Ryan Rowland-Smith was charged with eight hits and two runs over seven innings. He pitched well enough to win the game but the offense just wasn’t putting any runs on the scoreboard to back him up. Rowland-Smith is now 4-3 on the season. Roy Corcoran and J.J. Putz both pitched one inning of relief after Rowland-Smith was taken out.

The only run for the Mariners came in the third inning when Raul Ibanez grounded out to first and Luis Valbuena scored. At that time the score was 1-0, but it was the only run the Mariners would score as they offense struggled at the plate to knock in any runs.

The Mariners and Angels will face off once again on Tuesday night as they M’s try to even up the series and finish the 2008 season strong.

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Mariners starting pitcher Cesar Jimenez only pitched the first three innings and then was taken out of the game. He had only given up one hit and struck out four but walked two batters. Jared Wells pitched bad in his one inning of action as he gave up three hits and four runs including two two-run home runs. Jake Woods gave up a two-run home run as well in the game. Not to be left out, Miguel Batista served up a solo home run.

Roy Corcoran ended up getting the victory while J.J. Putz recorded his 13th save of the season.

Raul Ibanez led the M’s at the plate with two rbi singles and a rbi double to finish the game with three rbi. Kenji Johjima wasn’t too far behind as he finished the game with two rbi on a two-run single. Yuniesky Betancourt and Matt Tuiasosopo finished up the rbi’s with one each.

Good win for the Mariners even though the pitching staff gave up four home runs. The offense sure picked them up this game. Mariners Blog

Mariners 8, Twins 7

Tuesday August 5, 2008 – Another game, another record for red-hot outfielder Raul Ibanez.  His three-run homer in the third put him past Bret Boone for first place all-time in home-runs at Safeco Field with 63.  Ibanez then added a two-run single in the sixth to give him 11 RBIs in his past two games and 14 RBIs in his past three games to tie the both franchise marks held by Ken Griffey Jr.  Last night he set the Mariner record for RBIs in an inning with six. 

Tuesday’s contest was another ping pong match between these teams as leads came and went. R.A. Dickey was solid and pitched the M’s to a 6-3 lead when he left the game before the 8th inning. This time it was the Twins getting a big inning late as they put up four runs off of Cesar Jimenez, Roy Corcoran, and J.J. Putz to give the Twins a 7-6 lead.  Jason Kubel hit a two-run homer off of Jimenez to cut the deficit to 6-5, Corcoran relieved Jimenez after the home-run and allowed two singles before J.J. Putz came in with two outs and two runners on.  Mike Lamb ripped a Putz pitch for a two-run double to make it 7-6 Twins.  The runners that scored on the Lamb double were charged to Corcoran.  Putz struck out Denard Span to end the inning.

The Mariners didn’t panic in the bottom half as they continued to feed off the momentum from last night.  Ichiro Suzuki led off the inning with a single.  After a Jeremy Reed pop out, Ibanez hit a single to right to put runners on first and second for Adrian Beltre.  Beltre lined out to the shortstop for the second out leaving it up to Jose Lopez.  Lopez delivered a big two-out, two-run, left center field gapper for a double scoring Ichiro and Ibanez to give Seattle a 8-7 lead.  It was the 29th double on the season for Lopez who has been on a tear going 3-for-5 on the day.  His .309 batting average is a team-high.

“Thunderstruck” stayed in the game in 9th and quickly struck out Nick Punto and Joe Mauer for two quick outs.  J.J. then ran into some trouble as he walked Justin Morneau on five pitches before Jason Kubel hit a double and put the Twins in business with runners on second and third.  The M’s decided to intentionally walk Delmon Young to load the bases for Mike Redmond.  Redmond lined out to Ichiro in right to end the game as the Mariners escaped with their third-straight win.  J.J Putz (4-4) got the win.  Matt Guerrier (6-5) got the loss.

The M’s go for the sweep tomorrow night as Jarrod Washburn (5-10) will face Nick Blackburn (8-6) at 1:40 PT. 

