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 

Mariners Blog

Mariners 9, Padres 2

Manager Jim Riggleman can finally smile today.  His team put together a full series for the first time this season, winning games with different phases shining through.  Today, unlike the first two games, the Mariners brought the bats..  They raked out 18 hits while scoring 8 runs in the final three innings for a 9-2 series ending sweep over the Padres at Petco.

Erik Bedard (5-4) went five and two thirds innings, allowing only one run on three hits, and striking out 3.  Ichiro Suzuki scored the first run of the game in the 3rd inning on an RBI single by Raul Ibanez to open the scoring.   Ichiro finished the day with a 5 for 5 performance at the plate which ties him for second all time in five hit games with 7 behind Dave Winfield’s 9.  Later in the 6th inning,  Adrian Beltre stayed hot hitting a towering blast into the second level balcony for his 15th home run of the season, a two run shot off starter Jake Peavy (L 5-5) two make it 3-0.

The Padres got one back on an Edgar Gonzalez sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning, but in the top of the seventh the Mariners put the Padres away.

The Padres replaced Peavy with reliever Bryan Corey to start the seventh inning.  As fast as i wrote that sentence Corey was replaced.  He allowed four straight hits as Ichiro led it off with a single, followed by a Jose Lopez single.  Ibanez singled scoring Ichiro, and then Jose Vidro singled scoring Lopez.  Out Bryan Corey, In Carlos Guevara.  Same result as Betre singled scoring Ibanez, and Jeremy Reed singled to center field scoring Vidro and Beltre. And just like that 6 straight hits, all singles, and the it was 8-2.  Jeff Clement hit his second homer of the season in the 9th to round out the scoring.  Clement finished the game 2-for-4.

The win marked the teams 6th win in the 9 game interleague roadtrip.  I’m sure it was good for the team mentally to go on the road after all the recent turmoil surrounding the team.  Many of the players are probably wishing they could stay on the road.  However, they must return home to start a series with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.  It will be the start of a seven game homestand as they play a three game set with Toronto ending Wednesday, and start a four game series with the Detroit Tigers Friday.  It will be interesting to see if the team can gain some confidence against AL teams after such a strong interleague performance.  Tomorrow night R.A. Dickey (2-3) and Roy Halliday (8-6) are the probables for the 7:10 PT start.

Mariners Blog

In a game that ironically became the last for manager John McLaren, R.A. Dickey, who McLaren has backed, got roughed up in his second straight start.  R.A. gave up 5 runs, on six hits, 4 walks, and a HR.  It was ultimately decisions like the one to pitch Dickey that ironically summed up his managing style for the Mariners, which too often was sticking with players for too long.  This, along with  lacking the foresight to make key personnel changes,  in the end sealed the fate of the McLaren, Bavasi era.

Mike Jacobs (2 for 5, 3 RBI’s), and Dan Uggla belted big flys for the Marlins.  Hanley Ramirez went 2 for 3 with 3 runs on 3 walks.  21 year old rookie Ryan Tucker (2-1) picked up the win going 6 innings striking out 4, and allowing only 2 runs.

A positive for the Mariners was that they out hit the Fish 13-11.  The negative, as has been for most of the season was the 25 runners left on base, many in key spots.  Recent call up Jeff Clement started at catcher, and picked up where he left off on his last call up striking out twice, but did draw two walks.  Adrian Beltre was 2-5 scoring twice while he picked up his 11th double of the season.  Jose Vidro went 3 for 5 at the dish, and Jeremy Reed continued to swing a nice bat going 2 for 3.

McLaren was fired before the team left for Atlanta.  He will be replaced by Jim Riggleman who was currently on the staff as the teams bench coach.  Lee Elia, who recently took over as hitting coach is now the bench coach.  The remainder of the staff stays in place for the time being.  McLaren’s final record as Mariners skipper was 66-88.  Its going to be very interesting to see what Riggleman does with the lineup after McLaren was so indecisive about putting it together day in and day out.

The M’s head to Atlanta for a game on Friday against the Braves.  That game will start a nine game interleague road trip.  Lets see if getting away on this road trip from the mess that has begun to unravel in Seattle among the Mariners brass can be good for the team going forward.

