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

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

Tuesday July 22, 2008

ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting the New York Yankees are taking a look at acquiring Mariners lefty Jarrod Washburn before the deadline.  It will tough for the Mariners to get much in return for the 33 year-old veteran due to having another year on his contract that pays him somewhere in the ball park of $10 million dollars.  The move would ultimately be a salary dump.  I have read a few rumors about the Mariners receiving Kei Igawa in return. That would figure, but I expect a marginal prospect.  Olney sites the Yankees may like to keep Washburn in their rotation for 09′ because the dimensions of the new ballpark will remain similar to the current Yankee Stadium cut out which has a short porch in right field and favors left-handed pitching.  I could see this move happening due to the fact that :

1) Ryan Rowland-Smith just got sent down to Tacoma to stretch his arm out to become a starter.

2) The Yankees are one of a handful of teams that would take on Washburn’s salary based on his production.

3) The Mariners have the arms in the system to replace him this season and next.

Mariners Blog

Monday July 21, 2008

Red Sox 4, Mariners 0

Hometown boy Jon Lester was declared cancer free in 2007 in Seattle after receiving treatments for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.  Tonight Lester put on a show for the hometown fans.

Lester (8-3) struck out six and walked zero batters in 7 1/3 innings of work to lead the Red Sox to a 4-0 shut out at Safeco in Seattle.  It took a hard chopper off his shin to get him out of the ballgame.  The Tacoma native has traditionally not pitched well in Seattle. “It’s nice to come back home and pitch halfway decent,” Lester said.  Lester had left the bases loaded when he left the mound, but Jonathan Papelbon got Raul Ibanez to ground into a double-play to get out of the jam.  Papelbon finished of the M’s in the ninth for his 29th save of the season.

Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn kept it close through four innings shutting out the potent Red Sox lineup.  In the fifth inning though, the Red Sox finally got on the board.  Former Mariner prospect from the past Jason Varitek hit a two-run shot over the left field wall scoring Coco Crisp to make it 2-0.  “Wash” allowed seven hits in 5 2/3 innings allowing only two runs.  For the M’s lefty it was the seventh out of eight starts with two runs or less allowed.  He only has picked up two wins over those starts.  Washburn has rebounded over the last month and should draw some interest before the July 31st deadline.

Jed Lowrie added a two-run single in the eighth, and Manny Ramirez slammed three singles for Boston to lead the attack.  Ramirez has hit safely in 10 straight games.  Tampa won last night, so Boston remains 1½ games behind in the AL East.

The Mariners bats remained silent stranding six base runners.  Ichiro Suzuki went without a hit for the second consecutive game and remains within seven hits of 3,000 professionally.  Adrian Beltre and Yuniesky Betancourt each had two hits for the Mariners.

In Game two of the series tomorrow night, R.A. Dickey (2-4) will take the bump against Daisuke Matsuzaka (10-1) at 7:10 PT.

Mariners Blog

Sunday July 20, 2008

Indians 6, Mariners 2

American League All-star starter Cliff Lee picked up where he left off in the first half with his 13th victory of the season over the Mariners 6-2.  Lee gave up a season high eleven hits, but “controlled” the lineup with consistency, needing only 109 pitches for the complete game victory.  The big lefty was in control staying ahead in the count all afternoon and didn’t walk a single batter all game.  It was his fifth career complete game.

Mariners starter Carlos Silva had to leave the game in the fourth inning with back tightness.  Some might think (booing Mariner fans) that Silva just plain got yanked after he allowed a three-run home-run to Kelly Shoppach.  Either way, he is not living up to his lofty free agent contract.  Silva himself will be the first to tell you he is embarrassed with his pitching this season.

Roy Corcoran took over for SIlva and didn’t fare much better.  Corcoran allowed a double by Grady Sizemore, an RBI single by Casey Blake and a Shoppach RBI single to widen the Tribe lead to 6-1 in the fifth.

Jose Vidro and Miguel Cairo both had solid days at the plate against Lee as they both went 3-for-4 with one RBI for the M’s.  Cairo hit his first triple of the season in the 7th scoring Jose Lopez to make it 6-2.