They are fun to watch again!

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Mariners 11, Twins 6

Monday August 4, 2008 : The Minnesota Twins owning the best record in baseball over the month and a half, were cruising along going into the bottom of the sixth with a 6-0 lead.  All signs indicated the Twins were on their way to an easy victory against the slumping M’s lineup.

Not so fast.

The M’s got one back in the 6th when Jose Vidro grounded into a double-play but scored Adrian Beltre from third to cut the lead to 6-1.  Glen Perkins was still feeling confident with five-run cushion, and the Twins decided to leave him out there for the 7th.  That’s when the wheels came off for Perkins.

After a Kenji Johjima single to lead it off, Ichiro Suzuki drew a walk followed by a Willie Bloomquist single to right to load them up for Raul Ibanez.  Ibanez hit the second Perkins pitch over the right field wall for a Grand-Slam to suddenly put the Mariners down by only a run with nobody out in the inning.  Minnesota pulled Perkins after the home-run for Brian Bass.  Beltre smacked a double off of Bass, followed by a Jose Lopez RBI single, and just like that we are tied at 6.  That would be it for Bass as he gave way to Craig Breslow to try to stop the bleeding.  The nightmare for the Twinkies as Lopez moved to second base on a passed ball to move the go-ahead run into scoring position.  Breslow forced a Vidro pop out before walking Miguel Cairo. Breslow then promptly got yanked for Matt Guerrier.

Whew, taking a deep breath to continue.  First and second with one out.  Still the 7th.

Jeff Clement hit Guerrier’s fist pitch to right for an RBI single scoring Lopez from 2nd to give Seattle a 7-6 lead.  Cairo went to third base, and Clement advanced to second on a throwing error.  Safeco was rockin!  You knew it was all going right for Seattle when Yuniesky Betancourt reached on an infield single scoring Cairo and Clement to make it 9-6.  A bad throw to first to by Brendan Harris to try to get Betancourt helped Clement score and move Betancourt to 2nd.  Minnesota intentionally walked Ichiro, bofre Guerrier walked Bloomquist to load up the bases for the second time in the inning for Ibanez.  Ibanez smacked a single up the middle scoring Betancourt and Ichiro.  Bloomquist tried to score as a throw got away at third base but was thrown out at home to end the craziest Mariner inning of the year.  Seattle 11, Minnesota 6.

The six RBI’s in one inning for Ibanez was a team record for one inning passing Ken Griffey Jr.’s five he had in 1999 at the Kingdome. 

Pitching notes:

Miguel Batista got slugged for six runs on seven hits and walking four over three innings of work.  He appears to just have completely lost the ability to get batters consistently out.

Jake Woods pitched a decent outing throwing three innings in relief striking out four, while walking four, but allowing no runs. 

Roy Corcoran (2-0) was probably surprised to pick up his second big league win as he left the mound down by 5, and suddenly had had the lead when Cesar Jimenez took the bump in the 8th.  Jimenez and Mark Lowe pitched perfect 8th and 9th innings respectively to round out the win.

I’m sure the Twins can’t wait for tomorrow’s game so they can put that mess of a game tonight behind them. Tomorrow nights contest will see R.A. Dickey (3-6) against Scott Baker (7-3) at 7:10 PT at Safeco.  Lets see if the M’s can win three straight. 

Mariners Blog

Rangers 11, Mariners 10

It sure has been tough to be a Mariner fan this season.  Tuesday night’s see roller-coaster against Texas was wild from start to finish.  This game had everything good and bad in all different aspects of the game.  It even had a little history as Ichiro Suzuki picked up his 3,000th professional hit in the first inning.  Congrats to Ichiro!

Ramon Vazquez hit a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth to win it for the Texas avoiding blowing a huge seven run lead after the 3rd inning.  Vazquez had three errors on the night and was responsible for blowing the one-run lead Texas held in the top of the 9th, but perseveered at the plate to get his team the victory.

