Thursday July, 10th 2008

Its a busy day for the Mariners roster as the team finally has decided to grant 1st Baseman Richie Sexson his release.  Sexson has to wait through the waiver period till Monday and can be signed by another big league club for roughly $200,000.  The M’s are left holding the bag for the rest of his $64 million contract, which he is owed around $7 Million.  Manager Jim Riggleman said the team will platoon Miguel Cairo, and Jose Vidro for the series with the Royals before heading to the All-Star break. 

Sexson’s bat has showed a little promise of late, but it still wasn’t good enough as his struggles at the plate have reached almost a two-year span.  It appears the M’s ran out of patience.  Lefty first baseman Bryan LaHair remains a possibility in the second half if they decide to promote him from Triple-A Tacoma.  LaHair is considered by some as a younger version of Sexson, and packs a nice power stroke.

As well Seattle placed Erik Bedard on the 15-day DL.  The move will be retroactive to July 5th.  This move was needed as the bullpen needs another arm after all of the recent work they have been getting.  Promoted from Tacoma was righty Jared Wells, who the team acquired earlier in the season from the Padres for pitcher Cha Seung Baek.  Also called up was infielder Tug Hulett.

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Wednesday July 9th, 2008

Athletics 2, Mariners 0

 Justin Duchscherer became the new ace of the Oakland Athletics today as they traded Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs.  Tonight Duchscherer showed why they were so confident in the move.  Pitching a complete game 2-Hitter, Duchscherer (10-5) only faced three batters over the minimum striking out four and only walking one. 

Carlos Silva pitched a complete game as well for the Mariners striking out 5, while walking zero A’s batters.  The M’s wasted another good pitching peformance by getting no run support.  Emil Brown had an RBI single, and Donnie Murphy added a sacrifice fly to provide Oakland with all the offense they would need.  The game moved quickly only taking 1 hour and 49 minutes to complete.

The Mariners only two hits of the night came on a double by Richie Sexson, and a Miguel Cairo double.  Cairo and Willie Bloomquist started in the infield for Jose Lopez and Yuniesky Betancourt respectively, but neither could do much to jump start a suddenly struggling offense. 

 I wonder if the sudden 3 game losing streak brings the team back down to earth since their nice play of late under interim mangager Jim Riggleman.  Some tough decisions must be made by the organization in the coming weeks.  The last three straight pathetic offense performances sure do make it look like anyone could be expendable.  

The A’s will send Joe Blanton to the mound for game 3 of the four game set.  Miguel Batista returns to the rotation for the Mariners.

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In Monday’s series opener against the A’s, Richie Sexson started the M’s off with a three-run homerun to give the boys an early 3-0 lead.  Unfortunately they never crossed home plate for the rest of the night. 

Oakland 1st Basemen Wes Blankston picked up his first Major league knock, and Mark Ellis, and Ryan Sweeney knocked in runs to help get the 4-3 victory.  A’s starter Dana Eveland struggled a bit going over his 5 1/3 innings allowing 9 hits.  The M’s had runners in scoring position all night, but never capitalized on it after the 1st inning. The A’s converted three double plays to end threats, as well as tossing out Willie Bloomquist at the plate after a Raul Ibanez single.  Closer Huston Street picked up a shaky 17th save for the Athletics.

Adrian Beltre was 4-for-5 on the night for the Mariners.  Starter Jarrod Washburn continued his much improved pitching of late.  He helped out a tired and banged up staff by going all the way after the 15 inning game on Sunday.  He allowed 4 runs on 7 hits.

Tuesday nights pitching matchup will be Carlos Silva (4-10) vs. Justin Duchsrherer (9-5).  The game will be a 7:10 PT start.

Mangager Jim Riggleman also announced they will not pitch Felix Hernandez on friday like originally planned.  They have decided to move him back to the next series and pitch him against Kansas City, the teams last series before the All-Star break.  The move would allow him a few extra days to rest after his first start back.  As well, the team is expecting to get J.J. Putz some rehab work in for Triple-A Tacoma before his return to the bullpen.  Putz is expected back after the All-Star break.

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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 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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Jays 2, Mariners 0

It was one of the nights.  Simply put.  A night that opponents of the greatest pitchers in the game know all too well.  A night when your ace is on.  Even in the pregame warmup Jays Manager Cito Gaston thought one run scored for his team would be enough.  Well…Cito, you were right.

Roy Halliday (w 9-6) pitched a complete game four hitter, his sixth of the season.  He struck out six, and walked zero.  Out of his 115 pitches, 84 were for strikes.  With that type of control of the pitch count he blew through the lineup only allowing two singles by Richie Sexson, and singles by Willie Bloomquist, and Jeremy Reed.  Thats it.

R.A. Dickey (L 2-4) pitched well enough to keep his team in the game, but getting no run support finally caught up with him.  David Eckstein ripped a double in the fifth, and eventually scored on a Marco Scutaro single to finally get the Jays on the board against Dickey.  A Rob Barajas tapper in the sixth with the bases loaded, scored Vernon Wells to make it 2-0.  That was all the run support that Halliday needed.

The loss snapped the teams three-game win streak, and was the Jays third in a row.  The Mariners returned to regular league play going with Jeff Clement in DH spot.  Clement continued to struggle as he struck out three times on the night.  The good thing for Clement is that the team is going to let him ride out his slump this time.  I think before the end of the year he will turn it around. 

