The dissappointing season for the Seattle Mariners got worse on Wednesday night as they were beaten by the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels beat the Mariners by the score of 6-5 and gave the M’s their 100th loss of the 2008 season. Yeah, things have been that bad this year.

Felix Hernandez was the starting pitcher for the Mariners and he got hit hard as he gave up 13 hits and five runs in six innings. Hernandez didn’t get the loss however as Mark Lowe dropped to 1-5 on the year with the loss. Lowe gave up three hits and one run in two innings of action. Lowe gave up a solo home run to Mark Teixeira that ended up being the winning run of the game.

Jose Lopez and Jeremy Reed both had rbi doubles for M’s in the game as they both finished with one rbi each. Miguel Cairo and Bryan LaHair both had rbi singles in the game as well to help out at the plate. The offense just came up short against the high powered Angels.

The M’s will try to split the four game series with a win on Thursday against the Angels. I really don’t like thier chances however and expect to see loss 101 for the year.

Mariners Blog

What’s up Mariners fans? I’m here filling in for Ryan and have today’s game recap. The Mariners didn’t finish up the three games series against the Texas Rangers like they were hoping as they were shutout 1-0 on Wednesday afternoon. With the one run loss, the Mariners dropped two out of three games against the Rangers.

The pitching staff threw the ball very good on Wednesday as they only gave up a run in the first inning on a sac fly. Starting pitcher Felix Hernandez gave up the sac fly and took the loss even though he threw 7 1/3 innings and only allowed the one run. Hernandez is now 9-9 on the season.

I would have to put the blame on the offense for this game. They had eight hits but left 13 runners on base and struckout five times. The just could never get a run across the plate to tie the game.

The M’s will now be off on Thursday and then start up a weekend series with the New York Yankees.

Mariners Baseball 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.

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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

Game 2 - Saturday August 2, 2008

Orioles 3, Mariners 1

The Seattle Mariners continued their knack for making opposing pitching look like All-stars as Jeremy Guthrie had his turn through the M’s inconsistent offense for a complete game 3-1 victory Saturday at Safeco.

Guthrie (8-8) allowed only four hits and one run, while walking only one batter in nine innings of work needing only 106 pitches to get the win.

Adam Jones continued his good play against his former mates scoring two of Baltimore’s three runs with a 3-for-5 day at the dish.  Jones scored on a Melvin Mora double in the first inning, as well as an Aubrey Huff RBI single in the 7th.  Jones has been on a tear over the last month as Seattle has to be kicking themselves over the Erik Bedard trade.

Seattle scored its lone run thanks to back-to-back doubles by Jeremy Reed, and Raul Ibanez all the way back in the first inning.  Reed’s run on the Ibanez hit was the only offense of the night.

Jose Lopez saw his 19-game hitting streak come to an end thanks to a great grab by Jay Payton.  Lopez finished the day 0-for-4.

Felix Hernandez (7-7) picked up the loss.  It wasn’t really his fault since the team gave him no help.  Felix struck out six over five innings of work allowing two runs on eight hits walking two.  Lefty Jake Woods pitched a scoreless inning in the 9th as he was called up prior to the game to take the roster spot of Arthur Rhodes.

Tomorrow will be Dave Niehaus day at the ballpark.  The M’s will try to avoid the sweep with struggling Carlos Silva (4-12) throwing against hard throwing Daniel Cabrera (7-6) at 1:05 PT.

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 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 3, Sunday July 27, 2008

Mariners 5, Jays 1

It was a somewhat uncomfortable start for Jarrod Washburn when he took the hill on Sunday afternoon.  Before today’s game, Wash was grilled by the media, and many thought he could even possibly get the call of a deal during pre-game warm ups.  All Wash did was push aside those distractions of his supposedly pending trade to the New York Yankees and dominate the Jays lineup for his most impressive start of the season.

Washburn pitched a gem going eight innings allowing only four hits, and striking out two.  His only blemish on the day was a solo home-run by John McDonald in the 5th.  At that point Wasburn had only allowed two hits.  I’m sure this start opened some eyes and raised his value.  Look for the M’s to hold onto him a few extra days to see if another teams interest was peaked.

Believe it or not the Mariners were losing this game going into the 6th 1-0 as Shaun Marcum was dueling Washburn through the first four innings to a stalemate.  After an Ichiro Suzuki lead-off walk, Jose Vidro smashed a big two run home-run to right field, his seventh, to make it 2-1 M’s.  Kenji Johjima made it 4-1 continuing the bat around inning with a two-run double in the four-run sixth. 

In the seventh the Mariners got themselves some rare second half of the season insurance runs as Jose Lopez hit an RBI single off of Shawn Camp.  For Lopez it was his career-high 14th straight game he has hit safely. 

Side Notes:

• Ichiro tripled in the ninth giving him 2,998 hits between the major leagues and the Japanese League. He has 1,720 of those hits for Mariners.
• J.J. Putzpitched a nice bounce-back non-save 9th inning to seal the win for Seattle. Putz was roughed up yesterday so it was good to see Riggleman throw him out there so he can stay on track.
• As reported earlier in the week,  broadcaster Dave Niehaus was in Cooperstown Sunday to receive the Ford C. Frick award at Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  Congrats Dave!