The Good and the bad :

Texas

• The Good : The Rangers offense

Texas hammered Mariner starter Carlos Silva (who hasn’t?) for six runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings.  The game appeared as batting practice to Ranger hitters as they  pummeled his pitches all over the field.  Roy Corcoran didn’t fair much better getting hit up for three runs on six hits in 3.2 innings.  J.J. Putz surrendered two runs on three hits in 0.1 innings for the blown save and loss in the 9th.  

 CBS Sports:

• The Bad : The Rangers defense

The Rangers pitching wasn’t very good, but it was their defense that made them look even worse.  Texas committed a season-high five errors on the night as Ramon Vazquez committed three alone.  They allowed the Mariners back into a game that they trailed 7-0.  Yes the Mariners did hit well, but innings were constantly extended because of poor defensive play.

Seattle

• The Offense

Trailing 7-0, the M’s showed a lot of guts for one of the leagues worst teams fighting and scratching to get back into the game.  Good to see them packing it in yet even if the Rangers defense was trying to cover the point spread. 

Bryan LaHair and Jose Lopez both homered for the second straight night.  LaHair may have been the player of the game for Seattle.  His performance has been encouraging since his call-up.  Lopez has now hit safely in 16 games.  But overall, errors or no errors, The Mariners took advantage when they had a chance and gave their team a chance to win in the M’s best comeback of the season.

CBS Sports:

The Bad : Jim Riggleman

Can i just say “Bad Riggleman, bad!”  I give manager Jim Riggleman the dog-like nose slap for using J.J. Putz to close tonight.  I know that the M’s aren’t playing for much and maybe they want to see what they have in Putz to figure out a direction to go in the future, but give the ball to Bombtrack (Brandon Morrow) there.  Putz later or in a few weeks.  What are you saving Morrow for? You aren’t going to start him, so use him, especially against the Ranger bats. They threw Putz out there for the save when he hasn’t shown anybody he is ready yet.  This is the type of moves that get the Mariners in trouble.  Its like they feel bad that J.J. lost his job to injury so they run him out there when the kid has out performed him.  Nice guys finish last Riggleman/McLaren, and thats why you are where you are.  And spare me the J.J Putz was amazing last year line.  Eric Gagne was great once too.  The Closer spot is about performance and confidence, Putz has obviously lacked in both categories this season healthy or not.  Being a closer is a “what are you doing for me now?” postion. To win the game.  Not for charity, or to make veterans feel better. 

• The Ugly – Calros Silva

Carlos Silva still has three years remaining on his deal after this season.  I wonder if the reason that Jarrod Washburn is still a Mariner is because they are afraid of this guy being in there rotation next year (just kidding..sort of).  The M’s are still on the hook for a ton of his contract and are stuck with him.  He came into this season known as a “ground-ball pitcher”.  The only ground balls he is forcing are the ones he is throwing on the ground when he gets pulled within the first few innings of ballgames.

So much for that “Texas heat” helping Silva’s back Mariners.com.  If he is hurt DL him.  We are all getting sick of Riggleman’s/McLaren’s excuses for his poor pitching performances.  This includes Miguel Batista as well.  If they are hurt, get them out of there.

Game 3 on Wednesday will be Miguel Batista vs. Vicente Padilla at 8:05 PT.  Lets hope the M’s don’t make us cry.

Mariners Blog

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).

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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.

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2007 All-Star closer J.J. Putzis expected to be activated for today’s 1:10 PT game against the Cleveland Indians.  Manager Jim Riggleman said he was personally not sure of the plan for Putz but said it was likely he could be activated.  Putz was with the team on Saturday.  Riggleman mentioned that Putz would get middle to late inning relief work initially until they feel he may be ready to close.  It will be a tough call to see who the M’s option back to Tacoma.  The team has a banged up staff, and may not want to move down pitching. 

Without any knowledge of the situation, I would move Miguel Batista to the 15-day DL when they activate Putz.  Batista needs the rest, and Roy Corcoran, and Cesar Jimenez have been doing a great job in the pen.  I guess we will find out Sunday afternoon.

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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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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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