The seventh inning marked the return of J.J. Putz back to the pitching staff and he didn’t disappoint. “Thunderstruck” retired the Indians side in order finishing with a Shin Soo Choo strikeout on some 96 mph heat.  That type of velocity alone is an improvement as Putz was barely above 90 mph before he went on the DL.

The Mariners will stay at home for a three game series against Boston.  Jarrod Washburn (4-8) will face Jon Lester (7-3) at 7:10 PT.  The Mariners have played the Red Sox tough in two series this season, winning the first series in May and losing a series in June for a 3-3 record.

Mariners Blog

Saturday July 19, 2008

Indians 9, Mariners 6

Shin-Soo Choo was a 7 year-old in South Korea when the Indians and Mariners wore the uniforms they sported at Saturdays contest at Safeco Field.  Too bad for Choo it can’t be 1989 more often.

Choo slammed pitches in two at-bats off of Mariners starter Miguel Batista as he hit a two-run homer in the first, and a ground-rule double for another RBI in the third.  He added another double in the eighth off of R.A. Dickey to round out his 3-for-5 day. 

It was another sad performance for Batista for the M’s.  I just don’t understand why they keep running him out there if he says he is not healthy and keeps getting consistently lit up.  Batista pitched two innings, allowing eight runs on seven hits.  At some point here the M’s need to shut him down or make a decision about his future if he is indeed healthy. Miguel has just been awful this season.  The process might already be underway as they pitched spot starter Ryan Rowland-Smith four innings today.  There has been some talk about converting Rowland-Smith into a starter as he performed well when called upon.

The M’s bats were not that bad today, but they had to dig out of a 9-1 whole by the third inning.  Left fielder Raul Ibanez homered for the second straight game as he hit his 13th big fly of the season.  Jose Vidro had an two RBI’s on the day including an RBI double in the second.  Ichiro Suzuki added a two run home-run, his 4th of the year, in the bottom of the ninth to make things interesting.  Rookie Bryan LaHair got his first career start at first base going 0-for-3 with a walk.

For Cleveland, the win ended their ten game road losing skid.  Jeremy Sowers was not overly impressive, but did pick up his first win of the season to move his mark to 1-5.  Jhonny Peralta went 2-for-5 on the day picking up two RBI’s and two runs scored for the tribe.  Washington native Grady Sizemore walked a season high four times on the day, but strangely never scored a run on the day.

In the series finale, Carlos Silva is expected to start.  Jarrod Wasburn was expected to try to go after missing his start with the flu.  Maybe they are moving him back again.  All-Star starter Cliff Lee is expected to get the ball for the Indians.  It will be 1:10 PT start.

Mariners Blog

Friday July 18, 2008

Mariners 8, Indians 2

Cleveland starter Aaron Laffey had two-outs in the bottom of the second inning with nobody on. Thats when things went bad.  A single by Jamie Burke, a hit batter (Yuniesky Betancourt), and an error by shortstop Jhonny Peralta on an Ichiro Suzuki grounder loaded up the bases suddenly for the Mariners.  Laffey then walked Willie Bloomquist on an ugly four-pitch walk to score Burke.  After the error and the four pitch walk, the crafty veteran Raul Ibanez stepped to the plate thinking fastball  all the way on the first pitch.  Ibanez deposited the 88 mph grapefruit into the right field bleachers for his sixth career grand slam to give the M’s the 5-0 lead.  Jose Lopez made it 8-1 in the 4th with a three-run jack off of Laffey for his sixth home-run of the season to give the Mariners an 8-1 lead.

On Felix Hernandez bobblehead night, Felix knew he had to perform on the mound.  The 22-year-old didn’t dissapoint striking out eight allowing just four hits and two runs in six innings.  Hernandez threw 98 pitches in his second start since returning from the DL.  Mark Lowe, Roy Corcoran, and Cesar Jimenez closed out the Tribe with three scoreless innings of relief to help the M’s pick up the win.

Yesterdays call-up Bryan LaHair got his first major league at-bat as he pinch-hit in the 8th inning.  Unfortunately for LaHair, he will never forget that he grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

Former Mariners Shin-Soo Choo, and Asdrubal Cabrera where in the starting lineup for the Indians.  Choo started in right field going 0-for-4 with 2 K’s.  Cabrera started at second base going 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.  The M’s traded Choo for first baseman Ben Broussard in 2006, Cabrera was aquired by Cleveland for first baseman Eduardo Perez in the same season. 