Mariners Blog

The Florida Marlins came into tonights contest looking to hand the Mariners their ninth straight home loss and fifth straight loss overall.  Tonight King Felix had other ideas. 

Going into tonights game, Felix Hernandez had been getting the 3rd least run support in the American League. But tonight the Mariners bats came to life early as they put up two runs in the bottom of the first.  Ichiro Suzuki led the game off with a single, then with Ichiro stealing second with the pitch,  Jose Lopez ripped a double to score Ichiro to make it 1-0.  After a Jose Vidro strikeout, Adrian Beltre belted a single to move Lopez to third, then Lopez scored on a RBI single by Raul Ibanez to make it 2-0.

In the Top of the 2nd inning Dan Uggla got Florida on the board with a solo shot to left field to cut the lead to 2-1.  It was shortly after that when Felix Hernandez took  over.

Starting with one out in the 3rd, Heranadez fanned 6 straight batters, falling one strikeout short of tying Mark Langston’s club mark of 7 straight.

The Mariners hit lefty Scott Olsen hard all night and got to him again in the 4th.  Ichiro scored Kenji Johjima on a sacrifice fly, and Lopez hit his second double of the game to score Willie Bloomquist to make it 4-1.  Seattle made it 5-1 in the 5th as Ibanez scored on a throwing error by relief pitcher Logan Kensing.

Florida finally got to Herandez in the 6th as Jeremy Hermida singled home a run, and Jorge Cantu hit a sacrifice fly to score Alfredo Amezaga to make it 5-3.  In the 7th, Matt Treanor scored Luis Gonzalez to make it a 5-4 ballgame.

Felix Hernandez started the 8th inning and got Hanley Ramirez to ground out and then walked Hermida before getting pulled.  Righty Sean Green took over to face Jorge Cantu and got a big strikeout to get the second out.  Green was replaced immediately by Arthur Rhodes who struck out pinch hitter Cody Ross to finish the 8th.

Brandon Morrow came on in the 9th throwing some straight up gas, striking out Uggla with a 99 mph fastball, getting Gonzalez to ground out to Lopez for the second out, and finally mowing down Wes Helms to get his second career save in as many chances.  Morrow has looked fantastic of late and fans must wonder if his dominating performances of late, along with drafting of strong armed closer Joshua Fields,  spell the end for J.J. Putz.

Hernandez picked up the win to improve his record to 6-5 recording 9 strikeouts.  Olsen got the loss to go 4-4.  The M’s look to close out the series tomorrow night at 7:10pm (PDT) against the Marlins before heading off to Atlanta to face the Braves on Friday. They are going with Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (1-2) against righty Ryan Tucker (1-1).

Miguel Cairo laid down a beautiful squeeze bunt in the top of the 10th inning and the Seattle Mariners went on to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 3-2 in 10 innings.  Willie Bloomquist scored on the squeeze play from third base to score the winning run.

Besided the squeeze play in the 10th inning, the other two Mariners runs came in the first inning.  Jose Vidro connected on a two run home run for the Mariners first two runs.  From the second through the ninth innings however, the M’s had a terrible time getting any rallies going as they couldn’t push across any runs.

Mariners starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn tossed the first six innings of the game while he gave up five hits and one run.  Washburn pitched a pretty good game but did walk three batters.  Mark Lowe gave up one run without recording an out.  Arthur Rhodes and Miguel Batista were finaly able to get the Mariners out of the seventh inning.  R.A. Dickey then tossed the next two innings without having any damage done.  Dickey actually ended up picking up the win and is now 1-1 on the season.

Onto the 10th inning that seen a dropped ball by Wladimir Balentien, and then the Blue Jays twice having the bases loaded but not scoring one run.  J.J. Putz was able to get a double play with zero outs in the inning and then got a fly ball off the bat of David Eckstein to end the game stranding all three runners on base.

A win is a win and the Mariners will take it anyway they can get one at this point in the season.  Even if it is ugly lol.