In some other team news, the team placed Felix Hernandez on the 15 day DL.  I’m sure Felix wants to go, but with a last place team, and him being a key component to their future, i doubt the M’s want to take any chances with his ankle. 

The team also announced Ryan Rowland-Smith would get the start Tuesday night.  It will be his first start since pitching for Double A San Antonio in 2006.  I’m sure the team will monitor his pitch count and I expect him to maybe go 3 to 4 innings.  Opposing the Mariners at Safeco for game two, will be righty Jesse Litsch (8-4).  Gametime is at 7:10 PT.

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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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 Mariners 11, Mets 0

11-0!  Where did this come from?  R.A. Dickey got his first win in two years as he had the Mets batters off balanced all night.  Dickey had his knuckler fluttering, and was mixing in a mid 80’s fastball and a knuckle curve to keep the Mets bats guessing.  He pitched 7 shutout innings, striking out 5.  Dickey had outstanding control of his pitches as the Mets failed to ever get a solid piece of his pitches.   This is hopefully a confidence building start for Dickey who has really struggled of late.  Great Job.

The Mets season of frustration continued to boil over as Manager Jerry Manuel, and Outfielder Carlos Beltran got ejected in a crazy scene in the bottom of the 4th.  Homeplate umpire Brian Runge appeared to initiate an argument with Beltran when the two began arguing during the at bat.  Manuel raced out of the dugout infuriated over Beltran being provoked.  Then Runge appeared to bump Manuel, leading to Manuel getting tossed and then Beltran shortly after. 

The M’s jumped on Starter Oliver Perez early scoring runs in four of his five innings pitched to go up 6-0 after the top of the 5th.  Raul Ibanez and Kenji Johjima homered of Perez.  Ibanez finished the night 3 for 5 with 3 RBI’s to continue swinging a hot stick.  Johjima finished with 3 hits, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBI’s.  Richie Sexson also hit well picking up 3 RBI’s.  The 11-0 final score was the Mariners biggest margin of victory this season.

This recent hot streak, (this is hot streak for the Mariners)makes me think of a famous quote from  Major League 2.

Indians Manager Lou Brown:

“Now, we won a ball game yesterday. If we win one today, that’s two in a row.  We win one tomorrow, that’s called a winning streak. It has happened before.”

The Mariners will go with Miguel Batista (3-9) in the finale against John Maine (7-5) at 7:10 Wednesday night.

Get the brooms out!

 (photo: John Froschauer/AP)

After a long day for the organization with a result they have become uncomfortably used to,  Seattle dropped their 4th straight contest overall, and 8th straight game at home to the Florida Marlins 6-1 to fall to 24-46 on the season. 

Carlos Silva got off to another slow start in the first,  giving up 3 consecutive hits along with a walk, with one out in the inning. Silva escaped giving up runs by Jeremy Hermida, who singled in the inning, and scored on a single by Mike Jacobs, and Jorge Cantu on a sacrifice fly by Luis Gonzalez.  Gonzalez finished the game with 2 RBI’s.  Silva was later ejected by umpire Bill Welke in the 5th for arguing a contreversial play that would have been an inning ending double play.  Silva saw his record fall to 3-8.

As has been the story of the Mariners offense this season, they left 18 runners on base.  In the 4th after a Richie Sexson single to load the bases with no outs in the inning, the M’s only mustered 1 run on a sacrifice fly by Kenji Johjima to score Adrian Beltre to cut the lead to 2-1. The offense was shut out the rest of the way.

The 23 year old lefty Andrew Miller (5-5), who was a key piece of the Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera trade with Detroit, pitched a solid game for the Marlins going 7 strong, allowing only 6 hits, and did a nice job pitching himself out of trouble in the 4th. 

In other Mariners notes, Ichiro Suzuki stole 3rd in the 5th inning for his 30th stolen base of the season. 

Sexson was 2-4 on the night, and has hit better recently since changing to a more open batting stance.

Miguel Batista, who recently was taken out of the rotation pitched a nice 8th inning getting 3 quick outs notching two strikouts.

Brandon Morrow got some work in late striking out Cantu, Jacobs, and Dan Uggla to strike out the side in the 9th. 

The Mariners will try to even it up tommorow for game 2 of the series at 7:10p.  Lefty Scott Olson (4-3) will face Felix Hernandez (5-5)

It took a ninth inning rally but the Seattle Mariners were able to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon.  Raul Ibanez hit a rbi single to right field that scored Ichiro Suzuki for the go ahead and winning run in the game.  Ichiro stole second and third in the ninth inning.  Good win for the Mariners who really needed to pick up a victory.

Yuniesky Betancourt got the Mariners scoring started in the seventh inning when they were down 1-0.  Betancourt roped a rbi triple to deep right center field and Richie Sexson scored the first run for the Mariners.  There wasn’t a whole lot of offense for the Mariners, but it was enough to come away with the victory.

I was very impressed with the Mariners pitching against the Blue Jays.  Felix Hernandez tossed eight strong innings while only allowing four hits and one run while striking out eight Blue Jays.  Hernandez was able to improve his record to 5-5 on the season with the victory.

J.J. Putz came in at the beginning of the ninth inning but was pulled out of the game after walking the first batter.  Brandon Morrow was then brough in and he was able to get the Mariners out of the game and pick up the save.  Morrow got the save which was his first of the season as the Mariners ended their road trip with a 3-3 record.

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