullpen was lights out for Seattle as Sean Green 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief (season high).  He came out in the 8th with 2 outs to give way to Flame throwing Brandon Morrow.  Bombtrack stayed dominant picking up his 6th save striking out 2 in 1 1/3 innings.  Morrow an all-star? Tough call.  But think about these recent numbers since taking over for J.J. Putz.  If it holds, his ERA will be a franchise low at the All-Star break currently at 0.68.  He has allowed one hit and one walk in nine appearances since stepping in for the injured Putz with 14 strikeouts in 9.2 innings. No runs.

Raul Ibanez continued to swing a hot stick notching his 10th Homerun of the season off starter Kenny Rogers (L 6-6) in the 4th.  Catcher Jamie Burke got a rare start as he has caught for Bedard like he has for much of the season.  Burke showed no rust at the plate scoring two runs on two hits.  Jose Lopez hit a key two out two RBI double as well.

Game 3 of the 4 game set will be at 7:10 PT tonight featuring R.A. Dickey (2-4) against Armando Gallaraga (7-2).  With 8 wins in 11 games, can we officially call the Mariners hot? 

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Mariners 4, Jays 2

With a two run lead to start the top of the 9th, the song bombtrack by Rage Against The Machine blares over the speakers at Safeco as it does every time Brandon Morrow takes the mound.  But tonight was the first time as a Mariners fan when i truly felt..this game was over. Done.  I think its safe to stay tonight a new star has been born officially.  Its has now been too long for this to be a fluke.  Morrow was lights out again as he continued one of the most dominating months of relief pitching I have seen from a Mariners pitcher in recent memory.  Hitting 97, and 98 on the gun and mixing in some occasional off-speed pitches, it just appears the batters have no chance.  Tonight, he didn’t strike out the side, but kept the batters guessing, and forced three fly ball outs to pick up his 5th save in as many chances.  Really…how can you put the ball in anyone elses hands right now.  J.J. Putz is supposedly closer to a return, but one must wonder if he fears he has lost his job and is rushing back.  In fact many Mariners fans (myself included) were hoping to see Morrow start in the near future.  I am now starting to re-think that a little bit, how could i not. 

In a game without much offensive spark, Jarrod Washburn had another quality outing going six innings, striking out four.  His only blemish was a two run shot by rookie slugger Adam Lind in the top of the 5th.

Miguel Cairo filled in nicely at second for Jose Lopez hitting two doubles, along with three RBI’s.  Ichiro Suzuki reached base four times, with three singles and walk while scoring twice. 

The M’s bullpen continued its stellar play as Cesar Jimenez had his second straight quality bullpen appearence since his call up, retiring the Jays in order in the seventh.  Sean Green took over in the 8th and overcame an error by Adrian Beltre to retire the next two Jays batters.  Arthur Rhodes came in to face the switch hitting Greg Zaun and forced him to fly out to Jeremy Reed in Center field to leave Marco Scutaro at second to end the threat in the 8th to set the table for Morrow who closed out the 9th.

The win marked the third straight series won for the Mariners under new manager Jim Riggleman.  It is becoming fun to watch the team play again.  Riggleman has been shaking up batting and fielding practices in an attempt to get a spark.  It seems so far that all his moves are paying off.  But, a true test for the M’s will be this 4 game set with the red hot Tigers.  If the team can hang with them, i think we will have a better guage of their recent success and whether or not it has been a fluke or not.

Dustin McGowan picked up the loss as his record fell to 6-7.  Washburn won his second straight start to improve to 4-7.  Tomorrow’s probables are Carlos Silva (4-9) for the Mariners and Justin Verlander for the Tigers starting the 4 game series at 7:10 PT.

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Mariners 7, Jays 6

In a roller coaster of a game, Willie Bloomquist hit a first pitch gapper to score Raul Ibanez for the winning run in the bottom of the 9th as the Mariners beat the Jays 7-6 at Safeco.

With the starting staff banged up, Seattle had to use 6 pitchers to get the job done.  Ryan Rowland-Smith, pitched three fabulous innings until Toronto got to him in the 4th with three runs.  The M’s got two back in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error by starter Jesse Litsch scoring Adrian Beltre.  Yuniesky Betancourt singled home Richie Sexson to score the second run to make it 3-2.

Roy Corcoran, and Litsch both pitched a scoreless 5th until the Jays got on Corcaran for three runs in the 6th.  Greg Zaun singled in the inning scoring Vernon Wells, and Adam Lind had a 2 RBI double to make it 6-2.  Luckily recent call up Cesar Jimenez came in and shut the door to end the inning.

It was at this point in the ballgame, the team showed what they are made of.  The M’s chipped away at the lead with timely hitting and got some stellar bullpen work.  Betancourt hit an RBI single in the bottom of the 6th to make it 6-3.  Jimenez then worked through the 7th unscathed.  In the bottom of the inning Beltre hit a two run homerun his 16th, scoring Jose Vidro to cut the lead to 6-5.

In the 8th, Arthur Rhodes got two outs, but gave up two hits.  Sean Green replaced him and almost got burned moving runners to second and third with a wild pitch.  But Green got Marco Scutaroto to strikeout looking to get out of the jam.  With Mariners needing a run, Sexson hit his 10th homerun of the season, a solo shot to tie the game 6-6.