Mariners Blog

The Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels got off to a hot start they combined to score nine runs in the first five innings of the game, but then there was no scoring the final four innings as the Mariners lost 5-4 to the Angels.

Erik Bedard dropped to 4-4 on the season as he took the loss.  Bedard gave up seven hits, five runs (four earned), and three walks as he only lasted 3 1/3 innings.  Bedard needs to start throwing the ball a lot better and earn that money he is making.

R.A. Dickey pitched the final 5 2/3 innings and only gave up three hits.  Maybe he should have started the game instead of Bedard lol.

Jose Lopez hit a solo home run in the fourth inning and then Jose Vidro had a rbi single in the fourth inning.  Those two runs were the only recorded rbi’s in the game as the other two Mariners runs came off errors in the fifth inning.  Yuniesky Betancourt and Lopez both scored on errors in the fifth.

The Mariners will try to get things going again on Wednesday afternoon as they will face off against the Angels once again but this time it will be an afternoon game.

Mariners Blog

The Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers combined for five home runs and 20 runs in Tuesday nights game but it was the Mariners coming out on the losing side.  The Mariners only had one of the five home runs, and only eight of the 20 runs in the game.

The Mariners made a comeback in the final three innings as they scored seven runs but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers had a huge lead.  Adrian Beltre led the Mariners with three rbi and then a slew of Mariners had one rbi in the game.  Jeremy Reed, Jose Vidro, Miguel Cairo, and Yuniesky Betancourt all had one rbi in the game.

Carlos Silva dropped to 3-3 on the season as he took the loss for the Mariners.  Silva only lasted four innings as he gave up nine hits and seven runs.  The bullpen wasn’t much better as Cha Seung Baek gave up for runs and and three home runs.  Mark Lowe pitched one inning and also gave up one run.  Ryan Rowland-Smith was finally able to come in and pitch a scoreless inning in the eighth inning but it was a little bit too late.

Mariners Blog

The Seattle Mariners and the Cleveland Indians were tied 2-2 heading into the ninth inning and that is when the Mariners exploded for five runs in the ninth inning.  Adrian Beltre provided three of those runs with a three run home run in the inning.

Besides Beltre’s three RBI, Jose Vidro and Yuniesky Betancourt both had two RBI at the plate.

Carlos Silva got a no decision in the game even though he pitched pretty good.  Silva threw seven innings and gave up seven hits and two runs.  Silva kept the Mariners in it so they had a chance to win in the ninth inning.  Mark Lowe ended up pitching in relief and picking up the win.  It was Lowe’s first win of the season.

Mariners Blog

The Seattle Mariners got out to a 5-0 lead after three innings but could not hold onto that lead as they lost to the Baltimore Orioles 8-7 on Thursday night.  Anytime you are up 5-0 that early in the game, you need to not let up and continue to put pressure on the other team.  The Mariners did not do that and that is why they lost.

Jarrod Washburn pitched five innings and gave up six hits to and two runs.  Wasburn didn’t pitch too badly, it was the bullpen that really blew the game for the Mariners.  Roy Corcoran, Mark Lowe, and Sean Green all gave up one run.  Arthur Rhodes actually gave up three runs without even recording an out.  Green ended up taking the loss and is now 1-1 on the season.

At the plate for the Mariners, Ichiro and Adrian Beltre both hit home runs.  Beltre hit a solo shot in the second inning while Ichiro and a two run shot in the seventh inning.  Ichiro and Jose Vidro led the team with two RBI each.  Beltre, Jose Lopez, and Raul Ibanez all finished the game with one RBI.

Mariners Blog

Carlos Silva is now 3-0 on the season as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Oakland Athletics by the score of 8-1 on Thursday night.  Silva was dominate as he pitched seven innings and only gave up four hits and one earned run.

Ryan Rowland-Smith and Brandon Morrow pitched the final two innings of the game for the Mariners and did not allow a hit.

Jose Lopez and Jose Vidro both had two RBI for the Mariners.  Willie Bloomquist, Yuniesky Betancourt, Kenji Johjima, and Raul Ibanez all had one RBI each.

With the win, the Mariners record is now 9-8 on the season.

Mariners Blog