Game 2 on Saturday was supposed to match up lefties Jarrod Washburn (4-8) and Jeremy Sowers (0-5) on the mound.  But thanks to the flu, Washburn will move his start to Sunday.  Miguel Batista will take the mound in his place.  Cleveland will try to avoid its 11th straight road loss.  Look for Bryan LaHair to get a start on Saturday or Sunday.

Reliever J.J. Putz threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings of work for Tacoma.  Putz threw 17 pitches and said he had no soreness in the elbow.  Putz might be activated by Sunday.  Its going to be a tough call for the M’s to send a pitcher down since they all have pitched well in relief.  I suspect it will be Jimenez though.

July 12, 2008

Royals 5, Mariners 4

Brandon Morrow took the hill in the 9th inning Saturday night with a 4-3 lead.  After blowing his first save of the season earlier in the week against Oakland, Morrow was looking to get back on track.  Morrow retired the first two batters he faced, and only needed to get pinch hitter Billy Butler to end it.  Morrow walked Butler and put the winning run to the plate.  David DeJesus wasted no time jumping on a Morrow fastball and putting it over the right field wall to win it for the Royals 5-4.  It was the first walk-off home-run for the Royals since 2005. 

Mark Grudzielanek recorded his 2,000th career hit earlier in the game and became the 251st player to achieve that feat.  I’m sure Grudzielanek will never forget this game.

Former Mariner Horacio Ramirez picked up the win in relief for the Royals.  He pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of another former Mariner GIl Meche.  The M’s got to Meche for four runs on ten hits.

With Meche pitching with a 3-0 lead in the bottom of top of the 6th, Raul Ibanez hit his 11th home-run of the season scoring Ichiro Suzuki to cut the lead to 3-2.  A two-run double by Jeremy Reed scored Adrian Beltre and Jose Vidro to put the M’s up 4-3 in the inning.  The middle relief was stellar again for the M’s as Sean Green and Arthur Rhodes set the table for Morrow who couldn’t hold on in the 9th.  Jarrod Washburn pitched solid allowing three runs over six innings of work.

Recent call-up Tug Hulett played in his first game in the Majors and recorded his first career hit, a single in the 5th off Meche.  Hulett was the DH for the night.

Sunday Pitching Probables :

Mariners vs. Royals @ 2:10 ET

Carlos Silva (4-11) vs. Kyle Davies (3-1)

Mariners Blog

Saturday  July 11, 2008

Royals 3, Mariners 1

Felix Hernandez finally made his return back to the Mariner rotation on Friday night against the Kansas City Royals.  Hernandez retired the first ten batters he faced, throwing five innings striking out eight.  The Royals got to Felix in the 5th for their only runs of the ballgame.  Joey Gathright scored Ross Gload on an RBI single to start off the scoring.  David DeJesus picked up a two run double in the 5th to give the Royals all the offsense they would need for the night.

The return of King Felix was overshadowed by a lights out performance by Royals starter Luke Hochevar.  Hochevar called it his best performance of his career.  Hochevar threw seven innings, recording zero walks, and striking out four.

Some Mariner notes

- Cesar Jimenez bounced back nicely from yesterdays loss and pitched two scoreless innings in relief striking out two batters.

- Adrian Beltre keeps raking going 2-for-4 with his 15th double of the season.  He scored the lone Mariner run.

- Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-4 ending a 26-game hit streak against the Royals.  It marked the first game Ichiro didn’t record a hit against the Kansas City in his career.

- Jared Wells was sent back to Tacoma with the return of Felix Hernandez from the 15 day DL.

- The M’s aquired 1B/OF Craig Wilson from the Pirates for a player to be named later.  Wilson has played this season in the Minors.  He will be assigned to Triple A Tacoma.

Game two of the series on Saturday will feature former Mariner Gil Meche on the bump against the recently hot Jarrod Washburn.  Tug Hulett is expected to play in his first career major league game as he will DH for the M’s.

Mariners Blog