Seattle will travel to Texas for a four-game set against the big hitting Texas Rangers.  Felix Hernandez(7-6) will face Scott Feldman (4-3) at 5:05 PT in the series opener.

Mariners Blog

 Wednesday July 23, 2008

Red Sox 6, Mariners 3 

Red Sox 2nd Baseman Dustin Pedroia scores in the 3rd.

In the top of the 12th inning in a hard fought ballgame, Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell hit a two-run single to finish off the M’s 6-3 taking advantage of two critical outfield errors that ultimately cost the M’s the ballgame.  The sweep for the BoSox was their first sweep in Seattle in fifteen years.

The Mariner lineup had some rare second half firepower as Raul Ibanez hit his 14th bomb of the year in the 4th, and Jose Vidro added a two-run shot in the 6th off of Boston starter Clay Buchholz to tie the game at 3-3.  It was Vidro’s 6th home-run of the year. 

The score remained tied at 3-0 until the 12th as both teams got some great relief pitching. 

Felix Hernandez came out after six innings, with six hits, six strikeouts, three runs, and a season high five walks. Buchholz countered allowing seven hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings, with two walks and seven strikeouts. 

J.J. Putz and Brandon Morrow combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief totalling 5 strikeouts, and only one hit. American League Games pitched leader Sean Green (2-3) picked up the loss in the 12th.  Jonathan Papelbon was forced into duty in the 11th for the third straight day and ended up picking up the win.  Craig Hansen recorded his second save of the season after finishing off Seattle in the bottom of the 12th.

It was an up and down game in the field for gold glove outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.  In a scoreless ballgame in the third, Ichiro sprinted with his back turned to the ball, running straight back towards the wall and leaped above the wall to take what would have been a three-run homer away from J.D. Drew.  A few pitches later, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis hit an RBI single to right field that Ichiro fielded then bobbled and hiccuped, scoring Dustin Pedroia and Coco Crisp.  It was the second error of the season fro Ichiro.  Ichiro was also picked off at first base earlier in the game.

Mariners left leader and team leader Raul Ibanez summed up the Mariners tough stretch of play after seeing his team lose it 5th straight game. “It’s tough,” Ibanez said. “But you keep battling and keep fighting. Scratch and claw all the way to the finish line, no matter what happens. Whether 22 games up or 22 games down, you go out there with same tenacity every single day, no matter what’s going on around you.”

The Mariners will have a much needed day off on Thursday before heading to Toronto for a weekend road trip against the Jays.

Is there going to be any changes to the team before Friday?

Mariners Blog

Tuesday July 22, 2008

Red Sox 4, Mariners 2

Patience at the plate is something the Mariners have seriously lacked this season.  Tonight was much of the same as Daisuke Matsusaka took the hill Tuesday night. The league knows to make “Dice-K” throw an abundance of pitches and force him to throw strikes .  Somebody forgot to tell Seattle.  The Mariners came out swinging at everything (just like last night) and constantly got behind in the count. The M’s lineup scraped together just five hits as Boston beat Seattle 4-2.  Dice-K was ahead in the count for most of the night as he struck out six on his way to his 11th victory of the season.  Matsusaka did walk three, but only threw 99 pitches in 7 1/3 innings.

Watching the Red Sox batters at the plate is the complete opposite.  Boston’s lineup will make you work for everything as they drew six walks and constantly waited on pitches from M’s starter R.A. Dickey.  All-star game MVP J.D. Drew displayed his patience at the plate in the first inning as he sat on the knuckleballers mid 80’s fastball.  Drew laid off the knuckler and slammed a second straight Dickey fastball over the right field wall for his 18th home-run of the season.  Dickey threw six innings of work, surrendering four runs on nine hits, walking three and failing to record a strikeout.

Boston scored three runs off Dickey in the top of the fifth. Drew and rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie added sacrifice flies in the inning and got some extra insurance on a Mike Lowell RBI double.

The Mariners managed to make it interesting off Matsusaka in the 8th.  Rookie first baseman Bryan LaHair led off the inning with his first big league hit, and later scored on a Ichiro Suzuki RBI double to make it 4-1.  Jose Lopez singled to center field on next pitch to score Ichiro to make it 4-2 with one out.  Dice-K got the yank for lefty Hideki Okajima who got the final two outs of the inning.  Jonathan Papelbon nailed down the M’s in order in the 9th for his 30th save of the season.

It was another solid outing from the Mariner bullpen as Roy Corcoran pitched a scoreless seventh, Arthur Rhodes struck out the side in the eighth, and Cesar Jimenez continued his successful call-up stint allowing a goose egg in the ninth.  Kudos to the Mariner bullpen as they have been by far the biggest bright spot in a rough season.

Mariners rookie catcher Jeff Clement had to leave the ballgame as he injured his right thumb in the netting try to catch a foul ball.  Apparently Clement lost the nail.  He had the finger wrapped and stayed in the game, but eventually gave way to Kenji Johjima.  I’m sure we will learn more tomorrow if Clement will miss any time.

Tomorrow afternoon’s 1:40 PT contest will mark the 5,000th game in Mariner history.  Its going to be a solid pitching match-up as Mariner ace Felix Hernandez (7-6) will toe the rubber against Boston’s Clay Buchholz (2-5).

Mariners Blog