In a smart move, manager Jim Riggleman went right to Brandon Morrow in the top of the 9th.  Morrow might be the most dominant reliever in the majors over the past month.  Bombtrack continued his mastery striking out Alex Rios, and Wells.  He then walked Lyle Overbay before he struck out Scott Rolen to end the inning.  His stuff was just plain nasty.

Ibanez led off the bottom half with a big walk.  Then Vidro moved him to second on a sacrifice.  The Jays thought they were making a smart move by intentionally walking Beltre, to not only set up the double play possibility, but also to make a below average hitting Bloomquist beat them.  The Jays went with Shawn Camp out of the pen for the right handed matchup.  But, Willie Ballgame jumped right on the first pitch and nailed it to deep right center to clinch the win.  Willie wanted to keep running because he still doesn’t have an extra base hit on the season, but i think he is happy with the single as he was mobbed by his teammates.  Morrow (1-1) picked up his first win of the season.

What a huge “team” win in what has been a really tough season.  From the bullpen being called on to step up, from the team coming from behind,  Riggleman really has them playing some good team ball as of late.  Tomorrow night will see Jarrod Washburn (3-7) against Dustin McGowan (6-6) at 7:10 PT 

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Apparently facing the Padres lineup is the perfect remedy for any struggling pitcher.  One night after Jarrod Washburn picked up his first win since May 5th, M’s hurler Carlos Silva picked up his first win in 13 starts. (yes..really..13 starts)

Silva went 7 innings, allowed 8 hits, and struck out 3.  He walked none.  Silva forced alot of grounders, and had solid control throughout the night.  He pitched the type of  game that the Mariners expected from him when they signed him in the offseason from the Twins.  It was his first win since April 17th.

The win marked the teams fourth win in five games, but still gives them the worst record in the majors, 30-50.

Adrian Beltre led the way with 3 hits and 2 RBI’s.  Jose Lopez also added 2 hits, and scored twice.  Jeff Clement added a RBI on a sac fly.  Jeremy Reed also added an RBI.

Cha Seung Baek (1-4), who the Padres picked up from Seattle in May, was yanked in the 6th after allowing 4 straight batters to reach base.  He was responsible for all 4 of the Mariners runs.  Khalil Greene and Edgar Gonzalez each added two hits each for the Padres.  Tony Clark had the teams only two RBI’s adding a pinch hit single off Washburn in the 7th.

Brandon Morrow notched his 4th save, as he continues his dominance.  It was the first time getting back to back saves in his career.  I just can’t see how you can take Bombtrack out of the closer role.

Sunday’s pitching matchup should be a great one.  Erik Bedard (4-4), who missed his start Wednesday with back spasms, is scheduled to start in the series finale on Sunday against Cy Young winner Jake Peavy (5-4).

In another note, the Mariners announced Felix Hernandez will not start Tuesday at home against Toronto.  They said they want to give him more time to rest his ankle injury he suffered against the Mets earlier in the week.

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 Mariners 5, Padres 2

 In a flashback to 1978 the Mariners and Padres sported throwbacks to honor the 30th anniversary of the 1st all-star game in San Diego.  The Mariners wore the old powder blues and the Padres went with the old whites.

 Jarrod Washburn finally got off the schneid on Friday night in San Diego as he picked up his first win since May 5th.  Washburn (3-7) allowed 2 runs in 7 and 2/3′rds to pick up the win.  He credited a slight change in his mechanics for his recent success.  But facing the national leagues worst team is probably the real reason.  Washburn was solid all night till Rookie Chase Headley finally got to him in the 7th with a 2 run shot to left field.  The red hot Brandon Morrow was asked to come in to get the last four outs of the game.  He came in with runners on the corners and got out of the inning forcing a ground ball.  Then closed out the Padres in the ninth for his 3rd save.

 Padres starter Randy Wolf had a rough outing. The Mariners were all over the lefty from the start but left eight on base in the first three innings. It took four straight singles in the fourth to get runs across the plate, Raul Ibanez drove home a run, followed by an Adrian Beltre hit. Catcher Kenji Johjima doubled home Richie Sexson in the 6th, for the only extra-base hit of the night among the teams 12 hits.  Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Lopez, each had three singles and reached base four times. Sexson reached base safely for the 10th straight game adding a single and two walks.

The win for the Mariners was there third in four games.  Carlos Silva (3-9) gets the ball tomorrow night at 7:05 hoping to end his recent struggles.  If there was any team Silva would want to face to end his streak it would be the Padres.  Former Mariner Cha Seung Baek (1-3) will take the mound for San Diego.

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When Mets Manager Jerry Manuel decided to give David Wright a day off on Tuesday night, I don’t think he saw thought he would get these results from his all-star 3rd baseman.

Wright homered in his first two at bats of the night as the Mets jumped all over starter Miguel Batsita. Mets starter John Maine, who has been the teams most consistent starter this season shut down the Mariners recently hot bats and didn’t allow a hit till the fifth inning. Jose Reyes added a three run homer as well.

On a dull night for the Mariners, one positive in tonights performance was the bullpen who retired 16 straight batters to finish the game. Roy Corcoran, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Arthur Rhodes, and Brandon Morrow pitched fantastic in relief of Batista, but the 8 early runs were too much for the M’s bats to catch up from. Jeremy Reed led the Mariners going 2 for 4 with a run scored as he continued to swing a productive bat.

The Mariners will get Thursday off before heading to San Diego to start a three game series with the Padres. Jarrod Washburn (2-7) gets the ball against lefty Randy Wolf (5-6) at 7:05. (10:05 east)

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